May 2008 Recap

Cash game net profit = $391.95 (61.90 table hours)
Tournament net profit = -$182.73
Total net profit = $209.22

Online tournament results for May:

Tournaments played = 67 (15 MTTs; 52 SnGs)
ROI = -67.39% (-98.63% in MTTs; -46.93% in SnGs)

Tournament numbers are way down, primarily due to the rough stretch I had when I moved up to the $16 SnGs early in the month. Playing 10 tables a time, I quickly burned through enough of my bankroll to have to drop all the way back down to the $3 level. While I did finally go back and review my hand histories after the fact, the idea of having to start all over was just discouraging enough to make me take the rest of the month off from SnGs. In hindsight, it was a break that I took for all the wrong reasons, but I'm starting to feel that the time I took to step back and reanalyze my entire perspective on playing poker will benefit me in the long run.

Here's an update of my poker 'vitals':

Play fearlessly: 3 (no change)
I'm still not doing a very good job of following through when I've demonstrated strength and/or detected weakness. In most cases, I think I have a pretty good sense of when to fire that second or third barrel, but I have trouble pulling the trigger as often as I should. I'm starting to believe that I should start firing a little more indiscriminately just to get used to the feeling; once it becomes a more natural part of my arsenal, then I'll worry about fine-tuning my 'aim'.

Play my 'A' game on each and every hand: 6 (no change)
While my focus still falters from time to time, my judgment remains the greater concern at this point.

Make better use of the resteal: 1 (no change)
In the few MTTs I've been playing, the opportunity to resteal just doesn't seem to present itself very often. It's as if my stack is either too large to be worth the risk or too small to induce a fold. I'm guessing that the faster structure of these low-limit tournaments has something to do with it, but even if I'm only missing 1 or 2 chances per tournament, I'm costing myself money.

Plan my bet sizes better: 3 (+1)
I'm doing a better job of beating my opponent to the punch when I know that he/she would push over the top of a smaller bet. What I'd really like to get better at is thinking 2 or 3 steps ahead so that I can make an effective bet yet still leave myself with multiple options for later streets as well.

Stop passing up on orphan pots: 1 (no change)
There are still way too many times when action is checked to me twice and I fail to take down the pot. While there is limited value in bluffing at these low stakes, there's really no excuse for me to be passing up on these 'gift wrapped' pots.

See more flops when deep-stacked: 5 (+3)
I've definitely loosened up my calling range when appropriate, and it's starting to show in my ability to build bigger stacks early in MTTs.

Assign hand ranges to my opponents: 2 (+1)
I'm at least starting to think about what range of hands my opponents might be on but still very inconsistently. The other concern is my accuracy.

Keep track of pot size: 1 (no change)
I'm thinking about training myself in the art of card dealing. If I can learn to become a decent dealer, keeping track of pot sizes should become second nature.

Keep constant track of my 'M': 3 (+1)
I'm certainly more conscious of what my M is roughly, but I need to research possible shortcuts that make it easier to calculate on the fly.

Maintain constant awareness of my table image: 2 (+1)
While I'm doing a better job of trying to figure out what my opponent is thinking during a hand, I'd like to develop a more natural habit of keeping constant track of the overall table dynamics, player image included.

Minimize my tells: 4 (no change)
Another area where a little research could come in handy.

Keep an eye out for other players' tells: 5 (+1)
Another matter of trying to turn something into a natural habit.

Maximize mental acuity/endurance through physical fitness: 2 (+1)
I've taken steps to eliminate most of the empty calories from my diet, but my workouts are still a little too infrequent. I believe that I've finally hashed out a decent workout schedule; now it's just a matter of sticking to it.

I mentioned above that I had taken some time to reanalyze my perspective on playing poker. Well, my biggest revelation was that I had still been allowing results to affect me more than they should. As such, I've decided to introduce some goals which are based solely on the amount of poker played, which I'm hoping will help me become more process-oriented rather than results-oriented. For June, my goal is to play 700 SnGs (regardless of buy-in) and 60 cash game hours. I haven't laid out a regular MTT schedule just yet, but I'd also like to have a target number for those by next month.