Where did you learn to play?

In high school some friends and myself would play .05/.10 NL (change poker) for hours in a friend's garage. We'd play hold em', omaha, some variations on both, and even some variations we made up. Sure the limits were small, but we played CONSTANTLY, and always had a blast. Great way to learn tells and basic strategy

When i was about 8 yrs old me, my brother and some friends say the movie "The Gambler" with Kenny Rogers. So we started plying with different size wood nails as chips. Played for a year then did play on a regular basis again till about 3 yrs ago. I love this game !!!!

I read "Internet Texas Hold'em" by Matthew Hilger, and then played .50/1 limit on Pacific. This was in July 2004. Ahhhh. The good old days. Does anyone remember when US players could use Neteller?? Good times indeed.

I learned to play gradually over the years. First it was just a way to kill the time when we had small get togethers as teenagers. Then I saw Rounders and started really getting serious. I learned from Rounders basically, that I was the sucker I'm pretty good at live games, okay online. I learn something new each time I sit down.

My family taught me the basics of how to play poker. Then I started watching the poker shows on tv and playing online.

a friend of mine turned me on to the online scene about four years ago and ive been hooked ever since. i had never played cards before so i played play tables and freerolls until i got a better understanding of the game and than finally made an initial $50 deposit at party poker. since than i have played at numerous sites including full tilt, absolute, stars, and ultimate bet. ive finally managed a decent bankroll on bodog and my love for the game just keeps growing.

a long time ago in a galaxy

far, far away

2004 mid summer my sister was visiting from cali.she told me she liked playing poker so i went and bought a video game 4 my xbox wsop so she could play i only spent 20 bucks 4 it, then i started playing, pretty soon i was playing at casinos, there i pick up a cardplayer mag. w/wsop 05 main event winner joe hachem on the cover hugging 7.5 million cash, so i figure why not go pro, now i play online in anything from leagues, tournys, freerolls to cash money tables one day hopefully wsop main event

When I turned 21, my dad and mom took me to Vegas. I had played poker as a kid now and again, and knew the hand rankings etc. I was not an experienced player by any stretch. My dad and I sit down at a 7 card stud table ( no holdem back then lol ) He tells me, if u have nothing on the flop fold. We paly a few hands, and I flop a full house. Not sure how to react, I bet a small amount, and this older lady raises me. I call, she raises, I call, u get the drift. When she loses, she becomes irate! Just like Phil lol I had no idea what she was so upset about, but I was a happy camper. Won a cool $100 duckets, and in 1981 for a 21 year old, that was a nice chunk of cash! lol

I learned to play on-line. Started playing ultimatebet. Also,love watching the pros on television.

I learned Poker on Fulltilt. I think its the best software (Layout and Function). A lot of bad players but the software is an BIG 10.
But it cost some resources of my pc.

first i watched alot of poker tv on the pokerchannel
and watched poker after dark than i thought let me try full titl out and well yes than i kinda got hooked its a nice addection better than smoking hehe

When I was a little girl my father taught me classic poker. He was not a player, but we played for fun. As I grew up, I lost sight of poker, most of all because I never found anyone who could play it.
I heard about THE some years ago here in Italy, through a TV program called "PokerMania". I found it very interesting and bought a THE pc game. Then, in the last year they opened some THE clubs in Milan and hinterland, so I could start playing live.

Lets see... I come from a gambling family so I have been playing cards all my life.... Poker has been played in it's many forms in my house since I was a child my parents would have homegames all the time, it was dealers choice so I learned many forms of poker along with other card games you can play for money... so naturally that translated to us kids playing for penny ante stakes and at times things ranging from pots full of Halloween candy to punishment for the loser including but not limited to eating things like tablespoons of hotsauce, white flour,vinegar, slices of hot peppers, baking soda.....lol..... we were crazy..... but in short.... you learned and you learned quick in my house, or you were really broke with a stomach ache..... lol .

HI, i learn to play at school when i habe 9 or 10 year old.. jaja nice age to play very inocent..but we play for real mony for the begining..

I STILL haven't learned how to play poker!

I learned to play in my friend's $20 minimum .25-.50 NLH game. I'm up over $500 from that regular game over the last few years!

I learned to play holdem by playing with friends and watching the WSOP on telivision. Everything else I learned on line.

