wednesday

2010-11-03T18:43:00.000+01:00

So, opening a blog worked out quite well. At least for a day.
I had a fairly solid session on tuesday, however, today was a disaster. I managed to quit only 1 stack below my stoploss (lol) and I'm gonna nit it up even more and set my stoploss at three stacks now. I know it's silly but I'm just playing so ridiculously bad when chasing losses.
I won't even go into details, but I spewed off buyins left and right, knowing I was making mistakes but making them anywas. Really dunno what to do against that sort of tilt. Whenever the session is over I will realize that I've just tilted and promise never to do it again - that happened at least 5 times in the last two months.
I think I might need to apply an even more drastic approach, e.g. quitting whenever I only feel the slightest doubt I might not be playing my A-Game, but then again, it's really hard to admit that to oneself.
Anyways, stay tuned!

who's that?

2010-11-01T18:58:00.000+01:00

I figured writing a introduction-post to a blog that hardly no ones gonna read anyways is pretty pointless but i feel somewhat entitled so here goes:

My name is raphael, I live in Vienna and I play poker for a living. I guess I'm also a tilter, at least that's what we say in Tilters Anonymous.
I used to play somewhat highstakes, 1k - 5k and I did pretty well. For a time, that is.
Now my last solid winning month was more than a year ago and I've burnt through my bankroll pretty fast in that last months. Also, I went from hardly no expenses (living at home) to having to pay my rent and food and whatnot about two months ago.

So here I am, sitting on a roll that I would've consideren a fairly solid day of grinding not too long ago and I'm starting to get worried - am I still a winner? Well, short time results say no.
I'd say my A game is pretty solid - but I don't bring my A game all too often lately. I play too long, unfocused sessions. I don't quit when I hit my stoploss and I can't fold. I mean, I guess no one likes to fold but sometimes I can't. My brain tells me to fold, fingers click call.

Now I've decided to put an end to that. Not that I have much other choice - I'm gonna study for at least 4 more years until I will make a solid living on my own and I don't see much chance sustaining my lifestyle with anything else than poker until then. Anyways, the idea is to grind my way back to high stakes. I know it's not gonna be easy and it's gonna take time, probably a lot, but I'm determined and I hope this blog is going to help me stay that way.

Status quo: I'm gonna grind nl 400sh and 600sh, tho the latter with an emphasis on table selection. My stoploss is set to 4 stacks for a day and while this may sound silly, I really need it. I will try to post regular updates - maybe someone's gonna read them.

the long road back

wednesday

who's that?