I need help!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[MzLisa]

I have been haveing this bad run for like the past 3 weeks, all of my AA, KK, QQ, AJ, AQ, have been goin really sour, it has cost me my bankroll. So i really dont know if i should be playing poker anymore, because all of my hands keep getting beat, its frustrating. so here's a hand, i want u guys to critique:

Im at party 2-4 im one seat before the button. every one limps in b4 me, and i raise with JJ. ( i had JJ the hand b4 this one and lost so im a lil frazzled.)

Ive got 2 callers
flop

Td Ks Js

Mid position player bets, player seated next to me to my right calls, i raise.

Mid positon player reraises.

(at this point im like what,did he have KK and just called, is he chasing??)

Ok, the two of us just call

fourth is
9h
im saying ok, here we go, looking at a straight, but if he is chasing, then he may not have it, and if he has KK well im already dead.

MP we both call

(should i have raised here, hoping for a fold, but i didnt because i didnt think it would shake him)

river:
A

See what im saying i can never win, it just really P** me off.

Again, he bets, and i just call, the other guy folded.

I called to see what the heck he was raising me with and u know what he had JQ of clubs.

Here's the thing, how can u reraise someone with just the jacks paired when i could have had AK, or KQ, either way ur beat. and to re-raise hoping for a straight is stupid becuase my king would give me a higher straight.I dont think he thought i had Jacks cuz i had Jacks the last hand. so what did he put me on, or is he just striaght stupid.

[MrBlini]

MP's reraise may be correct here, and at worst it's not costing him a lot. He has a very good drawing hand, and as long as he can count on LMP (to your right) to call, he's not making a big mistake with this action. Any A other than A[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] gives MP the nut straight, any 9 other than 9[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] the second nut straight (second only to AQ), and any J (remember, he doesn't know you've got these in the pocket) gives him trips with a moderately good kicker. What's most questionable is the flush draw on the board. Without two cards to a flush on the board, it wouldn't be a bad play at all.

In your position, I'd have capped the flop with a set of jacks, and possibly raised the turn even though it's scary. With a draw to a boat, I'd have called it down, or at least seen the river, and lost more. Nothing is making an open-ended straight draw fold in a 2/4 game, and it's unlikely this would be folded even in a much larger game. JJ is just a tough hand to have the way the cards fall here.

Even in a larger game than 2/4, many players will not play logically, and most players will not play predictably.

Have you considered starting smaller? 2/4 online is not the easiest game to beat, even at the looser sites. (For example, it has a fair number of loose aggressive players, who I would recommend that you stay away from for the present.) It's good to begin with the smallest limit possible. You will be losing money until your game is significantly better than the average player at a given level, and this takes practice and experience that you can only gain at the tables.

[MzLisa]

hey there,

you said to capp and raise, but if i had done that i would have been out of even more money and would have been more pissed off.

[MrBlini]

Correct. The important thing is how you play a hand, not what the outcome is. Playing hands well will result in more money won and less money lost, but you can play an individual hand perfectly and lose--this happens a lot. (It doesn't happen to me too much, because I so rarely play a hand perfectly. [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] )

[MzLisa]

i always wondered why professional players say that they where the same underwear for luck and odd stuff like that. Its because u can have all the skill in the world, but if your card doest fall or straights hit the board like they did in the case your SOL (sorry out of luck)

theres a reason why professional players play at high limit stakes and not micro, is to make money off of thier AA or thier 3 of a kind Jacks, and i would like to make a lil too.

to me a beatable game to me is defined as a game u can maximize ur money given the right cards and circumstances, and to me i was just given a raw deal.

for example i have 3 of a kind aces and ive make all the correct raises and such and some yutz with a 2-6 of hearts catches a heart on the river for the flush. would u tell me that i need to go down in limits because i couldnt beat him???

[MrBlini]

No, but moving down in limits to .5/1 would eliminate 75% of the huge swings that you'll experience at 2/4. You may be underestimating just how much even a good player can win or lose in a session. I am a winning player at 2/4, and I have had many sessions in which I outplayed the competition and lost, occasionally well over $100. I have hands in which the river card gives someone else the hundred-dollar pot that I was already mentally adding to my bankroll. If you aren't comfortable with that, perhaps you would feel more comfortable at a lower level.

A lower level would also help minimize the number of loose aggressive players you encounter. I have read some of your other posts, and I believe you should do whatever possible to avoid these players at the present. These players tend to prefer the tables from 2/4 up because they get a thrill out of risky play with quite real sums of money. They drive up the cost of playing by getting involved in lots of pots and pushing others around with bets and raises. They are a tight, timid player's nightmare. I lost a lot of money to loose aggressive players early on. Sometimes I'd lose because I folded the best hand, and sometimes I'd lose because I kept betting and raising when they caught cards that helped their junky hands get ahead. Some of these loose aggressive players play quite well postflop, and just starting with better cards is not enough to beat them.

My experience is that .5/1 is a more reliable game for beginners. It still has the ups and downs, but these are minimized by both the stakes and the type of competition you face.

[Wake up CALL]

"theres a reason why professional players play at high limit stakes and not micro, is to make money off of thier AA or thier 3 of a kind Jacks, and i would like to make a lil too."

Pro players would salivate at the thought of micro-limit players playing in their games. It has nothing to do with bad beats. You have a great deal of work and studying to perform.

[Nottom]

[ QUOTE ]
theres a reason why professional players play at high limit stakes and not micro, is to make money off of thier AA or thier 3 of a kind Jacks, and i would like to make a lil too.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm sure it has nothing at all to do with the fact that they would rather walk away with $1000 in their pocket after a good session of $20/40 rather then spend all day at micros to win $50.

[slavic]

Normally when someone bets into a pre-flop raiser on a scary board that genererally means a draw. Sometimes a very good draw. You don't go into how many people are involved at the flop but I'll assume it's more than 3. So if a flush or a strsight draw jams the flop and gets more than 3 callers he's making money on every bet going into the pot. You thus will find several players that will pump up their drawing hands in a multiway pot on the flop. When they stop betting on the turn it will clue you in.

Now in your case they aren't really making money on you. Odd to say since I just told you they were. You have a redraw to 10 outs and they only have a draw to 9 or 8, so you actually are doing very well if you pump the flop, plus you have the best hand. When the scare card comes on the turn well you know the gig is up but you have to call with your ten outs. The river is no help, and in fact probably just created a split pot. I normally call 1 bet because the pot is huge but in general I know I'm sunk. it sucks, but what if it were another 9? well then you rack in a huge pot.

[slavic]

theres a reason why professional players play at high limit stakes and not micro, is to make money off of thier AA or thier 3 of a kind Jacks, and i would like to make a lil too.

The reason professionals play higher limits is to maximize their earn per hour. If their 30/60 game played like the 2/4 game played as loose as you describe they would love every minute of it.

Think of it this way. Would you wrather have 63s call your JJ raise or AQs? 63 is going to beat you sometimes but he's giving money to you most of the time. Forget about the time he sucks out, it doesn't matter because the game is not just 1 hand.