GrogBlog- In Depth Analyis: July 2013

Tuesday 9 July 2013

Goals Update

My mental game has somewhat slacked this month, both in terms of motivation and application when playing. I've been feeling EXTREMELY lazy, like I always do when I've been on a good run. Lots of life stuff is clicking into place though so hopefully now I can start applying myself some more.

On the mental side when I am playing, I've been too results oriented. This leads to all sorts of well documented complications, and I need to break this habit right now and get back on evaluating sessions based on quality of play.

A few technical things, and then I'll set some mental goals. I don't cbet very much these days, but 33 is still too low. Granted there are plenty of situations to check and win the pot later, but without a super clear idea for doing so I need to just be pretty unbalanced and go for the cbet. My 4bet stat is incredibly low through slowplaying PF, but people won't realise the 2nd part and simply think low 4bet = strong 4bet, so I need to start throwing in more 4bet bluffs. Finally, I'm probably being too loose with a few blind flats at 100bbs, things like 96s 3way I should only be flatting with a good reason..... fish involved and what not. In the BB, I should really up my 3betting to include loads of polarised stuff, K3s and the like. Finally, I'm probably folding a little too much to barrels when I should just apply GTO to a lot of spots where I'm unsure and be happy about it.

So yeah, cbet a bit more, 4bet a bit more, 3bet the BB a bit more have the mentality of winning pots, slightly tighter when calling PF. GTO calls when unsure.

Mentally, I need to remember to relax...... easier said than done, but a good way is to make sure that I take several seconds over most decisions, breathe a few times, make sure I'm taking in every detail, and then finally talk through the hand in my head like I would do in a video and apply all the 'snap' handreading stuff. I also need to trust my instinct virtually always, especially when I'm super relaxed.

So, mental goals, take time over decisions, relax, do the snap handread, trust instinct 100%.

I'm going to just play a short 20 minute session to grade myself on, review the hands, and hopefully get back onto a crushy path.

Wednesday 3 July 2013

June Results, recap, going forward

I had a fairly ridiculous June by almost anyone's standards, moving to 2-5 and pretty much running hotter than I ever thought possible. Plus hopefully I played ok too, mental game was certainly good.

I've posted it hopefully not for ego massaging or anything, but certainly to give me confidence because I've started July somewhat slow after a failed 5-10 shot.

I lasted posted a $10k month last August, and I wrote in my blog at the time 'now to do it again'. Unfortunately I didn't do much about it, and withdraw my roll to finish building my house. This time, I hope I can really press on and at least start to record 'decent' (whatever that means, anything is decent, it's fucking online poker!) months regularly.

I'm probably not still in an amazing financial or mental place to endure a 2-5 downswing, so my plan is to play 1-2 during the day when 2-5 is less soft, and then grind a ton of 2-5 after about 11pm UK time. Quality is >>>>> quantity, and I've discovered that quitting or not starting when slightly off at least B game is a super solid skill (and one apparently Ivey is sick good at).

So going forward, need to review my technical and mental goals regularly, always do session warmups, and keep up with skype activity on reviewing hands etc to keep sharp.

Played a funny hand VS Joinmystack from Leggo today, haha