Updates and Shot Planning (6/19/2012)

Updates and  Shot Planning (6/19/2012)

Last week I put in an lol 22 hours and won +$1600. 

I’m very concerned with my work ethic at the moment, normally one of my strongest areas.  Last week I went to clubs Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.  Obviously I was so out of it Thursday I could only stand 2 hours before leaving.  Then I put in 22 hours Friday- Sunday.

I want to put in well over 30 hours a week, but half the time the games aren’t even worth it.  Also I think I’m quite bored with mid-stakes at the moment.  I haven’t gone out like that unplanned since I’ve been a pro.  The week was supposed to be business as usual, so what the hell happened?  Usually when I get too content and I’m not really satisfied with my direction I naturally lash out and do crazy bull-shit that makes no sense.

I think there are two problems here that I plan to address:

1)  I need to take a break and step away.

Don’t ask me why.  But it is recently summer time, it’s beautiful outside, and there are pretty girls at the clubs every night of the week.  During May I put in my lowest volume as a pro (116 hours), so you think I wouldn’t need a break.  Then again that was the lowest volume month in the past 20 months.  I’m not sure 116 hours of poker in a month is a real break.  I think eventually I’m going to need to force myself to take a nice break, something like 2-3 weeks.  I’m having trouble with the balance recently.

I’m not sure if I can ever force myself to take a break that long.  But here is what I am going to do for the rest of the month:  NOT FORCE VOLUME.  For example, I have friends visiting Thursday-Tuesday.  The only days I’m going to play during that stretch are Friday and Saturday maybe.   So During the next seven nights I’m only going to play three max, there is a mini-break.  I’m also planning a big break staring July 8^th, It’s going to be a full week minimum.  Ok moving on…..

2)  I need to take another shot

There is no reason to not take "shots" (fuck I hate this word) at 5/10 right now.  My bankroll is at an all-time high, over 40k at this point.  No it’s not enough to instantly stabilize at 5/10, but it’s a great number to take shots whenever the games seem good.  I’m also up 6k on the month playing 2/5.  Even if I blow 4 buy-ins playing 5/10 I can still pay my expenses for the month, and fine whatever.  So whenever I commit to playing sessions the rest of the month I plan to bust my ass to dig out 5/10 games.  If there aren’t any good games fine I’ll drop to 2/5, but there is NO REASON I shouldn’t be looking.

I always seem to make excuses for not taking shots enough, but it’s really just bad.  There is no magical bankroll number.  Moving up is largely about work ethic and continued dedication to elevate my game to high stakes.

I also need to focus on conquering directly what is in front of me.  The next logical step is my home-town 5/10 games.  Time to step it up.

-bag