Lords of Discipline

There are a bunch of definitions for discipline out there.  Here’s mine:  Doing something you don’t want to do, even though you know it’s the right thing to do.

For me personally, discipline is turning down the Krispy Kreme offered to me at breakfast during my daughter’s early morning soccer game.  Discipline is hitting the gym on a Thursday after a late Wednesday night session at the Spring Hotel.  Discipline is folding AJo in EP to a pre-flop re-raise in the early stages of a tournament (fucked up on that one this past Saturday).

And now, discipline for me means dropping down in limits when I play online poker.  Ugh.  I still feel I’m playing well, but I’m getting drawn out on like nobody’s business.  My online bankroll has paid the heavy price and has done its best impersonation of George Contanza’s privates in a pool of chilly water.

It’s no small amount of swallowing pride here.  I worked pretty hard for a long period of time to build the bankroll to support playing in mid-limit NL ring games.  I have made withdrawals to outside investment accounts, and left myself with the requisite twenty buy-ins.  But after the last few weeks, I simply can’t justify playing at those levels without incurring a much higher risk of ruin.

So I’m taking a step down in stakes.  I don’t like it.  In fact, I hate it.  But I know it’s the smart thing to do if I wish to continue to play poker online without supplementing that bankroll with the fruits of my live one.

You read quite often stories of pros that went broke several times before they hit a big enough score to finally keep them permanently afloat.  When I read those stories, I attribute that behavior to the inherent gambling personalities that many of them have.  To be honest, I don’t consider myself much of a gambler.  I’m a bit more calculating and conservative.  It’s that conservatism that will hopefully prevent me from going broke.  But it also may prevent me from that big jump in stakes that many others before me have made.

And that’s OK.

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Sadly, I’ll be missing all the bloggery goodness this weekend in Vegas.  I don’t have enough vacation time remaining to make the trip thanks to having to drive to Florida the week after for a parental visit.  Vegas would be a nice way to donk off my swelling live game roll, but I guess that will have to wait.

I will probably be in Tunica in January when the New Year brings back my vacation day supply.  Until then, I hope everyone has a safe, memorable trip.  Take many pics please.