Poker Coaches

Because I'm sick of arguing about it, here you guys go:

I'm an idiot donkey losing poker player.

Now can we let this go, and start talking about real poker concepts?

Originally Posted by overflow

Because I'm sick of arguing about it, here you guys go:

I'm an idiot donkey losing poker player.

Now can we let this go, and start talking about real poker concepts?

There ya go Now we can head in a different direction. Read this.
http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...oker-53415.htm

<3 this thread.

OP, go play cards. Seriously!

Originally Posted by overflow

[The bad men]assume (or at least make the inference that) I'm some pompous jerk who doesn't really know anything and needs to be put in his place.

Noones assuming anything. People might be getting the impression youre a jerk because you're acting like a know-it-all jerk and you keep going on about how smart you are. I'm not saying you dont know anything, and honestly I think you have some potential but you dont know nearly enough and you aren't applying what you know if you cant beat 10NL. Also you really sound like you have discipline issues (as well as one hell of a superiority thing going on).

You say poker isnt a humble mans game. I think most here would disagree. Youll find alot of winning small-midstakes players on this site who are bumbling along winning quite alot of money but who still consider themselves "ok" but not really "good" players. They are confident in their ability to win their regular games against worse players but this confidence never overreaches into arrogance and few of them think they are on the verge of becoming "absolutely phenomenal" poker players.
I have also seen players (a even couple on these boards) who were arrogant. Some of them were terrible players, some were ok and some were actually quite good at playing against certain opponents but even the good ones thought that when they lost it was either varience or it was their opponents fault for making "bad calls" when they were being bluffed at. They didnt stop to try to fix their game and they went busto.

Poker is very much a humble mans game. You have to bet be confident that you can win but you must never be arrogant. Even if you believe you are the best player in the game there is always room for improvement. You would do much better in poker and in life if you dropped the attitude.

$250 deposit going into Absolute tonight, I'm skeptical though, my laptop is a Mac so I'm running absolute in Virtual PC. I'm not sure whether VPC on 256M of RAM will run the poker client and PT efficiently.

One thing I noticed reading this that no-one picked up on is how much you are losing with AA. In a tournament AA is that dream hand you want to double up with. Unless extra deep you play it hard and fast and thats great. You can't play it like that in a cash game becasue you are too deep. Sure the more moeny you can get in with it preflop the better, but now you can't just shove over on the flop or always be determined to take it to the river anymore. You have to learn how to play those aces postflop.

Unfortunately that mainly means:

1. Recognising when to and being able to lay it down
2. Not inflating the pot too much after the flop whilst still pricing out drawing hands
which all leads to...
3. Getting f'ing good at hand reading.

AA is a great hand but mostly it is still only a 1 pair hand and should therefore be a small pot hand. Your biggest leak apparant in your commentary was that you were always playing big pots with it. Sure big pots preflop, but don't just go shoving over reraises post flop/calling any bets etc without reads.

Your big pot hands are your sets/flushes str8s and to a lesser extent the 2 pairs. What should be obvious to you by the way your AA's have been beaten is that there are lots of players like you who are willing to stack off with 1pair/2 pairs. So when you get your sets, imagine you were defending AA and get as much money in as you can. Down there you have proved you will get callers.

So what have I told you? Essentially get big hands and play big pots with them. Play your smaller pot hands for smaller pots. It's a pt/BB double whammy. Not only are you making more with the goods, but losing less without them!

That, and all the other advice on here is free. Why pay someone $300 to tell you it?

Meh gingerwizard. I can count the number of times I've laid down AA for a 100bb stack in my last 30k hands on one hand. Maybe it's because higher stakes are more aggro but still, I think OP has bigger leaks to worry about than not folding AA often enough.

Overvaluing overpairs in raised pots postflop is one of my professed leaks Or rather, overvaluing overpairs in pots where my cbet is raised after the flop.

Originally Posted by zook

Meh gingerwizard. I can count the number of times I've laid down AA for a 100bb stack in my last 30k hands on one hand. Maybe it's because higher stakes are more aggro but still, I think OP has bigger leaks to worry about than not folding AA often enough.

No offense to OP, but when you read how he lost most of this roll (towards the bottom of the last page of this thread) you'll see why I posted that. Read it and if you always shove over people playing back at you and would have lost the same 10 stacks then that's cool. You're at 200NL and a winning player. But Big pots for big hands is one of the best bits of advice for us micro stakes guys.

AT 10NL you only ever have to play your sets like this because you get paid off. I don't fold AA often. But then I don't shove 80BBs over a flop reraise with an overpair either. Not unless i think someone is watching...

