An Honest Assesment

[rubertoe]

So here we are, 1 leg down and already i"m starting to asses the way that i have been playing.... and the truth is gonna hurt!

After trying to satelite in to Leg 1 of the online nationals unsuccesfully ($10 freezeout and $15 in the re-buy) i decided i would play in the Online National anyway and take my Chance! (i did ok in the mini-league - so had a bit of a BR in bluesquare)

I wish that i never bothered and saved the Money for my BR! The reason that i am saying this is that i belive that i am just not good enough at the moment to compete at the Higher level (which is what i believe the APAT nationals - both live and online - to be)  and therfore it has not only dented my pride and confidence but also my BR!!

I have Decided that i am too Risk Averse ( i belive this is correct - dont like taking many risks) to be playing $50+ buy in tournys so i wll no longaer be contributing to the prizepools. So with that in mind - i will be giving the Online/Live nationals a miss for the next couple of months and will Take a break from the game over the next few weeks to re-asses what i want from Poker and also to forget what i have learnt and come back with a clean slate for the Online league.

See you on the 1st Feb.

Good luck all

[lukybugur]

Sounds like a good head-screwed-on approach to me. Nice one.

[George2Loose]

Nah- stick the lot on black 8! When it comes in you"ll be rolled for every tourney.

Weeeeeeeeeeeeee

[kinboshi]

The reason that i am saying this is that i belive that i am just not good enough at the moment to compete at the Higher level (which is what i believe the APAT nationals - both live and online - to be)  and therfore it has not only dented my pride and confidence but also my BR!!

Not good enough?  It"s a very small sample of events to be determining that.  On that same criteria, most of us shouldn"t be playing in these.  I finished 70-something last night, after getting short-stacked.  Was card-dead most of the night, and in a tournament with a structure like that it"s not a bad strategy to be risk-averse (especially early doors).  There are a lot of decent players in the APAT events, but blimey, there are a lot of poor players as well.  People happy to call all-in on the flop for 50 big blinds with bottom pair on a QJ3 board, only to hit trips on the river.  Call me risk averse if you want - but I fold my bottom pair there.

Am I one of the best players.  No, there are plenty better than me.  But I can hold my own in these, and one thing that you have to be aware of in tournaments is variance.  **** happens - and often.

Of course, if the $50 is a large amount of your bankroll, then that"s a different matter.  If it means you play scared, and don"t play as optimally as you would in a buy-in that wasn"t such a large part of your roll, then it"s not a good idea to play (unless it"s a punt at a larger event and you recognise this).

Hope to see you in the satellites for the main events - as they"re a good opportunity to get in on the cheap.  

[rubertoe]

Cheers for the responses guys.

I have been thinking about this and running through my thoughts and also a few hand histories and i guess that i have come to the conclusion that although i am not a great player i would say that i am average, i had a winning year in my eyes last year - from an outlay of $45 i managed to end the year just shy of $1000 up! but it is not the money that matters to me - what matters to me is that i continue to improve and that i continue to love the game,

Although $50+ buy in"s are alot for me - i never normally play that high and play the game purley as an Ametuer for the enjoyment, my normal stakes are <$10 Mtt or SNG. Dont get me wrong i am a competative person and always want to do my best and win (who likes loosing money ) - it is the fact that i didnt think that i had the skill set to be able to compete with alot of the players in this particular tourny, so that is why i wont be playing for the next couple!

What i do plan on doing is not playing any online poker for a couple of weeks (i"ve got a few Home games and dont wanna miss those) - Re-Read harrington, think about my risk averseness and use that as the focus of improvement!!

Watch this space and i"ll let you know how i get on!!

Any advice will be very much appreriated - good and bad!

[monkeyman]

Its probably not a bad idea to give it a miss if you"re feeling that way if for no other reason than if you doubt yourself, you won"t play your best and you"ll get over run. Having said that, there are a heck of a lot of players out there who aren"t as good as they think. If you"re able to make an honest appraisal of your own talents and  identify weaknesses in your own game, that"s a big positive and you"ll become a better player for it. Reading Harrington"s books is a good starting point, but I"d also recommend you read books from players with a much looser playing style as well.
 Playing in the online league will be a help; you"ve signed for the winning team and what could be a better boost to the confidence than gaining a GUKPT seat?  

