losing poker players

[DcifrThs]

[ QUOTE ]
My pokertracker stats show me being in positive figures as far as cash goes, but in negative figures by bb/100

[/ QUOTE ]

while this may be simply a result of winning $$ at 2/4 and losing disproportionally more bbs at .5/1.00, you may just wanna double check to see if you have the latest version of PT b/c there was some error i remember where this could be an actual PT compuational error.

Barron

[ThaHero]

I think since this is a strategy forum, the 90% rule wouldn't be as accurate, since most posters here show a willingness to get better and become winners, whereas most losers just go ahead and play and don't study, etc.

FWIW, I'm a winning poker player. It's the sports betting part I haven't figured out...

[Harv72b]

I'm a losing player so far this month. I'm a losing tournament player. And I'm a losing stud player, although most of that stems from a single drunken night on a .50/1 2+2 table.

I am told that one of my cousins ruined his life trying to play poker. Nobody will give me any further details, but it's the reason that most of the family doesn't know I play poker.

This gets brought up every time a thread like this is posted, and I didn't read all the responses before mine so my apologies if this point has already been made in this thread. The 2+2 community, and especially the active posters here, does not really conform to the real world percentages of winning vs. losing players. Most of us are pretty decent players, some of us very good ones, and very few of us truly poor. I mean, let's face it--the simple fact that each one of us found our way to this forum shows by itself a sincere desire to improve our game. Taking the next step and actually posting here, that only shows an even stronger desire towards improvement. So I think that even if you magically got every active member of this forum to give a truthful answer to the question, far more than 10% of us would be overall winners at poker. And of course, getting truthful answers out of the losing players is often difficult, particularly since a disproportionate number of their peers here aren't losing.

From a purely theoretical point of view, I would expect that long-term losing players fall into one or more of these categories:

-Pure gamblers who have no desire to actually learn the game. These would primarily be the gambling addicts.
-Those who lack the discipline to put the necessary study & evaluation into their game, and/or to continuously implement what they've learned at the table.
-Those who lack self-control and tend to tilt often, blowing off large amounts of money which they will not win back before their next tilt.
-Recreational players, like the barber mentioned earlier in this thread, who look at poker purely as a social activity and don't mind paying a bit of money for the priviledge.
-Wealthy buffoons who enjoy being able to blow large amounts of money at a game of chance, and can afford to absorb the losses.
-Those who enjoyed some initial success and stopped trying to learn and improve their game, counting their subsequent losses as bad luck.
-Those who simply don't possess the ability to learn poker, but keep trying anyway.

With the exception of the last group, I don't think any of them are making a real effort to succeed at all.

Of course there are starting players who are learning as they lose, but these are not yet long-term losers.

[Nottom]

[ QUOTE ]
losing players don't know/think they're a losing player. If you're talking to a loser, you'll get a lot of "I'm a bout even."

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm about even.

[Harv72b]

[ QUOTE ]
I’ve spent at least four hours reading, studying and analyzing for every hour of play. Probably more. Don’t suppose I’ve played an average of more than 200 hands a day. I continue to improve and log more play and will reassess after a full first year.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think there is such a thing as studying the game too much. I don't know, maybe you get more out of studying than applying, but I know that for me the practical experience was far more valuable as I was starting out. Try playing more hands and spending a little less relative time on analysis--the key, especially in online poker, is to get to the point where you've been in so many situations before that most of your decisions are automatic.

You also might want to think about dropping down a bit as you learn. I'm assuming you can afford to absorb these losses in the meantime, but the positive reinforcement you'll get out of beating easier games (like the 20+2 SNGs on Party) can help to speed your learning process, too. Or at the least give you a nice little ego boost to show that you really are learning something. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

All that said, as I mentioned above, I'm a losing tournament player overall, so what do I know? [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[Scottery]

-Those who lack self-control and tend to tilt often, blowing off large amounts of money which they will not win back before their next tilt.

thats my weakness i think.

[Equal]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I am a huge loser. I've lost somewhere around 200k in my poker career.

[/ QUOTE ]

ive lost more than 200k in my poker career...but my wins have more than compensated. are you saying you've lost 200k net?

Barron

[/ QUOTE ]

Naw, I was just screwing around. I'm up a ridic amount.

[theman]

hahahahaha.... .01 left in your bankroll "finegrinder"? That's funny (in a good way). [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Cky3]

Thought I was good because probably 4th tournament I place second in a 27$ rebuy tourney on Doyles Room.com. Bankroll was my very first 50$ so I thought "geez that was easy, just get your money in when you're sure you're ahead and you can't lose its odds." Tournament choice for the bankroll shows how terrible I was. Played poor poker for a good year and a half while reading some books thinking I was solid. Found this site a few months ago and got PT yesterday and all of a sudden my last 4 or 5 sessions yest and today are looking closer to 20/12/2. Hopefully i'll be able to build up to a serious bankroll.

I love you all...