This does get easier, right?

I guess I started playing seriously online 3 days ago (avoid laughing), but I have played online on and off for 9ish months. Anyway, I just decided to actually start playing more seriously by bonus whoring a real bankroll. I easily cleared Empire's new member bonus playing 3 tables at once, but lost about $7 total in the process of actually playing. Typically in the past I am a winning player online, but a very slow winning player. It seems to me that I am doing slightly better than breaking even, which is fine for the moment because I'm learning, but I would like to be picking up at least a little money besides the bonuses. Is this probably a matter of me just getting unlucky (I know its not about luck but I can't think of another word here) or do I most likely have some glaring leaks in my game? I mean the bonuses aren't always going to be there so I'm hoping that by the end of my whoring campaign I'll be able to actually make money instead of just living off the bonuses.

Its a very small sample size so it could easily be bad luck.

But

If you just started 3 days ago you probably suck, and even if you dont you can still imrpove your game. That way bad luck will make you lose less and good luck wil make you win more.



It does get easier, but then you move up in stakes and start thinking about other stuff that makes your brain explode and it gets hard again.

Have you read the strategy guides here on FTR? That and browsing through some of the posts on these forums should give you some clue about what your leaks might be..

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Originally Posted by Pelion

Its a very small sample size so it could easily be bad luck.

But

If you just started 3 days ago you probably suck, and even if you dont you can still imrpove your game. That way bad luck will make you lose less and good luck wil make you win more.



It does get easier, but then you move up in stakes and start thinking about other stuff that makes your brain explode and it gets hard again.

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Well to be honest, like I said I only seriously started playing 3 days ago, but I did play on and off for like 9 months (probably +$300 in that time) and besides that I've played live for about a year and half (give or take +$1000) in that time. I am in no way an experienced player and already my brain wants to explode from reading alot of the stuff on here. I mean I learned poker from a guy who is naturally brilliant, but his poker focus is on reads because he plays exclusively live poker. So the thing is, I feel like I should be doing a little better than I'm doing, but it could just be the first few days. In any case thanks for the imput.

Jack, I have read most of the strategy on here (at least twice at this point I think) and many useful posts. I am having a hard time deciphering all of it because opinions vary so wildly based on play style. I read the basic NLHE ring strategy on this site only to then read Aok's 19 hand strat (which if some one could link for me that would be great, I can't seem to find it any more), and get completely confused. The general strat is more in line with how I play live, but with the absense of just about anything but betting paterns to go off of Aok's seems much more realistic for the online world.

I think you are already well beyond the 19-hands strat. Never got into it much, but as I understood it, it's more of a "step-in guidelines for beginners" kinda thing, saying that you should only play 19 hands: the 13 pockets pairs (AA-22) and the court cards (AK/AQ/AJ/KQ/KJ/QJ).

Here's the link: http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...asc&highlight=

It definitely can work great as a "step-in guidelines for beginners", but taking into consideration that he's writing a whole book about playing those 19 hands I think there's more to it than just a beginners guide.

The best way to start IMO is to be weak/tight. Play very few hands (I mean like ten percent of hands), and camp for big hands (sets) to go crazy betting with.

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Originally Posted by jackvance

I think you are already well beyond the 19-hands strat. Never got into it much, but as I understood it, it's more of a "step-in guidelines for beginners" kinda thing, saying that you should only play 19 hands: the 13 pockets pairs (AA-22) and the court cards (AK/AQ/AJ/KQ/KJ/QJ).

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I don't think anyone is beyond the 19 hands strat until they are beating 25nl.

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Originally Posted by Renton

The best way to start IMO is to be weak/tight. Play very few hands (I mean like ten percent of hands), and camp for big hands (sets) to go crazy betting with.

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I agree this is a good way. It's very easy to go to far with top pair, most people do it at 10NL/25NL. I improved my winrate when I stopped playing top pair aggressively, and instead checking the turn with it to keep the pot down.

It's also a lot easier to get into trouble with top pair if you're out of position, so pay a lot of attention to position, especially with potentially dominated hands like AQ, KQ, AJ, etc. Playing pocket pairs for set value is easy from any position.

With more experience I hope to learn exactly when to play marginal hands like top pair more aggressively, but right now I seem to do better by playing them very carefully.

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Originally Posted by jackvance

I think you are already well beyond the 19-hands strat. Never got into it much, but as I understood it, it's more of a "step-in guidelines for beginners" kinda thing, saying that you should only play 19 hands: the 13 pockets pairs (AA-22) and the court cards (AK/AQ/AJ/KQ/KJ/QJ).

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I dont know if you are giving that strategy much credit. Ive been sticking with it and modifying it as I see fit to the games Im at. Yes, it is a place to start and the hands act as guidelines, but it doesnt really just end there, you keep adding to it and building on that and let the strategy become more adapted to how you play. People who are skilled shouldnt follow it verbatim and should factor in position and other factors, but using it as a base is good for people at any level.