Playing online for a living Week 52 (real long)

[davidross]

Well it’s really hard for me to believe that an entire year has passed since my first weekly post. It’s been a year of highs and lows, but mostly highs. I have gone from nervous anticipation, to unbridled joy, back down to abject terror for my family’s future, and every point in between. I went into this thinking it would be just a short term solution to a cash flow problem. I enter year 2 optimistic that I can provide comfortably for my family for the foreseeable future. Of course two weeks from now I will probably be calling head hunters asking about opportunities again. Such is the life of a gambler.

I honestly don’t think I would have been successful in this endeavor if I hadn’t started this column. Posting my exploits has led me to some fantastic advice from fellow posters regarding game selection, improvements in my play and bonus programs. I have been overwhelmed at the number of people reading every week, and responding. The huge majority of people have been very supportive or constructively critical. The few times someone has been harsh in response, I have been defended vigorously by others, usually before I can try and defend myself.

I discovered the 2+2 forum in January of 2002, about 2 weeks after I had opened my first account with Paradise Poker. I became one of the low limit disciples of Clarkmeister and Dynasty, checking out the forum several times a day from work and home. Those two were so great taking the time to help out all of us newbies, and I would practice putting them on hands as I read their posts, or post my own hands, hoping one or both of them would respond. There were a lot of us at the same point in our games then, and we would play in the same games at Paradise, then discuss hands in the forums. I still play with a lot of them now, Rigoletto, Barry, occasionally Vehn, and Flyers fan Unome. But the one guy I played the most with was eMarkM. We would run into each other several times a week at the tables and discuss hands in the forums. We traded phone numbers and talked to each other. We have a lot in common. Similar professional careers, young families, even our posting names are combinations of our first and middle names. We moved up in limits at the same times, but around the time I started doing this full time, our paths diverged. Ed (eMark) started focusing on tournament play as I went full time into multi-tabling limit games. We haven’t played together in a long time, and our paths don’t cross too often in the forums anymore. But I got to witness last night how far his game has come, and to realize what little chance I have of any success in the tournament world, unless I dedicate myself to it as he has. When I was shutting down for the night Friday evening (actually Saturday morning at 3:30) I decided to see how gotmilk had done in the 5 Star(4th place and $450,000), and saw a post saying eMark had made the final table of a Stars WSOP qualifier. I logged on quickly and got there in time to see him sitting pretty in 2nd or 3rd chip position with 8 players left, and I got a drink and settled in to watch. 2 seats were at stake, and I watched him for ah hour. He never made a wrong move. One at a time the short stacks were picked off. Ed mixed his game up nicely, whereas most of the players were playing all in or fold, he made sizable raises and won blinds without risking his stack. He came over the top of a few people, and they laid down every time. Finally they got to the last 3 and he was in a 2nd place. One guy was slowly ground down, and twice was all in against the big stack only to show identical hands. 2 chops. The 3rd time it happened the small stack had KJ against Ax, but the K flopped and suddenly Ed was the short stack again. These 3 went back and forth, up and down for the longest time. Every time hands were turned up Ed’s was the better hand. Finally he got it all in against the big stack with 88 against 33 and he would have been the huge chip leader, when a 3 turned. I felt sick watching it, I can only imagine how Ed felt living it. That has to be the worst beat of his life. I sure hope he gets to the WSOP. I’m putting my bid in Saturday for the satellite package and it would sure be great to meet him and all the other 2+2 regulars who are there.

