How big is it?

This was a pretty good weekend for me. I recuperated the losses I made last week. Unfortunately, the whole time I was playing, I kept checking where I stood against my losses rather than concentrating on my game. I was still happy to have some winning sessions to counteract last week but I have to stop concentrating on the short term winnings. Definitely far from tilt proof in that respect. Now I just need to apply the same game I play when I am committed to regaining losses to my everyday game. It really becomes a question of gambling. When I am up, I can gamble my larger bankroll and I start to attempt to steal blinds, chase draws, bluff middle pair etc. This, of course, leads me back down and pumps up everyone else's bankrolls. Now, when I am down, I cover my downside, I play good cards aggressively and pull myself out of the holes I dig. The obvious answer is that I need to focus the game I know I can play all the time. The question is how to do that? A couple ideas come to mind. The first is easy, simply putting time limits on my play. That should shift the focus a bit off of my winnings/losses and allow me to look at each hand individually. The second is to look at each of the starting hands I played in that given situation and mark off all the ones that I should have laid down. I've also been reading the ICP who has been covering his stack while he plays to avoid this kind of play. I considered the same but don't think it will work for me. I don't think I have the discipline to not look. Though maybe this says more about my game. Also, I don't think it would have a long term effect. In the short term, I would not be able to change my play based on my short term results but I can't fly blind forever. At the point when I uncovered my stacks, I feel I would slip back to my old ways. I guess let's see what happens with some time limits and analysis. Hopefully that will go a long way.

On a completely separate note, I've been wondering lately why so many people play at Party, Empire, Paradise, etc. I've been playing at PokerStars since I started online and really like their place. After reading about all the other places people have been playing at, I tried some of them out and really didn't like what I saw. So the question remains, why do others play there? The only thing I can think of is the bonuses and possibly softer games. The bonuses I can understand opening an account. But why play there everyday? Just sit back and collect the cash. As for softer games, is this the case? At the moment, I just don't get it.

As always, thanks for dropping in.