Beginner wanting to start a poker career?

Hello, this is my first post on this forum and i hope i get as much information as i can.

I'm 17 (turning 18 next month) and i love poker. I watch it whenever its on tv, i watch pro's play low stakes on pokerstars school online, i read a lot of tutorials etc.

As im 17 i cant have a proper pokerstars account so i deposited 50$ on my dads account just to see how it goes.

I played the lowest stakes i could and to be honest, it went neither well or bad. After 2 weeks of playing i was only 1.06$ up. I played 5 tables at once and whenever i made some profit on one i would loose it on the other. For example, i would earn $1 on someone on table 1, then on table 2 i would get a bad beat or i would simply think i have good hands and i would raise pre-flop then on the flop (to lets say $1 altogether) then i would either get beat or fold if someone re-raises too much.

Its so easy to loose $1 yet so hard to earn it back.

After i turn 18 i wanted to make my own pokerstars account, deposit 100$ which would give me 20buy ins for the 2NL. I would rather have 30 but i dont want to deposit too much money.

I would move up after i have 30buy ins for 5NL etc.

Any advice for this?

Thanks.

Hello and welcome to Cardschat.
First of all, you must understand that no-one here can encourage you to play online until you are legally able to do so. Also, you don't want to get your dad into trouble or get his account closed so it's probably best to just wait until you are 18 (not long now)

Until then, keep reading everything you can including all the posts and articles here on CC. You will learn about some of the many pitfalls the you may face in the future.
Learn some more about Bankroll Management which will be Very important when you do deposit
After that I would just say go slowly to start with at the lowest limits and give yourself time to learn the game.

Btw, $100 will give you 50 standard buy-ins of 100BB ($2) at 2NL (but I'm not advocating that you start any higher than that when you do begin. It'll be nice to have 50BI's behind you to start with)

Keep studying for now.

+1

Being a pro is hard and if you love poker you will probably lose that love at some point, like any job, it is a job and stops being a hobby. What I say now is not meant to be mean, just a reality check. You are nowhere near a pro. It take more than a few weeks at 2nl and reading some stuff and watching shows (watching shows will not help you much at all as far as understanding what it is like to play for real) There is so much other work to be done to become - and remain - a winning player. AND unless you are real lucky, you will spend a LOT of time and probably not make all that much money anyway.

IMO study and find a good job, you will probably be happier in the long run. Poker is NOT an easy way to make money.

Check this link out:
http://www.cardschat.com/going-poker-pro.php



This below I copied form another forum, and did not want to include a link, so I just copied The name of the author was not there, or I would have posted it. (Mods, is this ok, should I include a link to another forum??)


Many envy the life a professional poker player. Who wouldn't want to set their own hours, play a game they love for a living, and travel around the world to various tournaments? Add a nice income to boot, and you have yourself a dream job. So how does a professional become a professional?

Professional poker players do not graduate from Poker Pro School, and there is also no guild that bestows the "pro" status on players. It is entirely a label that one adopts for himself. Even some people who lose money at poker consider themselves professionals. Generally, one decides to make poker-playing his occupation for at least one of two reasons:

On the one hand, they may feel that they can make more money at poker than they could at any other occupation they could acquire. Generally, these players have logged in over 500 hours of poker and have measured their hourly rate to be significantly higher than any other job they could get. To track statistics like these, a pro would use a website such as (I removed this, due to link)

On the other hand, they may simply enjoy the poker lifestyle so much that they will sacrifice income for freedom. Also, the extent of a professional's career varies. Most poker professionals view their poker-playing as a temporary job. They may be between jobs or expect to enter a higher-paying occupation in the future. Only a relative few view poker-playing as a career for life.

