Getting there

If there's magic in boxing, it's the magic of fighting battles beyond endurance. ... It's the magic of risking everything for a dream that nobody sees but you.
-Million Dollar Baby

Today before hitting the tables, I ran from home over to Manuel's, where I got to see the first half of Atlanta being dismantled by Cleveland. The run, about four miles total, is another barometer of my running. I'll feel like my running has come close to where it should be when I'm doing five-mile loops around the Georgia Tech campus. Soon I'll be running twice in a day; I feel like doing it now but would like my weekly mileage to go up gradually instead of exponentially. I've never been injured but I'm not stupid. LOL.

Daily running is a lot like playing cash games. You can run when you want to, how far you want, what kind of intensity. A road race is a lot like a tournament -- the time is pre-set and instead of blinds you have the remaining distance and time itself.

Generally speaking, you have to play a lot "faster" in a race than you would in a poker tourney; at just about every distance a race is nearly like a sprint. Sure, there may be spots where you bide your time, but say, in a 5K, you attack early and often until there's no more road left.

Anyway, that's what I was thinking about when I was running earlier.

I've also been thinking of how I was very glad I didn't go to Tunica this weekend. I made the same amount of money in a single session last night that I typically make on a Tunica or Las Vegas trip, I could stop whenever I wanted to, I didn't have to eat bad food that was free (lol) or make the 6-hour drive twice.

Next month, I'll gladly go to Tunica to meet up with Sham, but I've sort of decided for the time being that if the games are good online, there's little reason to go to a B&M. You don't have to tip, you've paid for your own food and drink already and online you get rakeback and bonuses to burn.

Plus, there's Poker Tracker. I've said before that I didn't like to use it for NL, but I've found that it's such a good reference -- just how often does that toaster bet the flop? I found a toaster who had an AF of about .9 but was 11 for 11 for betting out the river, no matter what. I kept calling him and totally had his number.

If you haven't yet read this month's 2+2 magazine, I totally recommend it. There's an interesting article about keeping pot sizes small in NL in situations in which your overpair may be beat by a caller. There's also interesting stories by Ray Zee on his memories of the Stardust (very interesting in the days of free love) and another on the very last hands at that venerable casino's poker room.