Back to Some Poker

Tonight I plan on playing some poker. SHOCK! I've played a little this week and had some success getting back into HU matches. Again, I'm STILL trying to get that $10 on Party into something worthwhile. Tonight, however, I am going to "take a break". I might take a stab at a few $11 HU matches on there but plan on finding a nice cash game on UB to try to take down that bonus.

I feel that I've gotten complacent over the last several months with my poker game and haven't really put much effort into truely improving my game. I think this is a mistake a lot of average players make. We reach "plateaus". We climb in experience and success in the game and then seem to "level" out. This is in turn followed by a drop or "cold cards" or "bad beats" etc. Whatever it is, it's generally something we are doing WRONG and not the "bad luck" we tend to attribute to the game. Variance as we call it.

While poker in general is going to have ups and downs, the 30 portion of 70/30 is bound to rear it's ugly head on occasion; it's how we "adjust" and "adapt" during these times that truly separate the men from the boys. We begin to think that some simple principles and "beginner's mistakes" don't and can't apply to us. We get complacent, there's that word again. Mario Andretti once said "The moment we stop getting better we stop being good." That always stuck with me, not that I practiced it, but it stuck.

I think that's where I might be at now. That and the frustration that you KNOW you are better than your opponent(s) but can't seem to capitalize. The "deck is hitting him in the face guy and he doesn't know it" is the most frustrating. I've talked about ego and the game before but as I've started posting a little more back at Card Player I see that thought process more. They might realize their true level of play but are unable to manage it.

Poker truly is a game of decisions and long-term investment. Although each individual session is of extreme importance the true measuring stick is the cummulative.

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Blog P1MP, I've added some links to the blogs and a few links to my sidebar. Check some of these guys out, they are pretty incredible poker players. PBA is a new member at +1 so a hearty welcome to him is in order. I believe he is one of those "limit HE" players that exist although I can't confirm this. I have played with him when I was playing (poorly) in the Card Player weekly tourney's over the summer and had a good time giving him a hard time.