Oh My Golly

Well, after my first bunch of ultra-turbo games, my stats looked something like:

SnGs Played: 8

First - 1
Second - 4
Third - 2
Fourth - 0
Fifth - 1
Sixth - 0

And after that, my stats developed into:

SnGs Played: 16

First - 1
Second - 4
Third - 6
Fourth - 2
Fifth - 1
Sixth - 2

Then I managed to win one to break my 8 or so game losing streak.

I'm not sure whether or not to write it off as variance or not. I mean, on one hand, I lost 8 games in a row. On the other hand, I placed ITM in 5/8 of my games before that, and I don't feel like I really changed my playing style at all. That's not to say that I haven't been playing poorly and not noticing it, though. I don't know quite yet, I need a larger sample size before I can really determine what's going on. I do think that the 6 bubble spots that I landed myself in is something I should work on, but I'm not quite sure how.

Maybe I just need to try and stop myself from dwindling to sub-1000 chip levels before going all in at the final three, because once I'm down that low, doubling up doesn't really help help much. If I just bite the bullet and push in more at the 1500 or so level, when I do come out on top, I'll be in a position to fight again.

On the other side of the coin, I probably need to stop making loose calls early on in the games, because there's no excuse for that. I guess because of the fact that I know blinds are going to get high fast, I feel like I need to stay in hands that I shouldn't on the off chance that they'll help build my chipstack, which they don't. If I can keep myself from bleeding chips and just try to get maximum value on those hands which I should stay in, I'll probably be able to put myself in a better position for those 'final 3' scenarios and have less all-in coinflips to worry about.

I suppose I'll just have to keep experimenting.

Anyway, in case anybody's wondering why I don't just jump to a more familiar and lower-variance sit n go like a non-turbo or even just a regular turbo, I do have a reason. I figure that, if I can beat the ultra-turbos enough to be profitable, it's by far the fastest way to increase my bankroll. It may be high variance, but when I can finish games in 20-30 minutes, I can play a lot more of them than I can with other types of sit n gos - and it keeps the grind moving a whole lot faster. If I keep playing these and after 100 or so I'm still getting nowhere, I might have to bite the bullet and go for a slower game, but for now, I'm going to see how plausible this is.

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In non-poker related news, Yom Kippur made me realize just how bad it would feel to not have enough to eat on a regular basis. For those who are unaware, Yom Kippur is essentially the Jewish day of repentance, and you have to fast for 24 hours. By the end, I was feeling pretty shitty, and it was great to be able to eat again afterwards. I feel like I have a bit of a new appreciation for my living situation allowing me to eat three meals a day and not have to go without food because I can't afford it or something. I think that some of my money may be finding its way to a charitable organization in the near future.