I realy need help and advice badly

I have been a member of this forum for 2 to 3 years and although i read most of the threads every day i haven't posted that much as i find it hard to explain things on paper. This will probably take me ages to write but i really need the help & advice of this forum.

I am a losing player and want to become a winning player which I know is easyer said than done.

First a bit about myself.

I live in the UK and love the game of poker like most of us on here.
I started playing poker since 2004 (i am 54 now) mostly on the internet as I work in the evening and can't get to the live poker tournaments. I played mostly small buy in tourneys winning a couple but eventually lost all my deposits.

In 2006 I was unable to get on the internet so I spent the summer reading poker books & I got the poker software poker academy pro 2 & practiced on that. After the summer I cashed in 6 small buy in live Tourneys in a row and deposited money in Empire Poker where in Jan, Feb & March of 2007 I won aprox $3000 to $4000 per month I thought that at last I have got there.

But since April 2007 up to now i Can't seem to win anything so maybe that was a lucky streak and i was not as good as i thought I was.

In Jan 2009 I deposited yet another $100 on full tilt, got it up to $400 playing small buy in MTTs and then on a Saturday i came 2nd in a $26 MTT and won about $1800, then Sunday won a sat to the $750 tourney and won $800. Luckily I withdrew $1000 of it as I have never won nothing since so I lost that plus a lot more. In the last few months I hate to think what i have deposited and lost.

In the past I have deposited on FT, Titan, party poker, BWIN, Lucky Ace and 2 days ago $50 on poker stars which I have already lost.

I know the first thing you are going to say is BR Management & yes I know that is my first Problem which I promis you that is what i am going to try to do from now on.

WHAT I THINK IS WRONG WITH MY GAME NOLIMIT HOLDEM
MTTs - I am a TAG player & always seem to last fot quite a bit till the late stages of a Tournament. I ether go out just before the bubble or cash just after the Bubble. I know when the blinds go up you have got to ajust & play more hands. This is my big problem. This is where i get knocked out as I always seem to play the wrong hands at the wrong time. If possible i need advise on how i can get better at this. I know position is important. I would be very gratefull on any advise on this or anything els you think I should know or should be doing.

SNGs NO LIMIT/LIMIT HOLDEM
About a month ago I wrote a Thread on this. With all your advise i stuck to BR Management & from a $100 I got up to $450 then I lost it all. I seem to win quite alot and then all of a sudden i can't win hardley any at all.

RINGS GAMES MOSTLY NO LIMIT. ALSO LIKE LIMIT HOLDEM
Well I think this has got to be my weakest link. One minut i do well the next minut i lose it all. I don't want to give up cash games as (1) This gets my players points up. (2) I am limited to how long i have to play and don't have time to play in a Tourney so cash games is ideal for me.

WHAT I HAVE DECIDED TO DO NOW
From today i am not going to depost any money straight away. I am going to re read all my poker books which are - Harrington on Tournaments 1/2 & 3 Harrington on cash games 1. and anything els any of you recommend.
I am also going back to practising on poker acadamy 2. then i am thinking of deposting $100 - $150 as that is all i can afford at the moment on one of the sites. I don't know which one yet. that is another bit of advise i would like on what site i should play on. My hours of work are mostly from 6pm-11pm week days. 6pm t0 12.30am Saturdays and 6pm-10.30pm Sunday this is UK time So i tend to play alot when i finsh work espeshley tournaments. So i need a site which has got good MTT tournaments at that time.
Cash Game i tend to play in the mornning from about 7pm - 12 noon UK time.

I am sorry this has bean so very long but i wanted to give you as much information can. Ilove the game of poker as all of you do and I would be so gratefull for any advise.
I don't know where els to go for advise, plus having read so many threads on this forum I have seen the help you have given to others and you cetainly know what you are talking about.

If there is any other info you need please just ask. I do use Tournament & Holdem indicactor. I have tried the others but cant seem to get on with them.
Once again thanks for reading this & sorry it is so long.

Telboy

Well, one thing you could do is become a little more active in the forum... a few more posts and you'll be able to join the cardschat freerolls, that'd be a nice, safe way to build your bankroll.

I've blown my rolls on pokerstars, full tilt and ultimatebet... don't want to deposit again so I'm just freerolling right now. Still have a few more posts to be eligible for CC freerolls though.

The following is just my opinion, take it with a grain of salt:

telboy said:

WHAT I THINK IS WRONG WITH MY GAME NOLIMIT HOLDEM
MTTs - I am a TAG player & always seem to last fot quite a bit till the late stages of a Tournament. I ether go out just before the bubble or cash just after the Bubble. I know when the blinds go up you have got to ajust & play more hands. This is my big problem. This is where i get knocked out as I always seem to play the wrong hands at the wrong time. If possible i need advise on how i can get better at this. I know position is important. I would be very gratefull on any advise on this or anything els you think I should know or should be doing.

