Worst. Month. Ever.

5,657 hands of limit hold’em in the ring games for a total return of 0.38 big blinds per 100 hands.

To be honest I shouldn’t be too disappointed, a positive return is a lot better than the negative return I’d been expecting to report on a week or so ago. Still, I can’t help being disappointed with my declining results the past couple of months.

Don’t get me wrong, I know due to variance there will be good and bad months but the thing is this reduction in profit also coincides with my stating to play at more 6-Max tables. Does this mean that I’m a poor 6-Max player? I don’t think so, 2,500 of the hands I played last month were on the Poker Stars 6-Max tables where I turned a respectable profit of nearly 3 BB/100 hand.

So why the reduction in overall profits? I have a few theories:

• Too small a sample size, I really need to play more hands to get a true indication of how I’m running at 6-Max (but it can’t hurt to analyse as I go).
• The fact that I’ve been seeking out the most maniacal players at these tables (the ones that play 80%+ of hands, raise 60%+ of the time and rarely fold), while this should be highly profitable in the long term in the short term it can work against you.
• Tilt. When those players just keep catching cards it can really mess with you. I can’t tell you how many times I’d see maniacs repeatedly calling down raises and even re-raises with no pair only to flop the nuts when I decide get involved in a hand with them.

So with that said, here’s my plan for the coming month:

• Play more 6-Max hands, perhaps exclusively unless there are some juicy full ring tables.
• Continue to seek out the maniacs, but only sit down at their table when I have position on them and when there is only one at the table. Better to sit down at a table full of passive players than one with 2 or 3 lunatics, sure the pots will be smaller but there’s less chance of going insane. Too often I’ve folded the best hand after getting sandwiched between two maniacs raising and re-raising with middle pair or a gutshot straight draw or some such.
• Don’t tilt. Generally I’ve been good at controlling myself, I usually take beats very well it’s just this month that’s been the exception to the rule (probably because of my poor overall results).
• Don’t force things to happen. I’ve always said (and I’m not alone) that poker is a game of patience, this doesn’t change at the 6-Max table even though you can see more flops.

One other thing got in the way of my poker playing this month – real life! Annoying as it meant I didn’t really get a good run at most of my poker goals for August, so they carry forward to September:

1. Read Harrington volume 2, re-read volume 1.
2. Return a positive figure in NL hold’em tournaments (actually made some headway here in August but nothing to get too excited about).
3. Play at least 500 hands in a game other than hold’em, I’m thinking maybe some Omaha 8 or better.and now…
4. Improve my return at the 6-Max tables.

Wish me luck for September… here’s hoping for some better results!