How Did Your Poker Career Start Off

I have been playing poker just over 2 months now. I am reading as many poker books as I can, contributing to the forums, and generally trying to imerse myself in the game. I started off playing on Royal Vegas and The Gaming Club, as they gave a free deposit. I managed to win $200 by coming 8th out of 369 in The Gaming Club 5k rookie freeroll, but most of my energies has gone into playing the Sit and Go's. I have played 70 $2.50's , my ITM is just over 40% with my ROI about 17%. I started off well, incredibly so, but I am on a pretty bad run at the moment. I know that is an incredibly small figure to get any pattern. I just want to get a general feel for how long it took people for their A game to kick in

I was wondering how long it took for people to become good players and how their learning curve went. What kind of percentages were you seeing early on, and what kind are you getting now? What is a good ITM and ROI to call someone a good poker player?

I am just about to read Dan Harrington's 2 books and am hoping they will improve my game a lot.

[Doc7]

harrington's first book made an immediate and drastic change in my poker game for the better. first poker book that i read seriously, and I didn't regret buying it within an hour of opening it.

[skirtus]

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I just want to get a general feel for how long it took people for their A game to kick in

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I wish I had an A game. I'll let you know when my B game kicks in. Hopefully it happens soon.

[beeyjay]

I spent 500 bucks a few years ago playing anything from nl cash games to sngs to mtts thinking I had half a clue. Right when I was pretty much out of money to put in I hit a monster run in mtts finishing 1st, 2nd, and a couple top 15s in a week and realized that i was in fact the greatest poker player ever and that I should clearly be playing 5/10 limit games with the money i won playing 20 nl mtts. Obviously I threw most of it away and kept myself barely above water with mtts and sngs. Then it hit me this was where all my money was coming from and i got serious about actually trying to play within my bankroll and focus on the games that were actually profitable for me. Within a few months I moved from the 10s to the 30s and chilled then played the 50s for maybe 8 months now. I usually binge and get bored of the game and purge and then play again when my accounts get drained. all in all i cant really complain. my game still has so many leaks its kind of laughable but after a break when i come back and play some 20s or 30s to get back in the swing it occurs to me just how much i have improved. games that used to seem scary and tough when i first started playing them are a joke now.

[ilya]

I've been playing seriously for about a year now, but as I have little natural talent I still suck. However it beats working in an office, for me anyway, so I've tried to swallow my pride and keep at it. I started playing when I was stuck in London for a few months last summer with too little money to go out much. So, I played my first SnGs at an internet cafe (worst...rake...ever), and wrote down my first results in the margins of novels I was reading. I knew about 2+2 from a college friend, so before long I started lurking and posting here even as I was cramming my brain with all the usual books. "Aleo"'s old guide and a couple of posts by Jason Strasser set me on my way. Soon after I returned from London, I won a $30 MTT, and suddenly had a bankroll of about 4k. I had quit my job shortly before going to England, and finding that I was making money with poker decided to keep doing. Been at it since....like it better than the few other jobs I've had.

As a side note, I would say that I've learned as much from Ciaffone and Reuben's NL/PL book as from any of 2+2s. This book doesn't get enough love around here, so I thought I'd give a shout out.

[maddog2030]

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As a side note, I would say that I've learned as much from Ciaffone and Reuben's NL/PL book as from any of 2+2s. This book doesn't get enough love around here, so I thought I'd give a shout out.

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I bought this book a while back based on your recommendation. It didn't have quite as much content as I had hoped, but nevertheless was a good book for someone looking to pick up some basic NL concepts.

[Maulik]

As a side note, I would say that I've learned as much from Ciaffone and Reuben's NL/PL book as from any of 2+2s. This book doesn't get enough love around here, so I thought I'd give a shout out.

I can't agree with you more. This book is solid.

[shejk]

Is that the one with the chapter "integrate your game"? That's a really good one imo (the chapter).

As for the poker career, it hasn't really taken off yet. It started with some playing with friends, followed by some tilty microlimit playing. Almost a year break, and then like 500 sngs later I was playing the 109s. Now I'm trying out playing mtts pretty much exclusively. Like the stt forums much better though... /images/graemlins/smile.gif

I'm moving to the states in a month though so maybe I'll give live action a real shot.

[The Yugoslavian]

I started out on a heater. Just like you and everyone else on this forum.

Duh.

Yugoslav

[sobroke]

ive been playin poker for like 2yrs, but only seriously as a supplemental income for only 1yr....your prolly studying the game much more than i did when i started....which is very good.....reading gives u knowlege, but playing give u the more important experience....play 1000 more sngs....youll notice a drastic change in ur game......

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I started out on a heater. Just like you and everyone else on this forum.

Duh.

Yugoslav

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+1, though i still suck

[Nottom]

I had been playing with friends/coworkers in microlimit home games for a few years before I decided to take the plunge to internet poker in Jan 2003.

I made a deposit to UB and lost it in a couple days. I made another deposit and lost that too. I made a 3rd deposit and lost it. At this point I realized, the online stragy guide I was using might not be so great. I found 2+2, bought some books, made another deposit, went on a heater, and was off and running.

I played low/micros for most of that year without really getting anywhere. I would make some money and blow it playing over my BR. At some point I moved to paradise and would occasionally put some money on Party (remember I started before the WPT so party wasn't the monster it is today, its expolsive growth was just starting) to clear a bonus, but I could never beat all the loose fish there /images/graemlins/mad.gif and would come back to Paradise. Eventually all the overplaying of my BR caught up with my meager winrate and I lost my tiny BR.

I was frustrated to say the least. The the Initial OIC rolled around. It seemed fun, and I could get a free $150 so I signed up. I did ok at the OIC making it to the 5/10 level before giving up. TGC was running $7K toureny with pretty nice overlays at the time so I started playing those and doing pretty well. One day I fished 2nd for a $1500 win and along with a few other decent finishes decided to take my TGC winnings and give Party another shot since by now, Nov 2003, it was the place to be for the best games.

I made my deposit and started playing 2/4 limit and immediately went on a nice run, allowing me to keep a decent BR for the limit and still make my first 4 digit cashout just in time for Christmas.

Then in January, I got layed off from work. I decided I needed to take the opportunity to go back to school. Since I didn't expect to find a decent job that would allow me to go to class I turned to poker. Played limit all last year and after a frustrating couple months turned to SNG in Feb of this year. I haven't had the sort of success you always here people bragging about on the forums, but I can't really complain as my hourly rate is still higher than it would be at any job I would expect to find around here which is made less impressive by my pathetic work ethic when it comes to playing the hourse I need.

Anywho ... there ya go.