So with the downswing I'm in and after last night , Ive been doing a lot of thinking and this ties in to setting some goals for this month. Next couple of months for me are going to be busy work wise and will probably only get limited amounts of time available to play poker.Then at the end of september /early october second child is due , so I might get a restricted amount or if on the night shift may get more time to play.

Last month was partly influenced by this . I wanted to see exactly how much I could play and how many hands I could get in in a month.With the introduction of the new VPP 6 max tables I could see that it was going to be possible to achieve a 'proper' silver star rather than the easy one I got before. Thought it might last two months like the last one as well , but no such luck.Part of this achieving silver involved me playing 4 tables for a lot of the month as well.

In retrospect , I think it harmed my poker , while I had some good nights 4 tabling I had some bad ones as well.I noticed that I wasn't really getting time to get reads on players or time to take notes before the caret got nicked by the next table.I accepted this as part of the challenge of gettingthe number of hands in but it was strictly limited to last month .....well last night as well.Gobbatino alluded to this when he asked if retaining silver was worth carrying on for. It was a goal that I had set for myself and I was so close to achieving it even if it was at the expense of the bankroll.

Another thing that I must admit is that I was not playing under the best conditions. I was very often tired in the mornings having played til 2AM then woken at about 7am by my 3year old.My wife often commented that she was worried about how tired I was especially as i didn't usually get home til 8.30 , had a sandwich ,bit of talk and watch telly for an hour then hit the tables about 10pm.Looking at the effect on last months graph it probably explains the levelling off of the graph through the month as I got more fatigued and then developed bad habits as a result which resulted in the doom switch at the end of the month.

Since theres absolutely no way that I'll get the number of hands in this month to retain silver , retaining silver is not a goal. My main focus this month must be to improve the quality of my play not the quantity. What I really want to do is to watch a poker video before I start each session.Hopefully this should get me thinking in the correct way and take some of the ideas mentioned in each video into that session to work on.
The next goal is that I'm going to be setting myself a deadline so that midnight will be bedtime.If I'm not tired I should start making better decisions and help with concentration.It should also help with family life and help to allay my wifes subtle fears that I'm getting addicted to gambling. I don't think I am , I see the challenge in improving the way that I play not necessarily the $$$ signs or heading off down the bookies for a wager. I've not put any money into poker. My roll is entirely generated from freerolls then using the winnings at the cash tables. I made a promise that I would not be putting my own money on the tables when I started playing and that is MY gold standard. If I go bust then it will be back to freerolling ..( or a funded account probably).Preferably though I'll get to the stage where I can start withdrawing and spending some of the profits on my family.

The next thing i'm going to do is go back to 3 tabling. 4 tabling was OK , but I definately felt as though I was being rushed, especially if a couple of tables had a decision to be made at the same time . I need to focus on the oponents and get better reads and take more notes.

Since my focus is now on learning , I'd love it if any higher stakes players would let me sit in and watch one of there sessions and discuss why they are taking certain lines.No need to feel obligated to watch and comment on my play , i'd just be pleased to have the chance to watch others play.I'd definately also want to do more sweats with gobbatino, rob , andy and MOn C .....maybe clavacva as well if he's reading this.Being a farmer with harvest imminent, work is going to be dictated around the weather so arranging these could be dificult.
As time is limited to me this month , a grinderschool sub will be wasted , but my aim is that next month,roll permitting I'll take out a 3 month subscription to grinderschool hopefully so that i'll be ready to move up to 25NL when the roll permits.I may take up the 7 day free trials at poker savvy+ and deuces cracked though this month to try and learn some more.

I'd like to try and become a more rounded player as well , This may well involve a bit of experimentation playing full ring. The benfits of this is that it should force me to tighten up . I'm an action junkie but my style is high variance. Hopefully playing some full ring will force me to become more disciplined and can only be good for me in the long run.
No doubt I'll think of some more things to add to this as I go through the month , but it gives me a framework to start and flesh out for the month.