Poker: How you can get started, succeed, and many myths and facts

[NerdSmasher]

Re: Poker: How you can get started, succeed, and many myths and f

I hope one of them accepts, that would be some of the fastest, most powerful marketing they could get!!
Good luck guys

 

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[Oski]

Re: Poker: How you can get started, succeed, and many myths and f

Hey guys, I just bought my first website and it is all about poker.

The only problem is that most of the traffic comes from Australia?

I know, weird but most of the sites on there only allow non-US players.

Anyways, check it out and see what you think.

www.epokerlife.com

comments/suggestions greatly appreciated

 

[snowbank]

Re: Poker: How you can get started, succeed, and many myths and f

How are people in the thread who are/have been learning doing? Still playing?

 

[hawaiiloans]

Re: Poker: How you can get started, succeed, and many myths and f

Right now I'm having winning sessions in 5nl, and hope to move up as soon as my bankroll will let me. It's so tempting to play all types of hands, but that's what costs money. I'm looking to move up as soon as possible. I even got free coaching coming up soon!

My biggest mistake so far: When your opponent shoves all in on a 3 suited, paired board, it might be a good idea to think they have the full house which can beat your A high flush.... cost me a bunch of cheeseburgers.

Thanks to snowbank and the other pros in this thread, it got me to look at poker as a serious way of generating income. It's going to be my way of being able to fund my future real estate ventures. I recommend poker to anyone who wants to build a working capital. It'll take a lot of experience and studying but it's so worth it.

 

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[Jill]

Re: Poker: How you can get started, succeed, and many myths and f

Not so great, to be candid. But in fairness, I've been totally focused on Internet Marketing since B&P, and have only played late at night after 12 hours of working on the other stuff... or worse yet, WHILE I'm working on the other stuff. Doesn't mix well.

 

[Sid23]

Re: Poker: How you can get started, succeed, and many myths and f

I deposited $50 and promptly lost it all at $2NL. Did a little studying, deposited another $50 and repeated the process.

Took a few weeks off playing and studied a lot, watched a lot of poker on TV, read Snowbank's post about 20 times, joined bluefirepoker.com and asked a lot of questions, then began playing $2NL again.

I took me about a month to take my $50 to $150, which gave me 30 buy ins to move up to $5NL. After only a few weeks of playing about 20 hours a week, I've moved up to $10NL and have a bankroll of almost $500. My next goal is $25NL and I'll need $750 to play there.

I think the key for me was studying, then playing a bit, then studying a lot more. It's hard to study if you have no sense of the game, but you also can't play too much without studying. I've also reviewed my hands. That has been big. The key there is learning the right play, whether or not you won the hand doesn't matter. You make money by making the right plays consistently over time.

My biggest challenge has been trying not to get down on myself when I'm running bad. I've learned enough of the basics of the game that I feel I should be winning everytime I play and I need to remember that sometimes the short term luck will get me and that is okay. I also need to kill my curiousity, which sometimes gets me in trouble. I have a tendency to try and target poor players, but sometimes I think I have the advantage every hand, even when I know I don't. I end up calling all the way to the river, and losing to the one good hand they had.

A big thanks to Snowbank, Biophase and PokerRich for their informative and helpful posts!

 

[snowbank]

Re: Poker: How you can get started, succeed, and many myths and f

Thanks to snowbank and the other pros in this thread, it got me to look at poker as a serious way of generating income. It's going to be my way of being able to fund my future real estate ventures. I recommend poker to anyone who wants to build a working capital. It'll take a lot of experience and studying but it's so worth it.

Welcome! Glad to hear.

 

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[snowbank]

Re: Poker: How you can get started, succeed, and many myths and f

Not so great, to be candid. But in fairness, I've been totally focused on Internet Marketing since B&P, and have only played late at night after 12 hours of working on the other stuff... or worse yet, WHILE I'm working on the other stuff. Doesn't mix well.

Ya you are probably one of the busiest people I know. A month or two of nothing but poker and you'd probably be dominating.

 

[snowbank]

Re: Poker: How you can get started, succeed, and many myths and f

I deposited $50 and promptly lost it all at $2NL. Did a little studying, deposited another $50 and repeated the process.

Took a few weeks off playing and studied a lot, watched a lot of poker on TV, read Snowbank's post about 20 times, joined bluefirepoker.com and asked a lot of questions, then began playing $2NL again.

I took me about a month to take my $50 to $150, which gave me 30 buy ins to move up to $5NL. After only a few weeks of playing about 20 hours a week, I've moved up to $10NL and have a bankroll of almost $500. My next goal is $25NL and I'll need $750 to play there.

