I am an awful poker player

I need to be more involved in this community, so I figured this would be a good way to start.

I have always been a SnG player, but am now moving over into cash, as I want to delve into deep-stack poker and improving my post-flop play.

I bought in at Stars for $100, and am now up to $235 or so. However, $50 is a cleared bonus and $50 is from a bet that was paid out to me via PS. So from strictly poker, I am up $35.

I am currently playing 10NL, but plan to drop down to 5NL if I go below $200. My biggest problem is that I will start out good and turn $10 into $14 or so, and then I'll lose it all back plus more on an awful bluff or a move equally moronic. So my goal is not to make a certain amount of money. I simply want to get better at poker and move up stakes as my br allows.

I'm going to try to identify my leaks as I play, pick a hand that demonstrates that leak, and then go from there and see how I can correct it.

Bluffing at $10 and $5 isn't worth it. They don't fold bottom pair.

Value bet instead.

One of my biggest leaks so far in cash games has been bluffing a lot and generally believing that every hand was a good hand to make some sort of move. Last night I 4-tabled 10NL with the focus on letting hands go and looking for better spots.

All in all, I was very pleased. I managed to get away from some hands that would look pretty standard, but in the past I probably would have tried a tricky play or two and gotten caught for a lot of chips.

Another aspect of my game that I want to work on is putting my opponents on hand ranges and more importantly, trusting those reads. Here's a hand to illustrate:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (7 handed) Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver)

Hero ($12.40)
UTG ($14.95)
MP1 ($15.55)
MP2 ($12.20)
CO ($1.75)
Button ($5)
SB ($1.75)

Preflop: Hero is BB with A, Q.
UTG calls $0.10, 1 fold, MP2 calls $0.10, 3 folds, Hero raises to $0.5, UTG calls $0.40, MP2 calls $0.40.

Flop: ($1.65) 2, Q, 7 (3 players)
Hero bets $1, UTG raises to $3, MP2 folds, Hero raises to $5.5, UTG raises to $14.45, Hero calls $6.40 (All-In).

Turn: ($28) T (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($28) 4 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: $25.45

UTG had 22 in this hand. My initial read after the flop was 22 or 77. Unfortunately, instead of trusting my instincts and laying the hand down, I convinced myself that he probably had KQ, JQ, or some other hand that I could beat. The hand worked out in my favor, but that doesn't really matter. The point is I made the correct read, but convinced myself my read was wrong. I need to trust my instincts.

One problem that is related to trusting my reads is that when I suspect I am beat but call anyway, there's a part of me that is satisfied with knowing that I was beat. It's almost like I would rather know I was beat and pay the guy off than save some money but risk folding the best hand.

Anyone else ever have that same problem?

Originally Posted by RML604

One problem that is related to trusting my reads is that when I suspect I am beat but call anyway, there's a part of me that is satisfied with knowing that I was beat. It's almost like I would rather know I was beat and pay the guy off than save some money but risk folding the best hand.

Anyone else ever have that same problem?

HAHA, does anyone else have this problem...

This is by far my biggest leak. I'm just so damn curious, that I cannot fold, even though I know I am beat. If I added up the amount of money lost doing this it would definitely be a good chunk of money. Although I have called "knowing I was beat" yet I wasn't beat and won money out of it. Overall, this comes no where near how many times I've lost doing that.

I've started to get this out of my game. If it is a tough call, I just don't call! In the long run it is definitely worth it.

Getting away from good hands. That is my #1 problem.

Sometimes you play a hand and even though you're beat the entire time, you'd never know it. Set over set is a good example of that. If you're on the wrong end of a set vs set, that's just unlucky. But what about when you have a good but not great hand, or even a great but not unbeatable hand, you know you're almost certainly beat, but you just can't let it go.

For example:
PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (8 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

MP2 ($6.65)
CO ($4.65)
Button ($3.60)
SB ($5.00)
Hero (BB) ($16.25)
UTG ($2.20)
UTG+1 ($12.00)
MP1 ($12.20)

Preflop: Hero is BB with A A
2 folds, MP1 calls $0.10, 1 fold, CO calls $0.10, Button calls $0.10, SB calls $0.05, Hero raises to $0.60, MP1 calls $0.50, 2 folds, SB calls $0.50

Flop: ($2.00) 3 2 4 (3 players)
SB bets $0.40, Hero raises to $1.20, MP1 raises to $3.50, 1 fold, Hero calls $2.30

Turn: ($9.40) 10 (2 players)
Hero checks, MP1 bets $8.10 (All-In), Hero calls $8.10

River: ($25.60) K (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $25.60 | Rake: $1.25

I was very confident that he had a set on the flop (which he did). So why did I call?

Honestly, I'm not sure. Part of it was tilt, as I just had aces cracked by kings on a dif. table a few hands before this. Part of it was curiosity. And a big part of it was that I really don't want to lay down the best hand. I am great at convincing myself that my initial read is incorrect and that I
very well may have the best hand. And to be honest, it doesn't take a lot of convincing because I want to call.

So my main goal right now is to trust my initial reads, no matter how much it pains me to do so. I will never build a bankroll if I keep pissing away all of my hard earned winnings in one big hand that I can easily get away from.

Don't beat yourself up on that last hand. He would have likely shoved with any overpair.. so you are only really losing to 3 possible pairs.

As for calling when you know you are beat.. you have to get out of that mindset. Sometimes you have to call when you are even 80% sure you are beat, and sometimes you have to fold even when you are pretty sure you are ahead.

Remember to put the guy on a range every hand. it makes calling/folding decisions infinately easier.

Also a lot of times you are at the river having to make some crying call when maybe the hand should have been decided on the flop/turn. Make sure you reraise with confidence when you are more than x% sure you are ahead.. fold equity is your friend. Don't become a serial caller, its a losing proposition. Raise for value!

Tj

Originally Posted by RML604

Getting away from good hands. That is my #1 problem.

LoL, no.

Originally Posted by cardsman1992

Bluffing at $10 and $5 isn't worth it. They don't fold bottom pair.

Value bet instead.

Yea there is no point on bluffing at that level. Most you should be doing is Cbetting flop heads up, and with a read MAYBEE double barreling the turn, but if that gets called then just give up the hand. Besides that bluffing shouldn't be a part of your game yet. At 10NL you'll get called down too lightly for bluffing to be really profitable, thus just value-betting will quickly get ur BR up.

My session last night was brutal. As is probably true with many people's big losing sessions, it was a combination of running bad and tilt. It just seemed like pot after pot I couldn't catch a break. I suppose that's something I have to get used to, it's just disappointing.

So today I took a look at my stats in PT3 and decided to post them and let everyone tear them apart.



One thing that really jumped out to me is that I am playing way too many hands in the SB. What is a good overall VPIP/PR at 10NL?

Originally Posted by Fnord

Originally Posted by RML604

Getting away from good hands. That is my #1 problem.

LoL, no.