A Humbling Experience

As of my last update, I was killing the 55's and ready to take a shot at the 110's. Well, I took my 8 buyin shot and it was a disaster (went something like 5-13). I felt that I played well for the most part, but after losing 4-5 buyins to beats/coolers I definitely tilted off my last 2-3 buyins on some marginal hands. I tried to regroup and start grinding the 55's again, but subconsciously my confidence in my game was pretty much shot. I slowly pissed away another 400 at the 55's before coming to the realization that, while I was definitely running bad, not all of it was just variance. Finally, with my bankroll down to 2250, I decided to move down to the 33's to try to plug some leaks and hopefully grind out platinum star for the month. Sunday and Monday were a grind as I played about 40-50 30's per day to pile up the vpps, but my confidence was still a bit shaken from the past week so my results were nowhere near the results I had at the 33's two months ago.

I almost gave up on Platinum on the 31st with 550 VPP's to go. I started off the day losing 3 races and was just kind of fed up with it. Luckily, Ryan convinced me to play some 110's with him taking half my action and sweating over microphones. I was 150 VPP's away at 11:56 pm eastern time. 4 minutes to go. Ryan and I fire up a 550 and a 220 and I'm paying the rake for the both of us. We shove the first hand on the 550. My 95 > his 44. SHARKSCOPE ROBUSTO. I give him the 220 so his sharkscope doesnt get overly trainwrecked. I made Platinum at 11:59 pm. Oh the drama...

I went 7-2 in the 9 110's that Ryan staked me in. I definitely ran better than when I took my shot, but I think I probably picked up a few small things from him as well. Seeing that I'm capable of playing solid, winning poker at the 110's with some positive results was a great boost for my confidence. Thanks again Ryan.

My bankroll is now hovering around 2500. I'm going to play a few more 30's just to work on some stuff, but I'll probably be back at the 55's within the week.

Some things that I have added to my game/improved on over the past few days:
- learned SAGE (I was already basically using it just from experience but this reassures me on my push-fold decisions)
- turn play (checking to induce bluffs/checking for pot control/etc) - I've been overly aggressive on the turn recently
- tightened up my calling range oop preflop more (eliminating mid-aces, J10, etc unless we are
deep)
- tightened up my raising range oop in limped pots preflop (eliminating mid aces like A7-A8/QJ)

My Goal for August:

-Play whatever amount of games I am comfortable with at the 55's with a 9%+ ROI
-Don't play so much that I get burnt out and start playing terrible (i.e. July)
-Take another 8-10 BI shot at the 110's by end of the month or early next month
-Post more strategy on 2+2
-Help Ryan with setting up coaching site
-Take breaks when tilting
-Take breaks after losing 3 straight matches no matter what

Long post. I've probably gained more experience and learned more over the past week than in any other week that I've been playing poker seriously. Hopefully this will help to produce some great results for August.

P.S.- You should seriously consider watching the 3 south cartoons to the right...