The West Coast Warmup was insanely fun, and I ran up a nice chiplead very early on when I caught AA at the same time my opponent had KK. All the money went in, and I doubled up. Later on, I ran QQ into KK, and lost half my stack. Oh well, that's poker.

The trash talking was in full-effect, the cards were in the air, and it was a great way to spend an evening.

The next morning, my wife asked me, "How did you do in your tournament?"

"You mean, my empty tee?"

"Shut-up," she said.

I laughed. "I had a great time, and I was really happy with my play." I rolled out of bed, and pulled on my robe. "I made the final table, too," I said.

"How much did you win?"

"Thirty-nine dollars on my eleven dollar buy in," I said, "but it honestly felt like thirty-nine thousand."

. . .

My game had gone to shit, and I was miserable about it. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't find The Zone. I didn't have any fun, and I was considering taking an extended hiatus from the felt. I had to figure out a way to enjoy the game again, and I found in online games with poker bloggers.

Joe Speaker writes, "Poker is a curious thing. It's competition. It's competition over money. Yet, the most fun I have playing is against people I know. Even in the midst of the battle, there's a comraderie."

I couldn't agree more. I made the money in WWdN #4, and I excitedly shared my winning e-mail from PokerStars with a friend of mine, proud as shit that I'd outlasted over 100 players and made it into the final two tables.

He replied, "So your hourly rate was . . . four bucks?"

It was, and it was the best four bucks and hour I've ever "earned."

Mr. Speaker continues, "These games are also the most intense, [and] demand my concentration. With the glut of blogger/reader tourneys and satelittes, a full weekend slate lately, I've seen a lot of the same, familiar faces across the felt, people I talk to regularly, with whom I share my experience and limited expertise. And then these people show up trying to take my money."

Again, I couldn't agree more. I read all these player's blogs, and many of them have taught me a lot about the game. We should, I'd think, know exactly how we all play . . . but that silly little luck factor is just enough to keep us all guessing, and when someone pulls off a magnificent bluff, or brilliantly traps someone, the victim is more likely to congratulate the villian than they are to tell them what a JOPKE that was.

Since I got my game back together, my hourly EV in SNGs is great: about 50% of the time, I can count on at least 1.8 buy-ins. But it's not nearly as fun as the tourneys; People rarely chat, and when I drop the HAMMER my respect at the table actually goes down! In the tourneys, my hourly EV is lousy (four bucks an hour isn't exactly buying me a new dishwasher,) but that's not the point. The point is, poker is a social game, and I get a chance each week to play with people I genuinely like and respect. I can test my meddle and my skill in an entirely safe and occasionally relaxed environment against people I really like and respect. My game has improved immensely in the last month, thanks to these weekly events, but more important than that, poker is fun again. I don't care if I win or lose, I just want to have a good time, and make a positive contribution to the various online communities which have brought me so much joy. The attitude I've developed in the Thursday and Friday games has carried over into the serious games I play, and my log book is back in the black.

Saturday night, I came home from ACME just after ten. I saw that Shane was online, so I IM'd him, "Pokah?"

"Poke her?" He shot back.

"PokerpokerpoKERR!111" I replied.

Five minutes later, we were in a SNG together at 'Stars. We both missed the money, and started another one. I think one of us made the money in that one, but I'm not entirely sure . . . there was some beer involved.

We continued to play, and even though I was getting tired, I didn't want to stop, because it was so much goddamn fun. At some point, Joanne showed up, and we all hopped into a 10 +1, where we proceeded to kick the shit out of each other. I would feel bad for the unsuspecting players caught in the crossfire, but they were clearly having as much fun as we were, which is sort of the point of the whole thing.

I stayed up all night long, and played cards with my friends. I donked some chips off a few times, I finished third with stupid play in a $6 + .50 turbo game that I should have won, but I eventually finished the night about $65 winners.

I never played recklessly, I never once thought, "Oh, fuck it, let's go," and I never tilted (well, once as a joke I went off on a Hellmuthian JOPKE rant, where I kept typing a bunch of asterisks. I made myself laugh so hard with that I bruised my spleen.)

Is it a coincidence that I just wanted to have fun, and I finished the night way way way ahead?

Maybe. But I know this: I had as much fun when I was losing as I did when I was winning. I enjoyed the company of my fellow players, and I did not take a single moment for granted while I played with people I like.

So I am left with a few points, which will guarantee low-limit and small-stakes SNG success, as I've defined it. This assumes that you have a basic skill set, and understand things like the Gap Concept, the Dominated Hand, and the importance of position in no limit hold'em:

1. Always play within your gulp limit.
2. Don't play with the rent money.
3. Do whatever it takes to enjoy the company of your tablemates.
   
4. Don't be afraid of Monsters Under The Bed.
5. Read Zen and the Art of Poker.
   

Obviously, if you're playing for serious money (and only you can decide what real money is) this advice will not apply to you. But if you're an enthusiastic amateur like me, I can't see any compelling reason to play if it's not fun. We amateurs should think of our buy-ins as the price of admission to a good time, the same way we'd pay to get into a concert or a movie. If we're fortunate enough to make that admission price back, or even take a little bit extra with us when we leave, then that's a nice bonus. I'll repeat the advice I gave stepkids, advice which I took myself:

"It's always nice to win, but when you just enjoy playing, you can have fun all the time . . . winning just isn't that important, especially when it gets in the way of having fun."