First 20k hands @ NL5.

I don't have too much time to play a full schedule of tournaments anymore, so a few months ago I decided to grind cash games instead. I started at NL5 and wanted to grind that up to $200 before stabbing NL10. So thats 40 buy-ins total. I hit +25 buy-ins after about 13,000 hands but went on a sick downswing afterwards to plummet me back downwards. Since then though I've moderately climbed back up and I'm now up to aroud +21 buy-ins (a little over $105).

The money at this level is a joke, but nonetheless I can't explain the feeling of accomplishment I have. It sounds lame but really grinding cash games is a testament to the importance of patience and perseverance.

Analyzing my game in PokerTracker, I've realized that I've lost the most amount of money with KQo and suited connectors. It seems that I really overvalue them and need to just focus on getting value from them when they flop BIG (no more one pair, crappy kicker stuff). So, I'm going to be eliminating these hands from my opening range from UTG and MP (I think I'll open KQs from MP still) and the suited connectors completely from UTG and MP both (unless the table is super nitty, but that doesn't exist at NL5).

Also I've seen some atrocious plays of mine when I look at hands where I've gotten stacked. Some are absolutely awful and I may just post them so I can embarrass myself. Ugh. But, those mistakes just show me that this level is even more profitable than it already is for me and that I should have a much higher winrate if I didn't allow stupid factors like tilt get to me.