Newbie looking for help

[JackKingIt]

I’m very very tired of working my job. One day I was dropping my girlfriend off at a new clients, she’s a babysitter, this new client had a fabulous house, nice car and other major signs of money. Turns out he’s an online poker player! That was enough for me to hear. I have been working at a terrible job for three years. Before that I have over a decade of atrocious jobs ruled by overwhelming stupidity, harebrained politics and little to no hopes of making any money. I’m now ready to dedicate all the energy I have to something else and Poker is it! I’m not looking to become a millionaire, I just want more than what I have now. (Which is not much.)
However After reading bits of a few books I’ve developed a technique that is not working! I started with 1 cent Hold’em games and my starting capital is over %50 gone! How can I figure out what I’m doing wrong? I seem to get a decent amount. (Sometimes even doubling what I start out with.) But I always seem to lose it all within a combination of 3 hands! Like I just ended with a game where I started with a buck. Ended up two dollars, 2 minutes later I have none! What is a newbie is doing wrong when he’s whining about this happening?
I have Nick Grudzien’s book but I‘m looking for some techniques to help me with the low tables (1 and 2 cent games) while I try to understand this book. Any suggestions? Where is a good place to start and research. I have a decent grasp of the game, but still loose track of the terms. Is there a good place to look those up? Please if anybody can help me out that would be awesome!

Sincerely,
Johnny T.

[HollywoodAsh]

If you're serious about getting into it fully then you need to give yourself the best chance. Read up on the game properly as it sounds like you know what you're talking about to a degree but there's a lot more for you to learn.

For tournament play I suggest you read Harrington on Hold'em (Volumes 1, 2 and 3), David Sklansky's Theory of Poker and Doyle Brunson's Super System 1 or 2(I haven't read the 2nd one but as far as I know it's an update to the previous one so I suggest probably read the 2nd!).

Also to track your online hands and evaluate them I suggest you grab either PokerTracker or PokerOffice as they will show you where you're going wrong and helps fix your leaks.

Lastly I would suggest you just take your time with this, don't quit your job and put all your money into it 'cos that's a quick way to go broke! I think the general consensus is that you have to have around a $10-20,000 bankroll to do this professionally.

Hope this helps!

[Rek]

You can't just decide one day you will be a pro player and live a nice lifestyle. You can certainly improve your game with study and experience but how far anybody can go will depend on their committment and talent. I don't know if you have either but time will tell.

In the meantime work hard at your existing job and look to progress because you may never make a pro poker player.

It is a bit like seeing a pop star living in a nice house and saying "ok I am going to get singing lessons and be a pop star". Some make it and thousands don't. There is no magic formula. Get real, try to improve, the rest will take care of itself if you are committed and good enough.

[GFresh]

I think you need to educate yourself a bit before you can understand the concepts. Pick up Getting Started in Hold'em by Ed Miller and read that first. Then actually apply what the book says and give yourself enough of a hand sample size and bankroll that you can see results. Learn to play tight, fundamentally sound poker before you get fancy.

[hihimichelle]

yeah, i think talent is the key. I remember Ivey saying no amount of books, reading, watching will result in you becoming great. Most of it is talent, once your getting into some decent sized money. Even 10/20c most people know the basics and you can't win much money at those levels. Well, not enough to earn a living. Ye, read and educate yourself and hope you've got a hidden talent for it. Most of it is the reading side of it, betting patterns etc you can get pointers - But its a very difficult skill to develop. Now only do you have to beat the competition, you also, have to beat the rake. I wonder how many players can make a decent living from it? 10% max? and what about all the losers who get themselves in debt.

ahah my point is even at 10/20c i've won quite a bit. Who from, usually a complete and utter fish who you get a micro levels - u only need one at the table. I won't be seeing those at the higher levels, if i moved up.

[allyasia]

read some book
2+2 become your church, which you will attend daily.
start off playing lowest micro level,
try to beat the game, and move up.
also invest in tacking software, such as PT or HM

[ttgirl]

[ QUOTE ]


ahah my point is even at 10/20c i've won quite a bit. Who from, usually a complete and utter fish who you get a micro levels - u only need one at the table. I won't be seeing those at the higher levels, if i moved up.

[/ QUOTE ]

this is compeltely untrue.

[excession]

LOL sure if you want to be the next Phil Ivey it's about the talent, but if you want just to make $50-$100/hr as a grinder it's about discipline.

I play maybe 12hrs/week and make $60/hr sitting for and hour or two most night with my laptop in front of the TV.

My maths ain't great and my real world life (2 kids under 4, new house, full time job as corporate attorney and poorly wife) means I can never really pay attention or guarantee more than about 30 minutes of uninterrupted play - but I do play primarily for enjoyment and think about what I'm doing - I'd say a willingness to learn and a discipline to keep strictly to bankroll limits are far more important to most online winners than some nebulous concept of 'talent'.

