Emotional Stability

I think the biggest flaws in my poker game within the last 10 months was my emotional response to short term results.  When I won one of my many online poker tournaments during the spring, I would jump up and down, scream in excitement and brag to anyone who would listen.  During the summer, I cashed in zero events and was devastated by this.  For the last month of the summer, I couldn't stop thinking about missed opportunities during the WSOP tournaments and my play suffered.  Luckily, I was smart enough to stop playing poker for the time being and salvage what was left of my diminishing bankroll.  

Once school started in september, I started to play a limited amount of hours to try and ease my way back into poker.  This was a good idea until I hit a heater and thought I was the best thing in the world since sliced bread.  I tried going up in stakes (I was playing Omaha 8 or better at that time) and all my winnings over a 45 day span were dried up in a matter of hours (42 to be exact).  I kept playing trying to get unstuck, which was cutting into my relatively small bankroll.  Luckily, again, I was smart enough to stop playing for awhile.  

Unable to stick with one specific game and type (Game = NL Hold'em, while type = Tournaments vs. Cash game) during my poker career, I decided to try and stick with what I have been best at, which was NLHE tournaments.  To get back into tournaments with a fresh start, I thought that it was smart for me to do some studying before I got my feet wet again.  So, I finally decided to finish Collin Moshman's SNG book, which I had started in April.  I have a problem with reading the first 30-50% of a poker book and then trying to apply all the theories introduced like I know exactly how to, which I don't.  This doesn't give me a well-rounded game that is needed as a professional poker player.  It gives me a sporadic game that is just not what my max stress level can handle.  Highs being too high, and lows being too low.  

So with a new focus and direction on where my poker game is going, I have played a ton of Single Table Tournaments (STTs) within the last 30 days.  Now a ton for me was about 200 STTs, that is not a lot for the online STT pro, but for me it was a lot.  I played them almost all on Pokerstars and was able to grind out a $650 bonus to help my bankroll.  During those 200 games, I got sucked out a bunch, but because I was only playing for $6.50 they didn't hurt too bad and my skin started to grow tougher.  

Over those STTs, I think it has finally hit me.  One tournament, in the long run, doesn't really matter, my play does.  It's hard to have that sink in when it's a $1500 buy-in, but something happened the other day as I was playing in a $155 tournament (not quite at the $1500 level, but still a step up from $6.50) at The Hawaiian Gardens Casino.  Once I put my money into the pot and all the betting is over, I have absolutely no control over the rest of the action and me getting emotional about it doesn't help.  

For the rest of the tournament, I played very well because I was focused on every single hand.  Nothing else mattered other than playing my best at every possible junction.  So when My aces failed to hold up against a pair and gutter draw, I didn't even flinch.  I didn't berate the other player whatsoever, not even a smart ass remark (which is what I usually do).  I just reassessed the situation with how many blinds I had left, and was ready to move on to the next hand.  I do want to mention that I ended up semi-winning this tournament (we chopped 7 handed), but my road to the final table was with a couple bad beats and 3 key coin flips (I won 2 out of the 3).  

We will see if I can still be emotionally stable the next suck out I get that knocks me out of a WSOP event, but as of right now I think that I will be up to the challenge and ready to just move on to the next tournament. 

Cheers from California!