Hey guys, just finished up for the week/month today. Played 4 sessions since my last update, booking 2 small winners and 2 small losers for a small net loss overall. I don't have a lot of specifics because honestly I just haven't been in many major pots. Usually run bad stretches consist of coolers or suckouts, but I just keep losing 25 here and 50 there and before I know it I'm stuck again. Its pretty frustrating because I'm undoubtedly running bad, but I'm also definitely making mistakes. What tends to happen when I run into the tops of peoples ranges or people keep hitting one of 3 or 4 outs they need to continue for extended periods of time is it sort of warps my thought process because my mind is tricked by short term variance, which causes me to make mistakes.

Today started off pretty good and I made a couple really good plays resulting from paying attention and taking advantage of a couple bad player's tendencies and it really seemed like I was coming out of my funk. Unfortunately this was short lived and I would lose my profit back double. Lost a small pot on a failed double barrel where the guy had literally the one hand that could continue given the turn and also lost probably the biggest pot of my session when a spewey fish check/raised my AQ with air on a Q high board and spiked a K on the turn to beat me.

So even though its the middle of the month this was actually the end of May in terms of playing, since I'm gonna be home for the rest. Technically it was a losing month, but since I only got 50 hours in I'm putting an asterisk by that. And despite having extremely poor results my first 3 months, this is also my first losing cash game month in the year I've been out here. Again though, lol sample size.

On the bright side I've got a nice break coming up so I'm going to take advantage of that. As with my Christmas break, this one seems to be coming at just the right time. I was kind of debating spending some time studying while I'm home but really what I think I need to do is just not think about poker at all and come back fresh and ready to crush for the WSOP. I'm sure its like this for a lot of professions, but I find that even when I take breaks I still think about poker a lot. I'm on 2+2, listening to a podcast here and there, checking bravo for no good reason, and just generally thinking about poker related things. So for this vacation I'm going to attempt to turn the poker part of my brain completely off. No 2+2, no podcasts, no checking games on bravo, and no playing.

This is something that Jared Tendler talks about in his book, The Mental Game of Poker. We need to be able to put poker down when we aren't playing or studying so that our brain can relax and reset. If we don't, emotions from past sessions go unresolved and tilt and emotion accumulates, making it easier and easier to tilt the next session, particularly when on a bad stretch. This doesn't mean just forgetting about a session, but rather reviewing it, learning from mistakes, and making peace with it so you can move on to the next session without having any baggage carry over. I definitely feel like this has been part of my problem lately. I'll cut a session short because I'm not playing well and then play on a day that I was gonna take off because I feel like I need to play since I didn't play a long session the day before and as a result my brain never gets a break from poker. I keep mulling over crap from other sessions and it screws up my mindset for the next session, creating a snowball effect.

So I'm going to do my best to put poker completely down until I get back for the WSOP. I feel like this will best set me up to come back and be ready to play lots of hours and crush. It will definitely be tough as the excitement of the WSOP will make me want to check out games on bravo and just generally have me thinking about poker, but I think staying away from any poker media and being busy while I'm home should help keep me thinking of other things. Its very strange to have to try so hard to not think about poker when its something I've been doing seriously for a relatively small part of my life, but when so much of my time on day to day basis is spent on poker its hard to just stop thinking about it.

For when I get back, my WSOP plans are pretty much set. I'll be playing mostly cash, and my play will be heavily concentrated at 5/10nl. I still may play PLO or some other stuff occasionally but 5/10 will be my focus. Tournament stuff is still up in the air. Might play that 1500 early in the series that has the $1M guaranteed first place. Other than that I really just want to play the main event, which means I should probably make a thread in the marketplace soon since I'll most likely need to sell some action for it.

Anyways this post got long, thanks for reading.

Enjoy your time off. Hopefully I'll see you at the 5/10 tables in a couple weeks.

I think experience tells us that we need time off Cush... perhaps a book might back up that idea, but once you have been doing it long enough, you need to cut off and tune out.

"get out more often", but you didn't like that one... maybe had it come from a book you might have been more receptive.

Have a good time off, look forward to seeing you back here.

Enjoy the time off, T.

See you for the first week of WSOP!

Yea I mean its definitely something I knew of before I read that book, Tendler just put into words what I knew was happening but couldn't really articulate. I didn't read the book and think "oh well thats happening to me, I guess the solution is to take time off". I was simply paraphrasing something from the book that relates to my situation, if for no other reason than to give credibility to my logic.

I know you always say "get out more often" and you think I ignore it because I laugh. It just seems funny to me is all, not sure why. In reality I have been doing other things much more frequently than when I first moved out (golfing, bball, gym, etc.) and it has definitely helped.

