As we head straight on into the grim and gloomy month of November, it's interesting to reflect on what has happened over the last two years since I started this here blog. Poker, the main focus of the blog back then, (as I've mentioned ad-infinitum) is not the money-spinner it was back in the 2000s and what began as a promising journey back at the start of 2011 has really turned into a bit of a flat pancake as we near the end of 2012. Put bluntly, it has been an unsuccessful year for me in the poker department where, in effect, the profits for 2011 (such as they were) have pretty much crumbled away before my very eyes.
However, as I have mentioned in other posts, this is not to say that poker needs to be shunted away from my life. I still enjoy the battle at the table and, although I would be lying if I said I was into it as much as I was back in the 2000s, there is no doubt that it's still in my blood and the urge to play is still as strong and as alive as ever. It's easy to point the finger at terrible cards of course, but I also know that I have played quite badly over the last three or four months or so - which is really the time when my losses kicked in this year. With a break from the live game over the last month and with just a few silly one-off deposits on PKR, I'm effectively still on sabbatical-leave from the game at the moment.
However, in the words of The Terminator... I will be back.
To confirm... my plan is to polish up my strategy and to read up on the game in order to maintain whatever edge I may have (such that it is). I'll generally take a further break right up until midnight on December 31st 2012 - from then on, every session will be part of The Experiment. Ok, I may visit the odd £1/£1 cash tables at The Vic or Aspers until then but I'll generally not attach as much importance to these sessions than I will do in 2013. From 1st January 2013, my true campaign will begin - and very much looking for to it I am too.
I am entitling this new campaign... The Experiment because truthfully, I genuinely don't know where I stand in the whole poker world "scheme of things" anymore. I know I was doing good two years ago - I saw my profits tallying up nicely over the long-term then - but today, I'm really not so sure anymore. True, the bankroll has taken a hit over the last year but I know that this is due largely to bad play and a few bad cards over the last 3 or 4 months. From 1st January 2013, I intend to write an honest trip report for every session I do - and in so doing, I'm going to find out once and for all exactly where I stand. It will be a ridiculously small sample size, of course, but will be my measuring stick to tell me whether it's worth my while in carrying on with this game.
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For better or for worse one leisure activity that I have turned to over the last two months, and which has effectively replaced the playing of poker, is that of screen media appreciation. In other words, I've been playing a lot of video games and watching a lot of telly. My excuse for indulging in the former comes form the words of George Bernard Shaw:
Another area of my life that took a bit of a battering was work. This time last year I was getting a very hard time from those that call themselves the "Senior Leadership Team" (hahahahaha) but am happy to report that I managed to bounce back from that nonsense and made a full recovery. I may have had a few knocks at the poker table but am now content to be in a stable profession that supplies a regular income and pays a reasonably good wage in the grand scheme of things.
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"We don't stop playing because we get old, we get old because we stop playing."
...And I have indulged in the latter activity simply because I can't think of anything better to do. But I will say that the TV series' that I have bought on DVD and blu-ray have all been of the "top quality" / critically acclaimed variety.
I have already written five reviews on the season ones of five of the 24 TV series' that I have researched and discovered (available for viewing under October 2012 in this blog) and I am currently re-watching Season #1 of The Sopranos which will most likely be the next up for review.
In the meantime, reading-wise, I recently purchased this story
in kindle form for just £2.99 from Amazon. The story, which is actually called "A Song of Ice and Fire", has been made into the HBO TV series Game of Thrones and, I think, is covered by Season #1:
The novel, of what I've read so far, is one of the greatest examples of how an epic story should be told and is a thoroughly absorbing read, making my viewing of Game of Thrones the most highly anticipated so far, for sure. (I would certainly recommend giving the map and "houses" of westeros the once over first, though, to get some kind of grounding into what's what.)
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Ok, enough.
Until next time...
Uncle Wobblington.
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