Sorry for the lack of updates, but poker has been absolutely horrible lately and I haven't felt like writing any blogs.  Before I started writing this blog I was wondering what I was gonna write about and there was nothing I felt like typing.  I'm not gonna bitch and moan about how bad I'm running, or post all my bad beats from the last week because it'd just be a waste of time.  This shit happens and I have to deal with it.  I choose to wake up and play poker everyday and if I can't deal with losing swings then I've chosen the wrong thing to do to pay the bills.  The fact is I love playing poker and its given me the freedom to live the way I like and not have to work a regular job if I choose not to.  The first few days I was losing I'd complain and cry about why this shouldn't be happening so often or even started to question my playing abilities because everything I seemed to do wouldn't work.  But being a guy who believes poker is pretty much strictly math, these downswings are just variance. Variance is a measure of the up and down swings your bankroll goes through. It is not necessarily a measure of how well you play. However, the higher your variance, the wider swings you'll see in your bankroll.  And thats that.  Its like being a stock broker and bitching about how not every single one of your stocks isn't showing profit; that would be ridiculous.  I actually remember reading a quote somewhere from a professional poker player who said something about winning players only win about 56-58% of the time.  So anyway, I know this downswing will pass if I continue to play good solid poker.  Today I actually had a good winning session and I quit earlier than usual.  Getting a win under your belt when you're losing a lot is good for your confidence, it's also referred to as a "short win".

It reminds me of a poker documentary I was watching one night really late at like 3am on some random channel.  It was really stupid and boring but I kept watching it for some reason and there was one guy who said something I thought was pretty funny.  He was talking about how when a poker player is going through a winning streak it feels like nothing in the world can go wrong or bother him for that matter.  You could find out your wife is cheating on you, your best friend just stabbed you in the back and your dog just died.. and you would just kinda shrug it off and say "oh well' and just think about heading back to the tables to keep winning.  Or the opposite holds true when your losing, it feels like the world is crashing down on you, you'll freak out for absolutely no reason and just on edge all the time.  I know this relates to life in general, everyone goes through emotional swings.  But it's just so true with poker.  After you have a winning session you're thinking about booking a trip to Vegas and winning a world series event but after a losing session you make sure all the lights are turned off so your electric bill won't be too high..lol

As I'm reading what I wrote I really sound like a person who is new to this game and hasn't been through this before.  The truth is I have gone through this before but it really doesn't happen too often, so when it does it just feels like complete shit.

Aside from poker not much is going on, it's my little brother Adam's birthday today so we'll be going out for that tomorrow night.  This good weather is definitely putting me in a better mood which will hopefully reflect positively on my poker game.  And as for the Stanley Cup Finals I predicted Detroit was going to win the cup before the play-offs started and I think will continue to steam roll over the Penguins and win the series in either 5 or 6 games.  Shit I forgot to talk about the last UFC, but I'm sick of typing so I'll try to remember to talk about it in my next blog.

Till next time.....


Jay