Earn $30,000 per Month Playing Online Poker

Earn $30,000 per Month Playing Online Poker

by Ryan Wiseman
Earn $30,000 per Month Playing Online Poker

Earn $30,000 per Month Playing Online Poker

by Ryan Wiseman

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Overview

Much like a pilot need not know the pure physics behind his flight, a skilled poker player need not know the pure mathematics behind winning poker play. Too often have poker books taken a purely theoretical approach to poker instruction. This book is the only poker book available that caters specifically to online sit-n-go (SNG) single-table low-limit Texas Hold’em tournaments. More importantly, it is the only poker book that guides the reader on a progressive path upward through the various limits, with only the information necessary to win with any bankroll or skill level to beat that specific low limit. Presented in a series of steps, the book provides guidelines that help tell the reader when to move up to a higher limit. SNG’s have very predictable durations (40 – 60 minutes) so the reader could effectively set aside blocks of time to play. Unlike other games, the book contends that SNG’s have very predictable win/loss rates, can be defeated systematically, and offer an innate system of progression. That is, the various buy-in amounts can be viewed as a climbable ladder that helps gauge success. As with any gambling, winning is not a sure thing. But this book gives you the tools you need to win.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781550227888
Publisher: ECW Press
Publication date: 10/28/2007
Pages: 122
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.31(d)

About the Author

Ryan Wiseman began playing online poker while a university student in 2003. Within a year, having studied many poker books with his poker-playing friends, he had become successful. Eventually they settled on one type of game — the no-limit Texas Hold’em sit-n-go (single table) tournament. The game’s predictable durations (40–60 minutes) fit well into their daily routines. More importantly, SNG could be defeated systematically. By the middle of 2005, Ryan had won more than $100,000. He currently lives in Toronto.

Read an Excerpt

How to Earn $30,000 A Month Playing Online Poker

Or, the Definitive Guide to No-Limit Single Table Tournaments Online


By Ryan Wiseman

ECW PRESS

Copyright © 2007 Ryan Wiseman
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-55022-788-8



CHAPTER 1

* PART ONE *

An Overview


How to Use This Book

While we recommend that anyone unfamiliar with online poker, and specifically SNG tournaments, read this book in its entirety, we haven't designed it to be tedious and redundant for the more experienced player. Ultimately, this book should be used as a dependable resource and source of reference. We encourage you to mark memorable pages and skim over passages dealing with familiar concepts.


A Beginner's Guide to Online Poker

It's estimated that the online poker industry currently generates gross revenues in excess of $2 billion per year. Gone are the days when shady Internet sites lured the occasional customer into their midst only to exploit them through complex cash-out procedures, flawed software, and untouchable customer support. Modern online poker sites can more appropriately be viewed as corporations (many are corporately owned) that are held accountable for their actions and that recognize their success depends on their customers' enjoyment.

Many people new to online poker wonder how these sites can generate such incredible amounts of revenue. The roots of their profits are the same as land-based poker rooms: rake. Poker sites scoop a predetermined percentage (the rake) from every pot above a certain amount. These amounts vary per game and per limit. Since the focus of our book is on tournaments, it's important to understand how the house (poker site) makes money from tournaments.


For every tournament played, a fee is charged by the poker site. For example, if you enter an $11 tournament with 10 players, the total amount everyone puts in is $110. However, the prize pool is only $100. You are actually entering a $10 tournament and providing the house with a dollar to let you play. This is an unavoidable side effect of playing poker anywhere. Everyone has to pay it, and it will not impede your success. Tournament fees will be covered in greater detail later in this book.

The poker site we'll be studying throughout this book is PartyPoker. It's the largest online poker site, regularly hosting 85,000 players at a time. This number guarantees there will be action at any limit at which you desire to play. PartyPoker also hosts the greatest number of SNG tournaments. Since SNGs are the topic of this book, we believe it's important to learn how to beat the tournaments where most people are playing. Not only are the games easier (since with an increased number of players comes an increased number of bad players), but they also have a tournament format that is relatively similar to many of the other online poker sites. Feel free to experiment with other poker sites, taking what you have learned here and applying it elsewhere. We have included simple conversion tables at the end of the book (Part 4) that allow you to easily apply the method described here to other popular poker sites. It's our belief and experience, however, that PartyPoker offers the most lucrative games on the Internet.

In addition to the quality of the games, PartyPoker supports a variety of cash-out methods and offers 100% secure and guaranteed transactions. You can remain confident that your money is secure within your account.


Opening an Online Poker Account

(If you already have a PartyPoker account, please skip this section.)


Many people have been tempted to make the move to online poker but have seen the task of setting up an online account as daunting. We assure you that there's nothing more to it than signing in to an e-mail account or banking online.

