Goodbye 200nl!

Posted by icemonkey9 on Aug 22, 2009 in 200nl | 1 comment

Funny that the 200nl shot lasted as short as it did. The result was only a -4 buy-in loss but I'm finding myself just unable to deal with losing on a 3 buy-in swing at 200nl. The money apparently affects me too much and I need to better mentally stabilize myself before taking another shot.

I do not believe that my play was bad at all, in fact, I thought it was pretty good. I felt like I handled the regs just fine, and the fish were fish just like any other level. There is a fair amount more aggression and the regs are definitely more competition than 100nl. I did a good job ID'ing the regs that knew what they were doing, and made sure at no point was I over-compensating or out-leveling myself.

In terms of bankroll guidelines I should stay at 200nl because I wanted to give myself an 8 buy-in loss attempt, but being more tilted now than I have been in months has proved to me that I'm just not ready yet. My poker A-Game might be, but I'm not able to play it yet. YET!

So what's happened? Basically swings going up and down which is really weird for Full Ring that would have you barf. There's just been a wild amount of villains hitting gin cards or sets against my big overpairs. I won't post 29 hands but I will post a bullet list of the good and bad.

THE GOOD (all of my +50 big blinds won hands)

• QQ holds against 99 on the 678 flop and I made a great hero read and call at the river for all unders against his 99 for a little more than a stack.
• AA holds against QQ on the J56 board as we got it in on the flop. Shipped a stack.

THE BAD (all of my -50 big blinds lost hands)

• Set under set against a 32/10/4 for a little more than a stack.
• JJ overpair against a 32/14/4 who hits a set for a stack.
• AA<KK for a stack.
• AK on a 3KQ2K board for trips loses to 22 for a good size pot.
• KK<JJ for a little more than half a stack (at this point I got good at seeing people flop sets on me)
• AK clubs for two overs and the nut flush draw on flop bricks off for half a stack.
• 2nd nut flush vs nut flush on a 3-tone board.

Anyways, I am obviously over emphasizing the losses because of the magnitude of the actual dollar figures being doubled. Clearly, it's no different than when I moved up from 50nl to 100nl many months ago. Looking back I dealt with the same thing then, and I got through it.  I will do the same thing again, and I am sure in time take another 200nl shot and hopefully succeed.

For now I'll go back to grinding 100nl, getting my game and head back together in the place it was before I took this shot, and then re-evaluate what I want my goals to be for poker.  Do I want to start cashing out regular money every month? Or do I want to save up for more than 40 buy-ins for another 200nl shot?

Ah the joys of poker.