hey guys,

so this year i've been focusing on working my way up the PLO micros, playing 99% zoom. i have been grinding, watching videos, reading forums, following along in the RIO skype pokerjuice group and otherwise trying to develop my game. my starting point, of course, was Jonna's $100 micros experiment ... this confirmed to me that the micros are indeed beatable, in fact crushable; however one thing i always wondered was why when i saw jonna slumming at the micros, he only ever seemed to be one-tabling ..

so after crushing PLO10z in jan, in february i focused on a high-volume approach to zoom25, playing predominately 4 tables at a time and averaging 2500 hands a day. i enjoyed success in the first ~12k hands but immediately tanked, following a steady zigzag decline for a winrate of -4bb/100 over 52k. i lost $560, paid $1712 rake and ran ~1600bb under expectation.

i found myself getting tilted often, with my usual pattern being either:
a) start off winning, then experience 'winner's tilt' and get steamed when i dumped off 'my' profits to beats and coolers, which would worsen the decline as my play would suffer immediately if briefly, 

or
b) start off losing, wind up down 4-10 buy ins, sigh and grind all day to get back to even or close-to.

interestingly, the first scenario always tilted me a lot more than the second. as a result, i developed pretty good tilt control; being able to laugh at myself was key, but i had to use that tilt control, every day, a lot. 

so ok i had a bad month, i run under expectation, and i tilted off more than necessary as a result of getting steamed by the beats put on me by zoom25's numerous fish/whales. knowing i was in the red while paying ungodly amounts of rake every day also stuck in my craw.

so after talking with zenfish, alecks, midori & co (i think mostly they gave me this advice because they were sick of me whinging), i decided that while the micros are beatable, the rake environment and the particulars of how i was reacting to tilt indicate that a solid winrate is more easily attainable under a lower-volume regimen, and that, for me at that point at least, my 4table highvolume approach would make me a break-even player at best (and i wasnt even that; not even close). 

so this month i have played 1-2tables for 95% of my sessions, focusing on getting every decision right, with a starting goal of maintaining 20bb/100 over 10k. i am having basically no tilt issues, and i am up 2600bb over 10.75k hands, +650 (470 rake), for a winrate of 24bb/100 (all-in adjusted to 20bb/100). 

i don't know how all the crazy 4 table grinders at the micros deal with tilt; im sure they are all individuals who suffer from it and deal with it in their own ways.

BUT THE MORAL OF THIS STORY: in terms of establishing yourself as a solid winning player, i think it is very important to stick to 1-2 tables and establish that you can crush your given stake for a solid winrate before you start adding more tables. the variance is too crazy, the fish too clueless, and the rake too high. but if you just knuckle down on 1-2 and focus on getting every decision right, the micros are very easily crushable. 

goal for the month: keep my all-in adj bb rate above 15. oh and i'd better book a bit more volume or i wont even crack goldstar, lol. sorry 'stars ! i'm sure THEY'D prefer i stick with the high volume approach !

good luck at the tables !