Party Poker Blog

"Slump? I ain't in no slump.
I just ain't hittin."
Yogi Berra

I'm not going to call it a downword spiral. Yet.
But I'm in the midst of my worst run thus far.

It's sad, really. I've always considered one of my strengths in poker to be my persistence in using setbacks as opportunities for learning. And I'm both flailing and failing in that regards right now.

I've always assumed that, outside of variance, it's my poor play that caused me to lose money over an extended period of time. And yet I've known for the past week that I need to step away and take a poker break yet I'm continuing to play and bleed - something that's out of character for me. I'm a huge proponent of taking breaks away from the game to keep focused.

It's not fun to write this post. I've always been good about losing in poker. It's a must if you wanna be successful.

I've always taken Steve Badger's words to heart:

"The problem is: you just can't will yourself to win -- be it a tournament, a single day's play, or even an individual hand. And then, unfortunately for some, not winning is something many players simply can't handle. And being able to not win well is a fundamental, key ingredient of being a winning player."

Heavy sigh. I haven't been truly Tilty in a long time, damnit.
Poker learning is cyclical. Pithy Truism.

Poker is such a fine line kind of thing. It's important for me to realize how easy is it to cross the line attempting to push thin edges, and begin to play in what are losing situations. Habitual play is certainly adding to this equation as well.

Good God, I could go on and on about this but I'm gonna spare you the bad beats, my poor play and the insidious thinking that goes on behind it. Instead, I'm going to take a week long break from the damn game and come back refreshed and energized.

At least that's what I'm telling myself. I have no choice, and besides, this approach hasn't failed me yet.

Yet....

Who knows how deep these things can go? This is as much spelunking as I wanna experience in the depths of Poker Hell, that's fer damn sure.

But hey - it's only poker. I can always go back to work if I so choose. This whole experience has been an incredible ride and I have zero regrets. I'm just in one of those momentary self-doubt situations right now. This too, shall pass.

Segue: thanks again for all the bloggers who played in the past WSOP satellite tourney. I've gotten some encouragement to run another one in perhaps a month or so? We'll run it on Stars and hopefully do another Deep Stacks format. I really don't care if I do anything else with this blog for the next few months but send bloggers to the WSOP. Witnessing the bloggers playing last year was outstanding and I think it's a worthy goal.

So in the interest of being a community cheerleader, allow me to pimp some new poker blogs. It's what I do best, after all.

Introducing the latest batch of fine folks writing about our beloved game of poker:

Hammer Player's Poker Blog
One man's journey through the world of online poker, tilting off chips, and playing the hammer like it's my job.

Katitude
A Kat, her attitude and her (Mis)Adventures in poker

You Can't Miss What You Can't Measure

The View from the 3-Seat

Guin's Canadian Poker Blog
A Canadian low limit poker player just wanting to post progress on his bankroll. Playing mostly NL50 and trying to get to the NL100 level with NL200 as the year end 2006 goal. Anyone from the tax department should realize that this is completely a fictional account and should not be used to audit me.

Haley's Poker Bl-Auggh
I'm a big fan of this one.

Looking in Your Garbage

My Susurrations
Susurration \soo-suh-RAY-shun\, noun: A whispering sound; a soft murmur.

The SNG Machine!!
But but but but they were soooooooooooooooooooted!!!

FishyMcDonk
Have you ever wondered why restaurants offer the "All You Can Eat" option? Because really, it's not all I CAN eat, it's all I WANT to eat. Although for me, it's usually both

Shep has joined Poker and Liquor. That's worthy of a pimp, damnit.

Klopzi's Mediocre Poker blog

Life Of CardiacKid
Life. Sports. Poker. Other Nonsense.

And last but most certainly not least:
Up a Lazy River