Hey fellas, here's another thrilling blog about a couple things I do called poker and golf.



At some point in June I realized that all year long I have had a common trend with my poker ebb and flow. I crush and print money and can do no wrong, eventually get overconfident and sloppy, and go on a tailspin. Inside of that, every time I am nearing a point of getting comfortable life $ wise I inevitably go on a bad run, and when I am struggling $ wise I start to do well. I guess this is pretty typical of most poker players, but I am glad I am fully aware of it now that way I can appreciate the fragility of my good results, and also increase my awareness when things are going poorly.

I've started to keep track of my focus and distraction level in 15-20 minute blocks during my sessions, so when I lose a bunch but my focus remains high and distractions during play are low, I know I'm at least on the right track. In my last session on Tuesday I sat there and texted the entire time and proceeded to lose $500. If I was staking guys and I knew one of my horses was goofing off on his phone while he was playing he would be cut off immediately. I can't exactly cut myself off from myself, so losing a bunch of money will have to be sufficient discipline. It does get boring sometimes, but it is my job and I have to treat it that way if I want to maximize my profit, which sometimes apparently I don't want to do.


(poker content done, boring golf upcoming)

I've been hard at work on my golf game for the last 3+ months and I'm finally starting to see some progress. I'm set up with a great coach at the course I play here, and weekly sessions with him have helped me improve my game and also allowed me to stay on top of things before they go haywire.

I played in 3 Canadian Tour Monday Qualifiers in June. The first one was at Uplands in Victoria, I shot 71 and got into a 5 man playoff for the final 2 of 4 spots. I was nervous in the playoff, but I was pretty pleased I gave myself the chance to even be nervous since it was only my 2nd tournament in the last 2-3 years. I ended up making bogey on the first playoff hole, I had a bit of an uncomfortable chip since my short game had holes in it at the time, then was so nervous on an 8 footer for par I didn't even manage to properly go through my routine, so I didn't get in the top 4. By Tuesday morning I was 1st alternate for the event so I was pretty sure I'd get into the field. I got to spend the week at the course playing practice rounds but Thursday came and went and none of the 156 guys dropped out of the field so I was pretty disappointed.

The next one was in Edmonton. I played ok all day, I knew I was pretty much right there with a great chance but I butchered the last 2 holes, shot 74, and missed by 3. Edmonton is where my parents and brother live so at least I got to have a good time visiting them. The next week was Fort McMurray where I got the chance to play 10 holes in a practice round with 2 time World Long Drive Champion Jamie Sadlowski. The guy was unbelievable. The first hole I played with him he gripped down about 3 inches and made a baby swing and still hit it 350. I shot 78 in the qualifier there and just felt horrible about my game all day, no confidence and even less trust in anything I was doing.

Overall I was pleased that there were a number of spots I performed well under pressure. There were also times that I reacted poorly to the pressure, but they were related to my mental routine more than a physical breakdown. Also I was only playing to a 0 last month which isn't good enough to play on the Canadian Tour anyways.

Since I got back home I've got my ball striking sorted out a bit and I've kept my last 5 rounds between 68-72 to get me to a +2. I've still got a number of things to get better at, but I am happy to see a bit of progress.

I'm planning to spend this winter in Phoenix playing on the Gateway Tour but I need to get better than just a +2 if I want to compete, and also need to play way more hours of poker, but then on top of that I actually have to win a lot of money, so we'll see how that goes.

k ttyl bye