Played some truly awful $10NL cash yesterday at lunch-- and promptly lost ~$15. Due to an earlier appointment, I had a shortened lunch and didn't have a lot of time to play. As a result, I tried to force the issue, jumping into some tough games, getting involved with trap hands, not playing sound positional poker, and basically being too aggressive in situations where I was at best in a coinflip. I was jonesing for some poker, but I didn't have the time or mental state to actually play good poker. I simply should not have played.
That's the bad news. The good news is that later in the evening I had more time and wasn't rushed. I scouted some tables and got into some soft games. I then proceeded to play 200 hands much more perfectly. Not 100% perfect, mind you, but at least more perfectly than the lunchtime fandango.
The results bore out the improved play, too, as I won back all that I had lost earlier, plus a little bit of profit. Even though I posted a net profit for the day, I'm still pretty mad at myself. I can't help thinking that I'd be up $17 for the day if I'd just sat out at lunch instead of trying to make all those ill-advised plays I squeezed into 25 frazzled minutes. Sigh. Guess I'll have to be content with the $2 profit added to the (re)learned lesson that there are no shortcuts in this game. If you want to make money at cash games, there is no subsitute for patience, position, controlled aggression, and the ability to weather small incremental losses while you wait for the planets to align and the big payoffs to show themselves. You also have to be mentally prepared to play, including reminding oneself that poker is a game of skill and edge, and that you can't rush things. If you turn the game of poker into gambling, you will lose money in the long run. If you keep it a game of skill, you can win. It's really that simple. Do you want to win or lose? If the answer is the latter, then play like I did at lunch. If it's the former, however, then play more like I did in the evening.
In other news, I played a $2 SnG with Mr. Multi yesterday. We both didn't play our A-game, and neither of us made it into the money. I've been having a lot of trouble with moneying in single table tourneys lately. Sit and Go's have certainly gotten toughly lately, but I believe my biggest problem isn't related to the skill of my opponent. Instead, the problem is twofold: 1) lack of practice; and 2) trying to force the issue to much. For some reason, I tend to treat SnGs more like gambling than a game of skill, and I'm more willing to get involved in coinflips and marginal edge situations. Sound familiar? Sigh.
Oh well. The bankroll is touching up against $400 again for the first time in months, so I suppose this is a reason to celebrate. But it would be $415 if I'd just waited for a better time to play and been more mentally prepared to play perfect poker...
All-in for now...
-Bug
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