Is poker for me? Need advice on what to do

[IIAce]

Here's a short summary of my poker life: Started with the min. deposit of $10 on pokerroom and lost it in less than a day. Deposited $50 on EP...played only SNG's, never went above $50 and lost it all (I was ALWAYS favorite when I went all in preflop and lost all my chips). Deposited $45 on pokerroom and just played .25/.50 and a few hands of .5/1 every now and then (about 12k hands total..less than 1k .5/1 hands) and made a net profit of $300. I then decided to just play .5/1 with occasional .25/.50 hands every now and then and got up to about $400..then I started playing omaha and lost about a $100 so I got mad for a bit and quit for a semester. A few weeks ago I started playing again with my $300 on pokerroom just .25/.50 and got up to $350. I decided to buy SSHE (my first book) in an attempt to become better and move up in limits, etc...I read it (I think I misinterpreted some of the concepts or didn't completely understand them) and played at .25/.50 and .5/1 and down now to $290 (from $350). I know $60 isn't much at all compared to what limits you guys play at and even my whole "bankroll" is blinds for some of you :P but it feels like it just takes too much effort to make those few bucks..I'm starting to feel it's like a job. I was thinking about just playing .5/1 with the money I got right now...never playing .25/.50 again and see how that goes. The other option is to just withdraw the $290 and go to the gym or something instead of playing poker. I don't know...any other ideas?

PS. I THINK I can keep on making money if I just play like I played before SSHE (tight passive/aggressive). I have pokertracker stats if you guys want to look at them. Could I have just been getting lucky at first or maybe getting unlucky lately? Eh I don't really know what to think but I figured some of you may have gone through the same things.

Thanks

[SnglMaltScotch]

First things first. If poker isn't fun, quit. If you get the urge to come back, come back and try again. There is nothing forcing you to play.

As for strategy. It looks like with a $300 you should begin your bonus whoring life. Take all of that money and begin whoring the party network. Read Homer's post on bankroll building and visit bonuswhores.com. If you are even a breakeven player you should be able to build your roll up to $1,000 with bonus money fairly quickly while you learn the game more.

Good Luck

[Jailhouse]

It all depends on what you want to get out of the game. If you like to play for fun on occasion than there is no reason why you shouldn't keep doin what you're doing.

If your looking to make some real cash playing, then you absolutely need to study the game. In order to be able to put in the time studying that you truly need to in order to be a consistent winning player, I believe you must have a passion for the game.

But there is no shame in not taking the game as seriously as a lot of people around here do though.

-J-house

[lucas9000]

[ QUOTE ]
withdraw the $290 and go to the gym or something instead of playing poker.

[/ QUOTE ]

[Cancer Merchant]

Take a nice, long break. When you keep playing after it's
fun, it's no longer a game, but something far more sinister.
Go do something else you love, and get your mind right.
There's always a game going if you want to come back, so don't
rush it.

[Ray Of Light]

It sounds as if you are going through a bit of a downswing and now you are wondering whether you can beat the game at all...

I don't think you should quit, since you are able to beat the game, you've won money before, you understand that tight aggressive is a winning style and you have bought SSHE.

But if you ever intend to work your way up the levels, you HAVE to take some knocks (i.e. downswings) and put in the hours into playing and learning.

I advise that you pick one game and work on it. Personally I would advise you focus on limit holdem for starters, since there is so much advice out there, and on these forums, on how to play the game.

Also, cut back on your hours, play for an hour or two every other day, throw in some Sit and Go tournaments to mix it up.

And try not to let a little poker downswing put you out of the game.

Trust me, all poker players have felt what you felt at some point in their playing career, so don't give up just yet... /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[Killer Man's Son]

First off, if poker is not fun for you anymore, take a break. Many people forget (myself included somedays) that poker should be enjoyable to play (unless you are making your living that way, but even then, you should derive some enjoyment out of it).

