I've moved...

The blog, and my book on how to beat 6-max NLHE cash games is now at Skilled Online Poker!

Things are getting crazy...

I've been super busy getting this ebook finished up and ready for download on the web. The book's been done but the web site's taking a little longer than expected, however, any day now it will be up and ready.

I'm really excited for it. It came out really well and was a fun project to work on.

I've had a super swingy month but am on a sick hot run right now, making about $20k in my last 6k hands, including 15 buy-ins in 1600 hands at 5/10. I'll post a graph in the next entry which will be coming very soon.

I'm also leaving for Australia in about 3 weeks.. man that's coming up quick. It's going to a very hectic next 3 weeks!

Onward

Balancing a professional poker career and a real life is hard.

I find that I can do one or the other fairly well but mixing them both, in good proportions, is real tough. One of my goals this year was to do this, but already, I'm spending most of my time plugging away hands and working on my ebook.

I'm also going to bed at 5 AM and waking up at noon or 1.

I can find excuses in the fact I'm leaving March 1st for Sydney to live there for three months. There were "adult school" classes I'd wanted to do; things like beginner Improv comedy, just to get out there and be more social and push my social limits. They run into the middle of March, however, so I've avoided them completely, and concentrated on working.

I also am probably unrealistic to what most people out there actually do -- that is work all the time, which I've been doing this month.

I'm not saying I want a crazy social life of 4 dates a week and 3 nights of boozing, but I'm not content with my general schedule of working late into the night 5 days a week and getting stupid drunk twice a week.

I suppose my goal is to play poker that is similar to a normal person's schedule. Wake up by 8 or 9 and played 2000 hands (and taken care of other business) by 5pm. Then, I want to have some social activities like comedy improv to spice up a night or two, then spend another night or two with friends.

I've decided until Australia I'm just going to grind for the most part. I put a decent chunk of my money into mutual funds last week so I'm trying to get a comfy 5/10 bankroll before I head down under.

Hopefully in Australia I can hit a balanced life. I'm not sure of the exact things I could do to "get out there" but I'll have to look into it more when the time comes. I have got 3 of my friends and fellow poker professionals going with me, so I'll have a decent clique there no matter what. But I'd really like to meet some locals and develop some friends among them.

My ebook, on how to beat NLHE 6-max cash games, is coming to completion. It turned out really good IMO and is about 170 pages of information that is rarely covered in most poker books (and if it is it's not geared to the shorthanded online environment.)

I wouldn't say it's anything groundbreaking -- it's the sum of my knowledge of 3 years on 2p2, and playing over a million hands that created the book -- but for a beginner to intermediate I think there's tons of invaluable information.

Hopefully, it will be ready for download in two weeks. I don't expect it to be a big seller, since there's already so much poker stuff out there for the buyer's dollar, but even if it doesn't make me that much money, it was a great project for me to work on.

It really let me think about the game more and get back to fundamentals which we tend to forget when we've played so many hands. It's always good to analyze my instinctual actions -- why am I betting here, for what reasons, etc etc -- to make sure I'm doing everything fundamentally right.

I also enjoyed the process of writing (editing, not so much.) It's a nice break from grinding and if it becomes a source of income, that's awesome too.

Looking back at 2007 and looking forward to 2008

Ah, yes, the obligatory "year in review, new year's resolutions" blog post. We all get a little reflective this time of year -- somewhat of a shame because I feel I should be analyzing what I'm doing what and what I hope to be doing much more -- but let's get on with the show.

I feel overall that 2007 was an OK year for me. I felt like saying it was a small disappointment, but in reality I made some big strides in my life and have a much clearer view of where I want to go then when I entered 2007.

At the beginning of 2007, I felt I was not happy with my life. The world of a professional poker player was bearing down on my soul. I was making good money for someone my age but spent almost all my time on the computer. I had put on 20 pounds since I started playing poker 2 years prior, and I despise being out of shape. The variance of the game was just sick and I truly didn't enjoy playing.

There was just an aura of negative energy every time I played or though about poker (which consisted of the majority of my day.) Thus, I wasn't improving very much nor was I putting in the amount of hands a professional should.

In 2007 I had the "Hermosa House." The collection of 5 solid poker players, living in a sick pad in Los Angeles, certainly had high expectations. I have mixed feeling about how things went -- our house was just SICK but I still lounged around in my house, putting in few hands and not challenigng myself by getting outside of the damn house. I did get in shape again, and I did get much better at poker despite my low volume. Being able to watch CTS and learn from him helped immensely. I was still a tight TAG but started really exploiting the button and stealing pots postflop which is a huge part of my game today.

The rest of 2007 was following the same pattern. Finally, I had enough, and I went off to Costa Rica for a month on a "learning vacation" by myself. I really think it was an eye-opening experience.

Too often I want to do something with others. I've never been much of a leader and relied on others to either motivate me, lead me, or at least make me not feel the fear of doing something alone. I truly just got sick of this attitude and didn't even bother looking for someone to come with me on a vacation I desperately needed.

More then ever I realize that if I ever want to get something done; if I want to be more social, if I want to learn new skills, if I want to get better at poker, if I want to make money off poker through business, it needs to be done by myself. I must make my own goals and challenge myself each and every day to reach them.

Costa Rica really taught me that. I had an amazing time meeting other people looking for the same thing and getting a new perspective on life and the value of a good life. The people of Costa Rica are much more laid back and care free than Americans. They do not stress at life to make ends meet the same way we do. If all your life is committed to reaching goals that truly do not make you happy, why bother?

