turning from losing player to breakeven player

i have played 500, HU 2 dolar games.
and i am still losing ...

is there any advice i can get at least turn into a breakeven player ?

your not going to all of a sudden play winning poker by playing more. you got to put in some study time. you got to review all your hand histories post hands that your not sure if you did the right thing. or post hands where you think you did. its good to get feed back from different players. and make sure your taking effective notes on players.

Post some hand histories here. Talk about some specific things. Nobody can offer you advice w/o knowing your game. That would be like me saying I'm trying to update my wardrobe and I need some advice from you guys but then not uploading any pictures of my current wardrobe or what I look like.

Heads-up is a difficult form of the game, not really to be recommended for someone still learning.

I suggest you play low buy-in MTTs or STTs while learning. These give you the potential to see a large number of hands for a small fixed investment.

Additionally, and most importantly, you must study. Practice alone, without thinking about principles and strategies, is unlikely to yield early success. There are many fine threads here at CC about tournament strategy, and you should invest in one or two books also. "Harrington on Holdem" is the conventional starting point for tournament play.

ANSWERS;
1.my screen name is = skull_for_ever
2.to see my hand histories , checkout my blog.

ı have played pool for 3 years, one of my mistakes was i played at a bad table which kept me from challanges and i learned the game in a bad way.This time i am willing to lose fast but learn fast that is why i choose something hard and i do not play for the play money.


but i learned my bankroll lesson , i do not risk more than 2 percent of my bankroll in a single SNG HU game.

right now i am considered a calling station according to the pokerlistings.com
check it out.

i am trying aggresive and aggresive style , but i have lots to go i guess.

Def start reading, Harrington is a great place to start as Egon said.

Jumping straight into HU imo will stunt your learning curve. Just an opinion and I don't have a lot to back this up, but skipping full table formats I think will make some concepts (pot odds and drawing, pot equity) that you should learn thoroughly earlier seem less important.

I have really been putting in some serious time since i started in june. I couldnt imagine playing heads-up while while trying to master the game. Really, what great players on TV/WSOP ever learned the game via heads-up only?

I personally feel like I am moving on the right track...I am definitly getting better, but, honestly....when I was really really having problems, it seemed like i'd never get out from underneath them. I had no idea what was wrong with my game, and i had no idea how to fix it.

But, for me....the answer was bank roll management and lots of studying.

I spend hours going through some of the old posts on this forum hunting for little bits of wisdom. I watch a lot of poker on TV, on youtube, on stox poker...study is very important, and produces many benefits.

HU is very very swingy. You have to develop a strong game to play HU, and be able to get a quick handle on the other person's style of play, then use what you know to come out ahead.

HU cash games or SNGs can be hugely profitable, or hugely expensive. They are very appealing to new players, as you get to play a lot of hands (every hand almost), and they don't seem to require patience. Beginners see it as a game where aggression alone is sufficient. It is not. If you are learning on HU tables, you will want a bottomless bankroll. Plus, HU skills, if you ever develop some, do not translate well to tourneys.

There are a fair number of sharks who lie in wait for beginners on the HU tables. They have wiped out the guy before you, now it's your turn.

I am convinced that in order to truely understand the LAG style, you have to have a decent TAG ability.

???WHY?

With a good to very good TAG style you will first off get a lot more experience faster because you will end up tilting less. You will tilt in tourneys when you consistently go out early , and at ring, when you lose your stack fast. Both those things will tend to happen less frequently with a TAG style game.

But there is no denying that LAG is a scary and profitable style. The issue is who is it scary for, and thus who is it profitable for. You or your opponents? With a good TAG game, you could say that any LAG at the table is just fodder for your pocketbook. So you will need to understand how to deal with other TAGs as a TAG player.

Once you have a decent grasp on that, you can begin to loosen up your play with the knowledge that you know how to put the brakes on.
And putting on the brakes is one of the top 3 things a LAG must understand. Guts and bravado might be the other 2.

If you watch LAGS play what you might find, as I think I have found, is that the starting hands don't matter quite as much as most texts would advise, but they do matter. Especially in context of your table situation (position, stack, opponents, and both yours and their table images).

IMHO, a much better approach is to consider periods of hands, perhaps a couple of orbits, where you play the much looser style, and then retreat into the TAG you feel comfortable with. The added benefit in that is that your villains will start shaking their heads wondering just WTF you are doing.

to breakeven i am trying many things at hu i guess.

but the experiments cost me some.Right now at HU i attack and attack.
but the hard part is adapting the opponent in this style,I learned that when i play like a robot i can not succed over 50 percent.I need to adapt,but it is hard to adapt your opponent when your mind set is only set to attack.!



PS: I could not understan the report.I am winning 49 percent, but losing all my money.is the rake that powerful ?

http://www.pokerprolabs.com/skull_fo...tiltpoker.aspx

Yes it is.

Let's say you played 700 SnG's each at $2.15, your entry fees add up to $1505. If you win 49% of those 700 SnG's, you get back 343*$4 = $1372 for a net loss of $133. The rake by itself is 700 x $0.15 = $105 of that $133.

