How much will it cost me to learn to play poker?

[blackunicorn]

I work with someone who flies all over the place to play poker, he gets free rooms, shows and stuff. Sometimes he comes back with a lot of money, sometimes not. Lately he's been winning more than usual and is going to stop working for a while and just do tournaments.

I envy him. I know the basic rules of poker but I've never played for anything but friendly stakes. How much would it cost me, in terms of research, training, etc, to start playing at a level that I could play for decent stakes, and win sometimes? I'd love to go to casinos and come out even in the long run.

Suggestions?

 

[mchammer187]

david slanksky is the man

brush up on a few of his books to start

start low and move your way up

 

[amoeba]

what do you mean by decent stakes and win sometimes?

even losing players win sometimes.

I assume you mean win more than you lose over the long run.

anyways, I would start with some books, visit forums.

invest $100 online through some kind of deposit bonus deal, hopefully start with $200 bankroll.

work that playing very low limit online games in to $1000.

by that time, you should be experienced to tackle most of the lower end live games in vegas.

 

[Qwest]

read up on some books, but it's all about experience.
online poker does not count with the lack of interaction.'

edit: most tournaments, even the cheap ones, are usually no limit in my experience.
in the end, it's not a great idea to start playing poker to make money.
even the pros go through spells where they lose tens of thousands of dollars then all of a sudden win some money.

 

[amoeba]

Originally posted by: Qwest
read up on some books, but it's all about experience.
online poker does not count with the lack of interaction.'

real life reads are remarkably overemphasized by movies/tv.

and if OP is playing limit, real life reads are pretty much pointless.

 

[agnitrate]

Why don't you do yourself a favor and just throw your money away?

I guarantee you're going to lose in the long run and you might even be fortunate enough to come out of it all with a gambling addiction. Good luck with that.

 

[amoeba]

Originally posted by: agnitrate
Why don't you do yourself a favor and just throw your money away?

I guarantee you're going to lose in the long run and you might even be fortunate enough to come out of it all with a gambling addiction. Good luck with that.

what credentials do you have to make that guarantee?

Also, answer this question for me, why do casinos make money on games against the house such as blackjack, roulette, etc....

 

[KLin]

Originally posted by: blackunicorn
I work with someone who flies all over the place to play poker, he gets free rooms, shows and stuff. Sometimes he comes back with a lot of money, sometimes not. Lately he's been winning more than usual and is going to stop working for a while and just do tournaments.

I envy him. I know the basic rules of poker but I've never played for anything but friendly stakes. How much would it cost me, in terms of research, training, etc, to start playing at a level that I could play for decent stakes, and win sometimes? I'd love to go to casinos and come out even in the long run.

Suggestions?

I bet the reason he's doing so well now is he's probably playing against a lot of amateurs in the ring games.

 

[amoeba]

I personally think its silly to take trips to casinos to play unless if you are there for the atmosphere.

typically brick and mortar casinos take more rake and you have to pay for food/hotel.

also you can only single table and cards come around a lot slower aside from limited table selection.

 

[blackunicorn]

I don't really want to play poker to make money, I want to break even or not lose too much. Is that possible?

I'm a boring, mildmannered computer professional and I'm looking for a little mild excitement. I'm getting bored with my usual excitement, which is playing video games and scanning the menu at McD's and BK to see what's new.

 

[amoeba]

Originally posted by: blackunicorn
I don't really want to play poker to make money, I want to break even or not lose too much. Is that possible?

I'm a boring, mildmannered computer professional and I'm looking for a little mild excitement. I'm getting bored with my usual excitement, which is playing video games and scanning the menu at McD's and BK to see what's new.

if thats your goal, just play low stakes online. if you want the casino atmosphere, go and just play tight and not go to showdown unless if you have a killer hand.

you won't make as much but you won't lose too much either playing super tight.

 

[Viper GTS]

Originally posted by: blackunicorn
I don't really want to play poker to make money, I want to break even or not lose too much. Is that possible?

I'm a boring, mildmannered computer professional and I'm looking for a little mild excitement. I'm getting bored with my usual excitement, which is playing video games and scanning the menu at McD's and BK to see what's new.

To start with pick up the following books:

Winning Low Limit Hold 'Em (Lee Jones)
Small Stakes Hold 'Em (Sklansky)

I would start with those two, WLLH is pretty low level & you'll outgrow that quickly. SSHE is where you really start to learn & you'll go through that potentially dozens of times.

If you outgrow both of those Sklanksy also has Hold 'Em Poker For Advanced Players and Theory of Poker.

Drop $100 in books, $55 in software (Poker Tracker) and sign up using a bonus program so you have some room to lose before you start losing your own money. PM me if you want specific recommendations, even though it doesn't benefit me the mods tend to frown on discussion of this stuff.

Once you have all that start playing some low limit games. First starting I found I was competent at $0.10/$0.20, but you can go even lower if you want. When you get frustrated/confused or simply lose go read some. At those limits and with bonus money you can play many thousands of hands without any real risk to your own money.

Viper GTS

 

[iwantanewcomputer]

how much you got?

 

[AncientPC]

Stop tapping the fish tanks.

