Johnny Cashout is a better poker player than Frank

That would be a perfect name for a poker player, Johnny Cashout. It's time I let my alter ego Johnny Cashout take over cause Frank is just a big doof online. Guess who dropped 5 hundo the other night or last night or yesterday I don't remember exactly when. I'll give you a hint, his name starts with an F, he needs to hit the gym bad, and he's really goodlooking.
I got exactly 5% of my bankroll on PokerStars right now. On August 5 my deposits will be cleared and I can cashout. Thats all for now folks.

I'm continuing this post a few days later. I see the post before this my total wealth was about 4.9k. I can now regrettably report that my total wealth has sunk to around 3.5k. I took a lot out of the bank to buy shit and had a couple of disaster days online. I know I have to report it so there it is. I haven't exactly stuck to the plan. But I still can play well from now on. I'm going to recruit my alter ego Johnny Cashout to play for me. He's going to play using basically the same system as Frank did. However I'm going to use a 10% rule and paly with 300 bucks each day. I'm going to play 3 tables of 25c 50c 6 max NLH, 1000 hands and then stop. I'm going to try an be awake during the day and sleep during the night. I think depression from not seeing an daylight for a while and not doing enough socializing caused me to play bad. It's not the end of thw world though my bankroll has never dropped this low. At it highest it was 7.5k, and at one point it was in the 4k range, but under 3.5k is really a shame. I'm just looking at it this way: A big time pro who used to have a million dollar bankroll would be absolutely mortified to all of the sudden wake up 1 day with a bankroll of 200 grand. Because it's all relative, if you gave me a 200k bankroll I would be doing backflips. I used to have a 7.5k bankroll but now I have less than half that but I'm gonna thank God for what I do have and make the most of it and play well. SOme poor kid who just finished college and has plenty of student loans and a 400 dollar bankroll wishes he was me. So if you think about money it's just like the game of poker itself. When you take a bad beat you lose a big pot, you lose money. Theres no reason to be upset cause its in the past and all that matters if playing your best from this point on.

We must remember this at all times. The chip leader in a tournament just lost a big pot and now only has 400k in chips. He used to have 800k baby, he feels terrible. Then theres that shortstack who just doubled up finally, he's up to 95k now. But at that exact moment in time the shortstack with 95k is a whole lot happier than the former chip leader sitting with 400k. The guy with less money is happier! This makes no sense technically but it happens everday because your status in life is all relative. So next time you lose a big pot just keep in mind that you must stop and appreciate what you do have, and no sense in thinking about the past. There's always someone who would love to be you. Besides, with poker its easy to forget and move on, it's not like forgetting about that girl who got away. I will always love you BBL.

They Call me Johnny Productive

Wow, a very productive day today, Saturday/Sunday (my sleep schedule is all over the place) Ive been periodically napping and playing poker all day and night. This new system of mine has been very very helpful and today was my best day yet. It really helps to know that I'm only going to be risking 250 bucks a day (5%) I am not stressed at all and bad beats are really not effecting me. The swings I take playing these 6 max no limit games on Pokerstars can never even come close to the swings of heads up, so I'm feeling extremely desenthesized to money and my A game has been there each session this week. I can't believe I wasn't doing this since April when I started online, I'd probly be up 7-10G as opposed to just 3 from online. Well better late than never. And to think, the whole reason I came back from AC was to build up the bankroll playing smaller stakes so I can go back to AC and play 1,2 more comfortably and really crush it. But I've really just been playing people Heads Up and even though its only 25c 50c, 50 max buy in heads up the swings along with my volatile playing style make it almost the same as a live 1,2 game where u can win or lose 500-800 in a night. Heads up is just craziness, its variance land, no matter how good you are it takes a long time for the skill to show, and your edge can be hard to exploit. This all leads to difficulty in maintaining the A game and therefore downswings, therefore less money, therefore questioning why you play poker for a living. I think I jsut loved playing Heads Up so much and I was more concerned with instant gratification as oppossed to making money ina a way, I don't know. But all that time heads up defeated the whole purpose of me even coming back home. What a tool I am, but not as big of a tool as you Rob.

Anyway I need to have losing swings of 250 bucks down at most, otherwise I'm risking a downswing. I was having bad days where I lost way to much money in Atantic City and it made it difficult to keep the snowball effect from happening. Same thing with heads up online. I am much happier now and don't see how my A game will leave me anytime soon. I may not even have to take as many breaks as I thought. And I really don't have as much hatred for online poker as I did. I really just hated heads up cash. I still like live poker better but online has it's advantages. So today has been great I played the goldstar freeroll tournament on pokerstars. This tournament has a huge prize pool and is free to enter for anyone with enough frequent player points. First place was a wopping 15 thousand dollars, not bad for a free entry ay? So I got through 5100 of the 5200 players and finished in 104th place. I only won 130 dollars, I really wanted final table money, but came up short.

As for the cash game, lets see, I was already up 130 for the day:

Bankroll: 4k
PokerStars: 660
Cashouts Pending: 0
Expense Account: 0
Total Wealth: 4.66k
Today: Two tables of 25c 50c No Limit Holdem 6 max. 1000 hands max
Result: 736 hands
% Bankroll Increase: +5%
% Bankroll Decrease:
Money Won: +260
Money Spent: 0
Total Wealth: 4.9k

My last 2 cash sessions I have reached my goal of a 5% bankroll increase. It's awsome and I expect things to continue this way for a while. I can't wait to send out for a nice big juicy check from poker stars baby! When I was playing heads up I always had this sick feeling in my stomach like I was risking everything. Now i just feel great, I usually can reach my goal of 250 profit is less than 800 hands. I'll have my 12k saved up soon enough and then am going to be making lots of money in AC. And possibly higher stakes online 6 max. Who knows, I just feel so confident and great right now. I'm glad I've finally woke up. So up 390 overall for the day. Here's the hand of the day:

My hole cards: J8 suited in spades (one of my favorite hands, made a straight flush at Taj Mahal)

I call a 2 dollar raise from Probe Better 1 who I had previosuly doubled up in the last hand. It was half my fault, half suckout. Anyway Player B to my left also called the 2 dollar raise. There is now about 8 dollars in the pot.

Flop: 9 spades 10 clubs 2 hearts

Probe Better 1 bets 6 dollars, I call with open ended straight draw hoping for a Q or 7 to bust this guy who most likely will not fold because he is a probe better, hence shitty player, hence unable to fold when he is beat. Player B also calls the 6. The pot is getting bigger.

Turn: 4 of spades

I now have a flush draw to go along with my striaght draw. Probe better bets a mere 8 dollars like an idiot who wants to give me a cheap price to outdraw him. I call the 8 happily and Player B folds.

River: Ace of spades

Bingo!!!!!!!!!!! I have z flush. He bets 8 again. Most people will raise 20 or 25 more here maybe less to make sure they get paid off. I don't really play like that. It depends on the player ofcourse, and bad players made bad calls. So I raise him is last 50, he calls right away and for a second I think he might have the KQ of spades and might actually have me. But no, he has pocket aces, the river gave him 3 of a kind and me a flush. I scoop a massive pot of like 200 dollars, making 100 profit in this 1 hand. And now sit with a 300 dollar stack at a 50 dollar table.

