Where the hell did this week go?

Seems like Monday was just yesterday and now the week is just about over and I did nothing.  Actually, worked a ton so far (same projects, lots of issues to resolve, going well), but did have a lesson on the company's time this morning to make up for it a little bit.  And I'm following up with that by writing up this post, too.  Yay, me. 

For the first time in a long while, I did a PT review rather than a sweat or video, and I forgot how helpful those are.  I know that I've been mixing in playing bad with running bad, and as we looked through some individual hands, that was borne out.  If I had to say what the bigger influence is, it would be running bad, but far from 100%.  I wonder how much cause and effect there is between playing bad and running bad. 

Certainly my motivation to grind has dropped off due to this downswing, even though a lot of the DS is my fault in the first place. It's human nature to avoid unpleasant things in favor of pleasant things.  With so many other things going pretty well and poker not so much, I guess it's not surprising that it's dropped off.  Jared was able to extract a few things in general that confirmed some of my own thoughts, but he did pick up one thing that was new for me.  I've been playing my big draws very fast, but not optimally.  Getting in with a massive draw will not likely be a big EV mistake in a vacuum, but it doesn't mean that indiscriminately betting and raising is the most EV way to go about it, either.  Also, I had miscalculated my likely equity in a couple big draw situations...mostly stemming from a poor job on my part assigning hand ranges.

One point that Jared makes over and over -- which I do OK internalizing to various degrees -- is that while "advanced" plays are all well and good, they are not at all necessary at small stakes.  Things like 4-bet bluffs preflop, floating, etc.  He doesn't object to working them into my game because there are spots even at these stakes where they work.  And I certainly don't go way overboard with that sort of stuff.  His point is more that they are higher variance and I should think about the balance between trying to use those plays and just playing "boring, straightforward" poker.

Finally, @ Brian and Willie:  thanks a ton for your comments on my last post.  Brian, I will try to take you up on your offer, although my window for playing my be outside of your window for sweats, due to time zones.  If nothing else, after I get done posting this, I'll look you up on AIM so that you know who's pinging you :).

Willie, I actually have been playing on a different site...Stars.   I've got a smaller roll there, enough for 50NL, so I've been building up my roll and confidence in that game.  My WR @ 50NL is about the same as my lose-rate @ 100NL...so I just need to play twice as many 50NL hands to break even :).  Absolute isn't for me.  It's fine for whoever wants to play there, but I'm so disgusted at what happened there and their reaction that I just don't want to support them.  I will say that if I made my living playing, I might not be so righteous about it...if I thought my edge there was big enough...so I certainly don't fault anyone if they want to play there...just not for me.  As far as different games, I have actually thought about that, and talked about it with a couple folks.  For a number of reasons, I want to stick with 6m NL for now, but I do think that before all that long, I will incorporate some HU NL and/or PLO.  I've thought about trying limit because I was quite successful with it (by my standards) back in the day...but with tougher games now plus having to re-learn parts, let's just say I'd rather leave that legacy of success intact :).