Blew out my $50 account

I would definatly go with the sng's at first and just be patient. You will be very surpirsed how many of them you can win and usually with not very much time of effort invested at all.

I had my account up to $46 today. I was playing really good and then everything started falling apart. I'm down to $36. I had the nuts on this guy like 6x in a row but he never payed off. Finally, I thought I'd get payed off because we had a large raise and I had flopped a full house with kings. So I went all in and the other guy had hit a better full house. I guess its time to take a break. I should have quit when I started losing. Time for a break.

To explain how this happened, a guy who I put was playing pretty tight raised. I put him on AK, KQ, JJ, KJ, or something of the like. King and smalls hit the board. I had k-5 and had hit full house. I went all in on full house. He raised large with like k-6 and had hit a better full house. That sucked.

How much are you taking to the table again? I forgot. %???

Also how did he raise your all-in? I don't get it. If you were all-in how was he raising? There was a 3rd party poker in the hand???

Sorry lots of time cuz in razz freeroll(want to play at full tilt and freeroll's all I have for now). I just need clarification...

I'm not saying avoid the cash tables, just a bit of 411 on how much you're taking could help a lot...

I'm on tilt or just playing terrible again. I'm down to $25. This sucks. I'm taking a few weeks off from poker. I had my trips cracked from a straight and lost bunch more money. Poker sucks when you lose.

I'm really down when my bankroll goes down considering today hit the highest high and the lowest low! I know I have a lot to learn but I have did pretty good breaking even in heads up and have at least a several K of hands I've won over a period of time. For all those who want to go pro: play 20k hands first and see if you can win. If you can't win or don't like then why bother. I feel most of you people will end up broke or whatever. It's like someone saying I want to be XYZ without doing XYZ.

I will discuss my strategy WHICH works great when it does. My strategy is built around the idea of pressure. I play with big stacks and my whole game plan is about applying maximum pressure on my opponents so they make a mistake. That means I'm raising all the time and when the flop hits: I'm placing in small raises. I play 6 player ring game so I can focus on the players -- and mostly turbo.

I will raise from the button about the same amount every time. I don't raise a lot because I will fold if I get resistance unless I have a monster hand -- in which case I will usually bust my opponent.

So, I'm raising all the time. From early position I'm only playing very premium hands unless the play is especially soft.

Anyway thats my strategy is to apply pressure to make my opponents make a mistake and it WORKS. It works most of the time. I'm also going to be chasing flushes and draws. Why? Because I can bust someone.

I'll call a raise and KNOW I'm beat. It's the easiest way to fold but if I hit my flush then I'll bust someone who is very interested in a premium hand.

Who beats me? Players who dont pay off -- for one thing. If a payer never pays off my big bets without the nuts then that really put me on tilt today. I went all in like a dozen times on this player and he never called me. It felt like he was cheating. He kept saying nice hand like he knew I was playing good hands and not like the maniac I appeared(??) Why do I keep going all in? To keep applying pressure. It's not just about the money but its about the image. Eventually I changed up my bets and got payed.

Also very short stacks have never beat me really. I usually bust them. But, a short stack can also make it harder for me to draw too.

A lot of people piss-echo tight aggressive. I have played tight aggressive and everyone folds to me or someone calls and hits a straight or something huge.

I don't play tight aggressive. I play tight aggressive from early position and I play looser from later positions. Playing loose has given me great opportunities to bust people.

Now I am running bad and losing. I lost a lot today. What happened? I'm a maniac. I love to bully people with my big stack but it has to be controled. I hit a new equity high today and lost good judgement and I payed the price. I still think my new style is the right style for me.

If you feel it's right, then it probably is the right style for you. Still, consider it as your main style and not your only style.

Take Gus Hansen for instance. The majority of viewers think he's some sort of maniacal better/calling machine. He has a hyper-aggressive image which he uses to his advantage. But if you watch him play, he's not constantly hyper-aggressive unless it's the right strategy. He's also not crazy-loose all the time. Sometimes he plays tight...

