K, I'm not really sure what I'm trying to say, but I'll try anyway.

What do you figure is an appropriate sample to determine whether you were just on a heater, or just running cold etc...

I'm really trying to determine what my leaks are etc. and if I'm just running cold or had just been running hot. i.e. First 20k hands I ran at 7BB (as per Pokertracker) at 100/200 NL. My last 12k hands I've run at -3BB hand but this has been mostly at 200NL and 400 NL.

Can I take any conclusions from this? How many thousand hands would you say are needed to give yourself an idea of how winning/breakeven/losing a player you are shorthanded where the variance is higher, especially if you play a relatively Lag style of play. (I run at 26/16 6-handed). I've heard stuff from 20to 100k hands.

Thoughts?