I make the dumbest plays

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ilostmysoul

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Hello all
I started playing 1 month ago as my 1st experience with online poker.
I started out with 10€ on pokerstars (money came from a PaySafe sell so I couldn't use it in the real world) and burned most of them on a Tilt rampage. Invested 10 from my bank account and started studying theory then... I have .7€ left.

Here's the thing though: I can kill at S&Gs and MTTs (Turbos with large stacks) but my game is DESTROYED at Cash Games. So why don't I play S&Gs and MTTs only? Because I wanted to learn and apply Cash theory first, and unless you're very lucky or know exactly what you are doing, the prizes suck.

Now, I have theory knowledge, but it's still not-aplied. I can calculate pot odds and implied odds. I try to play TAG and to read opponents. But I make the stupidiest plays in the world.

An example includes going all-in with 99s on a QT8 flop. Or playing against a constant caller (I don't have a tracker but from my 30 minutes at the table he folded 0% of the times pre-flop and about 5% post-flop, calling all draws to the end, always betting when checked into, and never raising), I call a pot bet from this guy on the river on a KJ46Q board... With A6, cause well I thought he was bluffing since we checked all the way through. He had KJ.:smokin:

I make this kind of top-notch plays in MTTs and S&Gs too, it's just that usually by playing extreme TAG all-in or 3bet/all-in, depending exactly on the tournament type, oponents, and hand, I have a great pre-flop equity with my hands and when we reach mid-tournament I have 4 our 5 times the average stack, so stupid plays are affordable. On Cash Games its not this easy.
I'm afraid of playing more cause I'll just lose, but then I can't practise. I'm thinking about playing freerolls or cheap MTTs until I get to a reasonable bankroll, and in the mean time watch cash games TV shows or studying online hand analysis for practise.
Any thoughts or tips?
 
dopeddrgn

dopeddrgn

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Starting with so little means you have less chance of experience the positive end of variance. I suggest depositing $40 US or EU and playing $1.50 regular or turbo SNG to build the bank roll. Play 2NL cash games as well. Less pressure in cash and more time to analyze your opponents and improve board reading skills. Gaining experience is more important than building a bank roll when starting out. Playing profitable right out of the gate is a rare occurrence.
 
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lukeellul92

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It's all practice! Last night in my cash games I made dumb plays that 5 minutes after I looked at wonderign why I played hands I never normally would.
It's all practice, study and more practice. Wouldn't shove all in on 99 with QT8 flop like you said you did though. It's middle pair, and if someones playing, especially online, chances are they have a queen or higher in their hand.

Also A6, I never really would play this hand unless I'm BB and I get the option to check or im on the button and everyone before me has called. It's a common misconception that these hands are good, when rarely they are. Although in saying that,the Ace high can be a life saver if the board works in your favour.

If you tilt, walk away, it's a sure way to lose everything. Even the pro's tilt though, so don't feel too bad. The more you practice, the more you study, the easier it'll be to overcome tilt, and hopefully you'll start seeing some positive outcomes.

If you use Pokerstars for your online client, they have an online school which I highly recommend. It's full of courses, quizes and assessments.
 
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ilostmysoul

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Thank you both for your answers :)

I actually had an insomnia case last night and started playing at midnight. To be fair I could only play because of the recent change from pokerstars.com to Pokerstars.eu that happened yesterday, and somehow they forgot that the minimum buy-in for NL2 used to be .8€ or $1 (same thing). However I managed to get in with $.8, something I wasn't able to do before. Not sure whether or not that is a bug, to be fair it only seems legit to me, since it's 40xBB either way.
Anyways I got in with $.8 and managed to increase my bankroll to $5 playing for 2 hours. Then I played today at lunch too and increased it by another $1 so it's going fine. Might just be an upswing tho. Anyways I'm going to review most of those hands now and checking in for another midnight play after some college studying.

As far as the A6 play goes, whenever I put someone on a bluff it's very hard for me to let go. Earlier today I had 66 on a 8TK board or something, 1 v 1, me being a preflop limper and OOP. It clearly seems like a check/fold situation. However for some reason I put the guy on a bluff. I donk bet 1/2 pot, he raises, I call. Check/call turn (it was a low card, I think 3). And we check-check river (which was another T if I'm not wrong). He shows an Ax bluff. One of the pots that granted me a profit today.

