Thanks so much for the kind words.

Quote Originally Posted by BooG690
Why the HELL isn't this cross-posted in the BC?
I guess I didn't double post out of modesty and put the single post here because I thought it flowed well with my blog, but I see your point.

Quote Originally Posted by Gobbatino
... how much experience did you have with poker before your two year hiatus? What games/stakes were you playing then?
I basically first started playing poker in 2004 casually live. Around 2005, I started to play live a little more regularly, but the games were still pretty small stake home games like $0.10/$0.20 blinds. On 1/30/2006, I started playing online for the first time. I struggled with cash games ($10NL), which was weird to me because live I did very well. I switched to $5 SNG's and had a respectable win-rate eventually doubling my initial $200 deposit. On 5/29/2006, I basically played my last game onlne or live until this past December of 2008. At the time, I was burned out and the UIGEA was on the horizon, so I stopped playing.

After two years, I started to get the itch again and decided to jump back in with a renewed focus on cash games and a renewed focus on the psychological aspect of the game. At the heart of why I first quit, I think, is that I hate to lose. It would really hurt me to have a live 8 hour session and not win a pot or worry about losing big all-ins online or whatever. Now that I realize that, I try to embrace those challenges. To quote Tommy Angelo, "I practice losing" when I'm not at the table, because it's inevitable and the true test of a poker player is how they handle it. That's one reason I preach bankroll management so much, because I know from experience how much it helps ease the psychological stress. To enjoy the good things about poker that I like, I have to be able to handle the bad. I can't lie and say losing sessions or losing in general completely rolls of my back, but I am a lot better than I was and I would say well above average for the player pool I see live and online at this writing.

So, in a nutshell, I definitely wasn't a stranger to the game, but in today's environment, it was important to start from scratch to get a pulse on the state of poker. But I also wanted to understand my real strengths and weaknesses and just build my game from the bottom up. I think the time off gave me a lot of perspective and helped my overall game. When you're in there playing so much, you can get very short sighted, so it's a breath of fresh air to take a big step back to see the whole picture.