I first started playing poker in August 2004. I deposited 50 bucks on party poker and quickly went bust on the .25/.5 limit tables. I then deposited 300 dollars (a lot for me at the time) and began working my way up the limit ranks. I was dead set on playing limit and would not even consider playing No Limit. I had mediocre success for 7-8 months grinding it out at the low limits. At this time I was playing 10K hands a month at most. This was a great learning time for me though. I read everything I could get my hands on. I have every poker book available at borders and many that are not. I would read the forum every single day and post hands that I was unsure about. I would also be spending time thinking about hands on my own.

Now it is April 2005 and I have moved up to 2/4 limit. I had no plans for the summer after graduation and decided to play poker fulltime in Vegas. I am supposed to start graduate school the next fall, so I figured 3 months in Vegas would be a great break from school. S0 I moved out to Vegas by myself last June. At the time I was playing 5/10 limit. At this point poker was all consuming. I would spend 14-16 hours every day playing or reading about poker. I was actually pretty miserable since I had no friends and I love to work out but could not with the Vegas weather. At this time I was trying to move up to 10/20 limit but I could not for the live of me beat it. I lost 5K (a lot for me then) trying to beat it. I know looking back I wasn't playing my best because I wouldn’t think about hands that I was playing, I would just multi table like a robot.

Half way through the summer I took 500 bucks and went down to the mirage to play some live poker. Instead of playing 10/20 limit I played NL for the first time. Unfortunately all did not go smoothly as I got it AI against a rich older fat guy with KQ on a AJT board (with one spade). He had AQ of spades and caught runner runner flush on me to scoop a 1100+ dollar pot. This was the biggest pot that I had ever lost and I was devastated.

With this aside I still had really enjoyed playing NL. So I began playing 2/5 blind NL games around town, towards the end of the summer and it got me thinking a lot more about poker again and not mult-itabling like a robot. I was crushing these live no limit games as they are very very soft. I would consistently build ten buy in stacks. The summer finished up with me playing a lot of live poker and not as much online.

I went back to school last fall and being irresponsible I didn’t have a place to live. So I spent fall quarter living on my friends couch and having my computer set up in her living room. Since I could no longer play live no limit games as LA was 2 hours away, I went back to multi-tabling except this time on the prima network for 40% rake back. I finally started having success at 10/20 and quickly moved up to 20/40 limit and higher.

I still didn’t enjoy limit as much as no limit, but for some reason I wouldn’t play no limit on the internet at that time. So I found a small poker club in Ventura California and would drive the 40 minutes to play in a live uncapped 2/5 blind no limit game. This is where my NL game really matured and grew. We would play 2/5 blinds with every person having 2K plus on the table (and bigger stacks having 10K+). It was in this game that I lost the largest pot of my life thus far. UTG limped, and then it was folded to the button who raised. I reraised from the small blind with aces. The UTG lag called 120 cold (we had 6K stacks) with 56o saying I know what you have but you don’t know what I have. End of the story he called my huge flop and turn bets with one pair and a gut shot and hit on the river where I check called his push. This hand taught me so much about no limit poker, especially deep stack. It really changed my way of thinking about poker and to those looking to move up I would recommend playing in live deep stack games as it will improve your skills immensely. Playing at this club taught me the importance of 1) position, 2) pot control, 3) thin value bets, 4) and having a wide range.

After realizing that I enjoyed no limit more than limit I finally got smart and started playing no limit on the internet. I began at .25/.5 no limit in the middle of December. It was very easy for me and I moved up very quickly. I was playing 1/2 no limit by the end of December. 2/4 in January and part of Febuary. 3/6 in Feb. 5/10 in march 10/20 in April and 25/50 and 50/100 in May and June. If you are dedicated to improving you can move up quickly and have alot of sucess.

Hope this answers some questions. I have also decided today that I cannot pass up this opportunity and will start playing poker fulltime.


Also I didn’t proof read so if things don’t read well I am sorry.

Print, bind, and sell in bookstores.

well damn.

bruiser?

as i said in your other thread, just wait until you start running good!

Could you post some key differences between playing online no limit and live no limit? I feel like they're completely different games.

Lol!

Nah nice post though man. Congrats!

If you are aren't being sarcarstic I think you are an idiot. I see this from some posters when great results are posted and I don't understand why. I think I have a better understanding of variance than 99% on this board. I have very good bankroll managment. So let it rest and just be happy for my sucess.

Interesting read. Good luck with the full-time move. Amazing to see how fast you moved up in limits. Were you just on a super heater the whole time, or were you already well bankrolled, and just moved up as soon as you felt you were beating each limit?

Sounds like NL is the place to be!

What was your worst downswing from December to now?

Also, how many hands have you played in that time period?

dynasty?

When I started at .25/.5 NL I was rolled for 2/4 NL. So I moved up to 2/4 pretty quickly, plus the games were pretty easy.

aba20,

What are your thoughts on players who constantly stay at a level like 10/20 and don't move up. They have probably made more money at poker than you have and have bigger "bankrolls" yet stay there. Does losing $40,000 effect you that much, why do you think you're able to move up when other people aren't?

I know a lot of people will say there aren't enough higher games running to make it profitable vs. 8 tabling 10/20, but a lot of the time I see as many as 10 L10/20-$50/100NL games running over various sites.

8 buyins at whatever limit I have played at. I have had two of those and one 7 buy in downswing. I don't know the exact # of hands since I lost my old database was corrupted when I got a new computer. I would guess ~300K. (this might be to high)

To each his own. You can make more money than you know what to do with multitabling 10/20, which has been shown by HEK and lolo.

I have a 350K BR so losing 40K doesn't phase me much. I think alot of people could move up but are happy 10 tabling party. Again to each his own. I can't 8+ table like other posters so I tend to move up. I think it is AMAZING people who can 8+ table.

This is what I do. I play one or two tables on multiple sites.

Come on dude, don't get all uptight. You went from .25/.50 to the highest regular NL games on the net in less than half a year. Clearly you're running above the mean.

i.e. just one table on UB and one on FTP? wtf? How do you get hands in?

what were u studying in grad school?

True but I was also playing 2/4, in january, which is only 10 and 20 times lower than the games I play now. I think anyone can move up to these limits in that time period if they are good without running hot.

Electrical Engineering and Marterial science

dammmmmmn, you could almost live off that interest

nerd

did/do you have tilt problems?

Yes that was the hardest thing for me to overcome. I started drinking green tea and exersising more which really helped.

Inspirational man, thanks for the read and gl.