My Progress

Ok today I finally hit a milestone, so I figure I might as well post my progress for everyone to see. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

I started off probably 4 months ago depositing $25 on an online site. At that time, I was interested in NL HE, so I entered two $5+.50 SnGs. I missed the money in both, putting my br at $14. Then I tried moving down to $1+.10 SnGs, and I missed the money in two more of those, so I was down to $12.80. I then stopped playing for a while because I didn't want to lose any more money.

About a month after that, I came across this website and read the advice for beginners. I bought GSHE, SSHE, and TOP. I read GSHE and SSHE a couple times, then embarked to play limit, which I didn't really care for, but I wanted to get better.

So in early August I started playing 1/2 cent limit with my $12.80 br. I did pretty well, getting my br to around $15 in a couple weeks. But I started getting bored of playing 1 table, so I moved to 2 tables, then 3 tables in the course of a few days.

I didn't show any regression, so I stuck to 3 tables the rest of the way. Once I got my br to the $20 mark, it kinda plateau'd. I would have a winning session, then a losing session, and this continued for a couple weeks. I just couldn't get up to my goal, which was then $30 so I could move up to 5/10 cent limit. I decided instead to just try to get to $25 and take a shot.

Then the past few days the deck hit me in the face and I took full advantage. I made around $3.50 in 2 days at 1/2 cent limit which was the best swing I had, and I finally got my br to a total of $25.21.

So now I'm going to move up to 5/10 cent limit and continue from there. Once I turn 18 in a couple months, I'll sign up for Neteller and start to bonus whore. I also want to start playing NL once my br is big enough (and once I read HOH). I just have a few questions...

1. Does anything think it's wrong for me to move up to 5/10 cent with a $25 br? I know you're supposed to have 300 BB, but 250 BB isn't too far off and I doubt the game is much tougher.

2. How much money should I have before I start to bonus whore? Should I just check the website for that?

3. Also, just being a kid with a limited amount of time to play at times (when I have lots of schoolwork), would it possibly be better to find a rakeback deal than to bonus whore? Or maybe just find the biggest bonuses then find a rakeback deal?

Thanks for reading! [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[bholdr]

1: not at all. worst case scenario, you're out $25. whooohooo.

2: $500 is ideal, though it's possible with as little as $100- i'd reccomend at least $200.

3: whoring is far better than rakeback until you hit the $3/6 level or so.

gl, you seem to be on the right track.

I just read your post in the thread "looking for an honest answer" and I've got to say that you've got a good head about this stuff and are looking at things the right way. Someone like you, who is young and willing to learn and utilize other's knowledge will take the poker world by storm.

Don't be afraid to take a stab at .05/.10. You can always jump back down. Try one table of it for a while then play one table of it while you are playing your two tables of .01/.02. This will limit your exposure if you hit a downturn as you will only have one table going at the higher limit, and you'll still be building your roll at the lower levels hopefully.


Check the recent thread about limits for whoring in the beg forum for info to your other questions.

[JFB37]

I read several of your posts. You know what? You are a lot better than you think you are. Get out of the darn kiddie pool. Go rake some leaves, mow some lawns or something. Deposit something more than $25 and move up a bit. Your game can handle it.

Start posting your hands in forums other than Beginners Questions. You will get more/better answers.

Also read posts in ss and think about how you would respond. Try it, even.

Good luck.

For bonus whoring, the absolute minimum would be $100. You can start with the small $50 bonuses and then gradually move up, but it is going to be very slow starting out as you will only be working on one bonus at a time.

[pzhon]

[ QUOTE ]

1. Does anything think it's wrong for me to move up to 5/10 cent with a $25 br? I know you're supposed to have 300 BB, but 250 BB isn't too far off and I doubt the game is much tougher.

[/ QUOTE ]
First, it would be fine to try $0.05-$0.10 with a 250 BB bankroll. The 300 BB guideline is for tougher games where your win rate won't be as high as it is at $0.05-$0.10, assuming you take poker seriously. It also assume you can't move down, but you have shown that you are willing to move down when you lose.

Second, $25 is not your bankroll. It is your balance. Your bankroll is the money you are willing to put into poker, and I doubt that you would quit poker if you hit a bad streak and lost that $25. It probably would not be hard to find another $25. That means you can be much more aggressive with that $25 than you could with a balance of $25k.

[ QUOTE ]

2. How much money should I have before I start to bonus whore? Should I just check the website for that?

[/ QUOTE ]
While it is possible to bootstrap with less, you start making a good hourly rate when you have about $300 and can hit the Cryptologic monthly bonuses, several of which pay $9/table-hour. Although it is valuable to work your way up to improve your skills, if you have less than $300, you will waste a lot of time making less than minimum wage.

