My Story as a Poker Player

[Prometeo]

Today is a great day, at least for me. Not only because I won $1,400 in 3 hours but also because for the first time in my brief life as an internet poker player I crossed the $10,000 line. So far I have won $10,640 in 4 months, half of which I won this month ($5000 in 42 hours playing one 15/30 table at Empire, BB/hr 3.90)

I've been here on this forum for a while but this is my first post. I decided to make it because when I first started playing poker the "success story" posts were what gave me the support to keep trying it when I was on a cold streak and doubted my skills to succeed. I live in Buenos Aires, Argentina and I'm 22 years old. I don't study nor work... I just play poker for a living [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

Background:
I finished school on the end of 1999. On 2000 I went to the University to study Philosophy. Six months later I changed to History. Six months later I changed to Literature. A year and a half later I abandoned it. I just couldn't study even tough I was the first of my class on high school. I think that by then I had lost the will to study, I started questioning if it was worth the effort the 5-6 years of study to work on something for 30 years that I didn't like it. And don't get me wrong. I like Philosophy, History and Literature but I like to read about it, not to study it. I still read books about all that subjects but I can't force myself to study.

Now we are on June 2002. Meanwhile I started liking the stock market. I read a few books and decided to invest half of my savings on the Argentinan Stock Exchange. The first week I made a big profit and I thought that I was a genius... the following weeks I gradually lost all my profits and was breakeven. And so I thought that the reason I wasn't winning was because the fees I was paying when trading were too high (which is true. I had to pay almost 2% on fees on each trade. Way to high). Anyway, I decided to move almost all my savings to the American market. I opened an account at Interactive Brokers and that's where I made my first mistake.

When I was trading in Argentina I used to send the orders using my computer and there was a 2-5 minutes delay in the execution, so it was very difficult to daytrade in that conditions. Besides, the high fees made it very expensive. But with IB I could get the orders executed in just a few seconds and at a low price. So I overtrade (and I wanted it badly, I couldn't help it). It was kind of an obsession. I HAD to make more trades. But there was the "pattern day trading" rule which forbids traders with less than 25K to make more than 3 trades in a week (or was it in a day? I don't remember), forcing traders to invest in the long term or... trade the futures which don't follow that rule.

Can you guys guess what I did?. Well, I trade the futures. The good/bad thing about the futures is the leverage. That means that if I buy a Nasdaq Future at 1000 and then it moves to 1010 (1% up) the money I invested is up 10%. And so when it goes down (Nasdaq down 1%, my money down 10%). I hope you're following me; this is already hard to explain in Spanish. Anyway, I daytraded the Nasdaq (NQ) and SP500 (ES) Futures. The first half an hour of the day I used to be down $200 or $300 and had to force myself to stop trading for the day. Even tough I knew I was making mistakes I kept doing them. I was trying to win back all the money that I had lost. I was on tilt. I didn't follow any of the advice I read on my books. I traded with scared money, I daytraded using an ISP that disconnected every 2 minutes for a few seconds (literally), I didn't used stop-losses...

End of the story. On Jun 2003 I only had $2000 left of the $6000 initial investment. The nightmare was over. IB didn't allowed me to make more trades if the account had less than $2000. I was glad that I didn't had to suffer anymore those losing trading mornings and I was sad because I had lost $4000, a lot of money, especially here in Argentina. But above all this I had hope, hope that I could win back all the money I had lost in the market and even make a living playing poker.

How Poker came to my life:
One day in mid-May I was browsing the EliteTrade.com forum (a 2+2 for traders) when I found this thread
http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showth...threadid=12455
I don't know why I read it because I didn't even know how to play poker at that time and I wasn't interested. Anyway, I read it all and I got interested. I looked on the Internet for more information and that's how I got to this forum. I read the hands post and I have to say that I found hands analysis pretty boring back then. I kept reading week after week for a month and finally decided to buy a few books.

On 19 Jun I bought TOP and WLLH. A month later I bought HPFAP and Inside the Poker Mind. Two months later, Tournament Poker for Advanced Players, The Complete Book of Hold 'Em Poker (Carson), Internet Texas Hold'em (Hilger) and Poker Essays (Volume III). The first three books I read and reread a lot of times; TPFAK, Carson and Essays only once. I haven't read Hilger yet and I don't I ever will. It seems to be a good book but I think there's nothing new there.

