I am a losing poker player and I am wondering why.

I think I am doing well in tournament play, but I am wrong. I look at my record of playing in tournament, most of the time I do well, finishing in about top one third to one quarter of the field. This is not difficult if I play tight, but by the time I reach that phase, I am usually seriously short stacked that I virtually have no chance to win the tournament at all. The winners seem to be able to play much more aggressive than I do and they can consistently take my chips away. It is difficult for me to finish in the money.

My best game is in cash tables. This is where I can play a good solid game and be able to win some money. Sometimes this income is painfully hard and requires a lot of patience, but I am slowly realizing that this is how professional poker players make a living. If some people think that poker income is easy and exciting, they have watched too much poker TV. One basically needs to wait for your opponents to make a mistake to be able to get their chips.

The biggest problem comes when I am playing short handed. I lost my chips very quickly and I do not know why. I think I am not reading my rivals good enough, or maybe I simply have too little experience doing that. Most of the time I play 10 player tables, and I do not know what to do when there are only 2 or 3 of them. Short handed games on internet are played very quickly, a bit too quick for me. It seems I do not have the correct strategy to play in this situation. I need to find a solution quickly, otherwise it will be difficult for me to advance far in tournament play.

Which goes back to the basics: more studying and more practice.