Someone posted a lengthy series of questions in another thread, so I figured I'd start this to answer them and not derail the other one. If anyone else has any questions regarding bankroll/game to play/starting out or any other general goals/challenges questions, I'll do my best to try to add from my experience in the game to help.


Yeah, that's me. I got sponsored by FTP and have been playing full time for awhile now. I'm pretty lazy/hyper critical of what I put out there so I'll usually go months/years without updating my blog. I stopped blogging about poker basically after that tournament and started blogging about pop culture but that was fairly short lived.

Yeah, that sounds like most players. It takes awhile to adjust from doing it as a fun hobby to doing it to keep your house.

It depends. You have experience, which is good. The game (in all forms) is basically about outthinking the other people. Being able to put them on a range based on your general experience and specific hands you've seen from them, and playing careful enough so that they can't put you on an accurate range (or playing against bad players who don't care about your range).

I don't think that observing poker has that big of an impact on the growth of a player. The biggest thing you can take away from observing is seeing things that make you think about your own game. Emulating how someone else plays isn't going to help you, because you need the thought behind the moves in order to be able to compete even on a medium level. The best way to go about it is to watch someone play (or think back to the hands you've seen people play) and ask yourself "why did he do that?". And then think about your own game. Did this player play a hand in a way that you wouldn't? Why do you think he played it that way? Why do you think you would play it a different way?


I'm not a fan of this, but it honestly depends on what you are looking to get out of the game. If you have a good job that you enjoy (or are retired with savings), and you look at poker as a fun pastime which can fund some enjoyable vacations, then this outlook is probably fine. You can probably consistently grind money up, use excess funds to play sats to live events, and then go play them and enjoy yourself, and any money you make from the event is a bonus.
If you are looking at making this a full-time or part-time career, though, I think doing this sort of satelliting into sats into big tournaments isn't optimal. Basically, you'll be risking money in your bankroll in order to play in tournaments that are WAY outside of your bankroll, and if you don't hit a score in one of the target tournaments sooner rather then later, you'll see your bankroll dwindle down (or, at best, stay the same for years).
IMO you should focus on the one game that you enjoy the most/feel you are the best at, and play that game primarily, sticking to tight bankroll requirements.
I can go more indepth if it's something you are looking into, but like I said the short term/long term goals that you have basically determine how you should be approaching the game. What is going to work best for someone who is looking to build a bankroll and live off of poker for 10 years isn't going to work best for someone who is looking to supplement his income and take some fun trips.

And that's an example of me not reading ahead.


I'm of the opinion that if you have disposable income to invest, you should probably invest it. A popular (yet incorrect) opinion about poker money is that once you deposit it, it's "lost" (this is a similar type of mentality that allow casinos to build 60 story buildings, people assume that chips are somehow worth less then the dollar amount used to buy them). There is nothing that says that if you have $1150 online you can't play $1.10 SNGs, if you feel you need to get acclimated to playing online.

In general, I'd say that playing $11 SNGs/Tournaments is going to allow you to develop your skill set better then $1.10 SNGs/Tournaments, but that's not to say that there is no value in $1.10 games. The biggest thing to remember is that whenever you move up in levels, the gameplay is going to be different because the general mindset of the average player is going to be different. Some are going to be better/more solid, some are going to be worse but play in a way that you aren't used to, so the techniques that allowed you to win pots in smaller games will need to be adjusted.

Having time, and using that time to learn is key.

I would suggest making one small mindset change, though. Once you win money, it's yours. I don't like thinking about money won as "playing with house money" because it'll cause you to play looser, or play in games that are outside of your bankroll/skill level/comfort level.
Basically, any money that you win, have in your bankroll, and use to put on the table or buy into a tournament is money that you could have spent on anything else. It's your money. If you treat it with a healthy respect, you can turn it into more money.

All of those are key elements to a well rounded, consistent winner (save for maybe deep stack play, which you wouldn't need if you choose to grind SNGs that much, and multi tabling if you are just playing as a part-time deal).

Luckily, all of those things can be worked on and improved.