On September 2003 I made a deposit on Party, got the $25 bonus and the $50 that Inthacup (thanks again, by the way) gave me for referring me. I decided to start playing at 0.5/1 and move up when I had 300BB. I didn't always follow the 300BB rule but the rule that I always have follow is to not try to win back your money at a higher limit if you're in a losing streak. I was tighter than most of the players but still not tight enough (seeing 25% of flops, I think) and I was passive. Reading 2+2 posts made me tighter and more aggresive every day. I went up to 1/2 and it was almost the same kind of game, loose-passive.

Then when I got to $1000 I moved up to 2/4 and here I stayed for a long time (450 table hours). I used to play 2 tables at once while reading this forum. I didn't even bother to try to read players. I just played ABC poker and it went all right. I tried 3 times to move up to 3/6 but if you don't read players there ABC poker won't be any good. The first time I lost $300 in an hour and it was my worst losing day ever. I didn't go back there in a long time. The next two times it was better but still too tight and aggresive. So I stayed at 2/4 playing 2 tables with no readings for many weeks, very happy with my $20/h winnings.

Then, one day I read a thread where Vehn criticized people who said that David Ross was a great poker player. Vehn said (and I apologized in advance if I misread you) that David was just an ABC player that wasn't really good. He said that he would rather play one table at 15/30 than three at 5/10. That was exactly was I was trying to do. I was following David's steps and it was exhausting. I didn't want to do that for a living. Three (or even two) tables is too much for me. I'd rather play one table in a higher limit. I had almost $5000 and so I thought that I could try the 5/10 tables which I had read in this forum were looser than the 3/6 tables. I did well but I didn't play too much there. At that time I read a post about the fishes that were playing at 15/30 and how it was as easy as 2/4. I had less than $6000 in my account and so I thought that it was kind of risky (I wasn't following the rule) but I play there anyway and I was lucky to find a table with a maniac and good cards in my first session. My first day at 15/30 was December 30th.

These are my stats. First column is the limit, then money won/lost, time in minutes and BB/hr per table:

0.5/1 $430 6420m 4.02 BB/hr/t
1/2 $560 10932m 1.53 BB/hr/t
2/4 $4019 27000m 2.23 BB/hr/t
3/6 $-144 4690m -1.8 BB/hr/t
5/10 $242 700m 2.09 BB/hr/t

Here are my stats for 15/30 (ten handed):

Total hands: 3,007
$ Won: $5,014
Hours: 42
BB/hr: 3.90
VIP: 14.77%
Folded SB to Steal: 74.07%
Folded BB to Steal: 63.27%
Att. to Steal Blinds: 17.76%
Went to Showdown: 31.12%
Won $ at SD: 62.07%
Raised Pre-flop: 6.65%

Do you guys think that I'm doing something wrong?. I think I have to work on my short handed game. I'm too tight-passive with less than 7 players. I fold too much even when I'm sure that I'm being steal-raised. There's no need to tell me that I can't expect to keep winning at that rate. Even though Party 15/30 tables are full of fishes with tons of money who play as if it were a 0.5/1 table, I know that I have won too much.

And Now What?:
Right now I think I will keep playing 15/30 at Empire. If there were more 30/60 tables I could give it a try. I don't think they are so different from 15/30 although I have to admit that I haven't watch them play lately.

A few weeks ago I tried to learn how to play shorthanded but I didn't like it. I read Abdul and Jason Pohl's articles and the SH forum and I'm still uncomfortable with the aggresion. I also played no more than 500 hands at 1/2 (6Max) and won less than $20.

I played a few tournaments and I got bored really fast. Before having a real money account I used to play freerols at Popular Poker but could never make it in the money. I know that at that time I was not good enough but I read somewhere that PP employees played in those tournaments and won most of the time.

