November 2007 Recap

Cash game net profit = $640.90 (72.28 hours of play)
Tournament net profit = -$14.68
Total net profit = $626.22

Cash game results are down from last month, but I feel like I stuck to my game plan for the most part, so I'm not too disappointed. There were still a couple of sessions where I found myself playing more loosely after some bad beats, but I do feel like I'm becoming more disciplined about putting them behind me.

As for tournament play, I actually finished with a net profit online, but the 3 'friendly' live tournaments that I played (and lost) were enough to offset. According to my PokerTracker stats, I played 55 online tournaments, finishing with an overall ROI of 11.76%. In recent months, I probably would have been elated with this kind of a return, but what I haven't mentioned yet is that I actually tried to focus more on multitable tournaments in November. To be more specific, 20 of the 55 tournaments I played were MTTs. Yeah, I know; that 11.76% ROI doesn't look so hot anymore, does it? Well, it's a start, and I at least have an idea of what kinds of adjustments are in order...

Seeing as how I'm consistently getting fairly deep into the money but failing to make any final tables, I think I need to increase my aggression earlier in the tournament than I have been. In particular, there have been some pretty sizable pots that I knew I could take down with a timely bet, but I just couldn't seem to pull the trigger. I've said it before, but since I obviously haven't learned my lesson yet, I'll say it again: a poker player absolutely must trust his/her instincts. Until I'm able to do this consistently, I doubt that I'll be able to expect much better than a 50% ROI in MTT play.

Let's take a look at how I did with my November goals:

"1. Continue playing patiently in live cash games"

Check. I still had a couple of bouts with bad beat tilt, but I'm definitely improving.

"2. Be more focused and less results-oriented, particularly with SnGs"

With my increased focus on MTTs, I usually found myself playing no more than 1 or 2 SnGs at a time (simultaneously with 2 or 3 MTTs). I think this actually helped me make better ICM decisions since I didn't have to deal with as many bubble situations at the same time. So was I more focused? Probably not, but I really didn't have to be. At the stakes that I'm playing, I don't seem to have too much trouble playing on autopilot as long as the number of simultaneous bubbles is kept to a minimum.

As far as being less results-oriented, that's a big affirmative. There's still room for improvement, but I feel that I did a very good job of forgetting about the money at stake and just trying to make good decisions.

"3. Win at least $1,000 from SnG play with an ROI of at least 10%"

Yeah, anyway...

Goals for December:

1. Put all the bad beats behind me without letting them change the quality of my play
2. Trust my instincts without exception
3. In tournament play, do a better job of playing for first place rather than just going deep in the money

Back to the felt...