Spirituality, Rush Poker, and Winrates

Just got home from church. If you're not much into religion, just skip the next couple of paragraphs. I, for one, am somewhat of a devoted christian and make an effort to attend church on a weekly basis. W/ that said, I missed church the last couple of weeks and whenever I do so, it seems to leave an emptiness within me for the rest of the week. Now I'm not one to impose religious beliefs on others, even though being a christian, it is part of the duties that come w/ being one. I think having some sort of spiritual guidance is beneficial to living a happy and productive life..although one can live one w/o it I guess. It's the idea of believing in a higher presence that controls all things, inc. our lives and for me, that brings me a sense of inner peace. In turn, the inner peace allows me to control my emotions better and make more rational decisions. Obviously you can see how it can help my poker game...just keeping me in a peaceful state of mind...plus it never hurts to have God on your side. It allows me to sleep better at nights as well, knowing that God is watching over my family and myself.

If you are ever in Las Vegas and thinking about attending a church for any reason, I highly recommend the one I attend. It's called the Crossing...

http://www.thecrossingonline.com/

They are not a specific denomination of Christianity. They just tout themselves as a Christian church. It is a very big church..w/ several hundreds attending each of the 4 sunday services. It is a very modern church, w/ a rock and roll'ish style band w/ a drummer and several guitarists. The music is current (christian music). Even the pastors dress casually, usually a collared shirt and jeans and they preach biblical stories intertwined w/ modern times. I tend to get bored during your typical sermon, but have never been bored since attending this church. It's about as hip and cool a church can get, which in turn makes it more appealing to attend.

So I played some rush poker on ftp last night. I ended up having my worst session of the year so far in terms of buyins lost. I lost $3400 playing $1-2, which is 17 buyins, over 3400 hands. For the most part, I played well. I just ran incredibly bad. Ran KK into AA 4 times. Lost money w/ every pp excluding AA, 55, and 22 (go figure). Lost money w/ AK, AQ, and AJ. Most of the hands just played themselves basically, so it wasn't like I was spewing or anything. I can list every hand that I got stacked w/, but nearly all of them are standard. I guess I should be happy that I ran this bad at stakes smaller than I usually play. Had another friend over sweating me, so I decided to play some rush poker so I can play less tables and have time to explain some things. I basically kept repeating "Wow, how bad am I running tonight?!"...lol..sorry Jon. I can't complain too much because I am running above ev this month. I was winning at a rate of 10ptbb/100 before last night and now stand at 6ptbb/100 this month, which isn't shabby. Also I'm up about $23k, so I can't bitch and moan too much.

Speaking of win rates, that seems to be how people measure how good a poker player is nowadays. I know I've been doing well this year, in terms of wr, w/ the help of running above ev (I'll take it). I recently checked table ratings to see where I stand on ftp's list of top winners for the year. Here is the link...

http://www.pokertableratings.com/fulltilt-top-hold%27em-winners-year/NL

I stand around 18th w/ about $94k won and a win rate at about 5ptbb/100 over 200k hands. Granted, this list is only for nl and excludes plo and cap nl, which require different sets of strategies. Nonetheless it looks like I have the highest win rate among players w/ a min. of 100k hands, let alone 200k hands. Also, everyone above me in terms of money won play higher, mostly $10/20+ and inc. nosebleed stakes, so I do feel a sense of accomplishment so far. I play on Stars and am up a few thousand on there as well, albeit w/ a slightly smaller win rate. I am planning on playing bigger games as the year progresses (assuming I keep winning steadily) and expect my win rate to go down as the games get tougher, but hopefully win more money due to the higher stakes. All the studying and improving my game the past few months is paying off. This time I won't get complacent and will keep on improving my game! If all of this sounds like a brag, then maybe it is...it's my blog and haters can gtfo (wow I've been reading too much 2+2).

I'm not forgetting my ultimate goal..to try my hardest to achieve 7 figs in profit this year, and I'll start posting my monthly totals on the side bar soon.

Irl, saw "Alice in Wonderland" the other day w/ the family and I was disappointed. Heard a lot of good things about it, but it bored me somewhat. My kid liked it so I guess that matters more. Speaking of my kid, she put on a grandiose performance at the Junior Festival yesterday. Basically she played her pieces on the piano very well and got a superior (equivalent to an A) on her grade, so she'll be expecting her trophy soon. If I sound like a proud dad, that's because I am. I am, however, not a very proud UCLA alum w/ the basketball season they had. Only mentioning this because the NCAA bracket came out today. Oh well, maybe next year.