Improving my novice game

#1 19th October 2009, 8:37 PM

Hello guys!

I have been lurking for a while and playing online at party poker for some 7 weeks and after losing some 130 bucks am now at last beginning to turn a small consistant profit. I play the 0.02/0.04 NL holdem tables slowly building my bankroll.

I have been playing with PT3 for a few weeks and find its a great tool but reviewing some of my stats I have discovered something rather disturbing...

On clicking the holdem and starting hands tab and arranging my starting hands in order of %times won, (I've played 10200 hands and feel this is a reasonable sample) Everything lookes pretty run of the mill. Rockets at the top and kinda going through my starting hands without too many big surprizes BUT...

WTF!

Half of my top ten winning hands have made a overall monetary loss!
KK looks pretty grim and my god I have lost more cash playing QQ than I have even won playing rockets!

How can this be? Am I simply playing these hands badly? JJ looks like trouble too!

Don.t get me wrong, I am happy with how my overall game is progressing but this is a real eye opener. I will DEFINATELY be getting PT3 when the free trial runs out!

Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated...

Thanks in advance, Frank.

EDIT,

For the meantime should I cut QQ and JJ from my game to improve my EV?!

#2 19th October 2009, 10:04 PM

Don't cut QQ & JJ from your hands.
It's hard to say what you might need to do...or not do without seeing some actual HH examples.
My suggestion..... post a few HandHistories in the forum. (not ones you felt you played good but got sucked out on.... post ones where you weren't sure of what to do... or ones where you questioned your play in the hand).
10,000 hands is a fair amount but personally I don't think it's that big of a sample size (ie., I'm actually showing a net loss with KK... am I playing it bad?.. I personally don't think so... did I lose some big pots with it... did I overplay an overpair?... I don't think so). I think I've shown more profit from both QQ & JJ than I have with AA (but this is also only from a sample size of around 10k hands).

#3 19th October 2009, 10:43 PM

I predict that your sample size is tiny. I also predict that you are grossly misplaying your hands.

Post in hand analysis a hand you played with QQ/JJ. Then watch people who post there tell you how wrong you are & how poorly you played the hand. On the downside, your self esteem will take a hit, but on the upside you'll be a better player for it.

#4 26th October 2009, 11:07 PM

Not a QQ or JJ hand but an example of a hand where I got screwed for 2 hours worth of careful play. Can you guys just tell me what you think. I can handle any bad beat as long as I know I made the right decisions.

Ok...

.01/.02 NLHE cash game $2 max buy-in.

I dropped down to this table and bought in with my final 92 cents and after 2 hours playing my A game I managed to amass a healthy $7.83 stack. Villain was also enjoying raping the table and eating up short stacks and was sitting with a healthy $4.83. I wanted his chips!

I was UTG+2, Villain was CO-1.

I was dealt AdKs, UTG folded and I decided to just call for a change as I always seem to raise with AK.

Table folds around to villain who raises to 4 cents, everyone else folds. He has position over me.

I now re-raise to 12 cents, Villain calls and we go to the flop.

Flop comes 6h3cQc, pot stands at 27 cents.

I make a larger than usual pot sized C-bet as there are possible flush draws and want him to have to pay over pot odds if he is on a draw.

He simply calls, the pot is now 79 cents and the Ah comes on the turn.

I have made AA with top kicker and check to induce a bluff.

He bets in to me with a 48 cent bet which I raise to $2.20. He calls and the As comes. The pot stands at $5.19 I got trip aces with top kicker and I just KNOW I have him by the testicles!

I bet enough to put him all-in and he calls and flips over 66 to give a boat of 666AA... WTF?????

I lose nearly $5 and the best part of 2 hours play. MAN THIS BOILED MY PISS UP. I left the table to cool off.

PLEASE can someone reassure me that I didn't play this hand badly?

#5 26th October 2009, 11:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deceitful_Frank

Not a QQ or JJ hand but an example of a hand where I got screwed for 2 hours worth of careful play. Can you guys just tell me what you think. I can handle any bad beat as long as I know I made the right decisions.

Ok...

.01/.02 NLHE cash game $2 max buy-in.

I dropped down to this table and bought in with my final 92 cents and after 2 hours playing my A game I managed to amass a healthy $7.83 stack. Villain was also enjoying raping the table and eating up short stacks and was sitting with a healthy $4.83. I wanted his chips!

I was UTG+2, Villain was CO-1.

