I was off this weekend from playing because I had to work which wasn't so bad, as I got a lot of time to spend watching vids and doing some learning and thinking. For better or worse I came to a couple of conclusions while I was thinking this weekend that is leading me to refocus some of my focus and approach. The largest thing I realized is that at age 30 with a demanding job and the extra cirricular activies I have the MTT grind is killing me. 5 years ago I could survive for days at a time with 3 hours of sleep and still be able and functional. Now, not so much. I guess this is sort of realizing the reverse implied odds on a brag in a technical sense. If I wasn't playing well enough to run deep this wouldn't be a problem, but here I am. Running deep, playing strong, getting close…staying up late. The second and I think this is a big realization as far as I am concerned, none of the big HS MTT players that I know got there by playing MTTs as their BR builders. If you cruise the net and look at backstories from interviews there seem to be two common themes:
1. SnGs
2. Cash
I used to play SnGs. Not the biggest fan anymore. They are so automatic it is sick. If your push/fold is strong it is a pretty simple format to play, problem is you will need a huge amount of volume to compensate for the fact that the edge is small and it will take a lot to realize it. GG SnGs..not for me. So what am I doing. Well mulit-tasking in a weird sort of way. I am going to be playing cash as my staple with MTTs on the weekends (which I define as Friday, Saturday up to Sunday late afternoon) so that I do not abandon the format that I really enjoy. Don't get me wrong, I really like cash play. It really is the truest form of "poker" in the sense that there is where the pressure of the blinds are off and it is a game of thought, pressure and exploitation. So you will still see me a lot around, I am not giving up or going away, just scaling way back on tourneys as my body just can't take the beating at the same rate.
That being said, what does my cash challenges look like. Not sure yet. Right now I am working on seeing if I can challenge myself to work up from 10nl or 25nl to 200nl or 400nl by December, but I am not sure. Right now I am working on putting in 1k hand sessions daily and working with my DB at 10nl to identify glaring holes in my game and working on plugging the fundamental problems before I start really focusing on climbing my way toward a nice place where I can play, enjoy myself and really turn a solid profit (it would be nice to use this poker skill to fund some entertaining aspect of my life). So there is my focus. I am still working on the STEP challenge. I was off this weekend so really no progress to report. I am going to take a run at them pretty hard Friday or Saturday this week while I play a couple of MTTs just to keep things mixed up. Catch up with everyone later. This is the Gman signing out!