Struggling Beginner w/ goals

  • Thread starter teh_colonel_saigon
  • Start date
teh_colonel_saigon

teh_colonel_saigon

Rock Star
Silver Level
Joined
Nov 3, 2013
Total posts
382
Chips
0
Hey guiz \(@ ̄∇ ̄@)/

So I've been playing fairly seriously for the past 2 months or so, and I finally am making some money on DON SNGs on Carbon. The thing is, they are so damn slow and boring, and I don't really get that much experience as a player out of them, with maybe 1 or 2 hands per game that are worth anything other than studying them for ICM push fold nonsense (not that that's not cool or anything... lol) which I can't do accurately anyway since I don't have an ICM calculator.

In any event, I'd like to get a lot more comfortable hand reading and to be able to play looser. I know this is a very broad goal, so to narrow it down I'd like to be able to be successful at micro stakes 6 max cash games. Hell, even break even.

A side goal would be to be successful at 6 max turbo sngs, since the weekly poker home game im in operates pretty much like this format. My friends arent that bright and they like to shell out money for poker, so it would be nice to win every third week or so.

I've tried reading books to help me along with this, but I feel like many people undervalue experience. Should I grind a few DONs until I can pay for a 9 man cash game buy in each day? For a 6-man cash game? Should I just stick to SNGs? (I am far better at 9 man reg SNGs compared to cash games.) 6 max turbo SNGs are pretty crazy, and even though it is a donk fest (or so it seems) I'm not good enough to take advantage of other players.

The books I've read thus far are as follows:
Hold em Theory and Practice (read through it a few times a while ago)
SNG strategy by Moshman (very nice)
Crushing low stakes poker by Mike Turner (sucks)
Secrets of short-handed No Limit Hold em by Danny Ashman (poorly written and mostly hand histories, but still very useful and interesting for understanding the logic behind hand reading)

I have a lot of fun playing and talking about poker so I don't mind not winning money. I'm also thinking of investing in a computer, since im on a mac right now and hating it :(. So I'll throw some dough down on a good HUD and whatever other software may be helpful in the next few weeks.

Any advice or criticism is helpful. :icon_sunn perchate the help and advice, all
 
goaldriversv

goaldriversv

Legend
Platinum Level
Joined
Jun 21, 2014
Total posts
1,429
Awards
10
Chips
151
i think i've seen you at the micro dons ($1-$2)...i'm a regular at the $1 and playing more $2 so i can be mentally tough for the variance. i'm noticing that the players are just as bad. anyway, if you're doing well at the dons, don't quit it. you found a sweet spot. if you find it boring, then multi table 4-8. you won't be as bored, but don't go away from where you're making money. with the profit, you can certainly explore cash games and other types of sngs. i've found that i still need to learn the online cash game and am much more successful at sngs and mtts. as a result, i've stayed away from online cash games. i'm sure you'll get some insight into what works for you and what doesn't, but bottom line is to keep playing where you're profitable and explore other areas with your profit.
 
W

WiZZiM

Legend
Silver Level
Joined
Oct 28, 2009
Total posts
5,008
Chips
0
ok so whatever you want to do, find a partiuclar format and stick to it!!!!

You simply can't take it seriously if you don't play specifically one format and master it. Weather that is 6max sng or 6max cash games, they all need an incredibly amount of work for you to be successful. So find a game you like, stick to it and master the ins and outs of that game. Once you have mastered one format, then you have skills to take to anotehr format or higher buyin level. In my experiance, the ones who fail are generally the ones who mix formats regularly.
 
teh_colonel_saigon

teh_colonel_saigon

Rock Star
Silver Level
Joined
Nov 3, 2013
Total posts
382
Chips
0
i think i've seen you at the micro dons ($1-$2)...i'm a regular at the $1 and playing more $2 so i can be mentally tough for the variance. i'm noticing that the players are just as bad. anyway, if you're doing well at the dons, don't quit it. you found a sweet spot. if you find it boring, then multi table 4-8. you won't be as bored, but don't go away from where you're making money. with the profit, you can certainly explore cash games and other types of sngs. i've found that i still need to learn the online cash game and am much more successful at sngs and mtts. as a result, i've stayed away from online cash games. i'm sure you'll get some insight into what works for you and what doesn't, but bottom line is to keep playing where you're profitable and explore other areas with your profit.

Yea I've seen you around, my general time of playing in the day has changed a bit so its been a while i think.

And yea WiZZiM, I agree I should stick to one format, thanks for helping me get it straight. Since I'm better at SNGs, I'll stick to those, 9 man regs and DONs (kinda what I was doing before). It's just if I had to pick an area to specialize in, it'd be 6 man cash. But I think I suck too much for that so I'll try to stick to SNGs for a while.

I think this is a common path for most poker players, right? Starting with SNGs and moving from there? I think SNGs are the most forgiving, since you are limited in your losses and there is some idea of what you'd win.
 
goaldriversv

goaldriversv

Legend
Platinum Level
Joined
Jun 21, 2014
Total posts
1,429
Awards
10
Chips
151
i'm not sure if there's a common path for poker players...to each his own. if anything poker players are used to cash games mostly because that's what they play at home, so they might jump into the online cash games. either way, sngs have the lowest variance out of cash games and mtts. within sngs, the lowest variance would be the dons, then regular (non turbos), then turbos. hyper turbos will have the most variance out of all sngs. also some successful cash game players are bad sng players and vice versa. it's more like you find where you're successful (sngs) while trying cash games to improve your game. you have to start somewhere if you want to improve.
 
Top