Anyone know how to play poker
- Thread starter pokerven
- Start date
pokerven
Newbie
- Jun 22, 2022
- 13
- 4
15 years than you are pro in it ,i think , how much you win till now from playing poker
i am not pro , but i can win easy on cash games money, not always but most of times , noone can win always
- Nov 2, 2008
- 56,350
- 25,434
started playing when i was 17. 35 yrs ago. also play online now and again .
GregoryY123
BANNED
- Aug 16, 2020
- 359
- 115
I play for 10 years now, but not for money.
Never.
Never.
Gymthreads
Junior Member
- Sep 12, 2014
- 195
- 36
Yep, I still play online these days and have been for over 15 years. I play 5 card PLO now.
TheBlackRadio
Junior Member
- Nov 21, 2017
- 114
- 70
i love to play poker but for many years now i haven't played online only with friends in real life
Gymthreads
Junior Member
- Sep 12, 2014
- 195
- 36
You should get back to playing online, imo, with the pandemic the games have gotten better, especially on the big major sites like GGPoker!
- Nov 26, 2018
- 3,155
- 3,678
I play online poker regularly, at least a few sessions each week. I play tournaments on PokerStars primarily, and I play mostly Omaha variants. I also really like Razz and Stud 8 (Hi-Lo). PokerStars volume for sit-and-gos has really dropped off though and I don't have as much time to dedicate to 15-hour sessions, so my volume has dropped off. I don't really enjoy cash games honestly. I have a 75 ability rating on Sharkscope which isn't great, but for micros it's not bad.
If you play somewhat regularly, you can search your username on https://www.sharkscope.com/ and get an idea of what your results look like!
If you play somewhat regularly, you can search your username on https://www.sharkscope.com/ and get an idea of what your results look like!
- Apr 17, 2017
- 5,080
- 7,744
I used to play online poker professionally for about 8 years or so. My main games were Turbos 180s SNGs (I played $3r, $8s, and $15s) in PokerStars always mixing it up with some low/mid stakes MTTs.
I was so into it that at some point I considered myself to be an expert in using tools like PokerTracker (I had a developers account), CardRunnersEV, and Flopzilla.
I stopped because of electricity and internet issues in my country which made it extremely hard to sustain my sessions. That was when I dived into digital marketing and, more specifically SEO and when I found this amazing community.
I was so into it that at some point I considered myself to be an expert in using tools like PokerTracker (I had a developers account), CardRunnersEV, and Flopzilla.
I stopped because of electricity and internet issues in my country which made it extremely hard to sustain my sessions. That was when I dived into digital marketing and, more specifically SEO and when I found this amazing community.
SERP Tank
Supreme Member
- May 10, 2014
- 1,205
- 401
Assuming that was an interesting journey. Btw, I don’t know anything about this game.
RottenApple
Regular Member
- Dec 24, 2020
- 283
- 206
Poker is a great game but at the end of the day, it's a matter of deciphering your opponents' game based on their actions and sometimes a bunch of luck. Probability plays a small role too.
What apps do you guys recommend besides Pokerstars to play for real $$?
What apps do you guys recommend besides Pokerstars to play for real $$?
- Nov 26, 2018
- 3,155
- 3,678
Luck and probability play a much bigger role than deciphering your opponent's game. The best players in the world lose more often than they win, almost entirely because of the luck factor. Winning the maximum when you win, and losing the minimum when you lose, and knowing when to take the 70/30 flip for all the chips are much more important than knowing that it is a 70/30 flip.
"If there weren't luck involved, I would win every time." - Quote commonly attributed to Phil Hellmut, the man who has won more WSOP bracelets than anyone in history, by far.
- Apr 17, 2017
- 5,080
- 7,744
It was an amazing journey and I got REALLY good at it. Even so, I earned the nickname "sensei" in the online poker community in my country
In fact, I take pride in the fact I teach many fellow Venezuelans to make a living or earn a side income from online poker. Many of them develop to show better results than me
But, towards the end, that passion quickly turned into an obsession and it became an unhealthy lifestyle for me. I think the electricity and internet issue was a blessing in disguise. Anyone who plays online poker professionally and has MTTs as their main game knows what I am talking about.
I agree 100% of this.
I always told my peeps that poker is NOT a game of cards is a game of situations and is the situation that will dictate the best way to play your hand and, in many occasions, what cards are you holding doesn´t matter at all.
to win a hand or a single SNG? Yes! Luck plays a huuuge part of it but, to be a profitable tournament regular over a 100,000 hand sample or a 5,000 SNG sample, luck matters very little.
Of course, when it comes to MTTs, you can lose $5,000 playing tournaments and then win one and make that money back. I remember seeing people on my days with a negative ROI over a 10,000 MTT sample and then winning a Sunday major on PokerStars for $50,000+ or $100,000+.
- Dec 29, 2012
- 7,040
- 33,910
Yes, lots
- Nov 26, 2018
- 3,155
- 3,678
This is a common misconception usually pushed by people who have been profitable at poker. The fact is that luck is still the biggest factor in winning at poker.
