Take Two

I’ve already written this post once. The first version, you’ll never see.

I played the Mookie last night for the first time since the last BBT. It looks like the Mookie is slowly going the way of the buffalo – only 17 runners last night. It’s sad to see such low participation in one of the few remaining blogger games, especially the Mookie. I wasn’t blogging during the WWdN days, so for me, the Mookie has been the standard, it has been THE blogger game. And now – there’s only 17 people, and I still recognized barely half the players.

I played a hand badly last night. Well, OK, probably many hands. One hand in particular resulted in a suckout for me and an elimination for jimdniacc. He took his frustration out on me in the chatbox (although, to his credit, he refrained from calling me names), and for some reason it caught me off guard. It was my first Mookie in months, and I was looking for nothing but a friendly $11 game amongst poker bloggers, and instead, I had to listen to another blogger chastising me for my play. This situation was relatively standard under the weight of BBT4, but for some reason, I figured that it would be different given the circumstances and the low turnout (1st place only got $85 – not even a profile these days!). I should have know better.

So I wrote a post about this already, in more detail, expressing my overall disappointment with that situation in particular, and as part of a larger picture, what this community has become. However, since I had some time between when I wrote the post & when I planned on posting it, I decided to take a look at his blog to see if he had anything to say about the situation. I’ve recognized his name from previous games but I honestly don’t know the blogger.

I’m glad I did. After reading his posts, he seems to be a decent guy, just one with a temper problem when it comes to poker. It doesn’t necessarily excuse the comments he made, but it puts them in a better perspective. It also helped me realized that I was probably being more sensitive to his comments because I was already in the midst of a brutal night. Within that same half hour, I had already busted from the PLO tournament (warning: bad beat story) after 3-betting with my AAxx, flopping top set, betting pot for nearly all my stack, yet still going down in flames against QQ82 who had nothing but a Q-high flush draw that got there on the turn. I also took a huge beat in the $28k when TPTK was no match for runner-runner two pair. I couldn’t cash a SNG to save my life. All in all, his negative comments about a suckout I had no business being part of were just a small part of what ended up being a -$200+ night.

Anyway, the day after, with time to reflect on what happened last night, I realized that it is and it isn’t that big of a deal. Yeah, it sucks that I can’t play a friendly $11 blogger game without having to deal with bloggers lamenting just how bad of a poker player I am, but really, it’s par for the course. I’ve been on the opposite end myself, and just as I would hope that similar things I may have said wouldn’t shape someone’s opinion of me, I won’t let it shape of my opinion of him.

Jimdniacc, my condolences on bad beat. If you’re going to be in Vegas in December, first round is on me.

Hiatus Over

So, here I am, two months after my last post, a post in which I declared a two-month hiatus. I needed a break to clear my head, figure things out. I wrote that last post with the stress of my health and my finances on the forefront of my mind. Given those circumstances, withdrawal (in more than one sense of the word) seemed like the best idea, and it was.

However, loyal readers of this blog shouldn’t be surprised when I tell you that my hiatus from poker lasted all of three weeks. Yes, I’ve been playing for the past month or so. No, I haven’t posted about it – mostly because even the most talented of writers would struggle to write interesting posts about Super Turbo and O8 SNGs, let alone a lazy, talentless bum like me.

The good news is that the stress I was under in my last post was alleviated sooner than expected. I’m still diabetic, but I’ve learned that I’ve been managing my diabetes a lot better than I thought. I’ve still got room to improve for sure, but hearing that was a huge sigh of relief. Secondly, the bankroll withdrawal was a much needed boost for me financially. Although, in retrospect, I probably could have left a small amount to play with (considering I redeposited a small amount three weeks afterwards), I was able to do some great things with that money that are still paying dividends (not literally though).

Anyway, once again, I’m formally declaring my return as a poker blogger. Until the next time I decide to quit then decide to return then quit then….you get the point.

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I’ve actually got a lot of content to get out over the next couple of months, just nothing resembling poker strategy or analysis. Not that I’m alone here – it seems like the majority of what I initially knew as “poker blogs” are anything but these days. The truth is that I would actually love to post more often about strategy and whatnot, but before I commit to that, I’ve still got some other things to figure out (which will be fodder for an upcoming post).

What I do know is this: I still enjoy being a poker blogger. I’m still (very loosely) connected with many of you through some sort of interweb device, and even a handful of you through occasional real-life interaction, not to mention the large group of bloggers I still follow on a daily basis. I may post infrequently, and comment on other blogs even less, but I still enjoy being part of this community, even if I’ve never really left the fringe in my 3+ years as a blogger. Your blogs still make up the majority of my RSS feeds, and I still check up on them on a daily basis (although, admittedly, I’m marking many of them as “Read” automatically these days).

Anyway, what I’m saying is this. I’m making the leap this year.

Barring nuclear catastrophe, death, or unemployment, I’m in for the Winter Gathering this year. It’s pretty much set in stone – I mean, I already confirmed on the WPBT Facebook page, so there’s really no going back at this point. I’m in for the tournament (details here) but I’m out for the golf (details here). I’m not much of a poker player, but I’m even less of a golfer.

So yeah, keep checking this blog – it should be more active these days. Either way, if you’re going to be in Vegas in December, I’ll see you there. I’m SO looking forward to this.