 This
article was inspired by this "How
do you Win at Poker Thread in the forum.
A forum member asked a simple question,
"How do you win at poker?"
This simple question (and some of the responses)
got me thinking into what has made me into
a winning poker player over the few years
I've been playing. What traits do I display
as a poker player have made me a long term
winner.
I don't want this article to come off sounding
like a bragging post about how much ass I've
kicked at the online poker tables, because
in the big scheme of online poker I'm a tiny,
tiny player overall and I'm no where near
where I want to be as a poker player.
This article aims to discuss three
core concepts that I believe have helped
me become a long term winning poker player.
Before I get to the concepts, I'll share a
rough look at how I have done at online poker
since i started in 2004.
I made a one time deposit of $100 and turned
it into well over 4 figures of money that
I have withdrawn around once to twice per,
every year, year since 2004. That initial
$100 deposit is the only time I have taken
money out of my wallet and made a deposit
into a room.
I'm certainly not a professional poker player,
just a low limit player who enjoys spending
time playing poker, it's a hobby and also
part of what I do to earn a living by working
on this site.
Here is my history in online poker, if you
are interested.
In 2004 made a one time $100 deposit when
I very first started at good ole party
poker.com which is no longer allowing
US players. Visit the online poker rooms link
at the top if you are looking for a place
to start playing today.
That $100 deposit is the only
time I have ever taken money out of
my wallet and put it in an online poker account.
I attribute this to three core concepts that
I strive to always maintain as long as I choose
to play poker.
The Three Long Term Winning Poker Strategies
are:
1. Bankroll Management
2. Make good decisions
3. Always learn
Tip 1: Poker Bankroll Management
So, how do you manage your bankroll?The answer is it depends really on how you
play (loose or tight). An average
consensus is you want around 300 times the
big blind for which ever buyin you
want to play. If you want to play .50/$1.00
you want to have at least $300 in your bankroll.
I personally think that is a bit low. If
you have $300 in bankroll, you should not
be playing higher than .25/.50c. This sits
you down at the table with $25 max buy-in.
If you lose a few hands, go ahead and buy
more chips back to the max if you decide
to stay. Especially in NL ring game, buy
in for the max buy in (unless you are employing
an all in strategy for half buy in amounts).
If you hit a monster you want to get paid
to the maximum.
I like to play at the level beneath the 300x
BB level. Get there and play, if you lose
two buyins you should strongly consider stopping
and looking for a different table unless you
are just getting really, really unlucky. Take
a break, go play in a $1 or $5 sit-n-go.
Since I started in late 2003, I have managed
to take an initial deposit of $100 and play
on it, without going bust and withdrawing
a few thousand dollars a couple of times per
year.
Most of the time the money has funded a trip
out to a casino to buy into a bigger tournament.
I've funded real money accounts at most of
the major online poker sites and now still
have accounts at many of the ones that remain
open to US poker players. (poker
sites open to USA)
 The
first big thing I did with the money I built
up was to go play in the $1500 event #2 in
the 2005 WSOP. The 2005 WSOP tournament was
one to remember as at that time it was the
largest poker tournament in history, and I
ended up sitting
next to Phil Hellmuth. I also busted out
with dueces as I lost a race earlier and had
became short stacked.
I'd like to say thanks to Phil for pointing
out that I "Picked up a flush draw."
when the turn card put 4 spades on the board,
and if it hit, my duece of spades would be
good. No love on the river and went home somewhere
around half way through the field. It was
an experience that I'll never forget for sure,
but it cost me nearly all of my built up bankroll...
I had to rebuild. (by the way, if you haven't
read it yet, here are some great
Phil Hellmuth quotes.
So, you might be saying that you wish I would
shut up and tell you what I did to make this
possible. You have to be prepared to build
your bankroll slowly. It isn't easy, glamorous
and honestly I could still go busto today
if I don't stick to my three basic princiles.
