poker lessons and life

[SapphireTiger 0]

WARNING: This is an extremely long post...I seriously don't blame you if you don't read it, I just wrote this and figured I'd share it. Anyway, if you do read it, thanks!--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------This is a story about my journey through poker and the lessons I learned. Hopefully you'll take something away from this as well.I've had a family full of gamblers. I'm half Filipino and Half Japanese. On my Filipino side, my grandfather used to organize **** fights in the Philippines and a little bit here in the US. My Filipino grandmother is a huge business woman, so I guess you wouldn't call her a gambler, more like a calculated risk taker. Anyway, she goes to Vegas, Reno, and Indian Casinos probably 9-10 times a year. It might be luck, it might be skill, but she does amazingly well both at the slots and blackjack. My grandmother on the Japanese side has 4 sisters, and several times throughout the years she goes to the Bellagio and Reno to play blackjack. In addition I have several uncles on my Japanese side that have been known to be gamblers...one might even say degenerate gamblers.The point is that I grew up learning blackjack and poker at a very early age. I understood basic blackjack strategy and basic poker strategy before I was 7, much in part due to the instruction of my grandparents. Most of my encounters with gambling came from my Filipino side. If anyone has interactions with a Filipino family, they know that families are very large. When the Filipino side of our family would get together once or twice a year, we’d have about 50 or 60 people. Growing up, most of the uncles in our family would play 7/27 or blackjack for $10 bucks. When I was about 10, I was the first of my generation to join in the gambling. But, if anyone has played 7/27, they know that it is a drawing game. And the way that my family played, much of it was based on luck. So sometimes I would win, and sometimes I wouldn’t, and I never saw much else to it.Then, with the poker boom in 2003 with Chris Moneymaker’s win and the newfound attitude that anybody can win, I got caught up in the hype of it all. Very soon after the 2003 WSOP, I got a lot of my guy friends to play some home games. We were high school students and didn’t have a lot of cash, so we would normally play $5-$10 cash games. In my group everyone sucked, but didn’t know it. I used to lose a lot. I watched the WSOP as many times as possible to try and get more of a grasp on the game. As I continued to play I began to get a little better, but I was still a break even player against my friends. The earliest concepts I learned was how dependent you play should be according to your opponent. But still, I was in love with the Ace and played it as often as possible. I hardly raised, and liked to see a lot of flops. I understood what was basically considered good hands and what were considered trash hands and usually followed those guidelines. By the time I was ready to leave for college, I felt that I was one of the better players in my group.I came to USC in August of 2004. I quickly made acquaintances on my floor that played poker and started games about once every two weeks. During the first two months I wiped out the competition. We would play $5-$10 cash games and I made up to $129. When I started winning, I started to keep track of my games. From this point, I started to learn the concept of bankroll management. I knew that I wanted to play on complete profits, and I figured that with $129, that it wouldn’t be a problem. In addition, in mid-September I decided to give internet poker a try. I bought in for $100 on Party Poker, but soon lost it all in a month. But I felt that it was completely based on bad beats and that there was nothing wrong with my game. I was feeling cocky, and at the top of my game. I thought I had learned all it took to be a winning player, and I thought that my winnings showed that. Well at this point, I decided to buy my first good chip set. Some guy in my dorm works for pokerchipmart.com and got me a deal on a 500 11.5 gram chip set for $80. I also decided that I would get my first poker book: Super System 1. I read through it like wildfire and began to understand that being super aggressive may increase my profits. I realized that I had a lot to learn. Right after reading Super System I went on a huge losing streak. We were still playing mainly $10 cash games and a few Single Table Tournaments, but I soon lost all of my profits, and by December, I was in the red. In addition I had bought in for another $50 in November on Party Poker, and one more time in December. So I was about $20 in the red for live play, and down $200 on-line. I didn’t understand what happened at first. I thought I might have just been on a terrible run, but then I started to really look and evaluate my game. I took a 2 week hiatus from all poker in December, and took a 2 month hiatus from on-line poker until February.During this two week period I browsed poker articles online, especially on pokerpages, downloaded poker strategy movies through netflix, and read a ton of poker books. I read through Super System once more, and then picked up Caro’s Book of Poker Tells, Positively Fifth Street, Poker Nation, Play Poker like the Pros, and Bad Beats and Lucky Draws. I finally realized a ton of the flaws I possessed. From these books I realized quite a few important lessonsI was too lose in my starting handsI gave up Ax trash handsI realized the importance of positionI realized how to reduce my own tellsI needed to be more aggressive with my choice handsI immediately extremely tightened up my game. I was playing ONLY AK, AQ, and Pocket pairs, with few exceptions according to position. During my winter break I decided to try to play live again with all the new information I learned. I went home and played with my friends and I realized how much I improved. My hometown friends hardly played at all in college and generally remained unimproved. I knew I was better than them and understood a lot more about the game than them. I managed to avoid getting beat despite their love of any face card. I also decided to play with my family. During