coolhanded
12-28-2004, 11:26 AM
RE: the topic of improving one's game, I'd appreciate some feedback on my situation.
I've been playing limit hold 'em online seriously on PartyPoker since September of this year. Not a long time, but I don't think I'm a beginner either. Before putting any money down, I read Sklansky's "Theory of Poker", "Hold 'Em Poker" (100-page book on the basics), and most of "Hold 'Em Poker for Advanced Players". I've logged a few hundered hours and basically have tried to approach the game in textbook fashion (tight aggressive). I started with $200 bankroll on $.50/$1. Made a little and felt I could move to $1/$2 and did. Made $500 one weekend and started dreaming of my hourly rate and how I might could make this a second job. My account peaked at $650 in pure playing profits. Moved to $2/$4 about 6 weeks ago. My account is now worth the $200 I started with.
I would say the 2 areas of my game I feel most uncomfortable about are (1) reading hands, and (2) varying my game with bluffs. My feeling is (1) is simply hard to do, even for very good players, and I can often call hole cards, but miss enough to make me wonder. (2) basically seems like a negative expectancy play in small stakes online limit hold 'em----really hard to bluff people out. Besides that, I feel like I know what I'm doing----what starting hands to play, attention to position, when to raise, call, fold, semi-bluff, etc. I understand the math of the game.
So why is my account back to where I started? Normal volatility? Given the amount I've played, I can't believe that. If you graphed my daily closing account values like a stock chart, there is no uptrend. I think I'm an intelligent guy and have done my homework on poker enough that I feel like I understand what's going on, but the playing profits just aren't there. Very frustrating! Any comments or advice would be appreciated.
I've been playing limit hold 'em online seriously on PartyPoker since September of this year. Not a long time, but I don't think I'm a beginner either. Before putting any money down, I read Sklansky's "Theory of Poker", "Hold 'Em Poker" (100-page book on the basics), and most of "Hold 'Em Poker for Advanced Players". I've logged a few hundered hours and basically have tried to approach the game in textbook fashion (tight aggressive). I started with $200 bankroll on $.50/$1. Made a little and felt I could move to $1/$2 and did. Made $500 one weekend and started dreaming of my hourly rate and how I might could make this a second job. My account peaked at $650 in pure playing profits. Moved to $2/$4 about 6 weeks ago. My account is now worth the $200 I started with.
I would say the 2 areas of my game I feel most uncomfortable about are (1) reading hands, and (2) varying my game with bluffs. My feeling is (1) is simply hard to do, even for very good players, and I can often call hole cards, but miss enough to make me wonder. (2) basically seems like a negative expectancy play in small stakes online limit hold 'em----really hard to bluff people out. Besides that, I feel like I know what I'm doing----what starting hands to play, attention to position, when to raise, call, fold, semi-bluff, etc. I understand the math of the game.
So why is my account back to where I started? Normal volatility? Given the amount I've played, I can't believe that. If you graphed my daily closing account values like a stock chart, there is no uptrend. I think I'm an intelligent guy and have done my homework on poker enough that I feel like I understand what's going on, but the playing profits just aren't there. Very frustrating! Any comments or advice would be appreciated.