Back to playing after break of 13yrs

Yesterday was difficult to pick up good games and only played 116 hands but it was a good up day making 101c or 21.77BB/100 which takes my win rate up to 0.71BB/100 for 15,109 hands played. I am back to roughly even after the first 4 days of the month -3c but my tourney ticket value is now $37 so a small positive.

Well disaster again yesterday with villains playing any 2 cards and feeling more like the lotto, also players raising and getting aggro with any 2 cards. Played 450 hands for a loss of 6.28BB/100, this takes my win rate down to 0.51BB/100 for 15,559 played.
I now fully realise why players stop playing with tools like that around throwing caution to the wind the variance and losses like that at the higher levels must put a lot of players off. The two biggest enemies are variance and yourself, psychology is such an important aspect of this game and must not be under estimated. Also used some tourney tickets but no good still have $31 worth of these left. The losing stretch will carry on today no doubt.

Yesterday started badly again losing 25BB but things then began to turn around and I had a good winning day ending up 130c or 7.24BB/100 for 449 hands played, this takes my win rate back up to 0.70BB/100 for 16,008 hands played. So after 6 days of the month gone I am up all of 14c.
Also played a few tourneys but did not do very good but I still have $26.50 left of tourney tickets.
I have decorators in today so will play less hands.

Congratulations on your incredible achievement! Your dedication and hard work have truly paid off. Here's to many more successes and a bright future ahead!!♠_drink:

Thanks 1devill, I know it is small stakes but you have to build the walls before you have a castle!!
Only played 280 hands yesterday but it was a good winning day maybe I am on an upward run here's hoping I won 144c or 12.86BB/100, this takes my win rate to 0.91BB/100 for 16,288 hands played. If I have another up day of 100c+ then I will be back to over 1BB/100.
I won a 3 man sit n go for a ticket into another event but did no good, tourney tickets are now $25.

Well yesterday I played 441 hands for a pretty flat day only 5c down or 0.28BB/100 it was a mixed session with maniacs busting my pocket QQ but I won a big hand with AA at the end. My current win rate is 0.88BB/100 for 16,729 hands played.
The highlight of the day though was that I won a 3 man sit n go for $11 ticket, which is rare they are normally $1 or $1.50.
Tourney tickets are now $36.

So yesterday I played 348 hands for a modest profit of 33c or 2.37BB/100, there was one table where I had a maniac on either side of me yikes!!!
The one on my left raised the flop with A high when I hit 2nd pair, by the time I got to the river the pot was giving me 10/1 to call so I called and took down the pot, this tip I remember in one of the training videos.
My current win rate is 0.91BB/100 for 17,077 hands played. My tourney tickets are now worth $37 after I won a $1 three man sit n go, which gives me a seat at a 16 man sit n go. Since I changed my SB play my hands won have increased from 16% to 17%+.

I'm in the same spot. I just started playing again, after 15 years off. I used to play mostly cash games, but had to quit, to be a responsible parent. Now, as my kids are ready to go off to college, I can put a little time into the game.
I'm finding the new style of play strange. I came up in the tight aggressive, era. And now, I'd be considered a Nit. There's a lot of new theory out there, and I'm looking forward to learning it.

You will soon pick it up again and if you quit last time due to variance I strongly suggest keeping to one table for the first month, I used to play in casino poker events too doing ok in them overall but can be time consuming. Which site you playing on? Stars give free step tickets in real money games you could win a silver pass worth $2,500.

I'm playing on Stars. I got a ticket into the 109$ and ended up 2 spots out from the money. It was a bit of a let down, but it was also encouraging on my first day back.

Oh nice so close yet so far, you are doing better than me I have 3 $11 tickets but not tried using any yet, I want to get 7 or 8 of them before trying for a $109 seat.

i never got past of the level 3, the $11 tournament.. it might be rigged by the house or by the guard who works there.. heavily guarded.. full of limpers this time.. 88 vs A2 i lost ofc vs random push 100bb deep

