Week 3: Review

They say that in poker, you learn your biggest lessons when you lose and I feel this has never been more true than during this last week. On Monday I was sitting pretty with a £1k balance for the month and on cruise control; seven days later and although I haven't exactly crashed completely I've certainly been badly burned - and once again, I'm back wondering how on earth I can make this a viable business. Well, I do know... it's having the focus to implement disciplined control at all times - that's the difficult part. Still, determination and the urge to succeed is a powerful thing and I still think I can make this at least a year-long thing if I can avoid those darn pitfalls.

The first blip occurred on Thursday night with two massive fish at the table and after being card-dead for three and a half hours. I then "finally" looked down at a premium hand (QQ). The word "finally" is in inverted commas because there should be no feeling of finality in poker at all. Anyway, I call down three streets against the table donk who flips over 8 10 on an 8 8 4 x x board and I part with around £500 on that hand alone. The real annoying thing about this one is that I told myself that he must have had the 8 after the flop when his betting tell indicated that was the case.

When card-dead I should have done what has always worked for me in the past; just leave.

Anyway, on Friday I manage to claw back £400 after a successful spin at a £2/£5 game at The Hippodrome, only to fall back into the same routine later on a £1/£2 table at The Empire. i.e. I become card-dead for five and a half hours (yes, I kid you not, five and a half hours) and then "finally" flop a decent hand of a set of 4s, only to refuse to believe that my villian has hit his flush when the third heart falls on the river. Result? Another £300 goes south.

When card-dead I should have done what has always worked for me in the past; just leave.

Now, as we enter the fourth week of October, I'm looking at a £300 return on my investment of 90 hours at the table. With a lot more decent players coming in (from the online game it seems), I can see that I need to be a lot more aggressive and definitely need to start raising with much more frequency on the flop and the turn. Neglecting to do this has been my main leak. This will be what I'll be working on over the next seven days; that's if I manage to be alert enough after my jury service stint which begins tomorrow.

As always, I'll let ya know how I get on...