Despite my well-laid plans, I didn't play at all the last two days. I've been so busy getting myself ready to leave Vancouver that I couldn't find the time.
However, I felt the St. Baldrick's Foundation shouldn't be limited to my $100 donation. If I had played 150-200 games like I thought I would, I could have very possibly won a few thousand and cut them a significantly bigger check. Because of that, I decided to play the $300 Deepstack MTT at Edgewater Casino on Saturday afternoon and pledge 10% of my winnings. Sad to say I busted 9th (Top 5 paid) but I did have 20% of my friend Dunc who happened to finish 3rd for $3500.
20% of $3200 is $640, so I will be donating a total of $164 to support my friend and help fund children's cancer research. Everybody wins.
It's my last night/morning in Canada and while I'm tempted to write about my feelings/time here, I think it's best saved for later as it's 4 AM and I've got to wake up early-ish tomorrow if I want to make it to California before midnight.
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
The Turrible
I meant to provide an update after each day of the challenge, but I simply forgot to do it last night. Whoops.
Yesterday, I made $195 in 93 180-man tournaments. That number's actually a tad lower because Sharkscope doesn't track the $3Rs correctly, but I'm not about to sift through a PokerStars audit just to short the St. Baldrick's Foundation a few bucks. Me thinks that's bad karma, so I'll just pretend I actually made $195.
Unfortunately, today went terribly so I'll need to destroy the games during my last day for my donation to be over $100.
Turrible, just turrible
I had planned for that day to be tomorrow, but I've got a few things to take care of so I'll take tomorrow off and plan for Friday to be the big grind. Maybe if I have time tomorrow I'll fit in a few games and count them towards the totals.
Just for fun, here's my graph for 180s this month. The arrow points to the game before I chose to donate 10% of my winnings to charity.
Yesterday, I made $195 in 93 180-man tournaments. That number's actually a tad lower because Sharkscope doesn't track the $3Rs correctly, but I'm not about to sift through a PokerStars audit just to short the St. Baldrick's Foundation a few bucks. Me thinks that's bad karma, so I'll just pretend I actually made $195.
Unfortunately, today went terribly so I'll need to destroy the games during my last day for my donation to be over $100.
Turrible, just turrible
I had planned for that day to be tomorrow, but I've got a few things to take care of so I'll take tomorrow off and plan for Friday to be the big grind. Maybe if I have time tomorrow I'll fit in a few games and count them towards the totals.
Just for fun, here's my graph for 180s this month. The arrow points to the game before I chose to donate 10% of my winnings to charity.
Monday, February 20, 2012
The Luck
I'm lucky.
No amount of bad beats, coolers, and close-but-no cigar MTT runs can change that. Not only am I lucky to be able to support myself by playing a game for a living, but I have something that a lot of people unfortunately do not -- my health.
It's easy to take that for granted. I mean, it seems the only time I ever think about my health is when I'm sick, and even then it's just a cough or case of the sniffles. Sometimes, especially in the poker world, where people are losing hundreds/thousands of dollars on the click of a mouse, it's easy to lose sight of what's truly important.
Recently, I learned a friend of mine, Justin Hals, was trying to drum up support for a good cause -- cancer research. More specifically, children's cancer research.
Good work, Justin
He's $500 away from meeting his goal and I'd like to help him get there by donating 10% of the 180-man profits I earn over the next three days. On the off chance the totals end up in the red, I'll send $100. That being said, if donating a percentage of my profits to children's cancer research doesn't flip the boomswitch, nothing will. :)
I hyperlinked the web address several times in this entry, but for those less savvy philanthropic internet users, here it is again.
http://www.stbaldricks.org/participants/mypage/504704/2012
I hope some of my readers feel the same sense of generosity and choose to contribute to this very worthy cause. These poor kids have to play the hand they were dealt; the least we can do is make the pot a little bit bigger for them.
No amount of bad beats, coolers, and close-but-no cigar MTT runs can change that. Not only am I lucky to be able to support myself by playing a game for a living, but I have something that a lot of people unfortunately do not -- my health.
It's easy to take that for granted. I mean, it seems the only time I ever think about my health is when I'm sick, and even then it's just a cough or case of the sniffles. Sometimes, especially in the poker world, where people are losing hundreds/thousands of dollars on the click of a mouse, it's easy to lose sight of what's truly important.
