Advice?

[SirTiltalot]

I'm pretty solid at tournament holdem but I've only been playing the 2 and 4 dollar tables cause I've been kind of hesitant to do higher as I only have like a, well now, $250 bankroll and I haven't been exactly making money in the low buy ins so what makes me think I'll do any better higher up? Every once in a while I'll win a couple 180 and 45 player tournaments but usually I'm getting knocked out by lucky idiots. Of course there's the actual good plays that people play and I go busted and I have no problem with that, but for the most part, it's crappy plays and luck.

The only thing I can think is people higher up play more "realistically". I'm not really in poker for the money. I just like playing it so I'm not looking to make millions. I would like to however be breaking even just so I can play more. Right now I'm down like 200 dollars (some of that was my fault though... just playing when I don't really feel like it or whatever or playing again after getting pissed off at someone's lucky stupid move).

I'm thinking I would just be better off playing with play money. I wouldn't care so much. I mean I don't need this money so it's not like its a big deal losing it, it's just frustrating losing tournaments from people making plays that make absolutely no sense whatsoever. I can't even go "Ok, I can see why he did that or what he was doing". It's like watching my sister play poker... and she can't play.

Should I go to higher tables? Play with less people? (I usually do fairly well with 5 dollar single table sit-n-goes so maybe I should just stick to those). I'm still pretty new to poker IMO but I've read up a lot on tournament poker with books and stuff and my game has improved A LOT since I started and my playing is fairly solid but could be improved yes. Not an expert by any means but not a donk either. I'm thinking of just learning how to play ring games well so I can at least keep playing tournaments and learning without having to keep dumping in my own money. But I'd probably need a bigger bankroll to make any serious money from that yes?

Bankroll management has never been my strong point =P To date I've put in $450 since January and right now sitting at $250 but it goes up and down a lot (more down than up but those wins help out a lot)...

[crack]

The idea of moving up to higher stakes because they will "respect your raises" and play better which in your words would make it "more realistic" is a common mistake made by a lot of new players.

The idea of poker is not to have people play good against you. The idea is to play better than your opponent.

If you were in a fight to the death in a cage match death special extravaganza, would you rather have the disabled kid in a wheelchair who has no arms fight against you or the huge barbarian dude who just ate one of his own balls because he is that f*cking hardcore?

You should do whatever you want and makes you happy though, but basically if you make good plays and your opponents make bad plays, they can only get lucky for so long, eventually you will come out on top, unless you're not very good either.

Good luck.

[SirTiltalot]

Mm... thanks, I'll stick to my low limit tables for now then. If I guess if I can't really have played it any better, not much I could do. Could practice from going on tilt better (I've been playing just one game a day at the most now to keep me from going back in a mood and I've been doing better lately) It just seemed if I was at a higher table, someone with a 22 would not be pushing all in after someone else already bet and happened to have 2 pair but get's unlucky on the turn or river with another 2 showing up (I cannot figure out why people have such a hard time laying down 22 or any other low pair when they completely miss the flop). And this kind of stuff seems to happen a lot but... And ya they only get lucky for so long (I've never really seen these guys actually win) however that doesn't help ME... I'm already out. Of course I guess I should stop complaining and remember all the times I got lucky myself, either by an idiot calling bad and me getting a bucket load of chips or just getting out played or making a stupid call myself knowing I'm probably beat but getting lucky on the river...

[HalfSugar]

If you were in a fight to the death in a cage match death special extravaganza, would you rather have the disabled kid in a wheelchair who has no arms fight against you or the huge barbarian dude who just ate one of his own balls because he is that f*cking hardcore?

That's a poor analogy - the retard cannot really luck out and win can he?

[crack]

He could always roll across OP's face.

[Gunslinger]

Tiltalot, never ever ever go to play money tables.

My other suggestion is to try cash games. When a horrible player sucks out on you, you don't have to leave, you are able to try to get your money back from him.

[LeafsFan1122]

Tiltalot,

Please don't take this the wrong way, but your general attitude and seemingly, your understanding of the game and of its concepts suggests to me that you're very new, with very little experience. This is not an attack and not meant to be condecending in any way - I'm taking the time to write this to hopefully help you a little.

Anyways, moving on.

As mentioned previously in this thread, you genuinely do not want to play against good players. As a matter of fact, the worse the players at your table, the higher your EV (expected value) is of you actually profiting in any given session (and more importantly, over the long run).

I'm pretty solid at tournament holdem but I've only been playing the 2 and 4 dollar tables cause I've been kind of hesitant to do higher as I only have like a, well now, $250 bankroll and I haven't been exactly making money in the low buy ins so what makes me think I'll do any better higher up?

This statement should ring some alarm bells. Clearly you're not "pretty solid" at tournament holdem yet if you are not beating/successful at micro/low level tournaments. Moving down to play money is not the best solution IMO, as you stated that you would at least like to learn to break even at microstakes. Instead, I propose that you play the smallest SNGs/MTTs/cash games as possible for a while until you can prove that you're a winning or breakeven player over a significant sample size (which unless you simply omitted it from your post, you do not have yet).

I could go on, but please take this into consideration and let me know what you think.

[UrAteUp]

If you were in a fight to the death in a cage match death special extravaganza, would you rather have the disabled kid in a wheelchair who has no arms fight against you or the huge barbarian dude who just ate one of his own balls because he is that f*cking hardcore?

That's a poor analogy - the retard cannot really luck out and win can he?

You do...so why can't someone who is a little smarter then you luck out and win?....

Seriously, OP you should look at your hand histories and see if the mistakes made were bad play on your part or on villians part. Should you have raised more with XX? Should you have called that raise? These are things you can determine from reviewing hand histories and finding possible flaws in your game.

BTW Crack I think you gave some great advice.