It’s been a pretty rough few months on my bankroll, and while I’m still playing - and hopefully making OK decisions - it has definitely gotten to my mood. Because, honestly, poker isn’t that much fun when you can’t seem to win. Sure, I catch a few breaks and win a few pots here and there, but that’s part of the problem. It seems, all too often, that the hands that I do win are by sheer luck, while almost simultaneously constantly being outdrawn. Seriously, I’ve been raised so often on the turn and river lately that I’m now actually expecting to be raised when I bet.

It’s not a fun game when you’re not winning. Not for me anyway, but then I never was a masochist. I’ll keep playing, because I believe I can go back to winning - and I believe I will - but the past month or so has not been great for me poker-wise. It’s okay though, because in every other respect it’s been perhaps the best month of my life, so I really can’t - or at the very least shouldn’t - complain.

As a sidenote, I’ve made the case before that bloggers post a lot more when they’re winning than when they’re losing; I’m no different as it turns out. I can fully understand how it’s difficult to raise enough energy and enthusiasm for writing abotu the game when you’ve just booked yet another loss. Still, I’ll try to keep you posted on when - because I sure hope it won’t be “if” - I make my comeback.

On the upside, I played for 45 minutes tonight and won a whooping $17.50. I had spent most of the session down around $150, so when I finally climbed back out I decided that I had had enough for the night. It’s not actually a good way to handle the situation, because it carries with it the “play because I’m unstuck” element that can be really detrimental (and that I’ll admit I have a problem with) but I had played roughly the number of hands I wanted to get done for the night and I couldn’t bear the idea of losing $18 in the last 10 minutes and have to - for the umpteenth day in a row - end the night in the red.

/FP