How far have you moved up at no-limit ring games?
 

I want to know how far you have moved up (online or B&M) in
your no-limit poker playing... Basicly I'm trying to find out how long it
will take me to go from winning at free ring games to the 2/4 nl ring
game... I realize many try and jump ahead of their bankroll at times, but
I would guess 90% of those who do get shot back down... As far as my
progress goes: I started playing free games in August of 2003 and through
many ups and downs I have made it to the .25/.50 nl (I got up to .50/1
briefly)... The unique part for me is I haven't risked any of my own
money... My goal from day one (having gambled and lost in my teens and
20's) was to not gamble at texas hold-em poker, but grind it out... It
took me 3 months to finally win real money in a freeroll (I rarely play
tournaments since. About two a month) and it took me 7 months to build a $250 bankroll playing .01/.02... Since last May I have not had a losing
month and have banked a few grand... I know many would have used that
money to move up but I didn't feel I was playing well enough to move up
too quickly... You could say that I am very conservative with my progress.
At this point I plan to be at the .50/1 nl by this summer. I play about 35
table hours a week.... So, anyone else move up from the free games with
little or no investment???

Re: How far have you moved up at no-limit ring games?
 

I'm in college, and I pay for everything but car insurance and tuition, so basically I'm a "pro".

I played for money in NL SNGs from January-June. I then had a lot of expenses and wasn't doing very good so I got a job at the San Diego County Fair for 3 weeks and made like $1800. I then deposited $150 and started playing $25nl 6-max

I won it up to like $800 really fast and started playing $50nl 6-max. I then had to pay rent and whatever so I stayed there for a while, until about early september where I played $100nl 6-max for a while.

I then had more stuff to pay out, and I realized that I wanted a reallllllly big bankroll so I'd never go broke, so I moved back down to $50nl and started playing full ring.

I then had about $3500 in poker account so I took a shot at $100, I won about $1,000 in a few days, but then I lost about 18 buyins and didn't even know if I was a winning player, so I dropped back to $50.

I then played that till like the end of october, got bored, decided to switch to SNGs again, did really damn good at the $10's, broke even at the $20's, then went back to NL ring at the end of november.

I started 12 tabling $50 full, thought that sucked after a while and decided to play $50 6-max, had like an 8k bad streak, so I dropped to $25nl 6-max and that is where I am today, with a $900 bankroll.

Not the best way to live or have a bankroll but I've never been happier.

Re: How far have you moved up at no-limit ring games?
 

I'm following that same path, only 1 year behind. I started playing the free games about 4 months ago. My plan was not to put in any real money until I could beat the play money NL game at UB. It took me about 2 week playing everyday to do it. I played it and beat it for 2 more weeks just to make sure. Then I put in the minimum deposit at UB and started playing the $0.01/$0.02 game there. My first buy-in was $2 and I never went below that. I built that up to about $100 over the next 2 month and thought I was doing well. I have a similar approach to moving up. I figure if I can't crush that game I have no business moving up. I think I need about $300 to start playing in the $0.05/$0.10 games. So I'll keep working those tables for now. You know, I never really understood what my poker books meant when they talked about having to grind it out at the tables. I do now.

Re: How far have you moved up at no-limit ring games?
 

I'm now playing the biggest nolimit game at Party, the $200NL 6max. I, like most, started playing low buyin SNGs, got bored of those rather quickly, and moved to the $25NL ring games. I then discovered 6max, and never looked back. This was back in July. I have played about 30K hands at each level ($25, $50, and $100) before moving up.

[ QUOTE ]
You could say that I am very conservative with my progress

[/ QUOTE ]

There is nothing wrong with that, but I'd be comfortable moving up with a 30 buyin bankroll (ie. 3K for the $100nl game)

Re: How far have you moved up at no-limit ring games?
 

I guess I could have kept my winnings and built up my bankroll more, but I wasn't (and still am not) fully happy with my play. I guess I should just build up the roll and move up at a faster pace. Everyone says the level of play at these low limits is about the same so I guess I could expect to win at the next few levels even with my current leaks.

Re: How far have you moved up at no-limit ring games?
 

I'm in college too, and poker is my only source of income now. I started playing for fun a year ago with my friends. Back then it was a social thing that I did with my friends. My game really took off this past fall when I started playing online at Party. At first I was playing .25/.50 limit hold'em because I didn't want too much variance. After a month or so, I got sick of it and switched over to $25 NL games and $10 SNG's. I'm still playing at those limits grinding out my income. I hope to get better and move up to $50 NL and $20 SNG's when I build up my bankroll

Re: How far have you moved up at no-limit ring games?
 

