[Bankroll Challenge] Return after Black Friday

Howdy there, sorry for the late reply - but happy welcome to your challenge!
How have the first couple of weeks been?
101€ is a pretty odd starting amount....

Looking forward seeing some of your hands to find out more about your playing style...
Also added your challenger badge now!

Hi. So, 2 weeks have passed since I re-started playing.

And the news, on bankroll side are not much, but are some on game change.
But lets's break it down:

I don't know how to play zoomNL5 (yet)

So, after this magnificent demonstration, I went back to rebuild the losses in regular NL2

There is also a couple of hands played in NL10, because of some missclicks when opening new tables, so the overall picture is this:

Adding on the above, I managed to release the 2x10€ bonus vaults with 40% rakeback, so now, the total amount is 139.76€. Should've been better, could've been worse, but it is a starting point and I am happy that I've managed to play 17.5k hands of regular poker outside my working hours, in 13 days.

The focus during these weeks was to put in some #hands, because of the bonus. Now that it is done, I will have some time to come here and share some hands and discuss a couple things.

GL at the tables!

Those graphs looks not to bad. To bad your NL5 session didn't go well.

Recovering some played hands.
This made an interesting hand, mainly because I thought my equity was higher than it was. I will play it all the same every time, but now accept easier negative results.

PokerStars - €0.05 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 51 BB
SB: 92.4 BB
Hero (BB): 100 BB
UTG: 201 BB
MP: 93.8 BB
CO: 59 BB

SB posts SB 0.4 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.4 BB) Hero has T♦ 8♦

UTG raises to 3 BB, fold, fold, fold, fold, Hero calls 2 BB

Flop: (6.4 BB, 2 players) 9♣ 7♠ J♣
Hero bets 4.2 BB, UTG raises to 15.2 BB, Hero raises to 30 BB, UTG raises to 198 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 67 BB and is all-in

Turn: (200.4 BB, 2 players) 6♠

River: (200.4 BB, 2 players) Q♠

Welcome to NL2!

So, short hands sample against BTN, but enough to know he likes to see flops , but only gets aggressive with monsters.
So much so that I considered folding flop, but I have a desease that doesn't allow me to trash TPTK directly.
Note the pot to bet ratio on the river.

PokerStars - €0.02 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

SB: 103 BB
BB: 90 BB
Hero (UTG): 274.5 BB
MP: 100.5 BB
CO: 100 BB
BTN: 266 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has K♦ A♦

Hero raises to 4 BB, fold, fold, BTN calls 4 BB, fold, fold

Flop: (9.5 BB, 2 players) J♣ Q♦ K♠
Hero bets 5 BB, BTN raises to 10 BB, Hero calls 5 BB

Turn: (29.5 BB, 2 players) 2♦
Hero checks, BTN bets 28 BB, Hero calls 28 BB

River: (85.5 BB, 2 players) 7♦
Hero checks, BTN bets 224 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 224 BB

Small session . Although Saturdays are supposed to be one of my free days and the tables supposed to have more players, I often have something taking me away from the tables.

Session started really bad:
AKs vs AKs, flush for villain;
AA vs QQ, AI PF, ended up set vs str8.
I was getting my green line too close to the yellow

But is not how it beggins, is how it ends.

Approaching the end of the session, I had only 1 table open (I usually play 4).
That specific table had 3 players whom I marked as probably profitable. All them good stacked and players whom had no problems paying off. I was just waiting for good spots. And it payed off

Now, one of the hands played in that table:

[NL2] str8 on messy board

GL at the tables.

This is likely to be the way things will work on this blog:
Couple of days MIA, as weekly days I work and take some free time to play instead of posting here.
Probably, if this has acceptance/interest from other members, I will make some posts on the weekends.
For this reason, the blog will be a little unorganized, with me "randomly" posting hands, graphs and some details about my experince with poker.

So, for today, allow me to share with you a little more extended story of me and the game...

