This thread is for stories about wins and losses only from you free starting capital.
Firstly I'd like to start by saying I lost mine after about 2 weeks but i enjoyed it and i'm grateful for the amazing deal this site has. It took me a week to believe there wasn't a catch! So thanks Pokerstrategy for a great website and an amazing offer. I still play for cash and have deposited since with better success.
I played CG before even knowing PS.com, but took a break and then somehow found PS, I moved the 50$ to PartyPoker -> mistake, as I wanted to play SnGs and the rake is so sick on 1$ SnGs there .. Anyways I actually managed to grind to like 150$ and unlock the bonus (sickly hard to do that on 1$) .. Than I moved it to full tilt, played super turbos, made it like 500$ .. cashed out 450$ of it and moved the 50$ t everest, where I restarted my SH CG carrer again, today I have 300$ on Everest still playing NL10 .. Somehow I fear moving up and alway when I have the bankroll to do it I rather withdraw then move up to NL25 .. Some psychological problems I guess .. ButI will try to fight it this time
So you've made a couple of nice cashouts considering it came from nothing then?! And you are still going. I know what you mean about moving up or withdrawing. Personally ive always withdrawn but sometimes wish i had just stuck with it. I suppose it depends if you need the money. I usually withdraw to play ive so i guess it's no big difference, It'll be gambled either way.
Originally posted by danleespencer
So you've made a couple of nice cashouts considering it came from nothing then?! And you are still going. I know what you mean about moving up or withdrawing. Personally ive always withdrawn but sometimes wish i had just stuck with it. I suppose it depends if you need the money. I usually withdraw to play ive so i guess it's no big difference, It'll be gambled either way.
You are right 
I have a nice poker story to tell .. I just decided a few days ago that my poker story will find its final .. I am quitting my job (not because of poker), I will concentrate more on my study (yes, I study at uni, work fulltime and play the same time, and yes, I am sick and give poker one last try .. I will start playing NL25 in october (I end in work in september) and play till the end of 2009 and see what I can do about poker (A goal of 2500$ a month is set) .. Maybe I will end a pro at last .. But I rather doubt it 
Sounds good. I hope to make the jump one day. What's your starting capital going to be when you start NL25?
Originally posted by danleespencer
Sounds good. I hope to make the jump one day. What's your starting capital going to be when you start NL25?
Well, since I can make like 35$ average in a day (playing like 3 hours a day) on NL10 (including rakeback and bonuses) I guess by the beginning of october I should have like 1000$ - 1200$ on my account, so that is like 40-50 full BIs and will feel much more comfortable to start :-)
You just don't want a downswing in the meantime then. Keep in tuoch and let me know how it goes.
Got 50$ at fulltilt, tried shortstacking, failed. Played midstacked fish strategy, used to hit'N'run, roll was going down. Put it all on NL25 table, lost it.
still using it. i got my bankroll maximum 70$, then droped and again raised. then finaly i dropped down to 8$ and started to worry a lot.
but i managed to save it and now i hava a stable income for my bankroll 
Started with my 50$ playing sss on pokerstars, started at a higher limit than I should have, but got lucky and grinded that 50$ to 200$, then I moved up a limit way to soon, little down swing and lost it all.
But I'm still using it tho, finished highish in 2 FPP freerolls, 0.45 and 0.80 cash out, so I had the dollar to buy in on the lowest micro stakes table, started with that on a sh table, then tables and I'm back up to 80$ 
Only problem I had was that my rank fell back to bronze while I was playing the FPP tournyes :/
My first real money poker hands were played at Titan Poker, thanks to a $50 no deposit bonus I got from another "starting capital" site. It happened in May 2007. The advice that site had for all its poker beginners was, at that time, limited to "play premium hands only". Nothing else! Guaranteed success! If I remember correctly, I even managed to reach the $62 mark with it. But inexperienced as I was, my first "downswing" had to come soon. After that, I also showed my absolute lack of discipline by leaving the poker tables and trying to get even doing stupid shit at the casino games. It worked out the first time, then I went back to the poker tables to be greeted by another downer, so I went to casino games again, even games whose rules I didn't even understand properly. This time, a couple of stupid hands on a stupid table poker game left me with only $14, which I decided to gamble on the roulette with a 2:1 odds bet, so I could end this or get back to $42. The roulette decided it was the end... It was sad ending for my first real money gambling adventure, but anyways, "it wasn't my own money" and an exam period was getting close, I had no time to waste, so maybe it was better it ended that soon, this way.
