Volatile

For about 3 weeks, I was running really well for the most part (couple blips here and there), and playing pretty well, although a little robotic.  Then as good as things were, they turned that bad for the last week or so.  One of malfaire's recent posts talked about not ascribing too much to your clearly unsustainable results, and continuing to work hard on your game even when winning.  He's right about how important that is, and I'm happy to say that I didn't change my routine much when running well, although that's not saying a lot for me...I probably spend too little time seriously studying/thinking.  I'm really good with session reviews and picking out hands for Jared to review, but pretty bad with videos, sweats, forums, etc.  Realistically, though, between job and family, I already have so little time to play, it is what it is.  But I digress.

One of the difficult things about running super hot and super cold is that it's tougher than usual to attribute your results to your play, at least it is for me.  One of the reasons the games can stay good is that bad play gets rewarded a decent amount of the time.  Conversely, you can play pretty well and still lose, right?  The effects are worse for me (as they are for you, most likely) when losing, because at some level, your confidence is undermined.  In both hot and cold you lose some objectivity, but at least when you're winning, you tend to play more relaxed and confidently.  Now, I'm not shaken over a poor week -- and for me that's only a few thousand hands at most -- but I did a sweat with Jared for my lesson last night, losing 2.5 BI in 350 hands...and that was after starting the lesson with a preflop all-in flip that went my way (JJ > AKs, I think). 

So, the loss was really more extreme than that.  We had several big coolers, and I don't think any horrendous beats or anything.  Not that you ever want to have sessions like these, but you do, and sometimes they happen for an extended time.  If you are going to have them, it can be nice to have a coach or other good player/trusted advisor watching.  I didn't think I did anything wrong, but it was reassuring to have Jared agree. 

The only thing I didn't do well is table select -- a couple tables were total shit, but it was a conscious decision to play against tougher regs with Jared sweating me.  The funny thing is that an 85/10 guy completely owned me, and I lost a few pots to a couple other lesser fish.  My results would have been a lot better -- maybe all the way up to break even -- if I would have just stuck to playing against the solid TAG regs :P.