A Few Days Off

I've decided to take a short break from poker playing. Nothing too major. Maybe a week at most. I've been analyzing my play for April trying to figure out some of the leaks to explain why I seem to be losing more than winning this month.

Well, basically, my own analysis tells me that I have been far too impatient with my online tournament play. I've been willing to gamble with coin flips early in the tournaments and sometimes even calling when I already know I'm behind.

Now this impatience seems to be a result of some kind of tilting. The 1st quarter of the year was ok with positive profit but the first 2 weeks of April were kind of bad and I attributed this mainly to variance. I know that I played optimal the first few weeks but the results were not there. This is quite normal and will happen to every poker player. But this has resulted in me being in semi tilt mode and I may not have realized it.

So just to be on the conservative side and to make sure that I don't waste any more of my bankroll playing catch-up. Let me just take a short break with no poker to clear my head. I've been playing almost everyday in one form or another the past year so I guess some burnout is to be expected.

Again, for those people who have been following my blog and who know me personally, its actually no big deal. I am not busto. My poker bankroll is actually quite healthy. But relatively speaking, the amount I lost from end March to April is significantly higher compared to any losing month before. And considering I only play a couple of SNGs and MTTs a day.

For some, the amount may just be a small blip on the radar, but since I did not increase my playing levels. I find it highly unusual. I pretty much play the same buy ins and frequency that I played last year. So the only logical advise that I can give myself is to take a short break just to refresh my mindset a bit. I cannot really advise myself to lower my playing levels since I did not increase it in the first place. I'm also playing in the same poker rooms with the same sharks and donkeys for the past year or so. In short, nothing changed except I can't seem to win. =(

May 2 will be my self imposed deadline. I'm hoping the break will do me good and enable me to play better come May.