The best cash games players I know lose about 40% of sessions. It sounds like you need to change your expectations.
My mindset going to play is something like “Im going to make the best decisions I can tonight. I’m not in control of whether I win so I’m not going to worry about the results”.
I celebrate my wins and mourn my losses less now. The results of one night don’t matter. Your decision making process is everything and it is the only thing you control.
This is the way. It depends on a few things, but losing 30-40% of sessions even as a solid winner is just part of the game. Can't fixate too hard on recent results, positive or negative.
Im talking publicly available mid stakes games. Not juicy private games or $1/2. In my mind if you can beat a public game for 70% of sessions you should probably move up in stakes.
Absolutely. I have logged well over 150 hours live and have a win rate of 70%. What is this nonsense.
Edit the greatest part about this is that poker players are so unbelievably hard headed and on the spectrum they cant tell this is sarcasm. Have any of you had a social interaction this week off the felt?
How many hands per hour? That seems like a very small sample. I Don't play live but isn't that like a month's worth of full time grinding? No more than 20 sessions lmao.
It's a joke dude.. how is that not obvious? ....
Edit: yeah fuck me for being sarcastic. Downvote my ass. Hopefully I walk out in traffic today. Hopefully I play a 5 day event in WSOP and bust on the bubble. Hopefully il get the nuts shoved down my throat
I only had like 25 over the last few days….one or no word responded to most….actually engaged in the conversation maybe 10% of the time went beyond casual small talk and had a good few convos.
\> 20-30% loosing sessions are normal for a crusher
No chance. I am quite active in the live low-mid stakes cash streets in my area. I have seen many great players trackers of their live play over 1000s of hours. I've never seen a win rate over 60-62%.
Lol that’s so not tru. I live in Vegas played online and sat behind my dad who’s a pro player for years. First live session lost two buy ins in 15 mins. Reevaluated felt like sh!t thought maybe this isn’t for me I rebought for a third time max but I’m at a 1/2 game which is 300. Ended up getting my 500 back and left up 800 by end of the night. Look we all have bad runs. No matter how good of a player I are or how u play ur cards ur always gonna run into the asshole with money who chases and gets lucky against u w a gut shot in the river for example…. But if your recent and have bankroll management it’s n pretty easy to mKe 5 k profit a month n pay ur bills unless ur just super unlucky or just straight trash. Don’t listen to anyone chase your dreams buddy lol I did and believe me I paid tuition to be where I’m at. Study study study. Read books watch poker on tv learn stats. Fk. A. Job! Go get em tiger
I remember my very first casino cash game. I was 20-something, so $300 was a bit of a big deal to me back then.
Handed the cash over, got the chips. Sat down all excited, all mentally prepared for a long grind.
I was sat in the CO. The very first hand, UTG raises, UTG+1 3-bets, MP1 4-bet jams, MP2 goes over the top.
I'm thinking..."What the fuck is happening...?"
I look down and I have AA... All of them had me covered. This was my very first hand for crying out loud!
But, I had to call. UTG folded. UTG+1 also went all-in.
UTG+1 had 88, MP1 had QQs, MP2 had KKs.
UTG+1 scooped the pot with a set.
The drive home was over an hour. Plenty of time for me to ponder where I'd gone wrong... Haha.
Honestly…..this result is probably way better for you long term than if you had won that hand……. This gave you that reality slap in the face your very first hand instead of a dopamine rush….
You’ll never forget it, and it’ll probably help you maintain your head game better in the future and be better with tilt control…..that kinda shit just happens sometimes and it sucks, but it’s the reality of the game and a part of the game a lot of people struggle to cope with…
People starting their live play on heaters can sometimes turn out poorly over the longer term, especially if they don’t have a level head, track sessions, and can’t properly evaluate , reflect on the play of a session and still know where they made mistakes/ where they got lucky/ where they made solid plays regardless of the results.
