Another month end

Two days ago a friend of mine asked me how I dealt with the stress of having to win consistently enough at poker to pay the bills. Stopping to think about it, I realised a strange thing: I don't feel any stress in that sense. I know I should, because winning (over the long term) is the most important thing about playing for a living, but I don't seem to deal with it in that way.

Instead I operate on a performance basis whereby I analyse how I played the day before, or how I've played so far this session. If I feel my performance in either has been lacking, I berate myself for playing poorly and attempt to 'screw down' and get back to my A-game. Other than that, I don't really think about the fact that I need to win consistently. It would just be a pointless worry and prove a big waste of time/energy.

As mentioned in a previous post, I recently went on my first snowboarding trip, and it was fantastic. Obviously, I had to beg my boss for ages before he'd let me have the time off work! ;- ) Me, my girlfriend, and a big group of people from the ski club of my old company flew out to Italy and enjoyed a winding bus ride up to the ski village of Folgarida. Here is a picture of the view from the nearby slopes:

We went there with barely 4 hours of boarding lessons under our belts, no equipment and no mountain experience whatsoever. Luckily, the package we were on included 6 days of lessons and all the snowboarding gear we required - the mountain experience we were to gain the hard way!

We started off recapping the basics: toe- and heel-edge slides and 'falling leaf' maneuvres. By the end of day one we were doing garland turns down a blue run, by day two we were doing linking turns, and by the end of the week we were agreeing that snowboarding and holidays that involve snowboarding are the best things ever!

Here is another shot, this time of myself and Faye basking in the sun after a strenuous morning lesson...

We had a blast out there, ate a ton (it's not optional when you're on the slopes 7 hours a day), and came home with more injuries than I've received in 2 years of kungfu! Really was good, I'd recommend it to anyone who enjoys exercise, speed and danger(!), and will most likely be going again next year, probably with the same people (Equity Ski).

Anyway, back to poker and the results some of you are keen to hear. This month, with a holiday and a hallway to paint, had less than 3 working weeks available to me, but I still managed to make the most of it.

My first week I only worked 4 days (see painting), but I managed a decent number of hours and days in the remaining weeks:

My monthly average is creeping slowly upwards, and my bankroll is still growing so I can't complain. Soon as I stop having days where I lose over 5 buyins because of bad play, I might even be satisfied!

Just wanted to say thanks again to everyone who reads and comments on my blog, your interest and advice is all useful, and I thank you for your time and support. Also to all you bloggers out there, sorry if I haven't been active myself in the reading and commenting, will get back on it this coming week! Best of luck all....