# Poker



## adamac (Feb 1, 2012)

So pokers not a sport but thought this would be a good place to post a thread about it, I haven't seen any threads about it so thought I'd start one seems as how popular it is now. 

Just a place for general discussion/chat, some random questions...

How long have you played for? 4 nearly 5 years
What's your favourite site? Poker Stars, Titan(IPN), Sky Poker (UK guys!)
Biggest win? £2200($3000)
Cg or tourn? tourns
Live or Online? Online (guess most people here would prefer online)


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## sleepytime (Feb 18, 2011)

I've played for about 6 years on lots of different sites, presently at pokerstars. My favourite site is stars, simply because it's the only site with enough traffic to put in large volume these days, and one of the only sites I'd trust with my money. I played cash games almost exclusively until recently but I've made the move to MTTSNGS (45/180 turbos) now. Biggest single cash was $2700. I definitely prefer online, even though live games are ridiculously soft in comparison, but I get so anxious playing live.


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## schnitzelmann (Nov 26, 2011)

I played online for 2 years, but I stopped. I wasn't that talented, and it affected my mood negatively.

For two years, I played pretty much everything except Draw poker and Stud.

Texas Hold'em up to NL50 SH.
Omaha Hi/Lo up to 0.10/0.25.
SNGs up to $11.
Here and there a few MTTs. (made a couple of final tables but never got past 3rd place)


Apart from lacking talent and determination to actually make profit from it, I don't have the mental requirements for it.
It simply pissed me off too much. I couldn't bear the bad beats, the downswings and all the negative things that comes with it. It wasn't worth it to lose my temper every other day.

So I stopped, and my neighbors are probably thankful for it...


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## coldsorehighlighter (Jun 2, 2010)

I play the odd game on Poker Stars...


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## Winds (Apr 17, 2011)

I first learnt how to play around 7 years. I started playing on Absolute Poker when I turned 18, but took money off their right before the second scandal erupted. I play on Poker Host as of now. Haven't played on a regular bases in awhile though. The most I won in a tourney was 150$. I have had decent success at S&G and micro cash games. Proud micro-states grinder  I wish I was born a few years earlier though and could cash in at the beginning of the poker boom. I heard Pacific Poker Real Money Tables were fish fest for the most part.


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## coldsorehighlighter (Jun 2, 2010)

EastWinds said:


> I first learnt how to play around 7 years. I started playing on Absolute Poker when I turned 18, but took money off their right before the second scandal erupted. I play on Poker Host as of now. Haven't played on a regular bases in awhile though. The most I won in a tourney was 150$. I have had decent success at S&G and micro cash games. Proud micro-states grinder  *I wish I was born a few years earlier though and could cash in at the beginning of the poker boom.* I heard Pacific Poker Real Money Tables were fish fest for the most part.


Me too. I mean, I was of legal age to play poker when the "boom" started, but I was just starting...if I were born a few years earlier, I would have had a lot more experience and knowledge when the pool of fish was at it's highest.


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## coldsorehighlighter (Jun 2, 2010)

I'm in a tournament right now, on Poker Stars. The money bubble is close to bursting!
If anyone wants to sweat with me, PM me and I will give my username on Stars.


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## adamac (Feb 1, 2012)

Lol did you make it?
I'm going to stick a bankroll on PS soon.


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## coldsorehighlighter (Jun 2, 2010)

I finished 160th out of 1800...$8.80 buy-in and I think I won $18...meh.

I'm thinking pretty seriously about making a significant deposit, but I don't know if I trust my ability to avoid tilt. Good luck if you do it.


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## Omgblood (Jun 30, 2010)

I want to learn but I want to learn without having to fork over money. Any goods sites?


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## adamac (Feb 1, 2012)

@the cheat - Ah that's what I hate about Poker Stars, being in tourns for hours and hours to go out like 50th out of however many thousand to win like $5 lol, drives me mad. No point entering the lower buy in tournaments unless you make the top few on the final table.

