Anybody making the dough just from playing online poker?
Ok, I lots of people saying they have friends making $10,000+ playing poker online! Anybody here making the dough from online poker and playing it as a full time job? If you are, I am jealous!
Comments
And please, please God. Don't let this post move this thread into the whole "are poker winnings taxed in Canada" discussion...
Ummm....are they.....LOL
Hobbes
PS I know the answer....
I'm inclined to believe that the CRA is less Commie-like than their IRS counterparts (the whole tax on winnings).
After all, aren't lotteries and the like a tax on people that are bad at math?
That is so true ScoobyD.
I tell my lotto playing friends that their chances of winning the 64/9 are about 14 million to 1
Their answer is...... well someone has to win!
It's unbelievable to me how reasonably intelligent people can disregard pure facts when it comes to the odds.
What I like to do is demonstrate the odds with a simple deck of cards.
I say.... here pick the Ace of spades...... you have a one in 52 chance.
8 of hearts?..... well try again.
King of spades?..... they actually think they came close LOL..... sorry try again..... you have an easy 1 in 52 chance of picking the ace of spades.
How hard can it be?
This can go on for hours without them picking the ace of spades.
Then I ask..... So now do you realize how improbable it is that you will win the lotto 64/9 when the odds are about 14,000,000 to 1 against you?
Their answer is usually something like this.
But I read in the newspaper that Joe Smith from Smalltown, Manitoba... who's been on welfare for the last 5 years, won 2.5 million playing the 64/9......... so I must have a good chance of winning to!!!!
They almost seem to think that they deserve to beat the 14,000,000 to 1 odds to win because they deserve it?
It's bizarre to me how these people can prosper as doctors and engineers in our society.
Personally I'm sick of trying to explain the science of odds and probabilities to people who should have learned these basic "life skills"Â in college..... or better yet in elementary school.
The charities who benefit from the Canadian lottos will continue to thank them for their weekly donations in the millions, and insist that people who play online poker are degenerate, problem gamblers.
Unbelievable.
no
20k at 10 20 and 20 40 is an awful run. Either he is running incredibly bad or he is not playing well due to early bad runs. Hope that he turns it around.
That is crazy, losing 20K in 20/40 in a month is nuts. 800x30 = $24000. I have read lots about grinding it out playing limit HE lately and one interesting thing was being diciplined by getting up for the day if you get stuck 20BB. To play with some sort of guidline like this, even if it is 30 or 40 BB he would be losing everyday of the month. If he is also playing 10/20 this is just complete madness. I just started playing limit for profit and 10/20 is usually not a tough game.
GTA (and any others) at what point did you decide to move up to 10-20? I've been playing 5-10 and doing alright at it. (Mostly winning sessions but a few losing here and there)
While playing 5-10 I see some real bad players get up and move to a 10-20 game and they are only playing 5-10 waiting for a spot to open at the 10-20?
A 500BB to 1000BB is a monster bad swing (not impossible, just statistically less likely for a proven winner). As far as NL ring (which I don't play much of)Â I would think a 5-10 buyin drought would be pretty bad as well.
Live or online? I've just very recently started mixing in some good 10-20 tables online with moderate success thus far (very few hands admittedly though).
Live? I probably first sat maybe 3-4 months ago. I think the fact that I was multitabling a mix of 3-6 and 5-10 online made me figure I should step up to the "bigger game". In terms of play, I didn't notice that big of a difference from 5-10 (note, based on one session). Unfortunately, I just don't play live enough.
Yup, and I'd noticed this trend too. I never really knew if it was just people tilt-donking off money after getting run over in the bigger games or not. I'd "guess" it's a 50/50 mix of tilt/not caring about the lower stakes/bullying the table/blowing off steam, and just pure bad play. In general, I find the people that bitch about how 5-10 is "bingo" and how they "should" be playing 10-20 are the people that truly have a monster gap between how well they play and how well they think they play.
OK, here's how I see it:Â
If by "doing alright" you mean:
"I'm just being modest and don't want to discuss specifics about my winrate because you all would be so jealous. I kill that game and laugh everytime I play it. I've played a ton of hands at that level and am confident that my wins (which I know down to that last dollar because I track things like that) are probably not due solely to variance. I'm confident that I have a sufficient bankroll to play at the higher limits and not have to immediately retreat to the smaller game for fear of going busto."
(OK that's maybe a little over the top): But if that's your answer, then yes, you're probably "ready" to move up.
If, on the other hand you mean: "I'm doing alright, I've won a few sessions and lost some. I have a rough idea of how much I'm up (not specifics). I've seen lots of bad players at this game and think I can beat most of them, I don't think the higher limit will be that much tougher. I'm somewhat comfortable with the higher buyin, as long as I don't get off to a really lousy start."
