That's a very powerfull statement. Short, to the point, with meaning. I would be so bold however to change the wording on this one. Let's change it to:

Today is the first day of the rest of your poker life

WOW! Adding that one word really makes a big difference doesn't it? I know it changes my perception of the statement completely. Whether it affects you personally or not, by adding the word poker to the mantra we can see that it could be used as a vehicle to create winning play.

For example, Joe 9 to 5 works 40 hours a week and takes home $500. He broke up with his longtime girlfriend last night at a Friday night happy hour and he just got his tax refund. So Joe, with his whole weekend free, decides to deposit $250 into his favorite poker site. Joe joins a $11 MTT and plays great for four hours. The tourney is paying the top 30 and it's bubble time with 31 left and Joe is in 6th when this hand comes up. Joe is on the button and gets dealt AhAd when the action gets to him Joe realizes he has six limpers in front of him so he shoves all of his chips in the middle. Only problem is, the BB has Joe covered and he insta calls. When they turn over the cards Joe sees he is dominating with AA vs Ac10c. His first thought is that if this hand stands up he will have the chip lead. Flop comes KdQd9d and even though Joe is still in the lead and has the nut flush draw, his opponent also has an inside straight draw needing any non diamond jack. The turn comes a blank 6c and now Joe is getting very excited. He only has to dodge 3 outs in the deck and he will be the massive chip leader with a chance to take down the tournament. River Jc and Joe gets knocked out on the bubble. Joe continues to play that day and it's like a never ending story. Much like the movie Groundhog Day where he continues to play solid poker in every tournament only to get sucked out upon to bubble. So now, it's Midnight and Joe sits bleary-eyed in front of his computer screen and realizes that his $250 stack has just dwindled down to $90 in less than 24 hours.

Joe is not happy but decides to go to bed. Should Joe have played at all that day? Maybe not, he did afterall just break up with his girlfriend of 8 years the night before. Maybe he was affected by that subconciously and didn't realize it. whatever the reason he just played a losing day of poker.

So Joe wakes up early Sunday morning and decides that yesterday was just a "Bad Day" and he's gonna go give it another shot. Well, today Joe is on fire, he's hitting every card in the deck, making all the right moves and he takes down a $22 MTT in the first one he plays. Joe goes on to win two more tourneys that day and places in the top five in four others. So now it's Midnight and Joe sits in front of his account screen and he sees that his balance has skyrocketed to over $3,000 and he is smiling from ear to ear. And simply put, it all happened mostly because Joe shrugged off his Saturday and started new on Sunday.

I can tell you that during the time I have played poker I have been the Saturday Joe many times and the Sunday Joe much less. But as of today I proclaim that:

Today is the first day in the rest of my poker life

And I will live by this Mantra for the rest of my days.

And you should too.

Til next time,

Mojo

4/30/08

It's official I've become an internet geek! I just became a member here at Pocket5's about a month ago but have been playing poker since about 1969. I saw the blog option on my profile page this morning and decided to start my owwn blog. With that said I guess I will start at the beginning. Brilliant huh? My earliest poker memories go back to the ripe age of 8. My folks were school teachers in districts away from my hometown so I would go stay with an old neighbor couple each day after school for a couple of hours. The Duplaga's were a nice couple, the old man was a diabetic and had lost his leg so he was home everyday when I got back from school. This period was where I was first introduced to 5 card draw poker. Mr. Duplaga and I would play penny ante 5 card draw for a couple hours every afternoon 5 days a week and we continued playing even after I was old enough to not need a babysitter after school. That guy taught me about much more than poker though as he taught me many life lessons as I was growing up. I still enjoy drifting back to those more carefree days of youth and those countless afternoons of pushin pennies in the middle of that big table in their living room, listening to the old man tell stories from world war II while watching world series games on a black and white tv set with rabbit ears. (yes kids they used to actually play world series games in the afternoons back then)

After he died I was a young adult and progressed to 7 card stud. We would hold home games at several houses over the next 8 years or so mostly playing 7 card stud. Once I moved to Florida I was introduced to a bunch of new games 5-10 drop, follow the queen, chicago, criss cross, night and day baseball, progressive jacks or better/trips to win all the standard stuff and we played at least twice a month until about 2000. Then the internet poker thing hit and the rest is history. have any of my poker buddies gone deep in big events? I can answer yes to that, well at least on the internet. One of my home game buddies, "Gator John" whom I've known for 20 years now won (3) main event seats in 2006 on full tilt and was near the top of the battle of the braclettes that year. He did bust out of the money in the wsop ME but he had one helluva time. My poker exploits have been decent but I am still waiting on that "one big score" I've had real good results online and live Online I play mostly on UB and Cake Poker now and live I love playing at the tampa hard rock. Their staff is very good and I love all the action there.

Anyways, this was a fun first blog to write but now I am longing to hit the tables so I will go for now.

Stay tuned for hand histories from upcoming tournies and sit n go's and more stories from the past.

Mojo