What did you go through?

So far I have read Ken Warren's Hold Em book, and the beginners book by Ed Miller. Right now I am reading the Small Stakes Hold Em by Sklansky and Malmuth. I hope I spelled their names right. Anyways, I feel like I'm stuck. It is so much to take in. I started doing well during the Miller book, but now I'm just losing and losing. I play on PartyPoker on 5/10 Limit (play money) tables. I only play the strong hands that are recommended, but I keep losing. Sometimes I think I am not being patient and not playing smart. I know I can beat this game and eventually make some real money, but I get so discouraged. Does anybody have any advice, any stories of what they went through when they first started?

I'd like to hear about what you did, how you got serious, and how you progressed. That would really help me out if you could take the time to do that. Thanks in advance.

[tonypaladino]

You need to get off the play money tables. The practice you get there is completely worthless. If you don't have a couple of hundred bucks to play the .5/1 on Party then try Nanolimits on UB.

[Eratosthenes]

The play money tables are pretty worthless for learning how to play. Those play money players have even less regard for money than the average 2+2er. PokerStars also has limits down to $.02/.04, but you'll learn more at $.25/.50 or higher.

Don't try to absorb too much "book lernin" at once--you really need significant playing experience before you can start applying SSH. Play 10 or 20,000 hands using the concepts in GSIH, and then start applying the concepts in SSH. If you can understand and apply SSH, you'll crush the low limits (up through about $2/4) at any on line poker room.

There is .10/.20 on party for the first couple of weeks your account is created. You can also play .2/.4 and up on pokerstars.

Most if not all primaskins have .05/.10 which is a great place to start learning. Prima is also pretty tight even at the nanolimits so imo it's a good school.

Definitely drop the play money and get on to some low stakes tables. Any of the sites recomended are good. Check bonus and affiliate offers before signing up on a new site....they may not be a big thing now, but later they may be.

There's an important line in SSHE...it goes something like "read the starting hand reccomendations, but don't get hung up on them. Concentrate on your post flop play." This is very important. Playing quality hands is only +EV preflop if you don't know what to do post flop and don't know when to fold. Also, I would suggest NOT reading a bunch of different books. Pick one(I suggest SSHE) and STUDY it. Read the whole thing. Then read it again. Then read it again. Take notes. Ask questions here. Play and apply the concepts, then reread.

There are some great posters here who are happy to "give back" by answering questions and helping out...use them as well.

I started out playing .5/1 at party 5 months ago and had a bad time the first 3000 hands or so. Then I picked up SSHE and started applying the concepts...my game got a little better and I started posting small wins. Don't expect huge gains over night, play your cards, ignore the suckouts and bad beats, and keep trying to improve your game.

Hope that helps

[AKQJ10]

[ QUOTE ]
You need to get off the play money tables. The practice you get there is completely worthless.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's an exaggeration, albeit not a terribly outrageous one. I've made the case that they aren't entirely worthless several times, so i'm not going to repeat it here; i'm going to repeat it at http://poker.wikicities.com/wiki/Play_money .

That said, you can get the same experience beating loose games for not much risk by playing micro-limits, and you're making a bit of money and playing more serious (and passive) opponents. Given the choice I'd go for micros, probably Pacific's just as soon as I was confident I'm not dribbling money away.

[Piper Tim]

I agree with the others and play real money. When you actually play for something of value you will learn faster because you have something at stake.

I started playing the nanolimits, but quickly realized that even though I don't have much money, the pennies had little value to me. I actully moved to .25/.5 at UB and when I had enough went straight to Party .5/1.

I've worked a lot on postflop play and have learned (mostly learned?) not to take marginal hands too far.

Thank you to everyone who responded. You have all given me more inspiration to slow down and work on my game. I am the type of person who likes to get right in there and see results and I guess that is why I get down on myself. I have all of these books:
Getting Started In Hold Em
Small Stakes Hold Em
Hold Em for Advanced Players
The Psychology of Poker
The Theory of Poker
Ken Warren's Texas Hold Em

I'm currently reading Small Stakes Hold Em and will continue to read that. I'm going to jump back to the Getting Started in Hold Em book and go from there. I am also looking into an investment into PokerTracker, which I hear so much about. I'm not one to count my own hands so having something else do it will probably help me out tremedously.

Thanks again for the help and if you could still give me your experiences from the beginning, that would be great.

As a relative newbie, I took $200 to Full Tilt (100% sign-up Bonus) and rated as not an "A List" site and viewed it as an investment in learning at very low Limit games. It took me almost 3 months of -EP play until I got down to under $75, flattened out and started winning slowly. I then promptly lost it all learning to play on-line tournaments. Now, I cash fairly frequently in low level Sit n Gos and have moved up several Limit levels. These 2 areas are now "funding" my NL lessons at very low levels, and yes, I have been reading several of your listed books for perspective.

My long winded point, invest a small but set amount of $$ to learn and most importantly, gain confidence. No one can play your hand but you!