100nl 6max, a Prop Bet and Good Mental Tips

Posted by icemonkey9 on Apr 23, 2009 in 6max | 1 comment

I hadn't realized that the blog had gone so many days without being updated.  I'm a blog freak obviously and update my blog more than any other poker-player blog that I know of.  I think I enjoy expressing myself via the written word and like to look back at my feelings throughout the month so it's both therapudic and construtive most of the time.

As the title implies, I've moved back (again) to 6max ring game poker.  For those of you that don't remember I tore up 25nl 6max for a good 25k hands, and then barely was profitable at 50nl 6max and then when I moved to 100nl decided to just stick with Full Ring to get used to the level of money moving around the table.  I've watched some good Stox Poker videos and decided to get some formal coaching from ChuckTs.  If you didn't know BW07507 has been a bit of a mentor for me playing 100nl full ring, but I didn't want to take any more of his time without compensation especially in light of the fact that he's trying to graduate college in the next few months and has so much on his plate.  As it is, ChuckTs is a 6max warrior and someone that I respect and trust and I'm looking forward to our sessions.  I think he'll find there's plenty of things to work on with my game, but that I might just be further along than he thinks.

I've done a lot of zoning-out tilt wise and really just try to keep a total mental level state where if I win a big hand I don't get excited and at the same time if I lose a big hand, I don't get upset.  In an ideal world you can shake off the negative and celebrate the big hands, but I'm not at that point and am progressing well with the whole balance thing.  It's going to sound a little cheesy but instead of listening to my regular Beatles / Classical Music thing I listened to this "Spa Soothing Sounds" CD while playing which is basically soft tones and running water.  Outside of having to piss a lot more during the day, it actually has a fantastic calmning effect and allows me to constantly remind myself not to get too high or too low.

Here are some "zen" type of things I've tried to instill into my mental routine:

• There is no running good or running bad.  There is just running.  Everything breaks down to a perception of a subjective time frame.  Look at the big picture and focus on the immediate present.
• If you do not allow yourself to ride the emotional rollercoaster of highs and lows that hands will bring, staying at an even mental state will become easier as time moves forward.

Alright well that won't be a published work anytime soon but it's 2 solid things that have really grown on me.

In other news, I've started a prop bet with CardsChat acquaintence Tygran to see which one of us will actually hit platinum.  I have a huge uphill battle to climb in the last week of this month in order to hit the goal but if I do I'll be able to reach this milestone for the first time as well as buy the $650 Platinum bonus (50k FPPs) instead of two of the $285 for GoldStars.  Plus I get an extra multiplier for May, and I'm hoping PokerStars runs another "Double VPP" week like it did in May of 2008.  Hopefully I can put in the necessary volume profitably and succeed in the prop bet.

Thanks for reading as usual, I'll be posting again soon.