Holiday Update

What kind of blogger writes a blog once a month? I guess I'll blame it on the busy holiday season but it really boils down to a combination of laziness and a less than glamorous streak of medicore poker. Christmas has passed...New Year's is about here...and life is no less busy.

The Christmas season was great for my family. The three kids (11, 9, and 5) got pretty much everything they asked for except for the laptop for the 11-year old and a cellphone for the 9-year old (We have to draw the line somewhere, don't we?). They got a new puppy ("Rudy") and I surprised the whole gang with a family vacation to Beaches Boscobel (Jamaica) in July. We recently started going to a different church after being at the same one for 35 years so it was a very uplifting and revitalized Christmas season for my wife and I.

As a diehard Chargers fan, it's been quite a last month. Put out to pasture after week 13, somehow..someway...every miracle that could happen did and they were given an opportunity to play for the AFC West title on Sunday. We had purchased ten (10) tickets to this game 2 days after the Hochuli fiasco in week 2 and, at the time, never would have thought the game wouldn't mean anything. As the season progressed, it appeared as if the game would be nothing more than a tune-up for Denver and their playoff hopes. But Dwayne Bowe (KC) fumbled an onside kick and somehow the Bills found it in their souls to fight the Broncos in Denver and there we were on Sunday fighting for the division title. My boss' family and my family went down to San Diego on Saturday and got up early Sunday morning for the tailgating scene. We had a great time tailgating (it was the first game for the kids) and the game, obviously, was incredible. Objectively, I did have an inkling that the Chargers might blow them out. Every single thing pointed towards a big win and I know in the NFL anything can happen but Qualcomm is becoming an increasingly difficult place to play late in the season.

If you refer to one of my September posts, I made a considerable amount of over/under NFL bets with various friends. I ended up taking the worst of it for around $225 which was offset by my 2nd place finish in my Church fantasy league for $275. San Diego and New England screwed me....Dallas and Miami helped me.

Poker has quickly fallen down my list of high priorities over the past month. I don't know if the continued responsibilities of home and work coupled with an overall deterioration of my game have led to my attitude but, as I was telling a friend at work today, for the first time in four years, I haven't played much poker and I really don't care. I understand that a lack of big cashes will often lead to a distaste for the game but for me, it has become really monotonous. I have been unable to put in the time necessary to allow my game to evolve over the past months. I consider myself relative dead money in MTT's now and I have no one to blame but myself. I do think the online scene has become more difficult since the UIGEA but not to the point that I should have the results I've thrown up (<----aptly put) over the past 6 months.

I continue to enjoy the poker "scene" and spend a considerable amount of time on pokerroad.com reading the forums and listening to all of the podcasts. I guess I'll never get over my affinity for the gambling/poker lifestyle. I'm sure I can rekindle my poker candle sometime in the near future but for now, I've got to make sure I don't blow my whole bankroll during my "funk." For Christmas, my boss (and close friend) bought me a book titled Talent is Over-Rated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else. I'm really looking forward to reading it because as I read the cover notes, it talked about a concept called "Deliberate Practice." It is a concept that the author writes is what separates the good from the best. Not god-given talent and not "hard work" but "Deliberate Practice." I'm hoping to gleen some nuggets of wisdom that might crossover to my poker game.

I'm heading to Vegas this weekend for a "Wild-card" party. My buddy and I planned this around 3 months ago and are looking forward to sitting around and watching football all weekend. I would have never in a million years thought the Chargers would be hosting a playoff game but I can't change the plans now. We're staying at Bally's (what can I say...free rooms!) but I'm sure I will slide over to the Bellagio throughout the weekend.

I'll end on a Mixed Martial Arts rant...I can't wait for Brock to kick Frank Mir's ass...I can't wait for Rampage to kick Rashad Evans' ass...I can't wait for BJ to kick GSP's ass...I can't wait for Chuck to kick someone's ass...Why the fuck is the DREAM New Year's card not on American TV?... I don't want Franklin or Henderson to lose their fight...Arlovski v. Fedor is going to be good.

Thanks for reading,

W2D