March was my toughest month to date. I had my biggest upswing (720 big bets) and biggest downswing (520 big bets) of the year. I dare say my downswing has ended, I'm about 200 big bets off the lows. I feel fortunate to have had my biggest downswing immediately after my biggest upswing, it made it a lot easier to deal with. Had it come at the end of a 20K hand break-even stretch, it might have been more difficult. I ended the month up about 600 big bets and after a few bonuses, netted about 25K. So, I'm very happy with that at least.
I don't feel like I played my A game this month though. More like my C game for the better part of it. I haven't really pinned down why I played so poorly. I did do a lot of travelling and went through a tragedy when one of my best friend's brother passed away. I'm not really sure if that threw me off track or if I've lost focus for other reasons. It has been an incredible grind. Five to six hours of poker a day is not so bad. But it's every single day. And if I miss a day or part of a day, it has to be made up. So that has taken it's toll on me I think.
I've been experimenting (as I often do) the last few days with a different style. Basically I've been playing a hyper-aggressive style, my aggression factor has jumped from about 1.5 to 2.0. I've also been playing my hands as fast as possible. This is in direct contrast to how I normally play, I intentionally take about 5 seconds for almost every decision. One big benefit I've noticed to playing faster is that I'm able to get in many more hands per hour. A drawback is that I'm prone to make more mistakes by not completely thinking out my decisions so there's a bit of a trade-off there. I do like that this combination of aggression and speed has thrown my opponents way off balance. I've noticed more folding and a reluctance to attack me. Maybe it's a function of them getting bad cards (entirely possible) but maybe not. Time will tell hopefully. I haven't really decided which style I'm going to play and that might be to my benefit . I may just mix things up and play to however I'm feeling. I'm confident both my styles are winning ones so my feelings seem like as good a randomizer as any to use for my play.
On the VPP front, I'm about 2 1/2 days behind now. I have made up a little ground but am still struggling to catch up. Hopefully by next week I can get caught up, we shall see.
Here's to a profitable April....
25k month playing your C game. sounds rough! =P So far I think the coaching is going very well. I've learned a bit and hope to keep going!
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