Becoming a pro by Atlanta Josh
Crackin little bit of reading with a couple of good links on the end................................
Becoming a Pro- Part 1
Wednesday, June 29th, 2005One of the most frequent questions I get is: "If you had $10,000 and had to start your career over, how would you do it? What would you play and do you think its actually possible to do?" The answer is yes, it is very possible and after thinking about it, I believe I will give it a try. My plan is to set aside a bankroll of $10,000, play 40 hrs a week online in lower limit games and see if I can earn $1500 a week, which should be very possible. Just kidding, I wish I had time to devote to a project like this, it seems like it would be a very interesting study. Instead of doing it myself, I will tell you how I would go about doing it and see if I can coach you on your road to professional poker.Ok, lets say that you have your $2k in bills paid for the month and now you have $10k to work with. Lets not worry about playing the big tournaments right now. Lets concentrate on the tourist-rich cash games. Everyone and their mother thinks they have what it takes to play no limit these days, so lets expose em. Find a casino that offers $1-$2 or $2-$4 blind no limit games and always be sure to buy in for the max. Most of these games have a table buy-in limit set, so make sure to always buy-in for the max. If there is no max, don't be afraid to sit with $1,000 of your $10,000 bankroll... You don't want to show fear, players pick up on it and a small buy-in is the first sign of fear.The key to becoming a pro is working your way up in limits. Every pro has started at the smaller limits and worked their way up. Even players like Phil Ivey and Daniel Negreanu played the small limits, so don't get discouraged or embarrassed to start small. Another major ingredient to building that bankroll is game selection. Don't be afraid to play a little bit higher if you see an amazingly soft game that you think you can push a few people around. Let me explain game selection a bit. I am the biggest sucker for a game with tons of chips flying. In many past experiences I have found myself walking back to the room with my tail between my legs and my chin on my chest because I got broke in a game like this. Be sure to shy away from fast paced games with big swings. We aren't looking for games like that at this point. We are trying to keep our swings down and show small profit in each session.At this point in your career, decision making is so important in every aspect of the game. Every hand you play and every minute at the table is valuable experience for your long road ahead. Be sure to pick up on tells and betting patterns that people at this level are unknowingly throwing at you throughout your entire session. After each session critique everything you did for an hour or so. Think about the weird situations that you found yourself in and think of how to avoid them from happening again.Right about now you are probably wondering: when am I going to get to the moving up in limits part? Patience guys, patience!!! Moving up in limits is not so important right now. You can easily make $20-$25 an hour playing these low blind no limit games. The competition is weak and your hourly may be more down here in the lower levels. I would say when you get your bankroll up to about $13,000 is when you can move up to the $5-$10 blind no limit games and start playing some of the smaller buyin tournaments. But before you do this, make sure you scout the games and be sure that you can move up and still be comfortable playing for the bigger stakes. If you find yourself playing tighter and more cautious because of the inflated dollar amounts, go back down!!! I cant say this loud enough. Playing weak tight can be a disaster to your minimal bankroll and you will find your yourself working back at that 9-5 wishing you were those straights and flush draws again.As you work your way up in limits you will find the competition getting more talented and you will find yourself in trickier situations than you ever before. Once again you need to find yourself evaluating your sessions and trying to improve all aspects of the game. This is a great place to start and before you know it you will realize that you are good enough to play the higher limits. I will go into the next step on what you can do in a later article, but I think I have left you with plenty work on for the time being. Here is a few of the finer points that you need to know and that have nothing to do with playing poker itself. When I first started making trips to the casino, a friend of mine told me a saying that I will never ever forget. He told me "Josh, when you go to the casino use tunnel vision." The saying is pretty straight forward, but I will explain it anyway. Don't be lured in by the free drinks, and definitely don't fall for that roar you hear coming from the crap table. There are many great poker players that struggle because they never learned to stay away from the alcohol or the pit gambling. Be sure to walk thru that front door and go straight to the poker room and do the same when you leave. Don't fall for that quick easy money, that's not what this is about. Your road to professional poker is going to be a long grind, its not something that happens overnight. Take it from me, I've been broke a million times, but I learned a lesson every time I went broke. I made it a point to learn what NOT to do and evolve from those experiences. All of those horrendous experiences have molded me into the player and person that I am today. Another important thing that you can work on right now is knowing when to play. Find good hours. Some of the best games are in strange hours. Adjust your schedule so that you are fresh when others are tired. No limit is a game that you can really take advantage of tired players and it will definitely help your bankroll to play against these people.Play because you want to, don't play because you have to. Everyday when you are riding into 'work' tell yourself how lucky you are for doing what you are doing and remind yourself of the alternative... THE 9 to 5 back at home, wherever you are from!!!! One last aspect I want you to really focus on is always play your top game. Be honest with yourself and know when you are off your game. No one, not event the top players in the world, play their best every session. But what makes them the best is the fact that they are honest with themselves and know what to do to stop it or they know when to call it a day. If you find yourself playing bad its probably because you are losing or just flat out sick of playing.... That's when its time to take a break and do something away from the casino to clear your mind.
Poker Article Archives
Becoming a Pro- Part 1
So What do YOU think?
