[Closed] Money, My Mouse and Virtual Felt.

Hey, good luck with your challenge man, i managed to just scrape out of the micro stakes and i'm grinding NL25 (which isn't micro IMO, NL10< is micro to me) so i wish you the best of luck and success in the future! i'll try and keep a view on this post ^

if i was you get rakeback join up to a site which will offer you rakeback if you cant get here it makes proces of building roll a lot quicker!

@ DecMate

Thanks for stopping by and wishing good luck, I class NL25 as start of low stakes and the break away from micros also

@SamBurton5

I have about 6 poker rooms at which I am eligible for rakeback however the actual rake they take is astronomical at micros and I am better off at Pokerstars with the volume I'm playing right now. Thanks for the advice but been down all these roads before. I still say Pokerstars has the best VIP program and store, and is the best place to play, even if I do hate my username

What can I say?
Just this: "I shall be watching you..."
GL

Okay due to Sam's comment about rakeback I decided that I'd test out both of the big name rooms and see which one suited my style of play better before the 1st of this month which is where I really knuckle down set myself some goals and fully emerge myself back into the world of poker.

I don't know why but for some reason I just didn't ever get off the ground at Full Tilt and I kept getting tempted away from the normal full ring tables to go play rush poker, which isn't going to help me improve my game.
So, I will be sticking with Stars as I prefer the software, there is more micro game traffic, I am tracked to this site, and I feel the play suits my style.
I got a nice surprise also, Stars are running Micro Mania, a promotion where you can earn an extra 50% of VPP's playing in any game lower than NL25 (not including NL25) which will help me gain a few more points (For what they are worth at micro's ).

For now I am going to stay away from the learning material on this site as I have previously read it all (I was stone throw away from Diamond once, those were the days) and I am playing really well (in my opinion) at the moment and if I try implementing new things I feel it may disrupt my flow.
I review every session and so far out of my first 1.4k hands this month I feel I've played 2 hands badly, which lost me half a buyin each.

This leaves my current profits looking like this..

I set myself some goals also, nothing to major, I just like to something to aim for.

1. Play 30,000 hands in July. (It's a very small volume compared to what I used to play and should be easily achievable)

2. Achieve at least 4BB/100hands at the end of the month.

3. Cash in a MTT. (they are running $1 buyins at Stars and thought I'd have a go at them).

4. Play 10 Sit and Goes.

5. Leave cash tables when I feel I am not playing well.

6. Post 5 troublesome hands from my own reviews on the forum.

The reasons I chose these goals is that I feel they are all easily achievable and if I add a few SnG's & MTT's to my line up I have something I can do when I feel I need a break from the cash tables but still want to play poker.

Sorry it's a pretty boring update today, but I just really wanted to set some goals.

I haven't really put in the volume that I know I could mainly due to my frame of mind and lack of sleep. I guess when you have to much time on your hands you have to much time for reflection and regret.
Funny how it's so easy to remember the mistakes and heartache you've faced, yet happy memories seem a lot harder to grasp a hold of.

On the flip side, I have played a few thousand hands and the results are pretty good even if I have hit what's so far a 1k streak of useless cards or not getting any interest in a pot when I do hold a better than average hand.

Here's the graph and basic info so you can see what I mean.

Hardly a flying start I know, but at least I'm not going down and I do have a nice BB/100 even if it's only a very small sample size. Overall I'm feeling quite confident about my play and if I can improve my mood I'm sure I can improve my game, but sometimes as everyone knows life just gets on top of you, there's not a lot that can be done about it we just have to try our our best and hope that one morning when we wake up the first thing we do is smile and look forward to the day ahead.

Also, another funny thing is that pocket aces are current my 5th highest losing hand, but I know eventually they'll work they way up the starting hands to be profitable instead of a minus strike.

That's all for today so until next time stay cool and try to remember life's little successes and don't forget your mistakes, but learn from them and try not to let them hinder your progress through the rough ride of life.

Okay, my mood has improved greatly over the last few days, and so has my poker playing ability.

Cue a tune I think.

The biggest change in relation to poker is the fact that although I was all for Pokerstars, after posting on some other forums I frequent the play there is regarded as one of the highest standards on the internet. Plus, after playing a few thousand hands and seeing that even with Micro Mania running my VPP's were hardly moving, I've actually shipped back to Full Tilt, and think my first excursion there was due to me being a bit rusty on the poker front as now I feel I'm crushing the tables there.
I've also managed to resist the temptation to hit the Rush poker tables by increasing my table limit to between 10 - 16. It stops me getting bored and playing random hands, and seems to work very well for me.

