why am i a loser?

[taketwoagain]

Hi. This is my first post but have enjoyed the forum for a few months. I've been playing for about six months now. I've read many books and played several thousand hands but I continue to lose to what I feel are weaker hands. I stick to top-ten hands, good suited connectors, etc etc but keep losing. Can it be that I just don't have "poker sense"? It seems when I'm not in a hand someone wins with a medium pair but when I have a good hand someone always has a monster. I'm just extremely frustrated losing to the guy that plays his 3/7 and always makes his straight or the guy that always completes his hand on the river. Am I expecting too much at this point? If following the advice in the books can't help me win what will? I love the game but can't seem to get on a positive track. Any advice? Thanks

[Jim Easton]

[ QUOTE ]
I stick to top-ten hands,

[/ QUOTE ]

Get rid of Hellmuth's book, get Sklansky's Hold'em Poker. Start posting hands.

[webiggy]

Ditto

Lee Jones' book "Winning Low Limit Hold'em" is also good, but 2+2 is releasing a new LLHE book that should be great.

1. Get poker tracker and review your hands daily. Try to find obvious leaks in your game and avoid losing starting hands.

2. Give Hellmuth's book to your opponents and tell them that it's made all the difference in your game, then take advantage of his poor tactical advice.

3. Understand that HE is a positional game. Memorize what hands can be played in each position and under what game conditions. S&M and Jones both do a great job on this.

4. Give Hellmuth's book to your opponents..,

5. Be honest with us and yourself and be willing to take criticism.

6. Remember that folding hands can make you money.

7. Don't play with more than you can afford to lose.

8. Have fun!

good luck,

Iggy

[bdk3clash]

Also, post hands here, especially the ones that give you that "did I play this right?" feeling.

[Bob T.]

You might be too predictable.

After waiting all that time for a good hand, you might be too tenacious.

You might think that because your opponents play just about anything, that you are entitled to the pot everytime you get involved, and pay too much when you are behind.

You might have seen to many monsters under the bed, and don't get enough value when your hand finally wins.

You might just be terrible at post flop play.

You might be running real bad.

There are players out there that have been playing a lot longer than you, and you have to expect that their 'poker sense' might be sharper than yours.

You might have some combination of the above problems, or even some others that I didn't guess at.

The way to fix them, is to post some hands that you have trouble with and see how other people would play them. Then post some hands that you think you played well, and find out where those leaks are. The nice thing about this forum, is that you can also learn from the rest of our mistakes, and I can't speak for the others, but I think that everyone except for vehn /images/graemlins/grin.gif makes mistakes on a regular basis. When someone posts a hand, respond, and find out if you were thinking along the right lines and hopefully, you can learn from that without paying tuition at the table.

Also, you haven't said what limits you are playing, but I would advise you to move down, until you find a limit that you can beat. Once you find that, you can get some success, then move up, and eventually, hopefully, you will be beating higher and higher games.

Good luck,
play well,

Bob T.

[joker122]

Hi. What books have you read? If you haven't read Theory of Poker and Hold 'Em Poker for Advanced Players I would reccomend reading them, and re-reading them, and re-reading them. Also, it sounds like you've read Play Poker Like the Pros by Phil Helmuth (you say "I stick to top 10 hands"). Most posters on this forum will agree that that book is worthless.

Furthermore, the 2+2 forums will prove to be a tremendous tool on the way to becoming a profitable player. A few months ago I was in the same boat - not even able to beat the .5/1 tables. But these forums have made me a winning player. Read the posts here. Specifically, read the actual hands and then read the feedback other posters give on how well they think the hand was played. This allows you to gain experience without exspensive lessons at the tables.

Good luck.

[tripdad]

i have a friend who knows the hands he is supposed to play pre-flop. his problem is he doesn't know how to play post flop. if he has a decent pair in his down cards, he'll see a river no matter what comes on board. he also has no concept of why position is important. his biggest problem, though is he watches too much WPT, and sees all those trash cards those guys play and thinks everyone bluffs all the time. the truth is, even in no limit, bluffing is an OCCASIONAL tool to use, and most use it sparingly, particualarly in limit hold'em. they put those bluffs on tv because it makes for good tv. even... check that... especially the top players bluff with far less frequency than you are led to believe.

moral: give other players more credit for having hands that can beat yours.

p.s.. everyone has a bad run once in a while. i just got rivered by a runner, runner......never mind.

cheers!

[BugsBunny]

You forgot number 9:
Give Hellmuth's book to your opponents..,

/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[Lori]

Take a look at some of your 'identical situations' for instance one where you have AK vs JJ on a Ten high flop.

Are you putting in more money when you have the best of those situations than your opponent is?(If so you would be winning). (Preflop call AK vs pair a tie)

Look at why you are putting in less money when in front than your opponent, you are either calling too much or not betting hard enough, impossible to tell from here.

Every time you have AK vs an overpair, or the other way around, save the hand history and add up these numbers.
Take an equal number where you had the one hand, and then where you had the other.

Do the same for AK vs AQ/AJ/AT on an A high flop.

Remember the result of these pots "doesn't matter" just tally up how much went in when you had the best of it. (Don't do this for drawing hands just yet, just the simple cases above)

When you see that you are probably losing more in these situations than you are winning, read through all relevant hands again and see why you ended up behind on the deal.

This, if nothing else, will help your poker instincts.

Lori

[Joe Tall]

Great post, Lorinda!

I'm glad you jump into the SS now and then with such great advice.

Peace,
Joe Tall

[webiggy]

Lori,

That's awesome! You know, I've been looking for a poker coach who can help me with the disciplinary part of the game. You're hired. PM me with some thoughts!!!

Iggy