Winning big - The worst scenario for new players?

[DCWGaming]

From what i've seen, it seems like the worst thing that could happen to an online beginner is that he could turn his initial 50$ into a thousands.

Most of us didnt run into that kind of luck. We started out small, maybe won a bit and thought we were great, lost it right back, tried to figure out where we went wrong, and improve our game.

But for the new guys who did end up getting 4 or 5 figures out of their first buyin... Almost all of them dont have the skill to maintain it, and end up losing it as fast as they won. And then once they're down to a couple 100 from thousands... Its like they went from drinking coca-cola for a caffeine buzz to railing lines of cocaine, and then trying to go back to cocacola.

Everyone i know (only 3 or 4 people) who ended up in huge gambling debt started out with a huge winning streak.

Any thoughts?

[MagicMan08]

I know if I won that much money online I would go from coca-cola to railing lines of cocaine...dayum!

[Bodhi]

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From what i've seen, it seems like the worst thing that could happen to an online beginner is that he could turn his initial 50$ into a thousands.

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Guilty as charged, though I would say it's a bad thing.

[Joshssj4]

Happened to me.

[William Wilson]

I don't know if it's all that bad. Dealing with the $3,000 or so I lost after my $50 deposit was a huge lesson for me. If a person survives this, and deals with it properly, I think it can only help.

These days I'm less eager to stretch my bankroll, I'm more realistic about my abilities, and I'm more open to expert advice.

The beginner wants to think he's Mikey McD, born with a gift that magically enables him to win millions from hopeless suckers (these are the players who throw the word "Donkey" around in .50/1 games). They will ignore logic to stay with that dream.

I think if they can survive the fall back to earth and still maintain the drive to play, they are all the better for it.

If one plunges into debt chasing that first streak, that says more about the person than it does the game, IMO.

[Joshssj4]

[ QUOTE ]
I don't know if it's all that bad. Dealing with the $3,000 or so I lost after my $50 deposit was a huge lesson for me. If a person survives this, and deals with it properly, I think it can only help.

These days I'm less eager to stretch my bankroll, I'm more realistic about my abilities, and I'm more open to expert advice.

The beginner wants to think he's Mikey McD, born with a gift that magically enables him to win millions from hopeless suckers (these are the players who throw the word "Donkey" around in .50/1 games). They will ignore logic to stay with that dream.

I think if they can survive the fall back to earth and still maintain the drive to play, they are all the better for it.

If one plunges into debt chasing that first streak, that says more about the person than it does the game, IMO.

[/ QUOTE ]
Agreed, entirely.

I know people who have won thousands and thousands and then tanked it all. I had a friend who won a huge rebuy and then won two seats to the WSOP and cashed one of the seats for a total prize of around $16000 in the span of two weeks. Not even a month later this foo was hitting me up wanting me to transfer him $100. I was like what the hell did you do with that money!!!! He had won so much he figured he could win twice as much playing the high stakes...what an idiot. The guy still owes me $300 so I guess I wasn't the smartest person in the world either for loaning him cash. I myself had a great 2 months winning $5300 with a $20 investment and then won several sit and go's and finished up about $7000 total. I took the $5300 and paid off my car and took the leftover cash and bought just about every poker book and DVD on the market. A good investment for sure. I guess I would just advise someone to not get crazy with the cash flow!!! It goes faster than it comes.

[MikeNaked]

Happened to me...luckily (?) I'm risk-averse enough to continue to grind it out, level-by-level, until I'm confident financially and mentally to move up.

[The Don]

I lost 3 or 4 $50 buyins before I reached 4 and (just recently) 5 figures. I made it to $600 and lost it all twice while learning. I think it is hard for new players to realize that there is variance and you are (in the short term) at the mercy of the cards.

[fimbulwinter]

i was super lucky and lost my first three deposits. yay for me.

fim

[ThaHero]

Guess I should be happy i lost my initial deposit and ran a second one up to $300 before almost losing all that and dropping back down sheepishly. Hopefully I dont loose much more!

[Nigel]

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From what i've seen, it seems like the worst thing that could happen to an online beginner is that he could turn his initial 50$ into a thousands.

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Why? Sounds good to me.

[xorbie]

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i was super lucky and lost my first three deposits. yay for me.

fim

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[psyduck]

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i was super lucky and lost my first 7 deposits. yay for me.



