Need some advice

[Ugly Ed]

I am needing some help here. I need to know how any of you that make a decent amount of money playing Poker do it. I have been playing steady for about 6 months now. I am off of work from an injury so I have plenty of time to play and get between 2,000 to 5,000 or more hands a week in. I have been doing alright staying afloat and making a small profit. The thing that is killing me is the insane suck outs ppl make against me. I am starting to beleive the whole "Online Poker is rigged theory".

Its not (I am pretty sure) that I'm not playing a solid game. Its the donks and the suckouts they make on me that is killing my profits.

I'll give some examples from this week only, but it is exactly hands like this that happen weekly that kills my profits. I start my week on Mondays (as far as concidering my weekly profit). Ok by Friday of this week I was up 600$. Then the 1st profit killing hand hit. (I wont post HH I'll just sum them up.)

These are all at 100nl tables, mostly 5max at Paradise.

1st Hand: I have 220$ at the time
I'm on the button with AA. All call the BB. I raise it to 8$ (about the max I could bet PF and still get a caller) All fold but 1 person. (He has about 260$) Flop comes Ad,7d,3c. Opponent bets 30$. I figure he is either on a bluff or has a set of 3s or 7s. Or possible betting a flush draw. I raise it to 80$ (Just incase he is on a flush draw. I know a set will call or move all in a flush draw should fold.) He calls. Turn is 9h. Opponent bets 60$. I move all in. Opponent calls. River is Qd. Opponent turns over T and 2 of diamond for the flush. WTF! I mean how the hell could he even play that hand to begin with, much less call those bets with it. Anyway theres a big chunk of my profit taken away.

2nd Hand next day Saturday:
100nl 5 max I have about 150$
I'm BB with 6c4d. 3ppl limp in I check. Flop is 2c3h5h. Since the flush draw is there I lead out for 7$. All fold but 1 person who calls. Turn is Ks. I bet 20$. Opponent raises it to 40$. I move all in. Opponent has me covered and calls. River is Th. He turns over Q7h and wins. Sick!

3rd Hand Saturday.
100nl 5 max. Just sat down I have 100$.
Middle position with AA. I raise to 8$. All fold except player on the button who goes all in 90$. I have to call with AA. Cards turn over he has 99. Of course I dont pick up an A and opponent hits a 9 on the river. WTF is he thinking who goes all in with 99 PF, in a ring game with a full stack. Then to top it off after he wins the hand he tells me I suck. Unreal! Thats all I could take for 1 day.

4th Hand Sunday, today
100nl 5max. I have 130$
I'm on the button with 9c9s. 1 person raises to 2$ all fold to me I call. Flop is 9h3d8c. Opponent raises 6$. I raise to 20$. He calls. Turn is 4s. Opponent goes all in for 70$. I call river is Jc. Opponent turns over TQ for the str8. Damn he bet all in on a gut shot draw and hit!

5th Hand Sunday, today
100nl 5max. I have 120$
I'm BB with 5h5s. 2ppl limp in I raise to 4$ they both call. Flop is 5d,Td,Qs. I lead out for 8$. 1 person folds the other calls. Turn is 2c. I bet 20$. Opponent goes all in for 60$. I have to call. River is 2s. Opponent shows Th2h for the FH. So there goes all my profit for the week, as a matter of fact I am now down for the week.

This isnt ment to be a poor me, look at my bad beats post. I am just stuck and cannot figure out how to get past this.

These kinds of hands, or situations happen to me no kidding a few times every week, and have been the entire 6 months that I have been regularly playing. I just dont know what to do. I get my money in when I have the best hand, I dont give ppl the odds to draw. Yet they still do and some how manage to suck out and win. If I could somehow avoid even just half of these situations. I would be making a good profit, but I cant. I would like to here from some of you that do make a good steady profit at Poker. How do you do it? How do you avoid these situations?

Thanks in advance.
Ed

[Pelion]

Didnt read the examples


the point is that the more exotic the suckout, the less often it will happen.

Say youre in a heads up pot and you belive op is 4 to 1 to win. that means 1 in every 5 times (20% he will win). That is a very nice profit for you as you will be winning 4 in every 5 times. If you pay him every time he hits his 1 in 5, and he manages to avoid paying you the 4 in 5 then you will run at a loss.

Make sure you work out how far your opponents are prepared to chase and dont pay them once theyve hit.

Once you have fixed that leak you will make a profit on every hand they chase.

[Irisheyes]

Welcome to a downswing. If you have the bankroll - keep playing. If you don't - lower the stakes.

[Fnord]

Posts like this are why the games will be good for several years to come.

Original poster is clueless on how to look at poker problems and I saw a couple fundamental problems in the hands posted.

[Irisheyes]

1st Hand: I have 220$ at the time
I'm on the button with AA. All call the BB. I raise it to 8$ (about the max I could bet PF and still get a caller) All fold but 1 person. (He has about 260$) Flop comes Ad,7d,3c. Opponent bets 30$. I figure he is either on a bluff or has a set of 3s or 7s. Or possible betting a flush draw. I raise it to 80$ (Just incase he is on a flush draw. I know a set will call or move all in a flush draw should fold.) He calls. Turn is 9h. Opponent bets 60$. I move all in. Opponent calls. River is Qd. Opponent turns over T and 2 of diamond for the flush. YES!!!! My opponent is a chasing fish! He has no concept of pot odds and is a chasing fish! This is the easiest type of player to beat!! I should make loads of $$ of this guy over an infinite number of hands!!!

[Ugly Ed]

Original poster is clueless on how to look at poker problems.

Not sure totally what you mean by this. Probably something like "Those are exactly the kind of people you want to play against." Which I agree. I know they are making bad calls, and I should be making plenty of money off them. Its just that its not working that way.

Losing hands like this make me want to play more conservative. So when they suck out I wont lose as much, but I know that by not betting my hands right, I am asking for more suckouts. I pretty sure I played these hands right. Right? I am pretty sure I play most of my hands right. Like I said I usually win but a few hands like this a week can really eat up my profits. I have only been playing regularly for about 6 months. I was just wanting to hear from some people that have had similar experiences like this. Is this common to go a few months like this getting regular bad beats eating up your profits, and then go a few months with only a few bad beats and then end up making some good money? It seems for me I take 3 steps forward and 2 steps back. Is that just how it is? Or am I just off to a rough start? Also what do some of you that play regularly at 100nl average per week profit? At what sort of weekly profit average would be considered pretty good at these limits?

[Fnord]

A 100NLHE player who destroys the game can earn in the ballpark of $10-$20+/100 hands.

That being said, it's not uncommon to drop $1000+ in a day of 100NL 6 max.

[Fnord]

I know they are making bad calls, and I should be making plenty of money off them. Its just that its not working that way.

IT happens.

Losing hands like this make me want to play more conservative. So when they suck out I wont lose as much

Poisonous line of thought. Are you running bad because you got sucked out on or because you failed to extract the max with the best of it and lose the least with the worst of it often enough?

I pretty sure I played these hands right. Right? I am pretty sure I play most of my hands right.

Playing well is a much better way of thinking about it. Particularly in NLHE where there isn't a clear cut "right" way to play many hands. You're often presented with some options that are comperable in value (without better reads.)

[Fnord]

I raise it to 8$ (about the max I could bet PF and still get a caller)

You will still get callers with a bigger raise.

I raise it to 80$ (Just incase he is on a flush draw. I know a set will call or move all in a flush draw should fold.)

Since the flush draw is there I lead out for 7$.

Why so much fear for flush draws? If they are on a flush draw, are you best off getting in a big bet on the flop with lots of money behind?

WTF is he thinking who goes all in with 99 PF, in a ring game with a full stack. Then to top it off after he wins the hand he tells me I suck. Unreal! Thats all I could take for 1 day.

I can't hit the reload button fast enough!

I'm BB with 5h5s. 2ppl limp in I raise to 4$ they both call.

If you must raise here, make it at least $8. Then stop worring about pricing people out of the market when you hammer it out of the blinds with Aces.

[caelis]

In all those examples, you went all in with the best hand at the time and they sucked out at you. That's poker, it happens. You ARE playing good poker, though. Don't let some bad beats fool you into thinking that you should change your playing style. You might be down a bit this week but next week u could be up $1000.

[Pelion]

Or if you really dont think you are beating the game then look through your hands for things that arent bad beats. If you find you are calling raises with ATo preflop then folding your A, or worse, losing your stack to AQ then take a look at that. Whether or not you are a winning player you will have areas about your game that can be improved.

Focus on improving these rather than worrying about bad beats.

[Silly String]

It seems for me I take 3 steps forward and 2 steps back. Is that just how it is?

That is exactly how it is. It is called variance. I suggest you keep records to see how well you are beating the game. That will tell you if you are winning and just suffering varience like everyone else. We tend to remember the bad beats more than the hands that hold up. If you are not winning over a sample of 10,000 hands drop down a level. Like Fnord said, beating the game by 5-10 big bets per 100 hands is killing it. For you that is about $10-20/ 100 hands.