[Shoe]

After playing profitable poker since 2001 I drained my online account for the first time since my first deposit over 5 years ago. Although, if I would have never withdrawn any profits I would still have a huge online bankroll... but that is beside the point.

All I am left with is 3,000 FPP's on Stars. I'm going to play 70 FPP sngs to the sunday $11 100k guaranteed to rebuild my bankroll. I will play in the tournament a few times and use the T$ earned from other entries to get back on track. I am doing this for 2 main reasons.

1. Over the last year or so, I basically stopped trying at poker. I'd be playing at multiple tables, but I certainly wasn't paying any attention to what was going on. Instead of paying attention to my tables, I'd be focused on reading posts here or at other sites. The tables basicaly became a distraction that took me away from viewing other websites, that I just had to click on to make them go away. This really hurt my game.

2. I became way too dependent on pokertracker. I really feel that it has hurt my game. I play 100x better when I am completely focused on the table, yet when pokertracker is running I feel I no longer have to concentrate on anything and the money should just flow to me. That is obviously wrong.

Although I can more than afford to transfer a few k back into my online bankroll (if I could figure out how to get money back into my accounts in the first place -- it's become a lot harder than getting a check mailed to your house, lol), I'm determined to build it back up the hard way. Mainly to prove to myself that I still have what it takes, and also as a wake up call to myself that I need to regain my focus.

The main reason I'm posting this is to motivate myself to get back to my old form. I have let my skills detoriate terribly over the last year. I have lost the hunger I used to have to figure out and destroy my opponents at the table. I am hoping to regain that.