[BeerDog99]

Hi,

I have been playing poker for approx. 4-5 years. Basically when the poker boom started.

I am able to hold my own on 1-2NL tables at your neighbourhood casino and also I am reasonably profitable against most of my poker buddies.

My problem is that I am not consistently/regularly profitable online nor when I am in Vegas.

My downswings are generally larger and longer than my upswings.

Now I would like to say that it is all a result of bad luck for me or lucky opponents but obviously that cannot be it.

I currently use pokertracker and with the HUD, I have found that pretty useful to judge certain players/situations but that is the major extent my use of the tool.

So my question is, what Tips do you have or tools do you use to fix this and/or at least identify the leaks? Any good recommendations on how to mine the Pokertracker DB that I have to determine the leaks in my game?

Thanks,

BeerDog

[rdo37]

First of all do you play cash or tourneys online?

If tourney's I haven't a clue...lol

If cash, I actually prefer HoldEm Manager as it has a few features and tweaks you can do to make it a better experience than pokertracker. During a session mark down hand numbers where you thought you had a marginal/interesting decision. After a session go back and look at those questionable hands and analyze them with PokerStove.

Try getting into the idea of people holding ranges of hands rather than specific hands. What can they be raising here with? Why would they bet so big on that dry flop? Start analyzing hands in your database guessing a range of hands they might have, and if that particular hand had a showdown you can see if you were correct or not.

As to mining specific hands in your database...people have a tendency to focus on hands where they lost big. You can do that, but don't focus entirely on those hands. Rather look at hands where you won, and see if you maximized your +ev. How you could play the hand differently and get more money next time.

Common leaks are 3betting too much/too little...Folding to 3 bets/4bets too often/too little...etc etc

What type of games are you playing online? FR/6-max/HU? What is your VPIP/PFR/WSD/AF/3bet% ?

[Czu81]

Yepp Holdem manager better than pokertracker. Also u can buy HH's from websites. There is a new program for cashplayers: notecandy worth a look IMO. If u can afford coaching could boost your game...

[lolguy999]

when ur betting/raising some 3-4 hands in a row ur opponent will think ur on tilt... DONT be mad as either ur opponent will have a monster calling you or a simple fold earning you the blinds only

[Kaladarus]

At casinos playing 1/2 is a lot easier than online. More people playing more hands with poor betting habits. I've played 1/2NL at several casinos and you can notice right away that the bets preflop are significantly larger. Online the standard raise is around 5-8 and at the casino there are many players that will raise 10, 15 or even 20 in an unopened pot. Also at the casino people usually buy in for less and end up all in a lot faster. It's a lot easier to read people at the casino just based on bet sizes than it is online. You should try focusing on getting max value for your strong hands and minimum loss for your weaker hands. Also pay attention to betting habits and betting speeds of other players. Try to notice some patterns. Probably the best advice is to take it down to 0.25/0.50 where you should be more comfortable. 1/2 online is significantly harder than the casino and since you play more hands online it would be better to start out a bit lower.

[BeerDog99]

Thanks for the advice all.

More info about me. I have generally played Full Ring NL 0.10/0.25 and 0.25/0.50 online. Definately agree about live 1/2 NL being easier than online. Whenever I have tried 1/2 NL online I have been absolutely raped. That said, I have not played a significant amount of hands and I honestly think I have been very unlucky when I did take a couple of shots which always severely depleted my bankroll.

I think to rdo37's point, about 3betting/folding, I am probably too passive. I have always justified it to myself that people are too loose/aggressive/lucky to make aggressive plays profitable. As it stands on this, that might be my biggest issue on reading the situations where I should 3bet/4bet and/or call more of them.

Sometimes I feel that I just don't have enough gamble in me.... Ironically, that is probably why I love poker so much, it should inherently have less gambling than pit games but I feel there is so much gambling where I come out on the short end.

I am going to look into Holdem Manager and NoteCandy.

Thanks again!

[OmgUrMom]

its easier to play correctly (aggressively) when you have a sufficient bankroll.

If your playing 6 handed games you need to be 3 betting a lot!

If you post some hand examples of plays where you arent really sure if you made the right play that would help us give you more advice!

