Welcome to FTR! Introduce yourself here.

I better not screw this up after watching your video about pooor Billy!

Name: Most people call me JW.... with a few abreviations either before or after. At most sites my nick is J something W.

Age: Well thats yet to be determined. The scientific comunity are having problems going back that far. Carbon dating has its limits.
What do you play? I like to play holdem mostly but lately I've had some luck at razz. I don't know why. I'm not sure if I really understand the game fully. Blind luck .... why stop.

At what stakes do you play?

I like playing small buyin tourneys and FR and if I'm going to play ring games its usually low 5/10 10/20. If build a little pot I go loose it in the bigger ring games 50/1 or 1/2. I suck a bank management. I read up maintaining a bank roll but my discipline goes out the window after a few cocktails....

How long have you been playing?
I've been playing off and on for about a year now maybe less. I have learned a lot but seem to have hit a wall. My game seems to have gone backwards. I've lost a lot patience or something. I don't know what it is, but I just keep hanging in there. I love the game. I think, I over think to much now. I don't know....... Throw me an anchor.... hehe

Where do you mostly play?
I play a lot at Cdpoker, Dream, PKR, Fulltilt and most of the aboves affialiate sites.

Why did you come to FTR?
I came here because I'm always looking for a good group of people that like the game. I was impressed at how organized and committed to the game this forum would appear. Lots of forums I go to seem more money hungry and the short cruise I took through this forum seemed to show the opposite.
So I hope to find some friendly people that are competitive but not just in it for the money.

Do you have any goals (and how can we help)?
I would definetly like to get better at this game. But I don't want to take the fun out of playing either. I don't see myself as playing professionally in the future but its always nice to dream. I have won a few buyins and Freerolls but never anything of substantial size. Experience is everything and think if I continue to play and read, my game can only get better. I'm not much of a poster, but I like reading and hopefully I can share little bit of my ups and downs along the way.

Include more stuff if you want
Not really much more to say but .... never fart in an elevator, you never know who's getting on.


Good luck at the tables and hope to see you soon.

Name: Ryan Field
Age: 22
What do you play? NL Hold'em- Live Games
At what stakes do you play? 10-50NL 1/2 NL cash games
How long have you been playing? about 5 years
Where do you mostly play? home, Atlantic City, Pokerstars
Why did you come to FTR? looking for a nice forum to talk about the game
Do you have any goals (and how can we help)? to become a millionaire by playing cards, winning a wsop bracelet

Name: chipper5711 (Dave)
Age: 47
What do you play? NLHE 1-table SNGs Stars, NLHE MTTs, Razz!!, some limit
At what stakes do you play? Limit $1/$2, SNGs $20+2
How long have you been playing? since High School (live), online 3 years
Where do you mostly play? PokerStars
Why did you come to FTR? Found link via fellow poker blogger. Looking for good discussion and strategy talk. 2+2 alternative.
Do you have any goals (and how can we help)? Help to more quickly understand pot odds and situations where aggression is called for. Normally find myself on the bubble more often than I'd like in MTTs. Want to get bigger stacks sooner to avoid bubble situations.

Name: Ron

Age: 29

What do you play? NLHE SNGs mostly

At what stakes do you play? Staying small for now.

How long have you been playing? I have been playing for about 7 years, never seriously (until now).

Where do you mostly play? I used to play in Atlantic City regularly, now just PokerStars and home games.

Why did you come to FTR? I have been getting serious lately and searched for poker strategy on Google. Got hooked on the strategy articles and thought the Gauntlet was a cool idea.

Do you have any goals (and how can we help)? I guess a good goal would be to win. I don't need to get rich off of poker, but I would be ok if it happened in the process of getting better at my game.

Name: Molly
Age: 26
What do you play? 6max NL Texas Holdem, cash at the moment. I used to play 18-45 person SNG.
At what stakes do you play? extremely low! As low as you can get!
How long have you been playing? Almost a year.
Where do you mostly play? Poker Stars
Why did you come to FTR? Mr. Biondino led me here.
Do you have any goals (and how can we help)? Is saying "to become a better player" too generic? I need a lot of help! I really enjoy the game, and want to "beef up" my skills. I'm not going into this thinking I'm going to make a lot of money. I just enjoy playing.

Hey Molly! Hope you have as much fun here as I do

Lurker - coming out party!

Name: Bill Age 59

About myself: Married, 5 children (son 34, in finance; son 31 minister/teacher; daughter 29 lawyer; daughter 19 college student; son in 1st grade. I have 5 (soon to be 6) My (second) wife is a young looking 41 and I have been told she looks kinda like Fiona Apple. I own a specialty insurance agency and have make a very good living doing so. Most people think I 've got a great life - and I do - but I 'd trade it to be a 20-something again, especially if I could be a tall, good-looking poker pro next time.

