The Secrets of Online Poker.

[thinsy147]

I"ve spent the last few months trying to reinvent my online poker skills!

Here"s the story so far:

I"ve been playing poker online for many years, infact I was (maybe still am) the player that all you hard grinders wished for. I wouldn"t really play with any bankroll management or any gameplan. I"d log in, see how much I had in my account and play whatever tournament was starting in the hope for that one big win. I"d play bad hands out of position, go on tilt, shove my chips in and scream at the laptop to let me get lucky "one time" then wait till next months payday, deposit and start again!

Since then I have decided I am (can be) better than that. Lets face it, it shouldn"t be hard to be better than THAT!

I have tried using PokerTracker but decided it wasn"t helpful to me personally (if I played cash I can see it"s uses but not for tournaments).

I"m currently working hard on my issues highlighted by "The Mental Game of Poker" by Jared Tendler.


At the moment I am playing tight, waiting for pocket pairs or AK, AQ, AJ etc...... Although this is making sure I run deepish (usually outlasting between 50%-75% of the field) it"s not making me any profit!

I think sometimes I need to extract more chips on the hands I do play (usually get worried about getting outdrawn on the turn/river so bet too much and scare my opponents away when there is more chips to be had)

I also think I need to be more adventureous when it comes to stealing blinds (playing the dealer button in an unraised/unentered pot)

Thirdly, I think maybe I should try getting involved with a few more hands that I"m currently folding (suited connectors)

Would appreciate any comments on my thoughts and maybe, if your willing, give away some of your secrets to your success.

[Sef]

Im not by any means "succesful" but i was like you being scared of being outdrawn n  the aces getting cracked ect. I soon realised this is still a form of tiltage and possibly the worst kind. I now have the frame of mind "get it in good" and you cant go wrong. Thats all the secrets i have im afraid haha

[Santino67]

Open spots in late position good to go.......but information on your table is also important for this.

Suited gap/connectors in late position good to go

Position position position and bankroll management crucial, never play with the last of your money, you will make bad decisions. No harm playing a $1 tourney if you only have a $20 bankroll, you still get the same experience, general play..........and more importantly enjoyment

[thinsy147]

Open spots in late position good to go.......but information on your table is also important for this.

Suited gap/connectors in late position good to go

Position position position and bankroll management crucial, never play with the last of your money, you will make bad decisions. No harm playing a $1 tourney if you only have a $20 bankroll, you still get the same experience, general play..........and more importantly enjoyment

Thanks for the reply. It"s nice to know the "improvements" I am going to imply are the correct way of thinking!

At the moment bankroll is my real downfall, I seem to have a little in lots of accounts which means I"m swapping from site to site playing tournaments! Hopefully, I will soon have a bit of spare cash to work a sensible bankroll on one particular site. I want to start playing around the $5 buy-in (with occasional $10 tournaments too). Would you consider a $1k bankroll sufficient for this? Any recomendations for sites at this level of tournament?

Also, thanks Sef it"s nice to know I wasn"t alone with my "fear tilt" issues!

[PHIL_TC]

I only play for fun really nowadays online and random cash games and my bankroll management is horrendous... especially after a beverage or 3  

However a few years back I hammered SnG"s multi tabling and recorded all my results in a spreadsheet, date / time, where I finished, ROI, bankroll on a game by game basis with each row a game. The spreadsheet told me what buy in I should be at, when I could move up levels and I even did some pretty graphs. However I am a serious geek  

If I was going to play online seriously again I"d go back to that, play SnG"s as there is a definite strategy and plan you can put in place for these rather than just playing cash.

I built a pretty decent bankroll up doing the above.

Which after 4 months of solid play, I got bored as it was serious grind... I managed to withdraw and lump onto several WSOP sats.

[ ] That was a great idea

Good luck anyway hope you update your blog with how it goes x

[thinsy147]

To be honest, I wouldn"t be playing too much. I"ll only be playing a couple of nights a week, probably playing a couple of games a night!

I just want to see if I can make it a profitable pastime. I"m a geek too, show me your spreadsheet!!  

I prefer playing live and am contemplating the following options:

a) Use my spare £600 to enter a couple of DTD Deepstacks, and hope to get lucky!

b) Use my money to play endless satellites on DTD site and try to qualify for more than 2 Deepstacks (or maybe blow the lot without qualifying once!)

c) Grind in tournaments on other sites and withdraw enough funds to play a DTD Deepstack once I"ve won it!

