What are the most common leaks for a losing/break even player?
 

Would someone please tell me what the most common leaks are for a losing player? How do i go about fixing them? I know that I am quite bad for tilting but I cannot find any of the other things that make me a losing/break even player. Someone please help im on the edge just now and I'm thinking about quitting poker I really dont want to but its just annoying me that I cannot show a profit at this game at micro stakes.

Re: What are the most common leaks for a losing/break even player?
 

Do you play live or online? Limit or NL? What stakes? Knowing this, I would then ask you some additional questions in order to give you some specific information that might be more valuable to you.

Meanwhile, the number one, generic across-the-board answer is PLAYING TOO MANY HANDS by calling preflop and even being in the pot and then compounding that mistake by STAYING IN THE HAND TOO LONG by calling just to see one more card.

Re: What are the most common leaks for a losing/break even player?
 

Oops! Sorry! I'm a donk!

Guess the reason I'm a losing player is failure to be observant regarding previous action-- LOL!

Actually, I am not a losing player. Still a noob, but consistently winning beyond the rake at about 2.33bb/100 over about 2,000 hours at $3-6 (and now because I moved to AC area $2-4 arrggghh, I hate 'em) games... although I have recently tried $1-2 NL limit games with greater success...

But okay, you say you play microlimits so I am figuring you're online at tiny stakes and probably NL games?

My previous statement (in above post) regarding seeing too many flops and staying in hand too long is probably true because it seems to be true for so MANY players and especially for newbie and especially for losing players.

You have it tough, though, because you're basically playing card slots, I think, which is what a lot of folks do at tables where the money involved is intrinsically meaningless to them. And while you personally may be "serious" about the game, being at table where little or no one else is, you're gonna be sucked out on an inordinate number of times, etc. Plus you may just be having a longer, extended bad run.

But neverthless, it IS possible to beat these games so you have to start paying attention to what you're doing more.

What sort of stats do you keep? Do you have access to software to review how many times you're seeing the flop from what postions and how often going to showdown and such?

How selective are you with starting hands? Do you make adjustments according to number of players at table, players in pot, etc? Do you play position?

Do you always/never defend the blinds?

Tell us a bit more about how you've scrutinized your game and you might get more meaningful feedback.

Re: What are the most common leaks for a losing/break even player?
 

Leaks at the micro levels...

No1 leak has got ot be playing too many hands. Also at micro levels there is no need to bluff or FPS (fancy play syndrome) Solid ABC poker wins at micro level.

Wait for good hands, play them strong. lay down big hands of you are obviously beat.

as said above it would be good to have an idea of what level/table size you are playing. live online NL etc to give a better guide.

Re: What are the most common leaks for a losing/break even player?
 

lack of discipline (most commonly tilt and playing too many hands - esp OOP)
overvaluing trap hands like KQ and AJ in raised pots..and misplaying overpairs, AK,AQo post-flop
fancy play with limping and min raising big pairs pre-flop
cold calling HU out of position without very good reasons
trying to bluff calling stations
weak leading draws into opponents who are awake
paying off calling station when their draws hit
not making villains pay enough for draws
failing to value bet on the end
not understanding pot building and pot control concepts

Re: What are the most common leaks for a losing/break even player?
 

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No1 leak has got to be playing too many hands.



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...playing too many hands up front. They need to learn to fold AT, KQ etc from UTG.



.Z

Re: What are the most common leaks for a losing/break even player?
 

Stacking off with top pair or an overpair. I see it time and time again.

Re: What are the most common leaks for a losing/break even player?
 

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weak leading draws into opponents who are awake

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Great post. However, I don't understand this one phrase. Does it mean that it's a leak to draw to a hand that's not good enough to win?

Re: What are the most common leaks for a losing/break even player?
 

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weak leading draws into opponents who are awake

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Great post. However, I don't understand this one phrase. Does it mean that it's a leak to draw to a hand that's not good enough to win?

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hes referring to those people who min bet with a draw

Re: What are the most common leaks for a losing/break even player?
 

maybe not playing enough. I mean a break even stretch can last 20K hands, and until 100K hands you can't make a fair idea of what is your winrate.

also, just giving money away. Spend your $ just like in real life, no risking them without a good reason, and that should be anough to win at the low stakes, if not at any.

Re: What are the most common leaks for a losing/break even player?
 

I play 6 max NL on pokerstars. I played $0.5/$0.10 but because of my bad play lately have tilted off a lot of my bankroll. I think I need to go down to $0.01/$0.02 I dont have any stats because I dont have poker tracker but while playing on Titan poker for 2.5 hours with a guy he gave me the stats i was running off of his poker office which were 35,3/11,18,2 and 28/17/1,6 (both separate occasions not sure what these mean though) but these probably dont help because it was only twice and I could have been running good etc. I'm bad for tilting and paying off the stations when they hit there draws and sometimes not sure how to discipline myself to stop calling there min bets when they hit there flushes and straights etc. I dont properly think through a hand while playing either. What should my thought process be for every hand?

