Since there seems to be a ton of these threads here anyway, I'll throw one more newbie/challenge thread into the mix.

2015 starting situation:

My background in poker isn't much to speak of. In the fall of 2013 I played some MTTs and cash on a euro site basing my game mostly on a preflop hand chart. Last summer I played a GoldStar's worth of NL micros and built $50 into $250, but lost most due to a downswing and poor BRM. I didn't play much after that till December. I've read a couple of introductory books, bought Mathematics of Poker (haven't read much of it yet), and ordered Janda's book. I have some background in math, which might help in learning the game. I live a fairly balanced life, and am happy with things outside poker.

Goals:

Instead of aiming at certain stakes, my goal is just to be able to develop in how I think about and play poker (NL and maybe a little PLO). I'll try to play the best poker I can this year, and accomplish this by 1) studying, 2) playing, and 3) proper BRM.

At the beginning of the year I had about $10 in my Stars account ($11.66 now). I'll start from there at 2 NL, and deposit more if need be.

Oh, and I currently play without a HUD. I'll get one soon, but at the latest if I manage to climb out of the lowest stakes (2-10NL).

In terms of volume I hope to play around a 1000 hands on the days I play. Not many more, to ensure playing A game. I won't have time to play everyday b/c I work full time, but will hope to play on 2-5 days a week.

BRM will be getting 25 BI for the next limit and then taking shots till I float or am down to 20 BI (and return to previous stakes).

Playing style in the micros will be sticking to fundamentals, avoiding trouble, and rarely bluffing. I play 3 tables of zoom (2 tables is a bit slow and with 4 I've felt more mistake-prone).

2k hands at 2 NL, and the tiny roll has more than doubled to $24.72. I don't expect to continue beating 2 NL for 36 bb/100, but it was a nice start for the year.

Update:

January
-Played maybe 20k hands, mostly in 2NL going up and down
-Watched a decent number of videos and thought about strategy

February
-Dabbled in 8-game and PLO for a couple of thousand hands (and busted roll in the process)
-reloaded for ~$43, and started to grind 10NL
-went on a bit of a heater and am at $122 after 1,5k hands

Future
-short term plan plan: focus on reading Janda/MoP and watching videos, play a little 10NL/micro PLO/8 game on the side
-long term plan: get decently grounded in theory, then deposit a larger roll and play bigger games

That aggressive Brm lool , gl

Thanks! Yeah, I agree 4BI for 10NL is really aggressive. But b/c I would always reload if I'd lose that, it's not really the whole roll. Just find it more motivating to play 10NL than grind it up from 2NL, so am depositing the roll instead of fighting for pennies at the lowest limits.

Btw, still running hot to the tune of 50bb/100 on 10NL and roll now close to $150. Surprised to see so many supernovae at 10NL, that weren't there last time I played last summer.

NL:
Well, I tried a HUD out and found out that I EV-broke even at 2NL Zoom (four tables) over a 20k sample. At 5NL and 10NL (four tables) I was losing over a smaller sample. I play better with 2-3 tables (tend to rush decisions with 4 tables), but still... it's pretty obvious I have some truly fundamental leaks to my game. I decided to just read books, scour strat posts, watch videos, and play around with software for now. Once I feel I grasp things better, I'll retry at the micros.

Out of the tons of leaks I'm sure to have, two stand out even to me:
-calling rivers too often - they have it way too often and I need to learn to let go off bluffcatchers
-bluffing at the micros. Seems to only work in very specific spots, since they call way too much

My overall game might even be relatively decent for the micros, but repeatedly making those two mistakes every now and then for fairly substantial numbers of bbs takes a huge toll on the winrate. Part of those mistakes is just me getting impatient and impulsive, when a great hand loses value for the third time in 15 minutes, and I just click call because this is unfair and I want to win pots, too. Or bluffing off stacks with unimproved AK vs bottom pair that likes calling.

The best general strat I could come up with for micros was
1) call almost never pre (aim at 18/16)
2) when in doubt, fold
3) ask "what range does this and what's my equity?"
4) play for volume, not profit

Had I abided by that strat I'm sure I'd have done much better.

What's to be done:
-learn to take a deep breath and really think through big decisions
-learn more theory = less impatient calls/bluffs when they're clearly -EV
-? Don't know yet. But by reading books and posts here & watching videos I find my analytical thinking of the game is improving. As long as one is improving the direction is right.

PLO:
Tried a HUD out and did decently at micros - however sample was so small it's not worth to talk about. PLO can wait, as NL is my main concern for now.

After a bit of theory study, I tried out playing again.

After first dropping around eight BI at 5nl, dropped down to 2nl and begun to grind with a 30 BI roll. I'm now at 47½ BI for 2nl (19 BI for 5nl) with no hurry to move up. I figure I might as well work on fundamentals and gather 30+ BI (maybe even 50) for the next stake before moving up. Many things I struggled with in May seem to be working better now:

1) given they don't fold enough, I haven't bluffed much (of course some)
2) given they don't bluff enough, I mostly haven't called rivers with marginals
3) with less aggressive BRM, I feel less pressure to win pots ("to move up soon") and consequently have an easier time to find folds pre and on all streets

Next planning to finish Sklansky's Theory of Poker and then finally take a better look at Mathematics of Poker and Janda's book. Also watching training site videos (1-5 / week).