The recreational Reg

Not really worth reporting. All profit came from rakeback. Played way too much under bad conditions, like tired, distracted, an mostly lacking focus. Also did little off table work.
Worth mentioning is that I went back to using H2N as a HUD. There are some features which appear helpful when having only some stats on opponents. Which is important, given that I hardly have any opponents with 1k hands or more.
Running out of time to succeed in BR challenge in less than 1 year

Week 46-47 report
Goal: 840.20 €
Hands played: 15,970
Stakes: NL5z and NL10 reg
BR before: 333.43 €
BR after: 394.58€
Difference: +61.15€

Bad vibes. Bad results. usual story.
Week 48-49 report
Goal: 840.20 €
Hands played: 15,695
Stakes: NL5z and NL10 reg
BR before: 394.58 €
BR after: 336.70€
Difference: -57.88€

Hi there.
Last three weeks saw somewhat less online poker, as I have been travelling outside of Pokerstars world. I need to make sure that I include some suitable site into the next BR challenge.
Nevertheless, I had a lot of fun. I was in Southern California, and used the opportunity to hit the local poker rooms.
Overall I visited 4 different poker rooms with quite mixed results and impressions.
Live play is however a totally different animal. Multiway pots with 3 or more players are the norm. Heads-up are usually the exception. Variance is huge.

Online was quite good. With rakeback we made a nce little profit. Still, I think I will try to reduce volume and focus more the quality of my game. Main points in the short term are fighting more for small pots and improve W$WSF and the red line to better than -10BB/100

Week 50-52 report
Goal: 840.20 €
Hands played: 12,224
Stakes: NL5z and NL10 reg
BR before: 336,70 €
BR after: 433,91€
Difference: +97.21€

Wanted to play less, didn't I? forgot that I have vacation, so did not really work out. Did some more hand analysis and off table work though, which I have been neglecting lately. There are many, many spots which I feel unsecure in.
Week 53-54 report
Goal: 840.20 €
Hands played: 13,289
Stakes: NL5z and NL10 reg
BR before: 433,91 €
BR after: 466.73€
Difference: +32.82€

I don't think I ever had a third winning reporting period in a row before. Anyhow, here I am.
Results have been good. Rakeback and just about breakeven play + some lucky suckouts make it a profitable time.

Gamewise, it feels as if my attempts to flatten out my red line have been also moving into the right direction.
I am still spazzing away a stack occasionally, either at the begin of a session or during really long ones, especially when I am winning and feeling invincible.

Currently I am still playing NL10 reg tables, trying to minimize the number of good regs at the table. But I have occasionally played NL16 as well when I could not find good tables at NL10.

Week 55-56 report
Goal: 840.20 €
Hands played: 14,113
Stakes:NL10 reg and some NL16 reg
BR before: 466.73 €
BR after: 609.38€
Difference: +142.65€

The upswing is sttill ongoing. Rungood, chest, some leaderboard cash + the weak Euro vs U$, all help. I played somewhat less than usual, but maybe this was even a good thing.
From looking at stats, it appears that I am 3betting and stealing a bit more. What is clearly better is the red line which is much flatter than usual, running at about -5bb/100.

Week 57-58 report
Goal: 840.20 €
Hands played: 9,961
Stakes:NL10 reg and some NL16 reg
BR before: 609,38 €
BR after: 774,10€
Difference: +167.82€