I plan to turn over the day-to-day management of my business to someone else in the next 2-5 years, see clients about 3 days a week, and play a lot more poker as a profitable hobby. I like about 70 miles from the casinos in Shrevesport LA.

Right now I am playing mostly $40 buy-in/$20 reload home tournaments with 3 different local groups. I try to play one of these at least once a month. I started playing poker about 1 1/2 years ago on Pokerstars free games. I built up my bankroll to over 10 milion free chips before I started playing $5.50 and $10 +1 sngs. I was about a break -even player (lost about $44 over the course of about 100 sngs.......lol) before I withdrew my funds. I made about $3k just playing these home tournaments last year, and - partially because of FTR - am technically the best player in those groups.

I found this site by accident about a year ago. It - together with the standard poker books (SS2, HOH 1-2, Wenzel, Slansky) have given me get a very good understanding of how to play poker. However, especially on-line I really battle against impulsive uber-aggressive play.

I am both ADD and mildly manic/depressive. My biggest battle all my live has been fighting my impulsive tendencies, and so I have a love/hate ralationship with my poker game. When I play live tournaments, I take extra ritalin, extra lamictal, and get a little extra sleep. I also write 'patience' accross the back of one thumb, and 'vigilence' accross the other, so every time i look at my cards I am reminded not to make donk-ish impulsive bets.

I find the mix of people here, and their goals, to be very interesting - I am also amazed that some of those here who have obvious impulsive and/or addictive personalities appear to be able to do a better job of controlling their emotions at the table than I can.

My favorite players are Negreanu and Harrington; unfortunately my game is closer to Matasow's when it comes to impulsiveness.

At some point I want go back to playing on-line money poker. my real goal though, is to play much more live poker tournaments as a profitable hobby as i semi-retire over the next 5 years. I also would give anything to have my kids and grandkids see me playing poker on TV just once in this lifetime.[/b]

Name: Josh

Age: 27

What do you play and what stakes: All forms of hold'em, though mostly 3-5 table sngs and SH ring. Just got back into NL ring after a frustrating year at limit. $10 tourney & $25 ring.

How long have you been playing: About a year.

Where do you mostly play:Now, only at Stars.

Why did you come to FTR: Because this forum uses V-Bulliten and 2+2 doesn't.

Do you have any goals: Get my BR managment under control; know when to walk away from poker; Hopefully become good enough to use poker as a part time job to pay for my future kids education. That would be nice...

Name: Mark
Age: 19
What do you play: 25NL various MTT and sit&go's in the same area of buy in
How long have you been playing: a little over a year starting playing at a home game in college and loved it
Where do you mostly play: Pokerstars mostly attempting to bonus whore on full tilt as well
Why did you come to FTR: Google searched poker strategy and FTR had the best content, found lots of usefull info
Goals: The magic number is the 1K bankroll and to become the best player I can be[/b]

Name: Nicolas
Age: 25
What do you play? No limit texas holdem
At what stakes do you play? I'm just starting to play 25NL
How long have you been playing? I learned to play like 7 months ago, but for real money I just started a few days ago
Where do you mostly play? Pokerstars
Why did you come to FTR? Because I had the honor to meet Xianti, one of the administrators of the web page, he is here in Tamarindo Costa Rica, and i'm tryin to learn as much as I can about this great Game, recently Xianti hosted a poker game in his condo, and for my luck I won. He'll be posting some pictures of that day we played so you'll know i'm not lying
Do you have any goals (and how can we help)? My goal is to learn as much as I can of this amazing game, and then kick some ass!!

Originally Posted by Nicovelz

Because I had the honor to meet Xianti, one of the administrators of the web page, he is here in Tamarindo Costa Rica

Tuanis, mae. Todo es verdad. Buena suerte, amigo. Mucha suerte.

Name: Jukka

Age: 24

What do you play and what stakes? NL20, mostly FR although I've started playing 6-max a bit too. I also occasionally play some MTT's with buy-ins of $6 or less. I may also experiment playing PLO in the future.

How long have you been playing? A little over a year, although it includes only a few months of "active" playing(more than a couple of hours a week). Now that I'm about finished with my studies, I'll probably play about 1-2 hours/day. I'm working fulltime so I don't have time for more.

Where do you mostly play? Nowadays at CarlosPoker but I mostly used to play at Party(that's where I started with the no deposit bonus).

Why did you come to FTR? I googled it when I was searching for good poker forums. FTR is the best I've seen and read.

