[TheDefiniteArticle]

Poker is one of my latest obsessions (well, over the past 7-8 months), and something that is conspicuous by its absence here is any sort of thread to discuss it. So if you play, presumably most of that is online? What limit do you play? (I currently play 2NL, despite having won at 11PTBB/100 over 30k hands, as I keep donking money off at SNGs which I know I'm terrible at... but I'm getting better). Where do you play? (Party <3)

Post hands for discussion etc. if you want.

[Kiss]

It's fun with friends but I don't go online. Just not the same experience.

[IAmTheKing]

Tried it online, lost a lot of money, never again.

[SirMasterKey]

I like it with friends, never tried it online nor will I. Will likely lose the money quickly but become addicted. A dark road to go down.

[A123W]

Prefer online to be honest, faster action plus a wider variety of games, as compared to playing at home where most likely hold'em is the only game of choice. But a couple of drinks and a poker game with friends is always good

[KingMORe]

I am a bit of a veteran...I started playing in 2006. At a time when the rivers were full of fish and predators unusual.

This was about a year before the golden era ended with the ban of US players caused by the UIGA.

In my time I went through all variations of poker and played up to a million hands in total.
At my peak I played NL 200, but never made it further. Moreover I lost several times substantial amounts due to tilt and immature behaviour. But I am up in money overall just to clear that up).
When you are 16 or so you have the illusion of being mature, but in reality you are not even close.

I stopped in 2008, only had a brief 'reversion' in 2010 with Omaha.

For all beginners who think they can turn a quick buck by playing card in the internet I have one advise:

Forget it !!! As I said, 2002 - 2007 was the heyday in which everyone could make a small fortune by studying poker literature alone.
Nowadays it is so much harder to advance in limits and the future of online gambling is in jeopordy anyway.

Play only for fun or switch to playing with your friends in a smoky basement.

[r4ndom]

I only play with my friends. Usually Texas Hold'em. We put 5 pounds each and the winner takes it all.

It's a fun and cheaper alternative to weekend's clubbing

[IAmTheKing]

(Original post by r4ndom)
I only play with my friends. Usually Texas Hold'em. We put 5 pounds each and the winner takes it all.

It's a fun and cheaper alternative to weekend's clubbing

Absolutely! And £5 for potentially hours of entertainment, pretty good value for money

We usually play winner takes all, unless there's a quite a few playing, then we'll just work out 1st/2nd/3rd etc

[liamb109]

I love poker.

[r4ndom]

(Original post by IAmTheKing)
Absolutely! And £5 for potentially hours of entertainment, pretty good value for money

We usually play winner takes all, unless there's a quite a few playing, then we'll just work out 1st/2nd/3rd etc

When we are many and the game goes for 4-5 hours, we usually end up splitting the money between the remaining 2 or 3

[Ollieeeee]

(Original post by KingMORe)
I am a bit of a veteran...I started playing in 2006. At a time when the rivers were full of fish and predators unusual.

This was about a year before the golden era ended with the ban of US players caused by the UIGA.

In my time I went through all variations of poker and played up to a million hands in total.
At my peak I played NL 200, but never made it further. Moreover I lost several times substantial amounts due to tilt and immature behaviour. But I am up in money overall just to clear that up).
When you are 16 or so you have the illusion of being mature, but in reality you are not even close.

I stopped in 2008, only had a brief 'reversion' in 2010 with Omaha.

For all beginners who think they can turn a quick buck by playing card in the internet I have one advise:

Forget it !!! As I said, 2002 - 2007 was the heyday in which everyone could make a small fortune by studying poker literature alone.
Nowadays it is so much harder to advance in limits and the future of online gambling is in jeopordy anyway.

Play only for fun or switch to playing with your friends in a smoky basement.

Some things are right with this post, some are wrong.

It is true that 02-07 was the heyday for online poker and you didn't have to work particularly hard to make a lot of money, but that doesn't mean it still can't be done if you work very hard OP.

OP, pretty much anyone can beat 2nl if they aren't a complete retard and 30k hands is not a very good sample size. Come back after 100k hands winning at 10ptbb/100. (I assume you mean BB/100 and not bb/100, they are different things).

