April 2008 Recap

Cash game net profit = $430.78 (60.13 table hours)
Tournament net profit = $97.85
Total net profit = $528.63

Online tournament results for April:

Tournaments played = 395 (4 MTTs; 391 SnGs)
ROI = 4.76% (-100.00% in MTTs; 5.68% in SnGs)

Despite a modest net profit for the month, I really believe that I played pretty poorly in both cash game and tournaments. The good news is that I've been taking the time to really identify the things I've been doing wrong, and I'm hoping that the lessons I learn from these mistakes will propel me to better decision-making going forward.

Before getting to the review of my goals for March, I need to acknowledge the fact that the kinds of goals I've been setting have been somewhat superficial and far too results-oriented. From here on out, I'm going to try to develop an analysis structure that focuses more on specific aspects of my gameplay rather than my achievements. So for the last time in this blog, here is a review of my goals for the previous month:

"1. I'm gonna keep it simple this month: my singular goal for April is to finish in the top 10 of one of the Battle of the Planets leaderboards."

Didn't pull this one off; the closest I got was a 14th place finish in the High Orbit of the Mars Division. I think the best thing I can take from this is that I played enough tournaments to qualify. But at the same time, it revealed some leaks in my game, particularly that I've been pushing too light and/or early in multiple spots.

Instead of setting specific goals for May, I'm going to keep a running tab of the skills/strategies that I feel are most important, and how I'm doing with each of them. This is definitely a work in progress, so things will likely change from month to month as I try to turn it into something that I can truly use. In any case:

On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the best (and in no particular order):

Take enough time to make good decisions: 1
This is especially true online, because I'm somewhat paranoid about slowing down gameplay. I need to just get over it and learn to take whatever I time I need to make the right decision.

Play fearlessly: 3
In my live home games especially, I seem to have developed a permanent 'semi-maniac' image among the regulars. As a result, I've become so worried about getting called down that I'm failing to follow through on my bluffs, even when I'm confident that my opponent will fold. I'm definitely more selective with my bluffs as a result of this image, but if I can't learn to fully commit to the bluffs that I do make, I'll just continue to throw money away.

Play my 'A' game on each and every hand: 6
I think I do an okay job of not taking any hands off; the bigger problem is that even my 'A' game is full of leaks right now.

Make better use of the resteal: 1
I've only recently begun to understand proper use of the resteal in tournament play; as far as I can tell, this is just a matter of getting more and more practice with it.

Plan my bet sizes better: 2
I seem to consistently find myself making flop bets that leave my opponents with just enough chips to make things difficult for me on the turn and/or river. I need to do a better job of setting myself up to be the last one to apply pressure.

Stop passing up on orphan pots: 1
This kind of goes hand-in-hand with playing fearlessly. I have to learn to force myself to take down the pots that the other players clearly have no interest in fighting for.

See more flops when deep-stacked: 2
Having learned tournament poker primarily from books which preach tight-aggressive play, my hand range for calling raises has always been very small, which limits my opportunity to accumulate chips. As long as I play well post-flop, widening my calling range should also help my cash game results.

Assign hand ranges to my opponents: 1
This is one of my biggest weaknesses, and is closely related to my need to take more time when making decisions. I need to make sure that I can rationalize every check, bet, fold, call, and raise that I make at a poker table.

Keep track of pot size: 1
It's kind of tough to make good decisions about bet sizes when you don't know how much is in the pot (this is obviously only a challenge in live game play).

Keep constant track of my 'M': 2
I've developed a bad habit of defining my stack size in terms of big blinds, which has really hurt my play in MTTs (I've been missing out on many opportunities to avoid becoming desperately short-stacked).

Maintain constant awareness of my table image: 1
I usually have a general idea of my level of looseness/aggression, but I seem to forget that my perceived image can still be different from one player to the next.

Minimize my tells: 4
This goes along with playing fearlessly. Once I decide upon the proper course of action in any situation, I need to learn to forget about the results. I think worrying too much about outcomes is what causes me to give off the most tells.

Keep an eye out for other players' tells: 4
I spend way too much time watching the community cards as they're rolled out. I should be much more interested in player reactions.

Maximize mental acuity and endurance through physical fitness: 1
I'm not exactly in the best shape of my life right now and it definitely affects my gameplay, particularly during longer sessions. Just need to get off my ass, basically.