It's Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone. Let's get the poker out of the way so I can talk about life stuff again.

As a player who is completely overrolled for any game I would ever consider playing, I came to an interesting conclusion tonight. I was playing on UB, and a really really soft NL2500 game opened up. I decided to join because I was up on the night, despite PS's best attempts to keep me down (cough *66* cough). Yes, there was a lot of history involved, but whatever. Well, I am not one to back down just because the stakes are higher, so I took the liberty of getting into a 8.7k coinflip and obviously losing. http://www.pokerhand.org/?824382. In a few moments, I found myself down 6.5k at nl2500. Somehow, between that and a brutal, brutal, -2400 PS session at nl600 this afternoon with Jay, I managed to make it to +722 on the day. Feeling that I was going to puke from the swings, I graphed the month:

Click it. Anyway, as you can see I'm at 17.5k on the month, but I've highlighted in green circles the shots at NL2500. Oh, the first big drop is from this hand: http://www.pokerhand.org/?824296. In total, I've dropped a little over 13k at NL2500 this month.

This brings me to my conclusion about taking shots. Unless you want to build an insufficient bankroll to a larger amount and are willing to risk a lot of future grinding, it's not a good idea. I cannot handle the swings. I hate it. I realized tonight that, after 3.5 hours of getting punched in the face on PS during the afternoon, I played a session that quickly went up to about 8k, putting me at like +6 on the day. Now I'm sitting there at $722 on the day. I don't want that. Yes, I understand it can go the other way, but to me at least, it hurts a lot more when you take a shot and lose than when you take a shot and win. Furthermore, for a player that isn't overrolled, this literally can be devastating to your roll. God help you if you start tilting as well.

So, I'm not taking any more shots anymore. I get stressed out, and the stakes become too high. Plus, I should be at 30k on the month, and now I'm missing 13 of that :/.

Anyway, let's talk about something fun. Today was Valentine's Day. I sent my girlfriend (of nearly three years!) some nice flowers (ok, very nice flowers), and I am also getting her Custom made M&Ms, but clearly they were backordered up the ass so she will be getting those the 21st. I will be visitng her at Penn State tomorrow, which will be nice.

Side story, and then a little conclusion about poker. I went to CVS today to get some condoms, and they had them locked up. Obviously this will increase safe sex.... Anyway, I went to the front counter and told the woman I needed to purchase condoms, but they were locked away and a sign said to get assistance. She immediately sent Julio over to unlock them. It was funny because she was a 60 year old woman, and I had a look of shock that I went up to her and said this. I somehow skipped out on her lecture about whether I'm ready or not.

Also went to the dry cleaners. I get my laundry done because I despise folding luandry. Luckily, there is this sick rate at the local laundromat. I get it washed + folded (no detergent etc needed) for some $/pound, which happened to be 35lbs for $24.50. I gave the woman a tip and left with two bags, very excited. I then ripped one bag open somehow against some sharp part of my trunk? which left me aggravated.

So, I am playing less, and kind of hopping around on sites. This keeps my interest up, and I enjoy it more. I'm also staying away from playing during the day so I can get other stuff done. I relax, hang around my suite, and play video games. It's a lot more interactive than sitting there with headphones on and looking at a computer screen, which I can do later for 2-4 hours anyway. Besides, it works itself out as everyone else goes to bed around 12:30-1, while I am up until 4 generally. Except for now, since I have a 9:30 tomorrow, and I like to shower/eat breakfast beforehand. I'm off to bed, but before I go, I will say one thing:

If you are playing Mario Kart 64, do not consider yourself an "expert" player unless you know and utilize the power slide. Otherwise, good luck to you...

Greg