New Player, a little help?

FcukStryker · Oct 3, 2012

Hello, I've been around the game of poker for some time now. I played when I was 16, currently 27, for a few years with some friends playing penny games at home. When I turned 21 I graduated to a 1-2 no limit game at Foxwoods Casino in CT, where I am currently a dealer at. During that time I played quite a bit online playing 1/2 on pokerstars and one a few thousand dollars on a 300 dollar investment, cashed out, went into the Army, and never played online again as the whole thing came crashing down the past few years. I had varying success while I was in the Army coming home, most of the time I would win small, or lose 300, and I had a few 1k wins from a 200 buy investment in a 1/2 game. Since I got out of the Army I am now dealing again for the second time and I've been getting the bug so I noticed Carbon Poker had Fun Steps to a dollar. I didn't want to invest online as I have always been skeptical of the variance online and figured if I could build a free bankroll I wouldnt care nearly as much as if it was my own invested money. I've had some decent success winning a few Step 3s and turning it into 10 dollars however I hit some cold streaks, mixed in with more poor play than good play. Basically what I'm getting at is, I SharkScoped myself, my ROI is around 17% and skill 61. I have poker tracked myself and I have 20k hands played(that I imported to poker tracker) and I was wondering if I am playing poorly more often than not, if maybe I should quit, or if maybe a few simple tweaks might make me more successful because I can't seem to build the bankroll and since having gone to 10 I am now down to pennies again. Thanks for the time in reading this.

beerzy · Oct 3, 2012

Not good either to play with no pressure or with fear,,,
Aw from your text i didn't quite understand what were you playing...Only step 3's? And the still factor in sharkscope doesn't mean that much...

AlfieAA · Oct 3, 2012

if you are too scared to deposit some money, then poker is not the game for you my friend....stick to dealing

CANDYMAN1414 · Oct 3, 2012

If you want to get a free 100 to play with on bovada, send me a message and Ill tell you how to get a free hunny with no risk. You will still have to roll it over, 5 poker points per dollar I think, but Ive got mine up enough to cash out over a grand and still have 200 left. Its the best sites for freerolls. They give tourney tickets for anything there,.

luckyhearts · Oct 3, 2012

You are playing $300 a night, and afraid to deposit online?...I don't understand..you can deposit as little as 25 bux and build on the mico's.($1/2 online is freakin brutal, wait till you have a huge bankroll to mess with it, variance will kill a 300 buck bankroll in a night, easy) Seems to me like you have plenty of experience, just go for it! (keep posting, the added buyins here are a great deal)
If you have any trouble depositing, just call them or use live chat, trust me they will find a way to get-r-done.

FcukStryker · Oct 3, 2012

Maybe I wasn't clear in my question. I was playing for 300 back then because I had a stable income and now I am a full time college student where my finances can't facilitate playing for that kind of money on a given night. I am thinking of depositing 500-750 to match with a 100% bonus somewhere and starting in Micro Stakes. I'm not so much SCARED to lose the money but after seeing my stats and such on Shark Scope and losing the 10 dollars I built from a month of Fun Stepping and grinding, I'm just wondering if I should give up if I am not even successful at the Micro stakes level? I feel as if I have my good days and bad days but I don't feel as if I find myself CONSISTENTLY winning. However I'm not sure how much is due to variance and maybe I just didnt have enough starting out with the few dollars from Fun Steps, getting it up to 10, and then moving to 1$ Tournaments. Like I said, I'm not scared, I just dont know if I should put real money on a site and try building a bankroll when I am clearly unsuccessful at building one in micro stakes.

spstevens · Oct 4, 2012

$10 dollars is really not enough money to make a decision one way or the other. An amount like that can be wiped out quickly no matter your skill level.I have built a bankroll from steps and freerolls twice now but in the beginning stages going bust happened quite a few times before I got enough ahead to handle the downswings that are inevitable . Good luck in your endeavor.

FcukStryker · Oct 4, 2012

@SpSteves - How much did you get up to before you could handle the downswings? Maybe I'll just give FunSteps another shot, but it took me a few weeks to win 10 dollars in fun steps and that was a huge grind in and of itself. Very frustrating at the poor play and constantly losing coin flips that I feel I'm on the winning side of when the money goes in. I was thinking of just depositing 500 somewhere and get a 100% match and just start in microstakes but I found myself wondering should I even bother if I am losing money in microstakes what's to say I just dont lose the 500 and bonus if I can't handle building it from 10 dollars.

spstevens · Oct 4, 2012

Agreed as to it being a bit of a grind starting from zero , poor play etc. I made it a quest and treated it quite seriously .The most difficult hurdle was the $100.00 dollar mark after that it sailed along a bit smoother.It can be very hard to mentally asign value to a few dollars as they are after all just a couple bucks.If you are determined to do it that way it is a grind to be sure , more of a personal goal than a financial decision.