Well, you might be better at other games. You might enjoy playing other games more, which means you'd gladly spend more time playing them/learning them/figuring out the subtle nuances to them that can turn you into an expert over time.
It's like....I suck at chipping when I play golf. So I have to work on that every time I go to the driving range/putting green because I have to chip on almost every hole. I can't ignore that aspect of the game because it will directly hurt my overall game. But you don't have to excel or even play every game in poker in order to enjoy it or make money from it. If you're buying a house, do you walk into the first one on the block and spend 5 hours going over every nook and cranny and getting everything inspected before you move on to the next house? No, you go around to a dozen that you think you may like, and get a first impression and then narrow them down to the ones that you want to spend more time on. Poker is like that. You can try nlhe, lhe, plhe, plo, o8, plo8, stud, stud8, razz, 2-7, badugi, 5cd, you can try cash games and tournaments and SNGs, you can try deep stack tables, shallow stack tables, rush poker. If you try all of them out, not only will you be more well-rounded as a player, but maybe one of them catches your attention and makes you want to delve in-depth into learning the game. That enthusiasm for the game will translate into progression at a pace that no willpower or forcing yourself to play can ever match.

In general, what I'd say is this. Play some different games (and game types) and figure out what you feel you'd like to learn. Then learn it. Play some games on your own. Read everything you can, go around to every forum you can find and read everyone's takes on the game as a whole, specific hand situations, ect. Get a poker buddy (or two). Someone that you can talk to on AIM or through PMs and discuss hands that you played the day before, or situations that you saw come up, or general thoughts about the game. Add to discussions as often as you can. If you don't understand why someone thinks the way that they do, ask them.
Start small and work up. Don't be in a rush to play higher limits, and when you do move up play them cautiously and intently. Don't rest on past knowledge to get you through future endeavors. Use everything you learn as a base on which you can evaluate current situations and make the best decisions you can.

I'll probably come up with a million more in the near future and although this one is pretty open ended it would be nice to hear your thoughts. What would you say are the biggest and possibly fatal mistakes people make at micro/small stakes and what would you suggest to avoid/patch these leaks in your game?

Thanks.

IMO, not giving the proper amount of respect to the other players at the level. I feel like most thinking players at that level are either seeing monsters under the bed and assuming everyone who doesn't raise 3x is a brilliant poker mind and better then them, and/or assuming that because it's micro/small stakes that everyone is an idiot and has no idea what they are doing.

Just like at other levels, the key is to pay attention to what is going on, see how the other people are playing, and react to that.

Also, in general, it's always a good idea at micro/small stakes to play a little tighter then you think is correct. People, in general, are going to be a little looser and not pay as much attention as you should, so a pretty standard tight/aggro style is going to work pretty well as a starting point.

Thanks for taking the time to write out such a great response.

There are so many places to focus my energy I feel like I just need to start out with a small goal and branch out from there.

Playing NL alone I need to learn good strategy for:

Satellites: 6 vs. 9 man
MTT’s 45 vs. 180 vs. massive fields
Heads up tourneys

Cash games:

Full ring vs. 6 man vs. heads up

Kind of reminds me of golf in that you have to have a good drive, short game and be a good putter to put together a good round.

I feel like I need to mix in the cash games to help me when I am playing in various stages of the tourney.

I plan to buy Holdem manager and or pokertracker, join a few training sites and then after I have put in some hours see if I can find a coach. I still don’t have any friends that play poker at a serious level so talking to them is useless. I tend to get on auto pilot and just play real tight until I get low on blinds and then its pretty easy to play because its push or fold. I have to get over my laziness with reading hands and thinking harder at the table. I don’t work enough to find places to earn chips from superior play and I don’t have enough awareness of what I may be up against to extract the most or lose the least. I’ve got a lot of work to do……

I keep my bankroll for poker separate from my other finances because I want to know what level of game I can afford to play. I put in $200 online years ago and my goal has been to never have to reload live or online and play off of those winnings. I don’t treat it as money I don’t have, it’s my lifeline to play poker with. The size of the roll tells me how well I’m playing.

I’ve played 7-stud, Omaha &, Omaha Hi-Lo and some 2-7. I’m terrible at remembering cards, hell I cant even remember names 2 seconds after I am introduced to someone, so 7 stud has never been fun for me. I like Omaha but feel really lost on hand strengths and when to be aggressive. I’ll branch out if I ever reach my goal of finely polishing my NL Holdem game.

I’ve tried to play a lot of hours and I find the more I play the less I like the game, so I have to keep my volume reasonable otherwise it becomes a miserable grind and I’ll quit playing. I don’t have what it takes to play the volume these Supernovas do and fear if I ever did play that much, I’d grow to hate the game with a passion.

