The road to my first bracelet

They say that the best tool a poker player has is the ability to go down limits when things don’t go well. Yeah!!!!! I have it, but trust me when I say it sucks.

Ok, so here I am reviewing my 25NL sessions. What went wrong? A few costly mistakes, some suckouts but I found out something you can’t quantify. Every sunday, I print a weekly poker schedule and through out the week, I write what I do. During those two weeks at 25NL, I did nothing but play poker and review sessions. No DC videos, no hand reading practice, no book reading, no nothing. Just poker sessions, session reviews. Just like some guy who wants to be a doctor but just don’t want to study. From now on, between every session, I need to do 2 hours or more of poker related stuff. A DC video is about one hour plus the time I stop it to take notes. That leaves 45 minutes. 15 minutes for a session review. That leaves 30 minutes for hand reading practice, book reading, posting hands on forum, answering posts on forum, etc. So far, so good.

Another thing I found out is that every 10 minutes in a session, I have to monitor myself. So, every 10 minutes, I ask myself 3 simple questions:

1- Am I playing my A, B or C game? I added B+ game which is a good game but I don’t feel 100% into it.

2- How is my mind set? Am I focused like a student preparing for an exam? Am I just on cruise control. Am I losing patience because I won only one decent hand in 30 minutes but lost 5? Am I just tired?

3- Are the tables still worth playing?

Once you answer these questions, you’ll know where you stand. Don’t be affraid to quit after only 30 minutes into a session if you are not satisfied with the answers. But don’t be affraid to stick around after one hour if you are in your A game, you are focused and the fishes are some “Durrr wannabes” who will gladly shove the river with ace high, trying to represent the ace high flush you have.

POP quizz: On the evening of april 6th 2010 on poker stars, do you know who was the luckiest man at the tables? MEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Poker Stars $0.05/$0.10 No Limit Hold’em – 5 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

BB: $8.80
UTG: $22.60
CO: $10.00
Hero (BTN): $13.40
SB: $17.35

Pre Flop: ($0.15) Hero is BTN with 7 7
1 fold, CO checks, Hero raises to $0.50, 1 fold, BB calls $0.40, 1 fold

Flop: ($1.05) 7 A J (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $1, BB raises to $2.50, Hero calls $1.50

Turn: ($6.05) 7 (2 players)
BB bets $2.70, Hero calls $2.70

River: ($11.45) 5 (2 players)
BB bets $3.10 all in, Hero calls $3.10

Final Pot: $17.65
BB shows J J (a full house, Jacks full of Sevens)
Hero shows 7 7 (four of a kind, Sevens)
Hero wins $16.95
(Rake: $0.70)