Poker Weekend #1 Part 2

So, after 20 minutes of feeling sorry for myself I am once again ready crush some fishes. One of the things Jared and I discussed over the weekend was how poker is more volatile than we had even imagined. The rough patch I was it was pretty harsh, but it could still get a lot worse. The conclusion we came up with was that if we let the ups and downs of poker have an effect on our mood it was going to be a lot harder to make a living at this game. This is something you always strive for as a poker player, but it’s a lot harder than it looks. I don’t think complete detachment should be the goal, but when the rest of my life is so good why should a few bad weeks of poker matter?

The next 6 hours were great positive reinforcement for this type of attitude as I proceed to play awesome poker and book a nice 14 buy in win over 3600 hands. After that we decided to order up a little room service, smoke a little bit, and watch a movie. The biggest lesson learned over the weekend was to be wary of the munchies when room service and a mini bar are involved. I’ve never tasted better $9 gummy bears, $11 cashews, $5 snickers bar, $6 toblerone, $6 pretzels, and $4 Pringles in my life. Also, The Covenant just might be the worst movie ever made. It started off as “so terrible its hysterical” and moved quickly to “so terrible it sets humanity back 50 years”. I knew I was in for a treat when in the beginning chase scene one of the boys with powers yells “UP YOURS HARRY POTTER” while driving off the cliff. No I wasn’t high that actually happened.

iamBLACKmo came out Saturday morning (by that I mean 5pm) to chill and watch the UFC fight/Spurs-Jazz game. I wanted to get in a session before they started and I was lucky enough to find myself in some very good games on Bodog. A few minutes before we were supposed to leave a mega fish outdrew me in 3 pretty big pots. I told Jared and Mo to head over to the bar without me, as this was the kind of fish that you just don’t let off your hook. It wasn’t about getting my money back; the guy was just so bad I had to play him until he was gone.

He was reacting really poorly to my 3 bets so I decided to reraise every single time he opened. This basically made him go crazy and get in with some pretty atrocious hands. I was never really able to make up ground against him as we just seemed to be trading pots back and forth. However, my image also made the rest of my table go crazy and I broke the rest of the players a few times to keep the damage less than a buy in. It was a pretty fun experience. Going ultra LAG on certain Bodog players makes them do some hilarious things.

I went down to meet up with JDS and Mo at a pretty nice sports bar. They had seats at the bar and the UFC fight was just about to come on. These UFC fights are really starting to become an event, I was really surprised with the amount of ladies that seemed into it. We had a few beers and watched the fight when Mo D decided to fish it up a little when a gorgeous Brazilian looking girl started talking to him. She walked over to the bar and stood right next to him in a way that made it pretty obvious to me that she was interested. When someone stands so close to you they are practically sitting on your lap, it’s probably the signal you’re looking for. She got some drinks and Mo said something to her I couldn’t hear, but assumed it was going well as she was laughing. Mo turns back to me and we continue to watch the fight. She doesn’t leave but Mo just continues to talk to me. I give him the “WTF are you doing look” and he just looks confused. I’m not saying I’m the ultra master when it comes to the ladies, but when a women wants you to talk to her they make it pretty obvious. She talks to a guy on her left side and keeps looking back at Mo. I guess Mo is much better at reading cards than women as we end up leaving without her #. Mo is on mega “I just donked off 10 buyins” tilt from the experience so we head back up to the room and grab some room service.

I get in another 4 hour session with some of the Bodog players from earlier and able to still use my wild man image to take 4 more buyins from them. I was hoping to make 3k-5k over the weekend and I’ve pretty much passed the high end of that already. The poker retreat is turning out to be a very good idea, and we still have one day left.

Poker Weekend #1 Part 1

With the WSOP not far away the Poker Dynasty apartment has been in full blown poker mode for the last few weeks. Everyone is trying to fine tune their games while building up enough money to have sizable online, live, and tournament bankrolls. Jared suggested that we take it up a notch and devote this past weekend to nothing but playing poker and discussing poker theory. We decided that if we were going to do this we had to do it in style. So we made reservations at a nice hotel in Orlando for a distraction free poker weekend, with some room service and relaxation thrown in.

