I made this account so I could thank you for all the work you have done in this thread. I read everything and it was a very good read.

I made a shift to the cashgames lately. I have played sng's and mtt's for more than a year and I could beat them pretty good, until I got to the point where there were too much regs when I wanted to move up. So I thought about something else and gave cashgames a try.

I am running pretty bad atm, but still got a 2bi profit over 20k handes 25NL or so, but 6 bi under ev.

That still isn't very good, mostly because I find myself making dumb calls where villain obv has it (I make the call because of tilt). Tilt is something I really have to work on.

I don't think I will play higher than 400NL this year. That said, this is still a lifetime away. I think that once I have around $2K in the account I will jump into some HU tables which I consider my bread-and-butter. That said, I present you yesterday at 25NL:



Dealing With Losing:

I think it's really important to address days like this because this type of day can easily break you as a poker player (a 6BI drop like this accounted for around 10% of my roll at the time).

As you can see, I jumped out to 2 BI's early on and after than simply couldn't win. It was your standard 2, 3 and 4 outers, as well as losing flips and getting generally coolered (AK vs. KK BvB). Yes, there is probably at last a buy-in of bad play there - this is almost inevitable in this sort of stretch. Regardless of how it happens, this post is not going to be about how life is unfair - it's going to address the issue of managing a downswing.

1. As soon as you feel that it's not your night, stop playing. Just quit right there and then. Even if it's only for five minutes, sit out (don't wait to unpost your blinds, just sit out and walk away).

For me, it happened after getting in AK vs. AA for a 250 BB pot vs. a 27/25 who 3-bets 21% of hands. This put me down at -$35 for the night and I stopped. I went downstairs, did the dishes, folded some laundry, and decide to take another shot at the tables. This time I decided to play some full-ring which should reduce my variance.

2. Find something which will minimize your variance. Yes, this means that your winnings will be lower, but so will your losses. When you seem to be on a downswing, it's a victory to just stop losing for a stretch.

For me this was moving to a full-ring format. Unfortunately, one one of the very first hands I got AK vs. AA Blind-on-Blind and was down another buy-in. Soon after that I lost QQ vs. 89o AIPF for a 90BB pot and the nut straight vs. a full house. Full ring was not going to work.

3. If you are still losing, stop playing all together. Time to go back and re-examine your bankroll. If you are still comfortably rolled for your limit, come back the next day (but not before you carefully review EACH of your hands and honestly ascertain whether in fact you could have lost less or won more in each of your big pots.

I feel that one of my strengths is being able to make good folds in correct spots. A huge leak of many uNL players is the inability to fold what they consider to be a good hand. I will give you an example of a fold that I normally make but I didn't yesterday:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?5132129

At the time I just felt that it was a fold but I didn't listen to my inner-voice. This is when I knew it was time to quit - when a part of me was blocking out my poker instincts.

For those of you that haven't seen Durrrr play at Patrick Antonius at the Aussie Millions, go do it now! There are four parts and you will grow as a player. Here are the Cliff Notes:

Durrrr continues getting great hands but Patrick ends up with better ones by the river again and again. Durrrr is forced to fold time after time and seems to do it without showing too much emotion. It is almost unreal how badly he runs and how he continues to make the right play during that run. At no point did he stop listening to his inner voice.

Going From Here:

Your bankroll is everything. I took today off and will play some 10NL full ring tomorrow. The reason for this is simple: With $593 in my account, I have 59 BI's for 10NL and not even 24 for 25NL. Losing 4 BI's at 10NL would represent a 7% hit to my roll, whereas losing 4 BI's at 25NL would be a 17% hit to my roll. Psychologically, I know I can play my A-game with 59 BI's, but am not sure if I really could with only 24 at this point.

Note: There are times when I think I can play my A-game with only 4-5 BI's, but for the sake of this project, re-depositing is not an option, so protecting my bankroll is my priority # 1. Thus, if it gets low, it effects how I'm able to play.

Once I win $30 - $40, I will jump back at some 6-max 25NL tables, but I'm in no hurry. Being in a hurry can disastrous for a poker player as it forces you to embrace variance - something I don't think is necessary as you move up through the micros.

I will post an update tomorrow on how the day went, but regardless of my results tomorrow, I will guarantee that I will play with a clear head and will play my A-game.

I think I need to take this post to heart. I have lots of trouble with confidence while losing.

V, your last post in this thread, to me at least, is prob top 5 in advice that every player should take away from this.

After losing 2 buy ins I start to steam up, and find that quitting is the only +EV play.

What you said about last years Aussie Millions HU Durrrr vs PA is so dead on, I kept it on my ipod cause i still can't believe he made all those folds. a lesser player could have easily lost millions in that strech.

next time or when you watch it count how many buyin's you would have lost. Granted a good chunk of it is HU PLO that isn't my strong suit at all and assume it isn't the strong suit of most of the players in this fourm but its so sick and those can't be standard folds.

Edit:and another epic great post by Verneer!!

And on the hand you folded, I assume you feel they normally just call with any none full house? They never shove there with AT? I mean i have made some of these folds too, but I don't like laying down a str8 on this board, maybe i am still stuck back in the good old days where they would always stack of with Ax here no matter what. But i do agree that most micro players me included have a very tough time folding a very strong second best hand. My problem is I am just not fimilar enough with the player to know what he would think the best hand or vitual nuts is in that spot.

I'm not sure how you can fold here. I mean, aren't there enough Ax hands in his range to make this a call? You're getting very good pot odds.

Also, isn't the turn barrel a bit thin?

Fantastic post btw. <3 this thread.

Thanks for sharing this Verneer. I moved up to 25NL last week after 4 months and 30k hands at 10NL (where I won at 7ptBB/100) and within 1.9k hands on the first day I was down almost 7 buy-ins ($168). I've never tilted (I think I have a prozac gland ), but this is the closest I've ever come. I realised that the best thing to do was walk away, which I did, fortunately, otherwise my attempt at moving up might have been short lived.

I've played another 1k hands since then, and have won back 6 of those buy-ins (at -$13 now). I'll keep your tips in mind next time I run into a session like that.

Quality stuff verneer, this thread should be read by 50nl & 100nl regs too not so much for the strat posts, but for posts like you just did.

LOL, if only I'd quit early last night... great post.

Let's not educate the SSNL crowd IMO - that way you can crush them when you move up

Right. This is always a boat.

you dont want me to learn a few extra things here and there? (50NL player)

OK first post - I'm Airstreet and I'm learning cash at 10NL so will be here a load.
Vaneer this is most helpful thanks a lot.

I guess 50NL is that limbo level where it's considered uNL on 2+2 but small stakes on CR, so it's ok for now Maybe there will be a thread called "Moving Up Through SSNL in 2011" and we can learn then.