OK right now Im steaming so stay with me.

I consider myself a decent enough tight aggressive player and I had planned this summer to hopefully be able to make some small weekly earning off SNGs on pokerstars. I have a bankroll of about $250 and want to play the $10 tables but have started on the $5 tables to ge tinto it. What I just cant understand is how its possible to handle the online bad beats long enough to get long term gains like I know you can chalk things off to variance but here's my record so far.

1 - 0
2 - 3
3- 2
XX - 7

Now so many times I have been in good position at the end with 4 or so left and just get rooted by these massive outdraws I'm talking KK v KQ losing heads up to lose the win. Then I got beaten by a two outter on the river. I sort of understand variance but it just seems for every game I manage to cash there will be another game where I just cop an absolute monster of a beat crippling me. How do I deal with it? and are my goals of maybe trying to earn $150 a week playing $10 tables unreasonable?

any help would be appreciated, I think for the next few days Im just going to go around the sites watching the good players play.

welcome to pokerstars, bad beats are the fun of playing there

but seriously maybe you are playing just to cash and not to win.

And check out the tourney section

sorry for posting in the wrong section and thanks for moving it.

I was wondering if you could elaborate on playing to cash/win. I very much want to win. Say if i have 8000 of the chips is it wrong to call an all in by second stack (2200) with AJ suited? is the aim when you are in front like that to protect your chips or get in and knock it out.

The reason i moved to stars was cos i thought it wouldnt deal out as many bad beats as Absolute guess thats online hey.

Simple.

a. move up to the $20 or $30 dollar games (the smaller tables are full of donkeys that get very lucky with bad plays. The bad players out number the good ones.)
b. play very tight for the 1st four rounds
c. dont play out of position
d. DONT BLUFF IN THE $5 -10 DOLLAR tables. You will get called down by bad players and they WILL draw out on you wiht any glimmer of hope.

I play very tight until I get into the money. Then I start playing very agro. You are pretty much playing for 1st or 3rd place. 2nd only pays about 10% more anyway.

Hope that makes sense.

Well, if it really is bad beats, then there's not much you can do.

Otherwise, what kind of game do you play? Do you have a specific strategy?

I change my game as people get knocked out. I like to play tight at the start of the game. This means folding AK if it means risking my entire stack. Once three players are eliminated, I start to loosen up and raise more aggressively. I also like to "switch gears" a lot depending on my current table image.

Position is very important when I'm playing. I don't like to take risks in early position, yet sometimes I'll raise with suspect cards in late position.

Blind battles are also important. You don't want the player seated next to you to feel like he can steal your blind all the time. This doesn't mean foolishly "protecting your blind" everytime it's raised. However, don't let the other blind push you around either.

Really work on reading the other players. What are their styles? What do they consider your style to be? Pick and choose your battles and play accordingly.

I don't know how much help any of this is. If you have specific, situational questions, I'd be happy to help you.

When ever someone's advise is to stop playing bad players, and move up a limit, you know they are a huge donkey. Stay at five dollar. Loosen up a little, stay aggressive.

Yea, stay and play in a game with horrible players (the cause of all the bad beats) and watch your bankroll grow like a weed on a 5 dollar tables. You'll make a huge bankroll.

Try the 30 dollar game and see the difference.

Trust me. Once I switched to the higher tables my weekly income increased.

Or you can listen to someone that sits in 5 dollar games and calls players that make a profit "donks".....go ahead.

Here's what I mean by loosening up.. the early rounds of an sng are very, very important. at a place like UB, you get to see cheap flops relatiive to the blinds. That means you want to see them with many hands. Donkeys over play their hands, particularlly top pair, draws, and over pair. your goal is to get in cheap with a hand early, and double up through one of the donks. It doesn't mean going over board, but any pocket pair, particularlly in position, is good. You even can call small raises with them. You'd infact love to call a small raise.. 'cause if they have a big pair, and you hit yoru set, you will get all the chips. Because the players are bad, you want to see flops, and out play them early. middle rounds, tighten WAY up. later rounds, when the blinds get big, play very, very aggressive, steal blinds, stay alive.

can't you see the logical fallacy here, you idiot... if they ar horrible players, wtf wouldn't you want to play them? If you can't beat them, it means they are tough, not horrible, and by tough, I mean better than you. if you can't
beat bad players, you are worse than they are.

can't you see the logical fallacy here, you idiot... if they ar horrible players, wtf wouldn't you want to play them? If you can't beat them, it means they are tough, not horrible, and by tough, I mean better than you. if you can't
beat bad players, you are worse than they are.

__________

I never said that I can't beat them you effin Eeyore. It's a waste of time to play 5 to 10 dollar tables. your AA KK QQ will easily get busted by weak hands and the amount you win plus the time you put in doesnt even out. You might as well go work at Taco Bell.

But you wouldnt understand that cause you're a free table poker pro that sits in his moms basement giving advice like you actually make money playing cards. We all know the truth.

Keep up the posting. It's seems like the only life you have.

Poker Forum Veteran <-------------- :shock:



Man, that is sad.

wow thanks for all the respponses I'll respond to this one first. My game is quite similar to the one yourself described Im extremely tight early and have no problem throwing away AK and other huge hands to all ins. in the middle levels i may try a small bluff or two but then when it gets to 4 players I like to play aggressive to knock players out or steal unless im playing with a maniac.

thankyou for your advice and offers of help they are truely appreciated I think you are exactly right that I need to improve my reads on players. It just kills me to ge tthe right read and come off second best but hey i guess thats poker.


