[Closed] initial downswing

Hey delete. When I first started playing I was -$13.00 in the first two weeks playing nl4. I still ended up being plus money at the end of the month thanks to a few freeroll cashes. Yeah you could drop down a level and see how it goes. All depends on what level you feel most comfortable playing at. At nl4 on partypoker I have to take a minimum of $2.00 to the table, 50 big blinds. Not really a short stack. Its actually bad to take that many blinds to a table when playing a sss.

have started stealing a few blinds from SB and late pos even though Im not supposed to as a beginner, and have started clawing my way back.

DONT bother stealing blinds on NL10 just stick to the charts and HOPE your downswing ends and you start to move upwards.

YOU MUST MUST MUST stick to the charts - you should get rake back and the bonus so you will make it.

BUT dump SSS as soon as bonus is cleared and learn BSS you will then move forward as a poker player

GL

Paul

I dont mean to be disrespectful, but are you sure its a downswing? "Initial downswing" sounds bit funny and is damn close to "loosing player with upswing at first sessions". Lets look at situation how i and many other might see it:

Player is:
[X]beginner
[X]losing money
[X]not sticking to charts

Pretty close to make assumption that perhaps initial downswing is just bad play. Thats why i suggest reading strategy articles, watching videos and really sticking to charts. Dont bother with blind stealing much, on limits as low as you play its not worth it. Try reading psychology articles too because "downswing" is easy way to justify bad play and perhaps instead of calling it a downswing and continuing to play like that you should look at your game bit more critical and see if you have any leaks (which for beginners is quite likely). See where your play differs from charts and see if you win or loose there.

Anyway, good luck in overcoming your "initial downswing"! ♦

I started out sticking exactly to the charts but kept going downhill, so many other SSS players on Party that I wasnt getting any action at all with strong hands and was slowly being blinded away. I am back up to about $46 by stealing blinds off other short stacks, but only having played a thousand hands or so I realise this could just be luck. Should I still ditch the steals or keep doing what I am doing? The SSS says to play against other big stacks and undoubtedly it works if you can find them. I welcome any criticism

I started off with SSS. You need to stick to the chart exactly. No blind steals.

Stick to a table with 7 people or more and as far as SSS v people with less money not everyone with low money is SSS.

As a bronze member, the articles about steals arent yet available to me but I studied the NL10 SSS videos made by Undercover82 - in particular the second one in which he is stealing blinds. Watched it at least 8 times before I tried it, although it appeared to be working for me I will stop doing it until I learn the basics properly I suppose. Maybe that video should be moved to the silver section

Delete looks like your up in money compared to the other day. Good going. But if you continue to steal the blinds will eventually play back at you realizing what you are doing. In such a case fold.

Table selection is important too. Look for a table with over 100 flops per hour and a high average pot.

Do you use any poker software? If not go to pokertracker.com and download a free 60 trial and have it running while your on the tables. You'll be able to see all kinds of stats about the rest of the players at the table. Try to find a table where at least a few opponents have a high vp$ip (voluntarily put money in pot) and wtsd (went to showdown). To get the poker elephant software you only need 1000 ps points now, used to be 2000. Use the free one till you are able to get poker elephant.

On my way now, given up stealing blinds
Is it really advisable to move to BSS as soon as possible? I would prefer to take my time and make sure I am learning each step as thoroughly as possible

Change from SSS to BSS is up to personal preference imo. If you like SSS then continue to play it, will move up the limits much quicker, get access to higher sections of this site, learn from players on higher limits etc. I personally dont like SSS, thats why i would get away from it asap, but thats just me.

Biggest difference is moving up the limits. To jump from NL10 BSS to NL25BSS takes a lot of $ in increase in BR. if you use like 25BI BRM then its 625-250 = 375$ (and you have to get to 250$ first too ). If you play short stack you can play on NL25 with like 150$ already and getting there is much easier.