Hi all. I live in Munich Germany but come from Houston Texas. I am a professional musician and amateur poker player.
I play mainly guitar and sing as well as write a lot of original music, for my own pleasure as well as commercially. (I have lots of stuff in the internet, and would like to eventually post my websites here - they are music sites and not stores or anything spam related - but want to read stickys about whats allowed and whats not first.) But I am a Composer/Guitarist/Singer and have a recording studio in Munich. Mmy personal tastes are very broad, with a lot of my favorites in the 70`s (Steely Dan, Eagles, Doobies, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Elvis Costello, James Taylor and on and on....) but I have been a pro 30 years now (wow, really???? lol) and have done a lot of film music and company training videos, Radio and TV commercials, stuff like that so the types of music I have done is quite broad. I was even in a classical quartet for 5 years, but I am mainly a pop/rock kind of player. I am also quite active live, all kids of gigs...

Oh yea its a POKER site lol.

I play mainly low buy in nlhe Sng and MTT. I have been playing seriously for about 3/4 of a year, and have a plan charted out with everything from daily goals to goals hopefully on their way to being accomplished by next spring. I wont go into great detail here, but I am not a total beginner. I am, however, still a beginner. I play relatively regularly, read (a lot), review my games, basically do lots of stuff to improve my game, and have gone from a losing player to a break-even player, tending toward +ROI player although a slow climb, but still, better than a slow decent.

OK, thanks for reading this, and I look forward finding my around and benefiting from the knowledge here.

Always Needs a nice bump!

Hi everyone! I just started playing poker online a month ago on Pokerstars. I deposited for $250...and dropped down to ~$175 before learning that I sucked at tournaments (blew $50 in $1 and $2 BI tournaments...the worst was the $3.30 RB where I had 1R1A only to bust on the bubble), and that you shouldn't bluff donks who bet like they have the nuts.

I am currently winning (moderately) at 5NL, and am close to $210 again. Reading 2+2 and some guides posted on here have helped my game immensely. Even just understanding what 3 bet, c bets, VPIP, etc. has helped me a lot in understanding poker.

I am looking to gradually build up my BR and develop my skills as a player.

See you all on the forums!

Hi, everyone. I like to think of myself as "the poker-playing Physics teacher."

The story is: I was a chaperone at Prom for the high school where I teach and, in the little casino room, I hit two 35-to-1, exact-number payouts at the Roulette table, and then hit a straight flush in my first hand at Hold'em Poker. I decided, with luck like that, I ought to be playing with real money.

So, remembering that I have a brick and mortar cardroom casino near my house, I decided Poker was the game to play. Since then, I've lost about $150.00, but thanks to Two-Plus-Two's books and forums, I have just begun to swing the pendulum back in the other direction.

Have fun, and good luck!

hey, my names Lewis im 20, and from London and i major in politics at the university of Birmingham

got involved with poker at uni, playing small sit and go's with my friends. done pretty well there and was successful so decided to take more of an interest, as i previously had very little knowledge. This led me to start going to the local casino and playing in some rebuy events.. did okay and had some sucess.

i then started playing online poker depositing 30 dollers into ftp, grinded micro sng for a while and made it to 170 dollers, then lost my bankrolll tho being on tilt and not sticking to my bankroll mangement. recently deposited 50 into stars and once again grinding the micro's there again. As i have little to no money im forced to grind on the mirco's at both live and online which is very frustrating but hope it will change soon once i can deposit more from having a reasonable paying job!

wanted to take my game to the next level so read a couple of books Theory of poker and Gus hansens book (although that isnt really a strategy guide for your own game). started to understand the concepts and now trying to apply them to my game. However, was wondering if any of the regs could give me any advice on what books to read to further my understanding. my math is not the best, but im okay at putting people on reasonable ranges, and situationally i guess im okay as well

Assuming you want to play No Limit Holdem (if the assumption is off say so):



No Limit Holdem Theory and Practice is pretty good.

I haven't read them but people say Harrington on Cash is pretty good.

