I emailed Matthew about the idea of sharing my experiences from the perspective of a completely beginner player. I really hope you enjoy the article and that it will help other beginners avoid falling into the same traps I did.

I discovered poker at the end of September 2003. I had never really played before except a little poker on some software which has nothing to do with hold’em. I really enjoyed the first moment playing online and I decided I needed to learn how to play the game. Like many, I remembered a movie I really loved, Rounders, and imagined myself as the future Matt Damon.

I decided to play the free games at first. I began playing freeroll tournaments mostly. I played some play money ring games also but found that everybody called with anything which was too annoying so I decided to stop. The tournaments were great experience and I began to rank in the top 20% sometimes. At this time I was playing pocket pairs and any hand with two cards above a T.

I then decided to give real money games a try and deposited $75 into Empire Poker. I started playing with the method I described and guess what…I had great success. I was able to build my bankroll up to $350. I didn’t know at this time what a winning streak was but I soon discovered it. I then registered on Poker Stars shortly after with $50. I was so confident in my game I decided to play $.50-$1 and I lost almost everything in an hour and a half. I went back to Empire and began losing again and again. This was a difficult period cause you go from poker king to poker loser.

I played some tournaments during this time on Empire and had average results. That is where I fell into a big trap. Be careful not to do the same or you will get burned. I lost three $10 buy-in tournaments and told myself that I played really good! “I shouldn’t have lost! Those guys are a lot looser than me!!” I decided to play a $30 tournament to get back to break even. I don’t need to tell you the result…I lost. In fact the worst thing happened. I finished 4th. I left with the impression that I was so close to winning. So I decided to play a $50 tourney and lost it as well. Eventually I lost all my money on Empire.

This is when a great change occured. I received Internet Texas Hold’em by Matthew Hilger.

Reading the book made me realize how far away I was from being successful at poker. I completely stopped playing for a few days and read the book in detail. I then decided to follow the advice religiously. I opened an account at Ultimate Bet and started playing $.25/$.50. From the $50 deposit I was able to get my bankroll to $300 when suddenly the madness struck again. I was playing quite tight and felt so confident in my game that I decided to give $5-$10 a try. I lost about $150 in less than 30 minutes. Won’t I ever learn!

This “misadventure” was another important moment for me. This was towards the end of October and I decided to stop throwing money away. It seems my gambler side was becoming too strong and I really needed to canalize it to “manage” my bankroll. I built an excel spreadsheet with all my accounts and started to record winning and losses day by day. At the same time I began playing $2-$4 on Empire and made a new deposit after receiving an email offering a new deposit bonus. Later I will explain to you how I decided to manage my bankroll and the major event that happened to me in November.

To conclude, if I could start all over again I would have done several things differently:
- Buy Internet Texas Hold’em. This is the best book I have read so far and easy to understand with lots of examples.
- Do not play with play money or freeroll tournaments. The play is so much different when there is real money in the pot.
- Start playing in Ultimate Bet or Poker Stars at lower limits for experience. The play at these sites is quite good and you can learn a lot of things.
- Avoid falling into traps like trying higher buy-in tournaments while losing or playing at limits higher than your bankroll dictates.
- Be careful in thinking of myself as a good player due to a little success because the fall will hurt even more.
- Be more patient. Rome was not build in a day.

You can learn more about Bertrand in his Member Spotlight