There's so much variance in HU. 500 is probably still a small sample size to decide if you're winning or losing.

What about HU cash?

If you want to become a winning player, stop playing HU and play 6-max or FR

Poker is a difficult game and will take you several years to master, so its not a good long-term, strategy to play the most difficult form as a beginner (because you will lose).

Playing a LAG vs TAG style is not an apples or pears decision that can be made at the beginning. Good LAG players do not simply play looser in order to flop bigger because they will loose too much with their hands that do not flop big.

In order to play a LAG style properly, you must first play a TAG style well and learn how to read handsm, boards ranges etc.

Then you can begin to play a more laggy style.

FYI I went to your blog and replayed the first 6 hands, 5 of which I was able to say what there hand was after the flop, or on the turn (depending on when the significant bet came).

I'm no hand reading expert, but neither do i try and play HU, for that very reason.

^ this. Rake really, really is that big a deal.

To extend that math, just to break even you need to be winning more like 54% of your games.

I tend to agree with what everyone's saying above. HU is one of the most difficult forms of the game to play, and unless you plan to play nothing but HU forever it could actually hurt you when you try to learn other forms of the game.

Start with something easier like micro stakes ring or low stakes SnGs. They're much easier to beat consistently and you'll be learning lessons that you can then take back to HU later if you so choose.

I looked at some of your blogged hands. You often keep firing at a pot when a scary card comes and the other guy is suddenly showing strength. Yes, he may have caught runner, runner, but he did catch, and you just went ahead and called that allin. (Hey, I do that sometimes, too -- and it usually turns out badly for me as well.)

HU is very hard. While playing aggressively preflop/flop is OK, you need to understand that sometimes the other guy will have a hand. Give him some credit.

If you are winning nearly 50%, you don't suck at it. But, still, know that you sometimes have to fold. Let the other guy take it if he is betting hard, unless you also have a monster. If you both have monsters, well, in a HU that's a recipe for disaster for one.

I agree that HU is not a place to be cutting your teeth if you're playing bad poker. You're paying 1.5 BB per hand pre flop. Better off to to go to a 6-max or a full ring table. For starters, you'll get to play more hands for the same price but also - what's more important in your case, is you'll have more time to make a decision. HU requires quick thinking and a lot of experience.

I'm curious to know why you've chosen playing HU sng's as a place to learn how to play this game??? It just doesn't seem like a good choice imo.
THere've been some suggestions here on this thread to consider playing different formats but I haven't seen you respond to this at all, instead continuing on with HU. Why?
My guess (assumption) is that you're a bit of an action junkie and want to be involved in alot of hands and perhaps not willing to patiently play on a full table (ie. MTT, SNG, FR, 6-Max, etc.). You will gain alot of knowledge by playing on a full table, just by watching the other players playing out each hand, taking note of how (& maybe 'why') players are playing the hands the way they are. This will give you alot of info. to compare & relate to. By just playing HU, what do you have to base your play on? (if you haven't already previously played a bunch of full table games).

If I were you, I'd choose a different format right away - - be it 9-plyr. SNG's, MTT's or LowLimit Cash Tables (FR or 6-Max). Also, I would pick up a few good poker books (also as has been mentioned above).. ie. Harrington On Holdem - Tournament Play (Vol.1 & 2), Phil Gordon's Little Green Book. Then I'd put some time in on full tables and if I chose to play HeadsUp sng format later on, I'd read up a bunch on how to do so.
There are many ways in which one can improve upon their play (learn to play, etc.). I think a great start is by picking up a couple of books.

If you're sticking to HU though... umm.. what time of day do you play?

I've never played an HU game, but I've ended up HU playing SNG. HU is almost like playing an entirely different game, as is three-way. You have to be able to steal your share of the blinds without getting caught with your pants down, so to speak. And never give up in HU. I remember one game being down ten-to-one in chips and winning.

You've gotten some really good advice here. I would suggest playing 6 or 9 seat SNG. Try just sitting on the rail and watching some of those games. Watch the aggression levels rise as the number of players falls. I love HU play. I just need to work on actually getting there more often!

Good luck to you!

-Dave

Answer : I can practice more, see more hand and find better opponents that can teach me faster.

Answer :Even i make %50 percent good decisions in a short term results have big variance.check it out
Answer : I have read some.
1.headsup profits,
2.ace on the river,
3.doyle brunsons super system,
3.SNG master.
4.many videos online
5.ESPN and staff...
Answer : Mostly after work.when there is more than 80.000 online at fulltilt.



Answer: I really do watch that.

Answer : I made a increasing aggresion strategy in my game.Check it out.

I guess due to the test i did yesterday, when i am all in i do not make good decisions, it seems like i make decisions at 50 percent in my favor.Could this be turning me into a losing player?How can i make better decisions?

Learn how to play poker properly.

The advice given was that HU was too advanced a form of poker to begin with, because it does not create a a good learning environment, and therefore you should begin with 6 max or FR.

You don't like that advice.

So in response to your question of how do you make better decisions, its doubtful that there is a single flaw in your game (you are a beginner) hence there isn't a single precise answer to your question.

