The evolution of a poker pro (part 1)

One of the things which I find myself thinking about is exactly how I got to the point I am now at, where I can make a comfortable living (so far) from playing poker professionally. So I am going to attempt, across maybe two posts, to analyse how I reached this point. The posts will be about different issues, one on the play and evolution from a poker perspective (where I started and how I moved up the ladder) and the other about family, upbringing and why my general personality and stuff suits my chosen profession.

This one is going to be focussed on the climb up the ladder from low-high stakes as it's something which my friend Euan is currently trying to do (see pittance game poker link), setting out from .02-.04 nl holdem and hopefully it will give an idea about timescale and how to build knowledge and bankroll to the stage where high stakes are possible.

So where did I start? I started at £10 buy in cash games on Sun Poker (cryptologic network) about three years ago so blinds of 0.05-0.10. I had grown up playing cards and watched stuff like Late Night Poker on Ch4 and quickly developed a reasonable feel for the games. My tactics in these early days was to try to double up and leave, nothing very subtle about how I did this either. I played a very patient game (nothing changed there) and waited till I connected hard with the flop or had a big starting hand like AA, KK. I then played these hands ectremely fast in an effort to get all my opponents money in. The thing about poker at lower stakes is that players don't want to believe you when you bet hard, often people slow play to the point of winning the absolute minimum whereas I took the opposite approach and this worked out quite well for me and I built a reaonable bankroll of maybe £200 quite quickly.

At this stage I decided to start playing for larger sums and moved into the £0.50- £1 game and because I was scared of losing I played as a short stacked played buying in for £25 and leaving once it doubled. I maintained a similar style to previously and had moderate success. I also started playing £10 sit & go tournaments (I'm really not a fan of these now) and mixed my game up between the two areas. Again I did ok, built a small bankroll then went down overall by about £200 so went back to cash games and concentrated on them.

I really didn't maintain an online bankroll or have any specific goals at this stage, I also had done absolutely no reading on the subject at all (not smart) and was playing mainly for fun. I was up and down playing like this but at it's peak I managed to get about £600 ahead which was a huge amount for me at that time.

It was around then where I went to Vegas for the first time. I'd always fancied a trip and was treating it as a one off where I was prepared to lose about £1k, not that I wanted to lose and I certainly didn't try to but it's best to set limits and expectations before going to play with experienced gamblers. Anyway we went off to vegas and I sat down at the table (mirage) shaking like a leaf to play $1-$2 NL holdem, I bought in for $100 as I didn't want to lose a full buy in and in about my third hand flopped a flush and more than doubled up to $240. I stayed for another hour or so and left feeling pretty damn pleased with myself.

During the entirety of my two week trip to Vegas I never got felted, left every table bar one with more than I started with and came home with about $1600 profit from the trip. Fantastic as this was it utterly screwed my online game as I went from £600 profit to £600 behind, hmm not ideal and time to focus as I knew that I could beat this game.

I continued shortstacking online and retrieved my money and then I had a month off between jobs moving from Lancaster - Aston and decided to properly concentrate on poker for this month. I got rather good at it quite quickly and made over £2k in that month.

It was after this month and the vegas trip that I started seriously thinking that I could do this for a living one day. I had earnt more than my monthly salary at the time and enjoyed it far more than working. However I'm realistic and put these thoughts to the back of my mind. I started reading up on poker (super system, pocket fives etc) and my game improved dramatically as I now had a far better understanding of every aspect of my own and other's games.

Over my first year in Birmingham I made about £10k from poker as a nice sideline to my job, started playing a full stack towards the end of the year as my game had developed enough to be comfortable with this. During this period I had many swings but it was an overall up curve although I did get quite stressed by losses and over-analyse my game and question my play. Sadly I am still prone to do this but I am much better at dealing with losses.

I set myself a target for this year of £20k ($40k) profit and anticipated adding onto this each year and then turning pro at 30 where I hopefully shoudl be earning £50k a year. That was the aim, realistic yet ambitious at the same time. I returned to Vegas and crushed the 1-2nl games to the tune of $2.8k in 6 days and I was a hugely improved player with a lot more confidence in my ability.

My attentions in the online poker world had now moved and I was playing at Party full time, abandoning the cryptologic network, there had been a few months where I played at both but overall I find Party really good, easy graphics and a larger spread of games and players. I was playing $1-$2nl holdem and buying in for $200.

I should also point out that ever since I started I have multi-tabled, I started with one and then within a few days moved to 2 and so on up to 4 tables which I believe to be the optimum for me. I have 10 tabled before and it hurts my head!

I had a reasonable start to the year and was hitting my £2k a month targets but after the vegas trip I decided I wanted to play higher, I'd been at my limits for ages and it was time to move up, so I started playing 2-4 then 3-6 although on party there are rarely enough tables running full ring at these stakes. I did this for about a month and then decided to have a shot at 5-10. I did this with money already made and was fully prepared to lose my buy in and go back to 2-4. This is how I tend to move up, because I don't keep a big bankroll online (I cash winnings) I take shots rather than having a bankroll target. This is optimum for me but will nto be for everybody.

First time I sat at the table I was prepared to lose 200-300 before I quit, basically I was playing scared money and obviously lost that and dropped back down. However I kept trying over a couple of weeks until I started winning. I made about $8k in June and then July was the defining month for me as I made $17k all at 5-10. I'd got over being scared, was willing to drop back down when needed and wanted to play with the big boys.

Quit my job in July as I now knew that I could do this professionally, I'd won consistently for 2 years and felt that my knowledge and earning potential were great enough for me to do this. Also if I stayed at work I'd be moving into a management position in the next year and I really have very limited enthusiasm for that so it was an easy choice.

I had a few ropey months before quitting, winning but not the amounts I wanted but this was largely due to nerves and feeling that I have to win rather than having it as a sideline. Because I wasn;t running great I decided about a month ago to try omaha - read up on it, bought a book or two (see how I've learned) and jumped straight into 1-2pl omaha. Quickly realised that a lot of players give up a lot of edge in this game and started playing 2-4 and shortstacking 5-10 and 10-20. Hugely successful as a shortstack in 10-20 and I am still doing this now, however my game has very quickly developed to the stage where I am doing pretty well at 5-10 ($14k in the last 4 days) and omaha has become my game of choice and I really don't see this changing.

What I hope this article shows is the importance of laying the foundations for your play, I improved hugely when I started reading on the subject, I read every article ever on pocket fives, I read all the discussion topics and quickly got to the stage where there wan;t anything new to me. This added to my confidence and I backed myself to move up. Without the experience playing over the last three years my progression at omaha wouldn't have happened so rapidly, nothing matters as much as table experience, you learn so much about readin opponent and possibly most importantly what you are comfortable with in terms of stakes and playing style.

I'd appreciate any comments on this or questions which anyone may have, I shall write part two in the next day or two which will go into all the other aspects which affect poker.

Steve