Off To Austria

So lately I’ve been playing lots of hours on PokerStars.com in the $100-$200 NLH game. I’ve been having so much fun with it! In those games I’m regularly playing with only winning players. From what I hear from a buddy who knows how to figure that stuff out, he tells me they are all big winners at NLH.
I’ve been trying hard and paying attention while I play, and while normally I get tired after like an hour, with my new glasses and interest in the game I’ve been putting in 6+ hour sessions… and I’ve been winning which makes it even more enjoyable. Man, poker has changed so much, but I think it only takes a bit of learning and adjusting to the different fundamentals of today’s more advanced players.
My fundamentals, and the way I learned how to play the game was designed for very different kind of opponents and that approach is flawed against the players of today. I grew up playing limit hold’em, a game where flop aggression is rewarded and thin value betting is a must. It’s not much of a bluffing game at all.
I’ve been working hard on my no limit hold’em game and I’m happy with the results. I feel I’ve become a lot more difficult to play against and have incorporated some things I’ve learned from watching some of the better online players. I’ve learned a lot this week.
Now, unfortunately none of this work is going to do too much to help my tournament game, as that’s a completely different animal, but that hasn’t been a concern of mine. I’ve been deep in every single event I’ve played this year and just need to get luckier in the late stages and that will translate into some wins. ***************************************************************** I spent only two days golfing due to my obsession with playing online of late. I did find time to exercise and eat right, and I weighed myself before leaving for LA and was 153.6 lbs. That’s 6 pounds less than I was when I got back from LA about three weeks ago. I’ve been running, but also hadn’t had a sip of alcohol in three weeks. The last two times I drank anything it was at the exact same restaurant and it wasn’t much, just two glasses of Pinot Grigio. I hung out in LA yesterday since my flight overseas leaves out of LA. I love flying Luftansa but desperately wished they had internet access on the planes. They used to, and I know this because one of my Swedish friends took that flight overseas and played online poker on the way in the hopes of paying for his flight. Instead, he went off for 250k lol… now that’s an expensive flight! This is going to be long trip. Austria for a week to play EPT Snowfest. I hope to get some skiing in, haven’t done that since high school. Then it’s off to London for a commercial shoot. From there I’ll have a bit of time and plan on visiting my brother Mike and Ornella in Toronto for a few days before flying out to Mohegan Sun for the NAPT main event as well as the $25k Bounty Shootout. The shootout will have a cap of 81 players, but unlike the inaugural event, it will not be an invitational. So lots of poker coming up, and then right after that we have the WPT Championship and the EPT Grand Final, two events I had on my “top ten list” of toughest tournaments (to fluke). In the meantime, I still plan on playing regularly in the $100-$200 NLH games at PokerStars.com… so come and get it! 🙂
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