Happy Anniversary!

This blog is one year old today!

It's been a little neglected over the last few months with posts coming few and far between but I'm going to work on improving that. I also haven't been good at updating my blogroll but I'll get that cleaned up over the next day or two. Other bloggers try to list everyone so I only link the blogs I'm currently reading.

When I started the blog I was gung ho and ready to write about every little item involving my poker adventures. The first blog I ever came across was Felicia's. I found her blog through her Yahoo! Group and quickly began adding others to my daily reading. Iggy, Pauly, Chris, Liquid Sword, and Poker Nerd were my firsts. I became inspired to start my own blog not because I wanted to write about my play so much as I wanted in this blogger community. I remember reading one of Felicia's posts about a blogger tournament she set up. I thought this was so cool that a group of people had gotten together to have a private tournament and share their poker thoughts with each other. I wanted to be part of all that so I began this blog. I didn't want to admit my "aw shucks" feeling about the tight blogger community so I never really revealed that before. I always quoted the patent answer about wanting to improve my play. That was certainly part of it, and it has helped my game beyond explanation, but it was only part of the full reason.

I never became the integral part of the community I had hoped to. I'm an introvert at heart and I never felt qualified to comment on others posts so I never garnered much exposure. I hadn't asked Iggy to link me up, but back when only a few of us were starting up new blogs he found my little corner of geekspace and gave me a few lines in an uber-post. I thought this was nice of him and I know every new blogger today hopes to make it into one of his posts. He has helped propel our community into the big time along with other notables such as Hank, and Otis. It's been amazing to see the growth that has occurred over the last year. I remember playing in my first blogger tournament and I think we only had about 30 players. My how things have grown. I've been fortunate to money in one but that was long before the WPBT ever came around or Maudie designed our own chip logo. Of course I will win my entry for the $1500 WSOP through the next blogger tournament and who would have ever thought a setup like that was possible. It's nice to realize that as a collective group we have a voice that can reach deep into the poker world.

I still don't feel as though I've found a set pattern for this blog. Most of the time I'm considered a diarist type blogger but I try to throw in some strategy posts when I feel qualified to do so. When I was recently browsing through the searches that have brought people to my blog, I found that an old post of mine was generating some hits. I remember being very proud of it when I wrote it. Going back and rereading it, it could use some perspective changes but I still think it's an interesting post.


As the year has worn on and my experience increased I found it sometimes tedious to sit down and do a full analysis with write up. I've also found it easier to write when I'm winning and much more difficult when I'm losing. Even with it being more difficult it is certainly therapeutic to write when losing. The contemplation involved in working through the sessions often yield the knowledge and drive necessary to turn things around. Ego also has a lot to do with this. If your writing about how your losing all the time your self confidence takes a big hit. Your ego drives you to improve so that others will read about how good you are, not how bad. I've prided myself on being honest in this regard. I've documented the downswings but probably not with the zeal that I've documented the upswings. I'll try to continue to be honest and if others can learn from my mistakes, it's all that much better.

I'm still in awe of how much growth we've experienced and will continue to experience. I'm sure there is an end in sight, I just don't believe we'll see it for a while yet.

This blog has helped me to have a great year of poker. My hope is that it will continue for years to come. I'm sure we can all prosper through our little community in cyberspace and if any of you think I can help you, please let me know.

Regards,
LifesAGrind