DONE!!! / NL25 finishing blow together with Thor - help me deliver it!

Will be a long post. And I'll load my guns - I'll be really expecting black ops breaking my windows soon after this post

Good news first: story seems to continue. HOW THE HELL I AM STRUGGLING WITH MICROLIMITS, but keep winning tournaments??? Took down "PS depositors 10k" on Everest for nice $1000 profit on Sunday. For the sake of this challenge I'll keep the aside. For a while.

Thought a lot about the situation. I really think I play decent poker (MTT results prove that), why the hell I'm break-even at best at cash, huh? Something is just not right here.

So I did what I should have done in the very beginning. My bankroll is spread across several sites, I really was kind of "rakeback hunter". WAS, until now. I checked the rake, taken by sites I play at. Here's the shocking truth I found out: seems I was giving away all my profit for the sites all this time!!!

Why the hell should I play at Pokerstars - they never give any reload bonuses (and that stellar rewards promo seems so unprofitable), when other sites give, let's say 30% rakeback? Well, seems Pokerstars is THE ONLY "micro-player friendly" site!

Rake taken at NL5 (from rake analysis in PS forums):
Pokerstars - 8.4bb/100
iPoker - 19.7bb/100 (!)
PKR - 29.9bb/100 (!!!!!)

If we opt for a realistic long-term profit of 10bb/100, which you can have at Stars, then one has to make 18.4/100 (10 for profit, 8.4 for rake). That would make you slightly loosing at iPoker (at -1.3bb/100) and a complete looser at PKR!

The situation is also that bad at NL10 and only from NL25-NL50 rake taken by sites starts to be quite similar. I guess because players get better and start noticing that, so in that sense you CAN say, that all the other sites, exept Stars ARE rigged. So fair play, huh?

I'm so happy I made this discovery and I'm really interested why this obvious "little thing" isn't talked LOUD for the beginners, even before the whole strategy thing.

That's all, continuing my challenge only on Stars.

Oh, btw, my not-so-little pokerface Thor

Still no black-ops Did I got something wrong in my last post?

Results post updated. Any comments on my thoughts about rake?

Originally posted by Erniastukas
Results post updated. Any comments on my thoughts about rake?

As an nl10 player on both Stars and PKR, and being aware of the rake and rakeback, I can tell You that the player pool on PKR already should boost Your bb/100 by 10-15bb (it's a fish tank there), having a 30% rakeback also deducts the rake taken from u, but for a multitabling and hud using player it can be slow and annoying! Stars have lower rake, but they also compensate with less RB from FPPs and stellars for micro players, but with good table and opponent selection You can get larger bb/100 winrate. As for iPoker I played there long time ago so cant compare it....
My conclusion is that while You play on micros, play on many platforms, earn from FDB and RB, once You get hang of the game choose a platform that suits You best and transfer entire roll there...

GL @ the tables

OK. New spark in the long-term thought process. Seems poker is a game, where you build up your profits by quite long and tedious efforts. Then you can very easily ruin them with just a few stupid moves. Like this:

I find this happening way too often for me, even at NL5. It's not that I can't exploit opponents, have way-of-the-limits stats or anything like this. I guess it's those way too costly mistakes that keep me just slightly winning.

We'll try this way - I'll stick to the following discipline for a couple of weeks (maybe longer if works):
A) I keep playing till I win 1 full BI. As soon as I do that - I quit the session (as my session is usually ~1000 hands, that would give a nice 10bb/100 rate). If I win that BI sooner - that's fine, I'll quit earlier. If not - that's also fine, I'll keep grinding (2k, 3k - whatever it takes).
B) If I dip below the zero, that's fine for some range of hands, but if I lose 1 full BI - my new target becomes to quit at zero line.
C) If I lose more than 2 BI - I quit immediately.

I hope this simple system will have following benefits:

• I will play my A game from the very beginning of the session - trying to reach that 1BI+ as early as normally possible (that means not stupid moves and even more important - NO unjustified calling e.g. wasting what's already won).
• I've read and heard several times, that it's really important to quit when you're winning (as much as it doesn't make sense as poker is a long-term game). It should have some kind of psychological effect, the feeling of "running good".
• If I'm only able to maintain zero line - that's also at least not "running bad".
• If I keep losing in the session - quitting might be a good option, as I've noticed myself starting to play very tilty after some major loses - trying to win it back ASAP.

Your comments are welcome on this. I'll keep the statistics of this system in the following post.

This post will be updated according to the results of the system outlined above.

Win 1BI (or more) and quit: 4
Lost 1BI, climbed back at 0 and quit: 0
Lost 2BI (or more) and quit: 1
Lost more than 2BI and NOT quit (=MEGAFAIL to keep with the system): 0

Post #2 updated with results.

Right now I feel the following results with my new session system: first, it seems it works. I think I maximize my play when playing A game (trying to win in every good spot to reach that 1BI ASAP, although being really careful with wasting chips by unreasonable calling or bluffing). At the same - I minimize my B gametime when playing bad, trying to desperately win back the losses.

There is also a side effect - I tend to play less, as sitting down to the sessions became a commitment to try to win and do my best. I guess I mean less fun by that. But maybe that supposed easiness can also be one of the reasons for sticking at break-even.

Looking forward for your insights and more sessions. =more data for future decisions, I guess

Sorry to say but this system is bullshit. Its very results orentated and you will not improve using it. You should try to play in most ev manier and not in carefull or nitty. Bluffcaching and bluffing is big part of the game. And if they sometimes have it or call with bottom pair does not mean you should avoid it. Post some hands where you bluff cach or bluff and find out if that was mistake. Removing bluffing and bluffcaching from your game and playing by your system will drasticly slow your progress imo.

Originally posted by Erniastukas

Related thoughts:

1) The idea about possibility to maintain that level red line obsessed me. It seems it really IS the key to beating micros. I find quite easy to have sessions with such graphs quite easy at NL10 (still mystery why it's so difficult at NL25 for me, player pool isn't that different there).

2) When I concentrate really hard on things that help me maintain that holy red line flat - I seem to run good with my blue one automatically. Seems postflop winnings come as a bonus for not making small, but stupid things preflop (and on the flop)