Could have been mono, if you had perisistent fevers then yes. No antibiotics fix that, sadly. Avoid contact sports for 4 weeks so you don't explode your spleen.

That is me and the female is Maria Ho. It is entirely likely you have seen me before if you've played poker in Chicago/Vegas or Europe or the South America's.
Quality content you pump out so easy to enjoy.
Thank the Tyman for showing me this thread.

-Zack

I'm glad you are feeling better and may 2015 be a healthy and prosperous year to all.

Thanks man I'm glad you like it. Yea I must have seen you around Vegas at some point.

Also thanks everyone for the get well wishes. I've been back playing this week and feeling pretty close to 100% health-wise.

Sessions have still been short but I'm playing pretty well I think. Also been on a nice little heater. I've booked winners in 11 of my last 12 sessions. Only one big win, but when you win small/medium amounts and don't lose for an extended period those small wins add up fast.

I like the way everything is balancing out right now life-wise. Definitely not where I want to be yet but I'm headed in the right direction and I have a decent idea of how "poker as a vehicle" fits into that.

Have just over a week until I fly back for Christmas so I'll be looking to keep up the pace I've had (except when I was sick) for the last week of my modified live grind test run experiment.

I had the same thing happen got antibiotic got a bit better then it got worse went to urgent care they said it wasn't strep and I was fine the next day of course, geez

Unless of course you play hockey... Then we may have met on the ice. I like to run my mouth and chirp people when playing so I'd definitely stick in your head.

Time to wrap up the year and the live grind test experiment thats been going on. After my last update I had a pretty bad session where I more or less punted 200bb against a good reg. He got tricky in a spot I didn't expect any trickiness and got me to stack off kind of light. This is fine if my read is right, but I was new to the table and in hindsight I didn't have enough information to make the read I did. Most likely there was a dynamic going on that I wasn't/could be aware of.

My heater picked right back up over the next few sessions. I wasn't playing particularly well, definitely worse than the couple weeks before I was sick and was playing the best I ever had. I was however getting hit in the face with the deck. Had a couple set up hands, hit a 3 outer on the river before the money went in, and hit a 1 outer after the money went in.

Unfortunately I still wasn't very interested and still never played more than 6 hours, with most sessions being about 4. Its kind of the same story as early on this year where I'm thinking "if I'm not excited when running good, how is it going to be when I run bad?". I already know the answer since this is the 3rd cycle of this this year.

I haven't played the last few days because after my session on Thursday I just decided to shut it down until after my Christmas trip. I wasn't engaged and was just grinding again. I almost forced myself to play because I was running so hot but that would be pretty silly. The cards are random every day so eventually I'm gonna run bad/normal and then it would really be no fun.

Sounds bad on the surface, but from my perspective this live grind test run experiment was reasonably successful. Other than when I was sick I stuck to a regular, albeit light, playing schedule. I've discovered that playing anything close to full-time hours is not going to happen right now.

Life-wise everything else is going very good. I've still been and will continue working on other improvements that I've mentioned itt, but poker is likely to be phased out soon. Maybe I'll come back to it full force at some point, but just not right now. I'll still play some until I decide on whats next for me, but it won't be a focus. I have some other ideas in the works which I'll be thinking about over my break and likely discussing with family.

Looking at the year as a whole it feels like I've had a bad year results-wise, but really I just haven't played much. Played just over half the amount of hours as last year. My 2/5 hourly, where most of my cash hours are, was actually higher this year than last. Lost a bunch of time and a bit of money playing non-holdem games, but that was made up for with some tourney scores. So all-in all it really wasn't a bad year relative to the amount I played even though it feels bad since my overall income is lower.

Hopefully this post wasn't too negative, as I realize it kind of sounds like I'm complaining about running good. Thats certainly not my intention, these are just my thoughts/where my head is at right now. Despite poker not working out as expected, I feel really good about this year. I've made strides in other areas and have learned a lot about myself and what I want. Thus I'm actually very excited and optimistic about my life right now and whats next for me.

