It’s been too long... I used to be a regular on TH-P. For 40 hours a week I was connected to a monitor and mouse playing poker almost ever free second I had. Meanwhile I was juggling a full time job, fiancé and real life. I’d spend hours watching virtual chips flash across my screen with each bet, raise, call or fold. I did pretty well for myself; nothing to brag about. It wasn’t like I was pulling in tens of thousands a month. But the game afforded me some toys.

Then life came calling and I had to do a “soft retire” from the online world. The fiancé became my wife, we bought a house and I got promoted at the office. During the last year or so I’ve concentrated on my live game. Honing it on local games and making the drive up to AC with friends and grinding it out at the 1/2 or 2/4 NL tables.

There comes a time in every poker player’s life where they hit a wall. You make a decision that your game is stalled. You convince yourself that because you know the mechanics of the game, the odds and can find tells in most people that you have nothing more to learn. Delusional you are not because you have the sanity to realize you are just ok. You aren’t TV worthy, far from it, but think you are better than most people you know and are satisfied with your game. You don’t know how to take it to the next level so you think, “well this is it” and become content.

Then a funny thing happens on the way to the Tropicana, you learn something. You are sitting there playing your game when something flashes in your mind and you go with your gut instantly. You start seeing the cards differently. You start seeing the players differently. You still are just OK but things are changing. Then while sitting at home one night you say to your self, “self… let’s play online poker. I have the time again”.

You ease in to your first SnG and fall in to your own habits. But then something happens, you change gears and something internally takes over. Your mind kicks the bad habits to the curb like that goodie-goodie back in high school who was a tease and only believed in… I digress… You feel a change. You start to notice that you are playing online differently than you ever did. It feels good. It feels weird but good. You finish 3rd, then 2nd and then finally 1st in your first three SnGs. It is at that moment that you realize you have just taken your game to the next level without even realizing it.

It feels good to be back.

Welcome back!