My first Pokergames were with ten years. My first variante were 5 Card-Draw, i have learnd. No its over 35 years ago and we play with pennys and with mumbles. It was very funny and I will don't forgett it. Texas Holdem I first have seen in TV for over three years and then I have learnd it online.

Have a good time,

Bluestone

i actually started playing at a site called pogo it was only 5 card draw but i got the meaning of poker and understood the hands from pogo then i decided that it was time to download a site all about poker thats when i found bodog and oh hell they came the addiction lol but b4 pogo or bodog did not know a thing about poker live or online was just bored one night fooling around and thats where it started.

in my college years... my friends and I used to get together at my dorm room, and play poker... there was this cool kat from LA that came down to school with us... and he introduced me to Hold'em... before that I only knew about 5 card draw...

after a few games... I started getting really good... so I wen to LA, and a few indian casinos to try my luck... do ok, nothing too big... then I turned to online poker... since I don't live near a casino...

With friends when I was young. H. O. Yardley's book. tug boats and the military. But I didn't have a clue until years later. Still learning!

on V.C Poker I won $3,000,000 (playmoney) then deposited $30 at 888.com played every hand and won $170.00 the same night (thought I was a natural) been losing ever since. lol

At first I tried to avoid the poker "fad". But I did start watching it on espn and truely fell in love with the game. I created an account on FullTilt! and the rest is history. I never would have thought this game would become so important to me.

I learned to play with friends in a small cash game at a local bar in Toronto! Havent stopped since, and the same small game has created quite a few more poker lovers!

I started off playing poker online only to realize how bad I was at poker. But I mainly learned the game through watching the pros on tv and trial and error. Now I feel like my game is a thousand times better and I can pretty much dominate my friends all the time when playing live home games for small money.

When I was eight years old my mother and I had to leave town. My father had just been shot in an argument over a shot of whiskey. My mother gave me a copy of "The Theory of Poker" and told me to read it while she went to get our tickets. She never came back...

HAHA, I learned with my Great Grandma when I was 6, playing with dimes and nickels. Shit has come a long way since then.

I learned from my girlfriend, she played non-stop on my computer and I eventually picked up on how to play from watching her play on FT and watching WSOP with her. I played once and was hooked.

I learned to play 5 card draw when I was little. But I didn't really attempt learning hold 'em until winter 2006 when my best friend talked about it enough where I couldn't resist downloading a client and get going on the tables.

My friends played a game Called "Pontinho" here at the Brazil, it was 2 year ago, but I didn't know that this game was Hold em, after I saw ESPN poker Challenger I understand that those game, just start to study to improve my game.

My friends said me that I had learning to play "Pontinho" quickly because I won their several times.

This game was the first contact that i have with Poker...

i learned to play at my cousins house a few years ago. i watched him play texas hold em with his group of friends. i wanted to play so i bought in and lost 10 dollars in about 3 hands lol. they only played using antes so when i saw a game that used bb/sb a few weeks later i went into a little bit of confusion. but now i play online more than live simply because it is much easier to fit into my schedule than a live game is.

A friend of mine introduced me to PartyPoker and that's where I learnt how to play (the basic rules). Then I looked on the internet for some calculators that came with video's and played with that for a while and I think that's been the most useful to me. Calculators and video's. And a lot of practice..

It's been a really long time.. I believe it was just called "Texas Hold'm Calculator" and you had to register the thingy, but I didn't do that. I'm not that rich you see ;-)

I usualy play with friends of my college and thats the way I learned.. We are about 27 and still play every thuesday ...

=)

I don't know if there are free ones. The one I had could be used as a free one, but you had to click the cards you had and that were dealt by hand, so I was constantly going in the 15-seconds time.. But once you got used to it, it was fairly easy.

The ones attached to a window never are free I think, or do y ou know some? When I used this, I really knew what was going round, and I discovered a tool that kept track of the other person's statistics as well. So you could click on the people at your table and see how they played in the past and how they were likely to play.

That looked awesome to me, but I 've never been able to use those programs.

Online, at VIP.com, in freerolls. I worked my way up to buy-ins - sit n go's, multi-table tournaments. I remember the days of heart palpitations, donking better players off on the river. Not as many skipped beats these days, but I will donk you right out when I have the feeling. Can you feel the love tonight? By the way, VIP.com is US-Unfriendly these days.