Christmas, we played both 7/27 and two single table tournaments. When we played 7/27 I quickly learned that I had learned a lot from poker. I realized the advantages of capping when you don’t have a great hand in order to represent that hand and to get others to fold. Although I had thought that this game was completely luck, I figured out what advantages I could hold over my opponents. I won every single hand I played and won an easy $40 bucks. Then we moved on to NLHE. Although the structure of the tournament was extremely limiting, with 100 chips and 1/2 blinds, and the blinds doubling every round, I managed to hang on playing tight during the first game and finished in the middle. I didn’t really do anything wrong, but I just wasn’t catching any cards and soon got blinded away. During the second tournament I played very well , still playing tight but catching enough cards to do some damage and I almost won it all, but took a series of bad beats, plus the blinds were 64/128 with only 1200 chips on the table, so I took second. I lost. Still, I was happy with my play throughout the entire Christmas break. I was able to at least break even against a field that was pretty much filled with landmines. So I was ready to return to college.Immediately when I returned to college, I was playing a much different game than I had been before my break. I was confidant, but not cocky, and ready to play some poker. In the early stages I still lost a little, but didn’t let that bother me. I kept working with my game and reading and studying my play. We were playing more STT in my dorms with occasional cash games, but I was still managing to win a little. I scouted out a lot more games than the only one in my dorms and found myself playing games at 3 different locations. I had the game with 6-7 of my dorm friends and I had gotten to know their play very well. We’d play usually a $10 cash game or STT. My next location was in an apartment close to campus. This was a multi-table tournament with 10-20 people with a $10 buy in. The field was well ranged and I was probably within the top 25% of people playing. I would consistently make the final table but would often bust out on the bubble. In addition I found an extremely soft cash game with a buy-in of $20. They’d have usually 8-10 players and it would have a hefty cash pool. Almost everyone who played in this game didn’t care about the money and just wanted to have some fun. They’d buy in multiple times and just wanted to play some cards. I won my biggest pot of $84 dollars one night and padded my bankroll a lot. As months went by I realized that my extremely tight play wasn’t exactly the best way to go, as in tournaments I would keep busting out on the bubble, and my cash game profits were alright, but not where I wanted them to be. I studied a bit more, and then found the FCP forum, bought SSHE, and McEvoy and Cloutier’s Championship Hold’em Tournament Hands for more information. At this point I learned a little more I developed a much better understanding of pot odds How to apply EV The value of Axs cards The value of suited connectors That I put too much emphasis on physical tells rather than betting patterns. Bankroll managementFrom January until the present, I have worked my way out of the red and am sitting comfortably back at my $129 of profit.I also returned to internet poker. At this point I was in the hole $200. I really wanted to get out of the hole. And I was playing with a little desperation. In February I bought in for $50. After some hard work I got up to $150, and then cashed out $100. But, with only $50 left in my account, I went on a downswing and lost the $50. So I bought in for another $50. I got it up to $100 and then cashed out for $50. At this point I was only in the hole $150. With a few more cash outs and a few more loses, I was and still am in the hole $200 at party poker.Well sometime in March I discovered that pokerstars was another site that I could play on. I looked at it and was very happy that it had some lower limit games. I bought in for $50 and played a lot of different games to get a feel for the site. I played some stud and Omaha, some Tournaments and the different cash games. I got to about $100 in my PS account but tilted it all away in one night. It was a horrible night and I actually was dealing with some personal issues and I didn’t care about the money. So in total, I am currently $250 in the hole in internet poker. After 4 months of play I still am a break even player, and I’m pretty sure it’s due to my nights where I tilt all my money away. Anyway, I bought pokertracker about a month ago and have clocked in about 2K hands and so far I’m happy with my stats.This school year is ending and I learned a ton of stuff. I learned that I was playing way above my head in internet poker, playing for stakes that I could not afford. At the time I was playing party poker, the blinds for $25 NL buy in were .25/.50 and I was losing money fast. After I lost my money I kept playing to win it back, and only after I stopped playing with the mindset that I was in debt was I able to become a break even player. My live stats look like a mountain rage, but I realized how cocky I was and how to make sure that never happens again. Right now I realize that I have to work on not tilting my money away, and to make sure I’m not playing above my head. For next year I’m organizing a poker league on campus with a point structure and a good way for people to be informed of tournament games. In addition I’m starting over for internet poker. I’m going to buy in on pokerstars for $150 and start with the .05/.10 games. I’m going to play exclusively on pokerstars until I build up a good enough bankroll to play the .10/.25 games on party poker. I will only move up when I have the correct bankroll. I’m going to be smart about my poker playing on all levels.It’s been a long and expensive journey, but I’m glad I took it. I’ve learned a lot and plan to learn a lot more in my years to come. I’m going to be posting a lot of my hands in the strategy section this summer to get some quality feedback so I can get out of my slump of a break even player and finally win some money! Thanks for reading,Sapphire Tiger

