Little progress in the last two weeks.

I planned to play two live tournaments the week of July 19-25.  Some weeks I don't get to play one, so I wanted to get an extra one "in the bank" to make up for the ones that I would miss out on later in the month.  I was too tired to play either tournament.  Very frustrating, but I know that I made the right decision both times.  Playing tired would be a terrible mistake.  I have enough trouble staying focused as it is.

This week I took another shot and failed to cash both yesterday and today.  Frustrating, but that's going to happen.  If in every tournament I'm doing my best to make good decisions, practicing whatever I'm working on during that tournament (in this case, keeping track of the pot size.) and I realize what mistakes I need to fix, I can't ask more or myself than that.

Pot size has been my focus for the last 10 tournaments or so.  There are a lot of other things that I need to work on, such as watching for tells and putting players on a range--but I also know my learning style, and I learn best when I work on one small piece of the puzzle, really get that down, than move on to the next thing.

I can't just get a little better at keeping track of the pot size.  It has to become automatic  Only then can I add another piece to the puzzle.  When I work that way, I will become better at that one thing than most of the players at my table.  Then I can work on the next piece, for example, watching the player on my left for tells.  Once I can do that I can gradually add more players until I can pick up tells from most of the players at my table.

My learning style is methodical.  Some would call it slow, even plodding, and that would be a fair assessment--but I know what works for me. When I am able to play four or five tournaments a week (I have to have time for study and other things) I will learn and practice more in a week than I am doing now in a month.  Then things should really take off.

Until then, I have to stay focused at playing my best and learning what I can.  Poker is a game of small edges, and I have to keep that in mind every single day.  Having an edge on just one player can be the difference between cashing and not cashing, or between a small cash and winning a tournament.  I have to keep that in mind every single day.