hello 2+2 just started playing poker like 3 months ago, got into it because a buddy of mine was playing and he offered to deposit 100$ for me on a site. since it didn't cost me anything i was into it. i busted that really quick. went on playing some freerolls no results and then, i forgot all about poker for a month or so. so my buddy scored some cash in a tourney and has offered me again a 150$ stake on a site to start at the bottom and try to beat the limits one by one and also a 6 months subscription to stox, and poker tracker. i started watching stox videos for hours each day for about 2 or so weeks ( i think i watched close to 100- focusing on nl and tourney vids i didnt watch sng and lhe) after that i started playing and 4 days later my "poker career" seems to be over before it even started. i cannot even beat 1c/2c , and i lost 110$ at 5c/10c. i've been playing 1 table and i know the stats aren't conclusive cause it's only 1,5k hands (but to me it felt like 10-20k hands). but they may help form an idea so ill post or link to a pic

[img=http://img142.imageshack.us/img142/2760/10nlrunpe5.th.jpg][img=http://img142.imageshack.us/images/thpix.gif]

http://img142.imageshack.us/my.php?image=10nlrunpe5.jpg

You seem to be way loose aggressive which, as you know, is a fast way to lose money. When your first starting out online I recommend trying a standard Tight, aggressive style. Your VPIP and PFR should be almost equal and should be no greater than 25. Right now in full ring I play about 17 vpip and pfr and it works just fine. Raising too much and bluffing at micro stakes, especially when you lack experience, is a very expensive way to learn.

Just play quality hands, and hardly ever bluff. The only bluff you should be making right now is a continuation bet on good boards.

Don't try to guess when people are bluffing, just give them credit for at least top pair. Don't try to bully people out of hand when you think you have the worst hand.

Follow these guidelines and you will be just fine if you are properly rolled (30 buy ins for the level your playing, NO LESS).

After you log in 10k or 20k so hands of a steady profit then you will have a better feel for the game and you can start to make moves and take shots at higher stakes.

If you are go below 25 buy ins move down a level, don't go losing your bankroll. If you get to 30 buy ins at the next level then you can move up. Don't like playing low stakes? ..Then maybe poker isn't for you, unless you would rather learn the hard way by losing 100's of dollars instead of 10's of dollars. Good luck.

Read the threads and the archive threads in the micro no limit section of the forum, very useful.

As above, you are playing way too many hands, which are putting you in bad situations. Start as a TAG and then once you are comfortable loosen up a bit.

Also stick with 2NL and 4NL, as if youve got $100, you've only got 10BI's for 10NL.

Agree with above. If you're good postflop then you look like a good LAG, but I guess you're not if you're losing. Find a starting hand chart and really discipline yourself to stick to it (not that easy, but with practice you get there).

Some examples of good starting hands, check out jason ho's foundation video #4 on stox (#599 for starting hands). I don't rate his later videos on hand reading, but his approach to starting hands is very interesting and he comes up with a good range.

My range if you're interested is;
EP: raise TT+ AK AQ KQs, limp/call anyPP, fold KQo, KJ, QJ
MP: reraise TT+, AK, AQ, raise T9s+, KQs, QJs, QT (so fold KQo, KJo, QJo)
LP: after limpers, raise any suited ace, TT+, AK, AQ, AJ, KQ, and QJ
open-raise allPP, any A, any K, any two T+, 54s+, 87o+
after raise, reraise TT+, AK, AQ, call AJ, KQ, fold rest

I still have trouble sticking to it, but when I do my VP$IP is about 22%

One thing jason does that's different to my range is that if you have more than one player open in front of you, instead of calling with KQ+, call with suited connectors since you're more likely to make a hand that doesn't match your opponents, which makes sense although I've yet to really try it...

you have a stox membership???
Watch EVERY video by Ed Miller. He has very good series for begining players. They also just got that new coach, forget his name... but he had like an 8 part series called "Small Stakes Foundation". I never watched those, but they looked really good for begining players.

My stox membership just expired, but i watched pretty much every ed miller video, and they were all beneficial. Dont watch the leatherass videos and think you can pull that stuff in micro, for the most part you cant. They are very good videos to watch, but maybe only 25nl+ it would apply.

I started out struggling at 2nl, but now ive been crushing 10nl consistently for 15,000 hands or so. It just takes time, but that stox membership is priceless... use it to your full advantage

Good luck....

another thing
stop taking money from your buddy
deposite your own money
since it's like a freeroll for you, you play it like a gambler, it does cost when you lose, and try to win alot of money in the short run.
play money style will not work at real money game.

There is just absolutely no reason to be playing 48% of your hands at these stakes. Stop defending your big blind with **** and 3betting so light. Your W$SD could do with being a little higher, which would assume you're calling down too light, or bluffing in the wrong spots/into the wrong people. I also wouldn't be stealing so liberally, 30%-35% I think is fine.

Just seems like it's an ego thing and you think you can play any two and outplay everyone because of the stakes. This is a losing strategy if you're only just beginning. I do like the fact you're opening with a raise most of the time though, but considering this is FR you are just playing way too lose. Tighten up, stop playing oop from the blinds and just value bet when you have it and pick some better spots to steal pots.

Keep playing LAG, you will win money in the long run. and.. your sample size is small.

56/50? Wow. I hope you have a killer postflop game.

I don't see your positional stats anywhere, but I'm sure you're wayyy too loose from the blinds and UTG. Try tightening that up, see where that gets you.

55/50 with 4.0 aggression factor

insanity.