My second week of 15/30 has been crazy. I have had 5 sessions where I lost more that I had ever lost in one day before. At one point I was getting worried about the bankroll, thinking I might have to play 1 table at Party. But with the wild downswings come huge upswings too and as of Saturday I was still having a decent week. I started Sunday with a small $461 win, on a night where nothing much happened. On Monday afternoon I played a short losing session before having a decent evening winning another $467. Tuesday was the craziest emotional roller coaster I’ve ever been on. I’m just not used to the dollar figures yet. It’s so easy to swing 1K either way in 5 minutes. Tuesday afternoon I started on fire, and was quickly up over 2K. 2 hours later I was even again, after the cards went cold. Tuesday night I was quickly up $2,400 and thinking about a 5K week, when I hit a horrible 25 minutes and lost over 2K again for the 2nd time that day. Almost every hand I was ahead going into the river, but not after it. Just when I was ready to rip my stress ball in half, I finished on another rush and ended the day up $1,948. Wednesday I lost again in the afternoon, but made a late night recovery again to post a very small $213 win. It was starting to look like a great week, and of course that’s where it gets bad. Thursday afternoon I lost $1,700 in the afternoon, and was down well over 2K in the evening, I managed to come back a little but still finished the day down $2,922 and almost even for the week. On Friday I struggled all afternoon but on my last orbit won the biggest pot of my life, $1,002, and finished up around $700. Friday night we went out for dinner and drinks with friends, and when I came home, the bad run started again. In the first 30 minutes I lost over $3K and my Empire bankroll was at $4K. I had almost all my money on the 4 tables and my mood was not very good. I saw a lot of bad play, and I just kept making 2nd best hands, but the doubts started creeping in as to whether I could actually beat this game. Around 2:30 I was trying to decide if I should pack it in or play a little longer and I got hot. Real hot. Something funny happened to my Empire lobby. The scrolling banner was going across the middle of the table list, and there were no buttons to check cashier or join waitlists, but my 4 tables were good so I just kept playing. In less than an hour I won $3,500. These swings are so crazy that looking at daily results is useless, and even weekly probably doesn’t mean what it used to. I will need several weeks to determine if I can beat these games or not. On Saturday night I played after my tournaments and once again started off in a big hole. All week I’ve been trying to come back from a rough start. This time I couldn’t do it and I dropped $525 to finish the week up $1,550 and finish my year ahead $82,854.

My win rate is terribly low right now, at 1 BB / 100 hands. Which actually is right where my shorthanded rate was before the crew helped me bump up my game and I doubled it to over 2. Of course with the stakes being tripled, even one half the win rate will net me more take home than I was making before. Clearly though I need a few more weeks of playing before being able to use the stats. I had my first 15/30 altercation as a guy took offence with my playing 54o in the BB against his raise and beating him. He was very quick to tell me how lucky I was and that I would be broke very soon, and as my bankroll was dangerously low I figured he might be right, but I wasn’t in the best mood and I fired back at him that I had been getting lucky year after year, and he really went off his nut. Of course this was the time I went on the heater and he didn’t enjoy that as much as when I was losing. I seem to be very short tempered when I ‘m losing. I need to work on that. I quite like it when my opponents think I’m weak or loose, I shouldn’t say anything to discourage that.

I seriously need to review my EP play. Shorthanded it just isn’t part of the game. Because you’re always in LP hands like AT, KQ or QJs or 77 are no-brainers, you play them every time unless it’s raised in front of you. Now I need to remember just how far off the button I am before playing some of these hands, and whether or not to limp with them. This is going to be the focus of my play for the next few weeks. Pokertracker should help me determine which ones are losing me money.