The year would be 2006 and I was sharing apartment with 3 of my university mates. Every now and then, there was a live session at the apartment with other colleagues, but I wouldnt take part on it as poker was gambling for me, and I'd rather be out drinking and meeting girls.
My colleagues kept playing and some of them were on the green side of the break-even, allowing them to keep playing for some years.

Fast forward to 2009, I decided I wanted to go out for drinking less and learning poker would be a good motivation to keep me at home (studying for my degree was something I neglected a lot). At that time, I reached to some of my colleagues and they told me "register on pokerstrategy. they will give you $50 for you to burn on Full Tilt". And so I landed here.

In parallel, I was playing online, until I went busted and playing live with the mates. Somehow, I was terrible online, often green on live. So when I went broke online, I decided I'd give it another chance, with some money won live. But this time I had a strategy (as we all do)!
My free $50 were burnt playing NL2 FR with a very tight "by the book" strategy, until I get a couple of bad beats, when they happened, I switched to stupid mode. Nice, at least I knew one of my problems.
So, when I came back, with my deposit, I decided I'd look at the ugly cousin FR FL (fixed limit). And so I did and a couple things happened:
1- I was forced to see a lot more flops than I was seeing in NL FR. As you see more flops, you start to evaluate a lot more textures and trying to place opponents on range. As in FL the pots were a lot more controlled, this allowed me to confirm/adapt my "reads" on opponents range.
2- The pace on FL was slower and this was my introduction to multi-tabling while paying attention to opponents actions. Back in NL FR, when multi-tabling, I only had attention on my hands.

I was suddenly being profitable (as much as a newbie can be) playing FR FL. I don't remember the stakes, but I manged to climb a couple of them and remember I discussed a lot of hands here, in the portuguese hand review section for FL. That helped a lot.
Soon enough, I had a decision to make: Continue playing FR FL and face an each time more reduced pool, or change to SH FL. I opted for the second, and the reasons behind it were defined with my real life poker mates: "Go now for SH FL so that you get more familiar with SH dynamic and your next stop will be NL SH". And it was as foressen. I played SH FL for a while, profitably and instead of jumping stakes, I started playing NL.

By that time and that should be summer 2010, my bankroll would be around $400, but as already seen what it looks like to have $0, I was very conservative in my bankroll, so I think I started NL SH with the milestone of $500, before moving to NL10. Also, by that that time I started using HUD software (I think I managed to find a cracked version of HM - yep, with $400 in your account and you can't afford to buy HM, that's how stupid I was).
A couple of months later, I was playing NL10 and enjoying a lot the SH dynamics. By that time, it was me and two other friends that regularly gather for a coffee and easily spent hours discussing our hands, "ranging" opponents, figuring out how to extract more from our good hands, accessing why and when we should've abandoned some hands...we were basically breathing poker and my game evolved a lot.

In the blink of an eye, I was playing SH NL25, 4 tables, with $750 in my bankroll. I was not beating NL25, but I was break-even enough for rakeback to make me profitable (think it was 27% on FT).

2011 came and with it... After all the indefenition and Full Tilt being closed, I was in no mood to play and abandoned the game. Never claimed my money

About 4 to 5 years ago, ate the end of a work day, while drinking some beers, the "Let's play some poker" idea popped up, but everyone else chickened off. When I got home, I thought to myslef "Yeah, I' would enjoy some poker hands now" and went to check PokerStars.
They have a first deposit bonus, I think it was deposit 30€, get 10€+10€+10€. "Why not?!?!" I deposited, I played zoom for a while (pretty break-even), unlocked the bonus aaaaand workload got heavier and I stopped playing again.

Suddenly, a minor thing called COVID happened and the folks from university (yes, the same ones from 2010) came with the idea of us getting "together" in PS Home Games. "Yep, I have some lost € there, let's go".
We made some of these games, I don't remember how profitable I was, but I most have been a little, at least, because my account was near 90€/100€ when I re-opened it later last September, maybe one week or so before I joined the challenge.

