Just played my first live B & M 2/4 limit holdem game.

[YoungOne]

Just played my first live B & M 2/4 limit holdem. Blinds were 1 and 2 with a 10% rake. I bought in for 100 and was up 140 in the first four hours by playing solid hands(AA, KK, Ax and pocket pairs and so on).

Then I started losing to players who chased flushes and straights. It was insane, got tilted and lost it all back plus 140 of my own money (playing trash hands of course). I left and felt I played good but way toooo long. I played for 15 hours straight, which surprised the heck out of me.

I consider myself a student of the game and remember reading that 2/4 was unprofitable. My only experience with it tells me that it seems profitable.

I"m 22, still in college, been playing $1 buy-in tourney with friends and play money online for a few months. I know i'm not very good, but good enough to beat the bad players.

What are your suggestions for improvement? How was your first experience playing in a B & M? I feel I can definitely beat the 2/4 limit holdem game if i plug my leaks.

thanks for responses, stories and tips on improving.

Ignore if u think this post is stupid......

[topspin]

I was in a similar situation to yours, in that I started out playing play money games and small buy-in events with friends and decided to try out real-money.

I'd suggest that micro or nano-limit online games would be a great place to start, for a few reasons. First, the .25/.50 games at most sites (e.g. Paradise) are pretty comparable in play to 2/4 live. (.5/1 Party players tend to be slightly better -- scary using that word to talk about Party micro! -- but the rake is better than live.) It's more convenient to play, plus you'll be able to take advantage of statistical programs like Pokertracker that are invaluable to analyzing your play when you start.

Assuming that cash is an issue, it's also a lot cheaper to learn at micro online in the event that at first you're a losing player. There are also plenty of bonus and reload opportunities that make your initial win rate much better than playing 2/4 at a B&M.

[YoungOne]

topspin,

thanks for the response, I have alot of gamble in me so micro-limits will be tough for me to play. I think I'll give it a shot because if I can beat it, I definitely want to beat the live b & M 2/4 limit holdem game.

I'll also give pocker tracker a shot, don't know how it works but will find out.

thanks, your my first official responder.

Hoping to be part of the community of posters.

YoungOne

[Bulbarainey]

reading Small Stakes Hold Em will help a bit, as well as not tilting! - make an effort to stay objective 100% of the time, once you become too much of an emotional player you become one of the players who is supposed to be paying you! The kind of players you will be playing with will be drawing to all sorts of stuff all the time, so try not to feel down when you get outdrawn, because it is going to happen all the time... and as the above poster said, playing nano-limits can be a great help. If youre limited on bankroll, I reccomend doing the www.sportsbookreferrals.com deposit $20 in bodog/get $50 in neteller bonus, youll get $22 to play with on bodog which you can cash out later, a site with usually a 5c/10c fixed game going, as well as $50 cash in your neteller you can go take elsewere, while only risking $20... paradise and pokerstars have a lot of nanolimits, and IMO, if youre playing LA 2/4 games, 5c/10c is tougher online. good luck

[bholdr]

The problem with 2/4 and 4/8 live poker is the rake- it's usually 10% up to $3, plus maybe a buck for the jackpot, plus a dollar toke when you win a pot... all that money coming off the table is a huge disadvantage, and practibly unbeatable in the long term. it is certianly not beatable for more than a couple dollars/hr.

[ QUOTE ]
It was insane, got tilted and lost it all back plus 140 of my own money (playing trash hands of course). I left and felt I played good but way toooo long. I played for 15 hours straight, which surprised the heck out of me.


[/ QUOTE ]

if you're playing for 15 hours, at 30 hands/hr, of which you win, say, 2.5, that's 45 hands that you've won, meaning a probable $120+ paid in rake, and another $40 or so in tokes, more if there was a rake for a jackpot... losing that $140 is actually what an avarage player could expect! see how bad the rake is?

and one of the best things about live poker is that it CAN hold your attention for 15 hours at a time. i've played a few 20hr sessions live, but never more than four hours at a time online.

[nsj]

If you're even halfway competent at poker, beating the 2/4 at a B&M should be very VERY easy.

Your mindset needs to mature. You said it yourself in the OP -- you played tight, solid poker, made $150, took a couple of bad beats and tilted off the rest and more. When your KK gets rivered by 4s7s hitting two pair on the river, smile and pitch your kings in the muck.

You beat the game by playing better than the table, not by playing down to their level. Just have fun, play solid, keep learning, and stay the course. The first time I played at a B&M, I had a similar experience -- was up $275 playing 3/6, lost a $120 pot with a set of aces when some guy runner-runnered a straight, and pissed away the rest of my profits playing like an idiot.

I've been back to play anywhere from 2/4 to 5/10 about 15 times in the last year, and I have never lost more than a few big blinds in any given session.

[mtdoak]

First off, welcome to the forums. Second, small stakes is HUGELY profitable if you understand how to play the game correctly. My first advice would be to purchase and read Small Stakes Hold'Em. Its the bible around here. Second would be to post alot of specific hands. Include details like reads on a player or anything specifc you observe about them. Thirdly, use the search button. If you have questions about bankroll, 2/4 vs 3/6 online, etc, they've probably already been talked about and good advice has already been given. Welcome again.

[AKQJ10]

[ QUOTE ]
The problem with 2/4 and 4/8 live poker is the rake- it's usually 10% up to $3, plus maybe a buck for the jackpot, plus a dollar toke when you win a pot... all that money coming off the table is a huge disadvantage, and practibly unbeatable in the long term.

[/ QUOTE ]

I disagree for at least a couple of reasons. The weakest reason is my own EXTREMELY small sample with Foxwoods $2/4. The better reason is because I'm confident that the 1BB rake is being paid by having roughly 7 to the flop instead of 5.

Is it possible to beat a low-limit game with 5 seeing the flop every time (not to mention passive postflop play) and no rake? Then it should be possible to beat the same game with 7 to the flop and a rake. I don't think 7 is an outrageous estimate at all for the average Foxwoods $2/4 hand!

[Stinglikeabee]

Read some poker books.
When you first start out, keep your sessions from 4-6 hours. And learn to control yourself, patience is the key in low limit, and if you find yourself not playing your game, just get up and leave.
After a while, you will be able to play for 15 hours but it's not recommended when you first start out because most people can't remain focused that long.

[eh923]

The path to improvement is easy...STUDY (not just read) some quality books that are appropriate for your level of play. Play online when you can, and hit the card room when you can.

While you're playing, try to focus each hand on making the right decision. When you're out of the hand, don't worry about "what might've been" if your trash would've made a winner...watch other players and see with what hands they raised, cold-called, etc.

Welcome to the forum!