The Word Series of Poker 2008 began in Vegas a couple weeks ago and its now the second year in a row I’m not there. Just a few years ago, I remember calling Brian telling him how I had won a satellite seat into a WSOP satellite (a satellite to a satellite) and how crazy it would be if I somehow won a trip to the WSOP. Two consecutive trips to the WSOP later and it now feels odd if I’m not going…

I played my first poker SnG tournament in over a month last night and came away with a fairly easy win. I played a slightly lower level than my usual and it was almost anticlimactic as I steadily just stole chips left and right from my opponents without any chance of being outplayed.

Getting away from poker was actually quite relaxing and I’m planning on keeping my play time modest for awhile. It’s such a time-consuming hobby if I get too involved and I’m focusing on my other endeavors at the moment. On the other hand, there are so many weak players just looking for a way to give me their money, I feel not playing is like losing money. Unfortunately, the nature of the game leads to swings and my incremental gain is relatively modest so it takes a significant time investment to make it “worthwhile”. In addition, as bad as most of the players are, the typical player is better than they once were. I think this is due to the poker boom having worn out its welcome (in the US, at least). The players who have stuck with it have that much more experience and so make my grinding even less rewarding.

While I didn’t make an effort to go to the WSOP this year or last, I hope to make it back sometime in the future. I have a Vegas trip planned with some friends for my birthday but it’s so much nicer when someone else pays for it!