I play poker like Sisyphus pushing the stone. Earn slowly and quickly lose. But that does not make me discouraged and I start again if needed. Sometimes I appreciate the players, and sometimes not. It is important for me to play, gain and lose, piss or capture happiness because all this is part of the game.
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There is no secret to earning that million in chips. You’ve read the advice. Waiting for the daily bonuses, which only works if you stay three years doing that. — LOL
The trick is learning how to play. First thing is to search the internet for Hold’em starting hand groups. Google it. There are eight groups with general advice. Use that as a guide.
Passive play isn’t smart when you’re playing chips. Learn the when and where to be aggressive. Passive relies too much on luck and in most hands you’ll be forced out by the aggressive player. My suggestion is learn how to play tight.
Final suggestion: Find a game you like and stick with it. What will work in one game will not work in another. It’s a learning process.
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Actually it’s a little over a year, 403 days, if you sign in every day and don’t lose.
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I’ve noticed that all of the very high ranked players on Replay that I’ve come across play very, very aggressively, almost “bingo” style at times and often appear to “buy” hands by massively over betting. They do it so often that they simply cant have that many good hands, but the lower ranked players don’t seem to want to risk their chips to the same extent. You can beat them with patience and choosing when to attack, but their style is extremely hard to counter and requires good poker knowledge re odds etc to counter.
Are they playing GOOD POKER? Surely not. That style would not survive if it was for real chips.
Are they playing GOOD REPLAY POKER? Surely Yes, as the results prove it.
Would a great cash Poker Player survive on Replay - YES (as they would adjust very quickly to the different style required).
Well, that could be a problem in a poker game…
Bingo. The key to building a stack is aggressive play across multiple streets. You will need to wait for hands, but when you get a decent starting hand, you’ll need to be them aggressively pre-flop to get rid of the weak hands that would otherwise just call. Ideally I’d target seeing 2-2.5 flops per orbit for a 6- or 9-handed game. That may require “overbetting” an open raise - I’d target between 7BB and 10BB for the lowest-staked ring games, and 4BB-6BB for 500-1K ring games, but I’ve seen raise sizes of ~2.5BB to 3BB work well in the mid-to-late stages of medium to high stakes tournaments. With a higher open size, you’ll want to restrict the hands you want to play a bit further.
Also, keep position in mind when selecting which hands to play. If you’re playing in an early position, you’ll need a very strong hand to limit the risk of someone behind you waking up with a stronger hand. If I’m first to act, I’d only play high suited aces, suited connectors 89 and higher, and pocket pairs. This is similar to my starting range if I’m late to act but facing a number of people who merely limped (calling the big blind) before me. I’ll need to bet big to get them off their hands, and I should only be doing that with very strong hands. On the other hand, I’ll almost never limp myself.
The danger in passive play is twofold. First, if you do have a good hand, you risk a weaker hand connecting with a flop and crushing you on later streets. Raising it up early and knocking those bad hands out reduces this risk. Second, you limit the potential size of the pot if you “slow-play” preflop and don’t bet to grow the pot. If 2/3 of the players limp in a 9-handed pot, you’re playing for 6BB; on the other hand, if you raised it up to 5BB and knocked out all but one other player, you’re looking at a minimum of 10BB in the pot (and possibly up to 11.5BB, if the blinds both fold). I’d much rather be trying to knock out one other player to win 10BB than to have to fight five other players for 6BB.
A final note - I recommend watching some YouTube clips of “Poker After Dark” or “Poker Night in America” or similar shows. Focus on their preflop strategy. Does it mirror what I’m describing, or the weak “call everything under the sun and hope to catch something on the flop” style of play that typifies low-stakes ring games?
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That happens, and is frustrating, but it’s a normal part of poker. Last year during one of the Beat-the-Staff tourneys, I didn’t get a playable hand for over half an hour, and sat there and watched as my stack dwindled.
Don’t get discouraged though! And don’t decide to jump in with a weak hand just because you’re getting bored/frustrated! That can be a quick way to make big mistakes. Having the patience to wait for playable hands and the confidence to then play them aggressively will win you big stacks in the long run.
As far as getting “rubbish” hole cards 20 hands in a row, well, let’s imagine you’ve calibrated your open size such that your range is constructed to play the best 15% hands. There’s a 23% chance that you won’t play a single hand for a full orbit, and a 5% chance you won’t play anything for two full orbits. If you’re getting bored sitting out so much, open up another table and play two (or more!) games at once.
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been winning…moreover making final table 8 out of 10 times only to lose to total crap hands…not sure why they call with those hands given its a tight final table…ofcourse there are some mad calls…few minutes in a 50k buy in player raised from 400 to 800 chips with 47…i soft called with pocker 10s…knowing this player generally calls and raises on any crap cards…its the final table last 8…the flop is 356…at the most he raised did put him on premium cards or Ace rag…i looked golden and did hit my set on the river but game was over on flop he had a straight…this is what i keep saying the dealer issue gives more power when you deal hands like this they are inclined to beleive they are invincible…the problem is these players are getting paid off repeatedly…so why should they stop playing donkey kong?
even in the 100k earlier i went all in with ak and got called with a5 off and 5 was on the flop…but again this player has been calling any bet of mine with trash and won 2 of the last 3 hands…more belief in the dealer.
100k tourney and calling an all in with a5 with a full table not heads up…beats me…think its more personal than poker…who knows…