Good to be back...

Arrived back from Majorca at 1am last night after an enjoyable weeks break.It didn't start well though thanks to the useless incompetents at ResortHoppa who managed to keep us waiting for the transfer coach for nearly two hours.I spend all year round dealing with complaints and the first thing I have to do when we get off the plane in Spain is complain! Glad I did as everyone else just seemed to stand around accepting the situation.

The holiday itself was just what was needed.The Hotel Duva was well worth the money and apart from a couple of cloudy days the weather was great.It did get a bit chilly at night ( 55f-63f most nights) but that didn't stop me enjoying a few beers and a smoke on the balcony whilst contemplating the world and playing pro-evo soccer 5 on my Psp.Next break will probably a two week holiday in the Canary Islands in September.Time to get saving...

To the poker and a couple of observations from the $50 SNG I won before my holiday.I played the turbo sng after deciding that would be where I could best reduce the advantage that regular $50 sng type players would have over me.I was feeling a bit aprehensive when I sat down and was worried about being totally outplayed until I watched the first player bomb out with a horrendous play and realised that as I couldn't do any worse,I may aswell enjoy the ride.

The first thing I noticed was that people actually folded to my pre-flop bets! My first was with AJ from late position after a couple of orbits and as I was trying to compose myself to deal with a caller or two and the flop,I realised they'd all folded.I'd changed my game and dropped my lethal limping micro-stakes cash game strategy for much more of a raise or fold philisophy.I don't think anyone played back at me until about my 6th raise!

After a few players had dropped out and I'd won a few hands ,the penny dropped with me that while most of these players may be ahead of me as far as skills go, they would still only enjoy the same small edge over me that I have over the weakest players at the micro-stakes.The stakes may have been higher but it was still the same game.Looking forward to playing more qualifiers and taking more shots at that level of sng in the future.

One topic ( yes just the one) that came to mind whilst playing at a 6 max table recently is that of the mindset of the micro-stakes player.Some may simply say "blank" and leave it at that but it struck me that for someone like myself playing at such low stakes,I really do take the game seriously and I began to wonder if that's the way I should be looking at it.

Actually my personality dictates it's the only way I can play but it came to mind after I'd been sat at a particularly chatty table.I was playing my usual aprox 30% of hands ( 6 max nl) and began getting comments like "Acorn has woken up",when I played a hand and after doubling my buy-in "he must be the Flying Scotsman" etc.Funny stuff but I only replied with the occasional "thx" or "nh" as I usually do and I wondered to myself if I have it all wrong.I'm sure some players can mix both the light hearted chat and play their best game but I like to be in a certain frame of mind to play well and that doesn't include being friendly with the other players.

Juice sometimes says I seem angry at the tables ( in the im chat) but I don't see it that way.I don't think having a healthy contempt for the rest of the table is a bad thing.Helps me deal with bad beats too as I expect to be outdrawn by some fish with no pot odds some of the time.Afterall that's what wins me money in the long term.

I said a few posts back that I play poker for the money and I do but really if I was motivated by money so much I could probably earn quadruple last years poker profits by working overtime in my 9-5 job.Money won is twice as sweet as money earned and that's probably what keeps me focussed along with pride and ambition.For a nano-second I thought about withdrawing my bankroll,cutting right down on my play and simply depositing $20-$50 every weekend and having fun with it at the tables until its gone,chattting it up big style,making crazy moves and never worrying about bb's per hour,whether pockets pairs should always be played in a raised pot due to implied odds etc.Just for a nano-second though...

All the above does not mean that everytime I sit down to play I'm 100% focussed on playing my best game.Obviously that should be the correct approach but my mindset at my 6 max bread and butter money earner is usually different to the more leisurely approach I take when moving down to play a full ring game at .15-.30 whilst chatting it up with Juice and co.I'm not sure I want to change that either as we all need an outlet to make some wilder plays and take some gambles sometimes without putting very much of my roll at risk.

Ok that's enough of a ramble to start back with.Only played one $10 turbo sng last night to get back into the swing of da game and came a poor 5th and that was after my A2 had sucked out a straight v QQ.I was exhausted after a long day and called the game a bogey after that.

Going over to my old folks with the family for Sunday dinner shortly and hope to hit the tables later.My post holiday blues are lifting,after a real downer of a last day.We all had a great time and Step A made a few wee friends too after being pushed a little into making the effort.This Step Dad lark is not always the easiest deal in the world it has to be said.Big thanks again to Rosie for a comment she left sometime ago in a previous post on the subject.Nuff said!

Time to end with a Bill Hicks quote .."Children are smarter than any of us. Know how I know that? I don't know one child with a full time job and children."