when playing full time....what do I need to know?

[mcompton1973]

OK...
so here is my deal.

I have been playing poker off and on for a few years. mostly down...but not a lot.

I lost my job a month ago.
I am not going to stop looking for a job...but could use some money in the mean time.
I have been playing on PS for a while...and I have a couple hundred bucks in there. I got that from an initial deposit a few weeks ago of $25.00 that I grew.

Here is what I know about myself.
1. I have tended to play a little too loose and aggressive.
2. I often make calls or bets when I know I am beat because I have a hand (i.e. pocket 9's and flop is K/J/6 and I bet or call bets...)
3. I thought i knew about poker until I come here and see all the things you guys talk about. Concepts I have not thought about. Things like how many hands in a week. Wins per hands. What limit you should play in relation to your bankroll. a schedule to play and scheduled breaks etc. And other statistics you watch that I never have.

So here is the question.
I have several hours a day to play...and a couple of hundred bucks...
Where do I start? what kind of schedule do you guys try to follow?
How many hands a week is good?
I seem to do better in cash and DON's...
MTTs i seem to play I think good...but obviously i am playing a little too loose before all the true fish are gone and I loose pocket Q's to a 9/k all in who hits a str8 with the 9.

What else do I need to know? How can I maximize what I am trying to do here.
I know the number one thing is keep myself playing the way I know how, and not getting impatient or forgetting math still applies...Seems like I can play about 3 hands at a time max...

Thanks.
Hope I dont sound too much like an idiot.
I figure there are enough people here that could help me...no use in me not being totally honest about where I am.

Thanks.

[Razvan729]

like i have been told when i came here... read beginners digest.... start playing at 2nl.... get used to bad beats.... poker goes up adn down.... just make sure you play your best... dont bet donk, figure out the board and your opponents.... play ABC poker... this what i have been told and i lose sometimes, but i win more then i lose... with theyr advice, critics and articles i turned 4$ into 36$ in a week... so its the right place to learn... play as much as you but play right and not tired or on tilt.

[daven]

what raz said

play 2nl, the micro-est of them all. Download either Holdem Manager or Poker Tracker 3 for the free trial. Read the beginners digest posts. Pretty much all of them. If you play on stars then e-mail them asking for them to send all your hand histories.
call less, bluff less, value bet more. etc.

[Ender]

I generally play some sit n go's, around the 3.40 buy in bracket. If you can string ITM's along you can get a pretty good rate of winnings. Also, if you like/want to try MTT's, I always (always!) have one of the .10cent 360-man tournaments up and running. It serves mainly as a learning tool for when I eventually move up in the MTT brackets.

Generally, I play the sit n go tight at the start, and when people mess up and start getting hurt by the blinds I get a little more aggressive when I land a strong hand. I've gotten to where I'm ITM/Bubble everytime, and not making stupid mistakes and going out early.

In the MTT's, I'm VERY tight early on. It really is only a .10cent game, but people just throw it in so fast, I usually end that game close to the bubble or ITM. MTT's are just more about patience and endurance rather than fast play.

But since I started reading these forums, I've gone up a couple levels in the SnG's, and am getting ITM a lot more than I used to. So just keep at it.

Also, in my experience cash games are harder for me to win at, but if that's what's workin for you, keep going.

[mcompton1973]

ok...
I am doing some studying now...question I am coming up with. when I see 2nl and 200nl, what are they referring to? i.e. is 2nl $2.00 no limit or .02 no limit? is 200 $200 no limit or $2.00 no limit? and I am guessing they are talking about the big blind amount?

[Keith]

2nl is 100bb at 0.01/0.02 where you buy in for 2$
200 nl you buy in for 200$ with blinds 1$/2$ again 100bb

and if you think that being advised to play 2nl means playing 1$/2$ blinds with a 200$ bankroll .......forget about being a poker pro , you'll be bust before you have to worry about taxes.

[supa]

2nl is .02 bb no limit. The 2 refers to the standard buy in of 100 big blinds = $2.00. @ 200nl it's 100bb = $200. A good place to start to find out what stakes you're rolled for is Bankroll Management 101. Important to new players. - Poker Forums.

[supa]

I see Keith beat me to it.

You also probably want to start at 2nl even if you're rolled for higher just to save yourself some cash while learning some of the concepts taught here. Read everything you can and start posting hands here in the beginners circle. You'll learn more than you thought was possible, including how much more there is to learn. Good luck.

[HarleyGuy13]

Good luck sir. One more point of advise would be to pick your game and stick to it. If you want to play SNG's then concentrate on SNG's but if you want to play cash then play cash as they are two different games and strats are different for each.

[daven]

there's also this thing called irc

[couriermike]

Table and seat selection are really important if you're going to play cash ring games, maybe not at 2nl, but even at 5nl it can start to make a big difference. Also, if you're going to play cash, check out BalugaWhale's Easy Game vol 1, awesome book.

[spoonitnow]

My suggestion is to use those extra few hours each day that you would be playing towards trying even harder to find work.

[Sup3rM4N]

My suggestion is to use those extra few hours each day that you would be playing towards trying even harder to find work.

This.

[rong]

Hahahahah at that ^^^^^^^^^^^

But this

what raz said

call less, bluff less, value bet more

and the beginners digest is all you need for now

[Robb]

My suggestion is to use those extra few hours each day that you would be playing towards trying even harder to find work.

Just to clarify, let's suppose you rocket up the stakes like some of the FTR guys did (Micro2micro is an example). Still, they needed several months to go from 2nl to 100nl, and that's still only, say, $3k in bankroll - without withdrawing. Withdrawing anything slows that down.

You have to have more bankroll than $200 to think about poker as anything but a break-even hobby right now. You also need to be a winning player over 50k hands (or more) before you should think about profiting/moving up/withdrawing.

Any real job still leaves 10 - 20 hours (or more) each week to play poker and build a game (first) and then a bankroll.