Starting at the bottom - defining plan and goals

Day 1 Complete:

The good:
1) Built bankroll up from $50 to $58.94.
2) Won at 7/8 games played.
3) Net 23 BB/100

The bad / thoughts:
1) PT missing 1 large win, flopped a set at $0.25 NL in a pot for ~ 20 BB, then probably closed the table instantly when handed ended before hand history was exported for PT. Want to be more careful of this, to get accurate stats.
2) I put the highest volume in at $0.25 NL, which is way outside the bankroll with the rules I set. How do I do better at following rules within the bankroll - to avoid the risks playing too high creates?
3) The 100 BB loss at $0.01/$0.02 hand was MW bomb pot 5 BB each, O_B (open on button) Ad Jd with 101 BB, pot 5 BB X - Flop 8s Jc 9c, X, Turn 3d, Facing a check then bet of 15 BB, I raised making it 33 BB, fold, then initial raiser all in for 220 BB. I'm not used to playing this low - I call and opp shows Js9d, for flopped two pair, which hold.

Since it's saturday I'll set my new goals for the week:
1) Aim for 0 hands outside of bankroll rules.
2) If 1) fails, aim for lower relative freq of hands outside bankroll.

The good:
- Crushing everything up through $0.10 bb, at 87 BB/100.
NL +86 BB/100, PL +93 BB/100, Fixed Limit +84/100, O8 Limit +75 BB/100, PLO8 +112 BB/100, NLHE +25 BB/100

The bad:
- I said I wouldn't play above $0.02 NL/PL and $0.25/$0.50 Limit. I've stuck to the guideline for limit, but I'm playing many hands outside
of the bankroll rule for NL/PL. Of 27 limit hands played, 100% within bankroll, +83 BB/100 on those.
Of 966 NL hands played, +6 BB/100 on those...but...only 170 at $0.02 BB.

- Three biggest losses were
1)
-80 BB at $0.25 6max blitz, open Jc Tc with 80 BB from low jack (O_L) to 2.5 BB, CO raises to 8 BB has me covered, folds to me, I call.
Flop is Jd Td 7c. I check, CO bets 6 BB, I raise to 20 BB CO raises all in having me covered. I call. He has Qd Qh which wins (A A run out).

2)
-72 BB at $0.25 6max blitz, O_L Ac Jc with 72 BB, SB calls having me covered. Flop is As 8d Ad. I bet 3/4 pot, he calls.
Turn is Qc - he checks, I bet 3/4 pot, he calls. River is Js, filling me up to 2nd nuts (behind AQ). He bets 3/4 pot, I min raise all-in, he calls,
and shows Ah Qd.

3)
-34 BB at $0.25 6max blitz, O_L 9h 8h with 93 BB, SB raises to 11 BB having me covered. I call. Flop is 9c 2c 5h.
He bets 1/2 pot 6.5 BB , I min raise, to 13 BB, he raises all in to 100 BB and I fold.

Net result is bankroll is down to $35.65. + 6 BB/100 total, but down, for biggest losses coming at highest stakes.

I think the key lesson from 1) and 2) is it just reiterates the importance of sticking to bankroll considerations. The issue isn't a question
of could I have saved a bet on the river in 2 with only 2nd nuts - that's the wrong way to think of it. The dominating factor is
if I play about the bankroll, I set myself for bad things no matter what happens.

Goals:
I will continue aiming to do better at sticking to the bankroll rules I am trying to follow.

Day 2 complete:
Net total:
Crushing everything except for $25 NL blitz, +16 BB/100 all games net.
But...NL $25 leading to -20 BB/100 loss, and -$46

Reluctantly accepting it's hard for me to behaviorally stick to the bankroll rules at a bankroll of $50.

Likely a failure that will lead to bigger problems, and probably should just stick at the $50 bankroll until bumping it up.

The one good thing, is the rest of the games am crushing.

With all that in mind, I will reset/increase bankroll to $500.

This makes $25 NL within bankroll amidst rules. It also allows playing limit games up through $2.50 / $5.00

My reluctant justification for this is the positive results on the rest of the games.