We head out to Orlando Thursday evening (it’s only about an hour from Tampa) trying to make it there before Jared’s coaching session at 10. We pull up to the Grand Bohemian Hotel and Jared’s battle worn Honda Civic fits in perfectly with the shiny Bentley and pearl white Rolls Royce that are also waiting for the valet. The hotel is pretty pimp, as it has tons of modern art at every turn. There are some interesting pieces, but some of the more “modern” art looks like something you expect from any preschool finger painter.

The first thing we do after checking in is bust out our laptops (the internet is the crack of our generation). After our computers boot up we give each other the “OH FUCK” look when we realize that the hotel doesn’t have wireless internet in the rooms. Apparently the rest of the hotel has wireless, but they are still working on integrating it into the guest rooms. These days I really expect every building in the country to have wireless, so it’s a pretty big shock when they don’t. The room has 2 ether net jacks, but only has one 8 inch long cable. Jared does his lesson and we decide to go find some cables in the morning, and just get some room service and watch sports center that night.

In the morning the concierge (aka old guy using Google) tells us that Radio Shack is only half a mile down the road turning left out of the hotel. It’s a pretty nice day so we go on foot instead of grabbing a taxi. I’m a bit skeptical about this info as the hotel is at the very edge of the downtown area, and left means going away from all the buildings. My scientism turns out to be right as after walking for about a mile we don’t find anything besides a bum fishing in a little man made lake.

We head back to the downtown area and search for something there until we decide to grab a bite to eat and head back to the hotel for better directions. Downtown Orlando is a pretty nice place, I will have to visit it again sometime that I’m not going to be playing poker for 4 days straight.

We get an address this time and take a cab to the Radio Shack that was a 15 minute drive instead of a half mile walk. We make quick work of purchasing the cables and get back to the hotel at about 5pm ready to hit the tables. We got off to a late start, but still plenty of time to play a ton of hands.

Over the past two weeks I’ve been running horrible. It started when I took a great calculated shot at Bodog 5/10. I played incredibly well, but a few massive beats forced me back down to the $300 and $600 tables. That stung a bit as I was dominating those players and if I had been a bit luckier I’d be well rolled for the game, even after taking out WSOP money. It didn’t get much better after dropping back down but I was able fight through and break even the last few weeks, when I should have probably lost a nice chunk of change.

I felt like I was going to break out of the slump this weekend as it’s pretty hard to lose when you’re able to fully concentrate on your game while playing a massive amount of hands. There first session almost crushed my optimism, as I got owned for about 5 buyins during the first 4 hours. I was really frustrated at this point, closed my computer, flopped face first into the bed, and buried my head in the pillows. I could feel the tilt coursing through my veins, but after about 15 minutes of stewing it went away. I simply decided that I wasn’t going to let it bother me anymore and all I could do was go back out, play good poker, and play a ton of hands. It’s going to come back eventually and if I put in the hours during the weekend it would come back very fast.

After that I was once again pumped to own the shit out of some fish and play better poker than I have before.

In part 2 we’ll find out if I was able to make a comeback or if poker decided I would look great in a straight jacket and sent me off the deep ending with some more monster beats.

Poker and Baseball

I think every major league team could learn a lot from poker players. When you break it down the pitcher vs. hitter battle has a ton of similarities to a poker game. Each player is trying to out think the other and the batter must often make a decision on what type of pitch is coming before it leaves his adversaries hand. Many of the great pitchers of our era could probably be monsters at poker if they decided to take it up.

One of the funniest things to watch is a pitcher go on tilt. One hanging pitch or missed close call can set a pitcher into the massive tilt that many of us experience after a bad beat. Maybe it’s just because I am so familiar with the signs of tilt, but I am able to tell the exact moment that the pitcher loses it. It’s not when he is noticeably angry, fiery passion can often get strike over, but when that anger stews long enough to completely numb his brain. It’s at this point the pitcher should be taken out of the game. No matter what the situation is, there are going to be some runs on the board pretty soon.

I’ve never understood why managers are so bad at making timely pitching changes. Even the best of the best seem to leave the pitcher in one or two pitches too long. They always wait until the pitcher completely blows it instead of taking action preemptively. It’s basically the same thing as getting up from the poker table after you tilt away your stack instead of catching the warning signs and saving yourself some money. In both games failing to act before the tilt costs the player/team a lot.

It seems pretty obvious to me that the guy who just game up a hit and two walks on close pitches probably isn’t going to get you that third out. Some MLB team should pay me 10k a game to sit in the dug out with the sole purpose to tell the manager when to take the pitcher out. I seriously think having someone paid to do this could win a team 10-15 extra games a year. Apparently managers are just as stubborn as most poker players and can’t admit that they could improve in this aspect of the game.

