Month 3: Week 1 Completion

Had some horrible variance this week and i dabled in $100nl for about 500 hands but with the extra bonus and also cashing in my noble crowns for cash i done well on bonuses.

Played 9713 Hands 50NL (500 hands at 100nl)
Profit +$118.50
BB/100 0.45
V$PIP 27.8%
PFR 20%
Post Flop Aggro 3.6
Showdowns Won 47%
Rakeback $240.00
Crowns Cash Bonus $40.00

Total Profit $398.50
30 Hours Play: Approx $13 per hour

Also i said id review my stats after 3 weeks and here we are:

27,876 Hands Played
Total Profit $606.68
BB/100 1.91
V$PIP 25%
PFR 18%
Post Flop Aggro 3.8
Showdowns Won 48%

Month 2: Week 4 Completion

Ok this is more like it. It again threatened to turn sour on the last day of the week when i slipped to nearly 5 buyins down when i was on the end of what felt like infinite wrong side of the coinflicks with shorties along with some bad beats like worser 2 pair, flush beaten by FH you get the drift. I felt sick but i kept my cool and didnt tilt hoping to make 1 or 2 buyins back and make another respectable but disappointing week only to hit some great variance helped along by a couple of donks and i ressurected the 5 buyin loss to a +0.75 buyin profit for the day. Never got so much satisfaction from such a small overall profit.

Anyway i think my game has came on leaps and bounds thanks to all the posting, questions,reading and watching videos and also lately from a video session i posted on boards.ie and got some great feedback, well worth the effort. I still think this is close enough to my peak because i still have a few leaks, i can see myself being between a 3-5bb/100 player at this level but no higher over a large sample. Im always looking to improve my game and i hope i can myself from more reading/posting but i think to move to the next level in terms of improving my BB/100 i will need some coaching but ill have to put it on the long finger for now as i want to be playing the 100NL before i decide to get coaching.

Im hopeful i can keep up the good work and within 2-3 weeks i will have a bankroll sufficent enough to move up. My Minumum Bankroll will be $2500, its currently $1600 so $800 more to go, thats doable within 2 weeks but ill settle for 3 weeks.

Anyway the thing that matters. Results:

9,194 Hands Played 50NL
Profit +$337.52
BB/100 3.67
V$PIP 25%
PFR 19%
Post Flop Aggro 3.8
Showdowns Won 47%
Rakeback $199

Total Profit $536.52
Approx 30 Hours: Approx $18 per Hour

As you can see my V$PIP is increasing now to a level im happy with thats mostly because im stealing more and im comfortable with it now because im happier with my post flop play. I also increased my PFR as i now raise from the SB a bit whereas i used to just complete. My stealing % is now 43% up from 34% the previous week.

So until next week..........

Month 2: Week 3 Completion

It was a successful enough week compared with other weeks but i cant help feeling bitterly disappointed with the way it ended losing 5 buyins last night to end my week. It was a combination of bad variance and loose calling that led to that but i cant complain about variance because even though i hadnt a whole lot of monster hands all week i didnt have too much horrible beats either until last night so i think it probably evened itself out.

I made a 50NL video and posted it on boards and i got alot out of it, i hope i can use the information to continue to improve my game. So heres the results:

9735 Hands Played 50NL
Profit $87.97
BB/100 0.9
V$PIP 22%
PFR 15.5%
Aggro Post Flop 4.0
Showdowns Won 49%
Rakeback $196

Total Profit $283.97
Approx 30 hours so about $9.40 per hour, do you want fries with that!

Massive improvement but im still nowhere near happy and i should be well above this level although im more interested in looking at the this week gone and the next 2 weeks as a reasonable size sample to judge where im at.

Month 2: Week2 Completion Update

Ok so i think this was a week of big transition. After starting well at 50NL it became very obvious the last 2 weeks didnt go well. After some people pointed out that my aggression and stealing werent high enough i changed my game and i think it affected me badly. Not so much the stealing but the agression. When people were saying the higher your aggression the better i felt i needed to change this but my mistake was where i was getting aggressive. I started RR bluffs, small PP that missed flops and hands like that, this led to me being in inflated pots with the worst hand alot and i was getting looked up light too much and it wasnt bringing my aggression up by much because when i started getting looked up i lessened but at that stage id lost a couple of buyins.

Anyway i felt my game needed serious looking at as i was become a losing player and i spent alot on 2+2 reading the forums and asking questions about my game, i watched a few cardrunners video for 50NL TAG session and it was becoming pretty apparant that 3 betting with bluffs wasnt the way to increase my aggression. I found that i was calling way too much with middle and bottom pair on the flop to see what the turn brought, i also found i rarely if ever raised when i had TP id just call to showdown or bet to showdown, so ive added this to my game and i also get aggressive with hands that have lots of outs and ill basically play them like i have a great hand as long as im getting the right odds.

These changes albeit very recent have now turned my aggression from around 1.5-1.8 to around 3.5-4.5 and ive also tightened up alot from the SB where i was losing money and im a small bit more tighter stealing. I still realise the importance of stealing the blinds but i dont do it now with trash hands especially from the CO and ill tighten up if the blinds are loose. All pretty simple things but i think they can bring my game on track and since i made the changes 2-3 days ago i have found my play is returning to profit again and im starting to feel confident although i had a very tough early part of the week so i didnt make that much but im confident i can return to winning ways now.

Results Week 2 50NL:

10,136 Hands Played
Loss -$139 .18
BB/100 -1.91
V$PIP 23%
PFR 15%
Post Flop Aggro 2.0
Showdowns Won 47%
Rakeback $188.00

Total Profit +$48.82

So its onwards and upwards from here

Month 2: Week2 Friday Update

Played 1676 Hands
Profit $16.72 (No this ISNT a mistake, it does actually say profit)
V$PIP 23%
PFR 14%
Showdowns Won 47%
Post Flop Aggro 1.5

Deposit Bonus +$20
Total Profit +$36.72

Month 2: Week1 Completion Update

1714 Hands Played 50NL
Loss -$119.35 ($30 Deposit Bonus = Total Loss -$89.35)
V$PIP 26%
PFR 15%
Showdowns Won 50%
Post Flop Aggro 1.2

Overall Results Week 1:
9875 Hands Played
Loss -$303.11
V$PIP 24%
PFR 14%
Showdowns Won 50%
Post Flop Aggro 1.7

Deposit Bonus $160
Rakeabck $142.00
Total Bonus = $302.00
BB/100 -3.07

Overall Profit/Loss including Rakeback & Bonus = -$1.11

This just shows how important Rakeback and bonuses are, it turned a horrible week into a breakeven week. I only hope i can improve this week but i have to say some doubts have creeped into my game over the last few weeks and i wonder wheter i am good enough to beat this level. I feel my knowledge of the fundemetals of the game are good enough but maybe there is small things im missing or maybe its just variance, i am sure that i could have saved a couple of buyins by not making light calls but i think im curtailing this.

It seems that even though im making mistakes and recognising them it takes me a couple of days for me to iridicate these mistakes which is soul drenching when i keep making the same mistakes but i suppose at least i do eventually stop. So it's on and up from here............Or is it?

Month 2: Week 1 Tuesday -Wednesday Update

3329 Hands Played
Loss - $133.77 (+$50 Bonus = Loss -$83.77)
V$PIP 25%
PFR 16%
Showdowns Won 52%
Post Flop Aggro 1.9