Advice needed!

Hi guys!

Okay. So I play poker regularly, every single day as much as I possibly can. If it wasnt for my fulltime job I would be playing fulltime if I could! I'm 22 and I've been playing ever since the whole "Poker Boom" broke out like 6 or 7 years ago! (obviously not for that long online though!)

I play No Limit Holdem, and play MTT's, STT's and Cash Games... MTT's being my preferred gametype because of the opportunity to win big.

There are ways that I can improve my game that I am aware of, one being bankroll management perhaps as I like to play at as higher limit as I can afford. However I am very clued up on poker theory, always learning. I'm not stupid, pretty bright and I believe I am a pretty decent player.

I know that everyone says it, but my luck is just awful. Be it Cash games, or STT's constantly being donked by far worse players with far worse hands only to be sucked out on. MTT's I have regularly got pretty close to FT finishes and have made final tables in the past but its been a while, but again just rediculous beats. Last night I came 50th or so out of 1.5k, allin preflop with AA vs 87 and lose... I know it happens but the frequency does seem quite alarming.

As I said, I'm not stupid. I know I have an edge on a lot of players out there, however Im not claiming to be the best in the world by any means! I would estimate, that maybe 75% of the time I will be knocked out of a tournament having made the correct move or being way ahead and being sucked out on. I find it very difficult to build any sort of bankroll because everytime I manage to make it healthy I just go on a rediculous run of bad beats etc.

So... If im making good calls and Im ahead most of the time, do I carry on doing what Im doing or am I doing something fundamentally wrong here? As Ive said yes there are times when I will be behind etc but a vast majority of the time I'll play a hand perfectly and get sucked out on.

Are there any Poker Mentors I can contact FOC for advice? I just want to improve my game as much as possible and any advice from seasoned players who maybe play for a living or make a steady income from poker would be much appreciated!!

-beefypigeon http://img2.cardschat.com/images/smilies/smile.gif

Welcome aboard.
I hear what you are saying but remember A's versus 7-8 (os or suited) you will still lose 17-20% of the time.
Were you short stacked against the chip leader at the time? Why go all in?
Suited connectors are usually a good hand to play especially if you can hit a set or two pair.
What exactly happened? Set? 2 Pair? Straight?
Was this guy playing loose and just got lucky?

If you have it maybe post the hand history and we can give you some more in depth advice

Thanks for the quick reply!
The hand itself I had to move, playing in a turbo mtt, stack was 100k, i was on bb which was 15k, and the guy who made the move was in early position went allin for 150k so had me covered, and he was a very loose player with a VP of about 40 i believe. I snap called no other callers, and obviously I have him dominated. He managed to hit a flush on the river, runner runner on the turn and river to hit it aswell just to rub it in!

The point of my post wasnt really to moan about one hand, because I know there are occassions that the best hand will lose! It's more the fact that I regularly, like 75% of the time get knocked out when making a good call or good bet whilst im ahead and then just proceed to get sucked out on!

I realise that cash games and STT's are the best way to go if I want to try and build a steady bankroll and that MTT's the variance is going to be massive so its kinda hard to build a steady bankroll just playing big mtt's.

I know I should "play within my bankroll", so move down in limits when my bankroll is on the slide for instance. Recently I deposited $220 into pokerstars, played cash and STT's and managed to get up to $420, just not getting bad beats as such, no luck just playing normally!

Then the bad run comes, and its so often that it happens that it just makes it impossible to progress in limits and build a bigger bankroll! Now down to $150 from my original $220 (so not exactly a massive issue). It's not that im playing differently or gambling more or anything, it just seems that the tide turns and the whole world is against me! I know this is a normal feeling for most poker players, every player thinks they are on the worst run of luck ever etc. But it happens the same every single time I deposit money?

I know its difficult to diagnose from the information I have given you... but are there any dedicated mentors at all who can maybe evaluate my stats on PT3 or something, or maybe talk via Skype or something whilst playing on some tables? I dunno? It would be nice to know whether it is just a run of bad luck, whether I think im better than I actually am or whether there is a fundamental leak I am yet to be made aware of! I'm just looking to improve my game and I think in order to do that I need input from an outside party!

I sympathize; like you, I'm a tight player, I have the patience to wait for cards, and mid-tournament, if I'm in a hand, I'm usually ahead. I stay away from the easily dominated overcard hands, weak aces and the baby pairs, so in most hands, I'm not going to be the one sucking out. That's a good thing, right? But what you and I have found is that, even at 4:1, if you play enough of those hands, probability catches up with you. I think the solution is to make sure that when it does, you don't lose your entire stack.

