Reflection time...

OK, so the results of late have been a lot better - 7 cashes in last 17 tournaments, with an 8th place bad beat and a Pokerstars screwjob in there. 41% cashes after going 22 straight tournaments without a cash prior to that. I've raised my cashing % from 19% of the time to 24% and my average return on investment to 80%. So all the indicators are very positive. Clearly my play, and my results have improved. So what's different? Well, a few things.

First, quite frankly, my luck has improved. As any reader of the cash-less stretch can attest, I was running into one ridiculously lucky bad beat after another. That has stopped. Guys aren't hitting quads to beat my straights anymore.

Second, contradictory as it sounds, I'm raising smaller amounts. My most common raise now is 2xBB. I don't seem to get any more callers than before, my initial outlay is smaller, and my risk is lowered.

Finally, and most importantly, I'm raising all-in sooner. I start actively looking for all-ins when I get down to 10xBB. This has helped a lot. I'm getting a lot more uncalled all-ins and that allows me to rebuild my stack.

So a couple tactical adjustments, some luck, and the results have improved significantly. Let's hope it stays that way!