 

[Rudee]

I suck at Poker. The only game where I have any luck in is Craps. I can normally walk away with a few hundred profit on every trip to the Craps Table. About a thousand total for a weekend, which is not that bad.

 

[amoeba]

Viper gave very good advice.

for No limit pot limit, I recommend Ciaffone's potlimit/nolimit book.

and once you are familiar with nolimit, I would read Brunson's Supersystems 2.

 

[KillyKillall]

The first thing you need to do is purchase Turbo Hold'm and Turbo Tournament Hold'm. ...this is what all teh pro's use to train and is great at setting up scenarious and analyzing your own playing. Graphics aren't the best, but the program is.

Wilson Software

 

[amoeba]

Originally posted by: KillyKillall
The first thing you need to do is purchase Turbo Hold'm and Turbo Tournament Hold'm. ...this is what all teh pro's use to train and is great at setting up scenarious and analyzing your own playing. Graphics aren't the best, but the program is.

Wilson Software

I have never heard of this. is this like poker tracker?

 

[Muadib]

Wow, I never knew there were so many gamblers here. I used to play Friday nights with some of the boys from work, but I sucked for the most part. Those of you recommending books, I'd be curios to know where it got you. Do you consider yourself a better player now, or are you the same as you were?

 

[Viper GTS]

Originally posted by: amoeba

Originally posted by: KillyKillall
The first thing you need to do is purchase Turbo Hold'm and Turbo Tournament Hold'm. ...this is what all teh pro's use to train and is great at setting up scenarious and analyzing your own playing. Graphics aren't the best, but the program is.

Wilson Software

I have never heard of this. is this like poker tracker?

It's simulation software.

You can make very detailed profiles for computer players (bots, if you will) and practice against a table that plays to guidelines you set.

I believe it may even be able to take hand histories & emulate a particular player (not sure on that, been a while since I looked at it).

Viper GTS

 

[KillyKillall]

Originally posted by: Viper GTS

Originally posted by: amoeba

Originally posted by: KillyKillall
The first thing you need to do is purchase Turbo Hold'm and Turbo Tournament Hold'm. ...this is what all teh pro's use to train and is great at setting up scenarious and analyzing your own playing. Graphics aren't the best, but the program is.

Wilson Software

I have never heard of this. is this like poker tracker?

It's simulation software.

You can make very detailed profiles for computer players (bots, if you will) and practice against a table that plays to guidelines you set.

I believe it may even be able to take hand histories & emulate a particular player (not sure on that, been a while since I looked at it).

Viper GTS

That is correct. Trust me..the software is worth it if you want to be a serious poker player. Anyone who tries to play professionally uses it. My brother is a journalist and did an article on some of the big poker players..thats where he found out about the software years ago.

 

[vood0g]

Originally posted by: amoeba

Originally posted by: agnitrate
Why don't you do yourself a favor and just throw your money away?

I guarantee you're going to lose in the long run and you might even be fortunate enough to come out of it all with a gambling addiction. Good luck with that.

what credentials do you have to make that guarantee?

Also, answer this question for me, why do casinos make money on games against the house such as blackjack, roulette, etc....

what are u smoking? no games in the casinos are stacked against the house...

 

[amoeba]

Originally posted by: vood0g

Originally posted by: amoeba

Originally posted by: agnitrate
Why don't you do yourself a favor and just throw your money away?

I guarantee you're going to lose in the long run and you might even be fortunate enough to come out of it all with a gambling addiction. Good luck with that.

what credentials do you have to make that guarantee?

Also, answer this question for me, why do casinos make money on games against the house such as blackjack, roulette, etc....

what are u smoking? no games in the casinos are stacked against the house...

I'm not smoking anything. when I said against the house I meant played against the house not the odds are against the house. I said against the house to differentiate between these games and poker.

 

[vood0g]

Originally posted by: amoeba

Originally posted by: vood0g

Originally posted by: amoeba

Originally posted by: agnitrate
Why don't you do yourself a favor and just throw your money away?

I guarantee you're going to lose in the long run and you might even be fortunate enough to come out of it all with a gambling addiction. Good luck with that.

what credentials do you have to make that guarantee?

Also, answer this question for me, why do casinos make money on games against the house such as blackjack, roulette, etc....

what are u smoking? no games in the casinos are stacked against the house...

I'm not smoking anything. when I said against the house I meant played against the house not the odds are against the house. I said against the house to differentiate between these games and poker.

oops my apologies, misinterpreted what you were saying.

 

[KillyKillall]

Originally posted by: vood0g

Originally posted by: amoeba

Originally posted by: vood0g

Originally posted by: amoeba

Originally posted by: agnitrate
Why don't you do yourself a favor and just throw your money away?

I guarantee you're going to lose in the long run and you might even be fortunate enough to come out of it all with a gambling addiction. Good luck with that.

what credentials do you have to make that guarantee?

Also, answer this question for me, why do casinos make money on games against the house such as blackjack, roulette, etc....

what are u smoking? no games in the casinos are stacked against the house...

I'm not smoking anything. when I said against the house I meant played against the house not the odds are against the house. I said against the house to differentiate between these games and poker.

oops my apologies, misinterpreted what you were saying.

these are the longest quote boxes EVAR!