Variance is a harsh mistress. After months of performing very well, I took a very bad downturn, partly my own doing by playing for too long, making aggressive and risky plays and not playing in games with weaker players, but also I ran badly.

It seemed as soon as the pressure was on that I just didn't run as well. I was happy with much of play just before going to Paris during this downturn and also during my return. I recognize that it was a little bit easy to play against me during these times due to my more predictable play, but I also found that sometimes that didn't matter as my opponents frequently had such bad leaks that I should have won anyway.

With two jobs, I should be able to have a bit of a working bankroll soon so that I don't have to worry as much nor with I have to always buy in as a short stack in all games. This should help me a bit and after a little break in period (always required when not playing regularly, it seems) I expect to start making money with poker again.

This year has been good for making money with poker despite the bad downturn I experienced prior to my trip to France and I'm happy with many improvements in my play and important lessons learned.

Benjamin