fresh fish here, apprently Ripptyde's favorite lol

[JJgoneMAD]

Hello everyone.
As you can see, i'm a newbie at FTR, but i'm also a hold'em newbie. I've played some home games like most average joes, but it's only been 4months since i took up on learning the game seriously.

By the way, i've been visiting FTR for a month now, so naturally some of you seem very familiar to me. Active members like, Ripptyde, Xianti, TheNatural, Fnord, jmrogers7, and maxxscam, i almost feel like i know you guys already. I should thank the guys above cause them guys really helped a lot in improving my poker skills. You guys post some great stuff here.

Anyways, what got me started playing poker online was the book "Play Poker Like the Pros" by Phil Hellmuth (personally, i don't think the book is all that great). I think the book would turn an F grade poker player into... maybe D+. The first month i'd play by the book and i was actually up $100 playing 1/2 limit on about 20hrs of play. $5 an hour makes newbie very giddy. I played at Ultimate.bet and i frequently bumped into players that i played before with. I played tight aggressive, after a while, experienced poker players knew exactly how i played. As a result, i lost the $100 that i'd won and additional $50 in three days, probably consisting of 3hrs per day sessions.
That's when i realized that i couldn't just play by the book.
For a fresh start, i opened an account with PP. I barely played ring games. I felt that i should put at least 3hrs for every sessions, but i didn't have that kind of time until recently.
Instead, i've concentrated on S&Gs. My results are following for NL 5+1 S&Gs.
1st x 2
2nd x 3
3rd x 10
4th x 6
5th x 5
6th x 2
I'm up $27, it's kind of embarassing to post such a moderate gain though.
Although with 3 players left luck plays a big role, i think i improved my game a lot by playing S&Gs. If not anything, i at least learned a lot about positions, playing small pairs and low suited connectors, and gained a lot of agression. I'm now playing 1/2 limit and 25NL at PP. I'm up a bit overall. I'm still learnining, so i'm happy that i'm still afloat with good bankroll.

I just wanted to give you guys a look at my poker history, i'm really here to absorb as much as i can from you guys. I apologize if i said too much. I'll drop by with lots of questions guys, i'll look forward to your insightful advices. Thanks for reading, see ya.[/img]

[Toasty]

Welcome to FTR JJGoneMad, don't knock yourself with the $5 SnGs, for a start you have been paying $1 rake on each one at 20% opposed to the normal $2. This alone is worth an extra $17 to the amount you have already won bringing you to a respectable ROI.

Also sorry to hear about the limit loss, sometimes you have to mix it up a little and loosen up if you are playing the same people all the time and get to the point where they only give you action if they have you beat. I've been guilty of this myself recently as I've been tightening up my game which is already pretty tight VP$IP 25% to VP$IP 20% (VPIP=Voluntary Put $ In Pot.

Once again Welcome Aboard the good ship FTR.

p.s. you forgot to mention Fishstick in your orignal post i'm sure he's requesting a banning request form as I type this

[Xianti]

Welcome JJ. Great to have you join us!

[johnnyawe]

Hey man, thanks for the kind words.

I think your $5 SNG win rate is pretty solid. I am averaging about $3/tournament on the $10 SNGs. You're averaging about $1/tournament on the $5 SNGs, and you would be averaging $1.50/tournament if the rake wasn't messed up on those. So thats exactly half of what I've been making in the $10 SNGs, which is exactly what you would expect.

I'm also questioning if they are worth the time. $3/tournament (basically $3 per hour) is pretty slim. If I can move up to $20 SNGs and have the same win rate, that would be pretty nice.

Anyways, we can't make too much of this because we both have only been keeping track for about 30 tournaments. If you continue keeping track, we can compare notes.

[fishstick]

p.s. you forgot to mention Fishstick in your orignal post i'm sure he's requesting a banning request form as I type this

unfortunately, i used my last Banning Request Form for toasty! :P

jj - glad to hear you're making some money again, and your SNG results look good. i'm of the opinion that the lower limit SNG's are a great training ground.

Although with 3 players left luck plays a big role

i'd actually disagree with this. playing fairly tight myself, when i make it to the top three, 90% of the time i'm the way short stack. looking at the $20 SNG (which i play the most), i've only ever had two 3rd place finishes. this tells me two things, i have a bubble problem (hence the tooooooo many 4th places), but, i play pretty well down to 3 and heads-up.

keep at it, and keep winning some $!

and on second thought, since you said something i disagreed with, admins, i'd like to get a Banning Request Form started on JJ, but definitely do toasty's first. :P

[JJgoneMAD]

I just dropped by to say thanks guys. It's great to be welcomed by the respected members at FTR.
By the way, i don't know how i forgot to mention about Toasty and fishstick. Even aside from Toasty and fishstick, i think there are couple more members who've posted some great poker insights that has helped shape my game (not that i'm remotely close to putting a finishing touch to my game). Not that you guys are mad at me, but i didn't mean to offend anyone LOL.
Mix up and Loosen up, i'll keep that in mind Toasty. Thanks for the welcome Xianti. I should thank you both TheNatural and fishstick, i really needed some ecouragement about my S&G results. I really thought i was kind of playing poorly. I'd be more than happy to compare notes TheNatural, and thanks for breaking down my results for better understanding. I'll keep track of my S&G results and post them here whenever i think i have sufficient data.
I totally agree with fishstick, i have way too many 3rd place finishes at S&Gs. I should blame it less on luck and try to play better. That was a nice wack on the head fishstick, thanks.
Gotta go to work soon, see ya guys soon.

[FyrFytr998]

Hey.....I'll take (10) 3rd place finishes over (13) 4th, 5th ,and 6th's anyday of the week. In the money is, in the money any way you cut it. Especially just starting out.

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[michael1123]

Like my avatar, although you may want to be a bit less revealing. Fishstick can't concentrate in threads I post in anymore.

Oh yeah, welcome.