[beekeeper]

Unfortunately (or fortunately), I don't play on line (believe it or not, I'm still on dial-up). I'm fortunate that I play with the same cast of characters, pretty much, so I know some of their tendencies by now.

I do know that I play at least 50% fewer hands than most of the other players and when I win a pot, it's usually bigger than most.

The two theories that I try to focus on are: (1) that you want to minimize the amount you lose when you lose a hand and maximize the amount you win when you win, and (2)that it's about winning money as opposed to winning pots.

I have been gradually getting better, but as I do, I find that when I lose a pot, it's usually a big pot, and it's usually on the river, which is hard emotionally, especially in tournaments when I've been patiently building my stack.

I don't know how it works online, but I also find the conservative approach (re: playing premium starting hands) when the blinds are small works for me, because one or two (sometimes more) of the very loose players will either knock someone out or knock themselves out before the blinds increase to a level where I feel the impetus to be more active. Thus, though others may have a higher chip count, I've moved closer to the money. Even though a few others may have a big chip count, often those players are the looser players, and I feel that with the right hand, I'm going to take most of those chips off that player (If I can just be patient).

With more experience, I gradually begin to work in other theories that I have picked up from my reading. I've gotten a lot of help--and hope to get more--from the forum, especially about how I should be interpreting and applying the theories I read about.

Good luck, H