Why did you start playing before you won a large amount of money very quickly? Was it fun then?

I like to try new things, I made friends very quickly at the table, it was a chamge of pace to my normal weekend, thought it would be fun and it was fun until I found out I had to put in a lot of hard work just to survive the game I wanted to play.

such is life.

Yes, but even posting the hands helps me to think it thru better and it's good to get feedback from people at a similar level because it's a bit like having poker pals which I don't have in real life, well not as interested as me at least.

I won't make it in poker cause i waste time reading threads like this

I will add it to the list.

oic

If you don't like learning to play poker and you don't like playing poker less well than your opponents not playing seems the best option

[ ] Bluffs enough

I won't make it in poker because I'm too busy making it with the ladies.

Well then play strip poker Sir.

Then you can combine two interests - even losing would be winning IYKWIM.

I've heard the rake can be pretty brutal ...

I changed my game and I did try to bluff it had the reverse effect, my blue line went down and my red line up. I have many more graphs and stats showing how I changed to improve my red line. I dont want this to be about me and my graphs but if you must go there, then fine.

So, u got lucky when u were a donk, as most seem too. Reality set in when variance caught up w/ u, u started losing like u should have to begin w. And your conclusion now is that almost noone can win at poker because the almighty "you" cant beat it. lol.

I never said I was almighty were did I say that?

I never said that my conclusion was no one can win at poker, were did I say that?

..Ugh, lost my post to "server not found." I'm not going to type it all up again but here is me paraphrasing myself:

To the OP - Good stuff. Love me some cold hard truth. No spoon feeding the delusional here. What makes your OP so good is that everything you outlined is changeable.

To the haters who listed these two excuses:

1) Some people play for fun/as a hobby. Me sucking is great!
2) I make more money from one hour of work at my job then I lose from a whole sessions of donking around.

I'm not saying that playing for fun and not caring about improving is bad, but I don't think that is an applicable argument on a poker strategy site.

I make great money at my job, and I only work 1.5 hours give or take in an 8 hour work day. A good portion of that time is reading a book/internet, playing video games, playing poker with my co workers, and sleeping. But I'll be damned if I take any of that easy money and completely willingly donk it away with no regard to optimal play.

WW this was good.

Thanks for the checklist. I guess i have a few things to work on.
I'm gonna print this out and read it everyday until i memorize it.

So OP now that you got that off your chest, now what? Quit poker ehh?

Playing for fun and losing are not synonymous. I have a very small profit since I started with real money about a year ago. I do want to improve and I do want to win, but I'm pretty certain that I'm never going to reach a level where I'm a "pro".

I think the main problem with the OP was that it gave all kinds of reasons why people won't "make it" in poker, but never really defined what "making it" is.

I think sputum's post ITT was the best. He plays "for fun" but is successful enough that he was able to fund a "once in a lifetime" trip to Vegas to play in the WSOP where he was able to bag a nice cash (so maybe twice in a lifetime?)

"Making it" depends on your goals. Mine at the moment is to not lose my BR and win a ticket to SHANOOBS year-end tourney. If I do that, I've "made it"

There is nothing stand between you (or anyone) and your goals. Discipline and willpower > talent.

I think people are a little harsh because OP is relative new poster...

I think some of his posts are very good and very true for a LOT of players. sure there are players who play once a week and could care less but a lot of 2+2 posters do want to win and improve. and yet they feel having a DC video playing while doing 5 other things will make them better. (me).

good post.

..Whether you think you can, or you think you can't, you're right.

The criteria for me to go pro (quit my job, live off of poker) would probably have to be three years clearing 100k a year. And even with that, I'd have the security blanket of being able to get my job back. The criteria for me "making it" would be consistently playing optimally, making good decisions, and improving as a player. Every session I feel I'm getting closer to that goal.

I read "making it" as being a winning player who consistently makes good decisions, but when a bad decision is made, doesn't dilute himself into thinking it was a bad beat/cooler/good play.

Playing for fun is great. If I didn't have fun with poker (felt time, study time, conversations, etc.) I wouldn't be playing. My point was just because your playing for fun doesn't mean you have a license to be ignorant of whats going on with your game. Playing for fun is a poor excuse for bad play. "I shoved 72o and won with trip 7's. I shoved pre because I figured I had about 65% fold equity." "I shoved 72o and lost to his pocket KK. I'm just playing for fun tho lol."

That's a great goal. Me personally would classify that as a small milestone in your journey of "making it." On a side note, if you fail to win a ticket to SHANOOBS or loose your entire bankroll, would you name any of the reasons the OP outlined as the detriment to your goals? Or other reasons?

grunch

Let me summarize your post, OP.

"Why you wont make it in poker"
Because you are either not willing to see (search for) the mistakes you're making or you are unwilling to correct them.

To you personaly OP; you won't make it as long as you write long, useless posts (everything you provided is already written down by some-one else) while you should be spending time on improving your game.

Nuff said.

I should of stated in the OP that "make it in poker" is to reach ones maximum potential so it does not necessary mean high stakes.

For example say someone had the potential to play at 100NL and constantly win at that level (if they worked hard enough) but only ever managed to beat 10NL and struggled at 25NL and never went beyond that level because they had some of the problems I listed.