There are some good threads here about controlling pot size. Read them! You can make nice progress building a stack without jamming the pot every time you see KK. In fact, you may make more by sizing your bets more appropriately to encourage action from weaker hands. The added value of this small-ball approach is that you'll be able to see when those four diamonds or running straight cards hit the board and get away from the hand, saving some of those chips for your next 4:1 monster.

bd

Welcome beefy, there are a lot of great players here. I'm sure you will get some great advice here.

I tend to play tight aggressive in all forms of poker, obviously depending on the game type it will change slightly but fundamentally I aim to play a small-ball strategy. Im always very aware of position and will hardly ever open UTG with anything AJ or less, and I'll open far lighter in late position etc etc. I try not to bluff donks knowing they will call very light. I'd describe myself as a solid player, a player with a good enough skillrange to beat the tables I'm playing at... (0.25-0.5), $11 stt etc etc. if I wasnt getting sucked out on every big hand.

Set mining I guess is okay very early in a tourny when the blinds are cheap, but if you hit its not so much a suckout. I'm talking suckouts where when I make the Big move, be it the all-in or the big bet, I will be ahead, they'll call and get lucky some how to win, and it happens far too frequently. But I won't be betting more than the pot, I'll always bet roughly half to 3/4 of the pot and sometimes I will mix it up to keep them guessing! I wouldn't say that bet sizing is the issue really.

Does anybody know of any mentors at all I can contact for a more indepth look? Or any tutors at all? I dont particularly mind paying for someone experienced to have an in depth look at my game if its going to improve me as a player!

I'm still a new player myself, but it seems your playing way over your bankroll. With $150 you should be playing 5nl. Maybe taking shots at 10Nl. Paying .25/.50 your buying in with 1/3 you roll. Read some of the bankroll management articles most recommend having atleast 30 buying for the level your playing. I know for stt they recommend even more.

Wanted to add one more thing, but can't seems to edit my post. The fewer buyins you have the larger your swings of variance feel. On a $100 bankroll playing 2nl if I buy in for $2 and have my aces cracked on an all In I just took a 2% swing down. Playing .50NL buying in for $50 that swing would be %50 of my bank roll. As I have learned Aces can be cracked many times in a row.

So it is nothing but your great skill when you win and nothing but variance when you lose?

Bad beats are never fun. If it were me (and I'm probably more conservative) I would play lower limits for a while and try to build up a bankroll there. Play in 2-4 smaller buy ins and see what happens? Step back from what you are doing and analyze. Good luck!

bad beats are part of the game, everyone has poker varance, there no way to get away from it, that why we have bankroll, so we won't go broke with in one game.

One question I have for you is what is your
VP:,PFR; AF. W$TS I might be able to help you alittle more with those numbers

also do you use tracking software, with hud

As I have already stated, probably close to 70% of the time when the chips go in I will be ahead. Not coin toss 55-45% kinda odds, more like 70-30 or better most of the time. AQ vs KQ situations etc etc. So yes, sometimes I will be behind and make bad calls as will anyone, but it seems that the majority of the time I am eliminated whilst playing the hand well. If someone moves all in and I call with a better hand, and lose... That surely must be seen as being unlucky rather than worrying about being eliminated to progress further in a big tournament for example. After all I dont enter tournys to cash I aim to win big and to do that youve got to gamble.

I agree with the comments RE Bankroll Management, I do tend to play at slightly higher limits than my bankroll can handle, however I would argue that I wouldnt have accumulated more money this time round having played lower limit games than I have done playing the limits I have been. My wins and losses are bigger at higher limits than lower limits, and the variance would have been greater but the overall balance would have equalled to roughly the same.

Dreams of Strategy: I use Poker Tracker 3 but only on Trial Version at the moment, so yes I have the HUD onscreen all the time whilst playing and I tend to target players in accordance to those stats. I'm sure there are other stats that would be useful to have configured on the HUD whilst in play but I havnt experimented enough with it yet, and I seem to find VP and PR are the ones that give me the best detail regarding how aggressive a player is and giving me an idea of their possible range. Any suggestions as to other useful stats to have on show?

My Cash game stats are: (averages from all limits)
VP: 19.95, PFR: 9.5, AF: 2.63, AFq: 48.21, W$SD: 55.51

My tourny stats are:
VP: 17.16, PFR: 9.37, AF: 2.39, AFq: 43.60, WSD: 54.72.