Also consider that Gus and others who play with big stacks, have several hundred times their buy-in at any given time. Maybe even more. You don't have that. You need that if you're going to play the way you do. Why? Well let's keep examining Gus Hansen. Only this time let's look at his online game. He took a million dollar downswing in his stride. Why? Because he can afford to + he gets paid to play, win or lose Full Tilt Poker pays him. I'd take losses in my stride if they weren't real losses, but for me, they are real losses...

Now, if you look at Chris Ferguson's style which is generally tight aggressive, that worked great for his challenges. His challenges aren't too different from starting with $50. So ask yourself, is it better to play wilder in a style that suits your nature, knowing you haven't enough to cover the swings? Or is it better to play tighter, even though it goes against your nature, just until you have enough to cover the swings.

I'll hazard a guess and say that the wilder the player the more money they need in their BR. I'm saying it because the wilder player takes more risks and gambles more. They also pressure the rest of the table, but that only works so much before the table fights back...

I guess Kenny Rogers is right. You do gotta know when to walk away and know when to run. If it feels like the rest of the table's gonna turn on you, get the hell outta Dodge and fast! Don't believe me, but I've seen the hyper-aggressors get the crap kicked out of them by 5 - 8 tight/passive players before. They tighten up, they play possum, and then give u a butt-kicking.

Still, and this is key. There's no one way to play! Play the table. At one table hyper-aggressive is genius, at another passive works better, at a third it's best to just keep mixing and matching according to the opponent(s) you're in a hand with.

I'm sure you've read it before but try to play your opponent(s). Not just your cards, and not just your personal style, but your opponent(s).

Also, I gotta ask, why would you call if you know you're beat? If you haven't convinced yourself the opponent's bluffing, why call? You say it's because you could bust them, you could hit your straight. Do you even take your odds of hitting your straight or flush into consideration? Do you even stop to visualize them?

I just watched a break time interview with Daniel and he was talking about hands he was in and how he thought about his outs and what to do. He even admitted to some mistakes but he always thought about his outs. His blunders were bet-related and not odds related. Also his blunders worked out for the best. But still, they probably did in part because he had plenty of outs.

I briefly consider my outs, yes. I know how to multiply outs * the remaining to get a rough estimate. It's generally around 18%-20% for a flush -- if I'm chasing or 4% for trips, or probably 16% for an open ended straight draw. But I don't use that as much as if I think the player will pay me off because the odds generally don't warrant chasing -- the pot odds. So sometimes I just build a bigger pot.

Lately, I've been running into a lot tighter players -- rocks. They never call my big bets and we always end up chopping. I don't like that. I'm down to $21.

I think I'm going to quit playing. I started new game with $5 and built up to $12 and was playing really good. I had AK suited in a 6 player game. I had been getting a lot of respect at the table and I made a large raise and a player went over top of me -- all in. I figured it meant aces but I called and he had me 50% covered. I lost $5 in that hand.

I'm tired poker. I win most of the time but I just can't stand to lose. This is not my game. For those who think about going pro just forget it. In no limit I played perfect for 5 hours but I made one mistake and lost half my chip stack. Yes I should have left when i was up 4x but with that mentality you can't win either.

To win at poker you have to play perfectly for long hours.

best advice i got was be a student of the game, and if u on here your half way there, never played those stakes but do what u gotta do 2 beat it pick your players, but def just play tight and add things 2 your game worked 4 me not like play aggressive and learn

I don't know who told you to just sit there with 4x your buy-in and play the same game you always do, while sitting there, relatively defenseless, wearing a big red target on your head, with 4x your buy-in which at that point was almost 1/4 of your BR! Whoever the hell told you to do that, kick their ass! Beat the living daylights out of them! They deserve it!

Yes I see people with 5x the maximum buy-in on the table from time to time. They're very good, very stupid, have plenty of loot, or some combination of those three things...

At any rate, there's no excuse not to bank 4x your buy-in at micro to low stakes. Just no excuse. There's too much action. Too many tables to choose from. I could see it if you were high stakes. There just isn't as much action. But micro-stakes? No-no-no...

Basically, you sit at a table, change the dynamic of said table, and just wanna sit there? You changed the dynamic. Once that's changed, your game has to change.

