More With My Life

My new days of obligation have really changed the way I approach playing poker. In fact I haven’t played since I took the job. That’s the change. I haven’t gone through major withdraw at this point but I’m expecting the shakes at any moment.

Looking back over the time of my unemployment I realize that in many ways I was selfish. Many of the things I did were done in a self-pity knee-jerk reaction that I justified because I wasn’t working. In reality I ignored much of what was and is important in my life to wallow in self absorbed cesspool of crap of my creation. I can not change the facts but I can move on and learn.

One of the few achievements, if you want to call it an achievement, was to increase my bankroll. The shear number of hands that I played while unemployed is almost incomprehensible. It is true that there are numerous people that play much more then I did but when you consider that I just started playing for real about 6 months ago then you can understand my point of view.

I don’t think that this experience, that I gained, can be overlooked. The only way of improving is through study and repetition. I fit this mold to a tee and can see improvements in my game because of it. A good example is note taking. I now use the note functions to categorize the players I face. When I see that I’ve played a player previously then I check for their tendencies as well as make adjustments to my earlier beliefs. I have seen this work on more then one occasion and expect the trend to continue.

I’ve also started to change my strategies more frequently to keep my opponents guessing. This has allowed me to steal pots with crap as well trap players when I hold the nuts.

Does any of this put me into the “good players club”? No but I know that I am a better player. My results attest to that. I just need to continue to evaluate my game and take advantage of the stronger areas. I think moving up to higher level SNG’s is mandatory for further success. They are my cash cow and are needed to inflate my bankroll. And if I want to continue to play MTT’s then I have to have a way to fund them. MTT’s are more variable short term and thus have influenced my bankroll more then I would like. I guess I need to eliminate them all together to achieve the goals of my original quest.

I just like playing them to much.

Anyway, I’ll try to spend some time at the tables but life seem to be running interference right now. We’ll see what happens.