I’ve had a great year so far when you measure it using the typical poker barometers:  my total profit and ROI are excellent.  Yet there is one troubling statistic:  my total hours played is very low.  Crazy low.  Espcially since my WSOP final table, I have played very little poker for someone who calls himself a professional card player.

This is the kind of statistic that should make normal working folk jealous–I’m financially secure and my life has essentially been one long vacation for about four months–but it is actually a little bit disturbing to me.  I’ve had several false starts in the last few months:  moments where I’ve told myself that it was time to kick things into gear and then failed to drum up sufficient motivation to play a long session.  When I have managed to sit down and play, I have found myself playing a disappointing, vanilla version of tournament no limit hold ’em.  This is a game where players fade in and out of the proverbial “zone,” and I have not been there in awhile.  The “zone” isn’t a place visited very often by people who are only playing because they feel obligated to.

There are probably a few reasons for this inertia.  One is that i surpassed all reasonable yearly goals only five months into 2007, which has made resting on my laurels a rather attractive option.  Another is that I’m shockingly conservative for a professional gambler.  Winning $250,000 earlier in the year has not changed my risk-taking proclivity one iota.  If anything, I have grown less likely to put a big chunk of my bankroll on the line.  The final reason for the inertia is a series of minor personal mishaps (e.g., computer dying, car defacement, other) that I have had to devote an annoying amount of time to.

Which brings me to today.  I am now at Foxwoods for the World Poker Finals, and I am once again announcing my intention to turn things on and get back into the zone.  I mean it this time!