Recently, I learned a friend of mine, Justin Hals, was trying to drum up support for a good cause -- cancer research. More specifically, children's cancer research.
Good work, Justin
I've made a commitment to shave my head in support of kids fighting cancer and to raise money to someday find a cure. For the past seven months, I have been growing out my hair, and it's about time I shed these golden locks - what better reason to do so than a good cause! Please support the future of these children with a donation to the St. Baldrick's Foundation - every bit counts!
Thank you for your support...your contribution has made a difference in the lives of these children and future generations. Click "Make a donation" to give online, or donate by phone or mail.
Thank you for your support...your contribution has made a difference in the lives of these children and future generations. Click "Make a donation" to give online, or donate by phone or mail.
He's $500 away from meeting his goal and I'd like to help him get there by donating 10% of the 180-man profits I earn over the next three days. On the off chance the totals end up in the red, I'll send $100. That being said, if donating a percentage of my profits to children's cancer research doesn't flip the boomswitch, nothing will. :)
I hyperlinked the web address several times in this entry, but for those less savvy philanthropic internet users, here it is again.
http://www.stbaldricks.org/participants/mypage/504704/2012
I hope some of my readers feel the same sense of generosity and choose to contribute to this very worthy cause. These poor kids have to play the hand they were dealt; the least we can do is make the pot a little bit bigger for them.
Friday, February 17, 2012
The Nemesis
Over the last few years, several times I've been told I'm a luckbox/lucker/lotto donk/bingo player/etc and I know that there's some pour soul on PokerStars who feels I run like god against them. It's somewhat amusing to me, as I feel I don't run particularly well at all and have my own list of players I simply can't seem to beat when it comes to all-in pots. If I get it in ahead, I'm not holding. If I get it in behind, I might as well close the table right there. I could start naming names of past and present players who fit the mold, but unfortunately none of them are famous enough to elicit much of a reaction. Well, until now.
Last night, I made the final table of the $55 Turbo and as the table dwindled I could smell first place money. This is it, I thought. This will be my big score. With 6 left, the CO shoved for 10 BBs and I giddily re-shipped AK. He tabled the 85cc but unfortunately the board ran out 899T9, giving him two pair, the pot, the chiplead of the tournament, and part of my soul. With only a few BBs left, I busted a few hands later and quickly shared the hand via social media so I could get some sympathy/support out of friends and followers. Most did just that, but one of my buddies noticed the villain's screenname.
Subiime? Isn't that Joseph Cheong?
It is. Cheong finished 3rd in the 2010 Main Event, but is likely more famous for the hand where he "blew up" and 6 bet-shoved A7 into Jonathan Duhammel's pocket Queens. I'm not about to delve into the merit of his play because I'm simply not aware of the table dynamics/reads/other important information needed to make an accurate evaluation. Point is, Cheong is famous.
Despite losing the $55 Turbo, I kept my motivation to grind and continued to do so throughout the night. And a few hours ago, I found myself sitting right next to him in the $25 6-max Hyper Turbo. I tried to get his attention, but unfortunately he either doesn't respond in chat or didn't care enough to do so. Oh well. Just after the first break, I'm dealt QQ in the BB and it's folded to Cheong, who opens shoves. I snap, he has A5. Flop comes A93r and I can't catch up, once again leaving me with only a few BBs.
Full-Tilt Hoodie? Hmmm...
Fast forward a couple orbits -- I've built my stack back up, no thanks to Cheong, and pick up TT in the SB. Table folds to Cheong, and moves in his 8 BB stack. I call, he has Q8, flops an 8 and rivers an 8, sending me to the rail. Believe it or not, I actually cracked a smile after that one.
Although it's only three hands (LOL sample size), I'm anointing Cheong as my nemesis until I beat him in an all-in pot. And considering our stakes rarely overlap, that might be a while. Perhaps more important than the difference in average stake is the difference in luck on our respective sides. Only moments ago while discussing this with a friend of mine, he said "Of course Cheong runs good. He got third in the Main Event!" True. And my biggest score was 3rd in a $22 MTT? I'm not in love with my chances here.
Last night, I made the final table of the $55 Turbo and as the table dwindled I could smell first place money. This is it, I thought. This will be my big score. With 6 left, the CO shoved for 10 BBs and I giddily re-shipped AK. He tabled the 85cc but unfortunately the board ran out 899T9, giving him two pair, the pot, the chiplead of the tournament, and part of my soul. With only a few BBs left, I busted a few hands later and quickly shared the hand via social media so I could get some sympathy/support out of friends and followers. Most did just that, but one of my buddies noticed the villain's screenname.
