A True Hiatus

There's only one quasi-word that can describe my poker play over the last three months...


nonexistent.



Well, almost. A couple of minutes before one of my editing classes I think I sat behind the computer and played play money poker, promptly doubling up my play money chips and then "cashing out".

But, that's been it. Three months, basically nothing. No online. No live (okay, a little NBA Live). I've been virtually poker free for three full months.

Why?

Obviously, I have the whole family obligation thing, that and the fact that my girlfriend isn't too crazy about poker. I've been working full-time and going to school for the first time in my life, and while the class (yes, class singular) that I took didn't have a large workload, I definitely wanted to start my comeback off on a good foot. Also, while I haven't been starving, money has been a little tighter than usual since our department started losing our nice cushy $500 monthly bonuses due to a floundering economy and not so great customer service skills (not me, our department as a whole). These are all legitimate reasons why I haven't played too much poker lately.

But, the funny thing is that stuff like that never stopped me before. There was a time in my life, hell even a few months ago, where I would scrounge up any money I had for a buy-in online or live. Some nights I would win, some nights I would lose, but for me it wasn't really about the money. The challenge of beating the game or beating my opponents was what really goosed me up.

And, I can't really explain why, but right now I just feel my heart isn't into poker right now.

I still love the game. I watched the final table and I thought it was one of the coolest things I've seen: a sold out capacity crowd filled a theatre to watch nine guys play poker. It shows just how far poker has come. I still have dreams of playing in that tournament. Even if I'm the first guy knocked out, just to say that I played in it is something I can always tell my children.

But, for right now, hundreds of dollars later, I'm taking a break, especially from online poker. People who say the online game is shady may be right in some respects, but the fact of the matter is for the average player the quantity of hands played far outweighs and affects the quality of hands played. Your mistakes in live poker become magnified in online poker, and that's pretty much what happened to me.

Even though I'm breaking, I definitely wouldn't mind an occasional live cash game or live tournament, or hell, eventually I might even venture back into online tournaments or sit n gos. I'm looking for better quality, not neccesarily quantity.

Fear not, my friends. Tripset30 will return eventually. Everybody needs a vacation.