Do Over

Jeez, who was that unreadable nincompoop who posted in my blog yesterday, trying to get all cute and metaphorical and basically missing the entire point he was trying to make?

Oh...right...it was me.

In hindsight, I didn't quite spell out exactly the conclusion I came to regarding my poker play. I should stick to dick jokes instead of trying to be all deep and fancy. Oh well, it wasn't a total loss as we learned another disturbing fact about Bobby Bracelet.

What I was really trying to say was this: I gained an inflated sense of my ability as a poker player. This was largely due to my run of excellent results in April and May, especially in online tourneys. These happened to include four WPBT satelittes to the WSOP where I had 3 top 10 finishes, including a win. So, really, who could blame me for thinking I was good all of a sudden? Those are some tough goddamn fields and I was runnin' over you bitches like the Nigerian Nightmare in short-yardage situations.

Ha.

Of course, what followed was a summer-long reaming of epic proportions. As the beats piled up, my play faltered and I began to question myself. But these issues simply obscured the fact that I had changed my game from what had previously worked, that of tight, smart, patient play in the MTTs. I started playing a different game, trying out a more advanced style. Now, learning and trying new things in regard to improvement is a good thing. But what I failed to recognize was that I had moved too far forward too quickly. In retrospect, I jumped over a couple steps. I went from A to D, missing some vital information along the way. As such, I wasn't totally equipped for the game I was playing.

You hear the pros talk all the time about how you have to take shots. But they don't take shots just looking for a bigger score. They take shots because they feel they've mastered their level and the only way to improve is to move up. I agree. It's just that I haven't mastered my level, so the shots I've taken have predictably failed.

So, I'm back to my level. I'm back to playing my tight, smart, patient game, variously incorporating B and C, re-tracing my steps, picking up those things I dropped in my haste.

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All of which means you'll be able to find me pretty frequently in the nightly Stars $20 MTT (though I'm also playing cash games regularly, as well). I played last night and finished 153 (of 828). Which is not really impressive except for the fact I was cold-decked for nearly two hours (I had stats that would make drizz insane with jealously). By the way, you read that right. I went out at Level 7 and 72% of the field was already gone. It's almost like you can fold into the money.

I was forced to push with my AQs in the SB and it was actually a pretty good spot for me since there was but a single raise in front and the guy had 88. The problem was the BB woke up with Big Slick. IGHN.

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Oh shoot, the Red Sox AND Yanks bombed out of the playoffs? That's too bad. Really. I sincerely hope no FOX executives jump out their office windows over this. Who wants to bet Buck and McCarver still get in plenty of references to the two clubs.

"What a catch by Edmonds! That play gets me about as excited as the time I licked Jeter's anus!"

You know, for example.

I'm tempted to write who I'm rooting for, but the last time I did that, I put a monumental jinx on the Indians. So I'll just sit here quietly and pray I don't have to deal with another off-season of the Angels being world champs.