Where did you learn to play?

[saint00]

I learned to play with friends initially, but then the whole poker storm took over online and i moved over to playing at pokerstars, watched tv poker a bit, but mostly played with the play money sit and go's. got rid of my rookie jitters while i was still playing for play money =) and now i have moved on to playing a lot of heads up sit and go's.

Allthough i do remember playing a lot of poker as a kid on the hand held video games while riding in the back seat of the car!

 

[Panamajoe]

Dad

I learned Poker basics from my Dad when I was probably 7-8 years old. We played around the house (dealers choice) a lot. I progressed to playing penny ante, then nickel dime quarter with friends after work.

When the Texas Holdem' boom came along I watched some on TV and then got my first account at Mansion Poker.

Great Game!

 

[tiamarie223]

Well I played with my dad as a kid, but it wasn't until I was grown that I learned texas hold em and razz, my two favorites. I've even started teaching my self omaha. I prefer hi/lo and I've actually placed itm in a couple of the sitngos I've played!

 

[YAIM]

i grew up playing with family and friends

 

[newfyninja]

Too True

I won 1.75 my past two free rolls at Noble Poker and now I'm up to around 30 bucks playing in .2/.4 NL games. I just go to the table with only a dollar and try to play carefully and work up from there. Playing with play money is nothing like real money though. Play money users tend to go all in with anything. Real money users are way more conservative and more competitive. If you want to learn but have no money, just play the freerolls.

I have to agree with you there Lavitz. It might only be nickle and dime poker but just knowing that the money is real does affect how people play. I learned on poker stars a few years back (NHL Lockout) but I quickly threw in $50 to give it a go and started playing $5 SNG's with 9 players. In three weeks I cashed out $150 and left my original $50 in there. Since then however the competition has incresed exponentially as poker has continued to grow.

Newfyninja

 

[pamera]

Initially I learned poker among my friends and when I became familiar with the game then I joined the
online poker room.

 

[gator_dad23]

i learned to play in college at home games....i got hooked and have been playing in casinos and online forever

 

[dak76]

Started live 1 & half year, and didn't knew anything about it.
Some friends played sng at a bar, in a land where poker is ilegal and nobody knows anything about poker, except it's brings disgrace:ahhhhh:.

Loved the game and started well, beginners luck obv.
But those guys after all didn't know so much as I tough, it was a Hold'em without burned cards, without min bet = BB so when the blind were at 1000 we could bet 25!!! Also 1k chips and the blinds always doubled... 25-50, 50-100, 100-200, 200-400, 400-800, 800-1600... frequently when blinds got 400/800 everyone was at the table... and winner takes all was a rule. Rarely 2nd place was discussed.

Today live games are at my place, with high standards and good tables. Only one of those guys plays frequently with us, and the rest of them still complaint about the new rules lol

So, live for fun and online to quit job someday :deal:

 

[KronX]

I learned from playing freerolls on full tilt and pokerstars.
I still have a round 2 ticket on Poker stars that is like 2 years old.

 

[orangepeeleo]

I learned to play in a buddies basement when i was in highschool with a bunch of old dirty men lol... they took so much money from me im surprised i could stll afford the gas to get there but man did i love it

The school of hard knocks lol best place to learn anything, I learnt nearly (i said nearly, the rest i learnt from here lol) everything i know from playing in a lil card school in a, now, friends attic, my other mate invited me along one saturday, got my ass handed to me and lost about €150, that was about a year or so ago and i haven't looked back since. Must've been a very good place to get my poker education because the group used to take regular trips to venlo casino to play in their €50 rebuy tourny every friday night, and out of the 5 or 6 that went there was always guarenteed to be at least 2 of us out of 50 entrants on the final table every week, it was generally a very skilled and clued up card school, those were some good times

On a side note and in reply to some other posts in this thread, My reccomendation would be to sack off the play money, i always try it when i sign up to a new site just to get a feel for the software and the standard of play never fails to amaze me, nowadays theres plenty of places that you can get live experience for cheap and i think thats the best way.
I think that knowledge learned in a live card room can be transfered online quite easily, whereas someone who learns online has to learn a whole lot more things when he goes into a casino for the first time, chip handling, string betting etc you see the casino newbie online players a mile off with their shaking hands and their huge grins, i was terrified the first time i went to a casino to play but when you start seeing the hands people are showing down you realise that there's just as many bad players in a casino as there are online, even if they do insist on talking the talk after every hand lol

 

[dougiefresh1234]

where did i learn?

i actually was playing hold em before it became so popular like 5 or 6 yrs ago. i was playing at my buddies house and he said lets play hold em, i learned and i was hooked. anyways ive learned a lot since then and im going to the wsop this year so everyone from cc i hope you guys cheer me on.

