Fuck micro stakes

Long story short; took a shot at 5/5 PLO. Local whale sat to my left and wanted to make it a 5/5/10/25 double straddle game, I refused because I'm shortrolled so he made it his mission to try and break me. He did. Was in for 500 and ran it up to 4k, get it allin preflop with him for 9k pot with AAK3ss, he wins with T857r and ended my poker career. Havent played in 3 weeks. Got a job starting next week making minimum wage so back to the motel life for me. Put 200 on ClubWPT just to go back to my NLHE blueprint from years ago and was doing pretty well at 10/20/40cent, until I got stacked on all 4 tables at the same time holding KK/KK/QQ/55. 3 opponents had AA and I got set over set on 2 of them. Cant even get mad, best hands won. Even though these are just $40 buyin tables I snapped like all those years ago and trashed my monitor, nightstand and glass drinking bottle. Complete loss of control just watching myself go into sitout mode all over the screen. It didnt even break me, I still have 300 online. I'm such a fucking loser I know. Anyway I should be moving out of this apartment by the end of the week unless I get a job waiting tables. Someone told me thats surprisingly well paying work, never done it before though.

And the truly sick thing is this is precisely one of the reasons I started heavily gravitating towards PLO. I just dont tilt at the game, like at all. I dont know if it's because im just new to the game and dont understand variance & equities so I brush off the outcomes, or if I just respect the variance and recognize I cant get mad because it's just the nature of the game. Big hands are rare in NLHE so it just feels so crushing when you finally get one and lose anyway, whereas in PLO it feels like every orbit you pick up something nutworthy. I also notice I get sweaty and super stressed playing NLHE to the point I can only play 3 hours or so whereas PLO I can easily play 6-8. I cant even play NLHE more than 400BB deep without getting panicky but in PLO I have no winstop at all which I'm sure is how you should be approaching both games. Psychologically PLO seems to be healthier for me, if I only I knew the strat.

I ended my NLHE career at 2/5 with a $40/hr winrate over a 146 hour sample this season.

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Whoops, I completely forgot how to play for a month. I ran through most of my study content in August so come September I just stopped studying entirely and lost my way. My normal routine consisted of breakfast/study and then hitting the card room with poker on the brain. But last month I was just watching Broodwar matches while eating and chatting with my homies on the ride to the cardroom. Once seated I would be so checked out that I was operating on a very poor autopilot, never considering ranges and just playing by my gut. I'm rather astonished I let this happen. The result was an immediate $8500 self-induced downswing. I finally snapped out of it in the last week and brought my net to only -5000. I almost had to go back to my old job again. Luckily October has had a nice 3k upswing already and I'm totally dialed in studying again and keeping poker at the forefront of my brain on the commute & upon arrival to the card room.

I also completely disregarded any semblance of a poker schedule last month. I'd just wake up whenever and hit the card room whenever. But in August I was very disciplined about arriving early afternoon so I could catch the midday whales and the evening degens. I'm back on that schedule which I think is also already reflecting in my results.

Lastly I've decided to stop tracking results. I heard a fellow pro DGAF about results and just kinda keeps a mental tab on if he's winning month to month. At first I thought this sounded rather fishy but now I kinda like the idea, especially since I was beginning to obsess over every tiny detail about when/where/how long I play. Now I just bring chips, hope I have more than when I leave and watch my box grow with racks of chips. I think this will be much better for my mental health and will keep me focused on just playing well instead of maintaining some hourly figure or monthly goal that I cant control.

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Alright I done did it. Again. For the 3rd time I think. Quit the sales gig and went full-time at 2/5 once more. I definitely feel I have improved my game and look at poker through a new lens now. I find that if I just ask myself "what is his range?" at literally every single decision point in the hand things become a lot more clear. Thin value bets, bluffs, when to fold, and in particular what sizings to use. It's cute because I still struggle to ask this sometimes and just start rushing through the hand falling back on 'standard' lines like I have some sort of cheatsheet to poker.

I feel like up until now I have been brainwashed by "traditional" poker concepts, most notably any attempt to be "balanced". The biggest leak I currently have is repeated hero calling, but I notice after I make such blunders it was always because I forgot to ask those 4 magical words. It's always on the drive home that it becomes clear "of course he wasnt donking a missed flush draw on a bluff. He was donking the river because he wanted to make sure it didnt get checked through". Anyway, in the words of the great Mario Mario, "let's a goooo!!"

August results

10,000 (deleted screenshot since it was skewing page rendering)

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