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Actually as you get later in a tourney position becomes less and less important because stacks are not very big. When you have ~20 BBs you want to be looking for spots to resteal more than anything. Most likely the bigger stacks will be stealing with a pretty wide range and basically you want to punish this. You can be pushing hands like suited connectors and broadway cards along with the normal monsters. I'm still working on the concept myself on when to do it with what hands and in which spots. But generally if you are shortstacked near the bubble position plays a very limited roll and we should be playing very little postflop.

telboy said:

SNGs NO LIMIT/LIMIT HOLDEM
About a month ago I wrote a Thread on this. With all your advise i stuck to BR Management & from a $100 I got up to $450 then I lost it all. I seem to win quite alot and then all of a sudden i can't win hardley any at all.

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Seems you really didn't stick to BRM. As you lose some you should be moving down and it should take a long time to go busto from $450. Maybe it was a long time and you're just being brief but in general you should be playing like $5 tourneys at the most with $450 and like 10nl (5c/10c blinds) for cash games.

telboy said:

RINGS GAMES MOSTLY NO LIMIT. ALSO LIKE LIMIT HOLDEM
Well I think this has got to be my weakest link. One minut i do well the next minut i lose it all. I don't want to give up cash games as (1) This gets my players points up. (2) I am limited to how long i have to play and don't have time to play in a Tourney so cash games is ideal for me.

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ok, please don't take offense to this, but if your only analysis of your game is you do well sometimes and lose sometimes you probably have a ways to go on the strategy side. Good news you're in the right place .

telboy said:

WHAT I HAVE DECIDED TO DO NOW
From today i am not going to depost any money straight away. I am going to re read all my poker books which are - Harrington on Tournaments 1/2 & 3 Harrington on cash games 1. and anything els any of you recommend.

Click to expand...

The Harrington tournament books are fantastic and I would deinitely read them. The cash game books aren't horrible but honestly I think the tourney books will help your cash game more than the cash game books, just my opinion. One other thing I would do is read this. It will likely be a bit confusing at first, but if you can work to understand these concepts you'll be well on your way to being a solid cash game player.

telboy said:

I am also going back to practising on poker acadamy 2. then i am thinking of deposting $100 - $150 as that is all i can afford at the moment on one of the sites. I don't know which one yet. that is another bit of advise i would like on what site i should play on. My hours of work are mostly from 6pm-11pm week days. 6pm t0 12.30am Saturdays and 6pm-10.30pm Sunday this is UK time So i tend to play alot when i finsh work espeshley tournaments. So i need a site which has got good MTT tournaments at that time.
Cash Game i tend to play in the mornning from about 7pm - 12 noon UK time.

Click to expand...

I'd do Full Tilt assuming you have/can get rakeback. But then again you're in the UK so you can basically play anywhere. Play somewhere that has plenty of low limit tourney/cash action and offers good rakeback.


Hopefully this was helpful.

I think keeping a poker journal on what you think went wrong in the day and what went well during the day so you can reflect and improve. At the end of each session, spend 10 minutes writing and reflecting hands that worked well or where you could have done better.

Of course, reading books is helpful but you need to apply it so I suggest maybe play some games after reading just to apply and adapt your play. Reading is well and good but practice makes perfect, no?

Obviously, you have a concern of improving and depositing more funds so aim for small stakes but not Mirco? People play differently on Micro don't they? That way you get the practice you need to remember what you've learnt.

About downswings.. hey, we've all been there I believe. Every pro had a time in their life where they had to work their way up? I'm on a downswing myself. Need a poker holiday I think :s My BR is down from 41 buy-ins to now... 11 buy ins? I'm finding it hard to move down.. but I think I need to face it T.T

Great post. I echo what Zach says tbh.

If your strongest game is MTTs (and it sounds like it is) then you need to be prepared for long downswings punctuated by the big wins. This make it critical you practice BRM as it helps you through these spots. Long term winning at MTTs is a much about coping with the dry periods as it is having a solid game.

I appreciate that you are not someone who likes to post a lot but enjoys the forum anyway, but you will find the support you get being a regular poster to be a huge help psychologically as much as with the mechanics of your game and brm. Posting problem spots in HA or asking questions really does help (if you ignore the inevitable few ridiculous responses you will get with the good ones). And I've got to say that for someone who doesn't enjoy posting, the OP of this thread is an excellent one.

Ultimately the most important thing is that you have recognised the need to change your approach and are not blaming it on bad luck or circumstances beyond your control. That's the first step and the hardest one, so you are on the right path already.

If you dont want to lose money and you like playing poker, just play in freerolls. You can play with everything you won there.

I would like to thank all the people that have responded to this thread so far, the info has been very helpfull.

