Hi guys. I recently finished reading
King of a Small World: A Poker Novel by Rick Bennet. It's a good book; I finished it in one day. There was one passage especially that stuck out to me.
"
Good poker is hard work. Technical skills, you might say. Learning the odds, remembering exposed cards, having the discipline to fold, maintaining attentiveness to your opponent's appearance.
Great poker is courage. Technical skills will get you through most poker situations because most poker situations don't give rise to your emotions. But the big decisions do. By definition, you might even say. You certainly want to keep your emotions down, but if they do come up, as they will at key moments, you have to deal with them. And the secret to finding the truth in emotional moments is this: your conscious fear will mirror your subconscious knowledge. If your subconscious knows your opponent is bluffing, your conscious will fear that he isn't. And then, if you have the strength, pride, character, or whatever you want to call, you'll conquer that fear, and act one what you
know to be the truth."
I've been doing well at the tables in the past few months. Putting in a lot of volume at 200nl and some 200 zone too. Playing the occasional MTT. Trying to disregard bad beats and mistakes and just soldier on. Bitcoin is kicking ass too, which is great because I've been holding on to a bit. It's right on the cusp of 30k right now.
Good luck and happy new year everybody.