Visit www.sngprofessional.com. This is the companion website for this book. Here you'll find a download link and step-by-step instructions on how to install PartyPoker's software. Signing up through our site permits us to anonymously track the progress of our readers. Anonymous statistics are sent to us through PartyPoker's affiliate program. It's important that we mention PartyPoker is in no way associated with the creation or publication of this book. The statistics provided to us show how our readers are doing as a group; no individual information is provided. We will try and make this information public monthly to see just how well all of us are doing. If you choose not to sign up through our affiliate, we completely understand. We don't make our money through sign-ups. To sign up independently, visit www.partypoker.com. You'll see a download link on the main page. Simply click on it and install the software.

Once the software has been installed and loaded, follow the step-by-step instructions provided and sign up with PartyPoker. Any problem or confusion can be addressed by contacting PartyPoker at 1-800-852-4719 or by visiting its website.

Once you have opened your account, it's time to make your first deposit. There are various methods of deposit available to you. Again, full details of these methods can be found on PartyPoker's website. We will, however, offer a few quick suggestions.

1. Credit card deposits are the easiest and most straightforward method. However, you can't withdraw to your credit card. Be prepared to withdraw via check if you choose this method.

2. Neteller: www.neteller.com. If you plan on being involved with online poker for some time, we recommend signing up for a Neteller account. This is essentially an online bank account. You can link it to your personal bank account and deposit to or withdraw from that account. Withdrawals from PartyPoker to Neteller are almost instantaneous. (Note: As of summer 2007, Neteller is no longer available to North American customers. Europeans can still use it at will.)


The amount you deposit is completely up to you. Remember, you can withdraw or deposit more funds at will. Bankroll requirements will be discussed prior to play. We simply recommend depositing a small amount now to eliminate any confusion that may arise later. Doing so will also give you practice using the software while you finish this book.

Familiarize yourself with the software. We encourage you to visit http://www.partypoker.com/how_to_play/. Become accustomed to the various menus and features. While all of this will soon become second nature to you, it's important to alleviate any confusion prior to playing.


Configuring PartyPoker's Software for Tournaments

To take advantage of the additional software we recommend you use when playing PartyPoker's tournaments (discussed later), you should configure PartyPoker so that it displays only the minimum required graphics. Under "Game Rules & Options," go to "Video & Audio Options." We recommend unchecking all options except "Mouse Over Help." Doing so will also reduce your system requirements and increase the visual speed of the game.


PartyPoker's SNG Tournament Structure

(See Part 4 for tournament structure charts that relate to other poker sites.)


The structure of a single-table tournament is not unlike that of any other 10-person table game you have ever played. There exists both a small blind (SB) and a big blind (BB), along with a dealer button. Unlike table games, however, everyone sitting at the SNG table has a predetermined amount of chips (2,000 for all of PartyPoker's tournaments). You are unable to buy more chips if you lose some, and once you lose all of your chips you are out of the tournament. It continues until only one person remains.

It's important to understand the structure of these tournaments prior to playing them since it holds the key to your outcome. Here we examine the SNG format we'll focus on: 10-player no-limit single-table tournaments.

Buy-in amounts: PartyPoker offers a variety of limits at which to play SNGs. Our book is designed to help you climb this ladder as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Pay-out structure: The prize pool consists of each player's tournament buy-in. The tournament fee is not included in the prize pool. As you can see above, an $11 tournament ($10 + $1) yields a prize pool of $100 (not $111). For PartyPoker SNGs, the pay-out structure is as follows.

Blinds' structure: The blinds are the most important element of the game. Without a solid understanding of blind structure, you won't be able to time and manage your bets. Each blind level lasts for a predetermined amount of time, then moves up to the next level. The blinds start as a small percentage of your chip stack, then increase as time goes on. Regular SNGs have 10-minute levels: that is, the levels increase every ten minutes, while Speed SNGs have five-minute levels.

Don't be overly concerned with memorizing each level; it's simply a good idea to have an overview of the tournament structure. The importance of each level will be explained later.

Information regarding the current level, and the time until the next level, is always available to you in the bottom left-hand corner of each table.


The Two Tournament Types: Speed versus Regular

PartyPoker offers two types of SNG tournaments: Speed and Regular. They differ in only one way: the length of each blind level.

Speed: Each blind level lasts five minutes.

Regular: Each blind level lasts 10 minutes.


Each tournament type has its advantages and disadvantages. Speed takes less time to complete but permits you to see fewer hands per level. Regular tournaments take twice as long to complete but permit a more patient and less variable game. Our method will teach you how to defeat both types of tournaments, and we will discuss each type in much greater detail later in the book. Ultimately, however, we recommend you choose a tournament type and stick with it once you have had a chance to experience both.


The Tools of the Trade

Software to Help You Win

Now that you have set up your poker account, and PartyPoker is properly installed, you need to set up the tools necessary for success. It's important that these components are in place before you begin to play. While the lower limits of play are easily beaten without them, we recommend you set everything up now so you are fully familiar with them when you progress to higher limits (where they are absolutely necessary).

