Ok so I know I've been a ghost for the last couple of months but can you forgive me? Will you still read my blog? You will? OK Great.---Wanted to try modeling my blogging after the great Haseeb Qureshi, not gonna be doing that again.

So how's poker been for me the last couple of months? Awful, abysmal, dreadful, disastrous. Granted I haven't had the bankroll that I feel is sufficient for the grinding I want to do but the reason I haven't gotten there is a combination of things. Yeah, I've run bad but who doesn't? Yeah I've been going on some tilt, but who doesn't? And yeah, PLO competition has gotten more difficult, but we all know that. Everytime I scan the 1/2 tables I chuckle seeing guys I used to see playing 5/10 and above. When I used to look at the 1/2 tables I would see names like ihandyoumoney22 and imgonnashipwithaces and it was dead money.

Anyways the bottomline is this: Most people first of all only blog about their success (badges, and medals and ribbons and great months)...I'm not that guy. Good month or bad month I'm going to talk about it because I think people deserve to know the truth. The other bottomline is that I'm still confident that I can turn it around and pull off a successful summer. Don't believe me? Keep reading my blog and you will see the positive results come flowing in. But of course, if I'm not performing well then you will hear about that too.

Cha Cha,

Miguel

Had a nice day just chilling and watching some Masters. Aside from a few moments where Tiger seemed to have lost his composure he looked great out there, I was so impressed as I'm sure many of you are. Also very happy to see Phil get another win. I remember meeting him about five years ago before he had really started to make his breakthrough. He's such a nice guy and with everything he's gone through with his wife it's great to see him having such success. Today I was thinking about how similar golf and poker can be (which is something I've read before) but is just too true. I was talking to one of my friends and said how one poor hole performance can just ruin a round and he reminded me in poker that one poorly played hand or bad beat can set off a session as well. In both games your mentality has to be 100% there for success and patience is so key. Being an emotional and competitive person I might want to rethink my passion for the two!

-Michael

I'm cool like butter, ripe like roast/fucked a girl last weekend and then ordered french toast/
She got outta bed and made it real fast, she knows if she hadn't she'd be laying in a cast/
This is what's expected for a guy like me, pussy money and weed is my philosophy/
That's all I'm in the mood for now, this is me taking my cyber bow

I woke up today thinking about the age old question in poker, "Are you addicted?" I'm thinking about it because of a conversation I recently had with my parents about poker. I'm pretty straightforward with my dad about how I'm doing and whatnot. In the past when I've been winning he doesn't say im addicted but gets a little upset that it's taking up too much time. Nonetheless he will take opportunities he gets to ask me about how I'm doing and watch me play. However, upon informing him of a recent downswing, he told me that I need to stop playing, that I'm becoming addicted. So I guess this makes me wonder: Is it only being addicted if you're losing?
I think part of this is true in that if a losing player keeps losing and can't come to terms with their skill level, continuing to lose more money, then yes this might be characteristic of someone who is addicted. But take someone like me for instance who has been a consistent winner for a couple of years now and has control over where and when I play. I don't believe I'm even remotely addicted and very rarely does poker overlap with my personal life. I'd like to blog more about this but I've gotta run to class so I might add another entry later. Just something to think about, hope some people can relate.

-Michael

You get it in with nuts or 2nd to nuts 5 times in a HU session and lose 4/5...haha just another one of those sessions which is so rough to have coming off a bad session from before. I really duno how people handle the plo variance as a career. I guess I'd have to mix in other games to do it because I can't go through runs this bad and keep my head straight. The 4/5 I said doesn't even include the other pots where it'd be like top two vs. some rivered gutter or something that aren't even worth mentioning because they're pathetic.

I've been reading The Poker Mindset lately and many of the ideas are interesting. I decided to get it on the advice of a few friends and it's definitely been helpful. A lot of my strategies, though they had been winning ones, have proved to go against a mindset that will be profitable over time. I think my biggest weakness has been looking at my profit on a session-to-session basis instead of over time. I can rattle of 20 winning days in a row but if I lose all of that on the 21st day then what's the point? So basically just trying to put these concepts into use and continue the struggle of controlling my emotions.
In other news, exams fast approaching and before I know it it'll be summer. Long summer but it should be a lot of fun and a nice break from school. Will be watching the sweet 16 later this week and can't wait to see how Cornell (a.k.a the fighting Hastings') do against Kentucky. Should be interesting! That's al for now guys, gl at the tables.

-Michael

So I haven't blogged too much recently but that's mainly because I was recently removed from the featured blog queu due to a dispute with another cr member. It's been resolved so I'm just waiting to be moved back into the section. Basically, readership was down as a result of being pulled so I felt a little annoyed with the whole situation but it should be back in there soon.
In terms of poker I've been doing well, shipped a 24+2 a week ago and have been doing a nice job of building since then. Got a chance to play isildur for a little bit and it was definitely entertaining, he's a very creative player. I definitely think nlhe is his much stronger game as his results show, but he still has a solid grasp of plo. I've been taking some shots and they've been paying off so hopefully I can continue my climb.
Also, miniftops is coming up and I'll definitely be running some events so hope to see some of you guys in the field. GL at the tables

-Michael

Hey guys, hope everyone's getting excited about how close we're getting to spring/warm weather, I know I am! But I also might just be in a good mood because I got a nice tournament ship that felt good (esp considering I stayed up till 6 am to finish it off). It was a great bankroll boost and I hope to have continued success.
I also just saw Shutter Island and I gotta say if anyone hasn't seen it you need to hop in your car and get to the theater asap. It had such a sick twist and it was really such a classic Scorsese movie. I'm still shuddering just thinking about the movie! I'm on Spring Break and i'll be going back to school at the end of this week but it's definitely nice to be able to relax, eat good food, and grind. Finally shout out to Rutgers for actually having a decent season this year in the big east (15-14 overall so far), go knights.

-Michael

I run so bad it hurts