I did pretty well "just trying this poker thing" and doubled my original $20 deposit playing micro FLHE in what seems to be no time. Then I started reading two or three books, tried every other limit poker variant and doubled it again in an even shorter time. At the weekend I played many mostly NL tournaments, didn't play that well I think, but still made a profit. This week I tried NLHE, PLO and Badugi but lost 15% of my roll in two hours and gave it up for the time being.

Now, coming back to limit poker... I can't play anymore. I get outplayed so badly it's almost funny. For me, it feels like playing high stakes. I often have to look at the window on screen, if it still says $0.01/0.02 limit holdem.

The things I changed was reading some more books, registering to this forum and studying the micro limit library. I guess I might have picked up too many advanced concepts I can't apply in too little time. Do I have to start over or is this a normal stage in learning to play? Was I just incredible lucky so far? Is $100 some kind of a hard to break psychological barrier?

this happens a lot. you havn't played enough poker for starters. you havn't seen that many bad beats or hit a real downswing, or upswing for that matter.
To answer your original question people usually apply new concepts they have learned either in the wrong spots or too much. it takes a few days or weeks to properly integrate them into your game. Analysing your game helps but also make sure you take regular breaks from poker completely (a day or two). often when you return you'll see clearly what you are doing wrong. it helps you see mistakes and you avoid getting stuck in a loop.
Think about a golfer with a new swing. it takes a long time for him to integrate this into his game.

research ABC poker

*bump*

Although I do quite well again after fixing some leaks like laying down big pp multiway after it's obvious I'm beat and generally mostly staying away from trouble hands, I can't match my winnings when I started knowing basically nothing about poker other than hand rankings. It's kind of scary.

When I made my "first" deposit (I never made another) after watching some $0.01/0.02 FLHE tables I figured that with 10 players I should play the top 10% of hands and looked up a chart (that was made with pokerstove). My "genius" mind came up with the following:

- Put every bet in with top ~2.5% (TT+, AKs) no matter position, flop or # of players in the hand and basically don't even look at the board before the turn.
- Raise and reraise top ~5% (99, AQs-AJs, KQs, AKo) and bet every street until meeting resistance, then call down improved and fold UI.
- Call top ~10% (88, ATs-A9s, KJs-KTs, QTs+, AQo-AJo) and bet when checked to, call down improved and fold UI.
- Fold everything else

I experimented in playing like this again and it's unbelievable how good a simple system like this works at the lowest limit micros. I added table after table and at 25+ tables I could seriously consider working only part-time at my ****ty job.

But perhaps this shows just one thing: what an incredible bad player I am and how much I have to learn. Any thoughts on this?

One important detail is that you switched from Limit to No Limit games. That makes a big difference in how you play the game, which hands you can take past the turn, bet sizing etc. That could be the root of your problem.

I didn't switch to NL for good but I do play some of those $$$ guaranteed tourneys up to 5$ BI and often do it next to playing limit cash because I can't play NL (yet) and am therefore tight as a rock in those tourneys (and get bored soon.)

Leak 1:
Do not lay down big PP in FLHE in all but the most extreme circumstances

Leak 2
You do not blindly raise, 3! and cap with any hand on the flop. That is just spew. Especially AK unimproved


No no no no no. You don't just call down AK blindly to the river then fold UI.

Again, 88 heads up or with 3 in the pot you need to protect. You can't just call down with 88, You also can't just blindly call down to the river with a hand such as QTs and fold UI.

Horrible horrible horrible!

No no no no no (again). If you want to make $ at this game you have to have some idea what you are doing.

Now for the constructive part. Firstly, what have you read? There are some excellent books out there (Small Stakes Hold Em by Miller, Sklansky and Malmuth is one of the best for full ring fixed limit HE). There are also some stinkers. When you see your hand pre-flop, what is your plan for the hand? When the flop comes - what thoughts go through your mind? You can't play a hand like AK regardless of your position, how many are seeing the flop, your relative position to pre-flop raisers / callers and the texture of the flop. Each of these points will make a different play correct and greatly alter your equity in the pot. On some flops AK may still be the best hand, on others you may be drawing dead to your A and K outs. You can't hold a hand like A K and see a flop of T 9 8 with 3 opponents in the flop and cap the flop just because you hold AK - that is just giving your money away. On the other hand on a flop like 6 6 3 you may be holding the best hand and have a back door draw to the nut flush - or you may be drawing dead. The reason why poker is so hard is because every single situation must be treated differently.

Post some specific examples of hands that have caused trouble. Post some specific questions of areas of concern. Good luck at the tables.

Plenty of $ in limit - if you enjoy it no need to rush the transition

@denks

This was just a roughly draft of the way I started playing poker a month ago. I usually don't play like this anymore and even back then I did play that admittedly stupid looking "system" in accordance to some poker basics picked up in a random ebook. What I noticed however is that my winrate was higher back then than it ever was in the last three weeks, although I study my game, keep notes on other players and read ebooks and 2+2 almost daily. I therefore did an experiment and tried my old style again and now I'm surprised that it still works and - even better - can be played without any thinking at all, so I can play 20 tables and watch tv alongside.

I guess I might think too much now and assume that every villian suddenly became better because I took the time to learn as crazy as that may sound. If I have two pair now I think about the odds of villian having a set and if he would play it the way he played this hand so far. Before knowing anything I just kept raising two pair+ on just about any flop vs. just about any number of villians and any preflop action and did way better than now.

Edit: I think I don't extract the maximum bets out of villians when I have the best hand because even though I'm agressive preflop and on the flop, I often get into call down mode by the turn and still more often than not end up with the best hand.

Don't be so results oriented. The money you "spend" now by trying to improve your game will gain you much experience and provide returns in the long run.

Sorry if my comment sounded a bit negative, wasn't supposed to be. This here is excellent advice and something all of us find.

Don't try learning TOO fast. Introduce a couple of concepts into your game at a time rather than trying to rework your entire game overnight. The reason is each time you introduce a new technique / way of thinking you will likely lose for a bit as you work out when it does and does not apply. Poker is a game where sometimes conflicting reasoning points to two different possible decisions, only experience will help you decide which is the correct one.

Rather than read lots of books, read one quality book at a time 3 or 4 times. My approach with poker books is to read it through once, read through slowly the second time absorbing things better and then the third time read through and stop and analyse through every single part I don't fully understand or which is causing me troubles. Also, the Micro LHE forum on the left there is an excellent resource for fixed limit.

Unless I missed it, nobody's mentioned our ol' friend, Variance.

OP doesn't say how many hands he's played, but it's entirely possible he ran hot to start with and is now running not so hot.

Trouble is, that sort of thing can really mess with your head, making you feel that you're doing something wrong and 'adjusting' in such a way that you fundamentally change your game.

Change your game because it contains weaknesses, not because results haven't been going your way.

Good Luck.

variance sucks and takes time to learning how to deal with it is difficult and takes time.

Learn from your mistakes.The most common mistake is overplaying hands.