Well, challenge complete! It seemed to take forever, but finally it worked out.
Last couple of weeks, run good continued. I managed to stay aggressive and keep my red line better than -10bb/100.
Looking at the big picture, it appears that winning 100$ in the raffle at the beginning of the summer made a huge difference. Having all of a sudden additional 20Bis behind had an obvious impact on my ability to play my A game, instead of fearing to go broke. At my lone point just a couple of weeks before the steep increase, my bankroll was down to ~20€. Plus, I was able to quickly move to NL10 and started to clear my monthly challenges. This extra 60U$ per moth also made a big difference.
The second big thing I change and which obviously helped, was to focus on reg tables. First, playing Zoom or any other fastfold version, quickly leads me to a “button clicking” game, where I am just not able to stay focused. I admit I never tried to only 1-table Zoom, I might consider trying it, but 2-tabling Zoom has not been good to me. Reg tables, I usually play 3-4 tables not more, I feel much more comfortable. I can pick up some tendencies of villains and try to take advantage of them, and I do not have to wait a random number of hands to get them back at the table.
Of course some basic table selection, avoiding the sharks and having some apparent recs at the table helps too.
The only advantage I currently see for playing fastfold, is that I can stop at any time and review a hand without having to fear losing my seat at a good table.
Finally, having already reduced volume by playing less Zoom, I have reduced my volume by avoiding play under bad conditions. Like, watching a good soccer game on the side, being exhausted or frustrated because of the bad day at work. The best indicator for that it actually keeping an eye on my red line. A steady decreasing line with more that -20BB/100 is usually not only a sig of bad play, but of unfocussed bad play.
How do we go from here? New challenge in preparation.

Week 59-60 report
Goal: 840.20 €
Hands played: 8,337
Stakes:NL10 reg and some NL16 reg
BR before: 774,10 €
BR after: 929,35€
Difference: +155.25€

Congratz!

As mentioned in a separate thread, winning on Pokerstars about ~ 400€ over 10 weeks has cost me the 40% Monthly Challenge.

Consequently I have consolidated my bankroll and I am seriously considering playing more elswhere. I still like the Stars client more than any other, but that's the way it is.

I will be starting a new BR challenge. This time only 5x increase targeted. I will surely take longer and will be tougher with less rakeback, but my main goal is less the $$$ but improving my game.

I would love to get to NL50 or NL100 and beat those stakes, even if it is only a tiny amount. with my 20+ buy-ins I could in theory already now take shots at NL50, but I know from previous challenges, that I need my time to get used to the stakes.
So, I will be sticking to a very conservative BR management AND require at least 20k hands with positive winrate (on a given pokersite) before trying to make a move.

This means that I still have some hands to grind on Stars at NL16 (if I play there), same would be true for Chico NL10, or ACR NL10 (which I have not played yet.

I am really curious to see, how quick I will fall down....or move up

Starting Point: November 1st, 2022
Goal: 6,000.00 €
Starting BR: 1,200,00 €

Congratz from my side! Hope all works out well on BetOnline! Have heard good things in the German forum from some players who tried it out in the last couple of days. Oh, and you see me sometimes on those tables as well :-)

Thanks Sven. Good luck as well.
What's your Nickname?

Slight losing period. Had plenty of stuff going on the side. Probly should have played even less.
I am not really happy with playing BetOnline yet, some of my schedule, like the luch break hour does not work out for me. We'll see

Week 1-2 report
Goal: 6000.00 €
Hands played: 10,497
Stakes:NL10 reg - NL25 reg
BR before: 1,200.00 €
BR after: 1,174.66€
Difference: -25.34€

Good luck from my side, too!

Very uneventful and unspectacular time. I have been barely playing on PS because of the 10%challenge I have been downgraded to. I will admit that Stars is still still the best patform when it comes to stability, traffic and software combined. But BetOnline and ACR are much softer, main problem is the low traffic. Rake is higher, but it is compensated by the softness and 27% rakeback (on ACR). I still need to get used to the software and opponent style, which was not really sucessful in the past weeks.

If and when Stars puts me back on 40% I will surely consider going back, even if it means tougher opposition.
Nevertheless, I have to restart off-table work. Job and private distractions (and my winning streak) have made me lazy. I should consider doing some more had analysis, especially hand ranging study when traffic is bad

The bankroll is basically unchanged.

