How Long Did It Take For You To Become A Winning Player?

[Desdia72]

let's say you play ring/cash games. what limit did you start at? how long did it take at that limit to become a winning/$ucce$$ful player? next, how long did it take for you advance to higher and higher limits?

ex. started at $.50/$1.00- became a winning player in two months and advance to $1.00/$2.00 (six months). then i advanced to $2.00/$4.00 holdem where i stayed for another six months to now i'm at my current level, $5.00/$10.00.

does'nt have to pertain to just holdem ring games. if you play omaha, omaha hilo, stud, stud hilo, MTTs, or SNGs...the same applies.

*note- i'm not an IRS investigator wanting to know HOW MUCH YOU MADE. i'm a player with under a year on experience looking to see how long it took my fellow players to advance in limits and skill.

[Tosh]

When does one become a winning player?

[Kurn, son of Mogh]

I started playing seriously about 3 years ago. I had a small + figure on the bottom line at the end of last year, and am ahead for this year. Maybe it's how I approach the refinement of my game, but I still don't consider myself a winning player.

Part of this is due to the fact that I switched my primary focus for this year. previously, I had focused most of my playing time on 3/6 Hold'em ring games online. This year, my focus is NLHE SNGs. That decision was based on an assessment of my own strengths and weaknesses and where I thought I had the biggest edge.

i'm a player with under a year on experience looking to see how long it took my fellow players to advance in limits and skill.

Patience, Grasshopper. Accept the fact that to keep the bottom line positive you'll always need to keep learning. Many "winning players" have losing years and vice versa.

It should be irrelevant to you how fast X, Y, or Z players moved up in stakes. Find your own path. Creating artifical benchmarks can only make a complex task more frustrating.

[Desdia72]

[ QUOTE ]
I started playing seriously about 3 years ago. I had a small + figure on the bottom line at the end of last year, and am ahead for this year. Maybe it's how I approach the refinement of my game, but I still don't consider myself a winning player.

Part of this is due to the fact that I switched my primary focus for this year. previously, I had focused most of my playing time on 3/6 Hold'em ring games online. This year, my focus is NLHE SNGs. That decision was based on an assessment of my own strengths and weaknesses and where I thought I had the biggest edge.

i'm a player with under a year on experience looking to see how long it took my fellow players to advance in limits and skill.

Patience, Grasshopper. Accept the fact that to keep the bottom line positive you'll always need to keep learning. Many "winning players" have losing years and vice versa.

It should be irrelevant to you how fast X, Y, or Z players moved up in stakes. Find your own path. Creating artifical benchmarks can only make a complex task more frustrating.

[/ QUOTE ]

this has nothing to do with artificial benchmarks and finding your own path to becoming a winning player. it's simply just a straightfoward question. no need to take the question to places it does'nt need to go. this question is not about MY development as a player. it's a question of others experiences in development. if the question is irrelevant, i'm thinking XYZ player would'nt bother in responding.

[Jason Strasser]

I started playing poker online 10 months ago. I opened up an account with a friend on Party, and we decided to play a few multis together just to get our feet wet. On our second try, we got very fortunate, and placed 4th in a multi and cashed $1200. Then we split the money, and went our separate ways.

I used my $600 roll to start playing sit and gos at the $30 level. There was no $20 limit at the time on party, and I felt I could beat the $30's fine. So I played those, and I maintained a solid ROI of about 32%. I would withdraw money when my bank account reached $1000, because I needed the money for my living expenses in college.

Eventually, I gave myself a $1200 roll and began to play the $50 SNGs. My ROI went down slightly, but I made more money overall. I began playing multis and having poor results, very often busting at the bubble, or making dumb mistakes. I made a few final tables here and there in $20-$50 buy ins, but I never made more than a grand in a multi.

Then came the bigger tourny's, which I fould were quite easy to qualify for. I know the top players on party, and often they even qualify for the bigger $$$ tourny's through single tables. I watch for tables without known players, and sit at them. If you count second places as a scratch (you get your money back), I usually qualify 1/4-1/5. Which meant I paid usually around 80 dollars to play in the 150-200 buy ins.