@Omgblood - Well Poker Stars is the most popular, can get into some really good guaranteed prize pool tournaments for little money - just lots and lots of people enter.


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## Funkadelic (Oct 6, 2010)

I used to spend hours playing this popular poker game online with other Facebook users. I made loads and loads of e-money, but lost it all quickly with a few reckless gambles. That's hours and hours of work down the drain, eh. lol I'll never go back.


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## Feynman (Sep 24, 2010)

I played semi professionally for a few years. I don't play much any more because it was a whole lot of work and it got to the point where I had to choose between school and poker and I chose school.

I started by winning $8 in a freeroll and then built my bankroll playing micro and low buy in tournaments. Once I got to a 5 figure bankroll I made the switch to cash games. I broke even forever playing cash games because you need really deep understanding of the game to do well. I finally started to get it and eventually started winning and got up to being a regular at 5/10 NL and I took some shots at 10/20NL when the games were good.

Even though I made a lot of money playing, I often wish I never played because it didn't really help with my SA. It gave me an excuse to just stay inside and not interact with people. Also, playing at a high level stakes just messes you up emotionally. In order to be successful, you have to be able to win or lose a lot of money and not care at all. This translates over to the real world by not feeling a lot of emotions. I never get excited or upset about anything and I think I have poker to blame for that.


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## coldsorehighlighter (Jun 2, 2010)

Sometimes I play so bad, it hurts my feelings.


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## coldsorehighlighter (Jun 2, 2010)

Feynman said:


> I played semi professionally for a few years. I don't play much any more because it was a whole lot of work and it got to the point where I had to choose between school and poker and I chose school.
> 
> I started by winning $8 in a freeroll and then built my bankroll playing micro and low buy in tournaments. Once I got to a 5 figure bankroll I made the switch to cash games. I broke even forever playing cash games because you need really deep understanding of the game to do well. I finally started to get it and eventually started winning and got up to being a regular at 5/10 NL and I took some shots at 10/20NL when the games were good.
> 
> Even though I made a lot of money playing, I often wish I never played because it didn't really help with my SA. It gave me an excuse to just stay inside and not interact with people. Also, playing at a high level stakes just messes you up emotionally. In order to be successful, you have to be able to win or lose a lot of money and not care at all. This translates over to the real world by not feeling a lot of emotions. I never get excited or upset about anything and I think I have poker to blame for that.


Did you play live cash games? 5/10 NL online is wayyyy harder than in a casino. The fish that have disposable income to gamble at 5/10 NL and higher tend to want the thrill of a casino, not a poker site.

That's still very good though, and good advice as well.


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## Feynman (Sep 24, 2010)

the cheat said:


> Did you play live cash games? 5/10 NL online is wayyyy harder than in a casino. The fish that have disposable income to gamble at 5/10 NL and higher tend to want the thrill of a casino, not a poker site.
> 
> That's still very good though, and good advice as well.


I pretty much only played online. Your right that online games are way tougher than live games. The problem with live is that you can't play very many hands, so even though your expected $/hand is higher you will make less. I could spend a 16 hour day playing and travelling to and from the casino or I could play for 30 minutes in the comfort of my own home and play the same amount of hands.

I should point out that it took a lot of hard work to get to that level. I spent a lot more time studying than actually playing. By studying I mean reading and participating in online discussions, watching videos on training sites like cardrunners and legopoker, and going over all the big hands I played and think about how I could have played them differently.

I wouldn't recommend trying to get into playing poker to actually make decent money, unless you are willing to work really hard, especially with the state of today's online games.


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## coldsorehighlighter (Jun 2, 2010)

Feynman said:


> I pretty much only played online. Your right that online games are way tougher than live games. The problem with live is that you can't play very many hands, so even though your expected $/hand is higher you will make less. I could spend a 16 hour day playing and travelling to and from the casino or I could play for 30 minutes in the comfort of my own home and play the same amount of hands.
> 
> I should point out that it took a lot of hard work to get to that level. I spent a lot more time studying than actually playing. By studying I mean reading and participating in online discussions, watching videos on training sites like cardrunners and legopoker, and going over all the big hands I played and think about how I could have played them differently.
> 
> I wouldn't recommend trying to get into playing poker to actually make decent money, unless you are willing to work really hard, especially with the state of today's online games.


