How much did you win/lose in your first year?
 

In another thread, runyan99 asked the title question. I thought this would be better asked in the form of a poll.

If you use a different currency, please convert the numbers to US dollars. You may include bonuses and rakeback.

Re: How much did you win/lose in your first year?
 

Bonuses/rakeback is a confound in your poll.

I lost about 1k my first year playing poker online, but it was pre rakebacks and bonuses.

Re: How much did you win/lose in your first year?
 

So far EVERYBODY in the poll won, except me.

I'm suspicious.

Pretty much every big-time poker player will admit to going broke several time during his or her lifetime, especially when they started playing. I don't see how that is consistent with everybody else in the poll here making money from the get-go.

But hey, maybe I'm the worst player here. It's possible.

Re: How much did you win/lose in your first year?
 

Oh nevermind, I see a couple voters have logged in with losses now....

Re: How much did you win/lose in your first year?
 

[ QUOTE ]
So far EVERYBODY in the poll won, except me.

I'm suspicious.

[/ QUOTE ]
These polls never seem to get honest answers. There was one not too long ago about how much you lost before you reached the point where you could win at poker, and it turned out that everyone on twoplustwo has been a winning poker player since birth, except for one guy who was making 3 BB/100 in utero and one who was allowed to carry his bankroll over from a previous life.

Re: How much did you win/lose in your first year?
 

I lost my first party poker 50$ buy in, may of last year. I was also break even for my first few B&M sessions, going way up and then way down. after finding 2+2 in June, adequately bankrolling myself for my limit, starting from .10/.20 limit, studying, and posting, why would I ever go bust at all?

I am not done with my first year of poker yet, that happens in the beginning of May. from .10/.20 to 3/6 online and with bonuses and rakeback, I will have made about 6000 by the time it's all said and done. and all but 500 or so of that will have been from Fiscal year '05. (moved to .5/1 limit sometime in late september)

Re: How much did you win/lose in your first year?
 

i am yet to finish my first year.. so should ill just take the "show me the results" choice, or something.

Re: How much did you win/lose in your first year?
 

i put down that i lost 2k-10k. i'm pretty sure i was well down the first year i played, but i also started online in 1999 and only played stud. tough way to learn.

Re: How much did you win/lose in your first year?
 

i am part way into my second year and i jsut broke even

and 50,000+ i just dont think so

Re: How much did you win/lose in your first year?
 

[ QUOTE ]
So far EVERYBODY in the poll won, except me.

I'm suspicious.

Pretty much every big-time poker player will admit to going broke several time during his or her lifetime, especially when they started playing. I don't see how that is consistent with everybody else in the poll here making money from the get-go.

[/ QUOTE ]

A poll like this is tricky to make. For instance, what does "first year" mean? Does it mean the first time I played with real $$$ on a poker site? Does it mean the first time I played in a Casino? With my friends? Or is it a subjective point in time where I started to treat poker more seriously?

Not that it mattered for which radio button to check, but I answered this poll according to the last point of view. I lost a couple of $50 buyins on Party in the end of 2003. In April 2004 I decided to give it another go so I bought some books and began lurking this forum. Therefore my poker timeline begins in April 2004 so it'll be one year soon. That said, it doesn't really matter if I count those $50 busts or not - I'm happy with my results anyway.

/twang

Re: How much did you win/lose in your first year?
 

[ QUOTE ]

and 50,000+ i just dont think so

[/ QUOTE ]

Why not? Just make the final 3 at one of the big Sunday tournies on Stars and you're there.

Re: How much did you win/lose in your first year?
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
So far EVERYBODY in the poll won, except me.

I'm suspicious.

[/ QUOTE ]
These polls never seem to get honest answers. There was one not too long ago about how much you lost before you reached the point where you could win at poker, and it turned out that everyone on twoplustwo has been a winning poker player since birth, except for one guy who was making 3 BB/100 in utero and one who was allowed to carry his bankroll over from a previous life.

[/ QUOTE ]

The best post I have ever seen on any internet ever.

I owe you a pint. But you owe me one back for the one you made me spew over my new monitor.

Re: How much did you win/lose in your first year?
 

oops, one misclick here. take one vote away from $50,000+ [img]/images/graemlins/ooo.gif[/img]

Re: How much did you win/lose in your first year?
 

[ QUOTE ]
So far EVERYBODY in the poll won, except me.

I'm suspicious.

Pretty much every big-time poker player will admit to going broke several time during his or her lifetime, especially when they started playing. I don't see how that is consistent with everybody else in the poll here making money from the get-go.

But hey, maybe I'm the worst player here. It's possible.

[/ QUOTE ]

well, if you played .5/1 on party a year ago, it was pretty much shooting fish in a barrel. i never studied or read a book, but just used common sense to beat the games. when 7 people see a flop every time, its pretty easy to wait for monsters and rake in the big pots. i don't even think i raised aa preflop! however, i managed to beat the uber-fish. anyways, now i am only a slightly above average small stakes player, whereas many people who have been playing for a shorter period of time are playing 15/30 and making the big money. at least it seems like everybody is playing 15/30 if they have been playing more than 1 year. maybe i just see the extreme success stories more often than the failure stories. i think i just don't enjoy the gambling aspect of poker enough to ever become great at it. i guess if i actually had money to blow it would be different. playing with scared money is a great way to stay average (at best).

Re: How much did you win/lose in your first year?
 

I posted between 2k and 10k initially, as I started with $50 last may...but I realized the year's not over so my answer may yet prove to be incorrect... Ah well, that's what I get for reading it fast at 2:15. hah.


Surf

Re: How much did you win/lose in your first year?
 