Thanks for the help guys

I see quite a lot of limping

Beefy

As you stated you NEED to pay attention to your BR management.
You profit and losses will be greater at the higher levels
but remember poker is NOT a sprint it's a long distance run.

Winning poker requires patience.
Patience to wait for the right hands/situation and more importantly
waiting to play at the right levels.
Some people will suggest playing a smaller level and multi-tabling
This will give you the action you might need
as well as giving you an option to make money on one table while losing some on another.

If you don't feel comfortable multi-tabling then you really HAVE to lower
your limits to allow yourself to keep a decent bankroll and buy ins.

Your stats show a tight player (How many hands do you have in PT3)
You may want to start looking through your HH to see where the leaks are.

Are you allowing some positions to just go by the wayside when you should be exploiting your image at a table?
Are you defending blind too much?
Are you be too aggressive on the button?
Look through your stats and try to change your approach in the weaker positions.

Also check to see what hands are you losing the most on.
Are you playing AQ AK too hard. Are you really getting cracked on your A's and big pairs?

Hope this helps

Your right that your wins and losses would still be equal, but you can handle a bigger loss at lower limits. Loosing a buy in at 2NL and 100NL is still just a 1 buy in loss, but if you have a $100 bankroll a 100NL buyin busts you. Downswings will happen and a 20 buyin downswing is not that rare.

you need to stop limping i would actually be interested in seeing your stats by position i think that would enable everyone to give you more help. also i like playing looser in tournaments than in cash games. in cash games you can play an unlimited amount of hands so you can wait around for better hands. however in tournaments i like playing some implied odds hands in position hands like suited connectors and suited one gappers which are gonna hit a flop hard or miss completely. so if the tourney and cash VP switched up along with raising more i think you would see improvements in both areas.

Let me join the amen corner and say stop limping. Your VPIP and PFR numbers should be very similar, yours are not. When you limp you are letting people see the flop cheaply with all kinds of random junk and that is going to increase the liklihood of a bad beat.

GL

Gday & welcome, I hope you find this site is as useful to you as it has been to me.

On the subject at hand, Im 40 have been playing poker for most of my life, (I use to play stud with my Grandpa), but, I myself am only new to the world of on-line poker, (about 1 year now) Yes, I have noticed a lot of bad beats, I have had to tight up my hand range that much, that some days it seems as if im not even playing at all.

Tightening up my hand range has made a major difference in my bankroll. As I said some days, Ill sit there for so long just waiting for a decent run, but, most times this will play to my advantage, because, Im not spending too much in my down periods.

Overall, changing my game play has resulted in far more MTT results, (and yes I have folded A/K suited, all-in pre-flop after min. raise call.)

Hope you can get all the advise you are after, The players here are great for helping out with ???

Big-Jamo

Thanks for all the advise guys.

I have become far more aggressive in MTT's recently and seem to be seeing some improvements although difficult to tell so far. I do far prefer playing Sit n Go's and MTT's instead of playing cash, I feel I can take advantage more of people wanting to stick to make the cash etc, where as you dont get that with Cash Games. I think I prefer playing to reach a particular position rather than sitting and waiting for hands in a cash game, however I'm aware that many successful players play Cash as their bread and butter and given good cash game strategy, I dont want to miss out on a good opportunity to build my bankroll if thats the way to go!

Thank you for all the advise guys its much appreciated. Tomorrow I will start being more aggressive preflop.

My VP and PFR stats for position are far closer together the closer the position I am to the button, which I'm guessing is normal however my VP is higher in each instance.

Hands wise, AJ and A-rag hands seem to cost me a little, as well as KQs and smaller and mid pocket pairs. My database is by no means large at all, I'm only a partime player and the hands have been imported for the last month or so, I have about 17k tourny hands and 13k cash hands in the database.

Are there any stats that I can customise for my Pokertracker HUD that would be useful, rather than the standard VP, PFR and AFq?

I added 3 more stats to my PT HUD. Fold to F bet, Fold to T bet and Fold to R bet. Basically that'll give you a % of times they fold when bet into at each street. Now while this isn't really useful in a tournament poker since play styles tend to change as the tourney progresses. However in cash games, people tend not to change the style of game the play.

The more hands you can observe, the better idea you'll have as to how they'll react to c-bets. And if they react differently all of a sudden, that would set off alarms as well. I find it's a pretty useful stat.

hear is my hud when i play at a ring game the more info I have the better.
side note, dont say that i need to be more aggressive due to my low PR rate; i was 8 hands in and everyone was loose aggressive at the table, so why do the pushing when the donky does the pulling. this pic was at a .02/.05 cash game by the way

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