The Past Month: Variance Kicks In, Poker Settles Down, Off to Maui, Now Back to Las Vegas

It has been over a month since I last posted. It seems much longer. After enjoying a great heater to start the year, the inevitable variance hit me in the testicles. And hard, very hard. Fittingly, my graph of poker cash games in 2022 looks sort of like someone giving the finger: up then a big spike, then down. Some unfortunate losses came when I shoved all in with flush and open ended straight draws, only to see a brick; when I ran KK into AA; when I ran two pair into a flopped full house; on and on ... By the time of my last session on February 9, my big winning streak at the beginning of January still kept me in the black, but I was certainly disappointed to give back so much of my profits. What a game this is that we play!

The play stopped when some friends from Illinois came into town, the Super Bowl was played, and then I treated my wife to a big surprise: a trip to Maui. We had not been there for over twenty years, so the time was certainly right. Now, with a couple of days to recover from that trip, I am headed to Las Vegas Monday morning for either three or four nights. It will be interesting to see if the poker seems at all changed now that the mask restriction has been lifted in Nevada.

As my wife and I were returning on the plane from Maui, we laughed about how we get to return to the warmth of Arizona. Meanwhile, while we were in Maui, schools and businesses in our old home town in Illinois were closed again due to ice and drifting problems. We were not exactly worried about that in Phoenix.

If anyone wants to fling some cards or grab a meal while I am in Las Vegas, text or PM me. I hope to catch lunch with Norm in Vegas, who I have never met, and will definitely be seeing poker buddy and regular Las Vegas visitor, @ZetusLarry.

Finally, I leave you with two pictures: the ocean view from the Maui condo my wife and I stayed in, and a picture of me sampling the beers at Maui Brewing Company. Cheers!

Mahalo for reading!