I watch my bankroll,
I learn
And I make good decisions.As I mentioned earlier,
I played in what was at the time the largest
poker tournament in history.The $1500 event
#2 in the 2005 WSOP. It was awesome and an
experience I will never forget. That picture
is me busting out of the event... my pocket
dueces didn't hold up.
My bankroll took a huge hit.
I was down to a couple hundred dollars online
after being well into the 4 figure mark.
I had to rebuild it just about from scratch.
Motherf*cker!!
That meant I had to move back down in stakes
and do the old grind back up.
I didn't panic, I simply moved back down to
some lower stakes, as painful as it might
be and started grinding again.
This time I was able to move up faster because
I had improved my game and
was an even better low limit player than before.
I also made a point to play in more multi
tournaments because I need more experience
in them and winning one of those would make
a huge impact.
 I
explored some other sites looking for good
tournaments. The ones at PartyPoker.com were
just too huge of fields (or so I thought).
I looked and found bodog poker. You've probably
seen them advertise bodog
poker.net on TV lately. Anyway, I was
playing a few multi table tournaments over
at Bodog
Poker, because they were all having huge
overlays.
About 3 months after getting back from Vegas,
I had been playing some multi tournaments
- that my bankroll could afford.
I had made the money in a few but not  too
many. I could only play maybe two per week.
I won one of these events at Bodog
Poker, - it was a $11 dollar buyin
that had a guarantee of $7500. First place
was a little under $2,000.
This obviously gave my bankroll a huge boost!
I beat a huge field and had a blast.
It is still my biggest win of any one tournament.
My bankroll was back and in full force in
one quick hit! I took out $1,000 and bought
furniture, I know, this is really exciting,
I know, but we needed it and I had always
said that I would take some out if I had a
big win. I still had over four figures online
as I kept nearly half of what I won in this
tourney.
I did not move up in bigger stakes. I was
mostly playing smaller stakes NL cash game
now and the swings can be much larger, so
I liked the extra cushion in my roll.
My roll took some runs up and down. Poker
is streaky. If I'm running badly I will take
a break for a while or switch games. Get in
a little super low stakes Omaha or just play
some SNG's.
After building it up gradually I took another
chunk out for a recent Vegas trip leaving
myself around $500 to play with.
In the 2nd half of 2006 I've grown that $500
6 times over so far and the trip to Tunica
is planned in January with the Atlanta Poker
Club.
You must have patience to win low
stakes! Do not be in a rush to build
the bankroll or you will much more likely
go bust. You must manage it, and slowly build
it for long term success.
Poker has variance and we all know that sometimes
we run badly, even if we are huge favorites
when we get the money in.
I cut my teeth playing micro-limit, LIMIT
poker. Limit poker, my god how could you
stomach that you're probably asking yourself?
Believe me, it was rough. The suckouts,
my god the suckouts... they were
brutal.
We're talking .10/.20 limit poker, calling
to the river with bottom pair and 2 outing
trips on the river against my 2 pair and $1
Sit-N-Go's had variance... I knew I wanted
to risk very little of my $100 bankroll starting
out, and I wanted to learn how to play winning
poker.
Next, I decided that I really needed to
learn how to beat low stakes holdem. I searched
around and found that Lee Jones, the Poker
Room Manager for Poker
Stars had written a book called "Winning
Small Stakes Holdem." It is
excellent, If you haven't read this book
yet then no bitching when you lose at small
stakes.
Get this book, if you don't It's your own
fault. It teaches you how to play low limit,
limit style poker and gives you a foundation
to build your game on.
I started there, but I wasn't exclusively
playing limit poker. I also played a few
no-limit sit-n-go tournaments. I played
a lot of low limit sit-n-go's. I actually
decided to move some of my winnings over
to PokerStars.com
because Stars has $1 sit-n-go's.
 I
challenged myself to to play 20 $1 sit-n-go's
and see how my bankroll did. This is a good
test of how good you are at sit-n-go's,
even though 20 sit-n-go's is a relatively
small sample.
