Well, we're back in the car again.

For those who aren't fans of great movie lines, this one is from Jurassic Park when they manage to get down the tree only to have the car fall on top of them. That's the way I'm feeling.

After a thousand hands at Empire $25NL, I'm dead even. It's a killer when you know that had you been playing fixed limit, you'd have been way, way up...or at least up. But, when you are changing games, you gotta take your lumps.

Btw, PokerTracker is the greatest invention since sliced bread. I know, KNOW, I would be way down without it and GT+. A must have.

First, everyone is correct when they say Party skins are filled with morons. When you see a fish symbol below a $150 stack, you want to go running away as fast as you can. (Then they leave with that money and you want to cut your own throat.) Losing a nice pot to an idiot drawing to a pair of sevens hitting a third seven on the river stings a bit. Having the entire table fold when you have AA on the button sucks.

And over playing JJ is damn hard on the BR.

Have started playing three tables. (Playing only one makes me too loose. I lose focus too easily because of boredom.) Usually up on one, too far down on one, and break-even on the third.

What stats should I post from PT that you guys need to see to advise?

Despite the struggles, I still enjoy playing NL more than FL. Harder--much--but more fun.

Thanks for the help so far. It's been very helpful.

CJ

Ok, solid stuff.

I've been broken three times with JJ. Ran into KK UTG and AA on the button. Both of these were guys who would play any 2 and the button could have had anything. Should have let go against the UTG. The other was an idiot who lucked into a straight.
Gotta let those go when they play back at me that hard.

Stats:

VPi$P 25.54% I really think I'm ok here on PP at $25NL--maybe a little loose?

Went to SD % 23.65 Won $ at SD %44.29

Some others:

Won $ When Saw Flop 35.55%
Raised PF 9%
Flop and turn aggression are exactly the same 1.81
River 2.43 <---I may be too aggressive against calling stations?

A stat that's interesting, but I don't know what it means...

Folded to River Bet--64.52% I'm either too passive or or ok, or playing hands I shouldn't?

I spent about 3 hours this morning adjusting rules to autorate opponents based on suggestions from the PT Forum. I'm anxious to try them out. I love GT+ for giving me information at a glance.

Perhaps I should only be playing one table?

I'll check back at 2K hands, assuming I don't manage to break myself.

CJ

Great stuff, Alex, and no one is going to strongly disagree with you.

I am playing too many marginal hands, although I get a lot more than my share of decent hands in LP. They just don't make.

I've been around long enough to not let bad beats bother me. Party has enough fish to make the occasional "you SUCK" bearable. Unfortunately, being more aggressive doesn't win that many more pots and not much more money, I've found so far. They'll either dump the hand on the first strong bet, or come back at you way over the top. Often when that happens, you're beat. Only the true maniacs will overbet hoping to suck out on you. The rest are pretty timid and can be run off too easily.

I seem to either win $2.50 pots or lose $20 pots. Probably because I'm playing too many marginal hands for my experience level.

Thanks so much for the reply. I lost $63 last night playing stupid and tired. I'm resisting the pull of FL, where I know I can make it back, but it's a drag.

CJ

Some more interesting tidbits from PT. (Man, this program is very COOL.)

I'm a huge loser with high card, one pair and two pairs. I'm a winner with anything above that. Everything above that.

I'm a total loser from the SB and BB. I'm much more of a winner the closer I am to the button, and the most money has come from being on the button.

It's almost like my PT stats come from a Sklansky book. No kidding I'm too loose. A problem, I think, is I'm a winner on FL because I play pretty tight, and totally outplay my competition post-flop. So far, this is not translating, except in my very tiny TRex-type brain.

(If I ever do learn this NL thing, I think I'll be all right.)

CJ

I'm very grateful with the advice I've received here, and the results are showing how good the advice is.

I won at all three tables yesterday, for the first time. If I hadn't gotten run off the pot by a maniac when I had the nut flush, until the fourth diamond dropped, I would have been way up.

I tried something different. Instead of trying to win the pot early through aggression, I tried to win the most money I could with every hand I was in. My VPi$P was down to 20%. I didn't overbet. I really tried to extract as much as I could get out of every hand and it worked...nicely. A change in attitude and strategy for me.

I am playing too many hands. I'm playing too many small pairs. I'm playing too many suited connectors, although I only play these in position. I am coming in to too many pots without enough people in ahead of me. I'll work on these.

Again, thanks for the help. It's working and like Frasier Crane, I'm listening.

CJ