A Challenge: Ultimate Skills Competition

With only a month until I leave for the WSOP I feel the need to really get my gambling juices flowing. Jared and I have been known to gamble on just about anything we come across. Jared, the lucky SOB, has been running hot in our competitions and has got the better of me more times that I’d like to admit. I’m not a man who chases his losses, but it’s time I got even. With this ultimate skills competition I’m finally going to knock him off his heater and show him who’s the boss here at Poker Dynasty. Here’s how this competition is going to work, if he’s man enough to accept:

We will both come up with a list of competitions where one person does not have a dominating edge over the other. After flipping a coin the winner will select the first challenge from the list. After that challenge is completed the loser will then select the next competition continuing until someone has 4 victories. Here is the list I have come up with so far:

First to 20 RPS match victories
Best of 5 Heads up SNGs
Best of 3 Darts games
Best of 3 pool matches
Hot dog eating contest
19 holes of miniature golf
Best of heads up basketball

The best part is, I’m going to let the Poker Dynasty community select the stakes for this wager. Over the next couple of days I’ll take selections and they will be voted on at the forums. The ultimate skills competition deserves a better prize than just money, so be creative. Keep in mind that we will be at the WSOP all month, so something that can be done there could be very interesting. Anything other than “dress up as X during the main event” will be considered as that’s been done to death.

I fully expect Jared to accept my challenge and am greatly anticipating crushing his hopes and dreams in the competition.

I started a forum thread about this for you guys to post your ideas here:

Ultimate Skills Competition

The FTOPS Main Event…

…was fun for the 45 minutes it lasted. I had position on the fish who limped/raised almost every pot. I raised anytime he limped and he would fold to my continuation bet every time. He got fed up with that after a while and put in a few raises. Then we played this pot:

Full Tilt Poker Game #2470893593: FTOPS Main Event (15941974), Table 325 - 25/50 - No Limit Hold'em - 18:38:24 ET - 2007/05/20
Seat 1: TheLizard (2,485)
Seat 2: ScooopIT (4,510)
Seat 3: djmonkey (6,260)
Seat 4: Plumbob12 (4,010)
Seat 5: TheMightyDoobs (4,520)
Seat 6: bagelbob (2,975)
Seat 7: GUITARZAN32 (8,265)
Seat 8: nvestr21 (6,630)
Seat 9: dot_carter (5,345)
ScooopIT posts the small blind of 25
djmonkey posts the big blind of 50
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to dot_carter [7c Qc]
Plumbob12 folds
TheMightyDoobs folds
bagelbob folds
GUITARZAN32 calls 50
nvestr21 folds
dot_carter raises to 225
TheLizard has 15 seconds left to act
TheLizard folds
ScooopIT folds
djmonkey folds
GUITARZAN32 calls 175
*** FLOP *** [8s 8h 8c]
GUITARZAN32 checks
dot_carter checks
*** TURN *** [8s 8h 8c] [7d]
GUITARZAN32 checks
dot_carter bets 300
GUITARZAN32 calls 300
*** RIVER *** [8s 8h 8c 7d] [Th]
GUITARZAN32 checks
dot_carter bets 500
GUITARZAN32 raises to 2,625
dot_carter calls 2,125
*** SHOW DOWN ***
GUITARZAN32 shows [As 9c] (three of a kind, Eights)
dot_carter shows [7c Qc] (a full house, Eights full of Sevens)
dot_carter wins the pot (6,375) with a full house, Eights full of Sevens
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 6,375 | Rake 0
Board: [8s 8h 8c 7d Th]
Seat 1: TheLizard (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 2: ScooopIT (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 3: djmonkey (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 4: Plumbob12 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: TheMightyDoobs didn't bet (folded)
Seat 6: bagelbob didn't bet (folded)
Seat 7: GUITARZAN32 showed [As 9c] and lost with three of a kind, Eights
Seat 8: nvestr21 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 9: dot_carter showed [7c Qc] and won (6,375) with a full house, Eights full of Sevens

I almost checked behind on the turn but though better of it when I decided that he would definitely try to bluff me if I made a smallish river bet. The call was pretty easy as there was no way I could fold when the whole point of the play was for him to bluff raise me.

