New Outlook

I have come to the conclusion that my game went into the toilet because of everything. That includes less luck, playing badly, expectations, and not being ready to play, both mentally and physically. So everything.

As I have been saying in my other posts I have been analyzing my play. Reading more, listening, and thinking about my play. Well it started to come together. I picked up little things here and there and watched what was happening at the table and adjusted as I went. I mentioned each part but it took me awhile to get it straight and beleive that it would work.

I went to San Jose over the weekend and recognized some things I was doing wrong. I expected to win, I didn't get enough sleep, I played to long, I made bad decisions, and I got unlucky. I raided my savings to go play and it hurt to loose it knowing that I could do better. The prospect of having to quit because of money made me play like I new I should and I started to see it work.

I thought I was not getting my fair share of good hands so I started to put a chip behind my stack every time I folded and counted how many hands I folded before I saw a flop. To my surprise it was around 10 with dry spells as high as 22. When I played a hand that I new I shouldn't I would loose and then win when I would wait. I watched other players that I thought were good and saw that they went through long dry spells too and just folded.

The little trick about counting my hands gave me the mental strength not to play hands I knew I shouldn't. Winning more hands gave me confidence and I started to make better post flop decisions and win more. It also opened my mind to see that I was getting my fair share of hands and I was not unlucky or in a huge downswing I couldn't do anything about. I was running hot for a long time and now I am running average.

I see now that I got mentally weak with all that is going on in my life and was bringing it to the table. I may have taken more then my fair share of bad beats, but I let them get to me more then they should have. I am now looking at each hand separately. Not thinking about the session, week, or month but what to do at each decision.

I plan to play much shorter sessions until I build back my confidence and bankroll. Others might think I am doing hit and runs but I don't care. I am only going to play until I feel I am making bad decisions and that is it.