2 months later...

July 11th, 2013 - 11:30 PM

I've been trapped in a drunken haze and have just recently awaken from it.  I am getting ready to play some serious poker again.

Poker was going great this year.  Played 1/2 and 1/3, won, moved up to 2/5.  Got crushed a little bit.  Started drinking (unrelated to my poker losses of course).  Kept playing, played fucking stupid, got crushed some more.  Lose lose lose, and stopped playing serious poker.

The last couple months, the only poker I've played has been blackout drunk 2/4 limit poker at Suncoast.  Pretty close to our house so the cab ride + tip was only about $20.  Won some, lost some.  Didn't really care.  I was starting to think (yet again) that the poker career was over.

Recently though, my wife started talking us both out of drinking.  We need to quit forever, again. So we have made that commitment and I haven't drank anything in about a week.  Not a long time, but I'm feeling good about it.  Mind you, if we hadn't quit I probably would have drank about 5 days (at least), maybe all 7.  And each day, 10+ drinks.  10 is SUPER low on our really hard partying days.

Anyway, forget that.  I'm back.  I've been listening to a ton of poker podcasts and getting my mind right.  I know I need to put hours in.  And furthermore, I think I need to respect the dollars more this time around.  Play premium hands.  Sometimes I won't get paid.  That's fine.  A lot of the time, I won't hit the board and I'll have to give up.  That's fine too.  I'll still play aggressive when I'm in.  But I bet I could cut down to 25% of the hands I was playing before, or even less.  And I think it's pretty fair to limp (or not play at all) a lot of the hands I would have come in for a raise with before.

For example, 87s in the cutoff when nobody is in yet.  There is $3 or $4 in the pot.  Does it really makes sense for me to put in $10-$12 to win that, and start playing a pot I'm not going to be comfortable in?  Heads up pot, miss the flop, c-bet, get called, and then what?  Furthermore, I think doing stuff like that just puts me on tilt.

The WPT boot camp strategy was pretty good.  However, I think I can cut out some things.  Calling raises for up to 5% of my stack with suited gappers - why.  Maybe limp after limpers.  But is 7-4 suited really worth calling $6 even when we are both $300 behind?  What happens, I flop a flush draw, he bets, I make it $40?  Why not just fold and wait for a better spot preflop?  And also, raising so much even in position.  30% or more of my hands in the cutoff or on the button?  I could trim that WAY down and not lose much, I don't think.

Just tight tight tight.  Wait for great hands and capitalize.  Protect the stack otherwise.  I had been playing super aggressive, and in some cases decent poker.  But I think playing so loose blinded me and also put me on super tilt when I wasn't winning.  Making it $150 preflop with A-Q in some spots - why?  Fold.  Why be a hero, at a fucking 1/2 game?

Yeah you feel stupid playing that tight, like all of these old guys.  But they are making mistakes too.  They are playing somewhat tight, and definitely passive, but they are limping in out of position.  They are making mistakes.  Maybe they are protecting their stack pretty well, but I can protect mine better.  It's slow money, but it's money.  Let's collect it and level up past 1/2 to 2/5.

Or as my wife suggested, set aside some winnings each month for a big tournament fund.  Like every month if I win over $1000, put $1000 into a WSOP Main Event fund.  And then when I get $10,000, even if it takes me 2, 3, 10 years - when that sucker comes around, register and roll the dice.  Win that mother fucker.

Off to bed.  Expect to see some more poker posts from me soon.  And if all goes according to plan, expect to see a smarter, tighter player show up at the tables in the coming months.