July 2008 Recap

Cash game net profit = $160.93 (45.30 table hours)
Tournament net profit = $1257.80
Total net profit = $1418.73

Online tournament results:

Tournaments played = 12 (4 MTTs; 8 SnGs)
ROI = 3.58% (-100.00% in MTTs; -79.59% in SnGs)

Due to some unexpected circumstances, my poker routines (both live and online) were interrupted early in the month, and I didn't really play much outside of a week that I spent in Atlantic City. And even in AC, I spent half of the week relegated to my hotel room due to a sudden and severe respiratory infection, which even further limited my play.

Fortunately, I played pretty well in the few tournaments that I did enter; well enough to even turn a profit for the month. So I don't have too many complaints about the quality of my play. But one thing that I have been going back and forth about is whether or not I've done enough to try to offset the aforementioned circumstances which have been limiting my play since early July and will continue to do so through early September.

The simple answer to that is undoubtedly 'no'. I don't have to think about it too long to realize that there are some very simple steps that I could take to increase my table time. The fact of the matter is that I just haven't been motivated enough to take those steps.

Admitting that to myself was tough at first; all I could think about was the idea that maybe poker isn't as much of a passion for me as it used to be. But now I think that it's actually taught me a pretty important lesson: no matter how much I consider poker to be a lifestyle, I should never feel like I have to play.

Playing when you feel like you have to is not only a recipe for burnout, but also a distraction that can only serve to hinder your judgment. I think it falls in the same category as playing with scared money. In both cases, you make it difficult to focus on making correct decisions because you're too worried about something else (either losing money that you can't afford to or simply not playing long enough to meet your minimum requirements). It's probably why my live results have always been so much better than my online results; unlike when I'm playing online, playing live just never seems like work to me, mainly because I enjoy the 'complete' atmosphere (people, chips, cards, etc.) so much more.

Since I estimate that 1/4 of my annual income will come from poker this year, there's no doubt that I should play as often as I can. However, knowing that I should is usually more than enough to make me want to play as well. So going forward, while I will continue to set some goals, I'm going to try to be more aware of my frame of mind before sitting down to play poker. The moment "should" turns into "must", I'll need to have the wherewithal to simply walk away.

Current skills assessment (Scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the best):

Play fearlessly: 5 (+1)
There probably won't be many changes to my self-assessment ratings since I played so little poker in July, but I'm certain that this was an area of improvement. Whenever I detected weakness, I didn't hesitate to fire at it. In general, I just played with great confidence in my reads.

Play my 'A' game each and every hand: 7 (no change)

Plan my bet sizes: 3 (no change)

Assign hand ranges to my opponents: 3 (no change)

Keep track of pot size: 1 (no change)

Keep constant track of my 'M': 4 (no change)

Maintain constant awareness of my table image: 4 (+1)
In particular, I can recall multiple spots when I used overbets with an aggressive image to induce calls.

Minimize my tells: 6 (+1)
I may have mentioned this before, but concealing tells is a lot easier when you're not concerned with the results. If you put your opponent to a decision and he counters by trying to make you sweat it out a little, what concern could it possibly be to you if you don't care what he does either way? It's not always easy to remain process-oriented, but I'm convinced that the benefits are substantial...

Keep an eye out for other players' tells: 6 (+2)
It's taking some very conscious effort, but I'm finally realizing how much information you can get from many people's natural reactions.

Maximize mental acuity/endurance through physical fitness: 2 (+1)
Workouts are still too infrequent, but I'm at least doing better with food choices and spending a little more time at the beach.

Target numbers for August:

- Cash Games: 10 hours
I'm effectively shutting down any real goals for this month. We'll reevaluate things once my situation returns to normal in September.

- SnGs: 10 tournaments

- MTTs: 0 tournaments