I'd be happy to use sit and go's to make a few hundred dollars a month, between $500 and $1000 would be perfect for me(although I think I can make more). I think I'm going to try this soon, I'm getting staked $750 to start playing a whole bunch of $7.00 SNG's on Stars, to double that asap and play the $15's. 
Any advice? I think I will download and try SNGWiz but I think I understand push/fold ranges in short-handed situations pretty well and that's basically the key. After a month or so, if I'm making decent profit, I'll probably start investing in other learning tools.

I'm sorry poker made your social anxiety worse. Mine can't get worse, it already keeps me inside, so poker is ideal. :yes I would actually get out more, if I could make just a little every month, through poker. The money has to be worth the time invested though, of course.


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## adamac (Feb 1, 2012)

Who's staking you? 

I played live at the casino last night for the first time in ages in a £50 freezeout tournament made the final table and finished 8th when my kings got cracked by aj hitting running jacks lol, winner got 1k too


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## coldsorehighlighter (Jun 2, 2010)

Ouch, sorry to hear it...MTT's crush my soul, so I'd never try to play those for a source of income. I've only won one($1750/425 players/$22 buy-in), but final tabled a bunch.

As for who is staking me, my parents are debating it but it's likely, and two of my sisters are curious as well. I might "sell myself" to them, kinda like shares. 
$10 for 1% of my profit, up to $500/50% of profits. I could adjust the cost per share depending...but it's cool that they're curious. I've had a bunch of decent scores in the past 5 years, a winning player overall, and so maybe with a proper bankroll, and the right game, I could grind up a really BIG bankroll, and start making monthly withdrawals...aka professional.


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## Feynman (Sep 24, 2010)

the cheat said:


> I'd be happy to use sit and go's to make a few hundred dollars a month, between $500 and $1000 would be perfect for me(although I think I can make more). I think I'm going to try this soon, I'm getting staked $750 to start playing a whole bunch of $7.00 SNG's on Stars, to double that asap and play the $15's.
> Any advice? I think I will download and try SNGWiz but I think I understand push/fold ranges in short-handed situations pretty well and that's basically the key. After a month or so, if I'm making decent profit, I'll probably start investing in other learning tools.
> 
> I'm sorry poker made your social anxiety worse. Mine can't get worse, it already keeps me inside, so poker is ideal. :yes I would actually get out more, if I could make just a little every month, through poker. The money has to be worth the time invested though, of course.


I never really played SNGs so I don't really have too much specific advice about those. I think even at the $7 most people have some idea what they doing so your edges are going to be small, so it is very important to have a good understanding of ICM. I would download pokerstove if you have not already and play around with it to get an idea what kind of ranges you should be calling with in certain spots. It is good that you will have a decent bankroll to start off with because being able to handle the swings is key to being successful. Also, to make any money at that level you have to put in a good amount of volume, but you have to be careful not to play too many tables when you start out. You can learn a lot more by playing fewer tables, so you might be better off starting with less and then adding more once you have proven to yourself that you are profitable.


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## coldsorehighlighter (Jun 2, 2010)

Feynman said:


> I never really played SNGs so I don't really have too much specific advice about those. I think even at the $7 most people have some idea what they doing so your edges are going to be small, so it is very important to have a good understanding of ICM. I would download pokerstove if you have not already and play around with it to get an idea what kind of ranges you should be calling with in certain spots. It is good that you will have a decent bankroll to start off with because being able to handle the swings is key to being successful. Also, to make any money at that level you have to put in a good amount of volume, but you have to be careful not to play too many tables when you start out. You can learn a lot more by playing fewer tables, so you might be better off starting with less and then adding more once you have proven to yourself that you are profitable.


