Secrets of the Amateurs

I was relieved (probably too relieved) to finish 3rd on Stars this morning for $1000. I can never quite seem to close the deal on Stars. Still, I've thought that elsewhere, and it has always come in the end.

I don't have an actual date when I'm leaving work yet, I'll probably find out tomorrow. Could be anything from a week to two months, although hopefully I'll be out by Easter. Until then I'm laying the groundwork and thinking about the game selection. Variety is very important. I don't think online cash, or heads up, games are for me, so it will be a mix of tournaments and sit and goes. PLO8 is a good MTT game (better than in the STT form I think), and Party have some limit Sit and Goes that make a nice change (especially the split games). One thing I have to try to stop doing generally is "drawing a line" and saying, right, I'm going to track how I do in this game starting now. It's a great way to convince myself that I'm losing. Obviously it will be hard not to do this when I quit work ! I will have to pretend that I started in the New Year, and so am $6000 up. I also have to work around the mindset of maximising hourly rate ; $10 an hour extra is no good if it's so stressful that I can only play half the hours. That means cutting down on the Turbo Sit and Goes, and probably 3-tabling instead of 4 at least for a while.

Live action is almost certain to be cash rather than tournament. The freedom to come and go and the challenge of learning a new game are big plus points. I'm unlikely to be following this path at Gutshot though ; 5% rake capped at £10 in a £50 max buyin game and the dealer's working for tips - you do the math as they say in the US.