I need help

Originally posted by TH1950
First hello to everyone, this is my first post. Some other time I will introduce myself better but for now I am too frustrated to do that. Sorry for that and if my english is not good. First of all this will not be whining about downswings and variance and crap about rigged pokerstars. At the moment I play NL5 in, I have database at around 200k hands and I am breakeven.

Hi TH1950,
Welcome to PokerStrategy.com forums!
Your English is fine. In the 21st Century we have Google translate, which does a pretty good job if you can't figure out how to say something.
If you're breakeven you can't be doing things completely terribly wrong, but even so I still recommend reading our No Limit Hold'em lessons overview articles first.
That article leads you through the basics and beyond.
You may have already read it, but if you're struggling at the lowest limits, you may find things in there that you can use.

Originally posted by TH1950
Ok it happens. I get it, its obvious that I should value bet this guy heavily. But i played later with him 400 hands more and I couldnt get in similar situations. If i hit flop he folds and then it looks like poker is game of set ups and it frustrates me. Its not about downswing, this situation are very often to me,

When a player who usually folds flops raises big, you can do what he did and fold.
This is a classic Way-ahead/Way-Behind situation, (you can read about those somewhere in one of the articles I linked to above)

I was originally going to move this thread to the Hand Discussion forum but your situation is about more than one hand.

The frustration you feel is part of "tilt" which means that you experience mental stress from playing poker.
This comes in many forms. I recommend "The Mental Game of Poker" by Jared Tendler and Barry Carter -- it helped me a lot.

Best of luck :gl:,
VS

Thank you for reply.
I read this lessons long time ago, I also read the book Mental game and wathced video on you tube. I feel that nobody can understand what bothers me. Actuallly this wasnt about one hand, it was just example. This particular hand is that I called partly beacuse of tilt, but also because of that my problem, this is the moment when they raise like this for hours and i never have the hand to call. I feel like I cant fold all the time. Anyway I once spoke about this with one pro and he also didnt understand what I am telling him, so its probably just in my head. I have to accept that after years of playing I still dont understand some fundementals. So I will work heavily outside tables to figure it out.
I remember this pro told me that my WWSF is too low (36ish%). Its hard for me to understand how can I raise that number if I am playing against calling stations which I cant bluff, and i cant have value bets 50% of the time.
Is it smart to have cbet 60% on microstakes?

Hi TH1950,

first, like VorpalF2F said, it is already awesome that you are a winning player (considering break even as winning especially considering the insane rake at NL5).
Then, I think, your situation is not unique. I have heard variations of this so many times. I myself have experienced it, maybe not as brutal, but still.

Here are my tips:
- Keep a positive mindset. It is a privilege to be able to play and learn poker.
- Try to have fun learning and playing. See everything as an opportunity to grow.
- Do not be result oriented, be process oriented.
- Listen to podcasts: Runchuks, Raise your edge, The grid, Elliot Roe's, and there are probably other good ones, that I forgot to mention or don't know of
- Work out, do sports, eat healthy, maybe meditate
- Mood follows action
- Do not solely identify with being a poker player. There is more to life than that.

Hey TH1950,

welcome to the community! :-) Nice having you.

I think we all know poker can be a though game sometimes, and I feel you (200k hand and breakeven doesn't sound like fun). You need to realize that u are on ur lowpoint. Once u understand this and treat everyday like one way forward you will be fine. Don't think about money or BuyIns, think about doing the right thing(fold/check/call/Raise) at the right time (pre, OTF, OTT, OTR). Things will come around! ;-)

some further thoughts:
Since volume(200k) is not your problem, I would recommend playing less and revisiting ur played hands more. Rethinking.. etc.
Be activ in our Hand Discussion forum. It will help u immensly.

Thanks guys, maybe I am just a bit unlucky. I will focus on working on my game and things I can improve.

I have experienced three very long breakeven stretches of up to 200k hands played before turning a long term profit once again. These monster downswings seem to occur once every million hands played from personal experience. You will run so bad it will drive you almost insane.

Reading your post I suspect you play 6-max games? If so, why not play 'boring' full ring games which are easier to beat than 6-max tables? Just because more regs play 6-max doesn't mean you should do also if easier games on full ring tables are available to play.

Best description i found on this situations is that when you valuebet you pray they fold because you know they will get there. Anyway i really prepared this morning i wanted to start fresh,positive.I even moved to nl2. My session lasted 50 hands.
Just joined table and this guy plays every hand, hand before he bet all three streets with 4th pair. And this happens:
PokerStars - $0.02 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

Hero (BTN): 100 BB
SB: 123 BB
BB: 38 BB
UTG: 178.5 BB
CO: 100 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has A♥ A♦

UTG calls 1 BB, fold, Hero raises to 5 BB, fold, BB calls 4 BB, UTG calls 4 BB

Flop: (15.5 BB, 3 players) 5♣ 6♦ Q♣
BB checks, UTG checks, Hero bets 15 BB, fold, UTG calls 15 BB

Turn: (45.5 BB, 2 players) 9♥
UTG bets 1 BB, Hero raises to 31.5 BB, UTG raises to 62 BB, Hero raises to 80 BB and is all-in, UTG calls 18 BB

River: (205.5 BB, 2 players) T♦

UTG shows 8♣ 7♦ (Straight, Ten High)
(Pre 19%, Flop 37%, Turn 100%)
Hero shows A♥ A♦ (One Pair, Aces)
(Pre 81%, Flop 63%, Turn 0%)
UTG wins 198.5 BB

He continues to play every hand, and few hands later this happens, villain is the same like in first hand

PokerStars - $0.02 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

Hero (UTG): 113 BB
CO: 115 BB
BTN: 61 BB
SB: 280 BB
BB: 167.5 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has Q♥ Q♣

