Mind-Control
Let me start this by saying mental control is the most important thing to me to be a winner. If you want to be a winner at hold’em and be a constant winner with very few losing times, you have to be able to understand how your mind works under stress. I do very poorly with a losing session and amazing with a winning one.
I personally get far more results oriented than i really should. I know I do. I always break the cardinal law of not looking at my account balance while i play. Well I seem to be unable to stop myself from doing it. Its a problem but i’m aware I have the problem. I also seem to play better when my account reads 29,995 than when my account balance reads 30,036. For some reason mentally there is a threshold there. Once i’m above that 30000 number, i don’t want to see the number go below that. This is all just terrible poker. Just awful. I can’t continue doing this.
I’m sure i’m not the only person who is this way. I’m actually convinced this is the sole reason there is a ‘cashout curse’ for most players. The players sees a lower number and subconsciously plays a different style to try to compensate for the lost money. That style tends to dictate the type of player someone is. I personally find myself playing a number nittier style, trying only to get 100bb in with the nuts or damn close. I know some players who seem to fly off the handle a bit and try to pick up too many pots. Again, I understand how my brain functions.
I play 200nl completely worry free. I kill 200nl. I have 150+ buyins for that game and am completely comfortable with the meta-game there. For some reason having the 75 buyins for 400nl makes me nervous. This doesn’t make any sense for me. I personally would view going below 27500 as a complete failure. WHY?! Why is a 7 buyin swing failure and a complete determent to my mindset? This is the question i don’t understand. I could play 400nl perfectly with 14k but not with 30k? It makes no sense. The only logical answer i can come up with is that I didn’t have anything to lose back then. I now feel like i have something to prove. I feel like i need to set the bar for a 10k month every month.
When i was scaling the ranks, i was playing fantastic poker. I was constantly filled with positive reenforcement because i was winning so much and was getting so little resistance from players. I would have moved up to 1knl if I hadn’t decided I wanted to go pro… i decided i was going to go pro and started withdrawing 5k every time i hit 35k. This has torn apart my mind. I think I have inadvertantly created a barrier and put myself in a category. That stand-still and categorizing myself as a 400nl player has really made me lose vision. I am no longer thinking about making a move to 1000k nl.
I know this post sounds like i’ve had a horrible downswing. I absolutely have not. I have had a great month so far and am right on schedule to make another 10k this month. My question is… at what cost? I’ve done a number on myself mentally. I haven’t taken that 7 buyin downswing i was talking about but if i did, i would likely be mentally devastated for no good reason. I could handle the swings before and now that i’m thinking about becoming pro, I can’t? wtf.
I need to get myself to that place i was before. I found myself dropping to 200nl to get my bearings after a 1k loss the other day. I love playing 200nl because i make money. There is however, no challenge there. There’s no player constantly contesting my opens. I think getting comfortable is the only way to make yourself a winning poker player. I simply don’t understand why my comfort zone is 200nl. This is more a post for replys, for the people who have caught themselves in this thought process and come up with a way to battle it. I am going to have to battle it many times when i become professional so is dropping stakes really the way to make myself comfy again?
OK. On a completely different note, I am doing well this month. I have still been running poorly at 2/4. I have run at about 3bb/100 this month but that’s all mainly due to one big winning session. All my profit but $500 came from that winning session. I have made a good amount playing 600nl and run very well at 200nl. My hourly rate at 200nl is higher than my rate at 400nl however. The question is do i stay at 400nl to get better or do i stay at 200nl to make more money? Can i do both? Should i do both?
I know this blog is very ominous and sounds like I’m depressed. I’m really not. I’m in a great place mentally, but i am simply recognizing where i go mentally when i lose and what’s been going through my head recently. I am a rock mentally but that’s because i am too conservative. I don’t take shots I don’t think i’m god’s gift to poker. This is good and bad imo. Anyways, this one is pretty open ended so all your trollers make a comment if you got any nice words of wisdom or amazing one liners on the subject. Til next time later guys.
“The question is do i stay at 400nl to get better or do i stay at 200nl to make more money? Can i do both? Should i do both?”
I would do both, but hey, what do I know?
Go to nl200 and moveup on a week or when you feel confortable IMO.
But if you had a good mind control, i stay on nl400, you know you beat this limit, and this is a downswing.
I prefer stay on this limit (if i am calm with variance), to improve my winrate and on end of month to say, i pwned this ****´em stake.
GoodLuck for you coach.
Why don’t you play with a floating bankroll. For example, I multi-table and play with 10 buy-ins per table. If I am 9 tabling I need 18K to play 9 tables of 1/2. Once my roll hits 20K I open up 1 2/4 table and play the rest at 1/2, etc, etc. If I run by bankroll to 30K and cash-out 4K then I drop down to 4 tables of 2/4 and 5 tables of 1/2. The amount of bankroll per table is purely whatever you feel comfortable with, for some that might be 5 buy-ins per table for other it might be more.
I think you have to find a system that your comfortable with. For you it might be 15 buy-ins per table. There should be some level where you feel totally comfortable playing the amount of tables and the particular stakes your playing.
Enjoy the blog and have probably learned a thing or two from it. Maybe this will repay the favor.
Hello
I must admit I find it hard not to look at the balance while I play as well. Especially on FT when they show all the cash in play as well. You are right in saying it all in the mind and an area that needs to be improved to win more. I do exactly the same as yo described in the first 3 paragraphs.
Do you just play 1 table at a time ot multi??
Just started reading the blog and good luck at the tables
Mark,
I typically play between 8 and 12 tables. 10 is probably my most comfortable number of tables.
-DR
Thanks for clarifying. I have just started doing that as well. Ususally playing 8 games. What’s your set up like to make playing that many easier? I have 2 screens set up with and normally have 4 on each. Do you just make the size smaller to fit 12 on your screen?
I have two 22″ monitors and typically put 4 on both for 8 tables and slightly overlap the same sized tables for 10 or 12.
-DR
Hey DR,
This is famouslastwords. Love your blog! I can empathize w/ a lot of this post. I struggle with the mental tricks poker can play on you a lot too. But I’ve been impressed w/ your game when I’ve played with you and think you definitely have the ability to beat NL400+ quite soundly. So personally I think you don’t need to waste any more time at NL200.
What I’ve found to work best when trying to get comfortable at a new level is to take my shots on the weekends when the games are best. All the weekend donks will help to build up confidence in your game fast. See ya at the tables.