Hey guys.

So I've been playing NL25 and anywhere from 4-6 tables at a time. I've logged about 6K hands or so both on FT and PS and have been running pretty poorly. I've played NL100 before and was a winner (not over a significant amount of hands however) but wanted to refine and evaluate my play so I moved down to NL25 with a 80BI bankroll (Yes super NIT I know).

Now I don't consider to be a great player or know everything there is to know about poker. However, I consider myself to have a slight edge over most players. With that said my confidence is a bit rattled and I'm trying to make ends of things. If I'm running -6BI which is around -13BB/100 after 6K hands am I considered a losing player? I've run into some very bad luck, getting sucked out pretty often on big hands and I haven't had too many heaters. I've lost a buy in or two on hands I know I played poorly cause I was on slight tilt.

Should I re-evaluate my play or wait till 10K hands to see where I end up? Oh yeah and if there's no reason I should be freaking out then let the flaming begin.

Thanks.

Those results can still be within the range of variance I think. 6K just isn't enough hands to be certain.

If you are really worried though how about cutting back to 2 tables for a while? You might be missing some opportunities to pick up chips because you aren't taking time to think. I find that if I play anything over 4 tables I end up making fewer steal attempts and tightening up more than I should.

I have won at over 6 ptbb/100 over a 100K+ sample size and have had many 6K hand downswings.

The bigger issue here is confidence. If your confidence is shot then you have a bigger problem and a 6K hand 6BI downswing. If you are going into a hand/session expecting to lose then you usually will. If you confidence is shot, take some time off and come back refreshed.

GL,
SMS

Thanks for the advice.

I'll continue to grind with the right mindset and see where I end up.

Check the micro-stakes forums (either 6max or FR depending on what you play). Every few weeks there are session reviews you can sign up to. These can help greatly identify some leaks in your game.

I usually drop a level if i feel my confidence getting low. Sometimes I will even drop right down to 5NL or even 2NL six max (i mainly play 25NL full ring now).

I would play some more. with 80BI your not at risk of going broke, and you said you have been running poorly. just continue to play well and re evaluate when you have played some more hands. post some hands in the forum if you think you might me making a mistake.

don't lose confidence. 6BI down isn't that bad really.

Can you post some stats so we can have a look and see if there is anything we can point you towards that needs fixing?

I guess I got some mixed impressions. I read some of the old strategy posts and the starting requirements / way to play were a bit different from some of the new strats. Thus I am reverting to a more "NITtier' style and cutting some of my limping hands (I know limping is never good).

Quick question. Do most of you guys open up a new DB in PT when you guys switch styles or continue on with the same one? I feel like I need to see a new DB to correctly judge how my new style is working.

Thoughts?

6BI's is absolutely nothing to be worried about. I've been down 6BI's and won it all back in the same session many times. **** happens, and the longer you play, the easier it is going to be to deal with downswings. If you really feel that are a winning player, keep doing what you are doing, and it will get better.

why would you make a new database? you can set a date range and view only the hands that you played since a certain day or during a specific week. poker tracker has all kinds of filters like that.

i wouldn't recommend changing your game drastically. if you think you need a new DB, you are probably changing too much at once. If your game needs that much work you might want to drop all the way down to the penny games until you get your barrings. that said please do stop limping, its a very poor play.

There should be some big red sign all over the beginner forum saying that anything less than 30k hands is NOTHING. I personally think I didn't get it hammered enough when I was just starting out either, luckily I've been running okay. I don't even have 30k hands yet.

Seriously. As far as actual winrate goes, 6k is nothing. 10k is nothing either.

If you're certain that you can estimate how good you've run, then I guess we can assing some meaning to a 10k sample size, but in no case anything less.

Still always seek to improve your game.

Get a meaningful sample size and check back.