I sat down to play last night, and ended up logging off after only 50 hands. I was up $100, and I realized that the mere thought of the risk of ending the session down after this great start was already affecting me. I had to log off, lest I start playing safe (read: scared).

The good news, in all of this, is that I’m not actually questioning my game. I’m still convinced that I play well, and that I’ve run into a bad streak. To some extent, this is unfortunate because it means that I’m missing out on the highly useful intensive-study part that usually accompanies a downswing, but the good part is that it means that I’m confident that I’ll bounce back given enough time. And I have all the time in the world.

I’ll take this opportunity to once again praise how fortunate I am to not be a poker professional. Phew.