[sternroolz]

A few things people are forgetting:

1.) As others have pointed out, cost of living is drastically different in varying areas of the United States. They have not pointed out how much different.

-There are many areas of the country where a new house will cost $70-100K and a HUD repo will be $40-60k. I'm pretty sure many people in Los Angeles are fully unaware of this.

-Gas is cheaper by $0.50-0.80/gallon in many parts of the nation than in Los Angeles.

- Medical expenses, car insurance, taxes, government fees, etc. are also lower in some areas than in others.

2.) Public schools in Southern California stink and many are dangerous. I grew up in a middle class area, albeit in a minority community. I just found out that several high schools in that area, including the one I attended, now have metal detectors and full time police officers on campus. Someone going to private school has some degree of inherent advantage simply due to the fact that their surroundings are not constantly dangerous.

3.) Poker changes. California poker was awesome when I first played. Commerce ran 30 $6-12 LHE games a night. At least one player at each table would have 5-6 racks. Jackpots were regularly $50-80K(aces full beaten). Games were loose and wild. Then jackpots got killed. And smoking was ended. And all of the sudden, there were games that were constantly shorthanded(not good considering the mandatory drop). Drop amount increased by $1. All of the sudden, you had to be playing $9-18 or $15-30 or higher to be making any decent kind of money. Poker will change online as well. It may become tougher to beat. More players will become better. They may not become winning players, but they may give up very little.