I caught my break three weeks ago, when I cashed in second in the super monday for 17 grand, and now I have given myself a proper bankroll for the $100 sng level. When I feel comfortable, I'll move up to the $200 level.

My story is fairly atypical, and I guess lucky, but i think fairly interesting for a 19 year old in college.

Edit: Oh, am I a winning player? Well what's a winning player? I'm very sure I can't count on cashing huge again in another multi...

[Kurn, son of Mogh]

this has nothing to do with artificial benchmarks and finding your own path

Then you question is simply one of idle curiosity. Fine. I can see you have everything figured out. Good luck at the tables.

[Desdia72]

[ QUOTE ]
I started playing poker online 10 months ago. I opened up an account with a friend on Party, and we decided to play a few multis together just to get our feet wet. On our second try, we got very fortunate, and placed 4th in a multi and cashed $1200. Then we split the money, and went our separate ways.

I used my $600 roll to start playing sit and gos at the $30 level. There was no $20 limit at the time on party, and I felt I could beat the $30's fine. So I played those, and I maintained a solid ROI of about 32%. I would withdraw money when my bank account reached $1000, because I needed the money for my living expenses in college.

Eventually, I gave myself a $1200 roll and began to play the $50 SNGs. My ROI went down slightly, but I made more money overall. I began playing multis and having poor results, very often busting at the bubble, or making dumb mistakes. I made a few final tables here and there in $20-$50 buy ins, but I never made more than a grand in a multi.

Then came the bigger tourny's, which I fould were quite easy to qualify for. I know the top players on party, and often they even qualify for the bigger $$$ tourny's through single tables. I watch for tables without known players, and sit at them. If you count second places as a scratch (you get your money back), I usually qualify 1/4-1/5. Which meant I paid usually around 80 dollars to play in the 150-200 buy ins.

I caught my break three weeks ago, when I cashed in second in the super monday for 17 grand, and now I have given myself a proper bankroll for the $100 sng level. When I feel comfortable, I'll move up to the $200 level.

My story is fairly atypical, and I guess lucky, but i think fairly interesting for a 19 year old in college.

Edit: Oh, am I a winning player? Well what's a winning player? I'm very sure I can't count on cashing huge again in another multi...

[/ QUOTE ]

that's a great story, man. that's the type of answer i'm looking for. your story motivates me. i wish you continued success. i'm sure you'll make another big cash. hell, just doing well in $50 and $100 SNGs, i'm sure they bring a pretty good income.

[Sandwich]

Wow Jason that's very impressive. Obviously you'd been playing and studying the game for much longer than your 10 months online, right?

I'd be curious to hear to what you attribute your success....

[Desdia72]

[ QUOTE ]
this has nothing to do with artificial benchmarks and finding your own path

Then you question is simply one of idle curiosity. Fine. I can see you have everything figured out. Good luck at the tables.

[/ QUOTE ]

no, i don't have everything figured out at the tabels. that has nothing to do with this thread. it's not that serious of a question to where anybody should be suggesting things like, "find your own path" or "don't use the developmental speed and time of others as a barometer to gauge yours". that was a problem with the 50% thread. people (other than me) started bringing up that 50% ITM was not sustainable over the long run when the thread never asked that.

[Jason Strasser]

[ QUOTE ]
I'd be curious to hear to what you attribute your success....

[/ QUOTE ]

Ha, my success? I've had only a tiny bit of success compared to all (ok, most) of the veterans on this site. GotMilk, Fossilman, Diplomat, etc... Now they have stories to tell much more interesting than mine.

But in terms of studying the game and such, I read 2+2 religiously, read all the Sklansky I could get my hands on, and really try to make adjustments using PokerTracker. I used to misplay mid pocket pairs a lot, and I used to slowplay a LOT more than I do now.