Give it a go. Hopefully it'll be interesting.

What do you play?

awesome.

i shall have some q's tomorrow. it's bedtime in england

edit: nvermind my gf just got out of bed:

what keeps you playing poker? as in, i know you play for mid/high stakes - does the money keep you playing or something more, like just beating other people at the game?

SN's?
Lifetime graph?

Thanks for doing a well in the BF.

You're huge here on the beginner forum, and I'm sure a lot of folks (including myself) owe you a lot.

Best story of helping a beginner achieve results?

1st post in a well, ever.

Background info?

Why did you sign off 7 minutes after you made this post?

why did you agree to do a well?

Most baller purchase?
Picture of your setup?

I didn't sign off. I'm just set to invisible. And it's dinner time, so I'll be back to start answering when I am less hungry.

lightweight

in all seriousness though, what one thing (if there is just one) would you credit as being the biggest factor in your success as a poker player?

Why do you dedicate so much time to helping beginning players improve?

yay! lego is someone I've always made sure to read (stalk? ) when he posts.

Some vague-ish questions for you to answer as you wish :

1) What are some general in-game things that you feel keeps a "decent" micro player from moving up into small stakes?

2) Same question, except small stakes into mid-stakes games?

3) Any tips for aspire players that some day want to move up from the micros?

4) 2+2 posters that when you were coming up (or now even) that you made sure you read?

5) What are some aha moments?

6) Any memorable threads you've read that really helped with your game?

AWESOME.

So we all know there are bad players at each level. "move to where they respect your raises" is bad advice. However, in your humble and honest opinion, Do you think that "moving up where they respect your raises" has any upside to it???

BRAG GOT THE FIRST REPLY

What do you think about Tony the Tiger? =)

If you could change one thing you've done in your poker tenure, what would it be?

seems to me that making money with your strong hands is much easier to learn than avoiding losing money to your opponents strong hands. What's your best tip for knowing when to fold?

Looking forward to this.

If you could perhaps talk a little about the difference between a good 50NL player and a good 200NL player...I'd be quite interested in what you have to say.

This should be an awesome thread thx lego!

What made you start playing poker?

I am considering playing poker as my only source of income soon and I'm interested in your opinion of the toughness of different levels. If you have played them recently, what do you think of online NL100-NL400?

At what level(s) do you consider online NLHE to be very hard to beat on stars and tilt? Having said that, have you played NL100-NL400 much these days?

Hi Lego, it's cool to see you have a well going
If you could tell us some background.

1. What got you into poker?
2. When did you start playing poker and at what stakes?
3. How quickly and how easy did you find it to move up in stakes?
4. Was 2+2 a big influence in helping to improve your game and outside 2+2 what other poker sites/activities have helped you or that you are currently involved with?
5. What are you current stakes and how do you find the competition in those games now compared to when you first started those stakes?

Regarding poker, what are your 3 biggest strengths and your 3 biggest weaknesses??

How much $$$$$ would it take for you to quit poker for life?? This includes posting on poker forums.

In what ways has poker positively impacted your life, and in what ways has it negatively impacted your life??

I know you like to type a detailed response to every question, so my question is how fast do you type(words/minute, if you even know)??

Last, where do you see yourself in 5-10 years??

As a player looking to advance through 25/50/100NL over this year, how do the regs at these levels play (i.e. what should I be watching for so I don't get pwned by them), as opposed to the regs at lower stakes (e.g. 10NL)?

If you had to start over with a $1000 bankroll you couldn't reload, how long until you rebuilt your roll and were playing again at your current stakes? What would be your plan of attack for accomplishing this?

Mostly NLH, some PLH. Mostly 100NL and some 200NL. Since 1/1/08 I'd estimate I've played 450Kish hands of 100NL and 225Kish hands of 200NL. More 100NL recently as tuition and other expenses have caused me to have less money and the games have become more difficult IMO.

I also used to be a regular sng player.



I wouldn't say I play for mid/high stakes. 100NL and 200NL are generally considered small stakes I think though 200NL is on the medium stakes tab at sites.

Anyway when I started playing it was for fun and eventually I decided to try to take it serious and make money at it. It's still some fun and sometimes I really get in the mood to play. But I do mostly consider myself to be playing for money now. If I couldn't make money at it I'd still probably play a little, but only from time to time and really probably usually home games with friends and a keg.


SN's I tend to keep quiet on.

As for a lifetime graph I don't have anything anymore prior to 2008. Just real quick: In 2006 I think I was still playing sng's and started to switch to cash. In 2007 I played 50NL and did real well and switched to 100NL and did real well. Had real good 2008. 2009 not so much, kinda bad. So far 2010 has been pretty good but not as good as 2008.

I have 2 databases in HEM and according to it, it will take 5 hours for me to import and combine them into one database to be able to get a graph + I have a bunch of hands on a laptop. I'll try to remember to hit import before I go to bed tonight and see about getting a graph later.



Hmmm that's tough. Don't always even know. There was a guy OSUGreg something and I remember I did a free sweat session with him one day at micros and later he was a small stakes reg and played 400NL for a while too.

Also udbrky cause he made this thread: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/32...better-229549/



Well I played some poker as a kid for change on family vacations and stuff. Played some 5 card draw for small money on some class trips in high school.

In 2003, my freshman year of a college, at a frat party I was invited upstairs toward the end of the party to play some cards. There I was introduced to Texas Holdem.

I started playing around dorms and did pretty well. In the little circle was recognized as one of the best players. I sucked. But our structure was pretty bad. We'd play cash games with a big blind of 50 cents and buy-in for $5 or $10. So really open shoving 66 and getting it in with Q8 and TP on the flop really wasn't actually bad.