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fixed for me.

then I learnt a ton and am doing well now /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[stigmata]

The only way to run a small deposit up into big figures is to have a lot of "Gamble" in the first place.

E.g. You run hot at 3/6 and then take that to 15/30 where you have a 30BB roll, run hot there, etc. For the sort of person who approaches poker in this way, I agree that the worst thing that can happen is that they actually win big. It just encourages and reinforces there risk taking behaviour.

On the other hand, if you approach the game in a sensible manner - as many eventual winners do - it is pretty much impossible to go on such an enormous streak (tournaments excepted).

[Dave H.]

I have to agree with you. I'm an ultra conservative individual by nature. I started with $12 of THEIR money, and never contributed a dime of "my own". I started at the .02/.04 tables and it took me 4 months just to get to $40 playing .02/.04, then .05/.10

However, even though I do consider myself conservative by nature, I believe that winning big from the get go would have delayed my education immensely. I mean, why study if I'm winning and if I'm clueless (as a beginner) that it takes studying? Eventually, I'm sure I would have buckled down and educated myself, but it would have taken far longer had I had a great run from the start.

[Jorge10]

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I mean, why study if I'm winning and if I'm clueless (as a beginner) that it takes studying? Eventually, I'm sure I would have buckled down and educated myself, but it would have taken far longer had I had a great run from the start.

[/ QUOTE ]

I sort of started really well, but I still studied for some reason I have always enjoyed reading poker books, I guess im weird like that.

Anyway I disagree starting out well is not a bad thing for some. I never actually deposited any money on ub, but I used points to enter money tourneys and won 3k off tourneys and I spent it all on stupid crap because I had no bankroll management skills, I am currently a cash game player that has been winning consistently for months and yes I have experienced two major downswings including a two week one which was brutal, but I am still winning. Still if I hadnt gone broke after that initial cash I won, I would have never played cash games because I would have kept thinking, why play cash games when its so easy to win at tourneys.

Of course some people do get screwed because some people win a lot and just assume its always going to be that good. They assume I won 14k in two months, its always going to be like this and they start thinking I rather do this than my job and so on and so forth. Thats the reason people chase their initial run because they are obviously unhappy or unsatisfied with their current situation and want more money among other things. But the people that get screwed by their initial upswing are people who were probably unhappy to begin with and you cant really blame their initial rush of cards for screwing them, they were already screwed up.

[britspin]

I suppose it depends on your definition of big and fast. I made an initial £25 depost, which gave me, I remember, $44.33. I've since cashed out £1,800, and have £989 in the account now. i regard this achievement with awe. I know I'm no ivey, but I can't quite believe people gave me all that money! It's peanuts compared to most here, but I'm ashamed to say I'm proud of it.

However, It's taken a couple of years. I started off playing 0.05/0.10 limit and 25c STTs and moved up limits v. slowly and v. gradually. I'm now at the giddy height of $1/$2 and $10 - $25 STT and occ MTT.

I'm know at some point I'll reach my limit- the game i'm not beating, the players that are better than me- the challenge will then be to recognise it quickly enough that it doesn't hurt too much.

slow and steady wins the race, I guess.

[malorum]

You will get distracted by the noise (variance)to start with or you aint human.

In the short run your income is tied to a random walk and this messes with your head.

The only way to overcome this without 'geniune' familiarity with applied statistics, is to multitable asap.
You should be able to do this on limit games profitably even as a losing player (with bonus crutches).
Your first 100k hands should give you a feel for the variance.

Till you got those recorded don't kid yourself and don't despair.

[William Wilson]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm know at some point I'll reach my limit- the game i'm not beating, the players that are better than me- the challenge will then be to recognise it quickly enough that it doesn't hurt too much.

[/ QUOTE ]

IMO, if you continue to take care of your bankroll as you have, there's no reason this HAS to happen. To think so is negative.

[MagnoliasFM]

My friend hit a monster rush the first time he played 3/6...winning nearly a month's salary (he works for minimum wage) and told me that he was going to quit his job. I told him not to; still haven't heard from him lol.

[TomCollins]

[ QUOTE ]
My friend hit a monster rush the first time he played 3/6...winning nearly a month's salary (he works for minimum wage) and told me that he was going to quit his job. I told him not to; still haven't heard from him lol.

[/ QUOTE ]

What is that, like 50BB?