I probably understand 9 player sit and go's better than any other form of poker, so I'm very comfortable knowing I can beat them($7/$15 levels) for a positive ROI.
The best part about them is with 9 players starting and 3 getting paid, if I were playing against 8 other people who were exactly equal to me, I'd still cash 1 in 3 times(33%), long-term. Understanding ICM when there are 5 or less players left is what will determine whether I am a winner or a loser, since of the 33% times I finish top 3, I'll need half of them to be 1st's.

Volume and tilt will be the biggest barriers, but with having over 100 buy-in's, it should be alright. I just have to remember that winning or losing a specific sit and go is irrelevant. Every time I sign up for a $7.00 sit and go, I'm making $0.70(10% ROI) whether I win it or lose it. Easier said than done, of course...poker can be infuriating, as I'm sure you are well aware. 

I might be able to get $1000 to start with and if I can, I'm going to start at the $15's instead of the $7's. I did an experiment before where I played "part-time", 25 sit and go's($16 buy-in) every day for 5 days, to see if I could make a profit and I ended up making $350...why I didn't continue, I'll never know. I suppose I wasn't ready mentally. But I am now(at least when it comes to poker lol).


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## duckie (Apr 30, 2012)

i've spent my life learning how to beat this game. before black friday i was surviving 16-tabling $6.50 9-man sng's on stars. when the U.S. was shutout, i was devastated.
i had limited job experience. poker was really all i know. i have a couple of card rooms near me so i started playing live... unfortunately cash games is the only way to make consistent money live.

well, even though live players tend to be really bad. i didn't have a large enough bankroll at the time to figure out how to win at cash.
ended up getting a crappy job at mcdonald's last year so i could rebuild and study cash games.
happy to report that i have put my new skills to work, padded my bankroll, quit my crappy job and am now making money the best way i know how.


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## sleepytime (Feb 18, 2011)

duckie said:


> i've spent my life learning how to beat this game. before black friday i was surviving 16-tabling $6.50 9-man sng's on stars. when the U.S. was shutout, i was devastated.
> i had limited job experience. poker was really all i know. i have a couple of card rooms near me so i started playing live... unfortunately cash games is the only way to make consistent money live.
> 
> well, even though live players tend to be really bad. i didn't have a large enough bankroll at the time to figure out how to win at cash.
> ...


What kind of ROI% were you getting at the 9mans? I'm 10-tabling 45s and getting about 15%. I'd like to give 9mans a try to see if I can handle more tables playing that. My ICM knowledge isn't great, but sufficient for low stakes 45s. I think you probably need a much better understanding of ICM for the 9mans.


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## duckie (Apr 30, 2012)

sleepytime said:


> What kind of ROI% were you getting at the 9mans? I'm 10-tabling 45s and getting about 15%. I'd like to give 9mans a try to see if I can handle more tables playing that. My ICM knowledge isn't great, but sufficient for low stakes 45s. I think you probably need a much better understanding of ICM for the 9mans.


9% ROI but i'm not a gr8 player so it's definitely possible to do better. huge difference between 45's and 9-mans. get SNGwiz if you don't have it already. only tool you really need to beat 9mans imo.

multi-tabling is the only way to make any decent money off these low buy-in games. seems like forever since i played online but i do remember using tableninja and stacking my tables. i've played a handful of 24-table sessions but was most comfortable with 16.


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## sleepytime (Feb 18, 2011)

duckie said:


> 9% ROI but i'm not a gr8 player so it's definitely possible to do better. huge difference between 45's and 9-mans. get SNGwiz if you don't have it already. only tool you really need to beat 9mans imo.
> 
> multi-tabling is the only way to make any decent money off these low buy-in games. seems like forever since i played online but i do remember using tableninja and stacking my tables. i've played a handful of 24-table sessions but was most comfortable with 16.


9% is really good for 9mans, the very best 9man players at each limit are usually around the 10% mark as far I know. The really good 45man players are getting 20-30%, I think a lot of 9man players have moved to 45s or 180s simply because they are softer/more profitable.


