Good afternoon poker players,

My name is Mitchell, I'm 21 years of age, I've been playing poker for 9 years. I started when I was 12 at the kitchen table with my dad, and instantly fell in love, since this, I've watched every episode of High stakes poker, poker after dark, every EPT, WSOP, every form of platform to watch poker, I've watched it. I've read The Mental Game Of Poker and Reading Poker Tells, I had a subscription to the poker magazine. Ive done my homework; I've studied the odds, pot odds, equity, as much as my brain can take, basically..


Not to mention endless hours of grinding online (I'm done with online, live is my bread and butter) lets nip that in the bud.

I play cash games at casinos, I'm a 1/2 and 2/5 grinder. I make spreadsheets on every recorded visit on profits and losses. I make graphs, everyone likes to brag graphs right? on my invested money, I have won 11.2k in cash games, and I'm in minus figures in tournaments. Over the last few months, I've been playing at my local casino (Thanet Casino, in Broadstairs) theres a £14+£6 unlimited rebut tournament, Ive cash 5/6 times, once I wasn't even close, I've finished first twice, second one, and third three times. Does this mean I need to wash up on my heads up game? As I've cashed 5/6 times, should I just grind this forever because I know the faces? Do I test myself more in the £94+£6? Am I actually as good as I think I am? How do I go the next time (I know I can, its just I can't put my finger on HOW to get there.. I have a few friends that 'play' poker.. I say 'play' because they know the rules and what happens, they don't know what I do.. so I can't talk to them, because they don't know the odds on flopping a set, not even what percent AK is pre flop..

If anyone could just point me in the right direction, i'd be more than grateful..

Thanks..

Mitchell

Alrite mate!

The amount you've made doesn't really tell me how good you are because you could be playing against anyone. If you have opted for those live games rather than online I would expect that you are not amazing.

The amount you've read and studied is important. Magazines and watching games doesn't really make you much better, but reading guides does. It is the way you speak about that which you've learnt which shows me how good you really are.

When I started my professional career I was at the same sort of level as you. I was learning all these little pieces of info and I felt like I had covered all angles. But I didn't really get the big picture.

After 6 months or so playing full time as a pro, in a moment of enlightenment, I realised that all the pieces of information that I had gathered are applicable to the opponent too. And thus I reached level 2. Then a year or so later I realised that the opponent only does what he does due to his perception of me. And thus I reached level Three. It took me a little while longer to crack level four and then, for the fourth time, I really did feel like I knew everything about poker. I came into these forums and taught all that I had learnt. Then within a few months on here these guys 'kindly' taught me GTO. I learnt level infinity.

That was over two years ago now. I made hundreds of thousands during that time but then I stopped to write a theory book because Sklansky wouldn't do a sequel. Wouldn't or couldn't. Anyway, even though I feel my understanding of Poker is the best in the world, that still doesn't necessarily make me a good player. It makes me a good teacher, but this game is like a sport, we can always improve.

Fwiw, a player can learn all the levels in a matter of minutes. But before me, it was never written down before.

That's up to you.

Based on what you posted in this thread, there's a lot of stuff you don't know. You can put the work into improve. There does come a point where you need to do your own thinking and investigating to get better because nobody is going to have the time to watch and you don't have the money to pay for it.

However, it is a lot of work for less and less reward. Without know your willingness to put in the work, I can't tell if you've peaked. That's why it is up to you.

The level of skill that generally goes up in cash as the stakes get higher does not happen in tournaments especially tournaments that are under at least $500 buyin.

If you're crushing small tourneys, try the next step up. You'll find that they're called "donkaments" for a reason. At its core, if you truly believe poker to be a game of skill, that means there is going to be a small percentage of people who are very good at the game, a large percentage who are mediocre, and another small percentage who barely know hand values. So, while a single table can be loaded with good players, it is next to impossible for any tournament to have an extremely strong field throughout unless the price is just too restrictive. I mean, $10,000 isn't even enough for that threshold considering the WSOP main event is chock full of donks who didn't win their way in.

If you can't beat online cash then you're not as good as you think you are. Not to say you're clueless but online is the only way to know for sure you are top top.


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V10's post is spot on, as usual. I really doubt you have peaked. One thing you don't really mention is how you 'study' your sessions to determine the different factors between a good/even session v a great session.

I will tell you that the more you learn, or think you know, the more tedious 1/2 will become when you take a few bad beats from the 'gambler' types. Do you play differently during 2/5 play? Have you taken a shot at, if available, 5/10? How long are your sessions?

Sustaining the tournament success would be pretty hard to do, enjoy it while it lasts. Small field 'daily' tournaments, especially re-buys, are difficult to navigate. How much re-buying are you doing?

There is always more to learn since the game is always changing and you need to adapt. I think the most important issue with my game is allowing my knowledge to 'rule' my play even though I may want to partake in the wild uncertainly of live low stakes poker. I tell folks all the time .. "I just want to win 50% of the time when I'm a 70% plus favorite!"

Sometimes it's hard for me to accept I'm making a good fold when 'in the past' I would've made this call and then got my suck out of a large pot. I've also said .. "Poker was a lot more fun when I knew less about it!"

In an example hand from last week. I tend to have a wide range and 'everyone' knows it. 1/2 and there are 6 limpers to me in the BB with A7s. I raise to 11 (my standard) and MP and B call. Flop is AQ3 and I decide to lead out for $27 and OMC type B raises to $60.

Due to my 'rep' it's assumed I would C-bet a lot here. So I decide to peel and see what happens. Turn is 7 I improve and although I wouldn't do this all the time I decide to lead out for $77 so I don't give OMC a free River card. V then shoves for $270ish over the top!!

V Should only do this with sets (3 or 4) and AQ. I chop A7 and beat A3. I 'have' to lean towards the stronger hands more often than the bluffs. I have to call 270 to win around 580 (31% pot odds). Using straight math I lose to 4 hands and only beat 1 hand. This is not a good call, even with an improved hand. I want to call, but I know it's a bad call and fold. V slams down the A3 and says "Gotcha!" I guess if you include the unlikely chop this call is close.

He wanted to put me on tilt and I just nodded my head with a small smile. About 40 minutes later (with an improved stack) the same scenario comes up except he has AK and I have a set of 3s on AK3. V once again jams Turn and I double up, almost felting OMC ... without the 'Gotcha'.

Sorry for the long story but there are a few points here ...
1) Is the first hand going to tilt you even if you 'know' it's the right fold?
2) Are you going to play differently to get those chips 'back' ... a form of tilt?
3) Can you bide your time until a 'more correct' spot comes along to GII with this, or any other, V? It might take longer than 40 minutes.

A few ... or 7-10 ... of these hands in one week of live poker can get at you, how are you handling them now and how are you going to handle them going forward? GL