gross.

Had a pretty atrocious session last night. To be fair, I was severely cold decked, but as a result, I began forcing things a bit, and made some pretty terrible decisions. All in all, the session set me back two buy ins at 1/2 NL ($600), and was an expensive little reminder that I have to keep my shit together. It also reinforced the fact that table selection is of paramount importance - I found myself at an all-around solid table last night, with the most aggressive player to my immediate left, and instead of maybe looking for a more profitable situation, I stayed and beat my head against a wall for 11 hours. This is inexcusable. In fact, I think this is much worse than any technical error I may have made throughout the session. There are people literally giving money away at the 1/2 NL tables in Vegas, and for me to not recognize my situation and find a better game is just asinine. Playing poker professionally is all about exploiting small edges for a profit, and it is essential that you assess your edge (or lack thereof) objectively, without letting ego or past results cloud your judgement. It's a mistake that is uncharacteristic for me, and I have to be sure to avoid it in the future.

Aside from last night, things have been going really well. Had solid results last week, which started with a $700 win on monday, and basically continued throughout the week. I was also able to play in a 5/10 HORSE game at Harrahs on monday, which was great. For you non-poker nerds, HORSE is an acronym for Hold 'em, Omaha 8 or better, Razz, Stud, and stud Eight or better. In this particular game, we play 8 hands of each form of poker and rotate throughout the night. I absolutely love rotation games for a few reasons. For starters, switching games every 8 hands keeps things fresh and fun, which is always good when you're putting in long sessions. More importantly, because there are so many games involved, some of which are relatively unpopular, many of the players are not proficient at all of them, so the money can fly around freely. This particular game didn't have any real donkeys in it, but it was still great, and I'll be sure to make it a regular part of my playing schedule. OK, its getting late already, I have to go take back my money.

Peace.

Life is Good.

I've been in Vegas for almost a week, and so far, things have been great. My roommate and I get along really well, the house is gorgeous, and the dog is cool as hell. The area I live in is really nice, with everything I need within a few minutes drive, and the Strip being only about 15 minutes away. As far as playing, I'm still feeling out what games are good, but honestly, from what I've seen, all of the lower limit games have been incredible. I played the 10/20 O8 at the Wynn, and although I ended up stuck about 400, I was fine with it, because the game was amazing, and I know that I'll beat it badly in the long run. Yesterday, I played in the 5/10 O8 at the Mirage and crushed it. The players were all loose/passive, and by playing a solid TAG game and running well, I beat the game for about 500 in like 7 hours. Also, everyone on the Mirage staff was extremely nice, the dealers were good, and the room was comfortable - I definitely think I'll be spending a lot of time there.

As far as the cross country drive, I'll have to tackle that in a later entry to do it justice, but basically, it was one of the most incredible experiences of my life. We saw so much in just 7 days, that I feel like I'm still processing it all. The journey, and my experience with Mike had a profound effect on me, and I'm now committed to seeing as much of the world as possible. I honestly feel like I'm one of the luckiest people on earth, and to not make the most of my situation and see the world while I can would be pretty shameful. OK, I'm off to play some cards - I'll report back soon with details from the trip.