At any rate, I can't fathom why you want to blame the other players. It's smart to play like a rock when up against a LAG maniac. They basically spot your leak, then wait for you to bleed chips. That's hella smart. Give them props. Sure some could be worse players than you, it stands to reason. But trust me, some are also really smart and letting your own nature work against you.

But there's more. You want people to respect your game, but don't respect theirs? Respect your bets and raises, but you can't respect theirs? Oh and you don't want other people to chase, but you'll happily chase? Even when after you figure your outs + pot odds, you really should just fold?

I'm sorry but you make it very difficult to feel sympathy. You really do. It's because you're kind of a bad sport. You want everything to go your way, you want the game to be played your way, etc. You're like the kid we all had for a neighbor. The one who would let you play basketball with him but you had to follow his rules, no matter how stupid they were, just because it was his ball. Eventually nobody wanted to play with that kid.

You won't be gone for long. You'll be back. You'll miss the races and chasing that river. You'll miss it so bad. You'll be back. See ya around when ya get back.

Spot on N.D.

Anything above your buy in is profit.

At 4x buyin, leave the table, go back to another table, buy in with your original buy in, and your suddenly not only up 300% of that buy in, but your no longer playing the game with your money. it's someone elses and it doesn't hurt so bad if you lose it. However, if you sit at that table with the 4x buy in, your still playing with your money. Get it out of there.

Hang on just a gosh darned minute! If you took $5 out of $20 to the table that's 25% of your BR right there. Which means you had over 100% of your total BR on the table!???

Who the? What the?? How the???

I could see it if all you had was 5 bucks, or if you didn't have a problem with losing and depositing another $50. But you??? How the hell did you?

That's like going to the bank, withdrawing 1/4 of your paycheck, then heading to the roughest part of town, with it all out in the open, and being all surprised when someone stabs you for the money.

I'll be nice and leave it at that.

No I won't! What were you thinking?

Is this guy even coming back?

I dont understand this logic at all. First of all its your money either way, profit or not shouldnt matter it is now yours. having 5 times the buy in doesnt matter unless someone else does as well to begin with. If you go up against someone else with a lot on the table its just very deep stacked. I agree leave tables if it is not an amount of money you want to be able to lose(a fine reason and likely) but I see nothing wrong at all having more money than everyone else, just be aware you are very deep stacked. If the table has gotton strong or you are tired by all means, there are plenty of reasons to leave a table but just because you are 4x buy in doesnt really make sense.

Of course the bankroll situation is another story. having 1/4 in 1 game is rediculous and going broke it really a when at that point so yes get out of there, but a properly rolled player shouldnt always leave just because they are up. If you are uncomfortable putting up that much, again understandable, then leave but there is no poker reason not to have more money at the table.

But I'm not flummoxed by a properly rolled player's actions. I'm baffled by the OP's actions. They're all backwards, and upside down.

Crap! I did the math wrong(his BR's spiraling down the toilet)...

He sat with $5 when he only had $12! That's almost 1/2 his money!

I normally can't stand ratholers. The worst are the ones who take the money off the table and up to a higher stakes game. They get me kinda riled...

But when you're practically broke? Ya gotta rathole. Put your money away and start over. And don't take even 25% to the table once you have even $12. Learn to play short stacked and build up.

Okay so I'm going to point out that I finally realize the guy was probably tilted beyond belief. But I thought people knew when they were tilting. He only implied that he might be. I mean tilt's such an absolutely horrible feeling. How can you be mistaken?

But let's look at the phrase "standard bluff bet size". Ummm, how long do you suppose it takes an observant player to pick up on a "standard bluff bet"?

No i have $22. I had $22. I bought in $5. I busted about 6x people (most people only bring in $2-$3). This is ring game. I was up to $11 or about $27 total. I was playing with about 1/3rd of my money at that point. I knew I should have left at that point. I only get about 80 cent per $1 that I bust at this level because of rake. I had busted about everyone and new people had joined for the max buy-in. I usually leave the larger stacks alone. I left with like $4. 90% of my profits come from flushes that people just dont believe I've hit

N.D. is my friend.

