First post here, but been lurking for a while. Would just like to say thanks to some of the great players here who take the time to help donks like me understand the game a bit more.

I've been playing $5 and $10 STT and MTT sngs on party and FullTilt since the beginning of the year and have dropped about $700 (affordably to me, I'm a pretty successful lawyer - I just don't like losing), although my lose rate has slowed considerably in the last month or two. Given such an appalling record, you'd be perfectly entitled to ignore my thoughts on whyI'm losing - but here they are anyway.

It's easy to blame bad beats for losing - they tend to be memorable and they're often the ones that see you bust out. But its easy to forget the number of times you lose chips to better hands ot the times you win chips with better hands. So far, so obvious. But my key failing here is that I haven't been giving enough respect to my opponents. Just because I'm an intelligent guy who reads books and web articles on poker doesn't mean they don't do the same or that I'm prima facie better then they are. On FT, at least, a table will only usually have one or two maniacs. In my last game, we got to 45 minutes in before the second player was knocked out (me, if you have to know).

My second big failing is aggression on the bubble. It goes against my instincts to push with crap hands, but I'm just going to have to grit my teeth and do it. This is harder for recreational players who have two or three games a night than it is for multi-tablers because it feels bad to finish OOTM all night.

Well, I'm down to my last few buy-ins at FT and when and if that goes will be moving to stars. I'm going to go in with $300 and play $3 STGs. If I lose that, I'm done. I may also invest in SNGPT though I'm sceptical that I'd have the time to use it properly - with works and kids, I only have an hour or two a day to myself and I'm not sure if I have the discipline to not play.

Any thoughts?

This was my first post here a month or so ago.

I ended up depositing $170 on Stars and soon after won a 180 man £4.40 allowing me to withdraw that $170. Recently I seem to be running good and am close to feeling confident that I’m a winning player, at least at the $4-$6 level. I don’t say that because I’ve been winning a fair amount (a ROI of 95% in 60 odd games is nice, if statistically insignificant) but because I am now cashing in games even where I’m virtually card dead. I’ve learnt what is blindingly obvious to most of you guys - patience & discipline in the early stages, don’t play fancy, push when your M starts to get into single figures. I’ve known most of this in theory for quite a while, but would get impatient if I didn’t see a flop for 20 hands or so but at last I’m putting it into practice, for the most part.

I won’t go crazy on this - for example, I won’t move up a level until I’ve proved to myself beyond reasonable doubt that I am a winning player at this level. For me, that means getting my BR from it’s current $300 to around $1K. It also means trying to find the time to do a lot more studying and thinking about my game

It’s taken me 5 months to get to this stage - how long did it take you guys?

That’s OK, you can be critical - though some specifics might help. I assume you think the style I described is a pretty poor one and I’m sure you’re right at higher levels. But I honestly think it works at the $5 level and is a solid base to build on .

I’m strongly considering joining PokerXFactor but the cost is half my bankroll and I’m worried that I wouldn’t have the time to get full value out of it ( work 12 hours a day and have a kid, so I only have 1-2 hours leisure time a day).

I bet u money u could watch just two or three sngs by a pro and improve ur game by 100%.. And u said money isnt really the issue so dont worry about it and just join one. They have links here on pocket fives.. The next time u play, U will think wtf was I thinking before.. I think these sites are more than worth the price.. For people who are loosing players especially.. And y would u give up poker over a thousand dollars??? Someone has to feed these guys around here.. Lol gl

The videos are 30-50 minutes long. After only watching a few I learned a LOT. I used the stuff I learned in the videos to win a $5 MTT, and they had only published 5-6 videos at that time. I think the least amount of time you have to spend watching videos there to make it worth it is probably no more than 4-6 hours a month. This can ofcourse vary from person to person, depending on how fast of a learner you are.

I don't know - the end of your post gave the impression you had a grip on basic sng startegy - tight early doors - agression building up into the latter stages. This foundation can be easily set with just reading all the articles on this site.

I don't know why people just don't get back to the basics of poker :

Hand playing.

Just keep playing and improve your knowledge of appropriate actions on each street.

I think there is far to much emphasis on - 'oh my M was this, etc' - this is easy stuff. The playing of a hand and your position is your area of study in the main.

