Thursday, February 02, 2006

Happy Merry Thursday!

I returned to the virtual felt last night for a couple of PLO8 Turbo SnGs just to see if I could handle the junk-kicking in a sane, non-suicidal postal worker manner. All while watching the Sciencetology freak get run down by the Quaker Oats guy. It was fun to compete again on the virtual felt.

Runner-runner straight on the bubble? No problem.

Hitting three outs on the turn after the money went in on a flopped flush and locked low? Shit happens.

Calling my all-in with 558J with an equal stack on the bubble and flopping a boat vs. my AA2K? Aces never win (this statement is for all you tin-foil hat wearers out there)!

But, I didn’t care about the beats.

Sure I wish my bubble finishes didn’t happen and I’d made the money in more then the three out of eight SnGs I played. I was more concerned with HOW I played, not the results. I could have called in a few more spots, but my aggression and overcalls were correct in getting the maximum out of the cards I held. Instead of ice cream with Heath bar Magic Shell, whip cream, peanuts, and cherries, it was more like a dish of plain vanilla as I cashed out a few bucks down for the night. Satisfying, but nothing to get your taste buds into a sugary frenzy over.

Are you playing again?

I’m dabbling; I want to show a solid profit at the $16 SnG level before hitting the $35s harder. If profit from the $16s do not pan out after a set of 200-300 SnGs, and I finally realize that SnGs do not fit my style of play by the end of February, I will return to the cash games full time and play $1/$2 PLO8 and the shorthanded LO8 tables. Maybe even become a bonus whore for a month and start playing with a binky/banky/wooby again in order to pad the bankroll for the attempts to play in the WSOP in June.

I have also had bad thoughts of returning to play Dark Age of Camelot. I need intervention because if I start playing this game again you may never see Little Drizz or Helloooooooo Nurse avatar check-raising some douche-bag on Stars or Full Tilt. I do realize I need some game/porn/net distraction in order to break the Poker! Poker! Poker! (this said with a Marsha! Marsha! Marsha! Brady Bunch flair for those scoring at home) mentality I have at times. Everyone gets rattled at the tables and needs a way to bring the tilt-o-meter down from the top of the Stratosphere.

My love growing up was video games, I R geek, I heart playing games for hours on end to reach the final boss and roll the credits of a game. Using cheat codes is optional but kinda takes the fun out of Samus not being able to die in Metroid. I believe video games will be my personal drug of choice to lower my tilt-o-meter. Not a game like Dark Age or Everquest, but some video game out there for the PC (any suggestions?) will help remind me that we WANT people consistently drawing to 5% chances to win after that two outer hits in the opponents favor. A good player WANTS people to play 47o and hit that ragged two pair on the river after not having any odds to do so. Because if you don’t see this type of play, it means players have gotten tighter (not necessarily better) and grinding out wins will become even tougher without a couple “live ones” at the table. And if you tilt, how are you going to get your money back with interest?

How do you deal with tilt is a crucial part of any semi-serious player. One could go the Mike Matusow route and toss a laptop towards the Pacific Ocean each time a beat happens. But, for normal people whose laptop or computer signifies a significant purchase, we need to have a more economical way of displacing stored-up anger from the cards not falling your way. Taking a couple of days or a week away from the game DOES help immensely. Think of the first breath of fresh air you inhale while visiting your cabin or going on vacation.

Feels good doesn’t it.

But, your game can suffer from playing in spurts and taking time off is not always the cure-all remedy to getting jackhammered to the balls/mid-section/taco what have you. A player must find that zen of sereneness and focus on the positive aspects of those cards not falling in your favor. It may seem like trying to push the boulder up the never-ending hill but unlike Sisyphus you can enjoy the proceeds of your hard work along the way… as long as you’re able to separate the play from the results. Good play over a period of time WILL produce results. You probably see many bloggers bitching about never catching cards, etc. (I’m certainly guilty of this) but for every bitch post you’ll also see posts about tournament wins/cashes, big pots raked in, and iPods pocketed that negate most of those suckouts.

I’m sure if John Juanda or Erik Seidel kept a blog it wouldn’t contain seven posts a week of “OMG I KILLED THE $1,000/$2,000 GAME LAST NIGHT” or “I WTFPWNZORZED THE $10K TOURNAMENT AGAIN THIS WEEK FOR THE 40TH WEEK IN A ROW!”. Great players go through ruts too just remember that the next time you get your money into the middle correctly but the results don’t pan out.

Thanks for dropping by, and I’d like to take a moment to thank Spike TV for the soft-core porn informericals this morning. Nothing says “WAKE UP!” like Wild Party Sorority Girls stripping just for you while you eat scrambled eggs and chocolate-chip pancakes!

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