 

[uteboy]

I 1st seen poker on tv I think it was WPT with in about 5min i was hook I did'nt know what beat what at that time but i just love to see how the hands played out and still do.. I if i dont have anyone to play with i will play hands by my self to see how it pan's out.. I will deal out lets say around 3 to 4 fake players and to my self.. Then i will play out the hand.. I will bet raise fold a few players hands and see what sort of hand i can make.. once i get good i might start playing for real money.. Well have a local live freerolls every night down here so i might go and see what there all about some time..

 

[daev27]

With my buddies from highschool. We all just started playing every weekend and eventually we all got the hang of it. Of course, some of us got better than others.

 

[*FloppedNuts*]

Well i saw my friend was playing freeroll on internet and thats the way how i interested poker. Now i am doing great 0.15/25 stakes

 

[raulgonzo]

Bet821poker

I have started playing small tournaments in betfair in which you can not lose a lot of money at once! I have found now a new site bet821poker.com in which the players are not experts and i can actually make some money!!! It seems to be a new site and there are a lot of players that are even playing for first time!
Still have a lot to learn but improving!

 

[Keebs212842]

I learned to play poker in prison. Eight to ten hours a day for four years... I got out, rounded up a few games, and haven't stopped rounding up games since... Not quite eight hours a day anymore (who has time for that?), but still play a lot...

-Keebs212842

 

[lewis010]

i learned to play poker on the tv seeing texas holdem poker. so i decided to play online, and learn more about poker.

 

[Ariez]

Started playing

I started playing at party poker and from there i now have about a dozen sites that i play at....

 

[GoldenJacks]

Where I learned to play

I wasnt into poker at all until a friend of mine showed me how. He brought me to Ultimate Bet and taught me the basics, got me to fold almost everything under A9 and I was folding everything under A10. Then I went and practiced on my own till because he intimidated me a lot. I just needed to learn on my own without too many pressures. After that, we played together and he explained certain plays and why I should play such a way or avoid playing in another way.

Not long after that I was winning tourneys and found that I had a great grasp of the games.

 

[FreedomFighte1]

AIT...(army)

well i started play while i was in AIT which is after Basic and my battle buddy showed me a little bit..lol and now im a full blown poker junkie. When i got home my uncle took me to a poker club in my home town and I just loved it so much i started playing every tourney the had...of course i had about 8000 bucks from the army so i could aford it..now i gotta play a little more smart..but i do ok most times

 

[rileyl]

I learned to play poker with my friends at our weekly home cash game.
I read a couple books on poker with The Theory of Poker being the most help. It really got me thinking into deeper concepts of the game and I think made me realize how poker has so much math involved in it. I then started playing online and have been hooked on poker ever since.

 

[madmax11]

learning

I used to play rummy and 5 card draw around 12 - 13 y.o.. From there I just matured into the all around good player that I am, lol.

 

[AlanEmm]

HI

HI IM 19 YEARS OLD I STARTED ABOUT 2 YEARS AGO FIRST STARTED PLAYING ON POKER STARS THEN MOVED ONTO FULL TILT THEN MANSION POKER THEN ALL THE POKERS TO TRY THEM OUT BUT I AINT GOT ANY CASH SO I JUST PLAY FOR PLAY MONEY BUT IM THE BEST AT POKER I WILL MAKE A DEPOSIT 1 DAY

 

[bob_tiger]

HI IM 19 YEARS OLD I STARTED ABOUT 2 YEARS AGO FIRST STARTED PLAYING ON POKER STARS THEN MOVED ONTO FULL TILT THEN MANSION POKER THEN ALL THE POKERS TO TRY THEM OUT BUT I AINT GOT ANY CASH SO I JUST PLAY FOR PLAY MONEY BUT IM THE BEST AT POKER I WILL MAKE A DEPOSIT 1 DAY

Im sure this is all true but you need to fix your caps button

 

[DmitriGG]

actually i started playing when i was 12 years old... on pokerstars.com...i played for about a year of g/l omaha and holdem for play money.. then i started to join freerolls.. won 2 in a row... got about 30$ and built it to 1000g then cashed it out through assistance of a friend.. beacaus i was 15 at the time and could not cash out myself.. ive been playing a for quite a long time now both on pacific and pokerstars Im Leagle to play today and just building up my exp