Should I Try to Get Better at Poker or Quit?

[terryg642]

get better or quit

First of all you need to examine yourself .Do you love the game or do you love the thrill of gambling I don't know you ,but i can tell you that a gambling addiction will destroy your finances faster than any other kind of addiction.I myself know I love the game .I've played in 100 freerolls never made a deposit,and am thrilled everytime I make the final table.I don't like play money poker either but,it's because you don't get an honest game with play money,and you don't win anything,as far as being good,I've been playing for three years and still consider myself below average.

 

[Arjonius]

It's not necessarily an either/or situation situation depending what your poker goals are - your realistic ones, not the (nearly) impossible dream ones.

For instance, if you play recreationally and don't especially mind it costing you an affordable amount per week, month or year (like many hobbies would), you don't have to get better or quit.

 

[TheNoobie]

Totally up to you. You lose in every game you play. Is that a reason to quit? I mean lol, I have played MOBA games a lot ( Dota, League of Legends, WoW, Heroes of Newerth - not associated with cards ) and Ive got beaten up like a dog, but I didnt decide to quit because I loved the game. If you feel interested in poker why would you stop playing it? You cannot be the best at something. You can do your best. Eventually you will start winning. Its all about practice. What you need to do is not look how much more you need to walk to become a great player, but look at what you have already accomplished. There are a lot of players that are playing way worse than you do but they havent given up. So why would you? Everything comes with experience. You wont get better if you quit and you wont get better if the game isnt fun and exciting for you. You will just be bored and lose money. And your hair will go grey. You dont want that.

 

[cotta777]

I would say if your going to play alot get yourself the tracker software and poker hud etc learn the game inside out.
ensure you have the right lifestyle, young preferably single no kids not risking a career ir education and just give it a shot.

you have a good chance of being able to add a small bit of extra income if your not greedy and want to support like I dunno pocket money or paying bills.

when people set there sights on getting rich it wont happen.
you have to start small and just anything better is a bonus

 

[losties]

You have to work towards your game, you gotta try before you quit!! I know 300 is a lot but if you work slowly winning bits by bits you can take it back again Keep it as a casual thing, so only play if you have the time and when you do play make sure you get the most out of it But Mikey, all I can say is pick your battles and choose the type of game you wanna be good at. You can't win them all. good luck buddy and keep going

 

[hffjd2000]

You have to understand the difference of live and online poker.

Online= very frustrating. You must have full patience to overcome it.

Live = follows bookline and probabilities/odds (in the long run).

 

[KcMoMoney]

Stevejam, Great advice I believe. I am trying to better my game also. Being in Missouri I don't have the option of online. I have been playing when I can but the cheapest MTT live here is $50. I am making a list of tips/strategy that I save. I saved your advice and will read it many more times. Thanks man.

 

[pfb8888]

if you want to have fun and have money and like a good challenge..learn and practice..

if you don't have a good friend who can mentor you or you are in it just to make money...QUIT now....you cant beat the rake...and even if you can beat the lowest levels....you wont make much per hour of time invested..

 

[badalhoco345]

Of course there is hope for you. You have to learn with those tournaments the reasons of failure and correct them: that will turn you in a better player with no doubt. The more tournaments you play, the most you learn, the better you will.

 

[rancidcarp]

The main thing is bankroll management

very important. ive been playing since black friday without spending a dime by playing only what i profit at and keeping detailed stats on where my money goes. i find cash tables isnt a place for a beginner to start. its a great place to win one big chunk and get hooked but its also a place where months of hard tourney work can go down the drain with one bad beat. if you really want to " pay your dues" so to speak. work your way from zero to something set that goal even if it takes a year. learn the hard way. itll stick with you

 

[nygmen2007]

There will be run good and runbad, you can not limit your results to such a small sample size. I would read up on certain books, like super systems, and try to clean up your game..

 

[pkr_man14]

There's definitely hope for you, there's hope for everyone. You are the one who can make the decition to learn and improve, its a self proposed matter. The best way to start is by playing freerolls because you loose no money, and you can win some, or you can either start with play money. You are new to poker, you can't start knowing, nobody can. Experience is the best option, or to get advice of good players, and there's plenty of them in cardschat. Sorry for my bad english

 

[KandiKid]

Stick around man! I'm in a similar boat as you frustration wise. It's all part of the learning process brother. Books, videos, podcasts, and this forum will all be of help to you. I'd recommend finding one hole in your game and focusing on that until you feel comfortable then moving onto the next. Often times with so much information, it can get confusing and difficult to apply.
When I used to train Jiu Jitsu, it wasn't about how many moves you knew, but how well you could actually apply them. So we would drill the same move over and over until it was second nature. Hope this helps!

 

[Zorba]

The OP hasn't been on CardsChat since October 9th, also this thread is from January I don't think he still needs reply's




.

 

[KandiKid]

The OP hasn't been on CardsChat since October 9th, also this thread is from January I don't think he still needs reply's




.

Yeah I just made that observation too right after posting! Althought there are probably other people with similar concerns so it's a good thing he got so many responses! But yeah, I agree... probably a good idea to stop replying to it now.