Do you have any goals (and how can we help)? My first goal is to clear my deposit bonus at CarlosPoker, which will take about a month or so. After that I hope to accumulate enough of a bankroll($1000+) to take serious shots at NL50. And of course I constantly try to learn more and improve my play with experience and by reading these forums. My ultimate goal would be to play poker professionally, at least for a year or two, to see if that kind of a lifestyle is fitting for me. But for now, poker is just an enjoyable hobby.

Name: Michael

Age: 18

At what stakes do you play: .2/.4 nl cash

How long have you been playing: only a few weeks

Where do you mostly play: party poker

Why did you come to ftr: thank you google!

Do you have any goals (and how can we help): I wanna be good lol. Build up a decent bank roll do a little bonus whoring and yeah get good.

Name: Cameron
Age: 19

At what stakes do you play: $22 sngs, $5-10 mtts

How long have you been playing: about a year, playing seriously off and on

Where do you mostly play: only on AP at the moment

Why did you come to ftr: i dont know, probly google

Do you have any goals (and how can we help): right now, just getting my rakeback to work on ap.

Name: Jordan

Age: 18

At what stakes do you play: 50NL shorthanded, 100NL full ring

How long have you been playing: I started playing homegames 1 or 2 years ago, been playing online since September.

Where do you mostly play: Wherever the bonus' are.

Why did you come to ftr: Google. Forum seems helpful and friendly.

Do you have any goals (and how can we help): Move up stakes and build my roll. Paying for university through poker is something that would be nice.

Name: Nate

Age: 28

What do you play? NLHE

At what stakes do you play? After losing a ton of money because of poor starting hand selection and bankroll mismanagement I decided to get back to basics and follow AOK’s 19 hand strategy. I used to play 25NL/50NL but am moving back to 5NL to start from scratch and build up my bankroll.

How long have you been playing? Have been playing for around 4 years and have seen the ups and downs big time. I’ve pissed away $3000 (tourney wins) twice now and don’t want that to happen any longer.

Where do you mostly play? Stars

Why did you come to FTR? You know what, I honestly cannot remember how I found this site. I have been reading the forums here for 2+ yrs though.

Do you have any goals (and how can we help)? My biggest problem is that I cannot win consistently therefore I consider myself a losing/breakeven player. I am looking to make some extra side cash while playing the game I love. I currently have a bankroll of $70 and playing 5NL while multi-tabling four. I am looking to get my bankroll up to $200 and move up to 20NL and go from there.

Hi guys,

First post on FTR. Have been posting on BTP but it's all a bit cliquey for me.

Name: James

Age: 28

What do you play? NLHE

At what stakes do you play? 10NL at the moment. I stupidly deposited $100 on Pacific, lost that, reloaded, had a fantastic run, final tabled in a few MTT's, and thought I was the dogs. I then stepped up to $100NL with a roll of around $700 and had my nuts kicked and went broke. I then read an article on bankroll management on BTP, and realised wtf I was doing wrong. Last week, I took $220 from my Neteller acount, and worked it up to $500 in a week. I then stepped up to $25NL, had 4 horrendous beats, and am now back to $10NL.

How long have you been playing? 10 months, mainly online with a splattering of live tournies, made a final table once, yay me.

Where do you mostly play? Started at Pacific, moved to Stars, read an article about BR management and am currently back at Pacific, clobbering anything that moves to within an inch of its life.

Why did you come to FTR? See above

Do you have any goals (and how can we help)? My goal is to get back to $25NL, then $50, the $100 and well, you get the picture. General poker super star status would be cool but it's unlikely. Failing being the next Jamie Gold, a decent second income from searching the aquariams of the poker world, will do.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated. I currently use Poker Edge, which is a god send but am considering switching to Pokertracker, damn those stats look confusing though...

Originally Posted by Jimmyjet

Any advice will be greatly appreciated. I currently use Poker Edge, which is a god send but am considering switching to Pokertracker, damn those stats look confusing though...

Get Poker Tracker as soon as you can. All the stats are a bit overwhelming at first, but they become second nature after a while. Do a search on here for it and you will see many posts about how beneficial PT really is.

Originally Posted by Bode-ist

Originally Posted by Jimmyjet

Any advice will be greatly appreciated. I currently use Poker Edge, which is a god send but am considering switching to Pokertracker, damn those stats look confusing though...

Get Poker Tracker as soon as you can. All the stats are a bit overwhelming at first, but they become second nature after a while. Do a search on here for it and you will see many posts about how beneficial PT really is.

Unfortunately it's not as straight forward as just using PT. I have to get Idleminer too, as I play Pacific.

Is it really that much better than Pokeredge then?

I find PE a doddle to use, I'm running at 19/6.3/3.2 at the moment and can identify fish and maniacs within seconds, does PT really do that much more?

