how do i know how good i am?

[koolromeo 0]

Read Harrington on HoldemA must read.

Harrington on Hold'em is specifically for tournament play. I havne't gotten it yet but i hear that it's a great book. Yeah, i'd suggest reading that as a next step

how can u suggest something you know nothing about?

[Lord Ben 0]

Well sure! But I play the game because it's a sport, not for the money. Money just is how you keep score! Even if I was good enough I don't know if I'd want to do it for a living anyway.I took first and made $265 after 6 hours of playing in my brothers garage. If I were working for a living fixing computers in my side business I'd have made almost that much without the risk of making nothing... So poker is mostly for the enjoyment.

[koolromeo 0]

i think your making a mistake equating the size of the buy in with the quality of players. if you play in a game that will sting a little if you lose, you will. there will always be people in a game that like to gamble and could care less if they win or lose. if they are smart enough to see that the stakes make you fidget a bit, you're in trouble. i think you should gauge your play by your results. they are ok so far, but nothing to brag about.

[GreenLizard 0]

how do i know how good i am?

Play better people.

Where is the best place to find the most skilled players at $50 games or so?

you really should be asking where the softest games are

What's the fun in that?

They play higher stakes.It's good that you're killing your local games. You are at least that good. (As far as the statistically insignificant sample you have provided shows.) Next, find out if you can beat the next level up. To do this, you need to build your bankroll.To build your bankroll, you should continue winning your local games and keep at least part of the money instead of giving it all to your wife so you can afford the higher stakes.Once you have enough to play the next level, start playing the higher stakes. If you can't even do this, then you aren't as good as you thought you were to begin with. If you keep on winning, then you should move up again. Lather, rinse, repeat.When you finally hit a level you can't beat (i.e. you go broke), then you know how good you are.

[chuckf410 0]

Assume for the sake if discussion that I'm just as good as DN, or I think I could be with more experience. Unfortunately I'm also not wealthy enough to pay anything more than $100 for a game of poker. And even if I play a $100 game it's something I could only do once every few months which won't really tell me much about my game. How do I ever find out if I'm good? Apart from some kind rich soul staking me in a few tourneys I'll pretty much be stuck playing low buy-in games. The biggest one in the area where I don't have to get a hotel is not really great for my schedule (wed nights and you must play table games for awhile).

Anyone can be as good as anyone with experience. You have to honestly look at your game and decide where it is. If you can't tell where you're at without a different challenge, you must find that challenge. You say that you can only play for about $100 a game. In your original post you said that the wife spends the winnings. If you really want to get better you must build the bankroll. You have to go to the wife and explain what you want and that to get it, she can't spend your winnings for a while. So here's an idea, build the bankroll for the next 6 months or so. See how that goes. If you have enough at that time, take a trip to Vegas with the Mrs. Leave the kids with grandma (or other sitter for the weekend) and try your hand at the games. Invite another poker buddy and his wife so the girls can go out while you and the buddy test your mettle at the tables. And since you don't know where you stand, start out at the lower end tourneys. The worst that will happen is you dominate and move up. Or you find that you're really not that good even at the cheap toruneys and you go home to study and learn more. Now in your next post I want to see you explain how you can make this or some other plan happen. How can you get to some tournaments to test yourself. I dont' want to see a 'but i can't do it because....' type of post again.

[Lord Ben 0]

While not statistically significant I can tell you that based on my own analysis if I play the way I normally do I'll keep winning the same if not more games. I learn more every time and havn't been down money yet.Plus I'm adding more stats to the game every week or two.

[cdxx 0]

I can't afford to play in any $1000 games or anything, well I can afford it if I save my winnings but the wife usually spends what I win since it's a good tradeoff for letting me out with the boys.

how can you call yourself good with such a big leak in your game? j/k. try online. action is definitely better than any satellites you find in Michigan or Chicago, plus it will let you work on your game more than a live table.I play locally with friends and random strangers who walk into our game, and I never left a loser. but i get a quick reality check every couple of weeks when i try $2-4 or $200 NL online.

[SabaAba 0]

This is what you should do, I did it too when my daughter was boarn 7 months ago as trips to local casinos is not as frequent.Buy or build some poker tables. Buy some poker chips. Buy some cards and host your own poker tournaments. Your first few games will have fewer people, but by the 5th or 6th one, people start talking and before you know it, you have a waiting list for a 32 person tournament. I build 4 tables (8 man) which I think is best for home games, and I put 4 of them in the garage and we play. The skill level varies of course, but you will start to meet people who are actually really good. If you can dominate those games, then you could be ready.The key is make sure to have people invite other people from work, friends etc .. Don't just have the same 10 people every week that will not do anything for you.