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I've been playing a lot more over the holidays and I feel like I've finally turned the corner. I went on a tremendous winning streak starting about ten days ago and I've been doing everything I can to keep putting in the time and work to keep building the bankroll. I've been able to move back up to NL100 and if this keeps sailing relatively smoothly I'll be at NL200 again before too long.

Patience is key in HU. If you lose a pot, don't act like you have to get it back immediately. Wait it out; if you've done a good job of game selection, your opponent will afford you an opportunity to win it back from some major mistake of his. Don't try to force him to bend to your will; manipulate him into doing what you want without him realizing it. You really have to go with the flow, more so than any other form of poker; if you try to swim against it, you'll dash yourself against the rocks.

I am by nature an impatient person, because I'm used to getting the hang of things quickly, so this has been both a valuable and a hard lesson to learn. But it's the only way to win, and no matter how much I want it to be otherwise, it doesn't work that way.

So now, with a lot of free time and not much else to do, I'm going to ring in 2010 by continuing the pursuit of heads-up excellence. I'll move back into tournaments gradually, once I have a bankroll I'm comfortable with. I'll look to travel more to play live again, too, but my immediate goal is to continue pounding out dollars mano y mano.