Link

Re: How far have you moved up at no-limit ring games?
 

I started with an online bankroll of 0, winning in the play money tables and selling 1million on ebay for 10$. (going rate is like 25 or 30 I think now...)

People progress at different rates, for cash I'm mainly playing 6handed 50NL on party, but IMO I have the BR/ability to play bigger games. I just like 6max50NL the best for where I am right now.

When I'm on PS I'll play 1/2 tables, although I have played some 2/4 with good results.

Live I play 100max buy in, although I've also wandered to bigger games, although not much. Mixed results there, but waaay too small a sample size.

[ QUOTE ]
So, anyone else move up from the free games with
little or no investment???

[/ QUOTE ]

Beauty is everything is basically a free roll... (except the countless hours I've spent studying the game / playing the tables) This definately helps my mindset while playing.

Oh, I started playing poker 2003 summer, and online for roughly a year.

*Edit: I started playing 1cent/2cent NL, then moved to stud penny tables. If you ever want to build a bankroll and get bored of low blind NLH, stud is by far the best. You get to know the players well, and it's easy to move up.
Anyways, moved up limits on stud, then started playing alot of MTTs, won a big tournament, that funded my ring game BR, and from there switched to 6handed limit. I multitabled that for a while, until I found these boards and restudied NLH.
Lately all I play is the 6max party NL and PS MTTs... I like them alot. When I need diversity I play Om8 MTTs.

Re: How far have you moved up at no-limit ring games?
 

I've been playing poker on and off for a couple of years, but I've never taken ring games that seriously (ie. no PT). I've just dabbled in SNGs/MTTs.

Anyway in late October I started to get serious and began 4 tabling the 25NL 6 Max. I moved up to 50NL very quickly, then quickly up to the 100 where I stayed for 6 weeks. I'm now playing 2/4 on Prima.

I have the bankroll to play 5/10 but I like to withdraw from it and enjoy myself. You're only young once, right? [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Re: How far have you moved up at no-limit ring games?
 

I have been playing poker in home games for over ten years and recently started playing and crushing the local B&M $2/$4 limit. I had never played online and was kind of leery. I started out in February of 2004 with a $100 deposit at Paradise to play the .5/$1 limit games. Well within my first two weeks I lost most of it-including something dumb I did. I sat at a .25/.50 PLO table with $40 and no Omaha experience. Lost the whole $40 with the second best full house.

I was literally down to my last $4 and pretty much ready to give up online. I noticed that Paradise had .01/.02 NL tables with a $2 max-buy in. I figured this would be a good way to play the game they showed on TV, and these small stakes were pretty menaingless. I took what what was left of my online bankroll and sat at two $2 tables and had a VERY lucky session and now I had $12 after just a few short hours of play. I played .01/.02 and some $5 SNG's and after two months of play I had surpassed my initial deposit and actually had $200 in my account. That's when I moved up to .05/.10 NL. I played there until I had $500 and then I took a shot at .10/.25 NL. I had a rocky start but eventually managed to make some money. I took a shot at .25/.50 but decided to move back down after losing $46 on a semi-bluff where I flopped an open ended straigh flush draw against a flopped set. We got all-in on the flop and none of my outs ever came. Right after that I withdrew my initial deposit-so basically I was freerolling on other peoples money. I now have about $1100 and I'm planning on taking another shot at the .25/.50 NL games when my balance reaches $1250 (25 buy-ins).

I feel I'm a good enough player to probably beat the .5/$1 or even the $1/$2 but I feel better working my way up in limits. I have a good job and I could certainly afford to take a shot at the bigger games, but my goal is to get there and not have to use any of my own money.

My goal for 2005 is to build enough bankroll to start playing the .5/$1 NL games online.

Re: How far have you moved up at no-limit ring games?
 

I started playing for play money on PokerStars about 3 months ago. About a month later, I deposited $50 into my account, and started playing .5/.10. Since then, I've read 3 books, eventually built my bankroll up to about $150, and then moved up to .10/.25. For the first 2 weeks at this level, I was very frustrated, struggling to break even. But after learning that POSITION IS EVERYTHING in poker, and a few other things, everything has started to click for me in the last few weeks.

