I've been playing Pokerstars for a few weeks now, and I've been playing $0.05/0.10 6 player tables. In my first few days, I put in $10 and I managed to make it $30. And then a few days later, I lost it. I just thought to myself, "no big deal, I'll just win it back", putting $10, again and again...

And well... now I'm down $60.

I'm feeling like shit right now and I know I'm probably not going to win it back at this rate. I want to take a long break... a couple weeks... but I still want to win it back.

I must be doing something wrong. It feels like the luck element of poker is just fucking me over all the time. Always get owned by pocket sets. In the end it feels like you have to get lucky to win.

Any tips...? Words of advice? Thanks.

JadeFist

United States1225 Posts

July 10 2010 17:31 GMT

Play tight. Minimize tilt. Use bankroll management.

Eben

United States769 Posts

July 10 2010 17:32 GMT

A couple things I learned while playing poker..

Only put in money that you know you can afford to lose.
If you get on a losing streak (tilt) it is sometimes best just to stop, cool off, and not try to make it back really fast. More often than not you will just keep losing more and more of it.

As for the luck part bad luck sometimes costs us, and someone else getting really lucky when you know you should have won sucks, but as long as you are constantly playing well and making the right calls you will probably end of positive in the long run.

Dont let tilt ruin you!

guN-viCe

United States687 Posts

July 10 2010 17:34 GMT

yes there is luck in poker, its called variance. 60$ at a .05/.10 table is just 6 buyins. its very easy to run 30 buyins under EV.

with 60$ you should be playing the .01/.02 until you get to about 200-300

beg

991 Posts

July 10 2010 17:34 GMT

obviously play 0.02/0.04 ..... maybe even fullring instead of 6max... and buy a poker book (winning in tough holdem games, for example)

ps: you are playing fixed limit, right? because if you play no limit with $10, you are bound to lose it all. seriously, just read a good book before you play. the book i recommended was a fixed limit book though.

if you want to play no limit, get a bankroll of $50 and start at NL2 .. (you don't call the limit "0.05/0.10", but NL10 ...)

AND READ A GOOD BOOK BEFORE YOU PLAY.

i suggest starting with fixed limit, playing the lowest limit (.02/.04) with $12 bankroll ... and play fullring (10 players)

MisteR

Netherlands595 Posts

July 10 2010 17:38 GMT

You have to get lucky to win, and there is no guarantee you'll ever be lucky. Poker is, at the heart, a gambling game. Even the greatest poker players lose ridiculous sums of money when they get into a losing streak. To get one thing out of the way first: getting disappointed, getting angry, trying with a bad attitude to win money back, will always lose you only more money. A good poker player does not let his game get affected by his losses.

Furthermore, poker is a game of skill. The best players are nothing short of geniuses, who are able to perform difficult mathematics under heavy pressure, while keeping up the proverbal pokerface, without losing any chance to get under the skin of their opponents. You won't win any money, even at the lowest tables, if you don't know what you're doing.

There are two roads you can walk. Either you stop playing poker often, accepting that it's not something that'll earn you money easily. Or you can take it on the chin and start learning how it really works. I advice you, in the latter case, to go to the liquid poker site, where all the resources and people are there to become a good, moneymaking, poker player.

Good luck anyway

Hurricane

United States3939 Posts

July 10 2010 17:42 GMT

http://www.liquidpoker.net/pokerarticles/

read all of the beginner articles by Jelle. Also use bankroll management. I think he goes over it but basically pick a number of buy in's that you feel comfortable using and don't play a stake until you have that number of buy in's or more. 20 buy in's is a pretty safe choice, especially for micro stakes.

ToT)OjKa(

Korea (South)2437 Posts

July 10 2010 17:53 GMT

I'm currently playing the 2/5 cent games on pokerstars with a bank roll of ~170 (I hit $200 and then took a big tumble :/)
If you're new to playing poker then I suggest playing in the Sit and Go's. It's a much safer place to explore and experience poker without having your bankroll on the line and helps gain confidence.
I used to play the $1 SnG's on Full Tilt and after a while got my bills up to ~$150.

Pokerstars also has some really good promotions at the moment, check out:
http://www.pokerstars.com/poker/promotions/battle/

SkelA

Macedonia13040 Posts

July 10 2010 18:01 GMT

Well ive been playing poker alot in the last few months but mostly tours. Playing the 10c and the regional tours on PS and was wining like average ~40$ per month in the last 3 months and recovered my intial 100$ deposit which i lost it all on cash.,,.

I started with poker like 1 year ago and lost 100$ on cash games.... lately ive been playing cash too and went like +30 $ but after some terrible luck went -40$ again..... and i felt i was playing good had the dominating hand preflop and guys just luck out hiting lucky rivers or runner runner to beat me. I got straight and he hits full on river and similar shit like that i just couldnt understand how i lost every hand where i dominate and i just get owned all the time for a few days.

I just cant stand cash games I feel like its rigged so i stopped with cash games and concentrate on tour games from now..... You should try the tours its much easier to play and alot more fun. With cash games i feel frustrated when i hit downswing but its not the same on tours.

canucks12

Canada812 Posts

July 10 2010 18:14 GMT

#10

I believe that playing heads up can be a very good way to make money. You can play several tables at once too. As long as you have some background information on poker - learnt from a friend or from a good book - you should be making a profit. Obviously at some tables, you will be losing, but the average should be positive. Also if you make notes on how each player plays, you can learn which players are bad and think of themselves as good (perfect opponent) and which players are very good (who you want to avoid). Eventually you will have notes on mostly everybody who plays heads up.

United States3249 Posts

July 10 2010 18:16 GMT

#11

You are an awful player who needs to learn how to play. Visit liquidpoker.net if you actually care, otherwise just enjoy slowly losing money. Anybody who has played poker for any amount of time knows this has to be said.

beg

991 Posts

July 10 2010 18:20 GMT

#12

On July 11 2010 03:14 canucks12 wrote:
I believe that playing heads up can be a very good way to make money. You can play several tables at once too. As long as you have some background information on poker - learnt from a friend or from a good book - you should be making a profit. Obviously at some tables, you will be losing, but the average should be positive. Also if you make notes on how each player plays, you can learn which players are bad and think of themselves as good (perfect opponent) and which players are very good (who you want to avoid). Eventually you will have notes on mostly everybody who plays heads up.

ninja say what? heads up for beginners?

Zurles

United Kingdom1659 Posts

July 10 2010 21:01 GMT

#13

quit before you lose more.

Incite

36 Posts

July 11 2010 06:01 GMT

#14

You're playing at limits way too high for your bankroll.

Google bankroll management. really you shouldn't even try to play poker without an initial bankroll of 50 bucks or so. and at that level you should be playing the very lowest limits.

udgnim

United States8024 Posts

July 11 2010 08:13 GMT

#15

it's a game of variance

decent rule of thumb is 50K hands at a level for a sufficient sample size to even out the variance