Mixed results in tournaments this week. On Monday I played a Party $22 qualifier into the WSOP satellite on Thursday night. I was patient and got some quality cards and quite comfortably qualified for the Thursday night event. Empire’s qualifiers are over except for the VIP chance, so I have switched over to Party and Stars. This was interesting because I had just slowly built my stack up without confrontations, and then at the final table never had to play a hand as 4 people quickly made their stand and lost. I decided on Wednesday to try another of the Stars $33 rebuy qualifiers (the same tournament eMark was playing in, on a different night). They run them twice a day. At the same time Party had a $22 qualifier to their next million dollar tournament in May so I played that too. The rebuy tourney didn’t go all that well. I rebought once right away, then added on at the break, but never was able to accumulate any chips. I was gone very early. But at the same time I was doing well in the million qualifier. Nothing much happened until the first break, but then I got a real lucky break. A smaller stack moved in from the button and I had 66 in the BB. I called and he showed 88. This was going to leave me with around 1,000 when the average was more like 2K, but my 6 spiked on the river, and I was healthy. JJ twice pushed me up over 10,000 chips, and when we went to 2 tables I was in about 6th place. We started with 420 players ands there were 6 seats up for grabs. The guy with the biggest stack, and he had 70,000 chips, kept leaning on me and everyone else. If there was a big first prize I understand his play, but with 6 people getting seats here, he could have folded into the prizes now. I was in a good spot, but was going to need some more chips to get through. With blinds in the 300/600 range he kept opening for 20,000 which was more than all but 2 people had at that point. Finally in my BB I got KK, and he open raised big again. I moved all in (around 27,000) and he called me with A3. No Ace to save him and I was the chip leader. Just when I decided I didn’t have to play another hand I got AA, QQ and AKs in the next orbit, and suddenly I had over 80,000 inchips. I actually sat out for an orbit and brought the garbage cans in. When we got to the final table I clearly didn’t have to play a hand, and actually wondered what to do when the former chip leader who was the short stack with 3,500 and only 7 left pushed it in. The BB was the 2nd low stack with around 7K and I was on the button with K9s. I figured I probably should call and that way 2 of us could take him out, but didn’t really want to triple him up, so I folded. Board ended up KK33x and I would have ended it right there if I had played. I did put him out 3 hands later on his BB when I raised with AT and he had Q7, and I was in again. Two qualifiers in 3 days.

Unfortunately the Qualifier on Thursday didn’t go so well. I’m noticing a trend. I do well against the poorer players in these entry level qualifiers, but I don’t yet have the game to take on the better players at the next level. Funny how that goes. I think I made a stupid play just before the first break when I came over the top of the guy on my left who had open raised for 100, with blinds at 15/30. I had around 1000 chips and with AKs pushed them all in. He called right away with 55??? I didn’t improve and that was that. I didn’t need to move in, a raise of 200 more would have been fine. Post flop I probably could have checked it down since the board was all overcards to his pair. I’m going to keep on trying. I made a bid for the WSOP satellite package today using my Empire VIP points. I have 11,442, and I bid them all. I’ll know by Monday if I got it or not.

Saturday night was the Empire freeroll. An hour before it started I entered a $30 NL qualifier to the Party WSOP $600 satellite for Sunday night. Usually when I’ve played 2 tournaments they started at the same time. I hadn’t considered that the breaks would come at different times this way, and I went pretty deep into both tournaments and bathroom breaks became an issue. I need to keep a chamber pot by the computer I guess. First the WSOP qualifier. I’m learning more and more about NL and tournaments each time I play. I was able to pick up some chips early with AA in LP preflop when I made a big raise over top of 3 limpers and a raiser. Everyone folded. Then I flopped a set from the BB against a guy who flopped top pair and rivered his 2nd pair. I got all his chips. It’s a much easier game when u have chips. My raises almost always got me the blinds. The few times I got called by the blinds they folded to a flop bet. My stack grew slowly without ever putting it at risk. 12 seats were awarded, and almost before I knew it we were in the last 12. It seemed so easy. So another chance to qualify tonight. The freeroll started out like the last one, 5 people didn’t show at my first table, but this time I had a better seat. By the time the empty seats were blinded off I had tripled up. Getting AA 5 times in the first 4 levels helped a lot. By the time the no-shows were gone we were down to around 200 players (503 started), and the tournament really started. I received AA for the 6th time and suddenly had around 6,000 in chips. We were down to less than 100 players, and my 2+2 buddy stoxtrader got the seat to my left…and a lot of my chips. I went a little card dead, and when I got cards, someone had better cards. The limits were getting high (it was a limit tournament) and I played 3 hands in a row with a big A, but missed every time and had to fold to a flop raise. Suddenly my stack was pretty low. AJs was my last stand. The BB 3 bet me andwhen an A flopped I was all-in. He had A unfortunately and I was done. Stox used my chips well and finished 3rd. Well done.

