Should I stay or should I go? Is online poker worth anyones time?

Been playing freerolls because I want to know it's not a complete waste for me to make a deposit. I play at BOL and ACR because they have the most freerolls happening. I have the worst luck at ACR and have made it into the money only twice. At BOL I have cashed more, like 6 times. This is after playing minimum 2 freerolls everyday for a month. I get SO many stupid beats at ACR, and not just by the bots, but by other players who also can't seem to lose. When I'm up against these players who just can't lose a hand, how should I play against them? They raise every blind 2x-3X and going allin against them they win every time, and playing it slow they seem to flop sets and straights and flushes, back to back to back. I'm almost at the point of just walking away from online play forever. Right now the only thing keeping me around is that I am actually slowly building a bankroll at BOL and I know I'm still pretty green, but my being green doesn't have anything to do with certain players being unbeatable.
I like the ACR software , it looks better and has nice tween effects and all, but I feel like it would be a mistake for me to deposit there because I just get beat too much. Bol has it's own version of unbeatable players, but for whatever reason I get farther and farther into the money as time goes on.
Does anyone really make enough profit to live on at these places or is everyone just doing it for shits-n-giggles and not really profiting? I don't play for fun, but trying to seriously play online is...idk...stupid?

If you like to play poker its not a waste of time. Go for it. Thats all im doing right now is playing bol and acr freerolls. Then with that money i make i play .01 .02 cash game. Its slowly building. Im still hesitant also about depositing. Almost too much hassle.

At first I liked it and because of that I started really trying to get better and win some money. I've been putting in so much time and effort to become a more successful player that I'm now getting disillusioned by all the evidence that no matter how I play, I'm feeling like I'm playing against unbeatable odds. If I want to play for profit, is playing online able to fulfill that? In this forum are there ANY players who make more than pocket change in profit by playing online? If there isn't then I can't continue wasting my time with this.

Whether you profit or not, if it's something that you find pleasure in doing, then why not?

That's the thing, after really really trying to up my game, and paying a lot of attention to what's happening in these tourneys I'm starting to notice that there are players, maybe bots maybe not, that seem to be winning more than any odds can calculate for, and it's not fun to play an unwinnable game. I want to turn this fun into something profitable and worth my time, but I'm feeling like that's just impossible. There are a ton of people here with the same high hopes, and I'm just starting to wonder if there's ever anyone who makes a good profit from this online stuff or if it is all just a bunch of hopefuls playing against house players and house bots.
How do players win 10 all-in showdowns in a row? Why is this happening in every tournament? It's not impossible, but I see this all the time and it's turning me off.

It's worth my time to play. I'm sure a lot of people would say the same. But if you don't feel like it is, then you should stop. If you're not fully into it, you're not playing your best game, therefore you probably aren't going to win much. So, unless you really want to keep playing, you should probably stop.

johnnygadget said:

That's the thing, after really really trying to up my game, and paying a lot of attention to what's happening in these tourneys I'm starting to notice that there are players, maybe bots maybe not, that seem to be winning more than any odds can calculate for, and it's not fun to play an unwinnable game. I want to turn this fun into something profitable and worth my time, but I'm feeling like that's just impossible. There are a ton of people here with the same high hopes, and I'm just starting to wonder if there's ever anyone who makes a good profit from this online stuff or if it is all just a bunch of hopefuls playing against house players and house bots.
How do players win 10 all-in showdowns in a row? Why is this happening in every tournament? It's not impossible, but I see this all the time and it's turning me off.

Click to expand...

#1 You are playing freerolls
#2 How? They don't
#3 Why? It isn't?
#4 No you do NOT see this all the time.
#5 You have spent all this time constructing this fantasy world to justify quitting poker, be a shame to waste all that effort.

It could be bad luck or your not playing that well. Think you should download one the trail versions of Holdem manager or poker tracker and upload all your hands then it will show you how your luck is and how your playing. Freerolls with lots of players is probably the worst experience you can have with poker, kind of like walking blind threw a mind field and hoping you survive, a lot of luck involved in those tourneys.

I know a guy that makes 1K almost every day, well if not every day, every 2nd day for sure, so its online poker profitable, i would say yes indeed it is, i dont know any1 except him in my country that makes 15K every month, sure i wish i was hes lvl, but for now i am not, have a lot to learn and a lot to play to start to make money as he does, u play freerolls, they are good to make couple of bucks to make a small BR, and to start growing it on SNG and Cash games that is if u are a decent poker player, u can do this, but if u are a beginner, well i have to say, play those freerolls u sure need the practice, ull find all kind of players there, loose, aggressive, maniacs, bots, Nit`s all kind`s, play as much as u can, u need the practice, u need to get in awkward spots to learn what happens there, coz remember u are playing freeroll it costs u nothing to learn

You need proper brm and along with that a good sample size.

All in first couple of minutes are very popular in freeroll games so get used to it. For bad beats, its a poker and it will be happening often, sometime you got lucky sometime you dont. I also play freerolls a lot, and manage to cash out few times

Thank you everyone for the reasonable/thoughtful/insightful replies and for not trying to make me feel any more ridiculous than I already do. I'm embarrassed because I started this thread right after I'd worked myself up into a good tilt and it came across kinda like a child having a tantrum. In the future I will wait until I had time to clear my head before posting, not only to avoid embarrassing myself again but also out of respect for everyone here.

Kenzie is probably right that I created a bit of a fantasy. I enjoy the excitement I get when I'm playing well and it would be a damn shame if I just abandoned it all after all the hours and effort I've already been applying to the game.

SBEP has made some good points(you all have) and that info about the profitability of online play is what I needed to hear, but I would also really like to hear about profitability from someone who is currently making that kind of profit. Some words from first hand experience would be inspirational to myself and other beginners with similar intentions.

Just for a look-see I used $1 from my winnings to try out a non-freeroll tourny, and even though I got chewed up by the competition(well, I really wan't competition to these player, more like chum) I did notice quite a difference in the way people were playing and I look forward to the time when I have a big enough br so I can start playing these $1 tourneys regularly and learning a better game.

I have felt like what is the point. One heads up $20 tourney could yield 20 bucks in 20 minutes. Freerolls could yield $20 in 2 months.

Keep your head up bud. I'm also a new Holdem player. (4 months exp). I also have dreams of taking money off the void we call the internet. I joined FullFlush Jan. 14. In the 5-6 weeks I've been there I managed to take $15 off the freerolls. Even managed to take $.75 off of acr yesterday. But even in these freerolls we are learning. So maybe soon we can take our knowledge and make some.money. who knows just keep working on it. Have a good one. See ya at the tables.... Tal. P.S. everyone is right do not take.your brother to a cash table while drinking your homemade wine. Br to 0 in 3.2 secs.. lol

All I can tell you is that is better than going to the Casino slots machines, that is a real waste of money and Poker will help you entertain with minimal lost of funds, if you use proper bankroll management.