Unlike land-based poker, online poker provides you with a variety of technological advantages that can enhance your ability to interpret opponents. Software has also been created to help manage PartyPoker more effectively and increase the ease with which you can play multiple tables at once. We will present the tools in their order of necessity.


Poker Tracker: www.pokertracker.com ($55 U.S.)

It's highly recommended that you download Poker Tracker. Unfortunately, the only way to acquire it is to purchase it from the website, but the whole process takes no more than five minutes. You'll be able to download and use it immediately. If you wish to continue without using Poker Tracker, your progress will be slower.

Poker Tracker, in its simplest form, is a database management tool. It keeps track of every tournament and hand played, then interprets and presents the data in a straightforward manner. It provides us with information directly related to both our, and our opponents', progress and playing styles. In the context of this book, Poker Tracker will primarily be used as a tool that helps us to better understand our opponents. Poker Tracker has many features, so we'll focus only on those that benefit our purpose: defeating SNG tournaments.

The first time you run Poker Tracker, it will walk you through the general setup procedure. Once this is complete, the software is fully operational.

For every tournament we play, we set Poker Tracker to auto matically import all the hands played and thus track every player we play against. There are two ways to do this: one provides you with live updates while you play; the other updates stats once the tournament is over. We will go over both of them, and you can select which method you find most efficient; we recommend using both.


• Importing Hand Histories as You Play

Stats are constantly being updated as you play. Every few minutes Poker Tracker imports new data, presenting you with the most up-to-date player information available. The setup procedure is straightforward.

In Poker Tracker, click on "Auto-Import Hand Histories/Tournament Summaries — Generic Setup." The following window will pop up.

The "Use:" selection box should read "Look for a file (or files) on my PC." The timer should be set to five minutes. The "All Text Files In Folder (sub-folders included)" option should be clicked. Under the "Folder(s) where hand history files are located:" you should have the location of the PartyPoker hand history folder. The default is shown above; however, you may have to enter something different if you installed PartyPoker elsewhere. You can alter the folder location by clicking on the "Configure [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]" button.

Once this is set, simply click on "OK." You will now be presented with the following window.

Poker Tracker is now ready to start importing hand information. You may minimize the software, and it will work in the background. Every five minutes it will check whether or not new hands have been played; if new hands are available, it will import them. Once you are done playing, simply open Poker Tracker and stop the import timer. You may then explore all of the information that was imported by clicking on the "Tournament Player Statistics" icon.

Remember to always start the auto-import process prior to playing. Doing so will ensure that you have a complete record of all hands played.

Poker Tracker only imports hands if they are available! Don't expect it to find any new hands if you haven't played any new tournaments.


• Importing Hand Histories from E-Mail

Using e-mail for importation has one great advantage over live import: it provides you with the results of your opponents (what places they came in after you left). Live import stops recording once you get kicked out of a tournament, so you never know the final results.

Live import is much more important for the beginner. Ideally, however, you will use both methods. Poker Tracker automatically detects duplicate hands, so you do have to worry about receiving inaccurate results when using both methods at once.

The first requirement for this method is that you have a POP3 e-mail account (not a web-based e-mail account such as Hotmail). These e-mail accounts allow you to use software such as Outlook. You may already have a POP3 account. If you do, you can disregard this step. If you don't already have one, you can acquire a free POP3 account from numerous sites on the Internet, including www.gmail.com or www.bluebottle.com. Both services allow you to check your e-mail online and via e-mail software.

Now you must make sure that your POP3 e-mail account is associated with PartyPoker (this will be the primary e-mail address PartyPoker uses to contact you). Under the "My Account" menu in the PartyPoker lobby, click on "Change/Validate E-mail Address." The following window will pop up.

Simply enter your POP3 e-mail address in the "Change E-mail Address" box, request a new validation code, and then check your POP3 e-mail. Once you receive the code, go back into PartyPoker and enter the validation code above and click "Validate." Your POP3 e-mail account is now linked to your PartyPoker account.

To receive hand histories from PartyPoker, you must request them at the end of every tournament. When you have finished playing any tournament (either by winning it or by getting knocked out), the following window will pop up.

Simply click "Yes," and a complete tournament summary containing every hand played by every player will be sent to your POP3 e-mail account. You should make it a habit of clicking "Yes" at the end of every tournament.

Now that PartyPoker is sending you all of your hand histories, we will show you how to configure Poker Tracker to import them. First, you must configure your e-mail address with Poker Tracker. Under the "Utilities" menu, click on "POP3 Email Setup." The following window will pop up.


Enter all of your e-mail information into provided boxes; then click "Test." Make sure that it connects, and click "Save."