Like I said, if I can get to be pretty good so that I am not an easy mark in live tourneys and can actually compete, then I’d be thrilled to win a few packages on Stars to an EPT, NPT or WSOP event each year. I’d get a nice trip out of it, enjoy playing in a big tourney and maybe manage to pull off cash once in a while.

I play to stimulate my mind and for pure fun with the hope of making a few bucks and winning some live tourney packages and maybe, just maybe, luck boxing into a big score one day--hey, it's better odds that the lottery and a hell of a lot more fun.

Winning $6,000 and one or more tourney packages in a year will not be easy as I am sure many reading this can confirm, but if I did that and got some rakeback and a few perks from player points, I'd be pretty damn satisfied.

I make my living off of my rental properties, have no debt on my house, car or duplexes, I have no wife or kids, so as long as the dollar and America doesn’t completely crater, I will be playing poker without any pressure whatsoever, which I think will be a huge advantage for me.

PS...I don't plan to play Sats onlys, I plan to prepare for the Sats by playing lots of STT, MTT's and some cash (which I will have to make a profit from in order to buy into the Sat tourneys)

You're still a sponsored pro at FTP right?

Do you still like playing for a living?

Have you lost the love for the game that drove you to play in the first place?

The grind is a bitch! (IMO)

Yes/yes/yes and no

When I was 22 I would basically roll out of bed, reg for the first 4 tournaments I saw, reg for a new tournament whenever I busted, then go to bed. When there were live tournaments I was playing, I'd wake up at 8 or 9, multi table SNGs until I had to leave, go down, play the tournament, then play a live SNG or two and come home (or if it was WSOP time, go hang out with friends from out of town).
When I was 23/early 24 I got physically and emotionally sick from poker (although the former was probably due to handling all those nasty chips). I was burned out from playing full time, every day, for 2 straight years. I bought an ac adapter that plugs into the cig lighter in the car, so when I went on trips I could plug my laptop in and get on my verizon card and keep playing poker. I played poker while I was having sex.

IN THE MIDDLE OF COITUS I'D BE PLAYING POKER!

Well ok, that only happened once or twice but you get the point.

At that point, even though I was sick from poker, and sick of poker, I had an overwhelming fear. I didn't have enough money to retire, and didn't have very many valuable skills to enter any sort of workforce. Besides that, I don't really have the constitution to work a 9-5 job, I just get hyper bored and very lazy.

It was only last year that I developed a really healthy attitude towards poker, which in turn made me enjoy it a ton more.

I think a big pitfall for people starting to play poker seriously is burn out. When you start to make consistent money from poker, it's basically a dream come true because it combines a fun hobby with a profitable venture. And there's no limit, you can basically make as much money as games you are willing to play. So it becomes something that's very easy to do constantly, and eventually you just tire of it and want to move on to something else.

LOL, I'd like to know how this went down.

Was this a gal so frustrated by your obsession with poker that she tried to get your attention by jumping on board while you were at your computer?

How did she react when she realized it didn't work?

How do you view the games these days? Is it getting harder to make a living?

I think covering how to build a healthy atitude twards it would be cool (i know how and have done so and it has skyrocketed my game, im just lazy to psot it).

What's your take on the state of the game?
Do you think it's still possible to make a living 4-6 tabling NLHE MTTs (without playing the 100r and above fields)

Nah it wasn't like that (even when I was playing 12+ hours a day, I'd always make time to spend time with the IRL people I cared about, GFs, friends, ect). I was just at her place and she only had 30-45 min between work and school.

It's harder to make a living because the games are not as soft as they were, BUT there are more games now, especially for a tournament player. It's still extremely doable.




Basically, I realized that I didn't need to grind poker constantly to make a good living. I started eating better, which helps with attitude in general. I picked up a couple of new hobbies so that there would be something that I can look forward to doing away from poker.

The tough thing, for me at least, is that being a winning poker player basically means that you are combining what you do for a hobby with what you do for a job. So it becomes something where you don't really see the need to pick up a new hobby (or a new job) because you've got something that you enjoy right at your fingertips. It seems pretty counter intuitive to say "I should find other things to do because the less I play poker the more I will enjoy it", but it's true.



Yes.

