Running for the red line

Sick couple of weeks!

Mid June Stars changed their rake structure to remove the floor for raked pots. They had a policy of not raking pots < $1 which is ideal for the microstakes player, as most of the money comes from dragging in the insane amount of dead money at these levels. (Villains are loose preflop, fit or fold post flop) The only reason I was playing Stars at all was to benefit from the reduced rake whilst also clearing a deposit bonus in lieu of rakeback. I was also quite annoyed about this change.

I have a bit of a bee in my bonnet about the relative percentage of the rake at the microstakes, I don't think it's good business to make the rake so tough for beginning players who might contribute more to the game if you gave them a break on the rake.

Anyway that's a rant for another blog, long story short I hit cleared my bonus on stars,. hit silver star and immediately withdrew the whole $200 into Neteller
I deposited $100 on Full Tilt with the intention of playing 5NL for a little while whilst I experimented with a few thoughts I had about my playing style. I splashed about at 2NL for a few hands while I waited for the Stars withdrawal to clear. Lost 150 bb which didn't worry me too much. Just standard stuff.

At about this time my Wife was looking into her income, and looking for ways to start up a little additional income stream for herself.
I said I'd teach her poker, and she laughed, said she was better than me and next thing I know we have a prop bet that she can make more thant me in a month! lmao easy win, I think and shipped her $50 from my roll.

Wow - que the downswing!
The day I deposited $100 I dropped 5 buy ins at 5NL. Now ordinarily that wouldn't have been a problem, except in one day my bankroll has gone from $200 to $125, and that's affecting my state of mind.

So suddenly I'm barely rolled for 5NL and a bit shell shocked. Best to move down to 2NL for a few sessions, recover my confidence.

Thank god I did!  I've been running at -2.70BB/100 the past 10k hands. It's not all beats and coolers (although I had my share) I should be able to let go of Kings and Aces when a passive player shoves over me on a raggy flop, I should be able to value bet more efficiently instead of blowing them off some worse hand.

I don't know whether these leaks have come in because "It's only 2NL" or becuase the meta game is different on Tilt, or because I think that I am in some way entitled to win the pot when I raise, or because I'm playing too many tables and Tilt is faster, or because I'm mashing the "Pot" button instead of assessing the best value.

But I'm very glad I'm plugging these leaks at 2NL.

Finally - my wife is spewing her $50 as expected, so If I can grind back up to even I may still get to win this bet :)