June Swoon

June was a weird month...in some ways really satisfying, but results wise, it kind of sucked. My graph looks like I broke pretty much even, but here's the thing...I did it in BB's because I played significant amounts of two different stakes. I played about twice as many hands at $2NL than $1NL, and my win rate was negative at the higher stakes (about -3 ptbb/100), while it was positive at the lower stakes (about 7 ptbb/100). So, my roll dropped overall. The big downward movement you see was the end of $2NL for the month, and it happened in brutal fashion, as detailed in some prior posts. I got back just about enough to jump back in at $2NL and see if the poker gods will smile on me...hopefully third time will be the charm.

On the other hand, I was able to play more hands this month than I believe I ever have, and for the most part, felt like I played solid. Not that I don't have some more to go, but I felt like I got away from auto-pilot, didn't feel lost on too many hands, and was validated even on some of the big hands I lost where my money went in as a huge favorite. I went back and looked at that little downswing in some more detail (I think it was about a 12 BI downswing), and it seemed like I was making big hands a fair amount, but too many of the ones that generated action went against me. Also in that stretch where a lot of money went in and I was behind but with good draws (where I had way more pot odds + fold equity to play), I only hit my draw once, and I stopped counting at 8 times...so I was running below expectation there. I guess that's all the stuff that downswings are made of, even when you are playing well. And to my credit, I continued to play well -- for the most part, anyway -- through it, whereas in the past, I probably would have tossed another few BI's in there out of frustration.





I've managed to loosen up my game quite a bit from a few months ago. As expected, I ran pretty cold at $2NL, looking at W$SD. But my other numbers show that I was sufficiently aggressive...I could be even more, but some of the key stats I look for are within my target range...W$WSF, 3-Bet, Attempt to Steal.

Away from the tables, I did OK reviewing my play and studying videos. I'd like to start posting on strat forums again, but I'm unsure how much time I will be able to do it realistically in July. My time will be more limited, I think. I've been getting some feedback on hands here and there from my coach, and that's certainly helped, so from that sense, I do get a chance to write out my thoughts and validate them. But what I don't get out of that is responding to other people's posts, and I think that's pretty valuable, too.