Professional No Limit Holdem: I haven't read it but it may be alright ..... just don't pay too much attention to the SPR section and pay more attention to the REM section .... (unfortunately as I hear it most of the book is the SPR section).



And to be honest with you the 2+2 forums here were so much more important to me learning how to play than all books combined:

Post hands in the relevant strategy forums for your games. Ask questions as needed as you receive comments.

Read the hands others post. Comment on them. Read the comments on your comments. Ask questions as needed.

Look at this forum's FAQ.

Look at the microstakes NL FAQ.

Look at the small stakes NL FAQ.

Take a look at this (realize that most of it is from several years ago ... it is still some great info that you can learn from and can especially learn basics from, but just realize that some of it may not be up to date so feel free to start a new thread and ask some question about something you read in there): (third post down):

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/32...thread-340027/

Hello! My name is Patrick and I'm from Delaware. I work part time in a coin shop that also deals in gold and silver, both scrap and bullion. The other part of the time I take classes at UD. Anyway, I've been lurking these forums for a while and finally decided to participate.
I mostly play micro stakes and SnGs on Full Tilt, without much success. Basically I have a terrible decision-making process, and I'm looking for ways to improve on it. Would it be best for me to stick to one style of play (e.g. full ring or sngs) until I can consistently beat it? Is it worth it to play the micro limits if I have enough money to deposit to move up? Is it worth it to get some kind of poker software for micro stakes?
Am I asking way too many questions for one post? or this topic?

Whatever the case, I'm happy to have taken the plunge, and I hope to be able to improve someone else's game in the future.

tl;dr - I'm bad, I want to be good

Hey guys new here and relatively new to poker.

I live in Tasmania Australia in the wonderful city of Hobart and enjoy video games and poker alot. I am a loosing poker player though which is why I have two poker books on the way and am joining this forum i've deposited 3 lots of $50 on full tilt and lost it all and but I've made 250$ from playing against worse fish at my local casino playing 2.5$/5$ blinds with 50-200$ buy in.

I'm looking at the moment to concentrate on just playing good solid ABC poker and trying to disengage myself with the money so I don't tilt as much. At the moment Im waiting for my fulltilt bank transfer to complete.

I'm just going to lurk quite a bit until I read both the books on the way and alot of the articles on here I prefer sngs over cash games but am thinking of swapping to cash games instead of the 1.10/2.15 super turbos on full tilt.

Anyways I'm 19 years of age and studying a bachelor of IT at the university of tasmania.

Cheers for reading everyone.

I don;t think that's too many questions for a some general answers. It might be worth concentrating on one format for say a month, then decide if that's what you want to continue to develop, or mix it up - such as play cash during the week and SNG's at the weekend. The answer really though is just play whatever you prefer.

Being fairly new, I would stay at the lower levels and beat it/continue to work on your game over a decent sample size until you move up.

IMO, it's always worth having software such as HEM/PT3 even for the micros - but not a necessity. Most of the software out there offer free trials or a there are ways to get them via poker rooms by clearing rake.

Easiest way to disengage from the money, whether it's cheeseburger stakes or high stakes, is through bankroll management. If you are adequately rolled then it's no so bad if you drop a few buy-ins, as you know you still have plenty behind you - or can drop down accordingly.

And think in terms of buy-ins and big blinds etc rather than the $ equivalent.

Lurking for a bit is good - get a flavour for the posting styles in whatever forums you're interested in. But don't leave it too long before you dive right in

Gl both and welcome to the forums.

Hi folks, better do this now.

I started playing an LOLdonkament in a local pub about this time last year (still do) and just couldn't figure out why I couldn't win until I realised that I was, and still am, a total fish. In an attempt to improve I played 10 man $1 Turbo SnG's (mini-donkaments) up until about January 2010 (at a slight loss until I started learning about the complexity of ICM) then I realised that cash games are better for learning the ins-&-outs of poker. I have played 60k hands of cash at 2c nl & 4c nl and have earned just shy of $100 making my BR $250 in total. I'm hoping to move to 10nl as soon as I'm in the right frame of mind (I thought it would be last week so I don't go by time now - just bankroll and confidence IUKWIM). My short term goal is to learn a solid TAG style that can beat full ring micro and longer term I would like to convert to a LAG 6maxer.

