I was reading an article the other day about the blue jays, and specifically their centre fielder Colby Rasmus. I couldn't help but associate a lot of what was being said to my poker career. This is an excerpt from the beginning of the article:

"The days of Colby Rasmus constantly changing his mechanics at the plate have hopefully come to an end. That's the goal for Toronto's center fielder and the coaching staff as they aim to find a consistent approach that can be maintained throughout a 162-game schedule.
Rasmus has been known in the past for making rather frequent adjustments when things aren't going well, but this year, the club is looking to uphold a different philosophy.
"The talent in him is unbelievable," hitting coach Chad Mottola said. "The things he does, the way he gets to the front of the box, and we're just going to get his quick hands to work in his favor rather than going through swing changes all year.
"We modified [his approach] a little bit, but it's one of those things where as time goes on, we hope we're not going to see five different stances after an 0-for-4. We're trying to get a consistent base and then we're going to stay there."


I think I'm DEFINITELY guilty of what has plagued Rasmus in the past. He goes through a rough patch and tries tweaking things, changing things, when his approach may still be good and he may just be falling a victim to short term variance.

Over the course of January / Feb alone I can list all the different strategies I've tried implementing as things haven't entirely been going well:
1) Attempting to minimize cold calling, 3b or folding IP (result: got 4b a ton and started 3b/folding too much)
2) 3betting small IP to encourage more calls, as opposed to 4bets, when my 3b range was wide but balanced (this worked ok, definitely got more calls but was giving good set odds and my big pairs were getting stacked. Also encouraged cold 4bets)
3) flatting more out of the blinds (was folding too much, resulting in a poor blinds winrate)
4) realizing that flatting out of the blinds was not working well, and 3betting more out of the blinds instead, to up the VPIP but also maintain aggression (Result - putting myself in tough spots with second best hands that were too strong to fold, ie: QT on T53 vs AT, AT on KTxhh mega draw heavy board)
5) stronger focus on blind stealing, and adjusting my open sizes on who was in the blinds to increase the likelihood of a fold (ie: SB/BB have fold to steals around 75-80% so I min raise open, BB has fold to steal of around 60% so I open 2.5x of 3x)

I AM ALL OVER THE FREAKING BOARD!

I go into a session with a plan, have a bad session and re-vamp the plan. This may not be horrible, as it keeps people guessing and certainly whatever pre-conceived notions ppl have of my play based on stats won't be accurate. But at the same time, I really need to find a good solid strategy and stick with it for my own good.

Going forward on the year, here are my poker vows that I need to stick by for at least some semblance of a sample size (even if it's just one month straight):

1. Maintain focus on blind stealing (adjust open sizes where needed, fold more when steal looks unlikely)
2. 3b or fold IP within the constraints of dynamic. (3b light IP to build dynamic, but once he's likely to 4b, fold hands if cold calling is not profitable)
3. 3b wider in blinds vs LP stealers who FOLD to 3bets. 3b solid range vs. rampant callers, or be willing to c/f more bricked flops when called.
4. Maintain focus on positional play (folding EP, ramping up towards Btn)
5. Fold WAY EARLIER, where possible. If my range has other stronger hands in it, then be much more willing to fold. (ie: Calling down KKKAx board with 88 is unnecessary when my range has Kx, lots of Ax, and bigger pairs than 88)