Taking time off from cash games

Played last night. Started with $100 and ran it up to $550 in less than 2 hours. Then the doomswitch turned on. I dropped to $225 and took a break for an hour.

Came back and bought in for $100 again. Once again, lost to runner runner 2x and moved all in with TPGK + sd + fd and couldn't get there, and my opponent had me outkicked (I had JTs, he had KTo).

Took today off from poker completely except for writing this blog. Waiting for The Poker Blueprint to arrive from Amazon.com.

Going to play the morning tournament tomorrow, but avoiding the cash games for now. I have a bunch of other projects that will keep me away from the tables completely this weekend. Probably for the best. My hourly rate has dipped from $74/hr (Weeks 1 & 2), to a piddly $10/hr (YTD). Still winning, but not enough to make a living (unless I work 80hrs/wk). Basically, I won $2K during those first two weeks and have broken even ever since. What's the answer? I wish I knew. Am I doing something wrong? Probably, but I can't put my finger on it. I keep getting the money in when I'm either ahead or a math favorite, but I can't hold up or get there. Is it the cards or is it me? After 8 weeks of this I'm just not sure.

You know what it feels like? It feels exactly like it did 2 years ago when I started out playing 1c/2c NL on Pokerstars. My game has improved 10 times over since then, but it feels like I'm going through a second puberty playing live.

M

Common sense poker: handling adversity

Continuing with my "common sense" series, I revisit my blog entry from April 7, 2011, where I talked about running bad and having the right mindset. Click below for the full article.

Common sense poker: handling adversity
So, self, here's my advice to you. First, stop focusing on the results. You can do everything right and still lose. Focus instead on making the best decisions you can, and let the results take care of themselves. Second, ...