help a struggling player out.

[JesseW316 0]

I am ready to be flamed.I have been playing poker seriously for about a year. I have read many books (HOH, SS1, WLLHE, TOP, Caro's Book of Tells, Psychology of Poker, etc.), studied countless hours of video (Old WSOP episodes, WPT episodes, Instructional Videos), and I have read advice from FCP members in the strategy section of the site. In live tournaments, I am clearly a winning player (I play tournaments and have an 80% cash average, meaning I cash in 80% of the tournaments I have played in), but when it comes to playing online, I have consistently lost all of my deposits ($50 here, $100 there). I can't explain how frustrating it is for me, seeing as I am definitely the best player in my regular game or in any live tournament I have entered, to deposit money online and continue to lose it.I must add that I am 17 years old, and have been around poker and other mind-related games since I was about 6. I believe that my strongest asset is my ability to read opponents when they are sitting across the table from me, and I think that I definitely have an instinct that allows me to make calls/lay downs that not many people I know could. My problem is that when I log in to an online account, the money just doesn't want to increase. I play the same game that I would play if I were in a live tournament, but I never seem to get anything going. I consistently read on forums how people take their $100 deposits and turn it into $2000, $4000, etc., but no one ever really explains how long it takes them or how they did it.I think that my problem is that I am impatient with my success. In the same vein as Phil Hellmuth, almost, I expect myself to win. I was always a winning player until I deposited on the internet, and now I am a consistent "supplier" to crap low-stakes players. Every time I sit at the table I expect to win, and when I don't win, I always think back to every hand that I played that contributed to my downfall. It seems as if I don't have any MAJOR leaks in my NL game, except a few times where I might overbet a good hand and lose my player, or underbet a good hand and get drawn out on, etc, but those are easy to fix and they are not continual.What I am asking is...How many of you find it easier to play online instead of live, and why?How many of you have deposited, say, $50 into an account and turned it into a great roll of over $1000?How did you do it?I play almost every game around, and I consider myself to be at least above average in all games. (NLHE, LHE, Stud, Omaha, O8B, Draw)Stud 8OB is my worst game, just because I have only played it about twice. My pot-limit Omaha game is ok, but not great, and I consider my NLHE, O8B, and Draw poker skills to be well above any other 17 year old I have ever met of heard of.If anyone has any advice for me on how to become a better online player, please reply and give me some help. I am thinking that maybe I rely too much on my reading ability and that hinders my online game, but I don't know. Please, any advice will be great. If you need to know anything else about me, please ask, I am an open book as long as I am getting some good advice.

[idiotbocs 0]

quit basing your play on "reads" and learn the theory.Also, quit depositing little bits of money here and there if you're going to take it seriously. Deposit a roll.Also2, talk/post/read about hands when you're not playing.and, this post sucks.

[PrtyPSux 0]

I deposited $50 and turned it into 1200.here is how it wentfirst $50, lost them playing .50/1 in an hr2nd $50, lost them in 1 dayread a book, watched a few videos3rd $50, picked it up to 200 and lost that In one table because "i just couldnt beat the fish at the $25 NL table"read TOP, SS, SSHE ( a few more), watched a few more videos, joined the forum4th $50 played till 100discovered BR management deposited 5th 6th 7th and 8th $50's at the same timeworked it up to 1200...forgot about BR management and lost it in a week where I slept maybe 15 hrs tops.got lucky, won a tourney and this month I made my 1200 by bonus whoring and building a $25 dlr chip into $500.what have I learned? that I wont break the Bankroll rule like I have before. BUT I WILL TAKE SHOTS IN BIGGER GAMES ONCE IN A BLUE MOON (thats just the gambler in me, I know I shouldnt and I dont recommend it, but I will play sometimes to scratch that itch, I will however keep 2 rules in mind 1. a losing session wont cripple me or keep me from eating, 2. I wont want to recover the losses I suffer) anyway, you need to be patient, thats all. I suggest learning limit holdem because low stakes NL can really fuck with your head, deposit a BR that you can afford to play with and that you will keep, play low limits within ur Bankroll (bonus whore if you want) and you'll see it grow.BTW, you said you are the best 17 year old you've heard of...go PM ZIMMER (it might be ZIMMERMAN or sumthing) the dude is like 16 I think and has won like 20k or sumthin.

[Petoria 0]

ok, lets take it easy idiotbocs he's new.I agree though that you need a roll not just $50. I know many of us have taken $50 to 1000's, but to tell you the truth we really had to gte lucky. If you're going to play, get in there and deposit like 500. Even 300 will work, you just have to manage it well.This leads me to my next point: Bankroll Management. I believe that bankroll management is the most important "skill" that a poker player needs to be consistently successful. For limit games, you need 300 big bets to play. For no limit games, i would say 1000 big blinds. For tournaments, i dont really know the numbers, but i think its like 30 or 40 buyins.In terms of games you should play, O8 is probably the easiest to beat online, but tournaments arent a bad idea, if you can handle tons of disappointment, and only occasional glory.

