My Cash Game Problem

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I have a cash game problem.  To be more specific, I don't like playing cash.  Therefore, I play bad.

I've mentioned before that I play pretty much weekly in a local underground cash game.  It's a 1/3 game and is super soft with a few regulars who make money and then a bunch of fish that donate.  My problem is, I'm neither of those. I'm definitely up in the game, but certainly not as up as I should be (see, I don't even track my results).

I play in this game almost exclusively for the social outlet.  I work/grind in an office in the basement of my house.  So it's not like I am going out to lunch with co-workers for regular social interaction.  So this poker game is my outlet.  I go and have a few beers. And in general play pretty poorly because I'm just trying to have fun.  Fun for me in this case is trying to bad beat people, calling 3 bets light in hope of getting there, raising 24o because it is my "favorite hand" and so on.

I've concluded that this is both unproductive in terms of my poker education and irresponsible financially. So I've made the decision that I am going to start trying to win in this game.  I'm actually going to attempt to play the best possible poker I can.  I'm considering it a grand experiment to see if I am actually any good at cash games.

I typically play 2 nights per week in this game.  So, from now until I leave for the WSOP in mid-May I am going to put forth my absolute best effort to win.  Now I realize this is probably slightly too small of a sample to really gauge my skill level or expected value in these games, but it's a start.  And with any luck I grind out a nice roll to continue my adventure in Las Vegas.

So I'll be sure to keep you guys updated via this blog as to my results and will try and even take notes on some interesting hands to post.  The challenge should be fun for me and I'm looking forward to seeing how I do.  I'm going to set up an app on my phone tonight to track my results, so I'll try and post graphs along with my updates.

Wish me luck!