Back on the Felt

Hi and welcome to my new poker blog … Real Fun Poker. I’ve blogged poker before, but this time … I’m trying something a little different.

I’m Buzz … and like many people, I had a dream of becoming … well if not professional, at least semi-pro at poker.  Like many I started my poker journey back in late 2005 playing $1 Sit n Goes on Stars.  I moved up to $5 SnG’s before discovering Full Tilt and changing to cash games.  I loved it and began reading poker books, watching videos, joining forums, buying Poker Tracker – all the usual stuff for someone wanting to take online poker seriously and improve their game.  I learned about bankroll management … and table selection … and pretty soon I was rolled for 25nl, then 50nl, then 100nl.  But then …

…then reality and real life settled in.  I’d become better than your average amateur, and was a winning player at every level before 100nl.  I had maybe 100k hands under my belt, and was 4 tabling 100nl.  But the effort to improve and win was getting harder, and real life was becoming more demanding … I had a full time job and a family.  I was grinding it out at nightimes and while I was still doing ok … the swings hit. I had a 9 buyin downswing at one stage … the usual variance, I think I ran KK into AA six times in two days   I started to realise that I had just blown through $900 … and the doubts crept in. Was the grind worth it?  Was I sacrificing too much of my life? Why was I pushing so hard in any case? 

Well obviously there is the money factor, but it wasn’t so much that.  I begun to realise that I was at the transition point … for want of a better term, I was about to cross from big fish in a little pond (the micros) to a little fish in a big pond (medium stakes and hopefully further).  Actually fish isnt the right analogy in poker terms is it?  You know what I mean.  Anyway I realised that I couldn’t go too much further without serious application, and when it really came down to it … I just didn’t have the time or motivation.  There were more important things in my life.

So … I stopped playing.  I wouldn’t say I lost interest in the game … but I lost interest in the grind.  Other things filled the void … particularly my day job which became very demanding, but thats another story.  Suffice to say I came to a major crunch there too recently – and that’s caused a major shift in the way I think and the way I want to approach life.  Life should be fun … and so should poker.  It is, after all, a game.  And so … Real Fun Poker is born.

This blog will be a record of my particpation in, and enjoyment of poker and the poker world.  It’s not going to be about striving to reach the next level. It’s not going to be about grinding endlessly.  We can’t all be Phil Ivey .. becuase it just doesn’t work that way.  But it will be about having fun with poker.  If you’re interested in poker, and you’re a social, casual or micro stakes player … I hope you’ll stick around.