Quote:
Originally Posted by eyesforlies
Firstly, you need (NEED) to apply a stop loss. I see a session where you lose almost 10 buy-ins! Online this may be acceptable, but live, a huge no-no. I play live and two buy-ins is my stop loss. I'll buy-in once more if I can honestly convince myself I've just been coolered and can get it back.
Secondly, you need to stop buying in for $120. You're pretty much playing a short stack game, which is a terrible idea. You had enough of a bank-roll to start off with, so if you buy in for $200, with a stop loss of $400 you should be able to successfully get out of down-swing with little to no emotional damage. This is ofcourse assuming you are a competent player.
Lastly, since you are new to live I'll give you my biggest point of advice. Make sure you're not hungry and well rested. I can't tell you the number of dollars I lost in the beginning because I was playing 10 hour sessions after working all day and skipping dinner or lunch.
I would agree with you that a stop-loss is probably a good idea.
Usually I'll walk into the casino and win a couple hundred or so in the first hour, once I get there, for some reason I change my game and start playing scared money if that makes sense.
Knowing this, I feel I should get up and just start another session later that day with a regular buyin. On the other hand, I would be limiting the amount I can win and also the table I go into on a new session could cooler be pretty good.
Many times I have played at a table for 4 hours, got up to go eat and came back to get on another table only to get sucked-out on by a 2 outer.
About the suck-outs. I do worry about them and let them affect my game. For example I was in a $700 pot with AK, TPTK against an 85% VPIP player. Knowing I was good on the flop, he went all-in and I folded cause I didn't want to get sucked-out on for all my stack lol. Lowl and behold, I woulda won.
Most of the suckouts are for my whole stack and that's why it bothers me so much. I had two suckouts happen to me today where I was a huge favorite till the river, both for my whole stack cause I was shoving on both hands as any decent player would. One suckout was a 2 outer and the other a 4 outer. This has happened to me at least twice per day for the last 2 weeks so my question to you guys was if I should just play small pots to rebuild and leave the big pots alone, even when I'm a huge favorite? Sounds totally stupid but I can't keep going in the casino and after 3 hours, get sucked-out on for my stack twice and leave.
Like the two suckouts today, I know I made the right decisions and I normally feel that way normally cause my money is always in good, otherwise it's not in. One guy said he called cause he couldn't put me on KK... what??? I haven't played a hand in like 45 mins. and have shown some strong past wins specifically to give a tight image. Either way dude, you called $400 with middle pair, what ****** does that?
So for the buyin issue. I buyin for $120 because it's more comfortable for me. Usually i play a shortstack strategy to start, looking to get it allin, double up and then start playing regular poker. In this, other players have paid for half my full buyin.
The $1180 day. OMG I couldn't believe I allowed myself to lose that much in a day. Basically I was at a 1/3 table with extremely loose, aggressive, $400 preflop players. I would call with premium hands and never hit, while they hit their 97s. My KK would get beat by 74 with a straight. Since the pot would be so huge preflop, I'm basically pot committed each hand since the max buyin is $500 and the pots were basically $300-$400 pre. The KK I shoved for the other $200, he called with 74o and hit a straight. In that instance, what do I do? It's such a juicy table, but do I just leave and look for the same type of table another day after one $500 buyin? If not for that losing day and the $800 one, I would be totally fine with my BR right now.
I also rarely play any speculative hands. Suited connectors and small PPs are played cheap only. I'll make the occasional 3-bet with a crap hand in position sometimes if I see a good situation. I'll 3-barrel and take pots down. I'll bet-fold the river, etc. Most of my hands in the last 2 weeks are won this way lol and not by my cards holding up... sadly. This is why most of my winning sessions are not more than $300, cause it's very difficult to win $500-$800 without your actual cards running at least moderately well.
On the other hand we have a reg named Muhammad. He is a 90%VPIP player and raises $80 with 74. Today he won $3k+ in about 45 minutes on a 1/3NL and all the wins were with marginal hands. He raises $80 pre with 74 and hits a straight. He calls $110 with pockets 5's and announces allin on the 663 flop and wins. I ask him why, he says cause nobody hit that board, even though the other players could have any PP over his or 2 overs, flush draws, etc. He won the pot of about $1.5k in the end.
First of all he may be right about nobody hitting that board and the raises preflop looked like AK, AQ but he had no business calling that after 2 others did with 55 lol. I look at players like that and it kinda throws my game off and wonder if I can also make 3k in 45 minutes. Knowing my luck though, instead of bricks, an A or K would've probably come if I had 55.
So I'm sure you guys are tired of hearing me rant now.
Any tips on the most profitable times of day? I notice when I walk in at about 12PM each day, we have about 3 tables running. One 3/6limit and two 1/2NL tables. They're all filled with middle-age to old nitty regs and a couple of solid players. This is usually the crowd till around 7PM (when I have to leave and pick up my wife from work) when all the juicy games get started and guys like Muhammad come in. I'm thinking about just going in after 7PM everyday instead of 12PM. My winning days have fallen because of the time of day I play I think. Ever since I started playing days, my winning sessions are much less and my winrate has plummeted.
One thing is for sure, I cannot allow myself to lose $1100 in one session... EVER AGAIN. That's such terrible BRM. So a stop-loss may not be a bad idea.
Do all of you think my $120 buyin, double up and play regular poker strategy is stupid? Why or why not? It limits my losses doesn't it?
Should I be sticking to ABC poker? Sometimes I will over-analyze the game, even though it's only $1/2 and likely fall into (fancy play syndrome).
Should I just be value betting or folding in this game? And get rid of double-barreling, check-raising, c-betting, bet-folding the river for the most part?
I thought about playing preflop passively and aggressively postflop when I hit, or fold, no matter the hand. Sounds too simple for me, and very exploitable though.
Thanks again in advance for the advice
Note to another responder: I don't think I'm a losing player if I set a stop-loss. It was just an expensive lesson learned and now I have to slowly rebuild unless I get on a heater soon (unlikely)