I lost a few dollars
by the end of my sit n go challenge, but
I also knew that these one table sit-n-go's
have a lot of variance, and I felt that
I had gotten pretty unlucky in a few of
them. I also did manage to win one as well
so it wasn't that bad. But I knew I could
do better.
I was looking forward to building the roll
so I could play in the $5 sit-n-go's.
I kept playing low stakes and building the
roll. I was probably up to playing .25/.50
in a couple of months and up to $1/2 limit
within 6 months. A good session at the $1/2
table could easily net me $70 or $80 bucks
by just taking advantage of the tons of
errors made by the other players.
Tip 2: Make good decisions, invest in
your poker education
Read a lot of poker books. Many libraries
have growing collection of poker books or
you can buy them used all day. Reading opens
you up to seeing how other people may be playing
and allows you to adjust and make better decisions.
What if you don't like to read?
Try a video training course
like cardrunners.com.
.
 I
kept investing in my poker education. About
2 months after I returned from Vegas I
made a decision that has drastically improved
my win rate.
I signed up at CardRunners.com
and started watching GreenPlastic
play low no limit ring games.
GreenPlastic is one of the best no
limit cash game players online right
now. He is winning playing $50/$100 NL online
on a consistent basis.
*Brian Townsend, aka sbrugby is also a lead
instructor at cardrunners.com!
He plays online poker cash games (and tournaments)
and you watch. It is like you are sitting
right there with them and they are talking
to you as they play. Yes, he plays at the
lower stakes as well, not just video of the
high stakes games.
Watching these videos has made so many theories
'click' in my mind... and my win rate has
skyrocketed. Now, it is rare
for me to have a loosing NL cash ring game
session. I'm not playing high stakes either,
typically .50/$1.00 but I am still constantly
adding to the bankroll, and I'm improving
my game.
CardRunners.com has video of professionals
playing poker AND talking about why they are
doing what they are doing. It is like you
are sitting there right next to one of the
best players in the online world and he is
showing you and telling you exactly what you
should be doing.
Here is my review
of CardRunners.com Poker Training.
The short answer is it is worth it.
It has paid for itself time and again.
The long answer and demo videos are available
via the review.
I read a lot of books, I played in a lot
of freerolls and participated in discussion
with other good players in the strategy
section of the poker forum.
I bounced around a few sites taking advantage
of some bonuses here or there and just looking
for a new place to play as I was also writing
reviews for KickAssPoker.com. I found a
few smaller sites (at the time) that I still
play at today, including Bodog
Poker and
Full Tilt Poker, which are some long
time favorites..
Today, I'm still building the roll. I don't
play that much online, a few nights per
week for a few hours each time. Mostly .25/.50c
up to $1/2 NL 6 man, Probably 6 - 8 hours
a week unless I have a break on the weekends
and get to play a large multi table tourney
or something.
It's a good hobby that consistently affords
me the opportunity to play in big poker
tournaments and chances at serious money.
I haven't hit it huge yet, but I'm still
playing, and giving myself opportunities
to win. I'll be playing in some WSOP Circuit
Satellites and events in January of 07,
along with many APC'ers, so wish me and
my initial $100 investment good luck as
I hit the live tables in January.
When you spend time improving your game,
you will start to make better decisions,
and your win rate will improve. Read the
free articles and search the web for good
articles on playing low stakes poker and
just any article on poker you can think
of. Read it with an open but critical eye,
but at least read it.
Today, I'm mostly playing NL cash games
at Mansion
Poker and at Poker
Stars. I'm playing 6 man no limit holdem
mostly and some league tournaments. Running
good, it's those lucky accounts I always
request from the online poker rooms.
Becoming a winning poker player doesn't
happen overnight, and many winning poker
players also bust because they don't manage
their online poker bankroll.
We wish you the most success possible at
the tables.
KickAssPoker.com
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