playing poker to win money

[Voltron87]

I think I have gotten to a point in my game where I can play TAG midlimit poker in my sleep. I don't have any major leaks that can stop me from being a winning player. There are still thousands of better players than me, but you should see what I'm trying to say here. By this point in my poker career I have a very solid winrate, and I'm playing to churn out income rather than move up or improve. I'm young, I can earn way, way more playing poker than anything else.

Now, lessons I've learned, aka the point of this point and something you can hopefully find useful. I've gotten to the point where I don't think much about each play, I basically know whaat to do to win. In the last month I have put a big effort to play more hands. After playing 2K+ hands a day the most important thing to winning money is keeping my composure and keeping sharp. It's not really about whether my vpip should be higher, or if I am not bluffing in certain situations, its about playing the same way in hour 4 as I did 30 minutes into the session. This used to not be a problem for me when I only played 1K hands a day or even less.

So when you play a lot of poker, you are going to make mistakes. You are going to do some genuinely stupid stuff from time to time. This is the price of playing 6+ hours a day. When this happens to you, do not worry. No one is superhuman, no one plays perfect. Don't get mad at yourself for making a mistake you wouldnt usually make. It is impossible to avoid this, so just move on and dont let that knock you off your game. Keep playing, realize that if you play enough everyone will make mistakes, and dont let that put you on tilt and cause more mistakes. When I initially upped the bulk of hands I played I started saying to myself "wtf did you bluff there for, that was stupid". It's inevitable, dont kill yourself over a mistake if that is going to put you on tilt.

so when you start playing a lot, learn to deal and live with your mistakes rather than expecting yourself to play perfectly. if you expect too much of yourself you will set unreasonable standards. unreasonable standards will get you out of a good frame of mind. Expecting to play 1K hands without screwing up is unreasonable. This took me a while to learn. When you make a mistake, dont beat yourself up, it is inevitable, just deal with it in a way where it does not cause more mistakes. I really screwed this one up for a long time, so hopefully I can help you avoid it.

if you want to win money playing poker, learn to deal with your mistakes rather than expect to eradicate them. im finally done., and this is probably really repetitive.

[CaptainNoBeard]

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learn to deal and live with your mistakes rather than expecting yourself to play perfectly

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i think you're really undervaluing how much you can (and should) learn by going over your mistakes and correcting them. don't be content. there's always another leak to plug. not everything can be attributed to lack of focus after a long session, but the problem with the "mistakes happen" mentality is that certain leaks will go under the radar, passed off as unavoidable mistakes.

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I'm playing to churn out income rather than move up or improve. I'm young, I can earn way, way more playing poker than anything else.


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improve. move up. churn out more income.

[jkkkk]

I think this is a good post, being resilient is essential when playing a large number of hands each day.

That said, why don't you move up?

[punter11235]

Yeah I agree about mistakes part. I estimate that I tilt about 7 buyins a week and I am still winning player (and winning quite nicely).
I find it a little strange that you dont want to move up. C'mon you are young and you can afford few months of lesser earnings in hope to winning big in the future.
Of course, its possible to make like 10k/month playing 3-4hours/day at 200NL and that's certainly enough money to make living but I think that after few years of this you will be bored as hell and unable to learn as fast as you can now (cause playing 200NL is like brainwashing).

Best wishes

[Voltron87]

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I think this is a good post, being resilient is essential when playing a large number of hands each day.

That said, why don't you move up?

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well im definitely going to move up soon, but right now i need the source of income and the variance at 200 6m is great. so when i get to a better financial place i will certainly move up, but making 120/hr with practically no risk of going broke is too good to pass right now. when i get enough money saved away to live for a while i will definitely move up.

[chumsferd]

Good post.

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I really screwed this one up for a long time, so hopefully I can help you avoid it.

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So, what happened? did it just go away with more table time? did you gain some kind of spiritual enlightenment one day? or were there things you actively did that helped you become a mentally well-balanced poker player? Are there things that you would recommend to others to do if they truely wish to reach poker-zen?

[Voltron87]

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learn to deal and live with your mistakes rather than expecting yourself to play perfectly

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i think you're really undervaluing how much you can (and should) learn by going over your mistakes and correcting them. don't be content. there's always another leak to plug. not everything can be attributed to lack of focus after a long session, but the problem with the "mistakes happen" mentality is that certain leaks will go under the radar, passed off as unavoidable mistakes.

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I'm playing to churn out income rather than move up or improve. I'm young, I can earn way, way more playing poker than anything else.


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improve. move up. churn out more income.

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thanks for replying. im not really trying to say "im done improving, lets make some cash!!", what im trying to say is everyone will get to a point where not doing the right thing because you are tired/ have played a long session is more of an obstacle than not knowing what to do. your point is definitely valid though.

[Voltron87]

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Good post.

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I really screwed this one up for a long time, so hopefully I can help you avoid it.

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So, what happened? did it just go away with more table time? did you gain some kind of spiritual enlightenment one day? or were there things you actively did that helped you become a mentally well-balanced poker player? Are there things that you would recommend to others to do if they truely wish to reach poker-zen?