Subiime? Isn't that Joseph Cheong?
It is. Cheong finished 3rd in the 2010 Main Event, but is likely more famous for the hand where he "blew up" and 6 bet-shoved A7 into Jonathan Duhammel's pocket Queens. I'm not about to delve into the merit of his play because I'm simply not aware of the table dynamics/reads/other important information needed to make an accurate evaluation. Point is, Cheong is famous.
Despite losing the $55 Turbo, I kept my motivation to grind and continued to do so throughout the night. And a few hours ago, I found myself sitting right next to him in the $25 6-max Hyper Turbo. I tried to get his attention, but unfortunately he either doesn't respond in chat or didn't care enough to do so. Oh well. Just after the first break, I'm dealt QQ in the BB and it's folded to Cheong, who opens shoves. I snap, he has A5. Flop comes A93r and I can't catch up, once again leaving me with only a few BBs.
Full-Tilt Hoodie? Hmmm...
Fast forward a couple orbits -- I've built my stack back up, no thanks to Cheong, and pick up TT in the SB. Table folds to Cheong, and moves in his 8 BB stack. I call, he has Q8, flops an 8 and rivers an 8, sending me to the rail. Believe it or not, I actually cracked a smile after that one.
Although it's only three hands (LOL sample size), I'm anointing Cheong as my nemesis until I beat him in an all-in pot. And considering our stakes rarely overlap, that might be a while. Perhaps more important than the difference in average stake is the difference in luck on our respective sides. Only moments ago while discussing this with a friend of mine, he said "Of course Cheong runs good. He got third in the Main Event!" True. And my biggest score was 3rd in a $22 MTT? I'm not in love with my chances here.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
The Heartbeat
Well, the whole 'wake up early thing' officially lasted two days. Went to bed last night at 2 AM, woke up at 1 PM. Whoops.
I had a coaching session at 2 PM so I didn't have a chance to get games in all day. Okay, that's a lie. I could have loaded a set after coaching, but didn't really want to. Instead I took care of some stuff around the house, made/ate food, went to the gym, and spent way too much time playing 'Scramble with Friends.' It's a lot like boggle -- and if you'd like to play me, my s/n is abarone68.
Around midnight I finally loaded a set, comprised of 180s and all the turbo MTTs I could find. Busted almost all of them, but managed to get deep in the $3R 2xTurbo, mainly thanks to a field of mostly horrible players and a decent ability to push/fold. Alas, I didn't take this one down either, going out in fifth on a 'tough beat.' I didn't even get the money in good but it felt so much worse to lose after flopping the 8.
PokerStars Hand #75680239166: Tournament #515406639, $3.00+$0.30 USD Hold'em No Limit - Level XXVII (50000/100000) - 2012/02/16 2:44:12 PT [2012/02/16 5:44:12 ET]
Table '515406639 73' 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 2: conzies (633872 in chips)
Seat 3: truntenstein (743827 in chips)
Seat 5: arto2009508 (392856 in chips)
Seat 6: abarone68 (469608 in chips)
Seat 7: procasher (1129075 in chips)
Seat 8: joeski81 (3121391 in chips)
Seat 9: Neptune04 (2785371 in chips)
conzies: posts the ante 10000
truntenstein: posts the ante 10000
arto2009508: posts the ante 10000
abarone68: posts the ante 10000
procasher: posts the ante 10000
joeski81: posts the ante 10000
Neptune04: posts the ante 10000
procasher: posts small blind 50000
joeski81: posts big blind 100000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to abarone68 [8c 8h]
Neptune04: folds
conzies: folds
truntenstein: folds
arto2009508: raises 282856 to 382856 and is all-in
abarone68: raises 76752 to 459608 and is all-in
procasher: raises 659467 to 1119075 and is all-in
joeski81: folds
Uncalled bet (659467) returned to procasher
*** FLOP *** [9c Qs 8s]
*** TURN *** [9c Qs 8s] [Jc]
*** RIVER *** [9c Qs 8s Jc] [Tc]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
procasher: shows [Kc Ks] (a straight, Nine to King)
abarone68: shows [8c 8h] (a straight, Eight to Queen)
procasher collected 153504 from side pot
arto2009508: shows [3s 3h] (a straight, Eight to Queen)
procasher collected 1318568 from main pot
abarone68 finished the tournament in 6th place and received $525.17.
arto2009508 finished the tournament in 7th place and received $401.60.
