Finding the time to play poker.
Over the last couple of months I have been trying to deal with losing games of Poker. Because you can’t win all the time right? Losing is part of the game. You simply have to learn to deal with it and play the long game. But I’ve had trouble after a bad run, trying to clear my head and prepare for the next game afresh and ready to play my best.
I don’t have the time to do this anymore, with working aswell as trying to play poker I have to try and become more strict, more organised and more efficient. Don’t let the last games cloud your judgement for you have a quota to fill and no time to do it in.
I have a 32% ROI for STT’s and have been told that good players tend to have around 15% – 20%. I cannot be compared to that however because to get an accurate ROI % then it’s recommended to be looking at around 2000games player rather than the 200 I’ve played. Either way it’s been going well and I finished this month another $200 up after only managed to play 56games.
In March I wasn’t working and I played 160games of poker. Even this was a small amount but it’s all that my nerves could handle; sometimes only playing single games at a time when I didn’t think my head was up to it.
I noticed this getting worse as I moved up stakes. At first I had a system of playing $5 and $2 games which along with the rake cost me a total of $7.75 a round. I liked this system because if I got third in the $5 game I’d made a profit already, if I got further than that, even better.
In retrospect the $2 game wasn’t important, I was never too bothered if I lost because it seemed like a small amount at the time but it was a chance to boost up my winnings or even make a slight profit by winning if I’d messed up my $5 game. If I won both I gained a profit of $23.75.
When I moved up however it didn’t make sense to be playing a cheaper game when I could be playing two the same and have a shot of winning a lot more money. With the $10STT structure simply double that of the $5 then coming third in one didn’t win me my money back if playing the same system as before. So I started playing two $10 games at once even though I dreaded it as losing $22 in one go if things went wrong seemed like a big chunk of my bankroll and still does.
The reason I ended up writing this is because I’ve had a few bad beats recently and I realised it affected my game. I’ve had bad luck in STT’s and in the MTT’s I’ve actually ran quite deep in the last three I’ve played only to mess it up and receive an amount I could win playing a smaller game. I messed it up due to tiredness and bad moods when I could of won more.
I tried to remedy this a few nights ago but I did the exact same things, I was doing really well in two $10 games but ended up getting knocked out. My aces got cracked by someone who called with QJ and everything by the queen came on the board to give him a straight. My three of a kind Aces dishing out punishment. At the same time I’d just made the money in the other game and things were looking pretty good for first place. I him all-in a few times but he kept hitting lucky and doubling up until he’d built up to 4000. It was time to change tactics but when I got dealt JJ and 2 5 8 came on the flop I had to push, I actually thought he fold, but he didn’t. He had 78 and I thought that was it until another 8 came on the turn and he doubled up again. I don’t know why but I flew into a rage, I had enough chips to come back but he kept going all-in, which was strange because he was the kind of guy that doesn’t do anything if he didn’t have the cards but if he did then he almost certainly went all-in. I decided he’d changed tactics and called one of his shoves with Q10. He hadn’t changed tactics at all, he was just getting the cards and showed his AQ. Dominated and ashamed of my play, I’d finished second and only gained $5 profit.
I need to gain my patience again. The reason I get so mad is because I truly think poker is what I want to do. I don’t know whether I’m good enough because it’s still early but I need to find out. Instead I sell my soul for £6 an hour. I’ve been getting home and I can’t play properly because I’m so tired, rushing the end of games, partly because of the tiredness but also because I want to spend time with my fiancée.
I really don’t know how people seem happy with 9-5 jobs. You hear them talking about the2week holiday they have in a few months and this seems to be the thing that gets them through the days. I do not want to spend most of my days working, people say money can’t buy happiness.
Really? Because it would in my case.
In my case, happiness is the chance to do things that you like to do. Happiness is the opportunity to make your decisions based on a full range of options. Un-happiness is working most the hours of your life in a job you hate, accomplishing nothing and being so damn tired at the end of it that all you do outside of work is be tired and angry.
In light of this I aim for at least 90 $10 + $1 STT’s this month. If I keep up a 25%ROI then this is $247.5 profit. I want to play some MTT’s too but have yet to decide on a number as I have to wait and see how much time I have to play these. If all goes to plan I shall move up to the $20 +$2 games next month, aim to play the same and aim for $495 profit. I pray to the poker gods this works.
Oh and here’s my overall bankroll graph since starting this.
