Hit an (inevitable?) downswing since my last post about how great my results were. Last friday I played pretty loose and had a very swingy sometimes erratic session to the tune of a 4 BI loss. After playing so cool and confident the week before I was heavily discouraged but realized that this was exactly what I was trying to work on, so I pulled it all together and put in two very solid sessions, still managing to lose another 4.5 BI running horribly. I even played a little 100nl because I saw a soft table and felt like I was in the emotional zone to pwn.

Had a session at Probability's pad last night where I recorded my play and we reviewed it together. Happily, the mistakes I am making are more and more detailed in nature and have to do with getting caught up in generalized thinking and maxims rather than a thoughtful analyses of my opponents' ranges and deciding on the best course of action. I realize that this is the poker wall I am hitting and think I just need to spend the rest of this month working on that (along with responding to adversity). I am generally pleased with my responses in the small stakes forum, and need to apply that to real time game decisions. I know I won't be able to work on it playing 4 tables, which for me, currently, constitutes "grinding," and I don't think is conducive to creating new behavior and thought patterns. Later this week, I will have some hands to post.

Aside from poker, I have been reading "The Omnivore's Dilemma," by Michael Pollan and recently watched the movie "Food Inc." It has given me a lot to think about in terms of what I choose to eat, and would recommend them to anyone trying to improve their eating habits. Seems like most of the foods that are bad for you are also bad for the planet, the farming community, the livestock, the food processing laborers, and pretty much everyone involved. I think a fundamental change in perspective and the way we evaluate the consequences of our food choices is probably the most potent weapon in saying "no" to junk food which is just outright designed and marketed to be habit forming. A lot of the newer research has concluded that the effect of junk food on your brain is similar to addictive drugs in terms of the chemicals released and neural pathways created. You basically need to see these products for what they are to really change your behavior. I don't think we can go on much longer with our current food system to be perfectly honest. Corn is pretty much taking over the United States. Sounds pretty flippant, but it is actually frighteningly true.

Play well. Do good work. Keep in touch.

PFJ