[circlencircle]

I posted this in another thread but realized I was sorta thread jacking so I am now posing the question again here... Thanks for any responses!

I have been playing for a few years. I don’t think I'm a great player but I would consider myself above average. I think I play a tight-aggressive, position driven game. I'm not afraid to fold KK/AA if I think I'm beat. I will play small suited connectors in late position every once in a while and I've been known to call pre flop with AA...

Problem is when I play ring games I lose my a$$ consistently. I do much better in the tourneys and make quite a few final tables but in the long run I always end up in the hole, money wise. I only play low stakes <$5 in either case... What is the problem?

cnc

[Poboy]

What games/stakes do you play? Have you read any poker books? Do you have Pokertracker or similar software (assuming you play online)? Do you do any table selection, and classify opponents?

It's hard to say without more information, but the usual suspects are playing too loose (for ex. if you play at Stars and use their flops seen stat, something like 30% feels tight, but it's way too loose), not giving yourself a chance to win big pots/mistakenly folding, and not protecting your hand.

[erikk]

If we're not talking online my advice is to stop doing the happy dance whenever you get a good starting hand. That normally makes it easier to win at poker.

[circlencircle]

Originally Posted by erikk

If we're not talking online my advice is to stop doing the happy dance whenever you get a good starting hand. That normally makes it easier to win at poker.

Actually it is online... I dont have any problems in live play...

[JM]

Its probably more to do with the stakes you're playing. The lower the stakes, the higher the donkey/suckout factor! Not unlike what you find playing the $5 BJ vs the $15 BJ tables.

[shadesofgrey]

Originally Posted by circlencircle

I will play small suited connectors in late position every once in a while and I've been known to call pre flop with AA...

cnc

ive struggled with this as well.. but have recently found success.

read,spindle,etc...

#1 - you see a lot of hands fast online vs. online. vs. dude successful at home tourny. vs. dufess(es).
#2 - in ring games, the number of players at the table does not necessarily decrease - so the value of starting hands is relatively constant. in passive / agressive "gear" this works weakly. big difference between tournies.
#3 - the number of people chasing pre-flop to the river everytime.... playing trash. i ran numbers on 11-2 person simulations of everyone holding a hand. AA vs. 10 other random hands is less than 30%. talk to 'Gus Hansen'.

#3.1 IF its uncomfortable GOTO #1.

#4 - let them do the betting, if you're confident in your hand. nothing says anything better than giving a "betting" rope long enough to hang them "betting" elves(s) with. and play begins again.

I think speakeasy nailed it on the head with the "Schooling Effect" here: http://chiptalk.net/forum/showthread.php?t=13320

i think the problem is limit online games.... they're so in your face - yet they're not. good UI design? everyone else thinks so.
- compentant home game players / online tourny player vs. online ring game <$5.
- starting hands vs # of opps pre-flop is the difference.
- if you're going to play online - MAX buy-in online - other people dont realize its a commitment for real money online. CC/fax to china/etc/ vs. your bankroll.

I've found liberation online with $1/$2 NL ring games.
- its reasonably juicy.
- freedom to bet.... >smile< someone out of a hand. actually represent a P/A attitude.
- switch sites. i find i tighten-up at a new site? bonus horh'ing(w) works as well - if there's a 40% bonus up to $200 - you might want to play that.

personally, i prefer to take money from people face to face vs. online. in case there's a poll. im in vegas all next week....... & need more negative ratings...

[yeltzen]

If you're talking about NL games, I really don't have any advice for you.

In limit, I think online players are better than people give them credit for, especially on sites like UB and Poker Stars. You can play there at times and only break even or slightly better just because the play is so tight. Also, if you multi-table, you're usually playing the hands without thinking too much about them. You don't really read the other players at the table or the way the hand was played. I've found that when I play live poker... like, the 3 times I've ever done it, I could go up to someone on the rail and give them a book on everyone at the table, but online I couldn't tell you one thing about anyone at the table (unless they're a maniac). A lot of times in online ring games, I'll have an O.K. hand that isn't anything special and when someone bets or raises I don't really know what it means (other than what PT tells me). I'm probably losing a lot of money in those situations.

[yeltzen]

Oh, and don't say stuff like "should I just stick to blackjack" because it makes you sound like a giant douche.

[circlencircle]

Originally Posted by yeltzen

Oh, and don't say stuff like "should I just stick to blackjack" because it makes you sound like a giant douche.

I thought it was better than "Why do I suck?"...

[circlencircle]

Thanks for all the responses... Some good stuff for sure. Ironically shortly after I started this thread I signed up with Party Poker to get a PSO NJ set. It took me roughly 6 hours to cover the 250 hands, playing .25/.50 at one 10 man table. I started with $5 (min buy in) and never had to re buy. Ended up making about $50 including the $25 bonus... So while this is not a lot of money, it is consistent success and I turned a profit.

There were only two primary differences from my normal play... I tightened up significantly and I was also playing limit where as I have only played NL in the past.

cnc