Since the times I played at FUll Tilt, a lot has changed in Poker world and also in Portugal.
Poker is legal in Portugal, but somehow and stupidly, PS only allows Portuguese, Spanish and Italian players at "our" zoom tables and only Portuguese in regular tables.
Because of this, the pool is something like the following (in good hours):
Regular:
NL2: 50 players
NL5: 25 players
NL10: players

Zoom:
250 players for NL2, NL5 and NL10

I have no idea if/when the situation will change, but this will soon be a problem for me, as I enjoy more and am more profitable on regular SH than in zoom. But guess that I'll need to adapt, once again.

And this brings us to current days.
The purposes of this blog are:
1- Keep track of my progress, both bankroll and game wise
2- Keep me "emotionally "invested in the game
3- Share with you what has been and will be my experience
4- Force me to revisit hands worth discussion
5- Create a place where we can discuss mainly about poker, but not only

GL at the tables

Small session. At least smaller than I'd like. Wife called me to go out when I had a perfect table, with known donor at my right

I am starting to mix a couple hands of SH zoom NL5. Profit is neglible...

Couple of odd hands:

Flush vs paired board

This one is against the donor I had to leave (breaks my heart, almost as much as my wallet, to leave a table with him there):
PokerStars - €0.02 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 108.5 BB
Hero (SB): 110.5 BB
BB: 61 BB
UTG: 60.5 BB
CO: 220 BB

Hero posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has Q♥ Q♦

UTG raises to 2 BB, fold, BTN raises to 6 BB, Hero raises to 16 BB, fold, fold, BTN calls 10 BB

Flop: (35 BB, 2 players) A♦ 2♥ 8♠
Hero bets 12 BB, BTN calls 12 BB

Turn: (59 BB, 2 players) 6♣
Hero bets 11 BB, BTN calls 11 BB

River: (81 BB, 2 players) 4♦
Hero bets 15 BB, BTN calls 15 BB

This one ... well, I have his name written down, so I don't forget how good he plays:
PokerStars - €0.02 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 4 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

SB: 80 BB
BB: 250 BB
CO: 93 BB
Hero (BTN): 100 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has T♦ T♣

fold, Hero raises to 3 BB, SB raises to 10 BB, fold, Hero calls 7 BB

Flop: (21 BB, 2 players) 9♥ Q♥ 9♠
SB bets 20 BB, Hero raises to 90 BB and is all-in, SB calls 50 BB and is all-in

Turn: (161 BB, 2 players) 6♥

River: (161 BB, 2 players) 2♥

Is nice to be on the good side of variance, or at least not to have it kick us!
Nice session with almos 1k hands

987 hands
VPIP:22.84
PFR: 13.59
AF: 2.37
88.14 BB/100
Also nice that I am balancing the red line lately.

This was actually the best player at the table:
PokerStars - €0.02 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

UTG: 100 BB
MP: 61.5 BB
CO: 365.5 BB
BTN: 73 BB
Hero (SB): 100 BB
BB: 85 BB

Hero posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has K♠ Q♥

UTG raises to 2.5 BB, MP calls 2.5 BB, CO calls 2.5 BB, fold, Hero calls 2 BB, BB calls 1.5 BB

Flop: (12.5 BB, 5 players) Q♣ Q♦ 4♦
Hero checks, BB checks, UTG checks, MP checks, CO checks

Turn: (12.5 BB, 5 players) K♦
Hero bets 5 BB, BB calls 5 BB, UTG calls 5 BB, fold, fold

River: (27.5 BB, 3 players) T♦
Hero checks, BB checks, UTG bets 19.5 BB, Hero raises to 92.5 BB and is all-in, fold, UTG calls 73 BB and is all-in

This one is like he just goes out of his house towards the bank, to make a deposit in my account:

PokerStars - €0.02 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 4 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

SB: 103.5 BB
BB: 137.5 BB
CO: 104.5 BB
Hero (BTN): 198 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has 9♠ 9♥

CO raises to 3.5 BB, Hero calls 3.5 BB, fold, fold

Flop: (8.5 BB, 2 players) K♠ 8♣ 9♣
CO bets 101 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 101 BB

