Review.

Last night I had my first "bad night". I lost a little bit- 30 bucks- playing limit and another twenty in tournaments. At first I was pissed, but the absurdity of the losses in the tourneys reminded me how stupid it is to yoke your ego to your results.

Golly Gee Jeepers you get a ton of hands multitabling. I'm nearly to 10k hands, which (I believe), is enough to account for variance to the level of 1BB. Meaning, your returns after 10k hands are 95% likely to be with in 1 BB/100 of your theoretical win rate. After a full week of the grind at microstakes limit, I have acquired new insights.

*The rake is the Whore of Babylon. She is the Whore of Babylon especially in games where showdown is guaranteed. I am not exagerating. She is an evil creature of the night, intent on destroying all that is pure. Even at 5%, it's a huge chunk at 6-max.

*Because of this, it is probably EV-neutral to avoid high variance situations. I should fold hands which may seem marginally profitable.

*In the game at large, I must say that there is a huge degree of variance in the microstakes. Because no one folds, getting there (or not) three big big flush draws has a huge impact on returns (for better or worse). I forgot how much action there is.

*In reviewing my hands, I now think that I've misplayed a ton of hands.

*I am not getting paid off on low and mid size pocket pairs. Not because my opponents are not savvy, but rather because I am not flopping sets as awesomely as chance would expect, and I have still run into a proportional number of oversets. Also, I am not check folding them often enough when I haven't improved and I've been check-raised.

*Automatically raising pocket pairs into weak and loose blinds is not profitable. Their equity as a stealing hand relies on the opponents fondness for folding bottom pair.

*Calling down is not profitable even against overly aggressive opponents without a mid pair top kicker or better hand.

*The action I'm facing mandates a reduced need to steal and isolate. From now on, I will only "steal raise" if both blinds will fold. I will probably limp a few hands on the button unopened even. :(.

*Hand ranges, especially 3 betting and hand ranges. I need to crunch some numbers and, to quote kaah on 2+2, "embrace the stove".