Cheers for the reply, BTW.

Name: Brad
Age: 37
What do you play and what stakes: 25 NL, Looking to get started in SNG's and some small stake MTT's.
How long have you been playing: 7 months, 3 weeks real money. A friend at work talked me into playing a charitable gaming event $50 buy in, 150 people finished 20th. Played in 6 of these events cashed 2 times. Upon cashing in the last event talked the wifey into letting me make a deposit.
Where do you mostly play: Only on Star's
Why did you come to FTR: While lurking from site's to learn more about the game, this one seemed the most friendly to join.
Do you have any goals: To improve a hundred times the player I am now. Make poker a part time job. Earn enough money to pay for vacations or long weekends. Well depending on how long I can play since my government wants to tell me how to spend my money lately.

Name: Brandie
Age: 55
What do you play? NLHE mostly, a little 7 card stud from time to time

At what stakes do you play? Anywhere from $1 to $50

How long have you been playing? About a year on-line

Where do you mostly play? All over, 1 site at a time to take advantage of bonuses

Why did you come to FTR? Always looking to improve my game!!...LOL

Do you have any goals (and how can we help)? Yep, hope to get good enough to make a modest living. My dad had a stroke & I had to quit working.

New to the form, good to be on board. A Canadian who likes to play hold'em but has a fondness for stud. I got started playing online at Pokerroom, and still play there most of the time. Not sure that I have any aspirations when it comes to poker, all I know is I like it a lot. Also enjoy watching it on the tube.

Cheers

Name: Mike
Age: 40 in May
What do you play? NL FR
At what stakes do you play? $10
How long have you been playing? 4 years
Where do you mostly play? Stars/UB
Why did you come to FTR? I have often read some interesting stuff by a poster named Renton on another board. I was using google, searching for some info on NL strategy and came across more stuff by this guy.

His posts are very interesting and helpful. I had to join when I seen his name here.
Do you have any goals (and how can we help)? I'd like to continue to play NL FR and improve my game allowing me to go to the highest buy-in I can make loot at.

Hey all,

Here some details bout me...

Name: Anthony
Poker Alias: Hydron
Age: 31
What do you play? NL/PL Hold Em
At what stakes do you play? <=$1
How long have you been playing? 6 Months
Where do you mostly play? PKR, Poker.com
Why did you come to FTR? Stumbled across during surfing (Can't remember how tbh )
Do you have any goals (and how can we help)? Get Knowledge! The poker league seems interesting. Also some bonus stuff is handy too :P

Name: Mike
Age: 29, 30 in September
What do you play? NLHE, but would like to get into some other forms of poker
At what stakes do you play? $1-2, MTTs $75-$500 buy ins
How long have you been playing? almost 2 years
Where do you mostly play? Full Tilt
Why did you come to FTR? I've been lurking here for about a year and I've gotten a ton of useful information from the posters on this site. I mostly played live cash games until about 4 months ago, when I began playing more seriously online. Started with online sit&go's on Full Tilt, which I really don't think are my forte with blinds escalating as fast as they do (my sharkscope rating probably confirms this lol). I began playing Full Tilt's guarantee tournaments about 4 weeks ago and landed some nice cashes (basically playing weekends)......I've played the 22K guarantee 4 times, making 2 consecutive final tables (7th and 9th), finishing 23rd the following week, and busting out of the money last Friday. I landed my first BIG score on Sunday finishing 3rd in the Full Tilt 400K guarantee fo a $35K cash . I figured with this new found bankroll I should be consulting everyone on this board regularly, and hopefully I can help provide some insight of my own to some of the guys just starting out. My goal is to start playing the high stakes online tourneys every Sunday, and perhaps enter some of the $300-$1000 buy in tourneys in Atlantic City. Glad to be here, and I look forward to learning as much as possible!

Originally Posted by Balboni

Name: Mike
Age: 29, 30 in September
What do you play? NLHE, but would like to get into some other forms of poker
At what stakes do you play? $1-2, MTTs $75-$500 buy ins
How long have you been playing? almost 2 years
Where do you mostly play? Full Tilt
Why did you come to FTR? I've been lurking here for about a year and I've gotten a ton of useful information from the posters on this site. I mostly played live cash games until about 4 months ago, when I began playing more seriously online. Started with online sit&go's on Full Tilt, which I really don't think are my forte with blinds escalating as fast as they do (my sharkscope rating probably confirms this lol). I began playing Full Tilt's guarantee tournaments about 4 weeks ago and landed some nice cashes (basically playing weekends)......I've played the 22K guarantee 4 times, making 2 consecutive final tables (7th and 9th), finishing 23rd the following week, and busting out of the money last Friday. I landed my first BIG score on Sunday finishing 3rd in the Full Tilt 400K guarantee fo a $35K cash . I figured with this new found bankroll I should be consulting everyone on this board regularly, and hopefully I can help provide some insight of my own to some of the guys just starting out. My goal is to start playing the high stakes online tourneys every Sunday, and perhaps enter some of the $300-$1000 buy in tourneys in Atlantic City. Glad to be here, and I look forward to learning as much as possible!

