Advice from fellow players

K

KLa EST

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Hello!

I am writing to you hoping you could advise me a bit and ease my soul.

I have a bit strange problem that probably lots of other people also have- I think I'm good at playing poker, but I feel that there is something that I haven't mastered yet, something that keeps me winning in a long run and I just can't figure out what it is.

I have played for several years already, the story is usual- started playing with my friends, then made my first deposit to a poker site (PokerStars) and here I am. Currently I have busted my bankroll of 50 EUR about 10 times straight. I feel really depressed about it, not so much for the money but for the feeling itself, that I'm not able to survive in the field.

First bankrolls I busted making the usual rookie mistakes- playing too high stakes for my bankroll, making too many "optimistic" calls etcetc, but the last ones I feel I can't understand what the problem is. I feel like I'm playing good, solid poker, perhaps few mistakes here and there, that could be avoided by some better player, but in general, I'm still losing in the long run.

I have read poker books, poker forums, other sites for poker strategies, probably have watched every EPT and PCA that is available in YouTube, also cash games like Big Game, yet it seems I'm somehow not able to add all this wisdom to my poker game. And I'm not trying to adapt somebody else's game, more learn from their mistakes and successes, analyze different spots.

I mainly play texas hold'em rebuy MTT-s and both 6-max and 9-max Cash Tables. Sometimes also other games like badugi, razz, 5-card, 2-7 lowball, omaha. The weird part is, that I'm supposed to have the most skill and experience in Hold'em, yet I have never lost money in the other games (of course I don't play them so often and for so long periods as I play hold'em).

Of course bad beats are a big arsenal of my money loss. It seems it's even worse for me than for most of the people (although I think everybody says that). Yesterday I played and lost all-in's TT v AT, KK vs A3, AA vs KK etc. And I lost and lost and lost and lost until half of my bankroll was gone. And if you're going to say, that online poker is rigged, hear this: after that I played with my little brother just for fun and I lost literally ALL of the all-ins he was a huge underdog to: AQ vs Q5, A4 vs 43 and all the else were similar. I'm pretty sure my little bro is not rigged. :)

And after yesterday I felt so so bad, the worst I have ever felt because of poker.

I know this was a long story and thank you if you took your time to read it through, but my question to you is what should I do next? Is it possible that I'm completely hopeless and should quit playing before I lose any more? I hope you could think of something based on my story Any ideas are welcome.

Thank you in advance! :)


 
D

DonkeyH3AD

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go on lower stakes and do not deposit another 50$ mabye try to play on freeroll and build You bankroll on it?
 
Arjonius

Arjonius

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Maybe you should re-examine your assumption that you're good at poker. I can't count how many times I've seen players who think this way despite having results that don't support doing so.

Consider that
- having played for a while doesn't mean you're a good player,
- having read books and/or watched videos doesn't mean you're a good player,
- having participated actively on forums doesn't mean you're a good player,
- having better than average knowledge doesn't mean you're a good player,
- a winning record some time ago doesn't mean you're a good player now.

Good is relative to the competition you play. If you're the 1000th best player in the world, you're very good compared to the entire population of players, but if you only play against the best 10, you're not good when it counts.

Focus on improving your game. When it becomes good enough to beat the competition you're playing, you will.
 
K

KLa EST

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OK, I will rephrase my problem: I am better than average, not a good player, who somehow fails to take his game to the next level. And I try so hard to analyze the spots I am in- who am I playing against the hand, what is my and his stack size how deep in the tournament are we etc- but misread the spots often enough that I will become a losing player.
 
rickypr18

rickypr18

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Arjonius said:
Maybe you should re-examine your assumption that you're good at poker. I can't count how many times I've seen players who think this way despite having results that don't support doing so.

Consider that
- having played for a while doesn't mean you're a good player,
- having read books and/or watched videos doesn't mean you're a good player,
- having participated actively on forums doesn't mean you're a good player,
- having better than average knowledge doesn't mean you're a good player,
- a winning record some time ago doesn't mean you're a good player now.

Good is relative to the competition you play. If you're the 1000th best player in the world, you're very good compared to the entire population of players, but if you only play against the best 10, you're not good when it counts.

Focus on improving your game. When it becomes good enough to beat the competition you're playing, you will.
Click to expand...

