If you are a Newbie to Texas Hold’em poker, let’s say starting anytime from last Tuesday to six months ago, you want to know how you are doing today and how much better you are tomorrow in Texas Hold’em poker – in other words, how do you track your progress as a Texas Hold’em poker player? I am a Newbie to Texas Hold’em poker myself (Iv’e been playing Texas Hold’em poker about 3 months now) and as I have read the books about Texas Hold’em poker and browsed the web sites I have found some help and some naysayers. First, the help.

I was a newbie to Texas Hold'em about two years ago. I learned to play draw poker a long time ago. I have a friend who brought me to his homegame a few times. I was gently scolded for playing Q5o multiple times. My first night I won well over $100 and was hooked. I gave it all back on subsequent nights though. This homegame was a great blessing for me. It was full of guys who loved poker and would talk about hands afterward. I learned to analyze hands before I really knew how to play the game!

This is the ninth article in a series called Top 10 Mistakes of Online Players. The mistakes are not given in any particular order. Most of the mistakes apply to live play also although two or three of them are more applicable to online play. So far we have discussed the following mistakes:

#1: Playing Too Many Starting Hands
#2: Drawing to Outs That Won’t Help You Win
#3: Miscalculating Odds with Two Cards to Come
#4: Calling Raises Too Often on the Turn
# 5: Automatically Betting or Raising the River When They Think They Have the Best Hand
#6 Playing at Limits Too High in Relation to Their Bankroll
#7 Not Paying Attention
#8 Bluffing Too Much

This leads us into our next common mistake…

Matthew Hilger is from Atlanta, Georgia. He received his BBA in Finance at the University of Georgia and followed that with a Master's in Finance at Georgia State University. He then worked for a few years with Andersen Consulting (currently known as Accenture) doing consulting work mainly for the banking industry.

Matthew then moved to Phoenix, Arizona to pursue a Master's in International Management from Thunderbird. It was in Phoenix where he played his first game of Texas Hold'em at a local Indian reservation. He graduated in 1996 and began working for Chiquita Brands International in Cincinnati. His poker game was put on hold until they transferred him to their division in Costa Rica.

In Costa Rica he played his first no-limit tournament and started to play poker with more frequency. Costa Rica was a great place to hone his skills with some of the top players in the world such as Humberto Brenes, Dr. Max Stern, and Jose Rosenkrantz.

In 1999, Matthew began working for Bristol-Myers Squibb as their Finance Director for Central America. The following year, Bristol transferred him to Argentina. Argentina did not have any live poker games, and he soon discovered Internet Poker. His early success on the Internet fueled his passion further and he started to study the game seriously. He was soon hooked, and after a vacation to New Zealand, decided to move there with his wife and started playing professionally on the Internet.

Matthew has now played over 7000 hours of poker on the Internet playing at limits from $1-$2 up to $30-$60 and many online tournaments. He is an instructor at PokerSchoolOnline.com and writes a column for PokerPages.com and PokerinEurope.com. In 2002, he won the New Zealand Poker Championship. In 2004, he finished 33rd out of 2578 entrants at the World Series of Poker taking home an $80,000 prize for his efforts. His book, Internet Texas Hold'em: Winning Strategies from an Internet Pro, provides a comprehensive tool for players at all levels to be successful at limit Texas Hold'em.

The sixth article in a series:  Playing at Limits Too High in Relation to Their Bankroll

By Matthew Hilger
All rights reserved

This is the sixth article in a series called Top 10 Mistakes of Online Players. The mistakes are not given in any particular order. Most of the mistakes apply to live play also although two or three of them are most applicable to online play. So far we have discussed the following mistakes:

#1: Playing Too Many Starting Hands and
#2: Drawing To Outs That Won’t Help You Win
#3: Miscalculating Odds with Two Cards to Come
#4: Calling Raises Too Often on the Turn
#5: Automatically Betting or Raising the River When They Think They Have the Best Hand

This leads us into our next common mistake…

 Highly Recommended

Matthew looks at the advantages and disadvantages of an Online poker career
Many people have become enamored with online poker and ask me frequently, “I want to play online poker professionally, what do you recommend?” One problem I have with this question is that is seems that the decision has already been made. Online poker is a lot of fun as a hobby, but playing for a living is quite different and is a decision that should be carefully thought out before quitting your day job.

On the 5th of May 2006 I left my cosy office job for the last time, in order to throw my hat into the ring as a professional poker player. Long-time members of the Internet Texas Holdem poker forum may remember my plea for last minute advice before I finally took the plunge.

No matter how prepared I thought I was, giving up a guaranteed income to try and make my way as a professional gambler was a huge step and one which I don’t think you can ever be completely ready for.

The possibility of becoming a professional poker player is an alluring one for most players. Let’s face it, who wouldn’t want to sit at home playing poker all day? My personal situation is such that the idea is especially appealing. I have a decent job, but nothing I would be reluctant to quit. I have no dependants, a very supportive family and a partner who earns enough to get me through the tough months if things went badly wrong.