Nice cash sir. Welcome and I hope to see some posts from you helping poor souls like me who aren't as good at poker

Name: Thorsten
Age: 25
What do you play? Played lots of LHE and some SnGs
At what stakes do you play? Limit SH 2/4 and FR 3/6, SnGs 55 Turbos
How long have you been playing? 2½ years now
Where do you mostly play? Full Tilt & Pokerstars
Why did you come to FTR? No idea, bookmarked the site years ago. FTR was one of my first poker-related sites I think
Do you have any goals (and how can we help)? Yeah, want to play NL now

Include more stuff if you want

Name: Eugene

Age: 22

What do you play? Used to be pure NLHE cash, now SnG

At what stakes do you play? I was a winning cash player at 25NL and 50NL, for about 4 months, then I stopped cold and "quit poker." Cashed out the $1200 or so that I built from $250, all of it. Few months later I feel the urge to play, so I deposit again, but with like $200, intending to play 25NL, way too small a bankroll I know now. Hit a downswing, got really crippled, and after a month or so of bad poker my bank was sitting at a measly $30.

Decided the cheapest and most profitable way to get back up (I didn't want to reload -- stubborn like that) was to try grinding some $2 SnGs, and I'm gradually making a comeback. Bank sitting at about $90 now after a bit under a month, on a hot streak at 45% ROI+. I'm hoping to move up in stakes once I'm rolled for it, and grind my way up to $400-500 where I can maybe go back to cash games again.

How long have you been playing? About a year since I started playing regularly online for real money.

Where do you mostly play? Full Tilt

Why did you come to FTR? Googled it searching for strategy-type articles. Joined up 'cuz I wanna get better at poker.

Do you have any goals (and how can we help)? As far as SnG's go, I'm still quite inexperienced having played only 130 games or so. I want to eventually get good enough to totally kill the $5.50 and $11 tourneys.

Name: Ben
Age: 31
What do you play? Mainly Micro NL games.
At what stakes do you play? 0.1/0.2 ($5 buyin)
How long have you been playing? 1 week.
Where do you mostly play? PokerStars
Why did you come to FTR? Google search, found some great info
Do you have any goals (and how can we help)? Build a BR, not go broke . If I eventually build up to winning some money thats great, mainly I decided to stop spending money on some other things, and spend the same amount p/m in deposits and at least with this entertainment I might break even or even come out ahead .

Name: Andrew
Age: 29
What do you play? Poker
At what stakes do you play? 25NL cash games
How long have you been playing? 3-4 years
Where do you mostly play? Party and Stars
Why did you come to FTR? Heard about it from a friend
Do you have any goals (and how can we help)? Play more/better/higher stakes

Name: John
Age: 22
What do you play? ring games
At what stakes do you play? micro NL
How long have you been playing? 3 weeks!
Where do you mostly play? PR
Why did you come to FTR? to gain knowledge
Do you have any goals (and how can we help)? steady, fun, profitable hobby

Hello all, I just recently started playing poker online, having only played in home games with some mates (SnGs), and upon hearing one of them brag about his online conquests for over a year now, i decided to give it a go.

So far it's been and up and down journey, deposited $100 to "test the waters".
First week, went up about $150, then decided to move up a stake (rushed/stupid i know)
and got smacked down to $50, now slowly rebuilding back in micro stakes, and having read alot of posts here i've noticed all the mistakes/leaks i have made, and that first win-streak was jusre pure luck

well, hope to learn from you guys more, it's been very insightful so far

Hi all, been lurking round here for a while so I guess it's time I joined the party!

Name: Rob
Age: 33
What do you play? Mainly NLHE, 90% ring 10% MTTs.
At what stakes do you play? Back down to $100NL atm.
How long have you been playing? Started playing online in Feb 06, was hooked and just about breaking even by June. Became a regularly winning player by August.
Where do you mostly play? Ongame, Party, Full Tilt, Mansion.
Why did you come to FTR? Google search when looking for sites with good poker advice. Got lucky and found this place and have been lurking for a while picking up great tips that have improved my game loads.
Do you have any goals (and how can we help)?
1. Fix some of the leaks in my game, boost my bankroll and confidence, move back up to $200NL.
2. Beat 200NL at a decent winrate over 20k hands.
3. Switch from FR to shorthanded.
4. Improve game enough to get a decent winrate here.
5. Build up bankroll and Move Up.
6. Repeat steps 4 & 5 until I am beating 600NL shorthanded!