Turn: (210.5 BB, 2 players) J♦

River: (210.5 BB, 2 players) 4♥

3 milestones achieved today:
1- I recovered my zoom NL5 losses only with regular NL2 (71.76€ down on zoom NL5, 82.88€ done in NL2)
2- I unlocked another 2850 points vault on PS (2nd of the month and the majority of my game was done in NL2)
3- Completed 20k hands in NL2

Overall NL2 looks like this:

Stats for 20201 hands:
VPIP: 24.67
PFR:15.96
3betPF: 5.17
AF: 2.14
20.51 BB/1000 a little over EV (19.78)

Bankroll that started with 101€, now has 167.91€, from 17 days of playing, accounting for the bonus

Another day in the NL2:

1029 hands
VPIP:25.65
PFR: 15.92
AF: 2.11
27.79 BB/100 (EV 49.95)

I already had "sit off next blind", when this happened, to bring back the All-in Equity over the Winnings:

PokerStars - €0.02 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 196 BB 100hands 63/1/0 (The best calling station one can ask for)
SB: 42 BB Unknown
BB: 100 BB
Hero (UTG): 278.5 BB
CO: 100 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has A♣ K♥

Hero raises to 4 BB, fold, BTN calls 4 BB, SB raises to 42 BB and is all-in, fold, Hero raises to 278.5 BB and is all-in, BTN calls 192 BB and is all-in

Flop: (435 BB, 3 players) T♥ Q♥ K♦

Turn: (435 BB, 3 players) 4♥

River: (435 BB, 3 players) A♠

Bankroll: 173.79€

I am considering future options, given that NL5 has no players outside zoom.

Really small session, but really good.
Hard to find active tables. Fortunate enough to had a couple of them with "friends" to my right.

370 hands
VPIP:23.16
PFR: 12.57
AF: 3.43
126.62 BB/100 (EV 95.15)

Why did he do such a mess with nothing?
PokerStars - €0.02 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

UTG: 110.5 BB
MP: 89.5 BB
CO: 50.5 BB
BTN: 95 BB
Hero (SB): 133.5 BB
BB: 100 BB 548 hands - 46/25/2

Hero posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has Q♦ K♠

UTG calls 1 BB, fold, fold, BTN raises to 2 BB, Hero raises to 6 BB, BB calls 5 BB, fold, BTN calls 4 BB

Flop: (19 BB, 3 players) 3♦ K♦ 4♠
Hero bets 13 BB, BB calls 13 BB, fold

Turn: (45 BB, 2 players) 9♦
Hero bets 15 BB, BB calls 15 BB

River: (75 BB, 2 players) 8♦
Hero checks, BB bets 66 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 66 BB

Bankroll: 185.49€

You have to fold a lot vs his shove.

I guess you can call with just 2 cards here.

Would have called that shove with J high flush?

Against this one, on that river, 100%. Even T flush.

The probability of his shove was the reason why I checked the river. I was actually more afraid in the turn, OTT, if he shoved I would think about folding.

Don't forget this is NL2.

My first answer was a little villain dependent. That's ok, but won't make sense "outside of the tabel".
So let me try to explore a little more:

PF and Flop are pretty standard, imo.

Turn, he could very well have flush, but I have to bet:
1- make him pay if he is running
2- my hand still has value
3- often, when they hit the FLush, I get shoved onto OTT
For the reasons, I think I have to lead with a second barrel. Probably if he shoved I've folded, not sure, because of some villain notes.

River is actually good for me, as I have 2nd best possible hand, what makes the decision a lot easier, but, for the sake of the argument, consider any card TdJdQd. I have 2 options with different possibilities for him (not knowing his hand):
1 I bet
1.1- I bet, he folds: EV=0
1.2- I bet, he calls: EV= +/-betsize. I can place a better flush on his hand (gnerally) 50% of the times, so EV=0 on the long run
1.3- I bet, he shoves, I fold: EV= -betsize
1.4- I bet, he shoves, I call: Pretty much the same as he calling (mathematically), so EV=0
2 I check
2.1- I check, he checks: EV=0 as this decision didn't really bring money to the equation
2.2- I check, he bets, I fold: EV=0
2.3- I check, he bets, I call: Pretty much the same as 1.4, so EV=0

So:
1.1: Doesn't really interests me and is pretty much the equivalent of 2.1.
1.2: his call range there will be with another flush, good for me if lower than mine, bad if bigger. But if he has any flush, I think his action will take us to a better overall result in point 2.3.
1.3/1.4: If I bet and he shoves, I may need to consider him only with a T+ flush, as I cannot count as much lower flushes nor bluffs in his range.