This hand was pretty disappointing as I would have been in great shape if I held up. This would be a good idea against someone else this deep, but it’s a no brainier against someone like guitarzan32.

Full Tilt Poker Game #2470939599: FTOPS Main Event (15941974), Table 325 - 25/50 - No Limit Hold'em - 18:44:25 ET - 2007/05/20
Seat 1: TheLizard (2,785)
Seat 2: ScooopIT (4,335)
Seat 3: djmonkey (6,185)
Seat 4: Plumbob12 (4,010)
Seat 5: TheMightyDoobs (4,670), is sitting out
Seat 6: bagelbob (3,375)
Seat 7: GUITARZAN32 (4,440)
Seat 8: nvestr21 (6,630)
Seat 9: dot_carter (8,570)
GUITARZAN32 posts the small blind of 25
nvestr21 posts the big blind of 50
The button is in seat #6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to dot_carter [Kc Ad]
dot_carter raises to 175
TheLizard folds
ScooopIT folds
djmonkey folds
Plumbob12 folds
TheMightyDoobs folds
bagelbob folds
GUITARZAN32 raises to 575
nvestr21 folds
dot_carter raises to 8,570, and is all in
GUITARZAN32 calls 3,865, and is all in
dot_carter shows [Kc Ad]
GUITARZAN32 shows [As Jh]
Uncalled bet of 4,130 returned to dot_carter
*** FLOP *** [Jd Td 7d]
*** TURN *** [Jd Td 7d] [Tc]
*** RIVER *** [Jd Td 7d Tc] [5s]
dot_carter shows a pair of Tens
GUITARZAN32: ty
GUITARZAN32 shows two pair, Jacks and Tens
GUITARZAN32 wins the pot (8,930) with two pair, Jacks and Tens
TheMightyDoobs has returned
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 8,930 | Rake 0
Board: [Jd Td 7d Tc 5s]
Seat 1: TheLizard didn't bet (folded)
Seat 2: ScooopIT didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: djmonkey didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: Plumbob12 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: TheMightyDoobs didn't bet (folded)
Seat 6: bagelbob (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 7: GUITARZAN32 (small blind) showed [As Jh] and won (8,930) with two pair, Jacks and Tens
Seat 8: nvestr21 (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 9: dot_carter showed [Kc Ad] and lost with a pair of Tens

I’m still in fairly good shape with 4k after losing that pot. The next big hand I played was this:

Full Tilt Poker Game #2470978891: FTOPS Main Event (15941974), Table 325 - 30/60 - No Limit Hold'em - 18:49:35 ET - 2007/05/20
Seat 1: TheLizard (2,825)
Seat 2: ScooopIT (4,215)
Seat 3: djmonkey (6,095)
Seat 4: Plumbob12 (3,740)
Seat 5: TheMightyDoobs (4,550)
Seat 6: bagelbob (3,500)
Seat 7: GUITARZAN32 (8,770)
Seat 8: nvestr21 (7,305)
Seat 9: dot_carter (4,000)
Plumbob12 posts the small blind of 30
TheMightyDoobs posts the big blind of 60
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to dot_carter [3d Ad]
GUITARZAN32 is feeling angry
bagelbob folds
GUITARZAN32 folds
nvestr21 folds
GUITARZAN32 is feeling happy
dot_carter raises to 180
GUITARZAN32 is feeling confused
TheLizard folds
ScooopIT folds
djmonkey folds
Plumbob12 calls 150
GUITARZAN32 is feeling normal
TheMightyDoobs folds
*** FLOP *** [Td 4d 9h]
Plumbob12 checks
dot_carter bets 300
Plumbob12 raises to 1,320
dot_carter raises to 3,820, and is all in
Plumbob12 calls 2,240, and is all in
dot_carter shows [3d Ad]
Plumbob12 shows [Th Ts]
Uncalled bet of 260 returned to dot_carter
*** TURN *** [Td 4d 9h] [As]
*** RIVER *** [Td 4d 9h As] [8s]
dot_carter shows a pair of Aces
Plumbob12 shows three of a kind, Tens
Plumbob12 wins the pot (7,540) with three of a kind, Tens
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 7,540 | Rake 0
Board: [Td 4d 9h As 8s]
Seat 1: TheLizard didn't bet (folded)
Seat 2: ScooopIT didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: djmonkey (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: Plumbob12 (small blind) showed [Th Ts] and won (7,540) with three of a kind, Tens
Seat 5: TheMightyDoobs (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 6: bagelbob didn't bet (folded)
Seat 7: GUITARZAN32 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 8: nvestr21 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 9: dot_carter showed [3d Ad] and lost with a pair of Aces

This is pretty standard for me at this stage of the tournament. I’m not going to get away from the nut flush draw when he had room to fold and there isn’t a very good reason to think he has a good hand. I just happened to run into the top of his range here, oh well, I still had outs.

