where did everybody start

[AlanBostick 0]

I learned to play poker from my grandmother in 1974. I first walked into a casino cardroom twenty years later. I got serious about public cardroom play in 1997, and have been playing recreationally ever since.Last year at this time I was a winning mid-limit (15-30 to 30-60) recreational player, putting in about 300 hours of play per year.This year I'm a winning mid-limit recreational player, having put in about another 300 hours, and I'm doing the groundwork for writing a book about poker or maybe putting together and running a series of poker workshops or seminars.Next year I expect to be a winning mid-limit recreational player with a finished manuscript, shopping it to publishers, and maybe also have gotten a poker workshop or seminar series off the ground.

[KDawgCometh 2]

Playing 3/6 6 and 5/10 full right now along with tournies on occassion.  By this time next year?  I hope to be playing 15/30.

dude, you should be able to play higher then 15 as your main game by this time next year

[justblaze 0]

1 year ago i was busted. about 11 months ago i was given 30$ on pokerchamps, and played 5c 10c NL. today my roll is about 15k.

[ForRealDD 0]

Where did everybody start ?

Swimming through a long, dark tunnel.

[teneight 1]

starting playing freerolls and playchips on Ultimate bet like 3 years ago. Ever since then I just worked my way up and now I play consistently 1-2nl and 2-4nl and some good tournaments.i've been playing/studying poker for about 3-4 yearsteneight

[acesfullmike 0]

started out with $500 playing 5/10 limit. blew that. put another 500 in, ran it to 3k, blew it. put $700 in, got torched again. Got pissed off, decided party poker was rigged and quit. Started reading forums, bought every poker book that was well regarded. Read all of those, twice. Decided to figure out what this bankroll management thing was all about. learned it, understood what it meant. put $500 more in and swore that was it. dropped down to .5/1 and bonus hunted for a while. learned the game a bit more. bought pokertracker. played 10k hands. reviewed those stats and analyzed them enough to make myself crazy. decided it wasnt worth going nuts over defending my blinds 10% more than others. played another 10k hands and decided that i was extremely happy with the winrate and style of play. moving up in limits consistantly and hope to be at the 10/20 by early next year. i do kinda like chilling at the 5/10 and just multitabling it to death. lots of fishies.as a side note, would some of you higher limit guys recommend 500BB when at 10/20 due to its aggressive nature. i play a bit of shorthanded as well, so i was leaning toward 500-600BB before making the full transition.

[KPOPKIN 0]

almost exactly 1 yr ago, I finished playing the WPT event at Foxwoods. Last year was my best ever, placing 34th in the WCOOP main event for $8400+, and having qualified for the WPT.This year - the early part of the year started great, a live tournament 2nd place at Binions, and qualifying for a $1500WSOP event.The 2nd half of the year has been the worst 6 months of my career...I believe that some combination of forgetting how to play, playing above my bankroll, and trying to multi-table (I'll never do that again) - have basically crippled my bankroll.Over the next year, I am trying to return to taking the game more seriously as I try to rebuild my bankroll. I'd like to play in another $1500WSOP event in '06 and try to make it back to the WPT Foxwoods.

[Emmser 0]

I started playing online about 2 years ago, went through my first couple hundred dollars with no real idea of bankroll management or anything. (Would sit down in a $1/2 NL game with my entire bankroll of $100). I learned the hard way but over the last year, mainly since about April I have really studied the game, read books, watched videos, read this site daily and started tracking my results on a detailed chart. I still play the lower limits, .25/.50 NL, $1/2 Limit and $10-$20 sngs but have shown a profit of $2300+ since last April. I don't do anything half assed and really want to see how good I can get at this game. My goals for the new year are to move up in limits once I have the proper bankroll, and to play in and study MTT's more. I haven't really had any success in MTT's thus far except for a few cashes and 1 final table. See you at the tables!

[mbreon 0]

Last year I was almost exactly where I was now, poker wise.....at least in terms of bankroll. I was playing 5/10 up to 15/30 a year ago, and now play 10/20 and 15/30 mainly, at least live. I played much more online a year ago than I do now.....I don't really spend much time playing online these days (damn career). Though over the past year I have spent some time on the FCP forums, posting and then reading the strategy forums, which I think are immensely helpful. While I don't post in strategy, I appreciate the time that everyone who posts there reguarly takes to post their ideas and thoughts on how to play in certain situations. My goal from January `05 to January `06 was to make $5000 playing poker part-time......I am close but not there yet.