Let's climb up the limits! [NL200] $5k to $50k

Sup fellows :f_biggrin:,

I decided to return to poker in late 2020 and was mostly playing at nl100(z) on PokerStars :f_biggrin:.
I managed to reach $7k, which meant for me taking a shot at nl200(z).
Everything went flawlessly at the beginning and was up 10bi, but then I hit a downswing...
I've been running under 10bi this month but hopefully, everything returns to normal .

My long-term goal is to stay at nl200(z) and keep grinding it.

Best of luck,
I've played several hundred hands of >NL50 and found it too stressful.
I broke even more or less, but felt totally out of my depth.

I don't mind playing $5/$10 Razz when it is available, but NLHE is tough on my nerves at higher stakes

Hey @VorpalF2F, thanks!

I agree that playing these stakes can be stressful but you need to look at it from a different angle.
You don't play with money but with chips, and your decisions are either good or bad.
What helps is not to look at your results during the game, but this can be quite difficult when taking a shot.
I also prefer to play with bb instead of $, so I don't need to remember how much I need to 3b/4b, and etc.

I wish you best of luck. Really interested to see how hands are played at the higher stakes!

I'm going to share a few hands with you from yesterday's session. This hand was played versus two regs.
Calling 55 BU vs UTG is a bit loose, I honestly dislike his call OTF, he should've raised, on the other hand, BB chose to be very aggressive. I was surprised when he called with 97s. I expected 87s

This player is quite active when it comes to 4b and that's why I chose to slowplay my AA. He is supposed to cbet range OTF almost always and when he checked, I wanted to be a bit tricky. I was thinking between calling and shoving OTT, I want to ship my FDs and all other bluffs, I am not afraid of flush, but I don't want to see Q or T. If I knew, he was capable of bluffing OTR, I would've called.

Nice blog, subscribed. Wow the guy with 79s on 654 was super optimistic about his hand lol.

A quick update :f_drink:,

the begininng of this month was amazing, I was up almost +$3k whilst being $1k below EV.
Then I ran into many shitty spots, lost flips and played really poorly.
When I last saw my graph I was -$800, which is really nothing considering the fact that I play nl200.

I've played roughly 30k hands at nl200(z) so far and my thoughts?

There are lots of regs, many of them are really bad, but there are also decent winners. People bluff more often, but honestly, when someone goes bet/bet/jam, you don't see a bluff as often as you would like to.
Many regs give up after 2nd barrel despite having no SD.

I noticed ruining my own game by constantly being worried about moving down, so I have decided not to look at the results until the end of this month.
If I play poorly, I just end my session.
I've been thinking of what I could do to play for an hour, have a quick break, and play for another hour. It's close to impossible to do on reg tables.
Not only are they often dead and full of regs, but there aren't many of them at times when I feel like playing.

That's why I'll mostly stick to playing nl200z. People may say zoom tables are tougher but I think my winrate is actually higher on zoom than at reg tables, but again, the sample is not big enough to verify it, we'll see how it goes.

So, the plan is:

• Not to look at my results until the end of this month, then I'll post my graph.
• Play for an hour, take a break, and play for another hour.

Sup fellows :f_drink:,

I'm pretty disappointed with not sticking to the plan - not to peek at the results.
It's sort of dumb that you can see stats in almost every tab in PT, so I saw how I was doing at the end of my grind the other day whilst I was closing my PT.
But whatever, I noticed during the first days that I was far more relaxed and I definitely played better poker. I can't say my results were better but I did enjoy the game more.
I'll try and not to look at the results in July, hopefully, it'll go as planned.

I played some nl200z, nl100(reg) and nl200(reg), nl500(reg with lots of fish).

I think tomorrow, I'll buy GTO+ and play around with it. As for July, I'll try and play nl200(reg) if they are available, otherwise, I'll mix in some nl100.

I've only played at the micros but I think the mindgame involving graphs and winrates is comparable.

I've noticed that focussing on trying to win as much as possible is affecting the way you play. You might convince yourself into playing differently because it might influence your winrate.

Playing because you think you have to play, or because you think you have to get to play as many hands is possible is usually not to good of an idea either.

Like you said, the more relaxed you are when playing, the better you usually are. This usually also means you will enjoy playing again.