Online Poker - Does Anyone Actually Do OK?

im never calling A3 in the small blind.
if you think the button is "at it" then im re-raising but more often than not im just folding. you dont want to be playing dominated hands like that oop. just wait for a better spot. its a cash game so its not as if your going to be blinded out.

oh and to answer your question. yes people do do alright. ive not done too bad over the years from not ever depositing my own money. i bought a car with a tourny win a few months back.
good luck.

Your point is well taken, but I just found it ironic that I made a Full House which was worthless.... and how about the poor Git who had pocket Q's.......

he played it pretty bad so got what he deserved really lol. min raising a min raise with a caller in aswell. tut tut

You only fail once you give up.

You should focus more on the things you can change/improve (your game) than on the ones that you don't have an effect on.

Also, you will make money from bad players in the long run, not good ones.

-SF

there is quite a good number of players that do quite fine on internet poker, coolers obviosly happen but in the end, better players make moneyz, bad players lose it, u should work on your game and hopefully in a couple of months you are also gonna be able to answer to your question the same like i did..

Originally posted by RKBB65
I've finally decided that I can't win, that I can't actually bet enough to make anyone fold as someone will ALWAYS call with any two cards.

no money in poker, everyone fishy

anyway well, i'm going through such a phase myself but variance longrun etc

Against my better judgement I gave it another go....

flop an Ace high straight.... put the other guy all in with his Q 10 ... he Rivers a Q .....calls off $25 of his stack with two pair....nice!

I have Q K aggressive knob raises.... I call, flop is K Q 5 - he raises.... I call ... Turn is a 7 .... he's all in .... I call ... he shows Q 7 .... can you guess what the River is kids? Another fucking 7 ......sigh!

When I next have Q K I'm running low ....there's a Q, but wait... he's flopped a set of 8's against my Q 10 this time ....sigh.......

I understand the whole Variance thing, and maybe I'm just a paranoid fucker, but ....... enough is enough...... good luck to you all....

Bye folks, and big F U to the good people at Ipoker!

Well, it's always nice to encourage the beginners, but should we really encourage ANYONE to keep playing? This guy obv has no clue. He has no understanding of variance whatsoever and nor will he ever will. He was talking about 60 quid pot so I assume hes playing nl10 nl20 at least. At this point of time a person should be smart enough to get the hold of the simpler concepts. I'd understand if a solid player is on a 30 bi downswing and starts doubting, but this guy just moans about few bad beats and decides its not possible to win at online poker, blames poker room staff.

Not sure about the Poker Room Staff comment...... as for Variance, well, what I do understand is often I'm an 80+% favourite to win the hand when I bet or when I call a raise (or when I flop an Ace high straight or set!) only to be the one on the rough end of the Pineapple afterwards ...... by simpler concepts I assume you mean play at micro levels and shove like a Beserker with any Ace or King? Seems to work for most.... many play A/K as if its the Holy Grail.... I definitly prefer playing live rather then online, and maybe I'll go back to that... I feel like live poker is less related to Bingo and on occasion some players actually fold..........

Originally posted by RKBB65
I feel like live poker is less related to Bingo and on occasion some players actually fold..........

Really? Since my experience is noone likes to fold in live games (not that is a bad thing ♦).

Lol, if none folds, then it is really easy isnt it?
You got a good hand: bet/bet/bet. If you get raised, then continue really strongs hands only (this doenst include overpairs like AA and top pairs)
You aint got a good hand: c/f until improved.

Pokers is simple

Lol, if none folds, then it is really easy isnt it?

Well, you'd think so.... but, for example, when I flop that A high straight holding A J and the board is K Q 10 and the guy next to me shoves with Q 10 and massivly reraise him you'd think he'd at least stop to think - am I up against Q K?, but no, he snap calls with the worst hand, and yet hits that Q on the River..... what I'm trying to understand is the thought process involved with some of these players.... I rarely get it in with the worst hand, but end up that way.... same with that Q 7 vs Q K - again end up with the rough end, but how can the Q 7 guy assume he's ahead on a flop of K Q 5 - I can understand that he think it on the Turn when its a 7 , but then to hit running 7's is kind of painful... he thinks he's some genius player, I think he's a lucky fuck - but at the end of the day he makes the money - so I'm getting it in with the better hand often, calling a knobtard raise with the better hand often, yet getting the rough end of the Pineapple at the end of it all ...... all Variance aside I'd really like to understand the thought process of someone who calls an all in with K 6 Hearts and flops a flush against my pocket Aces - that's happened before too (I'm sure to all of us at some stage!), but how can you possibly get anywhere when you're up against players who wont lay down any pair and against all odds improve......

