Too Busy?

How can I be too busy to write if I can find so much time to play?

Boy! It was going great there for a bit. I was killing two sites and staying above board at two others. Aces were holding up, Kings were exerting manly domination, Queens seductively subdued the competition, and Jacks . . . well, Jacks were still Jacks.

All of a sudden, though, it has dried up. I pride myself on getting my chips in play with the lead. I strive to get them in as a big leader, 2-1 or better. What can I say, I'm tight, baby. I don't mind playing a lot of hands when I have the chips or when I know my opponent, but in this crazy, online world, one can usually be content to sit and wait for big, scary gnashing teeth hands that send losers mumbling to bed, telling their better halves, "I was thiiiiiiiis close, but then I ran into a monster. What could I do? I was making a move."

At some point thought, you have to move in knowing you are behind, making a play against a vulnerable opponent trying to hang on to the money arrives, or into a big chip-leader, content to let the others knock each other upside the head. That's where the real magic lies. Everyone knows the feeling you get when you stack up the pot on a scare card, relying on your steel nuts (or ovaries) to stay in place long enough to convince another that their top pair just turned into the second best hand that is going to lose them a lot of money if they have the gall to stick around and call. Sure, sometimes you get caught and look the fool. Don't worry about it, though, cause next time you'll have the hard-core nuts and Flipp, the Wonder Monkey will pay you off with bottom two pair and a "Thought you were shittin' me again."

I get stung on occasion while making a move. It's bound to happen that you run into the monster, and be the one to get sent upstairs. Such is poker life. It is much worse when your monster is the one that gets defanged and sent off the little, monster nursery to lick it wounds. Damn, this sounds like the prelude to a beat story. Don't worry gentle reader. I won't bore you with the five final tables in a row at True Poker. The last hands of AA v. AT, JJ v. JT, AK v. 58o, JJ v. 37o???????????, and, finally KK v. AA (can't complain about that one, but after all the others, I still did). Now remember, all of these were all-ins pre-flop. I finished one out of the money, one out, last one in the money, one out, and next to last in. Oh well, there'll come a day. (While typing this I lost to a two outer on the river. While grimacing and shaking my fist impotently, the first mate says, "You think you'd be used to it by now." Thanks for the love honey.)

The good news is that I am still in there swinging and haven't had to go back to the well to reload. In addition to the 300 books I have read about poker, I have read an article or two about game managment and have actually taken a few of the lessons to heart. It WILL turn around. I know it. I can feel it. Man, I hope it turns around.