Poker: How I got Started

I have been playing poker on and off for a number of years now. First got interested in it by watching late night poker on channel 4 (UK). This to my knowledge was the first show to use cameras to show the players hole cards. I was a student at the time and well I think they got the target audience spot on.

I didn't miss a week of it and got me hooked. Seemed easy enough so I looked about on the internet to find somewhere to play. First off I dabbled for quite a while on flipside, online game site much like yahoo games and the like. Well it was shocking on there for play money, couldn't bluff and players going all in every hand. Still it was an experience and taught me to just play the really good hands.

When I got fed up with that I found pokerroom.com Back then It was just a play money site, whereas now they have cash games as well. I played a lot of sit and go tables (start with 10 players same chips and play till one has the lot). I got the hang of this after a while and after the initial couple of players going all in, I found people tended to play more seriously.

Along with that I also started playing on bugsyclub as well. They had a lot of freeroll tournaments there. After spending a copious amount of time at these two sites, I quite fancied myself as being able to tackle the real money tables.

With that in mind I now needed to decide where to take the plunge. After speaking to a friend of mine, I signed up at UK Poker. The advantage of this place being I could cash in and out using my debit card. Started off playing the low nolimit tables. I managed to build up my stack rather well for a while and got ahead of myself. Moved onto larger limit tables and lost the lot. Still £10 wasn't much to spend for the fun I had. I have on numourous occasions spent more than that on an awful night out. ;]

A few years had passed by this point and after getting ill and not working decided to knock it on the head as I didn't have any money to spare to lose. I then saw some more poker on TV and that sparked it off again. Was reading various different poker sites and since I was working again, decided it was time to pick up where I left off.

Now you have to remember that since its real money that is being used, when you lose it, well that was your money. Personally I don't like the idea of giving money away hand over fist. Specially when if you play well you should be taking it from other like minded people. What I recommend is that you keep records of all your play (even the losses) and keep check on how much you are either winning or losing. Now I use the poker diary on www.thehendonmob.com but there are other programs about or just stick to good old pen and paper.

In doing this, you can keep track and hopefully control yourself enough to not blow all your spare money. I also had a bet on with a friend of mine that I would never make £500 and it was a waste of time. Now not one to shirk a challege I made it more interesting and said that I could do it in a month. Well the weeks rolled by and low and hehold at the end of the month I had made just over £500.

I had just bought some poker books as well and gave these a read through. I went to play limit holdem instead of nolimit. I did find it was a lot slower to build up chips, but on the other hand I didn't blow the whole lot on a silly all in bluff. If your starting out I recommend buying one of the lowlimit books and just stick to that. Also set limits how much you are willing to lose in one go. This should hopefully stop you from playing too long in a game thats bad for you, or losing too much when you go on tilt (playing badly).

Now that felt great, but you don't need me to tell you that. About this time though I went full time at work and it significantly cut down on my playing time. I stayed hovering around the 500 mark for a while until I got to the point I didn't really have much time to spend playing at all. Over the coming months I dabbled here and there staying about even. Now a big mistake I made was playing after getting in from the pub. Some big losses happened as a result of that, something I endevour not to repeat!

Over the summer I decided I wanted to learn omaha hilo. I couldn't find much in the way of resources at the time. I managed to pick up the rules and some vague idea on starting hands. With my new knowledge and foolhardy expectations I went and sat down on a limit Omaha hilo table. Wow was it tedious, so many people playing for so many draws, waiting for the nuts was taking its toll. Omaha hilo at low limit is really not for the undisiplined. After getting fed up of that thought I would give pot limit a go. Started off really well, scooping some really big pots, building the stack up nice and high. Trouble was I started feeling like I couldn't lose, slackened up on the starting hands, kept making really silly raises on draws that I shouldn't have and again lost a lot as well.

It wasn't all bad though, I learnt a lot from playing omaha over those couple of months and aim to go back there once I have disiplined myself more. I then decided on a 3 month break to recoup my head and my wallet. I was now about £100 up over all.

Going back to the beginning of the year I recalled how I managed to build up £500 with some success playing limit holdem. Earlier this month I went back onto Williamhill where I had my £100 and played in some sit and gos. Some close calls and going out first got to me a bit. Frustration was setting in when I noticed that there was a nolimit tournament about to start. I payed out the £11 entry and played some nice tight agressive poker. I got lucky on 2 hands but I had both time the opponent covered easily in chips. I ended up coming 2nd and cashing in £400.

Well that was the kick start I needed and knew if I could keep up that level of play I could happily beat the low stakes limit holdem tables.

I am now consistantly making money on those said tables but I still have some leaks and bad plays I keep making to iron out. I would definatly say to anyone thinking about it to give it a shot. Get hold of a book, read it through, cash some money into a site and get playing. If your disiplined and patient then you can easily take some extra income each month, or at least have a fun hobby to while away the evening.

im not gonna go into detail like u did grumble or i will be here forever


heres a summary my parents played i used to watch and got hooked quick i was still in grammar school . time i got to highschool i was hooked playing homegames couldnt hit the casino yet there was a big home game it was 1.000
buy in i cut school to go and with surprise my mother and father were there i couldnt belive it so to end the story im 22 and ben playing for about 9 years str8 and enjoying evey min.

I started out cause my friend one day we were bored and a little drunk and he said to a bunch of guys that we were together anybody wna play like a casino game for money and we were like huh ok... He was like lets play poker hold'em and he teached us all how to play then after a couple of week everyone got super hooked into poker now we even got tourneys at my house mostly every friday, saturday or every day we can and want to play poker to make some cash or just for fun hehe

I got started after watching wsop on t.v.Ive never been good at poker in home games,but online is different.Ive found it very enjoyable and profitable(not big time,but enough to keep me happy and going).

I started playing because at that time my girlfriend broke up with me, I had a good paying job meaning lots of money, and nothing to spend it on. Whenever i was wit her, all of my money would go to her. So one day after hanging out with friends, I heard there was a poker game in my friends neighborhood. Seeing it on the television it didnt seem that hard. I walked out 6 hours later 260 dollars richer. Ever since then, the only thing I've done is play poker!

it is an intersting topic.
i started it because i was introduced by my friend .
first , i play the black jack, but i feel uncomfortable since i am playing with the soft,but i won.now ,i like to play the poker on-line.