Oh, also I really want to win a "big" MTT ($50+ buy in, 200+ runners).
I don't play them too often but have made the final table at 5 so far inluding a 2nd place for $6.6k back in February which was cool. But I reeeaalllly wanna go one better and win one!

How can FTR help with the above? Tell me why I am so bad and help me fix it!

Name: Shaun

Age: 28

What Do You Play And What Stakes: 0.25/0.50 NLHE

How Long Have You Been Playing: I played LHE for about 5 years, took a year off, and then came back to LHE for about 6 months before I made the switch to NL. I've been playing $25 and $50 max buy-in for about a year now. I've never, ever played a hand of deep-stack above $50 max in my life.

Where Do You Mostly Play: Hollywood gets 100% of my action right now. They have the best recurring bonus (that I know of), and I really like the software. And since Neteller shut their doors on us Canadians, my options are fairly limited.

Why Did You Come To FTR: I found FTR while doing a Google search for poker strategy, and I've come back every day since.

Do You Have Any Goals: My short-term goal is to generate somewhere in the neighborhood of $1500/month. Also, I would like to try my hand at $100 max buy-in sometime this summer.
My long-term goal is to become the best online poker player that I can be.

This is a great community you have here, and I'm honored to be a part of it.

Hello all! My 'lowdown'...

Name: Alex, but feel free to call me fish

Age: 23

What do you play? Mostly NL holdem. I have dabbled with PLO and O8 hi/lo, and occasionally play some HORSE, but I'm definitely -EV on those games at the minute.

At what stakes do you play? The lowest humanly available. I spunked away half my bankroll when i transferred to Stars, so i've decided to utilise some sensible bankroll management until i can get it back to a decent level.

How long have you been playing? 2 years, although 18 months of that was really just mucking about. I used to be a terrible player...

Where do you mostly play? Stars at the minute, although i still have a small roll on Partypoker. I also have a Full Tilt account for cash games and rakeback goodness, but i can't get any money on there at the minute.

Why did you come to FTR? Because i finally decided to actually make an effort to get better and plug my leaks, and this site has lots of extremely helpful people

Greetings, all. I'm glad to have found this place; I'm very impressed with what I've seen so far.

So let's see:

Name: Jeff
Age: 29
Game: NLH

As for the other questions about stakes and whatnot, I have to say I'm virtually a real money virgin. My only live experience was a short-lived run at a $65+15 MTT.

Basically I've been watching as much WPT, WSOP, USPC and the like as I can on TV for about five or six months now; I've played a bit in free money games online (which I understand are a complete waste of time); but mostly my 'experience' comes from video poker.

Specifically, I've played a lot of WSOP: Tournament of Champions 2007 Edition (XBox 360), and just Monday I picked up a game for the PS2 called Stacked. From what I understand, the WSOP game is average at best in terms of AI, while the other, or so I've read, has the best AI of any game on the market. (If anyone can confirm or deny this, I would really appreciate it.)

My goal is to become the best player I can prior to getting involed in any real money games. That is, I'm trying to gather as much as I can from TV, books, magazines, video games and, now, message boards, so that when I decide to play for real, I know I'll be ready.

To be blunt (with myself more than anyone), this is most likely just a pipe dream, but 'poker pro' is something I'm seriously considering. At best, I want to be the 'next big thing' and become a millionaire. At worst, it will remain a hobby. No matter which is eventually the case, I know that the proper step for me right now is to learn, study and play as much as I possibly can.

See ya around.

Name: Arjay..or RJ whichever works...
Age: Pocket Deuces
What do you play? Limit Hold Em, No Limit Hold Em, delving into omaha hi/lo, and 7 card stud.
At what stakes do you play? 4,000/8,000 NL hahaha yeah right. Just anywhere from $5-$110 heads up sngs
How long have you been playing? Amateur status established in March 07
Where do you mostly play? Seminole Hard Rock Casino, Tampa FL, Derby Lanes, St. Petersburg FL, Bodog
Why did you come to FTR? Like a lot of the younger generation, ESPN caught my eye with the WSOP. I turned 21 out in Las Vegas last year and was so caught up in other games with the luck of the draw, such as slot machines, craps, roulette, and random other misc. things. But not once did I play poker while I was out there. One day i got bored and decided to download PokerStars. Then I decided to try out Full-Tilt, then went to Ultimate Bet, and then onto Bodog. I started to watch some more poker on tv, and read up as much as I can about it. I love reading stories about people winning and losing. I guess I couldn't get enough poker info, so I joined on here.
Do you have any goals (and how can we help)? I guess I want to be able to reach a professional status sometime. Learn how to lay down a hand...IE:
having A5 and catching a set with the board being A-A-2-3-8...and another guy having a set but with a higher kicker. I need to learn how to pick up tells and when to let go. Please get me there...and if I ever win a WSOP bracelet and cash, I'll donate $10,000 as a cash buy in for the winner of a tournament that i host. haha.

