Busted, Dejected & Wondering WTH Went Wrong...

[Cry Me A River]

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I'm not new to the game, I play home games quite often and I'm not too shabby.

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Online players are much, much better than live players at the same stakes. There are a number of reasons why:

1 - Live, the lowest stakes are $1/$2 NL. Online, the lowest stakes are $.01/$.02 NL. So online the worst players are playing $.01/$.02 NL. Live they're playing $1/$2 NL. Online, $.01/$.02 NL is SIX levels below $1/$2 NL.
2 - Getting into a live game is far more casual than an online game. Live games often have inexperienced players stumble into the game on their way from the blackjack tables to the slots. Online you need to download and install the software, register an account and figure out a way to deposit. Online takes a far greater level of dedication JUST TO GET STARTED.
3 - When a player wants to make more money live, he moves up in stakes. Online, he multi-tables. In this way online players are able to put much more money in play while limiting their exposure in any one hand and avoid playing with better players. Online $.5/$1 NL players can make a nice living out of multi-tabling. There aren't very many live $1/$2 NL pros.
4 - No HUDs or Pokertracker live.
5 - Online players see many more hands per hour, particularly if they multi-table. More hands per hour equals more experience equals better play.
6 - Free alcohol in casinos.

[lucky_mf]

Eric,

Your losses sound excessive to me - something is wrong with your game. You should get PT working and post your position stats in the appropriate forum (or here). Also, you might consider getting a coach (or someone good to sweat you) if you plan to continue playing a lot. My guess is that you have some leaks that would be pretty obvious to a competent player

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You must have a bankroll of 100 buy-ins at whatever level you are playing. Always. If you ever get below that you must immediately move down.

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I'm not really sure about tourneys, but this is insanely nitty bankroll management for a winning recreational or semi-pro NL cash game player; and if you are not a winning player bankroll management is best practiced by playing as low as you can stand.

Thirty five buy-ins is on the high end of reasonable and I'm very comfortable with 25 playing a swingy style while 6-tabling medium stakes NL games. I also believe that winning players should be aggro about shot taking at games they are not rolled for when they are playing well and the games look good.

Lucky

[McGrain]

Hard.

My advice is a wee bit more general, I hope you don't mind.

Dip all the way down. Forget about making money for a little while. Play in some micro games and some minimum buy in tournaments. Just play poker,play hands, keep it cheap. You need to get a feel for the online game, you need to start enjoying playing again. Flush this out of your system.

When you feel you're ready start moving back up through the levels if you feel you want to. And has been said, take some time to thinkg about your bank-roll. In my humble opinion proper bank roll managment is more important than the poker. Which is to say you can have minimal success with mininal talent but you will ALWAYS go bust if your not taking proper care of your money.

Good luck.

[LordBrun]

I propose that you stick to one form of play to begin with, either it be cashgames, STT or MTT. At the very least stick to one form of poker for each session. This way you can narrow your focus and hopefully learn more all the while not losing unreasonably large sums of money.

There is a lot of sound advice in this thread, use it.

/LB

[H0neyM0nster]

Just wanted to add....please read up on he subject. There are some good books out there that are a must if you take your poker seriously. Harrington on Hold'em would get you started - if you've already read it, my guess is that it didn't sink in - so read it again.

[Kurn, son of Mogh]

I mostly play at the $5, 10 and 20 SnG NL HE

Right away I sense both bankroll issues and skill issues. Deposit $150 and only play $5 SNGs. That's step one.

I play by the book for the most part. I don't chase flushes, and I don't raise all-in with A-crap.

This also really tells us nothing. Post individual hands in the STT stragey forum. For example. If you "play by the book", on the bubble and not a mid-size stack you *should* be shoving Ax (by the book you shove any 2 cards 1st in from the button or SB)

When you say you "never chase flushes" do you mean without proper pot/implied odds? Do you mean without other draws? Against what type opponent in which situation?

What SNG "book" do you play by? ICM?

People on this board can help, but we need a lot more information.

[Poker Plan]

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Just play poker,play hands, keep it cheap.

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QFT

Beginners always seem to be interested in the money than the game? [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

Learn the game first: The money will then appear as if by magic.

[Eucrid]

You say you don't chase flushes but you have to when the price is right or you're wasting money. The guys with Axo and other hands you deem trash are probably pushing you off hands when they've nothing.

I play a lot of cheap SNGs and I'm just about becoming a break even player. Read books, read this forum, read poker blogs, watch games on TV.

People online even at low price games are pretty clued in. They know at least the basics. At $20 SNGs there are a lot of players who know exactly what they are doing.

Just learn as much as possible. Buy a good book about the basics of NLHE.

[bobbyi]

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STT and ICM? I have no idea what that stands for

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STT stands for "single table tournament". It refers to the 9-player sit n gos that you are playing. There is a whole forum here dedicated to them. If you look on the left, you will see "STT Strategy" on the green bar. That link will take you to the twoplustwo STT forum.

[riverruss]

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I actually never really figured out how to get Poker Tracker to work completely with tournament hands either.



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Tournie results have to be manually entered with PT its not automatic.