I love playing poker and I am a recreational player. My girlfriend would let me go play once in awhile between my work and school schedule. Now playing poker as a hobby was fun but I didn't keep track of my win/loss ratio and I didn't keep a second bankroll for poker.
Fast forward to last week:
I didn't tell my girlfriend I went to the casino to play cards and I ran exceptionally well on three sessions. I played cards really well and I won a total of $1,955.
I new after this I wanted to spend more time at the tables and take recreational poker more seriously but having my girlfriend accept this decision would be hard.
We have been talking about it and she finally agreed to let me play a sample size to see how it works out. She's been very caring and understanding and she didn't shut down my decision.
My question to you poker players is how long should I make my sample size size? People at the table said about 100 hours but I feel that's not long enough.
Any thoughts or information would be great. TIA!


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>Guy runs exceptionally hot at a session of poker without the skill to back it up
>Wants to take poker more seriously

This will likely not end well. If you had lost $1,955 that session, would you still be saying you want to take the game more seriously? I doubt it. You HAVE to get rid of this results-oriented thinking if you want to make this a success. What you should be asking yourself is "did I play well that session and do I think I have the skill to beat the game in the long run?".

Btw, why do you need permission from your gf if you want to do something?

Good luck anyway, I hope it goes well for you.

You little rascal!
Sneak out of your house and secretly going to a card room. Without her permission... lucky that she didn't catch you!
Imagine all the spanking if she did find out.

Tell her how great she is!

And while you're at it, use the money that you won and buy back those balls that you were born with. In case you don't find them, they're in the hands of your boss.

One of the better levels, have to say!

I have played for over 14 years experience as a recreational player but if I won I would splurge rather than build a bankroll.
Sorry didn't mention we have an 18 month old daughter. If I need to be home with her then that's my first priority. My girlfriend is a stay at home mom.
I would be playing poker as my second income.


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It does not bode well that you have been on 2+2 for three years and have 24 posts, not one of them in a strategy thread. It also doesn't bode well that you don't have tracked records or a bankroll. I don't think that you work on your game anywhere near enough to be a semi-pro, or even a good rec.

If you want to do this, search the LLSNL winrates, bankroll, and finances thread for "confidence interval." Cliffs, you need at least 500 hours to have a decent idea what your winrate is, even if you play a low SDV game.

Then also read all of the threads in the Best Of LLSNL sticky. Start posting in strat threads, posting your own hands for discussion etc. I'm guessing you were playing $2/5 in your big win. Stop it. Use that $2K as your initial bankroll, and use it to play $1/2. If you build it up to $5K, you can start taking occasional $2/5 shots.

Thank you I played $2/3 $200 buy in


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$2/3 $200? Oh geez. You're in Southern California, aren't you? Forget what I said about $1/2 in that case, unless you can go to one of the Indian casinos. The buy-in is too short and the rake too high to play $1/2 at the big LA card rooms.

It will increase your RoR considerably to play $2/3, but it is the first stake in SoCal with anything approaching a decent structure.

Yeah I play at Hawaiian gardens casino in so cal. It's a 10 minute drive from my house.
My current bankroll is is $3.5k
I want to build it higher and play at least 500 hours in that 2/3 game


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Is $200 the max buy in? I don't play live, but that seems a little small for a bankroll, especially if $200 isn't the max. But given you don't want want to play any lower it doesn't seem like you have too much of a choice. If the games are absurdly soft though I'd imagine you'll probably be fine.

If you are going to do this, I'd definitely suggest you start doing frequent studying. If you've been playing recreationally and not keeping track of your wins/losses, I would imagine that you haven't done a lot of studying over the years and there are at least some areas in which you have leaks that will compromise your winrate.

The 2/3 game I play in is $100-200 max buy in.
For the past month I have been reading strategies and hand histories. When I get a chance to study I actually enjoy it. It's opening my eyes on why I shouldn't play certain hands or how I should have really played a hand.
I have no started to record my wins and losses and I want to see what my hourly rate is.


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