How long did it take you to be a break even player?

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gcurtis98

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Hi everyone. I've been playing poker for about a month. I've placed in 24 tournaments(mixture of mtt, stg). I've been playing whenever I get free time. Overall I'm down around $20 from tilting on cash games so I've been trying to work on my discipline.

I have a couple questions for the more experienced players.

1.) How long did it take you before you could play without depositing more money(playing at a break-even skill level)?

2.)Around how much money were you down at this point?

3.)What stakes did you play? STG, MTT, or Cash?
 
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ZingyT

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experience at the table is key, but just as important will be developing your game off the felt. Reading books and watching poker videos are good ways to develop when not playing.

For me it took about 1.5 years of regular play (approx 2000 tournaments) to become "profitable". I think I maybe invested $500-$700 in my first run at poker in 2012, but am playing without deposit since returning a few months ago.

I only play microstakes which has a higher degree of variance from people making incorrect calls/suckouts. Remember that 2/3 offsuit still has nearly 40% equity vs A/K so being on a draw against ANY hand is a virtual coinflip.

Learning to make "reads" when in a hand pretty much only comes from experience, and being on the wrong end of a call time and time again. Always play for fun over profit will keep this process from becoming too painful.
 
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gcurtis98

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Thank you for the advice! I have been doing some reading, are there any certain websites you would advise me to go to for helpful videos and learning?
I've played around 3,500 hands and have done a decent amount of reading but I could use a place to study with a lot of information, or maybe one of those free online poker schools?
 
cheapseats76

cheapseats76

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You tube has a video from MIT. It is a class they taught there with about 6-7 sessions. It teaches you strategy maneuvers and some other helpful stuff. Just type in MIT poker class on you tube and you should get some results. I think it took me a little longer to become a plus player as when I started I didn't play as much. Zingy hit it on the head about variance being a big part in the micro games but just try to stick to a BR game plan and you should be able to get a ton of experience with minimum loses. Welcome and good luck on the felts!
 
Doubledunk

Doubledunk

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Thank you for the advice! I have been doing some reading, are there any certain websites you would advise me to go to for helpful videos and learning?
I've played around 3,500 hands and have done a decent amount of reading but I could use a place to study with a lot of information, or maybe one of those free online poker schools?

You can learn by joining Upswing or join the study group here in CC.
You can also get a training software like Ace Poker Drills or watch pros play in twitch and try to learn from them
 
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gcurtis98

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Awesome thanks everyone! Watching the videos now
 
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