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!

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