Unable To Sit (6/29/2012)

The past two nights I was unable to sit on 5/10, the games just looked dreadful all of Wednesday and Thursday night.  So I grinded 2/5 for about +$800 in the two nights.

If there looks to be some decent games this weekend I'm looking forward to jumping in high stakes.  Logically there should be at least ONE FUCKING decent game sometime between now and July 4th.

Not much to report.  Friends cleared out so I'm all poker until after July 4th.  After that I'm going on vacation a week.  I had a terrible 5/10 session last weekend where I made a mistake and dropped about -$1500, so net I'm just under 6k on the month.

I have a feeling some notable shit will go down before I leave on the tables.  Not sure if it will be good or bad.

-bag

Mega-Heater at High Stakes (6/20/2012)

My 5/10 shot started up with a mega heater on Tuesday night, up +$170 in 6 hours.  Pretty incredible having such a break-through!

But seriously, planning on going to the beach all day Thursday with some friends who are coming in town.  Plan to play Friday and Saturday. 

Going forward I'm in shot taking mode, but the next two weeks I'm planning to pretty much just focus on playing the weekends.  I wouldn't call it slacking, it's just summer-time and I want to enjoy the rest of my life some.

-bag

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    

Strong Week (6/11/2012)

I finished the week up about $2400 in 33 hours.  Sunday (tonight) I ended up losing $600 in 7 hours, sucks ending the week with a bitter taste.  But it in retrospect it was fine, one hand I lost KK < QQ in a 3-bet pot against a mid-stack giving away any profits for the night.  Then I got stacked KK < AA against a younger unknown.  Neither hand is worth wasting the energy to think about.  Just gone, let it go whatever.

If someone told me I'd log 2400 on the week playing 33 hours of 2/5 I'd be damn happy with that, so I should be fine with the week. 

Tomorrow I'm definitely taking off, maybe Tuesday as well.  I think I'll feel better after a forced break.

I know it's all about getting to 5/10, but I'm temporarily trying to keep it out of my mind.  The strategy is really to get my bankroll to a level that is too big to fail.  2/5 is a little boring for me right now, but I have to just keep logging clean volume.

-bag

Early June Upswing (6/7/2012)

Things have started very well this month.

The lucky number seems to be 1010. 

Friday 9 hours +$1010

Second half of Saturday 4 hours +$1010

Wednesday 7.5 hours +$1010

The month has started up just over 3k.  Nice to run good, but I'm obviously not letting it affect me in any way.  I need to stay focused and put in good volume.  This is a month where the pressure already feels off, I'm free to play my game and GRIND.  I have to go for the jugular.  The only way to do that is too put in the work, stick to my game plan, and hit daily targets every session.

There is really nothing I'm doing out of the ordinary.  I'm playing mistake free and I'm generally angry less.

I've also been making a big effort to study (on and off the table) and focus on physical tells.  I feel I'm making some progress.  I came up as an online player so I feel this is an area of weakness for me.  Focusing more on physical tells has actually made the game more interesting.  Even when you're not in a specific hand there is always something you can be learning.

I'm aiming to play Thursday-Sunday, so I'll update after that stretch.

-bag