How do you play poker better? .... By learning to play poker properly, the 6 max or FR suggestion was an attempt to create an environment where you didnt simply throw money away.

Its going to take time to sort your game out.

I would suggest the simplest method to improve would be to start posting hands in the Hand history section and see how people think they could be played better.

You arent going to learn poker in a couple of weeks, but if you percivier then over the next 12 months or so you should drastically improve. (im just trying to indicate a realistic time scale)

Best of luck

Seems like he doesn`t wish to take time or to heed advice. We tried. Leave him be now, I suggest. We need such players out there in order that the rest of us can make money.

"I guess due to the test i did yesterday, when i am all in i do not make good decisions, it seems like i make decisions at 50 percent in my favor.Could this be turning me into a losing player?How can i make better decisions?"

Well when your all in the decisions are over. I am sure you mean you make bad all in decisions, but Im not sure anyone can just tell you what to do to make better decisions. There have been a lot of good suggestions given to you already. Learning heads up is not the easiest thing to do, and IMO only really accomplished when you have some experience playing full tables right on down to HU.

In a full table SnG you have the time to watch the other players and hopefully form some sort of grasp on how they play. The more you play and figure out other peoples styles the better you get at it. HU SnGs you don't have a lot of time to figure them out you need to do it quickly.

It sounds like you are doing a lot of things right. Reading, watching, playing. Honestly, I don't know what percentage of the time a "good" player should win HU. But if I'm playing against good people, I'm going to be happy with 50%. But if you are paying to play HU games, a 50% win ratio is going to result in a loss of money due to the rake.

It could be possible that you're just being too hard on yourself. In HU, you have to work to stay alive and be given an opportunity to win. If your opponent has less skill than you, then you can take the game from him. But if you're evenly matched, I just don't see how you can expect anything over 50%. I don't have any hard data to back this, but that's what my gut tells me. Maybe others here will feel differently.

I followed the link to your blog, and I don't understand what I'm looking at. For instance, what does "Game 3: 68%" mean?

Also, looking at your strategy, as I'm sure you're aware, you need to adjust for your opponent. You mention that Q7 wins all-in 47% of the time. But depending on the range of your opponent, that percentage could be much lower. Also, all-in is not your only option in HU. That's why you see guys playing hands like 48o. I think good players adjust their play most with HU. It's like you get a feel for what your opponent is doing. Probably the most important thing in HU is reading your opponent. How do you expect him to play AA and KK for instance? Is he just going to shove and hope you call? Or is he going to slow play trying to trap you? Likewise, have you given yourself away to him? If so, when you realize it, how can you change your play to bring the advantage back to you? Back and forth it goes.

For all I can tell, you might be doing everything right. Just let us know what those numbers mean and what you are expecting from your game. There is always a little guesswork and a little luck with HU, so I personally don't see how anyone can expect to do better than 50% consistently against good opponents. Like I said before, I could always be wrong.

Good luck to you!

-Dave

My advice would be to listen and learn from those who are trying to help you. There is no point asking for advice if you are going to bring an answer (or excuse) to everything that is suggested.

Unfortunately, HU poker is really a specialist form of the game, and you are usually going to be playing someone who will crush you with experience.

If you are set on staying with this form of the game, one tip which may help your HU play is to be extremely aware of your own table image. TAG, LAG, passive, fish - it doesn't matter. You need to identify it, and use it to your advantage. By the time your opponent realises he incorrectly stereotyped you, you are counting your winnings.

Answer : Ok i accept that i am an ignorant person!(really i am)

But i will take the advice and play all reast my lest 65 dolars to 1 dolar 6 person SNG.I promise i try to understand.

I'll just like to highlight that besides books.. there are other was to learn as well such as watching videos and having a few poker buddies (hopefully better than you) who can "sweat it out" with you to basically watch you and see where you may be going wrong and point out stuff you should be doing right. Of course, coaching is a whole diff level.

My advice...
Don't ask for advice if you're not really interested in getting some.

Hire jennafear for $400/hr.

Answer : my game changes a lot.I decided to change gears at hu.

play 1.st level passive and play the nuts,
play 2.nd level normal
play 3.rd level aggresive
play 4.th level aggresive and aggresive.

*i admit it is a mistake to call down higher than %10 percent,but cant help it.

by the way, i decided to take suggestions and turned into 1 dolar, 6 prs SNG.

Look, this is really pointless. The answer to your problem is not going to be along the lines of extend stage 1 or remove stage 3.

Start posting SPECIFIC hands in the Hand Analysis section and take it from there.

my 4 th 6 handed game 1 $ SNG.

Opponent is loose and aggresive.

http://www.pokerhandreplays.com/view.php/id/964681



What did i do wrong ? I am 62 percent favorite in all in ?

Being a 62% favorite and losing like u did is just unlucky. If u keep putting ur money in at 62% eventually your winnings will amount to very close to 62% profit. So keep getting your chips in ahead and soon it will turn around. Look at the hands you think u may have played wrong and learn from them...thats the best way for a beginenr to learn...Also watch the vids on this site :P