I think the key for me was studying, then playing a bit, then studying a lot more. It's hard to study if you have no sense of the game, but you also can't play too much without studying. I've also reviewed my hands. That has been big. The key there is learning the right play, whether or not you won the hand doesn't matter. You make money by making the right plays consistently over time.

My biggest challenge has been trying not to get down on myself when I'm running bad. I've learned enough of the basics of the game that I feel I should be winning everytime I play and I need to remember that sometimes the short term luck will get me and that is okay. I also need to kill my curiousity, which sometimes gets me in trouble. I have a tendency to try and target poor players, but sometimes I think I have the advantage every hand, even when I know I don't. I end up calling all the way to the river, and losing to the one good hand they had.

A big thanks to Snowbank, Biophase and PokerRich for their informative and helpful posts!

Awesome. Sounds like you're going through a lot of stuff I went through when I started. Reviewing hands was money for me too. I was obsessive about that and it really helped me progress as a player. Definitely keep us updated.

 

[Bobo]

Re: Poker: How you can get started, succeed, and many myths and f

I'm hooked. I've played about 20K hands and I am down about $50 total.

I started on .05/.10 and really didn't study, just played. After a couple thousand hands my VpiP dropped from 40 to 27 on it's own and my AF went from 0.8 (meek) to around 2.0 (somewhat aggressive). At that point I was steadily winning on all three tables.

I got curious about the next step up, .10/.25 and my first hand there I went all-in preflop with cowboys who each got a bullet in the head. I went back down to make that $25 back.

Now I am playing 3 tables at .10/.25 about 3-4 hours per night. Honestly, I was doing really well playing on instinct but that was because I am an adaptive thinker and figured out what beat people, even though it was crappy poker which would be shredded at $1/$2 tables.

Now I am reading... about 6 books and I am watching poker and thinking poker. Although I dropped significantly when I switched to a higher level and started playing more soundly I am good with that. I've leveled off my losses from the early position (Graph went from 45 degree downward slope to maybe 25-30 degrees) but my 60 degree profit graph from the late postiions got erratic. I got too tight from the blinds and too loose late when I saw where I was winning and losing. Now I am doing better, had a crap day Sunday (Gos doesn't like gambling on Easter) but otherwise have done well over the last ten days.

Some things I am learning:
...Still go too far with top pair, Ace kicker but I am not losing my stack on top pair.

Need to read up on what to bet when. For example, if I think I am ahead post flop and in late position and ther is $5 in the pot and I figure I have top pair, top kicker.. what's the right bet?

I'm getting a little bigger on raises right now, I had been too loose with raises and over corrected....

To end this stream of consciousness so I can get back to the tables...

After 20K hands I have concluded that this is a game I can learn and beat. I'm playing even now and with rakeback I am ahead of the game after my first 20000 hands so over my next 20000 I figure I will erase a lot of holes and learn more.

I beleive that in 6 months I will be able to sit down and win regularly and with rakeback make a decent profit. No dreams of making the final table - if I can find a way to make an extra 500/week in my spare time that's great. I have a math/stats background so I am starting to focus in on recognixing EV in each situation, understanding pot/implied odds a bit and in short... it's all your fault that I am behind on 90 other tasks (You think Jill is busy - ask her about me )

 

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[Bobo]

Re: Poker: How you can get started, succeed, and many myths and f

After losing all in bets tonight, one with a set of aces against quad 8's and another with a nut flush beat by a boat I am thinking there will be days when the smart thing is to logout, pet the dog and have a drink.

 

[Icy]

Re: Poker: How you can get started, succeed, and many myths and f

How annoying! I've wanted to try this out and after "getting the hang of it" with play money I decided I wanted to move on to real money. Come to find out though it won't accept my debit card, nor my friends. Anyone willing to send me a small amount of money and I can pay them back through Paypal (or something else if you know of something better)? Ha, if not, it looks like my "career" in poker is put on hold for a while haha

 

[biophase]

Re: Poker: How you can get started, succeed, and many myths and f

Some things I am learning:
...Still go too far with top pair, Ace kicker but I am not losing my stack on top pair.

Need to read up on what to bet when. For example, if I think I am ahead post flop and in late position and ther is $5 in the pot and I figure I have top pair, top kicker.. what's the right bet?

I'm getting a little bigger on raises right now, I had been too loose with raises and over corrected....

Put a sticky on your monitor that says, " I will not stack off with TPTK"

The biggest lesson I've learned in betting is "Are you betting for value or a bluff". Ask yourself that on every bet.

