Am I too good?

After playing online for over a year and a half, so far I have been invited to four mini home tournaments by a dude that I emailed responding to a home poker ad. The four tournaments we played were as follows:

$20 NL 4 players (Me, host, his 2 friends)
$20 NL 3 players (one went home)
$40 NL 5 players (Me, host, my friend, his 2 friends)
$40 NL 5 players (Same thing)

We played 'winner takes all' for every tourney and... I won all four of them! If my calculations are correct, I made $420 in just over 4 hours of playing Poker.

So the host did seem like he found some fish to play with but the funny thing is, he said he paid for his appartment playing Poker, as well as for the table and all equipement.

Now, the problem is, I don't get invited to their touraments no more [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] Even though I found new players he (the host) doesn't care. He ignores my messages and is obviously avoiding to play me. Trust me it was not luck, I was able to read every opponent like an open book. The ONLY time when it was luck was the final game when I had a 4-1 chip advantage against the only other player left with huge blinds and went all in with 67s against his K6o. Flop came x[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] x[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] 7[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] and that was it.

So tell me, what am I supposed to do for my precious skill at Poker not go to waste?

I can't seem to understand how players like Negranu and P Ivey can find opponents that are whilling to play them for even money so easily.

[Quicksilvre]

Go to a casino or go to an online cardroom.

The reason why pros get action is that the geese run to the axe. Just one player playing over their limits against eight strong opponents will make it worthwhile for the strong players to play with this guy and each other.

[ QUOTE ]
Go to a casino or go to an online cardroom.

The reason why pros get action is that the geese run to the axe. Just one player playing over their limits against eight strong opponents will make it worthwhile for the strong players to play with this guy and each other.

[/ QUOTE ]

Casino --> Rake
Online --> Rake + deposit/withdrawal fees + cannot physically read opponents + possibly rigged.

I broke even in my online experience, but only because of the times I had my opponents just where I wanted getting lucky. Ie: I have AK, flop is AKx, I trap my opponent to go all in with his KQ and will hit runner-runner. Or, I am showing aggression going all in in almost any preflop stealing blinds late in a tournament, finally get delt KK, only raise 3 BB, one player reraises me ALL-IN hoping that I would fold against his pocket 6's. Instead he will hit his 6 or even a 7543x board.

But live Poker is different: just because the board reads something like QQTTx and I hold a T doesn't mean my opponent MUST ABSOLUTELY, in spite of checking the flop and turn, have a Queen somehow magically. I would be able to read that in real life, not online.

[Yawkey]

I wouldn't be suprised if he just isn't having games at his place anymore. It sounds like before you came along, he was winning all of the money. With such a small game it would only take one or to guys to say they've had enough of throwing away 20-40 bucks every time they played with him to kill the game. Or perhaps he is playing for much higher stakes online, which he probably is if he is paying for his apartment through poker. This would explain how he is able to make money playing poker when you could read him like an open book in the B&M game(those tells are hidden online). These small games just may not be worth his time any more.

[eOXevious]

I had the same problem with some freinds. We've had 3 tournaments so far. The first I came in 2nd, and the last two I came in first. They said I couldn't play the next one. But some people wanted a challenge and argued for my presents. Which I found flattering. They then started to realize if one of them wins, and I'm not in the tournament... is it really a win? So they decided to let me in the next one.... we'll see how well I do this time.

[Doc7]

[ QUOTE ]

Online --> Rake ....+ ....possibly rigged.

[/ QUOTE ]

Pretty sure that online rake is much lower, and the rigged argument doesn't fly

[Quicksilvre]

[ QUOTE ]
Casino --> Rake
Online --> Rake + deposit/withdrawal fees + cannot physically read opponents + possibly rigged.


[/ QUOTE ]

Trust me, the fish are there in the casino. If you're good, you'll beat the rake.

Said rake is a little lower online, and the level of play is deliciously fishy. Even without the reads (and there are some reads) the level of play in a lot of areans is so low, you'll do okay...again, if you're good enough.

It's pretty well established that the big online cardrooms are clean. Besides, home games can easily have marked cards or players in collusion; it's not as if they're squeaky clean.

[4_2_it]

[ QUOTE ]
Online --> Rake + deposit/withdrawal fees + cannot physically read opponents + possibly rigged.

[/ QUOTE ]

Rake is much lower than B&M, though the drinker servers are not as hot.

Rigged? That claim is without merit and rediculous. It will not be tolerated on this forum.

Deposit/withdrawal fees - I haven't paid a dime. Got a friend to fund me $300 through his Pokerstars account and have been cashing out with checks that seem to arrive within 5 days ever since.

Sounds like you need to work on you game if you can't consistently beat the school of fish swimming online. I recommend perusing the books forum here for some excellent recommendations. Anything by Sklansky and Malmuth is well worth your time. The 3rd edition of Lee Jones' book is excellent.

[Lottery Larry]

"and you do your little turn on... the CATWALK. On the catwalk, yeah, on the catwalk.. and you barf your stupid words on this forum!"

[Bulldog]

No