Hero raises to 3 BB, fold, BTN calls 3 BB, SB calls 2.5 BB, fold

Flop: (10 BB, 3 players) T♠ 2♠ J♥
SB bets 1 BB, Hero raises to 8.5 BB, BTN calls 8.5 BB, SB calls 7.5 BB

Turn: (35.5 BB, 3 players) 8♣
SB checks, Hero bets 23 BB, BTN calls 23 BB, SB calls 23 BB

River: (104.5 BB, 3 players) 4♦
SB checks, Hero bets 78.5 BB and is all-in, fold, SB calls 78.5 BB

Hero shows Q♥ Q♣ (One Pair, Queens)
(Pre 18%, Flop 12%, Turn 14%)
SB shows A♦ A♥ (One Pair, Aces)
(Pre 82%, Flop 88%, Turn 86%)
SB wins 252.5 BB

So should I really fold this hands against this maniacs? How do i put on a hand someone who plays every hand? Again its not even a problem to lose 2 buy ins in 50 hands, problem is that usually when i continue I feel only way I beat this guy is some reverse set up which almost never happens. I feel like an idiot not being able to beat this guy who plays every hand. This is what i was talking about, they just always have it. If I am going to fold this situations from first hand i think I that would be paranoid poker, thinking that always someone has completed on draws...

I would recommend using our Hand discussions for No Limit board for posting hands.

The AA hand I would fold the turn after villains min bet and min 3bet. I expect you never have the best hand. Even against a maniac i would fold most of the time. Villains line looks real strong and he/she is committed.

The QQ hand is pretty much a cooler. It's to bad villain has a better over pair this time. if villain doesn't slow play you lost your entire stack as well.

Cheers,
SDK1987

What can I say...

it would pay off in the long run

Hi smirnoff1914
Welcome to PokerStrategy.com

Be sure to check out the free money offers and bonus offers.
Read the instructions carefully -- they usually apply to rooms where you don't already have an account.

What kind of games do you normally play?
Cash Games? Sit-and-Go? MTTs?
Do you just play Hold'em or do you play any other variants?

If you're totally new to poker, I recommend reading our No Limit Hold'em lessons overview articles first.
That article leads you through the basics and beyond.
It is even recommended if you've played a while ♠_biggrin:

If you have any questions, just post them in the Q&A forum.

All the best,
VS

Welcome to the forum. What you are going is tough and your not the only one but its up to you to start finding a solution and you are in the right spot. Keep posting hands, talk to other players, ask questions and put in the work off the table. You mentioned the tilt with the loss of a few buy ins. Start working on not tilting off your stack. It will pay dividends once you get a handle off it and you will see your win rate increase. It sounds like you play a decent amount of hands per session which is great but how are they in terms of length and how many tables do you have open? Do you feel focused the entire session no matter the length? If you have multiple tables open, are you focused the same on all of them? Making the most optimal decisions is key here and the slightest mistakes can alter your results especially if you are putting in significant volume.

In regards the KK hand in your first post i want to give you my input. The sb calling range is generally pretty tight here and you have KK in position. The flop is wet and connected and it hits the sb calling range so i would suggest proceeding with caution. The flop bet is a little too big for me, i would like to see a third to half pot size. I would consider checking back this flop a portion of the time to balance our range as well to maintain pot control and avoid a cr from a nutted hand. The K hearts helps block some flush draws as well. Hero bets almost full pot and gets cr 2x, a call here is still fine, you are still ahead of a lot of their range of hands but you need to be careful and not inflate the pot if the turn gets worse.

There might be some argument for 3 betting the flop cr to a small around 2.2to 2.3x and you can fold to a shove that is if you bet 1/3 pot on flop and villains cr is 2x like what you encountered and don't commit your stack. That would cost you around 15 bb if you did it like that and save your stack and confidently fold knowing you are likely beat. They might still jam some no pair flush draws so thats were some history helps and you can correctly navigate. If they flat that oop we can discuss that further if you like but i dont want to go down the rabbit hole with my fps.

Back to the hand hero calls the flop cr and the turn and it not the greatest for your range the 9d and sb donks 1 bb lol, I wouldn't raise here unless you have prior history and know they can do this with hands like 22-33, other big pairs and all their draws and you know you are ahead and need to charge them. You have to keep the pot small with so many hands are beating you, straights, sets and 2 pair combos plus 2 pair fds. You have to just call and your hand becomes face up and try to get to showdown and hope the river is a brick and the sb bets small or even a small value bet if they x the river, or x back if the board get worse. Raising that turn in that sequence of play in the long run is just going to hurt you.

Villain then jams the river 5c. Before you call, ask yourself what worse hands could they have here given the line they have taken throughout the hand. Listen they had 75 off which was a good scenario at the time on the turn and they sucked out, but the majority will show up with the value hands i mentioned. Take control of the hand with your position, maintain pot control on wet connected boards especially utg, mp vs the blinds. Good luck at the tables.

Hi MP348,
You make some good points in there, but it is hard to read without some white space between the lines.

When you come to the end of one train of thought, pop a couple of "enter"s in there to make the post easier to read.

Cheers,
VS

MP348 channeled his inner James Joyce! 😂😃 (just kidding 🙂)

Thank you, I will keep that in mind, your right its defiantly easier to read. I just posted one right before I saw this lol, its all good though.

Lol SamoB25

Originally posted by SamoB25
MP348 channeled his inner James Joyce! 😂😃 (just kidding 🙂)

🤣

Its actually my fault. I shouldnt play on scam site. At first I didnt know that there are 2 maths I can work on. Regular math, and pokerstars math. I am done with them. They are capable of everything, be careful.

Yep, it's u fault tbh