Made another $230 tonight at UB $100's in 2 hrs - that takes my roll over $5k and so I've just cashed out $2000 to treat myself to a nice dell inspiron 9300 with 1900 x 1200 wuxga screen so I can 4 table on the sofa and in coffee bars

Well and truly over the move up hurdle now - felt really comfortable and in the zone tonight..

Congrats!

Im posting this msg from MY new Dell Inspiron 9300 with wide screen. God Bless bad poker players.

Just curious Excession...

1) When did you start to play Poker?
3)When did you start playing poker online?
2)How long did it take you to up your roll to $5000?

I have read your PT articles a bunch of times and would love to hear your answers so that I gauge my progress!

Thanks,

ThaNinja

Just curious Excession...

1) When did you start to play Poker?
3)When did you start playing poker online?
2)How long did it take you to up your roll to $5000?


I played penny poker about 10 yrs ago with some friends for a few months, but my first real exposure was to 'Late Night Poker' (Brit sit n go's with under table cameras) on TV about 2 yrs ago. It was on about 11pm and my wife goes to bed a couple of hours before me usually, so i ended up watching it most nights. LNP is much-derided by the American audience and seems a bit 'slow' and boring as entertainment compared to WPT etc, but it has a big advantage fora learning palyer. They usaully don't show both players hole cards until the hand is either through or at least past the flop. They just show you the play from one players point of view. That way you find yourself #playing along' with that player and able to see when you make the right decison and when the wrong one. No 'Unabomber' but much better to learn how to play...

In about November 2004 I bought a very simple book by the makers of the series called 'how to play poker and win', read it and decided to put £20 into Wiiliam Hill (I wanted a site i could trust with my credit card details and WH are a huge and legitimate UK firm of bookies) and played some £5 sit and go's. Obviously my 'roll' wasn't big enough but my book told me tosimply 'fit or fold' on the flop (fit meaning top pair or better) and in the loose fishy world of £5 SnG's this was good advice. I had £200 ($400) within 2 weeks. These were limit SnG's

So I Staretd surfing the net and found UPF.

I then tried Paradise Poker and Party.Still Limit SnG's. Paradise i did OK -break even or small profit at, but Party I busted out with ($50). I was done with Party but they gave me $20 bonus to play with fo ra week and keep if I played so many raked hands. But I didn't play Ring (and the staked to clear the bonuswere too high) so I just used it to play Limit $5 SnG's - when they took back the $20 I stioll had $70- left.

About this time I had a bad run o WH and got sick of their software. Cashed out there (about £90) and deposited $50 into Stars.

And that was it. By December 2004 (a month after starting) I had put $50 into each of Party, Paradise, and PS and had cashed out my profit from WH which more than covered the deposits. i was now playin for free and have never made a deposit since.


I then settled down to build my Roll with $5 SnG's. 300 limit followed before I switched to NL ones. I got PT in February 2004 to anaylse which hands to push with and to keep track of my win rates etc. I also got and read the usual books over this period (not SS though as i heard a new one was coming out soon).

I'm a married man witha full time job as a corporate lawyer and (now) a small child so my playing time is no more than 10 hrs/week. I never played for more than 2 hrs at a time so MTT's weren't an option. But I wasn't in a rush - the money in $5 SnG's was irrelevant - it was theintellectual challenge I enjoyed.


I built my roll up to over $500 on the $5 SnG's (mostly Party). I played 2 at once. Mabe starting in April 2004 I tried a little NL Ring (at lower stakes on Paradise and PS) but just couldn't win much- i would win a smalll amount overall - about 2PTBB/100 -I lost my stack too much - very common in players transferring from SnG's I suspect. I just figured I was an SnG player and moved up to the $10 SnG tables instead.


Then in June 2004 when my roll ws about $600 I had a great run at Party $25's -the first time i tried them . won $600 and my roll hit $1200. This was easy. Of course you know what came next - 2 months of losses and weak-tight play later I was back down to $500 and ready to go back to my SnG's (I was getting pretty good at the $6.50 turbo ones at PS). Maybe go my roll back up to $700 or so this way.

Then in November KRoss releases GT+ and i realise that I can see opponents stas instantly without having to try to flick up a separate Gametime Window on my (not very hi defn) monitor. My PTBB/100 more or less instantly moved from 2 to 10+. In November 2004 my roll was about $700. Now it is $5200+. I moved up from $25 to $50 to $100 tables without my win rate leveling off for more than a couple of weeks whilst I re-adjust. I also had 4 weeks off poker entirely in Feb.

It just 'clicked' - I can now grasp the underlying dynamic of a low stake NL table within 30 hands or so of sitting at it.. Maybe I was ready to c'lick' anyway but GT+ gave me the info to have confidence in my reads and has surely made a huge difference.

Also writing about PT and analysing the types of players out there, their success rates and my own stats has meant that I really feel I have come on in leaps and bounds over the past 6 months - it's just the tipping point - like when you learn a language it all comes
together at some point - i really feel i'm starting to get 'fluent' in poker

hmm...can you beleive i've never used GT+ excession?? who knows how much money i have lost without it.

and now i'm playing on bodog..so stats aren't an option