Another Week in the Books

Another week is in the books and this was a tough one. I really had a bad day on Saturday, the worst of my playing so far, dropping 10 BIs. I went over most hands with Rasputin, who was kind enough to offer some advice. There were only a few hands that were debatable in his opinion and I then took those hands to baz last night and he said one of the hands was standard and the other I should have shoved instead of check/calling it off on the river, but the end result was the same. Of course, the play I made still sucked, but it is nice to learn from a mistake and not have it cost you any money, as either way I lose the stack.

• Mental Game: C. It was good for most of the week, but how I felt after Saturday was not good. I do feel I played fairly well until the very end of the last session and stayed focused. I took frequent breaks throughout the day and felt like I was playing well. I should have stopped earlier though, despite having limited time to play, because losing 10 BIs made me feel like I forgot how to play poker. At least it was nice to know when reviewing hands the next day that I still agreed with almost every play I made. It isn't easy to win when you lose with flopped flushes, sets, and you lose with boats on once paired boards, but the negative mindframe caused by a big losing day can lead to poor play and it is important to do what you can to always be in a good mind frame. The only reason I get a C here and not a worse grade is because of the good work I did earlier in the week in this area.
• Studying: B. I watched a couple of videos, posted hands and responded to hands on the leggo forums, and did a sweat with Jason. (Side note: The rude and sarcastic replies to hands on leggo are making me feel like it is 2+2. Maybe it is just me being old, but I grow tired of the disrespectful young players that compromise most people in these forums.). I feel like I am making strides in my game, but still have loads to improve upon. I also am starting to agree with baz's thoughts on videos. I watched the latest 100nl video from Clayton on Leggo this weekend and really felt I gained absolutely nothing from the video. HH videos are the nuts and I never see them on Leggo and don't see them often on DC. I know Jason has moved a HM database before from one machine to another. Dude, how did you do that without removing all the hands from the database? If anyone else knows how to do this, please tell me in the comments box (which is fixed now I believe). I think going over hands and lines from myself and other regs will really do well to improve my game. That would be a good route to pursue and see if that aids in my development.
• Technical Play: A-. Thought a lot more about various plays and bet sizes this week. I got some people to make some pretty poor plays based on inducing with my bet sizing, which was really cool. I made a much better effort to make notes and use them to my advantage. And hands I thought were potentially poorly played by me were deemed not so by some good players, so that gives me some confidence.
• Focus: A-. My focus was really good this week, despite the poor grade in the mental game area. I buckled down and made good notes and observations, I also did very well in thinking about the optimal plays against people as well. I hopeto continue this and build upon it too.

One thing that really helped me as well was a good point made to me by Rasputin. One of the reasons my swings seem to last so long is the low volume I obtain relative to other players who play for a living. Many people get in the same amount of hands in one month that I do in three, so if they have alosing month, it is the same as my having 3 losing months. It makes a lot of sense and I never thought of it that way, which is interesting.

Overall, it was a good week in that it opened my eyes up to some better ways to improve potentially. I am going to talk to whiteheatsyd sometime this week as well about some stuff that he thinks could help me improve, which is good news and something I am excited about. I will improve my play and seek any method I can to do so. I am thinking of getting coaching again as well. It can be a bit difficult to find a good coach who operates on my time schedule, but the reality is that I do need coaching and have to just search hard to find a good one. I am not sure when I will get it though. I want a good coach to really solidify me as a good winner at 200nl. I am playing 100nl now due to roll constraints from a bad stretch and withdrawing a lot of money. Getting a 100nl coach will be primarily a waste of my time I think, I need someone who thinks about the game at a higher level. As much as I question myself in bad stretches, I really do know deep down inside that I am a good enough player to beat 200nl, just not at the clip I would like. Most likely I will be waiting abotu a month to restore some of my roll and then hiring someone along the lines of jk3a. I have always enjoyed his videos and thinks he really communicates his thoughts better than almost any other coach I have seen in videos yet.