How do I make money through poker?

Hi,

I was reading Ed's intro. about the "wheelbarrows full of cash" that the above ave. 2 + 2 player
is making, and I must greedily say that I want to get there and be one of those fortunate (and very skilled) guys.

I really don't have any poker playing friends to ask for help (none of my family
members or friends play poker seriously for income...), so I
can't ask anyone:
What the best place/site to go play?
What are the best limits to play at the site?
What times of day are the best to spend playing? (when there are a lot
of full tables w/good (profitable) games going on?).

I've seen "bonus whore" guides, that tell a player w/ $200., etc., exacty where
to first deposit to get the best bonus, clear it and then get the next bonus (the proper order of desposits/bonuses you should get out of all the sites that are out there to get the most free money the quickest),
and after you're done (assuming you just break even) your up thousands in a
short period of time...

But what about somebody who is extremely good at limit poker, but lacks the knowledge of simply where to play (online) and
may lack the bankroll for limits above $15/30??? ( I plan on playing 5/10, 10/20, and 15/30 to build for the 20/40, 30/60 games...)

It's such a HUGE costly and time consuming mistake to take say $6,000. and sit in a bad 15/30 game for a few weeks, just to find that out - that it's bad/full of good players...
I've also made a post about a Stud game I played Online (and how good it was)
and lots of players asked me where it was I was playing...which leads me to my question...

Short question:
Is there a forum on here where we can post our poker "hot spots" that we find Online?
Is it even proper etiquette to post this info.?

I know that good/great players reside on here and read these forums and that it'd be dumb to post here when you find a good game, 'cause then all the 2 + 2 "sharks" would more or less swim over to check it out and then it would no longer be a good game, but
aren't there sooooooooooooooo many places to play online now and sooooooo many bad players that it shouldn't really matter?

For the low limits it really doesn't matter...no matter what site you go to, the $2/4 games are super easily beatable...but the game selection at higher limits is the important thing:
where can I go to find where the good mid-high limit games are?
(and when I do find good games myself, is it OK to post it? ...or just plain stupid...?)

I got the skills, I got the bankroll (for all limits $15/30 and below), but I don't yet have "wheelbarrows" full of cash...
(and I need to make some poker "friends"...I don't really have any of those...lol...anyone feeling sorry for me yet to take me under their wing?)


Joe M.

[bobdibble]

For the moment just play on Party Poker. You still have to practice good table selection, but you are guaranteed to find good games pretty much any time you play.

It sounds like you are primarily a live player and are making the transition to online play. You should be careful making this transition. Online play is typically significantly tougher than live play at the corresponding limits. As a comparision, I'd say that my local live 20/40 game plays like the Party 3/6. And the few winning live 20/40 players at my local card room would probably get destroyed in the Party 15/30.

In any case, the online mid limit games may be a lot tougher than you are used to. I'm not saying you won't be a winner, just be careful.

As for posting about good games, don't. If you find some non-mainstream site that has really good games, don't ruin it for the few people that put in the work to find these games.. especially if the limits are moving toward the higher end of mid-stakes, e.g. 50/100+.

As for learning about online play in general... read the FAQ in the beginners and/or Microlimits forum to read about the various tools available to you.

Good luck.

[Don Olney]

I have yet to meet anyone who has JUMPED limits like some of these people talk about--- come on, I would like to meet just ONE person who has jumped from 30/60 to 100/200 in less then two years---------GET REAL

[Ed Miller]

[ QUOTE ]
I have yet to meet anyone who has JUMPED limits like some of these people talk about--- come on, I would like to meet just ONE person who has jumped from 30/60 to 100/200 in less then two years---------GET REAL

[/ QUOTE ]

Many of the Mid- and High-Stakes posters have done just that.

[ggbman]

this kind of thing happens to people in 2 months online.