As for moving up in levels as another poster suggested I can most certainly see your point but I really dont think i want to play a $30 game as it's over 10% of my BR in a single hit. I may move to 10 and see but at this stage i just dont think as a player im ready for $30 games. Your input is very much appreciated though.

So many stupid things wrong with this post, it's making my brain zizzle. If you get sucked out that muc hwith aa kk qq, you are palying them like a donk. The reason why you like the higher limits is because you get beat by "good hands" because the players aren't as bad, and when yo uget beat by bad hands, you go on tilt like the stupid donk that you are. YOU WANT WEAK HANDS TO CALL YOU WHEN YOU AHVE BIG POCKET PAIRS!! THAT"S HOW YOU MAKE MONEY!
The fact that they are at a higher limit you can win more, has to do with the limit itself Also, telling someong with a 250 roll to play 30 dollar sng's is about the stupidest thing I've heard, next to you can't beat teh bad players.

You have some serious issues. I love that I can post here and drive on dipsh t totally insane. You should really get out of that basement and go talk to some chicks.

Pull your shoes up chump.

McDonk, you can go back to watching Powder Puff girls and jackin to animated cartoons.

You can hardly use a sample of 12 sits to really see how you are doing.....WAY to short term right now.....you need to play upwards of 100 to really see how you are doing....the variance will happen

First of all, your sample space of 12 sng's is waay to small to take any results seriously, and it sounds like you know that you're prolly just on a bad variance. I wouldn't reccommend moving up to $30 sng's, because your $250 bankroll couldn't handle it. I suggest start playing the $10 ones, because the level of play is basically identicalto the $5 ones. Then just continue to get your money in with big leads, cause eventually the luck will swing, and you'll go on a tear. Play at least 100-200 sng's, and then evaluate where you're at. Trust me, the donks pay you off eventually.

Some of us are here to talk poker, and others are here to cut and paste generic internet forum insults LOL good ones, get out of the basement.. that's as fresh as spam.

POKER? Talking poker? Dude, save your breath. You're like a little kid.
"it makes my brain sizzlee, raaaaaaaaaaahhhh" <--- seriously?
Like I said, Forum over.

Maybe you should take a nap so you can dream about being a profitable player.

You should change that pic of the asian chick to Eeyore. That pic clearly says "these are the type of chicks I get..." right.

hahah welcome to the forum* pats your head* from now on, I'm giving you the Kowboy Koop treatment.

OK, for banning number 2 today. First Fluffdog. Now motion to ban jjbacardi.

Man I love the beating bad players is tougher than beating the good ones argument. It always cheers me up.

It sounds like you are playing a good game for the $5 level, you have the roll to safely move up to $10, but be able to beat the $5 first. As for your goal of making $150 a week, you will need to play alot of SNGs at that level and focus on a better win rate.


25 $11 sng a week (-275)


Lets assume you can cash in 9 of 25 SNGs (36%) which a low rate and and once you get to the money you manage to have an equal shot at 1-2-3 (which is something you need to work on
Lets give you 3 wins out of 25 (12%) f0r $135
Lets give you 3 2nds out of 25 (12%) for $81
Lets give you 3 3rds out of 25 (12%) for $54

You have invested $275 and won $270, so with the rake you actually are a losing player.

Now lets move you up to 45% ITM 11 cashes out of 25 with 1 more win and 1 more 3rd
Now you have made a total of $333 on your $275 for a profit of $58 over 25 SNGs

As you can see, you need to work on getting ITM at about 45% or kick the win rate up to 18-20% of each tourney to become a long term winner

Fluffdog was banned today? Please say yes

who's fluff dog? I've been hanging out in all the wrong places.. lemme search..

Like I said, 5 buck tables are a waste of time and will probably hurt your game.

As far as banning me, that would be awesome. If that's what gives you guys boners, go ahead.

don't know too much about him, just know that he started about 12 completely useless threads in about 48 hours.

word.

If you cant beat the low limit sngs, moving up is silly and a threat to your bankroll.

You need more results to have an idea whether you can really beat them or not.

As far as playing to win or playing to cash, play the way your results are best. I play to cash and vary between 20% and 45% ROI month to month, and dont have the threat to my bankroll that a long losing streak from "playing to win" can reuslt in.

Playing to win or cash is something I switch up, depending on how the tourniment is going.. there are certain crutial times when you have alot of chips, that you need to bully like crazy, while everyone else is trying to sqeak into the money.

[quote=BigDMcGee]
As far as playing to win or playing to cash, play the way your results are best. I play to cash and vary between 20% and 45% ROI month to month, and dont have the threat to my bankroll that a long losing streak from "playing to win" can reuslt in.[/quote] Playing to win or cash is something I switch up, depending on how the tourniment is going.. there are certain crutial times when you have alot of chips, that you need to bully like crazy, while everyone else is trying to sqeak into the money.[/quote]

Thats not a choice between playing to win and playing to cash, though, thats just good big stack play.

When people talk about "playing to win" they are generally referring to taking coin flips that will either knock them out or give them a much better chance to win it all, rather than waiting for more solid hands and for others stacks to dwindle.

thanks alot for an awesome post, this really puts things in perspective. Well after my little steam ive managed to cash in the last 4/5 sngs including a 1st. this post really gives me an idea of where i need to be I hadnt actually done the maths like this again thankyou.