Obviously I'm either playing at too high a stake or I don't have deep enough pockets for this game..... perhaps if I still lived at home and didn't have to pay rent like some of the players I'm up against.... but that's just pure speculation..... I'm sure I'm much older then many who I play against at 47 - so maybe its an arrogance of youth thing - the whole image of the loose/aggressive born post 1980 player that is really kicking my aged arse.......

Quit poker and stop crying about your bad beats here

/e Whats wrong with people getting it in with worse hands than me?

Well, I wasn't really crying as such, but wanted to understand more about these players, but if the game is full of people like your good self, then quitting is probably not a bad idea, thanks for your well thought out advice.....

Coincidentally, I just read this article and maybe you should as well. The poor Git with pocket Q's was just to dumb to min-raise pre-flop, he should definitely have made a normal raise. I mean how many times have you seen people try to steal the blinds with a min-raise from the button (btw 44 is a good hand to raise in late position)? Probably a thousand times. With QQ you should go for value and when someone takes your money by hitting a full house on the flop, then so be it, next time you'll take a large pot. If you just let them stay in the pot for (almost) nothing, they're bound to hit something once in a while.

Same goes for you. A3 is a nice hand and if you think somebody tries to steal it, then you should reraise. If somebody 4-bets you afterwards, then you can fold; A3 is not that good.

In my opinion it's like this:
44 min-raise: good move, but I'd probably add 0.5 or 1 blind to that.
A3 call: very bad move. What do you want to do with that? You're in the SB and you can't be out of position more. If somebody tries to steel your blinds, you should re-steal, especially with a hand like that. If somebody 4-bets you, they obviously have a strong hand.
QQ min-raise: wtf? Probably the best hand and you should build a pot. With QQ you want to get the money in as early as possible. You don't want someone to hit two pair and start playing aggressively afterwards.
44 call: very good move. You can stay in cheaply. If you hit a set (or better), you'll probably have the nuts without anyone else realizing it, otherwise you just fold.
A3 call: you're still out of position and raising is not an option anymore, but you now get very good pot-odds (this is why QQ shouldn't min-raise). You should be very careful though, because when you hit an ace, there might be someone with a better kicker, a set, or two pair.
Flop: 44 got in cheaply and was lucky to hit the nuts. QQ and A3 never realized they could be behind and happily donated their money.

Thanks Luitzen,
I appreciate your thoughts and can see where you're coming from. I'm going to check out that article as well.

Be happy you get it in as an 80% favorite! Losing due to bad luck sucks, but it's part of the game.

I realize it's not as easy for everyone, but whenever you experience beats like this, just get over it and reload your stack/fire up another tournament, knowing that you'll make a profit in the long run.

Sometimes there's no point in trying to figure out the thought process of players who just go nuts with basically anything. But you should be happy having them at your table, because they'll essentially just give you their money in the long run.

Just remember that you should think about long term results, not short term results.

Unfortunately it requires silver level, but this is a good article to read if you manage to get there: http://www.pokerstrategy.com/strategy/psychology/941/1/

These articles might also be interesting for you and are for bronze level, on downswings and tilt:
http://www.pokerstrategy.com/strategy/psychology/49/1/
http://www.pokerstrategy.com/strategy/psychology/1335/1/
http://www.pokerstrategy.com/strategy/psychology/1333/1/

I'm just not sure if I'll live long enough to catch a break at this stage! Its definitly more difficult then years back when you could on occasion make a good profit for a days play, but now I'd be very happy to break even some days. I agree that getting it in with the best and being called by the worst isn't always a bad thing, but when I get called these days I just have a feeling of doom, and its more then not often the case.

Thanks for the links..... I'll check them out.

If you truly are on a very big downswing, then there's always the option of simply taking a break for a few days/weeks. Of course, that is if it truly is a downswing. If you are making the right decisions and still losing all the time, that's bad luck. If that bad luck is getting to you, just take a break, and start playing again when you have calmed down.

If you have the opportunity to profit from weak players in the long run, which it sounds like you do, it would honestly be a shame to just give up! Take a break, keep working on your game, and remember that you will be making a profit in the long run when you do get it in as an 80% favorite