[Abbaddabba 0]

I'll have to go with everyone else. Bankroll management is the single most important thing about online poker. Every time you do well, it's tempting to go up in the limits. I started with a $50 deposit in party poker with a friend (split). I got it up to $300 at 50/1 in the matter of a day, which luck had a lot to do with. I was feeling pressure from the other party to... that's right, move up in hte limits.. Not even the 1/2, though, we were going to skip that right by. Straight to the 2/4. Things aren't going so hot. Down to $200, so i leave and go back to the 50/1 which, at that point, is painfully boring. How can i play 50/1 when i was playing hands 4 time it's value? I proceeded to play like a retard and piss away more money until i was down to $120. It went up and down a bit, but after a few $20 (and a ridiculous $50) sit and go, a $50 rebuy, another venture into the 2/4 and some MTTs, the account is done for. I withdrew my equity when i was back to even. So there's another lesson. Don't split your account with a friend. Especially when they're, for the most part, just looking for a quick thrill playing a $50 sit and go when your entire account is at $100. I'm going to take a second stab at online poker some time this summer. Deposit 3 hundred and play the 50/1 until i (if i) get it to 600, at which point i'll go to 1/2, and so on and so forth. That's much less than i play live, but ive got al ot mroe to play with live than im willing to put in an online account.

[Mr Monkey 0]

make sure u have 300 big bets for limit or 20x the max buy in for NL. i would suggest playing at the lowest limits u can stand untill u can consistantly win and then gradually keep moving up. then u can start to multitable. I like live poker better. i think online is boring but it is more profitable. read and reread TOP and SSHE but nothing beats expeirence. also get pokertracker.

[CobaltBlue 662]

I started with $20. Roll's currently at $1400...though I've probably cashed over $7,000. Never had to redeposit.Started by playing .05/.10 NLHE and got lucky. Built the roll up to $400-$500 before moving up to higher levels.

[Jordan 1]

Deposit no less than $500 to neteller.Transfer funds to desired site.Play the weakest games you can find and the ones where you have the biggest edge.IE: If you are a good tourney player, play Sit N Gos. I recommend Ultimate Bet or Full Tilt Poker. If you are a good cash game player, look up Party Poker, Pacific Poker, and only play cash games there. If you enjoy both, play both, but do not waste your money on SnG's at Party poker. The structure at UB and FTP are much better and favor skilled players.Oh, get pokertracker. I don't currently use it, but I have, and everyone here will tell you it's great.If you are still lossing; you aren't as good at poker as you think.Don't play out of your bankroll after you have 5 winning sessions or 6 or 7 or 8 or 9. Play within your bankroll 95% of the time, and only play outta your bankroll if you are on a rush and are putting an amount on the line you are willing to lose. Meaning, you won't go on tilt if you lose a buy in, or lose 'x' bb in a session. I don't recommend this, but if you are gonna do it, do it "smartly".Lastly. If you have an ego in poker. Drop it. Play ABC poker against bad players, and open your game up against bluffable opponents. Uhm, I think that's all....that I can think of.- Jordan

[RISEorFall 0]

Stop using SS and advanced theories against Low Limit online players. Just play straightforward, you'll win a lot more than you think. Every table is not the final table at the world series. I think as idiotbocs said learn theory and forget about big laydowns and fancy plays. Also, I can kill the NL games I find around town as well. I've been cleaning them up for a while now almost every time I sit. But online I find the limit games much more profitable for some reason.

[GamblinLeaf 0]

Money management, money management, money management. I tell traders all the time, if you take the best trader in the world and give him too little money for the size of his trading, he'll go broke. Same thing for poker players, if you take the best player in the world (whoever you care to name) and force him to consistently play at stakes inappropriate for his bankroll, he will go broke. Sooner or later. Guaranteed. You say you were depositing $50? You should not have been consistently playing higher than .05/.10 LIMIT ... .10/.20 at the most. Were you playing this low?You can start with a small amount and build a roll, I did. Not because I didn't have money to deposit, but because I wanted to see if it could be done. It can. The key is discipline. You have to stay within the means that your roll allows. If you don't or can't maintain this discipline, then you will continue to go broke.Oh yeah ... and buy SSHE.

[stonecrow 0]

I started out by despositing $400 and hit the $.50 / $1 NL tables at Stars.Having never played cash games very seriously I was very naive in my thinking compared to game style versus tournament play. I bumped that $400 up to $800 in about 3 days. At this point I decided to hit higher stakes tables, went to the $5 / $10 table(s). Proceeded to lose my entire 800 BR in one session...not good. Since then I've re-deposited $300 and read up on BR management. As a personal decision though I've decided to stay at the $.25 / $.50 NL tables. I've had some big swings both ways and I'm still about even, maybe up $100. I'm not trying my luck at higher stakes till I get a significant BR though. My largest problem has been learning the cards to play and at what cost in cash games vs those that you'd play in tournaments. It's quite a bit different what people are willing to go with in cash games and what is profitable. Ohwell. I'm doing much better now as I've tightened up and become much more selective w/ my play. You can tell you're playing right when your at a very loose table, but when you're in the BB nobody even dares to raise or try and steal from you. Every other time the pot gets splashed all over the place.

[stonecrow 0]

There is a very good thread regarding Bankroll Management that I've seen on these forums.I forget if it was in this forum or the Online Poker forum, but if it's in this forum I think it could warrant a Sticky at the top.