Age Question......

[ZManODS]

Im curious, how old was everyone when they first started playing hold em? How long did it take to be GOOD. Thank you.

[Ed Miller]

I was 22 when I first started playing... I'm 23 now.. hehe. And I'm still working on the good part. [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[JoeyT]

I was 19 when I started.. and am 20 now. I didn't really start playing until after I had read and reread hpfap, and top. I'm obviously still on the very beginning end of the learning stage, but in the past 6 months I've been beating all the LL stuff both online and on my one trip to a b&m with a pretty good consistency.

I don't think it takes a very long time at all (maybe 3 months) to be able to beat typical loose/passive low limit games. I'm sure I'd get manhandled if I entered a tough game.. but I don't have the money to be doing that anyway, so its all good. [img]/forums/images/icons/cool.gif[/img]

[J_V]

I started 4 years ago (18 yrs. old) playing .50-1 on an 80 dollar bankroll in college homegames. I managed to win and build up until I could play 2-4. From there I went to 1-5 to 4-8 to 5-10 to 10-20. Now I play 50-100 when I play 15-30 online (almost exclusively now). I have built over a 100,000 dollar bankroll in four years.

However, I learned under ideal conditions. Lots of time. No expenses. I was very studious, I was instructed on where and how to get better right away. I have some talent, and most importantly I was lucky to have friends who talked poker and learned with me. They were about my skill level but just as ambitious as me. In fact, they felt out the water for me. You don't realize how much you can make until you stick your neck out. When you're a low limit player, you think all the 20-40 players must be great to risk that kind of money. But you'll never know that 9/10 are lousy until you get a 1000 together and play. Another thing is, I am not a true, pure gambler. I am really willing to "see" if I can win at a certain level. If not for my roommate I might still be playing 1-5 stud or somehing. My roommate tested out the high limit water and took the hard knocks for me so I didn't have to. I learned from his errors and successes. I never had to go into a game without full knowledge of what I was getting into and if I could beat it. In fact, lucky for me, my friend is still doing that for me. He's willing to play huge PLO, while I'm not yet. That's the next step for me, glad he's doing it first.

I recommend finding someone who is learning or will learn with you that will expedite your winning and learning process immensely.

[Ulysses]

JV,

That's impressive and sounds like a very solid path. One question, could you clarify this statement please?

Now I play 50-100 when I play 15-30 online (almost exclusively now).

[J_V]

When I play live, I play 50-100 HOSE. However, I don't play live much anymore, because there is so much more to be made online. I play 15-30 online, usually three shorthanded games.

The internet is the ideal way to build a bankroll when you don't have a big bankroll starting out. I've seen $50 turned into 20K in less than 6 months. If you are good and have lots of time, you don't need a major investment to really develop a sizeable roll.

[Ulysses]

Hmmm... Maybe I'll have to give online a try.

I'm 30 and started playing a year ago after doing a bunch of stuff in and around the tech and venture capital industries. I had been going to Vegas a lot and playing craps and blackjack and decided to pick up poker when the other games started to get a little boring. Had never played any serious poker - just your typical home games w/ games ranging from 5-card draw to crazy games like guts, etc.

As for my "learning progression"

First 3 months: played 3-6 after reading WLLHE and Abdul's Pre-flop and Suckout essays. I was a little better than break even then.

Second 3 months: Found 2+2 and read the postings here and started to win more and play 6-12 as well.

Third 3 months: Played 6-12 mainly and won consistently.

Last 3 months: Finally read HPFAP and started playing 15-30 and 20-40 (about half the time, 6-12 the other half) and have been able to win consistently there.

Haven't played any online, just B&M at AJs and Lucky Chances in the Bay Area and Mirage and Bellagio.

I'm now at an interesting place. At the current limits, I'm playing out of my "entertainment budget." If I had a separate poker bankroll for 20-40, I could go bust and it wouldn't make any difference to me. Assuming I felt I could win, I'd just give myself another bankroll. Somewhere around 50-100 is where I start to get to levels where I would notice the amount I lost if I lost my "bankroll." At some point I guess I'll make the decision as to whether poker will remain just a profitable hobby for me or if I actually want to get a little more serious and dedicate amounts of money to this pursuit that actually matter to me.

So, did you stay in college? I definitely think that someone who has the ability to do what you did w/ poker will find a lot of opportunities in the business world to make far more money (and the freedom that goes along with that) in ways far easier than poker. You might find many of them much more intellectually stimulating with almost as much freedom and control as a poker life, while some might be like drudgery to you. On the other hand, if poker is what you really love and want to do for a living, hey, more power to you!

[Ed Miller]

I find this an interesting thread... so I'll contribute a little more about my biography...

