I play less, therefore I'm rusty

It makes sense doesn't it? It's just like anything else I take seriously. It'd be nice to say my poker game and my golf game are inversly related... but they're not. I'm equally as rusty in golf and poker when comparing the amount of time that I have spent working on both skills. Poker is a game of imperfect information. Golf is a game of imperfect concentration. Poker takes flawless concentration. Golf takes physical domination. Soak it in. The major difference between the two is... you guessed it? Luck. Sure ok, I guess getting a hole in one is lucky. In fact, the odds are roughly 8,000 to one. Needless to say, it's no coin flip.

Which brings me to tonight's point grab. I believe it was either Hoy (congrats on second place) or Al (Mr. double me up) that said it would be a fold fold fold fest. I played in the Riverchasers, as planned, and they were bang on. My goal was to get some points as I knew I'd be heading in a bit rusty (see title). Well I accomplished that, and then a bit more. Nothing spectacular at all. In fact it wasn't until I doubled up right around the first hour mark when my limped aces held against Al's BB hammer raise preflop did I squeak past the bubble. Once I made it to 222nd or so left I made the "incorrect move" and pushed my entire stack and raced AQ against sellthekids SB JJ special. I go home. Just like that.

Why race with over 20 BB's? I wouldn't normally do that. It just tells me that if you don't play on a consistent basis, you'll eff it up sooner or later. Unless, you win the races. So I gambled and it didn't pay off. Doubling up at that point would have put me 3rd in chips and in position to make the final table. I just lost my concentration.

As I reflect I realize what a silly move it actually was. The mistake I made was gambling too early. Just as in a golf tournament, you want to gamble when you believe you must do something spectacular and get lucky that you don't screw it up. In Poker, it's all in how the cards fly once the chips are in the middle. Get lucky, move on up. Get unlucky, there's the door.

If you gamble in golf, it usually results in a higher score. It could even mean not winning a tournament, just as in poker. Gambling in golf and not coming through is a combination of both the inability to hit the shot in the first place and the mental concentration to excecute.

It's time to set some new goals:

Play more golf, and get better. Prepare for upcoming tournaments.
Play better, correct, poker.
Make the right decisions and maintain continuous concentration and focus.
Have fun.

The problem is finding the time to do both well enough to be satisfied and feel a sense of accomplishment. I just wonder if that will actually ever be possible. There's always going to be room for improvement, that goes without saying. But will there ever come a point in my life where I don't think I can get any better? Yes. It certainly will come sooner in golf than in Poker. However, I won't let that stop me and I guess it makes sense to play more golf right now, this summer.

Play more, get unrusted.