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## forex (Dec 29, 2010)

any tips , basic stuff


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## sleepytime (Feb 18, 2011)

forex said:


> any tips , basic stuff


Pokerstrategy.com is a good place to start. They'll give you a free $50 to play with at a poker room if you sign up through their site. They also provide you with training (articles and videos) for whichever type of game you want to play. It's a great way to get started because you needn't risk a penny of your own money.

The 'Harrington on holdem' book series is good for learning how to play big field tournaments. Colin Moshman's 'Sit and go strategy' is pretty good for learning Sngs.


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## duckie (Apr 30, 2012)

sleepytime said:


> 9% is really good for 9mans, the very best 9man players at each limit are usually around the 10% mark as far I know. The really good 45man players are getting 20-30%, I think a lot of 9man players have moved to 45s or 180s simply because they are softer/more profitable.


thanks, but i think at the $6 level a top player could average 12%. idk, maybe i'm dreaming. last time i played them i'd estimate about 25% of the field understood the game to a high degree. about the same percentage of players were giving away their money and the other 50% were about break-even players at best. so still enough bad players in the game to show a profit.

larger fields are probably more profitable but i liked the fast pace game of turbo sng's. most of your decisions are easy when your playing short stack poker.
also think of it this way: even though you will have a higher ROI in 45's and 180's, those games take longer to complete. so your hourly average is very likely to be close to the same no matter what your playing.



forex said:


> any tips , basic stuff


in-addition to what he said i'd check out twoplustwo. the poker forums are a great place to get some free advice. plenty of bad advice too so don't assume everything you read is fact until you can prove it to yourself.


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## sleepytime (Feb 18, 2011)

duckie said:


> in-addition to what he said i'd check out twoplustwo. the poker forums are a great place to get some free advice. plenty of bad advice too so don't assume everything you read is fact until you can prove it to yourself.


Yea, twoplustwo is definitely the best poker site there is once you understand a little about the game already, and as you say, can tell good advice from bad advice and wind up merchants. The sticky posts in the sng/mtt/cash forums all good resources that you can trust. There are a lot of people over there who aren't very beginner friendly, the 'beginners forum' is fine though.


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## coldsorehighlighter (Jun 2, 2010)

I'm about to play the SCOOP Main Event(Low). Should only be about...20000 entries...:blank


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## sleepytime (Feb 18, 2011)

the cheat said:


> I'm about to play the SCOOP Main Event(Low). Should only be about...20000 entries...:blank


Good luck I'm too much of a nit to pay into it....some seriously nice prize money though!


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## coldsorehighlighter (Jun 2, 2010)

I don't want to say Poker Stars is rigged, but if I'm all in as a 90%+ favourite, you can bet I'm going to lose. :eek


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## TimeConsumer (Sep 4, 2012)

I went to a casino for the first time last week and was pretty out of it too. I walked up to the place where you get chips, dropped a $100 bill and sat at a table. $300 later I left the casino with $855, a net profit of $550.

All I could think afterwards was that that was so easy and fun! The first $100 I was up like $500 before I lost everything. The second $100 I was up like $250 before I lost everything. The third $100 I was up $200 and then hit a big pot which tripled my money. The one guy who seemed to know what he was doing was even surprised that I kept doubling my money so fast. Others left the table and didn't return after losing a couple hundred dollars so I figure I must be doing something right. 

Should I pursue playing poker and start studying the game? I've played in online tourneys for $5-10 but they seem like a big money waster. I don't even think I'd play live tournaments. The ability to just walk away at any time seems so appealing to me.


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## Winds (Apr 17, 2011)

the cheat said:


> I don't want to say Poker Stars is rigged, but if I'm all in as a 90%+ favourite, you can bet I'm going to lose. :eek


It's a reason why people call it:










What I found when I played that site, was that players were more likely to overplay hands like Ace-weak and flush draws compared to other sites, especially at the lower end tables. The result is a lot of runner runner, straights, flushes, and two pairs.


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