It's time for a philosophical post.

In my former life, I was dedicated to being a musician/producer. I ran a boutique indie record label for 15 years called Spade Kitty Records. I also played in four bands, mostly as a guitarist. These days, I've scaled way back on the music, mostly because it's become impossible to market and sell recorded media in the 2000s, but also because I was lacking in the personal growth department, and I wanted to try some new things (such as this poker experiment). I figured that spending 15 years on tilt in the music industry, trying in vain to get anyone to pay attention to any of the 10-12 bands I performed in would prep me for anything I would face later.

Man, I hope it did.

What a disaster of a day. I think I reinvented the word "cooler" today. William H. Macy might as well have been perched on my damn shoulder.

Remember that rant about heads up? I ran pretty bad in heads up play today - 0 for 11. Check that - I ran awful. That's never happened before. I didn't win a single one of the 37 tourneys I played in. Overall, the numbers read like a fallout shelter report. -$205. The really terrible news is that I'm probably dropping down to $6.50s while I build a little cushion back to jump up again...hopefully. It's tough to have faith after days like today.

I did have a lot of bad luck today, but there were some spots I need to re-examine, so I'll be spending some time reading some hand histories tomorrow. Suffice it to say, I had a lot of things not go my way.

The pros recommend that you have 100 buyins to withstand the variance, as it is possible for good players to have 100 buyin downswings. Not likely, but possible. After I had my second unsuccessful foray into cash, I bought back in, got my roll up to about $750, and jumped up to $13s a little prematurely - with only about 65ish buyins. That's perfectly ok - provided you are willing to drop back down if you go on a cooler.

These several words keep haunting me in the 2+2 poker forums STT FAQ:

"2000 tournament break-even stretches have been noted."

Yikes. It's not a matter of if that happens, it's a matter of when...

I went on a heater and got it up to 90 buyins, initially, which is where my BR topped out for the moment - at $1014. Then I went on this current -27 buyin cooler over the next 200 tourneys.

See, it makes sense to jump up shortrolled a bit on buyin number as long as you are willing to drop down. By paying more rake, you are earning rakeback faster, and if you hit 100 of the previous limits buy-in, you simply drop back down.

Unfortunately, it appears it's time to drop back down.

The ugly:

Beginning 11/8 bankroll: $883
End 11/8 bankroll $679
Net: -$204
Net FPP earned/cash value: 305.25/$4.92
total FPP accrued/cash value: 3325.06/$53.20
Current Status (Multiplier): Silverstar (1.5)
Total tourneys played: 821
Average buyin: $6.63
Total amount invested: $5447.00
Total profit earned: -$15.90
ROI: -0.3%

Small points of strategy to impart:

1) About 400 tourneys into this, I figured out that completing the small blind for "pot odds" always, always sucks. Always. It's one of those things that tourney players need to learn by doing repetitively. The first thing you should look at in a 6-man tourney is your position. The second thing you should look at is your cards. Playing hands like 10-7 suited in the small blind because five players limped really sucks. You are always out of position, and any draw you hit has you guessing ranges for virtually your whole stack. Top pair bad kicker sucks. Other top pair other bad kicker sucks. Bottom two pair can really suck. Never do this. I probably play my small blind at a full ring something like 3% of the time and usually it's with AQ+ and I'm not happy about playing the hand.

2) I can't think of a hand outside of small pocket pairs that I don't enter a pot raising with if I'm first in. Limping sucks. It really, really, really, really does. Trust me on this. Calling raises also generally sucks, but it's necessary some of the time.

On top of all this, I had a low grade fever all day. As John Darnielle says, it's nothing that some coffee won't fix.

On the music front, I'd like to close with my favorite
Guided by Voices song from the Do the Collapse era. I think it's appropriate. I will try, Bob. I will try.