Lately poker has been a lot of blah. And when I say lately, I really mean the past week. Or maybe the past few weeks. Not sure. Anyway, it was great when it was a procrastination tool. Not only could I avoid doing my work, but I was making steady profits everyday. But more recently I feel like I’ve sort of lost focus and as a result have lost far too many chips. I keep jumping from NLHE SNGs to NLHE to Limit HE to Razz and back again. Worse yet, I find myself chasing lost money or a big score and turning a small positive tally into a negative one, or a small negative tally into a larger one.

The only bright spot has been a couple of SNGs where I felt like I was making some good plays against weaker opponents, making it to first and second. I wore away at smaller stacks through consistent stealing, mixing in some folds in the SB and on the button to keep my credibility.

Unfortunately these finishes have been the exception rather than the rule. This style of play clicks on when I have a stack to work with, otherwise I’m just sitting there and folding trash hand after trash hand waiting and hoping for a big hand to come along. With the short levels on the Full Tilt SNGs, this just isn’t possible. You have to accumulate chips and can’t just wait for aces or kings to save your weak-tight ass in level 6.

But at least these moments of above-average play exist. I’ve been thinking for a little while now that I really need to hone my tournament play. I tend to gravitate towards the cash games since they reward patience, but it really does get boring as hell sometimes. Tournaments can be more fulfilling not only because of the big score, but also because of the overarching narrative. It’s not just one damn hand after another, but a chain of hands that take you from beginning to middle to end, where any missteps could leave you on that dreaded page where you get eaten by a prehistoric carnivorous plant. But there is a goal, and that’s where all the money is.

And of course with the Poker Shelly (FTP), the Poker Bob (PS), the Poker Joe (PP), the Poker Geek (FTP), and the Poker Nerd (PS) all wending their ways successfully through several tournaments in the past couple weeks, I can’t help wanting to tag along.

At the very least, this way I only lose $10 or $20 at a time, and not my freaking buy-in when I monkey-play my overpair against a flopped set.

So. I’ve got my Harrington on Hold ’em. I’ve got my bankroll. And I’ve got lots of bookmarks in case I need to go back and follow the other path. Let’s go.