I am a losing player!

As the title says I am a losing player. Apparantly I need to work on my game and figure out what mistakes I am making. We are not talking big dollars here. I have only deposited $200 max. at any one time. I have played on PartyPoker where I was able to cash out $500 before they were shut down here. I have played on PS, FT and unfortunately BOL. My latest run is over the last month is on Lock. 3000 hands mainly playing .10/.25 or less ring games and $10 and under sng's. It has been determined by a poker tracker site that I am a loose and passive player.This can be an unprofitable playing style. Which I understand. What I don't understand is how a player can be deemed aggressive/tight, has lost $1000 over a few months but should be avoided playing against. You would want to play against them right? Also, not too many people I have checked on are winning players.
Over these 3000 hands I am down $138. My stats are 31% tight/loose, Pre Flop raise 10%, 60% continuation, and 45% aggression. I can account 75% of the $ loss to a few hands where I lost holding pocket aces, pocket kings and a top pair flush draw that I pushed on and got beat with a set. The aces and kings were cracked. All these hands I obviously overplayed post flop and got beat. The remaining losses are on a losing trend of hands which I need to stop. I do know I make a mistake of thinking someone is bluffing and overplaying a medicore hand. I do play better in sng's as I can be patient. It does seem when short stacked I can shove and get called, be ahead and then lose quite often. I say to myself " shouldn't have shoved and waited" but I guess I need to work on that.
I believe (in my mind) that I play good hands. My preflop raise % is low and I determine that to be caused by thinking someone will call anyway because the stakes are not high. When your pocket pairs get cracked by small suited connectors that hit a flop can be frustrating.
Learning to let go of these pairs go is obviously something I need to do. I know I left out some information but I don't want to be long winded.
I will answer questions if you want ask something specific. This is only my second post but I have been reading the forum for a little while now. Thanks for letting me rant.

Welcome to CC A few thoughts...

So if I understood correctly you're 31% VPIP and 10% PFR? If so, there is too much of a gap between your VPIP and PFR so I think you need to tighten up (lower VPIP), be more aggressive preflop (increase PFR) and cold call less, which will also decrease gap between VPIP and PFR.

As for thinking people are bluffing I used to have a big problem with that. At the microstakes (25NL and less) it is usually better to assume that they aren't bluffing because, as I am sure you have seen, they mostly aren't!

Don't worry about what that tracker site says about how the tight aggressive player should be avoided, its only basing that on his preflop stats. It doesn't mean he plays well postflop, which is probably why he is losing.

seems really loose passive for full ring- stylistically hard to win at micros playing like that- try to tighten up, play in position, and value bet, value bet, value bet

31/10 is a bad style, change that. Also move down in limits if they have lower than 25NL where you play.

^^^^ this

You are in a good forum to find out why.

When you find out why 31/10 is bad, you will be on the way to making better decisions.

Better decisions= better playing

You came to the right place. Welcome.

Start by reviewing things here http://www.cardschat.com/poker-strategy.php

These are time honored good strategy articles and will serve to plug many leaks.

Then you should figure out how to post particular hands that bug you and let us disect things for you. We don't know you, so you should never take any criticism personaly. I say that because it is easy to take those things personaly and get all po'd.

My suggestion: drop down in stakes for a bit (maybe play 5nl?) til' you're winning at that level. Also, I would try just sticking to one format or the other (for awhile)... either SNG or cash table (don't go back & forth..... sorry if I'm assuming that this is what you're doing & you actually aren't).
Stick to the one format. Post HandHistories. Read through other's HandHistories & the discussion on them. (.... read books.... watch vids.... post HH's... play more... do it again.... read... post... play.. review.. read.. post.. watch vids.... play.. review... post... )

Deff drop down at $200 you wouldn't be BR for 10/25, try to get at the very least 20 Buy-ins at 100BB each which would be $500 for that level. Drop down to the lowest stakes available just to wotk on your game then climb the ladder. Try to do as said above and stick to one game for awhile, then switch and play exclusive the other style for awhile.

Looks like you're an action junkie (gotta see a flop, be involved with the hand) then when you don't get lucky and hit you run away and hide (probably rightfully so).
You need to understand that more times than not you will miss, AND that goes for everybody.
Time to relegate yourself to the more boring side of poker - which is also a winning side. Play less hands and be more agressive (assertive) with the ones you do play.

You will lose a lot of money, quickly, playing 25 NL if you are a bad player. When I started playing on pokerroom.com, they only had .10/.25 tables and higher, so I lost quite a bit.

