Streams of Consciousness

First time ever playing live poker at the casino tonight. It is a long weekend here in Canada, so there should be quite a bit of soft action going around. I will be playing $1/$2 and buying in full once I am comfortable. By comfortable, I mean that I never have to handle chips when I play online, so I am kinda intimidated by calculating the pot size and money behind that my opponents have, if that makes any sense. I'm going with $600, so 3 full buy-ins.

Over the next while, I will be saving to build a live roll (if I enjoy it) and add to my online roll so I can play 50NL once I have proven myself at 25NL. Plus, when I deposit, it helps to grow the roll quicker. Results aside, I play better when I know I can go broke 100 times as opposed to 30 bi's. Live is a bit different, since I don't have the luxury of playing lower than $1/$2. I have the ability to replenish my roll, so I can build as I play.

Let's hope I play well.

Been playing as much as possible while leading an active social life. I have been playing my B-game I'd say overall since I last posted. Although, some of this could be attributed to new postflop concepts being incorporated into my game. I am playing as a slight loser since I decided to take up poker again. Nothing that a $600 100% sign-up bonus and 27% rakeback can't fix!

My first coaching session will be on Monday, May 23rd. I am eager to get started. Having some guidance will be a nice change, seeing as all I have currently is a hand full of poker buddies who are struggling like me and some helpful members from the forums to steer me in the right direction.

I am working on taking my game as seriously as possible, while still enjoying the practice of it. Pre-session and post-session routines are becoming part of my daily rotation, and I am trying to shift my focus onto learning, as opposed to winning and ascending through the stakes at breakneck speed. It's nice to view the game in this manner, because my last 3 sessions had negative variance in them, but I can still recognized that I did my best to improve upon my skills during them.

Hopefully, the 23rd will reveal some more about my future in poker.

I finally stopped thinking about it and did it. I just finished paying for my first coaching session on DeucesCracked. After floundering at $10NL for the last year off and on, I feel like I need the guidance of a more experienced player. Don't get me wrong, the forums are great, but a little incentive for someone to benefit from helping you, goes a lot further than adding one more post to your total post count.

I have been playing $10NL Rush Poker for the last month or so. I won over 50K hands sometime shortly last year in this format, but I think that may have been a bit of a heater, or I am experiencing some negative variance now over an extended period of time. That being said, my redline isn't anything to brag about.

While on the topic of finally getting around to doing something, I am also finally admitting I have no idea what the hell I want to do with my life. A large part of me really wants to take a serious crack at poker. I've accomplished many things in my life by applying my mind to it, so I believe poker would be a matter of commitment as opposed to "am I good enough". Yet, I don't know what will fulfill me over the long run. I'm banking money from the 9-5, trying not to close doors or burn bridges, but I'll soon need to make a choice and deal with what it brings.

I hope coaching will bring more clarity to the subject!