Ego Boost.

I recently took an online "Poker IQ Quiz," and let's just say my results were less than stellar. It was around like 50 questions about different poker scenarios, and was supposed to test the way you think about poker. I was pleased to do rather well in certain aspects (such as small/medium pair play, recognizing betting patterns, use of logic, and computational speed) but a little puzzled that I didn't do so well in other areas I generally consider my strengths (like tournament play, bluffing, understanding of pot odds, and aggression). It seemed pretty strange to me. Either my understanding of my own game is pretty off the mark, or the test is quite flawed.

My overall reaction to the thing?

"Whatev."

I didn't put too much stock into the results. I have hard data that proves that I'm nowhere close to a "break-even player in home games and a slow loser at raked casino tables." I'm definitely much further along than that. In addition, I took the test during a spare 10 minutes at work, while chatting with Billy, listening to music and having a mid-afternoon snack. The test is designed to be taken in 30 minutes. So I wasn't reading the questions all that carefully and generally didn't take the thing seriously.

I know, I'm making excuses. The truth is, while I really didn't care that much about the results, it still rankles a little bit to be called "average" under any circumstances. Call me a pro, call me a donk, but don't label me the hated "A-word." I don't know, for some reason I just find mediocrity irritating.

I decided to take that irritation out on Connor's home game.

Connor's game is interesting. As I've mentioned in an earlier post, they play a $20 Sit n Go, sometimes with a rebuy period and sometimes not. What's interesting to me is that there are definitely some good players in the mix, but that I always find a way to win. And it's not like I don't lose my share of big hands. I can share my secret to success in a later post. For now, suffice it to say that they usually only pay 1st and 2nd place and I've walked out a bit richer every time. Out of the four tourneys I've played there, I've taken three 1st's and a 2nd (including tonight). And the one 2nd place, I got it all in with A-K suited vs. pocket Jacks preflop when the guy had me just barely covered. What can you do?

Anyway, tonight was another win. A cool extra $120 in the pocket for two hours of work. Not an amazing amount of money, but enough to pay the gas for a couple weeks. I'll take that. And it's definitely enough to get my ego back where it belongs ... high up in the sky and swollen like a hot air balloon. Chalk up another one for the good guys. And f*ck IQ tests. I hate the number 102.