When you play a game for a living it is very easy at times to lose perspective on the important things that really matter. Each of us has to find our own connection between the poker world and the real world. My children are my compass on that journey. They give my life a sense of purpose and fulfillment that I might otherwise lose sight of while I grind away at the poker table. They also give me reason to take breaks from the game.

I hope that each of you that read this blog have identified your “guides” on this journey we call life. Today, I suggest you take time away from the tables and thank those that add meaning to your life. I would personally like to thank my parents for the love they have always given me throughout my life. I would like to thank my brothers for being there in good times and bad. My friends for picking me up when I’m feeling down and creating lasting lifetime memories. My poker buddies for making the lonely world of online poker feel a little less isolated. And I would like to thank my children for reminding me that the most important job I have in this world is to be the best dad possible.

Bad Beats. Donkeys. Suckouts. The Luck Factor. What can you do when you get your money in good and you lose? Well not too much actually. It is simply part of the game and you must learn to handle it or you will never get anywhere in this game. It is actually the reason that good players can make money in this game. The weaker players have to win sometimes or they wouldn’t come back to play again.

I was running some group seminars yesterday and throughout the day I would have to say I was pretty unlucky. I played nine tournaments between 1PM and 10PM and managed only one cash. This didn’t really upset me too much as I am accustomed to the variance that tournament poker brings with it. But that wasn’t always the case and hearing the reaction of some of the seminar attendees reminded me of how far I have come in this area.

Let’s take a look at some of the bustout hands:

QQ vs 77 and A6 – obv the A6 limped and called 2 all ins and then flopped the A
QQ vs AA – simply a cooler
66 vs 33 – we raised and called a shove from the overly aggressive player with 33. He made a 3 high flush on the turn.
J9 vs AA – we were pushing as a short stack and ran into a hand (def unlucky not a bad beat)
A7 vs A9 – this player made a fairly loose call for all of his chips with 3 players left to act behind him
64 vs TT – shoving as a short stack and ran into a hand again
KQ vs AA – same as above, just keep running into these hands when I’m short
99 vs KQ – we lose a race as a short stack

This was just another day at the office so to speak for me but some of the other players commented on the painful nature of it all. My only comment for them was you have to get used to it if you want to play tournaments. Let’s take a look at the reality of tournament poker for a moment.

Good players will make the money between 15-20% of the time on average. (So 85-90% of the time they go home with nothing to show for their time and effort.) But just cashing doesn’t pay the bills either. Making final tables and finishing in the Top 3 is where you make your money. How often does that happen? Well final table percentages range anywhere from 3-7% for the top tournament players. So even the best go home short of the final table over 90-95% of the time. This is a very painful realization for most people.

Many people play tournaments because they are competitive by nature. They want to win. Many of them may have played sports throughout their lives and have convinced themselves that this is no different. But it is different. Good players win more than bad players but overall you will lose more tournaments than you win on any given day, week, month, or year.

You have to learn to be ok with it and celebrate each loss – because what it really means is you are one step closer to your next victory!

- Mark

PS While I was updating my results for the PLB Challenge, I noticed that I am having a horrible month on Full Tilt. I don’t attribute this to anything special other than variance but I thought I would just point that out.

Sorry I haven’t posted any updates in a few days. That balancing act between poker and parenting was getting in the way of my blogging. One week of the Team PLB Challenge is complete and I’m ok with my results so far. I made another FT the other day in the Pokerstars 15k GNTD ($100+9) and came to the FT as the CL. I played one hand very poorly and that hand cost me a shot at the win. (I ended up taking 5th.) With no other signficant results to speak of, let’s move on to what I have learned so far.

Multi-tabling – I am now going to cap my tables the rest of the month to a maximum of four at one time. I have tried to push the action to 5-7 on a few occassions and was not happy with the results. I will examine what I can do to improve on more than four tables in the future but not during the remainder of this month.

Game selection – With a limit of 4, I have to continue to be smart about game selection. If I play the first 4 MTTs that begin after I sit down I will be limiting my ability to play other tournaments that I might like even more a little later in the day. I will continue to evaluate which MTTs are best for my daytime and nighttime sessions.

Studying – Even with the increase in volume this month, I still need to find time to review my HHs and watch some videos. I will try and do this at least twice a week for the rest of the month. Study breaks are important because if I have developed a leak I’d like to address it quickly and they can help me avoid burning out during a month long challenge where I’m looking to play all day everyday.

As for the standings so far, my team is actually in third place at the moment with prizes awarded for first and second. We are only a few hundred points off the lead and certainly within striking distance. I’m hoping I can win another tournament or two this month and I know my teammates feel the same way. So all and all, it has been a good start. Let’s try and keep it up through the middle part of the month and see if we can stay near the top.