The lesson here is know your players, bet it all if the player is bad enough. Bad players made ridiculous bluffs and ridiculous bets that are not consistent with the pot size. They can have 5 dollars invested and all of a sudden risk 40 more when they don't have to. Always pay attention to pot sizes when making your decision. And when you know a player sucks, jsut bet it all, they ain't gonna fold. They make decisions based on what they hold and thats it. They don't think about all the other factors you should consider each hand. When you see a weakling at the table, exploit them by making ridiculously large bets relative to the pot. I'm out for now, expect more great cash sessions to come........

Jacks Full loses to Quad Queens on River

And it happened to Derick, the same poor bastard who lost with quad 5's to the straight flush the other night. I don't lose a hand like that all year and this crazy shit happens to him twice in 3 days. He's holding JJ flop comes QQJ and his opponents had AQ, they get it all in on the turn, 900 bucks in the pot, river is the case Q!!!!! Poor Derick, down close to a G in 2 hands that there's no getting away from, but if anyone can make it all back in 2 seconds it's Derick.

Anyway, since I've decided to record what happens to me everyday now and post a picture of a smoking hot babe everyday I will also post my hand of the day, but only ones that happen to me. Look forward to that at the end. I actually played 2 sessions today because the first one went so quickly, I lost my 250 real fast, so decided under this strange circumstance it was ok to break the 5% rule, yeah so I'm risking lose 500 bucks in a day, won't happen to often, tonight was to strange of a situation, I had to do it. So here's a log of session 1:

Bankroll: 4.3k

PokerStars: 250

Cashouts Pending: 0

Expense Account: 0

Total Wealth: 4.55k

Today: Two tables of 25c 50c 6 max No Limit Holdem. 1000 hands max

Result: 384 hands

% Bankroll increase:

% Bankroll decrease?: - 5%

Money Won: - 250

Money Spent: 60

Total Wealth: 4.25k

Once I was down to 59 dollars or so I just play HU and sucked it up once again. Another 250 dollar losing session, 2 in a row, go Frank! I made another deposit of 250 and began another session.

Bankroll: 4k

PokerStars: 250

Cashouts Pending: 0

Expense Account: 0

Total Wealth: 4.25k

Today: Two tables of 25c 50c No Limit Holdem 6 max. 1000 hands max

Result: 640 hands

% Bankroll Increase: +5%

% Bankroll Decrease:

Money Won: +281

Money Spent: 0

Total Wealth: 4.53k

So a bad session filled with monster suckout and then a good one finally making 281, so only really up 31 dollars on the day. I took 60 dollars outta my savings account so that counts as money spend and I got over 500 online now and about 4k in the bank so I'm way far from 12k I need but ont he right track. I love this 2 tables of 6 max. I feel very stress free and am actually looking forward to working now cause I quit that damn swingy Heads Up bullshit. I am very good at 6 max and expect great things to come without dealing with these crazy swings. My bankroll is suffering right now but soon a fat check with be coming in the mail from pokerstars.

Hand of the day:

My hole cards: Ace 6 of diamonds I have 128 bucks on the table at 25c 50c 6 max NLH

I raise it to 2.50 in early position. One caller Zeeland Boy who has 181 bucks and is big stack at the table.

Flop: A 6 4 rainbow (3 different suites)

I bet 4 dollars, Zeeland boy flat calls. I am happy with my 2 pair to get action.

Turn: K, putting 2 hearts on the board of A 6 4 K

I bet 8 bucks he makes it 24, a raise of 16 more, I call.

River J of diamonds, a baord of A 6 4 K J, no flush possible.

I check, Zeeland boy bets 38 dollars. The timer almost out runs out and I fold. I muck 2 pair, putting him on a set of 4's or better 2 pair, like AK or AJ. He never shows his hand, but may eventually tell me if what he had at a later date. I think I made a nice laydown becuase we were the two big stacks and he had not gotten out of line against me all night. Whatta you think, good fold? Or how could I lay down aces up? Leave comments. Peace out, people, expect great things to come from 6 max cash from me. I promise, today was the fist of many great sessions.

Yesterday's Catastrophe

Catastrophe is a strong word, it was more of a minor isolated incident but heres what happened when I played yesterday using my new organization method:

Bankroll: 4.55k
PokerStars 5% account: 250
Cashouts from online winnings: 0
Expense Account: 0
Total Wealth: 4.8k
Today: 2 tables of 25c 50c No Limit Holdem 6 max, 1 k hands. Heads up games are excluded from options.
Result: 671 hands
% Bankroll increase:
% Bankroll decrease?: - 5%
Money Won: - 250
Money Spent: 0
Total Wealth: 4.55k

I was actually doing really well the whole time and then I fucked it all up at the end. I was pissed at myself in a way but not really. I expect great things to come. I was up over 200 at one point and I think I had reached my goal in only like 500 hands. But I was confused over whether or I was actually suppossed to try to increase my 225 dollars, or 250 dollars, cause 225 was 5% of my bankroll but 250 was how much in my account. So I had exceeded 225 possibly but not over 250 for sure so I didn't stop and then played a few hands less than admirably to say the least. I took a crazy gamble with a flush draw that would of put me up over 300 for the day if it worked out, but did not and I wound up back to even. Broke soon after, very unprofessional, very donk like toward the end. If you see me tell me I suck please. The plan was to increase the bankroll by 5% or more, if you pass 5% you must play until you downswing back under 5%. You must stop after 1000 hands. or you must stop when you lose the 5%. Then a 24 hour exclusion. I did all that, I stopped after losing 250. By the way from now on 250 is saying in my account, which is a little over 5% its probly like 7% but whatever. When I get 5k back it'll be more sensible, but for now I'm sticking with 250 a day, increase by 250 or more, or lose 250. Thats that.
Anwyway I really love this new system and expect big things to come. I know it would of been nice to kick off the first day with a nice 200+ cash, but hey, whatta ya gonna do? No big deal, it was just 250. It's good to have a bad day and just lose 5% of your roll. I used to lose alot of money on a bad day, like maybe 500-800 and I can't afford that at all. So if bad days are me jsut dropping 250 I'm gonna be making a lot of dough, cause it's mostly good days. I expect great things to come of this new system, wait and see. I promise you results.

Let's look at how we shape up for today's game.

Bankroll: 4.3k
PokerStars: 250
Cashouts Pending: 0
Expense Account: 0
Total Wealth: 4.55k
Today: Two tables of 25c 50c 6 max No Limit Holdem. 1000 hands, 5% decrease,
or 5% increase or more. If 5% is exceeded you must stop after downswing
under 5% or 1000 hands. You have the option of stopping at 5% increase
even under 1000 hands, but only if your over 5%.
Result: Next Post.

