do you ever ask yourself?

[Sushiman 0]

"If I hadn't been a donk who ran well in the beginning, would I still be playing poker today?"I was a below average NL player turned really crappy limit player who just happened to get lucky enough his first few sessions at a casino to get a learning bankroll plus an interest for the game. I never played a holdem game until a year and a half ago, and never even entered a casino until my friend took me to the Bally's poker room where they were spreading 2/4. Of course, I bought in for 10 BB and proceeded to donk my way to $120 profit. I went again a month later and again made money with horrendous play. Only after I read SSHE and started reading the strat boards did I realize how lucky I was to not have gone broke.I'm 99% certain that if I had lost money those few times, I would have given up on holdem. And if I knew how much money I had to commit for a proper bankroll, I would have been too intimidated to play. I sometimes just wonder at the total sham of coincidental events that lead me to become someone who can actually make money regularly off of poker. Did any of you guys start the same way?

[NortonFan 0]

No.

[KingAustin 0]

I first started playing poker online in January. I made a $200 deposit on Pokerroom and told myself that if I lost this, I would stop playing poker. I was doing mostly $5 sngs and mixing in a few .10/.25 NL cash games. I was getting owned in the cash games, though I thought I was hot shit at the time. I think I pulled a few Hellmuth moments during the games.Anyway, I was down to $55, decided to play in a $20k or 40k guaranteed(cant remember), ended up getting 25th/1200 and cashing for $380. Worked that up to 500ish, then eventually realized how lucky I was to get that money. Withdrew it all from there, went to party and started limit.So, if I wasnt a semi-lucky donk in the beginning (I was bad, but I dont think nearly as bad as some other $5 sng players), there is almost no doubt in my mind that I would have stopped if I lost the original $200 deposit.

[the_stein 0]

Unfortunently my first few sessions sucked hard, so if anything, I ask myself, what if I had just gotten lucky and not gone broke the first 20 times?

[PoppinFresh 0]

Yup. I deposted $50 on party and started playing .5/1 when I had absolutely no clue what I was doing, but I went on a very nice upswing.If I had lost that right away it probably would have been a long while before I deposited again, if I ever did. Strange for me to think about stuff like this.

[case ace 0]

no.started with 120 on stars and never looked back. i had a system, check gut shot in like a month it'll be my 2nd articlemy problem is letting it all go and playing like i don't know what i'm doing. its like the whole white belt/ black belt thing in karate. any one have a clue what im saying?

[teneight 1]

nope

[STYLINHAWYN 0]

yeah, i blame all this stress i go through everyday because i was a victim of beginners luck alsoweekend after the day i learned the game, i made over $400 in 2 $20 tournaments with a bunch of friends. calling all-ins and busting out people with T8s because it looked nice lol dont think it would have made a difference though if I won that first week or not, I would have learned the game no matter what. I mean poker is everywhere...

[DDiabolical 0]

First deposit of $100 on Party on a Friday night turned into $300 by the Sunday playing $1-$2. A total of about 3 hours play.I withdrew my original $100 and then proceeded to lose the $200. I must have laid soooo many river beats down. Now it's coming around

[avsfan 0]

Hell No!!!

[Petoria 0]

Definitely......I won 50 cents in a freeroll on UB, took .25 to .01/.02 limit and doubled it up, did the same thing the next day and the next day. Started playing .01/.02 NL and doubled it up a couple more times. I was a complete donk then, compared to how I play now. I still can't believe my whole BR came from 50 cents and I never actually deposited money online. If I lost that miniscule amount of money, I probably wouldnt be playing online poker today. It's going to be a pretty good story when I win the WSOP Main Event..... :-) :-) .

[Royal_Tour 0]

"If I hadn't been a donk who ran well in the beginning, would I still be playing poker today?"I was a below average NL player turned really crappy limit player who just happened to get lucky enough his first few sessions at a casino to get a learning bankroll plus an interest for the game. I never played a holdem game until a year and a half  ago, and never even entered a casino until my friend took me to the Bally's poker room where they were spreading 2/4.  Of course, I bought in for 10 BB and proceeded to donk my way to $120 profit.  I went again a month later and again made money with horrendous play.  Only after I read SSHE and started reading the strat boards did I realize how lucky I was to not have gone broke.I'm 99% certain that if I had lost money those few times, I would have given up on holdem. And if I knew how much money I had to commit for a proper bankroll, I would have been too intimidated to play. I sometimes just wonder at the total sham of coincidental events that lead me to become someone who can actually make money regularly off of poker.  Did any of you guys start the same way?

Well Donk is harsh.But unlike a lot of posters on this site who started playing serious online. i started at the B&M. and home games.Then I was invited to play in a 40 player MTT during the whole Moneymaker experience. So i thought. what the hell. I ended up taking it down, and sorta looked at it more seriously after that.

[Konidias 0]

A little more than a year ago I just started playing hold'em, and learned the ropes online. I deposited $50 and lost it all within 24 hours. Around two weeks later I deposited $50 with a new game plan and the experience of losing my bankroll and I haven't needed to deposit since. I also just bought a $2100 brand new computer setup. 8)

[Razor 0]

I started playing poker through home games. We mostly played other card games like "in between" and we'd occassionally deal blackjack, or 2 card poker, then we added Chicago and eventually hold'em. The most I'd ever lose during these nights was $20 or so. Then a few friends and myself made a trip to Connecticut and while we were there, we decided to take a ride down to AC. The first real poker game I played in was a 2/4 game at the TAJ. I don't think I folded one hand pre-flop, and I ended up losing $50, over about 8 hours. When I got back to Nova Scotia after that trip, I decided to try my hand at $5/$10 LOL ... I used the same strategy and dropped $150 in less than an hour. No wonder everyone at the table was begging me to hit up the cash machine and stay a while. After that, I began reading up on strategy online, and downloaded PokerStars and started playing for play money, trying to apply the strategies I was reading. I now pretty much break even playing 3/6 or 4/8 live, and the occassional tourney. I've never deposited online. Tried once when I was drunk, but my credit card wouldn't allow it so I gave up on it. And that my friends is how I started playing poker.

[CaneBrain 95]

I remember my first online poker experience all too clearly.I deposited 50 bucks on party poker after seeing their advertisement on a WPT broadcast....hilarious I know.I played in a 10 dollar MTT. Put a whole table on TILT with my bad play/luckboxing.I called an all-in with A6 hearts. Proceeded to hit my flush, other guy had KK.I basically pushed with any flush draw on the flop, any TPTK, I mean it was ugly. I had no clue what I was doing.I was winning so I thought I was hot stuff. Cashed in that MTT and went on to turn the 50 dollar deposit into about 600 or so getting so lucky.I cashed out about 400 and then said now I can really make something with this 200. Lost it quick. Reloaded another 200. Lost it quick. Reloaded another 200. Lost it quick.Finally, after the 3rd bust I bought a few books. Things have been better since then.

[lew189 0]

I originally bought in for $50 and lost it a few times, playing NL way out of my bankroll (ie-buying in with all the money I had.) I also bought in and won big a few times, usually cashing out the winnings + whatever I had bought in for and lost already and leaving myself what I thought was enough to build back up. I lost what I left in each time (at the time, I really believed that I had "bad luck" after I cashed out and that the sites might be rigged, lol...) I broke even like this for 6-12 months before I started reading about poker and playing within my bankroll. I have since worked my way up from $10 max NL to $100 max NL and am beating these games for about 15BB/100 over the last 10000 hands. On a related topic, I don't think I'll be able to keep up this pace at $100NL. It's actually quite a bit tougher than $50 NL. Anyway, that's my story.