[s_dogg 0]

Good post...It's fun to see how people progress through poker...Maybe someday I'll post my "career" history.

[KingJames 11]

Great story. Glad to hear that you've learned so much in a short amount of time. I too am a college freshman, and have been through many of the same things as you, i.e. playing above bankroll and tilting away money. I guess I just want to say good luck in the future and keep us posted on how you are doing. Also, clean out your friends this summer.James

[Vade 0]

Nice post.Being from a gambling family must be...interesting

[Swift_Psycho 1]

Interesting read. Thanks for writing and sharing your story.

[finztotheleft 0]

Isn't it funny how you start out thinking you know everything about poker after watching it on tv and once you start reading you realize how little you knew? Good luck on your poker journey

[gobears 0]

Thanks for sharing your story It's not just the destination, it's also the journey that counts.

[RonBurgundy 0]

I was confidant, but not censored, and ready to play some poker.

hehe cocky

[Dhall901 0]

Here's my poker story:After about 29 cases of beer, and $3000 bucks, I realized it wasn't such a good idea to drink and play cards on the computer. Yes sir, take it from me, I made a lot of folks on pstars really happy.Now I drink water

[sloshr 0]

Great story Sapphire, I have gained a lot of respect for you reading it. I especially like the way you are always looking to improve. Here is my story. (warning, it is long) I also am from a gambling family. We are all very competitive. In fact, my parents have a big Thanksgiving dinner and started running small family poker tournaments after dinner a couple of years ago. We used to play hearts for a dime a point, but it started too many fights.I am 38 now, and have been playing poker since I was very young. I have always been good at a variety of games, but have been really focusing on my poker game the last few years. I started keeping records in 2000, and struggled to break even, mostly due to the huge rake in low limit games in California. I thought I was a good player that just didn't get the breaks, and in fact, being a small loser in those games is much better than average. Fortunately, I realized I have a lot to learn. I started reading poker books, spent some time on RGP, started to think about key hands after a session and evaluate my own play.I took a job as a house player part time at a tiny, low limit casino. I already had a good job and money in the bank, so I didn't need the work, but I was playing every weekend anyway and figured I might as well get paid for it and learn about the casino industry as a possible future career. I did this for about two and a half years, basically breaking even and collecting the paycheck, but I didn't like the way a new management group was running the casino and treating us, so I quit and just went back to playing games of my choice at the bigger casinos.I slowly started moving up in limits to get away from the ridiculous rake. I got my break in January of 2004, when I won a bad beat jackpot for $10,500 in an 8/16 HE game! I knew this would finally be the year I would show a profit! I had been close before, but always in the red at the end of the year. I moved up to the 10/20 game, where the rake is much more reasonable, and found myself beating up the game. Even though I got my break through a jackpot, I decided I do not like player funded jackpots long ago, as the dollar missing from every pot more than compensates for the money they pay out. I was happy to find a game with no jackpot.Unfortunately, the Bike, which was and is where I do most of my playing, added a jackpot drop to their 10/20 game. I decided this would be my opportunity to move up to 20/40, which I had occasionally played with very mixed results. I just couldn't pass on the fact that now the 20/40 had less rake than 10/20. My game continued to improve, but the games were tougher and I struggled, giving back a lot of my profits. I knew that I was finally understanding the game better when I won due to a $1000 pot that I played badly and got lucky, and left the game upset with myself even though I had a great session. I hit bottom with a huge downswing that lasted 3 months and made me start