Please Critique My 1-2 Nl Live Cash Game Play

[Willing 2 Die 0]

Ok, so yesterday was the first time i really put in alot of time at a 1-2 NL table. I ended up playing for about 8 hours which was probably a mistake, but i guess i got greedy and thought i could run it up a little more. Before yesterday, i had only played NL maybe 4 times, for about an average of 45 minutes at the most each time. I had lost my buy in the first 3 times and broke even the 4th time after getting lucky.I will break down the hands that stick out the most to me. I would also like input or suggestions as to what to do when you do build a big stack very quickly, and get card dead for the rest of the session. Hands are in chronological order:Early in the session, i was dealt KK in MP. EP crackhead (this guy seriously was on drugs, he was shaking at the table while waiting for pple and he was just not looking physically well) makes it 15. Before this hand, he had just raised a pot and got raised out of the pot post flop and was upset. I made it 45, and he pushed all-in. Of course i called, and my KK doubled up against his 99. this put me at about 330. Crackhead leaves the table disgusted.About 7 hands later, i raised with 8,5 in LP to 10. Two callers. Flop was 548. Check, I bet 10, and button calls. Turn was the 7 with the possible striaght out there. I check and the button goes all in for 50. I thought this hand thru for about 1 minute. I thought about folding, but i am trying to remember that betting all in when there are scare cards are usually a sign of weakness. I didnt get much of a physical read from the guy, but i figured it was also unlikely that he callled my raise with a 6 in his hand, so i called, and he showed K7. That put me at about $430.Around this time, i was making raises in LP with some mediocre cards when there were a bunch of limpers. I usually ended up taking these hands down if i made a continuation bet with a weak board. I did this probably about 3-4 times. I had to fold prob one time after the flop. I got called once i think during this time with A7 after making it 10. Flop was 635. Check and i bet 10. got called. Turn was 6. Check and i bet 15 putting him on a straight draw or high cards. He folds.New player comes to the table. About 30 min later, I raised with 86 in LP to 15 after several limpers. new player calls in the SB. He makes some comment like "I'll check it to you if i flop it." Flop is 557. He checks to me, and i contemplate taking the free card but i make it 20. He calls. I'm putting him on AK or 10,10 or some mid over pair. Turn is 6. He checks, and i bet 40. He moves all in for another 110. I think i have to fold this, and i'm regretting not taking the free card after the flop, maybe making it cheaper for me to draw out on him if i want to call him later.Around this time i was card dead for about an hour and half. I felt i was either limping, or making PF raises, getting called by at least a couple pple, and having to fold, or check fold due to the amount of pple in the pot. I was trying to make my raises a little more sensible like in the 10-12 range rather than 15-20 because i thought this was starting to look like i was trying to buy pots. My stack dwindled to about 300.I get dealt KK in MP. EP new guy who was just stacked 10 min earlier makes it 15 with about 80 behind him. I raise to 45, and he comes over the top with AQ and i call. My kings hold and i'm back to about $400. I'm perplexed by his re-raise. He didnt see me reraise at all during his session.....is this a standard donk play in the 1-2 NL game? Maybe, maybe AK, but i didnt see the reason to gamble with AQ like that.I raise in EP with A7 to $7. The new guy who moved all in on me earlier had switched seats to me immediate left. He made it 15. I'm thinking he has a high pair here. The min reraise bets are just too suspicious, and i would credit the reraiser with a very high pair about 80-% of the time here. I just call and check fold the flop after he bet like 20. About 4 hours later, he told me he had QQ. Q10 in MP. At this point, there was about 5 pple that were straddling. This hand was being straddled. I call and, guy behind me raises to 15 (different guy than the all in guy, as i switched to be on all in guys left.) and there were several callers. Flop is J, 8, 2. I check, he checks and the other two check. Turn is the 9 with two clubs on board. Bingo Bango Bongo. couple of checks, I bet 15. The original raiser makes it 50 with about 80 behind him. I decide to just call and check push the river. River is an Ace. I immeidiately go all in to make it look like the Ace helped me, because i'm putting him on a big hand. He takes forever to call, and eventually does. He mucked it afterwards. Probably just one of those hands that he could not get away from if he had the set of Js or something because there was no flush on the board, and no obv striaght. This gets me back to $350. Around this time, for the next 3-4 hours, i was card dead, and stack was going south. I was getting almost nothing to work with. I started to make bad calls, trying to make the fantastic call/bluff just based on my read of the player. New young kid comes to the table. There is a straddle. I raised to 15 in LP with J6 after 3-4 limped $4 bets. new kid calls. Flop was AQ7. We both check. Turn is 6. He bets 15 and i call. River is a low card, he checks and i bet 50 and he immediately calls. he has A9.A tough looking older gentleman who likes to intimidate with his table talk arrived at teh table. he's seen me play for about 45 min. He's very loose. I raise to 7 in MP with 10, 10. He is in SB and makes it 35. This is a strange bet to me. I take about 15 seconds time to think. He said, "I have a pair". I call his bet after he said this. Flop is 953. He gives the signal to the dealer that he is checking it to me by waving his finger. I'm really thinking about what is going on, but i check behind after 10 seconds. Turn is a Jack. He bets 35. I call with very little hesitation. River is an 8 i think. He takes a big stack of chips and just lofts them onto the table carelessly. It was about 75. I'm really confused at how this hand played out. I didnt think if his pair was higher than mind that he would have checked the flop, but his behavior is obv that he is strong. I'm staring at him thru my sunglasses, and he is staring right back at me pretty good. I take about 3 min, and i say, "you have a set of nines?"He smiles, and luckily for me starts talking. He said "All i can say is the flop was very good for me" I'm thanking him to myself for saying that....before he said this i was %80 sure i was folding but some part of me wanted to call. Why idiots that talk about things like that during a hand baffle me. I was sure i was beat now so i folded. He showed the set of threes. So, my preflop read was correct, but i dont think i could have or i was scared to reraise with a measly pair of tens preflop. I am only willing to reraise preflop with AA or KK if myself and my opponent are deep stacked, and he was, with about 200 behind him.Eventually, i dwindled down to $75, and called it a night after about 9 hours at the table.I was very disappointed with my results. I couldn't help but think about how much money i was up during the beginning, and i assumed i was going to be walking home with at least a healthy profit at the rate i was going, along with my first decent win at NL live. But, in hindsight, even though the last 2-3 hours i was not playing LAG, somehow i was not playing tight enough and went from 300 to about 75 in a matter of 2 hours. I calculated that i had ended up winning about $600-700 worth of pots, and it makes me sick to think i didnt walk away with a profit. If there was one thing that stood out for me after this experience, was how much more i enjoy NL rather than low limit, which i am accustomed to playing. What do you guys think? Please provide feedback on any hands or the playing style i used. What can i do differently to at least make an experience like this a profitable one?Thank you.

