Have to be liking Phil Ivey right now at that big ol' poker tournament that's going on. Part of me has been rooting for Matusow to go down in spectacular bad beat fashion, just to see if he'd cry again, but he's doing well, and that'd definitely be an interesting story, as far as going from a jail cell to the top of the poker world within the span of a year. And there are still a few crazy unknown "Internet" players floating around in the mix, as well as Fossilman lurking with some chips. Good stuff.
Yesterday was a pretty frustrating poker day. I can't seem to avoid days like yesterday, where I suddenly crater out and wipe out a week of steadily chipping and clawing my way upward. I got some good cards, made some good moves, made some good lay downs, and still got the snot kicked out of me, to the tune of -$700.
Part of the frustration, I think, is what seems to inevitably happen when I read assorted poker books, get energized, and return to the tables, ready to bring it. Which, sadly, isn't always possible, due to the vaguaries of the cards. Pretty unfortunate timing, though, especially playing with a donk that kept bluff check-raising me, then hitting his two outer on the turn/river, over and over and over.
I'm pretty good about staying Zen but I'm at a bit of a loss right now. I'm still barely in positive territory in 15/30 land, so I really have nothing to bitch and moan about. I'm still learning. I still enjoy playing and thinking about poker. But I think I need to reset my expectation gauge. Or something. I never expected to immediately start crushing 15/30, but I also didn't expect to spin my wheels to this extent. I still need to get more hands in, though, before I make any sort of judgment, as the sample size is way, way too small to make any conclusions.
The larger problem, methinks, is that I really need to just slow down, as far as expectations about all sorts of things. This has been a really, really good year, at the poker tables, away from the poker tables, basically everywhere. I need to find a way to be happy and thankful with that, instead of trying to force things. Yes, indeed, I'd love to be pulling in beaucoup cash from the tables and beaucoup cash from my business dealings. But I have to get to 1/2 beaucoup first, before I can even think about achieving beaucoup goodness.
2 comments:
It is so tough to measure success against your expectations when the variance kicks in. Probably a touch of results oriented thinking gets thrown in there (guilty as charged).
Just work through it, regroup, and try not to "expect" anything.
Let me echo BadBlood above. Variance hits, it sucks, but long term you know those two-out donkeys aren't going to win every time. You might not be crushing the game, but if you're still up then you're still moving in the right direction.
You're exactly right in saying that you just need to get more hands in. I'm guilty of that as well - pokertracker is an amazing tool, but we're all guilty of extrapolating small sample sizes and letting those results improperly influence our expectations.
Better luck in the near future...
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