Why am I always losing at poker?

[hallo!]

you cant outplay them because they dont fold

[Vinetou]

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It seems at one point that I could indeed win, but over the last 12 months, I have steadily lost, meaning that either the players are better, I have become a worse player, or a combination of both. The rate that I am losing is becoming alarming and as I iterated in my original post, the reason is my own lack of skills.

As for playing other games, I appreciate the suggestion and if I had any confidence at all, I might have tried other games, but I have read nothing on any other games and without understanding those games, I cannot risk losing more time and money.

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That's the point. You don't have enough confidence in yourself. If you want to be a good player, you need that confidence. Also, you need to like the risk and challenge of playing other games and bigger games. You don't seem to be that kind of a guy. I'm not saying this is true but from your post, it seems like that. I don't know you enough though.

I see you are still playing these micro limits. I get mad if I don't move up in limit for two months and you can play these low limits 4 years? No matter you have no confidence and are bored. You need that gambler inside you and you don't get it by playing low limits for 4 years.

[PokerGenius]

you worry too much, you only once

[Matt Williams]

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I think it is safe to remove #2 and #3.

#1 Never been a fan of books. I don't think poker can be learned by reading. Also even if we assume the books were good that doesn't mean the strategy they taught you were appropriate for the level you are playing.

I think that is the most likely answer. You are playing .25/.50 limit online. That isn't poker. That is bingo. My usual live game is 10-20 and 20-40. If I sat down at .25-.50 it would take me some time to adjust to the game. If I tried to play the same as I play 10-20 I'd lose. The problem is you read books to learn poker rather then understanding poker so you can't adjust and the strategies are for higher limits.

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There are so many things wrong w/ this post I don't even know where to start.

Books are fundamental in learning, especially at small stakes. .25/.50 is not BINGO. If you don't understand why, I don't know what to say.

[Henry17]

Learning to play poker from books is comparable to social science students who learn stats but never really understand them. They have no idea what a standard deviation is or why it matters but they know how to calculate it. They get the job done but you can't compare them to someone who actually knows stats.

[Matt Williams]

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Learning to play poker from books is comparable to social science students who learn stats but never really understand them. They have no idea what a standard deviation is or why it matters but they know how to calculate it. They get the job done but you can't compare them to someone who actually knows stats.

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You need the books to build a fundamental basis of the game. Once you understand that, you can move on and explore other ways to approach the game. But to say "Books are useless"; is just wrong.

[Henry17]

Give me an example of a fundamental basis a book would teach me?

[Matt Williams]

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Give me an example of a fundamental basis a book would teach me?

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Counting outs. Implied odds. Raising for a free card. Blind stealing. Cold calling.

[Henry17]

You need a book to teach you those things? The first 4 are things you should be able to just figure out by thinking about the game. But lets say the person never took finite in high school and they are not the bright. One short book should introduce the basics.

I also don't see how the strategy in most books would be of much use at 0.25-0.50. In fact it would actually screw most people up as they would be doing things that simply don't apply to microlevel. I have never played 0.25-0.50 but I did try to teach someone and used 0.50-1.00 for that. The game is just bingo. Getting fancy will actually hurt your play at this level.

[Matt Williams]

[ QUOTE ]
You need a book to teach you those things? The first 4 are things you should be able to just figure out by thinking about the game. But lets say the person never took finite in high school and they are not the bright. One short book should introduce the basics.

I also don't see how the strategy in most books would be of much use at 0.25-0.50. In fact it would actually screw most people up as they would be doing things that simply don't apply to microlevel. I have never played 0.25-0.50 but I did try to teach someone and used 0.50-1.00 for that. The game is just bingo. Getting fancy will actually hurt your play at this level.

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Well, I guess I along w/ the millions of people buying 2+2 books just aren't smarty pants like you.

The funniest part is how you think "Getting Fancy" will hurt you. If you took the time to read a book, you would know that "Getting Fancy" isn't a key to beating SSHE. Surely someone as smart and good as you should be playing $5,000-$10,000 limit right?

BTW- Even a good player like Howard Lederer admits he sucked at 4-8 limit for 2 years before he read SSHE.