The last few weeks.

In my last post, I said that I would post results for 8/19-8/25 "tommorow".  That was several days ago.   Our lives (my wife and I) have been turned upside down the last few weeks:

1. Americas Cardroom has been making all kinds of changes, most of them bad, and there have been times where there were literally no tournaments available that I could afford to play.

2. My grandchildren have been over a lot, sometimes overnight, or several times in one week.

3. My wife's car wound up in the shop for several days.  Mine was totaled in an accident recently.  We had to rent a car, and extend the rental time twice, while we waited to see when/if her car would be repaired.

As someone with ADD, I don't exactly thrive on chaos. When I don't approach life with a plan and a schedule, chaos happens.  It doesn't happen often, because I know what I'm dealing with, and what I have to do to manage it.

But everything got away from me.  I had no schedule, and in fact some days we didn't know if we would have a car.  Planning when to play poker was out of the question, because we didn't always know how we were going to get around, or when the girls would be here.  We were reacting, and for me that's never a good thing.  But today, for the first time in weeks, I felt like I finally had things under control.

My wife's car is fixed.  The rental has to be returned tomorrow.  I was scheduled for jury duty this week, but today (Labor Day) is a federal holiday, and I don't have to report tomorrow, so I only have three days, Wednesday through Friday, when my plans are on hold.  My daughter-in-law and her girls now know when they leave for Germany.  They will be on a plane Saturday, and we will be there to see them off.  I finally know what's going on, and that, for me, is a really big deal.

Tonight I played a regular tournament (not just a one-table SNG) and I was excited and at the same time relaxed.  My bankroll had dwindled down to about $30, but I never gave up, and I never doubted my ability

I got a lot of breaks tonight, and I got more than my share of good cards.  But it's my job to take advantage of that when it happens, and I did.  The entry fee was $5.50, and there were 131 players.  I came in second, for a cash of $91.70.

That's how it's supposed to work.  There will be downswings, and there will be long stretches when it seems like all I can do is break even.  Being an MTT specialist is about getting the occasional large cashes that can make a week, a month, or even a year.  So, I'm back, and I'm making a renewed effort to spend more of my time on study.

My current bankroll of $115.48 isn't much, but it's a lot better than $30.  Now I have at least a little room to operate.  I'm learning to apply the things I've studied when I play, and I know that I'm only going to get better.

In a recent discussion on the 2+2 poker forums, someone asked if older players (meaning roughly over age 50) could remain competitive.  I responded that Doyle Brunson won a World Series of Poker Bracelet in 2009--at age 76.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doyle_brunson

I'm only 56, and I plan on getting a lot better, and on earning a real income from this game.  I'm not going to be ready for a rocking chair at age 65.  I plan to be playing a lot of poker, and maybe even running another marathon to celebrate my birthday..  I got a run in today, and the 89 degree heat didn't phase me at all.  It was a very good day.

I will try to catch up on posting week-by-week results in the next few days, but this time I'm not making any promises about exactly when that will happen.