Gauss Blog, Never Surrender. Never.

First, you gotta be tough, and not just a little tough, you have to be very, very tough mentally. This game will wear you down. You will lose alot, even if you play well. You will lose to bad players, sometimes consistantly. If it wasnt that way, then marginal players would never play with good players. You must find a constructive way to deal with bad beats. For me, I make an honest assessment of my play in a losing cash session or a tournement, if I can honestly say I played well, then I try not to worry about the donkeys. Thats all you can do. Deep breath and move on, any other action will hurt your game.

Second, you should gamble within your bankroll at all times. There are two reasons this is so. 1. you must be agressive to win, and if your worried about the amounts involved you wont make the correct decisions. 2. the edge you have is not that great in any one gambling session. If you risk your entire BR on one session or tournement, for ex. with 2% edge, you are gambling more than you are playing poker, and you will continually go broke. Over many trials, exploiting that edge, you will grow your BR and not go broke.

Third. You should excercise patience in game selection. The internet in particular makes it easy to jump in and play, without studying the game first. If you do that sort of thing, you are making a huge mistake. I can not tell you how many times I have been stuck in a .5,1 stud hi low game, only to look around and find a 5,1o game that is much, much softer. Do your game selection homework or dont play.

Four. You have to adjust to the game at hand. Styles and hand selection are a good starting point, but what separates average players from great ones is the ability to adjust.

Anyways, just wanted to write these things out, because while they are things I know, I dont always execute well.

With respect to my games lately, there is not much to say except that I continue to feel that I am playing very well. I have the feeling lately, that my opponents will have to get lucky to beat me in a hand. I hope that doesnt come off as arrogant, its just that I have worked hard lately and I think I have a good feel for the games I am in, lets call it confidence. I am doing well in tournements but no big scores. I do think however, that its just a matter of time. GL, Never surrender.