A lesson to be learned from my recent losing streak

[Bigwig]

Well, it wasn't much of a losing streak. It was -3 buy-ins over about 250 SNG's. Still, I've never experienced that before, and it pissed me off.

I was evaluating my game, wondering what had changed. I then noticed something. Something small, but something important. The streak coincided with a strategy change I had made, to the day.

The change was seemingly small. I had loosened up a tad. I was raising JJ & AK from the first two positions, and stealing with more hands and/or taking the role of the aggressor early in tournaments. I did this because of two things:

1) I was getting annoyed at my high 2nd place finish ratio. I felt I needed to build a bigger stack earlier.

2) I was influenced by posts in this forum on my tight play early. "I hate the way you played JJ preflop", etc.

You know what? It was a huge mistake. I found myself in positions that aren't just bad, but also unfamiliar to me. In a raised pot out of position with KQ. Having many people call my continuation/bluff flop bets. I was thiking, "Man, I'm just not getting anybody to fold. These guys are chasing me down."

RUBBISH.

I wasn't playing my style. I had shifted too far to the LAG spectrum. I'm not a 'win lots of small pots' type of player. I'm a 'win big pots' type of player. A check/call for value type. A trapping type. Not some pro MTT flashy turd.

As soon as I adjusted back to my old strategy--BAM! The winning started again. I just made $2500 this week in a mere 14 hours of play. I'm back, baby! I'm back!

The most important point I'd like to make is that I kept track of my strategy change. Although it took me far too long to recognize it, recognize it I did. And I had the guts to realize that although I thought my reasoning was sound, it was wrong.

When Curtains tells you that you're a weak punk for not raising that hand from the CO, think about why.

When Irieguy warns you about playing a raised pot with AQ out of position, remember his point.

When Skipperbob posts, laugh.

Anyway, don't be convinced by your own new thinking, no matter how sound. Always be ready to reevaluate.

And stay away from my table. I'm vonMises, and I'm damn good.