I played online a little at PokerRoom and over time lost maybe $700 or $800. I didn't play poker online for a while. Later a guy who joined my fraternity played at PokerStars (he was/is a pretty good tournament player and has made money at it [biggest cash for him was 2nd in a WCOOP Event for $80K]) and he introduced me to 2+2 and at some point I decided to take poker seriously and try to make some money at it. I was working two jobs over the summer cause I couldn't get enough hours at either .... so I quit them in August 05 and in September I set about making poker a part time job for income. Started 4 tabling $11 regular sng's at Stars and crushed them for a couple hundred and started moving up. Eventually I switched to turbos and played mostly $27 turbos and $60 turbos. I also played some MTT's and at one point was playing a lot of $22 180 mans and remember one stretch where I final tabled a bunch of them in a short period of time and provided a real bankroll boost. I avoided playing cash games as I sucked at them.

Eventually I started trying to switch to cash games. 200NL full ring and crushed it (ran hot) then started losing so went to 100NL full ring and kept losing, moved to 100NL 6max and that didn't help. Then I went to 50NL 6max and played a ton of hands at 1.5ishPTBB/100hands. After a while I got that winrate up to 5.5PTBB/100hands and started to make a move to 100NL.

Right after I graduated college I didn't get a job and I didn't do more schooling. My girlfriend was a senior in college and I rented a room in a house near here and I played poker for money. I was lazy and only played like 15 hours a week but I made a good amount more money than I needed. That was a fun 14ish months. But I wish I'd played more ...... the money was just easily rolling into my account then and had more time.

Nowadays I play at Stars and Tilt though with my SuperNova status likely expiring at the end of this month probably mostly Full Tilt ..... and I'll play 6max and FR though mostly 6max.




I was asked if I wanted to and why not. I don't really feel like doing work anyway though I probably should. Something to do every now and then to break from work ..... at least tomorrow if I don't do any work tonight.




I don't really buy a lot of things. I bought a case of champagne once but it wasn't expensive champagne. Does an engagement ring count .... that had to be by far the most expensive thing I've ever bought (besides tuition payments).



The strategy forums at 2+2, no question. Maybe I still would have been able to do alright at like $11 and $22 sng's back in those days without them, but they made me such a better player and really really helped at cash games .... I don't think I would have been able to do too well at those without 2+2.




I dunno. It used to be I'd post a lot in the micro stakes forum and it helped me out a lot too and then I kinda just kept posting there and then this forum happened and I started posting here.

I dunno, maybe I should stop doing it so much.

1.) Some people probably overadjust to the increased aggression and just spew a lot and stack off too light. Other people may not be able to handle it particularly the increased 3betting pre-flop. Also thinner value betting particularly on the river. I used to check way too many rivers and pass up so much value. Bet sizing can also be a big thing as well as perhaps cbetting too much or too little. Boards like JdTs6d isn't a very good board to cbet. AJ6R is pretty good. Bluff raising other people's cbets without really having much is something I didn't use to do but now if anything I do it a little too much and floating in some good spots with backdoor flush/straight draws or overcards. Double barreling also.

2.) I don't really play midstakes games much (unless we're counting 200NL as midstakes), but dealing with aggression would be big still. These games can be incredibly aggressive. As you get further up being able to play with regs becomes more important too. Also I'll say double barreling though this could also go under #1. Knowing when to double and how to deal with doubles ... and also firing that third barrel. Vs. so many TAG's on the right boards I know they usually have some sort of midpair and they call 2 barrels particularly if they have 88 on a 753 Q or something like that. I barrel the Q a lot but then they'll fold to my triple barrel a lot. And going along with that balance. Against these players when you have KQ there bet the turn the same as you would with AJ. And when the situations are reversed if it's like a 953 board even if I'm OOP I'm ready (if I it looks like a good idea) to check/call the flop and the turn and check the river with 99,55,33 against some people because I know they're usually going to put me on a midpair like 88 or 77 or 98s and often barrel and of course they're going to keep valuebetting their overpairs, but the people I'm thinking of would have raised a very wide range and so should have lots of air with which to barrel me off of my "77" on such boards.

3.) Participate as much as you can in the strategy forums and think about everything you do in hands. Really think about what the other guy's range is and how to play against that. And especially in some spots against some guys think about what they think you have and what they're going to do because they think that and how do you take advantage of that. What are they repping and what are you repping. And participate in the strategy forums.

4.) Pokey was really good. dbitel, Terp, Carrotsnake is around sometimes, really early on Kolo was like a 50NL god, Baluga, Isura, Shapanko (spelling), Orange, I know there are other I am just not thinking of right now.

5.) I don't really think I had many aha moments .... just a lot of getting better as time went by. But: Realizing TP wasn't just the nuts no matter what and that sometimes you have to fold when you did make something; Raising smaller in LP (as people got more aggressive with 3betting); necessary implied odds for pocket pairs and suited connectors; attacking the fish and trying to get into a bunch of hands with them; AK is usually the nuts pre-flop; 3betting light particularly IP aganst the right opponents can be really good; 4bet small so you can make some 4bet bluffs (don't worry about this against fish); not cbetting bad boards, you can just check/fold; not generally calling raises in the blinds with suited connectors; probably something else

6.) http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sh...=1#Post7827947

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sh...Number=5348855

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sh...Number=6073737

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sh...ge=0&fpart=all

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sh...Number=6607951

http://archives1.twoplustwo.com/show...n=&page=0&vc=1