Week 1

Well in week one how did I do to stick to my promises?

I give it a B-

I have successfully changed my mind set. I no longer have a poker goal in mind and I no longer have aspirations of working hard and improving until being semi pro (and it has helped). Actually it has helped me play better as well. Could it be easier to not look at the money already in the pot as lost money when you aren't frustrated to high heaven that your PT graph is flat for two weeks... I think it is. It is amazingly easier to operate as Caro would say with the philosophy of "you are even right now" in a hand, out of a hand, before a session, after a session, you are not up or down you are even right now.

This has allowed me to make some folds that I have not been making and my game that I always believed in, added with some solid folds has given me a confidence at the table that I have not felt since my last heater. As a mater of fact I have never felt this strong at the tables and not gone on a huge heater.

Anyway as I have said I recently got the gift of $44 to have a little life and I have been short stacking it at 50 cent 200BB short handed on Absolute with it. It almost seems too easy this week, so I am likely hitting when I need to, and folding when I need to, a good combination.

The $44 with some slow careful play has turned into $244. Only one sit and go, and I won that, and only one MTT for 1$ and was in first just before the bubble and ...... bubbled somehow (two bad beats in a row to the only chip stacks that could hurt me... I got some good advice off line from Bronx and see how I could have avoided them now however. Huge favorite yes, needed to be involved ... not so much.

So how have I been balancing things, as this was my promise that I couldn't play at all (cold turkey) if I Couldn't get the rest of my life in balance. This is where the A goes to a B-

I have played about four sessions of an hour or two. They were after I had exercised, finished work, taken time with the kids, and they were not taking away from family time. So all of that is good. There is a lot of sharp making session elements there now that I look at it. I have lost my first few pounds, reversing a two+ year trend. So about as good as could be expected.

I do still feel the pull to play too much however. Four sessions of an hour or two was absolutely more than I had intended to play, but then again I had some holidays in the past week so maybe it's OK.

I am not playing when I should be working (this was never a big problem but more of a little leak that happened once in a while) so work is as productive as possible.

So all in all, it is nice to have a few bucks to play with, I wish I could be at higher stakes, but I have learned the same lessons enough times now to know that I might as well flush the cash down the toilet if I am going to step up.

So you should see me at 50 cent short stacking it to $500 then 100BB stacks until 1K then full buy in to 2K before I consider anything else. Some sit & go's and MTT mixed in. I will keep posting honest references to the amount I am playing and the balance in my life I am keeping.

In that way the BLOG is likely to be a great way to be honest with myself and anyone who reads it. Without it maybe I could slippery slope it.

Playing in fun with no time frame or goals in mind. Health and family first.
--Felter