Just for those who care.. here was my entire run. If you want to see more games of how I play or interested let me know.

Poker Blog: How I Roll

Well, I read as much as I could. I didn't see any of your loose-maniacal-aggression. I saw a lot of calling and folding, with some betting...

Lemme explain, remember when your 7's were up against J's? You didn't play the hand strongly. If the guy with the J's was a good player, and you had bet a positional bet pre-flop, he either would have re-raised to indicate strength(which gives you a chance to fold, and sometimes that's wise), or just called(for a cheap flop). But he would have put you on a pair, any pair, or an A/anything. On the flop, c-bet. I've seen where 1/2 pot's enough, and I've seen where you have to bet pot, still, c-bet. That c-bet implies you flopped a set.

If the board still isn't paired and there's no obvious str8 or flush draw? Make another on the turn, then pot or all-in on the river. Obviously, it takes some courage, but it works a lot. You can make someone fold an overpair. You just need position, courage, and only 1 opponent. I'd go as high as 2 opponents if I was feeling really gutsy. It's not as easy to bluff 2 though.

It's about spotting your opportunities and then taking them. Sometimes it has almost nothing to do with the cards you're holding. Sometimes it's a good old fashioned shoving match, if someone pushes you, but you've already taken the dominant role, and you're reading the board well, push back harder!

Of course luck is still involved, and there are fish, and calling stations, but...

More times than not, combining good strategy, with the occasional bluff(ah they're tempting, but you have to pick your spots), and scooping some blinds will more often than not equal winning.

Oh yeah, defend your BB sometimes. Not a whole lot. That's a gripe I have about watching those all-women poker games and tournaments on television. They're constantly paranoid about their BB. For crying out loud, it's going in like it or not. Just defend with decent hands and/or when you sense weakness from the others...

There's a bunch of other stuff, but when it comes to that final hand...

You can't fold AK. You just can't. And the other guy couldn't fold AA. Nobody did anything wrong at the table. So what went wrong? You already know. It was bringing too much to the table.

Before coming to CardsChat I was at a table where instead of topping off my stack I decided to see if I really just needed the proverbial chip and a chair. I was down to 2 cents. I left with 3 dollars, and had only bought in for 50 cents. Of course luck was involved, but I'm using the extreme to illustrate a point. You don't have to sit with a big stack to leave with a big stack.

Instead of giving up, why not sit with a buck? Unless I did the math wrong, 5% of your BR is $1.35, but sit with a buck, just a buck. See if you can't get it up to 3x, 4x, or 5x. Then just get up and move.

Famous hand on HSP featured Gus Hansen and Daniel Negreanu. Of course, Gus sucked out but that's because he's the suckout king(and I mean that in a good way). He managed to get Daniel to go all-in post flop. This is key, because Gus managed to get Daniel to shove his money in bad. Daniel had him covered and the rest is history...

Oh yeah and Antonio made the genius decision to fold a pre-flop monster. He'd have lost a whole lot if he hadn't folded, but he was wise and decided to avoid getting trapped between Gus and Daniel.

So what do we learn from that one famous hand? You don't need to have a huge stack to seriously dent a huge stack. You also don't absolutely have to play monsters, sometimes it's better to just fold(but only if you know your opponents like Antonio knows his). Bonus, is that Gus seriously messed with Daniel's head. So then later Lindgren was able to pull off almost the same thing as Gus(but that was partly luck, just as it was with Gus). Oh yeah, don't get stuck between Gus and Daniel. Ever! Not if you know what's good for you .

BTW just because you flop the nuts, doesn't mean they stay the nuts. Just ask Daniel.

I played a HU tourney for 6$ this morning and at one point sat with ~200 chips while my opponent sat with ~2800 in chips. I came back to win. I'll look for the HH(not sure how to do it on FT) but the bottom line is that short stack stands a chance. Don't be afraid to join the table with 1-2$ if everyone else has 5-10. Doesn't mean you can't double or triple up quick. People tend to underestimate the short stack, and assume that since you are the short stack that you suck. not always true.

Tourny short stack is not equal to cash game. There are good short stack strategies but playing it like a tournament short stack is certainly not one of them.

