How much can you win?

[baronzeus]

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So according to this poll, only 1/60 people on 2+2 are losing players.

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Being a losing player at the soft limits (up to 3/6) is hard with all the knowledge you gain on 2+2

[[censored]]

winning at online poker is not really all that difficult.

What exactly do you mean by winning black jack record?

[Cosimo]

I also moved over from blackjack. It gave me an understanding of variance and the need for good records that's very useful in poker.

I found it incredibly easy to start making money at poker. I've never run my bankroll out. I started at the free-money tables for a few weeks until I got a good sense of the cards, then moved to the micros. Deposit bonuses plus the extra-soft games at the micros meant easy money. You have to be losing pretty bad - 2BB/100h or more - to not keep up with deposit bonuses. Alternately, if you bought in too high it's easy to be on the losing side just from a short string of bad luck.

You say you've got a good knowledge of statistics. Do you have enough data to be confident that you're playing poorly? i.e. maybe you're just running bad? How many hands do you have in? Have you plugged some big leaks that can drain the bankrolls of inexperienced players?

[ds914]

Play + bonuses + rakeback = nice side income... even at lower limits.

[ratso]

I have been playing live 5/10, 10/30 stud, 3/6 and 1/2 NL Holdem for years. If someone were to ask me how much I won, I would say "a lot". The truth is that I am making about 2 big bets per hr in the fixed limits and the NL is so variable, the std deviation is too much to even make sense. There are few professional players who make enough money without sponsorship to make a dcent living. Tournament "juice" and travel expensives are not trivial. Family pressures can be enormous. Making a living at poker is a tough job. Being a pro poker player is like being a State Tropper....you need big nuts, and I mean the kind between your legs (apologies to the woderful women who are excellent players-you know who you are)

[Argus]

I started playing seriously when I graduated last December, and I haven't needed a job yet. I hopped in a losing player at $0.50/$1, moved up to $1/$2 because I couldn't handle 8 to the flop, read some books, and was a $1/$2 winner by the end of January. (Anecdotally speaking, statistical evidence took longer.) I think with careful study a person with a mind such as yours can quickly become a winner.

The way to do so though is to study poker a great deal, and you say that you don't have much time to do so. I recommend playing perhaps 5-10k hands and then investing in a poker coach. They are significantly +EV.

[MadMat]

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I recommend playing perhaps 5-10k hands and then investing in a poker coach. They are significantly +EV.

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So where would one find a reliable poker coach, and how much does one cost ?

Mat

[beaster]

I've been lurking for a couple of weeks and I think I did things a little bit different than most (understand I base this only on the folks who post, so I could be wrong). I started at the nanolimits -- 0.02/0.04 for about 1000 hands, then about 5000 each at 0.05/0.10 and 0.10/0.20. I'm now at 0.25/0.50.

It's taken me a little over a year but I feel like I am playing good poker. I absolutely crushed the previous two limits (11 BB/100 for nickel/dime, about 6BB/100 for 0.10/0.20). I had tremendous confidence going into the next level. All along I was studying Jones and Miller. Reading chapters over and over.

Take your time. Study, don't just read. Move up only when you're comfortable AND when you have the roll to insulate your swings. Patience, grasshopper.

I put in $25 to start, won that back and have never made a deposit since then. I'm pretty happy with my results so far.

[MicroBob]

I've posted this before...but what the hell:

Feb, 2003 - First time playing online. Losing player. Didn't know whether full-house beat a flush (nor what terms such as 'UTG' or 'muck' meant)
Played off and on I guess.

Apr, 2003 - Bought Hellmuth's book. Didn't learn much. Also Found 2+2 forums. Eventually learned that the guys who run this forum actually wrote a few books about poker as well.
Mostly playing small micro's on Stars and $5 SNG's. Experiment with playing 2 tables.

June, 2003 - HEFAP and TOP

July, 2003 - Winning at micro's and low buy-in SNG's 2-3 tables. Finished 1st in 6 out of 7 SNG's during one nice stretch.

Aug and Sept 2003 - Bonus chase on a couple of sites (including my first party account)

Oct 2003 - Winning at 2-3 tables of .5/1 or 1/2

Dec 2003 - Winning at 2-3 tables of 2/4 or 3/6

Jan 2004 - Buy new laptop and pokertracker with intentions of taking poker much more seriously (to potentially go pro)
Continue winning at 2/4 and 3/6. Set up my first rake-back account at a party 'skin'.

Mar 2004 - Quit my low-paying job as a blackjack dealer to play online-poker full-time for income (small sample size of success though....kept my options open to return to my dealing job which I thought I would probably have to do).

May 2004 - Nice winning stretch. Including my first +$1000 day multi-tabling 3/6.

June 2004 - Tough losing streak at 4-6 tables of 3/6. Confidence shaken.

June 2004 - Played as low as $25NL and 1/2 limit. Then Aggressively bonus-whored. Confidence renewed. Still making enough to pay the bills.

July 2004 - Played a zillion SNG's on UB during a special promotion all month. Got better at tourneys and acquired $3k in bonus-dollars which I still have yet to clear.

Oct 2004 - Win $12.5k in Empire Sunday night $50k guaranteed tourney. Significant increase to bankroll.

Nov 2004 - Jan 2005 - Try out 10/20 and 15/30 games on a couple of sites. Success at first and then get clobbered in January.

Feb 2005 - 5/10 and 10/20 6-max mostly. Win spot on PPM cruise.

Mar 2005 - Win $5k on PPM cruise

Apr - July 2005 - 5/10 6-max is primary source of income. Also satellite tourneys on Stars. In May won a seat to the WSOP. Past two weeks in Vegas did not do well in WSOP but won in the single-table tourney satellites as well as 8/16 and 15/30 cash-games.


Current goals - Continue to grind-out money on 5/10...possibly up to 10/20.
Also hope to win seat to another major tourney. Possibilities include Aruba in Sept or Stars Carib-Cruise in January. fingers crossed.


To the original poster - if you've been playing for 6 months and aren't winning consistently then I recommend hanging out exclusively in the micro-limit strategy forum to read, study and learn.

My winning poker has directly correlated with my drive to read and absorb as much as I could in the strategy forums.

I don't think it needs to take that long to be a winning player.
Once you actually know how to play and are willing to just study and learn it shouldn't take more than a few days to be playing a winning game at the micro and small-stakes levels.
It's something that most people don't know how to do...but it really isn't THAT hard to play a tight winning game at the 1/2 or 2/4 limits imo.

[cursha]

In my 16 years as an online poker play, I have had more than $3.7m go through my current account. Thats not to say I'm up that much at all, more like, I make more money using my bank account with my pals diego and don cortez.

poker is a great life