I started playing poker a while ago with little direction but thought I was pretty good at it and was having fun. Now I realize I suck...

I have been stuck at b/e for the last while plying the micro's at 2nl at Stars. It's one of those annoying things where I win some small pots with good cards but lose bigger pots with good cards that run into some guy that stayed in with his 57o and hit 2 pair...I just don't recognize when I'm beat and I dodn't exract enough when I do have the best hand.

As I said, I though I was good until I saw some of the charts that member's have put up here. I realized that some of these players have figured out how to value bet and actualy make some $$ on their hands...while possibly knowing when they are beat and they can get outta dodge. They are making more (even at the lowest of the micro's) than I can ever imagine...
I thought I knew how to value bet.....now I'm not so sure.

My goal is to get a grip on playing 2nl....
Basically I want to figure out how to make some $ on my made hands...
I think its this:
I need to be less fearful and quit thinking that I am always beat. A scared player is a scared bettor...
I need to improve my betting to extract more money from my opponents.
I need to improve on 1000 other things.

I don't have a lot of time to play.....just too many things on my plate so this will be a slow, painful journey....
Here goes...