2.2: Acceptable, but makes one very exploitable. I would be getting a shove IP in every 3/4suited board.
2.3: Is similar to 1.3/1.4, except by checking, I keep his low flushes and bluffs on that action.

Observations:
1- When I reffer EV=0, or other, I am not counting the pot and previous actions
2- If I was to extensively deffend this line, point action 2.3, would include the bluffs and smaller flushes, as well as hgher flushes, with an equity above 60/70% (depending if considering Q, J or T), while action 1.4 I would calcultae my equity in about 50 to 30% (considering Q, J, T).

To wrap things , although my descision to check/call and bet/call don't change villains hand, my equity is way bigger with that action.

Please don't make me put him in a range and do the percentage calculations for each street as should be done. I usually do them once per situation and go with it.

Thank you for your comment. I didn't think I would run this study on such a hand, but it is very interesting nonetheless. Hope I didn't make it to messy, trying to explain my thoughts.

Couple of days with no update, so let's make one that covers them.

Started adding some NL5 hands, when there's pool to join.

October 27th:
NL2:
437 hands
VPIP:29.41
PFR: 18.35
AF: 2.60
2.17 BB/100 (EV 11.21)

NL5:
655 hands
VPIP:32.07
PFR: 22.12
AF: 1.56
23.18 BB/100 (EV 6.50)

October 28th:
NL2:
843 hands
VPIP:32.01
PFR: 18.53
AF: 1.72
-31.38 BB/100 (EV -25.80)

NL5:
463 hands
VPIP:25.56
PFR: 17.94
AF: 4.53
24.49 BB/100 (EV 15.85)

October 29th: Best day so far
NL2:
1854 hands
VPIP:24.55
PFR: 15.64
AF: 2.47
41.50 BB/100 (EV 45.20)

NL5:
433 hands
VPIP:26.81
PFR: 21.84
AF: 2.17
53.58 BB/100 (EV 43.09)

Bankroll: 221.58€

I am trying to unlock a 6€ bonus, but need to generate 15€(75 points) in rake for that in 3 days.
status: 1/3 days, 35/75 points
IS not because of the bonus itself, but I like to take these to "encourage" to add a little more volume.

In the meantime, these hands happened:
Hands like these are the ones that make me tilt. It doesn't usually happen, but after spending some time spoting the marks, extracting for them and this happening when I am deep, it honestly affects me.

Hand #1:
PokerStars - €0.02 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 196 BB - 63/1/0 This gives the name to calling stations. somehow, PS likes him and he often calls with air and hits
SB: 42 BB - Not much hands, but already had a couple of showdowns AIPF with nonsense hands
BB: 100 BB
Hero (UTG): 278.5 BB
CO: 100 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has A♣ K♥

Hero raises to 4 BB, fold, BTN calls 4 BB, SB raises to 42 BB and is all-in, fold, Hero raises to 278.5 BB and is all-in, BTN calls 192 BB and is all-in

Flop: (435 BB, 3 players) T♥ Q♥ K♦

Turn: (435 BB, 3 players) 4♥

River: (435 BB, 3 players) A♠

Hand #2
PokerStars - €0.02 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 130 BB
Hero (SB): 215 BB
BB: 163.5 BB
UTG: 180 BB 46/17/2 I have history with him. He has no problems paying and often likes to bluff
CO: 100 BB No stats

Hero posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB, CO posts penalty blind 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 2.5 BB) Hero has 4♦ 4♥

UTG raises to 3 BB, CO raises to 5 BB, fold, Hero calls 4.5 BB, BB calls 4 BB, UTG calls 2 BB

Flop: (20 BB, 4 players) 5♥ 4♣ 2♥
Hero checks, BB checks, UTG checks, CO bets 42 BB, Hero raises to 210 BB and is all-in, fold, UTG calls 175 BB and is all-in, CO calls 53 BB and is all-in

Turn: (465 BB, 3 players) 9♥

River: (465 BB, 3 players) A♠

Both hands with ~450BBs pot. Both I have the best hand, both I can't hold. What upsets me the most is that this happens when I am deep, and always against deep bad players that end up setting me back 1/2 hours.

