any online professionals?

[Hamed_ack 0]

Hi all,I've been playing poker for almost 7 months. I've gotten serious about it for almost a month (approximately 30 hours online and 10 hours live per week). I have been going through huge swings and over all I'm down. I have learned lost in the past month. I also do a fair amount of reading. I would like to turn poker into a second source of income. If there are people who make a living playing online, can you please tell me about your progression. For example how long you've been at it? Did you start making money right away? How big are your swings?Thanks

[FOOSE1 0]

I play 20-30 hours per week online. I have a normal 8 - 5 job and use poker as a second source of income. I have been doing this for over 5 years. Seriously for 3 years. No, I did not profit over night. It has taken me a long time to figure out what style works the best for me to maximize the earning potential. My swings have been minimal - although I just posted a topic in General discussing my worst swing ever. The best advice I have about consistently winning in online poker is to be patient!! Do not overplay hands or try to draw too much. Remember this is not tournament poker, you have all the time in the world to catch good hands. Play smart and don't risk it if you are behind in the hand.GOOD LUCK!

[Q 0]

Poker didn't really become profitable to me untill after my first six or seven months playing it. The first big problem I ran into was that I was just playing too many different games, when I should have been focusing on one. If I felt like playing Limit, I would do that, then I would take a stab at a sit and go, then I would play 6-max NL. Anyway, I was really just spinning my wheels. Finally, I buckled down and decided to focus on multi tabling limit hold'em. I bought Ed Millers Small Stakes Holdem, read it cover to cover. Then I disected it chapter by chapter taking notes in a note book. I started with the lowest game on party, played and beat that consistently, and worked my way up a few levels since then.If youre game is limit hold'em, then I suggest doing what I did. If you are playing something else, I would suggest a similar approach but you are going to have to find different study material.Also, since getting a solid grasp on limit hold'em, it has been relatively easy to pick up the skills to beat other small stakes games as well such as stud, and NL Sit and Go's. So even if you want to play a lot of different games, I suggest really focussing on one game. Then the others will come along when your ready.

[Hamed_ack 0]

Thanks Guys,Your advice and experiance helps to put things in prespective in order to come up with a short and long term game plan.

[Rhizomorph 0]

I'm in the *exact* same boat as you. I've also decided to try and make online poker a secondary source of income. I've read some articles about cash game strategy, bankroll management and so forth - all very important information so I would suggest you start there. But another tremendously value source of information is the book "Killer Poker Online" by John Vorhaus - if earning money online is your primary concern, get this book! Highlights the difference between casino environment, and online. Don' mean to sound like an advertisment, but it's good info for sure.I'm only 1 week into my 4 week trial period. I play $2/$4 NL. So far.... well, let's say it's too soon to judge. If anyone else makes a regular profit online, please pop in if you have any usefull advise to offer (especially no limit players).Some questions I would have to any online pros...How long before you were making a profit?How much were you making at first?How much do you make now?How big are your swings (especially no limit)?

[alexquigley 0]

...I agree about the Vorhaus book. It's not one of "those books" you always see on must-read lists, but it's solid. Nothing ground-breaking in there, but it makes sense.Especially the "got book" section. It's such a good feeling to be up against a player who you've got notes on...and KNOWING what he's got because of your previous notes.

[ddudley 0]

I play poker full-time now... I'm not sure that makes me an online pro though.I've been playing for 10 months. Right now I'm playing 5/10 on Pacific Poker, only one table at a time. It took me about 150 hours of play to get adjusted and start making money at 3/6. Including that first four weeks, I make about 1.7 big bets per hour or about 3.4 bb/100 hands. I only play about 30 hours/week. I'd like to get that number higher and since I don't have another job, I really don't have an excuse not to.The worst down swing I've ever had is about 130 big bets. This happened once at 3/6 and once at 5/10. Not fun either time.I'm almost ready to make the jump to 10/20. That should be quite interesting. I'm also going to start playing live poker more.