Its been a couple of weeks since my last post as I haven't had much of a chance to play or study during the earlier part of the fortnight attending some personal engagements.
This week has been a positive one winning almost 50 buyins in four sessions of play - although it was the last session today that seemed to be the saving grace. It is very clear that I know how to play these things - its just some small adjustments and consistent upward trends
This weeks summary:
Session 1: Played: 13, Placed: 2 (11th, 11th), Prizes: $10
Session 2: Played: 6, Placed: 2 (6th, 17th), Prizes: $26
Session 3: Played: 10, Placed: 1 (4th), Prizes: $33
Session 4: Played: 8, Placed: 2 (2nd, 6th), Prizes: $103
Some final table near misses and an unlucky 2nd place most certainly had an impact on my bottom line however with such little volume played for the week one can't complain with the overall return.
Despite this past good week the bankroll challenge overall feels like a big game of snakes and ladders after 410 tournaments so far. Below is the trend graph:
One observation of late is that during the downswings (despite being very unlucky) I have played very aggressively - maybe too aggressively. During my upswings I have been a lot more patient and solid dropping to as low as 3-5BBs at times (may be a reflection of recent chess study). This patient approach is normally something not recommended however I might continue in this vain for a while and judge the results. I have been putting off my study of push-fold charts and ICM calculations for the 180s - its clear that in order to improve I have to start getting this work done soon.
As mentioned above I am also working on my chess game again for the first time in a long time. Despite a seven year break from tournament play I wasn't too happy with a below par City of Sydney Championship this year. The chess study is a good way to break up the monotonous poker grind and hopefully my revamped approach to chess will also help my poker game.
It has been a couple of weeks since my last blog and a very busy couple of weeks at that. I've been away at the annual Microsoft Tech Ed conference on the Gold Coast networking with my old IT crowd and also had a subsequent challenging week at work which has taken away a lot of time and focus from my poker play.
Despite the time sink in 'normal' life I have managed to get some sessions in over the two weeks but unfortunately the results haven't gone my way with a decent 9/57 money finishes (16%) which is my expected percentage however only three 7th place finishes and the rest as min cashes leaves my bankroll down to $400. It just shows how important it is to score regular top 3 finishes in these 180s.
I was quite unlucky in every single one of the 7th place finishes getting my money in good only to be outdrawn. And the same thing happened a couple of times finishing in 10th only 1 place from the final table but this shows how important it is to play a lot of volume in order to be on the lucky side of a coin flip or have a 3-1 favourite spot hold up for a change.
The breakdown over September is as follows:
Session 1: Played 10, Placed 2 (10th, 10th), Prizes $10
Session 2: Played 16, Placed 4 (11th, 13th, 15th, 18th), Prizes $20
Session 3: Played 11, Placed 1 (7th), Prizes $14
Session 4: Played 20, Placed 2 (7th, 7th), Prizes $28
Despite the $200 downswing since my last peak I am fairly happy with my game however I do feel like I am getting a little tired with the monotonous grind on the same format week after week and some small leaks may be working their way into my game.
It might be time for me to catch up on some poker study and analyse my play a little closer. Hopefully I will get a chance to balance some study in with my play over the rest of the month.
