Adrenaline and Cash

The adrenaline rush you get from winning a hand is incredible. Does that effect ever wear off? Does the amount you need to win to feel it get higher and higher as you go along? Pulling in $50... $100.. more or less, it still feels good. I could get accustomed to this. It feels better than being drunk. Better than being high. Better than cigarettes. Adrenaline! Who knew. Well, I did. It's a big reason why going on stage is so electrifying. Maybe that's it. I'll play poker more often, never drink when I play, and get healthier as I go. Poker: the road to a healthier lifestyle. Haha.

Last night, I was going to enter into a tournament, as practice for the WSOP satellite, but it was cancelled at the last minute. Instead of going home with nothing else to do, I decided to borrow some of my own money and play a 1-3 cash game at the same place. Since starting tournament play, I have adjusted my game and become a much tighter player. I also haven't been feeling like risking a lot of money because I'm trying to save it up for tournament practice. I figure I'm not going to be a great player for a while and I'm trying to lose as little money in the process of attaining that dream. But I said, "fuck it", and decided to play for the sake of having a good time and hopefully not losing too much money. I bought in for $220, which was as much as I had brought with me ($120 for the tournament and an extra $100 because I had a feeling I might need it?). I made a pact with myself that I would not drink a single drop of alcohol for the duration of my play. When my stack was dwindling down to about $75, it was really hard to keep that promise to myself (free alcohol when you're losing sounds really nice...) but I managed to do it and also managed to work my way back up. I got Ace Queen (my nemesis) under the gun and whaddyaknow, an Ace came on the flop and when the guy to my left effectively raised me the rest of my stack after I bet, I called and went all in. He had Ace Jack! Ha-ha! Thank you, Ace Queen. That double-up saved me. I played a fairly tight game for about 5 hours, managed a sick Ace high bluff all-in on the river of a pretty scary board, raking in a $100 pot or so. In the end, I was up only $70, but I'm proud of myself for making a profit! It was only the 8th time I've ever played a cash game. I might have lost $300 last week, but if I can stay sober while I play, I think I might be on the winning side of things in the long run!