First out!

My king flush ran into the nut flush. Oh well.

As I've been neglecting this, and my other blog, of late - I won't wallow too much. But I think my game, and my life, has changed a bit recently. I still am in love with poker, but my focus has definitely softened a bit. When I started playing in this online league, I would literally watch the entire tournament the day after it took place on my software game simulator. I took notes on opponents. I would blog meticulously.

Today, I just don't have time, and frankly the passion has cooled. I know my dry run (I haven't cashed since May) is partly variance - but probably mostly me. My failure to adjust to players who have adjusted to me. My failure to really stop, sit down, and look closely at how I play my hands. This is okay. I'm still having fun, though admittedly it would be more fun if I was crushing the league like I was before; but winning consistently at poker, I'm realizing, takes consistent work.

Who knows, if I happen to cash again, or take down a tournament, I may be invigorated enough to get back to my old "professor poker" ways - but if I don't, it's perfectly fine. I play for the love of the game and of competition, I recognize I'm not Phil Ivey. It doesn't mean I won't try my hardest, as my focus and concentration permits, but there is absolutely no point in beating myself up over something that's supposed to be a fun hobby.

Looking forward to this weekend, our annual paintball/poker orgy up in the woods of Northern California. The weather is supposed to be amazing, in the 80's! I'm counting the hours to the fun, can't wait to shoot some people and get my live game on.