I've made about $300 in the last week playing .10/.25, and I also made $80 recently finishing 11th in a $10 buy-in NL tourney. Now that my bankroll is up to $500, I'm considering a move to .25/.50. But I think for now, I'll just stick with hammering away at .10/.25 until I feel confident enough to move up.

Re: How far have you moved up at no-limit ring games?
 

My story is somewhat different in that I never played in the play money games. I'm in college and had played some small stakes NL with them before I started playing online. We played in the neighborhood of $50 buyins most of the time. I wanted to crush the live game I was in and came to 2+2. Then I realized that everyone was posting hands from online. I took one look at some of the players online and knew it would be a gold mine.

I started 11 months ago.
I bought in $50 a few times on paradise, and played their NL50. This was their lowest NL game back then. I was basically just breaking even for a while. Then I got pokertracker. THE BEST $55 YOU WILL EVER SPEND. That really let my game take off. I moved up to NL100 on paradise, then NL200 rather quickly. I now crush this game on a consistent basis. Once my bankroll got big (~$3K), I decided to move a few hundred over to party.

Started at the NL50 6max tables there, and was at the NL100 tables in a matter of days. I've made over 3K on party so far, and I play it less than paradise.

Also, I bought into pokerstars but find it to be too tight for my liking. I'm currently trying to grind out NL50 there, but have been running badly, so I'm around even there.

I tried some 5/10 limit, 5 max at paradise, and lost 3K there a few months back. I've also played anywhere from 1/2 to 5/10 ring limit at party.

In conclusion, I have made roughly $15,000 in just under a year playing poker. Currently I play party NL100 6 max and paradise NL200 ring. 3 table each of them (not at the same time). My hourly rate is $30/hr, in all the hands I've ever played. Right now, I'd say its more like $40-$50, because I am better than I used to be and also play higher stakes.

Re: How far have you moved up at no-limit ring games?
 

I always cash out instead of moving up limits. Hell I have over $3500 BR right now and am playing $25 NL 6 max. That's mainly because I haven't played much NL yet though. But even in limit HE and o/8 I never played above $2/$4 online even with 1000xBB in my roll. Basically I whore bonuses while playing $1/$2, cashout $500 or $1000 here and there and start again the next month.


It only takes $27 and some change per day to make $10,000 in a year.

Re: How far have you moved up at no-limit ring games?
 

[ QUOTE ]
It only takes $27 and some change per day to make $10,000 in a year.

[/ QUOTE ]

Good point

Re: How far have you moved up at no-limit ring games?
 

I'm in the same financial situation as Sponger.

I never played Texas HE except for fun (i.e. no money) with some friends and cheapo Bicycle chips a few times out of the year.

Last year I found Texas Calculatem off Suprnova in late July '04 and thought that gave me an advantage.

I got lucky and didn't bust out despite playing 1/2 6-max and some 2/4 6-max with a $100 roll but was about break even.

July to August 2004: Newbie crap, Amoeba referred me to 2+2, 5k hands @ .5/1 limit

September 2004: 20k hands @ .5/1 limit; tried higher limit, shorthanded play, NL, and SNGs; settled on NL 25 (about 15k hands)

October 2004: 25k hands @ NL 25; 5k hands @ Party NL 50 (marginally losing); World of Warcraft

November 2004: World of Warcraft beta ends Nov. 20; 25k hands at NL 25; moved up to .5/1 NL (non-Party, I only play NL 25 on Party & skins)

December 2004: Some casino whoring / sports betting (net -$500); 20k hands @ .5/1 NL; TGC Poker bonus prompted me to move up, 1.5k hands @ 2/4 limit, 2k hands @ 2/4 NL (-$1,000).

January 2005: 1k hands @ 2/4 NL.

Current bankroll (-$2k cashouts for life expenses): $8k.

I'm most comfortable at .5/1 NL at the moment though, and I need to cash out $7k around June to pay off my credit card debt when 0% APR expires. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img] I'll give 2/4 NL a shot until I take another serious hit and probably switch to .5/1 NL or 1/2 NL for at least a month.

Re: How far have you moved up at no-limit ring games?
 

Hi, Jonny:

How the pokertracker helped you?
Can you be more specific on that?

Thanks

Re: How far have you moved up at no-limit ring games?
 