NAME: Eli

AGE: 20

WHAT DO YOU PLAY, AND WHAT STAKES: I play strictly NLHE, at the lower stakes. $20-$50. I am a live tournament specialist, and venture to $10+$1 through $50+$5 SnG's, and MTT's online.

HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN PLAYING: I have not been playing in Mississippi riverboat casinos since I was 16. I started online in Jan. 2007.

WHERE DO YOU MOSTLY PLAY: I play at Absolute. I am going to start on Stars soon, and have stopped playing all together at FullTilt.

WHY DID YOU COME TO FTR: I found FTR while searching Google for some online poker tips. The fact of an entire community to exchange poker knowledge with seemed like a great idea. I have been a member for a few months. I haven't posted much and am trying to become more active.

DO YOU HAVE ANY GOALS: I would love to be a pro tourny player. However, I would settle for making a little bit of cash. I am in the US Marine Corps, and have recently moved to HI. There is not a casino within 500 miles. So I'm playing online.

Name: Greg (aka RandomHero83, Random_hero)
Age: 23
What do you play? NL Hold em.
At what stakes do you play? $6.50 Turbos
How long have you been playing? 1.5 years, just gettingmy act together now and getting more serious about it. Getting my bankroll in check and have recently just purchased SNGWIZ and PT.
Where do you mostly play? only play on Pokerstars. Love that site lol
Why did you come to FTR? Can't remember how I got onto FTR, must have been via a search I'd imagine. It's the only forum I post on and will continue to be. You'll find me at the SnG section.
Do you have any goals ? Short term goal is to get my BR up to $350 so I can move up to the $16 turbo's.

Longer term I want to perfect my push/shove game. I also want to learn to play cash (I have played maybe 200 hands cash in my life lol!!). Then I want to eventually be able to do well at MTT's.

ahhthankyou

Wow, this was a good thingy so I didn't have to do a whole lot of introducing myself in a weird kinda first-post-introduction thread of my own or something like that. Been lurking this site for a long time, thought I might as well start to participate.

Name: Sashimi

Age: 22

What do you play?
NL cash almost exclusively, aside from the occasional donkament

At what stakes do you play?
NL200 as of right now

How long have you been playing?
Played my first hands in march 2005

Where do you mostly play?
Full Tilt Poker

Why did you come to FTR?
Obviously because I thought I would $$$ profit from it

Do you have any goals (and how can we help)?
I want to $$$ profit. And discuss poker. I hope the first will be achievable by doing the second.

Also, big thanks to the posters here, there are some who unknowingly have helped me plenty.

Welcome. Great to see the longtime lurkers get accounts and start contributing!

Name: Jan
Age: 31
What do you play? mostly SnG's
At what stakes do you play? <10$
How long have you been playing? three weeks
Where do you mostly play? PartyPoker, SunPoker
Why did you come to FTR? Found it by chance (thank you Google)

Name: Jamie
Age: 29
What do you play? Texas Holdem
At what stakes do you play? Just Freeroles at the moment
How long have you been playing? About 6months - 1 year
Where do you mostly play? Vcpoker
Why did you come to FTR? As i found the site really interesting and helpful
Do you have any goals (and how can we help)? I hope to improve my poker playing

Name: Rob

Age: 20

What do you play?
NLHE Full ring some 6 handed and some SNGs and a small amount of PLO

What stakes do you play?
$0.05/0.10 cash and $2.50 + 0.25 (sometimes $5.00 + 0.50) SNGs

How long have you been playing?
About 3 months

Where do you play?
Betfair, mainly because I had a profitable sports betting/trading account there and thought I'd check out the poker after getting promotion emails and playing a few home games. Though I will deposit to other new accounts soon I think.

Why did you come to FTR?
To improve my game fix leaks and discuss hands and strategies (mine and others).

Any goals?
To improve my SNG play, I found I was quite profitable at first but I think this could have been beginners luck/good cards. I never really knew anything about push/fold strategies before, I just played TAG early and hoped cards would hit me. But now I am only about break even at this level.

I would like to become good at multitabling at the moment I find it very hard to play more than 2 tables because I like to watch every hand and read my players this way. (Currently betfair isn't compatible with Gametime+ or PAHud one of the reasons I want to leave.)

