Well Snoopy that question has opened a can of worms!
Lets put it this way - I am unemployed at the moment and have a wife and two children. Yet i still play online poker everyday (lucily i am winning enough to justify playing) - despite knowing that the financial risks could be serious for me. When i lose i lose and thats that - i don't blame the other players - i have made the decision to play and to gamble so therefore my actions are my fault.
However what i do is play SnG tournaments with low limit entry - £3.60 or £5.50 and occassionally £11 so that should i lose i can afford it (just) - this makes me around 40 - 50 quid a day most days - and keeps me in poker!
I know that should i lose then i may struggle for money - but the very fact that i don't lose very often keeps me playing becuase the belief in my ability is there.
The problem as i see it is that players who can't afford it playing higher limit stakes games are fools - they should stick to what their budget allows - its not about gambling with stupidity - its about gambling within your limits.
Someimes it hurts but i never ever blame my opponents - i play i gamble and if i lose then that is my fault and not yours or any other players.

Using pokercharts.com i have been keeping a close eye on what i have been winning and losing. It tells me that in the last 33 tourneys i have played i have been in the money 17 times and out 16.  I am wondering if this is a good enough ratio - what is a good winning margin? Obviously 100% in the money would be great but as a rookie (only playing five months) i think this isn't too bad.
What are your returns - are they a higher percentage than mine - and if so what can i do to improve it - is it my game that is weak or my luck?

Morning all from a newbie. Well it is here anyway. Having only been playing the game since May - and for cash since July - i have come to realise that the majority of the time most people playing sit and go cash games are not bluffing - leading me towards the believer side of the argument.

What i find interesting is that in 95% of the cases no one reveals their cards - so you hardly ever find out - unless it goes to a showdown and you are left chuckling at a 82 off - suit and a player making a swift exit! Playing the lower entry cost tables as i do (£3.60 or £5.50 entry) i tend to find that because it isn't alot of money people are less protective of their hands and much more loose with their play - so i am cautious - i don't like to lose any money small stakes or not!

One thing i have learnt - if i think i have the best hand after the flop then be aggressive with it (dependent on position) - becase small raises are begging to be called and someone to get lucky on the turn/river. I know this is old news to you pro's but it has taken me this long to work it out! (i have an example of getting hammered with a full house made on the flop because i didn't raise high enough and it still grates me because it cost me £20! )
Someone said earler that they didn't call large all ins on the river at first - that is exactly the same problem i have unless i know i cannot be beaten - come on guys is it all about belief or luck at this stage?
For me i am a believer..... and i saw her face.....
 

I need to know if made the wrong decision and how you guys would have played this hand.
Hole cards dealt -  qh ad and i flat called on the pre flop betiing.

Flop comes out  qd giving me top pair and kicker. So i raise 180 chips to get the pot taken down or so i think. Next move along the chip leader goes all in - he has 2500 chips already i have 583 left after raise. So i think for a while about what he could have before deciding to go all in - only to discover he had pocket nines and had hit trips. My vindication for the call is that i wouldn't have had a better chance to double through at a later stage. Did i play it right or would you have played it any different? Clearly i lost so you could argue it was a poor decision to call but what would you experts have done?

I swear that william hills fix the flop so a split pot is very rare - on at least 5 seperate occassions i have gone all in with the same hand as the other person - and lost to a flush. Is this regular for other players or am i just damn unlucky??
The latest one - all in on a As and he Had Ah - and guess what - running clubs four of em to knock me out of the STT!!!
This has happened before as i say - and its beginning to hack me off now lol. Surely it was the correct decision to go all in (i was short stack about 600 chips left).
Is this a common occurance or shall i start wearing some lucky socks?
 

Thanks guys for the responses and the welcome - you are right about needing to read up on the basics - i haven't picked up a poker book in my life! There are none at my local library unfortunately. I will have to buy them over the net. Thinking about it - my stack wasn't middleish - i was 13th out of 18th - dunno if that makes the call a little more justified or not. However i see your points - the JQ was a poor hand to go all in with - but it would have benn 5k to call and i figured that if i was going to do it i may as well go all in (wrongly it now seems). I think i am a reasonable reader of players and summised correctly he had a middleish pair - however he got lucky and i didn't.
There are many other examples of me getting beaten when i have been the clear favourite whcih dissapoints me - recently i had AK and he had A5 both all in and the cards bring nothing until the river when a five appears winning him the hand - and that is a sickener!
it just seems like when i make the right call i get rained on at least 75% of the time - but i feel my luck must change sooner rather than later.
I will continue to use this excellent forum that is for sure!

Hello all i am new to this forum - thought it was about tie i posted on here having been at William Hills since May.
At the moment i only usually play the small £2.25 entry tournaments whilst i am learning the game and becoming proficient at winning some money! The thing is in these tournaments i am consistent enough to reach say the top 50 and win my money back regularly - however i need to make the step up to winning and reaching the final tables! Last nihgt i managed a credible 13th place out of 350 and was reasonably pleased - however whenever i call with what is the best hand (as it turns out) i regularly get beat - mostly on the river and taken out of the tournament!
Last night i had 20, 000 chips left which was a medium stack - everyone folded around to the chip leader who raised - and i had JQ off suit. he had called previously and raised on small pairs - so i made the decision (right or wrong) to go all in. I was in position and he thought about it and then called me - he had pair of 9's as i had guessed. Now the flop hit 85Q putting me in front and then low and behold a nine came out on the river - and i was gutted!
Was it the wrong decision or was i just unlucky? If it was unlucky then it happens pretty regularly - the river seems to always beat me!
To make the step up do i need to be more aggressive - or just wait for the big hands and play them aggressively???