 

[Teofealter]

The answer lies in the question itself. You should "try to get better". I'm also pretty new at this game and I also sucked at tourneys but I already loved poker so I will not be quitting anytime soon. The best advice to be better at anything you do is to love it plus practice a lot. Good Luck!!

 

[Botanicaldreams]

I say go for it! You took the time to ask that question on a site dedicated to playing poker well, and the question you asked was fairly lengthy. I would advise you to play in games with less $$ at risk until you develop more experience.

 

[thetick33]

First I just want to say this is kinda long and probably a stupid question, thats why I am asking it under "Beginners Questions" so please don't get all pissed if I wasted 30 seconds of your time if you read this.

Anyways, I am pretty new at Texas Holdem and I am not sure weather I should keep playing to try to get better or just quit and save my money.

I know how the game is played but I just started playing at Bovada and after winning some and losing some I eventually ended up with a loss of about $300 which was all from cash games..so I was about to give up but I had a few free-roll tournaments I could enter so I figured why not, if anything its practice. Most the tournaments I entered had about 350 players

After about 7 tournaments here are my results-

1st. Got knocked out almost instantly../No Idea
2nd. Got knocked out almost instantly../No Idea
3rd. Finished 51st/450ish
4th. Finished 16th/350ish
5th. Got knocked out almost instantly/350ish
6th. Finished 150th/350ish
7th. Finished 116th/330ish

I'm not asking if I did okay for starting out, I just want to know if there is hope for me lol. If there is a normal chance for me to get good by practicing more and maybe reading some books i'll definitely do it, but if I am on a road to losing a lot of cash then i'll just take my losses and quit now. I'm not going to deposit anymore until I feel confident that I can play decent and when I do I am heading over to the $1 buy in tournaments lol

Also I should mention I love playing poker when its with real money, I can play on my 360 with fake money but only if I am with friends. I tired reading a couple of questions like mine and that seemed to come up a lot so I figured I'd mention it. The feeling you get going all in with another guy waiting for the turn or river cards to come up knowing its all real money is Amazing

I am not even sure you are serious if this is a legit question or a waste of time? For me I grew up playing cards all card games including poker early at like 11 years old ----no kidding

I love playing cards still and poker etc.. even if is for free. When I go and sit at a table I have this feeling like when you know your home or you meet that person!!

So saying for me its in my DNA for sure I am not a gambler though at all in my humble opinion I dont do scratch cards or lottery dont like playing anything but poker in casinos unless have 200 bucks can burn will try some 25 cent slots lol if no poker is available I mean this.

So might not be best adviser for this question since is in my make up as a human being or dna.

Yet what do you get from poker? Relaxes you drives you? Is like hitting that great golf shot after shooting 100 and wanting to break everything in your bag? I hope you are seeing some of this if so yes its worth it. But you also need to be aware of your finances I wont use money I cant lose. EVER not for any reason or event.

Why work way up from freerolls I took a long time off poker recently except at hard rock here and there and bars so maybe 2-3 years of not playing.

I was a sports fanatic so the competition the outsmarting people the outplaying people drives me and I hate to lose not love of winning. I expect to win overall over time lol but can not win for awhile and be ok meaning first place Go a couple weeks getting top four and no wins get aggravated but will live lol.

So start off small even freerolls and play for love of something not money but love of the game the science structure intensity whatever it is that draws you in

I played last three days two wins money wise good wins or ok ones. Not huge but starting a bankroll a dollar here ten there. Today dead cards and I mean dead yesterday worse. Tonight cards are getting better. Have shots for some wins but getting crushed at times lol AA whatever not holding up etc... Is fazes you go through but if your not risking things you cannot lose? You are playing for LOVE of it? Well your winning already lol imho.

 

[be4ba]

We have all diferent reasons for playing..I thnik there is a key to your question.
Do you play for fun, love, money, job? You spent whole 1 year just to start walking is it worth it today?

 

[VizziVizo]

You should always get better and do not lose hope for a good game, just keep your bankroll managment and play that cualification that you are profi in.

 

[BullWink]

You sound like you enjoy the game. One question you can ask yourself is what does it cost to go to the movies or out to the pub with the boys. If you look at"this as your "entertainment fund", then it will make the "cost of learning" a little easier to bear. If you are short of funds, I would play strickly at freerolls. Any money you win there will be prized very highly and I find loosing that $10 that I've finally won at the freeroll tables to be much more of a disappointment than loosing the $50 that I deposited.

 

[carsguitars777]

I tell everyone the same thing, anyone can become a good/profitable poker player no matter how bad they currantley are, if you have average inteligance and are willing to put in the time, you can get good, thing is is you have to work for it and study... if your losing go to lower stakes and start studying. Most people realise how difficuled it is and quit. Id say to become profficent at poker you have to study as much as a medical doctor does to become profient in their field of study. So its up to you, if you want to get good you got to work and put the time in, if you dont you quit, or you can just play for fun or recreation and maybe you will learn enough from that and decide to go seriouse later, I think over all is poker should be fun for you, there are much easier ways to make money than this game, even though you can become a pro if you really want it.