Quad 5's loses to Straight Flush

Feelin Like Starting A New One Now, I don't know why. That 300 hundo I had online has been wasted away by my recklessness and i have made a deposit and now sit at 250. Which works out nicely because thats about 5% of my bankroll. I actually ran up my stack to 7 hundo before crapping out like a doosh who has to tell everyone about it. It's not lost money though since i never made a deposit, and of my new deposit, I have what I started with. So not exactly making progress. It's a shame that I didn't just cashout my 7, that was almost a G, I have to get more organized so I can make this alternate future happen. If I continue at my current rate, I'm just getting by. I always say how it's an accomplishment that I only play poker for income and am not broke cause most people who would try it go broke real fast. I don't wanna say that, I wanna be making a lot more and stay really organized. From now on this blog is like my office I have to come here everyday and say the following:
Bankroll: 4.5k
PokerStars 5% account: 225
Cashouts from online winnings: 25
Expense Account: 0
Total Wealth: 4.75k
Goal: Increase bankroll by (x) percent. If my 5% or 225 is lost a 24
exclusion is in order. If you increase bankroll by 5% you must
play until you dip under your high point of 5% increase (225).
Regardless of your situation, after 1000 hands have been seen
a 24 hour exclusion is in order. Each day send winnins to cashout land.
Today: 2 tables of 25c 50c No Limit Holdem 6 max, 1 k hands.
Heads up games are excluded from options.
Result:
% Bankroll increase:
% Bankroll decrease?:
Money Won:
Money Spent:
Total Wealth:
This is organization baby. Everyday from now on. The fact that I had 7 hundo without deposting a dime has been screwed up makes me so disgusted that from now on this is how we do it. I will also be posting a picture of a different hot girl each day cause thats what this website is about, my two favorite things. Hot girls and poker. They are both love hate relationships. Which are somehow the best kind. You must really love something if you hate it but keep going back. On the day my pal Derick loses all his money, 300 or so in a cash game, holding four of a kind, losing to a straight flush I start this organization. It's a sign, that sick sick hand.

The Future is not Predetermined

Here's a vision of the future: ---------->>>>>

This is my idea of the perfect living enviroment, it's a house or condo even, on the beach, or at least walking distance as you can see. Look at those fuckin legs Goddamn. Isn't it weird how even when ur saying a curseword you still capitalize Goddamn? Curse words are the most frowned upon words and only like more important words receive capitals, yet a curseword, the outcast gets capitalized cause it's has God in it. Thats an anomoly, or a paradox, just like time travel. Anyway theres a girl chillen on your porch looking up at the beach and then theres a strip of casinos, 10 minute drive down the road, just about how long it is to the beach walking. This is an imediate plausible idea. A condo next to the beach in the town over from Atlantic City. You got your place, your view, your hot blonde girl that chills, and your casinos where you make your money is right around the corner. This is what happens when you die and go to Heaven except no probe betting opponents.This is the future, that picture is a symbol of the future. The future is not predetermined you can make anything happen you want at any time. How do we make this future happen? Well, play good, really really good all the fuckin time. Or else in a matter of years I'm going to be to old and wish I had a time machine. You will always want a time machine to go back to younger days no matter how bad you think you have it off even though the days you look back and admire are days you also wish you could go back. So no time is better than right now.

I don't think time travel is possible because even if it was then the incident in which you went back in time or into the future would have still chronologically happened one after the other. So the first reality would still be technically after the reality when no one came back and changed reality. So there would be in fact two realitys that both exist but they still took turns happenning and were not simultaneous. If you know what I mean please comment, if you don't and you wanna make a joke mocking my blather please make sure it's actually funny.

I been thinking alot of time travel because during Batman is saw the trailer for Terminator 4, and guess what Batman himself is playing John Connor, now they can make another Terminator without Arnold, and people will still go see it. I can't stop thinking about this movie. I'm pretty sure I didn't play poker at all a few days ago cause i was watching so much Terminator shit on YouTube. You Tube is definately the website of choice if you were stranded on a Desert Island with only one url..... And I think you all can agree.

Takin it Easy

This is the first sunday I haven't played the big one on Pokerstars. Woulda cost me 215 of course and I feel like just chillin today not really playing. I want to see Batman instead. Funny thing is I actually had more than enough money on my pokerstars account and still do as we speak. And I have refused to make a deposit. I still pretty much have the same attitude towards online as I did last post and the one before. I really jsut want to go back to AC and be a live player once again. Just use online here and there, just to pay a few bills. And I have not made a deposit in a long time however I do have the money to play the sunday million (the big one). Hows that? Well let me tell ya, my friend Brian transferred me 10 bucks, I turned into 50 sent back his 10 and then lost the 50. So my friend Derick sent me 20 and I lost it. So he sent me 50 and I lost it. So he sent me 50 and I turned it into 140 then sent him back 120 and was squared away again. So I have 20 bucks now without deposoting. I lost it. So Brian sent me 60 and I turned into 100 and sent him back his 60. Now I had 40 and was freerolling again, debt free, with money online, without making a deposit. This time I skyrocketed the 40 into 300 and thats where I sit right now. Next stop 1000. Either way I can't lose money cause I havent made a single deposit and payed back everything I borrowed. Sitting at 300 this is pretty sweet. This is really the only thing I'm interested in for online, borrowing small amounts, paying it back and then freerolling the money up to a decent amount that can generate income. I don't wanna deposit and I don't wanna play online to much. I'm going to continue to take it easy until the time comes to move to AC baby. Then I plan on playing online a mere 30-45 mins a day, maybe 7 hours a week and just try to profit a couple hundos, play like a small stakes limit stud game at night, make like 30-40 bucks and then just chill with that. At the end of the month I can pay for most of my rent and cell phone, car insurance, etc with my online profits. Everything I make playing live will be all gravy, just bonus money baby. This is a reasonable, plausible idea. I am probably going to stay at this pace online until I go back to AC, and try to sell my car. Not really to much to say as of right now. I probly will be filled with ideas later on and have to write again. But at least theres some good news, I got 300 bucks online and its all free money cause I havent deposited a damn thinfg. Remember, if I have to report if I lose it so there some more incentive to do well. I'll let you know how things go tomorrow, all I want to do right now is see Batman.

