About me:
28 white dude with 2 bachelors (Pre med and petroleum engineer) like to wear bose and a jacket. Table image is whatever, they dont really care how many times I show down with sets, they continue to pay me anyways. I started poker when I was 18 on party poker and figured "hey Im smart, i should win." Not the case!! You need to know at least something about position and pot/hand odds to win. I lost at least $3000 frok 18-27. 2 months ago I quit my job and studied poker for 4 days and downloaded a few hand packs on a poker trainer app.
Now: 11 games and 76 hours, Im up $4600. Cashed positive 8/11 times. Max loss 300, max win 1250. Ive played in 5 different casinos, and two different countries.

So my view:
Disclaimer: as with any poker situation, the phrase "it depends" reins true. But I see this strategy as massively profitable in general.

Play tight aggressive. People dont pay attention anyways, as I mentioned before.
Be extremely aware of position, I have folded AJ from utg+1 many times...
Dont get too much in the pot preflop unless you have a premium in which case you want to isolate.
Continuing previous point: Cbets/bluffing get almost no respect, so I see cbetting with very little to nothing as a losing venture unless you can get yourself to 2 barrel and 3 barrel.
Screw situations that are slightly +ev. Why bother dealing with situations that are barely profitable and cause massive up and down swings when hugely profitable situations happen all the time!! Hence my view of not getting too much in the pot preflop unless you have a premium.
Pot control!

I know my strategy is fairly simplistic, and I do deviate from it time to time in places where Ive created huge implied odds, or the table is playing absolutely nuts, but it works.

Now the real question is, how much do I have to change my game if I want to move up to 2/5? Surely, range considerations need to be less qualitative, and I need to be less predictable to get paid off?

Anyway, that's my take on it.

One addition though:
When I say dont get too much in preflop, that doesnt mean dont raise preflop!
I almost never limp, but I rarely 3bet without premiums.

11 games and 76 hours

That sample size is nothing to be fair.... A few good sessions can show massive wins.

If you have the roll to play 2/5, there is nothing wrong with playing 2/5 if you think you can win etc etc, just know to move down if you start losing so you are adequately rolled.
(I'm assuming your roll is mega deep here, like 40 buy ins+ for 2/5)

At the same time, I think it would be way more wise to build a roll and get a feel for more hours at lower limits before moving up.
I know people who play 60 hours+ a week, so your sample is very small and you should consider playing more hours before evaluation.

You've only played 76hrs of live poker in 2 months? Am I reading that correctly?

Lol, I want to play more man!! When i do I routinely go for 10+ hours. Im just busier while unemployed than when I was employed... Also been in europe for a month. Took 1000 from Prague casinos tho.

My roll is not ready I agree. Im rolling myself purely on poker profits, so when i finally stop traveling, ill be grinding 1/2 hard to get there.
I am a bit worried that the sample size is small, its just the consistency at which I am achieving my wins is what gives me confidence that the numbers are significant. Anyway, alot more poker to play. I know there are leaks in my game, so I try to improve every day.

Thanks for the vote of confidence!

The part about screwing +EV situations is probably a leak you want to look into plugging.

Best poker player....ever. ;-)

Bobman, your point is right in that a properly rolled played should go for all +EV spots he can find but in this case, with a short roll and limited experience, I tend to agree with OP about potentially skipping some thin spots to wait for the meatier spots. Properly rolled, different story.
When I'm running bad or when my bankroll gets light because I've used a chunk to pay for vacation or something like that, I skip spots that are 51/49 and try to find spots where I'm 2-1 favorite instead. So much depends on opponents, stacks, situations, too. Ship $500 on a thin spot? Probably pass. Ship $100? Let's gamble.

Original poster, enjoy the ride. It's nice to have a "run good" to start your journey. You'll have streaks where you can't lose and ones where you can't win. Your sample size right now is LOL small for you to draw meaningful conclusions but your general strategy to play tight aggressive and be hyper aware of position will serve you well. Add another key factor: always know stack sizes. And focus on playing for stacks, not winning pots. You'll win and lose lots of pots. Always be aware of which players' stacks can pay you off or cripple you and which stacks are too small to be meaningful in certain gambling spots.

When I look on sessions and results, it seems often, the session is dictated by one or two key hands. There's one or two big pots that you either win or lose and that controls the overall results to a large degree. As you evaluate your play, think about those spots: did you get it in good? Did you ship a draw and catch lucky? There will be tons and tons of small pots that will impact your hourly rate, but there will also be thousand dollar pots that will have an outsized impact on your individual session results. As you evaluate your play, focus on these because making a big mistake is so costly in this game.

Playing these hands better can be a function of experience. Can you fold top pair? Can you fold an over pair? Can you fold a draw when not getting the right price? Can you mix up your play enough to put yourself in a position to invest a small amount to flop lucky and then stack someone? Does winning or losing s big pot put you on tilt?

Good luck.

I'm going to lock this before it gets trolled too much. I'll summarize what the consensus is.

1. You are running extremely well. Your winrate is over $60/hr. That isn't sustainable. A good, solid player is going to win around $20/hr at 1/2.

2. Your strategy is beginner level basic even after playing for 7 years. Poker players that make a long term living at it are continually building their knowledge base. Books can't take you where you need to go.

3. You also aren't being honest with yourself. You said you played 76 hours in 11 sessions, or less than 7 hours per session on average. Yet you said you routinely play 10 hours+ per session. One of these statements aren't true. Poker players that make it are brutally honest with themselves, because nobody will be honest with them. Players want losing players to tell themselves they are just running bad. They'll tell them that their strategy is good and just need to play it longer.