[chgocubs99 0]

I will break down the hands that stick out the most to me. I would also like input or suggestions as to what to do when you do build a big stack very quickly, and get card dead for the rest of the session. I may go back and read the rest...but I can answer this one right away. Fold. It's a cash game. The blinds don't go up. You could fold 50 straight hands and only be down $15 bucks.

[CBass1724 1]

There is no need to force the action with weak hands. Odds are that when you hit the big hands in a live 1-2NL game, you will get paid off in the long run. Plus you will save lots of $12 preflop bets that add up over the long haul. Good read though.

[Suited_Up 2]

A tough looking older gentleman who likes to intimidate with his table talk arrived at teh table. he's seen me play for about 45 min. He's very loose.

He's not the only one. The reason you made money, was because of the few big hands you had, and a couple lucky flops. The reason you lost it all back is because you kept expecting those things to happen, bleeding money all the while. Why do you need to raise with crap? Does it ever really get anyone to fold? Take the cheap flop if you want to play shit cards, or just fold and wait for those hands that DID make you money!!

[Willing 2 Die 0]

I guess there were a couple reasons why i would raise sometimes with junk hands. they were:1) to take down some easy pots that there were alot of limpers when i felt i could end the hand right there, or with a cont bet.2) to preserve a somewhat laggy table image, and then slow down, and then when i did pick some hands up, i would get paid off on them. But, its probably a better strategy to sit on the profit, play uber tight for awhile, and then try the bluffs when pple have you pegged as a tight playing willing to only play the nuts.

[Wandigo 1]

You don't need to be crazy loose and aggressive to be profitable at a 1-2NL live game. If you stick to a TAG style of play and maybe throw in a few steals here and there, you'll be fine. Being card dead is something that happens, but luckily for you the blinds aren't going up and there's no antes. (Although I don't know if your place charges a session fee or not) Like chgocubs said, you can fold many orbits and barely be down at all, don't try to force the action just because you're not getting hit in the face with the deck.

[Suited_Up 2]

I guess there were a couple reasons why i would raise sometimes with junk hands. they were:1) to take down some easy pots that there were alot of limpers when i felt i could end the hand right there, or with a cont bet.2) to preserve a somewhat laggy table image, and then slow down, and then when i did pick some hands up, i would get paid off on them. But, its probably a better strategy to sit on the profit, play uber tight for awhile, and then try the bluffs when pple have you pegged as a tight playing willing to only play the nuts.