If you don't play 100r+, I'd assume you are playing 26s, 55s, 75s, 109s, 163s, and sunday 200s, with various rebuys in there. So your ABI is....$50? The average tournament takes ~1.5 hours to finish, so if you want to play 6 hours a day, you should get in around 16-20 tournaments if you are 4-6 tabling.

If your ROI is 25%, you'd be making $200-250 a day, so even if you only work 20 days/month, you'd be pulling in $4000-5000/month, which ends up being 48k-60k/year.

So that's a pretty solid living.

Of course the problem is that for you to make more money, one of the factors has to change and usually that requires a lot of work from you. Either your ROI has to increase, your ABI has to increase, or how long you play has to increase.

Have you ever considered moving from MTTs to cash or vice versa? What's your take on cash vs MTTs?

I started my poker career soley on NLHE MTTs which I played for years. Then I tried to switch to cash games, because all the pros play cash. It didn't take too long before I was back at the MTT tables lol. Right now I'm once again trying to switch to cash (PLO 6max).
I don't know what it is .. it seems like I can play 10 hours of MTTs without even thinking about how long I've been playing. But if I play 2 hours of cash games I kind of get bored. I guess it's the thrill of building 3000T$ into 100.000T$, abusing the bubble and having the chance of binking a big score. On the other hand, I never get that sick feeling after a bad beat in a cash game - in tournaments you want to jump out of the window if you play for 6 hours and finish 13th lol.

Think I saw you playin lhe couple days ago, is that your favorite game or game of choice these days?

What's the best/worst aspects of being a FTP pro?

Are you playing wsop this year, if so what are your favorite events?

These days, I'll dabble in cash when I have some free time/open screen space. I used to play lhe pretty well, I was a reg in the 1/200 games on Stars back when you needed to call Lee Jones to be able to play them, but it was prob a fairly small sample size and it was 3.5 years ago or so, and my skills def haven't improved in lhe cash since then.

In general, I think that grinding cash is better then grinding tournaments. Cash gives you a ton of flexability, allows you to game select really well, and while cash still has HUGE variance, I feel that it's still lower then the variance in MTTs.

I think that as someone who came up playing tournaments, it's really easy for me to spot and make the (imo) optimal play in a tournament, but in a cash game having the actual money in front of me ****s me up a little.


LHE is the game that I think I'm the best in, but O8 or horse/7game is probably the game that I'm actually the best in (best meaning have the biggest edge, not like "IM THE BEST").

Aside from the obv financial security, the best and worst thing about being a red pro is the same thing: how people play against you. A lot of times when people see a red name they think "oh this guy is just going to be putting moves on people", and then the constant bounty factors into bet/call decisions a ton as well. In the beginning it's super annoying, because people are making plays against you constantly, never giving you any credit, and calling your small stack shoves with hands that they shouldn't be calling with...but are still ahead. After a little while, though, you figure out how people are playing against you and it's great because you can get into a ton of spots where you are getting your money in ahead but it's still a +EV move for the other guy.

For example, if you get it in as a 40/60 to bust a pro, it's +EV for you (in tournaments $200 and below), since the bounty equity added to the equity you'd generate from increasing your stack more then over-weighs the times that you lose the hand and some chips. And it's +EV for the pro as well because 60% of the time, he/she is winning the hand.

Other than that, the normal stuff. It's fun to have somewhat of a platform to do stuff like promote a charity, promote a project I like, or just have people laugh at my dumb jokes. But it's also kind of lame when people just take random ad hominem shots at me.

I try to make it down to the Rio a couple times a week. I like playing the cash games down there, but I'll prob play a handful of tournaments.

Are you self taught or have you utilized a coach, books or any training sites?

If you're willing to disclose it, what books have you got the most from and which training sites do you recommend?

Never had a coach or belonged to any training sites (funny story: myself and a buddy almost made one of the first online training sites, but I was too lazy to figure out how grab it worked to record me playing. Whoops).

When I first started to get into online poker I got a few books. One was the Lee Jones book and the others were 2p2 books I believe. I played with not much success for a few months, found online message boards, and started participating in those. After a few more months I started playing tournaments a little more seriously and found a buddy who was at a similar skill level to talk about poker with. After that I pretty much progressed by discussing things with people, and participating in discussions on message boards.

I think that books are good to help establish fundamentals, but poker in general is filled with so many variables that you have to make a bunch of decisions on the fly based on what you've noticed about how the other people at the table are playing, so pre-set notions kind of fly out the window and you have to rely on experience and logic.