Re: What are the most common leaks for a losing/break even player?
 

My suggetion would be two things:

1. Get Poker Traker it is only $45 and worth the investment because if you use the information it provides about your game it will pay for itself in wins or at least by lessen your loses.

2. Get Dan Harrinton's books, good, conservative player with great Hand Problems in the books.

Both great ways to plug leaks in your game.

Good Luck

Re: What are the most common leaks for a losing/break even player?
 

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Stacking off with top pair or an overpair. I see it time and time again.

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There are many situations(especially in micro stakes) where it is profitable to get all your money in with an overpair or even top pair.

Re: What are the most common leaks for a losing/break even player?
 

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Do you always/never defend the blinds?

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Which one would be the leak?

I've stopped defending the blinds - I just started folding to a raise if I don't want to play the hand. I'm even folding more in the small blind when it doesn't look like my starting hand is going to go anywhere.
I've always heard about "defending your blinds", but it just seems like more of a hassle than it's worth. (playing out of position etc..)

(I only play SNGs.)

Re: What are the most common leaks for a losing/break even player?
 

Always defending and never defending can both be leaks, though if you are weaker postflop and dont feel you can outplay the person then always defending <<<<< never defending. If you are still trying to get a handle on postflop just defend with good hands till more comfortable.

Ussually in the first few trips around the table if people want to take my blinds oh well, in a sng the blinds at the beginning are very small, take note if they are stealing alot though as you can use that against them. Watch what they show down with against other people when they raise you out if it goes to showdown.

I played lots of sngs for awhile but mainly playing cash now, in cash if I feel that they are pushing on my blind I will defend it. Though generally I play tight for several rounds, then once ive shown a smaller vpp/pfr I will open up and start playing more hands in posisition and more activally defend/steal as observant and people using huds will give you more respect imo when you start playing back.

Thats just from my small sample if trying to establish a tight image early rather then playing the same all the time.

Re: What are the most common leaks for a losing/break even player?
 

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Stacking off with top pair or an overpair. I see it time and time again.

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Please ellaborate. 'stacking off' is not a term familiar to me. Am I to assume you mean continuing to bet/raise/reraise without making value bets and accepting the fact a call or reraise usually means something?

Re: What are the most common leaks for a losing/break even player?
 

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Stacking off with top pair or an overpair. I see it time and time again.

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There are many situations(especially in micro stakes) where it is profitable to get all your money in with an overpair or even top pair.

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Care to mention a few - or one?

Re: What are the most common leaks for a losing/break even player?
 

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Stacking off with top pair or an overpair. I see it time and time again.

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Please ellaborate. 'stacking off' is not a term familiar to me. Am I to assume you mean continuing to bet/raise/reraise without making value bets and accepting the fact a call or reraise usually means something?

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Stacking off means losing your entire stack (your chips) thinking your TPTK or overpair are any good. This is a classic mistake from many live players who overvalue these hands and then wonder why they lose so much.

Re: What are the most common leaks for a losing/break even player?
 

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There are many situations(especially in micro stakes) where it is profitable to get all your money in with an overpair or even top pair.


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Care to mention a few - or one?


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Professional No Limit Hold'em has a lot to say about this. When the stack-to-pot ratio is small, say in a reraised pot, you are usually happy to get all-in for 100 BB with a strong overpair or strong top pair.

Example: MP raises to 4 BB, you reraise to 15 BB with AA on the button. The flop is KT4. Your opponent bets out 20 BB into the 32 BB pot, and a pot-sized raise (20 + 72BB) is all-in. Do it, and it is much more likely that you will get called by a weaker hand that caught a piece of the flop like AK or KQ or QJ than that you are behind. It is also likely that your opponent has some outs, and you want to protect your hand; you shouldn't regret pushing if your opponent folds.

That example works at all stake levels. In microstakes games, it is easier to bet for value, since it is much more likely that your opponent will overvalue a hand like KT on a ten-high flop, or AJ on an ace high board. That means you should not worry as much about the times that you are behind. In order to avoid stacking off when you are behind, you would have to give up too much value.

When you have 100 BB or more, but your opponent has 50 BB, the effective stack size is 50 BB, and it is commonly correct to get all-in with one good pair in a raised pot.

There are also many flops where you can't push for value, but where calling all-in is better than folding. If you are up against two pair, you have about 25% equity on the flop, which means you get a lot of money back even when you are behind. It doesn't take many bluffs to make it profitable to call a pot-sized bet.

Obviously, it is also depends on your opponents. Against a maniac, you don't need nearly as strong of a hand to call all-in as you do against a passive player.