From 50 bucks to 100nl?

I'm not so sure, people do like to bluff, I think they may find more bluffs than in theory, TJs being an example of that. For that reason I prefer K4s as a call to KJ. It's a bluff catcher, so I'm less concerned about the relative strength of my hand and more with unblocking the bluffing portion of my opponents range. I think it's pretty easy to over do it with bluffs.

Managed to get a short session in before work, 1800 hands, finished 60 dollars up so the roll is now at $703. Feel I played well, got coolered with AA vs QQ when someone spiked a Q, then another hand I hit a set of jacks vs a set of kings, so I'm happy to be up. My hud is still very useful, some simple pre flop exploits I'm using are widening my opening range on the BU and CO as people play the blinds way too passively, under 3 betting, and widening my 3 betting range vs people who over fold to 3 bets. I'm trying to keep the aggression up, I guess my style is very aggressive and polarizing, it really seems to work as people just don't fight for pots enough, especially the small ones. Soon I must work, should be a quite shift however so I may be able to get some studying done while working. Two days off after today so I'll be able to get a lot of grinding in.

I'm not neglecting my mental game also, I'm making sure to have balance in other areas, eating healthily, exercising, spending time in nature, making sure I get enough sleep and if I don't feel good taking a break. I think the mental game is just as important if not more than studying the theory.

Well stars is down for maintenance which kind of sucks as it's my day off and I wanted to get some volume in. Oh well I'm getting some studying in instead. Currently working on B v B situations which I believe is where my strategy is lacking the most and where I'm most unsure of what to do. I think I also need to work on splitting my sizing's and balancing my betting range on flop and turn as my frequencies are almost certainly not balanced. This is something that is unlikely to be exploited much at 25nl or even 50nl, but I imagine if I reach 100nl I may run into tougher opponents who may pick up on this and start to exploit me for being unbalanced. I think at 25nl it may actually work in my favour to be slightly unbalanced and bet draws at a higher frequency than in theory as people are unlikely to raise thin enough for value and unlikely to start exploiting me. Against good opponents though this is something I need to be aware of so I'm going to try my best to understand the theory and learn some heuristics.

Short session in the books, just 1400 hands. I'm feeling tired and a little drained, a long day of studying as stars was down for maintainance most of the day. I think this is one of those times I need to exercise self discipline and stop playing and come back tomorrow when I feel fresh. In the past I may have just played on, but it's good to be disciplined, I'll book a small win and get some sleep. Tomorrow is a new day. The roll now sits at $722.92

I like your attitude. Glad you had a good little session and have resolved to not play when you're not feeling great. Best of luck at the tables tomorrow!

Thank you, GL to you too

Today is a new day, I'm excited to start playing. First breakfast, coffee then a ride out on the motorbike to collect something, it's a nice ride through the mountains. Then once I'm back perhaps a brief workout and some food, a brief study session then it's time to hit the tables for at least 6 hours possibly 8 or more. I'm 80% of the way towards another 40 dollar bonus which will help the roll when I hit it. The 50nl tables are also calling me, I'm itching to take a shot but I think I'll wait until I at least reach 1k. At 1k I may take a 5 buy in shot at 50nl, if I lose I'll still have 30 buy ins for 25nl and can drop back down. Perhaps this will be my strategy. Obviously long term for grinding a stake 30 buy ins isn't enough, but I'm trying to move up quickly, if you have evidence that you can beat a stake why waste time at a lower limit. I'm confident I'll be able to beat 50nl so I'm excited to try. I'm not sure when I'll be taking my first shot, but hopefully it won't be much longer.