If you think you are ahead you are making a value bet.
If you think you are behind, its a bluff

But before you decide to bet, you should also ask yourself what hands will call this bet, which hands will fold to it. Ask the same question when you are about to raise.

 

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[Bobo]

Re: Poker: How you can get started, succeed, and many myths and f

Thanks!

BTW folks - great practice software is poker academy pro. No money at risk and it plays like real players. On the free sites people don't play real money like they would real money...

Has taught me a lot about when I need to show strength

 

[Bobo]

Re: Poker: How you can get started, succeed, and many myths and f

Had an amazingly frustrating week with 8 straight sessions where I lost 1-2 buyins.

Most of it is bad luck - all in with a set and the guy pulls a flush on the river, all in with bullets against jacks and the guy gets 4 running diamonds for a flush.

Frustrating as all hell but my brain knows that being down 12 buyins during a slump happens. Finally got back on track today with a modest win over 500 hands.

Oddly enough, it seems like every time I learn more I take a big step backward before the leap forward.

 

[Giles]

Re: Poker: How you can get started, succeed, and many myths and f

...I've played about 20K hands...

...Graph went from 45 degree downward slope to maybe 25-30 degrees) but my 60 degree profit graph from the late postiions got erratic...

...Still go too far with top pair, Ace kicker but I am not losing my stack on top pair...

Few questions from Bobos post:

• Where are you playing at?
• Is there an easy way to keep stats at poker stars - such as hands played/bank value etc etc or is there an external app I can use to track this?
• Can that last statement be explained? Im unsure what a top pair is? :coffee:

Thanks for the thread. I read it months ago, deposited $10 into pokerstars, which was halved upon playing 1c/2c for my first time.

Read it again last week, and now that $5 is up to $15 on 5c/10c tables :groove:

Small gains but I can only improve

 

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[PokerRich]

Re: Poker: How you can get started, succeed, and many myths and f

Few questions from Bobos post:

• Where are you playing at?
• Is there an easy way to keep stats at poker stars - such as hands played/bank value etc etc or is there an external app I can use to track this?
• Can that last statement be explained? Im unsure what a top pair is? :coffee:

Thanks for the thread. I read it months ago, deposited $10 into pokerstars, which was halved upon playing 1c/2c for my first time.

Read it again last week, and now that $5 is up to $15 on 5c/10c tables :groove:

Small gains but I can only improve

I can help on a couple of those questions:

Keeping stats- most serious poker players use either :: HOLD'EM MANAGER :: Online Poker Tracking and Analysis Software or PokerTracker - Online Poker Tracking & Analysis Software Tool. I and most player I know use and prefer HEM over PT.

Top pair- if one of your cards has paired the highest card on the board you have top pair. For example. the community board read King, Jack, 8,6,2 and your two cards are Ace King. You have paired the king so you have the top pair on the board (top pair). You also happen to have top pair and top kicker since you also have the ace. You will see top pair top kicker abbreviated as TPTK.

 

[Redshft]

Re: Poker: How you can get started, succeed, and many myths and f

Well I've finally taught myself a little and started playing on Full Tilt last night. Before yesterday, I would rank my poker experience at a 1 out of 10...and that's being generous.

I think I had played in a total of two games and maybe 20 hands. I was always drinking when trying to learn and forgot how to play the next day. I didn't know what a good hand was or how they rank.

I've now retaught myself the basics and have probably gone through a couple hundred hands between last night and today with a pretty good success rate. Obviously, I have A LOT to learn still as I'm only learning to memorize the ranks of hands. I haven't read this whole thread yet, so that will be first on my list.

 

[Rawr]

Re: Poker: How you can get started, succeed, and many myths and f

Hey I am waiting for few of you to give this a try and come back telling us you are making consistent money. Then I am jumping in led by the peer pressure.

Thanks again for the guide

 

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[PokerRich]

Re: Poker: How you can get started, succeed, and many myths and f

Well I've finally taught myself a little and started playing on Full Tilt last night. Before yesterday, I would rank my poker experience at a 1 out of 10...and that's being generous.

I think I had played in a total of two games and maybe 20 hands. I was always drinking when trying to learn and forgot how to play the next day. I didn't know what a good hand was or how they rank.

I've now retaught myself the basics and have probably gone through a couple hundred hands between last night and today with a pretty good success rate. Obviously, I have A LOT to learn still as I'm only learning to memorize the ranks of hands. I haven't read this whole thread yet, so that will be first on my list.

Read snowbanks' guides, it's a very good start. Keep playing a lot, even play money is better than nothing. The things you have read will sink in better and there is no better learning tool than actual experience.

