It's been nine years and still no word, I don't deserve it!

...I know you got my last two posts, I wrote the addresses on 'em perfect.

Yes, it's been nine years, I guess you could say a few things have changed - House, Marriage, Baby etc. but a few things have stayed the same, and like the rest of the semi-retired poker community who still maintain a slightly delusional ever-dwindling idea that their name will one day be up in lights, I'm rather excited by the prospect of competing for a World Series of Poker bracelet.

This is because for the first time ever due to the COVID-19 pandemic the WSOP is taking place online, with a number of lower than normal buyin events making the temptation to play a few events and have another 'shot at the title' incredibly tantalising.

I've played a bit on Stars during lockdown and encountered the usual highs and lows of online poker, initially losing a fair chunk in the TCOOP where I sold a package but essentially felt rusty and out of practice only cashing for a third of buyins. I think the adjustment of suddenly being at home for long periods of time with very little to ward off boredom lead to a slightly unhealthy fixation with online gambling that sadly I think me and a number of friends suffered from with people losing quite a bit of cash in those early weeks.

But as lockdown drew on I managed to find a better balance as most people were able to, only playing one significant session a week, and focussing on improving my game and enjoyment levels. My tourney game certainly sharpened up, and I managed to cash and go deep in both the SCOOP main event and the Summer Series main event.

More recently, I was grinding NL100 6-max ZOOM to exploit a 40% rakeback equivalent $200 cash bonus which as you can imagine was typically extreme in its variance. I deposited $300 with the intention of two-tabling NL50 but soon realised I couldn't put in enough time to clear the bonus playing 6-8 hours a week. But luckily I won a little at those stakes and started the NL100 grind with about $400. The first two weeks went very well as I got up to $1k before the inevitable downswing came.

I lost $800 in one night just not able to win a pot, including a humorous moment when I got AA twice in about 10 hands across both tables and won $1.50 with each as everyone snap-folded before two minutes later getting it all-in pre with KK against AA. There was also set vs straight draw, two pair getting counterfeited against top pair, flush vs flush and finally two tilty shoves with flush draw vs top pair and flush draw and two over cards vs mid-pair that both bricked. All pretty standard but at the time I was absolutely livid. I had $168 left and I didn't sleep well that night.

48 hours later and with absolutely no desire to play cash I decided to one-table the 5pm Tuesday Big $109 to pass the time and try and get out of the hole as my wife was heading out for the evening and I was at home looking after our son. There were 170 runners and a nice structure. The buyin also meant the play was of a high standard, and I really enjoyed it. I ran good when I needed to and I felt I played well, particularly once the bubble burst, eventually coming 4th for $1.4k. I had about half my action so after paying out shares I had about $800 back in my account - a welcome sight indeed! I managed to unlock the bonus shortly after and cashed out my $1k (making me nearly even for lockdown) with a slight moral victory, albeit at the likely cost of increasing my bald patch by 30% and bringing forward my one-day heart attack by about 5 years!

But the swings of cash certainly reminded me why I lost enjoyment for the game in the first place and why I shouldn't try to grind a consistent profit. Quite frankly I'm too old, bitter and rusty! And to be honest I'm lucky enough now that I don't need to make money at poker, I can afford to play the games I want to simply as a hobby and not worry too much about it... which brings me on to the WSOP.

I've moved my $1k onto GG Poker who are hosting the WSOP and I'm planning on playing the $100 Opener, the $400 Colossus, the $400 Plossus, the $500 Mini-Main and the Big $50, selling a bit of action to cover part of the buyins. I'm not going to play much else in between or at the same time, I'll hopefully just one or two-table the comps I'm playing whilst enjoying the fanboy-wonder of knowing I'm playing the WSOP. It'll be fun...

For Kenny, Willie and particularly Craig who's beaming smile I'll never forget.