Home vs. Online NL Hold'em Ring Games

[TAKEitDOWNwill]

Hi, First of all this is my first post on twoplustwo.com although I have been reading others for a few weeks now. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

I have been playing poker, mostly NL texas hold'em, for about a year and have had a good amount of success at tournaments and ring games. I have actually been playing more tournaments recently and I feel as though my ring game profits have fallen but I will save that for anouther post. I started playing online a few months ago and have not had much success. That is untill I read some of Skalanskys books and started to play limit. I have been making up what I have lost online slowly by playing limit and Sng tournaments. However, I still get crushed in the $25 NL ring games. I feel as though my game is a theoredically sound and that I am not making major mistakes when I play online but I still get crushed. Perhaps I am making costly mistakes but this does not show at all from my success playing at home games. So if any of you could kindly give me some advise on how to adjust to online ring games I would greatly appriciate it.

Thanks,
Will Daley

[pzhon]

I recommend that you read the Small Stakes Pot-limit & No-Limit forum here. See how other people play, and the advice given by established winners.

I suspect that your game is not fundamentally sound, and you have some huge leaks. Otherwise, you would be crushing the NL 25 game. Here are a few things to consider:

[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] Are you paying off too much when you are beat, just in case your opponent is bluffing?
[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] Are you folding too much?
[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] Are you paying too much to draw?
[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] Are you betting enough (in proportion to the pot) to protect your hand, or are you letting people draw too cheaply?
[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] Are you raising preflop with your good hands?
[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] Are you making continuation bets on the flop some of the time when you miss?
[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] Are you trying to bluff the unbluffable? (Eventually, you may want to push people off hands, but start by only trying to push people off garbage when you have worse.)
[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] Are you playing too many weak hands, particularly out of position?
[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] Are you calling raises with hands that are worse than AQ?

[TAKEitDOWNwill]

Thanks for your reply...

I notice a few holes that you mentioned in my game. I believe I do pay off too much with marginal hands when I might suspect my opponet is bluffing and I think I don't protect my hands enought because I feel as though I want to build the pot. I don't play too many weak hands however I think I need to tighten up against pre-flop raises. The other thing is that I have a difficult time profiling opponents and an even harder time reading them. Any suggestions in becoming better at this?

[blackize]

Online watch the betting patterns for tells. If someone has been calling the whole way and all the sudden they checkraise it means they either slowplayed a monster or just hit their hand. Immediate pot sized bets usually mean a very strong hand. You really need to watch out for slowplays since that is pretty much all the low limit players seem to want to do.

I dont think playing hands lower than AQ to a raise is a leak, since at the Party 25 and 50 NL tables you will often see huge raises with hands like 66 or A9. Just watch your opponents and see what they are raising with and base your decision on that. Lots of pots will be 5 way or even more at these tables so feel free to make loose calls in these with suited connectors, connectors, suited 1 and 2 gappers, and any PP.