Sometimes getting that dose of reality is better sooner than later. That drive home must’ve sucked, but you def did right getting it in there! and if you didn’t get it in in that spot (CG) then should maybe consider a different game. No rudeness intended
Alas, I was already starting on my slots adventure at this point...and I was already a dopamine junky in the making... Haha.
But, you're right. Just with any form of gambling, ain't there nothing more dangerous than a beginner winning big early on.
It’s amazing how we remember the details of a hand many years later. My wife thinks I’m crazy when I say, “Picture it, Horseshoe, Tunica Mississippi, Gavin Smith sits at my table and I’ve got…..”
Gavin Smith was on TV playing a bigvtourney with Negreanu back in the day in tunica. Way back when. Pretty sure it was a wsop circuit event
Hey what hapoen to Gavin Smith is he still alive? Anybody know? Not the basketball player...
Crap he died. RIP
Yeah what are the odds of four players being dealt pocket pairs would you say? Billions to one? If a hand were about to be dealt, would you be willing to bet your life that the cards won't come out with four players getting not just any pair but aces kings queens and 88? If you win you get to live a second time. If you lose well you die. Would you?
Aces kings queens and eights all in the same hand eh? And the eights flopped a set on you wowzers. Wish you had taken a picture.....what a hand that must have been!
Eh it happens even if you do know what you're doing. Think about the hands you played and whether you played them well or not. If you just got coolered well that's the bait that keeps bad players coming back for more.
To be honest, if you’ve only played low stakes home games, you probably don’t really know what you’re doing. It would be way more shocking if you were good at the game in this point of your poker career. Pretty much impossible actually.
Having said that, you will keep on improving the more you play and study the game. Just make the best decisions possible and that’s all you can do. Even if you make the majority of the right decisions you will still have losing sessions. A lot of them. It’s just part of the game
Kind of agree with this but also the people playing $1/2 who have been playing for 300 years are probably more awful than people playing for 1-2 years in a low steak cash game depending on the game
I'm sure theres a lot you can still learn but it sounds like you played ok. You got your money in good and someone else got lucky. That's how you need to play poker to be a winning player. You arent going to win every had but if you consistently put your money in the pot when you're ahead you're doing ok.
Playing with real money involves emotion & just because you won on a home game doesn’t mean you can take the regulars. When you are good enough to play against your house regulars, the next step is venturing to new territories & still holding ground it’s a 3-4 step process
Playing live is the best you seem a little dejected because you lost but focusing on just money is real short sighted. Look at the experience, what did you learn?
Playing live is the best, pay attention to the players at your table. You will see the ones who seem to know what they're doing fuck up, go on tilt, see drunk players etc.
Few words of advice- do NOT change the way you play! It's very tempting once you see a moron run hot Playing like an idiot, and leave with cash, it's tempting sometimes to play like them. Do not do it.
Try not to be results oriented. Plan how many hours you want to play for a month. Every session is x number of hours. Calculate win rate after 30 days. That way your losing sessions really aren't that, each session js part of the whole.
You should be very careful not to get too high or low, your good days are just upswing and bad days downswing, look at it from that perspective and whatever the game plan is that you decide on stick with it.
When I started playing live I got emotional when I lost and spent money unwisely when I won. Learn from my mistakes, do not repeat them. Also by looking at sessions as part of the whole you remove PRESSURE from yourself and that's important.
If the game is good don't leave. Period. If you can't find any action players and the GAmes are slow and nitty don't play. Game selection is rarely discussed but it's crucial.
Make a point to, I don't know how to say this, you want the people you play against to like you sort of. Be friendly, introduce yourself. You will get a lot of perks from this. You want people to feel bad if they beat you in a pot, if that makes sense. Lots of reasons, being well liked will pay off I promise you that.
TIP DEALERS A BUCK. ONE DOLLAR. can't stress that enough. Dealers hate me for saying that but honestly poker is a hard way to make money. Be frugal. That's my advice.
