Help!!

Any help or comments would be greatly appreciated. I am new to this board and I am sure some of the old hands have heard a similar story before and are probably tired of answering the same questions over and over again. Regardless as I said any help or comments would be greatly appreciated.

A little background.

I started playing online low limit poker about three months ago. I have played approximately 3,000 hands. I have played at Party Poker and Golden Tiger. I went to Golden tiger because of their very low micro limit games. At Party Poker I have played in .50 to $1.00, $3 to 6$ and 5$ sit and go.

I have read and reread these books. “Mauldin Texas Holdem Secrets”, “Winning Low Limit Holdem” Jones, 52 Tipsfor Texas Holdem” Shulman, “Small Stakes Holdem” Miller, Sklansky and Malmuth.

I play excellent pre flop cards. I adjust for position and recognize its importance. I do not defend blinds when not warranted. I follow the hands suggested in “Small Stakes Holdem” I recognize the importance of pot odds and when in doubt fold if the odds are not in my favor.

Here is my problem. Except for the sit and go games I always lose. In the sit and goes I usually place in the money. In regular games I get beat soundly with every hand imaginable. If I have trips I lose to straights and flushes. If I have straights and flushes I get beat by full houses. When I flop a full house I get beat by 4 of a kind or higher boats. I just get beat consistently.

Now I am not naïve and I understand that no one can master poke in three months. But what in the heck am I doing wrong? What do the others know that I don”t. It seems like it literally does not matter what hand I have because I get beat continuously. If I was getting beat with bad hands or because I start off with 72o I could understand but I don’t.

The one exception is that I do well in the sit and go but I have only played that format five times.I placed in the money 4 times. Why would that be?

Now I may be dumb but I do not think I am stupid. I am back to the drawing board so to speak. I am thinking of getting some software programs..Texas Turbo or pro Academy. Is that wise or a waste of money?

Since I have lost what I have budgeted I have to wait 30 days before I can play for real money again so I am using this time to learn more about the game.

Given my story any idea where I am going wrong? Has anyone else experienced this? I hate being a fish especially when I have put in the time and effort not to be one. Thus my posting on this forum.

Thanks in advance for any comments or suggestions.

teedee

[AKQJ10]

Sounds like you're running bad in ring games and running good in sit-and-gos. 3K hands isn't a very big sample. Any specific hands you think you may have misplayed?

[illunious]

3k hands is not much experience. 20k hands down the road you'll have a much better perspective on your beats and your skill level. You will only truely understand how small a sample 5 SNGs or 3k hands is is after you've played many times more than that.

Stop playing 3/6, there's no way you can beat it and I doubt you'll have much success even at .5/1. IIRC, it took me around 8 months from my first hand of holdem to where I could say I was a winning .5/1 player. Next time, deposit on a site with penny or dime games and play those. The added benefit of this is that after a couple months away, Party will give you some free cash (they do this in an effort to retain customers), and you will probably be ready to take another shot at .5/1.

"Sounds like you're running bad in ring games and running good in sit-and-gos. 3K hands isn't a very big sample. Any specific hands you think you may have misplayed? "

First thanks for responding.To say I am running bad in ring games is an understatement.

Actually I meant 3k raked hands if that makes a difference.

I would say my pre flop play is excellent ( I know thats the easy part relatively) I used to play for back door flushes early on, I probably mis play two high card overpairs.

I dont play for straights or flushes when a pair is on the board. Use to but dont any longer.

teedee
I read the texture of the board and know in low limit people go to the river. That Aces kings etc are good against non multiway pots and that straights and flushes are more likely multiway.

[AKQJ10]

[ QUOTE ]

I dont play for straights or flushes when a pair is on the board. Use to but dont any longer.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, that's a leak if you ALWAYS fold these draws. Getting 10:1 to draw at a standard flush (two in your hand, two on the board), you're misplaying them to fold with a paired board. Full houses and quads just aren't that common, and you're losing dozens of pots you would win for every monster hand you avoid paying off.

So, pair on the board -> decrease your estimate of outs to the flush, or increase your required pot odds, but don't automatically fold!

As for the rest -- if you know you're running poorly, then you've gotta just ride it out. The other poster is right: try playing lower, so at least the swings don't have the same emotional impact. But mostly just wait for it to catch up. It always will in the long run -- if you're sure you're playing correctly.

And when in doubt, post hand histories.

"Stop playing 3/6, there's no way you can beat it and I doubt you'll have much success even at .5/1. IIRC, it took me around 8 months from my first hand of holdem to where I could say I was a winning .5/1 player. Next time, deposit on a site with penny or dime games and play those"

Thanks for the advice. I went to 3-6 because of my success at sit and go. I thought maybe my play was better suited at a higher level. Sounds stupid I know but I wanted to give it a shot since I know I am in the experimentation mode.

What in your opinion was the difference in your play after 8 months that allowed you to move up to .5 to 1? I would really be interested what areas I need to be working on.

Thanks in advance.

teedee

[illunious]

The big ones I can think of...

I wasn't being aggressive enough in the right spots with good draws, was playing to many hands preflop, wasn't (correctly, if at all) adjusting my play through reads or notes, overplaying big pairs and top pairs postflop, and was slowplaying and trying to play 'fancy' to much and in the wrong spots.