your story

[Just4Fun]

Just curious if some of you would mind telling your story with poker. What stakes did you start at and what do you play now? How long did it take? What was the single one thing that changed your game the most? What is the hardest thing to deal with (ex. long periods of no cards, single day losses, etc..)? What is your favorite site to play on?

Thanks in advance.

[tmiby]

started with tourneys. don't like that any more.
started with cash about 1 year ago. Sometimes I'm too busy to keep playing...so I couldn't move up a lot. used to play 50NL. sometimes a loosing 100NL session. right now on 25NL.

talking about losses...hmmmm. got about 25buyins in 10000 hands on 10NL. Started to tilt because a few bad beats. and lost it all again in no time!


Read some blogs:
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[Vantek]

Always thought you need a huge capital and effort to even begin to make anything in poker, otherwise I would have looked into it WAY sooner. Then let's see... year 2007 summer randomly heard from an MSN contact (knew him through some forums for the game Age of Empires 2...) that he had run like $50 bucks up to $4K over the internet in a slow stable process... Instantly knew this was what I wanted to try out badly.

Read books and messed around with play money at first lol, thought you need to start with limit because nolimit is too complicated hahaha. Then half a year later deposited $60 at Party, started with limit, soon turned to nolimit obviously and slowly ran it up to a few hundred at 5NL and 10NL... Moved up to 25NL, went on a bit of a heater (8BI above EV over maybe 50K hands), withdrew a few hundos to shut up my family, and when my roll hit about $1300 early this summer, decided to take a shot at 50NL.

Instantly lost 8BI, moved back to 25NL, lost 8BI more (most of these below EV), moved down to 10NL and 5NL and was breakeven for over 50K hands... Got mentally crushed and pretty much haven't played since >_> Back in the day I used rakeback points for a bonus which expires in a few weeks, there's $150 left and I'm not even sure I'll be able to clear the next $50 increment even though half of it is filled...

What was the single one thing that changed your game the most?

Mass multitabling 5NL and 10NL. Before that, I had zero understanding of variance, and thus very flawed fundamentals.

What is the hardest thing to deal with (ex. long periods of no cards, single day losses, etc..)?

When I'm not able to say to my family that the time I spend on poker is making me a real profit. They ignore the expectation and future perspective and get really abrasive, and I can't shut myself off from that.

Next hardest thing is just having to concentrate and think hard. My mental stamina has always been pretty bad so I get tired quickly.

[chinz]

Originally Posted by Just4Fun

What stakes did you start at and what do you play now?

I started with $50 bankroll at NL4. I'm currently table-selecting NL200-NL100, intending to slowly drop off NL100 completely.

How long did it take?

I started playing poker about 13 months ago. I practically had a 3month break on the summer (less than 10k hands in 3 months), so I'd like to think that I've only played 10 months.

What was the single one thing that changed your game the most?

Obviously the most important things are playing the game and analyzing different situations. I can't really name a single biggest thing... but I'll try to say something:

First off it was realizing to play ultrasolid and nit it up. You can't bluff anyone at <NL50. Later on, learning to play looser preflop and more creative postflop (I used to be a huge nonsd-loser at first). I feel that semi-loose postflop and borderline maniac postflop is the style that suits me the best, I'm a scandi after all!

What is the hardest thing to deal with (ex. long periods of no cards, single day losses, etc..)?

Losing days. Usually one 10 buy-in losing day is enough for me not to want to play in next week or two... which I think really slows down my learning. I've wasted tons of good grinding days (I'm going to university and working, so I really don't have too many spare days for poker) because didn't feel like playing.

What is your favorite site to play on?

Currently Ongame. The software is awful, keeps crashing etc, but I like 5-handed more than 6-handed, I've got a great deal there (~60% RB) and the games are probably slightly better than FTP or iPoker. (maybe placebo, idk)