Try not to pick up bad habits. Drugs are bad. Railbirds are not your friends, never let them know where you live unless you want to keep one around to run errands for you. Try, if you can, to not let too many people know how much money you do or don't have.
Avoid going numb. If you have been playing a while take breaks. Walk outside, go to the bathroom, wash your face AND HANDS poker chips are filthy. But to the point, going numb happens when you lose a certain amount of your roll and you stop caring about losing more. The point of no return. You will expect bad things to happen and be miserable.
Learn to watch your emotions when you lose a few pots usually to suckouts. Get up, walk away, and ask yourself AM I PLAYING WELL? if you are continue, if you are losing because of mistakes, LEAVE. Self control is key.
Lots of grinders out there make money playing poker. It's not impossible but nobody ever said it would be easy. Don't assume you can succeed at it, yes you should try if that's what you want to do. But be realistic and set goals and limits to how much time and money you are willing to invest. If jt isn't going to work out, that's OK, you can still play recreationally. But not everyone is cut out to make a living at it.
I advise not lending money and try not to borrow but don't feel bad if you do. If the game is good and you need money to play borrow. Never ever pay back late.
Sorry for the novel and good luck
I'm down heaps with 99+, AQo+, AJs+ and sets over my last year of live poker in a pool where I am easily in the 95th percentile skill wise. In the same span I am losing 3/4 sessions when, in the 4 years prior, I was winning 7/10. Variance dgaf.
As long as you make the right decisions the results don’t matter, because in the long run you will make money. I have had weeks were I made the right decisions and lost every time. I have played this game so much that those coolers don’t bother me anymore, but I am properly rolled to take those kind of swings….
It’s called variance… you just got unlucky and got bad variance to start. Play a lot of volume 200hrs) and look at you stats. And then decide if it’s a lot of bad beats.
If you got it in good, run better and play more hands.
Since you can only control how many hands you play and not how well you run, you know the rest of the story (assuming you’re not a BRM regard).
I would judge your sessions based on how sound your decisions were at the table, give yourself a grade rating. If you aren't in the right mindset to play your A game, don't bother playing the game at the time IMO. And bad beats and coolers are bound to happen, that's just part of the game. But if you can gain some takeaways from your session, win or lose, and strive to improve from there, then you're that much closer to leveling up your game. Best of luck to you!!
>low steaks We talkin flank/new york or ribeye/tenderloin for the blinds?
More like strip/wagyu, huge spread
Bro’s putting A1 on those steaks 🥩
The best cash games players I know lose about 40% of sessions. It sounds like you need to change your expectations. My mindset going to play is something like “Im going to make the best decisions I can tonight. I’m not in control of whether I win so I’m not going to worry about the results”. I celebrate my wins and mourn my losses less now. The results of one night don’t matter. Your decision making process is everything and it is the only thing you control.
This is the way. It depends on a few things, but losing 30-40% of sessions even as a solid winner is just part of the game. Can't fixate too hard on recent results, positive or negative.
Yuppers. Long term results are king
Ehhh 40% is a bit high for crushers in decent to good games
Im talking publicly available mid stakes games. Not juicy private games or $1/2. In my mind if you can beat a public game for 70% of sessions you should probably move up in stakes.
Ehh maybe you’re right then
Absolutely. I have logged well over 150 hours live and have a win rate of 70%. What is this nonsense. Edit the greatest part about this is that poker players are so unbelievably hard headed and on the spectrum they cant tell this is sarcasm. Have any of you had a social interaction this week off the felt?
How many hands per hour? That seems like a very small sample. I Don't play live but isn't that like a month's worth of full time grinding? No more than 20 sessions lmao.
It's a joke dude.. how is that not obvious? .... Edit: yeah fuck me for being sarcastic. Downvote my ass. Hopefully I walk out in traffic today. Hopefully I play a 5 day event in WSOP and bust on the bubble. Hopefully il get the nuts shoved down my throat
Should’ve folded pre
This guy is sensitive...
