[johnnybeef]

Alright, I suppose that I should make a serious response in this thread.

One year ago I was waiting tables playing on ub as a marginal winner. I won a decent amount of home tourneys by playing tighter and more aggressive than anyone else, but I was by no means a tough player.

since then:

I won a 130 person tournament for a 5.5k score in december, deposited $500 of it on party, blew the rest in 3 weeks on clothes, booze, and women. I lost the 500 after i cashed it out to settle a debt that i made playing a 10/20 spread limit home game. In february I contacted Irie about being coached, and learned a great deal from him. In April I arbitrarily decided that I was good enough to make a living playing this game. Since then, I have had my share of ups and downs, and would be way ahead of where I currently am at if I could learn some discipline. I have seen some very rough times in which I was scraping by to get bills taken care of, but I am a much better person for it. I have learned some very good life lessons (like the importance of patience, learning to control my temper, learning to think before I act just to name a few.) I have also met some great people in my two trips to Vegas this year who have helped me out along the way, and I look forward to returning the favor some day. I have also coached about ten or so students, and I have taken a great deal from it.

My plans for next year are to maintain a healthy bankroll and to continue learning. I also hope to move out to either Vegas or LA where I can focus on playing live more often. I really do enjoy playing live much more than online as poker is a social game and I am a highly social person (which is probably the reason why I enjoy playing it so much.) Online may be more profitable, but there are more important things in life than money.

In closing, I would like to wish all of the friends that I have made (and ones that I will make soon) a happy holiday season and a prosperous new year.

Good luck at the tables everyone,
John