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I need to slow my game down and get rid of the jam-itch.  Everyone knows the itch.  It makes a RAM JAM shooter out of you and makes you broke too.  Variance is a term that gives balance to your game whether you want it or not.

I’m reading a book that basically says your Win/Loss ratio on bluffs should be break even.  Bill Chen is a math wiz that helped put Matt Harilenko in the winners circle of the WSOP $5000 limit event this year.  He believes that if your ratio of bluffs shows you a winner you should back off bluffing .  The inverse is if you are losing your bluffs you should bluff more until you break even. 

Finding balance in any endeavor is important.  Math geeks call it the MEAN.  I do not propose to understand THE MATHEMATICS OF POKER completly, but I can say if you get around the numbers and see the essence, its a good book that urges the gamble in you and gets you thinking that being a MANIAC (till you break even) sometimes has its rewards.  It also justifies all you tightass players out there to be patient and fleece all of Mr. Chen’s disciples by watching for your opportunities.

Or you can become well rounded(balance your BLUFFS) and do BOTH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There is a certain amount of time that we use as a learning curve for anything we do.  After that the objective we want to reach, by learning and practicing, comes to us for a while and we prosper.  Poker works that way, players winnings pitch up and down like a bucking horse at first then even out with time.

Poker is an ongoing learning curve.  The object is to continue winning money in a fashion that allows the player to keep some of it.  Many people attribute success to good play and bank roll management.  Yes that’s a large percemtage of success but how important is constant concentration to the good play effort?  And how importtant is it to bankroll success.

Players hit what is known as the zone.  A period of high concentration and effort where it seems the cards never stop playing themselves.   Players that have enjoyed this comment on the feeling they have as a side effect of this ultra-concentration, calling it euphoric.

Extended concentration enjoys peaks and valleys as the player continues the game.  Finally the time and effort of this concentration bull ride wears the player out and money begins to leave the bankroll sometimes in great quantity.  The player then begins to chase and this is never good.

Stay in the moment. When the euphoria is leaving slow down.  Pacing is smart when the energy to concentrate is dropping.