When my mom visits we eat well

My mom came to visit for this last weekend and in general when she comes we take things very easy - we walk the dog, watch some tv, talk a bunch, and just relax. But where we don't relax is when it comes to food. My mom is a very good cook so it always nice to have her here and learn a bit from her in the kitchen.

Our big food festival this weekend was a starter of dates stuffed with goat cheese and wrapped in salami; shrimp cooked two ways (breaded and sauteed); my rasberry/gorgonzola/walnut salad; and then since I don't like shrimp, I made a NY strip steak.

mmm, mmm, mmm.

On the poker front, I will be back at it the rest of this week so hopefully the run good will hit me.

Days like today are why so many grinders don't make it

I actually only played an afternoon session today and I played super well. Only to lose money for the day.

I managed to get my way into the money in 3 of the 8 tourneys I played only to finish in 22nd, 27th, and 18th and the three I cashed were the smallest buy-in tourneys I play... So even though I waded through over 1800 players in one tourney, and over 2 thousand players in another, I still managed to lose over $200 on the day.

I wish I was a better writer because I would love for others to be able to understand my frustration of playing that well for that long only to wind up doing my bookkeeping at the end of the night with absolutely no results. Yet with my paltry writing skills at least, the frustration remains indescribable.

Just keeping on

I was supposed to do a coaching session this afternoon but it fell apart so I played a small session this afternoon and then another session this evening. I am still playing really well but the poker mojo just didn't run my way today.

I did get to watch my Bagers run over the Spartans which was fun and also was able to watch Lost tonight so all in all it wasn't a horrible day.

Sundays = Online poker

Fridays might be my night to actually get out and play live poker but Sundays are the signature say to play lots of good value tourneys online. I woke up tired and a bit hungover so I just put in a half session but was pleased with how I played. I didn't get any huge scores but I gave myself as good of a chance as possible in every tourney I played and that really is all I can ask for.

Fridays = live poker

Friday night means that my live poker game at a house not too far from where I live takes place. It is the one day of the week where I am assured to actually get out of the house and talk to people face to face rather than over a headset while seated at my computer. The game is full of genuinely good people who are at least decent at poker, so I always have a good time.

I am going to spend the afternoon cleaning up the house. Tomorrow night I will spend with my wife, and then hopefully I will be back fully recharged for a good Sunday.

Taking a deep breath

No matter what I do to try and break the cycle, I can't help but dwell on things when I get close to a big score and then fizzle at the end. And since that has happened twice this last week I have been sleeping like crap.

I put in an evening session tonight, played great, ran poorly and ended early but it has given me time to just sit, reflect, take a deep breath and a step back, and as usual at the end of these cycles, I realize how fortunate I am.

I am actually up this month, and although of course I wish I had seized my final table opportunities better so that I was WAY up, I still am doing fine. My bankroll is healthy, I am playing well, as long as I keep grinding I should keep making money. So tomorrow I will put in another session and keep living the life.

Still sort of stewing

I know I should be happy since I had a very profitable day. I know I should be happy that I am playing really well. I know I should be happy.... but I'm not.

I got 5th in the afternoon $162 tourney on stars for $5700 which is great. But I was 2nd in chips with 5 left and 4 of the 5, including myself, were willing to chop which would have given me $12.7k but one guy refused so we keep playing and I end up out in 5th in a basic cooler hand. So I can't help but feel that I lost out on $7k and hence the dejection.