First off thank you for all your replies. I'd like to address a few items and tell you a plan and see what you think.
Just to be clear as to what I was playing. It was 10 cent / 25 cent blinds and now with my br down I dropped down. To address the "action junky", I guess that might be true only to the fact of playing sh (6) player tables.I have decided to only play full (9) player tables. This will allow me to see more hands and be patient. I think the action of sh table was almost having me play hands I might not play at a full table.
The sng tables I have been successfull with are full double up sng's. Top five double up. I do well in those so I will continue to play the lower buy in tables until I can build up my br. It's been the cash ring games I have had my trouble. By trouble I explained some of the hands that put me behind.
Premium hands to be played, raising more aggressively preflop with those hands. Getting out of the way when I need to.
My last table seesion was only 50 hands,9 player cash .05/.10 I folded 84% of those hands. I played 8 hands. Of those 8 hands I raised 7. Of those 8 I won 7 for a good start.
Hopefully I can start a thread " I am a winning player" soon. I name is Rich. Now you know me a little more.

If you have HEM or PT3, take a look at the Leak Buster application. It will give you a good idea of what your leaks are based on your stats and point you in the right direction towards correcting them. If you are serious about winning you are going to need to spend a lot of time studying, and this is a good tool to get you focused on what's important.

GL Rich.

May you be your name in the near future!!!

You need to play ultra tight while also being aggressive pre-flop. Don't be afraid to pick your spots and three and four bet with hands you would never consider now. By doing this you represent a monster like KK or AA, this will lead to more respect on your continuation bets post flop. You will take some beats and look like a fool at times but it will allow you to pick up bigger pots without showing your cards. gl.

First off, figure out what your full bankroll is. This means all the money you are willing to allocate to poker, no matter where it is including still in your pocket, not just what you have deposited. That will determine the level you can play at while exercising reasonable BRM. That doesn't mean you have to play at a given level just because you have enough buyins. If you want to play .01/.02 with a $5k roll, that's up to you.

Second, lay aside any preconceptions you have about your play. To whatever extent they're inaccurate, they constitute an obstacle to improving. For example, if you assume you hand select well, you're less likely to focus on improving this part of your game, which is vital if you're actually only mediocre. Even if you are good at this aspect, you can probably get better.

Then, figure out what a solid TAG game is and start playing it. Against micro players, this is a winning style. It's not optimally profitable, but IMO, it's akin to laying a solid foundation before building a house on it.

It's sort of funny, some people may look at the Learning Poker thread and think it's for those new to the game. In fact every player is always learning poker, Arjonius:
if you assume you hand select well, you're less likely to focus on improving this part of your game, which is vital if you're actually only mediocre. Even if you are good at this aspect, you can probably get better.

That pretty much sums up what learning poker is all about, constantly evaulating all the aspects of your game, not just what you are "weak" at.
So you are evaulating your play on the last table you were at:
Premium hands to be played, raising more aggressively preflop with those hands. Getting out of the way when I need to.
My last table seesion was only 50 hands,9 player cash .05/.10 I folded 84% of those hands. I played 8 hands. Of those 8 hands I raised 7. Of those 8 I won 7 for a good start.


So the hands you "won" you also need to look at. Did you extract maximum value with those hands? What does "Premium hands to be played, raising more aggressively preflop with those hands." mean? What is your position? If you are Hu with a terrible LAG and hold pocket A's , what are you going to do to extract value? what if he's a nit? Loose tight? Have you been constructing ranges and taking notes on players?


One great question to ask yourself is "why?" why did you raise this from this position, why did I fold that to a 3xBB raise? why, why, why and not just you but why did he do that?

Try switching to limit poker, one style, 10% of your bankroll until u figure the game out. You're not going to see returns (variance or no variance) with the decisions your making. Limit will elliminate that "all in" impulse and will also give u a look at how others are playing different types of hands (especially trapping hands like 56 suited etc). Good luck!

"Just bet. Nobody ever hits anyway.". ~ Gavin Smith


-

Couldn't have said it better myself...............

you need to watch the movie " Two for the Money" and you will realize just where you fit in the gambling world

intersting feedback from everyone, I hope one day my brain opens up to the entire world of poker and I can soak all this in like a sponge, somethings still just go right ove rmy head... NOT SURE WHY, Im pretty smart.... intesting stuff though thanks for replaying to this mans probs.

hi,dont worried about n just take lesson from ur last mistake.think what mistake u have done in past.and remember .only dfeated person can understand the value of victroy.so wakeup and fight for win.

Although English seems to not be your main language, I get what you are saying here and love the bolded above!!

Actually like the whole post. Do bolded part one before moving on to bolded part 2, tho....