How did you start Jezza?

[mikkav]

Hi Jezza just wondering when and how you started to build your bank roll. I've been having lots of success playing the STT's at Paradise in the $5 STT's I've placed in the money in the last 6 Ive played but it's a safe but slow way to build up my br.Did you have one big win that started you on the road or was it a gradual process.I don't mind the slow and steady route but I've had some success playing the $50 NL buy-ins .Tell me is 20% too high or about right to be seeing the flop I don't mind playing tag in cash games but I find i play looser in the STT's but very very aggressively I make it expensive to see the flop my maxim is either fold or raise unless I want to slow play a monster.Am I doing the right thing here your advice would be appreciated (or anyone else's to be honest):clap

[dave]

Re: How did you start Jezza? He robbed fruit machines didn't you Jezza?

[staffy]

Re: How did you start Jezza? He used to sell his @rse on the streets if you must know:o

[cains]

Re: How did you start Jezza?

He used to sell his @rse on the streets if you must know:o

You were a regular customer??? :spank / cains

[Jezza]

Re: How did you start Jezza? :lol Staffy you cheeky cnut I thought that sort of thing only went on at policemans balls? Dave is right in a way, I used to play fruit machines for a living so was accustomed to being a pro gambler anyway - I sort of drifted slowly over to poker, the money coming in from slotting could finance a slow start at poker. As for the poker bankroll, I started out playing STT's like you, the 10 dollar ones (as the rake is less % wise than the 5s) and devouring everything I could on the game + playing for hours every night. Doing not bad I progessed onto the 0.25/0.5 cash tables on ladbrokes (50 dollar max buy in). There I played solidly for many months playing a TAG game and making some not bad money, easily covering my rent + bills at least. I managed to win a 50 dollar buy in MTT outright on pokerstars which paid just under 6k one night and that was when I decided to give up slotting for good...I banked the money and moved up slightly to 0.5/1 NL cash games...concentrating solely on poker - its been a lot of ups and downs but in the long run a gradual rise ever since. As for your other questions on strategy mikkav..there are a few threads about this around already if you take a look back through the poker forum but for a few pointers... 20% to see the flop is very tight, perhaps just a little too much IMO..maybe 30% should be ok. Playing super tight is fine tho just as long as you do back it up with aggression when you go for it you will still find yourself paid off by plenty of people to make it worth you while (as long as you have the patience for it as well!) In STT's I would recommend keeping preflop raising down when the blinds are low but as you say either raising big or folding when the blinds are high...however as I say check out some of the past posts and if you have any more questions or specfic hands/situations to ask about just post away :ok Jez

[Dave Mardell]

Re: How did you start Jezza? The general concensus when bankrolling for tournaments is 10 x the buy in (including the rake). Thus you would want $60 to be playing the $5+1 game. If you manage to build that up to $110 you can move on up to the $10+1 game. $220 gets you rolled for the $20 game and so on. The reason you want about 10 x the buy in is that even as a good poker player you will not win ALL the time, and ten buy ins allows you to suffer some loosing streaks without busting. If also goes without saying that if your bankroll drops down to the point when you have exactly 10 x the buy in of the level below you should probably take a step back down to that level. Youd have to go on some pretty long loosing run to bust out completely then. You dont want to be redepositing thats for sure. Once you reach the top buy in that your winning consistenly at, if you cant beat the next level up then stay where you are, and take winnings off your bankroll in excess of 10 x the buy in as earnings. I dont know how experienced a player you are. If I may tobe so bold as to assume your "fairly good". The guys in the $50 are probably very tight solid players. Your probably winning there in the short term because they assume you are of a similar level and give your raises some credit. However if you are not up to their standard its only a matter of time before they wise up and nail you. Of course you may just be that good, in which case great. If you can pony up $500 to bankroll a $50 buy in "career" go for it. Else You may want to consider building from a smaller ammount as described above. Hope this helps

[dave]

Re: How did you start Jezza? My plan at the moment is to quit work by September to play poker full time. It might be a bit later or a bit earlier, but that's the target. My main income at the moment is from poker not work, the only thing stopping me quitting now is that I want to build up a much bigger bankroll. I'm one of the few people who doesn't advocate STTs for building your bankroll - but the reason is simply that STTs are the weakest part of my game and, far from building my bankroll, they would actually rip it apart. I stick to the cash games (1/2 mostly, sometimes 2/4 if I see a weak table), with the occassional MTT.

[Zarathustra]

Re: How did you start Jezza? Dave I'd suggest 20 buyins minimum, 30 preferably. Don't know about other peoples experience but I've managed to go 13 tournaments in a row out of the money. There was some crap play but I plays better than most of the fools I was up against. Dave I suggest you save up 3 months living expenses along with your bankroll for when shit hits the fan. Doubt there's much worse than having to go back to work after a series of badbeats.