A solid professional is fundamentally a businessman. He or she understands how to play poker to maximize his or her income. The incomes of pros are entirely diverse and depend on the skill, bankroll, guts, and luck of the player. The amount of hours that pros play also vary. The only thing they have in common is that poker is their primary source of income. Raw poker skills are only a fraction of what is necessary to make significant money playing poker. One must know what game he or she excels at most in terms of hourly rate. A true, solid poker professional plays the poker game that gives him the highest hourly rate. Generally, the factors that affects one's hourly rate include:

1. One's skill compared to others' skill
2. Number of hands per hour and tables the person can play
3. The rake or time charge
4. The variance involved

Taken together, a person with less cardplaying skill can easily make more money than a very skilled player if the less skilled person is smarter about all of the other factors. Since pros are interested in making money, they must play against people who essentially are interested in losing money. This means playing in soft, loose games. Also, because a poker player wants to exert his or her edge as much as possible, the number of hands one plays is a critical factor. Of course, it depends on the type of game the pro chooses.

If a pro is a Limit Hold'em player, then his or her medium of playing is of great importance. Playing on the internet at 3 tables at once will easily yield five times as many hands per hour compared to a person playing in a brick-and-mortar casino. If the two are playing the same limit against comparable competition, the internet pro can easily make five times as much as the brick-and-mortar player. While the B&M player can focus more on his one game, the internet pro has the advantage of a lower rake and the ability to play many more hands per hour. At Limit Poker, hand volume is much more important than player reads.

For No-Limit Poker, reads are more important. Thus, a player might not be able to play two or three games at once. Again, it depends on the player, but his or her choice of medium will greatly affect his or her hourly rate.

Tournament professionals exist, too. However, they are rare compared to the number of cash game pros. This is because tournaments have a high level of variance and tend to have stronger competition than cash games. It is also much harder to calculate one's hourly rate at a tournament because tournament income is so volatile. While there are certainly famous, successful tournament players, many who choose this route end up failing. Compared to cash game players, tournament players are notorious for being in debt and dependent on others' staking them.

There are four major turnoffs to being a professional poker player. First, it is not a very social activity. If you are an internet pro, you are essentially playing at home, with little human interaction. You do not enjoy the chat by the water cooler and other social perks associated with a regular job. Secondly, poker becomes very monotonous very quickly. Sure, a pro can play a variety of games. But since a poker professional is primarily interested in making money, he will probably want to mainly play the one game that provides his highest hourly rate. Needless to say, this can become very boring, very fast. Thirdly, many take issue that the poker player does not really contribute anything to society. This has become less and less of an issue, as professional poker players are often considered 'entertainers.'

Finally, and most importantly to many, poker can have a highly variable income. Based on my own data, my standard deviation per hour is 6 times my hourly rate. This basically means that if I made $100 an hour, there is about a 68% chance that in any one hour I'd make between -$500 and $700. The rest of the time I would have an even larger swing. This is not appealing to many, who couldn't handle the stress of such fluctations of income. The poker professional must not be phased by these fluctuations at all. Generally, poker players with large bankrolls tend to fare better and play with less fear. While their poker winnings are what puts food on the table, any single day, week, or month means relatively little to their overall bankroll.

What a true professional worries about is not the luck of the cards but the changes in the poker market. Professionals need to play against poor players. One makes money because one has better relative skill than others. If a pro is playing against a bunch of pros, then he or she will make little to no money. A poker professional's income is much more dependent on the skill of others than himself. After all, he has probably perfected his skills as much as he possibly can. The only thing that can affect his relative skill is the skill level of the opposition. If no new, poor players enter the poker world, the professional will probably have to look for a new job.

For the above reasons, most solid poker players do not become professionals. Many of those with the skills and bankroll necessary to play poker can make just as much (if not more) money at another job. They also may simply love another job so much that they would rather do that line of work than poker, even if they made more money at poker. It is probably a good thing for poker professionals that being a full-time poker player is not too appealing of a job. If many people became pros, then the competition would be too tough to make much money at poker!

Poker is often better as a secondary job. 'Semi-professionals' enjoy poker as a side income and hobby without relying on it as a stable source of income. They also avoid the anti-social, monotonous nature of professional poker playing. Some semi-pros make a very significant income from playing cards, even more than many professionals! After all, none of the last three winners of the World Series of Poker were professionals at the time. Poker as a lucrative hobby instead of a profession is the route that most winning players take.

