[DeadMoneyOC]

For me, poker is a lot like another stupid game I play. Ive played golf for my entire life. Since I was maybe 10 or 11. Obviously when I first started playing golf I was terrible, but I would always hit at least one or two shots during a round that would keep me coming back for more punishment. I would also usually have an amazing round once in awhile that would keep me up all night and make me feel like a champion. A lot of those scores that I would post really were not all that impressive, but at the time I thought I was the hottest motherfcuker ever.

Poker is a little different that golf though because there is obviously an element of chance, but also because people on TV post golf scores that are unrealistic for 99.999% of the golf world. As when you watch golf on TV, when you watch poker you believe(If you want to admit it or not thats ok with me) that these people you are watching are at the absolute top of their game. Then you watch them put themselves in the same situations you have been in over and over again. Even though you are only seeing the tip of the iceberg it makes you feel like you can play at a high level even though inside you are rational enough to know this is obviously not the case.

In the two years I have played poker on many different occasions I have sat and thought to myself. 'I am awesome, how can I possibly improve?'. Then during the next couple of months I run TERRIBLE and snap out of my cold streak a temedously better player having learned so many angles and aspects of the game that I could have never believe even exsisted before. What I am trying to say is that there are many many occasions when poker(as does golf) seems like the easiest game in the world and you feel like you on your way to greatest. Sometimes it may mean being a +5 handicap or sometimes it may mean beating the 1000-2000 in LV, but you know your on your way. Then you have a giant set back and you come crashing down from the clouds and realize how much you have to learn and how far you really are away from the highest level of your game. There are no complete players who have learned it all it. Everyone is still learning on some level and improving in ways they probably never thought they could ever improve. I think it is about breaking through to the higher levels of thinking(and sometimes ball striking) to even realize what is up there and what there is to learn. A lot of times you need to take a step or two back in order to make a bound forward. I dont know that much about poker, but I am 99% that I am going to be going through this cycle of running hot, get pounded, and then learn about aspects of the game that I never even thought exsisted.