To Understand The Downswing, We Must Become a Downswing

I don't really know what that title means because you can't really become a downswing. But it works for cops who used to be criminals. So I've been taking some time off and really not even playing poker at all. I've been screwing around online here and there for microstakes but nothing to serious and definately have not made any deposits. Anyway I feel it is good to take this time off and study and try to understand a downswing in order to minimize such happennings in the future. Instead of playing poker with money that matters and stakes that can really hurt you if you screw up I am going to just keep on takin it easy. I've been doing alot of thinking about my game and my chosen career path. I believe my No Limit Holdem cash game is just about world class. The things I can do on the table kinds of freaks me out, especially when I am deeply lost in a big 1,2 game in Atlantic City where everyone has somewhere between 100 to 900 bucks on the table. However I would never claim to be one of the handful of the best players there is because of this flaw that continues to compromise me. I feel I am still not completely desenthesized to money and the truly great ones are. Stu Ungar was suppossed to be the best player ever, I don't feel like getting into it you can read about him if you like http://www.pokerpages.com/articles/pokergreats/stu-ungar01.htm, he is talked about like some kind of chosen one by people who knew him, like he was that good, if poker players were jedi knights he'd be the one who will bring balance to the force. Anyway he really didn't care about money at all, win it, lose it, win it, lose it. He gambled a lot and gave money away to strangers frequently. I believe this is how he maintained his winning edge, there really was no way the A game could be corrupted. The same way when you get enough rest, food and water daily you get recharged and can complete the demands of each day he could just go all year playing his A game as long as he was awake and healthy. Nothing else got in his way, no other stupid little bullshit. Me, and almost every player, some more than others would like to maintain the A game all each day but life always gets in the way. Money will always matter to me no matter how hard I try to turn it off. Now lets analyze the poker players of the world, I still am in rather good standing but not where I want to be.

Type A: The Amateur Donkey: these comprise probably less than 15% of the poker playing community. Unfortunate that its not more but they are the fish and lack fundamentals, patience, and easily tilt. I can empty their pockets almost as easy as a stripper can empty mine. Long term poker financial result: way way down.

Type B: The Amateur Gambler: you can sometimes group these in with type A's. But the clearcut gamblers comprise probly 35% percent of the poker community. They play halfway decent but are more interested in gambling and that will always overide their judgement. And why not go on tilt when you have a real job, you can afford it. Long term poker financial result: way down.

Type C: The Amatuer Competitor: I have some buddies that I may group in here, they can play but are far from a pro. These guys make up about 40% of the poker comunity. They play pretty sound but still don't know about tilt control, it's not exactly an easy game when they're in there but its beatable, their weakness will show. I sometimes refer to them as mediums, and type B's are kind of like them. Long term poker financial result: down a little.

Type D: The Pro Grinder: I feel I am right here and one of the few people who come out ahead. A pro grinder is very seasoned in the mental warfare that is poker and has few weaknesses. A lot of things have to go wrong for a pro grinder or shark to lose their money. They will outplay you and consistently and always know how to bet to win more than you do with a good hand, and always know when to fold to lose the minimum with a bad hand. And if they can't outplay you they will outwait you. However the brutal swings and mental wear and tear on the pro grinders brain make it difficult to sustain a constant flow of income and they are vulnerable at times, if your lucky you'll face them on one of those less than stellar days. These players make up about 8% of the poker community. Long term financial result: up but not way up.

Type E: The Poker Superstar: These players don't differ much from type D's in terms of skill. But their life is just easier and filled with more oppurtunity. The average superstar would most likely have more skill than a type D but thats not really to significant. They are the elite types because they have learned how to never lose the A game, and never let money or life get in the way of poker. Whether it is some special talent or experience is unknown but they are the few who have continued to see the big picture no matter how dark the road seems at the time. They feel the same all the time, bad days and good, making it impossible for the inevitable bad times to cause a downswing. These players comprise a mere 2% of the poker community and round out the rest of the few players who actually are ahead from poker. Long term financial result: way up guy, way up.

I am happy I am a winning player and will look back on my life when I'm old and remember what a superb player I was when I was a young man and become insanely jealous of young Frank. However I still need to become a type E and it would be ludicrous to call myself that now. I guess being a type D is a nice accomplishment but if I never become a type E it would of probably been better if I dedicated more time to something else. If you don't eventually reach the very top your never really going to be able to buy a house from just playing. Ofcourse there is always exceptions to every rule and likewise with what I have said, but basically, all of the above is true. What type do you see yourself as? Do you even play enough to be considered part of the poker playing community? Let me know, send me some comments. I am going to be busy evaluating my downswings and understanding what caused them, what continues to cause them, and how to eradicate them. I'm on my way to having a better job than anyone that I also love doing. As oppossed to an okay job that I love doing. These downswings will be gotten to the bottom of, I'll tell you one thing, they have nothing to do with luck.

Not to much to say today

Well I guess I promised to report anytime I do bad at the tables and not just when I win so lets get this overwith. I'm currently on a downslide over 1k and I think I've lost like 800 dollars online since the last time I wrote. There overwith, I've recovered from a worse downswing though in the beginning, 6 months back. I was on my way to having my 12G bankroll and now another setback. Seems like everytime I start to turn the corner and am almost more than halfway there and on the way to being 3 quarters there I get knocked back down to a little less than halfway there. It happened when I first quit my job and I was hovering a G or so below the halfway point which is 6k ofcourse. Then I got back up towards 3 quarters there and got knocked back down in April. Then I fought my way back up with a decent online stretch since I've been home and like 2 or 3 blog entries ago I had a lot saved and was on my way and I just got knocked back down below the halfway point. Damn whenever I'm making good progress I seem to psyche myself out. This shit has nothing to do with good luck or bad, it's me. It's some kind of psychological wall I'm putting up that my mind can't seem to get around, won't let me have to much sucess. Some kind of subliminal feelings I act out subconsciously. Perhaps a part of me does not want things to change. Or maybe I know if my bankroll gets to big poker will really take off and I'll never pursue another career, so I subconscisouly downswing or play worse on purpose. It's not to late yet, I can still have a normal life and maybe some part of me wants to avoid this crazy lifestyle. I don't know just a theory. I know the Frank right here writing this shit does not like whats going on and wants all the money he can get and really play. I'm really not worried about sustaining income with poker, I am really really that good. Gotta stay not burnt out though and keep the A game. Haven't done that at all for this recent downswing. Anyway to be honest I started out with too little money saved to be playing professional poker but have been getting by anyway. When I finally have more money and am playing the same stakes I'm going to be as comfortable as a shirtless guinea eating a meatball hero sitting in a lounge chair while in a jacuzzi watching the Yanks play Boston.
I really do wonder if theres some kind of pyscholigal barrier here, I think there is probably. If I know its there I can take it down. But yes I do want to do other things. Like be a writer. Write a novel damnit. I try to write but never seem to finish. I think a writer is a perfect double life for a poker player to pursue. I seem to have discovered that proffesional poker sucess requires alot of days off in order to suceed. I have not been playing online at all really and wont' again to I feel better. Now what better than writing can help you fulfill your daily contribution to the world.
I watched that movie Orange County with Jack Black, see it, mad funny, the main character played by Colin Hanks wants to be a writer and meets his idol at the end. This accomplished writer tells him that almost every great novelist has had a conflicted relationship with the place he grew up, just like him. Cause the whole movie was about how he wants to leave Orange County, go to Stanford, meet other people and be a writer, blah, blah. This makes him feel good since he wants to be a great writer, he wants to leave Orange County and his idol tells him how every great writer experiences these same feelings. Well this made me feel pretty good too I guess.
I've always complained about Mahopac and the kinds of people here, but college in Oneonta taught me that people pretty much blow from everywhere. Anyway theres no way you can admire the greatest poker player ever more than the greatest writer ever. So I'm gonna try to do both in the time I have left. This blog is good cause it helps me write, I hope you all get something out of this.
Almost at 12k saved, if you count less than halfway as almost.
Oh yeah, looking into a condo in AC, why live there and pay rent when I can get a condo and my monthly payments actually are an investment? Anyone who rents anything is bananas, I work to hard to get money to just throw away a G every month on living somewhere and never get it back. Condo baby, a good friend from college is interested too, I'm trying to live right on the beach and right next to the casinos baby. I don't wanna get to into it cause nothing is official yet so I'm not gonna act like it's done. But were looking into it. I really have no choice though, you can't be a proffesional poker player and just play online. And I do so well in AC, I pretty much have to get this set up.

