Hella Hold'em

My dear friend Poker. I neglected thee in 2008. I have foregone the usual "new year's resolution" post, for several reasons. First of all, there is not much to look back on in 2008, save for a few random sessions online. No real study of the game. No diligent practice at my game. No real substance to my poker life.

To kick off 2009, though, I got sparked. The annual Trojan Wars game (for which I beg forgiveness for failing to produce a proper write-up... I just wasn't in the mood to take notes!) got me back into the swing of things, thinking about poker, studying my game, and really jonesing to play.

I placed 8th out of 30-something people at the Trojan Wars game, 2 paces from the Holy Land. I would not have done anything differently. I'm generally not a fan of rebuy tournaments, though I'm also generally not a fan of passing up live game opportunities. The rebuy portion of the tourney was the usual donkified push-fest, and the freeze-out portion had incredibly fast-raising blind levels (moreso in amount than time, but I'm not a fan of 15 minute levels, either). But, as a rebuy, it is what it is, and like I said, I wouldn't change anything in my play really. It's still one of my favorite games to play at, as Ryan runs a well organized ship and I can give a hearty thumbs-up to the food and drink and snackage.

I've been reading a bit and playing a little on the ring game side on Full Tilt lately. I have discovered that over the past year, my game has morphed a bit. In some ways, I wouldn't recognize it (though you'll never see me going off on some LAG-fest... it just ain't in me!) I like what it has been lately.

I read Negreanu's part in his collection-of-players poker book, Power Hold'em Strategy. I haven't read the rest of the book, but most of it did not get good reviews. I love Daniel, but this one is probably better saved for a read over a coffee while sitting at the book store.

I have to say, I've gotten the most little brain-nuggets from Gus Hansen's "Every Hand Revealed." I certainly don't play as loose-aggressive as he does, but there's math behind his style and that's what I identify with. I may even read it again for good measure - and I'd have paid twice as much as it cost for the book. Good read.

I'm also reading Harrington on Cash Games Vol I.  I'm finding that he makes some arguments I hadn't considered before, and some of those have made it to the table with me. Maybe his books are so dense that they need to be read more slowly.  That could be.

So, with all of this renewal of interest in poker (and with some much-needed reorganization of finances and - well, I got a couple more jobs to bring in more money), I've booked my first poker-centric trip to Vegas in... forever. It has been years! I will be heading out there over spring break, March 24-27. If anybody will be around, give me a holler. My cell phone number has changed since the last time I was in Vegas but email is the same - drop me a line or twitter me and I'll give you the new digits. I plan to play a lot of poker that week! And if I come home profitable, you might just see me at the next blogger event :P