Ok first off thanks for looking at the thread. The other thing is my grammar and spelling suck so just warning you.

So little about me. I had 3 kids and was married by 17 I made 3.84 hr frying chicken at Hardee's. So I dropped out of HS and went straight to work to take care of my family. So that's why my spelling grammar and all that **** sucks. It on with so I ended up doing fairly well considering the odds that were stacked against me.

The problem is the work I have done has been very hard on my body and now at the age of 40 I have had a double fusion and looking at another fusion for my c5 c6. So the Doctor tells me I'm done with my job that I have had for 16 years no pension. Again not gonna go into great detail. Just trying to say November 29th is gonna be my last day. I will have a source of income that will cover all living expenses with around 400.00 a month extra. My fiancé is on board with me doing this and she also brings in 7k a month so she isn't worried about it. She understands there will be swings and is behind me 100%

So I have been playing poker since 2000 or so. The problem is after all these years never took the time to learn poker study poker. Won some cash here and there lost 10k or so online but had fun doing it so not a big deal. But now I feel like I have a chance to actually try and make this a way of making some extra cash. So I have started to build a bankroll I will build till I'm at 20k i will be there in September but I'm not planning starting then I'm planning on waiting till after my job is done so I don't have to worry about time.

Now what I'm looking for is advice on how to study. I have been reading books watching you tube reading forums you name it I'm talking like 4-6 hrs a day I'm trying to learn been going through the upswing lab and I just don't feel like I am retaining the amount I should be. It's like it's not clicking with me. The math the hand equity and how do it quickly while playing. So any advice would be greatly appreciated.

My other question is with a 20k roll should I still play 1-2 till I hit 30k to make step to 2-5? I also not sure if I should play some online while I study and learn. Eventually I will play mostly live I just don't like online poker. Not gonna get into i have my opinions and that's just it opinions.

So anyway thanks for reading all that if you did. And any advice is welcome and have good one.


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Why November? Do you have sick time and vacation stored up? Will you be on disability or WorkComp? These really don't have anything to do with poker but could impact you if someone got nosy should you run good at poker.

Are you playing poker or just studying? Some folks learn better playing than from 'books'. I would suggest playing online just to get in a bunch of hands in so you can 'see' situations that come up and then relate them to your study. Try to limit the head shaking a bit at low online limits as you are just trying to 'see' the game, not necessarily beat it.

If you do end up beating the online game, then your live game should be just fine once you adapted to the 'physical' attributes and speed of it.

By no means do you jump into 2/5 live just because your bankroll allows for it. Once you can see some results (and comfort) playing 1/2 you may want to sit in on an occasional 2/5. You are going to make mistakes so why have your mistakes cost you anymore than they 'need' to.

If you can set aside mentally 'wanting' to make money and work on playing well you are in a great spot to do so since your household is 'under control'. Welcome to the forum and keep us up to date. GL

Get 1000 hours of 1/2 and play/study about 3/1 of the time and then evaluate. If your results are positive and you feel like the best player at pretty much any 1/2 table you can try to move up. Since you don't have a proven consistent track record of beating the game don't expect to be winning at any decent rate at the start yet so the profit at the end of those 1000 hours might only be $5k or something like that, $10k if you learn really quickly. 1/2 is not where you are going to make your money but prepare for bigger games.

Whatever you do; don't copy plays other people at the table make, not even from players you think are good because the truth is nearly every one of them is pretty terrible. Also don't take any of your own plays for granted yet and question your every decision. When it comes to studying; learn what basic winning preflop play looks like and start from there. You will be playing very tight for a while so it's easy to practice postflop play and learn from it. Remember hands you played and review them afterwards. It needs to be detailed and when I think about a hand I need to know every important stack size, position, action and detail that I noticed. If you can't do this right away make a note on your phone after the hand.

If you have trouble remembering what you learn take notes of the most important points while watching/reading. Then put those notes in a spaced repitition system like Anki to review them.

I don't think many players do equity calculations in their head at the table. Most probably do some equity estimations built on studies of similar spots away from the table. At least that is what I do

yes i have time to use up and a surgery to get done so i just set a goal of December or January before i went to the casino. I figured the more time i took to learn the better. I am in no rush to start playing. I will be applying for SSD i will have to re evaluate when that gets approved and see where i am at. It will be a year or so before i get benefits i am sure. I also umpire Hs baseball and for 5 months out of the year i make around 1700 a month so that will have to be considered as well.

So i will stick to 1-2 live when i head to the casino. What about online what stakes should i play? i was thinking 25NL deposit 500.00 if i loose 10 buyins drop down if i win 20 move up.

The software i am using now is flopzilla and Holdeq thinking about drive hud for hand study. Right now i am using Advanced poker training for practice since i can loose real money i felt like it was a good idea. But after using it for a month not sure if i like it or not. Whats your thoughts on it worth it for training or waste of money? also is there any other software i should be using? I am also a member of upswing lab and have started applying there hand ranges to my game. There are so many its not the easiest thing to remember while playing open ranges sure but once you have to start facing 3bets and **** things start changing. So tips on applying hand ranges are always welcome as well.