$2.72 per hour is my current cash rate, but obviously this is only a small sample and can fluctuate greatly on a daily basis. I'm happy to making half a buyin per hour though and hopefully once I go up limits I can maintain something similar.

Not bad for 10,000 hands I thought, and I know I have a few leaks and this could of actually been higher.

Also, as I am now using PT3 the BB/100 is actually Big Bets and not Big Blinds as this software was designed for Limit poker. So my true BB/100 is double what is stated in the graph, and I'm really happy with it. I only have a little further to go and I will be rolled for NL10 already, a lot quicker than I anticipated if I am honest, as the last trip though the stakes was a lot longer road.

Another point is the later I play (GMT) the bigger the fish and the bigger my profits. So I think I'll stick to later times as often as I can resist the urge to play poker beforehand.
I'm hoping that by the end of the month at the latest I'll be playing at NL10 and as I'm feeling confident and have a lot of belief in my cash plays, I'm knocking the SnG's and MTT's on the head and I'm not going to bother playing them, as I just think it's a waste of time if I manage to last 4 hours and then only min cash (Which I have done).

The only thing that's really got my back up since last post was last night when I was on the best heater yet (see graph) and Full Tilt decided to crash ending my best session yet early.

Also I have to post this hand as it got a reaction from pretty much everyone at the table... I just typed 'lol' and amazed myself that I never let me at all.
Which brings me to my next point. Tilt. I have none, I've not once let a hand affect my play so far.

Full Tilt - $0.05 NL - Holdem - 7 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3

Hero (CO): $5.07
BTN: $4.88
INVALID POS: $8.53
SB: $2.80
UTG: $2.40
UTG+1: $6.61
MP: $3.12

INVALID POS posts SB $0.02, SB posts BB $0.05, MP posts DB $0.05

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.12) Hero has Q♣ Q♦

fold, fold, MP checks, Hero raises to $0.25, BTN calls $0.25, fold, fold, MP raises to $3.12 and is all-in, Hero calls $2.87, fold

Flop: ($6.56, 2 players) Q♠ A♣ K♣

Turn: ($6.56, 2 players) 3♣

River: ($6.56, 2 players) J♦

Hero shows Q♣ Q♦ (Three of a Kind, Queens)
MP shows T♦ 9♥ (Straight, Ace High)
MP wins $6.13

3 outer... Was funny the table reaction though... And on that note I'll wrap up my post.

Well, I'm still playing at NL5, and it's taking a bit longer than I first thought to break free from this limit, but I am getting there slowly. I've now played 28,000 hands + and I was really hoping to playing NL10 by now, but my bankroll is still only $170, with my highest peak being $183.

I've increased my volume an awful lot now, mainly due to having a larger bankroll I feel more confident sitting at 14 tables and having less than half my roll at the tables. I could probably play more than 14 tables, and may add more over the coming weeks. Once I switch to NL10 though I'll be back down to four tables, just to get used to betting patterns and to add some hands to my database for that level.

I've watched a few videos, but haven't really delved back into the articles yet as when I watch the videos I don't seem to playing that different from the way that I should be. And I am making good use of my HUD also, making a few Hero calls I am proud of.
Here's my graph anyway.

And here's my BB/100 which I was hoping would be around double this, but guess at least I'm in the ++ and not the --.

I would of had a few more hands in my database, but I played 12,500 rush poker hands for the promo that was running and gained myself a $25 bonus and lost $24.12 playing Rush, so other than the added rakeback it was a complete waste of time and effort and may of added to my winrate at normal FR. Anyway, I have my whole roll back at pokerstars now and I'm soldiering on through the dreaded micros.

Once I get to the NL10 I'll make my posts a little more frequent, but for now, I'll just stick to odd updates. Later people

Just a quick post to say I hit $189 in my bankroll and unlocked a stellar reward at Stars giving me the bankroll to hit the NL10 tables finally! ♦

I'm 47 cents short but I'm sure that I can live with that. As long as the poker gods don't mind :).

If I should lose I'll move back to NL5 at $125. But now I'm happily trotting off to the NL10 tables after 31,669 grueling hands battling through the NL5 donks, at least for now and I hope forever it's over!!

