newbies stats for .25/.50. give up now or room for improvement

[MikeR]

Been trying to seriously track my records for the last month or so. Trying to build a bankroll and learn some skills at the .25/.50 limit game until I have a bankroll for the next level. Not using any bonus money as part of my bankroll, but using any bonus money to enter tourneys and sitngoes kinda like a freeroll. I am not crushing the limit game. It's incredibly frustrating. Often I feel like going to a higher limit to stop people from chasing so much, but I've heard that if I can't beat internet microlimits then there's no use moving up, and I agree. So according to these stats, I'm not even averaging one big bet an hour.
Earnings: $9.60
Avg. Return: $0.31
Return Std.: $10.36
Win Rate: $0.12/hr
Avg. Win Rate: $-0.99/hr
Win Rate Std.: $7.43/hr
BB/hr: 0.24
Avg. BB/hr: -1.98
BB/hr Std.: 14.86
ROI: 1.45%
Time played: 79h 23m
Avg. Session: 2h 34m
ROI vs. DJIA: 1.55%
Expenses: 0.00
Avg. Expenses: 0.00
Sessions: 31
First: 2005-02-11
Last: 2005-02-20

[Dangergirl]

How many hands have you played and have you read any beginner's books like WLLH?

[donkeyradish]

So this is based on like... around 5,000 hands or so?

Most people here will tell you that's not enough for the win rate statistic to be meaningful.

Poker is a game of skill and luck. The luck part only averages out in the long term. In other words, until you have played a LOT of hands, you can't deduce from the win rate whether you are playing well or badly.

There are other numbers that give you some indication, see this article (http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showthreaded.php?Cat=&Number=1659321&page=0&view=c ollapsed&sb=5&o=14&fpart=1)

[MikeR]

[ QUOTE ]
How many hands have you played and have you read any beginner's books like WLLH?

[/ QUOTE ]
I have no clue how many hands that is. I have read books, but not really strategy based ones. Positively 5th Street, Biggest Game in Town, Tao of Poker. Flipped through the NL section of Super System a while ago, but don't really have an interest for NL except in tournaments now.
Next time I get some money I plan on getting a Sklansky book, but I'm not sure which one.

[MikeR]

[ QUOTE ]
Most people here will tell you that's not enough for the win rate statistic to be meaningful.

[/ QUOTE ]
You think a month of limit? Two? Three? I do think I have horrible sessions sometimes, and the next day I can figure out that sometimes the bad beats are simply me not betting correctly, or trying to get cute with slowplaying big starting hands. I'm trying to work on this.

[donkeyradish]

Slowplaying is usually a bad idea in these games, unless there is a maniac at the table. You are inviting people with bad hands to improve to beat you.

I think if you want to be deceptive its much better to raise with medium strength hands than call with strong hands.

Play less than 20% of your hands and usually raise pre-flop when you do. Your opponents are putting chips in the pot with lesser hands, eventually thats got to be in your favour.

[topspin]

You've been playing for what, a week or two? This is far too short to draw any conclusions about win rate. I've played a relatively small total number of hands compared to many other posters on this board, and I already have a weekend where I dropped 140BB and a two-week stretch winning 0.1BB/100. I also have a two-week stretch winning 8BB/100. Draw your own conclusions about how representative these numbers are of my true win rate.

Stats that will be useful even after a relatively small number of hands include the percentage of hands you're playing and the amount of preflop raising you do. I'd suggest popping over to the microlimit forum and checking the section of the FAQ on common Pokertracker stats.

[Dangergirl]

Mike,
I think your sample size is too small to determine anything. I also think that you should really start reading some strategy books on limit. Try WLLH or ITH and until you have mastered the concepts in those you can move on to something like SSH. Until then though do not jump into a book like SSH, it is a little too advanced.