dimes and quarters

I've moved to the $0.10/$0.25 tables now. I'm not multi-tabling yet. Poker Tracker with PokerAce HUD is awesome. It's even made me realize how static my play often is. I'm trying to mix up my game a bit more now, while I've also tightened up my starting requirements and have become more aggressive with pre-flop raises and raising vs calling post-flop. All this has added to more success.

At .05/.10 I was seeing approx. 35% of the flops; I've reduced that down to 25-30% now (depending on circumstances of course) and have had much beter success: too many questionable limps was a big leak. The .10/.25 tables are generally more aggressive anyway, as most hands don't go to the flop without a raise; limping is rarely an effective strategy (I don't limp unless I'm willing to call a standard raise - say with a hand like 33-88).

When I looked at my stats for the previous 30 days, it was quite clear that the higher level was much more profitable: in 30 days I was up approx $45 in .05/10 (where I played over 95% of my hands), while I was up over $100 at .10/.25 in the other 5% of hands I played. That made me much more interested in sticking around at the higher tables.

Sure, it ain't $50/$100, but it's still a step in the right direction.

I've been so psyched with my play over the past couple months: my confidence has skyrocketed, and it just feels like I'm playing better than I ever have (as the steady bankroll increase has shown). Tournaments have lost their attraction for me (I'd much prefer a cash game), as I believe I'm a MUCH better cash game player.

I also completely cut out live limit playing. I wasn't a very good limit player. Though it would be interesting to play again now as I feel my current style would be quite effective at the local limit tables. Limit just seems like much higher variance than I care for: I'd prefer to drive the extra 35 minutes and go for NL if I'm playing live.

I plan on posting some general goals for 2008 soon.