Digging out of a downswing at live $1/$2

Currently in the midst of my worst ever downswing at $1/$2 live. Last night I had my worst ever losing session (-$900 in 5 hours) while playing at MGM Springfield, which is about an hour from my house. On the drive back, I briefly contemplated taking a short break from poker. The conclusion that I came to was that instead of taking a break, I want to double-down on studying and improving my game. I'm starting this blog to document and hold myself accountable.

I play live once or twice a week, usually at Mohegan Sun in CT but I get around a bit too (last month I took a trip out to Vegas, for example). I started playing poker online at the start of the pandemic in March 2020. I taught myself how to play by watching YouTube videos mostly, and grinding a lot in exceptionally soft microstakes games on Bovada. I started playing live in April 2021 and have been a small but steady winner. At this point I've played just shy of 300 hours live, so I still have a long way to go to become a proven winner at live poker though.

I've been feeling more and more comfortable playing live and my results were really good at the start of 2023, though I imagine that was mostly attributable to positive variance. I had my biggest ever win in February 2023 and this downswing started soon after.

So what's the plan?

I want to study for at least 5 hours a week. I have a real job and am a new father, so I don't have too much time to devote to poker. I usually play about 5 hours a week though, so I'll plan on trying to match study and play time 1:1. I just signed up for Crush Live Poker (my first ever training site membership) using a discount I received, so this will help facilitate my study.

I also want to get back to being a consistent winner at microstakes online. After grinding out a bankroll at 5NL on Bovada over my first year playing, I moved up to 10NL and then took some shots at 25NL. I ran bad for an extended period and got frustrated with my own bad play, so I quit playing online about a year ago. I've played inconsistently since then, and have found myself punting a lot when I do play. I'm going to try and play some short, focused sessions at 5 and 10NL and review those hands in a meaningful way afterwards using PokerTracker.

Hopefully I will get back to winning and feeling good about my game soon enough. In the future, I'd love to take some shots at $2/$5, but my bankroll has a ways to go before then.