Insanity Evaluation

Even though I just wrote an entry last night I still feel like I have a lot to say. Since early February when I began playing poker full time I've only had one losing month and I don't even really count it because it was the first month and I was a little uncomfortable in the beginning. I just couldn't play good the first week or two cause it took a little while to realize what I was really doing, I don't know exactly what I was feeling but I just wasn't myself. Anyway since then I have been doing okay. I have had a couple of months where I was in the positive for sure but nothing significant, and one very consistent online poker stretch where I made over 200 everday for a while. I haven't had a losing month since the first one, but I have had to many insignificant progress months. I had one really really good month where I made almost 4 grand. This was March, and what strikes me about this month was how little I played. I think I did nothing like 17 days and played poker 13 days. I was in Atlantic City half the time and back home the other half playing a lot of super mario bros with my lady friend. We beat super marios bros the original and then played the lost levels (previously unreleased until mid 90's) we beat that too, and it took us a while. I was also very sick for like a full week, and couldn't do anything but lay around. So somehow I wound up only play 13 days out of the month and magically made close to 4k. Every other month I've played at least 6 days a week, if not 7. See this is how you get burnt out and have that one day, or two, lets say bad streak than can last for a bit, not to long but any streak where your losing money is to long no matter how short it may be.
For example, the past week I was making money online but hating it so much cause I was so sick of dealing with it. Thats not me, I love poker, I think any day without poker is a bad day. But I wasn't feeling like that at all, so I obviously was burnt out. Every post all week recently was probably about me complaining more than anything. The pressure was just building and building and then yesterday the roof finally flew off. In the future I need to remember the month of March, where I really spread out my sessions and won basically 90% of the time and profited biug time. If I make every month like that I'm making 45k a year cash (thats like someone who makes 60+k after taxes), and I'm playing relatively low stakes, imagine what I could make playing higher? Anyway, you gotta know when your burnt out, I think a big sign is when you don't want to play at all and you don't want to deal with the swings. You gotta play, play, play and then when the pressure starts to build you gotta chill, chill, chill, let the pressure fall back down to the bottom or else your risking an explosion! Where you donk off 4 days of profit. I used to think this was my fault, that I still needed to improve my stamina or my mindset and be more like a Zen like buddha meditating totally at peace person. But I'm starting to realize that no one can really play 6-7 days a week of brutal swingy cash games and maintain their sanity enough to consistently bring their A game. No one can do it, not even Phil, whichever Phil you want, neither of em I tall ya! The black one probly has a better chance because he's so damn calm, but still, no way. Anyway what helped me realize this is an interview I watched with Nick Shulman (http://www.pokerroad.com/inside_the_poker_mind/nick_schulman/) Just listening to him talk it's like I'm watching a video of myself talking, he could write my next blog entry and you wouldn't know it wasn't me. This kid won like a million dollars in his early 20's in a major tournament. So naturally I feel like he's doing something I'm not, but I really don't think thats the case at all. There's a particular question this fine looking cutie pie who runs the site asks him in the interview and he gave a very reasonable answer. He starts to elaborate on playing online poker as a job and is describing the ups and downs. He says he was the type of player which a handful of players are that would win, win, win like 15 sessions in a row really rake in the dough and then have sort of a 3 day downslide where you just lose your mind. The cutie pie asks why that is and he says because his level of insanity increases over time. Bingo! If your winning crazy money session after session thats good but it doesn't mean your not slowly going insane. Even when your winning your still stressin for your hand to hold up after you trap someone for all their chips. The pressure builds everday and like I said before you gotta let the pressure go back down when you feel it rising to the top. When the level of insanity gets to high, break time! Frank! Earth to Frank? You don't have to have a bad day and neutralize 4 days of hard work to realize it's break time, you need to understand yourself better. I've heard countless very sucessful players talk about how much their more they win when they play less. I used to think it was my shortcomings as a player when I couldn't keep my A game 6-7 days a week, but it's not. This kid who won a million bucks when he was 20 something is saying the same thing as I do, they all say it. And obviously I win like crazy when I play less. I'm folding pocket kings in 2 seconds everytime when that damn ace hits the flop after a bet and a call, but after a week and a half of nothing but poker everday pocket cowboys just don't hit the muck so easy.
And then I was reading this other post on the 2+2 forum, (http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/) and this guy was talking about what he does to handle this situation. He can feel the downswing coming or takes a loss, so he goes somewhere that he can't play poker at all, and then it's a matter of time (never more than a week) before he is dieing to play again and finds himself sneaking away from all these other activities he was doing to cool down from poker just to do anything somehow poker related. This how you know your ready to play again, when you can't stand being away from it. You have no life and need poker back because it's your career and times are never better than when your playing and winning. If you own a business or have kids or anything important like that you know it burns you out, but you know you need it, it's everything to you. I really love doing well in my chosen career path.
Think about this for a second, I have a very unique occupation in that the month I made the most money was the month I worked the least hours. And my worst month was when I worked the most. Hey man making 4k a month and just chillen half the time ain't such a bad life. I used to think money management seperated to good players from the true pros who really make a living, but I see that there is more to it know. Money management helps, but truly understanding yourself is really key. Breaks, breaks, breaks, you can't play everyday Frank, no one can, ask any successful player. I gotta know when defcon 5 is approaching, I'd appreciate if any of my readers would leave me comments about anything but do me a favor and let me know if my recent literature seems kind of dangerous or fed up with the game. See if you can spot that I am getting close to the edge and the passion is not there. The A game comes with passion for poker, the downswing comes from being sick of it all. Leave me comments and help me out, please, muchas gracias.
Poker is much like life, it's not fair at all and doesn't really care about your plan. Sometimes your just in the wrong place at the wrong time and you get fucked, yeah you did everything right, you went to school got A's, went to Harvard, passed the B.A.R. exam, got a job, your making mad money and only 25 and then some hoodlum shot you in the head coming out of a liquor store on your way home to celebrate your accomplishment. Your drawing dead now pal. If only you had not worked so hard your whole life, you might have been somewhere else and still be alive. Obviously this does not mean you should not strive to accomplish your goals in life, you should make the most of every day but there is no reason to worry about what you can't change. When your playing poker you must strive to play your best no matter what happens. No one cares if you take a bad beat and lose a bunch of money that you deserved to win. No one cares that the guy who won the pot on a lucky river card is reaping fortune through stupidity. Poker is a just randomness, the cards don't care about you, they don't care who was a 4 to 1 favorite when the money went in, neither does life. Poker is randomness, it's made of the same fabric that the universe itself is, randomness, there is no right or wrong, and no one deserves anything, the game owes you nothing, and neither does the universe, and neither does life. Whatever happens in poker, on the river, or in life theres no use ever being emotional about anything. People who just keep on trucking no matter what are the ones who make it in life and in poker, luck can only help you so much if you ain't helping youself. And only hurt you so much if you are helping yourself. There are rare cases in life like the lawyer I mentioned, but poker, there will always be another hand. If you take a bad beat, it's beautiful, it's randomness, it's the same reason our universe is hear in the first place. I for one am gonna play less and make more money and never forget what I've just written.