1) You aren't folding most limpers with a raise.2) You don't need an image to get paid off.

[mtdesmoines 3]

....What do you guys think? Please provide feedback on any hands or the playing style i used. What can i do differently to at least make an experience like this a profitable one? Thank you....

Standard $1/2 NL session. Welcome to live poker. PS: Between beating the rake and dodging the luck boxes, walking away with any money at all from a $1/2 - $100 table is a mini-victory.

[Willing 2 Die 0]

You guys are definitely right. I was way too aggressive after i built it up to 400, and i should have been much more TAG after that. Thank you for your input, and any other feedback you can provide on how my hands were played, or any other advice you can give a newbie to Live 1-2 NL ring. I dont think i mentioned this in my thread, but i used to be 3-6 limit player, but after my experience, i dont think i can go back to 3-6 as my game of choice when i play, which is about 1-2 times a month. Playing NL was a much more enjoyable experience, even with the loss.

[terradawg 0]

my thought is that you played a lot of this more like a tournament than a cash game. raising preflop in position with weak hands with a bunch of limpers in front? if you want to steal that pot preflop you need to be raising a lot more. i think you got too fancy...

[thehidden 0]

didn't read most of it, but cubs made a good point. also you know there is a NL forum? prolly get better advice in there

[chgocubs99 0]

Standard $1/2 NL session. Welcome to live poker. PS: Between beating the rake and dodging the luck boxes, walking away with any money at all from a $1/2 - $100 table is a mini-victory.

No.

[Dice_3008 1]

Not to beat a dead horse but you are playing way to many hands. Even worse you're playing those crappy hands because you scored big early and now are trying to force the issue. If you play many pots and are always in there raising sooner or later people are going to start making you show your hands.

[Seattleallstar 0]

i agree with whats been said

[Dratj 0]

You raised too often with garbage.

[holdemdreamer 0]

i agree with what a lot of ppl have said so far with tightening up and not feeling the need to play so many hands because the blinds are so low. like it was allready mentioned in those 1-2 games you really dont always need an image to gt paid off sometimes ppl just cant fold and it can work out even if your playing 2 hands per hour. But to be honest considering you said you had only really played NL maybe 4 times before this session and before that u played 3-6 limit, i dont think you played very bad. the fact that you rememer the many details in a lot of hands says something to me and your on your way to eating the game in no times. Just try and tighten up a lil bit vecause ur not so forced to play hands like you might be in a tourney. Good luck in the future.

[Jeepster80125 0]

i don't have any advice to share since ISAP.

[Willing 2 Die 0]

hey, just want to say thanks again for everyone who responded and gave feedback.To be honest, after i played and lost so much, i kept repeating to myself the scenario in my head and thought that the game wasn't for me. But after some hindsight and reading some responses here, i just realized that in essence i just need to tighten up my game and not play so much junk. I think i can trust my reads pretty well, and I think it was a good learning experience.One poster did say it best when he said it looked like i was playing more of a tournament style than a cash game style, which is so true, because i have had this problem ever since i have been reading poker books, namely HOH. My tournament game is pretty good, with %50 ROI in smaller limit games with a sample of about 300 played, however, my cash game results online since studying up more on playing aggressive have become so poor. I think it is just a matter of changing your mindset as you switch from cash to tourney and so forth.

[NoSup4U 0]

Jeepster you made me LOL just now.Mark

[11 to 1 0]

Barry Greenstein said something in Ace on the River that might be helpful. He was talking about when to leave the table and said after a rush, or when you have built up a stack, you leave after you lose some of it back. He said you always leave a "loser" (even if you have made a profit) and this helps you learn to deal with times you are just running cold. So, maybe the session is shorter than you wanted - but you avoid all this rehashing and second-guessing. And you have most of the money.

[DB10-2 0]

it's also important to watch for when a game changes. i sat into a really loose, awful $100NL game last week and knew that if the cards came i'd be up huge relatively quickly based upon how bad the players were. i was right--90 minutes later, i had over $300 in front of me by doing nothing but peddling the nuts and picking off idiotic, low-percentage bluffs. i've found similar games in vegas and told my gf that i really should play for a few hours because a particular game looked really good.however, as the fish went busto and left, better players arrived. i decided i'd made more than enough for the time i'd spent there and there was no reason to continue in a game that had gone from being very profitable to marginal. i don't claim to be a pro, but i'd rather play in a game where people are likely to make more rather than fewer or the same number of mistakes as me. when a game gets like that, it's a good cue to split. i can't tell from your post if that happened or not, but it's something you'll start to identify over time.