I open an account at The Poker Club to try to win an entry to the Bellagio Super Satellite. http://www.powernetpoker.com/frames/...s/bellagio.htm for those interested. Prima Poker have it too http://www.primapoker.com/wptc.php?b...01&lang=en Last time I was playing in a SnG at TPC to win an entry to the final and we were 3 players. We all had the same ammount of chips. One of the players goes all in with KQo and I gladly call him with AA. Board AxxJT and I'm out. Forty minutes for nothing. That's why I don't like tournaments. At least this didn't happen on the final.

There's something that I have to admit is kind of a problem: I don't like the game, I just play for the money. When I was learning the game I liked it a lot but now I don't read anymore hands posts nor books. I feel that there's nothing more to learn, or if there is something there's no point in learning it because I'm already a winning player and it won't add much to my winning rate.

One last thing: Why is it that many good players here in this forum don't play at 15/30? A lot of them play at 5/10 or even at lower limits and for the advice they give to new players I can tell that they can make a killing at 15/30.

Well, it was a long post, wasn't it?. I hope you guys could read it all. See you at the tables

[ZeeJustin]

[ QUOTE ]
I feel that there's nothing more to learn

[/ QUOTE ]

Uh oh. That's a big big uh oh. I have had a very large amount of success, but I certainly haven't even come close to falling into the trap you have. I don't understand how you can say a thing like this, and then ask a simple question about how often you should fold to blind steals. Once you stop trying to learn how to play the best you can, everything goes to hell. Sure, maybe you won't ever become a losing player again, but this is still a BAD trap to fall into.

Ok, I'm rambling, sorry.

Anyway, that was a nice post, a very good read, thanks for sharing. You seem to have trouble finding something that makes you truly happy, and I hope you find it someday.

[William]

Ok, so you wrote a nice long post about how you are this big poker genius that has won 10.000$ in 4 months, has just learn the game, doesn't like poker but plays for the money, doesn't need to read more books or listen to anybody anymore, you know everything already? And you are also qualifyied to advice all players to stop playing low limits, but to jump directly into 15/30, like a real "macho".

My opinion is that you are 22, are already waisting your life and definitely are the biggest idiot I have seen at this forum.
Go back to your rich parents house and I hope you soon lose all their money, as they deserve for the poor education they have given you. [img]/images/graemlins/mad.gif[/img]

[Ash, Housewares]

"Are all men from the future loud-mouthed braggarts?"

"Nope, just me baby.... just me."

[ZeeJustin]

JEBUS! WTF do you have lodged up your ass? He did not advise anyone to move up at all. Maybe you should have read his post a little more carefully. He just thinks moving up is easier than it seems, and relative to the typical conservative 2+2 viewpoint, he's probably right, although this advice most certainly would not apply to the average Party Poker player.

Are you actually upset because he plays just for the money? Obviously he was more interested in the game at first and has since lost interest. Is there anything wrong with that?

How can you possibly criticize this post so much? Are you mentally insane? Mentally retarded? He's sharing his story and how poker has treated him, and I wish more people would do this, but it's because of *censored* like you that people hold back.

[travisand]

A little jealous William? I think you need to settle down.

[William]

You're in the same league as him, I see, but i already knew that, from a certain Psychology post, where everybody was onto you for encouraging a kid to quit school and play poker.
You're probably the kind that never finished school [img]/images/graemlins/mad.gif[/img]

[William]

[ QUOTE ]
A little jealous William? I think you need to settle down.

[/ QUOTE ]

Jealous about what? you think 10.000$ in 4 months is worth playing poker all your life? [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]
Do you live in a camping car?

[BradleyT]

I think he's just sick of all the posts where people have never played poker in their life, decide to play online, are now up $10,000 in 3-4 months and consider themselves pros.

[jasonHoldEm]

Personally I like success stories...I think the comment I feel that there's nothing more to learn, or if there is something there's no point in learning it because I'm already a winning player and it won't add much to my winning rate is very dangerous, but is typical of someone who has had fast success. If Prometeo chooses to stay with poker he might feel differently after he's played more than 3k hands at 15/30, but I'm not going to comment on that since I don't play at that level (yet).

Peace,
J

PS - I thought the elitetrader post was the nuts, thanks for sharing.