Break Time Again

Whats up my people, I was going to start off this show by qouting in a totally inappropriate way that I wanted to have some consentual sexual relations with this girl who appears on a certain media outlet I frequently check out but then thought better of it. It's not totally impossible that we may cross paths or that this site might attract some public attention and she might find out I said it therefore nullifying any chance of us ever quantifying such relations together. Okay that was the first thing on my mind before I started writing, now that it's out of the way lets just say I'm rather relieved I have no way of playing online poker right now because I proceeded to donk off about 10% of my funds earlier today. I'm suppossed to abide by the 5% rule but until I have 12k saved up I gotta use the 10% rule, I can't play any lower stakes than I play and you gotta bring at least 500-600 bucks to a live 1,2 game. The other day after I got back from Altantic City an decided how ridiculous it was to just play online as a job I wanted to just cashout 1000 and stop playing but I only had like 400 or 500 on line so i decided to play a little more till I can cash out for a full G. I ran it up to over 1000 in the last few days but was only able to cash out for 620. The rest was lost in a series of bad beats and poor play. So it's not a total loss at least I have a check coming. So far I have recieved checks for 3 grand, 1 grand, got half a G on the way and also had over a G sent to my checking account months back. My total deposits(investment) does not exceed 1 and a half thousand. Do the math yourself, its a nice profit but took to much time. Anyway I definately do not plan on making another deposit anytime soon. But I am glad to say that I am now a winning online player based on what I've done here back home since I got back from my stint living in AC. I used to not be able to say that but now I am both a live and online poker up for thier career kind of guy. Did you know that 93% of online players are down? My profit is modest but a profit nonetheless. I have no desire to make another deposit anytime soon and my next money making move will involve me playing live for sure, rent is gonna kick my ass. I can still play the Sunday Million online for two more weeks because I have so many frequent player points, guess I'm not gonna get that porsche, and I only needed like 2,970,000 more.
I guess I have sugar coated today a bit, I definately should of just cashed out the 1,100 or so available if I knew I was gonna play like a doof, now just cashing out 600, unfortunate. Well at least now I know I'm ready for a move. And like I said if I have a bad day at the table it's gonna be on here. I'm not gonna only write when I do well. From now on I'm just going to say how much money I make every day that I write. If I drop a G in a day (never happenned but have come close once) you guys are going to hear about it. I know the video of me and Derek in AC was great and I was excited cause I'm up big, and a lot of these posts are all about me winning and there hasn't been to many about losing. But there are bad days every now and then. And I refuse to act like they don't happen. So I'm writing this one and I always will. Everday, how much won or lost, you can actually know how much money I make from now on. Hopefully this blog will lead to a big problem with me and the IRS.
Nevertheless I don't think I'll have a problem with giving out all this imformation, since I frequently pump out big cashes in Atantic City and don't plan on to much more online time (even though I am relatively successful online there is still a much greater chance of a Mike Matusow blowup)
So this whole thing is like a soap opera now, you can tune into Frank's Days each day and see how I am doing. I bet some of you sick people out there secretly hope I fall flat on my face and go broke. Either because your a cruel twisted person who would probly tell me to go fuck myself if you met me cause thats your way of compensating for your insecurity (everyone knows some of those kids) or maybe you wanna see me fail because you read this shit just for entertainment an drama or tragedy always makes the best stories. Come on guy Shakepeare was the man, enough said.
I hate to break it to you but worst case scenario I just go all year and then realize I coulda just drove a cement truck. And there is always best case scenario and reasonable expectation land where I am kind of living at right now which is pretty straight. Nevertheless leave me some comments or email me I want to hear from anyone reading.
Plan of action for tomorow: sell my car, steal the car my parents don't use and head somewhere I can make money without looking at a flickering box of shit all day. Peace out......

Online Poker, is this really poker?