When I had my first 30k month, I bought a 5k Brietling watch. Amazing watch. Beautiful watch. Waste of money. This was my first lesson in material things. I'm not sure if I expected this to bring a lot of joy to my life, if I thought it would add value to my life, or get me chicks. But it didn't do anything, really.

I suppose it's the byproduct of being raised in American culture, but I think I thought making money, buying cool things and having these kinds of possessions were where I had to go in life. But I got there relatively quickly, making low six-figures right out of college, and I've learned these things are meaningless. It's about adding value to my life in other ways.

I learned from the trip to Costa Rica how fun it was to learn new skills. Every day I challenged myself at Spanish and surfing and found the pleasure in pushing my mind and body to new limits that I just can't get from playing poker. Obviously, one needs to make an income and we can't just fuck around all day doing fun stuff.

For me, it was realizing this, and finding ways to combine my job with acquiring new skills and the balance of it all. It's something I'm still working on but I know, that everyday, must be a new challenge and I must face those challenges to the best of my ability.

When I go to bed at night my mind races with thoughts of all the cool things I'm going to do and where I want to go in life. Then I wake up in the morning, usually an hour later than I planned, groggy and anxious about all that I have to do. Hours go by wasted and I don't face the things that make me the most anxious. My main goal in 2008 is to give my best all day, every day. It is never easy, as I feel I am more enlightened then ever but I still realize every day is going to be a challenge against the out-dated machine that is my mind and body.

I ran across a quote by Vince Lombardi in some sports book I got from Christmas. The second I read it I felt like I'd had an epiphany about my desire, drive and lust for life.

"The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather in a lack of will."

Too much of my life I've had a lack of will. I've half-assed many things in my life, doing just enough to get-by and get on to the next day. I truly have not been living for many of these years. In 2008, I want that to change.

I've rambled so much in this entry, so I'll get down to the point of where I will be going in 2008. I'm planning on traveling and living in a few different places of the world. I want to truly experience these parts of the world -- if you've read the Four-Hour Work Week, I'm aiming for that lifestyle. I want to acquire new skills in each area of the world and not be a poker playing hermit who spends 60 hours a week online.

I want to continue coaching. I like being a teacher. I like helping those out with the immense poker knowledge I've garnered over the years. I've finished the rough draft of an online NLHE 6-max cash game book which I believe to be very good. The market for poker is so saturated but there is really no good book (or ebook as this will be) that covers this end in such detail. I'll tell you more about this later.

Essentially, my life, from this point forward, will be truly about living and experiencing it. Watching TV or browsing 2p2 for hours on end is not living. Challenging my limits and my beliefs every day, regardless of how simple the act in life, is. Giving my best, day in and day out, is the only way to go.

Woohoo

Hot baby, hot.

Sorry for the poor image quality, I can never figure this blogger stuff out. That's over 13 buy-ins at 5/10 NL in 2k hands.

Still Alive

Not much to report on.

Still grinding 2/4 to 5/10 with the occasional fish chase at 10/20.

I spent a month in Costa Rica to relax, learn spanish, and get better at surfing. It was amazing and the country is so laid back and peaceful it's such a nice change from the "real world."

I am planning to travel much more. Probably will spend March through May in Syndey with some poker buddies, then pick another location (Buenos Aires?) to live after.

I am also getting into a poker-related business that I hope to have up and running before I leave for Sydney. I'm excited about it and it will take a lot of my time but it will be a nice change of work from grinding.

End of the Hermosa House..

Our lease is up in the Hermosa House in 2 weeks, and everyone is moving on.

It's been a great experience, and has certaintly helped my game improve as the post-UIGEA games are filled with more knowledgable TAGs and LAGs. Bouncing ideas off of CTS, Slider and Dan Bright, and getting to sweat them have helped a ton. Slider, moreso in understanding how the straightforward nit plays :)

CTS is a world-class player, an incredibly smart guy, who is as much of a natural to the game of poker as you will ever see. Combining that with a sick work ethic and a devotion to improve at the game, and that's how somehow can crush the highest limits online so quickly. He would gladly talk about poker theory and answer any questions I asked, so I thank him for that. While my preflop stats aren't that different from last year, I'd like to think I am much tougher to play postflop. He's going back to the town he went to college in in Virginia, to be an absolute baller with his old college friends.

Togni was only in the house for 2 months of year, and he plays limit, so I didn't get much poker ideas from him. He's a super chill guy though, and it was fun living with him.

Me and Slider are grabbing a place in Hermosa. We're looking to live within about a hundred yards of the beach. There's a pad we're about to lock up right now. I'll be super stoked to be able to wake up and go running or surfing at the beach everyday (the Hermosa house was about 2 miles from the beach, and trust me, for a lazy poker player, that's a big barrier between sitting at home or going to the beach.)

I'm going to stick with the poker thing for a little while longer. For the beginning of this blog, I was burnt out, bitter about Neteller and my Pokes Poker money, and in an emo-mood most of the time. Now, I'm robusto thanks to table selection, a WSOP score, and generally not hating the game as much. I'm still lazy about the amount of hands I play, but hopefully I will pick this up and start putting in 40k hand months again.

I'm also going to start coaching for 3-bet.net. I'm pretty excited about this. I've always enjoyed sweating friends and sharing my knowledge about the game. I'm no prodigy, but I've played enough 6-max to have a firm grasp on how to beat the games handily.

I'll be coaching SSNL players for $100/hr, and MSNL players for $150/hr. I really feel I can lend a hand in teaching plays how to play a "tight tricky" style that is what I would describe my game as.

So much of beating 200 and 400 NL is just playing tight and solid. Just hammering that idea into your head going to win you monies.