So im 20 y/o from australia, been playing poker for about a year now and taking it more seriously for the last 8 months and playing online for the last 4 months.

I have pretty general knowledge of poker, I think a few books i have read are a bit outdated but have the general idea of pot odds/implied odds, position +EV, equity but probably need abit or alot of help implying it into a game.

I started off only playing live tournaments and started playing online $1.50 6max sngs which i found to be pretty tough for the amount of money i was playing for so then i switched to 2nl cash games which i found that i was either breaking even or just tilt and end up losing and now i've switched over to $1.50 hu sngs which im not doing too bad in but i just dont think i have much of an edge unless i verse a really clueless player.

So im pretty much a losing player and im pretty sure that im just a fish for better players. Im just not too sure how to work on my game, I will be getting pokertracker soon and i do watch some good online coaching videos on youtube but it just seems to go out the window when i start playing.

Is poker worth exploring as a career anymore or is the edge slowly deminishing? Any suggestions to what should be done and what i need to do to be a winning player would be good thanks

Welcome to 2+2

Seriously, don't even think about poker as a career right now. Focus on trying to become a winner.

Thanks for the reply guys and thanks for the links and im going to be totally honest right now and tell you i have no idea what BQ, HHs and ABS stands for.

BQ is Beginners' Questions, where we are right now.
HH is a hand history.
ASB is me lol.

BQ= Begginers Questions, HHs= Hand Historys ASB=AlienSpaceBat a mod in the forums.

Also, no point trying to make a poker career, play for fun, instead of xbox or something and if you can learn enough to make a bit of money it's far more productive.

lol ok got the abbreviations sunk into my head.

And do you say just play for fun because the competition is just too tough or just the fact that a fish like me shooting to high will just almost always lead to failure?

I think aiming for being a pro is just the wrong mindset. Some people might not even be capable of beating high enough stakes to play for a living.
Better just to treat it as a fun hobby, post hands in the forums, and build a bankroll starting from 2nl and see how far you get.

Thats fair enough, Thanks for the help!

at 2nl? a good hourly rate is 10bb/100 - so about 15c an hour (per table)

dont aim for anything but playing around abd finding your game you feel the best and then concentrate fully on that! Be prepared to pay the tuition fees through the learning curves. Its a marathon you prolly wont ever finish as per going pro. As you are not from US you should try getting free bankroll to play with and either proceed from there or reload and try again. And spend more time studying and whe thngs click volume up! Welcome to the forums.

get holdem manager or pokertracker (i prefer holdem because i cant get tracker to work) and plug all of your leaks at 2NL, then you can go from there.

how many hands at 2nl have you played?

I've played probably 20-25k hands in 2nl but i never really tracked my hands or progress or looked over hands and i think thats what is really hurting my game because i know i have many many many leaks and im unsure how to fix them. I thought practising day after day would help but i just keep losing to the same people over and over and i know that they are easily beatable.

whats your win rate over 20k hands ( __bb/100? )

if you get a tracker, it will help you identify your weaknesses.

a tracker is a MUST HAVE!

welcome to 2+2. Game selection and strict bank roll management is key for beginners.

I'd suggest you first find a game you wish to specialize in and mainly only put in volume for that certain game-type. 20,000 hands isn't really that large of a sample size but at nl2 I think it'll give you a fairly decent idea of where you stand. Really, a fundamentally sound TAG game can beat nl2 fairly easy (the player field is either spewy, and or really passive so easily exploitable just by understanding basic preflop play and fit-fold flop play). Play tight, play tight, fold and fold. It'll help alot!

As for losing, don't worry about that, as another poster stated it's the tuition fee for learning to beat the stake you're playing. PT3 will be beneficial as it will allow you to see where you stand, and also will keep a database of every hand played. This is important because you can find where you're losing money and upload some HH's to twoplustwo; either here at BQ or uNL Cash Game sub-forum and there are some very good and helpful players that will pick it over opening your mind to some things!

Regarding, playing for a living. I'd suggest you treat poker like a hobby with a passion to profit. If you study, put in volume, study and really take that extra incentive to become good you can definitely supplement your income with poker, whether that be online or live.

Thanks for your comment! Just a question when playing tight in a 6max game what would your starting hand ranges be, because its a bit harder to play tight in a 6max then full and what ranges should i be calling with when a bad spewy player is 3 betting/calling everyhand compared too a tight passive player who is 3 betting every 25-30 hands. I just feel when i play 2nl im either up against a regular shark who just outplays me or just social player who shoves with any suited cards after my 3bet and i just get in a position where i dont know what the hell to do.

Ill hopefully be purchasing pokertracker this week and for my win rate i cant answer that just because i havent tracked any progress, ive just been playing too play i guess. But i dont know tbh when i play live i feel the compitition is so much weaker than online. i think the 2nl online is tougher than the 200nl at the casino.

Play ABC poker. 3bet JJ+ AK against the spewy guys and be happy to get it in. Against the better opponents maybe avoid playing marginal hands OOP against them and only square off wiht premiums. It all comes down to being observant and learning how your opponents play and then countering it effectively, however, while you're learning to do that just play tight fit fold poker. worst case scenario you'll still probably break-even at nl2 just doing htat.

So with a HUD what should your stats look like? 20/17/3? or something along those lines.. and should i stay away from zoom poker?

I don't use a hud, but yes they would be like that. Zoom poker is the same thing as regular ring games but just alot faster paced and because of that it really changes the play style dramatically. Basically everyone plays super tight because they can just fold, fold, fold, and wait for good hands. I've never played Zoom though.