How much did you lose before you started to gain?

[Effexor]

I played with play chips for about a year before I deposited any real money. One thing I did notice was that the competition at the higher stakes SNG's for play chips was very similar to low stakes real money sng's.

Since my initial deposit, I've made money at both sng's and mtt's, but cash games I'm just about dead even. In reality, it's 2 final tables in big mtt's that have given me most of my profits.

 

[MrDaMan]

Do you keep a journal? I've been playing seriously for about 4 years and being honest I have to admit to being just over 10 grand down for the whole of the 4 years.

I have won over 14K in tournament play which for the most part is re-invested back into tournaments and ring games. If I only played tournaments and didn't play cash games I would be ahead over all.

So now I play more tournaments and very little cash games. This year I've won over 3000 with only 1000 invested. I know sooner or later I'm going to hit a big one like Quads has and my poker career will get into the positive column.

This year 70 cashes, and 12 final tables with five 1st place wins.

I'm on the negative side at the moment but I have no doubt that sooner or later I'll be on the positive side.

 

[Minnted]

I was down about $400 in my first 18 months of internet play, but that was largely due to bad bankroll management. I won a $20 MTT with 180 players pretty early that had me thinking I could do it all the time at a $20 to $50 level. I couldn't/didn't. Starting about 8 months ago I woke up and started using proper BR managment. After putting in some smallish deposits ($30 to $50) I'm now a "slow profit" player (making profit at $1 to $5 SNG or the MTT SNGs on FT, .05/.10 PL games, .50/1 limit, etc.) - nothing to retire on, but I prefer to see my balances going up over down. I'll move up as my bankroll allows.

 

[Cheesus666]

Lost about 2,000 first day playing ring games online on partypoker drunk. I had played a bunch of homegames before so I wasn't new to poker, just didn't have a feel for internet play. Gained it all back and then some later that month. Started going to the casino couple times a week. Up and down didn't really win or lose anything. Now I live a lot further fron the casino so I just play home games once or twice a week and play in some freerolls online.

 

[singate]

Even though I knew how to play I still wasn't confident of my skills with real money so I only used play chips for about a year. I saw a lot of people throwing around chips, making crazy plays simply because there was no threat of losing actual money. My approach was to treat it like it was for real so that I wouldn't get into bad habits once I decided to deposit for real. My initial deposit was $50, which I believe was the minimum at Empire. I cut my teeth playing $.50/1 ring games pretty much breaking even. Just for a change I decided to try SNG's and I was hooked. Gradually worked my way up from $6 to the $22 buy ins, though I preferred the middle ground at $11. I worked my bankroll up to over $300, then went on a 3 month losing streak which had me down to about $30. I decided once that was gone I would be done with online poker. Suddenly things turned around, I was placing in the money in almost every SNG I entered, topping out around $425. Went back on another losing streak right before us Americans got banned then cashed out for $318. Not bad for a $50 investment and I gained a ton of experience.

 

[Kenzie 96]

Started a thread today finding the right format. Pretty much says it all for me. I play $5, $10 and the occasional $20, 9 player.

Probably lost $100/150 before the information & experience I was getting at this forum started kicking in.

SNG's all you have at risk is your buy in. $1,2,5, whatever.
Ring game you get up several $ suffer a bad beat & your bankroll is only a click away. Tilt City here I come.

 

[gamedemon]

I'd say I lost the first $200 - $250 I deposited at pokerstars last year over a 3 month period playing $6.50 and $15 turbo SitnGos... I'd place in a few, but over time loose it all.

I then took some time and read a couple of books and started to learn from my errors... I also started playing in some tourneys and very low-stake ring games....

Since I deposited another $100 last summer, I have never had to deposit again

 

[NineLions]

I love these starting bankroll threads, probably 'cause I'm still starting out. It's comforting to read the fits and starts that most people go through.

premierplayer, it may just take time and patience. Find a game and level that works best for you, and just stick with it for a while. Take the time to review your hands afterwards, and post any questionable ones in the analysis section.

My bankroll is 4-5 months old. Starting from freeroll winnings on one site, making a $50 deposit on another. Up and down, and almost empty at more than one point on both sites. Right now it's at a bit of a dead spot, but I've built up a bit of a cushion in both places so I'm just trying to find what leaks I can find to help move it forward.

 

[joosebuck]

misery loves company

 

[TurnipHead]

Dec 2005 - May 2006: Stupidly just played tournaments and the odd cash game at party poker with the odd $100 deposit here and $50 deposit there. DOWN APPROX $500. (This is a very stupid and wrong way to try to win money.)

