new to the money side......

[Cactus Jack]

[ QUOTE ]
I think he meant that his "doing pretty well" is all luck.

[/ QUOTE ]

I play live too much. I hear this all the time. Understandable why I'd reach the wrong conclusion?

Sorry, OP.

[mwette]

I am a beginner, playing mostly on-line play $$ for a couple
months. I think reading Small Stakes Hold'em (SSHE) can help.
I read it; lost lots on line; went back to re-read; and now
I can hold my own. I play much tighter than others on-line
but I make money. I still make mistakes, but I don't get
down on bad mistakes, just my bad play. [e.g., today I was
BB with Q9. I flopped Q-pair, bet. Got 9 on the turn; bet
and then folded on the river because of 9TJQ on the board.
But I folded to 20-1 pot odds -- goof!]

[ocularus]

Thank you all, I have been playing for a while online and at foxwoods, and my comment about luck was that I should not be doing as well as I am right now. After reading low limit holdem and small stakes hold em I realize that I am making many crucial errors and the only thing allowing me to win are the errors of my opponent. ANyway I really do appreciate all the advice. I have been working on tightening up my game alot! MAybe even just a little tighter then is suggested in both books. One last question, when do you decide to leave a table? Do you say "When I triple my money I'm done for the night? or if I get down to 5 or 10 big bets, I'll leave. How do you know when to call it a night? Any suggestions would be great. Thanks.
-John

[atnels]

Right, but having the perspective/roll for 4/8 and being able to beat 4/8 are two different things... a $200 downswing is nothing in 4/8, but that might be twice the OP's roll.

[Xhad]

[ QUOTE ]
Do you say "When I triple my money I'm done for the night? or if I get down to 5 or 10 big bets, I'll leave.

[/ QUOTE ]

These are called stop-losses and stop-wins and are generally considered bad. Especially stop-wins, why leave if the game is good.

[reutel]

In the casino you shouldn't be tighter than is adviced in small stakes holdem. You will leave alot of money on the table. For example if the table is extremly passive, 8 players to the flop, and almost never for a raise you can play alot of suited semi junk, and any pair from every position.

[ocularus]

thank you all agian for all the advise! Just to amke sure that I'm getting this all correct. I am still a little unsure what to do about when to stop. If I don't have a plan for when to leave then it would seem that I would play until I lose all my money. That is what I did when I first started playing. The cards were comming perfectly and I was playing really well(or so I thought) and then I wouldn't get a hand for 2 or 3 hours and I would end up losing all my money that I had won through bad beats and some poor poker choices on my part. Anyway I guess I was just looking for how other more experienced players decide when to go home. Is it a time thing? Or a certain gain in money? Or do you just go on "I feel like going home" Thank you all again very much!! I am learning a lot having you all give me tips, I appreciate it very much.
-John

[Bob T.]

[ QUOTE ]
I have been working on tightening up my game alot! MAybe even just a little tighter then is suggested in both books.[ QUOTE ]


The books reccommendations assume that you play well postflop. Playing slightly tighter, means that you will be not playing some marginal hands, and those are the hands that you are most likely to misplay until you have more experience. This is a great idea.

[ QUOTE ]
when do you decide to leave a table? Do you say "When I triple my money I'm done for the night? or if I get down to 5 or 10 big bets, I'll leave. How do you know when to call it a night?

[/ QUOTE ]

There is a point where I don't feel like playing anymore. I might be a little tired. The game might not be good. I might have won enough, that I am playing to protect my win. Or I might have lost enough that I am playing to get back to even. All of those mean that you are no longer playing your best game. You have to balance those with the costs of getting to the game. Online, you have almost no costs, so you can quit anytime, because another game is almost always available. In live games, if you don't live three miles from the cardroom, you might have more costs, but it is all a personal decision. I do live three miles from the cardroom, so I can quit there, and it only costs me a small amount to go back and forth. But if you drove a couple of hundred miles, you might just want to stop, and take a walk through the lobby for a couple of laps.

[ocularus]

sound advice! I only live about half an hour from Foxwoods so my costs to get there are less than others. I think in that respect I am fotunate so when I get tired or am not playing my best poker I can just leave and come back another day when I am on top of my game. That answers my question thank you very much.
-John

[irondrift]

As for when to quit, I never have a set time or win/loss amount before playing. I quit when I start to make bad poker decisions due to fatigue or boredom. For example, I was playing at a B&M this weekend and after untold hours I was in a hand where I caught the nut flush on the river. So naturally I fired away and got raised from the other person in the pot. Well it wasn't until he capped the betting that I realized that the 6 of clubs that fell on the river paired the board. Yeah...full house fours and sixes. I was furious with myself not for losing but for not seeing the board. I immediately pointed the Honda toward the house and floored it. But it usually doesn't get that bad.