Quit the pokerzz

Like a lot of other things in life, the best way to start poker is with the basics at the entry level. The first step is learning to play ABC poker well enough to win with it. Fortunately, this isn't all that hard, mainly because there are enough poor and mediocre micro players that ABC is profitable. It's something of a simplification, but they will give eventually you some or all of their money by making poor plays at inappropriate times. While it's harder than it sounds, all you have to do to be profitable is give less back.

Why quit since i haven't started playing yet?

As i said i will start playing when i turn 18. Right now im going to study. On pokerstars the maximum buy in for 2NL is 5$ so i will have only 20 buy ins with a 100$ bankroll.

Many people do make some money from poker so why tell me straight away to quit? I believe i am good at cards game and since i haven't yet lost in poker then why tell me to quit?

I believe if i study enough i will be able to make some money out of poker and im not saying i will be a billionaire but i hope to make some money.

Max buy-in is indeed $5 on the Stars 2nl tables but most players are buying in for $2, so will be effectively playing for that. And when people talk of how many buy-ins they have for a level they are referring to number of 100BB buy-ins.

GL to you, I hope you are not seriously considering poker as a career option though, better to keep it as a hobby, at least until you are crushing higher stakes and rolling around in money

I am studying IT at the moment and will be going and finishing university at 22-23 years of age so i have until then to see how my poker goes and obviously i will be focusing on my IT just incase.

From what samango said i understand you are not allowed to give me any advice since im under 18 right?

But if you can it will be really helpful if you could answer "yes" or "no" to the following question:

Since you can buy in for $5 on the 2NL on pokerstars, would you recommend me to buy in for $2 anyway?

(as it will give me over twice more buy ins with 100$ however with $5 at the table i would be able to double up and have 5$ profit rather than 2$)

Oh and also would you recommend playing 6max or full ring games?

In your first post you said something that is so true and something to always remember.

It is so easy to lose $1 and so hard to win it back.

That is why you need to concentrate on every hand and not throw your money away cos it is really hard to get it back once you've lost it, and it is bad enough if you lose it to a better hand that yours but losing it through your own mistake or not concentrating is even worse.

[quote=R1ace;1896373]Why quit since i haven't started playing yet?
You asked for my opinion... I gave it to you.

Many people do make some money from poker so why tell me straight away to quit? < many, many more 'don't' I believe i am good at cards game < a common belief by newer players (remember.. I was one at one point) and since i haven't yet lost in poker then why tell me to quit?

I believe if i study enough i will be able to make some money out of poker ]
Cool, Good Luck! Yup, you might make some money. It's a grind though > takes alot of time, work, dedication, etc.

Yes, learn to play 100BB poker as your staple, worry about deepstack poker later. Congrats you've got 30 more buy-ins!

Alright, ill start off with 2NL and move up once i have 40 buy-ins for the next level

ofcourse thats when i turn 18

Are you ready and willing to grind 10 - 12 hours a day?

Are you planning to play only cash? May want to play some single table DON tournaments to lessen variance.

Make sure you post your screen name so we ca track your progress.

when u say track your progress wat do you mean? how do u track someones progress can i track my progress? what will it tell you?

PO, if he wants to learn then let him.. I don't see why you're being so negative.

Granted he's a new player, and R1 honestly..

chances are you won't go pro, live in a massive house on the beach, play in the wpt/wsop/ept and win millions of dollars each year.

but if you play the game, learn enough to become profitable and enjoy the game as you're doing it then imo you've succeeded.

just give him the standard advice, stick to one game, brm brm brm.. etc.

gl in the future, and all of that.

Part time income is fun, but id only play the game if you enjoy it, which you seem to do. wait till you are 18 till you start but no harm in reading up and getting a head start by expanding your knowledge base. dont get all heated up about 'going pro'. Just try to play well, control your emotions and most importantly acknowledge mistakes and be open to criticism. gl mate

That's your perception. I was just giving him advice I wish had been given to me

UR Player ID is "tracked" by folks like Sharksscope.com and many many more sites...every game played and detailed hand history etc. What is your Player ID on sites you play.
I am:
bullishwwd on Black Chip Poker
bullish06 on PokerStars
bullish061 on Carbon
bullish6 on a few others

Note: You need to post your Player IDs on your PROFILE PAGE or you'll not be eligible for many things on Cardschat.

my sns are listed inmy profile also sharkscope doesnt make sense to me

maybe i didn't explain myself properly. I don't want to be a professional poker player and play in every major poker tournament but someday i want to make at least the same amount of money i would be able to earn in an average IT job (which im studying now and the average anual income is around £50k) therefore apart from studying IT just incase i fail in poker, i want to learn it.

