First day of real money poker

[eric5148]

Well, I deposited $150 into UB. Today was the first day in my life I played poker for real money. I've been playing seriously for 4 months. I'm playing .25/.50 limit. I have a few questions and two hands to ask you all about. If anyone cares I'll update you on my progress here.

1. When should you move up/down in limit? Is there a certain number of BB you should win/lose? As you can see I started out with 300 BB because that seems to be what most people here say will cover normal fluctuations.

2. Why does Phil Hellmuth play such low limits? Whenever I see him on Ultimate Buddy he's playing 3/6 omaha or 2/4 holdem. One would imagine that a player of Phil's caliber could make a lot more money at higher limits.

3. What other books should I read? I have WLLH, HPFAP, TPFAP, Theory of Poker, Psychology of Poker, and Inside the Poker Mind.

Okay, here's 2 hands from today. The first one is a hand I won, but I fear I played it too loosely. The second hand I know I played wrong, just want to know when I should have folded. I'm tpcsawgrass. Wilder Willy is a loose idiot, other than that I didn't have a read on anyone.

Hand #940744-15114 at Peyton ($.25/$.50 Hold'em)
Powered by UltimateBet
Started at 05/Feb/04 12:01:41

Mouth is at seat 0 with $13.
JohnLex7 is at seat 1 with $11.90.
dmakster is at seat 2 with $10.60.
SherInTex is at seat 3 with $7.60.
tpcsawgrass is at seat 4 with $26.05.
sleeved is at seat 5 with $18.30.
Wilder Willy is at seat 6 with $24.55.
RJB64 is at seat 7 with $21.65.
The Bad Seed is at seat 8 with $10.65.
KeyserSozeUPF is at seat 9 with $12.40.
The button is at seat 6.

RJB64 posts the small blind of $.10.
The Bad Seed posts the big blind of $.25.

Mouth: -- --
JohnLex7: -- --
dmakster: -- --
SherInTex: -- --
tpcsawgrass: Jh Kh
sleeved: -- --
Wilder Willy: -- --
RJB64: -- --
The Bad Seed: -- --
KeyserSozeUPF: -- --

Pre-flop:

KeyserSozeUPF folds. Mouth folds. JohnLex7 folds.
dmakster folds. SherInTex raises to $.50.
tpcsawgrass calls. sleeved folds. Wilder Willy
calls. RJB64 folds. The Bad Seed folds.

Flop (board: Ad Jd Ts):

SherInTex bets $.25. tpcsawgrass calls. Wilder
Willy calls.

Turn (board: Ad Jd Ts 5s):

SherInTex bets $.50. tpcsawgrass calls. Wilder
Willy raises to $1. SherInTex re-raises to $1.50.
tpcsawgrass calls. Wilder Willy calls.

River (board: Ad Jd Ts 5s Qh):

SherInTex checks. tpcsawgrass bets $.50. Wilder
Willy calls. SherInTex calls.



Showdown:

tpcsawgrass shows Jh Kh.
tpcsawgrass has Jh Kh Ad Ts Qh: straight, ace high.
Wilder Willy mucks cards.
(Wilder Willy has 5d 5h.)
SherInTex shows As Ah.
SherInTex has As Ah Ad Jd Qh: three aces.


Hand #940744-15114 Summary:

$.40 is raked from a pot of $8.60.
tpcsawgrass wins $8.20 with straight, ace high.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Hand #940744-15206 at Peyton ($.25/$.50 Hold'em)
Powered by UltimateBet
Started at 05/Feb/04 13:19:26

JohnLex7 is at seat 1 with $15.30.
ahduke is at seat 2 with $24.60.
Top Gun-1989 is at seat 3 with $14.55.
tpcsawgrass is at seat 4 with $30.20.
sleeved is at seat 5 with $24.45.
VTZETE is at seat 6 with $.30.
spagman is at seat 7 with $21.20 (sitting out).
axeman29 is at seat 8 with $3.75.
KeyserSozeUPF is at seat 9 with $23.95.
The button is at seat 6.

axeman29 posts the small blind of $.10.
KeyserSozeUPF posts the big blind of $.25.

