NOVEMBER - Update #11

Regular readers, who have joined me on this bumpy journey of mine, will already know that I made the decision not to reveal my exact results after my last update at the end of October. I've mentioned the reasons for this quite a few times (bringing extra pressure on myself, playing too tight, engaging in results orientated thinking etc) so I won't harp on about it anymore. Nevertheless, it wouldn't be much of a blog if I didn't write about how the month has gone in general so here goes:

Both online and live poker have followed a similar pattern this month with both starting off averagely but hitting a nosedive towards the end. The little online poker that I have played this month was proving fairly promising when I felt I was playing well and when my balance hit a $300 profit last weekend. Unfortunately, "One More Hand Syndrome" hit me and rather than take a break or even cash out the winnings, greed took hold of me and I deservedly went on a bad run and had the profit wiped out and then some.  If I was honest about this, I'd have to say that bad play may have had a role in this as well. (Although losing a buy-in at $200nl on an all-in with JJ v. QQ on a low dry flop was the trigger that caused the insta-cashout.)

Live poker was a similar story results-wise. I started off reasonably well enough but then had a minor hiccup while intoxicated during a session. Just as I felt I was turning a corner with a break-even and a small winning session, I made a schoolboy error when I just couldn't throw away KK to someone who made a full-house with their 56o. I then may have played solidly in my last session of the month, which definitely brought a little light back, but I am still annoyed with myself over the fact that I let my guard down both with the above mentioned hand and the donk-plays I made online. Poker really can pull the rug from under you - very suddenly!  

Results-wise then, it's been another losing month both at the live and online game - with the consolation being that the losses are fairly small. On a positive note though, as I've mentioned in other posts, I feel that I've gained quite a lot in other ways. First off, apart from learning a few lessons for next year, the idea of banishing results-orientated thinking while at the table AND the importance of always being on your guard at the same time has really hit home. Getting up from the table/computer and actually taking a stroll or a short break once in a while, to inject logic (as Tendler would say) would, I think, have saved me hundreds this month. Just getting up and having a stroll once in a while, therefore, will be something I'll need to do more of in future to make sure my head is in the right place at the table.

Secondly, possibly as a result of the poker books I have been reading recently, I have definitely incorporated more aggression into my game and, certainly over the month of November, can thoroughly see that this has brought benefits to my game. "Decide To Play Great Poker" by Annie Duke and John Vorhaus has been a really good read with "Poker Math That Matters" by Owen Gaines also bringing in an interesting mathematical angle to the fore. In fact, while I had originally thought the maths in Owen Gaines book would be a breeze, I am now arriving at mathematical ideas that are really quite dense and definitely require attentive study. Some of these ideas may seem to be taking the maths too far and may not even seem entirely necessary (like counting the combination of different hands that may be in an opponent's range and then calculating our equity against that range and then working with those numbers to calculate the EV etc) but it does show to what level you can take the game to if you wish to put in the effort.

Finally, the beginning of the month proved to be a nightmare at work. It may be easy to blame this for my cloudy thinking at the table but, there again, if I felt that work issues would interfere with my thinking at the table then I shouldn't have made the choice to play in the first place.

With December virtually upon us now, and with three months of poor results behind me, I'll consider this to be the home straight where I feel almost like I'm on a damage limitation exercise. I know this isn't the greatest mental attitude when approaching the game in the last month of the year but I guess if that's the sort of bed I've laid then I may as well lay in it. Work-wise, I absolutely detest the last two weeks leading up to Christmas - it's always freezing cold and dark, it's often wet and miserable - and as a consequence, with the excitement of Christmas thrown in, the students are usually bouncing off the walls!

I know, all negative stuff, I reckon I need a good positive live poker session tonight to give me that boost. If I do go ahead, I'll let you know how I get on...