Luky and Chip build a bankroll

[Chipaccrual]

Poker is great, but sometimes being able to get away from things on a Thursday afternoon is even better.



Having the New Forest close by often gets taken for granted.  Jen is off this week, so the dogs have got extra walking, I think they enjoyed the water.

[lukybugur]

OK ... time for reflection on what has been a pretty grim month poker-wise. And I"m going to start by digressing slightly, onto golf story I once read.

Each Summer I really get into golf; into playing it and really into learning it - the swings, the new technology etc. and I read something pretty life-changing a few years ago, an article of Bob Rotella"s (Padraig Harrington"s / Davis Love III"s Mind Coach).

It was all about positive thinking and started off as a story about how Jack Nicholas had told the world that he has "never three-putted the last hole of a tournament or missed from inside five feet on the last hole of a tournament". It"s not true - he has - but he"ll ALWAYS deny it and even almost fight with you if it means keeping negative thoughts from entering his mind. Read the whole article here if you"re at all interested.

So WTF has this got to do with my poker? Well, the long and short of it is that in the four months that Leigh and I have been playing the DS Satellites to the Sunday Million, I ran a $60 deposit up to $993 with a 30% ROI and ITM stats of 15%. Now, as I type this, I"m sitting with almost $20 in my account, stats of -46% ROI and 10% ITM I can"t honestly remember playing anything badly / getting my cards in badly that often that it should warrant such a demise. My stats say that I make MORE than my fair share of Final Tables but that I just can"t seem to hit the money spots (usually top 2 or 3) in the 10 Man SnG format ... obviously.

So, questions;

Do I have the right mindset for poker?
Am I thinking TOO positively?
Do I think I"m a better player than I am?
Is it my "ability" to forget bad beats / bad plays that takes me back time after time? And has it cost me over $900?? I suspect so.

I"m now asking myself; what"s the "correct mindset" for poker? I never approach a game (DS or otherwise) thinking I"m going to be out of my depth. That would be defeatist and definitely the wrong mindset IMO. I do approach every game thinking that if I concentrate and make good, educated plays, I will prosper. And if I get a little lucky along the way, I may just be able to hit a decent pay day. If I get sucked out on, hey ho, that"s variance and it"s to be expected.

I"m going to take some time away from the online tables to have a think about where I go from here. Leigh has offered to transfer some of the joint bankroll (which he"s done VERY WELL to build up!) but due to some security issue with my Stars Account he"s been unable to.

My workload has just doubled / tripled in the past week or so so poker will be put aside for the next fortnight at least. I"m sure I"ll get back to youz soon, positive as ever

[Mikeyboy9361]

Keep ya chin up Neil, you don"t become a bad player in the space of a few weeks. A break might be just what you need, to get your mind right. Or play a different game for a change. You have to forget bad beats otherwise you would stop playing, there is nothing worse than playing the hand perfectly, getting your chips in ahead and getting out drawn, but we all know it happens, and when you are running bad it happens more often.
The other thing that I find is that the more I play the same SNG the more blahzee I become, and start trying different things and before I know it I am losing regularly. The remedy is then to go back and play as you were when you were winning.
Whether you think you"re better than you are, is a strange question, the question I find a good one to ask is how good are my opponents? More often than not ( except when playing APAT) the answer is not that great, so making fancy plays etc is a waste of time because they go over your opponents head. So at the lower levels ( I don"t know your buy in level) up to $10 I tend to play pretty ABC poker, and even though it can be boring, more often than not it is profitable.
Any way thats my two pence worth, I am sure you will be back winning shortly.  

[Roscopiko]

Neil

Seems to me you tend at times to verge on overanalysing your poker and what you are playing in general.  You see so many of these types of posts on poker forums where people start to get disolusioned with the game at times and I"ve deffo been there too.

At this stage I generally ask myself this question (don"t know why cos I know the answer ). What do I want from poker?

Is it a hobby or a prospective new career?

