How many young players out there actually make it???

[daryn]

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Don't believe me? Think about all the mid stakes players you know who are capable of playing much higher but due to poor decision making aren't. Probably around half will say "running bad when taking shots." This always makes me laugh, especially when I know they just spent a ton of money on other stuff they didn't need. The other half can usually admit their own bankroll management inefficencies.

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I know you said mid stakes, but wanna know why I'm not playing 300/600 yet?

You guessed it: running bad when taking shots.

It happens. Easy enough to go up to 300/600, play an hour, lose $20,000 because you're playing 5 handed and winning 5% of pots and 25% at showdown, and there goes reasonable grinding at 100/200 and similar limits. Do that a few times and it grows tiresome and you begin to question whether it's even worth it trying to continue to move higher.


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ahem.. ding.

it's easy to rapidly climb the stakes ladder when you are running great. i believe many people underestimate the amount of luck that was involved in their success.

[James282]

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Don't believe me? Think about all the mid stakes players you know who are capable of playing much higher but due to poor decision making aren't. Probably around half will say "running bad when taking shots." This always makes me laugh, especially when I know they just spent a ton of money on other stuff they didn't need. The other half can usually admit their own bankroll management inefficencies.

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I know you said mid stakes, but wanna know why I'm not playing 300/600 yet?

You guessed it: running bad when taking shots.

It happens. Easy enough to go up to 300/600, play an hour, lose $20,000 because you're playing 5 handed and winning 5% of pots and 25% at showdown, and there goes reasonable grinding at 100/200 and similar limits. Do that a few times and it grows tiresome and you begin to question whether it's even worth it trying to continue to move higher.


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ahem.. ding.

it's easy to rapidly climb the stakes ladder when you are running great. i believe many people underestimate the amount of luck that was involved in their success.

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I think most underestimate it while they are running hot and moving up the ranks, but if these people stick around they will soon realize what happened. I know I certainly did - and I know others like bicyclekick and stoxtrader fully acknowledge that running hot at the right times was perhaps the largest contributor to moving up through the limits so quickly.
-James

[DcifrThs]

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I know about 4 times as many people who increased their quality of life while blowing their bankroll. Maybe you live in some sort of pokertopia where everyone wins 2 bb/100 and nobody ever runs bad

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i dont think james lives in a pokertopia, but he is more likely to be talking to and relating his experience with far better than average players. there are some poker players ive met through this site that i think are great people and very intelligent but i would still hesitate to go into business with. those that i have met and would go into business with id do so without a second thought. james is in the latter catagory. the point im making is studying or learning his ability to express eloquently and understand the tradeoffs in life, business, and poker would be a worthwhile venture.

you seem to be aware and although i dont know you personally i think i can estimate the type of spending habits you have because i was quite the tight nit before i had a similar talk w/ a few 2p2 friends. i had a computer that would freeze and potentially cost me great amounts of money. so i commissioned a 2p2 friend of mine to come build me one...with mixed results [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img] ...

anyways, good luck to you but reread james's post. it has some good insight.

Barron

[revlis87]

let me say this...

I am a no limit guy. I was playing 400 NL (4 tabling) until september. I won several tournaments, took a shot at 5-10 and 10-20, ran hot and now have more than enough of a BR to lpay there. I am also confident I am going to be able to last there.

Here is the point I want to make... I spend money. A lot of money. I dont mean im a nut case - i dont buy anything huge. But I think that being able to spend money freely is GOOD and + EV for a poker player, particularly a NL player who needs to know how to shove.

And granted, spending $1000 on something for a 5-10 player is a lot, for someone who plays 2,000 NL it shouldtn be something you consider for too long. Enjoy life cheapasses.

[bicyclekick]

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I know you said mid stakes, but wanna know why I'm not playing 300/600 yet?

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Because you play 2,000 hands of poker a month and don't have a large enough roll to be comfortable at those stakes?

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Even though I laughed, this is so true and it shouldn't be funny.

[Bud Light]

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The money doesn't enhance my life very much. I live underneath a laundromat, in an almost completely unfurnished apartment shared by me and a friend for $275 a month, and drive a 91' toyota. My life would be almost exactly the same if I didn't play poker.


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Your avatar is beginning to make sense now. You live like a repressed communist who secretly aspires to become a capitalist.

To the OP: At least a few of the kids from these boards who eventually started beating the high-stakes game come from families with some wealth. Thus, although they may have started from a "small" roll, they could always go to their parents and get more.

I remember reading a post from one of the high-stakes SnG players who described how his dad cut him into a real estate deal valued at $40K for only $10K. It was essentially a $30K gift from his dad.

It's tough to move up in stakes when you have to spend a portion of your roll on basic necessities. And, it's tough to take shots when you know that you will need to spend part of your roll next month on books and tuition.

While in college, I played low-stakes because I had to spend a substantial portion of my roll every month. Now that I have a full-time job, I feel more comfortable taking shots (currently at $400 NL). It's working out OK so far. Plus, when you play higher and have the potential to make more money, it provides you with a greater incentive to study and get better. I didn't really have much motivation to study poker while I was in college, because I didn't feel like I had the roll to move up anyway.

I suspect that tongni may have been one of the few who was totally self-financed with no parental cash to fall back on and that is why tongni continues to live cheap while most of the other successful poker players are blowing their rolls.

[great_white_hype]

I guess I am one of the lucky ones. My parents really support me and give me all the money I need for my necessities (gas, food, college expenses i.e. books, tuition). I don't really need a whole lot right now other than what I just mentioned, so I can basically live on 20-30 bucks a week. As for my poker bankroll, I have probably blown about 200-300 bucks so far in online poker, and as I said I just deposited 200 more (got serious) and currently have that up to 1200 in about two weeks playing 25-50 NL.(some positive luckand variance, i know) I am not going to fully move up in stakes till I have 25 buyins for that level, and if I move up and drop below 17 buyins, I will move back down. Hopefully that will prevent me from going busto. I much prefer to be over bankrolled beause it is then that I feel I can play optimally, not fearing losing a few buyins by playing a hand aggressively. Once I get past 2k I plan on cashing out my 200 bucks so I will be playing solely on my "poker money". If I didn't have my parents support and help with $$$ I can see where it would be very tempting to take money out and use it, but I really don't think I would until I felt I was at a comfortable point in my career/roll. I don't have a job either thanks to my parents help so that give me much more free time to play. I guess the trade off is that I do well in college for them, which so far so good, having a 3.8 GPA in my first semester (so it's not like I'm some lazy spoiled kid). My point being, without my parents support and help I would have a much harder time building a poker bankroll, so I can't fault tongi.

[kamelion44]

I did it with $200, but I played .50-1 LHE, not NLHE. Just 4-table grinded a bankroll up to around $12,000 in month in a half, then started playing $10-20 SH and live games.

[Keepitsimple]

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I did it with $200, but I played .50-1 LHE, not NLHE. Just 4-table grinded a bankroll up to around $12,000 in month in a half, then started playing $10-20 SH and live games.


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12k from 200 seems quite hard in 1.5 months

[MattSuspect]

At 26/27 am i still considered young?