to think that I was playing over my head. I decided to play no bigger than 4/8 for a month to gain my confidence back and then try again. I had a great months at the low limits and realized how far I'd progressed. It was like I knew what cards my opponents had. I rarely had a losing session that month. I went back to the 20/40 with renewed confidence and had a great finish to the year, ending up ahead around $14000 (remember $10000 was from the jackpot). It was my first winning year and I was proud of my play.This year, I have been playing 20/40 around twice a week and killing the game. Sure I have my losing sessions, but every month has been a winning month so far and I am actually entertaining the thought of leaving my good job (which I do not like) in a couple of years if I can maintain this pace, becoming a house player full time at a bigger casino, playing better stakes. I look back at my game a year ago when I thought I was good, and realize I have a much better understanding of what is going on now. My game is at least 5X as good as it was then. Last weekend I got my profits up to $10000 YTD, only twice a week for four months! My hope is to make over $20000 playing part time, 3 years in a row, and then I will consider playing full time. I know I am probably on a hot streak over the last few months, but I think I can do it. I really think I am one of the top players among the regulars there, and I am still improving.

[friji 0]

Great stories guy.This summer I am going to play poker to make my bread and butter. Although I will be playing online, and trying to make avg $12/h over two $2/4 tables. I have been playing for over a year, and this summer is basically my make or break attempt to give it ago.Fingers crossed it wont end in disaster.

[AceOfSpaiDs 0]

Good Story.Its funny, I think a lot of people started playing the same way you did (myself included), watching the game on TV and overrating hands in certain situations and basically just not fully understanding the game. I too have some of the books you mentioned (SS1, SS2, Champ. and No Limit Holdem, Caros Pro Poker Tells), and its amazing once you really study into the game and play, how much more you learn and grow as a player. I'm still a strong believer that you can't just read a book to be a winning player, most (at least some) of it has to come from experience, which means you gotta go out there and play. I started getting into poker around the same time as you, after watching Moneymaker win the 2003 WSOP, and me and my buddies play $10 STTs with re-buys all the time. We could prolly move the stakes up, but we're all 21 & under, and the majority of the kids we play with are my 3-4 good buddies, and my buddie's brother and his friend (they're still in high school), so losing $5-10 (maybe more if we re-buy) isn't bad at all, and doesn't really affect our budgets to much, but winning an $80-120 pot is a nice take. I've been playing poker for roughly 7 months now, and my profit is around $500, just with $5-10 buy-in STTs. I do play online poker, but my credit card is only accepted at Party Poker, and after losing $50 there the first time, and losing the bonus on some ridiculous garbage, I refuse to play at that site anymore. I'm not one to say internet poker is rigged, because I don't really think it is, but that site is just plain sh!t, and thats all I'm gonna say. My old credit card did work at Doyle's Room, and I deposited $50 there, got it up to $100, and cashed out, so when I lost the $50 from Party, I basically was breaking even. I won a (600 Action Point) $45-1st prize Freeroll at Doyle's Room not long after, got it up to around $95, and took a huge hit when holding K-10, and the flop came 10-10-2. It was a $1/$2 no-limit game, and the guy on my right, raised a $15 pot, by $15 more dollars. I reraised $15 more, and he called. The turn was a 7, but giving 2 cards to a club-flush. He raised $25 this time, and fearing, the flush draw, I reraised all-in with my trips, figuring I had the best hand, he called, flipping over A-10, the river brought no help, and he took my whole stack. Kinda sucked, but it was basically free money, so I wasn't that upset. Anyways, sorry for the wrong reply, I can't sleep so thought I'd share my .02.Pe@ce

