Need advice. (not long)

[Coz]

So have been playing poker for about seven months and have seen an improvement in my game, I just finished HOH, and my tournament game has gotten alot better. The responses to my posts are changeing from being criticized to, "I would have done the same." I am still making minor mistakes but am on the rode to improving my game. I started out with $100 dollars on stars have lost about 20$ mainly because of playing 10NL and facing the donks that play there. My question to you is how do I build my BR up, should I deposit more money so I can play NL 25, should I just focus on tourneys. The reason I ask is because I am finding the 10NL increasingly frustrating, should I just grind it out or what.

Thank you in advance for your comments.

[Pov]

If you aren't beating the NL10, you still have a lot to learn. I highly recommend you do not move up. You should crush this game because of the donks. They make mistakes that offer up many blinds of expectation very frequently. This is also true of NL25, but the game is clearly tougher than NL10.

Don't treat it like a grind. If you aren't crushing this game you are missing valuable lessons. I know its easy to be subjected to a lot of beats in these games, but it's also easy to get all-in as better than a 2:1 favorite several times per session.

[Chrysiptera]

I hear you.. I'm in a similar situation, but I play .25/.50 Limit hold'em. I played about 100 hands today and lost 4 large pots after I putting my money in with the best hand. The "donks" took the pots, and I had a horrid session. VERY frustrating to get drawn out on.. However, if you take that same situation 100 times, in the end you'll be up. The same goes for you.. If you move up levels your bankroll will not grow any faster, it'll just fluctuate more...

Let me quote Slansky from The Theory of Poker:

"Many good players get upset when a sucker draws out on them. While it's never pleasant to lose a pot you were favored to win, you should nevertheless welcome these beats. Congratulate such players on hanging in there to make their hands. Encourage them so they play even more sloppily. It shouldn't be long before you have their money." -Slansky

My advice is to play within your bankroll.. IMHO, poker should be fun, not a financial drain. If your bankroll isn't going up at the limts you are playing it isn't going to be going up at higher limits either.

-Chry

[KurtSF]

Building a bankroll + small stakes = bonuses!

Keep working on your play, ginding it out, continously improving, etc. You know the deal.

But while doing that be sure to always be working on a bonus. Always. It not only will reduce variance - even if you hit a bad run you will get that bonus to buouy your BR - but it can also have a MAJOR impact on your roll itself. Those $100 bonnus won't have much influence on you when your roll is $10k, but when you have a couple hundred its THE way to go.

There is a forum here devoted to it, or see bonuswhores.com for information.

Good luck!

[andre683]

Ive build up a 50$ account on Party into a 425$ in little over a week. On the best night i won about 150$ wich gave me a huge boost, but my advice is keep playing NL10, that's where i'm playing atm, and its very profitable.

play really tight, don't bluff much, and you will win.

the only bluffs i do, when i feel the timing is right and i am HU, is putting a move pre-flop, re-raising with rags, and a C-bet on a non scary flop does it. Don't like bluffing Turn or River because i get called way too often (but hey, that's a good thing).

its quite easy to play really, just play simple.

ex.
If you raise PF, and on the flop a player donks a bet at you before you speak, just muck the hand if you haven't hit the flop, saves you a C-bet, don't try re.raising to see if he folds, he won't most of the time.

PartyPoker's NL10 is quite easy to beat, maybe you are just overlooking its simplicity. I have played NL25 on Stars amongst others, and i can say NL10 on Party is way more profiteable (never played NL25 on party that much)

[UATrewqaz]

I have to comment on one thing...

[ QUOTE ]
I started out with $100 dollars on stars have lost about 20$ mainly because of playing 10NL and facing the donks that play there.

[/ QUOTE ]

Playing low stakes starting out is the perfect thing you should do. However when you lose it's not because they are playing so bad you can't beat them. Bad players playing badly is WHERE the money comes from, plain and simple. If you don't take their money (in the long run) then you are doing something wrong.

You will experience many many more suck outs and bad beats when playing against bad players, however the pots you win will be much much much larger in these games and you will come out way ahead.

[The_Bankroll]

how many hands have you played? it's hard to tell wether your down 2 buy ins due to bad play, or if variance is showing it's ugly side.

[runout_mick]

[ QUOTE ]
have lost about 20$ mainly because of playing 10NL and facing the donks that play there.

[/ QUOTE ]

The standard response to a post like this in the other forums is "Move up to where they respect your raises." This is the ultimate sarcastic response.

I'm going to sound like a broken record, but don't even THINK about moving up until you are crushing (and fully understand WHY you're doing so) the games you're at.

Just play, study, post, analyze.

Rinse, repeat.


Hope this helps...

[Spanky1974]

Play the $5NL games before you lose your bankroll! If you can beat the $5NL, the $10 NL should be a cinch.

[Acein8ter]

Read SSHE, play tighter and you should be able to beat 10NL. I'd say that your BR should be a bit higher if your playing that level...