Time Apart

"Discipline.....Discipline.....Discipline"
Baby Geniuses

I haven't written in a while.....I could say work has been very demanding of my time lately, which it has but that's not why....I could also say that I've got lots of other things going on in my life and I haven't had time, which is again true but that's not why either. You see I've done something very foolish. I've started down a road that can only end in poker ruin and until recently I didn't know why. I haven't wanted to admit this to myself and thus, I haven't been writing.

I believe that the root of my problem stems from my ignoring what it took for me to be successful (in my own small way) at poker. Those of you that have followed along from the beginning of this blog know that I used to analyze my play on a daily basis. I don't think I've done that in over a month to a month and a half now. I'd write about my play not for you (although it's nice to know someone was reading every now and then) but because it forced me to look at my weaknesses and face them.

The other problem that I've created for myself is severe bankroll shortage. As the bankroll grew it became easier to withdrawl funds and even though I have a positive BB/100 at the 1/2 limit level and the .50/1 level I now have less than $200 in my online accounts. I wasn't worried about this until I suddenly found myself unable to win at the limit tables over the last few weeks. To further compound my shortcomings I decided to take on the NL tables. When someone is under funded and absolutley having to win this is the worst possible move. I lost buy-in after buy-in and was close to implosion.

These problems which are of my own doing are about to end my poker life. I am not in a financial situation that will allow me to put back the hundreds that I've withdrawn so after much consideration I have come to the obvious conclusion. It's back to basics time. I know that my play at the limit tables has become far to loose to have a +EV. I know that I'm no longer properly funded to play at the 1/2 level. To address these issues it's back to the .50/1.00 level and back to analysing my play every day.

On the bright side during this whole limit turmoil my tournament game has continued to improve. If not for my wins at the SnG tables I would be busted completely at this point. It is also these wins that I believe have loosened up my limit play. How can I have a happy medium and learn to control both at the same time? The answer lies in the quote from one of my kids favorite movies. The same quote featured at the top of this post. I must seperate my playing styles and have the discipline as well as patience to reign myself back in.

My last remaining obstacle is Pacific Poker. The majority of my bankroll is in limbo between a Pacific Poker cashout and Neteller. Pacific said there was a screw up when processing my withdrawl and are correcting it but that's not helping me any. Until they can resolve this and get my money to me I will be staying at Absolute Poker and their SnG tables. Every time I sit at one of these tables I feel as though I'm the favorite and as long as my results show that as well I will use them to bolster my bankroll. Once the money issue with Pacific is settled I will then split time between the Absolute SnG's and UltimateBet's ring games. Until I can build a buffer to handle some variance I'm going to stay clear of Party. I've made most of my money there but at the micro limits the play can devour you. Ulitimate is generally calmer and although the profits aren't as great, neither are the losses.

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I've never promoted another site before but since I have been able to establish a relationship with them I would like to direct all of you to PokerSourceOnline.com. If you haven't been there before I encourage you to check them out. They offer some of the best signup bonuses out there and a program called "Frequent Flopper" that pays you back a percentage of your own rake at the sites they associate with. They have deals with all of the sites you read about here and if you sign up through them I ask that you use the referal code "lifesagrind". This pays me back as well and we all win.

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And I'll finish those Hellmuth DVD reveiw's, I promise :)