If I had to recommend an online poker room, it would be PokerStars. Why? Not because of the software, or because of the player volume, but because of the excellent support. Every time I have had an issue with PokerStars I have received prompt, eloquent and informative responses.
Nothing more to say - just a random PokerStars praise entry. Keep up the good work, guys!
A poker player can be one of two types – a pessimistic player, or an optimistic player – and this will effect his reaction to the games he plays.
The pessimist loses a hand. He may have played the hand poorly, but his ego doesn’t let him reflect on the hand and realize this. His first thought after the cards are mucked and the dealer is shuffling, is something like “Again! AGAIN he caught his flush on the river!” The pessimist may have allowed the villain to draw correctly, he may have polarized his hand, or he may have checked a street when he shouldn’t have. Either way, the pessimist lost the hand. Whether it was his fault or not is something he doesn’t consider – in his mind he simply got unlucky.
The optimist reflects on his hand. It may not be during the session or immediately after, but he is critical of his own play and can take his ego out of the equation. The optimist deals in theoretical money – it doesn’t matter if he finishes a session up or down, provided he has made the best possible decisions throughout his session, he can be pleased with his play.
In lue of my ‘Life as a poker professional‘ post I’d like to point everybody to the StoxPoker Blog. A number of Internet pokers best players as well as StoxPoker’s psychology coach post here and provide a rather unique insight into the life of a poker professional.
Disclaimer: Although I am biased by working with StoxPoker I do genuinely feel that the blog is one of the better poker blogs on the internet and strongly recommend spending a few minutes flicking through an entry or two.
Although many people assume it will, playing poker for a living doesn’t mean you aren’t still working full time. To do it, and do it well, you’ll need to be putting in similar hours – you’ll just get to choose when you do them. It’s a typical grandiose notion that professional poker will release you from the shackles of the rat race, but you still put in the hours, you still have to be wise with your money and accounts, and you still have to pay taxes. Essentially, you put on a new set of shackles – provided you see normal life as being chained down.
Before you consider playing poker for a living, make sure you really love the game. You may think your job is repetitive now, but multi-tabling poker all day can be just the same. You should also take into consideration what future opportunities you have in your current position – is it really worth giving up a potentially good long-term career for what could possibly be short-term money and freedom?
However, if you have strong self-discipline, and the ability to critique yourself (this is a particularly handy skill for post-flop match reviews), then poker may just be for you.
So you’ve played a few hundred hours of poker online, have an established win-rate over a large number of hands (250,000+), and want to take a shot at becoming an online poker professional? Where do you go from here?
First of all, think about how much money you would be comfortable with having in reserve. Now double it. Having far more money at your disposal than you need not only decreases your risk of ruin, but will help you cope with those inevitable ‘down days’ that much better. You’re not going to profit every day – and if you don’t know this before you start, you should reconsider your decision – and having a large amount of cash in reserve is nothing but a good idea.
Secondly, what are your expectations? How much money do you want to make, and how many hands do you plan to play each month? When you first go from having a 9-5 job to what may start out feeling like an endless weekend, it’s very easy to start slacking off and not playing as often as you should. Have some goals to help keep you focused.
Third of all, what are your pre-session and post-session routines? When you were working you presumably had a routine. Whether it was the drive to work, or a morning coffee, you would have had something which mentally prepared you to work. As a poker professional, having a pre-session routine will help you to mentally prepare to play your absolute A game. A good example of a pre-session routine would be to wake up, have a shower and breakfast, grab yourself a bottle or glass of water and then start locating good tables. Post-session routines aren’t that different – this could be opening a video site, such as StoxPoker or Deucescracked, and watching some videos, or posting hands from the day on TwoPlusTwo. Either way, your post-session routine should help you to close off your day until you start again tomorrow.
Anytime before you bet or raise there are always two things that I feel should always go through your head (before you start considering outs / pot odds):
Number 1. What hands am I going to get value from which I am beating?
Number 2. What hands am I folding out which are beating me?
If you are betting without being able to answer at least one of these questions then you are betting without purpose. Bluffing is one thing but don’t become another “cold bluffer” (a bluffer who bluffs without knowing why they are bluffing).
For almost eight years now, I have been playing and studying this wonderful game called poker. I’ve played Limit Hold’em professionally, coached numerous players, written many a forum post, and currently work as the production manager for StoxPoker.com – the best job and people to work for in the world.
Although I’ve played and studied many different variants of poker – from 2-7 triple draw, to Razz, to No Limit Hold’em – I’ve never really taken the time to get my No Limit Hold’em cash game to the same level as my Limit Hold’em cash game (I usually play up to $20/$40 Limit Hold’em a few hours each week when I’m not busy doing StoxPoker work).
The aim of this blog is to document my progress from being a profitable player at .50c/$1 No Limit Hold’em (currently 7.2BB/100 after 48,600 hands), towards being a profitable player at $5/$10 No Limit Hold’em. I hope to make this jump over the next 18 months (gradually moving up limits), and want to prove to myself that I can beat, as well as document, the different limits along the way.
Points to remember and take with me on my journey:
My aim is to fit in some poker study where possible each day – fortunately this is already included in my daily work routine (reviewing StoxPoker videos before release). Added to this I have pretty much every book in the TwoPlusTwo library, have pulled out “Harrington on Cash Games” Volumes I and II to study, and intend to follow that up with Ed Miller’s “No Limit Hold’em - Theory and Practice”.
Hopefully over time I can post meaningful content (and hand histories), which might help others who begin the same transition.
Enjoy!