Voy Por Ustedes

I'm back from Aspers, obviously. I didn't win unfortunately. Alan and I did make the final table though. I won't disclose how many runners there were cause it's none of your business, all you need to know is that my game didn't disgrace me on this occasion apart from maybe a goofy raise with 6-5 off-suit from early position which I knew was getting called...long story.

Not being sent hurtling to the rail within the first orbit has restored some faith in my approach to the game though and delayed the knee jerk reaction I have whenever I experience a bit of a slump, which is to reach for the Harrington books.

Back to basics, that sort of thing, but this only causes further conflict within me because you see, I've had to accept that my playing style mirrors my personality and I cannot deny the person I am. I'm the creative type, me. I'm a maverick, a loose cannon, totally unpredictable, which are all gentle euphemisms for, I've got the most illogical brain ever so I have to wing it a lot and just pretend I knew what I was doing when I'm successful.

The Gus Hansen type books hold far more fascination for me than the Harrington books is what I'm saying, so reading Harrington on Hold 'em just fills my head with strategies that are totally incompatible with my personality and desire to play fast and freely and without an ounce of rationality. For the nerds reading this, it's like trying to load OS-X onto a PC.

Gus and Dan, they're both in my head..but I have to learn to reconcile the two advices. One of my favourite books as a child written by Andrew Bronin was about two raccoon brothers called Gus and Buster. "Gus and Buster work things out," it was called.

One brother you see was very neat and tidy and orderly and the other was a totally free spirit, lived each moment as it came and was a messy eater... through the four short stories they learned how to live with each other - to accept each others faults and learn from each others abilities. Awwww lovely. I'm fucking filling up now...give me a sec.

So anyway, yes. I have to do the same. To allow my natural arbitrary way of doing things to add the necessary misdirection to my game, without it sending me down too many dark alleyways and to learn how to chill the fuck out and be patient enough to pick the right spots when I'm feeling all Banzai. I've got four short tournaments left to learn how to do this.