Then I would say MAYBE you MIGHT be ready to move up. In general, I think a player begins to "know" when they're ready (in terms of both play, BR comfort levels), etc.  If curiosity is really what's driving you, you could always set aside a small amount to play in the bigger game (and be willing to step back/rebuild if things start badly).
Personally, I think knowing when to move up limits is a personal preference (risk tolerance). I think I tend to lean towards the slower side of things (compared to some crazy shorthanded limit rampager that occasionally posts here). And yet, you hear about people that insist on playing 100k hands at any limit before they move up. Yuck. I couldn't imagine still grinding it out at .50-1 online (no offense to anyone just starting out).
OK, enough rambling on... All I can say is, everytime I move up it's simultaneously the most intimidating/invigorating feeling. For the first few minutes anyways...then it's just poker again.Â
I was referring to live play (I know a little off topic but...) and my answer was more in line with the first then the second. Yes I have taken a few bad runs but overall I'm up at the 5-10 and by a decent amount because I do track it.
Online I won't go near a 5-10 game yet. Live I will and then some for 2 reasons. I play with a 30BB rule. So 5-10 will cost me $300 end of story. 10-20 will cost me $600 end of story. But I play a lot on line and like to have a 400BB bankroll. I've had some large 200+ downswings, so I know it can happen. And no matter how well at the time you think your playing if you review after objectively, some of that loss is tilt, or aggression against the donk who donked out on you etc.
The one thing I think you need to ask yourself is are you comfortable capping preflop at the limit you play or will you go OH SH*T that's a lot of money. Aimee will not play 5-10 simply because the money aspect ends up scaring her from making the correct raise or play. At 2/5 she has no problem. I also have more of a gambler personality so taking shots (live) at higher games on a one off doesn't bug me either.
At turningstone I was playing next to a guy who was waiting for a 15/30 seat, and I guess he thought he should run over the 4/8 game he was sitting in. When I took down a monster pot from him (I hit a gutshot) he kept mumbling about is that how you 4/8 players play.....chase down anything. UMMM a $4 call into a $46 pot seemed pretty obvious to me and I hit. Now if I missed making an $8 call into a $50 pot wouldn't happen.
Granted in a 15/30 game you wouldn't get 8 people seeing a preflop raise like that (maybe at the CNE). So the option of calling 15 into a 160+ pot doesn't happen often.
10 20? I've been playing it for a while on and off, would be playing more if I didn't move back to Toronto from Seattle due to the scarcity/distance of games in these parts. I just recently started playing 20 40.
Online? I don't play ring, just the occasional sngs. I can't stand online ring it bores the shit out of me. I also will never be comfortable with the ease of collusion at higher limits online.
Comfort level -- basically I know I'm a winning/very good limit holdem player. I still learn each time I play, but I have very good discipline and recall and can quickly assess players I haven't played with before. I can make good reads and can act on them. All this makes me feel I am the best player when I sit in a cash game. As for monitary comfort, I built a bankroll starting at 4 8 and have a well padded 10 20 bankroll with enough to have a few losing 20 40 sessions before regrouping. I'm still not 100% comfortable with the monitary swings at 20 40, but am now extremely comfortable at 10 20. The most I let myself lose is 30-40bb which doesn't happen all that often. I would be more reluctant to open up my game at a tight 20 40 table (raising UTG with any 2 cards to promote a loose image for later in the session, etc) than at the same 10 20 table, padding my bankroll a bit more will help with this.
For example, I lost $1.2k in a 20 40 session early this month and made it back dropping back and playing a few 10 20 games. I am comfortable with the monitary swings, but am not yet willing to have 3 losing $1k+ sessions in a row, so 10 20 is still my primary game, with shots at 20 40 once my bankroll is over X amount of dollars. Hopefully, a few winning 20 40 sessions strung together will make that my primary game.
As for bad players, they seem to populate every table. I've played 20 40 with players that couldn't beat a 2 5 game, although the %age of those players seens to be less than at 10 20. It's just a matter of being comfortable with the numbers and playing your game against them.
even if you had won that 20K?
it wasn't stated, but by the sounds of it, that's the impression I get.
i think if you're pretty serious, you should go to vegas for a few months and take a shot there.
p.s. if you look at canada's top two poker rooms fallsview and river rock, how many tables are they even running that you could make a decent living from? just a few higher $$$$ no-limit tables as far as i can see....
also, how many places in canada regularly run 20/40 limit? i can think of one and it's not good. i don't know the alberta and maritimes scene, so there might be more. i realize the original question was more online.
Just about every major Canadian poker room runs 20 40 limit regularly, but there aren't many major rooms in Canada.
There are 2 within an hour and 15mins of Toronto, and both are very good games.
Yeah, we were surprised as he did not want to go out anymore. We thought he was mad at us. So he was pretty depressed. I think he should take some time off and do not play at all after the first 3 lost sessions. It probably came over his head and affected his play and judgement big time.
omega