One of my first hands of the session was a fun bluff so thought I'd quickly post it as I don't post hands often

PokerStars - $0.25 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 115.12 BB (VPIP: 23.91, PFR: 17.39, 3Bet Preflop: 4.55, Hands: 47)
SB: 114.92 BB (VPIP: 23.56, PFR: 18.97, 3Bet Preflop: 4.23, Hands: 176)
Hero (BB): 100 BB
UTG: 74.84 BB (VPIP: 22.37, PFR: 15.79, 3Bet Preflop: 3.57, Hands: 78)
MP: 223.12 BB (VPIP: 22.76, PFR: 20.19, 3Bet Preflop: 8.33, Hands: 320)
CO: 115.28 BB (VPIP: 17.55, PFR: 15.43, 3Bet Preflop: 6.43, Hands: 389)

SB posts SB 0.4 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.4 BB) Hero has 5♣ 3♣

UTG raises to 2.2 BB, fold, fold, fold, fold, Hero calls 1.2 BB

Flop: (4.8 BB, 2 players) J♦ 4♣ 3♠
Hero checks, UTG bets 2 BB, Hero raises to 6.16 BB, UTG calls 4.16 BB

Turn: (17.12 BB, 2 players) 2♣
Hero bets 12.28 BB, UTG calls 12.28 BB

River: (41.68 BB, 2 players) 4♥
Hero bets 79.36 BB and is all-in, fold

Hero wins 39.8 BB

I love the play, but I hate that it was against the fish (broken stack). I would do this only against regs.

True, it's risky taking such lines vs fishy players that don't like folding, but I just can't help myself at times haha

another fun one from early in the session. BU vs CO is going to have quite a wide 3 betting range, I rolled a call. on the flop I figure I can knock out some equity from over cards and possibly get worse hands to call vs the small raise. On the turn i decide to down bet which I'd do a lot with 6x and very strong hands like FH. on the river I decide to block for 10%. The river wasn't an easy call but what led me to call was not only the positions, but from what I've seen from people at 25nl Vs down bets when a flush draw is present they often like to raise their strong over pairs, he flatted, they also love to bluff when there's 3 of a kind on the board, so after some deliberation I called and get shown the good news of AK. Perhaps it was a bad play, but it made sense to me at the time.

PokerStars - $0.25 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 105.72 BB (VPIP: 25.64, PFR: 18.80, 3Bet Preflop: 9.30, Hands: 120)
SB: 147.92 BB (VPIP: 50.00, PFR: 20.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 10)
BB: 103.04 BB (VPIP: 21.40, PFR: 18.14, 3Bet Preflop: 9.78, Hands: 225)
UTG: 122.32 BB (VPIP: 23.40, PFR: 21.70, 3Bet Preflop: 10.53, Hands: 240)
MP: 170.6 BB (VPIP: 30.30, PFR: 22.73, 3Bet Preflop: 4.55, Hands: 68)
Hero (CO): 122.24 BB

SB posts SB 0.4 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.4 BB) Hero has 3♥ 3♣

fold, fold, Hero raises to 2.28 BB, BTN raises to 8.24 BB, fold, fold, Hero calls 5.96 BB

Flop: (17.88 BB, 2 players) 6♦ 2♠ 6♠
Hero checks, BTN bets 8.56 BB, Hero raises to 18.12 BB, BTN calls 9.56 BB

Turn: (54.12 BB, 2 players) 9♣
Hero bets 12.4 BB, BTN calls 12.4 BB

River: (78.92 BB, 2 players) 6♥
Hero bets 7.08 BB, BTN raises to 66.96 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 59.88 BB

BTN shows A♠ K♥ (Three of a Kind, Sixes)
(Pre 47%, Flop 32%, Turn 20%)
Hero shows 3♥ 3♣ (Full House, Sixes full of Threes)
(Pre 53%, Flop 68%, Turn 80%)
Hero wins 204.84 BB

Today's session went pretty well! I played 2.7k hands, I took a shot 50nl for 1.3k of them. finished up $218, plus I unlocked another 40 dollar bonus so I'm up $258 for the day. The roll now sits at $981.65
It was cool to experience how 50nl plays on stars. It's very fishy! still plenty of whales and fish, it's absolutely beatable. A few opponents who were slightly trickier to play against but nothing too difficult. It wasn't much different from 25nl, lots of fish and lots of whales. I'm sure 50nl will soon be my new home, I just need to continue to build the roll.