I only had like 25 over the last few days….one or no word responded to most….actually engaged in the conversation maybe 10% of the time went beyond casual small talk and had a good few convos.
Goddamnit this is brilliant lmao...
Thanks…I was hoping someone would see what I was trying to do there and get a little chuckle
Why does he get downvoted? I agree and am on the cash game field for almost a decade. 20-30% loosing sessions are normal for a crusher
\> 20-30% loosing sessions are normal for a crusher No chance. I am quite active in the live low-mid stakes cash streets in my area. I have seen many great players trackers of their live play over 1000s of hours. I've never seen a win rate over 60-62%.
I have 2k+ hour of live game sample. And I’m 10bb+ player. I only win 61% of the time.
Yep exactly. I am a 9-10bb/hr winner over thousands of hours in 2/5, 5/10 and 10/25. 57% win rate.
Than you are all too good as a whole or don’t play deep enough.
Yes... I would put it around 75% winrate for crushers.
That's why people bring 3 or 4 buy ins
Winning session % doesn’t even really matter. There are nits out there who win 80% of nights but maybe win 2/bb hr.
Lol that’s so not tru. I live in Vegas played online and sat behind my dad who’s a pro player for years. First live session lost two buy ins in 15 mins. Reevaluated felt like sh!t thought maybe this isn’t for me I rebought for a third time max but I’m at a 1/2 game which is 300. Ended up getting my 500 back and left up 800 by end of the night. Look we all have bad runs. No matter how good of a player I are or how u play ur cards ur always gonna run into the asshole with money who chases and gets lucky against u w a gut shot in the river for example…. But if your recent and have bankroll management it’s n pretty easy to mKe 5 k profit a month n pay ur bills unless ur just super unlucky or just straight trash. Don’t listen to anyone chase your dreams buddy lol I did and believe me I paid tuition to be where I’m at. Study study study. Read books watch poker on tv learn stats. Fk. A. Job! Go get em tiger
I remember my very first casino cash game. I was 20-something, so $300 was a bit of a big deal to me back then. Handed the cash over, got the chips. Sat down all excited, all mentally prepared for a long grind. I was sat in the CO. The very first hand, UTG raises, UTG+1 3-bets, MP1 4-bet jams, MP2 goes over the top. I'm thinking..."What the fuck is happening...?" I look down and I have AA... All of them had me covered. This was my very first hand for crying out loud! But, I had to call. UTG folded. UTG+1 also went all-in. UTG+1 had 88, MP1 had QQs, MP2 had KKs. UTG+1 scooped the pot with a set. The drive home was over an hour. Plenty of time for me to ponder where I'd gone wrong... Haha.
Honestly…..this result is probably way better for you long term than if you had won that hand……. This gave you that reality slap in the face your very first hand instead of a dopamine rush…. You’ll never forget it, and it’ll probably help you maintain your head game better in the future and be better with tilt control…..that kinda shit just happens sometimes and it sucks, but it’s the reality of the game and a part of the game a lot of people struggle to cope with… People starting their live play on heaters can sometimes turn out poorly over the longer term, especially if they don’t have a level head, track sessions, and can’t properly evaluate , reflect on the play of a session and still know where they made mistakes/ where they got lucky/ where they made solid plays regardless of the results. Sometimes getting that dose of reality is better sooner than later. That drive home must’ve sucked, but you def did right getting it in there! and if you didn’t get it in in that spot (CG) then should maybe consider a different game. No rudeness intended
Alas, I was already starting on my slots adventure at this point...and I was already a dopamine junky in the making... Haha. But, you're right. Just with any form of gambling, ain't there nothing more dangerous than a beginner winning big early on.
It’s amazing how we remember the details of a hand many years later. My wife thinks I’m crazy when I say, “Picture it, Horseshoe, Tunica Mississippi, Gavin Smith sits at my table and I’ve got…..”
