I thought I had learned to play at the micros... but maybe not?

I started playing poker only about a month and a half ago.. But due to the way the world is now Ive had alot of time on my hands and alot of time to play.. So ive racked up about just under 15k hands so far (which I know in the grand scheme of things isnt alot).

As you can see on my bankroll graph at first I was absolutely haemorrhaging bb's every session. Usually losing at least one or two buy in's. I think alot of this was underestimating players, Thinking for some reason I was automatically better than them because I was reading all these online articles etc about the 'fish' at these tables.. and I think as the articles are always written from an 'us and them' perspective it makes you believe you arent a fish.. when at first, you very much are.

So I was always thinking they were bluffing, calling big bets with basically nothing but high card. If I did hit a good hand they usually had something better etc.

But after more studying the subject about the micros specifically I changed my game plan a bit and did alot more folding.. almost had the attitude that my opponent is basically never bluffing and to never really bluff myself. It seemed to work, Although my stats weren't exactly optimal e.g Vpip 23 / Pfr 13, never really 3 betting unless I had something like pocket Aces.. But my bankroll was shooting back up.

But in the last 3k hands or so I appear to have hit a bit of a wall, I have corrected my stats more now average vpip around 20-22 / PFR 17-18 / 3 bet 5% on averages and not just c-betting if I hit the flop.

Ive had some bad beats.. like my pocket aces hitting a set on the flop and getting beaten by 2/3 offsuit because villain hit a straight on the river (!) But I know now that is just part of the game..especially at the micros.

Im not sure if these changes in my strategy have caused me to fall into old habits and making myself easily exploitable. Maybe being too suspicious they are bluffing me or always thinking Im behind.

Or maybe I never quite figured it out and Im still just as rubbish as I was at the start but I just hit a big upswing to get me out of the red.

This is just normal in my opinion. The micros are not as easy to beat as they once where.

Just play through it and good luck.

It is very difficult for me to raise my bankroll in micro-limits. Because there are so many fish at the table. It seems to me that they are not against money at all. But I have no choice. At large limits there is no bankroll.

honestly with the micros you have such massive swings because you get all sorts there but if you keep modifying your strategy to fine tune it based on each level of play, you should continue to see the upward momentum. Glad to see you were able to get out of the large decline and now just need to get past your current plateau.

JR1987 said:

I started playing poker only about a month and a half ago.. But due to the way the world is now Ive had alot of time on my hands and alot of time to play.. So ive racked up about just under 15k hands so far (which I know in the grand scheme of things isnt alot).

Click to expand...

Hey JD, nice volume so far
You say 15k hands in 2 weeks isn't a lot, but in fact that's more than most people grind when they start of. So that's a big positive. With such a sample I wouldn't look into things like winrates and postflop stats, since for a analizis of them you will indeed need a bigger sample. Start of with the basics and preflop stats - are you consistently playing your range correctly preflop? and if you deviate do you have a valid reason to do so.

I'm assuming that you are also studying the game at the same time, so try to splitt the time you invest into the game 50/50 learning/reviewing and playing. Review your sessions daily and then look at your game after like 1-2 months playing.

The way variance works you could be very well a 5bb winniner or a - 5bb looser if we just look at this image...

JR1987 said:

But in the last 3k hands or so I appear to have hit a bit of a wall, I have corrected my stats more now average vpip around 20-22 / PFR 17-18 / 3 bet 5% on averages and not just c-betting if I hit the flop.

Click to expand...

Now there will obv still be variance involved in these stats, but this is roughly were you want to keep them in the micros, if you feel confident enough you could start stealing in lp and 3betting more. Allways check your stats per position and compare them to your overall preflop stats. Playing positionally aware is very important and a 22vpip and a 22vpip overall can mean lots of things.

Oh, I just realized, missread month and a half for half a month. Analysis still stands though

14.000 hands is still a very small sample, and its completely normal, that a grapf will look like this. You cant read anything at all into, how you are doing over small sub-samples like 3.000 or 5.000 hands.

Sounds to me like your on the right track,,,,to find your game.Keep plugging along and you will improve,be egoless and listen to what your eyes are telling you,,,GL mate!