I agree...If one starts properly bankrolled at a low limit there's no reason to go broke... it may take a little bit of luck if the bankroll is kind of thin ( or one's skills are not developed) - but it seems to me that games like the 0.25/0.50 at pokerroom and 0.50/1 at party are beatable even by mediocre players who play tight while they learn.

Surf

Re: How much did you win/lose in your first year?
 

made 6k my first year playing casually.

Re: How much did you win/lose in your first year?
 

[ QUOTE ]
So far EVERYBODY in the poll won, except me.

I'm suspicious.

Pretty much every big-time poker player will admit to going broke several time during his or her lifetime, especially when they started playing. I don't see how that is consistent with everybody else in the poll here making money from the get-go.

But hey, maybe I'm the worst player here. It's possible.

[/ QUOTE ]


I think we may be underestimating the positive effect of reading this forum. Starting at the micros, only moving up when a player has sufficient bankroll and studying the available literature is drummed into any regular 2+2er. Taking even partial notice of this advice almost guarantees a modest positive return, at worst. Let's face it, 0.5/1 is pretty poor.

I would imagine that the majority of first year losers have simply played above their true level. I occasionally read posts from newbies who appear pretty clueless, yet are playing 3/6 or 5/10. If they played micros, they would probably be winners over their first year.

Re: How much did you win/lose in your first year?
 

i made close to 30k last year. i started playing in march.

Re: How much did you win/lose in your first year?
 

Started seriously in January. I expect to make approx 8k by December.

Re: How much did you win/lose in your first year?
 

Interesting that this was posted today.
I started playing seriously April 1, 2004. Some time in Feb i made my first deposit of 50, and lost it playing 25NL. Some time later a friend bought in and used me as his referrer. Got my 50$, dicked around and really didnt make or lose much of anything. I dont know if April 1 was the exact date, but thats what i've been telling people who ask me. That is when i bought a few books, (supersystem, low limit hold'em, caros book of tells) learned not to see 40% of the flops, and started grinding at .5/1.

Early July i got bored and cashed everything out and quit until I think September, it was a solid 3 months of no poker. At that point I was up about 5500. about 1500 from .5/1, 2000-2500 from 25NL and 50NL, the rest from SNGs and multis. I really didnt have a regular game, I was just playing whatever i felt like.

When i came back in september I learned about bonus whoring and racked up a whole lot of money very quickly. By Jan 1 05 i broke 10,000. Early Jan I learned about multi-monitoring and rakeback and began grinding the limits. All of March I've been 12 tabling 3/6 as a part time job, and just last night I broke 18k total profit.

If I had a friend tell me about bonus whoring, multimonitoring, and rakeback since day 1 of my online play, I am very confident that I could have broken 50k my first year.

So the # of people who are 50k+ doesnt surprise me. Im sure some are lying, but its not unbelievable at all.


I guess technically I busted one time. I dont know if I count my first 50$ as a bust or not though. More like buying into a 50$ live game and losing.
Havent busted since then.

50$-18000+$ mmmmm [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Re: How much did you win/lose in your first year?
 

astro-

if you had to guage the overall 'softness' of online poker in the last 6 years, would it be as dramatic of a differnce from 99 to now as most expect? (assume you had a median skill level of what you had/have)

Re: How much did you win/lose in your first year?
 

Just finishing my 7th month and still playing on my original $20 deposit. I anticipate finishing my first year at around +13,000, but that's just a guesstimate until I prove or disprove it.

Re: How much did you win/lose in your first year?
 

but that's just a guesstimate until I prove or disprove it.

true

Re: How much did you win/lose in your first year?
 

90% of poker players say they made money. Of that 90% most are wrong. They believe they made money but unless you have the records to back it up. No records No believe

Last year playing rec made about $10,000 At about $4500 so far this year

Re: How much did you win/lose in your first year?
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
So far EVERYBODY in the poll won, except me.

I'm suspicious.

[/ QUOTE ]
These polls never seem to get honest answers. There was one not too long ago about how much you lost before you reached the point where you could win at poker, and it turned out that everyone on twoplustwo has been a winning poker player since birth, except for one guy who was making 3 BB/100 in utero and one who was allowed to carry his bankroll over from a previous life.

[/ QUOTE ]

My well-known deal with Mrs. Milo meant I could never be a losing player. I started with $50 and never looked back (okay, I got down to $12 at one point). I sucked back then, and I survived without ever being a losing player. I just sucked less than other Party Idiots, and ran well for a while, without knowing I was running well.

Re: How much did you win/lose in your first year?
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
So far EVERYBODY in the poll won, except me.

I'm suspicious.

[/ QUOTE ]
These polls never seem to get honest answers. There was one not too long ago about how much you lost before you reached the point where you could win at poker, and it turned out that everyone on twoplustwo has been a winning poker player since birth, except for one guy who was making 3 BB/100 in utero and one who was allowed to carry his bankroll over from a previous life.

[/ QUOTE ]

My well-known deal with Mrs. Milo meant I could never be a losing player. I started with $50 and never looked back (okay, I got down to $12 at one point). I sucked back then, and I survived without ever being a losing player. I just sucked less than other Party Idiots, and ran well for a while, without knowing I was running well.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ditto, except I made the deal with myself and started with $100 on Party. I just ran well and without knowing it at the time.

Re: How much did you win/lose in your first year?
 

[ QUOTE ]
90% of poker players say they made money. Of that 90% most are wrong. They believe they made money but unless you have the records to back it up. No records No believe

Last year playing rec made about $10,000 At about $4500 so far this year

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm willing to bet most of the players on these forums have decent records and can back up their claims.

Re: How much did you win/lose in your first year?
 

i lost a bunch to scrub, drpublo, wayfare, et al in their home game before figuring out how to play; i put down 2k-10k.

Re: How much did you win/lose in your first year?
 

first year ends Sept. 9th. Aiming for somewhere around the 5k in the green range.