Why does everyone keep calling me?

I would add that if you are playing NL, you'll want to have starting requirements that are higher than what you'd play in Limit. In limit, depending on your position, two suited cards can have +EV, where as in NL a good player is going to raise enough post-flop to make drawing to a flush very expensive if you don't have outs to other draws. GSiHE is good, if you like NL, Harrington on Hold'Em is great. Playing hands with low EV or even marginal EV means you have to be much much better at reading your opponents post-flop.

S

[TaoTe]

I haven't read any other replies, but I can imagine that they'll read somewhat like mine.

You're playing way too loose. You need to start to play a tight/aggressive game of NLHE. In general, tight is right. Whoever gave the idea of raising with any cards ten or higher doesn't know what they're talking about. For the most part hands like KQ, KJ, KT, QJ, QT, etc. are trap hands when in an early position. Some of the better ones become playable in a late position.

The important thing is that you have to learn to play tight. You want to play loose? That's fine, but you must understand tight/aggressive play first, develop some serious hand reading skills, and be prepared to lose. Don't jump into loose/aggressive play. To quote a famous movie, "First land stand, then learn fly. Nature's rules, not mine."

[GrunchCan]

You've already gotten most of the advice you need (read GSH). I'll just hasten to point out the obvious, since nobody else did:

[ QUOTE ]
I've had a very frustrating few days this week and lost about $1000.

[/ QUOTE ]

If you're a beginner (presumably true based on what you've told us about your game, and the fact that you're posting in the beginner's forum), and you've lost $1000 in several days, then you're playing much too high. What level are you playing where you can lose that much that fast, and why are you playing that level? It took me several months to lose my first $1000 when I was green.

[Hoss1193]

I'm a limit player, not NL...but I've played enough NL to know that standards are tighter than for limit. And your raising standards are way too loose even for limit.

You mentioned raising with "suited connectors" without specifying rank. I hope you mean hands like KQs....if you're raising (regardless of whether NLHE or LHE) hands like 65s, then heck yeah, people are going to call you with anything. That's probably an even bigger mistake than raising with "any 2 cards 10 or higher", particularly for NLHE.

I also infer from your post that you're primarily talking about a full-table situation (since you mentioned "5 callers"). I don't want to draw conclusions about where you've learned to play, but frankly, most of what a lot of new players know about poker is what they see on the tube. Keep in mind that TV coverage doesn't show every hand; they edit out the relatively straightforward or insignficant hands which make up 95% of the action. And most of the coverage focuses on final table action, with many of the hands played after the field has been whittled down. At this stage, based on a myriad of factors (the cards themselves not necessarily being the most important), raising KTo in UTG+1 is often the right play...that doesn't mean it's the right play most of the time (it isn't - folding is).

I apologize in advance if this last bit was too presumptuous regarding your poker experience...didn't mean it that way. Just thought it was a point worth making.

[Kurn, son of Mogh]

Everyone calls my pre-flop raises.
Here's what I raise on: Pocket pairs, suited connectors, and any 2 split cards 10 and above (10 J, J A, etc).

Are you aware that you're raising too often with weak hands? That's why you get called all the time.

Do you realize that JTo is a really weak hand?