What a Difference

I use to give advice that a couple days away from poker was a good thing and we all needed it. I still whole heartedly agree with that concept but now begin to wonder if it isn't long enough.

I have been away from constant poker now for over 6 weeks. I have continued my work on the site as well as play in the weekly 72os freeroll league but for the most part haven't sat down to "grind it out" for a while. Now with the family getting back to normal operations after grandpa's passing and kids back in school, I have gotten back into a daily routine of playing.

I picked Pacific Poker to start mainly because I haven't been there and just felt like starting something new would be a good way to get back into things. I bought the handgrabber for Poker Tracker to get the Pacific hand histories and also had to reload it from the hard drive crash and reset the auto rater. See, I had done nothing to prepare for this.

I started back at $1/$2 just to get my feet wet again and figure I would rapidly move back up after I cleared the bonus and felt comfortable. Well, I must say I fell back into this smoothly. I am not saying my game isn't a little rusty, I'm a little slow reading other peoples hand's as well as reading betting sign's but I am soooo relaxed.

I have had one losing session out of 4 and my three wins have been big and the losing one rather small. I am enjoying the game much more as well as being very patient. Of course the patience is rather easy when you know you will get paid off when the big one comes around. I am a lot more on top of the emotional side of the game now and can see clearer the burn out I was starting to experience.

I had written before about losing my patience and I was not really in the moment when I played. A losing hand or session would quickly put me on edge and I started to second guess my game as well as poker as a whole. I guess it took me this long to realize how far gone I had gotten and now I feel sharp again and ready to deal with the inevitable's.

I know enough to realize that there will be losing sessions and suck outs and bad beats. I think I know enough now to see when a break will be needed and hopefully smart enough to make that break long enough. I never considered weeks away from the game to be a good thing. I guess I was wrong. My advice to everyone from now on will be "Take as much time as you need to actually forget about the game and then return"

Pacific Poker

Man, welcome back!

$1/$2
BB/100 hands - +25.75
Went to Showdown - 11.11%
Won at Showdown - 100%
First hand won - KJo late with a K on flop and J on turn and Ax calling me down with ace high :).
Worst beat - AA to 86o

Ok, it was only a small 1 1/2 hour session but it was my first session in over a month! So a quick reveiw of Pacific Poker since this is my first time there.

Likes:

Bonus - It is $100 which in now a days standards may be low but they give it to you up front like the casinos do and you can use it. Must wager $2000 before cashing bonus. Not a bad deal.

Comp Points - Every 100 comp points gets you $1. May not be a lot but I like the concept of loyalty = money.

SnG's - Ok, I am no expert at these and they do start you with only 800 chips BUT they have low limit 4 table tournaments that pay well. I played in a $2.50 one that payed 1-3 $50 - $30 and $20 respectively. Not bad and no breaks so they play rather quickly. (I finished 5th)

Software - I like that the chat is totally seperate and you don't see it unless you want to. Software is OK fast and I never had connect problems. (I am on DSL)

Layout - This will go in both lists. Very user friendly. Don't have to go searching through tabs to find what you are looking for. All right there in lobby. Tables on one side, tournaments on other.

Play - So far seems very fishy. No draw to remote or pair to low to call you down with. Good tight aggreesive play will win a lot of money but just be prepared for the suck outs to take a big pot or two.

Dislikes:

Multi table - you can not multi table at Pacific. Trust me, you can make just as much at one table (LOL)

Layout - For me the tables are too dark. I know that is minor but it bugs me.

Pop Ups - There are not a lot of options to customize the look and feel of the site and like must sites now a days have little pop up announcements for there tournaments that just irk me. To me it is like a fly that will not go away. They were few and far between but still a pet peeve of mine.

There you have it folks....POKER CONTENT!!

Till Next Time!