You know what comparison I want to make right now? A pretty far out one that you all make feel makes no sense but I'm going to go ahead and make it. Online poker compared to live poker is a sorry excuse for what poker truly is, it's just simulated poker, you don't want to go out and find real poker games with living breathing beings with emotions that you can see with your own eyes. So you stay home and play it on your computer and it's not the real thing and if you do it to much it just sucks. The same way people who can't get layed but want some form of sexual satisfaction use that very same machine they use for online poker to handle their business down there. Wouldn't you rather be close to real live girl and really touch her as oppossed to just looking at videos of one and touching yourself! How retarded is it to use your computer for this shit as oppossed to going out there and finding a real girl? Just as retarded as using your computer to play poker. There I said it, playing live poker is live actually having sex and playing poker online is like jerking yourself off and then crying yourself to sleep.
Yesterday I made like 100 something dollars online and then stopped playing because I just don't care anymore. COMPUTER SIMILATION IS NOT REAL LIFE! Just thought I'd throw that in there. And today I was playing a little bit online dreading it the whole time, I made a quick hundred then bluffed off 100 bucks because I care about getting someone to lay something down once in their life against me alot more than 100 bucks. I then took a break and won 100 back playing some completely irrational tilted kid who kept going all in for 85 dollars everytime I raised before the flop. I also staked my friend to play some 25 max cash games and he lost some of the money I sent him so I finished up 60 for the day, pretty bad. You know what I don't care! (Staking is when you give another poker player the buyin for a game and when he wins he pays you back plus half the profit, if he loses you lose)
I used to play online till I made 200-250 a day and I wouldn't quit till then. I have no desire to do this anymore. Even though that was making me good money it just doens't seem worth it anymore. I'm just back home right now to sell my car, I can't just live here and play online anymore its not a very fulfilling life. I get much more joy out of working on this site as oppossed to playing online, which I used to really fiend for. I just wanna live somewhere that I can play live and I'll just have online poker on the back burner, available if I ever need it. If I really have to sit on my computer and deal with these fronters and probe betters any longer I'm going to jump off a building.
It's weird though, when I was in AC for too long live poker got a little frustrating. Sort of to the same extent that online is now. I don't know maybe I'm just complaining, if I was on you regular people who have to use alarm clocks I would be worse off. I'm glad I have not invested in any kid of property or a signed a lease around here where the only was to pay it off was to play online or get a real job because I have no casinos around. That would be bad. But even if I owned something in Atlantic City would I feel like I'm in over my head because it's just a matter of time before to much live poker drives me insane as well? It's just being a professional poker player in general it a very unique and mind bending way to go about making a living and I can see this now. In college all I did was wish I was out so I could start playing, but now it's not all that. I still love poker though, overall I don't want to do anything else. When I'm not playing I feel like I don't have any purpose.
However I have heard several very accomplished pros talk very honestly about what they do. Like Eric Seidel who has been around since forever and is a perfect example of what I strive to be in life said "I wouldn't really recommend it" when asked about playing as a career and he has won millions! I heard John D'agostino say "I started playing so much that I decided to play for a living. Not something I would really recommend, it's a tough way to make an easy living" And Mike Matusow always rips on the profession and says how sick in the head he is and how lucky the ones who have sponsors are and if he didn't have sponsorship he would never want to be a pro. Well thats me, JoeBlow Grinder, no sponsorship, completely unknown with no other way to have an income then flat out taking people's cash at the table. And poker will always be misunderstood by people who don't play and have a negative stigma attached to it. No one in my entire family has ever helped me suceed as a poker player. They all refuse to give me any sort of loan because they think I'm just going to lose everything. It's really pretty disheartening. All these family games we play all I do is rake in the dough and call out people's exact hole cards with the same frequency of Negreanu himself but they still won't give me anything. I could really use a loan of 10 grand or so and it would be so easy for me to really thrive as a player, but they don't even know about money management they think I'm gonna play with all of it at once because there ignorant. The whole situation really really hurts.
Nevertheless I don't care what anyone says, being a poker player, I wouldn't have it any other way. Well yes I would I'd rather be a famous player who plays in all the major events and is sponsored, but I'd still rather be me than one of you regular people, no offense meant if you like what you do for a career good for you. I just feel I am the only one who is truly free. You may live in a free country and not be behind bars but you still answer to somebody, you still live on a restricted time schedule, not for me people. I always want to be truly free and self employed.
I've talked to a number of friends about moving somewhere and getting a place together but no one wants to live where I want to and I never want to live where they do. How can I live somewhere like North Carolina or even a place close to home and inherit a bunch of responsibility with no casinos available? Sounds like a disaster to me. I can't live like that, and that much online poker will give me an ulser or two. Money really is not the issue I wanna move now! But no one will move to AC or Vegas that I know and going alone is just crazy, but I might have to. Cause I really refuse to play online any more than I've been lately. If there is anyone who reads this post who is a poker player or anything I don't care but you wanna move to a casino type area contact me asap! I'm going to be home till I sell my car and then I'm just going to leave. No place for me here, that last trip to AC really made me wonder why I ever left.........

Very Unprofessional

I'm playing online as we speak and I just got knocked out of the Sunday Million for the second week in a row because I suck. Or should I say wasn't exactly playing to my full ability. I wasn't really in the poker mindset today but decided to play the tourney anyway. However I did just win back most of the 215 dollar buy in playing people heads up for cash so far, so overall it's not been to bad, didn't really accomplish much though. And last night I dropped over 200 playing online so I'm sucking as of late. I was on a serious winning streak, the excellent online sessions and the 500 in 2 days playing live in AC, I was on like a thousand dollar upswing, and now I come home and have to sit in front of my stupid computer and face the fact that I have to play online to get money, it made me kind of upset and now I'm on a 300 buck downswing. Unfortunate, but I really don't care. I think I'm almost subliminally trying to lose money online so I dont have to play anymore. That last trip to AC really did something strange to me, made me really appreciate live poker. It's so much better, and I play so much better. I play so patiently, so meticulously, I don't even care how slow it is. In a way the slowness is what makes it such a game of skill, it's almost like if you can stand to sit there longer and be bored for longer you can win based on that. Weaklings can't take the pain of boredom and they don't survive. It's a shame to play such perfect poker at a casino, win mad dough and then donk it all off on bad day online, one shameful, tilted, totally irrational day.
I took a break from writing and hungout for a bit then got back to poker. I schooled some probe better real bad(member them from that late June blog entry) I just finished an online pot limit omaha session at 2 shorthanded tables. Picked up a nice 70 bucks, I'm doing well today, made back the 215 loss from the tournament this morning (4:30pm lol) and am up around 150 overall so I've made like almost 400 from cash games today. The 300 dollar downsing from last night is almost cancelled out and the upswing lasting all week should continue, sweet. However I was acting very unprofessional for the Sunday Million. It was a bit of frustration that I wanna win that 200k for 1st place so bad that I almost can't focus. Man if I had 200k I'd stick 100k in my expense account and I don't even know how much I'd use for my bankroll. It would be strange playing some 25 50 no limit with 5k on the table, I think I'd do well at first, and well overall but I would run unusually well at first.
I'm playing online as we speak again and am up big from shorthanded No Limit Holdem, almost 2 buy ins so far. I play 25 50, but cent, not dollar, buy in for 50 at a time as opposed to 5k. I made it 2.50 on this guy's BB when I was the small. I did it just to piss him off and I knew he'd reraise me with any soryt of a decent hand. He made it 8 bucks to go and deliberated then called cause I know he has A10 AJ AQ AK or KQ maybe KJsuited. So I've got 2 live cards and call with my 103 suited, only a sligh chance I'm overcoated against A10, overcoated means only having 1 live card (in this case the 3 cause if my 10 hits I still lose to his A10) and in bad shape. The flop came 10 3 3 giving me an instant full house. I make a small bet of 3.5o cause I know this will cause him to make a big raise of around 9 to 12 bucks, he instead moved all in for 50, not wise. Here's my impressionof that guy: "Let's risk 50 dollars to win 8, yeah! Let's move our whole stack in on a bluff and only get called when I'm beat! Someday I'm going to be a brigadeer general and send 50,000 troops behind enemy lines in order to wipe out 8,000 enemy troops, even though it's an extremely risky mission and we may lose everyone. It's worth it I tell ya! Gotta take out those 8,000 enemies." People, listen here, no one throws away with more reckless abandon then a tilted poker no limit holdem player. Avoid tilt and you can cash in other people's. If you do go on tilt your going to give away a lot of money and the next time you win a lot your just going to be breaking even for the week because you couldn't limit your loss like a man the other day you had to go on tilt and lose the max. Just play well people, play well all the time no matter what happens, the game is bigger than you, the game owes you nothing, the game has given you enough, don't expect for it to go your way every hand, other people deserve to get lucky too. I'm getting good at this, this way of thinking but still have a somewhat long way to go. I think Doyle Brunson feels the same way all the time, winning losing, don't matter. He has learned through all those years of intense study of professional poker what it's all about, his mindset must be so sick. Today I won so much and am still winning as we speak playing cash games because I dropped 215 on the tournament and felt like I had nothing to lose and just played great, coulnd't really play scared at all cause I'm already losing, made some calculated smart gambles and played well. As opposed to yesterday when I'm on a big win streak and don't even want to deal with all the swings of headsup holdem cash games. Not in the mood to deal with swings is a good way to lose money. It's more painful to lose when the day just begins, but hours later you almost feel more desenthesized and play better, no matter how much you play poker this fact remains true. I really just want to feel the same way all the time, wining, losing, on a winning streak, losing streak, just totally emotionless. Truly not caring whether you win or loss but still playing to win. I feel I've become better than almost everyone at staying off tilt, but definately not better than your average pro in this particular category. My biggest strength is definately reading people, second is my betting pattern which is very deceiving, and my table talk is good. My patience is a B+ probly not an A and my ability to not go on tilt is probly a B-, I need straight A's and my dad will get me a new car! Lol, just kidding ofcourse. So I'm still learning how to get my mindset a little better so I can play my top game more consitently. Hope you all enjoyed this post, I will definately be coming back to this subject, I know I improved my mindset today cause I'm still playing, don't wanna stop and am up big as we speak! Yeah! I don't when I'm stoppin! Could play till sun up, woah! Woah!
(note: the guy who moved in for 50 when I flopped a full house actually had AK suited and flopped the flushdraw, so he is actually a favorite over any hand I could have assuming I don't have a 3 or A10, with his two overcards and a flush draw he has many outs so it wasn't that bad a move, but not the best move, I possibly would have done it too though)