Here's something I learned when I first started playing ring games and it helps a lot...

If you do as suggested in Chris Ferguson's podcast and wait for a premium hand then push all-in with your short stack...

Chances are you won't get paid.

Account is back to $34. I've been dominating the game again. I love playing a big stack. I had $13 in one game today or over 2x the maximum buy-in. I'm pretty close to clearing my $25 deposit bonus too. Even though I have a big stack I'm watching other people stack sizes and paying closer attention to that now and thinking about the bet sizes as if I had a small stack. I know its a lot of my bankroll to have in a game but I just love that feeling. I LOVE leaving with a big stack even more.

I know you may prefer ring games, but if you're trying to build a roll you should definitely play SNG's. The fish there are ridiculous. I deposited $50 on Monday night and have played nothing but SNG's and am at $102 right now.

I'm back to $38!! In only a single day of playing. To put this in perspective most people only stack about $2-$3 and at my low I was $21. I only get about 80 cents per dollar per bust because of rake. That means I had to bust about 9 to 20 people today to do that. One thing that uhm the ring game analysis showed me is that there is a vast difference in skill level at the games I play. There are some pretty good players but there are a lot of terrible players too. Building a bankroll is not about challenging the best players but about playing the worst players. So how do you find the worst players? This I don't know. It's not just about flop % or pot size. Time of day and everything factors in. At certain times of day more maniacs are playing too.

I've ran into some pretty good players where I play and again some really bad ones. So, what a lot of time happens I bust everyone at a table and maybe 1 other person then we face off. The "last one standing" are the best and I should probably quit with a good stack and not risk it in heads up or I should go to a new table.

I think what has made me a lot better player is playing heads up matches. if you want to get better then you need to play a lot of heads up! Also you have to change your strategy when playing bad players. Against better players bluffs can work but when you see a terrible player then you know: never bluff.

Also, a lot of times when playing "bad players" its easy to get into bad habbits myself like fishing or other things because everyone is doing it or playing loose but with a bad player you must play even tighter to give yourself that edge and be careful too of them "teaming" up because with more limpers premium hands go down in value.

thats how i made 4.2k off of 100$ in 16 hrs on Full Tilt Poker

luck, playing almost my entire roll at every table i sat down on.. i wasnt trying to create a permanent bank roll i was having fun making the money fast.

so i guess my point is. no matter what you do luck is always involved to a degree. and you can play the best hand as best you can and still lose no matter what you do.

Try playing in more freerolls. They won't cost you a thing and you can get some good experience. However, don't plan on winning alot of money. I'd also try playing some low buy-in tournaments.

I'm running around $36 now. I tried to multi-table with a small stack and play TAG. I took a lot of bad beats doing that. It worked for a while and then I just took lot of bad beats and then I went on tilt and pissed away about $5. I was down to about $25 and started playing my traditional big stack style. One thing that helps me play better is I get angry. I get angry at the other players. Angry at the game. I mean its not that I hate the other players personally but when I'm playing it helps me to focus to get angry. Maybe the anger helps me to be more aggressive. My strength is in reading people and picking off their weaknesses. The formula TAG style doesn't let me do that. But I'm just not good enough to multi-table and do the more advanced playing. I've started limping more too because my strong suit is post flop. I still use the micro-raises because I want to keep applying pressure on my opponents but sometimes limping is okay. I'm also trying to pay more attention to the skill level of the players. There are total fish and then there are decent players. So, obviously I want to be at a table with total fish versus the decent players. I noticed most of time I bust everyone and then only the decent players are left. Its a waste of time to play them when I can go to a new table with worse players. Oh yeah I tried a gizmo that told me pot odds and stuff: I think that stuff is worthless really. It's a hinderance to any decent player. If you can't do it in your head then it's just a gimmick that took me out of the game.

Who says you have to do anything according to formula? TAG and LAG are essentially just terms to describe overall playing style. No player worth their chips plays just one way all the time.

Nobody thinks you should limp all the time or raise all the time. The whole game is situational and about taking advantage of opportunities...

