[kayaker]

Way back in the day, prior to Moneymaker, I deposited $100 into UB. Playing mostly NL25, I was successful enough to keep from going broke - thanks to the deposit bonus, anyway.

After I got down to $11, I decided to try some SnGs. With enough cash to play two of them, I put my $5.50 into one and won it. Then I won the next one, too, and I was back over $50. I played several more, losing most, but winning enough to keep afloat.

Finally I felt comfortable enough to try NL25 again and was somewhat successful, bringing my bank up over $150. I cashed out my original $100 and moved it to Party.

Party was, at the time, a joke. I dropped less than one buy-in at NL25 before I started winning there. Over the course of about six months I had moved from NL25 to NL25 6-max, NL50, NL50 6-max and finally a few shots at NL100. By the time I got infatuated with another game and pulled my money out, I was up to over $1000.

Now the boom has come and (apparently) gone and people are playing a lot less than before. I started playing online again a few months ago with a $30 loan from a friend. I've been taking it very slow, but I've been able to pay that back and have a small little stack built up. It's nothing like my live poker bankroll, but it's nice because it's all profit.


One thing I would recommend for those just starting out - play some freeroll MTTs to get a feel for things. Ignore the fact that the first hour is about the freeroll donks. If you can get past that, you'll find the players who are actually trying to win. That's when you'll get some decent experience.