JohnLex7: -- --
ahduke: -- --
Top Gun-1989: -- --
tpcsawgrass: Jh Jc
sleeved: -- --
VTZETE: -- --
axeman29: -- --
KeyserSozeUPF: -- --

Pre-flop:

JohnLex7 folds. ahduke folds. Top Gun-1989 folds.
tpcsawgrass calls. sleeved folds. VTZETE goes
all-in for $.30. axeman29 calls. KeyserSozeUPF
calls. tpcsawgrass calls.

Flop (board: 9d 5c 2s):

axeman29 checks. KeyserSozeUPF bets $.25.
tpcsawgrass calls. axeman29 calls.

Turn (board: 9d 5c 2s 8s):

axeman29 checks. KeyserSozeUPF bets $.50.
tpcsawgrass calls. axeman29 folds.

River (board: 9d 5c 2s 8s As):

KeyserSozeUPF bets $.50. tpcsawgrass calls.



Showdown:

KeyserSozeUPF shows Ah 9s.
KeyserSozeUPF has Ah 9s 9d 8s As: two pair, aces and nines.
tpcsawgrass mucks cards.
(tpcsawgrass has Jh Jc.)
VTZETE shows 3d Ks.
VTZETE has Ks 9d 5c 8s As: ace high.


Hand #940744-15206 Summary:

$.15 is raked from a total pot of $3.95.
$.05 is raked from the main pot of $1.20.
$.10 is raked from side pot #1 of $2.75.
KeyserSozeUPF wins the main pot $1.15 with two pair, aces and nines.
KeyserSozeUPF wins the side pot $2.65 with two pair, aces and nines.
----------------------------------------------------------------

[bisonbison]

I suggest you earn at least a 150BB roll before you move up, and be prepared to move back down if you're flailing.

Phil plays low cause they compensate him for playing low. It brings traffic to the site.

Don't buy more books for now. Reread the first part of HEFAP several times, and read TOP in your spare time. Concentrate on playing tight and straightforward. Don't worry about anything other than that til you're confident in your ability to beat micros.

[Zetack]

Hey welcome to um..."real" poker--(hey if there ain't money involved....)

Move up to .5/1.00 when you have at least 300 bucks maybe more. 300 hundred BB is a very good guideline, but certainly don't move up even if you hit that number until you feel very comfortable playing at the level you are already at. Trust me, there will be differences and adjustments you have to make from playing the play money tables.

And you're braver than me, when I jumped in I started at 5 cent/10 cent.

As for your hands...#1: K-J is a marginal hand, K-J suited is much better, but cold calling two bets with only one player in the pot--this is a really a pre-flop fold. Then its a flop fold and then its a turn fold. (Then you hit your wonderful river card and its--gee you play goot!!)

Hand #2. First in with jacks in early middle position--you have to raise--you have to. If you don't want to do that then you have to fold em. Then raise the flop. If the villain bets out the turn after your pre-flop raise (which might have folded him out to begin with) and after your post flop raise, then just call him on the turn with your overpair. If he just checked to you on the turn after you raised the flop, you bet at him again with your overpair.

As for books, sounds like you are in good shape for now. For entertainment value I might get "Poker Wisdom of a Champion", by Doyle Brunson--it won't teach you how to play but its a real fun read if you enjoy poker. If you like the WPT and the personalities involved in it you might enjoy: "Poker Face, a girlhood among gamblers" by Katy Lederer-- written by the sister of Howard Lederer that is not Annie Duke. Again, it won't teach you anything about playing poker but its a real entertaining read.

Oh, and seriously, if you aren't already, think about keeping a poker journal and tracking every single session you play, at least if you plan on being serious about poker, and it sounds like you are. Its real easy to have your perception of how you are doing be different from reality and a poker journal, tracking at a minimum how many hours you play in a session and what your results are for the session, will be a good reality check for you--sometimes letting you know things aren't as bad as they seem, and sometimes reminding you that you can't just selectively remember the good sessions....


Good luck!!!

--Zetack

[Trix]

Hi
You will get better feedback if you post your hands in an easy readable format. Dont know if it works for the site you use but : Slavics hand converter

[ike]

[sammiK7os]

Hand 1, you were very lucky - only a q would of made you the best hand - even though it did you still should of folded this preflop and then on the flop you werent getting the odds to call and you definitley werent on the turn. You lost money here.

Hand 2, you wanna play JJ against as few opponennts as possible you should of raised preflop and kept the agression up throughout the hand - the A9 might not have folded to you but he was making a mistake by betting/calling and you should of punished him for that as you had the best hand til the river.

Good luck