Playing 2/4... breaking even

[leatangclan]

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What is the rake structure in the cardroom you play at? Many B&M 2/4 games are exceedingly difficult to beat simply because of the rake, and if that's the case here then you're doing quite well just to be breaking even. Although yes, 15 live sessions is a ludicrously small sample.

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I usually play at the standard AC rake of 10% with a max of $4.

Thanks for your replies. Loose is the key word in these games, and it seems like if you have the cards, you win, if you don't, you don't win. Seems basic, but its annoying. Its more about betting the hands you have and how many people try to outdraw you. I had KK once to a flop of Kd8h2c...and I bet (a big $2) and, everyone (8 other players) called. People chased runner-runner of two clubs to outdraw me, and I feel like if I could've plopped down $25, no one would have chased.

The bigger Q is...since theres been so many times I want to steal a pot and can't with the size of the bet, is NL a better bet to learn and stay away from limit? (I've played NL twice and lost like $40).

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That's why they call it no foldem holdem. When I used to play 2/4 limit it's almost impossible to chase anyone out. It's basically a race.

You may want to consider as someone earlier suggested, make a small deposit and play some micro NL to get some experience. There are some pretty good games at $0.1/$0.25 NL. The max buy-in is $25 - less than one capped hand at 2/4. Good luck!

[pzhon]

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Loose is the key word in these games, and it seems like if you have the cards, you win, if you don't, you don't win.

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There is a lot more to low stakes poker than that. You get to choose which hands you are playing, and you often get to influence the size of the pot. If you are going to win 1/5 of the time, but you only have to put in 1/8 of the money, pump up the pot, as every extra dollar going in returns $1.60 on average. Low stakes limit is filled with opportunities like that, which are fantastic in comparison with getting back $1.01 in blackjack if you count cards really well.

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its annoying.


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It's quite profitable, if you know what you are doing. You can never sustain the type of win rate (at least before the rake) in tougher games that you can get in the lowest stakes live games available. If it's too frustrating for you to handle, quit poker now, because it will never get better. People will stop paying you off as much when your hand is good, and they will charge you more when you have the second best hand.

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I had KK once to a flop of Kd8h2c...and I bet (a big $2) and, everyone (8 other players) called. People chased runner-runner of two clubs to outdraw me, and I feel like if I could've plopped down $25, no one would have chased.

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You shouldn't want people to fold, unless you value winning pots more than money.

You don't deserve to win the ~$30 pot 100% of the time when you flop a monster like top set. In this type of game, you should win a $100 pot 80-90% of the time. If a sure $30 sounds better, you may want to look for another hobby.

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The bigger Q is...since theres been so many times I want to steal a pot and can't with the size of the bet, is NL a better bet to learn and stay away from limit? (I've played NL twice and lost like $40).

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No, that's really not a good reason to switch to NL. You are going to be just as frustrated or more when people don't respect your bluffs, or call without odds and win.

[mikewpu04]

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It's quite profitable, if you know what you are doing. You can never sustain the type of win rate (at least before the rake) in tougher games that you can get in the lowest stakes live games available. If it's too frustrating for you to handle, quit poker now, because it will never get better. People will stop paying you off as much when your hand is good, and they will charge you more when you have the second best hand.

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Great advice! I may sounded a bit too whiney, I'm not trying to be actually. I learned NL at home games first so I'm trying to unlearn bad habits from home games and at the same time make limit adjustments. I'm used to the occasional terrorize my friends etc, which isn't realistic in B&M rooms. Another hurdle I am finally getting over, is the sums of money in B&M poker. I was used to buying in for 10-20 bucks, now where buyins are ~$100.

I guess I should be content with basically breaking even this early in my learning. I'm +$21.00 after 15 sessions. I've had two $130+ win sessions and I'm pretty good at walking away from a crummy session and stop losses around $80.