I'm 23, and for the last two years I have been a software developer at a large software company based in Redmond, WA. I spent college underage, in debt, and in Boston, though, so I didn't get much gambling experience then. About a year ago, I picked up a copy of Holdem Poker and read it. I thought it was interesting, so I put a couple hundred bucks on UltimateBet and proceeded to lose it at the 2-4 game. Then I picked up HPFAP and several other books, read them, started reading this forum, and played some more. I made back what I had lost plus a couple of hundred extra bucks. Then in January, work started consuming most of my time, so I cashed out and went on hiatus for about six months. In July, I picked up poker again and started driving down (35 miles [img]/forums/images/icons/frown.gif[/img] ) to the card room to play the 4-8 game on a regular basis. I returned to this forum and have been an active (maybe too active.. hehe) participant for the last six months.

My results in 2002 were very discouraging for me. I lost about $1000 in the 4-8 game, playing a total of about 300 hours so far. I find the results even more frustrating, because, at most every table, I feel like I am the best player and am constantly seeing the mistakes that my opponents are making... and it seems like they are making so many that I couldn't possibly not be making money. The thing that keeps me at it is that I know I am intelligent, and I know that I have been learning rapidly for the last six months. I have everything that I need to be successful at poker, and I will be successful. If I end 2003 in the red, I will be shocked.

Having said that, I'm strongly considering moving to Las Vegas. I enjoy living in Seattle like I enjoy a nice punch in the gut... and my job is completely uninteresting to me. I always enjoy life more when I'm in Las Vegas, so I figure that I don't really have any good reason not to move. Next step is to find a job... hehe... so if anyone in Las Vegas knows someone who wants to hire an intelligent software developer or a high school physics, chemistry, or calculus teacher... drop me a line.. hehe.

I hope to hear more about the stories of other posters here... [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[AmericanAirlines]

Hi Ulysses,
Can you tell me how a 30 year old gets into Venture Capital?

And then makes enough money to not worry about losing a
2-40 bank roll, estimated at 40*300 bets = 12,000 as the 2+2 reccomended amount? So it takes a 30K loss for you to feel it's out of line (the 50-100 bank roll).

I'll admit, there's been times in my life when that amount didn't matter. Have a Trans Am sitting in warehouse in Vegas that was vandalized while I was living out there. The money that was invested in that car (bought it cash, back before the days of corp. downsizing, had some bucks then) didn't bother me. The damage to my toy did.

Still 12K is a nice piece of change.

But the big question is, how'd you get into Venture Capital so young? I have to suspect that you started as a 20-something.

I'm 40, been in Fortune 500's most of my life... have a tech degree... and I'd still not lose 12K "like it was nothing". Personally, I'm pissed at Wall Street an the rise of "Management by Share Price"... unless of course I could get on the side of the fence that benefits from it. And I don't mean "small investor"! LOL!


I lived in LV for 2 years. Took up poker somewhere in that time, spent 6 months of it playing only poker... was only breakeven... so how'd you get so profitable so quickly? I had many, many books from over there at Gambler's Book Club. A large percentage were 2+2 books.

Last Question:... What are these "far easier and more profitable" avenues of which you speak? How political is entry into that world? Or does it require the old Ivy League MBA?

Just curious, as I agree with you... more $$$ equals more freedom in the long run.

Sincerely,
AA

[AmericanAirlines]

Hi MajorKong,
At 8725 West Sahara CitiCorp has a Bank Card processing center. They arrogantly like to call it "Command Center Nevada".

Don't know how much pure development goes on there, but it might be worth looking into. The Relo package was about 15K when I went out there. And got to keep what I didn't spend. (Like around 10K of it).

But you have to stay out of the Operations Group... they are a bunch of Type X morons in that group. And not being a Banking MBA you'll get second class treatment since computing and it's personnel are a resource to be exploited by the Managing MBA's.

You'll find that IT folks outside of IT companies aren't the "big deal".... You won't be core business... so you won't get the respect or the pay like you were.

Anyway, "Command Center Nevada" is one of three sites used by Citi, the others at Souix Falls and Weehawken N.J. They all back each other up with clones of everything for 24/7 capability.

However, just to give you an idea.... Once the Visa posting jobs ABENDed for all of Citi's Visa accounts. I printed out the failure... and was reprimanded for not being "paperless"... then the same manager handed out a football pool.... on *paper*.

So the most important code in the company fails... and it can't be printed, but a damned football pool can.

This is a real life story.

But what the heck, turnover at that site is high, and you just want to fund a poker career... so go for it.

Sincerely,
AA

P.S. Don't say I sent you! My last words to them were "Kiss my @ss". Literally.