unbe-effin-lieveable grrr....

[rookette22]

You know how I lost ? total bs; the guy had 3-7 unsuited i had ace q suited
i went all in 300 my last 300 btw and he came to see me with THAT?
mind you he had 5000 in front of him but still and of all the luck... guess what the flop was? 3 -7 giving him 2 pr & me nada

I think I'm better off sticking to Omaha H/L for awhile seems I'm just not any good with Hold'em.

[Zybomb]

what were the blinds? was this guy in one of the blinds? was this guy the chip leader? what was the average stack?

[johnp158]

Not knowing anything about the situation, but in general I'd say that if you had 300 and he had 5000, any laydown is a bad laydown. You surely can't be that torn up about being severely shortstacked and knocked out by a hand that's not even a 2-1 dog. Come on.

[rookette22]

couldn't get all the stats for it; table closed right after I finished in 10th place...

I rem it being 150 and I went all in with another 150; the other 2 guys folded and this guy with the 5000 called 300. He was chip leader on my table yes. As for the average stack; dunno.

Hate when table closes like that; can't take any info that way.

[Zybomb]

I think one of your problems was you let yourself get too short. 10 BBs is the magic number, anytime you get to that amount or below you need to start pushing with any raise... in position, when its folded around to you, you need to start pushing your stack in on blind steals as well -- if you're called then your called, hopefully you at least have two live cards and are 65/35 or 60/40... if not you pick up the blinds (and antes if its latE) GREAT.

If you start getting down even lower, you need top start gambling and making moves. You have to have a stack where your raise at least represents somewhat of a threat. If the blinds are 100/200 and your stack has dwindled down to 400, your raise isnt gunna scare anyone... in fact from the BB I'll call you with any two cards.

A typical raise in later tournament play is 3x BB (sometimes 4)... which means you are gunna need at least 6xBB to scare someone....any less than 5xBB Im pushing before the blinds get back to me whenever theres an unopened pot and the action is on me... I simply cant allow myself ot get any lower

So I think the main point to take from this is if the blinds are 150, you should never have 300 in your stack (unless you've just lost a huge hand to someones all in which left you with 300 chips. When you reach the 750 mark, its time to start makin moves and before the blinds get back to you

?'s or if u need more explained jus scream at me...

Im just back from a midnight-5 session, im up 440 and Im not tired yet

[rookette22]

Just trying to get the hang of this game and it seems I'm either not aggressive enough or ppl complain I make bad plays. Just a little down, don't think I'll ever get good at it.

The odd thing is, is that when I play for play chips, I do pretty good. But then when I play for real money I lose.

*Tried to post this last night but I think this site had another downtime; so I went to practice some more Hold'em in the play chips table and won 600k play chips ofcourse. Too bad I can't play the same in real money.

[Hawt]

If the blinds are 50/150 and he is the chip leader with 5000, 300 more (or 150 more if he was BB) is a cheap price to pay to knock someone out and move up in the payout. Plus he knows that even if you double up you still only have like 4BB 's and will get blinded out or push with a weak hand in the near future. It is a little risk-big reward opportunity, even with 73.

[rookette22]

I think I know where my problem lies. See when I do get below the 1000, I tend to protect myself and I don't go all in or call so I wait for the SB & BB and by then it's too late especially if I get 2 really bad cards.

Playing for play chips & real money is just so different.

Thx for the tip,Zybomb, I'm gonna try to rem that.

[Nikita]

Rookette, I started out with playchips. I wanted to practice before I attempted money. I found that if I thought as the chips as money, I played them like money, so when I switched to a real money game, my style of play didn't change much. The only thing I had to get used to was money tables have tighter players and I was used to the loose players. At first stay tight when you switch, get a feel for how tight the game will be, then you can start loosening up. So far, it hasn't worked to bad for me.

[rookette22]

Well with me, the transition from play to real didn't change much until the players started to tell me off.

Just like the other night when I called with ace 3 and the 3 didn't show up till the turn and then the ace at river when I went all in; the guy had PP's and was upset cus I kept calling his bet with (what he says, weren't calling cards). But that's how I play when I'm in the play chips table. So yeah now I'm being careful as to what I call with (as not to annoy anyone) and it seems I'm going backwards instead of forwards.

[Nikita]

Rook, have you checked out any of the books that everyone suggests here? I know it's helped my game. As well, you should check out "The Poker Player's Bible" by Lou Krieger . I know when I first started playing, I was playing way too many hands. I fixed that, then I started to play hands out of position. Sure I was hitting with them occassionally, but I was losing more money in the long run. The book gave me insight on what it meant to play out of position and how it affected my game. I try and follow the guidelines for what hands to play in what position and I find that I win more often and lose less now. (Plus it doesn't just talk about hold'em, it's got Omaha and Stud in there too.)

[rookette22]

Jotted down 2 book choices that have been recommended the most for beginners in this forum; Small Stake Hold'em by Ed Miller & Winning Low Limit Hold'em by Lee Jones. Those are the 2 I'm thinking of buying, what do you think?

[Nikita]

I'm not sure; I haven't read those ones. I'm trying to improve my tournament play though. I typically only play ring games when I have a limited amount of time or my son is starting to wake up or fall asleep, so he could be a detrimental distraction and I can quickly leave the game.

Here's what I've read though:

"Poker: The Real Deal" by Phil Gordon
"The Poker Player's Bible" by Lou Krieger
"Hold'em Poker for Advanced Players" by David Sklansky, Mason Malmuth
"The Theory of Poker" by David Sklansky

I haven't read Harrington on Hold'em yet, but that's my next read. In my personal opinion, the more books you read, the better. So it doesn't hurt to buy any book. (Honestly though, I borrowed 3 of the 4 books above from the library, it's cheaper ) It let's you see different options (although most are quite similar) on how to play. That's why I'm at this forum, reading how each person here would play a hand helps me learn what I can do when I get those hands and makes me a better player.

[Spidey44]

For Tourney play, get Harrington on Hold Em. Like others said, not really a bad beat on that play. That's not much for him to call you with his stack. All you had was two over cards so any pair beats you. He just happened to flop two.

[rookette22]

Hmm...I love the Library idea; hopefully I'll find an english version of any one of those books. Can't really afford to spend my money on poker books, so thx for the tip.

[rookette22]

Yup, the more I think about it the more sense it makes. He was chip leader on my table so what's 300 to him? To him it was peanuts so why not take a chance, and the pot was already a little over 600 so yeah he made the right call and got lucky.

[Talking Poker]

Three things:

1. If this guy was in the BB and it was only 150 more for him to call, he would have been makign a "bad play" by folding any two cards here.

2. It's is possibly (And very probably, IMO) that all your Play Money practice has hurt your Real Money game, and will take you a lot of time to overcome. All playing for Play Money does is reinforce bad habits and bad poker. If you do it for fun, more power to you, but realize that real poker is much different.

3. For anyone think about buying poker books online, I've got affiliate links for that too!

[Spidey44]

If money is an issue, check the library or ebay. I think you can find used books on amazon as well. If money is that tight, I don't think playing poker is a good hobby for you right now.