Times are Changing

I've wondered recently if the face of poker  is changing. I am pretty sure I've asked that very question here as I pondered my progress, or lack thereof.

I just read an article in Cardplayer Magazine that pretty much mirrored what I'm seeing in my little corner of the poker world. It's nice to know that I'm not going nuts. It's a little disturbing though to have been proved right, or at least to have found somebody who thinks as I do.

I guess I hoped that this was just a blip and I'd go back to the way it was. That ain't gonna happen.

There was a huge in flux of poker players in the past couple of years. I was one of those. My results were, apparently, due to just learning a little faster than most. Things are now shaking out. The truly abysmall players have by and large gone broke and given up or just decided it was no fun. Lots of the players who stuck it out and who were learning slower than I was have now caught up and/or passed me.

None of this means that all hope is lost. I know I'm relatively intelligent and have a decent set of basic poker skills. I know I'm going to have to vastly improve my post flop play and really my play overall. It will be a grind and I may end up having to view poker as more of a really cheap hobby than anything else. I'm pretty sure that the way things are going I will never really be able to consider myself a pro but that's ok with me. I think I can get what I want out of the game.

It remains to be seen but I think I can keep learning at a rate that will keep me ahead of the low limit games that are the bulk of the poker in Tunica and places like that. I won't ever crush those games but I think I can keep it where I can expect to make a few bucks. Add that together with cheap hotel rooms and meal comps and the next few years will at least  have a lot of cheap,  probably free and possibly profitable vacations in store.

Once Connie changes careers if we then move to Mississippi all I really will have to do is hold  my own and maybe win a few bucks. Between our savings that we've worked hard for over the past nearly 30 years and her teaching salary coupled with the low cost of living there we will do fine even without me providing much.

There are options of course. I could begin dealing once we're there. I think I could do that and I think I might like it. I could, if I work and study hard enough, possibly even get good enough to make good money. I suspect that my overall gaming skills are not strong enough but time will tell on that one.

I suppose the thing to do is to try to relax and do the best I can while not putting so much pressure on myself that it's not fun. I'm finding working on the house to be a nice distraction between visits to Tunica and I'm really playing very little poker online right now. What I probably should be doing and am not is spending a lot of time, a couple hours a day at the least, studying poker books and sifting through the poker forums online. I guess if it's important enough to me then I'll do what it takes to get better. If I don't then that sort of gives me an answer to some of my questions.