[SapphireTiger 0]

Guys, you all have great stories and i encourage anyone who feels they want to post their story up to do so here!Thanks for all the great replies!

[JacKingOff_suit 0]

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[obs 0]

Very interesting post. I really enjoy reading stories like these. Anyways, here is mine.First off, I am a 24 year old college student that works full time. I made some mistakes in my past, which generally involved not going to class because I thought I was too smart to do so (mostly to never having to apply myself in HS), but I have matured quite a bit since then. My current job is doing drafting, programming, and support work at a local engineering firm. I make very little for the work I do.I first started playing poker in January of this year in a $5 buy in NLHE game against co-workers every other week. I was pretty good and won my fair share. Getting a little cocky from my wins, in early March I purchased WLLH, and I took $100 and deposited into a newly created PP account. I started at the .5/1 games. Went up a bunch and then lost it so at the end of my first week I was even. I knew I could beat this game so I bought some more books including SSHE, read these forums and the 2+2 forums, and analyzed what I was doing wrong. At the end of March I had made $500. I was happy with that amount, but not content to stay where I was at.I started to move up in April. To 1/2, then 1/2 6-max, and then getting destroyed at 2/4. The losses I took at 2/4 were hurting my confidence. I was questioning whether I could beat the game. I went back to 1/2 6-max, made back my 2/4 losses and built up my confidence, and finally started winning at 2/4 when I took another shot at it. Then, near the end of April, I moved to 3/6. By the end of the month I had made $3400 with rakeback and bonus money in addition to my winnings. That is significantly more than what I make at my full time job. I had also played over 30k hands that month.I think I am going to slow down and stay at 3/6 for the rest of this month. I have leaks I need to fix before I try to tackle 5/10. I am very critical of myself and my play. I am considering working part time, playing poker to supplement my lost income, and putting more time into finishing my degree. I am about 1 year of full time schooling away from it.

[JacKingOff_suit 0]

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[SapphireTiger 0]

i bump this thread because i think there are so many crappy threads going on right now and this is a good one.plus i started it so its extra special.

[PoppinFresh 0]

