I have played poker for the last 5 years on/off mostly online, more comfortable in live games are super soft and I find it easy to exploit weaker opponents but currently where I am living there are no casinos. I am crazy passionate about the game and could play a 12+ hour sessions with ease but I have played roughly 1 million hands of poker and I honestly can barely beat PS 2NL, which is crazy to me. There must be something I am fundamentally lacking, something just hasn't clicked, I am missing a certain depth of knowledge and most of my plays are just instinctual rather than calculated.

Has anyone else been in this position? how have you linked the missing pieces and improved?

Just analyze every hand you play.

If it loses you money ----> Stop doing it.

It is wins you money ----> Keep doing it.

That would be very bad advice as there is a lot of hidden luck in poker. Just because you lost money playing a hand a certain way does not at all mean you played it wrong!

Try talking to players who are better than you and ask as many questions you can think of.

Hey Nixon, sounds like you need to build up your game, step-by-step. Get back to fundamentals, set quantifiable goals, hold yourself accountable, etc etc.

If you can't beat NL2, my first guess would be that you have tilt issues, whether it's anger, frustration, or just emotional decision making. If your head's screwed on straight, your game is fundamentally flawed (as you alluded to already) and I'd recommend going back to the basics, i.e. odds, equities, basic ranges, standard lines, etc. That combined with volume will have you crushing NL2 in no time.

If you have a passion for the game and are willing to grind as much as you say, there's no reason you can't grind your way through the micro stakes in a reasonable time frame. Feel free to PM me if you wanna chat, skype, etc. Happy to help.

wow this is so deep

your play in the micros is guna be very different to what you see on tv or what you have heard about how the game should be played