Monday 16 April 2007

Apr 15 : A long hard struggle ($750 : Up $64)

Today was one long, hard struggle - just not getting the cards, and struggling to overcome players without them. Was heading for a losing day, before finishing off for the night with consecutive wins in 10 seater SNGs to turn it into a winning day.

RESULTS
Games Played
9 x $22 SNG (6 Seater)
3 x $22 SNG (10 Seater)
1 x $22 SNG (10 Seater, Speed)
30 mins in a $0.50/$1 cash game
Wins
5 money finishes, 8 non-money finishes
1 x Win (10 Seater), 1 x Win (10 Seater Speed), 1 Win (6 Seater), 2 x 2nds (6 Seaters)
Bankroll
SNG Cost of play $286, Winnings $368, Net Gain of $82
Cash Game : Lost $18
Bankroll up from $686 to $750


My biggest challenge in poker is against myself - I realise I have a strong tendency for the quality of my play to follow my luck/success on a particular day.

If I am playing well and winning, my standard of play improves - my concentration increases, my discipline is stronger, and I make even more good decisions which more often than not lead to more wins.

If I am playing well but losing, my standard of play can deteriorates pretty quickly. It only takes 3 or 4 consecutive losses caused by fish chasing and catching their long shots against me, and I get really frustrated, and my game deteriorates. I get pulled down to the level of the people who are beating me, and join in the coin-flip-fest. Which of course, is losing poker play. And so a downward spiral begins which can lead to LONG losing streaks.

I am fighting hard against this tendency, but its a very strong one. I feel personally victimised when I make lots of good decisions that don't get rewarded. In a lean spell in the middle of the session, I went out in the first few hands with hopeful all-in calls with JJ, and 10-10, I think. Just rubbish play, brough about by a desperation to win by any means necessary. I still have some VERY bad play within me when my mind is not right. I need to train myself to be able to stay disciplined for longer when the cards are making me suffer.

For the most part, I stuck to my strategy of staying in the 6 seater rooms, trying to play myself back into form and luck. I ended the day with two much needed wins in 10-seaters (1 standard, 1 speed), as the cards finally started hitting me - good pocket cards that hit flops and got action.

I need to accept the variance thing a lot better than I am at the moment. I have had 2 days of pretty poor cards - the bonus once again is that I haven't blown my bankroll in the process - a slight loss yesterday, and a small gain today. This is despite what I would consider to be relatively poor cards, and significant amount of bad play from myself.

If my bad days are break even days, I suppose that is a good sign.

I also had a little dabble in a cash room (the bad beat jackpot is over $300K!!), but I am not comfortable in there. Such a different style of play from SNGs, and I am wary of blowing a large stack in there with one of my legendary overplays. Still, the BB Jackpot would be nice - you wouldn't hear me complaining if my KKKK got busted, I promise you!

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