Blog of an Amateur Poker Player
Posted by Rishab Singhvi on 2013-04-24 at 12:00 AMHi guys I am Anuj from Calcutta, 21 yrs of age, almost done with my graduation. I have been following this forum since almost 3 years. I started my poker career as most of people did through Zynga Poker at facebook. Got very addicted to this game and used to play whole night made as many chips as 140 million and decided to give a try at real gambling sites. Found PokerStars and was amazed to see so many players put their money on gambling. Tried its play money games and some freerolls and ran very well which gave a boost to my confidence and so made a deposit of $20. Didn’t face much problems depositing and in no time I lost my $20 and promised never to play poker.
Then my school life got over and I turned to poker again, looked for tips and strategies and happened to find PokerGuru – Indian based poker forum. PokerGuru at that time had many freerolls to offer at 888poker, vc poker, full tilt and from there I built some bankroll and made some small withdrawings. Then there was a time when I used to play only cash games of 0.01/0.02 multitabled 15-20 games and played for an hour or so and was granted silver vip without much effort. Every Saturday PokerStars run a freeroll (100 fpp) tournament only exclusive to silver and higher status vip players with a prizepool of $30k. I decided to give it a try as suggested by a fellow member and shipped it for $3000 – my biggest win till now and I withdrew immediately and bought myself a lg 3D phone and my mom a 40 “sony bravia led tv :D. My parents never encouraged me to play poker though and asked me to stop playing poker anymore and focus on studies as every parents would ask for. I didn’t listen to them, kept $500 at PokerStars and played some macau qualifiers and other satellites and made some more $1k T$ money which I converted to cash for some dollars. I never managed my bankroll properly and in no time lost my remaining $$ and decided to take a break from poker.
Then after my college exams got over, I deposited $100 after persuading my parents, played some 2.20 180s, 1 table sngs did pretty well for few days and then there was a time where even cashing a tournament was like shipping a tournament for me. Had a very tough time and I am sure every poker player has gone through this phase. I cashout my remaining balance as my 2nd year exams were approaching. Then in the meantime I learnt some new games like 2-7 SD draw games, Omaha hi-lo. Played some play money games
and learnt 2-7 sd very well and made some easy money from it. 3 months of 2-7 sd and my ROI was over 120 and then again there was a phase where winning looked impossible. I have this habbit of taking a break from poker and it really helps me.
Now my 3rd year exams are over, I had 6k rupees left with me and cashed in for $115 roughly and am currently in $170s. This time I have decided to follow strict bankroll management and have made some goals.
[U]Current Plans and Goals:[/U]
Not to play cash games(even if I get to play against isildur1 :P)
Play only 1 table 1.50 sngs and 2.20 2-7sd game (Also I reserve 5.50 for PokerGuru online league)
Move to 2.20 180s once I touch $250
Not to withdraw any of my winnings till I reach $1k
Also what motivated me over the last 12 months there has been huge increase in the number of Indian players playing online and doing very well and shipping tournies every other day and which makes me go very jealous 😡 Have a look at this page :- [url]http://www.pocketfives.com/india-poker-community/[/url] and see for yourself.
[U]Some tips I would like to give to players who are still learning: [/U]
To be a perfect poker player one have to be mentally strong and not get affected by bad beats and ability to sit and play for more than 8-10 hours because you get really exhausted and so therefore physical fitness plays an important role too. Also if you are going through bad phase, I would advise you to take a break from poker and watch some videos, read some e-books, go through PokerGuru forums, twoplustwo
forums and start everything afresh. And also make sure you dont mess with your bankroll and manage it properly. Go through this link :- [url]https://pokerguru.in/poker-strategy/Bankroll-Management[/url]
I am very sure your game will improve a lot, if you follow those tips and br management properly.
“Poker played well is not a gamble, but a game of skill and knowledge.”