I was dealt AdKs, UTG folded and I decided to just call for a change as I always seem to raise with AK.

I don't think you should ever limp utg with AK at the limits your playing (at least not for that reason). Maybe AA or KK but not AK. Don't worry about always raising with ak because at this level your opponents arent generally taking note of how much you raise with certain hands preflop. By just limping your letting an awful lot of horrible hands enter cheaply.

Table folds around to villain who raises to 4 cents, everyone else folds. He has position over me.

I now re-raise to 12 cents, Villain calls and we go to the flop.

Flop comes 6h3cQc, pot stands at 27 cents.

I make a larger than usual pot sized C-bet as there are possible flush draws and want him to have to pay over pot odds if he is on a draw.

If you hit on the flop i could see the logic for wanting to protect your hand but over betting here is just wrong because you dont have anything and your only going to be called by hands that have you Beat.(lets face it, no ones folding a flush draw at this level, even the tight players will take one card off) Just make a standard c-bet here and give it up if he plays back at you.

He simply calls, the pot is now 79 cents and the Ah comes on the turn.

I have made AA with top kicker and check to induce a bluff.

This is where you should be worried about not giving free cards. Your play here isn't completly bad but you should bet here most of the time.

He bets in to me with a 48 cent bet which I raise to $2.20. He calls and the As comes. The pot stands at $5.19 I got trip aces with top kicker and I just KNOW I have him by the testicles!

I bet enough to put him all-in and he calls and flips over 66 to give a boat of 666AA... WTF?????

I lose nearly $5 and the best part of 2 hours play. MAN THIS BOILED MY PISS UP. I left the table to cool off.

PLEASE can someone reassure me that I didn't play this hand badly?

No matter how you played this hand I suspect you were destined to lose.

I honestly think your being too tricky. Keep it simple.

#6 26th October 2009, 11:31 PM

Can I point out something.... Poker is gambling but there is a develop level required with it. But still you gambling!

At the end of the any 2 cards are good depending on Flop, Turn and River.

Then that should depend on what you do!

At the end of the day some people can make a living out of this. And some people can not.

Just enjoy your game and get the most out of you can....

#7 26th October 2009, 11:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deceitful_Frank

Not a QQ or JJ hand but an example of a hand where I got screwed for 2 hours worth of careful play. Can you guys just tell me what you think. I can handle any bad beat as long as I know I made the right decisions.

Ok...

.01/.02 NLHE cash game $2 max buy-in.

I dropped down to this table and bought in with my final 92 cents and after 2 hours playing my A game I managed to amass a healthy $7.83 stack. Villain was also enjoying raping the table and eating up short stacks and was sitting with a healthy $4.83. I wanted his chips!

I was UTG+2, Villain was CO-1.

I was dealt AdKs, UTG folded and I decided to just call for a change as I always seem to raise with AK.

Table folds around to villain who raises to 4 cents, everyone else folds. He has position over me.

I now re-raise to 12 cents, Villain calls and we go to the flop.

Flop comes 6h3cQc, pot stands at 27 cents.

I make a larger than usual pot sized C-bet as there are possible flush draws and want him to have to pay over pot odds if he is on a draw.

He simply calls, the pot is now 79 cents and the Ah comes on the turn.

I have made AA with top kicker and check to induce a bluff.

He bets in to me with a 48 cent bet which I raise to $2.20. He calls and the As comes. The pot stands at $5.19 I got trip aces with top kicker and I just KNOW I have him by the testicles!

I bet enough to put him all-in and he calls and flips over 66 to give a boat of 666AA... WTF?????

I lose nearly $5 and the best part of 2 hours play. MAN THIS BOILED MY PISS UP. I left the table to cool off.

PLEASE can someone reassure me that I didn't play this hand badly?

I don't get it, you bet every street with the worst hand and lost. How can you be mad?

He made a set of 6's on the flop and you had nothing and made a huge bet, whats he supposed to do, fold? It's not like he had A6 and made the boat.

I'd like to reassure you that you didnt play it bad, but quite frankly, you did.

#8 26th October 2009, 11:51 PM

OP the thing that sticks out most to me is when you say that you have lost more money with QQ than you have won with AA... this could be because of a few reasons.

1.) your facing more bad beats than normal lol

2.) your playing the hands horribly and giving ppl great odds to chase any sort of draws.

3.) your not raising properly pre flop

4.) you cant let go of QQ when an A an K is on the board..therefore you pay off someone with KJ or A rag

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