Painful session today.

NL5:
342 hands
VPIP:30.58
PFR: 22.32
AF: 2.30
12.69 BB/100 (EV -292)

NL5 zoom: I really can't play zoom
69 hands
VPIP:16.42
PFR: 13.43
AF: 0.50
27.54/100 (EV -27.54)

NL2:
2130 hands
VPIP:23.77
PFR: 14.50
AF: 1.95
29.59 BB/100 (EV 5.40)

Every set, str8, flush...anything faced boards that did not allow extraction, even when I was ahead.

Imagine an entire session like this:
PokerStars - €0.02 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

Hero (BB): 100 BB
UTG: 100 BB
MP: 75 BB
CO: 253.5 BB
BTN: 41 BB
SB: 100.5 BB 17/14/2

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has 7♠ 7♥

fold, fold, CO raises to 2.5 BB, fold, SB raises to 10 BB, Hero calls 9 BB, fold

Flop: (22.5 BB, 2 players) 5♣ 7♣ K♣
SB checks, Hero bets 25 BB, SB calls 25 BB

We know what he has, here. Just don't know if the Ac

Turn: (72.5 BB, 2 players) 2♣
SB checks, Hero checks

River: (72.5 BB, 2 players) 9♣
SB checks, Hero checks

Bankroll: 235.38€ - At the end of the month I'll try to check how much I won from rakeback.
6€ vault: 2/3 days, 71/75 points

October is finished. So it is time to evaluate my first month.

1 I am very happy that I manged to put in 35k+ hands
2 I am also very happy it came with profit. I think volume is the key to profitable in micro-stakes.
3 It was nice that I kept myself motivated, even playing mostly NL2. I think the creation of this blog helped in that regard.

Now, going through the month in more detail

I started by playing NL5 zoom. I had bankroll for that, but my game doesn't fit into zoom and the result was this (NL2, NL5 and NL10 zoom combined):

Great way to start a challenge, with 1/2 bankroll burnt.

Gladly, I recognised it was mostly bad plays, instead of bad luck. As such, I needed to re-learn a lot, as it had been a long time since I played "regularly".
I moved to regular NL2 tables and managed to put in some good volume (27k+ hands) with a very good winrate (22.10/100)

It allowed me to rebuild my bankroll and start thinking about moving up.

Last days of the month, with a confortable bankroll, I started adding some NL5 tables. First objective was to play 400 hands/day, for the daily leaderboards, but at the very end of the month, I managed to do a bigger session:

I managed to be on the green, but the big session I was not on my best mental state to play and should've stoped when I was 2 BI up. instead I continued and ended up 2 BI down.
Overall, I am not disappointed, I had some bad moves, also some coolers and the usual cards dead and river beats.
I believe volume will also be the key to conquer NL5, main problem is that PS only has about 30 players on NL5 and this is in exceptionally good day and hour.

Good thing about my NL5 session is that it made me re-evaluate some spots where my game was not ideal, but it passed as OK in NL2:

Overplaying broadways OOP
Overplaying broadways MW
Overplaying SC OOP
Overcalling BB vs BTN
Overcalling SB vs limpers
Playing too frequently for stack
Not thin betting river for value

The mistakes above are mistakes no matter the stake, but the lower the stake the less one is punished by them.

By my calculations, I "won" around 40€ in rakeback and alike prizes. Not bad, but I know I can get much more if I manage to play mostly NL5 and keep with the volume. This can "pay" for some missplayed hands along the way.

Current bankroll: 233.98€

Looking forward to November!

GL at the tables.