Back in the zone

I read a good chunk of "Positively Fifth Street" today, and like it a lot. I know the next poker book I need to read when I'm done with "Fifth" -- "The Biggest Game in Town", by A. Alvarez. McManus praises it to the skies, and basically admits he's a mere acolyte to the master.

Tonight, what can I say? I felt like I could do no wrong. I folded when I needed to fold, bluffed when I needed to bluff, and value bet when I needed to value bet. For all that, I did go down about half my stack in the first half hour. That'll happen, and you need to expect that it'll happen more often than not, and not be fazed by it. Look at it this way -- you're one against 6, 7, or 8. The odds are against you. You're basically going to go down before you go up, unless you really luck out. Just don't get your sorry ass so discouraged, mon! As long as you don't do something stupid, your time will come. Tonight I didn't do anything stupid. I know now that last night I got impatient, and overplayed a halfway decent hand, fooling myself that it was a fully decent hand. Don't fool yourself! That's the cardinal rule. So easy to say, and so hard to obey. Do you enjoy my waxing poetical? Tonight I didn't fool myself.

When I got up over $900 above my starting amount, I said "That's enough -- I'm outa here!". You have to be religious, and I mean religious, about not getting too greedy. You have to recognize when you've ridden a big wave to the beach, haven't wiped out, and can just hop off your board and stroll onto the sand, secure in the knowledge that you've bested the poker gods for the time being.

McManus lays bare the addictive nature of the game, and I can't deny it. The thing is, you have to admit to yourself that you're addicted, but try to make it work for you in whatever way you can. Don't pretend you can just walk away, but do try to channel the addiction in productive ways. Keep yourself on a leash, but let the leash out every now and then!

I realize there's a world of difference between pot limit Hold'em and no limit Hold'em. They're two completely different animals. I think you have to be a little bit insane to play no limit. I'm just fine with pot limit, thank you very much! Of course, that means I can never win the Main Event at the World Series of Poker. However, if I get good enough at pot limit, that shouldn't matter a bit!

delta: $920
balance: $274,618