It was very fitting that Guitarzam32 put the nail in my coffin. I wouldn’t have had it any other way! It was a pretty amusing hand.

Full Tilt Poker Game #2470987342: FTOPS Main Event (15941974), Table 325 - 30/60 - No Limit Hold'em - 18:50:42 ET - 2007/05/20
Seat 1: TheLizard (2,825)
Seat 2: ScooopIT (4,215)
Seat 3: djmonkey (6,095)
Seat 4: Plumbob12 (7,540)
Seat 5: TheMightyDoobs (4,490)
Seat 6: bagelbob (3,500)
Seat 7: GUITARZAN32 (8,770)
Seat 8: nvestr21 (7,305)
Seat 9: dot_carter (260)
TheMightyDoobs posts the small blind of 30
bagelbob posts the big blind of 60
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to dot_carter [Jc Kc]
GUITARZAN32 calls 60
nvestr21 folds
dot_carter raises to 260, and is all in
TheLizard calls 260
ScooopIT folds
djmonkey calls 260
Plumbob12 folds
TheMightyDoobs raises to 1,200
bagelbob folds
GUITARZAN32 raises to 8,770, and is all in
TheLizard folds
djmonkey folds
TheMightyDoobs has 15 seconds left to act
TheMightyDoobs: aces?
TheMightyDoobs folds
GUITARZAN32 shows [Ah Kd]
dot_carter shows [Jc Kc]
Uncalled bet of 7,570 returned to GUITARZAN32
*** FLOP *** [5c 2h 9d]
*** TURN *** [5c 2h 9d] [3s]
*** RIVER *** [5c 2h 9d 3s] [4h]
GUITARZAN32 wins the side pot (1,880)
GUITARZAN32 shows a straight, Five high
dot_carter shows King Jack high
GUITARZAN32 wins the main pot (1,360) with a straight, Five high
dot_carter stands up
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3,240 Main pot 1,360. Side pot 1,880. | Rake 0
Board: [5c 2h 9d 3s 4h]
Seat 1: TheLizard folded before the Flop
Seat 2: ScooopIT didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: djmonkey folded before the Flop
Seat 4: Plumbob12 (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: TheMightyDoobs (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 6: bagelbob (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 7: GUITARZAN32 showed [Ah Kd] and won (3,240) with a straight, Five high
Seat 8: nvestr21 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 9: dot_carter showed [Jc Kc] and lost with King Jack high


It’s too bad this post couldn’t be longer, but I would rather bust out fast playing well than grind for a few hours only to bubble/place barely in the money. The next tournament I play in should be a WSOP event so hopefully I’ll be writing a post about that with a bracelet on my wrist.

Thank God for the UIGEA?

I know anything I write today will be a let down, as you were probably waiting for some crazy stripper/booze related story from Jared’s birthday party last night. Sadly, Jared was feeling pretty shitty when we all went out to dinner and we had to postpone the festivities to another night.

I have not always been a glass half full kinda guy, but since life has been so good to me the last few years it’s hard not to be. Just like everyone else I was livid when the UIGEA was announced. I knew the games would get harder and it would be difficult to move money around. The poker scene has pretty much played out as predicted the last few months. For those of you who weren’t around in the earlier days of online poker you probably don’t realize how much tougher the games are now than they were even one year ago.

While I would obviously have preferred the UIGEA to never have existed I had to look for some positives in the situation in order to keep myself from becoming totally depressed about the state of online poker. I truly believe that this whole mess will be cleaned up in the next few years. Once the government gets their cut of the poker pie any of their faux moral motivations will fall away. Many people want to play poker and even more people believe we should have the freedom to do so. I just don’t see some sort of resolution not happening in the near future.

