Why, why, why another poker blog?

Beats me. There's obviously no desperate need for another degenerate poker player to natter on about his accomplishments or lack thereof. But that's not stopping me, nosiree. My sordid past is replete with examples of ignoring conventional wisdom, staggering blindly into places I neither belong nor need to be and generally making myself a pain in the ass. Given that resume, I think I'm more than eligible to blog about poker.

I've been playing poker on a semi-frequent basis for the last two years, mostly online and, increasingly, in local home games. And I am very good. Okay, I'm kinda good. All right, I'm exceptionally mediocre. I've won some money online, mostly playing $1/2 6-max. (You can find me playing under my screen name of Hacker59). But a modicum of ability is more than enough to fry the low-limit fish that school on Party and Poker Stars. There have been a couple of decent online tournament finishes, but nothing in excess of $1,000. I'm starting to become more confident about my tournament play as I slowly emerge from my weak-tight, risk-averse shell. At no-limit ring games, I am either cursed or I just plain suck. I suspect it's the latter. But poker has scratched a weird, competitive itch that my aging body can no longer reach through sports. For that, I am grateful.

So, why a poker blog? It's my hope that, like other bloggers, by honestly discussing my poker fortunes with the world it will force me to examine my play and lead, in the long run, to self-improvement. But it's not just about poker. Like millions of other kids who learned to correctly conjugate verbs and read too much Hemingway, I've always wanted to be a writer. I've managed to accomplish that in a limited way over the past 20-some odd years. Yes, I'm a professional writer. I earn a living wage and my words are published. And I am lucky enough to say that I find the work fulfilling. Yet there is another part of me that says I've failed miserably to live up to my potential as a writer (and poker player) because of sloth, avarice and other myriad, untold sins. It's my hope that blogging about poker will create synergy that will lead to some sort of break-through. And hey, it's cheaper than therapy.

Whether this blog will reverberate with the intensity of one hand clapping or might actually be read by someone lurking in the ether is, ultimately, unimportant. I hope that somehow, someway, these efforts will make be a better writer, poker player, and, who knows, maybe a better person. (And, as soon as that's accomplished, I'll begin work on world hunger, world peace and safer silicone implants.)

Beginnings are easy. Endings are hard. Who knows how this will end.

And with that, I say, welcome to my world.