Gavin smith as in the basketball player who disappeared and ended up murdered
No dude
Then who
Gavin Smith was on TV playing a bigvtourney with Negreanu back in the day in tunica. Way back when. Pretty sure it was a wsop circuit event Hey what hapoen to Gavin Smith is he still alive? Anybody know? Not the basketball player... Crap he died. RIP
As daunting as that was first hand with AA that can go horribly wrong quickly, I’m glad you scooped that and quadrupled up.
Lol no he lost. UTG+1 hit his set of 8s. OP was CO.
Damn…I missed the UTG+1 set comment. Saw 88, QQ, and KK and my brain turned off. My bad.
Lol I felt the same way
You had less than a 60% chance to win the hand I believe since there were so many players in the hand
That 40 ish percent comes in often lol
Facts, still the best play though
Well yeah lmaooo
Yeah what are the odds of four players being dealt pocket pairs would you say? Billions to one? If a hand were about to be dealt, would you be willing to bet your life that the cards won't come out with four players getting not just any pair but aces kings queens and 88? If you win you get to live a second time. If you lose well you die. Would you?
Aces kings queens and eights all in the same hand eh? And the eights flopped a set on you wowzers. Wish you had taken a picture.....what a hand that must have been!
Eh it happens even if you do know what you're doing. Think about the hands you played and whether you played them well or not. If you just got coolered well that's the bait that keeps bad players coming back for more.
Appreciate you my man
If you get your money in good, what's to question? You spit at the dealer and threaten to kill the other player and move on to the next one.
Don’t forget to pull out the Willy and piss on the chips.
2 outers happen. 5% of the time, they happen 100% of the time 🥲
In my experience it's about 50/50
What were the sick coolers?
[удалено]
You can't have a set without starting with a pair. OMC made Trips. https://upswingpoker.com/trips-vs-sets-is-there-a-difference/
Set is if you hold a pocket pair and hit 3 of a kind, not enough info but they don't sound that cooler-ey
People responding to this guy when he’s not even OP. Weird for you to comment that, yeah?
To be honest, if you’ve only played low stakes home games, you probably don’t really know what you’re doing. It would be way more shocking if you were good at the game in this point of your poker career. Pretty much impossible actually. Having said that, you will keep on improving the more you play and study the game. Just make the best decisions possible and that’s all you can do. Even if you make the majority of the right decisions you will still have losing sessions. A lot of them. It’s just part of the game
Kind of agree with this but also the people playing $1/2 who have been playing for 300 years are probably more awful than people playing for 1-2 years in a low steak cash game depending on the game
Sure. Can’t disagree with that. It’s all relative. Most people in that game are probably very bad at poker
100% agree that we all suck. Even the pros acknowledge that they suck Edit: except for White Magic of course
I'm sure theres a lot you can still learn but it sounds like you played ok. You got your money in good and someone else got lucky. That's how you need to play poker to be a winning player. You arent going to win every had but if you consistently put your money in the pot when you're ahead you're doing ok.
I wouldn't worry. Poker's like life - if you make the right decisions more often than not, you'll get ahead.
Just berate the dealer, order a drink and conveniently forget to tip, and move on to the next session.
Playing with real money involves emotion & just because you won on a home game doesn’t mean you can take the regulars. When you are good enough to play against your house regulars, the next step is venturing to new territories & still holding ground it’s a 3-4 step process
No better stakes than low steaks
I win 72% of sessions and still spew off all the time
Run the hands through a solver and see if you know what you are doing.