Very good assessment. Especially in the "a winning record some time ago doesn't mean you're a good player now", that's me. Some years ago I was great at live sit & go's, barely ever failed to make the money (obviously the competition was usually the same, and I had almost perfect reads on all of them), and was more times than not the 1st place finisher. Then I stopped playing poker for 2 or 3 years, and now I'm coming back, but online, since those people I used to beat 2 or 3 years ago aren't very enthusiastic about playing with me again. And it's not the same to the same people almost every week to playing hundreds of different people every week when you play online. I thought I could make money, based on my winning (live) past, but it's not the same. I thought it was the same for a moment, when I freerolled my way to $600 plus in ACR, but then pissed it off due to horrendous bankroll management and tilt management. It's become clear that I tilt much more now than I used to, and that is a huge problem. And I've haven't been giving it my best every single time I sat down to play poker like I used to.
 
tothbopo

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KLa EST said:
OK, I will rephrase my problem: I am better than average, not a good player, who somehow fails to take his game to the next level. And I try so hard to analyze the spots I am in- who am I playing against the hand, what is my and his stack size how deep in the tournament are we etc- but misread the spots often enough that I will become a losing player.
Click to expand...

I know what you mean and how you fell.

For me that means that every time I read about something new that I like could be strategy or how to c-bet schove or some kind of bluff making.

I take in to the games at the tables playing freerolls.

I get beaten a lot trying new stuff, but in time it is improving my play.

But I try new tings in freerolls. So I dont waste money on education.

When I am ready I could play real money again but right now I am learning.
 
Arjonius

Arjonius

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KLa EST said:
OK, I will rephrase my problem: I am better than average, not a good player, who somehow fails to take his game to the next level. And I try so hard to analyze the spots I am in- who am I playing against the hand, what is my and his stack size how deep in the tournament are we etc- but misread the spots often enough that I will become a losing player.
Click to expand...
What basis do you have for this assessment? If you're better than the average opponent you face, shouldn't you be winning money?

If you're not winning money over a decent sample, is it possible you're over-rating yourself?

Yes, it's possible that a small portion of your hands represents the difference between winning and losing. But is this the only possible reason you're not winning? Is it even the most likely?

And even if this is the case, so what? When you assess your relative ability, all your hands count. It's ridiculous to omit the times where you make poor reads or plays.
 
K

KLa EST

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Arjonius said:
What basis do you have for this assessment? If you're better than the average opponent you face, shouldn't you be winning money?

If you're not winning money over a decent sample, is it possible you're over-rating yourself?

Yes, it's possible that a small portion of your hands represents the difference between winning and losing. But is this the only possible reason you're not winning? Is it even the most likely?

And even if this is the case, so what? When you assess your relative ability, all your hands count. It's ridiculous to omit the times where you make poor reads or plays.
Click to expand...


OK, you're obviously right about my playing level, but I don't understand your comment about omitting the times where I make poor decisions- I didn't omit them. That's what I was talking about in the first place- trying so hard to make good decisions but failing. I recently started going through the forums again and found many things an advance player should know, that I wasn't even aware of, so I guess my statement, that I'm a good player was truly exaggerated. :) I will start learning more and trying to make my game better without whining about it here in the forum. Thanks for your help anyway! :)
 
Arjonius

Arjonius

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KLa EST said:
OK, you're obviously right about my playing level, but I don't understand your comment about omitting the times where I make poor decisions- I didn't omit them.
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If you're above average compared to your opponents, there's a high probability you'd be a winning player - not crushing it, but winning. But you're not winning. This suggests you're not above average.

It seems reasonable to assume that to be be an above average player, your decision-making must be better than average compared to your opponents. If, as your results suggest, you're not above average, then the only way to rate your decision-making above average is exclude some of your poor decisions.

That's what I was talking about in the first place- trying so hard to make good decisions but failing. I recently started going through the forums again and found many things an advance player should know, that I wasn't even aware of, so I guess my statement, that I'm a good player was truly exaggerated. :) I will start learning more and trying to make my game better without whining about it here in the forum. Thanks for your help anyway! :)
Click to expand...
Fwiw, I've seen faaaar worse in terms of whining, both here and in other forums.

Improve your game enough and you'll become a winning player. IMO that matters waaaay more than how you rate yourself. In any case, once you've become a winning player, at least you'll have a decent basis to rate yourself above average or good.
 
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