Plugging Away

I miss playing in the casino, but I'm making due with what I have.

Had two home games recently, a cash session and a tournament.  I barely count the cash session as poker thanks to the prolific number of multiple-wild and just plain luck games (and as such, the time spent playing these games is not recorded in my "Race to 10K" spreadsheet). 

The tournament went pretty well; I finished second of eight entrants and hold a solid second place in the season standings.  Heads-up could have gone better but thanks to...let's call it, outside influences...I played pretty loosely and paid the price.  Fate rewarded me for sending everyone home with $11 on the lotto tickets.

I've been playing quite a bit of play money Full Tilt lately as well.  Last week I tried out the Matrix format, and after a rough start, have been absolutely destroying it: two days ago, three firsts and a second on the four tables; and yesterday, two firsts, a second, and an 8th.  I won the overall matrix both of those times.

Why is that?  I thought about it for a while, and I have concluded that the fast-paced format makes me (and others I'm sure) focus more on the probability and actual cards; what is instead of what might be.  In other words, trusting the math - something I am still working on in any poker format, especially with starting cards. 

One thing I AM learning more about when it comes to starting cards is how to adjust what I consider an acceptable hand when playing short-handed.  I have written before about how "any face card is good heads-up", but there is a variant of that lesson to be had when playing short-handed as well.  Mainly, don't be so down on things like A/rag suited and the like.

I really vacillate, sometimes multiple times a day, on whether I should be spending so much time with play money.  I like the challenge, and I like how I play there.  I also like the practice I get in seeing hands quickly - by that I mean, I have but a few seconds after people flip their cards to see whether they have something or are on a draw, and what that draw is.

The key to moving my success to the actual felt is going to be less fear, as I've said before.  I play with no fear on the virtual felt; I just have to translate that to real life.

I have been making progress on an actual plan for a bankroll, with any luck I can get that started in the next couple of months and maintain it for the duration.