I've been away from RIO for a while. No need to go into too much details, but I've been in a storm, in my life. Needed some time to recover, and deal with it. Well storm is still there, but I know where to stand.

I'd like to use this post to share my views about poker.

My focus will be on :

- Mental game: first and foremost I'll be able to talk in great details about some deep, deep mental issues I've been working on for the past few months. It has to do with fear, lust for power / domination, and a general willingness to force my destiny, and control what is beyond my control.

- Harmony between everyday's life and poker: poker can get so emotionally intense that it destroys most of us. It doesn't necessarily break us, but few are the poker professionnals that last more than a few years. Even fewer are the ones that succeed AND are content with their life. They are the one that have found a relative level of harmony between their practice (poker) and their broader life, making one feeding positively onto the other.

- The spiritual potential of poker, the teachings it provides us with, if we're inclined to work on (self-)realization. I'm not playing to make tons of money. Nor for glory, not for being well-known. Those are things that pass. Eventually, we'll all be broke, because we'll be dead. What will be the value of any millions of dollars once you're passed? I've always been looking for something else than money / career in my life, which is why poker felt so adequately: to be an advanced poker player, you need, to a certain extent, to have no consideration for money and its exchange value.

Rather poker teaches me to know myself ; it teaches me how to live, and how to die in dignity. That's what I'd like to (try and) share.

I'm not sure where it will lead. What's sure is that I'm typing that right now to get it started, and have the further motivation to continue.