This is gonna be long.

I started playing poker more than 7 years ago, when I had a desk job, and sufficient salary that I thought that I could afford playing poker without knowing what I was doing. To make it worse, I was an aggressive LAG, watching one too many Highstakes Poker episodes, and playing for thousands of dollars (not USD - value was about 3 to 1 at the time) in underground live cardrooms in the city.

Needless to say, I went broke.

My dad had to bail me out of a tilt session and I thought I'd quit the game for good. A few months went by and PokerStars came to town - it was now available to play in my country. I gave it another shot, but this time, tried to learn the basics properly. Started at NL50, went bust, and re-bought. Played NL25 and went bust again. This happened a few times till I racked up substantial credit card debt. Thank god Pokerstars eventually left the country. I quit the game again.

Totally underestimated the love I had for the game though, and after a few more months, I was back at it again. I bought Ed Miller's Small Stakes No Limit Holdem. Posted in 2+2. Gained a ton of new insights, and started winning a little. Won a few tournaments here and there. Played about 150k hands on NL25 and PL25 and was a small winner (~1.8 BB/100). Burnt myself out playing, and stopped for a year, actually cashing out some for the first time ever to Neteller.

Got my love back for the game again playing in some live underground card rooms (which I do well), and fast forward till yesterday and today, which triggered this post. Playing at NL25 and PL25, I played about 10 sessions averaging ~600 hands a session, winning 80% of them. Problem was, the wins were 1-3 buyins. The other 20%, I lost massively, dropping 10 or so buy-ins in two major sessions.

I don't know what I'm doing wrong anymore. I need help. Would be great if anyone here could point me in the right direction. I don't think I'm a bad player, but I feel like I make sub-optimal decisions at some spots where I risk too much of my stack. I would love to get coaching if possible, and my goal is to move up from low stakes to mid and eventually highstakes. I don't think I want to quit, but I can't keep losing money at this game. I have a decent job, and have my life in order, debt free now with some savings and property. Have a gf and family. But what can I say, I love this game, and am very competitive. I would like to be better.

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RB