poaching eggs

So how many tries does it typically take to get the knack of this technique? After consulting online instructions I just tried it for the first time, and the result was not encouraging. I mean, it was edible and had the characteristics of poached egg in that the yolk was warm but still runny and the egg white was cooked, so not a total fail, but I didn't manage to make the egg white adhere to the egg yolk, and instead had to fish out most of it in bits from the water.