[ QUOTE ]

3. Also, just being a kid with a limited amount of time to play at times (when I have lots of schoolwork), would it possibly be better to find a rakeback deal than to bonus whore? Or maybe just find the biggest bonuses then find a rakeback deal?

[/ QUOTE ]
Life is more important than poker. That includes school, whether it seems meaningful yet or not. That includes hanging out with friends. That includes joining clubs, playing sports, volunteering, etc. to make new friends. Poker can make a fun, lucrative hobby, but it can also be a lonely, frustrating black hole for time. I strongly recommend that you limit the time you spend on poker to perhaps 10 hours per week while school is in session.

Many successful high-stakes poker players would happily trade that success to be 17 again. Don't trade being 17 to try to be a successful low-stakes poker player.

A big risk factor for dropping out of college is having a job, even if it is a lousy, dead-end job taken to try to pay for college. Many people with the best of intentions do not successfully balance the demands on their time. Don't mess up something important because of poker.


That said, bonuses will be much more important that rakeback until you play much higher limits, perhaps $5-$10, for more than 50 hours per month. Even then, bonuses will be more valuable than rakeback, but you will run out of bonuses each month, so it will be important to have a site where you are happy playing with no bonus. Finding a site with good games is more important than getting rakeback.

Rakeback is worth about $8/hour to me when I 4-table NL $100, but the games themselves are worth $50-$75/hour. Bonuses can be worth $10-$35/hour.

If I had to give advice on this subject you definitely are going in the right dirction if you want to play limit. I started playing 3 years ago and was definitely a losing player. I was actually a losing player until I found SnG's. In my opinion they other the least amount of variance and can other a nice hourly rate if you multi-table. They are incredibly easy to beat. The only thing is I started with a 50 bankroll at party and looking back on it I got lucky to not bust out. I have currently built that up to about 420. I currently just two table them since I hit kind of a cooler for about a week. The recommended starting br for the 10+1 is about 330, but if you're good I would say about 110. I couldn't imagine the players being any better than the micro limit players. Don't play the 5+1s at party because you're paying about 10% more rake per table. I'd say once you get about 50 play the stars 5+50 SnGs. Visit the one-table tounament forum here and you should be on your way. Hope this helps.

Thanks for the advice everyone. I really appreciate everything.

I started 5/10 cent limit today, I was going to do like ottsville said and just ease into it, but I couldn't help myself and I went right into 3 tables. :/ I had really good luck though, so I ended up winning around 40 BB in 215 hands which was pretty insane!

I did notice that the game was slightly different than 1/2 cent. Less people would limp, and they would play better hands (but many still marginal). That made it less profitable to play low pocket pairs and suited connectors, so I had to adjust to that. I also noticed that many people would go after their straights or flushes, and if I was pretty sure they missed their draw, I could bet on the river and they'd fold almost every time no matter the pot size. A few players were more aggressive than before, but most were tighter than at 1/2 cent. So basically I only had to adjust to a few things and I was fine. I think I'll stick to 3 tabling.

bholdr, thanks for the advice, I guess I'll be bonus whoring for a while.

ottsville, thanks for the props. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] I really want to become a good player, so I'm just trying to take in all the information I can and learn from my mistakes.

JFB37, haha I do have money I could deposit, but my plan is to start out low, play plenty of hands and make sure my game is solid once I play higher limits. I probably could play higher like you say, but I want to wait till I'm 18 so I can sign up for Neteller and bonus whore. I should have enough money built up by then to take advantage of the bonuses.

Spellcast, thanks for the info.

pzhon, I do other things besides poker, don't worry. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img] Right now I just have time to play because I have all my college apps sent out, and my schoolwork isn't such a big deal anymore. I don't really have anything better to do on weeknights. Thanks for heads up though, I'll make sure I don't get too absorbed into it.

Willy1523, thanks for the info on SnGs. I do want to play them eventually. I really need to read HoH before I start working on them, I don't have a good plan on how to play in them. I'll play them once I'm at a stable level at limit.

I think you would be surprised at how bad the variance in SnGs really is. How many sngs have you actually played? A close friend of mine is currently in a 18-game losing streak (at 30+3 on pacific), and he isn't playing poorly at all... set over set, rivered gutshots, etc. Sure, over the long run, they probably have a very attractive rate but the variance is absolutely terrible.

I just hit a little over 400. Not an awesome sample size, but I have hit some downswings. I think the most I had was 11 buyins. I don't believe the variance is higher at all. When you think about all that you can lose on a big hand is the buyin. Compared to a bad beat at limit you could lose a lot more. Also players go on tilt which can really affect your bankroll at limit cash games. I've heard of worse downswings than 18 which I can probably count on sometime. Why play SnG's at Pacific anyways? The fish are at party. I think it also depends on what you like also. If you think your strength is at limit then by all means play that. I personally like the "science" of SnG's.