I’ve taken more time off the past couple of weeks than I took from June to December combined. Back in June I decided to make winning the Bluff OPOY a goal for the rest of the year. At that point I was in the top five for the year and decided my best chance to win was to out-grind everyone else in the top five. I didn’t exactly stick my toe in the water before I dove right in. I played the next 60 days straight…took two days off and played the next 30 days in a row. From that point on I probably averaged about one day off every two weeks. Most days I worked 12-16 hours. I was playing every tournament under the sun with a $50 buy-in or more including all the non-hold’em games. The day to day aspect, the time invested everyday and the fact that I was a hold’em player trying to learn other disciplines on the fly was a huge mental challenge. I grinded it out as hard as I could, but to be honest in hindsight I know I was coasting/not playing my best/asleep at the wheel for a lot of tournaments. During that period I piled up the Bluff points and had some decent results, but not the kind that I expect from myself. The whole process definitely took a toll on me on and off the felt…I know, “cry me a river.” Fast forward six months and it looks like I’m in good shape to win…knock on wood. I’ve built a pretty substantial lead which afforded me the opportunity to take some much needed time off.

The time off was really nice…I’m feeling really good on and off the felt. The batteries are charged more than they have been in quite a while. Lately I’ve made a ton of final tables/had some really good results. On Stars I finished 2nd in the $100 cubed turbo, FT’ed the $50 rebuy 3 times including a 4th in the inflated Sunday version, and had several other nice finishes. On UB, Bodog and Cake I won 5-6 smaller tournaments. I also had a 3rd in one of Cakes Sunday majors. All those results were nice, but more importantly I went on a huge tear on Full Tilt. It seems like I’ve been making final tables on Full Tilt every time I sit down. I won a turbo cashout, chopped a $60K guarantee heads up and shipped the $150 rebuy on Sunday. As confirmation of how good I’ve been running, I also shipped a $30K guar super turbo. The $150 rebuy was definitely one of my all time favorite wins. First place was my second biggest score to date, but it was really satisfying because late in the game it’s a deepstacked tournament with a lot of great players. I felt like I played some really good poker from the time we were 3 tabled on down. It obviously felt really good to come out with a win against top notch competition in that kind of spot.

The moral of the story is balance is crucial to being a successful poker player. Obviously balance within the game/mixing up your play is essential. That being said, a healthy balance between your table time and personal life might be even more critical. It’s not just my recent results that lead me to this conclusion, it’s also that I feel so good at the tables and actually want to play every time I’m playing. For any proven winner, feeling good + playing well = profits…a little run good also never hurts, obv.

Happy Holidays and good luck at the tables.