I have a new girlfriend. There are things I look for in a relationship that may lead to the possibility of perhaps maybe being long term. (Wow..could that be more vague?) A woman has to have a good sense of humor, have reasonable good looks, be height/weight proportional, and most importantly, have above average intelligence. Im reasonably sure Im offering everything listed and naturally I look for them in return. The current love interest has everything I could hope to find and to top it off shes Bulgarian. Thats pretty exotic for a small-town-white-bread-just-off-the-farm Hoosier boy like me. At 45 years of age and with two failed marriages and various other relationships running the gambit from mildly annoying to intensely dysfunctional under my belt, I tend to be a little pessimistic about long-term relationships in general. For an eternal optimist like myself, thats a little hard to pull off for long. Ordinarily I wake up thinking something good is going to happen. I see the glass not only as half full, but also expecting someone to fill it to the rim! There is a trend that cant be denied however. I start a new relationship; it feels good, it looks good, and then starts to fall apart after about six weeks. This six-week threshold seems to be fairly standard over the last three years yet the warning signs usually begin to pop up earlier than six weeks. Ive run into inexplicable anger, poor (bordering on abusive) parenting skills, and what best could be explained as consistently dropping IQ level. *Sidebar: Perhaps food for thought for another post: Can a person FAKE intelligence on the short term? Im currently in week five of a new relationship and things look better than the have in the past three divorced years and MUCH better than most of the past two of married life time. I dont seem to see any negative indicators and it makes me feel great. I also think its screwed up my poker play! All of a sudden I feel like my weak draws are going to hit and that Q10 from early position is a good hand to play..after all, the world is glorious and happy. The stars are aligned, woirld peace has been achieved, everyone loves George Bush, and hunger has been wiped out! How could I NOT play a suited queen under the gun???? Ive experienced a mixed bag of emotions in the past few weeks. In my tight for money play I was suddenly losing $50 to $80 at a time. After posting more than $1000 in profit during the last three months and hitting a streak of 12 consecutive winning days in a row, a sudden $300-$400 slide was a bit disconcerting. Can you play as well when youre feeling really good about your life? I dont think so! Not unless you have self discipline.imagine that. A winning poker player needs to be disciplined. Who woulda thunk it? Discipline I have covered. While wrestling in high school I cut 15 pounds in three days. You need to eat. You dont need to play K10 from early position. If I can stop doing one I can stop doing the other. So I think Ive corrected things. The relationship is still great but Im back to the tight play that has been consistently profitable and have posted seven consecutive winning days. Ah....love is blissexcuse me while I fold a suited queen.

Source: playing poker and teaching science (Reed Em poker)