After coming off a great month of April of where I cashed in 32/123 tourneys played (26%) at an avg buy in of $7.80 with a profit of $1,513 I was stoked to keep it going in May. Well that is what I thought…after having 2 top 3s in the first 6 played, the downswing began. I think i min cashed in one out of the next 31 tourneys and was down about $275. If you can name how I lost a hand I sure I did it. Losing to rivered straights, trips, flushes, etc.

We have all been there and I know variance is going to happen, however I felt the downswing effecting my mindset. I was questioning my game and even found myself being tentative while playing. I reminded myself of a basketball team that had a big lead at one point, but was trying to hold on to the end. They forgot to keep playing to win and were to worried about trying not to lose. By playing tentative I was finding myself short stack the majority of the time and not being able to sustain the beats I was taking. After a small rant to Killingbird I went back to my hand histories of the last month or two where I experienced success. I went through reminding myself of the right play and having the winning mindset moving forward. I also went back to the mental forum on TPE and reread some posts and articles which really helped.

Well after my study session yesterday, I went in to the evening session with a winning mindset. I played four tournies. I did sustain a horrific beat in one, but I also had a near final table bubble going for the win, and a top 3 where I did get it in good and came up short. I had a profit of $100 last night and will continue to dig out of my downswing and over time continue to go up! I want to continue to keep studying my game through hand histories at least once per week to reinforce certain plays, etc.

I think picking hand histories from great finishes going through them hand by hand, step by step, saying how you would bet it before seeing it really helped me going in to yesterday evenig. I also find myself telling myself the right play to do more often and it reinforces me to make that same play while at the tables. I also am going to start implementing study sessions where I play with pokerstove to know the right price in my calling range, etc. This will also help me in the late game strategy on knowing when to call the shoves.

I just wanted to post this for everyone because there is always going to be the time we aren’t running well and we don’t think we will win another flip/race, which in turn makes us question our game. I have to remind myself to keep putting in the time and energy and the good results will continue. I hope this helps the TPE Nation. Best of luck at the tables!!