A chink of light

[RED-DOG]

Yesterday I made a profit from playing poker, it was the first time in five weeks. Although my winnings only amounted to a few hundred dollars, I was relieved to make a breakthrough

Five weeks without a draw of any kind is a big deal for me considering the fact that I play for ten or so hours a day, which costs me roughly $2000 per week in buy ins. That’s a $10,000 hole in my bank roll, plus living expenses

If I were playing live games only I wouldn’t consider five weeks a long time to go without making a profit, but factor in online play and it starts to get scary. In that space of time I have played more than eighty MTT’s, thirty STT’s and made six live appearances. That’s a lot of poker!

It’s been really tough maintaining my focus, the “take a break and come back refreshed” method doesn’t suit me, if anything, when things are going badly I tend to play more

as time goes on though, you do tend to lose confidence in your game, so you try to change things, either by playing much tighter or looser than usual, this phenomenon, when you finally recognise it, is the dreaded tilt

Tilt isn’t constant, most of the time you play a great game and you lose because you got unlucky or went card dead or something. During my barren five weeks I lost a lot of games when I know I played well, but in the cold light of day I know I also lost a lot of games because I played really badly, just one or two decent cashes would have made so much difference, I have only myself to blame

Yesterday it snowed. Not a lot, just an inch or so, then it froze really hard and the wind got up. I went out for a walk and I was soon blue with cold. Normally I would be out working in these conditions, instead of sitting at home in front of the fire playing poker on my laptop, if I wanted to continue living the “easy” life, I had to make it happen. Poker doesn’t owe me a thing. It was a sobering thought, I went home and played a winning session

To be successful at poker you have to do more than play the game well, you have to learn about yourself. Learn to control your emotions and reactions. The less you let good or bad runs affect you, the better your game will be overall

When I was a young man my dad gave me a framed copy of Kiplings “IF” It seems to contain advice for every situation

“If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same”

I feel like Rudyard and the last five weeks may have taught me something useful

[booder]

another first class post............

[Dewi_cool]

Yes great post again Red - Believe

[AdamM]

thanks red. Im running pretty bad at the minute and it's nice to know players of your class suffer too.

[zelda]

wow great post - i'm so glad you are back on track

[booder]

you playing luton red ?

[RED-DOG]

you playing luton red ?

Deffo monday, book early if your going

[booder]

playing thurs to sat...........already booked

[byronkincaid]

Nice post, I've tried to post something like this a couple of times but I can't write like wot u do. I think you 1 table which has obviously worked well for you but have you considered checking if your video card supports 1600/1200 resolution and plugging a dell 2001 FP into it. It was just the bit where you said

In that space of time I have played more than eighty MTT’s, thirty STT’s and made six live appearances. That’s a lot of poker

if I play 30 stt's then I've had quite a lazy day . I realise it's different strokes for different folks and what I do may not even be considered playing poker by some people but anyway it's just a thought.

[the rock]

You are a good man RED-DOG and a solid player and it IS quite scary when a player of your ability and discipline hits a bad run like that.Have faith in yourself it will turn around.Over the many years I have been playing I too have hit long bad runs and my god its tough going then, but stay strong and you will come out on top and a better player for the experience.Good luck mate.

[Karabiner]

I'm pleased for you Tom, and I'm off for a walk tomorrow 

[Graham C]

   very good post

[Robert HM]

Good post Tom. "IF" is also my favourite and there is a lot in there that's worth noting. I used to carry a copy in my wallet, perhaps I ought to read it again.