The Bounce Back Kid!!

Lately I have been really in the slumps in both my personal, professional, and poker life. The past couple weeks have been a test of not collapsing under an enormous amount of stress. Within the past two weeks, my car was booted by the City of Chicago and then swiftly impounded. That was a mere $945 to get out of the pound, my brother looked out for me and paid it off but now im in the whole with him, paying him $100 every week when I get paid. On top of that, my job has been cutting hours due to the fact the company over hired due to a holiday rush that we haven't received. Now im only making $200 roughly per week. Oh and did I mention I have a frickin' title loan out on my car!!! I am a magnet for bad debt, oh and then there is poker. I dont think I have ran this bad is atleast a year or two. I have not been able to cash or atleast play well since I played in the WSOP Circuit Event back in October at the Horseshoe in Hammond, Indiana. I played well that day and was proud of myself, however since then, I have been in a slump and with all this other stuff going on around me I am in the dumps. With so much on my mind I want to escape into poker and have fun while I pick up pots from the fish at a ring game. However, in my state of mind I would be easy pickings. I have noticed that I dont have the confidence in my game I once did and if I dont have the conviction in my own skill how can I be successful. Well while going through my email I saw an article from Fulltiltpoker.com that has given me some perspective about things. And I would now like to share with you that particular article that was written by Matt Vengrin.

Recharging The Batteries: Matt Vengrin

One of the great things about poker, especially online poker, is that the game is always there when you're ready to play. It's not like being a baseball player, where you're at the mercy of your team's schedule, or like being a doctor, where you have to respond to emergency calls. With poker, you can walk away from the game for a little while, and it will be there when you get back. That's why I strongly advocate taking breaks occasionally, especially if you pick up on signs that your play isn't as sharp as it should be.

The main sign to look for is that your desire to play is waning. You should play poker when you want to play. It sounds obvious, but too many of us inexplicably keep playing even when we don't want to.

I also find that when I'm experiencing a lot of negative feelings, that's a good time for a break. If I'm feeling negative, not just from poker, but maybe from something else going on in my life, that's going to affect my play, usually for the worse.

The other thing I keep an eye out for is when I'm gambling more than usual. If I'm playing tournaments and I'm finding that I'm too willing to get all my chips in on a coin flip, that's a sign that I'm not playing my best and I need to walk away rather than let myself burn out.

Whatever your particular signs may be, the fact is that if you're consistently losing, chances are there's a reason for it. A lot of players will say, “Oh, I'm just running bad,” but it's rare that that's all there is to it.

And when I take a break, I really take a break − I totally distance myself from the game. I don't play at all for a few days. That allows me to take a step back, get a different perspective, and come back hungry to play well.

At the 2008 World Series of Poker, a situation arose where I called upon my discipline to take a break even though a part of me really didn't want to. My favorite event was coming up − Half Omaha/Half Hold 'Em - but I could feel myself getting burned out. I hadn't cashed yet and I'd finished on the bubble three times, so I was really demoralized.

Half Omaha/Half Hold 'Em is my favorite tournament and even though I was really looking forward to it, I knew if I played, I wasn't likely to do well and I would make myself tired for other upcoming events. So instead of playing, I headed to Malibu for a couple of days and visited a friend; I went to the beach and totally distanced myself from poker. And the first event I played when I got back was Event #29, $3,000 No-Limit Hold 'Em, and I placed third for a payday of more than $165,000, my biggest live tournament cash to date.

Basically, I liken a poker player's mental processing to a battery: when a battery's life runs low, you need to recharge it. And the best way to recharge is to take a little break from the game. You'll find that some of your best results come when your mind is fresh and when you're playing because you truly want to be playing.

......After reading this article I am going to take a little hiatus of playing poker and just relax and try to get these other circumstances resolved and garner my focus back to poker. I still plan on playing in a couple events in the WSOP events in 2009 so I am going to get prepaired by doing nothing and relaxing for a little bit. Stepping away to gain some perspective. I hope that those of you that are going through a tough time at the tables or in life just take a moment to take a step back and BREATHE!!!! I know it seems like there is no hope in sight, I still have some stress pinned inside while I write this, but I truely believe that everything will work out because it is supposed to and I know I deserve it.