Two Plus Two Older Archives - 18 Months of poker and what i have learned

Ok, so technically this is 10 days early, but I don’t want to write it up during the holidays. Some of you read this post where I chronicled my first year as an underage poker player. A lot has changed in the last 6 month, both good and bad, but in the poker realm it was mostly good. Over the summer, I moved up to 10-20 and 20-40 with some good success. I made around 40k over the summer, which was as much as I made during my first 12 months playing. The summer was very fun, I had a good time enjoying the last few months with my good friends, and making a lot of money didn’t hurt! [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Coming into school in September, a lot was changing. I missed my good friends, and my relationship with my long-term girlfriend self destructed. I was in an emotional rut for quite a while. Fortunately, during September, I was also running very well and end up having my best month of poker ever (42k) which helped alleviate some of the emotional turbulence I was handling. However, I hit a wall in October. I was feeling good about my game, but unfortunately I was running obscenely bad at 100-200. I lost 43k in 6600 hands there, and ended the month down 20k. My grandmother also passed away, and combined with the worst month of poker career and adapting to college, it was not a fun month. I drank way too much, and I don’t’ mean normal go away to college drinking. Fortunately, I am a self-aware person, and I knew I needed to get myself back on a better track.

At the beginning of November, I flew out to Vegas out met up with some 2+2 buddies, including NLsoldier, BK, Schneider, etc… I have kinda idolized these guys for a while, so it was very cool to meet them in person, although I had already met some in September when I flew out to Minnesota to go to a Badgers game with them. Anyway, Vegas was an absolute blast, one of the best weekends of my life. This propelled me to a good start poker-wise in November. Around the 10th of November, I was bored one night and started playing 2K No-limit. I pulled a James and started running stupidly hot. Even though I was probably a marginal player, I started crushing the games. I made a stupid amount of $$$ in November, and I started to put some of my emotional baggage behind me. Not completely, but I was/am making good progress.

At the beginning of this month I took some shots at 25-50 and 50-100 NL. I don’t mind sharing figures since it wont come across as bragging. I had my biggest day ever on the first of the month, making 42k. By the 4th I was up 75k, and feeling great about my game. I then managed to pull a -63k downswing in 24 hours playing 25-50 NL, which made me reconsider if I wanted to deal with the emotional turbulence which comes with playing these stakes. Currently I have decided to stick to the 2K NL games, and the month has continued to be incredibly turbulent, but all things considered, I am doing well. I never thought I would have independent downswings of 63k, 38k, and 30k in 15 days and still be up 35 thousand dollars in that time span. I have invested a lot of time into improving my game, and I am pleased with the results. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

So, I have some words of wisdom that I would like to share. There are no absolutes in poker, so you will never hear me talk about them. But what I am absolutely sure of is that your biggest or worst day of poker will not be the best or worst day of your. Work hard, learn, and keep everything in perspective. Poker is a game to some, a job to others, but it should only be a small part of who you are regardless. I would like to say that from limited conversations with guys like BK, Schneider, James and company, I have learned a lot not only about poker, but how to balance it with the rest of your life. I hope to continue to improve at poker and at life, and especially at balancing the two of them together.

As far as moving up and taking shots, do so at your own comfort level. Don’t try to be like or keep pace with anyone. Some people get lucky at the right times and others don’t. But hard work and discipline will get you where you need to be. Also, what is even more important that learning the game is learning to be content. I still have a lot to learn in this regard. I can honestly say that I don’t want to be that guy that doesn’t know when to stop pushing himself; who always needs to be the best to be happy. Focus on getting yourself to a point where you can make the most money with the least emotional turbulence. If you can lose enough money to ruin your day, you’re playing to high. No matter what, be grateful for what you have. In poker and in life, [censored] hits the fan sometimes. This is kind of corny, but I’ll say it anyway. I’m 18 so naturally I ignore a good portion of the advice my parents give me, but one thing my father told always seems to ring true. He said, “Son, everyone gets opportunities, some people just make more out of them.” If you want to be a good poker player, there will be ups, there will be downs, but you will only set yourself back by feeling sorry for yourself and letting it affect your outside life. Deal with it, move on, and don’t let poker affect the way you are when your not playing/

I have a lot of goals for the next few years, and many of them don’t pertain to poker. My new years resolution will be to get back in good physical shape and be more outgoing and meet people in college. I want to continue to improve my game as well, but this will take a back seat to other parts of my life. I hope some people find this helpful, that is the main reason I am writing it. I am very grateful for being blessed, and remorseful for when I don’t appreciate it enough. I would like to thank my family, friends, and 2+2 for the support that has allowed me to get where I am today.

Peace,

Gabe