I played a low buy-in live pot-limit game the other night (mix game, HE and O8 with even a little five-card stud thrown in to start) and it was an experience I haven't had in a long time playing poker. Notably, I was focused, interested and attentive.
As a result, I played well. I certainly didn't play perfectly (who ever does?) but I made good bets, good raises, and good folds. Evan more importantly, I was reminded how much fun poker can be--how much psychological warfare there is in a hand with two or more quality players fighting for the pot and additional chips.
My conclusion from the session was that online limit poker has really become a grind for me and that I need to branch out, and now. Limit is still by far my best game and the game at which I have the most earning potential, but the games will still be there in a week or two. For now I'm going to focus on other games. Not pot-limit because besides that one live game, no one really plays pot limit (probably due to its recondite betting rules--no one plays games for which they can't understand the basic rules). But I'll try to play more NL cash games, both online and live. Perhaps more tournaments, too. Maybe some omaha, or some stud. Perhaps I'll even finally learn triple-draw. But something, and, really, anything besides limit hold 'em.
So this will be variation week. I'm not going to play a single hand of limit hold 'em. (Well, at least until Saturday...Saturday nights are way too juicy to comfortably pass up). This plan may cut my expectation down to a quarter or less of what it would be, but I think it will be a profitable move in the long run, both for getting me better acquainted with various games I've never played above the 1/2 limit (stud, razz, pineapple for example), and for reinvigorating my interest in poker. Hopefully then when I come back to limit HE, I'll have a fresher perspective and maybe even have picked up a few ideas from poker's many other forms.
In other news, I have another Vegas trip planned. I'll be there 3/10-3/13 with a couple buddies. And, for the first time in my life, I'll be staying at the Bellagio. The Bellagio has a pretty sweet deal where you get effectively half off your room rate if you play at least 6 hours of poker per day you're there. And once you get this poker rate once, it's permanent--every time you stay there after that you get the same rate with no poker playing requirements.
Six hours a day might seem like a lot to some people, but that's about half what I expect to play per day, so I'm absolutely ecstatic. Their poker rate is still a bit more than I like to spend on hotels, but I'm viewing this trip as much a vacation as a business trip, so I'm happy. I'll report fully on whether or not the Bellagio lives up to its swanky reputation (certainly the parts of it I've already seen--the casino floor and a couple restaurants--are quite impressive).
Finally, this makes my "I lost a few hundred dollars, wah, wah" posts seem pretty lame, huh?
