I've been running bad the last few weeks. This of course is a normal part of the ebb and flow of long-term poker. I got stacked with the nut flush to a rivered straight flush. I've run into quads twice when I held top boat. I've been rivered and runner-runnered six ways to Sunday. Unfortunately, I've tilted* a little, too, as a result, which has extended the losing streak further than it should have gone. Looking back through my PT3 data and doing some post-mortems on my non-beat losing hands, I've realized that my biggest leak has been that I opened up my game just a little too much, plus I didn't get off second best hands when, in hindsight, it was obvious I was behind. Said another way, I played too many hands, and I didn't fold myself away from difficult spots.
With that in mind, I have tried hard over the past couple of days to tighten up my game and focus on picking my battles. When in doubt, fold, I've told myself. If I thought I might be beat, I assumed it was true and folded. Tight is right. Breathe. Pick my spots. Discipline, discipline, discipline. Fold, fold, fold. Ommmmm.
The results from this new-found discipline over the last two day's 1400 hands have been very good, with a net profit of over a hundred bucks. But that's almost beside the point. Small sample size results don't matter in poker. What matters is how you played each hand, each session, each day.
Over the past two days, I can honestly say I've been playing much better poker than I have been during the preceding two weeks. Better still, the thing I feel particularly good about is how calm I have been taking this approach of Folding Is Good. Even the beats I took during the last couple of sessions seemed to roll of my back like water off a duck. If it was truly a bad beat, then I did everything right. If it wasn't a bad beat, what did I do wrong? Nothing? Good. Something? Okay, let's learn from it.
It has almost been like a zen state of mind, with a serenity that comes with each mucked hand. I've heard experienced pros speak of this phenomena, but it's rare for me. Now if I can just keep it up....
In other, not so good news, I see that Full Tilt Rush poker is now available on smart phones like my Android. Swell. I am sooooo screwed now.
Also, Rush Week is back on Full Tilt Poker. For those of you unaware, Rush Week is a recurring promo by Full Tilt, where they encourage you to play a certain number of hands per day for a week. In return for the points accrued, you get bonus money. Sounds good, right? Uh, not so fast. In the past I invariably ended up losing more table money whilst chasing the bonus money. I turn into a penny-wise, pound foolish spew monkey. Now, you have to give it to Full Tilt; this is a brilliant marketing move that surely generates lots of money for the site. It's just that I fall for it like a sucker every time, playing a quantity over quality game for the week that ends up costing me a lot of money. This time, however, I'm really going to try resisting the old "have to get in 200 more hands tonight before midnight to hit my Rush Week level for the day" syndrome. Trust me on this: it only leads to a smaller bankroll. The new zen side of me is going to embrace the idea of "If I get enough hands in to get the bonus money, I get enough hands in. If I don't, I don't."
Ommmmmmmmmm.
All-in for now...
-Bug
*Per Tommy Angelo, Tilt is essentially any poker that you play that is not your A-game. The most obvious forms of tilt are steaming and turning into a maniac. The less obvious forms include things like Success Syndrome, Fancy Play Syndrome, and the like. Even minor deviations from Perfect Poker are considered a form of tilt. Opening up your game a tick too much. Not value betting the river. Backing off on a bluff when you know it's the right move. Etcetera. Tilt is tilt. Ommmmm.
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