Back On Track

So after crying about last weekend's several-hundred-dollar slide, and (at least partly correctly) blaming bad beats and variance, I took a short break from poker. I think what's important about "taking a break" like this, isn't so much a length of time away from the game, as it is a chance for a mental shift and a gaining of perspective and focus. An effective break in some cases for some people may be a week or even a month, or as little as a few hours. I was at a point where I was losing, not having fun, and finally realized that things could really only get worse. Time to stop the loss, and figure out what to do from here.

And that's what I did. My break wasn't long... but so far I have to think it has been effective. I essentially just stood back and looked at where I was and tried to honestly assess my play in the past few weeks, swallowed hard, and jumped right back in the next day. Since though, I've been thinking a lot about how to improve my bankroll and my performance, and for future reference I'd like to get my mental list out of my head:

1. I need to set better stop-loss limits and have the discipline to stick to them. One of the main reasons why SNGs have been a largely good expenditure of my poker time (though not really that profitable), is that any loss is limited to the amount of the buy-in. But with my recent obsession with 25NL, losses can (and have) spiraled out of control at times. I'm learning to sit down at a table, and if somehow I end up dropping my $25, force myself to sit out a few hands and think about why/how I lost that $25: if it's for any mental reasons (tired, pissed, drunk, whatever), I'm done. If it truly was a bad beat, and I can honestly shrug it off, I'll find another table and maybe keep playing. The point here is I need to walk away more often, at the first sign of trouble. So obvious, but so difficult.

2. I need to pay more attention to table selection. Here's an example that demonstrates my point. Last night I was sitting at a 25NL table, and up to about $85 in just under and hour. Some guy sat down with $16 two seats to my left, and just went NUTS. He was playing super-mega agressive, and as usual, I geared down and kept praying for sets to bust him with. Mostly, I folded a lot. He was pushing the entire table around... raising and scooping pot after pot... then craftily pushing and antagonizing people when he had the nuts. Finally I catch a piece of a flop, and get myself involved with this guy. He throws out $20 on the river, and I have to fold (overcards on the board, etc), and as he did several times, he shows he had nothing. I didn't lose much but some pride luckily. When I left he was up to $195 and going strong, busting anyone who was foolish enough to think that he was just an idiot. I need to hit the passive tables, and leave when conditions change. And avoid "LED_ZEP" on Party. This guy's either the luckiest dope online, or he's a fine agressive player.

3. I need to hit the fundamentals. This one has been self-evident for a while, but reading a timely post by April gave me a little kick in the head. I think I'm decent. I've certainly logged a lot of hours and hands in the past 6 months. But there's a lot of aspects of the game that I really haven't spent much time working on or thinking about. Most noteably, calculating pot odds, hand odds, and outs. Now as an almost strictly NL player, I tend to rely on generalizations and (perhaps too often) on implied odds. But hell, I even botched the odds (and had to later edit to keep from looking like a total fool) in my last post dealing with someone having a four-flush on the flop with 2 cards to come (1.9:1). What the freak? I can't even spit out the odds of such a common situation as that?

With that said, I have to save myself a little here by saying that I think I have a decent feel for the odds... I mean, I can tell you generally where things fall. But I've somewhat been missing the angle that NL (and limit... or poker in general for that matter) is about maneuvering to put your opponents on the wrong side of the odds, and always being aware of your own. I should really start looking at NL as Limit, but with the freedom to score much more than a 4 bet cap with the nuts.

4. In general: play tighter. I still don't think I've really mastered the act of gearing down when things aren't going so good. This last week I've been playing much tighter both in 25NL, and in levels 1-3 of SNGs, and it appears to be paying. I still don't think I've scored a 1st place this month in a SNG, but I've been reaching the money more often. Mostly though, playing tighter has really helped my 25NL game. The fact is, I've realized that I'm not good enough to be playing those borderline hands which require a lot of skill to play effectively. By taking less hands to the flop, I'm giving myself the edge I need to show consistent gains during most sessions. Plus, at the shorthanded tables that I play, you get a chance to play crap and mediocre starting cards in the BB once every orbit of 6 hands. Assuming there's a pre-flop raise and you fold your BB every other orbit, that's still something like every 12 hands.

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It feels good to feel like I'm in a period of growth again. There's a few things that seem to have clicked in the past week, and that, coupled with luck going my way a few times, has managed to help me post a nice uptick in my bankroll that I can feel good about and hopefully build upon.