Learning really does pay off

[Sasquach991]

Hi all.
New guy here who started playing online 2 months ago and lost miserably. I put $50 into my pokerstars account and lost it all fairly quickly. So I searched for strategies and found this site. I watched BjsAust's SNG video many, many times. I've been playing SNGs in the $1 range with 9 players and would occasionally win 3rd (about 1 out of 10) but mostly 4th and below. After watching this video many times I tried it in the play money games (which I also could never win anything). I won (as in 1st place) many, many times. I even played 2 games at one time and won one of them.
Now to the real money games... I deposited $25 into the account and said "That's how I'm going to play". I started Thursday with $25 and decided that I would lose no more than 10% per day. I now have $36 in my account!!! I've played about 12 SNGs and really enjoy it now. Before I would get bored and call just for something to do. Now I just wait patiently. Saturday night I played 3 games and won 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. I did break the rule once on Friday and went Allin with JJ with about 7 players left. Other guy had TT. I lost on the river with a T. After that, no more. Thanks for all the help!!!

[brian1175]

Nice to hear. Read up on bankroll management, that will be the 2nd best thing you will do....

[hangchiong]

congrats on the movement,once you hit $100 above,you can try $3.40 buyin,the player are the same standard as well,be careful of the variance,always post HH to improve yourself

[GatorJH]

well done. Now you should try making note of tricky spots or tough tourneys where you weren't sure of your decision(s). Then you can post those hands/tourneys here for analysis.

[Sasquach991]

Thanks for the help. I tried to post a HH but got the message saying that I had to have 10 posts before posting URLs. I used Tournament Trimmer so that's where the URLs are coming from.

I'll try again

[mieczkowusc]

I would echo your sentiments. Finding FTR has been a godsend, if only for the confidence factor. Its always good to have reinforcement when you are making the correct play, even if you don't win the hand. Posting HH and responding to others is also good for helping improve your play.

[Stripclubjunkie]

I really love the roughness kinda attitude in this forum...Everyone will tell right out of the box (no gift wrapping here) what you do wrong...

strip

[Sasquach991]

I got a reality check tonight. Last night I played two SNGs.
4th in one and 1st in the other.

Tonight I played in 3 $1.20 SNGs on PS. I got spanked... badly.

I made some notes for what NOT to do.

1. When you have KK and you get nothing in the flop, you really don't have a good hand, esp. when there's A 9 9 on the board and the other 5 players are not folding. Guess what won? 9's full of A's
2. AA will not always win...even twice!!!
3. Sometimes, no matter how long you wait, you will not get any descent cards to push when you are on the bubble with <8bbs. I went at least 10 times without even getting a face card. I ended up having to push with 85o and lost badly.
4. Sometimes you're going to lose. Live with it.

Now I fel better.

[TLR]

1. When you have KK and you get nothing in the flop, you really don't have a good hand, esp. when there's A 9 9 on the board and the other 5 players are not folding. Guess what won? 9's full of A's
2. AA will not always win...even twice!!!
3. Sometimes, no matter how long you wait, you will not get any descent cards to push when you are on the bubble with <8bbs. I went at least 10 times without even getting a face card. I ended up having to push with 85o and lost badly.
4. Sometimes you're going to lose. Live with it.

Now I fel better.

Welcome to FTR
1. When you have KK and an A does not it you are usually in good shape. In this specific board A99 it is a bad board for KK, you are either behind or you will not get paid unless someone bluffs
2. AA does not always win - but with a lot of beginners they compound that by slowplaying it too much - dont fall into that
3. Sometimes relative stack and position are much more important then your cards
4. Yep - variance is a bitch

[Stacks]

I got a reality check tonight. Last night I played two SNGs.
4th in one and 1st in the other.

Tonight I played in 3 $1.20 SNGs on PS. I got spanked... badly.

I made some notes for what NOT to do.

1. When you have KK and you get nothing in the flop, you really don't have a good hand, esp. when there's A 9 9 on the board and the other 5 players are not folding. Guess what won? 9's full of A's

Generally if you play KK right the pot doesn't end up 5 way into the flop. However, it does happen occasionally (and more often in play money or low buyin games), and you aren't in good shape if an Ace hits with this many villains. However, you can't assume you always in bad shape if you don't hit the King.

2. AA will not always win...even twice!!!

No it wont. But if played correctly it has the highest chance of winning out of any other hand.

3. Sometimes, no matter how long you wait, you will not get any descent cards to push when you are on the bubble with <8bbs. I went at least 10 times without even getting a face card. I ended up having to push with 85o and lost badly.

Put what you have notices, with what TLR states, and you have your push/fold game in SNGs. You won't always get cards, but generally you will get +ev spots at times. It's your job to recognize these spots and take advantage of them. That doesn't always mean you have to have the cards. At times you might not have the cards, but your stack size says you have to push.

4. Sometimes you're going to lose. Live with it.

Yes you are. At times. This is the major trap I see alot of new players fall into. That is the newbie Circle of Death (article over this somewhere here). Alot of players come here to learn, and they pick up a few things here and a few things there, but haven't developed a winning game yet, then they hit positive variance. And they believe they are now a lifelong winning player, and that they are flawless. I'm not saying this applies to you Sasquach, just saying to make sure you don't fall into the trap. And not to rely on small samples to determine how you are doing. Because you can run good over small samples, or really bad. You need alot of games before you know whether you are a winner or not.

Now I fel better.