I started playing poker seriously about a couple months ago and would really like to make it pro eventually. I currently am not able to play live poker legally. I currently just crush my dad and his friends but thats the extent of my live experience. I really want to know what I can do to build up my poker foundation so that I can be a pro cash game player in the future. I primarily watch LATB, and then on the side I watch Andrew Neeme and Brad Owen. So now for the questions.

What things should I be focusing on?

What resources should I be using?

any training that I should buy?

What should do I avoid watching?

What are some habits that would improve my play?

Training sites, coaches are best I'd say.

With that rather then shelling out for a coach gonwithba Training site

I started with free bar poker leagues in my area for almost a year. World Tavern and Stars and Bars. Cheap way to learn. Just pay for food/drink. Free to play otherwise.

Then got into books (Harrington series and others), then started playing 1/2 at casino, broke even/lost for a couple months, got better, started winning a decent clip. Read the stickies in the strat and beginners forums.

Also enjoy watching the vloggers, but mainly for entertainment. Learning was minimal. LATB is full of whales and gambooly types playing garbage hands. Heck, one of them is known for playing Q2. Donk. Don't pick up their bad habits. You will massively lose at low stakes if you play like many of them do.

Posted tons of hand histories in the strat forum, got feedback, improved.

Started a thread like this one for accountability (mainly as it pertains to not tilting and bankroll management). When people are "watching you," you are less likely (in theory) to do stupid things and go busto.

Now been doing it for over a year at 1/3 and am a consistent winner. Turned a few hundred bucks into over $10k and counting.

You really need to focus on starting hands/preflop hand selection as a beginner. Most post-flop problems arise because you made a mistake preflop. So only play extremely strong hands, preferably in position. We're talking big pairs, AK, AQss. Everything else should be considered trash until you get better. Then there's calculating your odds to draw, also an important skill.

That's my story. Your results may vary. If you want to read more about my journey, check out my pg&c thread.

U should play some micro stakes online. U get 10x the experience in the same amount of time. Also u make big mistakes and if only costs u a couple dollars. Illegal in some states but there are always some sites u can play on

Some live players will tell u that online and live are different animals and the skills don’t transfer over. They’re wrong. The best players in the world play online. If u can win online u can win irl.

Microstakes online is a good start. Once you get comfortable playing microstakes and have good results over a large stretch of hands then I'd move on to $1/2 live poker.

$1/2 live poker can feel like an eternity, but if you stay patient and disciplined you can make some decent side money.

Start out by considering it as a hobby that's something interesting to do in your spare time that may make you a few dollars on the side, rather than having a pipe dream of becoming a pro

You aren't 18? (or 21 if it's that in places in America)

And 100% this. Chances are you really suck and I can't imagine LATB or two live poker players who are looking to sell themselves as entertainment/the lifestyle* as good people to learn from. You have no idea how bad a life being a pro poker player is for the vast majority of people and that's assuming you are good enough in the first place to make a living from poker.

Play for fun as a hobby and dedicate as much time to it as you want to and if you get to the point where you are thinking that poker is better than your other options then try and go pro.

Folks here who tell you to NOT do this are not just trolling you. Many of them have plenty of personal experience with being a "poker pro" and know how damn hard this really can be. Play a lot more and study as much as you can. Poker TV shows are not good places to learn much , but can be entertaining. The best result would be for you to get a normal career and play poker as a recreational hobby that pays for itself , or even can supplement your regular income. Could you be one of the small percentage that actually makes a decent living as a poker pro without becoming a burnt out degen? Sure , it is possible , some make it, but it is very difficult and very unlikely. Give this some thought. Obviously you have plenty of time to consider this.

If you think that poker stays fun if you play 40h+/week, you're wrong. If you think it's not like other work, you're right but not in a good way. Fact is if you have the ability to make it as a professional player you'll have a much better life doing literally anything else.

If you enjoy poker, don't waste that hobby by trying to make it a profession.

Edit: I have a day job / career, poker is not my only source of income. That would be crazy! All this took the better part of two years to achieve. The cash game hours alone were close to 1,500; that doesn’t count the free poker. Worth it? I’d like to think it has been a fine journey.

And +1 the game loses its fun when you play a lot, especially on downswings.

Re-reading that I sound like a complete Timmy. I understand that full time poker is a complete grind and have no issue's with concentrating for extended periods of time (12 hours and up). Yes, poker started out as a hobby but I would like to make it into a job like 99% of the poker population. I do find poker fun and don't get burned out of many activities easily, I am pretty stubborn. If anyone else has any resources they could recommend, that would be great. Also is an upswing poker membership worth the money?

99% of the poker population doesn't view poker as a job, but as a hobby I'd guess

That's probably 90% too high lol

Two steps to being a successful happy poker pro.

1)be content with actually playing poker.
2)Have enough money to play, feed, shelter yourself.

simple two steps. Pros who post here on this forum don't have number 1 sorted but seem to have number 2 sorted. people who wanna be pros might have number 1 sorted but don't have number 2 sorted.

I just got a one-month free trial of Crush Live Poker. MVA401 promo code. You could use the trial, take notes, and ditch it after a month. Also, SplitSuit aka Jamey Sweeney has good, free stuff on YouTube for beginners and more experienced players.

The technique is what is needed. There are the books and then there are the softwares. All the video nonsense is only when there is a lack in books and softwares that give the complete strategy. That lack isn't there in NLH cash.

The Janda books. A GTO solver. Possibly some more but not necessary.

PLO cash and NLH tourneys might need training but then it is written instructions or videos that give the GTO strategy got from softwares or math. Watching some winning donk play is of little value.

After the books, you can watch the Pokerstars pros play; they probably are not doing videos for it. Some PLO player does NLH videos for that reason and I don't think he is a good NLH player, but for 100 per month, you can watch his videos also.

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Learning basic poker math, especially pot odds, equity estimates, fold equity, etc. with respect to EV analysis is essential IMO. There’s a good blog on this topic: go to Tumblr.com, search for holdemmathology and check the blog Hold’em Mathology for a nice, simple introduction to EV math.

thanks will look into that.

This might seem the biggest troll post but it isn't that much, one tips i got early on is if you can pull a huge wad of cash (significant amount) split in to half and literally lighting it on fire without not feeling anything you are more set out for doing this than 9 out of 10 players. Good luck

Here's a 3-and-a-half-year-old post of mine that I think will help someone with only a couple months' experience:

https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/3...32/?highlight=

I don’t recommend trying this

Yeah it's not much up for weather to like that or not but being about to play poker maybe it's best getting used to how things are in reality?

Forget your dreams and see if you can beat the micros online

The key is to get experience, play a lot of hands and then think about what you could have done differently afterward. Just put in crazy volume, start at 1 cent 2 cent with a $20 bankroll and put in as many hours as you can playing and thinking about the game.