Well I had my first session of NL10 and how I managed to end in profit is beyond me. I think I'll show you the hands today so you can see what I mean. It was a harsh session and I'm glad I stuck to only four tables as across 20 tables this blog entry could of had a different tone.

On review I should of bet a lot more on the turn here, however over 101 hands villain was running at 18/4 so I thought he'd smell my aces if I overbet. By trying to keep him in the pot, I allowed him to hit his second pair. Although as the hand played out I may of saved money here. So unsure of if I employed the correct tactic or not.

I also ran KK into AA (lost a full BI) and QQ into KK (Lost a full BI) in a blind battle, I was on the SB and the aggressor against a player across 50 hands that was playing 51/4. So I always thought I was more than ahead in that spot.

I ran my AK (allin preflop) into the QQ of the table fish, luckily he only had $4 of his stack left though. I never improved.

Here's a screenshot of my session graph, and my very last hand of the session I got aces and managed to win a full stack against QQ which was nice.

And my session details.

So even though I had a pretty unlucky session to begin with at NL10 I still ended up a BI and 13BB/100. Which I am pretty happy with.

One thing I'm not so happy with though is just how tight the NL10 tables actually are at Pokerstars, the last time I played there it was easy to find tables that had 25% players per flop, but last night I was lucky to find any 15%+.

I guess that's all for now. I'll probably add regualr session reviews now as I want to make sure I am studying my game enough to capture any major leaks.

Thanks for reading. And good luck at the tables.

Well I've now played over 2,000 hands of NL10 (2,255 to be exact) and I've got to grips with the betting patterns and the increased pot sizes. I still playing well (at least I think I am), and above all else I'm in profit! ♦

Here's my graph for NL10 so far.

And here's my overall stats.

And here's a hard lay down I was forced to make today, much to my dismay, had the flush card not dropped, I think I could of taken a nice pot pot down here.

I've definately fell back in love with poker again, I don't know if it's because I'm winning or because so far I've done all this with no help meaning that I must be at least semi-decent at the game. I also have to say that I guess it could of been a different story if I started my new limit on a downer, but as it stands, I enjoy every second I'm sat at the tables, and since I've moved to NL10 and reduced the amount of tables I'm playing (I'm playing 6 now) I notice more and feel confident on my reads. I do know the basic maths of the game and how to use my HUD in the correct manner and although I've not refered to any articles this time round it was this stite that taught me how to do that. So once I've settled into my new limit I intend to start reading somemore of the articles that helped me get this far in the first place.

I don't want to jinx myself, but I am really playing my A-Game right now and have hardly put a foot wrong over the last 10,000 hands, even PTR has my "hot rating" at 84/100, I know the site isn't 100% accurate or anything to judge your game by really, however it's nice to be rated as good I guess. I only hope I can continue my way through the limits and become a regular winning player at a decent limit. I know I'm only working my way through the micro's but I hope this actually the start that I need to get some where close to playing poker as a suplement to my income.

I mentioned before that Pokerstars seems very tight at NL10, but this actually seems to suit me as it makes the fish a lot easier to spot when they do sit at the table and if you're not playing a fish then you are playing a reg and if he seems overly aggresive then unless I have a decent holding I know it's time to let go of my hand. Infact it's actually quite funny sometimes when you are sitting on a table of 9 and 7 players are regulars and there are a couple of fish as you soon see the fishes getting chipped away and eventually getting felted.

Till tomorrow, good luck at the tables everyone.

Today, and last night after my last post (I Knew I'd jinx myself) I come to blog about my about bad news.

Yep, after a handful of bad sessions, I'm no longer in profit at NL10, and I do have myself to blame in some places, but mainly I hit a few coolers. I'm not that downbeat about it, however, it would of been nice to continue my run of getting one bad beat for every 3 or 4 good hands that stood up.

I had to format my PC AGAIN today (I think that it maybe a component that's causing the issues though not software) I opened the full tilt software to make sure all was working and I made the error of looking at the NL10 tables and saw that the % of players per flop was on average around 10 - 15% higher than Stars. So I withdrew $200 and chucked back into the FT software, well I say $200 but due to FT having a different exchange rate to Stars for whatever reason and the small fee I only managed $190.

I left about $20 or so in my Stars account which is now gone as I decided to have a break from cash I'd play some tourneys, and I failed to cash in any. Tut!

