Gotta know when to hold 'em, know when to fold em

Greetings:

I've started playing holdem. I've read the two Ed Miller books a bunch of times, and I'm getting my head around most of the concepts (counting outs, pot odds, ...)

I've played about 2500 hands online, about 1000 $0.50/$1.00, 1000 $0.10/$0.20 and the rest $0.25/$0.50. I know that this isn't enough hands for stats to be very meaningful, but...

I feel like I'm not winning enough times at the showdown and I suspect that it is because I'm not good at determining how likely that I have the best hand - I do the odds math right, make my draw and then lose at the showdown. (poker traker says "Went to Showdown" is 39.56%, "Won $ at SD" is 46.35%)

I'm looking for either advice, or ideally a good book that will help me with this. Perhaps I just need more experience, but it would be nice to save the time and $$ that experience costs.

Thanks much,

Ron

[jph0424]

Part of the reason your W$@SD is low is because you probably see too many showdowns. WTSD of 39.5 is too high even if you play mostly shorthanded. Also your sample size is WAY too small. As with almost anything poker related reading SSH, HPFAP, and TOP will greatly improve your play and thus your results.

[TexArcher]

You're losing too many showdowns because you're playing WAY too many hands to showdown.

I know that I'm playing too many hands. My original question was how to know which hands I should play in the showdown. The two books I have don't really cover this topic and I'm looking for pointers to more information on the topic.

[TexArcher]

[ QUOTE ]
I know that I'm playing too many hands. My original question was how to know which hands I should play in the showdown. The two books I have don't really cover this topic and I'm looking for pointers to more information on the topic.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, there's no definitive answer, it's just not as simple as saying "you should always call down with TPTK or ANY set", because in many instances those are losing hands. More information would help: How many hands dealt, types of opponents, hand examples?

[TimsterToo]

I know it is a probably unsatisfactory answer but I think you have to simply play a whole lot more and keep rereading SSHE. No book can substitute experience. Also stick to the starting hand charts until you really understand why you can or cannot play certain hands where.

I always have a copy of a poker book on the toilet for instance and read a chapter of something that bothers me at regular intervals during the day [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] If I'm playing just fine I use Theory of Poker. It keeps me rereading everything even though I think I've grasped everything. Surprisingly enough I keep getting these "AHA!" moments when I reread certain parts I thought I got earlier.

What really helped me to stop bleeding chips in the beginning is don't semi bluff. Simply stick to the odds and see how that helps your roll. On the lower limits ABC poker without any fancy tricks should suffice. When you have the basics down you can start varying play until then just learn to make good decisions consistantly.

There is no book that will make a total beginner a nifty winning fancy playing poker player within a month and if it exists you already own it: SSHE

Buy PokerTracker and playback your hands and find mistakes!

Good luck!

Figure out how many hands can beat you.

If there are many hands, fold. If there are only a few, you might call.

For example:

You have: J [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] 10 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]
Board: A [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] Q [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] 5 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] 4 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] J [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]

You can fold here.


You have: J [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] 10 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]
Board: 3 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] 9 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] 10 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] 2 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] 6 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]

You can call here, if he has 87 or A10, thats unlucky. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]