very impressive progress

Thank you, I'm hoping it continues

I am currently at work, less than 4 hours to go however then I can get back to the grind.
Thought I'd share a picture of my grind station haha. I'm curious to see what other people's look like, so if you feel like it reply with a picture of yours.
I'd like a laptop with a bigger screen, something more powerful also, perhaps a gaming laptop. I can't really justify spending money on one atm though when this one works fine. Perhaps one day if I have enough disposable funds.

Candles are pretty toxic, be careful.

Haha I'm sure I'll be fine, although I do have asthma so it's something to consider lol

I may not be done for the night, just taking a break. Up $53 so far, should be more but I punted off $48 with a very unnecessary bluff into a strong range. I must stop! lol. Hey it's still good to be up. The roll is now at $1034 so I've crossed the 1k mark. Perhaps I'll play some more tonight. Currently gorging on some Belgian chocolate and listening to some limp bizkitt to get over my punt lol.

here's my overall graph so far, this doesn't include around 44k hands played at 5nl and 10nl as I switched to PT4. this is 25nl and a tiny amount of 50nl

Nice update! Keep it going!

Careful with the punting at NL50 😀

GLGL

Well I'm posting an update that I didn't want to post, but I feel it's important to be completely honest with myself and others when documenting my journey.
Yesterday my first session went really up until my punt, bluffing into a strong range. it wasn't a terrible play, I had the nut advantage, only I was able to have the straight and I had way more sets, however bet sizing and timing tells and everything about the spot told me this was a strong range, he had made top set on a Q high board. It was a completely unnecessary bluff at 25nl that cost m $48 in total. I still finished the session up $58 but my inability to be disciplined and not take these spots tilted me a little. Later that night and I played again and actually played bad, I ran a little bad but also played bad and was quickly down a few buy ins, so instead finished the day down $39. Then to make it worse I played 1 table of 100nl and lost a flip aip JJ vs AKo, ran it twice and lost both boards. So in total I went from being up $58 to down around $131, the roll is now at $810.

I'm really frustrated that I allowed myself to tilt and not only play bad, but play 100nl when I'm not yet rolled for it. I think how I react now though is important and there's lessons to be learned. The main lesson that I've touched upon before is I think I need to stop taking these marginal lines against strong ranges, most of my money is earned by playing solid poker, not by these big bluffs. sure they're fun but they're costing me money. I also need to work on my mental game and discipline. long term I want to be sufficiently rolled to play 100nl, but to get there will take a little time, i can't rush it. I'm also really hard on myself when i make a mistake or play bad, in a way it's a good thing as it causes me to work harder, but it's also not good for the mental side of the game which is extremely important, more so than the theory.

anyway below are my current results and current graph from 25nl and 50nl. No 5nl or 10nl as i switched huds shortly before moving to 25nl. Today I'm working until 8pm, I'm unsure if I'll play tonight, see how i feel. If others have struggled with tilt and the mental aspect of the game I'd like to hear your strategies for dealing with them.

I'm still fighting those evils but the only way is to stick to your Bankroll management principles! That's the only way to do damages control while trying to work on the root cause...(feeling of injustice, hate of loosing...)

GLGL

This is true, I need to stick within my bankroll management plan. I find that after loosing or making a bad play to build my confidence again studying helps. Today I'm not sure if I'll play after work, but I'll certainly be spending time studying.