AlfieAA · Oct 4, 2012

i dont know why they call it 'fun steps'....more like frustrating steps....if i was you, i would put $40 in to an account and play 2nl.....that gives you 20 buy ins......now you have a job, so you could afford that, considering im unemployed and can afford $20 every now and again......gl

Caesura · Oct 4, 2012

Those bonuses are not easy to get either. They don't just give you the money. I put $120 as my initial deposit and had to spend all of that in buy-ins to get enough points to get $10 back.

Arjonius · Oct 4, 2012

There are things you can do to lower your variance and to decrease the probability of losing your entire small roll. But there's a cost, namely lower EV. For instance, if you play tight, even nit-like ABC poker at the micros, you'll be a winning player. However, your win rate won't be up there with the big winners.

Another example is full ring vs 6max. FR is lower variance but there isn't as much action because there's less need to play marginal hands.

beerzy · Oct 4, 2012

just go for a well known room
If you're from usa merge network, non-usa pstars, igame, party poker...

FcukStryker · Oct 4, 2012

Well I can invest up to 500 dollars, I was thinking this was the best idea since I can get matched 150% on Merge network, I currently play on Carbon but another site on Merge is doing that promotion for new players. I was still thinking of starting at the micro stakes. For instance play .2/.4 and just have no fear of losing. Not necessarily play foolishly but when I was playing there earlier I was being a complete nit, wouldn't play out of position for a raise without good starting hands and I would make little to no plays on someone in fear of losing the starting money. However I feel like if I still start at these levels I can get a better feel for building a bankroll. My main concern is just building a bankroll and moving up through the limits while maintaining bankroll discipline and staying within the limits of my bankroll so I can handle the ups and down. My only concern with that was I tried this with the Fun Steps and got up to 10 dollars but from there I was very unsuccessful in a short amount of time. I know I've had success at 1/2 NL and felt like I could play with those players and make moves however that was just me going there and not caring if I lost 300 dollars because I wasn't operating off a bankroll I was just going to have a good time and I didnt really care if I lost as it was more of an entertainment factor. Now I actually want to build a bankroll and actually try and earn a profit. That was why I was concerned with trying to build a bankroll when I was virtually unsuccessful in the beginning.

FcukStryker · Oct 4, 2012

I am curious about MTT. I like playing in them, I know for cash games you want to have 20 buy ins and for STT you want to have 40 buy ins. What about MTTs?

AlfieAA · Oct 4, 2012

you would need to have about 1000 buy ins for mtt's lol .....its a lottery

dan abnormal · Oct 4, 2012

Id deposit for Id waste so much time with fun steps, I know folks are all into BRM but us Americans are living on borrowed time online anyways, not saying go crazy buy dont bore yourself to sleep playing stuff in your allotted BRM amount. AND I WOULD NOT PUT $500 AT ONE TIME (on any US allowed site) just in case merge suddenly decides they only want to process 5 withdraws a day cause of whatever crazy reason they tell us or decide that 4 months wait should be the norm suddenly, it seems these things change daily. One day the Credit Card option is on merge the next day its not.

FcukStryker · Oct 5, 2012

ALFIEAA: Is that a serious number? I've played 12 MTT's so far at Micro and I've made two final tables and a top 3. Granted I've obviously gotten lucky, matter of fact I ran into AA with KK and had to call off pre flop, and then hit a king. Still only have a few dollars on my account so far and I really would like to start from the bottom and make it to the top but it just seems so hard and it makes more sense to deposit some money and continue at the same stakes so I don't stress out as much over the bad beats and losing.

Arjonius · Oct 5, 2012

The number of buyins you should use as your BRM guideline depends on a number of factors. When Chis Ferguson did his challenges and used 20, he didn't have to concern himself with the possibility of reaching a level where he didn't have a skill advantage. That meant he could use a lower number than other players because the probability he'd lose a substantial portion of his roll was smaller.

Also, you should use a higher number if you play a higher-variance style since you'll tend to have larger swings.

As for MTTs, field size can matter. If you're playing larger fields, you may want to consider using a higher guideline than if you usually play in small ones.

deeshark420 · Oct 5, 2012

A closed mouth gathers no food!