[rdo37]

I think to rdo37's point, about 3betting/folding, I am probably too passive. I have always justified it to myself that people are too loose/aggressive/lucky to make aggressive plays profitable. As it stands on this, that might be my biggest issue on reading the situations where I should 3bet/4bet and/or call more of them. Sometimes I feel that I just don't have enough gamble in me....

It's not gambling if you know you can get the guy to fold, and its not gambling but rather smart if you can get your big hands payed off in a big way using 3bets/4bets preflop.

You just need to take a look at your opponents and see if they're competent or not. A lot of the time I use 3bets/4bets as a tool to judge if they're a competent opponent. And if i see someone folding 90-100% of the time to 3bets, why not exploit the shit out of it? Don't think of it as an extra gamble, think of these type of plays as new tools to improve your game.

And like OMGurmom said, whats your bankroll like for your limits? Sufficient bankroll is required to be a successful player. But don't be afraid to take shots like you did, everyone has to at some point. And sometimes you can solidify yourself at the next level with one good day taking a shot.

[DiggityDaggityDo]

pokerbots are the shiznit.

[BeerDog99]

Thanks rdo37, the 3bet/4bet point is appreciated. I have not used that stat properly.

Cheers.

[matelionis]

I think you need to drop down to .5-.10 and beat that consistently for at least 10,000 hands. If you are doing "reasonably" well against your friends and can "hold your own" in a casino, that sounds to me like you are a break-even player at best. You will get destroyed by a decent reg online at .25-.50.

Because you said you "don't have much gamble" in you, it sounds like you are pretty tight pre-flop and your hand is pretty much face up to a good player. Then you can't understand why your pocket AA lost to 58 suited. The reason is because the reg knows what you have and will exploit the shit out of the fact you can't lay down a big pair.

You should go to 2p2 and post hand histories to get some feedback. I would not worry about 3 and 4 betting yet, you need to learn how to play in position and how to play post-flop. GL.

[BeerDog99]

Your response is appreciated and yes, I am break even at best at the Casino and > break even against my general poker friends.

While I am pretty tight pre-flop, I do play looser in position. My lack of gamble comment was more around making the big bets when the situation warrants and/or the calls. Currently I have seen so many of these situations are really coin flips and I seem to make too many of the wrong decisions. I think my largest issue is that I bleed chips as opposed to getting taken apart because I am playing face up.

I rarely question why I get beat with 5-8 suited, but I do wonder when it is correct to call with that happen, whether you know your opponent has AA or not. This is one of the things that confounds me. In certain situations I am clearly broadcasting a big hand (whether I do or do not actually have a big hand) and in a lot of situations I am called down by a shitty 3rd pair or a gross runner/runner monster.

At the risk of sounding like "k13" (read his "You think Online Poker is random..... " thread), I am starting to think there is a lot of luck I am the bad side of.....

I have lurked on 2p2 and pocketfives a lot and I find the signal to noise ratio is very low. Do you have a suggested forum on 2p2 that provides good feedback for the micro-stakes learning player?

Thanks again for your feedback.

[daneblazer]

I have theory of poker on video and some old stox stuff that could be helpful. PM me with your email address and I'll see if I can send them to you. Card runners and bluefire are other options but it's expensive. This site has some helpful videos. http://bestfreepokercoaching.com/

The problem with learning to play micros is that these videos & books of people playing 1/2 or 5/10 do you little good because the strategies applied are for level 2, 3+ plus players where in micro's you are usually up against level 1 or 0 players. Micro is pretty standard...don't bluff the fish, isolate the limpers, bet for value, etc.

[Jiggy Fly]

I have theory of poker on video and some old stox stuff that could be helpful. PM me with your email address and I'll see if I can send them to you. Card runners and bluefire are other options but it's expensive. This site has some helpful videos. http://bestfreepokercoaching.com/ The problem with learning to play micros is that these videos & books of people playing 1/2 or 5/10 do you little good because the strategies applied are for level 2, 3+ plus players where in micro's you are usually up against level 1 or 0 players. Micro is pretty standard...don't bluff the fish, isolate the limpers, bet for value, etc.

Totally agree. Play ABC and you should be gold.

Just picked up a copy of Harrington on Online Cash Games (6max). I'm looking forward to reading it.

[BeerDog99]

Thanks guys. PM is sent.

[matelionis]

Are you playing 6max or full ring online?