[dave]

Re: How did you start Jezza? I'm basically working towards somewhere between 5000x and 7500x the big blind before I quit, and I'm on just over 1000 at the moment. Not going to go with the STTs, as I said, they're the weakest part of my game, so there's no point wasting my time + money on them. I see why people suggest you should use them to build bankroll, but for me that's not the way to go.

[mikkav]

Re: How did you start Jezza? Thanks for everyones input I got burned a bit on the cash games so I'm gonna stick to the STT's for a bit more bang for my buck if you like(or 10 bucks). I'm having a nice bit of success on the STT's so I may as well stick with what I'm good(ish) at and it gives me a learning curve. Best of luck Dave:hope :clap :ok

[Sir Puntalot]

Re: How did you start Jezza? Ok, What's STT's for all us novices ?:o

[staffy]

Re: How did you start Jezza?

Ok' date=' What's STT's for all us novices ?:o[/quote'] Single Table Tourny

[Big Andy]

Re: How did you start Jezza?

Ok' date=' What's STT's for all us novices ?:o[/quote'] Single Table Tournament, Paul MTT is Multi Table Tournament, before you ask :tongue2

[DeepBlueDevilFish]

Re: How did you start Jezza? Thanks for the explanation. Also what's a TAG game ?

[Big Andy]

Re: How did you start Jezza? tight, aggressive.......I think :\

[Jezza]

Re: How did you start Jezza? Yep an STT is a single table tournament with usually 10, 6 or 5 players starting and prizes paid to the top three or two finishers. You pay a set entry fee (between 1 dollar and 15,000 dollars on the net!) and get x chips (around a thousand usually) each to play with. Once all your chips are gone you are out...last man standing wins. An MTT is the same as an STT except there are more entrants and thus the tournament is held over multiple tables. The top 10% of finishers usually get paid with the prizes going up the higher you finish. The majority of the money is in the top 3 places usually. TAG as ian said means Tight aggressive. It is a way of characterising an individuals play or even the general feel of a game. The first part describes how often a player is in a hand...A tight player (or "rock") waits for the best hands before playing, a loose player plays any crap - most people fall inbetween of course but can be characterised. The second part describes how a player acts when he is in a hand. A passive or weak player will not bet of his own accord very much, prefering just to check and call along - if he does bet its not likely to be very big and the times he does bet big you can safely fold knowing he has the nuts. An aggressive player on the other hand will frequently bet big or raise you all the way throughout a hand, taking control whenever he plays. He will suffer more when he gets outdrawn having invested or forcing you to have invested more chips throughout the duration of the hand but when he wins he wins bigger. Also he tends to put a lot more pressure on his opponents. General "book" strategy suggests a TAG style of play will win you good money playing poker, I would advocate anyone starting out trying to adopt this style - plenty of tricky LAGs can make more money than tight players but that is very difficult to do and requires great card skill. Many players claim to be tight aggressive but few actually are (most are tight/weak). Jez

[Dave Mardell]

Re: How did you start Jezza? I think that if your TAG you will loose. IF you are LAG you will loose. If you a passive you will loose. I think a good poker player plays to the antithesis of the table. If its a tight game play loose. And visa versa. Also you cant learn anything but the basic principles from books. Gotta find what works for you. Also remember above all its a game and its supposed to be fun. VERY VERY few people can actually make a genuine living from the game. I view it as entertainment and if i happen to cash out £700 at the end of the month - result!

[dave]

Re: How did you start Jezza?

VERY VERY few people can actually make a genuine living from the game.

It would be interesting to know the number of online pros, or more interesting a percentage of internet players who are pros. Where I play $1/$2 and $2/$4 on Prima you quickly get to know who are obviously the pros (because of the time they spend playing and the fact that they are almost always up), and it's quite a large %. I guess at lower limits there are pretty much zero pros, and very few that do it at the tournament tables (MTT at least, there's probably quite a few making a living from STTs.)

[Dave Mardell]

Re: How did you start Jezza? Guy on Ladbrokes been playing since the begining. Used to rinse me and jezza out of a few sheckles at the $5 and $10 SNGs is now pro. Always in the big tournies, always making money from em. Even has his own show on the poker channel. Poker Godfather I think its called. Jammy git!

[dave]

Re: How did you start Jezza?

Many players claim to be tight aggressive but few actually are (most are tight/weak).

That's a very good point. I always considered myself TAG, but not long ago I decided that I was getting outdrawn too much, so became a LOT more agressive. Looking back to the way I used to play I definitely fell into the weak tight category. Since I've played more agressively my returns have increased significantly.

[mrmuzeman]

Re: How did you start Jezza? I'll echo that Dave. If you read my thread I posted up last night i definitely played tight/weak. Must be more aggressive :@ raaa