Atlantic City Trip Report

I'm back from Atlantic City just in time for fourth of July. The World Series of Poker Main Event, the most prestigous poker tournament in the world for those of you who don't know also started today and once again I'm not playing in it. It's unfortunate but hopefully I'll play by 2009. Anyway, AC went pretty well I wanted to make close to a thousand bucks for the trip but I only made 500. Not bad for just 2 days though. The first night I played at the Taj Mahal because my room was there, a 450 dollar room my friend Derick got for 14 bucks. I don't understand how anyone pays that much money to stay there, at those prices each room should come with a prostitute or else it's just craziness. So the first night went pretty bad, I couldn't get paid off when I had anything good, the table was pretty stacked with decent players. Usually a 1,2 game is slightly fishy (couple of donks) but this table was tight and people were making good laydowns against me. In the first ten minutes I flopped 9's full of kings against this guy who made it 12 bucks to go in early position. I didn't get any action as he folded to me on the river after I tried to checkraise him twice. Derick was playing at my table too so I wasn't in that much of a work mood also so things were going downhill. I was stuck 200 and had to go to the atm again which I did not want to do at all. I had to play for 6 hours and finally made a small profit of 100 bucks. I also met up with my friend Jimmy who I used to hang out with when I lived in AC for 2 months. Being back in AC was great and I really miss it. It almost felt like I was home all summer and was returning to college to live there again. So I hung out with Jimmy and Derick and thought about how AC has everything I need except friends. The trip was great becuase I was hanging out with people, most of the 2 months I was there I didn't so much but play poker cause I don't know anyone. But I do have a couple of friends there and when I'm haning out with them everything is chill so I should jsut move back and give it time and I'll have as much as a social life as I do at home. I've been home for like 3 months playing online and it's kind of wack, but I have so many close friends around so I'm here. But this trip made me realize I really need to go back to AC and just get a place, friends will eventually come with time. Derick doesn't even live there but if he ever decides to move there me and him are definately going to get a place and destroy the 1,2 games there. But I'm still thinking about going even without him, fuck it. I need the option of live poker or online poker, I love live poker, I can't stand just playing on the computer. And when I play to much live I say I can't stand it and play online for a while, so I need to give myself the option. It's so much easier for me to make money when I have both options at my disposal. Atlantic City got a little out of hand when I lived there cause all I had was live poker and it wore me out, cause live 9 handed poker is very slow and long. The mistake I made then was not playing online as well, and the mistake I've made at home is only having online. When I have both like I did on this trip I am a money making machine. After my long 6 hour session where I only made 100 bucks I went upstairs to my room and played online (I bring my computer everywhere and have portable internet) I picked up a quick 40 bucks and made the earnings for the day a little more sufficient.
Anyway the next day I got up sometime like after 6pm and realized we had to check out in like 12 hours and I was so upset that it was practically over already. It really made me believe I should move back and get a real place to live. I put on jeans and a really pimp shirt and got my volumizing moose on, yeah baby. I started walking by myself down to the poker room, Derick was still sleeping cause he had been awake for 75 hours. I decided to play somewhere else because if you dress up it makes no sense to play at the Taj Mahal because everyone there is a little scrubby. I wound up walking all the way to Ceaser's Palace for some reason with 400 bucks on me. Not a smart move at night in AC, the whole time I was worried I was going to get mugged or maybe attacked possibly? Then after the long walk was almost done I see a group of African American fellas standing together being very loud. They were all dressed in slanted baseball caps and jersey's, doo rags, gold chains, you know. So I really felt threatened and wanted to move to the other side of the street, but they were right in front of the entrance to Ceasers. It would of been so obvious I was avoiding them if I went to other side and then came back the same direction to walk into Ceasers. So now it's a whole Curb your Enthusiasm scenario. If I go to the other side of the street I look like a racist and if I don't I know there gonna fuck with me. They have to, a lone great looking white boy all dressed up, what do I do? Even when I'm not playing poker I'm making decisions that I really can't afford to be wrong on. I decide to just walk past em, one of them holding a bunch of cash turns to me and says 'hey you need something brotha?' Or something similar to that, I'm not sure, which pretty much means he's asking if I need to buy drugs obviously. I say 'No I'm good.' And keep walking, and he screams 'Damn boy I was just saying what's up! Not all black people sell drugs!" And then they all laughed at me.
I went over to my poker room of choice in Bally's which is connected to Ceaser's and picked up a cool 300 in like 4 hours, I played perfect poker and folded a lot of junk preflop without getting impatient, although it was very tough. There was a cute little blonde at my table but she didn't really know what she was doing and lost her money before I got a chance to really talk to her.
I walk back to the Taj at 4 am with 700 bucks on me this time and was even more scared I was going to get mugged. I had to walk by several bums with no shoes on and it sucked. I don't know why I didn't just drive there. Derick was awake by the time i got back and was deep in the Taj's midnight madness tournament. Oddly enough it was the same tourney that I chopped 4 ways for 550 profit the day I met Derick and Jimmy. So I root Derick on for a bit and then played seven card stud with old people as I waited, and actually made 100 more dollars. Soon enough Derick was at the final table and wound up chopping it 3 ways after much debate. He took home 1300, for a 60 dollar entry fee. We were both pretty ecstatic, it was great times. If we had an apartment we would of just came up with 2 months rent between both our winnings that single night. We stayed up all night and could not pass out before checkout. I drove 3 and half hours home earlier today on no sleep, it sucked big time. But the trip was awsome and I can't wait to go back. I'll leave you all with this fine piece of filmmaking from the trip: