Ask me anything about Poker

[1800GAMBLER]

The GF asked me to post here so i thought i would try to add something of value to your forums.

Back history is i've been a professional gambler since i quit my job collecting trolleys at Costco at 18, i'm now 23. I've earned just short of $1m from it. Traveled a lot to play, and spent most of my life traveling funded by poker.

So any questions you have i'll answer. These can be hands, poker in general, strategies, what it takes to be a pro for so long, major tournaments, pretty much anything regarding the game.

The better the question, the better the answer. GO!

[beney]

Hi there which are the best poker sites to join and who has the best offers and do you have any advice on how to get the most out of these offers for an average poker player.

[1800GAMBLER]

Hey beney,

I can't be that great of a help about sign up bonuses to poker sites since it's been years since i did sign up.

The better sites for you to sign up on are the ones with the worse players as unlike sports betting for bonuses here you have to survive a good about of variance to get the bonus. So the worse the players, the better you're long term results will be while waiting for the bonuses to clear.

The sites with the worse players are very often the smaller sites. Everest poker is a small site but just ran a massive advertising campaign at the WSOP 2008 which aired not too long ago, with that comes influx of new players who aren't that good.

Another way to take advantage of these bonuses is to 'short stack' meaning on the tables you are playing you only buy in for 20 big blinds, which will be a very short stack. You can then play very tight and you wont have that many decisions, eliminating any negative edge against you. This will make poker easier, you if you play and well then you'll likely be a break even player. The other advantage of this is due to the less decisions/table you can play more tables and clear the bonus faster.

You should also get rakeback, as well as a poker bonus. That can be found on most sites with just a google search.

As said though, the most important part of getting bonuses from poker is to be at least a breakeven player first, other the amounts you'll be losing while clearing the bonuses wont make it worthwhile.

Also a good site for kick backs and bonuses that clear quickly at low stakes is pokersourceonline.com

[kidpoker]

Bodoglife has a lot of guaranteed prize pool tournaments with a lot of extra prize money in the prize pool. For example, everyday there is a 4000 guaranteed prize pool with a 30.00 buy in. Almost everyday there is only about 100 people in it. SO 30 x 100 is only 3000, so that means there is an extra 1000 in the prize pool.

They also offer a 100% bonus to 500.00 at poker. And a 10% cash bonus upfront on deposited. The 100% bonus is released as you earn poker points. Also, if you deposit through my link, You will get 50.00 cash after you earn a certain amount of poker points, if you are a first time signup and deposit. Or if you are depositing a large amount, they have a 25% refer a friend bonus now up to 250, so if you used me as the referral, I would split that with you.

Fulltilt poker has a 100% bonus to 600 i believe still. THey have a ton of guaranteed tournies also, but the site is so big, there is no overlay (or extra money in the prize pool)

This is another place that if you use my link and are a first time signup and depsit and earn over 100 poker points, you will recieve 40.00 cash from me.


There is many more great poker rooms and bonuses out there, but though i would throw these out there

[1800GAMBLER]

kidpoker post is a good one for some bonuses. Remember the most important part is the clearance rate as some of these bonuses can take a very long time to clear even small amounts when you are playing low stakes, while the full tilt poker one clears in $10 increments it is a very slow bonus. Pokersourceonline, i think, lists the clearance rate.

[Aerodiver]

Hi,

I've played 1000s of hands of limit poker at the small stakes between 5c/10c and 25c/50c. I'm not sure I'd rate myself as a competent player, but I'm pretty conservative and don't lose money. Although my returns are of the order of 50c to $1 for a few hours of effort. Luckily I play for fun.

I'm interested in moving into no limit, but want to improve my strategy e.g. starting hands, when & how often to bluff, knowing when to fold, and knowing when to consider moving up the stakes. Any decent reading materials, or respected strategy guides? How should I measure my performance and progress to becoming less fishy and more sharky?

Any tips or advice you can offer would be fantastic.

Thanks & Merry Christmas

[Andy]

Firstly i am RUBBISH at poker, so can tell you the theory but i personally cant put it into practice.

Overall though it is not so much what you do in terms of face cards to play and hen to fold etc, thats obvious really. I have been told the key is not so much in making your play better, on a scale of "goodness" getting from 50 to 75% anyone who puts in a bit of reading time can do, it takes the same amount of effort again to get to 85%, and the same again to get to 90%. You get the idea.

Your better off getting yourself to 75% or 80% and then trying to FIND the players who are 60% and under, and beating them. Rather than making you better, try to find weaker opposition. There is a nack to working out who is a bot that you can read and/or just a bad/drunk player, but its better to focus on that than making yourself better than the other 75%ers you were playing.

Thats what i have been told anyway, as i say i dont do it at all. Hope it made sense. I also cant tell you how/where to find weaker players/bots, but apparantly thats the key.

[Makybe]

I think I can provide some low level useful info on just about any poker subject ... I'm a low stake recreational player with a marginally profitable game over many years

couple of links that others might find useful ... hope I'm not violating any posting rules here Andy

Poker Bonus Whoring advice and guidance ... try here for general advice - Poker Bonus Whoring Basics - Complete guide to finding the best poker bonus.

Biggest Poker forum around - The 2+2 Forum Archives: Viewing list of forums

My personal favourite poker forum which is plenty big enough - Poker Forum | Online Poker Forums Community

Want Ebooks, Video's, Educational materials, Poker TV Shows, Poker Movies - join "The Poker Bay" - not sure if they are taking new members atm, but despite the sites nazi administration ... they have a library of poker downloads second to none - its a private site and currently undergoing some maintenance which is the first time I've ever seen the site down ... make sure to keep your ratio in order or they'll simply ban you

I'd recommend Dan Harringtons series of Poker books as a really good read - download some of the book bundles if you can get membership to "The Poker Bay" above ... I got 50 odd books in one hit for a mere 300 meg download

Cheers

PS Pokerstars currently have a reload bonus available until Dec 31 I think ... 25% up to $150 ... Pokerstars is by far and away the biggest and best poker site out there ... doesn't mean you'll find the easiest games there however

[1800GAMBLER]

Firstly i am RUBBISH at poker, so can tell you the theory but i personally cant put it into practice.

Overall though it is not so much what you do in terms of face cards to play and hen to fold etc, thats obvious really. I have been told the key is not so much in making your play better, on a scale of "goodness" getting from 50 to 75% anyone who puts in a bit of reading time can do, it takes the same amount of effort again to get to 85%, and the same again to get to 90%. You get the idea.

Your better off getting yourself to 75% or 80% and then trying to FIND the players who are 60% and under, and beating them. Rather than making you better, try to find weaker opposition. There is a nack to working out who is a bot that you can read and/or just a bad/drunk player, but its better to focus on that than making yourself better than the other 75%ers you were playing.

Thats what i have been told anyway, as i say i dont do it at all. Hope it made sense. I also cant tell you how/where to find weaker players/bots, but apparantly thats the key.

This is very good advice. It's one way of saying which factors matter most in poker.

Surviving as a pro for 5 years is one thing very little professional can do, and the way i've done this is by following something very similar to what you just said. Always improve my game, always have set hours to study the game. Then always play players who are worse than i am. Not much else to it.

Even now when i wake up and day to day play $25/$50 nl with 5 tables i am still trying to improve my game. But to some players this would seem the top of what you they want to achieve and then they would stop learning and studying and before they know it they will be regularly losing and moving back down the stakes.

[Aerodiver]

Thanks for the replies. Any value in add on software to track progress, or assist. e.g. I've dabbled with PokerEdge a long time ago, and seen other things around like CalculatemPro?

Do you find these useful, or are they just get rich quick magic beans?....