Week 3-5 report
Goal: 6000.00 €
Hands played: 16,457
Stakes:NL10 reg - NL25 reg
BR before: 1,174.00 €
BR after: 1,173.74€
Difference: -0,26€

Not a good 2 weeks. Should hav enot been playing at all. When I played, I was in gambling and clicking buttons mode. Plus, running severely under EV and plus running it a lot of top of the range opponent hands. FH vs Quads, Striahgt vs flush. But I do not complain.
I will try to slow down a bit to get back on track

Week 6-7 report
Goal: 6000.00 €
Hands played: 13,205
Stakes:NL10 reg - NL25 reg
BR before: 1,173.74 €
BR after: 914,14€
Difference: -259,6€

FH vs Quads, Str8 vs Flush -seems you at least have action all the time! I've got a fold-fest at times, so at least you have all the action in!
GL over the xmas period!

If I counted correctly, it has been 3 week since last update.
It has been an almost break even time. The loss is due to poker related expense, HM3 renewal, and other stuff, which I know include in my bankroll report. Especially, as I can indeed pay for it directly from the br via skrill for example.

Pokerwise, I have been quite unfocussed. So this is a real new year resolution, to limit my playing volume to 100%-focussed sessions.
I realize that the biggest part of losses come from: a) misplayed hands, b) playing my C-game, and c) tilt.
a) these are hands where I just make big mistakes, like calls vs. a range (or opponent) which does not have bluffs. Betting without a plan, although this is more related to reason b)
b) this is what I would describe as just clicking buttons, playing only my hand and giving up on everything else
c) My tilt originates usually, from sessions which are too long and I am losing focus. When I am winning I feel overconfident and invincible.
When I am losing, I sometimes get into a gammbling mode, calling with 4 outs...

I think strarting a session journal, where I enter staring times, playing conditions etc. BEFORE I start paplaying might help. Not that I have not doen it before, but maybe this time it works......

Week 8-10 report
Goal: 6000.00 €
Hands played: 21,804
Stakes:NL10 reg - NL25 reg, some zoom
BR before: 914.14 €
BR after: 864.19€
Difference: -49.97€

Well, well. I am slowly reaching the point that I may never get beyond a certain mediocre fishy level. As much as I enjoy the game, I am obviously lacking the discipline to really take the next step. On the other hand, I feel that I am learning every week something about the game and about myself. Coaches Cold_smile and fallout86 are doing a great job on the RYE Discord.

Bankroll is not an issue atm. I have moved all of my playing to Chico, where I am still playing mainly NL10. I spend time on Stars or elsewhere only when traffic is low, or when I play the occasionall MTT. Financially the BRM would allow me play higher, but I’d rather wait until I am playing profitable for 10-20k hands in a row.

Last reporting period looks like almost break-even, but in reality it is much worse because I ran 5 buy-ins above EV

Week 11-12 report
Goal: 6000.00 €
Hands played: 9,400
Stakes:NL10 reg - NL25 reg, some zoom/fastfold
BR before: 864.19 €
BR after: 863.76€
Difference: -0.43€

Originally posted by bigdog63
Well, well. I am slowly reaching the point that I may never get beyond a certain mediocre fishy level. As much as I enjoy the game, I am obviously lacking the discipline to really take the next step. On the other hand, I feel that I am learning every week something about the game and about myself. Coaches Cold_smile and fallout86 are doing a great job on the RYE Discord.

I think that we all get to that point.
Since you enjoy the game, and since you're working with a coach, keep on keeping on.
Every skill you ever learned has the phases, "Novice", "Journeyman", "Master".
In "The Mental Game of Poker" Jared Tendler lists these phases:[1]
 Unconscious Incompetence — you know knothing and you don't even know what you don't know
 Conscious Incompetence — You're finding out what you need to know, and you're learning it.
 Conscious Competence — You know stuff, but you have to think about each play as you make it. Most micro "regs" are here
 Unconscious Competence — You know things so well you don't need to think about the plays you make, you know them intuitively

None of those phases are like turning a light on. Did you ever learn a foreign language? At some point you caught yourself thinking in that language. That's what we're aiming for.

All the best,
VS

[1] I did those from memory, but my memory aint all that good

Ty sir, I appreciate the feedback. At least I am on second level. I will revisit the book to rmeind myself of the process.
Being fluent in three languages, I think I know what you are talking about, regarding unconcious competence.