But when summer arrived, I felt like playing real poker again. So I looked for another starting capital site and luckily enough I found PokerStrategy! In summer 2007, the English article section of the site was much better than the Spanish one, this is why I decided to set English as my language of preference after registering in Spanish. I decided it would be good to make sure I passed the quiz on my first try, so I read the articles I needed very thoroughly before taking it, and I managed to pass it. I got my capital in a couple of days, without being asked for any scanned documents to prove my identity. It was obvious I was legit, I guess. I played the SSS on NL10 at Party Poker at night, after coming back form work, with nice success, making a nice profit and clearing the $100 bonus pretty fast. And the rest is history, but no longer a "starting capital story".
Two years later, I'm not rich yet. University and Poker screw up each other more than I'd like to. But my bankroll is currently larger than I ever imagined it could ever be, and I've also withdrawn more than 700€ to my bank account. I don't play the SSS anymore by the way. My hopes of making nice money with this are still up, and no matter what happens, I know I'll remain a poker winner for the rest of my life... the money I withdrew to my bank account is now mine to spend, and I got it without investing a single cent of my own money.
Oh, shit. That was a long story.
Originally posted by shortfuse
wtf are you guys mad?i've grinded $50 up to $320 as of 3 weeks (1 hour a day)
Wow! What strategy do you use? SSS or BSS?
How many tables?
What do you play FL, NL, or SnGs?
I received second starting capital at titan poker from PS i think in april or may...i have played before so i wasn't quite a rookie! Actually i was pretty good at HU no limit at lower stakes 5-10$! So today my profit is almost 2000$ after 1600games played! I have withdrawn 1500$ so i have in my account around 450$! And the great thing is that i have never deposited and the titan support still bothers me with their deposit bonus which i guess sooner or later i will have to do! Of course i won a few 10-30 man sng-s but my profit was mainly from HU!
Originally posted by deezerless
I received second starting capital at titan poker from PS i think in april or may...i have played before so i wasn't quite a rookie! Actually i was pretty good at HU no limit at lower stakes 5-10$! So today my profit is almost 2000$ after 1600games played! I have withdrawn 1500$ so i have in my account around 450$! And the great thing is that i have never deposited and the titan support still bothers me with their deposit bonus which i guess sooner or later i will have to do! Of course i won a few 10-30 man sng-s but my profit was mainly from HU!
Wow! What type of player are you? I admire people who win at HU SnGs, I tried it but just won twice out of ten
I got broke once and asked my BF to give me some money to start with. I recently have a deal to make my $200 in just 2 weeks.
If I make it he will give me all his bankroll if not I will give him $200 in moneybookers. In 4 days time I got his bankroll worth of $124 + $300. Still don't want to withdraw it at the moment
Originally posted by SweetCamil
Originally posted by shortfuse
wtf are you guys mad?i've grinded $50 up to $320 as of 3 weeks (1 hour a day)
Wow! What strategy do you use? SSS or BSS?
How many tables?
What do you play FL, NL, or SnGs?
as for playing 1 hour day, thats because i 12 table
i've played over 20k hands so far and obviously have experienced downswings but i tend not to tilt. my bb/100 fluctuates between 12-18
i was originally going to play sng but once i signed onto partypoker and discovered the limited choice combined with the extortionate buy in fees i decided to pursue ring games (it also complements my liking for a relatively steady win compared to sng). one thing i hate is the push or shove stages in sngs!
i played SSS NL10 for a while until i reached $120, then half BSS NL4 and SSS NL10. once i reached around $160 switched the SSS for NL25, and here is where i just plateuted for days then went to around $250 and switched BSS to NL10.
Now I play predominantly BSS NL with a $380 br (been on a heater past few days since that long dry spell) and a couple of tables of SSS NL25. I will stop playing SSS altogether i think- or maybe use it to get used to hgher stakes.
if there is one thing you need it is bankroll management and the ability to stop if you feel at all demoralised (ok thats two things).
Hence, i play very short sessions (relatively) but it offers me felixibility.
My edge is also that i have played poker for about a year, just not with real money so i know what to do but never had the chance to take a step forward- thanks to ps for this opportunity ♦
See my blog tommorow for a graph i shall post up. (i need to put link in sig first aswell)
i played kemikaze SSS on NL100-NL1000 on fulltilt, at some point i was at 320$ and made a post like "i made 320$!!! thanks pokerstrategy!"
then alot of people predicted i'd bust. I did. It was fun
Well, currently 2 weeks after receiving the $50 bonus on Party Poker. Started off with SSS and lost consistently due to a few bad beats and it taking so long to make any money. Lost and lost until I had only $20 left. Switched to BSS last night and have currently made it back up to $30 on NL5 so I think i'm going to stick with BSS.
Been entering freerolls as well just for a laugh, get me into MTT.
First capital went to zero couple of times but managed to come back and now my poker winnings exceed $10k+
