What's the deal? (How to be a winning player?)

Hey all,
Sorry for the length of this post but I have some things that I have to say and the people at this forum have always acted more friendly and little less sarcastic than 2+2. I would like to preface this by saying that anyone who knows me knows that I'm normally upbeat and downright jovial so don't think this is the ravings of another complaining fish.

But what's the deal with all these successful players seemingly coming out of nowhere and winning immediately? I hear so many stories about how I "started with $50 and built it up to a couple of hundred in 3 days" or "completed my challenge to turn $100 into $5k in a month", etc.

I'm an above average intelligence person so how are they playing in a different league than me?

Do they play more hands? If so, how many more a day?

Are they just the lucky few who played out of their Bankroll Limit and got lucky? Are they more aggressive? Or do they play conservative?

Are they that much better than me? If so, how do I get that good? Is there a certain book, which one(s)? Is there a certain coach? Who? Is it experience? How many hands worth of experience?

If the answers are some top closely guarded secrets that only the top players are privy to then please feel free to pm me with the password.

- Candy

They're just lucky.

a lot of people who run up $100 into 5K already had 5K, but cashed it out to pay for real life shit and had to restart from the minimum

so they are often players who were successful in the past and have enormous amounts of experience playing at higher limits
a beginning player should ACCEPT that they're going to take time to succeed and win because they simply don't have the skills to do that yet

dude your fine as long as you slowly build up....stop making stupid goals, just aim to win...fuck what everyone else is making or doing unless of course its going to help you. Everyone has their own way of playing and reading their oponets, but the micros are easy to beat even if you are just average so beat the micros and keep trying to move up and develope your own winning style of play that works for you against your variety of opponets. Read the strategy section on this site, its done wonders for my game.

Originally Posted by Darth Candy

If the answers are some top closely guarded secrets that only the top players are privy to then please feel free to pm me with the password.

- Candy

oh good god. i already think it's retarded and conceded when people end their posts with a sign off with their name, but you're gonna sign off wtih Candy?! unless you give out lap dances, this is gonna have to change.

anyway, i started playing in December of '08 with 50 dollars, busted like six times (3 each at full tilt and bodog) before i finally started winning. withdrew my first 300 dollars in winnings to assure that i wasn't a losing gambler. oh btw, i did all this at 10nl because i was retarded when it came to BR management and thought that real poker didn't start until 10nl.

finally moved up like the last week of last month at $800. i'm up 1/2 a buy in at 25nl 6-max at pokerstars over the first 10k hands this month and my bankroll's up to $1100 pretty much simply thanks to donkaments and bonuses and being up at Full Tilt.

so i am BY NO MEANS the standard (in fact there are a good bit of people on FTR who started when i did and are well ahead of me now), and i don't really know who these people are who go 100->5k in a month--if it was pre-UIEGA, if they're players coming back to the game or what-- but i would not set yourself up for such high expectations.

prolly my worst month of poker since actually knowing what the hell i'm doing was when someone on this site mentioned that he got through the micros with 25BBpt/100, and i was like OMG my 7.5BBpt/100 is terrible, i'm gonna tilt all my money away.

just play your game, read a whole bunch, spend time in the BC, spend time in FRNL and SHNL, spend time in the IRC and slowly grind your way to happiness. any winrate that's higher than 0, regardless of stakes and regardless of how many tables you're playing, should be acceptable while you're learning the game.

just relax and have some fun playing a friggin' card game

Thanks for all the responses - I guess I just have to give it time.

I'm currently getting about 9 BB/100 at 2NL so I guess that's more average than I thought.

Everyone calls me Candy because all my screen names have Candy in the title (Candyman, Darth Candy, etc.) The name is because of my weakness for sweets.

PS - I do give lap dances but since I'm over 40 and over 300 lbs I don't have much of a clientel

- Candy

I know what you mean, i read about ppl starting a 2NL a few months ago and now they're playing 100NL and i'm just like 'wow'.

But then again it's all how much u put into it. I'm lucky to get 6 hrs of play a week whereas most ppl can put that into a day or two. I thought i'd take my time and try and get to 25NL by next summer LOL

I spent forever reading and watching videos before i ever got any money onto an online site, and i think training videos are probably the best to develop a pattern to play after. Nothing special, just stuff like not flatting 3 bets with pps etc. FWIW I got like 45PTBB/100 at 2nl from table selection alone. I probably just got lucky but i found tables where everyone went all in like 5 times.

well I think 45ptbb/100 is possible, but only if JustinSKS is on your table

Worrying about how your contemporaries are doing is just stupid and can often be actively damaging to your game.

Just focus on playing the best you can. The rest will come. Sometimes it will come slow, others fast, but it will come.[/i]

Originally Posted by Donkafelts

I spent forever reading and watching videos before i ever got any money onto an online site, and i think training videos are probably the best to develop a pattern to play after. Nothing special, just stuff like not flatting 3 bets with pps etc. FWIW I got like 45PTBB/100 at 2nl from table selection alone. I probably just got lucky but i found tables where everyone went all in like 5 times.

What are some of the videos you watched? I'm looking for some good ones to check out before I put out too much money online. What about good books?

I subscribed for a micro subscription to grinderschool for two months. For only $10/month it can't be beat.

I have Ed Miller's "Getting Started in Hold 'Em", Sklansky & Miller's "No Limit Hold 'Em - Theory and Practice", and of course Harrington's "Harrington on Hold "em: Volume 1"

I love Harrington's book the best but if you are a true novice you may want to start with Miller's.

As for the 45PTBB/100 i started at like $64 i won from a tourney and only went to like $110 including a session where i made like $28 at one table from four guys with $20+ stacks going all in every hand and rebuying when they got low. As far as videos and books i think videos are alot more applicable for the most part, and i would recomend subscribing to grinderschool or another video site. If you cant afford that you can look at pokertrikz, but don't look at their forum because you're way better off here. FWIW I read Ed Miller's getting started in hold'em, harrington on hold'em 1 2 and 3, harrington on cash games 1 and 2, the theory of poker by david sklansky, super system 1 and 2, and a few random books by phil helmuth and daniel negreanu.

Thanks for the suggestions. This is really helpful. I'll check out grinderschool and Ed Miller's book to start. I probably qualify as novice enough for that one before I read the others.