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 1472072 Main pot 1318568. Side pot 153504. | Rake 0
Board [9c Qs 8s Jc Tc]
Seat 2: conzies folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: truntenstein folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: arto2009508 showed [3s 3h] and lost with a straight, Eight to Queen
Seat 6: abarone68 (button) showed [8c 8h] and lost with a straight, Eight to Queen
Seat 7: procasher (small blind) showed [Kc Ks] and won (1472072) with a straight, Nine to King
Seat 8: joeski81 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 9: Neptune04 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
No big deal. $525 ain't bad and if I can get some sleep in the next hour, I might be able to wake up early enough to put in some volume tomorrow. My heart seems to beat wayyyyy too fast after a deep MTT run, so that's a big if.
I had a coaching session at 2 PM so I didn't have a chance to get games in all day. Okay, that's a lie. I could have loaded a set after coaching, but didn't really want to. Instead I took care of some stuff around the house, made/ate food, went to the gym, and spent way too much time playing 'Scramble with Friends.' It's a lot like boggle -- and if you'd like to play me, my s/n is abarone68.
Around midnight I finally loaded a set, comprised of 180s and all the turbo MTTs I could find. Busted almost all of them, but managed to get deep in the $3R 2xTurbo, mainly thanks to a field of mostly horrible players and a decent ability to push/fold. Alas, I didn't take this one down either, going out in fifth on a 'tough beat.' I didn't even get the money in good but it felt so much worse to lose after flopping the 8.
PokerStars Hand #75680239166: Tournament #515406639, $3.00+$0.30 USD Hold'em No Limit - Level XXVII (50000/100000) - 2012/02/16 2:44:12 PT [2012/02/16 5:44:12 ET]
Table '515406639 73' 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 2: conzies (633872 in chips)
Seat 3: truntenstein (743827 in chips)
Seat 5: arto2009508 (392856 in chips)
Seat 6: abarone68 (469608 in chips)
Seat 7: procasher (1129075 in chips)
Seat 8: joeski81 (3121391 in chips)
Seat 9: Neptune04 (2785371 in chips)
conzies: posts the ante 10000
truntenstein: posts the ante 10000
arto2009508: posts the ante 10000
abarone68: posts the ante 10000
procasher: posts the ante 10000
joeski81: posts the ante 10000
Neptune04: posts the ante 10000
procasher: posts small blind 50000
joeski81: posts big blind 100000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to abarone68 [8c 8h]
Neptune04: folds
conzies: folds
truntenstein: folds
arto2009508: raises 282856 to 382856 and is all-in
abarone68: raises 76752 to 459608 and is all-in
procasher: raises 659467 to 1119075 and is all-in
joeski81: folds
Uncalled bet (659467) returned to procasher
*** FLOP *** [9c Qs 8s]
*** TURN *** [9c Qs 8s] [Jc]
*** RIVER *** [9c Qs 8s Jc] [Tc]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
procasher: shows [Kc Ks] (a straight, Nine to King)
abarone68: shows [8c 8h] (a straight, Eight to Queen)
procasher collected 153504 from side pot
arto2009508: shows [3s 3h] (a straight, Eight to Queen)
procasher collected 1318568 from main pot
abarone68 finished the tournament in 6th place and received $525.17.
arto2009508 finished the tournament in 7th place and received $401.60.
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 1472072 Main pot 1318568. Side pot 153504. | Rake 0
Board [9c Qs 8s Jc Tc]
Seat 2: conzies folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: truntenstein folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: arto2009508 showed [3s 3h] and lost with a straight, Eight to Queen
Seat 6: abarone68 (button) showed [8c 8h] and lost with a straight, Eight to Queen
Seat 7: procasher (small blind) showed [Kc Ks] and won (1472072) with a straight, Nine to King
Seat 8: joeski81 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 9: Neptune04 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
No big deal. $525 ain't bad and if I can get some sleep in the next hour, I might be able to wake up early enough to put in some volume tomorrow. My heart seems to beat wayyyyy too fast after a deep MTT run, so that's a big if.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
The Fireball
Whenever I fail to blog for an extended period of time, I never know how to get back into it. From a very elementary standpoint, it's simple -- load up the page, log in, and start typing. But what do I write about? Usually so much or so little has happened that I either have a million things to cover or am grasping at straws for potential topics. And forced entries simply aren't very good. Note: I actually liked that one, but more than one person disagreed with me.
