Does anyone else play Poker?

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I play a bit and am in a local Poker Club. I play online as well. Sometimes I play in casinos, but only when I am on travel for work where there happen to be casinos. We don't have any here. I have a pretty good reputation, especially online. I find my cold, logical processing suits the game well. I am good in live tournaments as well, where I don't have to read my opponents as much, but am not good at live cash games, where there is a need to watch and read my opponents more. I can't bring myself to read my opponent's eyes and pick up tells. I can only rationalize what they might have by their betting patterns.

I went through a phase for a few months about a year and a half ago where poker was my obsession. I played exclusively online. I don't think I would fare nearly as well live, as I am terrible at reading people, and lousy at concealing my emotions.

I seriously considered quitting my job and playing poker online for a living. My calculations showed I could probably make a nice living multi-tabling 5/10 6-max based on my win rate, standard deviation, hands played, etc. But I couldn't deal with the stress. Losing big pots effected me way too much. I also think that I would've bored of the game eventually, and being out of work for a while it would have made finding a real job all the more difficult.

Once I made the decision I wasn't going to play for a living, I gave it up entirely. It's all or nothing for me... no middle ground.

I still think about it often, especially as I go through a very difficult period at work.

I like it better live. Can't read people
otherwise. Kinda made a (meager)
living doing it, while pursuing my
first undergrad degree.

Not a big fan of the huge craze
that is Texas Hold 'em though.
Probably just don't have enough
practice/understanding of the
odds. Reminds me too much of
playing draw - no real information
on the other people's relative strength.

I play holdem online and have for the last 2 years. Mostly play (micro)limit from 5c/10c to 1$/2$ , would play live but there arent many places nearby that are convenient for me to play at and would be terrible at reading people anyway.

Also play a lot of mtt sng's and seem to do well on the lower buy in ones.

ive not had a job in ten years, that's all i will say on the matter.

You're either good, or too broke.
Can't figure out which.

I play a bit and would like to start playing more.

Haha
Actually ive not played for a couple a months.
Times are harder nowadays. But in 2004, online poker.. where did they all go ?

well John, as far as playing live is concerned. Unless you know some friends with their own little game going on, then there's not too many places suitable.
Hopefully Manchester will get the supercasino, even then they may not have decent games.
For now the interenet is yr best option.

I used to, but I got bored of it. It's just gambling. Don't let people fool you into thinking it's a "skill" that you can acquire, winning is based on luck.

Please tell me I'm not the only poker guy willing to refute this fallacy.

I play with a few mates in school, or at least I used to.
I prefer playing live because if I play online there doesn't seem any pressure to play well, or really bother for that matter.

no, you're just the only one who wants to tap the aquarium.

Luck determines the cards you are dealt, but the skill comes in understanding how to play them - how to "maximise your expectation" (to use statistical jargon). If you understand this better than your opponents, in the long run you will win.

Understanding how to maximise your expectation in Poker is difficult - it's a complicated game.
What's more, it's a game of "imperfect information" - you don't know what cards your opponents have. Reading your opponents is a skill - even online a good player will be able to spot a beginner or a very loose player after a few rounds.

I've played a few times online at low-level tables. I can tell that the people who play there mostly aren't particularly good players. Sadly for me, neither am I - yet!

I used to play. Good game as long as the money is big enough to allow bluffing and people don't go nuts over wild card nonesense. Online, not worth the effort, not the same game. If you want to win money gambling stick to black jack, the odds are better, still against you, but better. With 2 hands of black jack I won enough to pay for a trip to the casinos, let my wife play the slots all day and had a very nice evening meal after and still had money left over. I played one hand when I went in, won, walked, had fun, played one hand when we left, won and walked. I don't care if I ever see the inside of another casino, ever. Nor do I care if I ever play another hand of black jack. Now anyone like to get together a game of poker? I'm in.