Thanks, guys.

My PhD is in Architecture and is intend to support design decisions related to thermal performance using simulation tools. In a sense, architectural design and poker are somewhat related because both decision making processes are based on incomplete information and use of precedent knowledge (in the case of poker, theoretical knowledge and a repertoire of previous plays and situations).

I'm going to talk a bit about my cash game history.

As I told previously, I tried some games before playing NL holdem. I started off already playing NL10 underrolled to clear my bonus at AbsolutePoker. Fortunately, I managed to be a winner so far. The good thing is that I'm relatively close to take my first shots at NL20 (NoIQ Poker). Hopefully, I'll manage to keep the same pace.

The graph below presents my brief experience at NL10. I Started at AP, moved to NoIQ. After a rollercoaster adaptation (between 6k and 11k hands), I decided to take 1/4 of my BR to UB. The experience was not great...I had a downswing and the most severe bad beat I ever took (98% favourite on the flop). Moved back to NoIQ and decided to play tighter from the blinds (less stealing) and even from the button as the blinds were calling me frequently and my c-bets were not working.

Its working so far. I've been managing to identify the general behaviour of each table and adjusting to the players. As I play only 4 tables, it is easier to play different styles if necessary.

I usually do not tilt and fortunately, I can notice when I'm playing spewy and I usually quit. Bad beats don't tilt me...I tilt more with stupid mistakes that I make. If I'm losing around 1 buy in a session, I tighten up and play for value. In this case, I found that unsuccessfull bluffs can trigger a tilting process, so I play mostly fit or fold (it depends on the opponent, obviously).

In my game, I'm trying to get better at hand reading. I usually do it in a very raw way, like...classifying PF cards as PPs, broadways, AK, big pairs. When I see a flop, I cannot (yet) figure out all combinations as I see here in the forum. I think more in terms of the hand strength of my opponent. If he calls my c-bet, for instance, I put him in single paired hands (over-top-mid), draws, etc.

I'm practising one tabling at UB to get better at this. I often get distracted and end up sometimes thinking about my own hand strenght instead of putting opponents in ranges. This would be a huge improvement in my game...