Not that anyone cares, but here's my story :-) I played hold 'em for the first time around 2 years ago. I only played a few times with friends before the summer ended and I headed off to college for my freshman year, not playing poker for the entire year. In the summer of '04 I began playing regularly, starting out at home games with a few friends. We would play $10 buy-in no limit games and occasionally tournaments. I took a job at a summer camp teaching tennis where I played with my co-workers every day during breaks and rainy days. I was a consistent winner at these games, and I wanted to learn more about the game. I headed down to Barnes and Noble and picked purchased Ken Warren Teaches Texas Hold 'Em with $20 of my winnings. I learned a few things from this book(apparently, K4 is not a great starting hand), and continued playing at work and in the home games. By the end of the summer, I had profited around $250, and I was loving the game. I headed back to school for my sophomore year, and someone suggested that I try out PartyPoker. I deposited $50, and sat down at one of the .5/1 tables. I had never played limit before and was nervous, but after making around $10 in my first session I was hooked. I had no clue about bankroll management, and when I reached $100 I moved up to the 1/2 tables. As many beginners, I got frustrated with the bad beats. Surely, if I could move up in limits to where better players were playing, I could avoid such bad beats and make more money, right? I took my chances at the 2/4 tables, but was disheartened to find that players chased longshot draws even at these levels. By the time my bankroll hit $600, I decided to move up to the 3/6 games. I peaked at around $700, and then my hot streak ended. It seemed like I couldn't have a winning session, but I decided to stick with it. I thought that my luck had to turn around soon.When my BR hit $150, it finally hit me that I should drop down in limits. Unfortunately, I only dropped down to 2/4, and before I knew it, my BR hit $0.I still loved the game, but decided to quit online play for a while. I bought Super/System over winter break and read up some more on the game. When I got back to school for my second semester, I decided to take another shot at partypoker. I deposited $50 into my account, and hit the .5/1 tables once again. I built up my roll to about $125, but I was disgusted with players constantly drawing out on me and I could see myself losing it all once again. And then, I discovered the sitngo. Man, were these things fun! I couldn't get enough of them, and I began playing them almost exclusively. Soon after, I ventured into the $25NL rooms and doubled my buy-in in my first session. I couldn't believe that I had "wasted" so much time playing LHE. I decided that NLHE was the game for me, and I kept at the sitngos and NL cash games. I was still, however, playing too high for my BR, and I had the bad habit of playing long sessions on nights when I came home relatively early from partying, completely faded of course. I was fearless during these sessions, calling pot-sized all-ins with nothing but a flush draw with one card to come. Fortunately, I was able to make up the money and then some when I was sober. Even though I was playing too high for my BR, I never hit a serious downswing and I built my roll to about $800. I came back home from school in May, and since then I've read and played a lot. My roll is now very healthy at well over a grand, and I feel like for the first time I'm actually learning about the game. I've learned to play within my bankroll, and after reading SSHE I've started playing limit again. I hope to branch out and start playing other varieties of poker as well(I only have limited experience in stud and omaha).I don't see myself quitting poker anytime soon, I just like the game way too much. Hopefully I can turn into a consistent big winner and save up enough to buy myself an Evo by the time I graduate :-)

[DCSports92GSR 0]

I'd post my whole life story, but its nothing exciting. Here it is a nutshell.1) Build a bankroll2) Go broke being stupid3) Build a bankroll4) Go broke being stupidJust repeat 1 through 4 about 20 times... then add on some bankroll managment, in depth overview of my game and some patience and at the end and about $5,000 profit... and thats where I am right now. :lol:Seriously... I must have gone broke about 20 times in teh last 3 years... im lucky to have poker friends who always staked me

[Mattnxtc 0]

I'd post my whole life story, but its nothing exciting. Here it is a nutshell.1) Build a bankroll2) Go broke being stupid3) Build a bankroll4) Go broke being stupidJust repeat 1 through 4 about 20 times... then add on some bankroll managment, in depth overview of my game and some patience and at the end and about $5,000 profit... and thats where I am right now. :lol:Seriously... I must have gone broke about 20 times in teh last 3 years... im lucky to have poker friends who always staked me

about my story except that i dont have 5k profit...and i still play over my br at times but im head and shoulders above where i was before and i owe it a lot to this site...helped me find the right books the right strategy and the right thinking

[ldudeus 0]

I think that my poker career has been most like everyones only kind of fast forwarded.I started playing poker in 8th grade, but actually became serious about it in the middle of this year, ( I am now a junior in high school)My whole life basically became poker and i was studying the game like a maniac. I started to record my profits and things were going great.I made several final tables in MTT's online and my overall poker profit skyrocketed to $3100. and for a 16 year old, thats not bad at all.However, i became way to cocky online.I had a $600 bankroll on PS and eventually lost it all after tilting away much of it and playing way above my head in higher stakes.My game has drastically improved overall in the past 6 months and i am very happy at the level that i am at.I redeposited $300 onto stars and im down about 50 from that deposit.My overall profit in poker so far has been about $2400 and most of my losses have come from horrible bankroll management. I believe that is the biggest problem that people my age face with poker, the lack of proper skills to manage their bankroll.Im trying to fix that problem now but i beleive that it will take a while.Currently i have read 11 poker books and am rereading all of them during the summer. Hopefully my game continues improving untill i am 21, where i can put myself to the test in some real live tournies. Poker has had a positive influence on my life and has given me a good deal of spending money...however, when i started out, i thought, like a lot of people, that i was gonna go pro. But after facing some of the dreadful downfalls and losses of poker, i realized that it would be a much too difficult way of making a living. Hobby yes, but career...ill let the pros take care of that.