Now, whenever you want Poker Tracker to import new hand histories, simply click on "Import Hand Histories/Tournament Summaries" under the "File" menu. The following window will pop up.


(Continues...)

Excerpted from How to Earn $30,000 A Month Playing Online Poker by Ryan Wiseman. Copyright © 2007 Ryan Wiseman. Excerpted by permission of ECW PRESS.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

Table of Contents

Contents

INTRODUCTION,
PART ONE An Overview,
How to Use this Book,
A Beginner's Guide to Online Poker,
Opening an Online Poker Account,
Configuring PartyPoker's Software for Tournaments,
PartyPoker's SNG Tournament Structure,
The Tools of the Trade,
What Is a Bankroll, and How Do I Manage It?,
Why Play Tournaments (SNGs) Instead of Ring Games?,
I Got Rivered! The Likelihood of Losing with the Best Hand,
Playing Multiple Tables,
The Best Times to Play,
PART TWO The Journey,
Pot Odds versus Implied Odds,
All-In Hand Odds,
Step 1: The $11 (10+1) NL-SNG Tournament,
Step 2: The $22 (20+2) NL-SNG Tournament,
Step 3: The $33 (30+3) NL-SNG Tournament,
Step 4: The $55 (50+5) NL-SNG Tournament,
Step 5: The $109 (100+9) NL-SNG Tournament,
Step 6: The $215 (200+15) NL-SNG Tournament,
Step 7: The $530 (500+30) NL-SNG Tournament,
Conclusion,
PART THREE Review Sheets & Hand Rankings,
Review Sheet,
Hand Rankings,
PART FOUR Conversion Charts for Other Poker Sites,
Poker Stars,
Full Tilt,
GLOSSARY,

Reading Group Guide

Much like a pilot need not know the pure physics behind a flight, a skilled poker player need not know the pure mathematics behind winning poker play. Too often poker books have taken a purely theoretical approach to poker instruction. They present the reader with a flood of mathematical proofs, complex scenarios, and tiresome examples — all of which overwhelm the beginner. Indeed, we were once overwhelmed by these books, confused over how anyone could absorb the knowledge therein without a PhD in statistical analysis. How could one person possibly retain, then efficiently apply, all of the information in these books without months of study? Where was the step-by-step approach to defeating online poker? We began playing online poker in 2003. We were full-time university students and part-time fish. There is no denying the fact that we were all losing players back then. We went online to gamble, and it showed. It was only a matter of time before one of us stood up and said, “I don’t want to lose anymore.” So he read a few books, found them confusing, but studied hard. By 2004, he was no longer a losing player. In fact, he was a consistent winner. That year he forfeited summer employment to play poker full time, and by the start of the next academic year he was earning significantly more than the rest of us. What was our response? Teach us! Over the next few months, we observed our friend constantly. The learning process quickly became addictive as each day took us closer to financial freedom. Our friend had read seven poker books that summer. Over 2,500 pages of tedious, technical reading. He said that, for every 50 pages he’d read, only one had contributed to his success. He had photocopied the key pages and kept them in a stapled pile next to his computer — 2,500 pages condensed to a 50-page reference package. By the end of 2004, we were all winning players. All of us contributed to each other’s success, feeding off the combined body of experiential knowledge we had collectively acquired. We played at over 30 different online poker sites, at every limit available (at the time). Eventually, however, we all settled on one type of game: the no-limit Texas Hold’em sit-’n’-go (single table) tournament. Initially, we chose to specialize in the no-limit sit-’n’-go (or NL-SNG) tournaments because it helped to structure our playing time. As students, we needed to be able to walk away from poker at specific times. SNGs have very predictable durations (40–60 minutes), so we could effectively set aside blocks of time to play. However, it quickly became apparent that they offered further advantages. Unlike other games, SNGs had very predictable win/loss rates, could be defeated systematically, and offered an innate system of progression. That is, the various buy-in amounts can be viewed as a ladder that helps us to gauge our success. Just six months into 2005, we had each earned in excess of $100,000 U.S., and only one of us actually understood the math behind our winning play. The rest of us? Well, we were more than content in our ignorance. Invariably, other friends became curious about our success. They wanted to know how they could replicate our earnings. While the method we were using was extremely straightforward, we simply did not have the time to teach each person individually. They asked if there was a specific book they should read. The answer was always no, though we wished there was! Eventually, one of us wrote a brief paper explaining how to defeat the low-limit SNGs at PartyPoker. It provided the reader with only the information required to beat that specific low-limit. We gave it to someone every time they asked for poker lessons, and everyone seemed to succeed. It was then that we had our epiphany: we could write a step-by-step guide to defeating SNGs. A book that provides the reader with information on a need-to-know basis. A book that can show a beginner how to turn a very small initial investment into hundreds of thousands of dollars. A book based on experience. This is the result of that epiphany.

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