I don't worry about the rake. I know it's big at microstakes and stays big till you get up pretty high. Still, I don't worry about the rake. Part of the rake is the points system that's in place at most sites. At bigger name sites those points are valuable. Where I play, I've reached a level where I can trade points for tournament buy-ins. If I can manage to reach the next level without going broke I can do one more thing which is pretty awesome. I can trade points for cash.

Ultimatebet has the Rai$e system in place. It's a tiered system. The higher you climb the faster you make points based on status. This is beyond great because when I first started playing there, they only had one way to make points faster, that was to start tables. Rai$e is way better than that.

But there's another reason why I like this. Ultimatebet tends to have some awesome reload bonuses. But you have to clear them the same way you clear first time deposit bonuses. You clear them by earning points. No need to trade the points in, but you have to amass the points. I know that even if I do go broke, I'm now earning points faster and on my way to earning them faster still...

It makes clearing bonus dollars that much easier. But each level in the Rai$e system has it's own rewards that go beyond the speed at which you can earn points...

That's just one way the rake at a site is a good thing. Don't sweat the rake, it pays salaries, buys nifty rewards, and pays for buy-ins to big tournaments that most people can't afford to enter, so they enter freerolls or satellites.

Rakeback's a good thing, especially if you want to multi-table. But sweating the rake won't make it disappear.

You know that 20% that went to the rake cuz you just had to bust someone? You did that to yourself. You could bust them all the same, and be just as aggressive, without pumping the pot up so big. I've pumped the pot up myself, I think most of us have. But I never complained about the house taking it's cut. I've joked about it, but never complained in earnest.

If you control the pot better, you can keep it below the rake. Think about it. So you have to bust someone in 4 to 8 hands instead of one fell swoop. It's doable. A lot of folks do it.

But for your own sake, remember, aggression is good. Misplaced aggression is bad.

The latest update. I ran into some terrible luck. I had pocket kings cracked by 4-8 suited all-in preflop, I had pocket aces cracked by pocket queens, and I just got hammered with bad luck. But, I was playing so good that I was still able to keep my account at around $38 AND THEN disaster struck

How did it happen? Well, I was tired of playing and thought I'd join a game pretty quick and get a dollar. Kinda like well I'll just join a game really quick and make a dollar -- no big risk. I have a bit of a secret in that I'm better then most players heads up so I hunt down players in ring games to challenge heads up. These players are often distracted from multi-tabling and don't have the experience I have in heads up. This a secret because its easy money and I bust these guys all the time but they are hard to track down because they get busted pretty quick and leave.

Well so anyway I went hunting for easy money and I guess I was just not into my game at all. I was impatient. I hit a pair against someone with like KQ in heads up which is pretty good. So, I pushed all in and he had AK. I knew I was taking a risk playing that aggressive but I figured the odds were in my favor. Another time I had 2 pair and shoved into a guys straight and finally I shoved the best full house on a board into a 4 of a kind.

I know I was playing bad. Sure they got lucky but I was playing bad too especially ont he 4 of a kind because my instinct was this guy has the king.

So uhm I'm back to $23. A lot of people say oh they want to do this but yesterday I lost 4 or 5x when the odds were 80% in my favor -- almost in a row. And that's really poker.

Just keep at it...

I had a similar run earlier today. I had AA and bet a positional raise to get called by K/4 os...

So flop was all undercards including the K(as tends to be the case with AA)... I push, guy pushes back, suddenly I'm all-in and to my surprise, not only was he not holding a set, he had K/4 and the 4 quickly landed on the turn...

I held my tongue/fingers, but I was really glad it wasn't a live game.

I can't be the only one who wishes poker was full contact from time to time...

Anyway, rebought for double and doubled up. Glad I didn't sit with a buck or two, the guy had me covered for that.

can we please play together lol jk

wouldnt c-bet everytime, people will recognize this and slow play u...when people call u on the flop do u continue betting/bluffing on the turn?

I don't C-BET every time. Com on guys.. its most of the time. I have been getting slow played a lot recently though. It depends if I'm on a total bluff with no outs I C-BET a 1 shot. If I feel the player is weak and has been bluffing a lot then I'll 3 barrel it. If I have outs I might 2 barrel it.