I am new here but I have read the forum for a long time at work. Great way to pass the time. I have played poker since I was a kid, online only since June of 2009, I have become a decent player, in the long run I am down about $1000 or so, but play pretty much brake even now on the micros.

I am curious how long it has taken some of your guys out there to be able to play profitably from the time you started online.

I play everynight around 500 hands+. Only 2table for now.

fwiw, i checked all my bank statements an in 4 years i was down 4k, ( i wasnt aware of BRM or even multi tabling, EYEORRRRE)

So 3 months ago i deposited $100 an i'm upto $1400 (grinding the **** outta 25nl) So im still in the RED, but slowly gettin out.

Don't set a time to 'get out of the red' just play it an enjoy it. It's just a game with an added spin.

until i read the CotW i think.

I started with harrington on hold em (tourneys), and was always a small winner. I still think the early game strategy in those books is the best all encompassing guide for starting out in cash games (followed closely by crushing the micros and diggers nit clinic).

i was a small winning player at MTTs and SNGs, started beating cash after reading sircuddles guide to beat the micros.
gl sir.

Played micro sit and go's rather aimlessly for about a year eking out a tiny profit before switching to cash last June and starting out at 2nl. Like Stranglylucid I used the early level guide from Harrington on hold'em for my preflop play and this was sufficiently tight so that I was never a loser at that level. However, it was really only by reading (and more importantly posting in) this forum that I learned how to increase my win-rate to the stage where I could move up through the limits.

Most I was down was $125 .. by playing under rolled, then one year ago I started grinding 2NL on stars and someone mentioned 2p2 in the chat (lol?) and since then I never looked back.. playing 50NL right now

I played SNGs as a small loser for a month or two until I read SSHE, switched to LHE, and started winning. I withdrew my initial deposit a couple months later and have been playing on other people's money since. This was pre-UIGEA though, so it not really comparable.

i lost around $500. at the time was playing nl10 and had a stoxpoker account. by that time i met split and he coached me for 6 months putting me in 3 months from a losing player to a nl25 winning player. i got my bankroll to over $1000. stopped for some months and in october deposited $250 at full tilt and put it already over $1000 again. just take your time because soon you will get that money and hopefully more

And once again thanks split

Thanks for the imput guys, i appreciate it.

I was curious, playing home games for a long time I found the transistion to online somewhat difficult. Yeah i love reading the forum, I have learned a lot, I think this year will be a good year for me and poker, I will be trying to not deposit and turn my $20 into as much as poss. currently at $47 after last nights $8 loss..... I played like a dbag.....

I only started playing last October--lost around $50 at SnG at 2NL cuz I was clueless. Then, a friend and I started reading 2p2, I put in another $25, and playing exclusively cash games after 10K hands started consistently showing a profit.

Was break even at sngs/tournies playing sporadically from 05-08, found 2+2 in July of 09 and been winning ever since starting at 2nl. Moving to 50nl finally in a week or so.

oh everyone is answering seriously. i deposited $160 in april and started grinding 25nl. i read lots of 2p2 and a lot of Pokey's old threads so i was pretty much immediately profitable cause it is 25nl. and of course i read the CotW's as they came out. lots of great info on 2p2. i then got stake/coached as i moved up the limits. i now grind 100nl/200nl fr and am going for SNE.

Took me one week from I discovered poker (played for the first time) to I was profitable. Easy Game. However not like I can live on poker, but at least I can win at micros.

I won immediately. I expect I luckboxed it at the start, but of course didn't record my hands back then. Shame really - I bet I'd lol now!

Actually, I've won at every format I've tried right from the start, apart from DONs - which is ironic considering people consider them to be a braindead donkfest!

(Not a brag - I'd take losing at first and getting better faster over my current rate of progress any day of the week)

I actually have, um, never deposited.

Started with freeroll winnings off some lesser sites in 2005. Lost them
all and re-freerolled three times until May 2006 when I made $5 that I still have. Played limit very cautiously for 2 years and bonus whored a lot.
I was probably marginally losing then but eking out a tiny profit through the bonuses. Built up a $1500 BR at limit and switched to NL at FT in Sept 2008.

I didn't become independently profitable at the tables until Jan 2009.
After seeing my deposit bonus and RB leak away, I got mad and started
to read this forum daily. Did a whole bunch of sweat sessions.

Now playing 50NL with a rather tepid but positive WR.

Withdrawing small amount every month (to convince the wife it's a part-time job).

About 15 years, I think. I say this mostly to be glib. I don't actually remember learning poker, like the rules and card ranks. I've been playing 5 card draw for as long as I can remember. Then, in College, I started playing with some friends and won almost immediately, mostly because I folded more than they did. Winning online? Took about 4 deposits, and some bankroll management lessons.

I played play money stt's on full tilt and thought "there must some some decent strat stuff on da intrawebz!" a couple weeks later I found this site, read a few books (theory of poker, holdem odds and probabilities, Harrignton on Cash), deposited 50 bucks on ftp and haven't looked back. Ground it up to 500, now I'm running bad and am down 6 buy ins (16 below EV for December). Try to play smart, read these forums Religously and you'll do fine, but keep in mind, variance is a bitch so always review your hands. Don't just say I AM WINNAR!

Game selection is the beginning and knowing when to quit the end to being profitable.

Building your skill set just increases the availability of profitable games.

Take that to the bank.

There is nothing more you need to know.

Have played on and off over the last four years, mainly STT, always trying to improve but never really making a profit. This summer i deposited $50 in stars and have tried playing a few different formats, STT, DoNs and LHE etc. Managed to keep my BR above the $50 i started with, but always losing most of what profit i made. Then last month i discovered sircuddles guide to beating the micros and since then i have been steadily grinding out a profit at 2NL.

I have been winning on a regular basis since July 2003.





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Assuming that your pointing at the date you joined, or are you talking about the picture and trying to say this is your other half in a bikini....lol.

I have also been winning a regular basis 3 of every four sessions I win, but the fourth session normally loses everything i win in the first three.

VPIP is 22 sometimes higher sometimes lower...but what I can say is that it is getting harder to be consistently winning on line without using the forums and coaching sites and by only reading the odd book here and there.

I found a few plays but eventually people work you out and you have to change up again. the most frustrating thing in the world is getting 10s and calling a 2 bet shove from a maniac who last time shoved in a short stack with 55 to find out this time he has KK and then to get AA a few hands later in the big blind and have everyone including the SB fold out the round....25c yay.

I dont know the answer to being profitable other than select your tables well, keep track of people you beat consistently and try to play them more often, play less tables so you see more, be ultra tight and dont invest more than 5% of your roll in a table and bank your profits consistently whether than be at a double up or triple up....whatever works for your roll.

Dont play tired, dont play short sessions and be ready to fold out very good hands and suck up that sick feeling that you just delivered a prize to someone with 34 who was chocking your chicken ......

i ran $50 to $500 to $1000 to $700 to 1000 to 500 where i am right now...playing 5/10c, then 10/20c, then 25/50c 50BB deep. mind you I also lost $300 along the way to omaha experminents but still...lol.

in all things be smarter than everyone else and more committed than everyone else and less likely to give up than everyone else and you should be a winning player eventually...i hope....

sorry for the rant