However, it pains me to see that my yahoo grasshopper is getting WORSE at poker instead of improving!

I don’t even know where to begin…I think I got worse at poker just from reading this question. The monks preach "hear no evil" etc. and it’s too late for that.

>> "board is 57q vs 3 players… now if i put all my opponents on random cards and lets say i have 10j""

So far nothing wrong has been spoken. It’s like writing your name at the top of the exam, you begin with a perfect score.

>> "an opponent raises…mathematically its unlikely anybody has a pair of queens or better"

You mean to tell me that even after your opponent has raised you, you’re still putting him on perfectly random cards? I take it in a heads-up match you never fold Q7 preflop, ever? Do you understand that you’re playing against a HUMAN? Do you think your opponents are playing the hand without looking at their cards? Or that they’re flipping a coin to decide whether to fold or raise, every time it’s their turn to act regardless of what cards they’re holding?

>> "because the odds of hitting a 10 or a j is…"

So let me get this straight– you don’t care that one of them likely has at least King High, even with random cards. Nor are you planning to bluff on a later street. You’re only calling in hopes of catching what you HOPE to be a 6-outer rather than a runner-runner draw? I won’t even respond to that.

>> "24% when u consider there are 2 streets"

Was his raise an all-in bet? If not, is he guaranteed to check on the turn? If the answer is no, you’re not getting 3.5 to 1 for two streets, you’re only getting it for 1 street. This is sooo basic.

Izaak, dozens of times at the casino I’ve played with people who were literally trying the game for their first time, the dealer or their friend had to help them with the rules (and so far it has never been a hustle, they always lose badly). Those are the only people I’ve ever seen call a raise on that flop with J10 and no flush draw and no intent of bluffing later. So in other words you’re about as bad as someone playing the game for their first time ever!

Normally this isn’t a big deal because there’s no deadline on improving. But you’ve talked about quitting school to go pro in poker! And you go around publicly challenging people who know 100x more than you to heads-up matches!

And making novice plays is one thing, but at least a novice does them by accident or without thinking. Somehow you arrive at those decisions by your own logic and calculations! Your logic is so bad you’d play better if you didn’t think at all!

People have told you a million times on here– read some books. My friend says Sklansky’s "The Theory of Poker" is a great one. Also I hear nothing but good things about "Harrington On Hold’em". Just fricken read something pleeease. I have some PDF (adobe reader) articles that might be of interest to you, message me if you want them. I’d rather spend a few seconds sending files than all the years I’ll have to spend answering these questions!