Why can't I fix my leaks, learn what I am doing wrong, correct the behavior, and become a winning player? I'm not a gambling addict, I am just a losing poker player. If I can fix my game, follow BRM (which I have no problem to do) not take shots but wait till I have an adequate roll to move up in stakes. I mean, this is what everyone does right? I just have 10 years of degening it up first. But essentially, it's not different than some high school or college kid learning the game for the first time. I am just doing it at a different stage in life. Are there no success stories of former degens that turned it all around and developed a good game, good habits, good BRM, and started winning?

Before you play another hand of poker take the time to learn standard 6-max opening ranges from all positions, and basic post-flop strategy when those hands make it to the flop. If you really want to begin to become a winner you'll do that. If you don't then you are lying to both us and yourself about your claimed goal.

Because you are taking no actions to achieve that. You were offered free coaching from a guy who charges $250/h and declined it. You've been asked to do basic things like download Equilab and list your ranges and won't even do that. Everyone has offered you basic advice and you seem to be taking it in some negative way instead of listening to people who are already winners and trying to apply the advice.

You should read your first post again if you think you're not a gambling addict.

As Worldz said, you're not willing to do the work. Someone said you should download Equilab and you were too lazy to even do that. You're not willing to put in the effort to become a winning player. You will never win as long as you don't put in a significant amount of effort off the table. You should be playing play money until you memorize ranges and know how to play reasonable postflop. It's quite obvious to everyone itt that you don't have what it takes to beat $2nl yet.

This is the mindset of a gambler, not a poker player. No, I am not saying that poker isn't gambling, either. A poker player thinks "I'm opening this range of hands because it's +ev. If x table condition exists, I'm dropping or adding these hands because it's more +ev to deviate from my default strategy."

No I didn't decline it. He said it had to be cash, and I was already in a SNG so I offered another time. I don't know who this guy is, I don't know that he charges $250 an hour for coaching (do any of you honestly think 1 free session was going to make a different anyway?!?) and I only saw the damn equilab post this morning! I haven't even been home yet. I will download it this weekend.

Well excuse ****ing me for not wanting to download a poker training tool on my work computer. That really shows how undedicated I am. Apparently its really - EV in life to wait until you get home at the end of the ****ing day to download some poker training software. What I should have done was instead of going back to work after my break was over, I should have just faked sick, went home immediately, and downloaded equilab so I could learn opening ranges. Sorry I didn't get the memo!

OP what the hell are you thinking, you're a losing player this is ****ty pipe-dream go get a real job and grind it out .

You're excused this time. Next time just ****ing do it.

At least you didn't deny that you're an addict this time. You should quit while you're ahead down $50k.

Haven't read the entire thread, but this post basically sums up your entire issue. You don't actually understand the game of poker. You're setting yourself up for failure with unrealistic goals of crushing 200-500NL without having an actual plan of how that's going to occur. Building a bank roll is only ONE of the mountains you're going to have to climb over.

"I think a lot of people on here mistake my issue for a lack of skill or a lack of knowledge. It's not. It's a lack of patience and a lack of discipline"

To be completely blunt, (I can tell from the way you describe your goals / hand ranges / etc...) your issue is all the above.

You have a huge lack of skill for playing anything over 5 NL (breaking even most likely at best), and to top it off you don't have any patience or discipline. You are pretty much addicted to the rush you get from gambling in poker, not the raw theory or strategy behind it. Do you get a rush from playing chess and beating your opponents? If the answer is no, then you probably aren't playing poker properly (obviously a general statement but you get the idea).

Look at the last 10 years of your life and ask how you've grown as a poker player. Clearly you were doing something wrong the entire time, and honestly you are doing NOTHING different now. Sure you are maybe staying somewhat within a bank roll for your stake, but you aren't doing anything to improve your game at all. Mashing buttons on 6 tables is not going to help you dude, you're basically just trying to speed up the process but you're actually pedal to the metal on the way to bustoville.

My best advice would be to stop playing for a week and go learn poker legit from the basics. Start with your opening range from every position and go from there. Log back in and play 1-2 tables MAX and beat the game for a few weeks - a month and progress from there. Beg that dude that offered you free coaching for a break and ask him to help you out a little.. If you think that's too boring or you already know what you're doing then you will NEVER succeed in poker, I guarantee you...