Well I have finally hit some negative variance. My session before last i lost a whole 8 buy ins! I ran 150 bucks below ev, lost every flip, got flush over flushed twice, i lost with kings twice and today it seems it's not over. 5 buy ins down today! I guess when you're in a downswing you expect to lose, i open AJs BU flats, flop is AJ4, i think the way it's going they'll have 44, they did of course, I defend 86s in bb, flop A86r, they have 88. I river a flush, they have the nut flush. Hey I guess this is part of the game, but it does suck. I guess all i can do is work on my game and try not to make too many mistakes, my roll has taken a beating, I'm now down to $485. I think the smart thing to do is move back to 10nl and work on my game. I know most of it is just variance, but it's smart to move down. If i knew i was beating the game and was sufficiently rolled to withstand the variance I'd just ride it out, I'm not however, i barley had enough buy ins for 25nl as it was so back to 10nl i go for now.

Currently taking a short break from playing every day. I've been listening to a few podcasts, the mechanics of poker. I found the a few of them really useful, particularly the ones featuring Patrick Howard and Matheus Pinheiro.
It seems a lot of those who have become successful at some point had to find balance in their lives away from the table as well as at it. I had been grinding and studying a lot and not spending as much time in nature or exercising as often. So instead of grinding the other day I went for a hike up a mountain. It felt good to be outdoors. I highly recommend those podcasts to anyone who is looking to improve their mental game, or game overall. If possible I'll link one of them at the bottom.

I'm going to try to have more balance and not focus entirely on poker. I think for longevity it's important, otherwise I'll just burn out. The next few days I'm going to visit family so I'll be having a bit of a mental reset and only studying if I spend any time on poker. Once I return I'll be playing 10nl as my roll is now down to $454 after a few rough last sessions. My sample is still ridiculously low and variance plays such a huge role in everyone's results that it's hard to dicipher much from my current results.

https://youtu.be/wKIfTFuEiUk?si=ZsJq2A7F...

It's been 11 days since I have posted here so thought I'd post an update, when in a downswing I guess it's not easy to post.
Honestly though the downswing is good for me, it has caused me to really think about my game and question what I could be doing wrong. A lot of it is just negative variance, loosing a lot of flips, getting coolered set over set, flush over flush, but it happens. I think I have made mistakes though for sure.
I think one problem may be I have been studying a lot, learning a lot of new concepts and trying to implement them into my game. I think the micros are kind of simple however, exploitative play works best. I'm still studying theory, i think it's important to know the theory so i know how to deviate, but 100% it's best to take the exploitative line. I don't need to worry about being completely balanced as they're not. I have moved back to 10nl temporally while i regain some confidence and rebuild the roll, at 750 bucks I may move back to 25nl, 30 buy ins. the current roll now sits at $484.
One thing I have found that has helped me is actually adding more tables. Instead of 2 zoom tables i have started playing 4. I have found it has helped me in a few ways, one I'm not overthinking spots as i have less time, it's pretty simple at the micros, with that extra time i think I was overthinking at times. I don't need to make complicated or fancy plays to win. I also find it helps me get into the flow state easier as there's less downtime, there's more happening so I feel i actually play better, I was afraid my play may suffer. Another benefit is I'm doubling my hands played, so I'm reducing the variance twice as fast and if I'm beating the game will be back on track quicker as I'll be making money twice as fast. I'm also earning points twice as quickly so will unlock bonuses quicker. So despite initially being worried about adding more tables I think it's a good thing, for me at least.
Anyway my results so far, from this hud anyway.

My job is seasonal so my goal is to earn as much as possible grinding up until November, then I'll have 4.5 months off work. I'll have savings so I'll probably end up in Thailand for a few months. I hope to by then be hopefully grinding 50nl and have a decent roll. The only way to achieve it is to stick to my brm plan and keep working on my game. I'm confident i can beat the game long term, i just need to respect the variance and not take risks as to not bust my roll. I know if i did i would just redeposit, but I don't want to have to do that. I started with 50 bucks and it would be nice to not deposit again, it will be an achievement to turn it into something. I have 4 ish months to make it to 50nl, hopefully that will be enough time. If i don't it's no big deal, I'll just keep grinding while travelling, but my goal is 50nl by November.