Luckily, this is not one of those times. I've got a lot on my mind and will do my best to address all of it.
On Sunday, I finished 5th in the $11 $20k Guaranteed for $1.8k:
Hooray, right? I guess. I held the chiplead at the final table but my raises were met with a fair amount of aggression which caused me to slow down a bit. I lost a huge pot all-in pre with 44 vs Q2 and then found myself on the end of two hands that are effectively coolers. Oh well.
A couple of interesting conversations arose from my deep run in this tournament:
The first, with Ben (N0Bigdeal), was about whether or not I'm running good. On one hand, I've had a lot of deep finishes lately, at least in relation to the volume I've been putting in. More on that later. On the other, each deep run seems to be ending in cataclysmic fashion. This tournament's finish mirrored the $27 KO I played a day earlier: 15 left, chipleader, and then I lost two flips and as a 3-1 favorite -- Out in 9th.
The second conversation was with someone who doesn't play poker and I think that's where a lot of the disconnect stems from. When I told her that I felt blah despite winning $1.8k, she was confused about how/why I could feel that way. I did my best to explain that I figuratively and literally left money on the table by finishing in 5th; I felt I played well enough to deserve first place money ($6.7k) and was therefore slighted nearly $4k. Most poker players understand this concept and the painful toll it takes on your psyche but I feel she, like most people who don't play, saw it as me being ungrateful about winning a fair amount of money. Not so. I understand that making that much in a day (I actually only cleared $1.2k, but let's pretend) isn't "normal." Most people struggle to make that in a week, some even a month. But each deep run is an opportunity and I'm only going to feel good about the outcome if I finish in first. As crazy as it sounds, I'd feel better about shipping a tournament for $4k than compared to finishing 8th for $5k because in the first scenario, I won't stay awake at night thinking "what if."
My roommate and I are currently on nearly opposite schedules:
After a few days of waking up in the late afternoon/early evening, I managed to turn it around by drinking myself to sleep. Obviously that's not the most responsible way to get back on a normalized sleep schedule but hey, it worked. The last few days I've been getting out of bed super early (6-7 AM) and today I slept in 'til 9:30. I assume the pattern will continue, meaning I'll be waking up later and later throughout the week until eventually I'll have to drink again. When that happens, I'm buying a bottle of this:
Soooooooooo good. And I don't even like whiskey. Tastes like cinnamon, great by itself and mixes well with cola, tea, etc.
David, however, has been waking up in the mid evenings and going to bed around noon, which means we get to see each other for a few hours a day but spend most of our time focused on the grind. Honestly, I think that's best for both of us. He's been going through a two week long stretch of break-even and although that doesn't sound too bad, he's played 2,500+ games in that time. As for me, I prefer to play in solitude -- no idle chatter/unnecessary noise, just the sound of carefully crafted youtube playlists to get me in the right mindset.
My overall results are decent this month, despite the laughably low volume:
A few days ago I wanted to complain about my recent string of bad luck and realized I hadn't put in nearly enough games to do that. At that point I had played maybe 200 games for the entire month, not enough to overcome a bit of negative variance.
Feb 1st - 8th
Instead of sitting around and bitching about it, I decided to be pro-active and get in several hours of work. Since then (the 9th) I've played 735 games, most of which are 180s.
After Feb 9th
The peak hours for those games seems to be 8 AM to 4 PM, so if I can maintain some semblance of my current sleep cycle I'll be able to keep loading them up and taking them down.
Well, I've written enough here. In fact, there was so much text that I felt obligated to add more pictures. You're welcome.
Luckily, this is not one of those times. I've got a lot on my mind and will do my best to address all of it.
On Sunday, I finished 5th in the $11 $20k Guaranteed for $1.8k:
Hooray, right? I guess. I held the chiplead at the final table but my raises were met with a fair amount of aggression which caused me to slow down a bit. I lost a huge pot all-in pre with 44 vs Q2 and then found myself on the end of two hands that are effectively coolers. Oh well.