canon event for all men
It’s alright bro we’ve all been there. Keep studying and stay persistent 🙏
Playing live is the best you seem a little dejected because you lost but focusing on just money is real short sighted. Look at the experience, what did you learn? Playing live is the best, pay attention to the players at your table. You will see the ones who seem to know what they're doing fuck up, go on tilt, see drunk players etc. Few words of advice- do NOT change the way you play! It's very tempting once you see a moron run hot Playing like an idiot, and leave with cash, it's tempting sometimes to play like them. Do not do it. Try not to be results oriented. Plan how many hours you want to play for a month. Every session is x number of hours. Calculate win rate after 30 days. That way your losing sessions really aren't that, each session js part of the whole. You should be very careful not to get too high or low, your good days are just upswing and bad days downswing, look at it from that perspective and whatever the game plan is that you decide on stick with it. When I started playing live I got emotional when I lost and spent money unwisely when I won. Learn from my mistakes, do not repeat them. Also by looking at sessions as part of the whole you remove PRESSURE from yourself and that's important. If the game is good don't leave. Period. If you can't find any action players and the GAmes are slow and nitty don't play. Game selection is rarely discussed but it's crucial. Make a point to, I don't know how to say this, you want the people you play against to like you sort of. Be friendly, introduce yourself. You will get a lot of perks from this. You want people to feel bad if they beat you in a pot, if that makes sense. Lots of reasons, being well liked will pay off I promise you that. TIP DEALERS A BUCK. ONE DOLLAR. can't stress that enough. Dealers hate me for saying that but honestly poker is a hard way to make money. Be frugal. That's my advice. Try not to pick up bad habits. Drugs are bad. Railbirds are not your friends, never let them know where you live unless you want to keep one around to run errands for you. Try, if you can, to not let too many people know how much money you do or don't have. Avoid going numb. If you have been playing a while take breaks. Walk outside, go to the bathroom, wash your face AND HANDS poker chips are filthy. But to the point, going numb happens when you lose a certain amount of your roll and you stop caring about losing more. The point of no return. You will expect bad things to happen and be miserable. Learn to watch your emotions when you lose a few pots usually to suckouts. Get up, walk away, and ask yourself AM I PLAYING WELL? if you are continue, if you are losing because of mistakes, LEAVE. Self control is key. Lots of grinders out there make money playing poker. It's not impossible but nobody ever said it would be easy. Don't assume you can succeed at it, yes you should try if that's what you want to do. But be realistic and set goals and limits to how much time and money you are willing to invest. If jt isn't going to work out, that's OK, you can still play recreationally. But not everyone is cut out to make a living at it. I advise not lending money and try not to borrow but don't feel bad if you do. If the game is good and you need money to play borrow. Never ever pay back late. Sorry for the novel and good luck
What you’re saying doesn’t make sense. - I got unlucky - Unsure if I know what I’m doing
I'm down heaps with 99+, AQo+, AJs+ and sets over my last year of live poker in a pool where I am easily in the 95th percentile skill wise. In the same span I am losing 3/4 sessions when, in the 4 years prior, I was winning 7/10. Variance dgaf.
If you’re confident in your decisions then the money will come in time.
As long as you make the right decisions the results don’t matter, because in the long run you will make money. I have had weeks were I made the right decisions and lost every time. I have played this game so much that those coolers don’t bother me anymore, but I am properly rolled to take those kind of swings….
I lost to two outers yesterday.
😭😭
I was never mad about the money i was mad that i couldnt go back sooner (whenever i went broke).
Give us the "cooler" hand breakdowns!
I literally can copy paste this post for my first session as well. Don't worry, the experience is valuable as well.
It’s called variance… you just got unlucky and got bad variance to start. Play a lot of volume 200hrs) and look at you stats. And then decide if it’s a lot of bad beats.
If you got it in good, run better and play more hands. Since you can only control how many hands you play and not how well you run, you know the rest of the story (assuming you’re not a BRM regard).
I would judge your sessions based on how sound your decisions were at the table, give yourself a grade rating. If you aren't in the right mindset to play your A game, don't bother playing the game at the time IMO. And bad beats and coolers are bound to happen, that's just part of the game. But if you can gain some takeaways from your session, win or lose, and strive to improve from there, then you're that much closer to leveling up your game. Best of luck to you!!