After that I decided to open up the FT tables and play a bit of cash, and I had some bad luck to say the least, not that it affected my play at all, but I almost started calling my bad beats as the cards got flipped. I just saw them coming. My personal favourite was FH over followed very closely by flush over my set of jacks that both made it on the river. I couldn't put him on the flush though due to the play. I'll post it and maybe you'll see different, but for me this fish didn't have a flush (except he did).

I know I didn't lose a full stack here, but this guy was doing my head in and this beat kind of hurt and had me snarling at the screen a bit. Lol

Amidst the chaos of a few dubious calls on my part that I have made my lungs pay for (I smoked a lot) and the coolers I did have one saving grace that made my losses that little bit easier to swallow. The jacks came back and gifted me this felting two players.

The guy on the button obviously holds a grudge as every raise I made after this he called, which worked out very well for me as I slowly pulled another $8 out of his bankroll.

On the subject of the hand above, my HEM in the EV difference column lists this as -$2.56, please if someone is reading this tell how the hell that works? As I am not losing to anything but running Kings or the case 4. So surely this can't be negitive EV?! I might post and ask a hand evaluator actually.

I'm not going to post a graph today as it looks depressing and I don't want to see it again :P. But I will play on at NL10 and try to steer clear of slipping back to NL5 as that may just crush my soul more than when I flopped quad aces and only managed to take down a pot of $1.10! when there were two others in the pot with me.

Anyway, I hope I can post better news tomorrow, and if it's worse then so be it, at least I have my BRM to help me from going broke. Or at least I hope it does. ♦

I am not losing to anything but running Kings or the case 4

Because you won, the $ev difference from if that hand was run infinite times is negative $2.56 per hand, meaning on average you would win $24.40 rather than the whole $26.96.

Hope that helps.

Originally posted by jmackenzie

I am not losing to anything but running Kings or the case 4

Because you won, the $ev difference from if that hand was run infinite times is negative $2.56 per hand, meaning on average you would win $24.40 rather than the whole $26.96.

Hope that helps.

Yeah thanks, I actually realised this after I posted the hand in the Hand Evaluation forum. It was early and I imported the information wrong in my head thinking this was actual EV. Thanks for the reply though

I'm going to change the format of my blog because basically I want to keep it neat and tidy and make it a bit more easy to follow. (Mainly for me).

So a I'm posting a quick round up of what I've done so far so I have a starting point for my next post! I also lost a few hundred hands during the FT updates so my profit is actually slightly higher or lower than it should be, but rather than backtrack and create HH's to correct it and all that crap I'm just going to start from my next post to get it all aligned again.

Beat NL5 - 31,669 Hands @ 6.67BB's/100. Total Profit: $105.57

Playing NL10 - 7641 Hands @ 0.97BB's/100. Current Profit: $7.03

Starting Bankroll = $80.00

Bonuses and Rakeback Added = $43.94

Estimated Tournament Entries = $30

Tournament Returns Estimate = $3

$'s Lost In Fees and Conversions Estimate and FT Update = $15

Current Bankroll = $194.33

That all works out to within cents so my estimates must be about right! ♦

I'm going to totally ignore MTT's and just update from a starting balance of $0 as I don't really play them and I don't have a proper records of them either. I've also purged my Rush poker hands from my database as I lost exactly what I gained from the bonus in promo week except the $22 RB obviously

That's all for now and when I've finished at the tables for today I'll update with my new format.

The day started well and I pulled my bankroll a few cents over the $200 mark. Once I reached that point AGAIN I took myself a little break while chomping down on some hard earned lunch and watching a little TV.
Feeling confident and full of expectation I opened another 4 tables and proceeded to enter a shit storm that only the satanic force of the poker underworld could of mastered, and I'm sure the coven stood back and marvelled at their display of harshness. There was so many bad beats bestowed upon me that it almost knocked me down to the fiery hell from whence it eminated. I would start telling you about them, but the truth is it's boring and predictable, so I'll let you use your own poker knowledge to visulize them.
I managed to work my way to only 73 cents from where the lords of the poker underworld had put me and my ego took over and instead of taking a break when I raked in that last $19 pot that took me to the break even point I continued to play to make up that last 73 cents and post a profitable session. Little did I know the dirty underworld hadn't finished and two more bad beats knocked me back to -$21.34 over just 769 hands.