A couple of interesting conversations arose from my deep run in this tournament:
The first, with Ben (N0Bigdeal), was about whether or not I'm running good. On one hand, I've had a lot of deep finishes lately, at least in relation to the volume I've been putting in. More on that later. On the other, each deep run seems to be ending in cataclysmic fashion. This tournament's finish mirrored the $27 KO I played a day earlier: 15 left, chipleader, and then I lost two flips and as a 3-1 favorite -- Out in 9th.
The second conversation was with someone who doesn't play poker and I think that's where a lot of the disconnect stems from. When I told her that I felt blah despite winning $1.8k, she was confused about how/why I could feel that way. I did my best to explain that I figuratively and literally left money on the table by finishing in 5th; I felt I played well enough to deserve first place money ($6.7k) and was therefore slighted nearly $4k. Most poker players understand this concept and the painful toll it takes on your psyche but I feel she, like most people who don't play, saw it as me being ungrateful about winning a fair amount of money. Not so. I understand that making that much in a day (I actually only cleared $1.2k, but let's pretend) isn't "normal." Most people struggle to make that in a week, some even a month. But each deep run is an opportunity and I'm only going to feel good about the outcome if I finish in first. As crazy as it sounds, I'd feel better about shipping a tournament for $4k than compared to finishing 8th for $5k because in the first scenario, I won't stay awake at night thinking "what if."
My roommate and I are currently on nearly opposite schedules:
After a few days of waking up in the late afternoon/early evening, I managed to turn it around by drinking myself to sleep. Obviously that's not the most responsible way to get back on a normalized sleep schedule but hey, it worked. The last few days I've been getting out of bed super early (6-7 AM) and today I slept in 'til 9:30. I assume the pattern will continue, meaning I'll be waking up later and later throughout the week until eventually I'll have to drink again. When that happens, I'm buying a bottle of this:
Soooooooooo good. And I don't even like whiskey. Tastes like cinnamon, great by itself and mixes well with cola, tea, etc.
David, however, has been waking up in the mid evenings and going to bed around noon, which means we get to see each other for a few hours a day but spend most of our time focused on the grind. Honestly, I think that's best for both of us. He's been going through a two week long stretch of break-even and although that doesn't sound too bad, he's played 2,500+ games in that time. As for me, I prefer to play in solitude -- no idle chatter/unnecessary noise, just the sound of carefully crafted youtube playlists to get me in the right mindset.
My overall results are decent this month, despite the laughably low volume:
A few days ago I wanted to complain about my recent string of bad luck and realized I hadn't put in nearly enough games to do that. At that point I had played maybe 200 games for the entire month, not enough to overcome a bit of negative variance.
Feb 1st - 8th
Instead of sitting around and bitching about it, I decided to be pro-active and get in several hours of work. Since then (the 9th) I've played 735 games, most of which are 180s.
After Feb 9th
The peak hours for those games seems to be 8 AM to 4 PM, so if I can maintain some semblance of my current sleep cycle I'll be able to keep loading them up and taking them down.
Well, I've written enough here. In fact, there was so much text that I felt obligated to add more pictures. You're welcome.
Tuesday, February 07, 2012
The Plan
My time is Canada is running short (three weeks!) and many have people asked me what I plan to do in Sacramento for 5 months if I can't play online poker.
Go crazy, perhaps?
...Perhaps.
At the moment I still could play a bit on the Merge network, although there's considerably less traffic and cash-outs are taking several weeks to process. But hey, it's still online poker and if I can grind out an extra bit of cash per month, that'd be awesome.
Merge: Where on-line poker is legal, sort of, maybe.
In addition, I'll be putting lot more time and effort into coaching/instructing. Currently I'm in the process of creating a 'Coaching Listing' on 2+2 which will not only display my results in STTs, 18s, and 180s but will include graphs and testimonials from former clients. I'm also putting together 15-20 different HH files that will allow me to make relevant video content for PokerVT while in the U.S.
And since I can't play on the virtual felt, that means I'll be spending more time in actual casinos. Capitol Casino, to be specific. During my previous stint in Sacramento, I played close to 60 hours at Capitol and managed to make 4.5 big bets/hour in their $4/$8 LHE game so if I can keep up that win-rate I'll pad the monthly profit quite nicely. Plus they have 1/3 $NL and juicy tournaments so I can always move to those if I get bored of min betting.
