Selectivity

I think one of the more interesting aspects of poker is how the brain filters and groups largely random results into larger "units" of, for lack of better terms, good and bad results. When running hot, it's all good, and poker is the easiest game in the world. When running bad, the universe itself is against us, smiting the unwary down with one outers on the river left and right. The reality is that both extremes contain a mixture of good and bad, just a different ratio. But the brain (or my monkey brain at least) tends to smooth that out into broader swaths of "good" and "bad".

Cards are running "good" for me right now. 'Nuff said.

I finally got around to creating an account at Absolute and started working through their signup bonus. I'd put it off for awhile as Bonuswhores.com doesn't have much good to say about Absolute, claiming the rock garden nature of the games makes it difficult to play. And to that I can only say "Huh?". To be fair, I've only got a few hours under my belt there, but I can't say the tables I played at were all that tough. Sometimes I wonder at the general skill level of active posters at Bonuswhores. Maybe it's a bit arrogant of me to say this, but I feel like I can play low limit just about anywhere and, at the very worst, break even. Which is +EV, when bonuses are involved. If your poker profit is predicated on only playing in games when idiot fish contribute massive amounts of dead money, well, I don't think that says too much about your poker game.

NL has been treating me very well lately. I had a pretty crazy run yesterday at a $25 NL table at Empire yesterday, running $40 into just over $300. Lately when I cash out of sites to go bonus whore I leave a token amount behind, usually $20, just as a challenge to see if I can run it up to a decent stake. It's been a pretty helpful tool, as I play much more focused with a challenge like that and manage my money better, instead of occasionally playing like a stupid monkey at the site where I have most of my online bankroll, knowing I can afford to gambool it up now and then. I've had decent success so far, running $20 to $200 at Pacific before cashing out, and the Empire example above. I've also busted out twice at Paradise doing that, and once at Party. It's a fun challenge, though, for anyone that chases bonuses and shifts money around various sites fairly frequently.

Football picks keep treating me well. Last week I was 10-4 overall, and 2-2 in cash games. For the season I'm 37-23 overall, and 12-4 in games with actual cash wagered. This next week could be ugly, though, as so many of the games have me scratching my head.

I need to get off my ass and start back into working on assorted projects I have going in various stages of completion. Plus I need to finish the damn novel that's been moldering on my hard drive for the last year or so. I've been hitting the poker tables hard the last few months, trying to raise some extra scratch for the wedding, but the lack of doing creative stuff with my free time is starting to get a bit old.