FcukStryker said:
Hello, I've been around the game of poker for some time now. I played when I was 16, currently 27, for a few years with some friends playing penny games at home. When I turned 21 I graduated to a 1-2 no limit game at Foxwoods Casino in CT, where I am currently a dealer at. During that time I played quite a bit online playing 1/2 on PokerStars and one a few thousand dollars on a 300 dollar investment, cashed out, went into the Army, and never played online again as the whole thing came crashing down the past few years. I had varying success while I was in the Army coming home, most of the time I would win small, or lose 300, and I had a few 1k wins from a 200 buy investment in a 1/2 game. Since I got out of the Army I am now dealing again for the second time and I've been getting the bug so I noticed Carbon Poker had Fun Steps to a dollar. I didn't want to invest online as I have always been skeptical of the variance online and figured if I could build a free bankroll I wouldnt care nearly as much as if it was my own invested money. I've had some decent success winning a few Step 3s and turning it into 10 dollars however I hit some cold streaks, mixed in with more poor play than good play. Basically what I'm getting at is, I SharkScoped myself, my ROI is around 17% and skill 61. I have poker tracked myself and I have 20k hands played(that I imported to poker tracker) and I was wondering if I am playing poorly more often than not, if maybe I should quit, or if maybe a few simple tweaks might make me more successful because I can't seem to build the bankroll and since having gone to 10 I am now down to pennies again. Thanks for the time in reading this.

rebuild your cofidence a closed mouth gathers no food!!
Goodluck to you.

FcukStryker · Oct 8, 2012

Yea, after getting my BR up to 10, and down to pennies again, I used to FPP on Carbon for a micro MTT and took 3rd place and won 5 dollars, got it up to 12 dollars again and am back down to 2 dollars. Going to play 2 DoN 1$ tourneys and see what happens. If I get down to zero again I am simply going to have to deposit. I need to have more than 10, probably around 25-30 to adjust to the swings at Micro stakes. Not sure if that's just cause I'm a bit looser and need to survive the swings more or it's just simply the need for that money at the stakes I'm playing at.

ovitoo · Oct 8, 2012

Just saw your thread. Good luck getting something going. If you want some help on your game just post hh or even start a grind thread. Sometimes the pressure of being speculated is enough to help you play smarter. Welcome to Cardschat.

ps. And thank you for your service. Good Luck

dj11 · Oct 8, 2012

For low buy-in MTTs ignore all advice seen here. You can get into any MTT you can afford for a buck or 2. But if you have faith in your game, perhaps the DoN's offer a saner path to increasing your br.

With $100 br's I have always felt OK, getting into $5 MTTS or STT's for that matter.

If you are in the States, then we have whole different considerations. With it being rather hard to deposit, we lost the easy factor, and with you being a student now, rather than a working fish, you have new persuasions to play a smarter game.

PoKeRFoRNiA · Oct 8, 2012

I hope if this can help.
https://www.cardschat.com/forum/learning-poker-57/advices-guides-i-can-give-based-214830/
Don't think of the game with $$$. Think of them as blinds and buy-ins.

FcukStryker · Oct 9, 2012

ovitoo said:
Just saw your thread. Good luck getting something going. If you want some help on your game just post hh or even start a grind thread. Sometimes the pressure of being speculated is enough to help you play smarter. Welcome to Cardschat.

ps. And thank you for your service. Good Luck

Thanks man, I appreciate it. I won my first DoN, then played 3 at once. Took two beats with big pairs all in pre against smaller pairs, then played a hand poorly and lost the 3rd. Went down to 60 cents and tried the .11 cent all in fest to no avail and I'm down to pennies again. I'm simply going to deposit 200 or so I think so I can actually play without fear of losing my entire bankroll in a tourny. I feel like I misplay hands or fold hands I feel like I have the best of it because I'm scared if I am wrong my BR will be gone.

New Player, a little help?

FcukStryker

Rising Star

beerzy

Rock Star

AlfieAA

Legend

CANDYMAN1414

Rock Star

luckyhearts

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FcukStryker

Rising Star

spstevens

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FcukStryker

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spstevens

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AlfieAA

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Caesura

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Arjonius

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beerzy

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FcukStryker

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FcukStryker

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AlfieAA

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dan abnormal

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FcukStryker

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Arjonius

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deeshark420

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FcukStryker

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ovitoo

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dj11

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PoKeRFoRNiA

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FcukStryker

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