Immediately after my last (first) blog post, I decided to play a 2 hour session of GBP 1/2 before meeting up with a friend. I somehow managed to lose 6 buyins (GBP 1200) in that 2 hours. Except for one hand where I made a horrible river bluff, I don't think I made any mistakes - I just kept losing flips and getting coolered. However, this afternoon I put in a 5 hour session and won a bit of it back. As long as I run at expectation and keep playing lots of hands, I know I am going to continue being a consistent winner at these games.

Having to quit that session and socialize after dropping around $2k was not fun. But being a professional poker player means having to accept those losses and compartmentalize your emotions. I've become pretty good at not letting losses affect me. Its incredible how important having an adequate bankroll for the limits you play helps in that. Having a proper bankroll gives you the freedom to make whatever play you think is correct in a particular situation. For example, if i'm facing a shove on the river with 2nd pair, I have no problem making the call for my whole stack if my read is that my opponent missed a flush draw. However, if I was playing underrolled, I might decide to fold and wait for a better spot even if I think i'm up against a bluff, just because I don't want to lose a big portion of my roll. It also helps with shrugging off losing sessions, since a loss will usually only be a small portion of my roll.

I'll post interesting hands from today's session tomorrow.

Total Bankroll: $14,500
October Profit: $1,900