Its not like I just take ideas that come from books and ignore real life advice. Your suggesting that I do made me lol pretty hard because quite often its the exact opposite.

Sounds good guys, looking forward to it!

ah... your golden Taylor, no one is trying to rain on your parade. we all want to see you succeed, and succeed very well.

It's like when you told that guy that picked up after loosing 300$... "$300, that's nothing!"

that was a lol moment for sure.

Was the other table better than our first table that day?

haha yea, what I said definitely came out wrong. I was trying to make him feel better but I just came off as a douche.

Not by much, I left not much after you did. Except for yesterday the games at the V this week have been pretty dead.

Cush,

Moved out here last week. If you want my quick advice and aside, avoid playing higher during the series cash wise. I'm going to be mulling around 2/5 and I think that's perfectly fine. Games get better at lower to medium limits during the series and from my experience 5/10+ gets a tad harder. Obviously this depends on table makeup, but you have to remember you have the best players in the world all centralized in one place.

2/5 attracts a lot of people that think they're better than they actually are / people with time to kill. I'd rather crush non-thinking players all day long.

there is a lot of truth in this statement.

[QUOTE=DanceForMe;38557561]Cush,

Moved out here last week. If you want my quick advice and aside, avoid playing higher during the series cash wise. I'm going to be mulling around 2/5 and I think that's perfectly fine. Games get better at lower to medium limits during the series and from my experience 5/10+ gets a tad harder. Obviously this depends on table makeup, but you have to remember you have the best players in the world all centralized in one place.

2/5 attracts a lot of people that think they're better than they actually are / people with time to kill. I'd rather crush non-thinking players all day long.[/QUOTE]

^ This

No doubt there can be more opportunity for a local [cash] grinder during the series, but there are pitfalls also - some in the form of higher variance as you play against these tournament player w/ "tournament mentality".

And when the smoke clears in about 2 months and all of these people from all over the world go home the local small stakes cash grinder needs to honestly appraise his bottom line -how much money was made.
IMO, making and following a business plan designed and structured around how to make the most money during the series (how can I best capitalize on this opportunity) would be a wise choice.

dont want to be a tool my man but this is just plain silly. For a poker pro the wsop is akin to christmas time. Every poseur, wannabee and next durrrr is in town torching $

Play as high as humanly possible you nit

lol I'm gonna be playing all 5/10 this summer.

Can't really speak to the softness of games since I never played 5/10 last summer and it wasn't even really an option so I didn't pay attention to it. I hear what you guys are saying but from the info I've gathered there are plenty of soft spots at 5/10 during the series. I have a hard time believing that someone rolled for 5/10 would be making the best decision by playing 2/5.

/last 2+2 post until after vacation

Was just giving my advice.

I am rolled for 5/10 and play 2/5 so maybe I'm a bankroll nit. I've played both games live over 1000 hrs sample size (minimum for 5/10 was this size) so if that means anything.

Cheers

Also, you're right when you say there may be missed opportunities. I am however just trying to live a good and stable life.

make your life as volatile and unstable as possible you nit

>10/20 then

If I win a series event ok

Finally had a chance to read entire thread and congratulations on your success thus far. Hopefully you can take it to another level this summer.

A few questions:

1. There was post a while back where the entire table wanted to straddle but you refused, you still feel the same way?

2. Thoughts on playing short handed versus full table? Preferences, affect on WR, etc.

3. Have you played at the Wynn, if so what are your thoughts? If not why the hell not?!

4. What is your response when people ask what you do for a living?

GL

Good questions. I hope once the Cushlash gets back from vacation he will have time to answer them.

Hey guys, just got back from my cabin in the North Woods of Wisconsin. I'll be flying back to Vegas tomorrow. The time off was awesome, very relaxing and got to see some family and friends that I haven't in a while. That being said I'm very exited to get back to Vegas and get on the WSOP grind. The last few days I've been itching to get back to the pokers, luckily I was up north without internet so I didn't have access to 2+2 and stuff. Anyways just wanted to say whats up and gonna post a response to serio's questions in a minute.

Responses above in blue, don't hesitate to ask if you have other ?'s or follow ups.

Welcome back. I really look forward to your postings. Frank, concise and informative.

This time next week I will be in LV. I might try to drop the V and say hello. I won't take much of your time because you are working and I am on vacation.

Haven't been following/reading this thread for long so I obviously missed that you're from WI. But awesome, just awesome. Gives hope to me! Whenever I've been in Vegas I always rep the hometown teams as well.

Sent from my SPH-D710VMUB using 2+2 Forums

Hey Cush,

What's the difference in skill between the V 2/5 and the bellagio 5/10 game?