Also I need to make more strict concrete rules in my game I think I could develop these here. I don't really have any goals so far as stakes I want to play at yet, I want to develop my game before I think about this.

Thanks, Rob

I haven't been reading this section as much as I should, and I hope to start being a more regular contributor again. I don't think I ever introduced myself in this thread.

Name: Chardrian
Age: 31
What do you play? Lots - MTTs are probably my best but I am a good limit player, and will try to keep my overall thinking skills intact by playing NLHE, Omaha, Stud, Razz, and even some draw.
At what stakes do you play? It varies depending on my bankroll. I have played as high as $500 MTTs and as low as $5 MTTs.
How long have you been playing? Over 2 years now
Where do you mostly play? Stars, FullTilt, UB - just moved to Sacramento so I hope to be playing more live as well.
Why did you come to FTR? Don't remember, but I liked it and I've stuck around for a while...
Do you have any goals (and how can we help)? I am continually trying to become a better player. I am always fighting the tilt monkey (I am probably FTR's worst example of br management). And I am almost always willing to help when asked.

plus i never really introduced myself anyway.

Name: jay
Age: 27
What do you play? NLHEFR
At what stakes do you play? $.01/.02NL, $200NL live
How long have you been playing? 2 years
Where do you mostly play? Stars/AC
Why did you come to FTR? Best site i've found by far
Do you have any goals (and how can we help)? Movin' up!

I took a long break after building up my roll and playing up to $100NL online. When teh legislation came about last year i withdrew all my online cash and just played a few times at casinos. Unfortunately it felt like i had an itch i couldn't scratch. Finally i broke down and played some freerolls on stars. I won $1.31 or something in one and started building that up at the microstakes. Taking the break and coming back, i realize that i thought i knew a lot more about the game than i really did. It's good to be back!

Only saw this thread now!
So here are my answers:

Name: Pedro

Age: 32

What do you play? Only NLHE, maybe I'll try Limit or PL one of these days

At what stakes do you play? Currently, I'm taking my first shots at 50NL FR.

How long have you been playing? I started NLHE March 2006 last year with some friends and then started playing online in September 2006. I initially played some $5.5 SNGs and some MTTs. I moved up to $22s where I build a nice BR (also due to a nice MTT win ). Since May, I started to be bored of SNGs and MTTs and I started cash since beginning of June.

Where do you mostly play? Stars & Everest. Might move to Crypto for the bonus.

Why did you come to FTR? Was looking for a site for info in NLHE last year and thanks to Google I found it

Do you have any goals (and how can we help)? When I moved to cash I said to myself I'll play about 40k hands in cash to improve my post flop game. However, now I think I'll try be rolled enough to 100NL and then I'll see what develops

Name: Brian

Age: 19

What do you play? NLHE, will probably try to learn omaha when i get some free time.

At what stakes do you play? Comfortable at 50NL FR and 6-max, taking shots at 100nl.

How long have you been playing? Started playing with my friends when i was 16 or so, serious online play for the past two summers.

Where do you mostly play? Full Tilt because im in the US, thinking about switching because i missed out on rakeback...

Why did you come to FTR? Google and a desire to learn.

Do you have any goals (and how can we help)? Support myself through college with money from poker. I dont need to pay for tuition (hooray financial aid), but everything else + fun shit i needs monies for. My operation thread has more goals.

Name: Andreas S, Norway.

Age: 24

What do you play?
NL hold'em SH, only cashgame so far, maybe doing some donkaments later on.

At what stakes do you play?
Currently 0.25/0.50 9-tabling or 0.50/1.00 6-tabling.

How long have you been playing?
Since October 06.

Where do you mostly play?
Ladbrokes.

Why did you come to FTR?
Great advice, lots of stuff to learn. Excellent one-liners from Gabe and Sauce.

Do you have any goals (and how can we help)?
First goal is becoming a regular at 100 NL (I am more or less there now), next goal is beating it over time and eventually move up in stakes.

Name: Hugh
Age: Forever 23
What do you play? FR NLHE micro cash and SNGs
At what stakes do you play? $10 cash mostly and $25 if I'm feeling brave. SNGs <$10
How long have you been playing? about 18 months
Where do you mostly play?
Everest and Pacific mostly, Ipoker PS, FT, occasionally and if I'm feeling depressed after a bad run I put on my best dress and jewels and play at PKR where there's usually some macho maniac wiling to bluff their stack away.
Why did you come to FTR?
Searched "starting hands" on google and it came up with aokronglys post, which helped me a lot when I first started.
Do you have any goals (and how can we help) Learn to multi-table SNGs, I can 5 table cash no problem but even playing 2 SNGs at a time hurts my success rate.