BIG RETHINK, THEN:

Aug 2006 - Present: Joined many sites and started grinding Limit Poker tables starting at micro limits; including the $0.01/$0.02 and $0.02/$0.04 tables. (Learnt LOADS from playing these tables for weeks on end and keeping track of results.)

Moved up through the limits at the rate of one level every month or so to the $0.50 / $1 Limit tables. Noticed a BIG jump in quality of player when playing $1/$2 Limit poker so:

Left many sites after working off bonuses (yes small amount of bonus whoring was involved). Now mainly play at 4 sites at the NL tables with $25 to $50 buy ins. Really learnt a lot by grinding away at those Limit tables though. Now, since August 2006, currently UP APPROX $700!!

Which means I am up a whopping $200 in my online poker career spanning about 18 months!

Nevertheless, in those 18 months of intense poker playing I've learnt a lot and been through all the usual mistakes a typical "starting out" player goes through. Most notably; (1) being $300 up at pacific poker and then wiping out the whole lot in about 3 days by prematurely going up in the limits. And (2) Tilting my entire bankroll away at poker stars after taking a shot at a $5 /$10 Limit table.

I now consider myself to be an average player with, still, plenty to learn.

 

[pokernut]

I lost around 4-5 hundred bucks before I started to become a winning player. I primarily grind it out on the cash tables and have turned it around to being a player with a steadily increasing bankroll at these low stakes cash tables using better bankroll management.

I have to admit that I am getting impatient with the slow growth of this method so have been taking more shots at larger MTT's via satty lately and been doing okay, not great, but making a little money with it hoping to score big.

 

[hustlenflow]

I think i lost about $300 before i got my first check of $1200. But it took time, lots of it to get my game where i was winning. Learned alot of lessons, and still learning!

 

[premierplayer]

I lost around 4-5 hundred bucks before I started to become a winning player. I primarily grind it out on the cash tables and have turned it around to being a player with a steadily increasing bankroll at these low stakes cash tables using better bankroll management.

I have to admit that I am getting impatient with the slow growth of this method so have been taking more shots at larger MTT's via satty lately and been doing okay, not great, but making a little money with it hoping to score big.

You are my inspiration.

 

[tigertight]

i started at around 100 dollars and played some cash games played alot of sng's got 100 all the way to around 400 dollars and then put all it all in a
3/6 dollar no limit hold'em table lost all of it played some free rolls got about 50 dollars lost all of it now waiting for a stake.

 

[premierplayer]

So far I have lost 420$. kept my bankroll for a while then slowly it declined by some poor play. I redeposited with hopes to finally win win win. Most people I have talked to lost about $500 before they started to do well I hope I am the same.

 

[NineLions]

Hmm, are you doing things other than just hoping?

Reading, using poker tracker, posting hand histories for analysis, making sure you manage your bankroll and play at proper levels, etc?

 

[premierplayer]

Hmm, are you doing things other than just hoping?

Reading, using poker tracker, posting hand histories for analysis, making sure you manage your bankroll and play at proper levels, etc?

yeah. i only play at .5/.10 levels. anything lower is no fun with people just playing completely like idiots ( i know .5/.10 isnt much better) I have been reading some books and have been trying to figure out how to use poker tracker.

 

[Scofray]

I'm down $3500 if that makes you feel any better.

This makes me feel so much better mate sorry prob down about a grand 😭

 

[PLAYFUL1]

Yah I lost aboot $700 b4 I started 2 win .I'm up aboot $1900 and I'm still learning, been playing aboot 20 years online.

 

[hellomynameiswhat]

I can't afford to lose much.
I give myself a budget to lose each year.
About 30 dollars a year.
I think I might start gaining this year. we will see. 4th year.

 

[okeedokalee]

I have never deposited on any site
I'm ahead around $3,500.
I don't take poker winning and losing seriously, results are what they are. I play for enjoyment and if I win some dollars so be it.

 

[3gdata]

It was about $70-80, not more. Then I decided not to deposit my own money into poker industry anymore. I was about to quit poker for good but then I found Tigergaming site and start playing freerolls there trying to earn anything from scratch. If I don't find this site at the right time, maybe I would not be a poker player now.

 

[DieCosta]

Lose first win after

In poker online I really didn’t start winning after playing for the fourth year I suffered I a lot of downswing I suppose this happens to me because I was playing a lot in micro limits and the players are very unpredictable, bad and weakness so was very hard to me get results at the beginning.

 

[Ranish625]

Unfortunately, I still continue to lose money, but their losses over the last year of the game has been greatly reduced, and I hope that in the future poker will begin to compensate me for my losses.

 

[el_magiciann]

i just never started to win, just a lot of downswings and some good results around the tables. good luck to you