Date: 12/11/1998
From: Jim Geary
Newsgroups: rec.gambling.poker
Subject: Re: Realistic poker expectations
On Fri, 11 Dec 1998 wannabe_great@my-dejanews.com wrote: > I am new to poker. I have been studying intensely; reading books, reading web > pages, reading RGP postings, and playing selectively (not very much). Great start! You may already have cast yourself to the upper quintile of potential. > The WSOP champion won $1 million, second place $687K, in believe. That's hopefully not a starting point for framing your expecations... > pretty darn good. However, what do regulars in ring games realisticlly make > weekly, monthly, annually? How many hours are played weekly, monthly, > annually? It depends. It depends. It depends. It depends. It depends. It depends. As an aside, a strong 20-40 player can easily make $100k a year or more, but that doesn't have much relevance to your situation if you're just starting out. > How realistic is it too assume that a $5k bankroll will double in 3-6 hold-em > in X amount of time? What is X amount of time? If you've won $5k playing 3-6, it might be time to play a little higher. If you're brand new tho, it takes time to have any expectation of building the bankroll at the 4 and 5 figure level. > A lot of literature is spent on withstanding the drawdowns. If this is > gambling, with bankroll deviations guaranteed, how much tuition should I > expect to pay? How long does it take one to graduate to a positive return on > investment? If you're a studious student, there may be not much tuition for beating 3-6 games. If you choose to stay at this level while you gain experience you can make your tuition a positive cash flow situation. If you're sufficiently accomplished to beat the 3-6 games (if that's possible, I'll let others debate that), $2000 should be sufficient bankroll to weather the storms. Hopefully, you can build this br while gaining experience (and thinking about the game when you're not playing -- very important!) to progress up the food chain. When you come to the realization that you're the best player in the game and you're winning easily, it is time to take shots at the next level. This continues until you plateau at a level of incompetence or you become one of the best players in the world. It takes time to do the latter, so enjoy the ride. It's the trip more than the destination, anyway. (Sorry to get zenny, it slipped.) Good luck and clarity of thought.
Last Modified 2/9/00