(do you get the feeling I want to play in the DTD Deepstack Events?)  

[noble1]

http://www.nsdpoker.com/2011/01/mtt-pros/
http://www.nsdpoker.com/2011/02/mtt_pros_2/
http://www.nsdpoker.com/2011/03/nlhe_6m_pros/
http://www.nsdpoker.com/2011/03/stt-pro/

sorry if i"m wrong but i get the impression that u haven"t quite understood how variance is a key part of poker, its so important to get to grips with it imho, by understanding it even just on a basic level then your game is sure to/met improve.. also try to understand if u actually have an edge over your opponents, to win at poker it is about being able to apply and re-apply an advantage over a long period of time... knowing how your style of play and table/opponent selection affects variance helps also, if u have a positive expectation versus your opponents every time u sit down, over the long run u will win... simple as that....   by understanding variance then hopefully u wont lose track of the decision process that gave u the positive expectation in the first place when u do have a bad run...

apologies if u already understand it...

[Tiger-flash]

To be honest, I wouldn"t be playing too much. I"ll only be playing a couple of nights a week, probably playing a couple of games a night!

I just want to see if I can make it a profitable pastime. I"m a geek too, show me your spreadsheet!!  

I prefer playing live and am contemplating the following options:

a) Use my spare £600 to enter a couple of DTD Deepstacks, and hope to get lucky!

b) Use my money to play endless satellites on DTD site and try to qualify for more than 2 Deepstacks (or maybe blow the lot without qualifying once!)

c) Grind in tournaments on other sites and withdraw enough funds to play a DTD Deepstack once I"ve won it!

(do you get the feeling I want to play in the DTD Deepstack Events?)  

Dtd are now doing freerolls for all the main events, monte carlo, deepstack, super 50 and 6 max 150, you could try and get lucky in them. I know how you feel as i have never played a deepstack too due to time and money. Play no more with 10% of your bankroll in tournies so if you do get unlucky you will still have more attemps than losing it all in one go  

[thinsy147]

http://www.nsdpoker.com/2011/01/mtt-pros/
http://www.nsdpoker.com/2011/02/mtt_pros_2/
http://www.nsdpoker.com/2011/03/nlhe_6m_pros/
http://www.nsdpoker.com/2011/03/stt-pro/

sorry if i"m wrong but i get the impression that u haven"t quite understood how variance is a key part of poker, its so important to get to grips with it imho, by understanding it even just on a basic level then your game is sure to/met improve.. also try to understand if u actually have an edge over your opponents, to win at poker it is about being able to apply and re-apply an advantage over a long period of time... knowing how your style of play and table/opponent selection affects variance helps also, if u have a positive expectation versus your opponents every time u sit down, over the long run u will win... simple as that....   by understanding variance then hopefully u wont lose track of the decision process that gave u the positive expectation in the first place when u do have a bad run...

apologies if u already understand it...

Thanks for the links. It makes very interesting reading (although, sometimes confusing for my little brain!).

However, here"s a couple of calculations of my own:

+EV in MTT/STT = 0.0000001%
+EV in the pub drinking = NO CHANCE

                     

[VBlue]

You have to put in time away from the tables, as well as time at the tables.  Working on your game, as opposed to working in your game.  Some players are just naturally gifted, or very intelligent and get away with not having to "learn" in the same way as us mere mortals.

Try Deuces Cracked.  Why?  You pay for a single month and can download as much content as you want.  Fill your hard drive.  Then make a plan.  80/20 in favour of playing time.  Play 8 hours per week.  Spend 2 studying.

Review your session - using a hand replayer like universalhandreplayer will let you look back over the game and see if you really took advantage of spots or just let your stack dwindle whilst waiting for premium hands.

Remember, you must get aggresive when your stack dictates it.  Stack size is certainly one of the most important factors in MTTs.  You must learn to change gears when required.

Also, start posting a hand from each session on a forum you trust - APAT or maybe 2p2 or another forum you use.  Get feedback.  Also, try commenting on hands yourself.  Get into analysing.

Perhaps, arrange a sweat session with a poker friend.  Or swap hand histories with someone.

Wow - that sounds like a plan.  Maybe I should follow my own advice.

[thinsy147]

VBlue - Excellent post. Very good advice, made some suggestions that I just never would have thought of. Thank you.

noble1 - Thank you to you too. Really good links, they"re keeping me busy. Thank you for the PM too. Appreciated.