50% of hands includes trash like:
Any ace
Any 2 broadway
Almost any suited card.

Highlights of this range include: T6s, K5o and lets not forget the fearsome J7o (can you say jacks full of sevens, baby?)

LOL.

I doubt he plays J7o.

Instead he plays the Doyle Brunson and the Colt-45.

thanks everyone for your advice i am taking notes, made a hand chart and a "to do and not to do" list,and realised in general that if i want to beat anyone in this game i need a strategy
and just to straighten out some things :
-i was playing 6-max i can see that pt, although it says (6-max) on stars ,it doesn't say that on the site that i've played.
-my position stats arent really relevant atm because i was thinking : "so what if im oop i'll just c/r allin if he c-bets
-also range isnt relevant because i folded only when there was a lot of action in front and didnt want to get involved with my table image; so if it was unopened and i was hj or co i'd open 83off and stuff (j7o was like the nuts). just realised that after playing a 3hrs session of 90/70 and dropping another 4 bi

when i sat down at a table i'd check whomever was playing on a tracking site that also rates playes. and i'd put the rating on my notes.
i reviewed some of the hands and it almost made me sick . and found out for myself that i lack discipline big time.like i was bluffing calling stations just because the turn or river ws begging me to fire 2nd or 3rd barrell, completing like straights and flushes...i was thinking "i know i'm not supposed to bluff a cs but this time i really have to try" and they'd call me with 3rd-4th pair and it would be good
also i said that i would avoid getting involved in hands with those rated as "sharks" , but couldn't help myself..."i mean it's 9 high flop and he's betting into me. he's tag, what could he have? i shove...ooh 99..i see "
also looking to play some interesting hands with those rated as "bomb" but to my surprise in 100% of the cases all those bombs were the tightest at my table playing like 8/4 over 200-300 hands (if it were just 1 or 2 guys i might not even have noticed but literally all of them)- i have no clue what to make of that

-i have watched just about every NL video on stox, including..i'd say all of ed miller's
I was impressed with James Davies videos he was crushing like 1/2$ NL playing uber-lag, and i thouhght: "yea i could crush some micro"
but i could not incorporate into my game his greatest skill that made him crush those games : hand reading . i wasnt really concerned with what others might have, but always preocupied with "making the play"

Anyone else think this is a level? I didn't even realize his name was loldocuments when I replied, and now I'm seeing some strong polar indications that this is a level.

1. He sounds at least somewhat serious about the game.
2. His name is loldocuments, something complete beginners are commonly unaware of.
3. He uses poker tracker
4. He plays a horrible style trying to bluff on all 3 streets all day and plays 90/70. This is the type of dream player I usually assume is drunk at my table and pray for a good hand before he busts.

Yea 1-3 just don't add up with #4, this is a level.

I had to search all the internets to find out what that meant

Your not playing LAG your playing like a maniac. As everyone else says. Play TAG at these stakes. People will donk money away so easily LAG style is unnecessary. When you start playing at 25NL and above you can start loosening up a bit providing you have a good post flop game by then. Untill then TAG all the way.

Thats just horrible advice for microstakes. You should be TAG and nothing else.

FYP.

I see this all over. What does FYP mean?

Ehhh, just cause he knows that term doesn't mean he'll beat the game.

Fixed your post.

quick ?. Somebody mentioned something about playing 90/70. So would it be smart to play back at an opponent with 1/2 those hands? If he raised played back at him with 35-45% of my hands if it was heads up? Now i know this makes sense intuitively because i should put chips in when im ahead of his distribution and think I can beat his average hand. The gap concept/equilibrium range. Can someone explain to me the math behind equilibirum ranges? or if they cant can you show me a link to a site that has detailed info on it?I cant find anything on it. Yes i read about it in nontechincal language but not in mathematical language. It is one of those things i understand intuitively but the math behind it will further explain it to me and teach me how to take full advantage of it. I realize a lot of people tell you to do certain thigns but dont tell you why to do them. Like for instance i never knew why c betting was profitable against 1-2 other people until i did the math out and realized you can win +5/12's of the pot on AVG against one opponent if you bet 2/3's of the pot and they fold 65% of the time(general speaking i know a lot of other variables come into play like draws, under or overpairs, bluffing frequencies etc etc). No offense to anyone on this forum ebcause believe me they gave great advice. But tell him WHY in technical language why he should be playing TAG and not Loose aggressive or compare and contrast the differences between the two and maybe that will help him further understand why it is profitable or not profitable to play a certain way with a number of opponents. If he understands technically both aspects of the play he can adjust to whats better given his opponents strategy and maximally exploit them therefore making higher ev decisions. Just playing TAG is good but a great LAG player can exploit that and vice versa a great tag player can exploit a lag player

Really? I dont think id recommend anything but TAG for stakes lower than 25NL.

As with anything, TAG undoubtabely will only take you so far,someone playing ABC tag is still pretty easy to read. At uNL you can just avoid other regular TAGS and make money from the fish, tag (along with pretty much any non ******ed style of playing) will win money here.

At higher stakes you will definately have to start taking on the other regulars and being able to change up your game is a must. Best place to explore mixing up your game ins at 25NL, 50NL, since there is no pressure to mix up your game (over abundance of fish), but there are enough decent regulars for you to experiment with your style a bit when ever you want...
as opposed to only ABC TAG'ing it all the way up to 100,200NL,400NL only to find that you have no other style other than ABC TAG and almost everyone is wise to it and its a lot more expensive to experiment.