My goal is to earn 50k a year through poker, if i can be a pro someday then i will be more then happy but i want to be able to make a living off it.

Once again, don't take me wrong, i am more focused on an IT career as it is more sensible than risking everything for poker especially at my age where if i chose poker i could ruin my whole life.

were just sayin its not so easy. letting you know before hand. like your goin to school to make 50k. school=time+money. same as poker. and sometimes people who go to school dont even make 50k or even have a job. just like poker. play it for fun but concentrate on ur schooling its much more legit. and good luck to you. :-)

in uk 50k is probably the average pay so if i get into a job ill probably earn that much or just under 50k as i said im more concentrated on school but i want to learn poker in my spare time

I once thought I could be a pro when I turned $2 on pokestars into $100 in a couple of hours. It was the best heater of my life and unknown to me, to be my absolute downfall for a couple of years. It gave me false hope. It was only when I went right back to the drawing board, posted on forums, made blogs and studied and studied and studied that I even became a winning player. And I still am far from being pro after all of that.

I wish you the best of luck with this OP, but please for your sake, don't expect it to be an easy ride. It absolutely wont be.

With that out of the way, please feel welcome on this site as I'm sure many people will be willing to help you achieve your goals sooner than if you tried it alone. A lot of good players here whose advice will be very useful in the coming months

edit 50k is well above the country average. I believe it to be around the 25k mark actually. That is of course if you go by the mean average. The median would be stupid because of all the rich people.

Most pros are not the million dollar pros on tv, 50k a year is a lot of money, and your not going to make that much. especially at 2nl.

Honestly, I advice you to quit. But since your not going to do that, play this game as a hobby, play for some years, build you bankroll, if you think that you can make a significant amount of money at it then try your chances.

But seriously, if you want to make 50K a year, why do it in poker if you can do it a lot safer in IT? Your income is stable, the stress is less, luck plays a very minor roll, where in poker it plays a higher one.

I am not sure about IT salary cost though, I don't think that many people make 50k in IT, but I don't know too much about that.

my dad + uncle working self employed as electrician/plumber and general builder earn around 50k a year not to mention there are times where they sit at home for a month as to the lack of job but sometimes they make up by having a couple of jobs at once. Depends on your qualifications and what job your lucky enough to get into

Do both, make a career with IT and then play poker in your free time to supplement your income. No reason why you can't do both. Absolutely don't quit poker, I think that is poor advice. You should never turn something down until you have had a proper crack at it. Follow correct BRM and you cant go too much wrong.

This. LOL at thinking £50k is the average UK salary.

am i not explaining clear enough? everyone is telling me to quit poker ? prepare i said like 3 times already i want to get a job in IT and do poker in my spare time...

are you superior to me? your allowed to play poker and im not allowed to TRY ? whats your reasoning to this? you dont like the way someone talks or someones username and you tell them "ok, i dont like ur username. Quit poker as theres no point of you playing?"

ps. its advise not advice (ps to user: prepare)

Did you really DC with quads Aldito?

I think you should learn a few more facts before you try and advise someone on the correct usage of advice. I would advise you check your facts because I was stating that quitting poker was terrible advice.

lewl.

ps you misspelt "it's"

TheGeneral i think what R1 said is that his "ps" message was to prepare as what he said was "i advice you to quit poker" and not to you. Read the message again he wrote "(ps to user: prepare)"

No need getting angry

No offence but this just proves your naivety and or lack of knowledge... I think you will find that the average wage is mid twenties 23k I think the last Government figure was.

Sorry, but just wanted to correct your facts there...

Also, if i'm being completely honest, you don't write too well, are you sure your education is going to net you a 50k IT job, most decent IT techs I know (and i worked for CSC for 6 years) have a good standard of education (including English)... just an observation, but you come across more like my 15 year old daughter...