20k hands sample

Nice graph, don't you think :) I guess I'm ready to move up.

Win rate of +3.43 BB/100 is great, especially considering really high rake of 7.95 BB/100. However, most of my profits came from 1 really awful player. I've played with him more than 5k hands and took ~550 BBs from him. That's almost 3/4 of my entire profit. Without hands played against him, my win rate is exactly +1 BB/100, which is still good.

February update

1/2 HU:
-
0.5/1 HU:
1913h, -$46, -2.43 BB/100
Total hands HU:
1913h

It's mid february already and I have nothing special to report. I've played only 8 hours of poker so far this month because of handball. Our competition starts next weekend and we had 5 friendly matches in 10 days which prevented me from playing poker. Since we don't have our sports hall (it's being built and should open in a month or two), we had to play all matches away from home. It takes the whole afternoon and evening and when we return home, we usually have a drink or two after the game. That's why I've played only 8 hours so far this month, I never play poker under the influence of alcohol :)

The start of the month was great, I was up ~45 BBs after 200h and after that, a disaster. I went on probably the worst downswing of my HU career so far, -185 BBs in less than 1000 hands. Downswing itself is not a problem, I can handle downswings. The most frustrating thing was the fact I've been playing against some of the worst HU players I've seen and still couldn't win. I haven't played a single hand against at least a competent HU player. By playing, I'm still in the red but I'm recovering and should be in the green again at the end of the month. I just need to spend more time at the tables.

Total: -$49
Bonus: $10
Rakeback: $69

Current bankroll: $3816 (+$30)
Last month bankroll: $3786

February - goals

January:
1) play at least 12000 hands
2) crush $0.5/$1 flhu and move up to $1/$2 by the end of January

Failed! Only 9.1k hands instead of 12k and I failed to move up. But I'm not disappointed, I'm playing worse than last month when I switched to HU. I have to work on my game before moving up.

2a) increase my win rate to at least +3 BB/100 without rakeback

Success! My total win rate is ~3.4 BB/100, without bonus & rakeback.

3) $1000 profit

Failed! But I'm satisfied with $813 after 9k hands. I'm sure I would have made more than $1k if I've played 12k hands.

4) work on my game, watch videos, study,...
5) make a video or two

Success! I'm constantly working on my game. This month I have made, I think 5 videos and 1 video was analyzed by a pro HU player (my friend's coach). In that video, I didn't play my A game but he was satisfied and said I'm obviously a good player who can read the game well and should move up as soon as possible.

February goals
1) play at least 10000 hands
2) move up to $1/$2
2a) achieve a positive win rate at $1/$2, without rakeback
3) $1000 profit
4) work on my game, watch videos, study,...
5) make a video or two

Monthly update

1/2 HU:
20h, +17, +41.88 BB/100
0.5/1 HU:
9115h, +$318, +3.49 BB/100
Total hands HU:
9135h

Another good month, what else can I say. Most pro HU players say that the rake is unbeatable at this level. I've not only beat the rake, but I've made a profit of +3.28 BB/100 after 16.5k hands. Rake is huge, 7.9 BB/100 but with good rakeback, I'm making a decent hourly profit at these stakes.

Total: +$338
Bonus: $50
Rakeback: $425

Current bankroll: $3786 (+$813)
Last month bankroll: $2973

Comeback

It could have been my worst day ever since switching to HU, but lucky for me, I didn't tilt and had almost complete control of my emotions. This is a great improvement and hopefully its permanent. How did I manage to lose almost 80 BB's? Well, only 1 player was waiting at my limit and I knew him as we already played ~250 hands together. He's an aggro donk who plays everything from 0.5/1 to 2/4 and I was crushing him until this session. I didn't want to sit with him (I never sit down when there's someone waiting) so I opened a new table and in a couple of seconds he sat down with me. I couldn't refuse to play, I had a read on him and I'm so much better player so I thought I'll crush him again.

Well, I was wrong. He was running so hot it was unreal. I kept rebuying hoping he will run out of luck but unlucky for me, it didn't happen. He was crushing me like a muppet and I was eventually down 80 BBs against him when I quit. Every time I had big pocket pair, he had a bigger pocket pair. Every time I hit a top pair, he had either top pair with better kicker or he hit a two pair by the river. On those rare occassions when I hit my draw, he had a bettter draw and the same card helped both of us. It was unreal. His went2sd was 42% and won@sd 70% over 110 hands. The strange part was and the best indicator how well he run, his wwsf was 62% but this time, he didn't play his usuall retarded aggressive game, which could explain such a large wwsf %. Instead, he almost never raised and was very passive postflop. He obviously changed his game for me and this time it was tougher for me to play against him but I'm still sure he was just incredibly lucky.

When I quit him, I sat down on another table but I was watching him at two tables he was playing. He was crushed by two opponents (one of them is really awful, I call him "my muse" because he's losing at a rate of 27 BB/100 over 3.2k hands when playing against me) and they both sat down to play with me after he left their tables. I beat both of them so I guess I've got my money back :)

January update

1/2 HU:
-
0.5/1 HU:
4843h, +$201, +4.15 BB/100
Total hands HU:
4843h

Few days ago someone asked me why do I make videos from my sessions? Well, I make them so I can analyze my game later when I have time or I can send them to my friend for a review. Its very helpful if you have someone who can analyze your game. While sitting at the tables, you can't see your own mistakes and even when you analyze your sessions, its very likely you won't notice every stupid thing you do. Someone else, who isn't or wasn't involved in a game has a much better perspective and can see some things you can't.

I'm 1k hands short from my monthly goal but that's ok, there's still enough time to play the required number of hands. I'm crushing 0.5/1 again and if I continue like this, I should make a profit of ~$1k by the end of January. One thing bothers me, I have almost no desire to go up to 1/2. Don't know whats wrong, since there's no reason for me to not be successful at higher limits but I still have fear of moving up. I know, its irrational fear but its there.

Total: +$206
Bonus: $30
Rakeback: $144

Current bankroll: $3353 (+$380)
Last month bankroll: $2973

10k hands sample

This is my 10k hands sample graph from $0.5/$1 flhu tables. In first 5k hands I run like a poker God with a win rate of over 6 BB/100 but this time, my results were far worse. I'm basically break even in last 5k hands and its because I played really bad, failing to adjust to my opponents and exploit their weaknesess. Of course, I could blame the cold deck but in reality, I'm the guilty one. If nothing else, I should stand up and leave the table if I run into a tricky opponent and find someone who is easier to beat.

My win rate is still a solid +3.14 BB/100 with a sick rake of 7.98 BB/100, which means I'm beating my opponents for a fantastic 11.12 BB/100. According to PT3, I can say with 95% confidence that my true win rate over this sample is between 2.64-3.63 BB/100. If I could keep this win rate or even slightly lower than this on next limits when I move up, I'll be playing 10/20 in no time :)