It's time.

[brimstone1]

I've been putting off writing this post, because it is the acceptance of defeat, looked down upon on these boards, and generally brushed off with "go have a 1,000,000 buy-in downswing and then come back" type of answers.

But I must be doing something wrong, and I need advice on what to do. Here's my poker sob story:

I started off well:
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sh...o=&fpart=1

I went on to the $22s, did ok for 150 games, until:
http://www.supload.com/free/pictures/22s.JPG

40 games with only 3 ITMs, both 3rd place finishes.
After losing all my profit at $22s (35+ buyins), I moved down to the $11s and wanted to start over, in a way, I figured I had leaks I needed to plug, and I didn't want to "gambool," so I went back to the $11s -- perhaps my hourly win rate was low, but my technical "foundation" means more to me for now. I'm in no hurry, and I'm looking at my poker "career" (as a hobby) in the long term sense, just as we're taught to look at our cards.

As I started playing at the $11s, it felt OK for a short while, and then I noticed I was breaking dead even. I go up 3-4 buyins, I go down 7, go back up to 0, up to 6, down to 3... you get the picture.

I'm breaking even. I'm literally disgusted with myself, as I've been playing "enthusiastically," so to speak, reading books, thinking on hands, making self-evaluations, spending time breaking through physcological barriers, coming to terms with the dreaded "long term," accepting weaknesses, etc, since January of this year.

I posted many of the hands that I got busted with, and more than often I was doing the right thing.

Watched replays of SnGs I won, compared to the ones I lost, nothing different, just got busted, thats it.

Went over all-ins with SnGPT, they seem to be +EV for the most part, so my bubble intuition doesn't seem to be dramatically off either.

But, although nothing has changed in my mind about my bubble play, I've been busting out 4th and 5th more than ever.

My ITM is at 33% After 200 games. Yuck.
(I know the sample size isn't gigantic, but at 200, I should at least be showing a tiny, tiny, miniscule +ROI, even if %1, going up on the profit graph, and not just wabbling around the 0 line, come on).

I thought of getting my HHs reviewed, but I don't have the money for it, and in all fairness, I think the people who PM'd me were asking for reasonable prices.

So, to sum up:
I'm breaking even,
seem to be doing the right "moves",
don't have the money to get my HHs reviewed,
have absolutely no idea in which direction to move next.

What should I do?

How does mentoring work? [Not backing, I have 50x buyins for my level, just mentoring]

How does one qualify to be mentored?

Any advice is welcome at this point, yes, even about buying shoes, if someone must make that sort of joke :P

[Freudian]

Post hands you are doubtful about. Read what other posters say. Often you will find that their thinking go one step further than yours.

I find it is very easy to get carried away with the pushing on the bubble. I think a very common leak here is overaggression on the bubble and justifying a pushing mistake with "my opponent made a stupid call". Because face it, if he made that call he will always make that call. You just misjudged him and it was you making the mistake.

Controlled agression is what I constantly work on. Sometimes the spots for pushing are obvious. Sometimes they are there but hard to spot. Sometimes they are not there, no matter how much you want them to be. In the latter case the worst thing you can do is break out ICM and try to modify your opponents range just to be able to talk yourself into thinking the push was fine.

[brimstone1]

Thanks for your late-night reply, but did you even read what I wrote?

Thanks again.

[Mr_J]

"My ITM is at 33% After 200 games. Yuck"

Don't sweat it. Just keep playing. I was breakeven after my first 500 sngs ($33s) and I definately wasn't a breakeven player.

[Freudian]

I did and I answered your "What should I do?" question.

As for mentoring, as you can guess no one will do it unless a) you pay them or b) they want to do you a favour. It takes a lot of time that could be spent doing other things (specifically playing poker and earning money).

I think most players can learn a lot from this forum and do not need a mentor. It is of course harder to learn without someone taking you by the hand. And of course if one has proven himself to be an interested and valuable member of this forum, finding a mentor may be easier. Who knows.

[pergesu]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm literally disgusted with myself

[/ QUOTE ]
That's what you should fix.

[45suited]

[ QUOTE ]
"My ITM is at 33% After 200 games. Yuck"
Don't sweat it. Just keep playing. I was breakeven after my first 500 sngs ($33s) and I definately wasn't a breakeven player.

[/ QUOTE ]

I disagree. With an ITM that low at the 11s (even after only 200 games), it's likely that he does have some major leaks. It's easy to say "small sample size" but that is a very low ITM.

Without looking at HHs, I'd say that to have an ITM that low on the 11s, he probably plays too many hands, tries to make too many reads, early on in games. Just a guess here but he probably needs to learn to be more weak tight early so that he can survive to the bubble or near the bubble. This combined with proper bubble play makes beating the 11s almost inevitable.

[2callzU]

The easiest way to get good is to find some of the best players on Party Poker, put them on your buddy list, and watch them play. This way you get lessons and neither of you have to put in much effort at all. Or if you want, you can pm me through here, and I will give you my screen name on Party, and some screen names of players on Party who I have learned from.

[pergesu]

How do you figure that? $22s aren't the same as $215s, and I don't believe that the "best players on PartyPoker" play at the $22s.

There are a lot of really good players here, in all limits, and there's tons of great discussion and analysis. Without a doubt, the best way to get good is to get a lot of time in playing, and spend the rest of your time here.

[Mr_J]

"With an ITM that low at the 11s (even after only 200 games),"

My $33 stats:
ROI: 0%
ITM: 33%
SNGs: 481

I'm not saying he doesn't have major leaks, he probally does (everyone does starting out). But his results don't mean he hasn't had a bad run of luck.

This is why I think coaching is a great idea when starting out (I got it). Apart from plugging leaks and improving your thought process, it let's you know where you are. One of the most important things I got from irie was confidence of my skill. Knowing that my game was profitable. If I hadn't had someone there reassuring me of my game, I wouldn't have made it through that 500 breakeven stretch.