Donkey Challenge..

Mr. Poker Wanna Be himself, made a post about his Donkey Challenge status and I made a comment to his post that I thought I would share here.

I took my bankroll down to, I kid you not, a little more than $9. I was bitter. I had almost failed. I stopped playing and focused on my play. Reviewing everything in PT and reading Harrington’s first book over again. You see, I remember mostly what I read last. The last chapter I read was Harrington’s second book, and the chapter about bluffing. I know it sounds stupid, but I’d bluff a lot more than I should, which usually made me place out of the bubble.

But after I sat myself down and did the research about my game and focused, I was able to make a huge comeback. I won a $1 tourney for $128, and placed 16th in a $5 tourney for a little over 3x the buy in. I had built my bankroll up to a place it’s never been before, over $310.

Now add in early morning SnG’s where I’d pressure myself for time, or losing focus, and I’ve dropped it down to about $220 (++haven’t logged into FTP for a few days, not sure where I’m at++ $199.27, playing while on tilt = bad.)

During the WPBT Sat, I noticed something about myself, which makes sense. I care about how the other bloggers think of me and what they think of my game play, so I brought my A game to the Sat. and to the last Winter Classic. I played really well. Random people in the SnG’s I could careless what they think, so I play just about any two cards and usually fail to make the bubble. So I think for me, the whole thing is mental.

I did make a few changes to the post, as I didn’t proof read the comment to Columbo’s post. Placing 166th in a $5 tournament, was actually 16th out of 458, and the $1 was 1st out of 502. Proof reading, another thing I need to work on.

But what I said is true, I care more about what other people think than I should. I have for most of my life. Sometimes it helps, but usually I just end up feeling miserable because I didn’t do something that I wanted to do, because I may look like an ass in front of people I don’t know at all and most likely will never see again. I’ve told that to myself many, many times, but I never do anything about it and I probably won’t this time either.