I played most hands correctly and how it should of been and I seriously feel that if I didn't have my poker mentality in check I could of very easily spilled my whole bankroll across these tables. The worst part of it is out of all the losing hands I think after looking back through my session history I was only outplayed in two pots and anyone could of made the errors that I did. I also over-bluffed on one pot where I totally misread the situation losing further $6. Whoops.
It was at this point that I closed my tables and ate my prawn pasta salad stuck the box on to watch the modern classic The Fight Club and write this blog entry.

I thought as some people do read this I'd add a few things about myself as and when the mood struck me and today as job hunting is weighing heavy in my life right now I'd tell you about my best job so far.

I used to work for a security company called Showsec and this position gave me the unique opportunity to rub shoulders with rock legends, pop stars, and premier league footballers. The most famous concerts/people I was responsible for were ACDC, Greenday, Brittany Spears (Which was great as I was in the pit and got a perfect view of her in her cheerleader uniform, even if I was supposed to be watching the crowd.), Bon Jovi and his wife (The Bitch) and Primal Scream. There were others but I think you get the idea. I was also sent to Leeds United and Leicester City Home matches when they were in the premiership. The most notable moment of which was when I was behind the goalmouth and Robbie Savage smashed a shot just wide and it belted me on the back of the head. Much to my dismay not only did I have the home fans heckling me but it happened to be a MOTD feature match so the whole world had the opportunity to witness my embarrassing moment.

It's been rough today having all my premiums beaten, but I have at least started a nicer looking blog (In my opinion), and added some goals for myself. I know the goals are not what is expected but each of these goals require a decent volume of hands to be played and obviously I'll need to keep reviewing my sessions and improving my play to reach each one. And after each one is completed I'll have something to show for it and I'll really feel like I have accomplished something. So just incase you were wondering that is my motivation behind my goals. I only hope I don't have to put up with many more days like today to obtain them. However I'm sure there will be plenty of them.

I hope you like the new layout and if not sorry but it cures my OCD need for order and neatness, plus it's my blog and I prefer it this way. I'll add a graph and picture of my stats on the first of each month to visulize whatever I may of been blogging about.

I starting playing as I usually do last night by opening 6 NL10 tables, refering to my HUD to make sure I had at least two dubious players at each. I then continued to play my usual tight-aggresive style, and I hit a few a hands, but I either got outdrawn or just took down a small pot. It happens, and as a poker player you have to accept it or you will end up tilting off your bankroll and letting the game leave you with a bitter taste in your mouth.

While I was at the tables I started to adjust my playing style, open raising with less than good cards but still spectulative enough that I could hit a flop hard and totally decimate any opponent that got a small piece, or 3-betting a lot wider than my usual 2-3%, or just being uber aggressive trying to represent hands with little holdings or just a draw. I'd bet into pots that nobody seemed to want to claim and take them for my own. For about 500 hands this style was working great and I recovered all the losses from getting outdrawn with my bigger hands earlier on in the session. I thought great! I've nailed it, I've found a better formula than being a TAG.

Then I tried a few more moves along the same lines and got suitably slapped back down to the red area when a few of the players decided they'd had enough of my antics and started calling me down or slow playing their monsters. Catching me out on missed draws, or allowing me to bet my random two pair into their set or full house. So I withdrew my random foray into the LAG style and realigned myself back to my usual, predictable and rather boring TAG self. Which didn't really work either as I still left the tables with just over two buyins being in other players bankrolls.

I went to bed and thought about my night and how I had played as I started to drift off to sleep and they still weighed heavy on mind today as I helped my father tidy up the loose ends on the extension that we'd built.

I'm all for reviewing sessions, improving your game and finding leaks, but during the course of this 16 hour period I decided that I feel my biggest leak is the way I am playing on a regular basis. However, when I've tried to open my range and expand my plays I think I've just over compensated one way or the other and if I was to fine tune the two contrasting styles that I displayed last night then I'd be less predictable and also enjoy the game that little bit more. I can obviously play both styles, I knew when to lay down my not-so-good hole cards if I faced aggression from certain players and only had a minor hit on the flop, at least I did when I started playing this way but as I got paid more and more, I started being looser and looser and caring less and less. I guess I got carried away with myself a bit and didn't realise that by playing the way I was I had once again not only became predictable, but also not to far from the plays of the donkeys that we all know and love that just spew there chips into the pot for no apparent reason other than they must like losing money.