The Magnifacent Woo
"Hold'em Up" at the Aviation Club
Bluff Magazine articles
Wednesday, June 29th, 2005One of the most frequent questions I get is: "If you had $10,000 and had to start your career over, how would you do it? What would you play and do you think its actually possible to do?" The answer is yes, it is very possible and after thinking about it, I believe I will give it a try. My plan is to set aside a bankroll of $10,000, play 40 hrs a week online in lower limit games and see if I can earn $1500 a week, which should be very possible. Just kidding, I wish I had time to devote to a project like this, it seems like it would be a very interesting study. Instead of doing it myself, I will tell you how I would go about doing it and see if I can coach you on your road to professional poker.Ok, lets say that you have your $2k in bills paid for the month and now you have $10k to work with. Lets not worry about playing the big tournaments right now. Lets concentrate on the tourist-rich cash games. Everyone and their mother thinks they have what it takes to play no limit these days, so lets expose em. Find a casino that offers $1-$2 or $2-$4 blind no limit games and always be sure to buy in for the max. Most of these games have a table buy-in limit set, so make sure to always buy-in for the max. If there is no max, don't be afraid to sit with $1,000 of your $10,000 bankroll... You don't want to show fear, players pick up on it and a small buy-in is the first sign of fear.The key to becoming a pro is working your way up in limits. Every pro has started at the smaller limits and worked their way up. Even players like Phil Ivey and Daniel Negreanu played the small limits, so don't get discouraged or embarrassed to start small. Another major ingredient to building that bankroll is game selection. Don't be afraid to play a little bit higher if you see an amazingly soft game that you think you can push a few people around. Let me explain game selection a bit. I am the biggest sucker for a game with tons of chips flying. In many past experiences I have found myself walking back to the room with my tail between my legs and my chin on my chest because I got broke in a game like this. Be sure to shy away from fast paced games with big swings. We aren't looking for games like that at this point. We are trying to keep our swings down and show small profit in each session.At this point in your career, decision making is so important in every aspect of the game. Every hand you play and every minute at the table is valuable experience for your long road ahead. Be sure to pick up on tells and betting patterns that people at this level are unknowingly throwing at you throughout your entire session. After each session critique everything you did for an hour or so. Think about the weird situations that you found yourself in and think of how to avoid them from happening again.Right about now you are probably wondering: when am I going to get to the moving up in limits part? Patience guys, patience!!! Moving up in limits is not so important right now. You can easily make $20-$25 an hour playing these low blind no limit games. The competition is weak and your hourly may be more down here in the lower levels. I would say when you get your bankroll up to about $13,000 is when you can move up to the $5-$10 blind no limit games and start playing some of the smaller buyin tournaments. But before you do this, make sure you scout the games and be sure that you can move up and still be comfortable playing for the bigger stakes. If you find yourself playing tighter and more cautious because of the inflated dollar amounts, go back down!!! I cant say this loud enough. Playing weak tight can be a disaster to your minimal bankroll and you will find your yourself working back at that 9-5 wishing you were those straights and flush draws again.As you work your way up in limits you will find the competition getting more talented and you will find yourself in trickier situations than you ever before. Once again you need to find yourself evaluating your sessions and trying to improve all aspects of the game. This is a great place to start and before you know it you will realize that you are good enough to play the higher limits. I will go into the next step on what you can do in a later article, but I think I have left you with plenty work on for the time being. Here is a few of the finer points that you need to know and that have nothing to do with playing poker itself. When I first started making trips to the casino, a friend of mine told me a saying that I will never ever forget. He told me "Josh, when you go to the casino use tunnel vision." The saying is pretty straight forward, but I will explain it anyway. Don't be lured in by the free drinks, and definitely don't fall for that roar you hear coming from the crap table. There are many great poker players that struggle because they never learned to stay away from the alcohol or the pit gambling. Be sure to walk thru that front door and go straight to the poker room and do the same when you leave. Don't fall for that quick easy money, that's not what this is about. Your road to professional poker is going to be a long grind, its not something that happens overnight. Take it from me, I've been broke a million times, but I learned a lesson every time I went broke. I made it a point to learn what NOT to do and evolve from those experiences. All of those horrendous experiences have molded me into the player and person that I am today. Another important thing that you can work on right now is knowing when to play. Find good hours. Some of the best games are in strange hours. Adjust your schedule so that you are fresh when others are tired. No limit is a game that you can really take advantage of tired players and it will definitely help your bankroll to play against these people.Play because you want to, don't play because you have to. Everyday when you are riding into 'work' tell yourself how lucky you are for doing what you are doing and remind yourself of the alternative... THE 9 to 5 back at home, wherever you are from!!!! One last aspect I want you to really focus on is always play your top game. Be honest with yourself and know when you are off your game. No one, not event the top players in the world, play their best every session. But what makes them the best is the fact that they are honest with themselves and know what to do to stop it or they know when to call it a day. If you find yourself playing bad its probably because you are losing or just flat out sick of playing.... That's when its time to take a break and do something away from the casino to clear your mind.
Poker Article Archives
Becoming a Pro- Part 1
So What do YOU think?
The Magnifacent Woo
"Hold'em Up" at the Aviation Club
Bluff Magazine articles
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