Yes there is a lot of limping about though I think its just people trying to find a decent strategy for playing, maybe min raising, shoving or limping, none of them is ideal. I think you need the right time to do each one. Yesterday was really strange in my spin and go 3 man I got AQs first hand and all in against A9o he hit runner runner str8 and then later I played a step 2 got AQs again first hand all other 3 go all in do I call or fold? I decided to call as I would have only 25% chips left after 2 go out against villain that is left, they held up but I worked out there was 21 outs against me on the river so lucky.
I ended up 2nd in this event so not much gain. Tourney tickets stand at $37.50.
Yesterday was a good up day making 112c for 369 hands played and 7.59BB/100 this takes my in rate to 1.05BB/100 for 17,446 hands played. So nice to be back up above the important 1BB/100 next I need a buffer for bad days so would be nice to get it up to 1.25 then 1.5BB/100. I have noticed the bad days are running at 20% so the same rate as AA lose or 9/45 days played so far, average hands played per day 388 making end of year around 96,600 hands.
Stars has maintenance today.

Could not get on to play until late in the day but still managed to play 282 hands for a flat day of +2c or 0.18BB/100, this takes my run rate to 1.04BB/100 for 17,728 hands played.
The first rule in poker in my mind is not to lose money and the second rule is do not forget rule number one. Therefore when it comes towards the end of the day say 2 hours or less of possible play finishing the day up is uppermost in my mind. Tourney tickets are unchanged at $37.50.

Well we have a variance crisis such a nasty animal it is, had my worst day since I started losing 237c or 9.36BB/100 for 633 hands played, think u play worse when u r losing too which never helps. I tried starting a new table and this made matters worse so I need to sit out until I have 4 players playing.
My win rate is now 0.68BB/100 for 18,361 hands played over 47 days. So solutions are required, one thing I have noticed to help reduce the bad play is to stop after losing a set amount say 25-30BB. If I had started doing this on bad days and losing an average of 110c or 27.5BB I would be $4.20 better off. When added is my table profit of $4.98 this is significant and would have given me a win rate of 1.25BB/100. This seems to be the only realistic workable solution, another solution but an unrealistic one is to try and win a set amount per day but this is doomed to failure in my opinion, in the long run or trying to make a set amount per day on a staking plan basis. I will do some more study today too maybe time to look at implied odds section. I did win a seat in the step 3 path though so I now have four $11 tickets worth $44.
Any help or advice anyone can give will be fully considered, I will scrutinise my tracker on the bad days played too to see if I can spot anything.

Not much play yesterday as I was doing research and study which often happens when I have a very bad day. I only played 85 hands for a winning day of 89c though that's a win rate of 26.18BB/100 and takes my running win rate to 0.80BB/100 for 18,446 hands played.
I won a spin and go so got a $1.50 ticket to a step 2 which takes my tourney tickets to $45.50. I am starting to look at other ways of playing and not ruling out anything in yesterdays post. I will keep you posted on any change but I like the possibility of varying the amount of play depending on results, more work to be done in this area.

Well back to more normal play levels played 297 hands but was a bad losing day -122c or 10.27BB/100 and takes my running rate to 0.62BB/100 for 18,743 hands played. There is no change in tourney tickets still $45.50.

Could not find good games to play yesterday but played 228 hands for a good winning day +116c or 12.72BB/100 and takes my win rate up to 0.77BB/100 for 18,971 hands played. Won a spin and go but lost in 16 man sit n go so no change in tourney tickets still $45.50.
I am slowly plugging leaks but sometimes they are hard to spot and sometimes you can make a change which is needed but make the wrong change, lets hope I avoid that.
I am also wondering if it is worth also learning a new game like Omaha?

Well today played only 100 hands for a winning day of +58c or 14.50BB/100 and takes my win rate up to 0.84BB/100 for 19,071 hands played. There is no change in tourney tickets still $45.50, I needed some me time today and had things to do.
However I can say I have started an experiment on making a target profit figure for the year for playing less hands and having more time for yourself instead of being a slave to the PC.
If anyone wants to me to explain how I have arrived at the numbers I will be pleased to do so and also how it should work in practice. I have been called a penny warrior and this also might come across as being nitty or tight but profit is profit no matter how small.

Not good today had to invoke the stop loss after losing 110c after only 75 hands for a loss of 36.67BB/100 this takes my win rate down to 0.69BB/100 for 19,146 hands played. Tourney tickets went up slightly as I have a spin & go ticket to use so they are now $46.
It meant I had free time to play my WOW and got my hunter character to level 70. Better luck next session!!