Once you get past 10nl you will find it increasingly difficult to win with a good winrate and most people find themselves mass tabling for $1-2k/mo in rakeback. Unless you bumhunt then I doubt you'll win at any more than 3ptbb/100 above 10nl.

Having said that, you can still be successful in poker if you are willing to dedicate a lot of time to it. I'll give you a couple bits of advice now.

1. If your main priority is to get better at poker and you aren't too concerned about money then don't play more than 4 tables. I made the mistake of 16 tabling on 2 screens when I started playing. That definitely doesn't do anything for your winrate.

2. Get on www.twoplustwo.com - It is without a doubt the best poker resource in the world and it's free. Make an account, post hands in the micro nl sub-forum but be careful of the ****ty feedback you can get. You should be able to find out who are the good posters and who aren't.

3. Make some good poker friends. Having people to discuss hands with is very helpful.

That's about all I can think of at the moment. If you want to do a sweat session then I can do that with you if you want and see if I can see any major leaks you might have.

[KingMORe]

I was trying to say, that nowadays the effort you have to put in is much greater than 5 years ago.

Poker was an option because you could make a quick buck, perfect for a student.

Today that is no more possible . Have you done the math ?

$1K on NL10 short- handed equals roughly 150k hands a month at a 3ptbb win rate.
150 K hands equal roughly 30 hours per week if you play on 12 tables.
Thats an hourly of $8.
I didn't even count the time you should use to review or improve your game.


For someone living in Africa that is certainly much...

[Ollieeeee]

(Original post by KingMORe)
I was trying to say, that nowadays the effort you have to put in is much greater than 5 years ago.

Poker was an option because you could make a quick buck, perfect for a student.

Today that is no more possible . Have you done the math ?

$1K on NL10 short- handed equals roughly 150k hands a month at a 3ptbb win rate.
150 K hands equal roughly 30 hours per week if you play on 12 tables.
Thats an hourly of $8.
I didn't even count the time you should use to review or improve your game.


For someone living in Africa that is certainly much...

Err yes I have done the maths and it sounds like yours is way off. Who plays without a good rakeback deal unless they are stupid? If you play 150k hands/mo on a 50% RB deal at 10nl 6-max (which isn't hard to find at all) you could make $2k/mo in rakeback alone. If you are also winning at 3ptbb/100, which unless you are some sicko grinder would be extremely hard to maintain if you are 12-tabling 6-max, then you would also be making nearly $1k/mo in winnings.

After 1 month you would be rolled for at least 50nl.

And lol at reviewing your database for leaks at 10nl, it's 10nl...

[KingMORe]

For player serious about the game, there are very few poker rooms to consider, none of those offers a 50% rakeback deal.
Not to mention that you don't accumulate much rake on NL 10 anyway.

Those smaller rooms who offer that kind of deal are not trustworthy, have poor customer support and the traffic is low...poisen for a professional poker player.

And of course it is very advisable to start reviewing your hands starting on your first limit.
You may not need to do it in order to beat NL10, but the same mistakes kill you on NL50. Its cleverer to sort out those problems when they don't cost that much.

[ste_mc_efc]

mtts on sites other than stars is probably were all the poker money in nlhe now (although a lot of the stars big tourneys are pretty soft too)

And you can get higher than 50% on ipoker atm (will probably change with ipoker 2 launching in september though)

[TheDefiniteArticle]

I'd actually forgotten about this thread. I did in the end manage to sustain that winrate over a larger sample, although very slowly because I prefer the theoretical side of the game (been knocking around 2+2 forever). Just got staked (for 10NL, lol) so hopefully my staker will be able to move me up more quickly.

[Poker Player]

I love poker!

I play online in small stakes and can make a small profit from it if I put my mind to each game (focus on each players style instead of playing and being on facebook etc). I also play in real life a lot with my friends varying from playing just for fun to £5 reloads near christmas time. Hoping to visit a casino soon and play a small tournament, none near where I live at the moment though