Micro-slow start...frustrated!

Well I've been battling it out at the micro-limit (2-4) tables at Stars for a few weeks now. I'm fairly confident in my pre-flop selection, except I get a little mixed at short tables. So I simply avoid them for now. Post flop I've plugged a few leaks. I've learned to try to get some bets in there when I'm confident I've got the best of things.
I'm posting to discuss my biggest leak. There's a little man in the back of my head that convinces me that it's only 4 cents and, if frustrated, I turn into a calling machine when I should be folding. Part of my frustration stems from what is probably an unrealistic expectation of earnings. So I ask...how many big bets per 100 hands should solid 2+2 poker be earning? My goal is to earn 125 big bets before promoting myself. How long?
So I've turned to limiting my session time according to time and performance. Earn 25 big bets and I quit. Lose 25 and I quit. Or I quit at a pre-planned number of hands. Keeps me in check...so far.
Any thoughts on this newbie grinding it out?

[milesdyson]

solid poker should earn at least 5 or 6 bb/100 at an unraked 2c/4c game. if you are letting the low stakes make you careless, you have to stop that on your own.

stopping based on bets is usually pointless. only stop if you are feeling like you're tilting, or if you don't feel like playing any more. it will probably end up that you start tilting when you have lost a certain amount - let that be your stop limit. you will know when you're not playing well.

These are 2 cent/4 cent tables, with no rake?

If so, you should be earning a large number of big bets per 100. I don't know how many... 8? 10?

I'm guessing that you haven't played all that many hands yet, so you don't know if you're a winning player or not, and your current results may be as much due to variance(luck) as anything else.

At loose full ring tables full of bad opponents, you should be seeing perhaps 25% of the flops(including times you saw the flop cheaply in the blinds), you should be betting aggressively on your strong hands after the flop, folding when you have nothing, and calculating pot odds to see if you can afford to call your opponents' bets on your weak/drawing hands. That's about all there is to it at tables where you have 6 players seeing the flops.

You might try posting one or two of these hands where you think you are calling when you shouldn't be, so people here can comment on them.

[ QUOTE ]
solid poker should earn at least 5 or 6 bb/100 at an unraked 2c/4c game.

[/ QUOTE ]

It's gotta be higher than that. Good players at the partypoker beginners tables, with a 5BB/100 rake, are not just breaking even, are they? And in lower stakes B&M casinos, where 5BB/100 hands rake would not be surprising, good players are still making money, and not just 1 bb/100.

Thanks for the thoughts. I do find it hard to stop playing. Nice and comfy here in the office chair afrter I get the kids in bed. Psychologically I need a goal, or a wall to help me shut down. You're right that I need to quit if I sense I'm tilting. Lots of self-reflection going on in this poker mind lately.

[milesdyson]

is the rake actually 5 bb/100? i thought it was closer to 3.

in any case, i said "at least" 5 or 6, sustainable. it could be higher, but who cares to find out?

Hmm, ok, I actually paid 4bb/100 rake in the 3500 hands I played in the partypoker .50/1 beginners tables. I paid 4.8 bb/100 rake in the partypoker .50/1.00 6max tables.

Anyway, the best advice for the original poster is: buy a copy of Small Stakes Hold-em by miller, sklanksky and malmuth, if you don't have one yet.

[milesdyson]

i've recently played about 2k hands of 0.5/1 6-max, and i paid 3.3 bb/100 of rake, although i was running bad so i haven't been paying rake as often as usual.

Well I just banged off another 100 hands. Lost about 10 bbs' I realize it's not accurate to judge my game by a lone 100 hands. Still, I know there are leaks. I plan to start reading "Low Limit Holdem" tomorrow. Perhaps I'll learn to find the leaks. 8 or 10 bbs earned per 100 hands would sure feel good!!!

[Greg J]

Off topic: you didn't by chance name yrself (screen name) after a band... did you?