I hope you all will forgive me if I post something non-strategy-related. Well, it's kind of strategy-related, but in a larger sense. I've been on a huge downturn of SNGs this last couple of days--like 20 out of the money. Yes, yes, I know, Trikflow and Aces have dropped 50 buyins before. 20 buyins isn't huge for everyone, but it is for me. I don't multitable 10 at a time, and have never hit a patch of serious negative variance before.

Anyway, this downturn coincides with a time where I've decided to take poker really seriously, trying to turn it into part of my living. Losing those buyins got me all bunged up and stressed. I was really freaking out for a bit there, but luckily decided to take a break and play a Stars 180. Just for fun, during the 180, I decided to play opposite my normal extreme tourny tagginess and go all Phil Ivey on people. I played whatever hand I felt like. It was really a liberating feeling, and in the process of playing this way, I had a realization.

Simply put, over the course of becoming a profitable SNG player, I also have become robotic in my play. Most of the time, I'm on autopilot. Now, granted, SNGs are the most, well, robotic of all the types of NLHE competition. But still, they allow for a wide range of creativity and thought. By playing absolutely against my usual style, I realized how boring my typical play has become, and I also realized how often I'm probably leaving chips on the table by playing thoughtlessly instead of trying to figure out how to make the most of every situation I'm in.

I'm not advocating some kind of crazy SNG style--obviously tight early/loose late is time-tested and the proper general way to go about it. Still, winning poker is all about adaptation to specific situations, and a willingness to think outside the lines. Every time you sit down in a tournament without having a fresh mental attitude, without giving every hand your utmost creative attention, you're giving your thinking opponents an invisible edge.

Anyway, just a thought I had.