Winning and Losing streaks happen. One thing I might suggest other than bankroll management and freerolls is to start playing in "double-up sng's". At a 10 player table 5 players win double the buy-in. Easy to build a bankroll just by playing conservative and smart and avoiding the all-in hands.

u have to learn when ur running bad or playing bad they are two very diffrent situraitons in poker. If u can learn when ur playing bad u quit that minute and wait until a later time to get back and play some more. When ur running bad is the most important time, if u can get away from the computer when ur running bad it will save ur bankroll in the long run, read ur books if ur playing bad and turn off the computer when ur running bad.

wow I so know how that feels, that is why I wont deposit anymore, if I were you I would not deposit and stay with live games, the odds on internet poker are fake, nothing but bad beats and suck outs, I played a 1 dollar buy in on bodog got to the final table and made one wrong move and it cost me the game, came in 4th so I did cash, but if your running bad stick with free rolls only, I built up 37 bucks with only 80 cents, but then the site turned out to be shady and I dumped it all on purpose. I do not really have access to live games unless I want to drive 3 hours up and back, so if have access to live games, that is where the money is at.

If cash games are your weak link...DONT PLAY THEM!! I know its tempting to open a few tables to get your points up, as you mention, but seriously, the points system is the downfall of SO many playeys. When I started on Full Tilt, I was obsessed with making the iron man every month. I played WAY out of my limits and went broke a few times. I'm still not a profitable player but am happy with the small improvements i'm making gradually, and my swings are less severe now I'm ignoring the points system!

There is no quick fix to making you a profitable player. The time you'll start playing your best game (and winning!) is when the amounts dont matter. I mean your not panicking about losing and going broke. Stick to 50+ buy in's. So if you deposit $100-$150, only play $2 games! Yes, its a slow grind, but once you hit the next level (i'd suggest $300+ before moving to $5 games) it'll build faster. Then the next level, faster still.
Too many players want to get rich overnight. IT WONT HAPPEN. Being a profitable poker player needs self discipline and strict bankroll management. If you cant stick to it, then give up the dream and play poker JUST for enjoyment, like 90% of the people who play it. Wins will still come, but you wont make money. Most players are fairly content with that, and I'm one of them. I'm never gonna be a pro, I'm an average player and I enjoy playing a few hands, live or online.
You say you averaged $3k-$4k for 3 months in 2007. Was that just playing poker? I find it hard to believe you can do that, then go from $100 to $450 to.... BROKE on a different site.
I won £14,000 on Ladbrokes in 2007, but over half of that was in one night playing roulette where every bet I made landed, and I ended up playing £500 spins! Not my finest hour but I only made a deposit that night (£100) with the intention of donking it off over a few beers. Won say 7/8,000, withdrew most then spent a month or so building up £1000 to around £5000 playing £50 and £100 SnG's (and NO casino games). My point is, when I emptied my account, it looked like i'd made a killling playing poker, but it was MOSTLY just gambling. I have the impression you play as a gambler rather than a poker player. (Dont be offended, and correct me if i'm wrong) I only get this impression given the swings (varience) you've talked about. You must have been playing ridiculously high limits.
I really dont know what to suggest from here apart from being strict with yourself, keeping a notepad with an honest record of wins/losses, and maybe a few scribbles about hands that have gotten you into trouble, writing them down will drum them into your head in future.
"called a raise (by xxxx) from x position with Q 10, flopped top pair, over-bet flop, out to an overpair".... etc
I did that and it really works. You'll want to play a more solid game, and perhaps take less risks when your keeping records. Once you see your stats in black and white, you always try to better yourself.
Best of luck, take it easy on the tables.

I read posts on here for a while before I actually wrote one myself. Believe me, IT HELPS to get other opinions. Especially on mtt strategy. I busted out of a trny not long ago. After thinking about it, I asked a "situational" question. My thought process at that time of the trny turned out to be more agro than it should have been for that spot in the trny and it cost me money. (thanks by the way for the responses I got.) So I'd would advise to ask alot of questions. You'll always get good advise.

After reading all the advise you gave me which has really helped I have just made a deposit into full tilt.

I reread Harrington vol 1 on tournaments & changed my game.

Late last night (UK time) I entered a $2.25 180 player mtt sng and came 8th
This morning I entered a $2.25 3 table sng and came 4th.

I am very pleased with my play in the last 2 Tournaments. I know it is early days & there is still room for improvment.

I played much better than I have been playing, I payed attention to what all the other players were doing, whether they were Tight or loose and keeping track on what bets & raises they were making with which hands. When i did finally go out I went in with the best hand in both Tournaments

My Bankroll is now up to $150.00

I am planning to enter $2.25 SNGs & .2-.5 cash games.
Could you please tell me if this is right for my Bankroll.

I am thinking of posting a follow up thread on this on my progress.
What do you think.

Thanks again

Telboy

LarryT503 said:

Winning and Losing streaks happen. One thing I might suggest other than bankroll management and freerolls is to start playing in "double-up sng's". At a 10 player table 5 players win double the buy-in. Easy to build a bankroll just by playing conservative and smart and avoiding the all-in hands.

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This is new to me. What sites offer this game? Any sites the allow US players?

PokerJoeAAAA said:

This is new to me. What sites offer this game? Any sites the allow US players?

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Pokerstars