How do you suggest I find and fix major leaks in my poker game?

[Jarud]

Hi All, pretty new to the poker world but have been playing poker online for about 6months, I only play the micros mainly cash games as it suits my lifestyle and schedule.

I've clocked about 20,000 hands and I'm currently a losing poker player somewhere between 8-10BB/100 depending on which stake and network. Fortunately a few deep runs in tournaments has kept me from re-depositing, although I am only playing for pennies literally; my short term goal is to win enough buy ins to move up to the next stake NL 10.

Can anyone recommend anything I should look into in my game that could be a major leak? I've tried to slowly incorporate bluffing to little success. Material I've learnt from are as follows, Grinders manual, books by Nathan Williams, and I frequently watch videos by Jonathan Little. Currently I'm reading Jared Tendlers book to try and work on my mental game.

Thanks in advance
Jarud

 

[pokerballsaa]

Can you post the stats from your 20,000 hands? We can not tell you areas to improve and talk about possible leaks from the little information you have provided.

 

[zinzir]

In my opinion, one needs to be a consistent winner at a certain stake in order to advance to the next one. Also, not all micro stakes are created equal, 1-2 cent and 10-25 cent tables are both considered micro stakes, but the average people playing at those tables have quite different skill levels. Bluffing for example (because you mentioned it) rarely works at 1-2 cent tables, because people with a low skill level are hard to bluff, good players are more likely to fold to a bluff, but it needs to be a good bluff, it needs to be credible, like a good story, your behavior throughout should be consistent with the hand you are pretending to have, a good bluff is not just raising big and praying that the opponent will fold. At the smaller micro stakes tables, in my opinion, you are better off never bluffing at all, the average players are not paying that much attention.

 

[Jarud]

Can you post the stats from your 20,000 hands? We can not tell you areas to improve and talk about possible leaks from the little information you have provided.

yes I can, sorry for the dumb question but are you referring to my HUD stats? and also can you explain how I can/could post them?

 

[Anton Fedorov]

I’m not playing professionally for about 7 years, and I realized over time that poker is developing very quickly and you need to keep up with it, otherwise the young and strong will not give you the way. Constant development is needed in all aspects of life. Otherwise, good results cannot be achieved. Health, nutrition, family, relationships have a very strong impact on your game. If you have harmony in everything, and the game will develop faster.

 

[pentazepam]

20.000 hands are not that much online.

If you really study and UNDERSTAND The Grinders Manual (by Peter Clarke) this book alone should be enough to beat a least up to 25NL online.

Post some hands were you lose big (not bad beats) and maybe we can suggest some improvements.

But to repeat myself: the three teachers you study know are very good for learning how to beat micro stakes cash (Peter Clarke & Nathan Williams/blackrain79) and tournaments (Jonathan Little). If you correctly can practice what you learn from their books and videos you should be winning - after about 100.000 hands at the lowest stakes. Nothing certain even after 1 million hands of course. But somewhere between 100.000 hands and a million you can talk about true win-rates. In cash games that is. Tournaments with big fields can be difficult to find a true win-rate at all if you don't multi-table for several years.

Study.Understand. Implement.

 

[GWU73]

Here is a short reading list - In Order:
Harrington on Cash Games (VOl 1 & 2)
Small Stakes No Limit Hold'Em

These three books are not new, but the represent a very solid foundation.

 

[Jah Groot]

I’d love to look at the stats. Do you have the hands in pt4 or hm2?

Just something that I can note is a big problem for new players in the micros is understanding that you are a losing players in the blinds . You’re not supposed to be a winning player long run from sb and bb . Having a tighter range and developing a better 3 betting range will help with this tremendously. Just something to think about.

Willing to help if you have any questions or if you wanna review some hands . 20k hands is a very small sample but You should be able to find leaks . The micro micro should be really polarizing in strategy and hand reviewing
would be really beneficial