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i've reached a seriously crazy poker zen level. i just play the hands the right way, and always tell myself that is all you can do. thats the only thing i can control. i also get sick of people complaining about how bad they are running, etc, and i said to myself "im not going to be one of those people, im going to play the poker and what happens happens.

i think something that definitely helped was being a winning player for a long time, and having a large bankroll. when i started 200 nl i was like "oh man, this is a bigger level, these people are going to be good" and i was nervous. i was taking a shot, so i kept an eye on my account level. this lead me to be waaay too angry over mistakes. fast forward to today: now i think "200nl is easily beatable" and im not doubting myself. i used to wonder if i was a winning player... playing enough hands and you wont.

i think mostly it is a lot of table time. my advice is:

keep a huge bankroll

get to a point where you are 100% sure you can beat a level, where you know youre a winner. youve got to believe you can win and not doubt yourself.

(biggest one imho)= DONT COMPLAIN. thats life, thats poker, etc. that is the nature of the game, its a gambling game. you really think this is an simple game to play and win at? dont expect it to be easy. dont expect money handed to you on a silver platter. deal with it, everyone winning player before you gets bad beats and has people disconnect against them, you think they just whined about it?

this relates to all walks of life, i cant stand people who cant deal with a little adversity. and the adversity im talking about inconsequential stuff compared to a real hard life, for example you could have been born a thai sex slave. they get to complain. i dont. there are tons of people in this country who feel entitled to everything, dont. dont feel entitled in poker. bad stuff is going to happen, dont expect it not to. when it does, just say to youself "no one said it was gonna be easy" and keep on trucking.

[chumsferd]

Again, good post.

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you could have been born a thai sex slave

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Hmm... enduring image... next time I feel like I'm suffering at the poker tables this is going to go through my mind. I'm not sure that is a good thing...

Voltron:

If you can seriously live this way and play poker with this attitude, you have reached a pretty "zen" state of mind in life, not just poker. Well done.

[BZ_Zorro]

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i think something that definitely helped was being a winning player for a long time, and having a large bankroll.

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This is the key. If you can lose two buyins and not even notice, it makes a huge difference. What's $200 when you've got $5000 in your account? I think most average to decent players at low stakes lose mostly to tilt, and bankroll is the best way to counter this imo.

[Ghazban]

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i think something that definitely helped was being a winning player for a long time, and having a large bankroll.

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This is the key. If you can lose two buyins and not even notice, it makes a huge difference. What's $200 when you've got $5000 in your account? I think most average to decent players at low stakes lose mostly to tilt, and bankroll is the best way to counter this imo.

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There's a flip side to it, too. Sometime people play poorly when they're overbankrolled because the stakes are too small to be meaningful for them. You've got to find a happy medium where you aren't playing scared but aren't playing carelessly either.

[subzero]

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There's a flip side to it, too. Sometime people play poorly when they're overbankrolled because the stakes are too small to be meaningful for them. You've got to find a happy medium where you aren't playing scared but aren't playing carelessly either.

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Good point. People here recommend 20 buy-ins, but I personally need more or else it effects me too much when I get stacked. And I play at limits that matter to me. Each person has to find his/her comfort zone.

[Voltron87]

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Voltron:

If you can seriously live this way and play poker with this attitude, you have reached a pretty "zen" state of mind in life, not just poker. Well done.

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poker has taught me a lot. im a vastly more mature and knowledgable person for having learnt to play it right.

[IamLeach]

These are the posts that keep me playing. I get so far into Tilt somtimes that it lasts days and I hate myself for being so damn stupid in elementary situations. Somtimes I get so down on myself i think,"Well maybe I am just not cut out for poker" But i can't give up so easily. I need this competition and this one thing I can constantly strive to be great at. And when I get so damn irritated, posts like this help me to calm down take a step back and re-approach the game. TY

[Voltron87]

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These are the posts that keep me playing. I get so far into Tilt somtimes that it lasts days and I hate myself for being so damn stupid in elementary situations. Somtimes I get so down on myself i think,"Well maybe I am just not cut out for poker" But i can't give up so easily. I need this competition and this one thing I can constantly strive to be great at. And when I get so damn irritated, posts like this help me to calm down take a step back and re-approach the game. TY

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it took me a long time to get to this point. ive made a ton of mistakes my poker career as well. ive been bust a bunch of times, though not recently.

[punter11235]

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keep a huge bankroll

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I agree. When you have sth like 50xbuyin you can actually think about the game not about swings. When I switched from "move up quickly" mode when I moved up having 15xbuying (shortstack first) to "move up safely" mode my game improved a ton. I am still "tilting" (mainly because I am bored) from time to time and still making some stupid mistakes but I never get mad about swings , never think sth like : "oh, so much money, 2k pot and he sucked out to his 2outer.. oh 2k... I could buy so many cool things with that". I couldnt imagine playing with "safe" 20xbuyin bankroll... I feel I wouldnt be able to make correct decisions in pots cointaing like 15% of whole bankroll. And I wouldnt be able to play correctly after losing such a pot.

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(biggest one imho)= DONT COMPLAIN. thats life, thats poker, etc. that is the nature of the game, its a gambling game. you really think this is an simple game to play and win at? dont expect it to be easy. dont expect money handed to you on a silver platter. deal with it, everyone winning player before you gets bad beats and has people disconnect against them, you think they just whined about it?


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Heh I agree you described it well. My first "bad beat" post will be my last here.

Best wishes