I made a deposit of 50 $ about 1 year and a half ago. I played some small limit for about 6 month before going up to 1/2 limit (holdem and stud). It took me another 6 month before upgrading to 2/4. I confess, I made some withdraw in that year who made my progression more slow.

This autumn some friend convinced me to try the 6 max 50/1 nl at party. After 2000 hands I was up to 1/2 6 max and I now have more than enough to go to the 2/4 after 2 month / 25 K hands in 1/2. Party NL is great. Dont be afraid to move up limits if you are beating the game, 1/2 is not much harder than 50/1. I really dont think Im a great NL player, but when you play against 40 - 80 % VP$P, you really dont need to be.

Now I just need to convince myself to go for the 2/4.

Re: How far have you moved up at no-limit ring games?
 

I was waiting tables for some cash while at uni - hated it!!

Came across "Poker for Dummies" lol while surfing amazon and bought it. Deposited £100 into William Hill on 13th Feb 2003 playing £1/2 stud - have never had a losing month since!!

After uni I got a job and quickly left it cos i was making far more at poker. 5 months ago i decided to take up n/l holdem, jumped straight into $2/5 and havent looked back.

I guess im "pro" cos i earn my living from it, but in real terms im only a baby - but i wouldnt change my lifestyle for the world, i love it!!

Re: How far have you moved up at no-limit ring games?
 

Poker Tracker does 2 things for me. One it allows me to keep track of who I've played and how they play (how many hands they play) automatically. Second, and more important for me is how well I play certain hands. i.e. my early PP play was horrible. Wouldn't give it up on a bad flop. I concur...If you're up more than $55 get Poker Tracker.

Re: How far have you moved up at no-limit ring games?
 

I was a low-limit (3/6) break-even / slight winner on paradise for 3 years, then the poker boom started, but I started working - so one day about a year ago early december I played in a pokerstars freeroll w/ points I had and won $600. Then I won a $50 NL holdem tourney for $2600, but took most of that off to pay for a trip to Brazil [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Since then, I stopped playing tournies so much and play NL ring exclusively - started at .25/.50 on p-stars and now play 75% 3/6 and 25% 5/10 if the game looks good. I also bonus whore on some other sites (full-tilt, empire, party) and play what I can there.

Still trying to build a big enough bankroll for 5/10 games regularly. I have enough for 3/6 at the moment. Really wish I never took money out, as I'd have a great bankroll right now if I didn't.

Re: How far have you moved up at no-limit ring games?
 

I first learned Texas Holdem when a friend needed someone to go along to the local casino. On the way up, he explained the rules to me, how the bets worked, the blinds, even which hands beat the others. On that hour up I asked question after question so that I wasn't so dead in the water.

We sat at a 1/3 limit table and after 3 hours of play I was down $6 bucks.

Played limit a few more times and started playing in a NL home game that is run tourney style. No Limit was easily more my style as even at my first sitting I walked away with part of the money.

Finally, we ended up at the casino and they had a NL ring game that was gaining lots of popularity. 40 dollar max buy in with blinds of 1 and 1.
Made a good chunk of change at that and the occasional tourney they held and have moved to the 1/2 100 buy in tables there.

somewhere in there I started playing online at Ultimate Bet. Mostly playing the tournaments as i was obcessed with hitting a big payday for some reason. Kept losing what i'd
deposit and eventually tried out the low buyin ring games which I won a little.

Finally introduced to party poker, bought in once for 150 bucks and played a combinatino of the NL ring games and the Limit ring games. had someone trying to coach me up on Limit to make money. Started working my way up a little bit and dabbling (unsuccessfully in the NL games). Eventually got up to 2/4 and hit a horrible downswing that was aided horribly by tilt.
Finally got down to my last $50 and between pokertracker, 2+2 and some book studying I bought into the Party 25NL games and hve not looked back since. This was about November. Now, through mostly the 25NL gmaes and some whoring i have my bankroll up to about 1800.

Finally got a rakeback at a party skin, withdrew all of my money but $50 into neteller so i could whore elsewhere and am building that money alone up to the point where I can advance to the higher games.

Still have some tiltedness that gets me once in a while, still have some leaks in my game that hinder my advancement. But, this is the reason that after I built up the roll, i started over again.
I'm about to the point where I'll start taking shots at the 50NL game from time to time, but for the most party I am starting to add extra tables into my habbit. Right now I can 4 table and am getting tot he point where I feel comfortable. With my current monitor situation adding table 5 and 6 might become quite tricky.

