Where to go from here?

[Poker Jon]

Hi All,

This is my first post in the 'Theory' forum - I normally stick around in the small stakes and MTT forum's! Just looking for some worldly advice!

My Bios (I am British):

I have a full time job in recruitment and play poker as a hobby - although I play the hobby to win and not to piss away my money [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Anyway, I have been playing online poker for about a year now. I started with $50 and solely played NLHE Sit and Go's. Moved my Bankroll (BR) to about $300 and moved up in limits. I then added MTT's to the equation (always NL and PLHE - never LHE). My BR then went upto about $1500 and I have now incorporated NLHE cash games (and dropped Sit N Go's) into the equation and I am currently sitting at about $4k. I have also played 3 B&M low limit rebuy tournaments and I have won 2 of them (Invested £80 total for a return of £1200). This is not included in the above online BR.

At the moment I play a couple of evenings a week, one day at the weekend and I only ever play 1 or 2 tables (never 4+ like most). I browse this site daily and read a lot of the forum's with great interest. I have NEVER read a poker book (tsk tsk I know!) as I feel that reading these forums is JUST as good, if not better than reading a poker book (hell I may be wrong since I have never read a poker book and thus can not compare the forums to them!) I do not keep records of where, when, how I win and lose money [img]/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img], but I do keep records of who I play against and how they play. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

My Problem:

I have now though, come to a cross roads in my 'poker' career! I feel I have come a long way in a year and feel that my play is improving all the time. I also believe that if I concentrated more upon poker I could make a hell of a lot more money than I currently do. However I do not think I could play poker for 12 hours a day 7 days a week and quit my job. I would get bored and frustrated very easily.

My Question:

Is anyone here in a similar boat to me?
Has anybody here been in a similar boat - if so then what have you done to improve your play?
Any recommendations as to where to go from here?
Does anyone here think that from my current Bios I have anywhere near the right skills to become a MORE successful player than I am already, if I were to studying the game at a deeper level (read books, keep track of when I win and lose money etc.)

Any advice, greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

Jon

[Louie Landale]

You'll need to start reading the books. But you'll need to adopt more of a casual read attitude rather than a reference point attitude; otherwise the stuff you read will impead on what appears to be a lot of natural talent. No. Stick with what you do now and let the book stuff modify it gently over time. Don't neglect the essays.

You are going to have to accept the fact that you cannot play more than (whatever) 20 hours a week. That's a reality of folks with jobs. You'll also have to accept the fact that if you work full time and play poker half time, that you don't have much of a life left. Be sure you DO have some life left.

I'd get that Poker Tracker software, at least it will keep track of your winning and losing sessions and games and will let you do objective queries on certain opponent's styles.

- Louie

[Al_Capone_Junior]

Given your lack of reading, you can almost certainly attribute your results to good luck rather than your tremendous skill, particularly given how little you are playing, and what a short time your results are from. You NEED to read books.

theory of poker
gambling theory and other topics
psychology of poker
Holdem poker for advanced players
SSH

and others too. these are just for starters.

al

[TonyBlair]

I go with Capone on this one (apart from the luck bit - common sense is all you need on uk sites). If you haven't read then do so. I personally think Theory of Poker is the best one to start with and then just read around like a cheap book whore.
And don't give up your day job because it seems the perfect place for you to practice screwing people over for money. No personal offence intended.

[aLOWdAkING]

i wouldn't be so quick to say his success has been based upon good luck... NLHE can be based on a lot of natural skill and talent. Limit, on the other hand, requires great skill and patience and you might need to read up on it.

i think the books help, but if u have natural talent use books a little as reference, dont depend solely on them 2 decide wat 2 do.

Limit is fun! you should try it sometime. but beware, its a completely different game from NL.

[VinnyVegas]

Keep your day job, and your 'hobby'.

-Vinny

[hagelito]

Sorry but this is kind of bullshit. I'm pretty sure he win because of skill, no one can win over a long period only with luck.

How do you think that the first book came? By someone who had experience I guess, right?

Don't flame me now because I read books, I just don't agree he hasn't any skill, if you are somewhat smart you learn what works and what doesn't (experience), it isn't that hard to figure out. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

/Hagel.