Thanks for reading and Happy Holidays!

Step into enlightenment Cush!

Curious as to the 'other ideas in the works' if you don't mind sharing. As much as I love playing poker and the lifestyle that comes with it, I am wanting to leave the game as soon as the next passion comes along. I just haven't found it yet.

I share a lot of the same views in regards to "life after poker" and have recently ventured into a new entrepreneurial project, which I've noticed has increased my focus extremely when it's time to put hours in at the tables. I think of new things I'm working on as branches spreading out into new territories, and poker at the center being my means of freedom/ essential funding and the start of much more. Good luck this year, will follow.

Good luck cushlash!

How can you simultaneously love playing and the lifestyle - and want to leave it as soon as possible for something else?

I'm feeling for whoever chooses to be in a relationship with this guy

Glglglglgl

Poker is like the super hot crazy woman that feeds your codependencies. Love it while it is happening but you know in the long term you have to end it.

The break should help you set your priorities.

I would seriously pursue other avenues that interest you.

Happy Holidays! Hope to see you back soon on the poker scene.

I really miss your hand analysis and the associated stories. Say hai to Rob for me as well.

GolfPro

Damn straight! Confirmed I am a hippy free-spirit now.

Most of what I was alluding to involves going out and doing stuff in order to find that next thing. I find it hard to find the next thing when most of my activity involves playing poker.

Much of it is personal goals that don't have to do with making money but which I think will improve my life so I want to spend time on them.

As far as income producing projects, the only one far along enough that I'd share here is the writing stuff. I plan to get more active in seeking out writing work rather than just taking whatever comes my way. I have a few contacts regarding this who I'll be getting in touch with after the holidays.

Besides that I'm just exploring and most of the time I'll have an idea but then it gets scraped soon after I start researching and decide its not a good fit. I'd rather not share things until I've decided to actually pursue them.

Thanks, gl to you as well. This is a great way to look at things. Only problem I ran into was still not wanting to play much, or possibly even wanting to play less, when I started branching out because I was more interested in the new things.

Thanks!

tytytytyty

Yea I don't have nearly as much to say strat wise given how low my volume has been.

Rob reads this thread so we can all say hi to him. Everybody on 3:

1...
2...
3!
HI ROB!!!!!

Oh, crap. You just blew my mind, bro...

Talk about making the analogy personally relatable!

Oh, and HI ROB!

Hi Rob!

I was disappointed that our chop hand was not epic enough to make it in your weekly update thread. I'll just have to try harder to take even sillier lines I guess. Have a good Christmas buddy!

Thanks man, you too.

haha I totally forgot about that. That hand is without a doubt the silliest hand I've ever played.

For those who want a quick lesson on how the pros are playing, here's the hh:

I raise from early position to 20 with the KK. WBN makes a legal minimum raise to 35 from late. I call.

Flop Axx

I check and WBN wagers one red betting unit. I call.

Turn x

I check and WBN doubles his flop wager with a $10 bet. I call again.

River x

I check and WBN reverts back to his flop strategy and wagers $5. I call again (confirmed station itt) while exclaiming "this is the dumbest hand I've ever played".

WBN tables the KK and I roll my KK for the red half of the pot. Note: I was out of position so I got the extra odd chip so even though it was technically a chop, I actually won

well played!

Merry christmas, Rob!

MerryChristmas cush and Rob!

Lol at this.

Merry Christmas 2+2

One red betting unit!

Happy Holidays to all.

This wouldn't need to be soon, even a few years down the road perhaps, but I recommend you consider starting a new career, one that's sustainable, one that you can grow with, and still feel passionate about, poker can always be a great additional source of income, but it has its limitations, think long term, 10,20,30 years from now where do you want to be in life, you seem like a bright individual, one that could really succeed at other ventures and make millions of dollars away from the table...keep in mind this is coming from an anonymous person who's opinion doesn't really matter...cheers