One more thing in this long ramble, I am going to Vegas this coming may and that whole trip is being paid for out of poker winnings. That makes me feel pretty good about my game even though it's got a long way to go.

Re: How far have you moved up at no-limit ring games?
 

I originally started with $100 and went to $1000 in a week 4-tabling $0.25/$0.50 NLHE 50 Max. After getting a $1000, I got cocky and decided to move up, 4-tabling $0.50/$1.00 NLHE 100 Max. I got my account up to $1600 before losing it all in a week and a half. I learned the hard way how important your bankroll is in relation to the game you play. I also learned how important it is to control your emotions and how important discipline is. I learned a lot about myself. I stopped playing for a little while because I was a little off-guard by losing all the money I made in a week. I decided to play SNG's for a while when I realized I could make a LOT more playing ring games. I decided to deposit $200 on November 19,2004 and the rest, you can say, is history. I jumped around different sites to get bonuses I moved up ONLY when I had 20 times buy-in and moved down when I was down 5 buy-ins. I kept my emotions in check and now I'm playing $1/$2 $200 max NLHE w/ a $6,200 bankroll.

Re: How far have you moved up at no-limit ring games?
 

RYL, what sites have you played on and which were most profitable??

Re: How far have you moved up at no-limit ring games?
 

nobody will probably believe me but I started playing poker a year ago and after playing play money games for a couple months, I got word of a free roll and decided to play. I placed in the free roll and got paid $8.00. I started with my 8 playing .25/.50 no limit games and sooner than i knew it my bank roll was up to about $200.

I kept grinding .25/.50 games for a couple of months and made a cash out for $1500.00. I then moved up to .50/1.00 games and over the course of four months my bank had swelled to $5,000. I experiecned about $1,000 loss the next month and ever since then I haven't looked back.

My bank roll from the initial $8.00 that I won is now nearly $16,000. In addition to this I have used about $4,000 to buy new furniture & vactions. I keep a working bank roll of about $5,000 and I usually sit in 1.00/2.00 & 2.00/4.00 no limit games. I play well below my bank roll but I always keep in perspective how much a $15.00 pot meant to me in the beginning.

Like I said no one will probably believe this because sometimes barely believe it myself.

Thanks
Harry

Re: How far have you moved up at no-limit ring games?
 

[ QUOTE ]
I think I need about $300 to start playing in the $0.05/$0.10 games.

[/ QUOTE ]

So i'm an idiot for playing that table occasionally with a $50 deposit? I think it's good for your play to mix up the level of table you play from time to time...

And one other question about you freerollers -> real money

I did this once and went from $1 to $30 and then lost it one night stupidly at 0.25/0.50

but while i was culturing my "baby" bankroll i'd never sit at a table with too high an amount b/c of the crazy play around me..like if i bought in at $1 and tripled up i'd leave and return....sucked when i got my AA but was really glad i did when someguy drew on me.....did you guys do similar? Especially at first?

Re: How far have you moved up at no-limit ring games?
 

did someone say 12 table?

wonder why UB only lets you 3-table....especially with that mini-mode you could really get some tables going

Re: How far have you moved up at no-limit ring games?
 

HYPOTHETICALLY .. how much would you pay me to believe you ? [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

Re: How far have you moved up at no-limit ring games?
 

[ QUOTE ]
Like I said no one will probably believe this because sometimes barely believe it myself.


[/ QUOTE ]

Nothing strange, I guess.

I started at Party in Apr. 04 with 100$, I played in this order:

Limit
0.5/1
1/2 6 max.
5/10 6 max.
15/30
10/20 6 max. (nearly broke here)
1/2 6 max.
2/4
2/4 JP
3/6 JP
15/30 JP
5/10 JP

since December 04 No Limit:
0.25/0.5
0.25/0.5 6 max.

I am planing to step up to .5/1 NL 6 max. after I have finished ~20K of hands in 0.25/0.5 6 max. with good results.

I withdrew 10K so far and still have a bankroll of ~8K.
Had ups and downs, but not as hard as floor sweeping.

Re: How far have you moved up at no-limit ring games?
 

Harry, I believe you, but based on that month where you lost a grand I have a feeling your style of play is far more loose than mine. And that usually indicates you may have several losing months. As long as you don't tilt when you do you'll probably be a very big winner.. If you tilt you will be like most who play that aggresively and will go broke over and over.