March Update

So far in March, I have played 4011 hands of 50NL for a total of $128.85 (3.21ptBB/100). I started the month well, running up about $210 of profit, but then went on a rather sudden 4BI downswing, taking me back down to almost breakeven for the month. I was quite surprised at how much loosing 4BIs at 50NL effected me emotionally, not through tilt, but it made me doubt my game so much. It just seemed that every move I tried to make was the wrong one, and my opponents were constantly outplaying me by 3-betting me preflop when I had a weak hand, or check-raising the flop whenever I missed. This of course is standard variance, and I know it is, but even so, the simple procedure of loosing almost $200 in about 500 hands really got to me.

Once I had got over my stupidity and realised that $200 is only 4BIs, and that 4BIs swings were going to happen on a weekly basis, and that much bigger swings are guaranteed to happen at some point, it became much easier to deal with it. I resisted the temptation to play 25NL, but played a bit tighter than my normal game at 50NL so as to avoid tricky (high variance) situations, the result being that over the final 1000 hands, I made it back to my current total of just under $130.

I believe that poker players learn the most when going through downswings, and this most recent one has made me realise that since I have moved up to 50NL, I am much more emotionally attached to the money that I am playing with. 5-6BI swings happen regularly at 6max and to be able to deal with them I need to think of money in terms of buyins, not in terms of $$.

I have now finished watching the Unconventional Wisdom series at Deuces Cracked which has really changed how my thought process works when playing, some really great stuff in the videos and I would highly recommend it to anyone playing 50NL-200NL.

In other news, I have $200 stuck on Battlefield Poker which I cant access because of this whole microgaming scandal. Not sure exactly what is going on, but apparently the company that controls the funds has gone into liquidation and all the funds have been frozen at the moment. A lot of people have a lot more tied up in the affected sites than me, but would be nice to see my $200 again. (More info here)