Best week so far

Although I'm not superstitious, I don't want this post to upset the poker gods and rain down a series of bad beats and cold decks on my head this week.

I had a great week, winning $2700 and even had good luck in the big pots to the value of $1450 on top. As a result the bankroll stands at $10,380 which is not far short of my all-time high of $12k. (Don't ask what happened to that, by the way!) This is almost approaching the realm of being a playable bankroll for $5-$10 full ring. According to my calculations, my 'true' win rate of $139 and actual standard deviation of $600(ish) indicate that my risk of ruin is a measly 0.04%. However, I am not dumb enough to believe that this wouldn't increase dramatically with even a small downturn in fortunes. After all, its only 10 buy-ins.

The biggest win of the week came when I got all-in for nearly $1000 pre-flop with AA against AK suited (about as big a favourite as its possible to be).

Other big wins came with:

-JJ v AQ where I flopped top set against a flush draw, turned the full house and got paid off a decent bet on the river when he paired his Q;
-KQ v 1010, villain called 3 decent-sized bets on a K42,4,2 board (he had check-called then check-folded the previous hand and I decided he would pay off relatively light as a result);
-44 v KJ where I flopped a set and the pre-flop raiser got a bit too frisky with his overcards.

There were lots of small wins too and I was particularly pleased with a couple of bluffs I made against regulars. Not only were they, I believe, well-timed but they were plausible too (possibly the most important factor in pulling off a successful bluff).

I didn't lose many big pots at all this week. The biggest came when I flopped TPGK + the nut flush draw with AQ, but was against AAA and missed the flush. I kind of suspected I was beaten when the money went in on the turn and should have really lost less in all honesty.

I have been reading Alan Schoonmaker's book entitled "Your Own Worst Poker Enemy" and found some interesting stuff in there, along with a decent amount of fluffy padding.

The main thing it emphasizes is the need to be objective at all times. You need to honestly evaluate the game you are playing in, the way you are playing, how you are feeling. All decisions need to be made dispassionately and if this isn't possible for whatever reason you need to stop playing. If I continue to play well and run well we will never know if the book was a worthwhile read or not. Oh well: I can live with that. If I lose and go off for a ton of money, we will know that it had little or no effect on my (and most players' number one) problem of losing too much when things go against us.

I have just started reading Professional No Limt Hold 'Em by Matt Flynn and others. I will let you know how I get on with that later.