After my first month of play, how am I doing???

Hey, all!
This is my first post here. I have been playing Limit Hold 'Em now for only a month at my local Brick and Mortar poker place (Canterbury Card room in Minnesota).

I'm playing 3-6 limit, playing tight and conservative, always starting with $120 and ending if I've doubled up or lost that money. My bankroll has fluctuated and gone up around $400 and then I lose a few days in a row, then I'll win some, lose, etc.

Right now after my first month of play I'm only $145 up from when I started. This is after 13 total sessions at my poker place. Maybe I should feel good that I'm up at all having just started but I feel like I must kinda suck to have played this much and only be up that much. Two days of winning always seems to be followed by two days of losing. I've read the Ed Miller/Sklansky Small Stakes Hold 'Em book and am trying to apply it to my play.

I guess my question is: after 13 sessions and just one month of play, should I feel okay about being up just $145 or should I feel like I really suck? Or is the answer yes to both?

Anyway, any feedback would be appreciated, thanks!
-Brooks

I don't play limit much at all (except omaha) but being up is a good thing - you can only improve from there!
Limit's swingy as hell too so don't be overly frustrated with the win 2 days lose 2 days deal.

You have not played nearly enough hands to determine how good you are.

Live poker is fun, but IMO, you actually need to be a better player because the rake is usually higher and you got to tip the dealer.

You are up close to 25 BB or almost 2 BBs per session. For a beginner that's just fine.

You might wanna consider putting $150 into an online site and playing .25/.50. You will see lots and lots more hands and can get a better idea of the different plays that are out there.

Originally Posted by chardrian

You might wanna consider putting $150 into an online site and playing .25/.50. You will see lots and lots more hands and can get a better idea of the different plays that are out there.

Thanks for the advice, I've been playing at pokerroom.com for several months but only with "play" money, I know the betting there ain't what it would be like with real money but it allows me to see lots of situations for free.

I have been considering putting some money into the online play though.

I want to get at a point where I'm winning 66-75% of the sessions that I play in, if I'm just winning 50%, there's no profit of course. I just have to figure out what the leaks in my game are, my post-flop play needs a lot of work.

I guess just starting out I need to be easy on myself.

I am averaging right near $100/hr and I win near 60% of my sessions. I have had losing streaks where I was winning more often than that and huge winning streaks where I won less that 40% of my sessions. The point is, poker is all one long session. It is not what you won or lost this hour, this day or this week.
Quit worrying about win rates and worry more about making the right decision. There will be times that you make all the right plays and lose, but it doesn't mean you are a bad player. You cannot win every time. It therefore should not be your goal to "win" since the cards decide in the short run. Your only goal should be to play better than your opponents every time you sit at the table.

Good Luck.

Originally Posted by Demiparadigm

Quit worrying about win rates and worry more about making the right decision. There will be times that you make all the right plays and lose, but it doesn't mean you are a bad player. You cannot win every time. It therefore should not be your goal to "win" since the cards decide in the short run. Your only goal should be to play better than your opponents every time you sit at the table.

Good Luck.

Thanks for the advice. I think about all the mistakes I made after a particular session and try not to repeat them the next time! Right now I suppose I'm experimenting a bit, trying to find a style that works for me since there is obviously more than one way to play.

Originally Posted by Bawookles

Thanks for the advice. I think about all the mistakes I made after a particular session and try not to repeat them the next time! Right now I suppose I'm experimenting a bit, trying to find a style that works for me since there is obviously more than one way to play.

You're definitely on the right track.

The mistakes you make will become more apparent to you as you become a stronger player. Realizing that you might not be playing perfectly is a great step in the right direction.

I don't know if it's been said yet, but reading books along with your poker experience is a good idea as well. My personal starting hold 'em book was Lee Jones' "Winning Low Limit Hold 'em," it really brought around the basics of fixed-limit.

Also, you could get some good practice in at micro-limits online, and play within your bankroll without the price of lessons at 3/6. Just a suggestion.

Read the bankroll management thread, read everything, ask more questions! Poker is a constant learning process, albeit a very very fun one!

Originally Posted by Andy Holt

You're definitely on the right track.

The mistakes you make will become more apparent to you as you become a stronger player. Realizing that you might not be playing perfectly is a great step in the right direction.

I don't know if it's been said yet, but reading books along with your poker experience is a good idea as well. My personal starting hold 'em book was Lee Jones' "Winning Low Limit Hold 'em," it really brought around the basics of fixed-limit.

Also, you could get some good practice in at micro-limits online, and play within your bankroll without the price of lessons at 3/6. Just a suggestion.

Read the bankroll management thread, read everything, ask more questions! Poker is a constant learning process, albeit a very very fun one!

Thanks! I'll look for that book! I love learning stuff and poker is very interesting from that perspective. On the face of it, it's a very simple game but it does have many intricacies and different strategies.

