Thanks Stephen!

I received an e-mail from a reader almost a week ago noting that my bad beat posts on the blog sounded like I was tilting a bit. He advised that I take a week away from the tables to reset and then when I return to play extra tight. Well, I took his advice. I stopped playing for 5 days (couldn't last a full week!).

During my break I took some time to examine my play. I looked at the last 100 sit 'n go's that I was knocked out before the money. I found a common thread that was very eye-opening. In almost all of the examples, I pushed in a situation that was +EV from an ICM standpoint, but it was not a situation in which I would have pushed prior to studying ICM. So what does this mean?

Studying ICM and understanding the numbers is important. Any good player will get their game to this point. However, it takes an expert to know when to ignore ICM! There are situations when you should just fold your cards and wait for a better opportunity, regardless of EV. Prior to my downward trend, I was playing more based on the situation instead of pure numbers. Again, the numbers are important, but they should be a factor in your decision. It is critical to understand your opponents and how they will react to your decision and then modify your play accordingly.

I started playing again last night and cashed in 4 out of 4 sit 'n gos. In each, prior to getting in the money, I made some conscious decisions to ignore +EV pushing opportunities--primarily in situation where I felt I would get called and didn't have a hand that would hold up well at showdown. I think this contributed to my good results last night. Time will tell.

Thanks Stephen for your e-mail message. It was the catalyst I needed to take my game to the next level.