OK - so here's my deal - need a bit of advice

I've been playing pretty regularly for approx a year and a half now. Started just in home games, dominating pretty regularly. Started watching the TV games, reading a ton of books (all the ones supported on here) and decided to hit the casino to try my luck.

Well, I ripped it up, cashing in my first 3 tournaments at Turning Stone and doing well for myself in cash games.

I put some money online, lost it pretty quickly, lost some more and decided to give online a rest. I've since played in a total of 11 tournaments at Turning Stone, cashing in 7, making the final table in 5 and "winning" 3 (chopped 2 of them) including a final table appearance at the Empire State Hold Em tourney.

But I can't do crap online. I have been down about $400 over the last month, playing small tournaments and some cash games. Lots of bad beat stories, but you don't lost $400 in small tourneys without playing poorly.

So, where do I go from here. I believe I'm a very good tourney player, a decemt live cash player, and a crappy net player. But the access to the net is obviously MUCH higher than the casino (2 hours away). With a 5-month old baby, there isn't a lot of opportunity to get to Turning Stone with any regularity.

Any advice on how to further my poker career would be appreciated.

Oh, and I usually play 1/2 NL live, $125 MTT tourneys live, .25/.50 NL online and $5-$20 STT or MTT online.

[Moneyline]

Online poker will give you a pretty accurate description of how good you are. You get more hands in online, so you get a more representative sample of your ability over playing the same amount of time. If a big part of your live game is picking up tells on people, or if you don't pay any attention when you play online, then it's entirely possible that you are a much better live player. However, I think it's most likely that you'll benefit most from playing online where you can get more hands in, and your results will be more representative of your true ability.

Good luck...

[charlie_t_jr]

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I believe I'm a very good tourney player, a decemt live cash player, and a crappy net player.

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1st you have to realize this is a contradicition. There are adjustments you have to make online...but lets face it poker is poker.

One thing you may not realize, or maybe your just beginning to figure it out, but the limits are NOT comparable from B & M to online. A 3/6 game is MUCH tougher online than in a casino.

Good luck.

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If a big part of your live game is picking up tells on people, or if you don't pay any attention when you play online, then it's entirely possible that you are a much better live player.


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I believe that this is big for me. When I'm at home, online, there's always some distraction - my son, the dogs, the phone, my wife...when I'm at a B&M it's strictly poker - that's it. My ADD kicks in at home and I start surfing the net in between hands (like I am now...). And tells are a very important part of my game. So, I do think it is possible that I'm a better live game player. But I understand about what you said in regards to online being a good representation of ability. If that's the case, I may be in trouble.

But, then again, my tournament success live relative to my success online really can't just be luck, can it?

[OrangeKing]

One thing that nobody has mentioned yet: you are obviously on a hot streak in these tournaments. No matter how good you are, nobody will cash at the nearly 70% rate you have in the long run. Which isn't to say you aren't a very good tournament player (even over such a small sample, those are tremendous results), but prepare for reality to hit and long strings of tournaments without cashes. The MTT forum people could give you a better idea, but I believe cashing in 25% of tournaments (not SnGs) is an outstanding rate.

[Moneyline]

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But, then again, my tournament success live relative to my success online really can't just be luck, can it?

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Not only can it be luck, but it probably is luck. I've been playing for a living for a long time, and I can tell you for sure that the swings can be big. Unless you have played thousands of hands both live and online you really have to consider luck as a major factor.

In your case, it may be that you are a good player who has just ran unlucky online, it also may be that you are a poor player who is on a really hot streak live, or it could be somewhere in between.

IMO, the best course of action for you is to not overestimate your talent. Assume that you're losing online because your skill is deficient, and then do everything in your power to improve your skill. This way you're certain to improve your game, regardless of how good you are at the moment.

Try to evaluate the skill of your opponents. It could be that you are naturally better against either good or bad players.

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Try to evaluate the skill of your opponents. It could be that you are naturally better against either good or bad players.

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Thanks, everyone - the advice and evaluation is appreciated. I've wondered if this plays a part. Since I'm playing such low limits online, the players seem to be bad and I can't put them on hands. In live big(ger) tournaments, the players tend to play more by the book. But then I read on here a lot that people get POed when others say "I can't beat the low limits, should I move up a limit to play against people that know what they're doing?" and I understand that theory makes no sense.

Anyway, I guess the good point is that just 1 year of a sample isn't a ton. I'm probably not quite as good as my tourney success has shown and not quite as bad as my online play has shown. I guess I'm somewhere in between...

[Alex/Mugaaz]

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Try to evaluate the skill of your opponents. It could be that you are naturally better against either good or bad players.

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This is advice that is wrong 100% of the time.

[Fletch46]

Check out the book Killer Poker Online by John Vorhaus. It's got some good advice for online play and some warnings.

[dogmeat]

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Check out the book Killer Poker Online by John Vorhaus. It's got some good advice for online play and some warnings.

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FWIW, I thought John's book was a joke.

Online is not significantly different than live play.

You have some bankroll, try playing some $1/$2 and see how you do online this time.

Dogmeat /images/graemlins/spade.gif

[Kaeser]

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Check out the book Killer Poker Online by John Vorhaus. It's got some good advice for online play and some warnings.

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FWIW, I thought John's book was a joke.

Online is not significantly different than live play.

You have some bankroll, try playing some $1/$2 and see how you do online this time.

Dogmeat /images/graemlins/spade.gif

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It talks alot about how to remove yourself from distractions and get your head in the game on-line. If that's really this guys problem then it might help him.

[dibbs]

Go through HH's and post hands.