August: Gone (with the wins).

August: Gone (with the wins).

Enjoyed 2 fantastic days of surfing lessons in Bude, Cornwall with my girlfriend on the weekend just gone, and though I was truly exhausted by the time I got home last night, I'm already looking forward to the next time I get to pull on a rubber suit and jump onto a hard moulded foam board..... though perhaps simply 'go surfing' is a safer expression! This was only my 2nd set of lessons, but I'm managing to pop up to standing nearly every time I catch a wave, and already have a basic grasp of turning. Really can't wait until I a) get much better, and b) get to surf on some bigger waves; those offered by Bude before October are somewhat diminutive. Even though Cornwall is a 5 hour drive each way for me, it's so much fun mastering the waves for those precious few seconds that I consider it easily worthwhile.
Was stunned to check my blog today and see that an entire month had passed by with not a single post. Thought I'd address that quickly (now that I'm back at work!), but wondered what caused such a lag. Thinking back to the weeks of August, I have been busier at work than I have ever been before, have spent nearly all of my weekends away from London and I'm not sure I've played so much as 10 hours of poker throughout. I haven't even been reading as many blogs as I usually do, having exhausted the archives of HDouble, DoubleAs, Fuel55 and the SurlyPokerGnome. I have been enjoying lots of Alan's recent posts as RecessRampage, so may be digging into his historical folders in the coming weeks.
Unfortunately, over the last month my performance has mirrored my commitment to playing and fallen considerably. I don't think August was profitable, and I have lots of work to do to get my game back up to a standard where I'd feel comfortable quitting my day job, which is still my plan for next year. I had one bad session in particular where I lost a lot of money when the board paired either on the flop, or the turn, and I was unwilling to credit my aggressive opponents with trips. Even more unfortunately (for me), losing those pots caused me to get even more aggressive and get caught bluffing at some very large pots. And once that happens at a table, my image is shot, my reads veer off and I can't win a hand.
So, while I've had several winning sessions this last month, I've had a few far bigger losing sessions which have stopped me from seeing profit, and my lack of available playing time has prevented me from reversing these losses. My aim for this month is to get back into playing regularly, and to return to the grind of tight aggressive, and occasional smart aggressive play. If I can, I'll even try playing a Mookie if I can get the entry fee together on FTP! Good luck to all the bloggers.