[sthief09]

if your goal is to make money, then you probably won't do very well. I think it's safe to say that most good players loved the game first, and the money came along next (and now subsequently hate poker). if you don't have a passion for it, you'll never have the drive to try and get really good and understand the inner workings of the game. there are no math equations taht you can just memorize. you have to deeply understand how the game works and where your profits come from

[baronzeus]

Post deleted by baronzeus

[baronzeus]

[ QUOTE ]
I would like to meet just ONE person who has jumped from 5/10 to 75/150 in less then two months---------GET REAL

[/ QUOTE ]


.........
hi!

[driller]

I always thought that part of the skill involved recognizing good games.

If you are talking about online, then get poker tracker and pokerace hud. When these are set up, all you have to do is open up a table and you will be able to tell what kind of game it is.

Most people think party has the softest games. They definitely have the most games. If you play there, it won't take you long to identify some "buddies" that you want to play with as much as possible. Party has a feature that allows you to search for your buddies.

After that, you just need to find a big enough wheel barrow [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

Hi Josh/all,

I do have a love for the game...so much so that I am seriously considering leaving my
"old life"
to begin anew as a "pro. poker player." For the first 22 years of my life (I'm 25 now)
I spent all my time in school, preparing for a life that poker now allows me to let go of...
and I don't have the guts to do it...(to quit my 9-5 and start living the poker life...).
It
is tearing me apart even thinking about the decision and you ARE DEFINITELY RIGHT...
the love of the game will be the thing that gives me the courage/strength to let go of my old life...
and I would agree (though not based on a ton of experience on my part)
that this should be the main/deciding factor for making this life change...

I am a winning player who has reached the "long-run" (when I hit the LR I said to myself holy sh*t - look at all this money I won!
( I was playing 5/10 and crushing the game for a lot - not enough to make $100K a year playing part time, but a lot for someone just playing poker as a hobby...).

As I understand it, whenever you take a "bad beat" you know you're in a good game that is profitable...if you are not getting a lot of bad beats where you play, then the games aren't good...
And I think that most of my money comes from opponents incorrectly calling Turn bets (when they
don't have odds...).
This is a big money maker...

Also I see opponents semi-bluffing far too often (when they do not have a big enough chance of making their opponent fold - maybe even a 0% chance...yet they check raise HU with only a 4 flush going into the river w/a .000002% chance of making me fold - I think this is another mistake I see all the time...

Would you say I kinda know "where the money comes from?"

I want to know where I should go to to play 10/20, 15/30, 20/40, 30/60, etc. online in a game where the above ave. limit player can make 1 BBet per hour no problem...
I don't have a "best buddy" to ask, and was wondering if there was
another way to find out other than by trial and error...(which is costly and time-consuming...esp. at mid-high limits...).

Thanks for the replies, and hopefully I WILL BE another success story and taking shots at 100/200+ within a 12 month timeframe!

Joe M.

PS. FWIW I heard a quote I lliked a lot from Howard LEderer's Limit HE video...he said that: "as you move up in limits, the bad players at the [higher] limits are just like the bad players you found at the lower limits you're used to...It's the better players (the winning players) at those limits that you will
not be used to and that will do things that you've never seen before." Howard said that you have to "take shots" at the higher limits that you're thinking about moving up to and give yourself time to adjust to the super-expert play that you will be encountering. I thought this was great and definitely hits
home for me (I played 2/4 and 3/6 a year ago at this time exactly - Halloween I rem.
I was playing 2/4 taking shots at 3/6...Now I am going to be taking
shots at 30/60 (hopefully will be there by Christmas (when it's cold out and hopefully many fishies will be bored indoors and opening up poker
accounts!!! lol - a dynamic I noticed last December!).
I think it's
possible to go from nothing to 300/600 in 2 years...with a lot of work (I'm talking about a super smart high IQ person who plays EVERYDAY
and loves it...OH, and has a mentor/poker buddy who has gone through the same process already...I need one of those! lol).