When this does happen there is going to a “poker boom 2”. Nobody will be afraid to play poker online and the game will return as strong, if not stronger, than it was in years past. That means those of us who went through the trial by fire of the UIGEA and came out winners will be handsomely rewarded. If you are able to dedicate yourself to the game and become a winner in this climate the sky is the limit a few years down the road. If I can make 75k-100k a year now a number as high as a million wouldn’t be out of reach with another poker boom.

This is why I think it’s so important to invest in your game now, even if you’re not able to get all star type results yet. The UIGEA climate has exposed flaws in all our games that went unnoticed because the games were so good. If we take the time to work those kinks out we will all be some rich fuckers. So, even if the results aren’t here now just think about investing in your poker future. If you ever had the dream of being a pro poker player, even though it looks bleak, this is not the time to give up hope. Like they say in the stock market “Buy low and sell high”

Anti Work Movement

Life is like a treadmill, niggas runnin in place
Gettin nowhere fast, a whole year done past
I vowed to never stop winin, 'til the earth stop spinnin
Rock hot lenin, cop hot cars and hot women
If it's not him then you got it confused, y'all not remembering,
My motto is simply I will not lose

- Jay Z

I knew from a very early age that the 9-5 life wasn’t for me. You could never call me a good employee and even though I did very well in school I was far from a “good student”. In every job I’ve had I always found a way to get my work done faster doing it my way instead of “the right way”. Apparently I never learned value of hard work because this never sat well with my bosses. My jobs would inevitably end one of two ways. First I would get in an argument with the boss over why their current methods were wasting time, and with me not wanting to continue wasting time and they having too much pride to admit things could be done better, we would soon part ways. The second way would be to request time off work, having that request denied, and me promptly quitting. Freedom has always been the most important value in my life, much more than knowing I will be getting a check every two weeks.

Even though I knew I didn’t want to go through life with the standard game plan, it was still very difficult to actually make that happen. The pressure from society to go to college, get a job, start a family, and save for retirement is extremely difficult to overcome. If you don’t follow the crowd you’re not respected and just considered lazy. I gave into this pressure for a long time and ended up spending a year of misery at the University of Michigan. This was the place I had always wanted to attend, and the only school I applied for. I couldn’t help feeling empty the entire time I was there. Everyone was so worried about getting their degree to move on to their 50k/ year job. Even at the best parties nobody truly seemed happy.

After that year things were really in perspective. The “American dream” was not what I wanted for my life. I wanted to do the things I enjoyed from life when I wanted and how I wanted, and I didn’t want to wait till I was 60 for that to happen. So I took what most people would consider the biggest gamble of their life. I dropped out of school and left my old life behind forever. To me this wasn’t a gamble at all. No matter how it ended I would be the winner.

At this time I had not even started playing poker online. I bounced around from Chicago, Texas, California, Seattle, and Michigan. I worked a few very interesting jobs and quit them as soon as they became not so interesting. The main thing was I enjoyed every minute of it.

During this time I met my soul mate, and her name is No Limit Hold’em. I started playing while in Chicago and improved my skills over the following year and a half of bouncing around the country. After taking a road trip across the US with my good friend Jared Devlin-Scherer we both decided to take the plunge and moved to Florida to peruse our careers as professional poker players.

While there have been both ups and downs, the positives have greatly outnumbered the negatives. Poker not only gives me freedom to live my life the way I want, but also the financial means to do so. In the 3 years I’ve played professionally I’ve had the opportunity to spend months in Europe, sit courtside at NBA playoff games, travel the USA, attend baseball games 3 times a week, and play in the World Series of Poker main event.

I don’t say this to brag. What I want to do with this blog is open people’s eyes to a life style that anyone can have. This site portrays a mentality I like to call the “Anti Work Movement’. For those of you not satisfied working a 9-5, making someone else rich, I hope I can make you take a look at your life and put the wheels in motion for you to break this cycle. I’m not suggesting you tell your boss to fuck off and become a poker pro, this particular life might not be for you. Why not figure out what you love to do and turn that into a business? Maybe there is a job you actually enjoy doing. If you’re doing something else figure out a plan that changes that.

I can’t tell you what will make you happy with life, that’s something you’ll have to figure out yourself. The most important thing to realize is the risk is minuscule compared to the rewards available. As a poker player this type of situation is exactly what I look for at the table. You should be looking for these same situations in life. Never be afraid to make a low risk high reward decision with your life. Hopefully reading about my life in this blog will inspire you to do everything in your power to design a life that you’re truly happy to live.