New to cash games

BobSloane

Most people here seem to play cash and most of the interesting hands in general seem to be hands in cash games so I'm going to give it a go. All I've ever played really is SnGs and MTTs so I'm just looking for some basic advice.

First off my Bankroll- if you could call it that! is a bit over $500 so I should be playing the $25 buy in right?(BB $0.25). Thats what I'm playing anyway.

When you guys sit at a table have ye any specific goals? I've been playing until I doubled up or went broke which has worked out well enough so far. If neither has happened in an hour I usually move on with whatever profit or loss I have at that point. Maybe its because of the SnGs but I can't hack it for more than an hour at a time. Is this a poor tactic to apply? Is this anyone elses approach?
How do you rate how you are playing overall? With tournaments its generally a Return on Investment approach and keeping track of In The Money finishes. Is the correct approach to keep track of hours played and work out a $/hour from that.

Was there any point when you guys moved up the levels that ye went "Wow this is noticebly tougher." ?
Not bragging by any means but I've found so far at this lowly level that the amount of pots that can be stolen in position is incredibly large and that the standard of play is quite poor. I've played all 6 handed tables as I find it hard to keep track of more players and it all seems very passive most of the time. I only play one table at a time and would say that I controlled the action at pretty much every one. I've only played around 20 altogether so far so it could always be beginners luck!

Anyway thanks in advance for any input

bohsman

Get yourself Pokertracker, well worth $50 and the first 1000hands are free if you want to try it out.

Instead of playing to double up or bust study the table, if theres a few fish at the table stay till you get tired, also watch out for the game changing, if your up a few quid playing well but then the the fish go broke and better players replace them leave the game. The easiest fairly reliable way to find a good game is to look for the ones with the highest ave pot.

luckylucky

As bohsman said, get yourself pokertracker, don't even think twice about it!

an as for braggin about how you've done, don't worry about it,
that will go right over the head of some egos on here
tbh If you are in any way a good poker player you will have no problems at .1/.25 nl cash games and I'm not surprised that your having a fun time of it there, the 1st major jump imo as I've said a few times before is moving to 1/2 nl and even then that's not rocket science if you know what you are doing, nevertheless, the gap between .5/1 nl and 1/2 nl is for me one of the biggest 1 level gaps in online poker.

Anyway my advice to you is try to keep your head on your shoulders, I'm sure you have been playing well at the games your in but luck may have helped youy along the way and that's fine it happens, if you start getting unlucky try not to let it get to you either though.

Fairly confident in poker is a good thing, arrogance and it's opposite pessimism are not good.

Here's wishing you well in 2007

BobSloane

Cheers guys. I'll be getting that pokertracker ASAP.
Bohs, obviously I'm familiar with the term fish but feel unsure at times what is meant by it. Sometimes I feel its means one who plays bad starting cards but I've been screamed at for being a fish when I feel I'm being quite astute.

Eg raise with 710o from cutoff. Get min re-raised and call. Hit flop K77 and end up getting it all-in after bet-raise-blah on flop and get abused by BB who has KQ or AK. What is truly meant by the term fish? Is it over/under valuing a hand from a given position? From my 1 year experience of NL Holdem the under-appreciation of position is how I would measure a very poor player. I don't reply to the chatbox abuse anymore that I get to justify my raises.
The only players I fear are the ones who play back at me - not the ones who play good starting hands.
I feel that my ass is inevitably waiting for the bite that will arrive when I move to the level when all players at the table realise how key position is and wont fold to my river bets when there's 4 of a straight or a flush or some sort of scary board out there and I've got the button.

Lucky, by your post I think this is waiting at the $1/$2 level or somewhere sort of in between. Thanks for the head on shoulders advice as I already feel very cocky at my level and know I'll get knocked back when I meet players who can see through my quite transparent game. At the moment I'm playing guys who only see the cards they're holding, thank God, and hopefully that level will always be there to fall back on.

This seems an arrogant post but like most of u, i've been drinking most of the night and am feeling good etc so best of luck with the poker for the new year guys, may the coin flips fall your way, may your sets hold up, may you make make your OESFDs but as for AA.......I'm never really rooting for the guy with AA

bohsman

Yea, players that play bad hands out of position, avoid tables where players are playing back at you. Players that give abuse at the table are generally losing players that have read a book, ignore them.

luckylucky

bohsman wrote:

Players that give abuse at the table are generally losing players that have read a book, ignore them.

Lol,this is so true.

OP you're not a fish if you raise with junk in position - not that you should do this all the time! - people who overdo this head into the territory of being a maniac but a fish is someone who simply doesn't fold often enough, it's the guy who calls raises cold with A2o and calls down all the way with this unimproved or the guy who can't leave go of a hand that clearly is well beaten and/or hasn't got the correct odds to call just because he thinks there is some chance that he may actually be ahead or he just can't give up on his hand because well he's a fish , or the guy who calls with some crap like Q9o utg that's you're fish for yeah.

Some of the funniest comments I have heard slagging players have come from clearly awful players, I resist (most of the time) from saying anything.

Anyway I was pissed last night too when I replied to your post, in regards to not being arrogant or pessimistic, if I had to pick between the two it's probably better to be a little pessimistic.

Anyways Gl to you in 2007 and to all the boardies.