I forgot to mention that when i dedicate myself to something i am all in. The only problem i have is convincing myself i am studying correctly so i tend to question myself a lot. But once i get on the right path and have someone tell me yes your on the right track. I am like a great white shark lurking off seal island when it comes to learning. Sorry for the poor analogy but shark week starts Sunday.

So once again thanks for the responses they're much appreciated and keep them coming i thank you! Thanks for your time

25NL will be infinitely tougher than 1/2 live. From what I've heard on here, 1/2 plays like 2NL.

That's nuts if true. I'm not sure i can play that low of stakes and stay focused. I guess this something i really need to consider. I mean can you really trust the reads and the way people play at that level. I see people just donking off money with 70% of there range. Since i started playing i have never played lower then 25NL 50NL not that i wont if its what i should do. I just alwasy thought people wouldnt be playing serious at those levels.

100% true, though the 1-2 live plays differently than 2 NL online. mainly pre flop raise sizing is much bigger live - 5x can be pretty standard.

The way to look at it is that 1-2 live is, like 2 NL online, the smallest possible game, so it has a huge number of rank amateurs and newbies, especially at big casino's with hotels.

If you can't beat terrible fish like this, how can you beat better players?

Or to phrase it differently based on your goals:
If someone sits down at your table and plays wildly donking off with 70% of their range, are you going to ask for a seat change or start licking your lips?

Ok and what site would you recommend to play ACR or Ignition have like 50.00 or so in each account to start with. Could add more if needed obviously.

Those are two red flags. Not being able to focus on low stakes means you aren't in it for the game but playing big pots. Also the fallacy that bad players are impossible to play against.

You don't play online to make a living unless you're at the very top of all players and that's a tough thing to do nowadays, it's for practice. 2NL is much more suited because the level of play is similar to live poker. At 25NL+ you're going to learn strategies that are good against thinking players and if you apply them to live games you end up burning money.

Lick my chops. I honestly didn't see any value in playing that low of stakes. But if that's what i should do then thats what i will do.

get your ged get a desk job.

your idea is a recipe for disaster on so many levels. Seriously.

Very well said..... Im in no hurry this time im gonna take my time use strict bankroll management.

Hey man,

I'd say you're on the right track. Studying is important but playing and seeing hands is also important. I'd say take 100 and get online. Play 5NL or whatever game you like, but just make sure you're getting some hands in. That was one of my big mistakes. I just jumped into the casino after a lot of studying but not actually playing. It cost a lot more to lose in a casino than online. You don't have to mass multi table grind for 10 hours a day or whatever, just play a hundred or so hands a day and try to apply what you have learned there. Good luck and keep that lady around. Good support system is huge when you're making this jump

no desk job for me. Im not worried about a job im wanting a way to make a little extra cash a month doing something i enjoy. With out going into great detail between me and the OL lady we bring in around 9k a month then when i am umpiring add another 1700-2K a month which more then covers all of our bills we live very modest neither of us drive BN cars we live in a 3000 SQft house that will be paid off in 10 years. So im truly not worried about making a living more so looking to be a winning player. Not sure if that makes sense or not.

If i do end up going bust then i will walk away from the game convinced i don't have what it takes. But i have blown 20K on dummer **** so its not about the money. Its about proving to myself i gave it everything i had.

Thanks for the advice. I will defiantly be doing this. Thanks and GL to you as well

ok cool. Then get a sub to CLP. I have a bunch o pals who work there and they are highly skilled.

I did the trial CLP I thought there was a ton of Valuable material. The way it's lay to study was what was giving me troubles. That's one of the reason I chose upswing cause it's presented in a step by step format. I also find that listing to the pod cast tend to be a little redundant and I find my mind wondering as I'm listening not sure that's a good way for me to retain information. But I will look into it again.


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Thank you.. I will do this.


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Ignition is anonymous, so of the two, I'd suggest ACR. When I play online, it's Carbon for cash and Ignition for tournaments, but I play much less online than I used to as I prefer live.

Read the whole thread. I'm on the same page as Kelvis re the red flags and Squid Face re the idea. But if you are going for it, here's a total must do, which I don't see anybody else mentioning:

Read, immerse, swallow both of Jared Tendler's poker mental game books.

Very good books for poker and just life in general. Zach's books on 'tells' are good as well.

Be careful with 'all' the information you read. Try to pick out the pieces that apply to your personality. The last thing you want to do is read a book every two weeks and constantly 'try' out all these 'new' ideas.

A good start is here in this forum. Read through some of the other posts made by 'us' and see if you can figure out our styles based on our posts. I'm a live-only player, so I try to stay away from posting in 'online' threads. I'm also very aggressive when I play 1/2, but you will see a vastly different style when I play deep 2/5 or 5/10.

I'm currently in a 'how do you play KQo from late position' battle in another thread right now that shows the vast differences between styles. Have fun and stay in touch ... GL

Thank you. I will pick it up.

Do you have any other book suggestions?

The books I have so far have not read them all and the Harrington on Hold em 1-2 I read back in 2005.

Decide to play great poker -Annie Duke
The theory of poker - David sklansky
Every hand revealed - Gus Hanson
Harrington on Hold em 1&2 - Dan Harrington
Excelling at No limit Hold em - Jonathan Little


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I will check out the KQ thread.

If you have time and you feel like it. You could post some links of the threads I should go over to get me started. That would be great. Thanks for your time


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