First day up and 6tabling

Hi everyone!

After the almost going broke point, my bankroll got a boost by a deposit of 100 buy-ins. The first day I played with a bigger bankroll I ended up break even, but yesterday I had my first positive day! When I was done playing, I had more or less 14 buy-ins more than when I started, which feels great! I hope I can get a lot more positive days like this one, cause apart from being good for my bankroll, it's also good for my self-confidence.

Another thing that I wanted to talk about is the chat. As of the beginning of 2011 I've turned the chat off. One reason for that is the hater comments. I've worked really hard on learning how to steal the blinds at higher levels, and I'm still struggling with that. I don't need anyone calling me a donk when I'm blind-stealing and the person wakes up with aces or when they call me with something they shouldn't be calling in the first place and get lucky. It's not even about hurting my feelings anymore. It's about the fact that if I make a steal attempt that doesn't work and I'm being called names on top of losing the hand and sometimes the tournament, I know for a fact that next time a similar situation comes up I will be more reluctant to make a move even if I think it's the correct one. I start doubting myself, and bottom line this situation affects my play. Which is something no player should allow to happen, let alone a new one who is not sure about most of the things he/she is doing anyway.

Another reason to turn the chat off was the small talk that often starts in tournaments, the social part of the game.  Greeks were not so common to bump into (even though lately I'm happy to say that I run into more and more greeks at the tables), so every time I was in the same table as a greek it was almost for sure that there would be some kind of conversation. I also play with the screen name "katerina289" which makes it obvious to everyone that I'm a girl, so I would get questions like "Oh you're greek and a woman, that's cool, haven't seen that many women playing here, how long have you been playing, etc. etc." And don't get me wrong, I enjoy that kind of conversation, I'm not anti-social or anything. Sometimes I would even start coversations too, like when I saw a portuguese player from Lisbon I would go like "Hey I live in Lisbon too!" etc. etc. There are lots and lots of nice people out there. But that's all just a big distraction. I'd like to make a living out of poker one day, and chatting with random people while trying to learn how to play is not getting me there anytime sooner. On the contrary. So if you are serious about poker and you find that you have time to chat, my suggestion is turn the chat off and open more tables.

Speaking of more tables, I am 6tabling now. I moved up from 4 tables directly to 6, which I wouldn't do so by myself, but my coach/boyfriend insisted. And who am I to doubt the big pro, right? :P I did freak out at first at the idea of playing 6 at a time, and I freaked out a bit more when I opened them and my eyes couldn't keep up with the action going on, and my brain couldn't keep up with what my eyes were seeing. Huge mess at first, but after the first couple of hours it was ok. I've only played two days like this, but I feel fine 6tabling now. Not sure if I'm ready for any more tables at this point, probably not, but as long as I can play 6 and get results like yesterday's, I'm happy for now.

These were my news so far, good luck to you all!