Love Caro, Hate Me

In a far off time know as five or six weeks ago, I was on a great roll. At this same time I happenned onto an old article written by Mike Caro where he advised that when you are playing at the top of your game you should take some time to create a detailed document describing how you play, that way when you aren't playing at the top of your game you can look back at this document and see what you are doing wrong.

It sounded like a great idea, but there's just one catch, its a lot harder to do than I first thought (and I really just stick to one type of games - STT). I got through writing up what I do in the early game (which is nothing special really), then decided I would rather be playing than writing about playing.

Fast forward to this week. I have been in a slump for most of the past month. I decided a few days ago to drop down a couple of levels in order to regain some confidence. The first two STT I played after dropping down I lost, and not just due to varience, I lost them because I made several really bad plays. Then while wondering what on earth I was suppose to do if I couldn't even beat the micros, I remembered the document that I had started.

I wasn't expecting to find much, as I remembered quiting pretty early in the process. But what I did find was exactly what I needed. The game I have been playing the last month sounds a lot like the one I had written down, but there were some key points that were very different. For much of the past month I had been in trouble when it gets down to short handed play, and then I have gone out anywhere from sixth to third. A lot of the trouble I have been getting into has been from making poor choices as to when to get involved in pots in the early levels. I have been telling myself that I have been playing the same game I was playing when thing were going well, but apparently that was just not true.

Since reading that document and applying it I have not finished out of the money, If things keep going well I will likely cut short my confidence building exercise and return to my normal level of play by the end of the week.

Most importantly though, when I feel my game is back to 100% I intend to finish writing that document. Mike Caro was absolutely right, that when you are playing bad having something you yourself wrote that can tell you what you are doing differently can be a life saver. (I shudder to think just how long this losing streak might have continued if I had not had that doc)