Three things I've learned so far about NLTH.

1. How little I know.
2. Getting better at NLTH takes perserverance.
3. Raises don't get respect - they are just seen as an opportunity.

Whats up everyone.

I'm Hollywood. I live in Portland, Oregon. College dropout turned construction worker. I started playing poker about 2 years ago. I been hanging out with friends that are avid card players. One I consider an awesome PLO player. I don't consider myself as a good player. But I strive to be a smart all-around card player instead of being a "one-trick pony". I can play NLH, but The game seven card stud lately been my focus, Usually micro stakes on pokerstars. I have yet to play a live seven card stud hi/lo game because I live in the Northwest. If you have any positive advice and/or want to share ideas feel free to PM me.

Cheers,
Hollywood_ dizon

thought I'd introduce myself, new here but have been playing on and off for about 3 years now, just NLH. Going to focus on SNG's and small MTT's for the rest of the year and I'm sure you'll see me asking dumb questions a lot as I'm a total beginner

Cheers,

James

Hi,

I am a poker noob from sweden trying my best to learn the game. Have been at it for about four months now, playing and studying, but still feel like I know nothing.
Playing almost exclusively 6-max NLH cash games with the occasional SnG:s or MTT:s thrown in to get some variation.

Would also like to say a big thank you to everyone here for providing so much valuable information to confused beginners like myself.

My understanding is that identifying yourself as someone who was previously banned is itself a bannable offense.

Be careful bro.

Thanks bumblebee. On the advice of my friend who turned me on to 2+2 I'll probably end up going with whichever piece of software is cheaper. I'll definitely try out your suggestion for picking the game type I'd like to play as well.

hi guys im new here because i want to get better at mtts. i have played cash before but much prefer mtts. i have never done well in mtts so i need you guys to point me in the right directions for improvment. looking forward to 2+2

Hi everyone!

First time here and such. long story short I just wanted to say hi and see if anyone knew anything about the Fulltilt freerolls and if they are worth going into if you are on a very limited budget.

Oh i also saw a sticky with a blogroll type thing on it and i just opened one to keep track of my progress. heres the link

redpanda86.blogspot.com

Dominic. I go to the University of Tennessee...I am trying to grind up a bankroll for Vegas. Hopefully at the end of the summer I will not be a fish at the table.

edit:surname removed as requested

freerolls is reallly hard. and if you have the skill to turn a freeroll win into 50$ in... say 3 months, you can turn 50$ deposit into 200$ pretty easily.

point is, if you think your good enough to make any profit in a reasonable amount of time with freerolls, then its much more profitable to just deposit. if you are afraid of losing 50$ deposit, then freerolls will not get you anywhere.

I have a wife and three kids, and Sadly at this point in our life a 50 dollar deposit is out of the question, I think i could do well enough in a 1 or 2 dollar 90 player SnG, so i was hoping to hit that in a freeroll and give it a shot.

My name is Brandon, I'm 29 years old. I am from New Orleans and I was displaced by Katrina in 2005 which is when I started dabbling in poker. I mostly donked away a $20 BR on Party Poker and then I gave up for a while so I could finish my Bachelor's Degree in Business/Computer Science. For a while I'd play home games here and there and we were all fish. Since then I've gotten married in 2008 and had a daughter in 2009. Now I've been getting the poker bug the past few months, so I've read every book I can get my hands on. Recently found this great site and I hope to learn a ton from it (I already have)

Give the freerolls a go and see what happens. If you can;t deposit much then you don't have much choice really.

GL, and welcome to the fourms

Indeed, and thanks a bunch!

Freerolls are good if you want to play poker for fun ... with a tiny chance of winning a very small amount of money. If you're looking to make money out of them, you'd be much better off in terms of $$$/hour collecting cans (assuming you live where they can be redeemed for 5c each) until you have enough to deposit.

Edit: and watch out for the SHANOOBIGANS thread ... and practice Limit Stud H/L ... it may be worth you while

UT grad. Micro NL cash player also trying to stop sucking at poker.