Results for October 28-November 3

I realized something yesterday.  I was in a $5 tournament, and two players were chatting about other tournaments that they had played.  I was surprised, because some of them were much higher than $5, and I couldn't figure out why these guys were "slumming" in my tournament.  Then it hit me.  There are probably a lot of players doing that.

When I played on PokerStars, almost every hour on the hour there was an MTT starting at almost every buy-in level, from as low as 10 cents to as high as $100 and beyond.  In this new, post-Black Friday poker environment you play the tournaments that are available given your bankroll, and the choices aren't good.  Now, multitabling tournament players play across several sites, or at several levels on one site, or both.

That could at least partially explain why it's taking me so long to have a breakthrough.  To be sure, the more I study, the more I realize that I have a lot of holes in my game.  But still, I couldn't figure out why I wasn't dominating players at the $5 level, especially since I did quite well at that level on PokerStars, and I am (I hope) a much better player now.  When I keep seeing a lot of the same players at the last two or three tables of an MTT, some of them are probably playing at $20 or higher.

As I think about my situation, I could get discouraged that some of my opponents have me outgunned in both experience and bankroll.  But I see it as good news.  I'm playing against opponents who play at well above my level, and I'm holding my own.

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Poker Profit or Loss
-$1.53   tournments
   1.41   rakeback
   1.00   bonus
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-$0.88

Another breakeven week.  I would get several small cashes in a row, then have 3 in a row where I didn't cash, which brough me back down to even.  That was pretty much how it went the entire week.

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Poker Hours
19.50   tournaments
11.50   study
  9.25   administrative
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40.25

Finally!  I managed to put in a 40-hour week.  I'm very happy with how I spent last week, both with the number of hours, and the distribution.  Over 28% of my time was spent studying, and that's a decent number.  If all I did for a week was study, I certainly wouldn't consider that time wasted.  If in fact I am playing against opponents who are more experienced, and more heavily bankrolled, at the last two tables of my MTTs, then the holes in my game need to be fixed sooner rather than later.  A lot of studying is the only way to do that.