Want to move from "hobbyist" to "amateur"

Hey all,

My situation is that I have been playing poker for several years at home games. In the past 3 years, I have moved up from that level to playing more of a serious game. At this point, I only play limit hold em at the 3/6 or 4/8 level. This is largely a function of my financial situation.

I do not play online for money - that is a personal decision. I will play online for play money, but I recognize that is of limited value.

In total, I have played at a bricks and mortar poker room about 20 times. All told, I am doing fairly well, but I have not been tracking my winnings or keeping track of key hands. I was recently in Vegas and was told by several people that my play has been quite good. I have also played in a couple of tournaments and done fairly well for myself.

For example, here in Toronto, we have this thing called the Red Hot Poker Tour - NL tournaments for no money - just for fun and practice - though there is a Tournament of Champions where the main prize was a trip to Vegas, hang out with Daniel Negreanu and entries into a couple of tournaments. I have played 8 times and won once, 3 second place finishes and a 7th - with about 70-80 people playing.

I have no illusions about becoming a poker pro - but I do want to maximize my winnings and play the best poker I can.

I have just started reading about poker - I have The Theory of Poker by Sklansky which is a great book (plug! plug! commission??) and plan to move on to some others (recommendations?)

What I need now are the tools for managing my game over the long haul. I noted in another thread someone had used a computer program to track their game - I would love some recomendations on where to get that sort of program - free or cheap if possible.

Anything else you can toss my way would be greatly appreciated.

[jba]

1 - start playing online. you can reasonably play 10x as many hands online as you can live. you will literally need tens if not hundreds of *thousands* of hands of experience before you can call yourself a winning player at higher limits. this will take a very long time if you play exclusively live.

2 - realize you are not a winning player. you mostly got lucky. 20 sessions and 10 tournaments are merely a drop in the bucket. The people in vegas complimenting your play in all likelihood have no idea how to play. The only alternative explanation is that you are a genius. Lucky is just more likely. The sooner you realize this fact the sooner you can begin your education. I am honestly and sincerely not trying to be a dick in saying this. I will wager that every winning player reading these boards went through the progression: 1. kill the game for 20 sessions 2. think they're great 3. find these boards 4. hit the downside of variance 5. realize they suck 6. study/play lots more 7. actually become good. You just hit step 2, congratulations. and you're hearing this from someone not yet at step 7 FWIW.


3. play a LOT of hands

4. study even more. books and forums.

5. return to step 3

[bobbyi]

The best thing you can do right now is to start keeping careful records of your play. Mainly record how long you play and how much you win or lose every time so that you can see how you are really doing. I use a program called StatKing for this. It is available here:
http://conjelco.com/software.html
It costs $30, but if you don't want to spend that you can accomplish the same thing by keeping records in a spreadsheet (e.g., Excel) or even just keeping a running a tally in a notebook.

[Klepton]

i opened this thinking it would be hank scorpio from the party 30-60.

it wasn't.

reading these forums is a great start to your growth as a poker player

[LottaFagina]

I just got StatKing and like it. But I find that StatKing is for accounting and streak/bankroll monitoring. PokerTracker is a must for hand analysis and performance evaluation.

[bobdibble]

[ QUOTE ]
I do not play online for money

[/ QUOTE ]

[ QUOTE ]
PokerTracker is a must for hand analysis and performance evaluation.

[/ QUOTE ]

You need to work on your hand reading skills.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I do not play online for money

[/ QUOTE ]

[ QUOTE ]
PokerTracker is a must for hand analysis and performance evaluation.

[/ QUOTE ]

You need to work on your hand reading skills.

[/ QUOTE ]

On what do you base that?

I think I need to work on ALL my skills - but why would you specifically say that I need to work on my hand reading skills?

Sadly, I am a Mac user, so pokertracker is of no use to me.

Anyone know of any comparable mac-based programs?

[bobdibble]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I do not play online for money

[/ QUOTE ]

[ QUOTE ]
PokerTracker is a must for hand analysis and performance evaluation.

[/ QUOTE ]

You need to work on your hand reading skills.

[/ QUOTE ]

On what do you base that?

[/ QUOTE ]

The snippet I quoted by LottaFagina when replying to him.



[ QUOTE ]

I think I need to work on ALL my skills - but why would you specifically say that I need to work on my hand reading skills?

[/ QUOTE ]

Reading comprehension is typically easier than hand reading.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I do not play online for money

[/ QUOTE ]

[ QUOTE ]
PokerTracker is a must for hand analysis and performance evaluation.

[/ QUOTE ]

You need to work on your hand reading skills.

[/ QUOTE ]

On what do you base that?

[/ QUOTE ]

The snippet I quoted by LottaFagina when replying to him.



[ QUOTE ]

I think I need to work on ALL my skills - but why would you specifically say that I need to work on my hand reading skills?

[/ QUOTE ]

Reading comprehension is typically easier than hand reading.

[/ QUOTE ]

You quoted both me and him in that snippet - so how am I supposed to know who you are talking to?

You know what's better than reading comprehension?

Comprehensible writing.