I haven't played a hand of live poker since the WPT Shooting Star event in March. Shortly after that tournament, I more or less retired from playing poker full-time and shifted (or pretended to shift) my focus to other endeavors. Since then I've played little poker, but did hit a recent hot streak in the 10-20 NL online cash games my bankroll has been built on.
It felt great walking into the Amazon Room this evening. Just looking at the chips and the cards and the players felt fresh and exciting, whereas three months ago the same images filled me with cynicism and disgust. Shortly before my "escape" from poker I concluded I was likely the worst regular player on the professional poker tournament circuit.
That's no longer the case. Hopefully it's for two reasons: 1) I'm no longer a regular on the circuit, and 2) an improved attitude (and a couple strategic adjustments) will allow me to play better tournament poker than ever before.
I plan to play 8-10 events this year at the WSOP, beginning with the $1500 NLHE shootout today.
