Mission Accomplished

Yes I actually managed to get through the whole weekend without looking at my stats once. It was actually easier than I thought it would be during game time and I used a mental trick to help me through:

Set countdown timer to 30 mins. At end of each 30 minute period:

1. No stats checked in last 30 mins - tick
2. Re-evaluate tables and leave those full of regs and ratholers - tick
3. Remind myself that Range, Equity, Maximise thought process is essential at all times - tick
4. Reset timer for next 30 mins and repeat steps above.

The toughest part of the challenge was Saturday night when I had finished for the day. I had no idea where I stood but was pretty sure I was down for the day and badly wanted to know by how much!

By the end of Sundays play I thought I was down even more and had guesstimated a loss of around 3.5 buyins over the two days. Turns out I had booked a 3 buyin win which shows that losing hands stay in the mind that little bit longer!

Anyway, regardless of the actual results the challenge was a huge success. I definitely played some of my best poker at times, got totally into the zone and was way more focused on things that can actually have a positive effect on results.

For December I am going to set myself the targert of only checking my stats when I have finished playing for the day.

Challenge Update

Have played 3 two hour sessions today and have no idea whether I am up or down for the day as I cannot look at my stats until tomorrow evening!

Is driving me nuts but am going to make it :)

End of month 2 day challenge

Monday is my day off so this weekend will be the last of my play for November. Has been a pretty crazy month but am hoping to be able to show some sort of profit despite riding the variance train at full speed.

This weekend I will be playing 5 two hour sessions over the two days and am going to challenge myslef to not look at my stats at all until I am done for the month. That means no looking at results even between sessions!

This will be extremely tough for me and I will blog about the experience next week.

Wish me luck :)

Come on you Spurs!!!!!!

Folding KK preflop

Have dropped back to 200nl today in order to rebuild confidence back in the comfort zone.

4 hours played so far and up 6buyins :)

Moving up for a while certainly makes your current game seem like a walk in the park when you go back down. I think this is because I find it easier to trust my reads when bankroll issues aren't playing on my mind.

A couple of examples:



Open raiser is a fish, button is a reg. Great spot to 4bet but probably would have felt less comfortable with it at 400nl even though it is the same great spot!



Yep I folded KK preflop. Cut off is decent reg and min cold 4bet from relatively unkonwn Big Blind had me saying to myself "Can I fold KK preflop?".

Well, rightly or wrongly, now I can!

What now?

Am back at the tables as of yesterday, after a few days off, and have just finished a -4buyin session at 400nl.

Worryingly, this is the first time I felt like I was getting owned at 400nl and consequently leveled myslef into making some spewy preflop decisions and bad bluffs.

To be honest the fact that I am shot taking is playing on my mind a bit too and I am not used to playing with a bankroll of just 5buyins. My bankroll nittyness is working against me in this regard as I have no (recent) experience of shot taking and am now out of my comfort zone in terms of bankroll.

My confidence is pretty low at the moment and I am considering a drop back to 200nl whilst I sort my head out. I am breakeven for the month so technically I still have a 5 buyin shot but I don't see the point of continuing when I am not at my best.

Am done for the day so will give it some thought and decide overnight.

First $2k day - Ship it :)

2/4 shot continues..........

Variance

Hmmm. Where's that heater?

A game...check....Doomswitch......check.......

Now running almost 11 buyins below EV in less than 9,000 hands.

I don't remember running this bad ever and the fact that I am still up and playing well (ie not tilting) surely shows my A game is in good shape right now.

Here's to hoping I run better before variance kills my 1st 5 buyin shot at 2/4.

Oh come on.....

That's what I found myself saying out loud after yet another 85/15 suckout just now.

This is my month at 2/4 so far and whilst numbers are green, things could be so much better if the poker gods were playing close to fair.



I feel like I am playing well and just need to keep focusing on what I can control.

October Results

On top of this I picked upt $2,800 in stars bonuses so overall a very nice month

My roll also hit $40k for the first time and I am going to have my first planned shot at 400nl in November.

A Game - 42%, B Game - 26%, C Game - 10%, D Game - 1%, E Game - 18%

I am still feeling good about my game and s0 far in August I am up $100 running at $1600 below EV in 3 sessions. We can't control the beats :)