Ok, I couldn't find the post you're referring to, but I'll take your word for it. I imagine that microstakes games are a lot less aggro than I'm used to, so folding AA to resistance is less of a leak. I agree that he shouldn't be stacking off with most one pair hands without a read, but AA is the best one pair hand, and on most flops vs. most opponents I'm happy to get it all-in. My point was that looking for places to fold AA shouldn't be one of his top priorities. Tightening up pre-flop, playing fewer hands oop and practicing pot control are where I would start.

I think there is also a big definition issue of 'raised pots'. I think it's more normal to stack off with AA in a 3bet pot, but less common in a pot with a single raise with one caller, or even less common 2-3 callers.

Do you ever see a thread and think "wow that got to two pages and I haven't read any of it?"

Then you start to read the thread and understand why...

By what you are saying you tend to misplay pocket pairs like queens, kings or aces. Thats the exact caracteristic of the unexperienced TAG player. You wait for those big hands and when you get them you cant fold because you've waited so long for them. Also not understanding position is the greatest problem most losing players have, you might want to work on that.

It's no use to get someone to think for you and tell you "hey that was a bad play becaue...........". That's the only thing a coach will do. Instead you should review your HH yourself and examine your play, what you did wrong and why you did it. Also you might want to check cardrunners, their videos are great.

Rolla is SOOOOOOOOOOOO BADDDDDDDDDDd

playing him HU 4rollz is like so +EVVVvVVVVVVVvVVV

Wait,

How was I not a big part of a newb bashing thread? da fuck was my memo?

Overflow,
I thought I sometimes had too high an opinion of my game until I read this thread. Way too much of the stuff you put down as known leaks is first grade stuff. You do not need a coach. You need to realize that you are not a good poker player right now. You don't have potential. You may have some experience but it is not good experience. You may have above average intelligence but you are not using it. You are not beating the game at the lowest of levels. The folks you are arguing with would fall all over themselves to get you to a poker game. They'd send you cab fare, hell, plane fare!
If I were you I would take a piece of paper and write "I know nothing about poker" 20 times. Then come back to this site and read every sticky for beginning players. Also read the "Beginners Guide". Find Aokrongly's 19hands stuff and read it. I'm not advocating using his strategy as a bible but read it and understand why he is saying what he's saying and think about situations where it may not be the best way to play. use what you learn and play 1000's of hands. It will either make a winning micorstakes player out of you or you can rest assured that you are an idiot. Arguing with the folks you're asking for advice is a sign that you may be an idiot. Sorry to be so harsh but if you weren't so stubborn you'd have gotten it by now.

Originally Posted by bigspenda73

Rolla is SOOOOOOOOOOOO BADDDDDDDDDDd

playing him HU 4rollz is like so +EVVVvVVVVVVVvVVV

Are you drunk? if you are i need to get on your level

Originally Posted by bigspenda73

da fuck was my memo?

Mine too, i rarely get pms

Originally Posted by gop2004

The folks you are arguing with would fall all over themselves to get you to a poker game. They'd send you cab fare, hell, plane fare! If I were you I would take a piece of paper and write "I know nothing about poker" 20 times. Arguing with the folks you're asking for advice is a sign that you may be an idiot. Sorry to be so harsh but if you weren't so stubborn you'd have gotten it by now.

QFLOL

i kinda skimmed this again. very nice post by Salsa BTW

FWIW i have considered getting a coach for 200NL lately and have contacted on of the instructors. OP I wouldnt ever consider risking my BR for just one lesson, if you get a coach then you need alot more lessons.

Id say OP should have patience and just play the game. dont worry about shortcutting your development to get all the cash thats out there as fast as you can. Hint: it will be there waiting for you!!

Sorry I've been away, I thought this thread was busto. I think that Goat makes the QFT point of the millenium in that "the money will be waiting for you".

I do pay people off way too easily, it's just so had to get away some times, I definitely think I'm making too many cry-calls on the river, e.g. flop top pair with a flush draw out, pick up two pair on the turn, bet hard on two streets, only to have the flush hit on the river and paying off 50BB+ not wanting to lay down top two, even though I know the majority of the time villian was chasing the flush draw.

I think I get too caught up in not wanting to leave money in the pot when there's at least a decent chance I have the best hand. I've also definitely been overplaying my draws, trying too hard to protect medium pairs on the flop: e.g. TPTK on a 972 rainbow board.

I'll get there, I just need to be more diligent I guess.

Thanks again for all the advice guys, moral of the story:

Intelligence alone will never make anyone an outstanding poker player. What makes a successful poker player is diligence, awareness, presence of mind, and discipline.