Dealing w/ losses

I'd like to say I got off on a good note after starting my blog, but lady luck wasn't having any of it I guess. I played last night when I probably shouldn't have. Only got 2hrs of sleep the night before, so I was extremely tired and my focus wasn't there. Damn the FTOPS! Wouldn't have played any poker but the FTOPS started and I decided to play in the 1st one. Along the way, I opened up some cash game tables and promptly got into a downswing. Anyway the night ended w/ me losing about $5800 in cash games and another $300 in mtts so obv. wasnt my best night. I'm not too bummed, cuz I usually don't let losses affect me, esp. after doing this for so long now (that's 12 yrs now fulltime).

I understand the variance and I've come to embrace it actually, and so should everyone. It helps keep your emotions in check if you realize that in the short term, anything and everything can happen, like losing a ton of flips, getting into coolers, etc. Once you realize that and can control your emotions better, you'll tilt less and make a lot less mistakes. That's been one of the reasons why I've been successful over the years. I'm not a great poker player by any means. I'm pretty good, multitable very well, and I pretty much never tilt and I make less mistakes than most, so I stay consistent, and my results show that over the long run. Anyway here is my graph so far this month... :(

Ended up going to bed around 2am. I was smart enought to realize I wasn't that sharp and know that the game will be here when I wake up (unless the gov't decides otherwise, but that's a subject for another time). Also, I really didn't want to get up this morning, w/ being so tired and partially due to the loss, but I always get up to see my kid off to school. Kids will remember these kinds of things when they grow up and I'd love to have the best relationship w/ my only child if I can. My parents and I weren't close, mainly cuz of the cultural differences..them being from Korea, and me growing up in the states.

In other news, it's funny how some things work out in life. For a player w/ as much success as I have had in the past 12 yrs, I've gone largely unnoticed, esp in this day and age w/ the internet. I don't mind it really, cuz I was never out to get into the spotlight, even when poker was being televised everywhere. Didn't mind it seeing lesser players achieving fame. I even turned down a couple of opportunities before to make videos for training sites and possibly join one as a pro if the videos were well received. My goal in poker was always to provide the best quality of life I could for myself and my family.

But w/ that said, couple of things just transpired that may thrust me into the public consciousness some. Besides starting my own blog, I just signed on to write a monthly strategic article for Canadian Poker Magazine (this happened yesterday, after starting this blog, so I did not time all this together, just a lot of coincidence). I know that magazine doesn't have a big distribution, and you have to be living in Canada to even see it, but if you are, just keep an eye out for me in upcoming issues.

Also, a good friend of mine here in Vegas just got his own web show on Cardplayer.com. We went out to dinner the other night and he asked me for some ideas for a good online poker show. If anyone has any suggestions, feel free to comment on it. Anyway, sounds like I could be making some appearances on it from time to time, depending on subject matter.

So I am getting the hang of blogging now, and I will work on it to make it more appealing. Again if anyone has any suggestions, feel free to chime in anytime. I am online a lot and do read just about everything. I haven't really decided how to approach what subjects to talk about mostly..like lifestyle of being a poker player w/ a family, or just mostly strategic stuff. I will prob. focus on the life 1st, as there are a lot of bloggers who write about strategy, but I may bring up a few pts. here and there about certain strategic stuff, inc. some hands from time to time. Anyway, I'm off to organize some paperwork and work on getting my home loan modified (cuz isn't that what most homeowners are doing nowadays?).