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Starting out

SALT1R3SALT1R3
edited October 2010 in The Poker Clinic
Hi all, I'm pretty new to the forums though I've been a SkyPoker member for a good few months now. I'm glad I did since the community seems to be very good and I enjoy all the banter that goes on here and on the SkyPokerTV channel too; it's my kind of place lol!

I have been playing poker on and off for a few years (Hold' em only) but recently I want to give it a serious try to see how I get on. I love the game and watch SkyPokerTV and a lot of other TV tourney's to see approximately the plays they make on there. I admit that I'm a distinctly average player and need to improve in many areas. I was wanting to ask how some of the rest of you who tightened up your game, built up a bankroll and became very good players how you went about doing this? I realise its hard work but what would you suggest I do to try and become a better player besides get more experience through playing? Are there any online poker books I could try out or tips of the type of games I should play or just tips in general? I know everyone is different and some of you may not want to divulge this information and I can understand this but I have the buzz for this game and would like to improve my play so that I could hold my own and start to win more than I lose.

I tried playing cash for a while but ended up losing what I had put in several times so I'm thinking thats not for me at the moment. In the tournaments I try (mostly just freerolls atm since I wouldnt be confident enough to play in the bigger tourneys just now) I do fine for about an hour in general but always end up a short stack and shoving when the blinds increase. I enjoyed the Premiership league that was recently on here and will play for the plucky Whites again in the Cup and picked up some points for them when I played the last time so should I just stick to this just now? Or maybe play some DYM's at a lowish level to see how I get on? The bounty hunter tourneys look fun though the play in that may be a bit aggressive for me just now.

I'm just unsure on the path I should take for now.

I apologise if this is in the wrong forum but any help would be greatly appreciated.  :)
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Comments

  • LOL_RAISELOL_RAISE
    edited October 2010
    read a book (most people start with harrington on holdem)
    deposit monies.
    play low buy in SnG's
    win.
    transition to cash when you realise tourneys suck
    read forums / watch videos / talk to friends / think about hands you have played. get better
    win.

    i imagine that is how alot of online players start out their poker career. obv before picking up a book there is normally a period of deposit $50 lose, and repeat.
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  • dub1dub1
    edited October 2010
    Dont start out like me. To cut a long story short my boss where i was working deposited £10 onto a site for me as i didn't have a card or anything and after lossing it in about 10mins I realised that his card details had stayed on my computer. So Basically ended up stealing it and lossing 1.5k before he found out at the end of the month when his bill came. Its safe to say i didn't have the job after that. I didn't play after that for two years. So try not to do this plz
     
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  • YOUNG_GUNYOUNG_GUN
    edited October 2010
    In Response to Re: Starting out:
    Dont start out like me. To cut a long story short my boss where i was working deposited £10 onto a site for me as i didn't have a card or anything and after lossing it in about 10mins I realised that his card details had stayed on my computer. So Basically ended up stealing it and lossing 1.5k before he found out at the end of the month when his bill came. Its safe to say i didn't have the job after that. I didn't play after that for two years. So try not to do this plz  
    Posted by dub1
    OMG Post of the year awesome! now to get the boss bank details
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  • debdobs_67debdobs_67
    edited October 2010
    In Response to Re: Starting out:
    In Response to Re: Starting out : OMG Post of the year awesome! now to get the boss bank details
    Posted by YOUNG_GUN
    Totally ,completely and utterly pmsl
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  • BADBOY985BADBOY985
    edited October 2010
    wecome m8 brm is important but if your just progressing from freerolls them really playing at a level youre comfortable at is more important if mtts  are your prefered choice then start possibly with £1 guaranteed or £2 deepstacks the deepstacks especially give you a chance to home raising and folding skills as they all start with5000 chips.
    as for your problem with running out of steam and getting shortstack when you get to under 10 bb its shove or fold time, the latter stages of mtts are something you get a feel for as you get expirience. also try railing a few mtts to watch how the better players play. GREGHOGG,STOKEFC and OYNUTTER are all worth railing late on in mtts. 
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  • Ploppy33Ploppy33
    edited October 2010
    maybe good place to start is at the £2.20 Deep stack tourneys - they are kinda fun and can last at least 2-3 hours before the shovefest begins as the blinds only go up every 12 mins

    The freerolls are ok but people tend not to take em seriously, either all-in every hand early on, etc - also lots of aways generally.

    The deepies generally start at 10-15 mins past the hr in the evenings & the earlier 1 at 7ish generally attracts between 35 - 50 players.

    Give it a go & good luck!
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  • percival09percival09
    edited October 2010
    Yooooo Salt1R3 .... I've built up my BR since joining SP, began with playing £2.20 DYM and NL8 cash games, I admit I took a risk in the early days regarding my BR, I had about £80, and as previously mentioned I was playing NL8, so basically I had 10 buy ins. But for me, it worked, and I have now built it up to where I play NL30 regularly... so it is possible just to keeeep building from the bottom if you put hard work into it!

    As others have mentioned, the deepstacks are a good way too learn, as are 10 seater S&G's!! Although I did, I wouldn't recommend beginning with cash games, unless you are seriously bankrolled for it because you can just go on a bad streak and lose and lose and lose. Where as with S&G's and Tourneys you know how much your losing, and that's the limit!!! But GL with your poker and hope you improve your game!!
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  • SALT1R3SALT1R3
    edited October 2010
    Thanks for the response everyone, the deepstack tourneys do sound ideal for me as there seems to be plenty of play in them unlike the 5 minute blind levels that are in other tourneys, so it would perhaps help me get a feel of more proper tournament play than the freerolls where, as Ploppy put it, people dont take them seriously.

    I'm not able to fund myself too much just now and can probably only put in about £10 every 2-3 weeks (if I end up losing) which wont hurt my wallet that bad, so I think I will give the deepstacks a try just now and perhaps some DYMs since I have faired not too badly in them recently, and keep at the freerolls in case I end up winning one and that would help my brm a bit hehe! Most of the time when I have shoved at around the 10 bb stage I have went in with the best of it but been outdrawn so I've been unlucky in that regard, but thats poker! :D

    For books, I have Super System there though I'm not sure so much of the relevance of it to online play since it was written in the Seventies, although the theory of many of the plays in it will still be pertinant to online poker so I'm still going to study it in depth as best I can. I'll look into Dan Harrington's book as well and hopefully the both of them will help me out a bit and make my play a lot better so that I can progress more.

    I hope to see some of you in tourneys shortly then! :)


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  • percival09percival09
    edited October 2010
    It's nice to see someone trying v.hard to improve their game!! instead of just jumping straight in with the big boys on NL100 and losing the BR straight away lol!
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  • shelskishelski
    edited October 2010
    In Response to Re: Starting out:
    Dont start out like me. To cut a long story short my boss where i was working deposited £10 onto a site for me as i didn't have a card or anything and after lossing it in about 10mins I realised that his card details had stayed on my computer. So Basically ended up stealing it and lossing 1.5k before he found out at the end of the month when his bill came. Its safe to say i didn't have the job after that. I didn't play after that for two years. So try not to do this plz  
    Posted by dub1
    Yes i think the only mistake here is that u didn't deliberately donk it off to a m8 on a heads up table seeing as you would have lost your job anyway. Made me laugh this altho not totally amusing. I guess you discovered you had a latent gambling addiction. There are more destructive addictions ;p
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