For pro grinders the ability to play tens of thousands of hands/month without burnout and an ability to cope with extended downswings and avoid tilt are again more critical than 'poker intelligence' viewed in a vacuum.

[Poker Clif]

[ QUOTE ]
I’m very very tired of working my job. One day I was dropping my girlfriend off at a new clients, she’s a babysitter, this new client had a fabulous house, nice car and other major signs of money. Turns out he’s an online poker player! That was enough for me to hear. I have been working at a terrible job for three years. Before that I have over a decade of atrocious jobs ruled by overwhelming stupidity, harebrained politics and little to no hopes of making any money. I’m now ready to dedicate all the energy I have to something else and Poker is it! I’m not looking to become a millionaire, I just want more than what I have now. (Which is not much.)
However After reading bits of a few books I’ve developed a technique that is not working! I started with 1 cent Hold’em games and my starting capital is over %50 gone! How can I figure out what I’m doing wrong? I seem to get a decent amount. (Sometimes even doubling what I start out with.) But I always seem to lose it all within a combination of 3 hands! Like I just ended with a game where I started with a buck. Ended up two dollars, 2 minutes later I have none! What is a newbie is doing wrong when he’s whining about this happening?
I have Nick Grudzien’s book but I‘m looking for some techniques to help me with the low tables (1 and 2 cent games) while I try to understand this book. Any suggestions? Where is a good place to start and research. I have a decent grasp of the game, but still loose track of the terms. Is there a good place to look those up? Please if anybody can help me out that would be awesome!

Sincerely,
Johnny T.

[/ QUOTE ]

You sound serious, and I think you're on the right track. I have a few suggestions. I'm doing very much the same thing as you, except for now, I'm trying to make poker a decent part-time or second job, not my full-time job. That may change at some point, since my full-time job pays less than yours does.

1. AT FIRST, IT'S NOT ABOUT HOW MUCH YOU CAN WIN, IT'S ABOUT BUILDING A BANKROLL. If at some point you can make $15 an hour playing poker, that's great. But you can't do that at microlimits. That means, you have to build a bankroll so you can move up.

Grinding out $5 a week at micros isn't any fun. But while you're veeeery slooowly buidling a bankroll, you're gaining experience. By the time you can CONSISTENTLY grind out, say, $10 a week, you've gained a lot of experience, you've built a bankroll, and you're ready to move up to higher limits and do it all again.

I'm pretty conservative. I won't move up until I have 30 buy-ins.

2. SET SMALLER, MORE ATTAINABLE GOALS. Here are some of types of small goals (in no particular order) that I have set for myself: Be able to profit $10 at least one day a week. Get my average place (for the month) in STTs under 4.5.

As to your $12 dollars an hour, I have an intermediate goal of equaling the minimum wage playing poker. At that point, it's becoming a real job, and you can keep working to make it more lucrative.

3. TREAT POKER JUST LIKE A JOB. Work 60 hours a week. If you work 40 hours a week at your regular job, then poker should get 20 hours.

Set regular work hours. Don't kid yourself by taking half-hour breaks if you can't do that during your "real" job. Take two 15-minute breaks and a half-hour lunch.

Watch the interruptions. How many times would you answer your cell phone at your primary (sounds better than "real") job?

Watch the distractions. Would a TV being on, or music, help or hurt you at your primary job?

4. Be realisitic about time periods. Check numbers one and two above, and note how often I use the word "week" or "month" instead of "day". Your losing $2 in three hands isn't trivial, but a long-term perspective is important.

A few hours ago I was at my first live MTT final table. I busted out in 8th place when I shoved with KK and lost to AA.

Short-term, that hurts. Long term, that's a winner. I was the short stack, and had the patience to wait several orbits for a good hand or situation. Long-term, that discipline will be very profitable. As far as my profitabilty, a knockout at one tournament means nothing.

Think like a Klingon: "Today is a good day to die!"

Note that one of my goals was to make $10 a day AT LEAST ONCE A WEEK. When you are talking about consistency, a day or a week proves nothing. I was talking about consistency over a period of weeks. Then it starts to mean something.

If you win $50 two days in a row, that proves nothing. If you average $15 a week over two months, it's still a statistically small sample (as far as number of hands played), but it should give you some idea of how good you really are.

[MattHH]

Make sure you don't hang all your financial hopes on poker, if you do you are setting yourself for a potential disaster and putting alot of pressure on yourself that could negatively affect your game. Don't quit your day job. If you're only working 15-20 hours at your job, you still have plenty (if not too much) time to spend playing poker. Don't look for a quick system to winning because there is none, just try to keep learning.