I'll try to keep it short. I taken notes on my wins, losses, break even poker sessions, live at the casino. I did more than 300 sessions were on average I played 4-to-12-hour poker sessions. I found that on average, for every 20 times I go to the casino, 10 times I break even, 5 times I win $40 to $120, and 5 times lose $40 to $200. I play 1/2nl with the option to buy in at $40 to $80. The rake is like $7 every hand.

So after calculating this self-analysis, I realized I am a fish. It took me a while to put this together. I assumed I was a good player due to all the hours I put in at the tables, but I am slowly losing. I am losing slowly, but I keep funding my bankroll to continue playing.

I been playing for over 10 years, and it is time to do something different. I never read a poker book cover to cover, I think it is time. All I really done is this forum, poker articles, online poker sites and a lot of poker videos online. I have a list of things I can do to improve my game and playing a lot of hours is not taking me anywhere. I stopped going to the casino recently and plan to study to hopefully become a winning player. The reason for the post is to analyze if my thinking is normal? I have to do something to change my situation, I do not like losing. Any tips will help, thanks.

Spending a little on a training course is probably your best bet these days. Post hands you were unsure about here as well. Good luck!

Don’t be too hard on yourself. Yes you are losing. At the rate you described and with the rake you described, no you are not a fish. A $7 rake per hand at a game with an $80 max buy in is a huge amount of rake. An average player at such a game will be a slowly losing player, just as you described yourself. You probably are an average level player, just based on what you posted.

Just doing a little math: assume this game is ten handed and all the players are evenly matched. In a rake free game, each player would be expected to break even. An average player would have a 0bb/100 win rate. Again assuming equal skill, the rake will be paid equally by all players. Rake is 3.5 bb per hand so the average player will pay 0.35 bb per hand. The average player will therefore have a win rate of
-35 bb/100.

Obviously if you want to sift and get better, that is a positive thing, and I am certainly not discouraging you from doing so.

I think you're being too hard on yourself that's a pretty high rake. With a more normal or standard rake you're probably a small winner.

I recommend reading some books(currently I have no idea what to recommend for books) just getting back into online cash after 15+ years playing MTT's. I have taken Peter Clarke's course "From the Ground Up" at Run It Once Poker and I would recommend giving it a look(I'm only part way thru) but I'm enjoying it and learning quite a bit. And for $49.99usd you really can't go wrong. Here's the link https://www.runitonce.com/courses/from-the-ground-up/ .

Good luck at the tables.



Cheers!!!

1/2 with a max buy of 80$ and a 7$ rake is an absolute waste of time from a money making perspective. It just is not going to happen. So the real question is do you get entertainment value from this game? If you do cool keep on enjoying spending $ and time at the poker table. If not either find a new game that has a better buy in/rake structure and get better or find a new hobby. I have been a pro for a long time and I believe most people would be better if they never discovered poker for what its worth

I been back to the casino two times since I posted this. One day cost me $100, the following day, $30. I think you nailed it by telling me to play a different game. This casino offers 2/3 nl with the option to buy in at $100-$200 with a $7 rake. I do not have the bankroll for that, but it makes sense that I could win more there, since I noticed many of the regulars I currently play with, also play that level and up to 5/5nl. Thank you for pointing this out, I need more money to play higher levels. And the entertainment part goes away when it's the same 50 regulars, making the same jokes.

Do they spread anything other than NLHE? Not PLO, that would present the same problem, but how about stud?