I guess there is a thin line between a genius play and an idiotic one, and last night I played my fair share from both sides of this divide and it's not an experience I wish to repeat, but it is a style that I would love to perfect and will strive to do so, I only hope I can stay on the right side of the line whilst I try.

Hi, Mr M, keep it up - great reading!

Just one observation: in a couple of your hands above (I'm thinking of the ones where you had AA) you observed that you should have bet more on the turn and I totally agree.

Especially in the hand where you are against 2 opponents and there are 2 flush draws out there on the turn. Go for max value against the NL10 fishes!! I think you should bet at least pot here. $1.40 into pot of $3.45 with two opponents, both of whom may be drawing isn't enough, imo. On the River, I don't think you gain anything by betting $2. Only better hands will call once the flush hits.

GL with the journey!!
Tim

p.s. For some unknown reason I absolutely love that fireflies song too

Today I sat down at around 8pm to play my first session and I looked at the measly $160ish that remained in my bankroll after last nights weird and wonderful experiment went wrong (I didn't quite know what to call it), and I saw that I was very close to being pushed back to NL5 so instead of tempting fate I opened 16 NL5 tables and thrashed out a session that saw me playing 1,211 hands per hour! The session started badly, although not through any fault of my own this time (you don't get time to play around and make bad plays), I simply got outdrawn within the first 300 hands way to much for my liking or ran my big pocket pairs into bigger hands and lost 2 flips with QQ vs Ax (loose players I don't generally go all in with QQ preflop if there is heavy resistance). Undetered I continued to play on and when I decided it was time to close the tables and take a break I noticed something funny that on every table I was sat at (16 remember) I was at least $1.20 above the initial $5 buy in. Obviously I have auto reload so wasn't in profit on every table. So after the BB had reached me on every table and I checked my tracker to see what profit I had made I was actually shocked and disappointed to see I was $1 in the minus. I know I'd lost a few stacks with standard beats set over set flush over straight and that kind of thing but I really thought I'd be in profit, then I kicked myself for leaving the tables while I was up on every one wondering if I left at wrong time.

I know I played pretty well and upon my review it confirmed this and apart from a few hands where I could of possibly made laydowns, but given the opponents chose to call on the river, or raise rather than check. I really enjoyed the session none-the-less as I love the constant pinging of the tables and the major focus you have to apply to be able to multi-table. I'm now toying with the idea of sitting at NL5 till my bankroll hopefully one day hits $300 again and multi-tabling the same at NL10. I'd need the increased roll so that I still have half my bankroll safely in my cashier as it makes me focus less on the losses when I know I have plenty in reserve. I used to argue with people that it didn't matter how much your bankroll was as long as you stuck to BRM when multi-tabling, I see what they all meant now.

I sat and watched some random programmes on the TV for a while then returned to my PC and opened full tilt, but I really didn't fancy playing cash so I played 2 sessions of 4 x $2 SnG's and the results were good, much to my surprise. I didn't expect to come away without cashing in at least 2 out of eight but I also didn't expect to have this result either, it's not a mazing but I feel good for someone that hasn't played a SnG for about 2 -3 years.
I took first twice, second twice and third once. For a total profit of $14.40. I'm not under any delusions that I should switch to SnG's as I simply haven't put the time into ICM training that would be required but as a break from the norm, they offered a nice change of pace from cash games and also a nice little profit. In one of my first place finishes I was actually a 5 - 1 dog in chips and turned it round nicely to take it down which had me feeling all proud of myself!

I'm still not really doing well at all but I am still enjoying my game and trying my best to find any leaks that I can in a effort to improve, I usually spend almost the amount of time looking through my hands and stats in HEM as I do actually playing poker. I didn't make my 100 points I wanted for Ironman today either but I only have 3 days left at 100 points to obtain my status so there's plenty of time. Overall a bad day at the cash tables only managing a break even session (+$3 or -$3 I count as break even at micros) but I had fun and a nice winrate playing my SnG's which I may do a bit more often when the cash games seem like a daunting task. I think I'm just in a bit of a rut in terms of cash games games right now, and I hate refering to EV as it sounds like an excuse and I don't really pay that much attention to it as pretty much every grinder will be under EV. That being said I do feel a bit hard done by when I'm losing my bankroll and my EV line says there should be an extra $42 in my bankroll. I've experienced a period myself that was well over 10BI (I forget the exact amount now)under EV and know that this should just be accepted as moaning and trying to justify it will never get me (or anyone else for that matter) anywhere at all.