More Frequent Posting

I made a "resolution" on my other blog that I would post more in 2026, and I think that needs to carry over to this site as well. In recent years I've simply posted my totals for the amount won, played, and hourly rate. I will likely do that again for 2025, but I need to also make some regular notes and post about recent sessions to figure out how I can become a better player.

Certainly in the past couple of years I have started maximizing wins and minimizing losses, but there is absolutely some progress to be made. One area of my game I need to get better is when I go on tilt. I'm an emotional player and I let the hands that don't go my way impact future decisions. It especially kicks in when I either have gone card dead or a suck-out happens when I was a big favorite. While I've gotten better with handling the rage, I still let it influence me.

A specific goal I am setting for myself this year is to handle my tilt better. Whether that is taking a walk when things aren't going my way or just calling it a day and cutting any losses I may have, I need to find an outlet for my frustration at the card table. Again, I am light years ahead of where I used to be. It used to be so bad my nickname was Arcade Hall, because there was an arcade room with games and pinball machines in our area called Tilt. Although I no longer worry about it being that bad, I can definitely keep it in check even more than I already do.

A second goal this year is to try and implement specialized tactics, and to even use those tactics on specific players. I attend a game pretty regularly in Weatherford and play against the same people every week. I have two guys who challenge me the most and I want to find strategies that will work against them to tilt the odds in my favor.

Now that Emery is about to go off to college and the boys are old enough to be at the house by themselves, I think I will start trying to play at our local poker house in Burleson a little more frequently. Normally if I'm not playing in Weatherford, I drive across the Red River border to WinStar, but that is a 90-minute trek and there is a card room just 20 minutes from my house. It is one of those clubs that you have to pay an entree fee and hourly rate, but I have frequently struggled with the WinStar crowd. So if I can save myself an hour's drive one-way and find a game where I have a better edge then it surely will be a win-win situation.

Hopefully I will be posting more this year and see an improvement in my game as I work on strategy throughout 2026.