All, This is great software, my game has definitely begun to tighten up, I think I have stopped the leaks and hopefully will start seeing some profits soon, started playing two tables at a time today, keeps me from being bored and playing cards that I shouldn't. This is so much like trading that it isn't funny but seems a lot easier because you don't have so many unknowns. If you are going to do this for real, I recommend that you get the software or a coach or something. It's amazing all the things that I was doing but didn't realize. Also you must read the twoplustwo.com forum, it's like the elitetrader.com for poker players I will report back again soon wdbaker
Got funded by the simple expedient of going down the street to Bank of America and depositing directly into the Neteller account. Got $50 bonus at thepokerclub.com, and promptly blew through the free $50. Duh... I thought I knew more than I did. My nick name is "tuff_fish", but I was anything but tough yesterday. More like prime filet of salmon. NOW... I am studying the wilson software. The next $50 is MINE, so I don't want to lose it quite so quickly. One thing.. all this fooling around with the poker rooms and stuff has kept me sitting tight on some swing positions, and not hovering over them so much. (actually it is more like basically ignoring my positions except to glance at the charts once an hour or so. So my poker adventures are probably making me money whether I win or not.
Im finding myself gradually shifting away from trading and concentrating more on poker. Trading has always been just a hobby for me but is not anywhere near as enjoyable as poker. Even when Im doing well trading the stress is still there and at my age Im not sure its worth it. Up until now I had no real alternative as I have to be doing something.
All, I started playing hold'em seriously saturday, total of 5 hrs between saturday & sunday, took a $100 off of the 1/2 tables. Not a lot but looks like I might be doing something right. Need more time obviously before I can be sure it wasn't just luck. Just wanted give you all a progress report. wdbaker
I, on the other hand, did my first trade today in several weeks since getting wrapped up in this casino business. I also traded Single Stock Futures for the first time. I think that my recent experience trying out a variety of different games, including but not limited to poker, probably made me more willing to try the new SSF game. And I enjoyed it. In fact, my experience playing online casino games seemed to affect how I viewed (and handled) the SSF. Watching the P&L numbers move up and down was so very much like watching the account value in casino games. My reactions of "what to do next?" as I watched my trading account balance move up and down seem greatly influenced by how I now make decisions of how to bet when I watch my casino accounts do the same thing. Except it felt even a bit better, because I saw the broker account as actual money, and I still haven't quite absorbed the notion that my casino points will actually pay out to me in real cash. I also think that the strategies that I have developed to help me win with games of chance will be somehow adaptable to the SSF trading, although I have not managed to formulate these strategies yet. But for an example, I went "market neutral" for about an hour this morning, by being both long and short the same stock (using different expiration month contracts), and watching my P&L behave with this was exactly like watching the roulette wheel when I have placed opposing bets that balance each other out. Whether it went up or down didn't matter while I had that bet on. This sort of thing can be useful as part of a strategy to win against "randomness" or unpredictability.
All, Someone pm'd me and wanted to know where to learn hold'em so I put together a list of all of the things I have checked out so far that seemed worthwhile. http://www.twoplustwo.com is like the elitetrader.com of the poker world. many great authors & tournament champions post there along with many others with years of experience that make there living this way. It is a moderated forum so it is pretty serious straight forward hold'em. rec.gambling.poker the best way to get there unless you have a news reader is go to http://www.google.com click on "groups" and then type in "poker". Under the heading "related groups" you will see rec.gambling.poker just click that and you will be at the forum. be sure to use the search engines at both of these sites to isolate the info that you are looking for. I also recommend the books Winning Low Limit Hold'em by Lee Jones Hold'em Poker for Advanced Players by Sklansky & Malmuth Honestly though, the best thing that I did was buy the Turbo Texas Hold'em software by Wilsons at http://www.wilsonsw.com It will have you playing correctly in no time, it actually teaches you as you play if you like. As for poker sites, I would recommend http://www.planetpoker.com to start because they have the lowest limit games, you can play .05/.10 or .25/.50 to get started and learn a little. They have both free and real games, $50.00 should be enough to get you started there. Then when you've decided that you need to start getting serious about it, I would move to http://www.paradisepoker.com biggest site on the internet, always have plenty of games going which is important so that you can look around and get in the right games. There games start at .50/1.00 and go up from there. I currently am playing the 1.00/2.00 games and am doing well so far. I think the sooner you can move up to the 1.00/2.00 game the better off you will be, the higher the level you go, the less you will see people playing just anything. wdbaker
not to discourage anyone beginning poker but wait til you catch yuor first real bad run of cards, sometimes it can last awhile and it doesnt matter how you play em if its "not in the cards" (moreso on lower limits though) then youll see if you truly still enjoy poker and think you can make an income. right now i am in the middle of a treacherous run, doesnt matter what i have, none of my pockets hold up, flop a top pair doesnt hold, cant make any draws, but my opponents out draw me on the turn/river every time. now THATS fun, makes you misss being pennied by the specialist!
Ron In-a-sauna, Not that I should be giving advice since I'm new but you might try going with some small to medium pocket pairs in middle & late position if you don't think you'll be raised and back off on all but the big suited & unsuited connectors for draws, when I'm doing bad the small and medium draws just drain me, with the pairs I can throw them a way on the flop if I don't get trips. Just a thought wdbaker
Losing streaks are inevitable. The only way to know if you truly have an edge is to look at your results over a period of months.
right...its good to keep records of this too, helps confidence and get u through tough times...also you can start calculating your personal variances and standars deviations to help determine when to take profits, cut losses, etc...