Please, some opinions and feedback

[Shesin]

First of all, I've lurked the boards for a bit...and hello to all.

I'd like to get some feedback from some people on here if at all possible. From what I've read it seems several of you have a lot more experience at poker than I do. Especially with online poker.

So here's the deal--- I'll simply explain and hopefully it all makes sense in the end.

I love poker, especially NLHE. And I, believe it or not, consider myself a decent to good player. I'm not playing the pots for flush draws, straight draws, hoping for that 3 to hit the river to give me trips on my pocket 3's....etc etc. At times, I would almost consider myself to be too tight of a player. I've been known to fold pocket AA at the flop when I see KK9 and someone is betting in too heavily as an example.

So what's this guy's problem you ask? Not really a problem...but more of a dillema(sp). I don't have a lot of money to go throwing around. So for someone like me to actually open an online poker account with $50 takes some thought for me to do. So I did at Paradise Poker. I opened $50 and started on the very low limit tables,....I didn't want to lose the money too quickly if I did bad. I did ok--it was my first time with online poker and wasn't used to the speed of the hands, the pace of the games, the flush draws, straight draws....people staying in with horrible hands...all of that. Eventually, in about 2 weeks I lost my money.

It wasn't horrible to me,....in fact, I almost expected it. By the end of the 2 weeks I was playing those 10 person mini tourny's where top 3 win. I'd lose with pocket KK to someone with 5 10 off suit and they'd beat me with a flush..... I'd get pissed, and go do a new one knowing that I shouldn't play mad or hostile...and to cool off first. Anyways.....my point is.. I chalked the experience up to "Lesson learned, take my time, and be a tad bit more aggressive"

So.....6 months pass. I open a real money account with partypoker with $50. This time I'm determined to turn my cold hard cash into a small fortune, and play knowing how I know to play.


And I got the crap beat out of me. Everywhere I went. I played tight, I played loose, I played aggressive, I played passive...I played in every which way that I could and have lost my money again. Sure, I consistently placed in the top 25% in the buy in tourny's...but that doesn't pay out typically. I could never quite reach that hump of getting "in the money" I would a few times...but never high enough to merit any sizable pot. And fixed limit games would just destroy me. I'd have good hands and get slaughtered by straight/flush draws.

So I guess where I'm looking for feedback is..... am I not going in with enough money? Is $50 simply not enough to make money online? Do I suck? For the people that make money online...am I going thru some bad beats early on? I can't keep dumping $50 online as I lose it. I haven't given up...but I'm looking for some advice/thoughts/feedback. I have no desire to be a professional poker player.....but I feel I'm smart enough, and that I know enough about poker to make money at it. But when I put that into practice, I'm getting beat.

So any words of wisdom? encouragement?

Thanks for reading and thanks in advance to any seroius replies.

 

[Bombjack]

I found it really helpful playing play money Sit and Goes on Partypoker. And I still sometimes do just for fun. When you can win these or at least top 3 every time, you should be good enough to start playing for real money.

Second tip - are you playing the right starting hands? I found some research online showing what the best hands were (they were classified "starving", "tight expert" etc) and used these to tighten up my play by printing out a chart. Most beginners will play junk like A7 or K5 suited. It also helps if you're playing a cash ring game to play 2 tables at once, which makes the waits less boring and it easier to throw away marginal hands.

Third, cliche, but play tight but aggressive. If you raise and no-one else bets the flop, bet the pot, as you might actually have the best hand even if you missed the flop. Hopefully you raised from a late position so you can see if anyone else bets - if they don't, your unpaired AK may well be the best hand anyway, and it certainly has potential. Otherwise you'll appear weak and the other players will either steal or draw out to beat you. Be wary of callers though because they might be slow-playing... however given your position you have the opportunity to check to the river yourself, and see if they bet then. Most player play a straightforward game at this level - ie give anyone betting the flop credit for at least top pair, although they'll try to slowplay trips or better.

Fourth, look carefully at hands where you made and lost money. What did you do right or wrong? Helps if you have a database like "Poker Tracker", which is $50 or something, but well worth it.

$50 probably isn't enough to start. I lost my first $50 in about 20 minutes (really). So I went back to play money and played there for a while, especially the sit and goes, because the "cash" play money games are generally silly. Although if you play only the $0.02/0.04 game you'd have to be pretty bad to lose ten buy-ins consecutively.

If you get poker on TV where you are, watch that, as it's really helpful to see the pros play.

Finally you could ignore my 2 cents and buy a book on the subject or get one from the library if you haven't read any already. Good luck...

 

[DESSERTLADY]

Well first of all Welcome to Cardschat Shesin!

I am happy to report that we have quite a few members that built their bankroll up from freerolls alone. So $50. isn't too little to start with to build on. If it isn't your play, could it be your approach to Bankroll management.?

The only advice that I can give is these links to other posts of the past.



https://www.cardschat.com/showthread.php?t=69668&highlight=bankroll+management

https://www.cardschat.com/showthread.php?t=68259&highlight=bankroll+management

https://www.cardschat.com/showthread.php?t=68504&highlight=bankroll+management


https://www.cardschat.com/showthread.php?t=67975&highlight=bankroll+management

One of these is about building your bankroll with SNGs. They are a great way to build and minimize your loses.