Best of luck bud.

Clear who hasn’t read everything.... I have a job. In fact I have a career. But I’d srill like poker to be my side hustle, and I would like to be able to rely on it fully if I ever had to (which hopefully I won’t)

Whatch me turn his $50 into $10k. May take me 10 years, but it’s better than losing another $50k over the same time period!

Well considering I csn’t Send or receive PM’s, I don’t see how I can do that (besides I am not going to beg anyone for anything) but all other advice is solid and duly noted.

That’s my plan anyway. Maybe not taking a week off, but everything else was already on my radar. I’m well aware that I have some major gaps in my poker education that needs to be filled (buuut I honestly think I’m too impatience and get to board and then get too laggy. Sure I have a lot of fundamentals to learn, but literally I am the guy that can grind for hours and then blow it all up on 1 or 2 hands. Having a proper bankroll and practice bankroll management as well as having good discipline aren’t the complete picture for sure, but it’s still a huge chunk of the puzzle. Plus, getting those two areas under control should (hopefully) keep me close to breakeven and keep me playing long enough to work on the fundamentals. But without those two seas I check, all the fundamentals in the world won’t keep me from going broke.

I sent you a PM about an hour ago. Did you read it? Your private messages inbox is at the top right.

the guy who grinds hours and blows it all on 1/2 hands is a bad losing player. you dont get to be a good or decent player EXCEPT for the punts or frequent mistakes you make

every single one of those hands u "blow up" or "call even tho you know youre beat" is WHAT DEFINES YOU AS A LOSING PLAYER

obviously the smaller technical stuff does as well, but you cant separate out parts of your poker game like that.

you need to have the skills to not blow off when those spots come up but also the skills to handle the much more frequent smaller pots which probably account for a huge chunk of your losses

Exactly. And that my friend is what I am trying to change. I need to improve my game, I. We’d to be more disciplined, and I need to practice BRM. Even with all 3 of those things I may still be a losing player, at which point I’ll reasses. Is it possible for me to turn this $50 into $10k? Realistically, probably not. But I am damn sure gonna try.

I'm currently streaming 200z on twitch. Come out and watch / ask questions.

https://www.twitch.tv/brokenstars666

Woow, that was super nice! Poker needs more people like you

So I am curious what everyone's opinion is on this hand, was I completely out of line from the start?

$2NL 6-Max

Here (96BB): BB AsQh
UTG (175bb): opens for $0.06
Button (132bb): 3bets to $0.18
Hero: Calls
UTG: Calls

3 ways to a flop of Ad7h5h

Hero: Checks
UTG: Checks
Button: Bets $0.39
Hero and UTG both call

Turn is K of spades, all 3 check

River is Jd

Hero: Checks
UTG: Checks
Button: Bets $1.64
Hero: Folds
UTG: Tanks before a call
Button: Shows AJdd

So, I am really unsure about calling the 3bet pre. I'd much rather be the guy 3betting with AQo than calling a 3bet (but that logic could be flawed, as obviously a lot of my game has been.) I am wondering if I should have just folded to the 3bet. Thoughts?

Decent flop, but I am already thinking I could be behind to AK. Calling the button was one thing, but getting a second call behind really makes me question where I'm at in this hand.

The turn is a pretty bad card in my opinion. My opponents ranges are AK, AQ, AJ, QQ JJ or KK more or less (unless then are just playing crazy, but honestly most players seem fairly tight at this table) so this hand hits my opponents range more than mine. Plus if I was behind to AK, now I can't even improve to 2 pair.

River is the real coffin nail. I literally said out loud, I can't beat anything besides QQ at this point, and with this board I can't imagine Button is holding QQ. They either have a set, or they have 2 pair.

So regardless of whether or not I played this right from the start, I was at least happy with my fold at the end. In the old days, I would have just called this off (because, well honestly I don't know why. I just would have. I guess I just got so used to calling on the river pretty much regardless of the runout unless I just completely missed and had nothing but Ace high, and hell even sometimes then. But I digress....)

So I certainly lost a lot less than I could have given my history. But, should I have even been in this hand in the first place?

Let me know what you think.

This was just a super short session while my son took a nap. Up $0.79, current bankroll sits at $51.06. Half a buy in in 4 days. Man this is going to take awhile....

