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Old 08-12-2005, 03:05 PM
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Default Starting Poker at Different Stages of Life

I am just curious as to when people started playing poker and how it affected their decisions.

I see that a lot of people here are in university or started at that time - I think that is a great time to start, as long as you are responsible in your time and money management.

My situation is that I am 32, married with no kids (yet!) and a house with a small mortgage. I have a well paying job that I enjoy and my wife is currently working as well.

I am just making my first online deposit - and it is going to be for a whopping $100USD. I am going to start at the .10/.20 tables for now and move up as my bankroll allows.

For me to take a larger portion of my income for poker at this point would be irresponsible and unfair to my spouse. I also recognize that poker is a marathon, not a sprint. Even if it takes me 10 years to move up to limits where I can reasonably supplement my income in any meaningful way with poker, that should still give me many years of enjoying the fruits of my labour.

I would be interested to hear how other people handled this situation and how they looked at it when they got started.
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Old 08-12-2005, 03:14 PM
zuluking zuluking is offline
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Location: Lafayette, Louisiana
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Default Re: Starting Poker at Different Stages of Life

My father was a degenrate gambler with many "friends" in the same boat. They would have a 1-3 stud game every friday night (this is in the 70's), and when I turned 13, they invited me to join. Actually, I begged them, cause I had been making a killing with the neighborhood kids playing .25/.50 stud, and figured I could rape the 1-3 game.
Rape it I did and after a few weeks, I was "uninvited" to the game.

I joined the service after high school and made more money playing poker than my base pay every month.

Now I play 80% online and 20% B&M and live very comfortably.
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Old 08-12-2005, 03:23 PM
Marlow Marlow is offline
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Default Re: Starting Poker at Different Stages of Life

Hey Hank,

I'm 31 with a wife and a 10 month old kiddo. I've been playing for around six years now.

I think your plan is a very good one. If you goal is to have a good time, then have a go at the micro-limits. You have a job, and poker should be fun. Poker is far from fun when you lose money you can't lose.

When I started playing, I was that post-college kid. I studied pretty hard and enjoyed playing and talking about the game. I could afford to dump a lot of time and money into it. And actually, I didn't have a choice. There was no such thing as a .10-.20 game six years ago. I think that it's vital to define what you want from the game. Playing for fun is a very different proposition than playing for money or competition or to get better at something.

At this point, I play for competition and the challenge of learning then I do for anything else. I can't get hung up on the money because poker really should have zero effect on my family's financial situation. Because of this I'm very strict about my bankroll.

In any case, it sounds like you are being very responsible.

Good luck to you,
Marlow
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Old 08-12-2005, 03:32 PM
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Default Re: Starting Poker at Different Stages of Life

[ QUOTE ]
In any case, it sounds like you are being very responsible.


[/ QUOTE ]

Well, I must admit that it would be tough to support a high priced poker habit, what with all the crack and whores I spend my money on.
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Old 08-12-2005, 05:14 PM
roundhouse roundhouse is offline
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Default Re: Starting Poker at Different Stages of Life

Hank,

Your start up situ and style mirror my own quite closely (read: I like your plan). I went in with the very cautious attitude, "how much am I willing to spend on my new hobby". To which the answer was $300 initial deposit, plus $50 p/month thereafter, or equivalent. Starting off at 0.5/1 (after a couple hundred hands at the super-micro limits to get my hand in). I knew poker was a beatable skill game, but I didn't want to prejudge my own abilities. I've since taken out the symbolic $300 (never had to add to it) and now play on winnings alone - so every time I find myself down I console myself with the thought that it's money I wouldn't have had if I didn't play poker.

If like me you end up playing less than 5k hands a month, be warned that bad runs can seem to last a long time.

Good luck with the plan. And don't forget to get bonus whoring!

RH
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Old 08-12-2005, 05:22 PM
Dave H. Dave H. is offline
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Default Re: Starting Poker at Different Stages of Life

I started with $12 of "their" money and my goal was never to invest any of mine other than in books. At .02/.04, it took quite a long time to move up, even to .10/.20...about 4 months of part time playing. After a year, though, I'm safely bankrolled for $3/$6.

