Monday, August 30, 2010

Oh hai

Didn't realize it's been so long, but not surprising because I'm barely playing poker these days.  As in that last post a few months ago, just enough to keep Iron Man alive at Full Tilt, which basically keeps me from getting totally rusty.  I haven't been studying at all, but I intend to at least spend a few hours a week doing so for a little while.  Probably  more along the lines of participating in some forums (private and public) than doing detailed hand reviews from my own sessions, or watching vids.  Reviewing your own hands and watching videos are both great exercises, but I think that they require a more substantial time commitment to get the most out of them.  Whereas going through HH discussions other people post gives you a quick smattering of topics.  Granted, little effort put in results in little benefit out, but that's all I'm willing to make time for these days.  I want to get back to the point where I really enjoy poker, and quite honestly even without putting a ton of time into the game, it still sometimes feels like a bit of a chore.  I'm willing to do the chore just because I've already put a lot of work in, but that doesn't mean I'll do so indefinitely.

I've been about a breakeven player over the last few months, or I guess I should say just a rakeback grinder ;).  That's a step up from where I was at the tail end of being really serious about it, though, so that's good.  I have no idea whether I'm running poorly or not from an EV standpoint, and I kind of like that.  I am running pretty poorly in terms of being put in cooler spots, plus lots of times getting in good to great situations and losing.  But I may be making up for more of that than I realize.  One area I'm running poorly in is getting paid big when I do hit big hands in various situations, but that could be due to me playing too transparently as well.

Other than that, life continues to be good.  Think I mentioned somewhere that I was going on a get back in shape jag, and I've had great results.  About 40 pounds lighter than the beginning of the year, but at the same time training hard, putting up new PRs in the gym and in general exercising a lot more. The PRs are starting from a pretty low bar, but it's still nice to make progress.  I may start blogging more about my nutrition and weightlifting research and progress, although I also keep another journal dedicated to that stuff.  Not sure.  If there's any interest (if there's anyone still following), let me know, and that will give me the excuse to blog about that stuff.

Most of the time I spent playing and studying poker has now transferred over to time spent weight training and reviewing proper form and programming.  A lot more to it than I realized before.  And even more than poker, your decisions affect your results.  Talk about having to be accountable!  Wish I'd discovered some of this stuff ages ago, but never too late to improve, no matter what the endeavor.

Hope this post finds everyone well and crushing.