Don't play much 6max, but I would think you could fold AQos oop preflop. Just move on to the next hand.

Also I don't want to pile on or anything but I think you may not have what it takes to become a profitable poker player. Because if you can't avoid inevitably losing then the winning you did in the first place was probably just you getting lucky, and since you don't seem to acknowledge that possibility it comes across to me that you lack understanding of short term variance and what winning poker really looks like. Just because you have a winning session doesn't mean you played a winning style of poker, you could have just got lucky. Winning at poker is like balancing on the razor's edge. On either side of you is failure.

But what do I know? Don't listen to all these dorks who say you need to study ranges and all this crap in order to be good at poker. Copying someone else's range with rote memory is not studying or getting better at poker. The difference between how one hand is played and how a session is played is like the difference between squad tactics and grand strategy in warfare. These clowns on here will try to tell you to get better at squad tactics and just neglect the grand strategy. You can play a bad hand at the start of a session and end up getting paid later when you wouldn't have otherwise. That's poker. Poker is a game of people.

Good luck, if you continue to play poker, just try to keep your losses small by playing in small games until you have some long term winning results. Then use that profit to invest in bigger games and keep moving up. I hope you turn this ship around!

You shouldn't really be flatting 3bets cold pretty much ever. Mostly just fold AQo pre in that situation, but you can sometimes cold 4 bet if villains are two regs (just remember it's a bluff w/ blockers and play with that in mind if you don't win immediately)

Do you mean in general, or just with regard to holding AQ. Are we talking 4bet or fold with all holdings (obviously meaning only continue past a 3 bet with top of my range, or in one of the’s semi-bluff flop it or fold it situations, correct?)

Im not sure what I wrote that made it appear that I was unaware of the realities of variance, but I understand it well. I absolutely know I have gotten lucky, many many times. There’s plenty of winning sessions that only game about due to a couple of sick outs onnbi hands. And I have also walked away from the table flat broke many a time after getting it in good and someone catching on the river. That’s just poker. Sometimes you play it right and lose, other times you play it wrong and win. I used to say I’d take luck over skill anyway. While that may ring true in the short term, I am living proof that over any length of time you can’t win in this game without skill. And that my van dwelling friend is exactly why I am trying to start over from scratch.

That being said, thanks for the words of encouragement.

So let me ask you this OP, how bad do you want to be a winner in this game? Cause it'll eat your soul. You think being a 50k loser over 10 years is bad? Try being a 50k winner over 10 years like me. I don't keep exact records either but I know I win more than I lose because most of those ten years I haven't had a job to support myself. Maybe more maybe less it doesn't really matter but I'm about that much ahead in this game after ten years. What do I got to show for it? I live in a van and I have as much money today as I had about a year ago after I won a jackpot. Is that the level of success you are looking for? Maybe grinding out a real job isn't that bad. I'm still delusional to think my big break is just around the corner, just gotta keep working on it. And if I fail, I'm all-in and I fail spectacularly.

Good luck OutlawLuck, I sincerely wish you the best.

Believe me rich, I know a thing or two about thinking your big break (or in my case, my big breakthrough) is just over the horizon.

I actually do grind a pretty solid day job ($45k a year and I am well positioned for advancement in the next 4 or 5 years) so I am not really shooting for an end game of being a full time pro. Sure, I’d love to be able to say I was a full time poker pro (for at least a year or two) but I also know that the burnout is real and the vast majority of pros leave the game to pursue real jobs eventually. In my case, I’d really like it to be a side gig, one where I could grind out a couple of grand a month in supplemental income. But at this point, with so many bad habits and being so far behind the curve I don’t know if it’s possible. But, again, I’m gonna try.

I mean don't flat cold call 3bets preflop. Say, you're in the bb w/ 99 and it goes open by CO 3bet by BU, you should fold essentially always. If you have TT+ AQ+ 4bet and stack off the top of that range QQ-AA AK

And mostly just open-fold AQ when it gets too you because it's too weak too call. That's why I said sometimes just 4bet bluff with AQ in that situation and only vs aggro regs in that situation. Mostly just fold, and don't get fancy. If you do 4bet bluff, get called, and you flop an A or Q remember that your hand is essentially just a bluff catcher and check the flop. Or sometimes bet like 1/3 pot and hope they just fold.