The nice thing, I think, about being conservative in your approach is that you never have to "kick" yourself (or have someone else kick you) if you lose it all. Also, and equally as important, I think I learned a lot at the low, loose levels and the experiences I got there paid off as I played progressively higher. I know that $3/$6 is no big thing, but it was my goal and that makes it big for me.
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Old 08-12-2005, 06:10 PM
mikehildebrand mikehildebrand is offline
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Default Re: Starting Poker at Different Stages of Life

Hank, I had an interesting start to B&M poker. I had played for years for fun, but then my wife got a job in Phoenix Arizona and we had to move. I gave up my jobs, packed up the house and made the run.

I was 30, two boys (from a previous marriage) and alone in Phoenix. I decided to focus on my advanced degree while there. We had a small condo and were meeting our expenses, but we were eating ramen more than I had been accustomed to.

I had always done relatively well at BlackJack, playing correct at least. I started out playing blackjack and winning about 100-200 weekly playing $5.00 blackjack, but my stake was always at test. A man there realized I was playing great black jack and realized I had a knack for knowing what cards should be coming.

He introduced me to casino hold em games and I was hooked. Interestingly, I had no idea the forums or books were out there at the time and I learned a lot of rough lessons (increasing the ramen dinners again) but ended up making more that year than I had while working in Salt Lake, where we lived prior.

Well, we have moved back to Salt Lake and there are no casino's here, so I am making the first foray into online poker as well. I am trying to find the right "balance" between family, job and poker. I am VERY fortunate becasue my wife is so supportive of my poker play. she managed our finances while down in Phoenix and kept me on a pretty tight bakroll, knowing what others are playing with now.

I wish you the best of luck and hope to see you accross the felt sometime.
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Old 08-12-2005, 06:28 PM
Goodnews Goodnews is offline
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Default Re: Starting Poker at Different Stages of Life

Got high, got bored, watched 'Rounders', got pumped to play poker.

For fun at first, so I dumped a whole lot of money there then I decided I wanted to win and I started playing competitively. Started at .25/.50 with $50 (I didn't know better). Did some reading and now I at 1/2 with a good bankroll and trying to build a database of 100k hands to spot any leaks.

I started a year ago when I was 17.
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Old 08-12-2005, 07:10 PM
johnc johnc is offline
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Default Re: Starting Poker at Different Stages of Life

I'm 37, married (no kids, yet) and I started playing about a year ago in a small B&M near my home. I did about break even for the first couple months or so I went to Vegas and played and lost my a$$! Well, that's all it took to get the OCD side of me going. Read several books, started playing online at the micros, and I'm seeing my game slowly turning around. I'm not looking to get rich quick, don't really have any lofty aspirations of big tourney wins (I prefer ring games), but most importantly I'm having a blast learning an extremely challenging game that'll take me many, many years to learn well.
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  #10  
Old 08-13-2005, 09:06 AM
malo malo is offline
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Default Re: Starting Poker at Different Stages of Life

Hank.....

I am an almost-51 year old woman.....now single, no kids....who started playing in February this year with $100 on Pacific. I took a four day weekend over President's day. I had done a lot of reading and study prior, had a good starting hands chart, so I played .25/.50. Made $125 that first 4-day weekend. Yeah....started with a bang!

As of now, I am playing 1/2. Tried it Memorial Day weekend and over the next few weeks dropped 125BB's and dropped back to .50/1.00 to work on my game and rebuild. Now giving it a shot again and having modest success.

What is interesting is how much I have made this year....$2400. There is $1000 in my bankroll, and I have cashed out $1400. I wanted to enjoy some fruits of my labors [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img] and took out $500 last month to cover some car repairs. Hated that, [img]/images/graemlins/mad.gif[/img], but glad the money was there.

How did I do it? Bonuses.

In the beginning you won't have enough to successfully chase. Once you get the BR up to $200 you can take advantage of the Granny Mae Paradise bonus. Believe there is a link in the classifieds. Once the BR hits $500, there are a lot of places you can chase at. Research the forums here for advice, check out the Bonus Whores web site, and take advantage of what is out there.

Good luck to you!
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