# My first poker session and practice plan

Companion: https://nolankido.com/poker/getting-started/
Fictional practice and real-money play are both options. Money is optional.
Use this sheet before or after play, never as outside decision assistance during a hand.
Keep it privately. No answers are submitted to the website.

## Choose the setting

- Setting: home practice / play money / observe / live cash / tournament / online
- Format and location:
- Age, location, licensing and venue requirements checked, if money is involved:
- Blinds and any ante:
- Buy-in range or full tournament entry price:
- Cash charges, or prize-pool contribution and organizer fee:
- Re-entry/rebuy/top-up rules:
- One question to ask the dealer or venue before committing:

## Write the whole cost before starting

- One entry or buy-in: ______
- Number of additional entries or reloads I have chosen in advance: ______
- Maximum gambling amount: ______ (zero is valid)
- Food, travel, tips and other outing costs: ______
- Maximum planned outing expenditure: ______
- Stop time: ______
- Earlier stop condition: fatigue / impairment / broken concentration / urge to chase / other

Do not use borrowed funds or money needed for obligations. A limit controls exposure;
it does not make a strategy profitable. Do not replenish the limit during an upset moment.
In cash games, pot rake affects results inside the money already at risk. Check separately
for time charges and other costs. Passing a checklist does not establish affordability.

## Rehearse without wagering

- [ ] Name two players' best five cards and compare kickers in order.
- [ ] Follow preflop and postflop action, including the heads-up exception.
- [ ] State the additional call cost on the current betting round.
- [ ] Divide the relevant smaller stack by the big blind.
- [ ] Track both players' contributions and any dead blind in a mock hand.
- [ ] Price a river call with the final pot, stating assumptions about fees and ties.
- [ ] Explain why completing a draw is different from winning.
- [ ] State a live action before moving chips; know whom to ask about a ruling.

## Review one completed hand or practice situation

- Format, stakes, number of players and positions:
- Approximate starting stacks:
- My cards and board:
- Action and amounts, street by street:
- Showdown cards actually seen:
- Facts I cannot remember accurately:
- Decision or procedure I want to understand:
- What I thought before knowing the result:
- What remains uncertain: rule / arithmetic / range / size / emotion / missing fact
- Relevant lesson or house rule to revisit:
- A changed example I can explain next:

## My next learning stage

Cards and legal actions / action and stacks / call price and draws / practice and review

- What I can explain in my own words:
- Where I still need help:
- One next task, with no deadline or requirement to wager:

The four-stage plan is a suggested practice sequence, not a validated readiness test.
Winning a first session or solving an exercise does not establish an edge after fees.