If its a hobby then ENJOY IT ffs.  Play the games you want to play and dont overplay trying to make the odd $$$ here and there when your doing it from compulsion rather than wanting to.  You don"t have to follow BRM if you are playing from your expendable income and its not affecting you financially so if you don"t want to grind, don"t.  If you lose some of your social money so what.  At the end of the day you have hobbies to have fun don"t you and as a reward for grafting at work.  I"m sure playing golf isn"t financially rewarding but you include it in your treats to yourself, don"t let yourself get hung up on the $$$ side.  Measure your poker success through + happiness rather than by your BR.

If its a prospective career carry on playing to strict BRM and treat it as a job.  Play selectively and set goals etc.... gg life.

[Honeybadg]

Time away - good.

If you want to analyse it I would analyse "money at risk" - what were the %"s when the money went in - what were the outcomes ... if you are doing the right things keep doing them ...

Variance huge ... you have the game to take something big down ... so take a break ... win some tickets ... and then play them with your cowboy hat on ...

L

[Chipaccrual]

On a totally different subject, you know that feeling when you think you have something planned, but then forget about it.  Well that happened to me last night.  Only this morning did I remember that it was the Inside Poker Freeroll on Blue Square.  I"d pre-regged, but forgot, so probably blinded away through the usual 600+ runners.

That was until this arrived in my inbox.

Dear Inside Poker Freeroll player,



Due to a set up error, the Inside Poker Magazine Freeroll was interrupted last night with 253 players remaining. Blue Square Poker have re-scheduled the tournament to run tomorrow evening, starting at 8pm. As one of the remaining players, you have been pre-registered to play. The tournament is restricted to the remaining 253 players who were left in the tournament at the time of the interruption. Unfortunately, we are unable to re-create the scenario exactly and continue the tournament as it was at the time of the interruption, so all 253 players will re-start the tournament.



Blue Square Poker apologises for the inconvenience caused.

Quite right they should apologise for the inconvenience caused to me.      Result.

[Mikeyboy9361]

Oh darn! I thought that was tonight!

[Chipaccrual]

Oh darn! I thought that was tonight!

Poker Player one is tonight, assuming you have the relevant password.

[SirPercival]

Neil, I would highly recommend the book "The Poker Mindset" by Ian Taylor & Matthew Hilger, of which I have copy that you are welcome to borrow.

I also find PokerTracker really useful for looking back at your play to establish if it is just variance.

[Honeybadg]

... is poker tracker any good for looking at Double shoot-outs?

L

[SirPercival]

... is poker tracker any good for looking at Double shoot-outs?

L

I would say PT is really good for cash players but has limited benefit for tournaments of any kind.

It does record every play you make so is good for reviewing hands (which is why I mentioned it)

[janc]

Neil, are you at Bolton if so pm me

[lukybugur]

Yes Charlie, I am. PM sent.

[mal666]

Tbf 30% roi was never sustainable over a meaningful sample. -46% on the other hand is. How many have you actually played? What % swing would you get if you won the next 1 you played? (Have you even got a meaningful sample)?
The golf analogy just sounds like burying your head in the sand to me. Telling your self it wont happen isnt going to stop it happening.
Put your last 20 or so bust out hands into a re-player and post em on here so we can see if there is a problem.
Table selection or the first game that pops up when you feel like playing? (There is loads of easy money in these but also a few regs to avoid too).

[Chipaccrual]

Tbf 30% roi was never sustainable over a meaningful sample. -46% on the other hand is. How many have you actually played? What % swing would you get if you won the next 1 you played? (Have you even got a meaningful sample)?
The golf analogy just sounds like burying your head in the sand to me. Telling your self it wont happen isnt going to stop it happening.
Put your last 20 or so bust out hands into a re-player and post em on here so we can see if there is a problem.
Table selection or the first game that pops up when you feel like playing? (There is loads of easy money in these but also a few regs to avoid too).

Mal,

What would you suggest is a meaningful sample for these Double Shootouts ?   and what do you think is a sustainable ROI ?

I agree with you about avoiding the "regular" players in these.  What sort of volume to you reckon the regular grinders are playing ?

Cheers