My poker challenge

I undertook to start what I have called my “poker challenge” recently where I am trying to convert $100 into $10,000 starting at micro-stakes no-limit Texas Hold’em and working my way up. I simply do not know why I really decided to start this challenge as it is proving to be a real hell on earth type of thing. My problems are numerous in so much as I have played for very high stakes before and have played $25-$50 NL Texas Hold’em and $100-$200 limit hold’em in the past before the games got seriously tough to beat.

So I have a massive obstacle of not respecting the money. When I started, my first level was $4 games with $0.01-$0.02 blinds. I was fine at the start because I was fresh and full of vitality for the challenge ahead. But it soon became apparent just a few weeks into it that I simply could not keep this going and I was mentally getting weaker and weaker.

My friends told me that I would not last a week and they knew where my weakness lay. But I have proved them wrong to a certain extent and my original $100 has grown into $612 although it has taken me almost four months to make just over $500. I have won money and then spewed it back countless times through a combination of boredom and trying to make something happen too soon playing poker.

So how can I possibly keep my head in the game while playing such low levels? A good question but one in which I think that I have found the answer. My problem was that I was concentrating too much on the poker. You may ask how concentrating too much could be a problem playing poker? Usually of course it isn’t but the problem comes from concentrating intensely on something that I really do not want to do deep down.

It has taken me a while to understand what has been happening inside my subconscious but I think that I know where the problem is. The problem comes from the fact that I have been concentrating on playing such low stakes without doing anything else that the poker has started to bore me and the results have suffered. So the answer for me personally is to multi-task while playing poker. I am experienced enough to play a very solid and good default style at full-ring no-limit hold’em and so concentrating is not something that I need to do.

It has taken me an awful long time to see the reality of what has been happening but it is now clear that multi-tasking is what I need to be doing. I need to take my head out of the game to keep my head in the game. Obviously you simply cannot do this at higher levels but at the levels up to and including the $50 levels then it is possible to do this and be successful. I think that this strategy is viable for more players although it does sort of depend on having something to multi-task on.

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