Yo everyone! I think I’m good because I don’t have to buy chips (sorry Replay - I feel guilty about it, lol!), but am I really? Replay gives me 2500/day if I show up every day, which I often do (thanks Replay…more guilt, lol), so I don’t really know. I know I’m having fun…thanks Replay…more guilt, lol!! hahaha
If you ever see me at a table? Say hi & I’ll watch you and give you honest feedback on the things I see, I can send you my observations in a PM if you send me a friends request. Keep in mind I think I’m average so my opinion isn’t worth a ton!
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You don’t really give us any information to base a judgement on.
I always think I’m a good player. If I didn’t think I was good, I couldn’t play. Why play if I think I’m just going to lose?
Am I really good? Probably not. I don’t pretend I’m the best ever. But I’ll play anyone. I think my play has improved in the time I’ve been playing. I try to play seriously, and I take notes on my game. In general I am building a bankroll of play chips, and the trend over time has been that my bankroll is growing. If you’re growing, you’re doing something right. If the cutoff line between good and bad poker player is defined by your bankroll, then you’re good by that standard.
There are many other ways to gauge good, though. You can make a lot of chips by playing against poor players. This doesn’t mean you’re good at poker, but it may mean you’re good at picking opponents.
The only way to know is to take on new challenges and see how you do. If you lose chips, then learn from the experiences, and come back improved. If you win, could you be winning more chips faster by playing even better? Playing is sometimes the best way to learn lessons, but it’s also a good idea to study the game and learn about strategy.
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Okay you two, but I don’t know if I want to be that good. Well, maybe I’m just lazy and good enough is fine, lol! My bank is growing slowly, I have had monster setbacks, like now I’m recovering from 250k loss but still pulling ahead slowly. Don’t want to make excuses, but a lot of that 250k was learning to play Royal (still learning) and learning NOT to play Omaha, lol!
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“Good” in this game is only ever relative to who’s at the table with you. Are you consistently winning in the games that you’re playing?
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i’m a little short in time so i have only watched your 10 last hands. to make a good assumption of your skill i need to know a lot more, but i am pretty sure there are lots of points to improvement (sorry).
since i only watched the last 10 hands so they are all about shortstacked tournament play. i saw you fold more then the average player there so i think you might beat them, but there was a huge mistake i saw, which was that you were limping instead of shoving hands.
https://www.replaypoker.com/hand/replay/451971078
https://www.replaypoker.com/hand/replay/451971621
when you are 10BB’s or less (some might even like 15BB’s or less you are in push/fold mode. which means you can’t call or raise anymore and expect to win in the long run. in other words, limping is almost always bad, but even more so when you have a push/fold stack.
i think the first thing to do to improve your game is to stick to a solid tag stategy (tight aggressive) which means you will fold most hands, but when you decide to play a hand you will play it with a raise. and if you think a raise will be a bit too expensive, it usually means the hand isn’t worth playing anyway.
hope this helps,
yiazmat.
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One way to tell if you are a good player is to look at your return on investment from playing tournaments or how many big blinds per 100 hands you win in cash games. If you walk away with 150k from every 100k you invest in tournaments, that would be pretty good, or if you win 40 big blinds on average from every 100 cash game hands you play, that would be good. But you would need to track yourself over a bunch of tournaments and thousands of hands to be able to tell. Plus, those numbers I listed are made up because it depends on who you are playing against. If you play in Macau against professionals for millions of dollars then winning an average of 1 big blind per 100 hands would be fantastic, but at the Replay cash games you could realistically average over 50 big blinds per 100 hands (or more) if you are much better than the competition.
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Thanks guys. Yiaz, you’re right I do limp a lot. I’ve found it to be a way to play longer. When I play aggressive, often I’m out of the tourny too quick. Aggressive play would probably be better in the long run, but my #1 objective here is having fun (winning is a close 2nd), and losing my stack too many times in one evening is NO FUN! I think your advice shows true with me however, because when my stack gets low I play aggressive and I often hang in, sometimes I recover. You selected an interesting hand/table (…1078) - BB is 150, and players are raising at 1350 and I got 5k stack. That’s when I get flustered! If I play I risk being out quick.
I will admit, I’m often the player that sneaks up on ya, and I’m sure I’ve pissed off plenty, lol!
btw…what do you mean by “when you are 10BB’s or less (some might even like 15BB’s or less you are in push/fold mode. which means you can’t call or raise anymore and expect to win in the long run.”?
He means that when your stack is 10 big blinds or less you should never call or raise, you have to either go all-in or fold. That’s the general wisdom for late in tournaments because the blinds and antes are worth a lot relative to your stack, so you should be happy just to win them, and if you do limp or raise and get called, the pot will be so big relative to the stacks that there is no room to maneuver, so you may as well go all-in before the flop when you have a good enough hand.
On Replay where nobody raises, there is the occasional situation where you can play passively with shallow stacks, but generally the all-in or fold logic is best.
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Thanks Joe. I’ve only played here. I’ve never played for real money. I’d only be willing to part with maybe $50 to enter a real tourny…maybe, and I think I’d play more like Yiaz says - tight and aggressive - I’d write-off the $50 as soon as I paid it, you know? and I’d play to win. I have seen/felt things here that curled my nosehairs, lol! so I’m a bit more cautious then I probably should be.
it’s indeed what joe mentioned, that with 10 big blinds or less you should be either shoving of folding since calling or raising with too small stacks get you in trouble way too often.
i also saw i forgot a ) sign into my post
this:
when you are 10BB’s or less (some might even like 15BB’s or less you are in push/fold mode. which means you can’t call or raise anymore and expect to win in the long run. in other words, limping is almost always bad, but even more so when you have a push/fold stack.
should have been this:
when you are 10BB’s or less (some might even like 15BB’s or less) you are in push/fold mode. which means you can’t call or raise anymore and expect to win in the long run. in other words, limping is almost always bad, but even more so when you have a push/fold stack.
i know it’s a minor differerence but it might have caused the phrase to be unclear. wanted to edit it right away, but for some reason the edit sign is gone at my previous post (please fix if possible replay 
)
kinda makes sense if you enjoy it more like that, just wanna make sure you understand it’s a losing strategy, i agree you might get kicked out of the tourney if it goes wrong. but if you do it well, you get way more often in the late stages of teh tournament and even more often winning them, so long term you aren’t playing less, but you are getting better ROI.
imo poker is a fun game either way (which is why i’m playing it) 
, but i do like winning more then losing. of course i don’t know you well enough to decide for you what’s the most fun, but i can give my theories to help you pick a style of playing yourself.
don’t worry, experience comes with time and theres no hurry to play real money poker. when i started here i was a worse player then most here, and i already had trouble beating even the lowest stakes here. but because i love the game and kept trying to improve myself: by playing here, and watching strategy articles and youtube videos. i improved myself a lot. right now i have a roll of 55M and i still hold a positive winrate.
so what i’m trying to say is as long as you enjoy it here and keep trying to improve yourself you eventually get strong enough to beat real money poker as well
gl and hf,
yiazmat.
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