Like a lot of people, I’d played poker for years. Well, if you can call it poker! When I was in the Army, I played poker 5 times a week, but it was the kind you play with your buddies with all kinds of wild cards and every stupid game you can think of. When I got out of the Army, I became a cook. Cooks love to play poker also, so I continued to play and do pretty well at winning these crazy games.

Then one day I saw the World Poker Tour on the television. I thought, how tough can this game be. I accidentally stumbled across an advertisement for poker on the Internet, so although I was very skeptical, I thought I’d give it a try. I had absolutely no intention of doing anything but killing some time and having some fun. I played the micro limit games since I had no idea what I was doing other than trying to hit some good hands. I had no idea whatsoever about pot odds, check raising, or anything else. I still won though because I was patient, and that was enough to beat the micro limit players.

I read a couple of books and started getting a little better. But I know now that I was clueless at that point. I can’t even believe how much I didn’t know back then! I was winning fairly consistently and so I knew that I was better then average, but I also knew that I was no where near actually being good. I knew I was winning not because I was great, but because the other players weren’t any good at all. Then I tried No Limit Holdem. I started very small again and worked my way gradually and slowly up to higher and higher stakes.

I’m now making more money playing poker than I do at my real job. I’m talking about hourly win rate, since I do not play full time and still have a real job. I do, however, consider myself to be a semi-pro poker player, which to me means that I could make a living playing poker if I needed or wanted to! I have now built my poker bankroll to the point where I can spend my winnings, and believe me, it’s more money than I ever thought possible!

I’ve played at just about every major poker site on the internet, but I now spend almost all of my time at either PartyPoker or William Hill. It is true that PartyPoker has some of the worst players around, but because of this your variance will be very high. You will win a lot some days and lose a lot some days because they will sometimes catch a miracle card with a hand they should have folded long ago. In the long run you will crush these players if you play well, but the highs and lows can be very frustrating.

The players at William Hill are also very weak, but they are also very passive which means your variance will be much lower. They do not bet enough or raise enough. A good player will tend to lose less on their bad hands but make much more on their good hands because these same players who do not raise or bet enough, will call large bets and raises when they have the 2nd best hand. I have played, and been successful at some of the largest games online, although I spend most of my time at middle stakes games because the risk/reward ratio is so much better. I have seen a couple horrible losing streaks that tested my resolve to continue playing, but if you persevere you overcome these obstacles and they make you a better player.

I learned many of the skills it takes to be a top no-limit player by reading websites and interacting with great players on poker forums. I hope this site helps you on your journey.