Hey I am waiting for few of you to give this a try and come back telling us you are making consistent money. Then I am jumping in led by the peer pressure.

Thanks again for the guide

I am pretty sure waiting for others to do something before you isn't very fastlane In fact, while it is never too late, the evolution of poker has come so far so fast that it is much, much tougher to jump in now and start making consistent money then it would have been even 2 years ago. The longer you wait the worse it will get so start now.

That being said, poker is still a terrific opportunity for the right person. There is a ton of money to be made but if you go into poker to make money you will probably lose it. If you get into poker because you love the competition, nuance and constant challenge then you have a better chance of succeeding.

The first year I played poker I didn't even know you could do if for a steady income, much less a profession. I just loved the game. I planned my schedule around when the World Poker Tour was on the Travel Channel. I read every book I could find and spent tons of free time on poker websites and forums. I constantly thought about the game and examined my own play. Eventually the money came but if I started with money as the goal my name here probably wouldn't be poker rich You can probably make the same correlation with most successful businesses.

 

[Redshft]

Re: Poker: How you can get started, succeed, and many myths and f

It has been one week and I made my first cash deposit tonight. I took $1.00 to the .01/.02 tables and in about 35 minutes I more than doubled it to $2.08. I played cautiously until I won a couple of big pots, then I was a little bit more relaxed with calling. A few hands I had the nuts and placed my bets well enough not to scare the competition, but to get them to call me a decent amount. I think the .01/.02 players are a little easy to read, but I will stay here for a while and see if I can't build this dollar to $5.

Also, you all may find it interesting to know I played my first ever live tourney last night..haha. A friend of mine wanted to know if I'd be interested in a free tournament for gift certificates so I said sure. Needless to say I was very intimidated and I think my newbness showed by doing some of the "don'ts" of live poker. I was out pretty early in the first game, but I'm kind of happy to say I had a pro player beat until the river where he got a flush to my straight. The second game I won some really good hands and placed in the top 25 of 40 something players...I thought it was kind of cool.

 

[hawaiiloans]

Re: Poker: How you can get started, succeed, and many myths and f

I'm starting to get the hang of my current level, 5nl. At this point it feels like I'm "getting" the people I'm playing against at this level, is that what it's like on higher levels?

PokerRich, I agree with you regarding getting started now. The post by snowbank about scalability is true. If your winning 2 big blinds per 100 hands (on a low estimate) on 2nl, it's only a measly 4 cents, but on a 400NL table you're making 8 dollars. Times that by 4 tables, that's 32 dollars. Over a long stretch of hands you're going to be making a substantial amount of money.

I'm hearing of unknown pros (who don't have a ton of TV time, or have a recognizable presence) making 5-6 figures, so it is possible to put time, and dedication into poker to make it a "business".

 

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[biophase]

Re: Poker: How you can get started, succeed, and many myths and f

I'm hearing of unknown pros (who don't have a ton of TV time, or have a recognizable presence) making 5-6 figures, so it is possible to put time, and dedication into poker to make it a "business".

You mean per day right? :smug2:

High Stakes Online Poker Results

 

[PokerRich]

Re: Poker: How you can get started, succeed, and many myths and f

You mean per day right? :smug2:

High Stakes Online Poker Results

biophase is right, the people you see on TV (with the exception of High Stakes Poker on GSN) are not the ones winning the big money. With the exception of a handful of amateurs who luck box their way through a large MTT, the players making the real money are cash game players who you have probably never heard of. This is a pure guess but I would say their are tens of thousands of professional poker players you have never heard of who will expect to make 6-figures this year in cash games.

 

[Redshft]

Re: Poker: How you can get started, succeed, and many myths and f

That $1 has now turned to $6.01 with about 4.5hrs of play in .01/.02 NL.

I know it could be more if I were more aggressive.

 

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[JayKim]

Re: Poker: How you can get started, succeed, and many myths and f

I saved all these!! ++speed thanks snowbanks! I just wanted to comment since I won a satellite into wcoop 09 on stars, starts in 2 hrs WOoot!!!Will need to get lucky with this many people registered lol.

 

[JayKim]

Re: Poker: How you can get started, succeed, and many myths and f

Here's the 60minutes episode about people who worked for absolute and were stealing millions from their players. They were able to see everyone's cards on absolute and ultimatebet. Interesting vid [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXRfcS7WNZQ]YouTube - Online Poker cheat 60 minutes part 1[/ame]

 

[JayKim]

Re: Poker: How you can get started, succeed, and many myths and f

Wcoop09 11131 entrants, knocked out in 4834th. Aces got cracked..DOH! :smxE:

 

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