I've won $3,000 on online poker..What should I do?

Im a donk wrote:

I have been sticking with the $1 to $5 sit-n-goes and have been losing every time for the last few weeks....

One of the worst one yet:

Big blind is down to only about 400

I am small blind with 2500

guy to my right has 3500.

There are 5 of us left.

Blinds are 50/100 in a one table sit and go.

Everyone folds around to the button. He raises to 200 and I raise to 800. Small blind goes all in for his 400, original raiser goes all in. I call.

I have KK

Big Blind AJ

Button 33 (went all in with that)

of course a three comes on the river and knocks both of us out. I hate poker.

Well he probably didnt put either of you on a pkt pair and because he had the biggest stack thought that he could force one of you out and he heads up against two overs. Statistically that will win at about 48% to 52% or something like that.

Either way you are asking for trouble playing 1 dollar sit and go's becuase people just dont care and are worse players. 10-20 dollar sit and go's are good because you will find good (not great) players who play cards correctly and dont donk out as much. Not saying it doesnt happen, just not as much

put it all on Brian Sell

Nice minraise. The poker gods hate that. Try not to piss them off next time.

You should take some of that money and fake a good driving record. With that good driving record you (or the person you sell it to) can make a ton of money in tips. Apparently you can then move that money in and out of a casino with no reporting requirements, so you should be good to gamble as much as you want.

I think you should go f*** yourself.

Ok man wrote:

I was on fulltilt and won a sit and go and placed second in another one.

I played a few 10 and 20 dollar sit and go's to get my bankroll up and enetered two pretty high stakes ones. My bank account now reads $2,850.

I am a graduate student with no real debts and was wondering what you think I should do with the money?

I think I'm going to open an Ameritrade account or go on vacation this Christmas. I know I should do the first but also want to go visit one of my friends in Spain.

I have also considered the option of buying into $1,000 sit and go but realize that would be moronic.

One thing I am going to do is fix the clutch on my car, so the real question is what should I do with 2 grand?

I've got one word for you my friend: B-A-N-G-K-O-K!!!!!

You are right on both points. I just don't think I would risk most of my chips when at best I have a toss up or at worst I have 4-1 dog (any over pair) since I was reraised but like you said in the lower dollar amount tables people ar either not good or don't care. I still fall into the "not good" category and I don't want to risk too much money in the higher buy in sit and goes. I just play for fun.Another example of bad play in the $1 buy insTwo guys in (not me). A few raises before the flop. After the river the 5 cards are7 7 4 J J so two pairs obviously.One guy bets a couple hundred and the second guy thinks then calls.the guy that called had a pair of 2s! How can you call there since you can't beat anything?!?!? The only way possible to even tie is if the other guy had 2 3 or 3 4 nothing else. You either have to raise or fold. Very dumb.

acesup wrote:

Well he probably didnt put either of you on a pkt pair and because he had the biggest stack thought that he could force one of you out and he heads up against two overs. Statistically that will win at about 48% to 52% or something like that.

Either way you are asking for trouble playing 1 dollar sit and go's becuase people just dont care and are worse players. 10-20 dollar sit and go's are good because you will find good (not great) players who play cards correctly and dont donk out as much. Not saying it doesnt happen, just not as much

Im a donk wrote:

I have been sticking with the $1 to $5 sit-n-goes and have been losing every time for the last few weeks....

One of the worst one yet:

Big blind is down to only about 400

I am small blind with 2500

guy to my right has 3500.

There are 5 of us left.

Blinds are 50/100 in a one table sit and go.

Everyone folds around to the button. He raises to 200 and I raise to 800. Small blind goes all in for his 400, original raiser goes all in. I call.

I have KK

Big Blind AJ

Button 33 (went all in with that)

of course a three comes on the river and knocks both of us out. I hate poker.

lol donkaments

Im a donk wrote:

I have been sticking with the $1 to $5 sit-n-goes and have been losing every time for the last few weeks....

One of the worst one yet:

Big blind is down to only about 400

I am small blind with 2500

guy to my right has 3500.

There are 5 of us left.

Blinds are 50/100 in a one table sit and go.

Everyone folds around to the button. He raises to 200 and I raise to 800. Small blind goes all in for his 400, original raiser goes all in. I call.

I have KK

Big Blind AJ

Button 33 (went all in with that)

of course a three comes on the river and knocks both of us out. I hate poker.

You have to shove there with KK. Out of position and take the ability of button to be in the pot. BB is pot committed and you want to be heads up

bfullem wrote:

Im a donk wrote:

I have been sticking with the $1 to $5 sit-n-goes and have been losing every time for the last few weeks....

One of the worst one yet:

Big blind is down to only about 400

I am small blind with 2500

guy to my right has 3500.

There are 5 of us left.

Blinds are 50/100 in a one table sit and go.

Everyone folds around to the button. He raises to 200 and I raise to 800. Small blind goes all in for his 400, original raiser goes all in. I call.

I have KK

Big Blind AJ

Button 33 (went all in with that)

of course a three comes on the river and knocks both of us out. I hate poker.

