Hello all.

Pardon the title, but I think it says it all. I have been playing $0.25/90 players SnG on Stars lately. Last week I got to the final table four times in a row. It felt really good! But now I'm back to the usual patterns; a steady downward slope on the graph. I think I have played the tour 10 times in a row without winning. It's not a problem on my bankroll, but it's kind of hard to find inspiration to play when going from all winning to all losing. I know, it's poker. But the thing is, the times I've won, I don't know what I did right. And now, I feel like I'm playing the same way, but I lose and don't know what I did wrong. Any tips?

I have "Harrington on Hold'em: Expert Strategy for NL Tournaments" volume 1 and 2. Great books. After I read them, my results improved, but not as much as I had hoped.

overtoast

you are running bad

before, you were running REALLY good

tip: run good

10 times not winning = bad?

wow i run soooooooooo bad

lol do your self a favour and stop playing 0.25 games, you won't learn ****. get a job for a few months, save up $600 and start at $6 games. ez game.

Ok. My bad. It's what I thought too. "I feel so stupid..."

Thanks for the tip anyway.

toastyman

Post some of your hands on here using the hand converter and get some feedback on how you are playing.

we already knew this :P

+1 25c a game is like losing money to minimum wage. Play some $5 SNGs less V.

A friend of mine plays the .25c games - one benefit is no rake!

They are more like play money than real money games

I play the 25C sit and go as well...I have found that I do better at a higher buy-in, but I still like the .25 for now, I like it cause if you play tight, you can make it to he final table a lot. Play only group 1 hands, you will be surprised how weak people are at that level.

I think it's good if you are learning how to play, keep reading this forum, and it will give some really good tips.

I think with those 25 cent tourneys you can really have a lot of fun, and if you only go in raising, it takes a lot of the limpers out of the action.

Last night as an example, I had 16,000 chips going into the final table, I played a guy with a weak Ace, I knew that from what he had played going into the final table and when the I tangoed with him on the first hand, I knew he hit his very weak Ace..........but in order for me to see it, I had to see that ACE, cause I wanted to know if my reads are getting better. I put him on Ace 4...he had Ace 3.

I have heard that some have gone 50 to 100 without cashing.......so don't worry about your running bad, I think it's normal at this level of play.

Poker Stars $0.25+$0.00 No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t15/t30 Blinds - 8 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

MP1: t4390 M = 97.56
MP2: t4190 M = 93.11
Hero (CO): t1960 M = 43.56
BTN: t2325 M = 51.67
SB: t3340 M = 74.22
BB: t1585 M = 35.22
UTG: t2845 M = 63.22
UTG+1: t1735 M = 38.56

Pre Flop: (t45) Hero is CO with Q Q
UTG raises to t390, UTG+1 calls t390, 2 folds, Hero calls t390, BTN calls t390, 1 fold, BB calls t360

Flop: (t1965) 6 4 9 (5 players)
BB checks, UTG bets t2455 all in, UTG+1 calls t1345 all in, Hero calls t1570 all in, BTN calls t1935 all in, BB folds

Turn: (t8750) 7 (4 players - 4 are all in)

River: (t8750) 3 (4 players - 4 are all in)

Final Pot: t8750
Hero shows Q Q (a pair of Queens)
BTN shows 5 5 (a straight, Three to Seven)
UTG shows J J (a pair of Jacks)
UTG+1 shows A 4 (a pair of Fours)
BTN wins t730
BTN wins t675
BTN wins t7345

Do'h!!

Ok, this was just bad luck. Nice to try out the hand converter though.

no this is your fault for not raising pre.

I'd like someone to elaborate more on this, please. I feel like I've got the same problem playing 1.10 MTT's and moving up (to "where they respect my raises" ) is sometimes tempting... I am not losing a player and am slowly making some small profit, but I feel like I could do better at higher buy-ins. I made much more playing live than online and I think it is because people playing higher games take it more serious. I hate getting ton of callers after every raise and then being sucked out all the time, and i feel like it happens way less at higher buy ins.

When I tried to find some information on this topic on 2p2, I saw people saying "if you can't beat the buyin you play, you won't be any better higher". I think it's certainly true, but can't we learn and accomplish our goals better at low stakes than microstakes?

I'll remember that, thanks.

Personally I don't think you are going to see a huge improvement on players playing a $1 as compared to a $4 game. I'm making sure I can break the $4 mtt then moveing up. I think that reference of not moving up is talking about a bigger step. Like to $20+. I think people playing 25c are still learning the hand rankings...

Hey all.

I cashed today! Here is the final hand, wich I think I should have played differently. The final table was a bit crazy. Someone all in preflop in almost every hand.

Poker Stars $0.25+$0.00 No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t250/t500 Blinds + t60 - 8 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

UTG: t52872 M = 42.99
UTG+1: t22091 M = 17.96
MP1: t24060 M = 19.56
MP2: t16402 M = 13.33
CO: t8380 M = 6.81
Hero (BTN): t10604 M = 8.62
SB: t11227 M = 9.13
BB: t34364 M = 27.94

Pre Flop: (t1230) Hero is BTN with K A
5 folds, Hero raises to t1000, SB calls t750, BB calls t500

Flop: (t3480) 2 Q A (3 players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero bets t2500, SB calls t2500, BB folds

Turn: (t8480) 7 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets t7044 all in, SB calls t7044

River: (t22568) 9 (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: t22568
Hero shows K A (a pair of Aces)
SB shows 9 A (two pair, Aces and Nines)
SB wins t22568

My raise of 2xBB preflop was, as I see it now, way to small. I don't have a clue why I didn't raise more. But please, tell me what you think.

A good raise,at these stages,is sth between 1100 and 1300,in the neighborhood of 2.5xBB.

Flop/turn is std,ul you lost.

Just shove over his donk 13xBB raise preflop.He's extremely unlikely to fold now,and you'll get maximum value and equity for your QQ(very likely to be crushing him) ,added to the fact that you might isolate better against OR,because you mostly want to play your big pairs HU.

As played,std call OTF at these games.

P.S. Avoid posting results,at least until you get some replies on your HH.

Thanks for these tips. Didn't know about the result stuff. But I do now.

Poker Stars $0.25+$0.00 No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t50/t100 Blinds + t10 - 8 players

CO: t1055 M = 4.59
BTN: t2560 M = 11.13
SB: t7225 M = 31.41
BB: t3185 M = 13.85
UTG: t5250 M = 22.83
UTG+1: t8600 M = 37.39
Hero (MP1): t1735 M = 7.54
MP2: t2665 M = 11.59

Pre Flop: (t230) Hero is MP1 with 4 4
1 fold, UTG+1 raises to t400, Hero ?

I'm snap folding.You're not nearly deep enough to set-mine 44 here with a flat (Imo you'd be needing ~80bbs+ in effective stacks to do this in this position,maybe less but def. not only 17bbs).

Reshoving is probably bad due to:the large number of players left to act;the position of the raiser and his opening size (which reduces your FE,and after all we're behind most of his calling range).

And,you need chips here,but you're not that desperate yet.AQ+/99+ are def. nice shoves for this spot imo (AJ/88/77 close maybe,but not bad ?).There are easier spots to steal pots.

A good spot for stealing chips with these stacks in my experience at these stakes is shoving over multiple limpers with these kind of decent hands (AJ,88,etc),since people DO limp a lot even in high blind levels.Then you'll get called by worse a lot,and also pick a big % of your stack uncontested frequently.