Life after the win
For a few days after the big MTT, poker was the last thing on my mind. Since I’ve started playing full time, each day I’ve woken up pressured to make at least some money so I have something to show for at the end of the month. But since all that financial pressure is off, I slept in far later than a human being should and basically played video games and watched movies all day. I’m probably in the top 10 of most productive people on the planet.
But I have gotten back into a somewhat groove. In fact 2 days after the win I booked a big loss, was beyond pissed off about it, and started the requisite insecurity about my game and skill that goes along with every loss I endure. Even though going 5/30 in SNG’s is pretty annoying, the loss is still pretty trivial compared to the amount I’m already up.
But I can’t help but think that I’m wasting a golden opportunity to really step up my game and really up my bankroll. On one hand all I should be concerned with is paying bills and living comfortably, but on the other I know that in order to succeed in the long run I need to continuously increase my skill, play higher stakes and take risks. But due to my safe nature, booking a big MTT win like that will only produce less incentive to play.
So I think about these things a lot each day. And even though I moved up to the $55+5 games, I often wonder what I would be doing if I didn’t win that MTT. I know I would still be grinding it out at the $25 games, playing 50 a day to try to maintain a steady income. But now I’m hard pressed to play more than 2-3 sets, for a total of less than 20 games. And I tell myself every minute of every day that I should be playing right now, since that is what I would be doing if I didn’t win, but of course, incentives are a bitch.
I then start to ask myself what I want to achieve in the long run. Of course, everyone wants more - more money, more skill, more freedom. I realized that as long as I have a sufficient bankroll to support me if things ever go really bad, and that I can play each day knowing that every booked win is icing on the cake, then I shouldn’t worry. And I’m not even close to that yet, but it is definitely a possibility on the horizon. I just need to stay motivated and essentially force myself to play 50 games a day, because I know it is very profitable to do so.
The move up to the $55 game has been truly uneventful. Uneventful in the fact that everything has pretty much remained the same as far as my game and return goes. I’ve maintained a positive ROI so far over about 100 games and havn’t really needed to adjust anything about my game. I was pretty sure this was going to be the case since I had played quite a few games at the $50 level before and was doing fine. I just needed to be sufficiently bankrolled to get through some of the dry patches that come along. I think I’ll be staying at the $55 games for a few months, unless I book another serious win, which is pretty doubtful of course. Jumping up to the $100’s isn’t something I see myself doing any time soon. But you never know in poker. 5 months ago I wouldn’t have ever thought I could play at the $55 level, and here I am.
But I have gotten back into a somewhat groove. In fact 2 days after the win I booked a big loss, was beyond pissed off about it, and started the requisite insecurity about my game and skill that goes along with every loss I endure. Even though going 5/30 in SNG’s is pretty annoying, the loss is still pretty trivial compared to the amount I’m already up.
But I can’t help but think that I’m wasting a golden opportunity to really step up my game and really up my bankroll. On one hand all I should be concerned with is paying bills and living comfortably, but on the other I know that in order to succeed in the long run I need to continuously increase my skill, play higher stakes and take risks. But due to my safe nature, booking a big MTT win like that will only produce less incentive to play.
So I think about these things a lot each day. And even though I moved up to the $55+5 games, I often wonder what I would be doing if I didn’t win that MTT. I know I would still be grinding it out at the $25 games, playing 50 a day to try to maintain a steady income. But now I’m hard pressed to play more than 2-3 sets, for a total of less than 20 games. And I tell myself every minute of every day that I should be playing right now, since that is what I would be doing if I didn’t win, but of course, incentives are a bitch.
I then start to ask myself what I want to achieve in the long run. Of course, everyone wants more - more money, more skill, more freedom. I realized that as long as I have a sufficient bankroll to support me if things ever go really bad, and that I can play each day knowing that every booked win is icing on the cake, then I shouldn’t worry. And I’m not even close to that yet, but it is definitely a possibility on the horizon. I just need to stay motivated and essentially force myself to play 50 games a day, because I know it is very profitable to do so.
The move up to the $55 game has been truly uneventful. Uneventful in the fact that everything has pretty much remained the same as far as my game and return goes. I’ve maintained a positive ROI so far over about 100 games and havn’t really needed to adjust anything about my game. I was pretty sure this was going to be the case since I had played quite a few games at the $50 level before and was doing fine. I just needed to be sufficiently bankrolled to get through some of the dry patches that come along. I think I’ll be staying at the $55 games for a few months, unless I book another serious win, which is pretty doubtful of course. Jumping up to the $100’s isn’t something I see myself doing any time soon. But you never know in poker. 5 months ago I wouldn’t have ever thought I could play at the $55 level, and here I am.
posted by RikkiDee at 8:34 PM
4 Comments:
Party has a new level $70+$7 that could be more of a stepping stone on the way up. If you get a VIP bonus, your kickback from Party is still better than being a SuperNova at Stars, even without the unmentionable.
hey poker nerd is offering an indepth analysis of 5 people's poker history for 50bucks. I think it would be cool to see what he would say, and you might even become friends (hopefully). he does play at the 50+5 level and he is amazing. check his blog its a kinda sick offer
wp
I've read a lot about the rakeback at Party and have been intrigued. The $70 games sounds like a perfect step up when I'm ready as well. I just can't see myself playing at Party. I hate it so. The SNG structure is especially awful. But we'll see, it may be something I have to do.
WP, I read about that too today. Truth is I was considering proposing nerd with something like this even before he posted it. 50 bucks is.. well.. meh. I'm thinking about it. One thing I have to consider is that my game isn't that far off from his. I know that he is much more consistent and has been doing this a lot longer but I'm still pretty close in terms of ROI. Another thing is deciding what hand histories to send. Since I play so many at once and move on so quickly, I rarely have time to reflect back on the game I just played.
dude buy it man, its like buying his friendship .. thats awesome.
Post a Comment
<< Home