not getting any hands

[calabazas]

I'm a new player, but so far I'm holding my own, tenuously. I guess I'm looking for as much reassurance as advice. But what the hell do you do when your not getting any playable cards. Unsuited 7-2, 3-5, 9-2, etc, hands after hand after blind after blind. I can handle getting playable cards and knowing that your beat, it's the not getting any hands to be beat with. I play at Pokerstars and any advice would be welcomed. Thank you in advance.

[abarrenfuture]

play more hands. it's as simple as that

[Hauntedx]

What percentage of hands dealt are you playing right now?

[RapidEvolution]

[ QUOTE ]
play more hands. it's as simple as that

[/ QUOTE ]

I think this means "play more hands of poker" as opposed to "play more of the hands you're dealt".

[xMars]

#1 to assure you, EVERYONE goes through periods of being carddead. in live tourneys, it can happen that ppl will fold 2 hours in a row

#2 if you hit a dry stretch, do NOT start playing hands you normally wouldnt play only because you "want" to play. if it gets boring you might wanna try to open a 2nd table

#3 if possible, what are your stats? what % do you see the flop

[calabazas]

Thank you to all that answered. In response to Hauntedx: I play maybe between 10 and 20% of hands.
And in response to RapidEvolution: could you elaborate as, I am a total neophyte you're description :
I think this means "play more hands of poker" as opposed to "play more of the hands you're dealt"." rings true but my newborn ears don't fully grasp.
Thanks again,
Calabazas

[RapidEvolution]

I wanted to differentiate between

1) The idea that you hadn't played enough overall hands of poker to have a good sample space (i.e. you haven't been playing very long and might just be in a bad dry spell of cards)

2) The idea that you weren't playing a high enough percentage of the hands you were being dealt.

I hope that clears things up. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] I also agree that you definitely should NOT play hands out of boredom. I know some people who multi-table to keep themselves entertained...I just try to observe the table, and maybe dance around a bit. lol

[random50]

"#2 if you hit a dry stretch, do NOT start playing hands you normally wouldnt play only because you "want" to play. if it gets boring you might wanna try to open a 2nd table"

But by playing so few hands you will have built up a tight table image. Personally, if I'm running *that* dry, I'll play a few pots aggressively from late position with marginal hands or even with junk. I'm just careful about how I try it against and how hard I push it post flop.

The other advantage of this play is that it'll hopefully loosen up your table image a little for when you *do* hit big.

Perhaps this isn't a beginner strategy though? It's also not suited to limit poker.

[evagaba]

[ QUOTE ]
I play maybe between 10 and 20% of hands.

[/ QUOTE ]

10% and 20% is a HUGE difference. You should invest in PokerTracker and determine exactly what % of hands you play. I would play very differently against someone that plays 10% of their hands compared to someone that plays 20%.

[Dumb Fish x]

I'm not sure if this is correct, but I once worked out the odds of me hitting a "starting hand" strictly adhering to what Ed Miller recommends in his test "Getting Started in Hold 'em". If my maths were correct it was something like this:

So the odds of me getting (I forget his actual suggestions, but something along these lines...)

AA, KK, QQ, JJ, TT or AK, AQs
plus 99, AQo, AJs if I am in mid position
plus 77, 88, AJo, KQ, AT if I am in late position.

(note this may not be exaclty correct)

The odds I worked out, taking into consideration that "early position" hands can be played 30% of the time, mid position hands %60 of the time, and late position hands, %100 of the time, was that I would hit a starting hand roughly once every twenty-two hands, or roughly 5% of the time. That means, on a bad run you could easily go up to fifty hands without hitting one starting hand. It would be very unlucky but not inconceivable.

Note however, that does not include the assumption that you will play any hand in the BB that has been checked around to you.

...if my shoddy math holds up. ;-)