I spent most of this previous week on a very jam-packed, hectic business trip, so the WSOP-2013 training has gotten off to a slow start. That said, I did manage to get some initial ground work in place, with an expectation that this week (i.e., today) formally begins the journey to the 2013 WSOP. My goal is to document results and progress approximately once per week. So, with that in mind, here's what I did and how I fared for this past week:
- Preparation
- Pregame. Did a poor job of pregame prep, just jumping into a handful of tournaments and SnGs when I had some time to play. No warm-ups, no pre-game checklists, etc. Just played. Worse, I played while jet-lagged, and while I had a TV playing in the background. Ugh. Not good.
- Postgame. Reviewed the five games I played, of which I moneyed in exactly zero. Main issue (as expected) was/is patience; I do well for the first hour or so, and then start making silly mistakes and rushing things.
- Off-Table.
- Forums. With biz travel, I frankly didn't find much time to read many posts, nor did I make any significant post of my own.
- Books. I started reading The Poker Tournament Formula by Arnold Synder. This book is primarily intended for faster, local-casino type tournaments, but I've heard it has a lot of good general information, too. So far I've only made it about a chapter in, but it's been entertaining. Snyder begins with a discussion of blind structures and starting chip stack sizes to formulate what he calls the Patience Factor. This is then (presumably) used later in the book to determine how loose or tight you need to play. Good, interesting stuff so far.
- Videos. Watched one video, which was an older DeucesCracked on MTT SnGs, during part of an airplane flight. Took a few notes, but nothing spectacular came of the vid, which was only so-so.
- Health. Ugh. Another disappointment. I actually gained a pound, but this is not terribly unexpected given the biz trip. I ate poorly, plus I only really got in one significant walk during the trip; no other aerobic or similar exercise. I really need to figure out a way to eat and exercise better on these killer trips, as they will continue to be a big part of my day job and will continue throughout the next year.
- Other. I created a spreadsheet to begin tracking tournament results, but it still needs some tweaks to be able to chart things and show me how I'm doing. By this time next week, I should have it fully up and running.
- Technique
- Preflop. Worked on my starting hand chart for cash, which eventually will turn into one for MTTs.
- Postflop Evaluations.
- Reads: Played two of the five tourneys "blind" with a small yellow sticky placed on my computer screen over my cards. This forced me to think hard about position and trying to read the other players. In both of these tourneys, I crapped out early, so I clearly have some work to do here.
- Estimates: Was going to play with Flopzilla to start memorizing equities, but only did a couple before getting sidetracked. I really like that software, however, and it helps visualize how ranges hit different boards, etc.
- Line Implementations. Nothing to report.
- Emotional Control
- Tilt Control. No big problems with tilt this week. I was a little bummed busting out of every tournament and SnG I played in, but it didn't affect my mental state whatsoever; i.e., I just shrugged each one off, did a post-mortem, and moved on.
- Bankroll Management. Biggest buy-in I played in was a couple of $11 SnGs, and these are well within the bankroll capacity. Also, I played some $25NL cash games on a couple of days just to replenish the tournament coffers, so despite not moneying once in tourneys, I actually built the 'roll by $30 overall. My new tracking spreadsheet will help keep this area focused, too.
- Discipline. Patience is truly my Achilles heel, and it's the one thing that honestly threatens me from making any kind of deep run. Need some kind of Zen hammer to hit me over the head and instill me with infinite patience.
All-in for now...
-Bug
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