I hope this was some help. As always just ask for help if you need it.

 

[Welly]

Welcome,

I'll echo Desertlady's post above, it seems your best place to play currently would be freerolls. Quite a lot of sites have prize pools of $300 or $500. So you can play for fun, and potentially win some cash.

There is probably a slight typo in the first reply you got as people dont/cant make it to the money (or top 3) in an SNG every time. You could win your first 20 sngs but this wouldnt mean anything. Generally if you get to the money (or top 3) 40% of the time you are doing extremely well.

Good Luck, and Have Fun,

Welly

 

[Bombjack]

Not a typo... if you played a play money sit and go on party you'd find that at least 3 people are invariably all-in with junk on the first hand, so as long as you're not one of them it's easy to make the top three, since another 3 don't know how to play. A semi-decent player will win about half the time, as there are usually 1 or 2 reasonable players there. Real money sit and goes are obviously tougher.

 

[medeiros13]

As others have said, welcome to CC. I have been in your shoes with most of the problems that you've stated. My first solution is to get away from party poker. The reason is simple, their site isn't catored to a micro level player. The cheapest SnG is $6 and the payout for that isn't that great. The cheapest ring game is .10/.25 with a min bring in of $5 Those prices force you to make some bad decisions because you can't use proper bankroll management. (read the posts dessertlady linked, they're very good) I moved to Titan Poker (thanks mostly to the recommendation of CC) and it has been great. I can play ring games with .01/.02 limits, sng's for a buck..allowing me to use proper BR management. The results have been great. I've almost doubled my money and haven't felt like I was forced into a bad decision because my cash is dwindelling and I have a good draw. There are other sites with similar micro limit options that may work out better for you. Take a look at the links above.

As far as playing too tight...I've also been there and done that. It took a few posts to members asking for advice before it finally clicked. You have to be aggressive at times. ChuckT has been particularly helpful to my improvement in being aggressive at times. I'd also pick up the Harrington on Hold'em series. The second book in particular gets into short tables and when to push etc. The combination of those two items will help.

 

[Welly]

Just trying not to set their expectations too high

 

[dinosdynasty]

Bankroll management, play within your limits. I just went through a bad run and sat back and analyzed my play a little and promised myself to get back to basics. Most tournys and SNG need meat and potatoes style play, nothing fancy, play premium cards and PLAY POSITION! Save the fancy stuff for later on in the tourny when you have a good read on people and mostly solid players are left who will respect your moves. Do not bet into a Calling Station. Be careful value-betting on the river without the nuts, sometimes you just have to check it down. Don't be afraid to lay down big hands. Do not play another SNG right after taking a bad beat, nothing drains your bankroll like TILT! Take notes on players betting patterns and what hands they play and in what position, do they bluff? Bet middle or bottom pair? Bet their draws? Check-raise? Knowing these will save you bets which will make you more in the long run than getting lucky and winning a big pot. Don't forget that it is real money that you are playing with, it's easy to lose sight of that. Keep honest records to analyze your play. That should help for now, good luck and have fun.

 

[Shesin]

Wow...lots of good info thank you.

and yeah I think I just went on Tilt there towards the end.. in 1 day I played over 12 SnG's.....finishing in the money only once. Can anybody say OUCH?


I'm tempted to start afresh at Titan but I cannot find a download link that will work! I'm even on their main page and not being able to DL.

 

[JAMILE1]

Hey Shesin welcome to the forum also, gotta say 50.00 is alright to start with as some here have started with less and have made some real nice BR's, the thing you wanna do is play within your means and set up a plan of action and go for it, I'd say start at the micros and work from there, granted it's a grind but thats how it starts, remembering also at those low limits people will go to hell with just about ANYTHING , but it teaches you patience, which to me at least, one of the most important aspects of playing solid poker. Anyway have fun in the forum and be seeing you around and at the tables soon.

Aloha

BTW check out the articles section good stuff in there

 

[DESSERTLADY]

Wow...lots of good info thank you.

and yeah I think I just went on Tilt there towards the end.. in 1 day I played over 12 SnG's.....finishing in the money only once. Can anybody say OUCH?


I'm tempted to start afresh at Titan but I cannot find a download link that will work! I'm even on their main page and not being able to DL.

You're welcome
try this one

https://www.cardschat.com/titan-poker.php

 

[Gizzi315]

My personal two cents is that Party Poker and Paradise Poker are probably not great sites to play at if you are a decent player and are expecting other plyers to be decent too.

Several CC members have concerns about Titan, but I like it there. I also have had good experiences at Absolute, Ultimate Bet, Full Tilt and poker stars. Other CC members may have other recommendations which you can explore in other posts.

Another recommendation is to check out advice............ check out some of the books about poker and the CC discussions F Paulson has led about them, check out the articles section and all the wonderful words of wisdom to be found there, and just keep learning.

Playing in games with CC players has also helped me a great deal; most are playing VERY good poker when playing with each other and it is nice to experience a great game with all high quality players.

Anyway-- my two cents............ hope it helps some