I have been playing Poker for about seven months now. However, I do not live near a B&M casino, so most of my experience comes from Online Poker. I don't want to sound like a whining baby, BUT, I have almost reached my wit's end when it comes to Online Poker. Like I said, I don't get a lot of live poker play, but my records indicate a positive return in my live game. My online game is not so good though. For example, this past weekend I finished 14 of 75 in my FIRST ever live Tournamnet. Not a great finsih, but not too bad either. On the other hand, I can't seem to drag out a positive income online to save my life. I play the same way, same strategies but it is like playing two completely different games. Like night and day! I have read plenty of books and they all seem to be working fairly weel so far at the B&M but they don't apply online.
I'm starting to get frustrated. Does anybody feel that somebody can be good at live poker and completely suck online, or am I just being a little bitch. Also, if somebody can play successfuly live but not so good online, how is that person supposed to get better when they are 4+ hours from the nearest casino? Any thoughts on the subject. If anybody thinks I'm a whiner feel free to tell me to Shut Up!
i think live poker is MUCH MUCH easier, but thats probably because when i host games at my house im playing with my friends who all suck.
and most people who play online know something about the game.
As incoherent said, live home games are easier than online. One reason is there is usually no rake in a home game, and that makes it alot easier to pull a profit.
Online vs. casinos are different too. One major difference is the speed of online. If you go on tilt online, it could be a rough road ahead. In casinos that action is not nearly as fast so you have time to cool down.
Also table selection is important. Online you can tell the flop % and pot size from the lobby. If you are tight aggressive, go for the table with 50% flops seen and high pots. Then wait for your turn and bust them up. On the other hand if you like to play alot of hands, look for a 25% flops seen, and run over the rocks.
Im not sure if it really takes any different strategy to online games, although some people call too much online because it doesnt feel like money to some, it is just as simple as the click of the mouse. Also if you make a terrible play live, you are more likely to feel embarassed so you concentrate on not making mistakes more live than online. Online, nobody knows who you are, so your are not as conscious of making bonehead calls.
And then again, maybe your just running cold. It happens. Im not sure, and maybe you can think about examples of hands you lose online. Contrary to what some believe, online poker cannot be rigged, because there are too many online rounders out there for it to be rigged for everyone to lose their money. People do win, and make a living off just online, so maybe figure out if you have any leaks in your game, and keep plugging away.
Good luck, ProAMP
ProAMP is dead right about table selection.
I spend a lot of time looking for the good tables. That fits my way of playing..
I play NL $10 and $20 SNG at Poker Stars. Lately I've been making on average between $100 and $150 a week playing in these tournaments.
Well the last week and a half I've lost over $150 and I really don't know if I'm doing anything different than when I was winning.
The problem I've been running into is when I flop a strong hand like 2 pair or even trips and one of my opponents quickly pushes all-in on me. I go ahead and call and my opponent is either on a flush draw or a straight draw. Unfortunely for me my opponents have been batting 1.000 against me for the last week and a half. It doesn't seem how much of a long shot it is (inside straight or even runner runner flush) they've picked it up every time against me.
I pay pretty close attention to my opponents. I quickly learn which opponents will go all-in with weak hands and which opponents will be strong when they push it in. I feel like I've been making the right calls but have just been getting out drawn. I've been ahead probably 95% of the time this past week and a half when I've pushed all-in.
Should I change my strategy here. I try to avoid putting all my chips at risk but I don't want players walking all over me everytime they get an inside straight draw and force me to fold my two pair, especially when I read that they are weak.
Any advice would be appriciated. My feeling is that I'm making the right moves and the right calls it's just not working out. In the long run the law of averages will work out in my favor if I consistantly get my money in the pot as a favorite.
Sounds like you have a handle on the issue, just not getting real lucky at the moment. If you are the one putting the draws all-in, maybe you should try big raises instead. If they want to draw on you, make them pay, but don't take yourself out.
If you're pretty sure you have the best of it and they go all in you, let the poker Gods decide.
For the past month I began to play low limit 1/2 2/4 hold em on party poker. I have had relative success with my game and remain in the black even with a few cash outs. I am well versed in the game and am aware of the many "suck out" possibilities while playing low limit and try stick with hands where these suck out opportunities are at a minimum. However, a couple of times I have run into difficulties. Sessions that last for 4-5 hours where I miss everything. I have high cards, board is all low. Low pocket pair, board is all over cards. Missing every draw etc. I know that this is not atypical, but I don't know quite how to deal with these situations. Should I end the session, or continue to grind it out. On winning sessions I typically see 20-25 % of the flops and win these flops anywhere from 30-50% after a few hour session. On these losing days, I see the same amount of flops, but win 18-25% or less.
Bottom line, how do I deal with these "losing sessions" when nothing seems to go my way.
Thanks for the help
The first thing to do is to figure out the reasons why you're losing. If there's a better player who keeps outplaying you, then swallow your ego and run like the wind. There's absolutely no reason to play someone who is better than you when there's a better table out there to play on. If you're making a consistant mistakes that are costing you money, then identify the mistakes and go about fixing them. If you're just not catching cards but not making serious mistakes then it's a judgement call between limiting your loss and sticking around to get well. If it's a nice loose-passive table, then you can often make a lot back in a few hands when you do finally catch your monsters.
One thing to keep in mind is that if you are losing and other players are observant enough to notice, then they become inspired to play better against you just because you are losing and they feel you are beatable.
Losing sessions aren't a total loss if you can honestly analyze your play and gain insight into why you're losing. That's more valuable to me than the money I would gain from a winning session.