Second, I may get flamed for this comment, but I don't consider Ed's book a beginner book. He teaches how to exploit small edges to get the last penny out of your opponents. As you stated, misapplying what he teaches can get you into trouble.

Take a step back, buy a copy of Winning Low Limit Hold'em by Lee Jones and focus on not lossing (weak tight style). Weak tight sucks, but its a good place to learn. Stay away from NL until you have more experience obviously.

Once confortable with Jone's book (i.e. you practically have it memorized), switch back to Ed's book and add agression back into your game.

It goes without saying you should also pick up Sklanasky's HE book as well.

As for bankroll, play at a limit where you have a min of 300BB (500 or 600 BB preferred but not needed at low limits)and just start cranking out hands. This should be enough to absorb a swing. Be prepared to redeposit if you start with a small bankroll.

Don't play if its not enjoyable. Spend time studying and not just playing.

[EStreet20]

[ QUOTE ]
(I was ALWAYS favorite when I went all in preflop and lost all my chips).

[/ QUOTE ]

Here is where many newbies don't understand tourney poker at all, myself included when I first started. If you allow yourself to get low on chip then many times you're in a spot where you're all in where another player with chips simply has to call because he/she is priced into the call. For example, if the blinds are up to 200/400 and you have 600 left in chips and I'm in the big blind and you go all in and it folds around to me, I'll call your all in with anything from AA all the way down to 7/2, it's simple basic gambling, I have to pay 200 chips to win one thousand so I must call. That's why the key to tourneys or sit n go's is to never get short stacked. Oh well, as for the rest of your post, I'd recommend taking a break then if you want t come back study up hard and go aftet the sign up bonuses with a 300 dollar BR.

Good luck,
Matt

[IIAce]

[ QUOTE ]
Take a step back, buy a copy of Winning Low Limit Hold'em by Lee Jones and focus on not lossing (weak tight style).

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't think I need Jones's book since I already know all the basics. I know SSHE is my first book but I even knew about a lot of the concepts he talked about (ie. overcalls) just from plain experience because it takes a long time to make a few hundred dollars in .25/.50 limit tables. BTW, only nl experience I have was those $50 I lost playing SNG's on EP.

[BigBaitsim (milo)]

Fold.

[EStreet20]

[ QUOTE ]
I don't think I need Jones's book since I already know all the basics.

[/ QUOTE ]

If you already knew all the basics you'd have blown through .25-.50 and .5-1. I'm not saying that to be mean but it's true, I thought I knew the basics and couldnt become a winner. I studied and built myself up from .25-.5 at pokerroom then hit some bonuses and moved to empire. Then I quit online poker for a while due to burnout/needed money for some unexpected expenses after I had moved up and been fairly succesfful at 1-2. I rebought with 300 on May 1st and began at .5-1 again and am now already up to 3-6 with a bankroll around 2300 (was up even higher but have hit a nasty downswing), and I don't even play a whole lot of hours because I work full time and have made a resolution to try to actually get an adequate amount of sleep. And honeslty if I had never swallowed my stupid "Poker God" pride and admitted that I really knew little or nothing, I still never would've made it above 1-2, or even .5-1.

So here we go. First off, even if you think you know too much still read WLLH, how can it hurt? Either way if you don't have the discipline to read a 170 page book you definitely don't have a fraction of the discipline to win in this game. Study all you can and really make an effort and you should improve Or (and I'm not implying any kind of "guilt trip tone" here) just quit if you're not passionate about the game.

Whatever you choose best of luck,

Matt

[Net Warrior]

I'd say that almost all winning player read and reread poker books on a fairly regular basis. As you gain experience and then reread a book, you find things you missed or overlooked before or you reinforce things you arleady knew. Also, post some hands. Believe me, the feedback will be invaluable. If you think you know a lot about the game, you're wrong. You might have an inkling about some of the moves but your experience is still very limited and there are no doubt many ways of applying them which haven't occurred to you yet. This is an excellent forum and a great place to learn the game, if that is your intent. You have to be prepared to put the work in if you want to be a winning player.