Good live player, awful online!

Hey all,
I could use advice from some of the better poker players on here.
I'm a $2/5 live player, ...play one or two good sessions a week..and am up $52K on the year so far. I've been progressing year to year..went from too tight..to too loose...back to reading a newspaper for hours and waiting for premium hands. Not anymore. Now I regularly call 3-5 BBs with a wide range of hands..and feel like I have the post-flop savvy to make that profitable. I almost always make the right decision in the big situation. I occasionally cost myself a buyin or 2 from all these loose calls..but then catch fire and find myself 10 buyins up in a hurry. I'm much more about reads, playing the board, playing the player than just the two cards in my hands. Once I finally catch a legit hand..I get paid pretty easily. Like mentioned I have been steadily progressing year to year..and have a very strong understanding of all the maths involved in poker..so don't feel like I'm just "on a heater" this year.
That said, I'm all types of awful online. Somewhere around -$8K on the year...with everything from SNGs to MTTs to cash games. While I hit some big MTTs ($3-4K), I proceed to quickly blow them on ridiculous $500 SNGS that I have no business playing. I see it as ##'s, not $$..and just can't shake it. i can't wait 4-6 weeks for a cashout..so I'd rather try to win a million overnight I guess? I'm calling all-ins in terrible situations with AQ or AJ...cause they're suited, or cause I see QQ5 on the board on the other table that I'm playing. Or cause I'm paying no attention to how anyone else plays online lol. I make great bluffs on the river..and get called by f"ing midpair that would never dare show that in a live game. He's not brilliant, he's just a f'n donk that I can't get off a hand LOL. For some reason I know when and how to attack to those players in live game..but online I just go head first into their brick wall. I try tightening up and playing 3-4 tables at the same time....err. When one goes wrong, I'm promptly out of all 4 tables LOL. I guess I just don't have the discipline/BRM for online poker? Is there any hope for me? Should I just drop online poker, or is there a quick fix? Is it necessary to play TAG and wait for hands to succeed online?
Any constructive criticism is appreciated.

Im only an average player mate, so wouldnt profess to offer advice, the two things that stands out from everything youve said are:

1) People are looser, chase more, and dont let go of pots more online.

2) You cant make any "physical" reads online.

Cheers

The first thought I have is to try playing one table online. That is still 2-3x faster than a live table, which seems to be the pace you're used to.

Also, since you are apparently a cash player, focus on that until you establish your proper level. And while I have limited live cash experience, the comparisons I recall indicate that online is much tougher at the same stakes. This makes intuitive sense since a $2/5 live player is only one step above the lowest level while a $2/5 online player has presumably advanced through several levels.

I guess you know that when you win big you should try to manage your bankroll a little better. I have the same problem...

Thanks. One table at a time might help..cause multitabling is killing my ability to read players or observe trends. About 2 5 being much more difficult/nittier online..is that fact? If I have to drop down to nickel and dime games to be successful online, forget it...ill never be able to focus lol

lol you look soo much like me...i wasted alot of money playing online game just because i play 2 to 8 tables at same time and i dont look other players play...and i go on facebook or other internet site...and when i start loosing on a table after a 4+ hours play times i start to loose on all the table i play on..sometime i should listen to my interiour voice and stop playing when im in the possitive but i wanna make more money and then boom i loose everything...and then tilt and go ALLIN on all table...good i just play on 0.02 0.04 table...=(

do you use one of the tracking software

No I don't use any tracking software....does that really give that much of an edge?

massive edge imo, get one.

PT3/HEM2.

You can get by without if you only play one table at a time and make notes on the players. However, once you start multi-tabling, it`s very difficult to keep track of the tendencies of the opponents without a software aid.

HEM and PT also have the important benefit that you can use them after a session to analyse your own play and identify potential leaks.

That's because you're focused on the nickels and dimes instead of comparing how much you can win online vs live.

Let's say at $2/5, you win 5 big bets per 100. That's $50. At 30 hands per hour, it takes 3.3 hours. And let's say you avg $3 per hour for tips. You're now at $40, or just over $12 per hour, but that's without factoring in the time to get to the casino and back, wait for a spot, the difference in food and drink cost, etc. And let's say that when you do consider those things, you end up with $10 per hour.

Now let's say you win the same 5BB/100 at .10/.25. That's $2.50. But it only takes about an hour to play 100 hands. And that's at just one table, so let's say you play 4, which isn't unusual (some people play 30+). That puts you at... $10 per hour.

While you can plug in different numbers, they won't change the key point here, which is that playing at much smaller stakes online doesn't automatically mean making less money. Indeed, it's not difficult to plug in numbers that result in making more.

If you really are making $52K in four months only playing a few sessions a week then yeah, absolutely ditch playing online - it seems like you've already found your best game.

Definitely ditch the $500 SnGs, there's no way you're anything other than dead money in those.

And you've got to acknowledge that the skill level is much higher online than it is live for the equivalent stakes. I'm saying that as someone who learned to play live and still loves live poker: it's just the simple truth. If you play $500NL online, the players you'll be up against will be light years better than the ones you're playing in your live $2/$5 game. The general rule of thumb is that $1/$2 live plays like a $10NL online game (or worse).

Compound that with lots more. Playing in a live game, despite what people may say here, is completely different, you generally are more focused, less distracted, have lots more time to think through a hand.

In a live game im much more likely to raise a hand like Q10o from MP, because i know the players on my left well, or fold JJ pre to a 3bet, just because im more focused. Live win rates, can be simply off the scale, to a level thats not really achievable online anymore.

Online you have less time, do not know the players, are playing against stronger players by far. Remember the anyone playing 1/2 online has ground their way up through the stakes and are proven winners (apart from the odd fish, and applying the peter principe) where-as the lowest stakes live is 1/2 where you will find shot-takes/beginners/blackjack players etc etc.

I had yet another big day live...I'm ready to drop online poker man. Maybe ill take an occasional shot at some huge online big buyin tourney every once in awhile..but that's that. That said, I don't ****in get it. I'm one of the better 2 5 players in my casino...frequently do better then the regs...but can't hold my own on much lower stakes online. Why is online harder? Why aren't those same players at the casino if they're really that fn good? They should be making great money...and I'm sorry unless I'm naiive I'm pretty sure the average online player on those stakes hasn't made 50k this year. I'm leaning towards they're just nittier and my style is terrible vs tables full of nits. I rarely run into such tables live..and leave when I do (when I see that everyones playing abc poker or waiting to catch me)>

For the math of why you should play lower stakes online than you do live and be happy with it, Arjonius's 2nd post is excellent.

In general, it sounds like your poker skills are so attuned to the live game that you are going to have to make a lot of adjustments to start winning online. Psychologically speaking, I would approach online poker as a brand new game and have no expectations for yourself. Start out at .25/.50 (one tenth) is a decent proxy for equivalent skill level live and online. It goes back to Arjonius' post. If you get twice the hands per hour, and the average player is playing 5 tables, you are all of a sudden wagering the same amount of money per hour. Of course the average player probably plays 3 tables or something, but since the player pool sees hands so much faster, everyone has much more experience, which makes them better, hence the factor of 10 and not 6 or less.

Yeah, good post arjonius..opened my eyes. Simple math that I didn't take the time to do. If I do come back around to online poker, will surely keep it in mind.
OzExorcist..I lol'd and agree with the dead money on SNG comment. I'm probably against some pretty big sharks on that level eh?
I appreciate the responses!

See i play 1/3 live very well and struggled online until i went to 10nl...

Matching the player levels with live vs online does work, and just have to think about the distraction levels at home? i'm married with kids and tough decisions with a kid or wife around can get intense.