How do you get profitable at poker?

[DM99]

I hate to ask this but it's driving me nuts. The thought of making some cash from poker and not seeing it get whittled away in blinds and bad beats seems like a pretty good proposition for me! The problem is that I keep losing cash when I play NL. How do you manage to bridge the gap from losing cash to winning cash? Something is obviously wrong in the way that I play so I want to build my game from the ground up, starting from the very basics. From my limited skillset I have discovered some flaws in my play that cost me. The major one is I tend to be too passive, not calling or reraising so I tend to get bluffed out a lot and get my cash whittled away when maniacs and TAG make random large raises. Some books are good, some are bad. I especially hate it when they say to play certain hands from a position, and then they lead out with an example where they raise with junk. :sad Anyone who started from not knowing a thing about poker to where they can win cash fairly consistently knows the frustration I'm talking about when starting out.

[Nade]

Re: How do you get profitable at poker? You need to study the game a lot and play a lot. Then you need to combine the two - study your game and see where you're leaking money. General rules: - Play at levels you're comfortable with - Read about strategy (strategy forum here is a good place to start) - Play TAG - Then when you get a hand and hit it bet the life out of it, people will call you down with crap. - Don't be fancy, fancy play is for TV and high stakes games, it just doesn't work at low levels. - Be patient. - Be willing to improve.