Putting Things in Perspective

It's been a while since my last post. Let me go through some highlights of what happened so far.

I've still been playing some cash games. Lately I've been playing in the 10/20 table. The swings in the higher tables are too much for me to take. Everything aside from that for cash games is pretty uneventful.

I wasn't able to play in the Main Event. I didn't even go because I couldn't bear with just being in the sidelines. But I've been trying to win the Metro 75. Problem is that it's been as elusive as ever and I'm still without a title. Closest I got recently was 3rd because the cards wouldn't cooperate. That night gave me so many bad beats. I've also tried to play the 5k Saturday but I haven't placed there yet. Come to think of it, February wasn't that lucrative for me. I played a satellite for the March 1, 1 Million event but I placed 3rd there as well. Come to think of it, best I've ever placed was 3rd in any tournament. I've placed 3rd in the Progressive Tournaments, Runner's Club 300k guaranteed, Uno Tournament, Metro 75, M11M Satellite. I've placed 1st in some tournaments but nothing major. I'm not disappointed though, I'm consistently in the final table and I've placed In The Money in more than 20% of the tournaments I've joined so I think I'm doing pretty well.

So that's the update.

But what I really wanted to talk about was me looking for some perspective. Recently, I feel like I'm working when I play poker. Everything I do is routine. I go there and find the same people. We talk about the same things. We play the same hands the same way and the same thing happens. Then I go to the office tired as hell because I've been playing all night.

Aside from that, I'm also tired of having to think about rent or food or budget or anything monetary when I play. It's like, I need to think about when rent is due or if I had issued any checks that need to clear before I bet. Everyone needs to have money set aside for poker and money for everything else. I don't have that luxury. My salary wouldn't allow me to have it separate. So I've decided to step back for a while. I'm not going to play until I've built a bankroll which I don't have to worry about losing.

I'll probably need to get stakeholders. I feel that I've played pretty consistent that some people wouldn't feel it's dead money. I will still focus on tournaments because that's where I'm better. Here are my stats if anyone is interested... (Stats are from Dec 2006 to Feb 2008)

Live Tournaments Played: 81 (Includes Freerolls)
In The Money finishes: 19 (23.46%)
Total Buy-Ins: Php 113,250
Total Cashout: Php 233,900 (207%)