So yea I need to learn how to put those "intuitive reads" away and use more logic, because that bet/call on the flop looks really bad after the hand was finished. Another thing I need to do is to stop trying to check/raise low limit players with the nut flush or a full house in the river. Happened to me twice last night. I know most of the times they will just check back, but for some reason I still do it.
The tilt is kinda bad to control but I'm trying to get better at it. I no longer get mad with bad beats because I will just get away. What does get to me is when I'm playing for 1 hour straight only getting 63, 96, etc. And whenever I get a fair hand, like QKs, people start raising like crazy pre-flop and forcing me to fold. Then I fold that QKs and flop comes QKK or whatever. Even if I fold a bad hand after 1 hour getting bad hands, like J2s, and flop comes 22J, I get mad, even though I know I played well by not getting involved in the hand. Eventually it's boredom + this kind of stuff that makes me tilt and start calling with whatever I get pre-flop. Oh that and getting pocket pairs with a decent stack, since I'm always "forced" to call even one raise preflop and see if I hit a set, which doesn't happen most of the time, but still costs money.
Defenitely going to check out PokerStars' school thanks for the tip :)

Thank you both again and good luck at the tables!!
 
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lukeellul92

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Thank you both for your answers :)

I actually had an insomnia case last night and started playing at midnight. To be fair I could only play because of the recent change from Pokerstars.com to Pokerstars.eu that happened yesterday, and somehow they forgot that the minimum buy-in for NL2 used to be .8€ or $1 (same thing). However I managed to get in with $.8, something I wasn't able to do before. Not sure whether or not that is a bug, to be fair it only seems legit to me, since it's 40xBB either way.
Anyways I got in with $.8 and managed to increase my bankroll to $5 playing for 2 hours. Then I played today at lunch too and increased it by another $1 so it's going fine. Might just be an upswing tho. Anyways I'm going to review most of those hands now and checking in for another midnight play after some college studying.

As far as the A6 play goes, whenever I put someone on a bluff it's very hard for me to let go. Earlier today I had 66 on a 8TK board or something, 1 v 1, me being a preflop limper and OOP. It clearly seems like a check/fold situation. However for some reason I put the guy on a bluff. I donk bet 1/2 pot, he raises, I call. Check/call turn (it was a low card, I think 3). And we check-check river (which was another T if I'm not wrong). He shows an Ax bluff. One of the pots that granted me a profit today.

So yea I need to learn how to put those "intuitive reads" away and use more logic, because that bet/call on the flop looks really bad after the hand was finished. Another thing I need to do is to stop trying to check/raise low limit players with the nut flush or a full house in the river. Happened to me twice last night. I know most of the times they will just check back, but for some reason I still do it.
Defenitely going to check out PokerStars' school thanks for the tip :)

Thank you both again and good luck at the tables!!


I hate "putting someone on a bluff" when it comes to online. your 66 on 8TK is a lucky win, in my opinion. Othersmight see it differently though.

You're playing microstakes as well, you need to remember one thing about microstakes. People don't care about their money as much as higher stakes, so they play loosely and more dangerously then they normally would.
It's good practice if you wanna get a hang of real money games, but if you have the bankroll (not sure if you do), i'd suggest moving up a few stakes to where the play becomes a little more serious. This is just my opinion once again and not sure if eveyrone would agree with that.
 
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ilostmysoul

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I hate "putting someone on a bluff" when it comes to online. your 66 on 8TK is a lucky win, in my opinion. Othersmight see it differently though.

You're playing microstakes as well, you need to remember one thing about microstakes. People don't care about their money as much as higher stakes, so they play loosely and more dangerously then they normally would.
It's good practice if you wanna get a hang of real money games, but if you have the bankroll (not sure if you do), i'd suggest moving up a few stakes to where the play becomes a little more serious. This is just my opinion once again and not sure if eveyrone would agree with that.

Right now I can't afford to put more than 10€ into poker. At least until I get a part time (have one pending but the answer is only due in a few weeks).
I have had the experience of NL4 before when I reached 20€ in my account for the first time (awesome bankroll management). Seemed tighter, more serious table, but still I played there for 20 minutes and I didn't see one single hand that didn't get raised/3-betted pre-flop. Aggresive like heck. Tighter, sure, but way more aggresive that the normal 3BBs we get in NL2. Somehow my bankroll survived that but it dropped to below 10 pretty fast. Only going into NL4 when I have 100 :p. It would be awesome if I could move up on the limits only through my earnings in the lower limits. That's my goal
 
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