The things I repeat to myself as I play right now is just "focus, focus, focus". Study the board, try to put people on hands.
Also "patience, patience, patience"! :P

Originally Posted by Bawookles

Thanks! I'll look for that book! I love learning stuff and poker is very interesting from that perspective. On the face of it, it's a very simple game but it does have many intricacies and different strategies.

The things I repeat to myself as I play right now is just "focus, focus, focus". Study the board, try to put people on hands.
Also "patience, patience, patience"!

I remember hearing a while back that the coolest thing about poker's learning process is that it's learned in layers. You'll see what I mean. Once you learn one thing, another aspect of the game presents itself that you didn't see before. This ties in with FTR a lot because you can always find old posts addressing things that you may have not thought about.

Your quick response tells me you're browsing the archives now. Keep going! This place is the poker mother lode.

Originally Posted by Andy Holt

Your quick response tells me you're browsing the archives now. Keep going! This place is the poker mother lode.

Actually, I haven't at all!
But I will! It looks like a really nice site with some good forums!

I have been playing Limit Hold 'Em now for only a month

I'm playing 3-6 limit

I guess this is somewhat different in live games but this is quite high stakes for a rookie.

always starting with $120 and ending if I've doubled up or lost that money

Not good, at all. Play longer if you are hot, no reason to stop when you are winning. I dont also like stopping just because you lost money. if you were also playing bad instead of just running bad this would be acceptable.

should I feel okay about being up just $145

You should be proud that you are a winner although you havent played nearly as much to say anything if you are a winner or loser in the game.

Originally Posted by Pingviini

Play longer if you are hot, no reason to stop when you are winning. I dont also like stopping just because you lost money. if you were also playing bad instead of just running bad this would be acceptable.

Yeah, I can see how you are right about keeping on playing if you are winning (but if one plays too long, won't variance swing you back down again?)

I think it's good to set a limit to how much you will let yourself lose at a particular session. Otherwise you could just go on tilt and lose the majority of your bank roll.

When I'm losing I'm definitely running bad AND playing bad!

Being up at all after 13 sessions is good for your first month. It takes much better than average play to break even against the rake.
Stopping after losing 20BB is fine. You should never lose more than what puts you in a bad emotional state for playing. Aside from leaving once you lose your limit, you should leave when you are tired, tilting, generally don't feel you are playing well, or can't find a good table to play. If your emotional state is good, and you are at a sweet table, you should stay no matter how much you have won. If you are good enough to beat the game, variance is more likely to put more chips in front of you than to take it away. The chips and cards don't know you've been winning. If you try online, a .10/.20 game or a .25/.50 game are similar in many ways to a live 3/6 game. I think at Paradise there is no rake for .10/.20. The .10/.20 in my opinion is about the same looseness as 3/6, but worse after the flop. The .25/.50 is a little tighter than the live game preflop, but about the same skill/a little worse than live postflop.

Originally Posted by Xanadu

If you try online, a .10/.20 game or a .25/.50 game are similar in many ways to a live 3/6 game. I think at Paradise there is no rake for .10/.20. The .10/.20 in my opinion is about the same looseness as 3/6, but worse after the flop. The .25/.50 is a little tighter than the live game preflop, but about the same skill/a little worse than live postflop.

Thanks for the suggestion! I have played online at pokerroom.com but just with "play" money.

And now for a sensitive question, I heard somewhere that it's illegal to do internet gambling in Minnesota (where I'm at). Suppose I use Netteller on pokerroom.com and start playing for real money, am in trouble then if I win some money over time, say several thousand bucks over a year or something and Netteller puts it right back in my bank? Doesn't that sort of thing look suspicious if someone (i.e. IRS) were to look? Or does nobody really worry about that if it's not too much mullah?

The IRS doesn't care and doesn't report how you get your money as long as you report it.

No one in any state, to my knowledge, has been charged with a criminal gambling charge for online gambling.

Originally Posted by chardrian

The IRS doesn't care and doesn't report how you get your money as long as you report it.

No one in any state, to my knowledge, has been charged with a criminal gambling charge for online gambling.

Well then! I'm gonna start multi-tabling like a mofo!!!
Thanks for the info.

So I tried doing some online play for money for the first time. I put $50 into pokerroom.com and started playing at the teeny little .25-.50 tables and after three hours I'm up $30! That's 60BB!!!

No doubt I will be seeing better players on higher tables but GEEEEEEZ, that is too easy!

Originally Posted by Bawookles

So I tried doing some online play for money for the first time. I put $50 into pokerroom.com and started playing at the teeny little .25-.50 tables and after three hours I'm up $30! That's 60BB!!!

No doubt I will be seeing better players on higher tables but GEEEEEEZ, that is too easy!

Nice. Hopefully you keep winning, because 160 BB will be hurt severely if you happen to hit a downswing.

Congrats on owning the donks right off the bat though, keep it up!

Originally Posted by Andy Holt

Congrats on owning the donks right off the bat though, keep it up!

One thing that does surprise me about the .25-.50 table there is there's not a lot of fish, only 3 or 4 players pay to see the flop but there is a lot of bad post-flop play, of course.