In The Zone Like Britney Spears

Hey folks,

Still no specific hand analysis this time around - For some reason I can't remember anything specific about last night (I'm sure Frank remembers the whole damn night)... But from around 10 PM to 2 AM last night.. I played in Quan's cash game.. I've expanded the range of hands I'm playing and it's working quite well.. I'm also learning that I have no particular style and I'm happy with that. I'm also learning that folks are perceiving me as "mean" at the table. Not "mean" like they don't ever want to play with me again "mean" but "mean" like serious in demeanor and speech. I see it as focus. I'm REALLY working on taking everything in at the table.. Body language.. Facial expressions.. Player morale.. Chip stack sizes.. Who is alert.. Who is yawning.. Betting patterns... Everything. I'm on a heaven of a run right now with some new playing styles and strategies, but I'm not satisfied... I can still improve and I'll continue to be my own biggest critic...

Bought in for $25 last night and walked away with $103 .. well $98 'cus the money pot was short and everyone left at the end put $5 of their profits back in (did Drunk Santa strike again and play the holiday grinch? - hehe - just kidding). There were some good hands last night... Some flopped boats... Quan had a rough go last night to some crazy hands (none of them bad beats)... Drunk Santa (Trevor) left with $100 (I think $60 of that was profit) ... Phi got me with aces but couldn't capitalize on that and left in the negative (I've never seen Phi Phi want to give money away at the end of a cash game night)... I had to bust my boy Russell when we both were holding trip 5s and my 10 out-kicked his 4. I didn't see many of Scanlon's (B Zilla) hands.. but I remember my suited 6 7 getting him for some money.. I'm not sure if that hand made it past the flop.. I think the dealer ran it out and I would've hit two-pair. Frank was a thorn in my side for most of the night.. but I didn't let him get too much money off me... He just kept on playing back at me when I was on draws or didn't have anything at all.. That boy has some good instincts.. I got a little money off him last night too so it's cool. All in all a good night for me that was capped off with some IHOP with Frank and Russ at 3 AM.. but like I said, I'M NOT SATISFIED! ... I need to read my opponents better.. I need to play outside of my cards much much much better.. So I just dropped some cheese at Borders on Phil Gordon's 'Little Green Book' and Sklansky's 'The Theory of Poker' - along with a 3 DVD set instruction poker collection hosted by Vince Van Patten (we'll see how that helps) ... Outside of poker books, I copped 'Rich Dad Poor Dad,' 'Franchising for Dummies,' and 'Business Plan for Dummies' ... So ya boy Craft is hustling on MANY levels... Just subscribed to both 'All-In' and 'Card Player' Magazines also... WATCH OUT FOOLS! - I'm in full student mode... Call me crazy - I'm on a mission.

Might play at Scott's tonight if the weather isn't too bad and might play tomorrow with Howard in Arlington - we'll see... More later folks.

Peace and Blessings,
Rico Craft