You can play... So why do you lose?

[PittsburghVitt]

I have a few friends who are now getting into their 2-3 years of solid poker playing. They have read their books, can play solid poker, but they just can't win. We all started to play together and from that point I have been the only on eout of the 3 of us who has had any success. I want to give my opinion on what stops a player from churning a profit, any opinions after would be great.

Mistake 1 - Never walking away
----you can understand poker and play well for hours but after a while you simply have to walk away either bad beats or being tired will lead you to making bad decisions.

Mistake 2 - Understanding what patience really is
----we all understand kings, queens, jacks, and ace king are good hands....but really how good are they. Folding jacks and queens and even A/K pre-flop is what defines patience.

Mistake 3 - Why Race?
--- you have queens pre flop, you raise.... your opponent goes all in... you can without even hesitating. Chances are when he goes all in he has a/k, a/a, or k/k..... chances are your behind, racing, or maybe a slight favorite if your lucky. STOP RACING play the flop and your hands, q/q does not mean your hand wins everytime.

Mistake 4 - Small pots with small hands, big pots with big hands
-- I dont mean pre-flop, I mean through the course of an entire hand, why bet when your unsure where you stand?


again, just some of my opinions would love to hear what others believe are the big rocks standing in the road of those players who truly can play....but just can't seem to win...

[misisipibeck]

1)getting into a rut..ie.playing the same players over and over,home games and even online 2) not sticking to solid poker,gut feelings are not solid poker,dont let the players you are playing bring you down to their level,and if they need to bring you up to theirs, you are trying to play above your level,no player likes to admit it but we all arent pros!!!

[infinii]

Originally Posted by PittsburghVitt I have a few friends who are now getting into their 2-3 years of solid poker playing. They have read their books, can play solid poker, but they just can't win. We all started to play together and from that point I have been the only on eout of the 3 of us who has had any success. I want to give my opinion on what stops a player from churning a profit, any opinions after would be great. Mistake 1 - Never walking away ----you can understand poker and play well for hours but after a while you simply have to walk away either bad beats or being tired will lead you to making bad decisions.

Agree and to add, I think one weakness I have is also not walking away when I'm winning. Instead staying there thinking I'm unbeatable and eventually losing the 2-3 buyins I've been fortunate enough to have won early.

Originally Posted by PittsburghVitt Mistake 2 - Understanding what patience really is ----we all understand kings, queens, jacks, and ace king are good hands....but really how good are they. Folding jacks and queens and even A/K pre-flop is what defines patience.

I'm not sure what you mean here. Are you implying that patience is waiting for AA and KK? Sorry but you'll never regain your blinds if you wait for these hands and your table image will be so tight that once you enter a pot after folding for the past 2hrs, you won't get action.

Originally Posted by PittsburghVitt Mistake 3 - Why Race? --- you have queens pre flop, you raise.... your opponent goes all in... you can without even hesitating. Chances are when he goes all in he has a/k, a/a, or k/k..... chances are your behind, racing, or maybe a slight favorite if your lucky. STOP RACING play the flop and your hands, q/q does not mean your hand wins everytime.

If every decision comes down to you assuming that your opponent has AA/KK, then you might as well stop playing because how often are you going to have a hand that beats AA/KK preflop that will justify you calling a raise? QQ ahead of all but 2 starting hands and poker is about mathematical edges. Even if it's a 2% edge (coin flip), you need to get your money in whenever you have the edge. There's also another reason for racing. Once your opponent sees a flop and misses it totally, it's hard to stack him/her for maximum value. Maybe this isn't ideal in cash games and is part of my mtt bias showing through, but in tourney's my goal is to get all the chips...not just a majority.

Originally Posted by PittsburghVitt Mistake 4 - Small pots with small hands, big pots with big hands -- I dont mean pre-flop, I mean through the course of an entire hand, why bet when your unsure where you stand?

Good advice but how about some actual lessons on pot control. It's good enough to tell people to play small pots when you don't have the nuts so you can showdown for cheap but when your opponent is betting 2/3 pot, pot or reraising your smallish bets (in attempt to dictate action and showdown cheaply), what do you do to avoid a big pot?

[emoneypitt]

Originally Posted by PittsburghVitt I have a few friends who are now getting into their 2-3 years of solid poker playing. They have read their books, can play solid poker, but they just can't win. We all started to play together and from that point I have been the only on eout of the 3 of us who has had any success. I want to give my opinion on what stops a player from churning a profit, any opinions after would be great. Mistake 1 - Never walking away ----you can understand poker and play well for hours but after a while you simply have to walk away either bad beats or being tired will lead you to making bad decisions. Mistake 2 - Understanding what patience really is ----we all understand kings, queens, jacks, and ace king are good hands....but really how good are they. Folding jacks and queens and even A/K pre-flop is what defines patience. Mistake 3 - Why Race? --- you have queens pre flop, you raise.... your opponent goes all in... you can without even hesitating. Chances are when he goes all in he has a/k, a/a, or k/k..... chances are your behind, racing, or maybe a slight favorite if your lucky. STOP RACING play the flop and your hands, q/q does not mean your hand wins everytime. Mistake 4 - Small pots with small hands, big pots with big hands -- I dont mean pre-flop, I mean through the course of an entire hand, why bet when your unsure where you stand? again, just some of my opinions would love to hear what others believe are the big rocks standing in the road of those players who truly can play....but just can't seem to win...

What about some f***ing donk that pushes their whole stack on the turn with a gutshot draw and sucks out when you're holding AA? Hard to make money when you have garbage players constantly sucking out on garbage.

[PittsburghVitt]

it's a long term game for a reason, you want them to go all in with a gut shot if they have 4 outs... thats how you win money...+

[guzzo18]

but i sure love poker...lets get aces vs. kings....yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehhhhhhhhhhhhhh hhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

[rlg476]

there are times to play and times know when to give it up

[emoneypitt]

Originally Posted by PittsburghVitt it's a long term game for a reason, you want them to go all in with a gut shot if they have 4 outs... thats how you win money...+

Yes I know, just that the suckouts seem to happen all too often.

[Poket10s]

I guess a lot of times, it's the donks that come out on top. It's poker and anything can happen. But if you're playing solid winning poker, you should come out on top in the long run.