I'm gradually learning to structure my life better. I've pared my life of most of the unimportant things, and now I'm trying to stop wasting time and money. My bankroll can't grow if I'm spending on unnecessary things, and I can't be as effective if I let unnecessary activities take up my time-- I can't play as often and I won't be as focused when I do play.

I feel like it helps my game, too. My mind isn't occupied wondering what else I could be done or what needs to get done, because now is poker time.

In that sense, I feel like I've made tremendous strides. I still have many leaks to fix, though; keeping my A-game at all times is probably the biggest one; developing the discipline to actually play a serious workload is another. I've made gradual progress in both of these areas, but I know I'm nowhere near fulfilling my potential.

I can elaborate on this if anyone would like. Perhaps I'll write up a general idea of my daily routine; I'm sure it's markedly different than most poker players'.

Geez, I'm terrible at updating this thing regularly. I keep thinking about it, and then I get to it once every two weeks or so.

Anyway, a big reason I don't update very often is that I just don't find that what I do makes for a very compelling story. I'm just grinding low-stakes HU, building a bankroll and moving up steadily (or at least, that's my aim). I had scheduled some time for the LAPC this month, but my plans fell through due to lack of interested investors. (I guess my shit does stink.)

I've been putting in a ton more hours (already as many hands in February as I had each of the last two months), so I'm seeing more situations and getting better, and thinking about the game more, but at the same time, I haven't come up with much for a good blog entry. The lessons of poker are the lessons of poker-- be patient, be aggressive, don't tilt, manage your money, select your games well, and don't take any of it personally-- and I'm learning them again one at a time.

I've also been thinking about the UIGEA, and how patently ridiculous it is. I intend to write a series on why it's ridiculous and why poker should be legal all across this great land. I try to stay politically aware, so maybe I can use that for good, for something that's obviously an important issue personally.