Should I keep playing?

[bennyhana]

300 BB is a min when you are starting out. Please take that advice seriously.

Move to Stars. They have nanos, and with ~80K players a night, those tables have to be a gold mine for lower stakes.

Oh yeah, bonus whore to build a roll too.

[bodnotbod]

What everyone else said re bankroll and the limits you should be playing.

As for the maths you will need to be able to do some maths on the fly.

I don't consider my maths to be very good and I have my cheat lists stuck to the side of the monitor.

But there's being not very good at maths and then there's really struggling.

Even with your cheat sheets, with that timer running down, you're going to have to be able to do some rapid estimating: look in your book for topics such as "discounting your outs" and "implied odds" and you will see that charts give you your starting point, but that you have to then perform another layer of calculations on top.

Play some more poker at a lower limit. See how you get on. Keep going back to your books.

[Kramerr]

You just got to realize that you can't become a good poker player over one night...that's the bottom line

It takes time...and you can read all the books you want but basically what matters is your playing
You just got to put a lot of hours and hands so you will see that [censored] happens and that's called poker...after a while you don't get worried about losin a pot or two to some lucky donky...and btw do not never call your opponents donky etc..you gotta keep them playing and tell them they had a nice hand or they played well...what ever your gonna do just don't be rude to other players or you might scare the fishes away

And also everyone pays their learning money ...so don't expect to win every pot you are in or even every session you play.

Just keep on playing the game and you will see results in a couple of months.

[bags]

Everyone has already discussed bankroll management so there's no need to go there.

A couple of things about poker. First come to an understanding of why you are playing. Do you love to play the game of poker? Are you trying to win lots of money? Do you play because you enjoy the competition? ... Likely it will be a combination of things that are the reason you are playing.

I personally play for the enjoyment of the game and the competition. I want to win money, but I'm happy just to be playing. If on the other hand, money is your primary goal then you have to realize the effort that it will take to reach your goal. It's not easy to win at poker. As has been stated there is variance involved in poker and only learning the game and playing A LOT will help you overcome the small picture of variance and obtain a true representation of what you can do in this game.

That's not to say you can't win at poker. Many do, but you have to put in the effort to win long term. Anyone can do it in the short term, but what good is that if you go right back and lose the money. Play at a limit you can afford and understand why you are playing. It will make playing the game much more enjoyable and your goal, whatever it is, much more attainable.

[McNeese72]

Most of us seemed to have done something similar. I put $250 in Stars (appropriately on April 1 of 2005) and went straight to $1/2. After a couple of sessions I was down to $140 and realized (luckily) that I was in over my head. Also, about that time I bought SSH and discovered the 2+2 forums. I dropped all the way down to .05/.10 and gradually worked my way up through .25/.50, .50/1 and back to 1/2. Though right now I've dropped back down .50/1 to learn six max to improve my shorthanded game. Right now my $250 is up to just under $2000.

But, I realize, compared to a lot of the guys here, I still don't know sh*t. But I'm slowly learning.

Doc

P.S. I'm doing it as a hobby and not to earn a living so I don't play that many hands a month.

[Tabs]

Wow, thanks for the responses guys!

I definitely wasn't aware of the 300BB bankroll thing. I think I'll do what many of you suggested and try Stars for a bit at nano limits and build that up...

Thanks!

[dctufts]

maths?

[detruncate]

[ QUOTE ]
Wow, thanks for the responses guys!

I definitely wasn't aware of the 300BB bankroll thing. I think I'll do what many of you suggested and try Stars for a bit at nano limits and build that up...

Thanks!

[/ QUOTE ]

If you just signed up you should be able to play the beginners tables at Party, no? They have smaller games.

I haven't played nanolimits, but I find it hard to believe that are many better opportunities to get started than splashing around in the beginners pool. Take advantage while you can.

Best of luck and happy pokering.

[detruncate]

[ QUOTE ]
maths?

[/ QUOTE ] You obviously don't watch enough British television.

[nh5150]

Think you should definitely keep on playing. You have started off with a great book to guide you. I think you have most of the players at these levels beat already just by reading and trying to understand the game.
U need to think about your bankroll. You would need around $300 to start at $.5/1.
Every time you get your AA rivered by the guy with 33, just tell yourself "if he was'nt here there would'nt be much point in playin this game".
You will beat them in the long run. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]