$200 in PP, now what?

[Pov]

A thought - you may not be nearly as cold decked as you think you are. Have you got any way of tracking your stats yet? I click call or raise just slightly under once in 6 hands on average and that's if you count the small blind. Winning poker requires a *lot* of patience.

Even if you are cold decked you're going to have to find a way to deal with this patience issue if you want to win in the long run. A while back before I was as detached as I am now, when my cards were sucking or I was making a lot of second best hands, I would visualize the site being out to get me or that the other players were cheating me. Then when I got dealt that tempting but no good hand out of position I would just think "nice try, beeotch" and fold it away and gloat to myself.

You've got to find something.

FYI, there is nothing wrong with calling from EP with JTs at any low limit table you should consider sitting at. As most authors and experts will tell you, perfect preflop play can get you to break even. What you do from there will determine whether you're a winner or a loser.

[MrBlueNose]

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cards were again cold, so i was frustrated. it seems when i get frustrated (maybe others can relate) i start rationalizing why to play less than good hands ie: A6s from UTG when you KNOW you're going to get raised. or T9s from EP.


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Don't worry; this happens often when you start poker. As Pov said, you need to find something to stop the impatience. If I were you, I'd do two-tabling again. It's easy to manage, especially if you're getting impatient with the one table. I think two-tabling is vital for you if you're going to get by this stage.

One thing to watch out for though, is getting too impatient. You've already proven it quite a bit, by jumping up a level before you're ready. The next thing you'll end up doing is getting tired of .25/.50 and how much you're making, and jump up to 0.50/1 "because it's all the same". Set some strict rules to yourself(ie: 5000/10000 hands before I consider jumping up a level) and sticking to it.

[@bsolute_luck]

okay the tale of the newb continues....

finally got to play for i think it was 2-3 hours last night again .25/.5 Paradise. the table was full, but typically it was around 4 out of 9 seeing the flop and by the turn it was HU or at least 3-handed. sometimes people would fold to any aggression, sometimes they would call to showdown with nothing and a very scary board.

over the night i ended 26BB up and i think i played well. here's the REAL reason why i'm posting: i played a live game with my friends saturday night. we're not all organized and it is "NL"- which for our game simply means someone can go all-in anytime, but most of our bets were around equal to the big blind.

anyway, there were 6 of us to the table and everyone is pretty much LP. If they bet, they have something. Rarely do they reraise, and PRF raising is slim to none. anyways, i tried to figure the game like a small stakes game. I ended up winning the night, but what was weird is when playing Sunday online, i played SOOO much better.

i was more aggressive with even marginal hands. no all out bluffing, but if i got a piece of the flop, i pushed my advantage while i had it. i check-raised at better moments and was smarter about seeing when i was drawing dead and letting go when needed. so what i'm asking is, has anyone else found that playing any sort of live game improves their online playing? obviously some aspects don't follow (NL, i could all-out bluff especially with my image of not raising unless i had something and people live would actually fold to aggression, while online, people will call all the way down). but i am curious to hear if anyone else sees this?

[A WHOLE]

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Read this: Coping with a Cold Deck

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very nice post...I learned a lot

[themflags]

I think you need more patience, both with the hands you play, and with your hot vs cold sessions.

BTW -- I started with a lot of money too (relative to the micro limits), but playing the low limits is still the best way to gain comfort with the swings. It's easier suffering a session down 20 BB when that translates to only $.40! (I started at UB on the penny tables). Once I got a few hundred hands, and saw some ups-n-downs (and saw I was still ahead, overall), I moved up. For me, psychologically, the possibility of losing a lot in any one session made me either too tight, or too loose.

If you cannot detach yourself, emotionally, from your performance in any one or two sessions, you'll find you are not making optimal decisions.

[@bsolute_luck]

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If you cannot detach yourself, emotionally, from your performance in any one or two sessions, you'll find you are not making optimal decisions.

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yes. i found this out the other night (monday- i just haven't had time to post about it). i got upset with the cards i was getting and getting sucked out on repeatedly.

but today i read chapter 1 of Theory of Poker and how good players will get sucked out on frequently. why? because worse players are "simply going to have the worst hand against you a lot more times than you have the worst against them."

and i remembered that i'm playing for long term winnings, not short term so, while i may play correctly, i may lose more money on certain hands because the 35% chance my hand comes in, didn't come this time.

i can't remember which book it was in (SSHS or TOP), but i also remember reading that players have difficulty letting go when things go bad but think "i need to get even", and get up too soon when things are going well because of the feeling "i should get out while i'm ahead".

monday night, i was the former. i was up 18BB and playing solid poker (from what i can tell so far). then...BAM! things went sour. i fell to +8BB and said i know i can get back up to 18BB, i'll play 'til then and then quit. PROBLEM: i got to 14BB by playing a pocket pair and flopping a set that held. instead of getting up, i stayed thinking "i'm so close".

welp, i fell all the way to -20BB. i quit there sadly. the lower i got, the madder i got, the worse i played. i spewed money, checked and folded with hands i should have been aggressive with knowing my luck would screw me. so <font color="blue">ADVICE TO OTHER NEWBIES:</font> not to quit while you're ahead or quit once you lose one hand, but notice when things have changed. either someone is better at the table, the table's gone cold, or you are just too emotionally attached to play smart. don't wait 'til you're -20BB.

the other point i've found is regarding preflop play. maybe some can comment on, but i've found that if you come to a hand preflop that you don't know whether you should check or fold...fold. the money is made postflop, but if you don't know IF you should play it PREFLOP, you won't know HOW to play it POSTFLOP. same with checking and raising. DON'T raise if you're not sure IF you should because you won't know HOW to play it POSTFLOP. most of time you will think "i'm already tied to the pot".

So that's it for now. i'm in "Study" mode, so i don't know when i'll post again, but feel free to post here other stories. Peace.

[Greg J]

Okay mabye this is not that shameless, since I did work pretty hard on it and took time composing this post. I think it will be pretty useful.

I'm actually thinking about x-posting it here too.

[@bsolute_luck]

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Okay mabye this is not that shameless, since I did work pretty hard on it and took time composing this post. I think it will be pretty useful.

I'm actually thinking about x-posting it here too.

[/ QUOTE ]
Thanks dude. i had already read that post before you posted here. it was great, i thought, especially for beginners who are looking.

i'm on to step 2 (actually i skipped step 1) and am playing with $200 bankroll at Paradise and working on clearing my 50% bonus.

[mockingbird]

Hello,

This is my first post and I am also thinking of getting poker tracker. But I did not know that PP keeps track of stats. Could someone give me some tips on how this works?

Thanks

[AncientPC]

If by PP you're referring to Paradise, click on the % button in the top left corner of your screen.