I won't get into all of the numbers now, but at the moment I'm confident I'll be able to make roughly the same amount of money I do now even without playing several thousand games a month. It'll give me a chance to relax, prepare myself for Thailand, and more importantly -- enjoy life with friends and family.
Go crazy, perhaps?
...Perhaps.
At the moment I still could play a bit on the Merge network, although there's considerably less traffic and cash-outs are taking several weeks to process. But hey, it's still online poker and if I can grind out an extra bit of cash per month, that'd be awesome.
Merge: Where on-line poker is legal, sort of, maybe.
In addition, I'll be putting lot more time and effort into coaching/instructing. Currently I'm in the process of creating a 'Coaching Listing' on 2+2 which will not only display my results in STTs, 18s, and 180s but will include graphs and testimonials from former clients. I'm also putting together 15-20 different HH files that will allow me to make relevant video content for PokerVT while in the U.S.
And since I can't play on the virtual felt, that means I'll be spending more time in actual casinos. Capitol Casino, to be specific. During my previous stint in Sacramento, I played close to 60 hours at Capitol and managed to make 4.5 big bets/hour in their $4/$8 LHE game so if I can keep up that win-rate I'll pad the monthly profit quite nicely. Plus they have 1/3 $NL and juicy tournaments so I can always move to those if I get bored of min betting.
I won't get into all of the numbers now, but at the moment I'm confident I'll be able to make roughly the same amount of money I do now even without playing several thousand games a month. It'll give me a chance to relax, prepare myself for Thailand, and more importantly -- enjoy life with friends and family.
Thursday, February 02, 2012
The Walk
I'm hoping tomorrow will turn into a decent 'grind' day as I'm forced to wake up early because my landlord is coming by to pick up the rent and well, I don't have that sort of cash on me so I need to run to the bank.
I'll groggily throw myself out of bed, stand around aimlessly until I find sweatpants/my favorite hoodie, and stumble my barely conscious self down to the CIBC in freezing cold weather. Yeah, this is going to suck.
I'm about 6 hours from looking like this, minus the bright colors and enthusiasm
Well, at least I'll be awake by that point and can celebrate with some sort of caffeinated beverage/breakfast combination. Hot Peppermint Mocha/Bagel? Green Tea Rockstar/Egg Whites? Obviously one of those two sounds much more appealing than its counterpart, but we'll see how I'm feeling tomorrow morning. Perhaps I'll be in a health-conscious mood.
Times like these make me realize how nice it'd be to have an assistant who could take care of this stuff for me. I swear, I must have written about this before but I can't seem to find 'assistant' in any of my past blog entries. Really? I know it's in there somewhere. A year ago I came close to hiring someone but decided against it because I felt like I'd be throwing money away. But with tomorrow's events looming, it doesn't seem like such a horrible idea. Realistically, I'll likely hold off on hiring an assistant until I get to Thailand -- at that point the 'salary' I'm paying someone to pick up groceries/do laundry/tuck me in at night will be minimal and well worth the cost. Until then, I guess I have to do stuff myself. Womp wahh.
I'll groggily throw myself out of bed, stand around aimlessly until I find sweatpants/my favorite hoodie, and stumble my barely conscious self down to the CIBC in freezing cold weather. Yeah, this is going to suck.
I'm about 6 hours from looking like this, minus the bright colors and enthusiasm
Well, at least I'll be awake by that point and can celebrate with some sort of caffeinated beverage/breakfast combination. Hot Peppermint Mocha/Bagel? Green Tea Rockstar/Egg Whites? Obviously one of those two sounds much more appealing than its counterpart, but we'll see how I'm feeling tomorrow morning. Perhaps I'll be in a health-conscious mood.
Times like these make me realize how nice it'd be to have an assistant who could take care of this stuff for me. I swear, I must have written about this before but I can't seem to find 'assistant' in any of my past blog entries. Really? I know it's in there somewhere. A year ago I came close to hiring someone but decided against it because I felt like I'd be throwing money away. But with tomorrow's events looming, it doesn't seem like such a horrible idea. Realistically, I'll likely hold off on hiring an assistant until I get to Thailand -- at that point the 'salary' I'm paying someone to pick up groceries/do laundry/tuck me in at night will be minimal and well worth the cost. Until then, I guess I have to do stuff myself. Womp wahh.
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