[razor]

For some reason last nite I would raise when I should fold and fold when I should raise. I caled bets on the river when I knew I no longer had the best hand but was tiling for allowing someone to make a draw on me and call anyway.

Why were they able to get a draw on me? Because I would only bet half pot or pot after the flop when I knew I had the best hand at the time. Have a few bad beats caused this type of play?

One of my big errors in a TRN was after I had let a guy draw to nut flush on me putting me about 1000.00 below the average. I have 800 in chips the avg. is around 1700+. Blinds are 25/50 I limp in EP with KQs. It is raised to 125 all fold to me and I just call. the flop is 668 rainbow. Like the idiot fish I was. I just check. The guy smells weakness and raises to 300. I decide if I call this will leave me with only around 300 in chips. 300 or 600 there is no difference your next decent hand is all in if you hit on the flop. Why was I even thinking if I call? It was either raise or fold but I wasn't thinking like that for whatever reason. I fold he shows pocket 77. If I would have raised the pre flop and fired out after the flop he would have folded and I would have been back to about average.

I am just learning how to play tight/aggressive after playing 2 months of tight/passive.

When I was playing tight/passive in $10+1 and 20+2 SNGS I was in the money 65% of the time. Now it is about 40% of the time but 90% of that I finish in 1st.

RNGS forget it I can't seem to win on any low/limit tables. .50/100 PL/NL I seem to only break even.

How do I make that next step to where I am winning more then I am losing? Are am I being to hard on myself and expecting to much with only about 3 months of playing on-line?

[chris]

Learning how to play poker doesn’t just a few months. It takes a good amount of time before you can really figure out how you want to play. Plus once you figure out your game style to still have to make adjustments to fit the table your at.

For instance, I found it’s very hard to be a profitable player playing tight/aggressive at low limit table. The reason for this, is in lower limits people tend to draw more. If your going to play tight/aggressive I would recommend playing at least 10/20 or higher. This is the only truly way to be profitable playing limit. On a side note learning to play tight/aggressive is the most difficult to learn and play. But it’s the most profitable in limit games.

90% of the time the tight/aggressive player will always leave the table with more then they have started with. This applies to limit not NL or Pot-Limit

Many people have a difficult time changing gears just at a poker table. You are trying to change your entire game style. Believe it or not your personality really affects the style of your play. Once you understand this and you can not only improve your game but you can also read players better.

As for NL games, I believe you cannot play any particular style which will dominate over another style. To truly become a good NL player you must know how to play various styles of poker. It’s critical to change gears in a NL game.

I would say that you are being to hard on yourself. The reason why is because there are a lot of people just like you, who have only been playing for 3,4,6 months who have not grasped the concept and differences between styles of play.

The biggest reason for your win/loss percentages is because your changing your style. Which is not a bad thing at all. Poker just requires consistence. It might be consistent play of one style like tight/aggressive, or consistent play of changing gears. All in all once you figure out where you want to be you will start becoming a more profitable player.

This is just my opinion many people may or may not agree with me. But I am a consistent profitable player.

[razor]

chris thanks for your advice. This weekend I seemed to play much better. Played mainly SNGS and TRNS. I didn’t get in the money in the TRNS but finished in the top 100 in the three I played in. I finished in the top 50 in one of those. The average number of players in each was around 500.

I think you are right on with needing to adjust your play in PL/NL. In the SNGS I played tight/passive till the blinds were 25/50 then started playing tight/aggressive till the game became shorthanded and started playing loose/aggressive. I am back in the money again. I played mostly 10+1 but played two 20+2 won one and went out in 4th in the other one.

I played ten 10+1 games finished in the money 50% of the time and walked away with $40.00 profit. Played two 20+2 games and walked away with $66.00 profit. I didn’t notice the players being that much better in the 20+2 then the ones in the 10+1.

With the pay offs being that much higher in the 20+2 is it better to play for these stakes?

I gave about 50% of my winnings back to play the TRNS. Should wait till I am a better player to invest anything in TRNS?