As you know, I no longer have a boss. It recently occurred to me that a byproduct of my bossless existence is that I no longer have to suffer through my yearly review. I certainly do not miss “review day” at my old law firm. A man in a suit whom I’d seen maybe a handful of times in the hallways would come into my office. Then he’d let me know in stark terms what my superiors thought of me. Most of it was patently obvious stuff.

I don’t show enough enthusiasm, Bob? Golly. No shit, Bob. I hate it here!

Anyway, there were useful aspects to the yearly review. So for awhile now, I’ve been trying to sit down and write a summary of my strengths and weaknesses as a poker player. It hasn’t been easy to do (in fact, I still haven’t begun). And to be perfectly honest, the reason I have yet to write my self-assessment is pretty simple: I’ve been in a rut and been barely profitable since I got back from the World Series of Poker. No one wants to write an objective review of themselves when the plain truth is that they’re sucking.

But I now have at my disposal almost 10 months worth of statistics and observations. So today I present to you a very short version of what’s in store, focusing only the negative aspects of my game. I think i’m doing this more as a wake up call to myself than anything else. My very abridged review:

1. I lack motivation. This has been a problem throughout my life, but I didn’t expect it to infiltrate this particular job, which I unabashedly love. It has. Since I’ve gotten back from the WSOP, I’ve played much fewer hours per day and taken way too many days off.

2. My game selection sucks. For those unfamiliar with this term, “game selection” basically means playing the games that are most profitable. I am a much better player live than online, and I am a better cash game player than a tournament player. So what have I done for the last few months? I’ve played almost exclusively online tournaments. Duh.

In my next blog entry, I will attempt to discuss the causes and effects of these two problems. I’ll also detail some other problems in my game. And then, just to keep things balanced, I will also talk about the good parts of my game. It’ll be a full scale Bob-less yearly review, a self-analytical bonanza!

In the meantime, I’m addressing items (1) and (2) above. I started with a serious online cash game session last night. And I’ll continue by taking a trip to Atlantic City tomorrow and a trip to Foxwoods for the WPT event in two weeks. No more messin’ around!

DZ