After that - as Gidders say - if you're making the correct decisions - then your results are irrelevant.

Good luck!

(How the hell do you post in a thread without replying to a specific post)

Some great responses here.

Scha, that's exactly what I needed to know. My wife and son are visiting relatives in Spain next month, so I think I'll take a few days of work and make a concerted attempt to improve my game through xfactor.

Darcy - you're absolutely right, of course. SNG strategies (and I've read a lot of them) speak almost exclusively to pre-flop play. I spend quite a lot of time trying to figure out whether I made the right play or not on a hand or not. One big problem with my game is that when I am in a hand I often act to quickly without thinking things through. Nevertheless, I am trying to get into the habit of putting people on a range of hands every hand, whether I'm playing it or not. I'm not very successful (a combination of mine and my opponent's incompetence).

Xixor - you're half right. Poker is just a game to me but it has become my main hobby. I do have a solid income (though lawyers in the UK don't make what they do in the US) but I also have a mammoth mortgage to pay and I'm more or less the sole bbreadwinner in the family. Gambling's tax-free here, so a few hundred dollars a month would be very welcome.

"Remember, poker is first and foremost fun. Everything other than that is gravy."

I disagree. Poker is a fun way to make money. a fun way to get your competetive juices flowing. A fun way of XXXXXXX.

BUt just fun. then everythign else? not to me.

Why would you withdrawal 170 if your a successful lawyer? That really doesn't make sense if you're trying to build a roll.

I did my calculations using my neteller deposits

2004 -$1634.32 (had about 1000 online at the end of the year that this includes as a loss cause it was out of my bank account)
2005 +$41 917 (was pretty consistant from Jan on...some swings but most months were positive)
2006 +$122 873 and counting

Really I lost for my first 4-5 months of playing (albeit I wasn't playing all that much) and didn't really win alot until I managed to win a few tourneys to build up my roll and confidence. Winning is a mindset and once you start winning you know that you can get there again. If you are losing consistently assess your play and find out what is causing it...if you can't fix it then you can find someone from an instructional site to help of possibly quit playing for serious money if you feel it is negatively affecting your life..just my opinion.

What he said.

degenrat,

I'm a competitive person at heart. I love playing anything where I have a chance to win, when everyone else is trying to win too. And sure, if you can do it, poker is a great way to make money. But, unless I'm a pro, I'm not playing if I don't feel like it. I don't ever force myself to play. If I don't want to play tonight, I won't. If I would rather watch the Tiger game on tonight than play, I will. If I don't play all week, oh well (won't happen, I'll get an itch to play before then).

But, I play because I enjoy it. I enjoy the feeling of trying to outplay someone else, or the feeling when that person tries to trash talk me, only to have him go out, and I get the money.

But, if your not having fun, why play? Because if your only playing for money, it might be worth it to you, but 99% of people would be better off spending their time and money going to school, then getting a better job and working more hours. It won't be fun, but it'll be profitable. Why don't most people do this? It's because they enjoy playing poker (and it's this enjoyment that allows many of the pros out there the opportunity to be pros).

i have bee playing poker and studying it for 3 years. even though my stats show that i am in the black i am not declaring that i am a winner until i am playing full time for a full 5 years. so i will let you know in 2009. ;)

Thanks. Yeah, I love those 180s. As mentioned above I even won one of the 7 or 8 I played. Small beer I know, but it gave me a buzz.

Wish I did have time to play them regularly, but I'd pay for any FT with another hour's sleep lopped off the already dodgy 6 i get.

I'll look out for you Fink.

I first knew I was a winning player when I began to advise other players on when I first knew I was a winning player.

fj

When I said you don't get it and recommended Poker X Factor, I was wanting to say and I admit to having problems explaining, poker is not really about the cards; it's about people. Most people don't really understand this. The folks over at 2+2 are all wrapped up in the numbers and have no concept of "feel". Poker X Factor in one or two videos will turn on the lights and give you a glimpse of what poker is really all about. Forget about Poker Tracker and PAHUD, they are nothing more than a crutch and will keep you from developing a true sense of feel for the game. Once you understand what I am talking about, you will not have to worry about being a loosing player.

GL