I will set the following rules on myself amidst this:
a) the bankroll / buying restrictions need to be hard and fast now, no exceptions. The skill at $25 NL+ is totally different than the skill
at $2 NL - and not following the rules above there is a clear recipe for disaster. I accept this, and will follow the bankroll rules.

b) I will layer in the following, in any cash game I set in for a session, 1/4 of the profits will be allocated separately. Effectively, 3/4 of any profits will be assumed to cover future losses, and 1/4 of the profit will act as an expected profit. This will also allow me to nimbly see the nature of results, simply by seeing both bankroll and accumulated set aside - in a way that bankroll alone doesn't show.

c) On any day I play, I will play $2 NL and $0.04 limit BB some, the lowest stakes available. This is in part to remind me that the presence of bankroll does not mean I know how to beat a lower game. I will work to demonstrate success at the lowest stakes, up through the stake that gives me trouble consistently, and remember that just because I'm playing stake X now, that doesn't mean I can still crush everything below that. It is on me to demonstrate that, consistently.

d) If the set aside $ accumulates to $100+ at any point, then I will withdraw 50% of that from bankroll, and put the other 50% back in bankroll.
One reason for this approach is to clearly show just how difficult it is to consistently make enough from the bankroll to take a withdrawal of $1.
This will emphasize very concretely how little meaning winning a session has, if it cannot be replicated consistently over time.

e) I will continue to not set any clear goal to make $X, or to increase bankroll to $Y or to bump up to stake Z.

f) I will also allow myself to play some tournaments. I will use a 2% of bankroll max for the buy-in allowed for any one tournament.

g) I will continue to post things here as it goes to hold myself accountable, on my journey...to the top!

Day 4:

1514 hands in, mostly dominating everything at +28 BB/100 total net, even with those 2 large 100 BB losses at $0.25 blitz, with nutty hands included.

Bankroll up to $541.08, $526.06 in main, $15.02 set aside from wins. Need a better word for that, maybe scaling out. I'll just call it set aside.

At this bankroll, I've never considered playing outside the bankroll rules, so that's a big win.

It's always kind of tough for me to balance playing near nut hands at NLHE aggressively enough to get enough value against tight post flop ranges,
without going too far where I'm only getting called with better. For some reason that balance is always easier /intuitive for me to work
through at PLO8 - even thought there's more to think about. Need to do better understanding that, specifically in choosing when to let go of TPTK+
in NLHE better on turns/rivers, without opening myself up to being exploited.

As I seem to have solved the playing over bankroll bug - immediate goals are:
a) avoid winning tilt, of taking it just a bit too far
b) look for decision points earlier in hands to avoid the toughest turn/river spots in NLHE more often. This will be one practical important step to protect myself from letting rare big losses eat away at the rest of the good.

Day 5, going fine. $509.10 in main, $39.95, accumulated in set aside. 1847 hands, + 17 BB/100 total - which is gross of rake back. Any rakeback accumulated in set aside.

Define rule a)
any rakeback goes directly into set aside too.

Crushing everything, except for NL At the highest stake in my BR, $0.25 NL.

Goal:
a) When playing NL, against post-flop ranges that are too tight, have to overfold a bit more, and avoid playing big pots against nutty ranges with top-pairy type hands where the action means my hand only beats a bluff given their range, and they underbluff.

b) continue to avoid making specific financial BR/moving up goals, focus on following the rules and playing the best I know how, and let that lead where it leads.

End of Day 5:
$559.60 in main, $58.47 in set aside, for a total of $618,07, 1873 hands, +20 BB/100, and now we're heading a good direction.

Goals:
a) stick to the plan, avoid financial goals.
b) When playing NL, against post-flop ranges that are too tight, have to overfold a bit more, and avoid playing big pots against nutty ranges with top-pairy type hands where the action means my hand only beats a bluff given their range, and they underbluff.

Let's goooooooooo. No, actually let's...keep sticking to the rules one rule at a time, one hand at a time.

Stepped up to $0.50 NL this week, going fine -

Putting highest volume into $50 NL blitz, destroying that at +25BB/ 100 over 1k hands this week.
At +5 BB/100 across all games, playing everything, LHE, O8, NLHE, PLO8 - highest volume at NLHE this week.