You can use a poker variance tool to have a better understanding of this using math. It's very clear that even over a 100,000 hand sample in cash games, 2 players can have wildly different results, because of the luck factor.
https://www.primedope.com/poker-variance-calculator/
The thing is, the people who have the loudest voices in the industry are the winners. Nobody cares about the guy who ran bad for 100,000 hands and quit playing because he couldn't get anything going, even if he played technically great.
Then you add in tilt and mistakes that are probably going to be more common among someone who is running bad, and the losses are compounded, and that still results due to bad luck.
As the sample size grows, yes we expect the variance to lessen, but the people who reach the high numbers required are the ones who ran better earlier due to luck.
Gymthreads
Junior Member
- Sep 12, 2014
- 195
- 36
Probably depends on your location and where you can play, although that doesn’t always stop people.
what games and stakes would you want to play? GGPoker is probably your best option for game choice, software, etc.
- Apr 17, 2017
- 5,080
- 7,744
This is just NOT true. I feel like YOU have a misconception when it comes to the impact luck has on your results as a poker player.
In small sample sizes? Yes!
In big sample sizes? No!
I am fairly familiar with the tool and, yes, you´re right on the fact two players over a 100,000 hands sample will eventually show different results but that´s due to variance.
And we circle around the same point again. I was taught that in poker there´s no such thing as "luck" but only "variance". What "common people," say is "luck" is purely variance kicking in.
Let´s clarify a couple of concepts here before moving forward.
One thing will be your "real" results and a different thing will be your "EV" (Expected Value) results. This is why you will often hear poker players saying stuff like "I am running 2bb under EV" or "variance owes me $XXX".
So going back to your point, yes, two players will often show different results but if they have the same winrate (I will use winrate since in your example you´re referring to a cash player sample) their expected results (before playing a single hand) will be identical.
Let me prove it to you using the poker dope calculator.
Let´s assume we´re comparing two players with a 10bb/100 winrate over a 100,000 hand sample.
Player 1
Player 2
As you said, two players over a 100,000 hand sample even with the same winrate will most likely end up with different results but, when comparing their confidence interval we can see it´s exactly the same no matter how many times you run the simulations using those same parameters...
Player 1
Player 2
As you can see, with a 95% confidence interval we can safely estimate the results from the two players in our example will fall anywhere between +3.68bb/100 and 16.32bb/100 with a probability of loss after 100,000 hands of 0.0783%.
Again, these metrics won´t change regardless of how many times you run the simulation.
I have been away from the game for 5+ years but back in the day 100,000 hand sample for a regular cash player, someone that played poker professionally was the equivalent of around a month and a half or two months of play.
Additionally, it will take a hell of a lot of "running bad" for a guy with a proven 10bb/100 winrate on any level to NOT make money or end up with a profit over a 100,000 hand sample size. It´s just NOT statistically possible.
Winrate and ROIs are the ultimate "variance killer".
Players with low winrates/ROIs will inevitably "run worse" in comparison to someone with a much higher winrate/ROI over the same sample size.
And sustaining a high winrate/ROI over big or representative samples will require a hell lot more than just "luck" or having the "variance" on your side.
Of course, this is not the same with tournament players as winning a single tournament (especially if it´s a big one - Like the Sunday Million) can take you from a -50% player over a 10k tournament sample to +50% but that doesn´t mean you´re a profitable MTT player, you just got "lucky" winning a single tournament that happened that was above your regular buying and changed everything for you.
Cash players and SNG regulars are different in that regard.
It has to be a high variance poker format for you to run badly over a 100,000 hand sample that you weren´t able to turn a profit.
A couple of examples that come to mind are high-stakes Hyper 6max SNGs and Spin&Gos.
Or, if you´re playing on a stake that you just can´t beat. I saw this all the time with cash game buddies trying to move from NL50 to NL100 or from NL10 to NL50.
You might have sustained a 10bb/100 winrate on NL10 but if you´re getting crushed in NL50 that might not be variance and it´s just the fact you´re unable to beat the field at that stake.
Same with SNGs.
I remember playing $2.50 Turbos 180s SNGs on PokerStars and multi-tabling 20-22 tables at the same time and sustaining a 22% ROI but, when trying the $3r and the $8s I got murdered.
I had to drastically drop the number of tables I was playing to heavily focus a lot more on each decision I was taking. This transition cost me a lot but once I made it and started beating $3r and $8 consistently I started loading $15s as well and beating them at a 16% ROI over 9,000+ SNGs played.
100% agree with this!
And I dealt with this a hell lot. I just couldn´t stand how people made X, Y, or Z move at certain situations/stages of an SNG or MTT and got so mad it affected my mental state and my decision-making for the remaining of the session.
This was the time then encountered people like Jarred Tendler from who I learned quite a lot about how to manage my emotions while playing.
True
If your winrate/ROI is high, the difference between the expected results and your actual results will be smaller (as shown in the example above).
It´s been a while since I chatted this much about poker.
Remember in the old days how I practically lived in the twoplustwo forum hahaha
Thanks for reviving those feelings.
Cheers mate!