Why the [censor] can't I win a single dime on Party/Empire

[2+2 Junkie]

OK, sorry to bring this to the front again, couldn't get back to the computer after I posted. So some suggestions are:
Raise more pre-flop, steal blinds more (or attempt to), and go to showdown more.
The levels that I am playing are .50-1 (grinding through the limits, started at .05-.10).
I also checked my database to see who had been winning the most during my sessions. Out of the top 30 winners, only 1 of them had a vpip under 30, and over half had vpip over 50. It really seems the more ridiculous your vpip is, the better you are doing. So, my other question is, am I too tight with the 19% vpip and what hands have more value than the TPTK hands? Thanks. Really trying to beat a site that EVERYONE seems to be beating but me.

[UncleSalty]

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I also checked my database to see who had been winning the most during my sessions. Out of the top 30 winners, only 1 of them had a vpip under 30, and over half had vpip over 50. It really seems the more ridiculous your vpip is, the better you are doing. So, my other question is, am I too tight with the 19% vpip and what hands have more value than the TPTK hands?

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You know that your winrate is pretty meaningless until you get close to 100K hands right? So, what makes you think that the winrate of someone you have seen play a couple hundred hands will tell you diddly-squat about correct strategy?

Analyzing other people's stats from PT is a complete waste of time. Just keep studying and focus on your own game.

[KingOtter]

I had a very similar beef with Party when I first started hitting .5/1 tables there. I was playing on Paradise and was making money every time I sat down at Paradise, and was getting blown away and losing money every time at Party.

I stopped playing at Paradise, and concentrated on putting in a number of hands at Party, and making good poker decisions. Voila... I recovered.

Screw your winrate. It is results-oriented. Make sure you're making good poker decisions. Period. Quit worrying about everyone else and the 'common knowledge' that the .5/1 is so crushable and wonder why you have a hard time making money. Just .... play ... good ... poker. The money will take care of itself.

KO

[parappa]

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I had a very similar beef with Party when I first started hitting .5/1 tables there. I was playing on Paradise and was making money every time I sat down at Paradise, and was getting blown away and losing money every time at Party.

I stopped playing at Paradise, and concentrated on putting in a number of hands at Party, and making good poker decisions. Voila... I recovered.

Screw your winrate. It is results-oriented. Make sure you're making good poker decisions. Period. Quit worrying about everyone else and the 'common knowledge' that the .5/1 is so crushable and wonder why you have a hard time making money. Just .... play ... good ... poker. The money will take care of itself.

KO

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This is the best advice you will get. I ran at -2 bb/100 for my first 2,000 hands at Party, then won 3.5 bb/100 for 20,000 hands, including a 5,000 hand stretch at 6. Then I ran break even at .5/1 for 12,000 hands. I can't tell you how depressing it is to come on here and read about people crushing .5/1 for 6 bb/100 while you aren't beating the game, and they're all going "wow, if you can't beat the .5/1 and the 1/2 for at least 3 bb/100 you must really suck, d00d!"

But, the key point here was that I was actually a better poker player when I was breaking even than when I was winning. I was working my tail off and had fixed serious leaks in my game that were there when I was winning, in an attempt to pull myself out of the slump. I was pushing my good hands harder and getting away from my losers. I was reading players better and adjusting my actions based on those reads. I was game-selecting and leaving bad games immediately. But I was breaking even in poker games that everyone, including me, considers trivial to beat.

Everyone has different results. You may suck and win 5 bb/100 for the rest of your life. You may be the unluckiest person in the world, hone your game to where every decision you make is perfect, and still lose. Ultimately, if you want to be good at this game, the only thing you have control over is making a good decision the next hand you play and keeping your head in the game. The rest is just posturing.

[QTip]

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I have played around 5,000 hands or so and never won a session.

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People just don't have respect for the short-term luck factor in this game. I've have break-even streaks (or losing streaks) as long as 25K hands. I know other very good player who had a break-even streak for 60K hands.

Piss on 5K hands.

[DavidC]

I can say with confidence that I suck post-flop.

It's possible that your only problem may be that you don't play enough hands (not in terms of VPIP, just in terms of number of hands played throughout your life on these sites). Play 20k-50k more hands and see how you're doing.

--Dave.

[2+2 Junkie]

I appreciate all the help I received. I hope that I can figure this out. Again, somewhat of a newbie trying to tap into the brains of people that have sucesfully beat it. I appreciate those that took the time to try and help me, rather than those who just respond with fold pre-flop and the like.

[zephed]

Try Eurobet. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Just because you play tight preflop doesn't guarantee that you will be a winner.

Definitely raise preflop more. Come back when you have a higher pfr % and tell us the results. By results, I mean what differences did you notice. Stats don't really mean much.

Also, you may or may not be folding rivers incorrectly, but if you had made the initial value raises preflop, you would have better odds to call on the river.

[TomBrooks]

PRF: Too Low
WTSD: Too Low
W$@SD: Too High

That will be $1. please.