[TopPair2Pair]

Only you can decide and justify what your going to do at the end of the day.

Congrats on last years $45 to 1k which a good achievement.

If this were me i would be thinking;
*I deviated from my plan to satiliette my way into the nationals, not rly a great way to manage my BR. And am I going to let this happen again?

*If I played 1 online National then i want to play them all and get a real feel for where I am at in terms of the skill level of the player pool over a greater number of tournements. So after buyin in to the first one (+satilitte) am I "pot commited" to buy into the other 5 events? ($275). If so can I justify the remaining $275 if I get a zero ROI. If I can justify the $275 is it coming from my BR or am I treating myself from my own personal cash/or a birthday/work bonus, live BR, etc.
Playing all 5 of them should effectively make it an easier transition to this new standard of play but only if you can justify spending the doller. And be prepared to make adjustments to your game that you could end up taking back down to lower limits that may no longer be effective or appropriate.

*Ultimately if there are weaker players playing at this level then that makes no impact on my decision to play in these games as they may have a fantastic salary from employment that allows them to play recreationally at this level without any ROI. And this is no reason for me to go and put my head in the oven or jump off a cliff as well.

Basically everyones circumstances, ROI, & BRM are diff and we have to consider this here from our own perspective.


i"ve tried to balance the points made here but this is how i would approach this problem, I hope its helps and doesn"t lean to one side.

GL with your live games

[Cyntaf]

Pretty much what all the above have said, except all on black 8
As top pair said, has to be your decision, i admire your discipline and frankness and willing to post such.

Gl and hope to see you back very soon

Paul

[Eck]

Been reading this, got it at xmas only about 3rd way through but written very well so far and should have 3 slightly different perspectives on playing a load of hands. Have liked it so far, pm me your address and i"ll post it off to you when i"m done. Should only take about a week or 2 as i tend to only read it in the bath   (several APATer"s now feel slightly ill after that image   )

[THEGUY84]

lol I might give that book at try will have to read it behind the other 10 poker books I have that havent got round to reading lol!

My new year reselution not going so well, to start reading them.

[rubertoe]

Been reading this, got it at xmas only about 3rd way through but written very well so far and should have 3 slightly different perspectives on playing a load of hands. Have liked it so far, pm me your address and i"ll post it off to you when i"m done. Should only take about a week or 2 as i tend to only read it in the bath   (several APATer"s now feel slightly ill after that image   )

Anyone else recommend any thing that is looser than harringtons books!??

[monkeyman]

I"ve not read any books by looser players but I watch a lot of StoxPoker"s online videos and they approach the game from a completely different perspective to Harrington. I"ve taken out a subscription to Stox a couple of times when they"ve had free membership offers linked to signing up to a new poker site. They don"t seem to have any offers open at the minute but they are worth keeping an eye on if this changes.  

[kinboshi]

Been reading this, got it at xmas only about 3rd way through but written very well so far and should have 3 slightly different perspectives on playing a load of hands. Have liked it so far, pm me your address and i"ll post it off to you when i"m done. Should only take about a week or 2 as i tend to only read it in the bath   (several APATer"s now feel slightly ill after that image   )

Might have to buy that one Eck.  You"ve learnt a fair bit from it?  

I like to read in the bath as well (obviously in my bath, not Eck"s) - but you"re missing an opportunity.  Reading whilst on the throne!

[TopPair2Pair]

Been reading this, got it at xmas only about 3rd way through but written very well so far and should have 3 slightly different perspectives on playing a load of hands. Have liked it so far, pm me your address and i"ll post it off to you when i"m done. Should only take about a week or 2 as i tend to only read it in the bath   (several APATer"s now feel slightly ill after that image   )

Might have to buy that one Eck.  You"ve learnt a fair bit from it?  

I like to read in the bath as well (obviously in my bath, not Eck"s) - but you"re missing an opportunity.  Reading whilst on the throne!

hate to say this but i read poker bhooks in the bath too with bubbles...

[noble1]

just join pxf and watch there videos any by rizen,apestyles,pearljammer are good as are the belowabove,bax,brsavage and sheets videos all these guys are proven winners long term having played 1000"s of mtts on stars and tilt alone not even counting ap ub party etc etc ... along with the book it is gr8 learning if you can incorporate any of there play into your own style of play..