February started off as a really nice continuation from the end of January, but has slid quite a bit in the last few days.
I was on pace to possibly have my best month ever, so this downer is pretty disappointing, mostly because I feel a decent chunk of the downswing is from playing my B or C game. I have just felt really unfocused lately and have let some of my old distraction-related habits sneak back in.
My lobby ninja skills have been non-existant, consistently being 3rd or 4th on the wait-list (instead of in the game) when a new game is built around a known “recreational player” (I have started to prefer this term strongly over “fish”, which imo is just outrightly demeaning to the people who make my profession possible).
I have also routinely been the last person to post the big blind when a game is breaking (usually due to a recreational player leaving the game). While posting the last big blind is not a huge loss of EV, I think it is an excellent indicator of my awareness level. When I am on my A-game and a rec player gets all in, I will be hovering over the ‘sit out next BB’ check box waiting to see if he busts out or not.
The good news is, I have full conscious awareness after just a few days that I have been playing distracted and that it is negatively affecting my performance. In the past this type of behavior could linger on for weeks for me, so this is a big improvement. My hope is that next time this occurs I will be able to ‘fix myself’ after one day or less of playing distracted.
So tomorrow I will be back at it with 99+% focus, shutting down all programs that could possibly distract me. I will also be beginning my day with either a hand analysis or an opponent analysis to get my brain nice and warmed up.
Thanks for reading, and good luck at the tables!
I also love the “recreational player” term and agree that the ability to notice immediately when the rec player leaves/runs out of $ is a big sign of how engaged you are.
What does an opponent analysis entail?
Hi John,
I have a number of saved HEM filters, much like the one described in my “Exploring the Corners of Gamespace” post. I find its helpful to get a general idea of what my opponents are doing in a bunch of different specific spots – spots where my memory is not good enough to go back and be like “oh yeah this opponent always does this here”. I know some people have photographic memory, but unfortunately I do not.
I have been trying to think of more and more spots to analyze. The latest one I want to look at is when I 3bet out of the SB preflop, then get raised on the flop by my heads up opponent who has position. I think this spot is important for a couple of reasons:
1) Different people play the flop so differently in this situation – the amount of strength indicated by a flop raise can vary wildly.
2) The pot is heads up and becoming large, so making great opponent-specific decisions should be very profitable.
Any ideas for other spots to analyze?
I think BvB where you raise from the sb it would definitely be helpful to analyze bb opponents flop raising ranges/turn raising ranges.
I would guess regs auto sitting out when they bust out is far more insulting than whether they are called recreational players or fish behind their backs.