When I first discovered Texas Hold 'em, I read everything on the game that I could get my hands on. Books, essays, articles, online forums, etc. Just trying to absorb as much information as possible. I also had a group of good friends that played a lot and we spent a lot of time discussing hands and general strategy. I thoroughly benefited from all this and quickly became a winning player. As much as the money I won, I enjoyed the intellectual stimulation provided by the endless complexities of the game. I should note that I've always had a full-time job and considered poker a hobby with nice financial benefits.
Fast forwarding to today, I find myself in a very different climate. In the last few months I have struggled with the game. The endless curiosity that fueled my endless quest to learn and improve has somewhat wained. My "poker buddies", while still good friends, have taken various separate paths and generally don't play near as much as they used to. I too have the typical career, family, and social obligations that keep me from devoting as much time to the game as I would like. Also, the UIGEA has made it much tougher for new players in the US to get into online poker. As a result the skill level of the competition has increased greatly and the games have become much tougher. On top of all of that, I'm afraid I have developed a problem with controlling my emotions or "tilting" at the table.
All of this adds up to a serious source of frustration for me. In addition to these adverse conditions I feel as though my game has plateaued. I have grown lazy when it comes to continuously pushing he envelope in an effort to improve and it's shown in my results. I had a particularly nasty downswing in March and decided to take a break. Overall I was unhappy with my play and results and my confidence level was very low. I didn't play much in April and during that time I realized that if I was going to keep taking the game as seriously as I do, I would have to dig in and work some things out. This blog will be a sounding board for that process.
I plan on putting forth the time and effort to bring my game up to snuff and regain my confidence. I'm in the process of developing a plan of action and have even taken on a coach (something I've never done). I feel like I have a lot of work to do but at the same time I'm excited by the challenge. I'll be posting in detail about my progress and hopefully it will make for semi-interesting reading.
DO WORK SON!
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