Online Poker - Does Anyone Actually Do OK?

http://www.sharkscope.com/#Player-Statistics//networks/PokerStars/players/CaesAugustus
http://www.sharkscope.com/#Player-Statistics//networks/FullTilt/players/CaesAugustus

Enough said I guess ..

Just not to be misunderstood - I am not trying to brag at all here .. Just check the PokerStars graph and especially the 700th-1200th games, 3400th-3600th etc. etc. .. Poker is a game with huge impact of variance and you need big samples in my view. It is up to you if you are willing to put in the effort.

Hail Caesar ...... nice one.... good to see a winning graph. I doubt I'll see you at my table, but if I do don't be offended if I bugger off!

Hi, do you have tracker software like HEM of PT? If so, you could check your EV line. If it goes up (should be if you get the money in ahead like you've said), and the actual result goes down, then you're probably on temporary downswing.

The EV line isnt holy but should give a good indication of how you run.

T.

PS1.: FYI i've made close to $3K in online poker.

Originally posted by Tampaloeres81
Hi, do you have tracker software like HEM of PT? If so, you could check your EV line. If it goes up (should be if you get the money in ahead like you've said), and the actual result goes down, then you're probably on temporary downswing.
The EV line isnt holy but should give a good indication of how you run.
T.
PS1.: FYI i've made close to $3K in online poker.

On the other hand, I need to note that I think the quality of play online is sooo much better now ... I first started in 2008 on bWin, NL10 ... No idea about how to play, no idea about position, no idea about nothing, just good sense of mathematics and probabilities -> I made average 40$ 1 tabling for 3 hours while watching TV, chatting, etc ...

The standard hand went like, I have AA, someone raises to 11 BB, I ship 100 BB, he calls A6o (all the time) .. Unfortunately I had no idea that I could multitable And did not have the balls to play NL20 (equally bad), because it was way too much money for me to loose 20USD in one hand (median salary in Slovakia then could be like 400USD/month)

Today that does not even work on NL2 ...

Hi AugustusCaesar,

Yes the quality of play is indeed much better nowadays. But still NL2, NL5, NL10 etc is still full of fish.

If you read the basics, one should crush NL2 in notime.
Beginning players tend to overplay their hands and bluff way too much or forget to bet to actually get money in the pot.
It's far easier to blame variance then to accept that you make tons of mistakes.

T.

Originally posted by RKBB65
Greetings all,
Recent events have made me decide to take a step back from the wondeful world of Online Poker. 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. The hand in question that's put me out to pasture happened in Ladbrookes.... I was in the small blind with A 3 - not a monster I know, but it was folded around to me and the button min raised, so I called, then the BB min raised again... well, in for a penny! .... here's the saga

Flp 3 3 4

Ok, not too bad three handed and I have 3 of a kind.... I'm shoving right now....

Over go the cards

Button has 4 4 - I'm not looking good now

BB has Q Q - what was he thinking reraising with that crap!

Turn is an A - great, made a Full House that's no good, and more to the point I'd have been all in on the turn regardless of my shove on the flop

River is a brick - that's me and the BB done, the button picks up a £60 pot.

Only three of us in the hand, all late position....... if there's a point to this, other then donating my money to Ladbrookes I'm not aware of it.

Have fun all and good luck.

Seriously ? you would like them to fold ? Seriously...? Dude i hope i sit on a table and there is at least one maniac who will call every single hand i raise or 3-bet.
Just focus your game,learn positioning and learn the SHC it is very helpful A3 in the small blind is a lose play in long term run,so you should never play that hand,it is ok to try 3-bet and fold,but calling is not an option,you never call hand and play OoP. You can call only if you are in position and you need to have good plan how to play post flop,C-bet,check-raise... but of course all of this depends on the player type and the board.

I had situations like you,playing small suited connectors and mediocre hands but when i evaluated my hands i saw that i have lost a lot of money calling and hoping i flop this hands and even when i flop sometimes somebody can push on the flop and hit better flush,straight and full house then me. So i decided to forget about playing this hands and guess what i tripled my money in just 3 days.

Best Regards Nikola

Just focus your game,learn positioning and learn the SHC it is very helpful A3 in the small blind is a lose play in long term run,so you should never play that hand,it is ok to try 3-bet and fold,but calling is not an option,you never call hand and play OoP. You can call only if you are in position and you need to have good plan how to play post flop,C-bet,check-raise... but of course all of this depends on the player type and the board.

+1

Though I disagree that calling out of position is never a possibility. With the right implied odds, I definitely don't mind calling a raise in the blinds with small pairs or suited connectors because they flop very well. Though aside of that, yeah, folding or 3betting from the blinds is a much better route to take.

I had a similar streak going on not too long ago. I'm a tournament player myself, so almost every time I pushed preflop and had a coin flip, I lost. Almost every time I pushed weaker hands purely for fold equity (and having 40% equity if I would get called), I would lose.

But shit happens. So I would simply fire up a new tournament and keep going. There's no point in getting mad with getting unlucky, especially not if someone made a terrible play that made you lose your entire stack due to bad luck. Again, be happy they made that play, because you'll be the winner in the long run.

be happy they made that play, because you'll be the winner in the long run

I have to say I wasn't upset to see those guys call with Q 10 and Q 7 against my A J and K Q ..... but wasn't too thrilled by the river
Either way you point is well taken, just very frustrating when you're constantly on the fisting end of a beat, and when you have pocket Kings or Aces in the BB everyone folds around to you (that's another favourite!) .... perhaps I'll chalk it up to a bad day, but looking at myself on Sharkscope I am forced to conclude that I suck worse then a $2 whore!

If that really is the case, then there's plenty of learning material here at PokerStrategy!

Maybe it's worth trying out the NL Beginner's Course: http://www.pokerstrategy.com/strategy/bss/1992/1/

That will teach you the basics of NL cash games (as well as a few more advanced concepts) and teaches you how to manage your bankroll and tilt. If you're looking to build a solid foundation for your game, this is a great place to start

Originally posted by NikolaB85
Seriously ? you would like them to fold ? Seriously...? Dude i hope i sit on a table and there is at least one maniac who will call every single hand i raise or 3-bet.
Just focus your game,learn positioning and learn the SHC it is very helpful A3 in the small blind is a lose play in long term run,so you should never play that hand,it is ok to try 3-bet and fold,but calling is not an option,you never call hand and play OoP. You can call only if you are in position and you need to have good plan how to play post flop,C-bet,check-raise... but of course all of this depends on the player type and the board.

I disagree on this. Though the opportunity may be scarce, it's definitely worth it to call A3 (or any other hand for that matter) if the pot odds are right. A3 is also a good hand to defend your blinds against blind steals.

I had situations like you,playing small suited connectors and mediocre hands but when i evaluated my hands i saw that i have lost a lot of money calling and hoping i flop this hands and even when i flop sometimes somebody can push on the flop and hit better flush,straight and full house then me. So i decided to forget about playing this hands and guess what i tripled my money in just 3 days.

Best Regards Nikola

Well if you think like this, I'm not sure whether you really understand the game. You cannot draw any conclusions from playing three profitable days; it might as well be variance.

Originally posted by luitzen

Originally posted by NikolaB85
Seriously ? you would like them to fold ? Seriously...? Dude i hope i sit on a table and there is at least one maniac who will call every single hand i raise or 3-bet.
Just focus your game,learn positioning and learn the SHC it is very helpful A3 in the small blind is a lose play in long term run,so you should never play that hand,it is ok to try 3-bet and fold,but calling is not an option,you never call hand and play OoP. You can call only if you are in position and you need to have good plan how to play post flop,C-bet,check-raise... but of course all of this depends on the player type and the board.

I disagree on this. Though the opportunity may be scarce, it's definitely worth it to call A3 (or any other hand for that matter) if the pot odds are right. A3 is also a good hand to defend your blinds against blind steals.

I had situations like you,playing small suited connectors and mediocre hands but when i evaluated my hands i saw that i have lost a lot of money calling and hoping i flop this hands and even when i flop sometimes somebody can push on the flop and hit better flush,straight and full house then me. So i decided to forget about playing this hands and guess what i tripled my money in just 3 days.

Best Regards Nikola

Well if you think like this, I'm not sure whether you really understand the game. You cannot draw any conclusions from playing three profitable days; it might as well be variance.

But taking the part where i played like almost 35% of my hands i lost a lot of money and once i started folding this hands i have very very good results.
So to me yes it is a very lose play,calling or even raising those hands. It's not like i fold 99% but most of the time i fold them i focus other tables.
Also i noticed when i play 4 tables i can't focus very well,once i close one table and stay on 3 i am super focused. So try to play not that much tables at the same time (if you already multitable)
Best Regards

But taking the part where i played like almost 35% of my hands i lost a lot of money and once i started folding this hands i have very very good results.
So to me yes it is a very lose play,calling or even raising those hands. It's not like i fold 99% but most of the time i fold them i focus other tables.
Also i noticed when i play 4 tables i can't focus very well,once i close one table and stay on 3 i am super focused. So try to play not that much tables at the same time (if you already multitable)
Best Regards

+1 on the multitabling tip, that's also definitely worth taking note of

If you are constantly losing money from the blinds, then maybe you should consider working on your post flop play. Though it's inadvisable to play for huge pots with weak hands out of position, if you have an aggressive player to your right and you only play good hands from the blinds, you will keep losing them, which you don't want to happen. Instead, consider calling with hands that flop well, or 3betting strong hands as well as some more trashy hands. If you do indeed have an aggressive opponent to your right, there's no shame in 3betting hands like K9s from time to time (just an example).

