Its not been a pretty few days! Ive tried the full range of games from $100NL-$1000NL to $10/20FL-$50/$100FL with a few stts and mtts to boot, but im finding it difficult to get back that winning feeling. Rather than udo the good work of the last month ive taken my own advice and droped down the limits and when this didnt help ive taken a few days off. So with a little more spare time on my hands I've hit the books! I finished off the book by Jesse May, shut up and deal and to be honest its one of the better poker books ive read giving you a real feel of the world of the "pro" player. Next stop is one of the bibles of the poker book world, Al Alvarez's the biggest game in town. First published in 1983 this book was one of the very first to record the life stories behind the early days of the WSOP. Reading it im came to a passage that brought a broad smile to my face. Anyone whos been in my mentor group will know only too well a couple of my truths about the game, first of ego, i think you got to have ego, no point being in the game if you dont think your better than everyone else at the table! But at the same time you got to be big enough to know your limits, be honest with yourself and always try to improve-the day you think youve got it sussed is the day its all over! I also like to point out that winning is the easy part its when when your losing thats sorts the winners from the loses. So im reading the biggest game in town and im come to the passage which was spoken by Micky Appleman, a intellectual with masters in education, a masters in statistics and a masters in business administraton, in other words one clever fella!!: "Poker is a skill, its an art, its a science. You have to improve continually and know your own weakness. To be successful, you must be realistic. Up to a certain point, you have to believe your a really good player, but you also have to realize what your up against. There can be no self-deception. But confidence is a double-edged sword. Its the down side of the gambler that ruins him, not the up side. When your playing well , you can be as good as anyone, but how you handle yourself under pressure when your running badly is the charecter test that seperates the men from the boys"...............seems to me them boys from the old days knew a thing or too about the game!!!!!!!!