You have to shove there with KK. Out of position and take the ability of button to be in the pot. BB is pot committed and you want to be heads up

Exactly.. The way I play and usually do well is always being the agressor. Even if you think you are beat you will be suprised at how many people will fold top pair with a weak kicker, or who will not play a flush draw if pot odds do not dictate that.

1) Take out enough to pay the taxes on your winnings.

2) Don't spend any of the rest of it, especially if you plan to continue gambling. You'll blow through the rest of it now that you think you know somethng about playing poker. My advice -- quit with the gambling. It really is for losers.

3) If you do quit gambling (and you should quit) then I would do the following depending on your income:

- If you are getting paid as a graduate student (stipend) then I would put the remaining money (after you pay the taxes) in a non-retirement mutual fund. This mutual fund is what will become your emergency fund and should eventually be funded with up to 6 months of expenses. Once you graduate and get a job and then supposedly have more expenses (clothes, nicer housing, a car, gas to and from work, etc.) then you'll need to put more in that mutual fund even.

- If you are NOT getting paid as a graduate student, then I would just put the money in your checking account and use it as spendable money. It's not that much money, and a boy does need to eat. Use this money to keep you from going ito debt in any way. Credit card debt is for losers, just as gambling is.

At least you are asking, so that's a good sign. I know tons of people will come on here defending online poker and saying that you can play very cheaply. I still say they are all wrong, and that the vast majority of people who play even the cheap games end up losing thousands of dollars which if invested instead could have ended up being hundreds of thousands of dollars by retirement time.

Ok Man, where did you go to school? I think I know who you are. Are you the Pointman, as well?

haha no I am not the pointman...I have been called lone wolf though from time to time...

I have also come to know that most people online are just not good players. Alot of them will do things like put their tourny life on a flush or straight draw....or play hands like a4 and not know when they are outkicked...Yea they will give you a bad beat here and there, but for the most part, the game rewards smart diciplined players.

I have actually won a good ammount of spending money (small ammounts at a time (100, 200 dollar type stuff) and cash out when I win. I would consider myself a fairly good player. I play tight but aggressive and realize alot of it is simple math. I play pot odds and calculate roughly ROI's on most pots I am in. I lost a good ammount when I began several years ago but have realized it is a dicipline that will reward smart players.

I have also realized that you cannot rely on luck to win. I've learned you have to stay aggressive even if you dont hit on the flop.

The stock market is much closer to gambling than poker could ever be.

bfullem wrote:

The stock market is much closer to gambling than poker could ever be.

http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/05/03/poker-skill-vs-chance/

No way brother. You buy individual stocks and you are gambling. You get involved in speculative investing (precious metals, heating oil, pork bellies like you use to make bacon which you might find in a bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich), and you're gambling. You buy mutual funds though either separate or in a 401k or IRA, and that's NOT gambling -- to think so is defeatist, and it is the kind of attitude that allows people to spend all the money they make or gamble their money away. There are so many controls in place to prevent a stock market crash like 1987 so that even if the major markets are flat the next 30 years, you'll at LEAST make some money on dividends. Worse case scenario is that you'd have what you put into it, and that would be almost impossible for it to return so little. Since 1978, the stock market has averaged over 11% gain each year. While that's not guaranteed, many well managed growth stock mutual funds have gotten 12-16% annual return during that time. You get 8% from now until 2037, and you put 15% away making just $40,000, and you'll have $734,000, and that's if you never get a raise. Very likely you will get a raise in there. Should EASILY be able to be over $1 million if you want. Poker will NOT do that for the vast vast majority of people. People spend money on gambling and don't like to talk about the losses they incurred, only the winning, and even then, if you pay $1 to play a slot machine and "win" $20, you really only won $19, but people think of it as having won $20 -- already there is a 5% disconnect of the reality.

Gambling is just not good for anyone. It doesn't make poor people wealthy. It keeps poor people poor. It's the reason that lottery tickets aren't sold in big numbers in wealthy areas. Wealthy people don't like to lose money, and they can do math.

Play poker for nickles and dimes with the buddies from time to time, but to do it with real money and expect to actually gain from it is stupid.

3,000 dollars is the biggest joke I've ever heard....

I should have gone all in, but that is why my name fits me. I swear that poker stars knows who I am because I always lose every coin flip and a lot of the ones when I am a heavy favorite. Although I saw Havad Kahn lose with AA to a guy with 33 in the the other day. (Havad finished like 4th at this years WSOP)Sorry to hijack the thread, I love talking poker and poker is not the same game if you are not risking money, but at the same time I only bet money that I don't care if I lose.

bfullem wrote:

You have to shove there with KK. Out of position and take the ability of button to be in the pot. BB is pot committed and you want to be heads up

Flagpole, I have to admit that we actually fully agree on this subject. In fact I was getting ready to hit the reply button with the exact same advice!

Don't blow the money figuring it wasn't yours to begin with, use it and DON't lose it or anything else. Remember the premise of gambling is that the house always ends up on top.