Being tight isn't a bad thing and can certainly be profitable, but sometimes you'll have to step slightly out of your comfort zone to make more profitable plays. If you don't, you'll be very exploitable.

Originally posted by TinoLaan
Being tight isn't a bad thing and can certainly be profitable, but sometimes you'll have to step slightly out of your comfort zone to make more profitable plays. If you don't, you'll be very exploitable.

noooooooooo

from op's description of the games, he shouldn't worry about being exploited. and even if he should, there clearly are some more basic issues to be fixed.
"to not be exploitable" is not a reason to do things that you don't know much about.

That was directed at the other guy

Much to my surprise I have to say apprently I suck much less on Microgaming at Ladbrookes... its on Will Hill that I'm a total knob....no one is more shocked then me based on the beating Ladbrookes have been giving me of late, although I made a £22 profit last night.... if only I could do as well as some of you guys, but obviously there are some serious leaks in my game, which I suspect at in post flop play and been to loose pre flop....... thanks for all the feedback and also for the links to the Poker course... I think I need to take a few weeks out and rethink all this......

My Ladbrookes Sharkscope

Looking at some of those details, it looks like BRM (bankroll management) is a serious issue. Do you seriously have the bankroll to be playing $20/$10 tournaments? Since you're also playing $1 tournaments, it looks like that's more suited for your bankroll.

I generally like to stick to 200 BI (buy-ins) for MTTs. Variance is huge in these tournaments, so you can easily have long streaks in which you don't cash (despite playing well). That means that, in order to play $10 tournaments, you will need at least $2000, and $4000 for $20 tournaments. That seems like a lot of money for such a buy-in level, but it's definitely necessary. So if you have a $200 bankroll, you should start playing $1 tournaments. It's fine to take some shots at $2 tournaments, but nothing more than that.

If this incredible variance is too bothersome for you, then maybe you should consider playing ST SNGs or cash games, because they aren't nearly as swingy as MTTs.

But good BRM is very important, arguably the most important thing for any poker player!

I would agree.... ironically not having a decent bankroll leads to more losing streaks as I don't have the ammo to call off what I feel are obvious bluffs from time to time..... I have less escape clauses, but I'm going to work on that by selecting some lower level MTT's and perhaps some Sit and Go's .... because of my bank roll I'm not the best suited to cash games, but I would like to get my head around those.

Actually you need 50$ to start NL2 and it is very profitable.
I started with 25$ at partypoker and now i sit on 55$ in less then 13 days.
I had couple mistakes where i lost 15$ in one day,had pretty bad day and didn't waned to sit out from the tables. It seemed like i can't win a single hand. My AA,KK,QQ was always beaten by some middle pairs,straights and flushes. But except that day i am doing pretty good.

I hope in Dec. i will be able to jump to NL4 or maybe stay here till Jan. just to get more confidence and discipline in order to stick to my game play.

Sometimes when i play more then 1h i start making mistakes due to the long session. Thats why i decided to not play a session more then 45-50 min. because thats the time when i start loosing my concentration and going down.

Best Regards Nikola

I think there is some large leaks in your game here and at the limit you are playing you need to be thinking more specifically about your poat flop decisions.

First off i have to say that a3 is an extremely bad hand to defend with when in the small blind. Your going to get into a lot of awkward positions and lose to better aces far to often. If you feel your opponent is stealing to much your first strategy should be to defend your bb by 3 betting with a strong range, this will keep most oppoments from stealing ur bb. Dont worry to much about losing your sb often.

Post flop when your in suxh a situation you shouldnt be looking to just shove. You need to first think of who your against. Are they loose, medium, tight? How can i get the maximum potential agaimst there range? Your all in late with mediocore action preflop so your ranges are probably going to be wide as hell. You have to know that the majority of medium players wont ship less than jj+, 44, 3-10+ and a tight player wouldnt get anything all in as tight as 44 3 ways. Even the fish will jave some mediocare range that they fold/call with.

That being said your goal shouldnt be to ship it against most opponents as you will make more money by using all 3 streets agaonst them against their range. And if it looks like they are going to get it all in on the flop you need to know that they are loose enough to both have worse than 44 often enough.

The weekly Im a big dolt thread who lost a hand that I played badly so poker is rigged