I started out with a belief that I could make enough money to support my family by playing at a limit I could beat, and playing multiple tables to increase profits, rather than increasing limits. It is my belief that most poker players play above the level of their abilities, and I understand that. There really isn’t any other way to improve rather than pushing yourself into increasingly difficult games, but I was determined not to go beyond my own abilities. I just didn’t want to risk it. I started out playing 2 5/10 games at Paradise Poker, and moved to playing 4 3/6 games at Party poker. Next I went to playing 4 5/10 shorthanded games, and just last week I moved to the 15/30 full table games, once again playing 4 tables. I believe I have been very cautious in my approach to this. As much as I want to maximize my weekly income, bankroll preservation is a higher priority right now.

Ok, for you numbers freaks here is my weekly results spreadsheet. I gave totals by the game I played and the weekly average for the game too. It seems to have been improving with every game change so that is encouraging. I have never tried putting a spreadsheet in here, I hope it works.

Week Earnings YTD Game
1 1,400 1,400 Paradise 5/10
2 850 2,250
3 2,600 4,850
4 2,000 6,850
5 1,400 8,250
6 1,550 9,800
7 100 9,900
8 -1,400 8,500
9 -900 7,600 total per week
10 1,150 8,750 8,750 875
11 1,400 10,150 Party 3/6
12 2,800 12,950
13 1,000 13,950
14 3,100 17,050
15 900 17,950
16 800 18,750
17 300 19,050
18 2,700 21,750
19 3,050 24,800
20 2,100 26,900
21 205 27,105
22 464 27,569
23 968 28,537
24 1553 30,090
25 335 30,425 total per week
26 1457 31,882 23,132 1445.75
27 628 32,510 Party 5/10 6 max
28 1913 34,423
29 1583 36,006
30 1647 37,653
31 3015 40,668
32 2150 42,818
33 4069 46,887
34 -1451 45,436
35 1886 47,322
36 -387 46,935
37 -1106 45,829
38 5340 51,169
39 -2219 48,950
40 2388 51,338
41 1667 53,005
42 3455 56,460
43 2832 59,292
44 2285 61,577
45 4262 65,839
46 841 66,680
47 3562 70,242
48 1,903 72,145
49 2795 74,940 total per week
50 2900 77,840 45958 1914.917
51 3464 81,304 Empire 15/30
52 1550 82,854 total per week
5014 2507





I get asked all the time if I would recommend playing full time to people. My standard answer is no. In general I think if you have to ask the question then you’re not ready. That doesn’t mean you won’t be apprehensive when you start, I’m sure you will. But in the back of your mind you need to be pretty sure that you will be successful. I am so glad I made the attempt, and for me this has been a wonderful year but it isn’t for everyone. I played poker 355 days in the last year, averaging 5 or 6 hours a day. I’m used to working weekends, it has always been part of my working life. By being home every day, I’m actually seeing a lot more of my family than I ever have before. Not once have I ever had to force myself to play. I still look forward to it every day. I’ve never had a job before where I could say that. But I daresay that spending 2,000 hours a year staring at the computer screen is not for everyone. I also think it helps that I have a lot of other things going on in my life. With 4 kids all in activities I get out of the house a lot. I golf in the summer (whenever I want now) and I curl through the winter. I think it would be very easy to lose touch with reality if you played poker all day and didn’t have something else to do with the rest of your life.

One of the things I find so intriguing about poker is that in any situation, without knowing what your opponent holds, it’s impossible to determine the perfect play. When I played chess, and you found yourself with a positional advantage, you knew there was one move that was the very best, and it was possible for you to find it. In poker, that isn’t possible unless you can accurately predict what your opponent(s) have. If you raise, and an opponent who was drawing dead folds, you haven’t made the correct play. You might have got another bet out of him by just calling. Obviously the better you are at reading hands, the more often you can make the correct play.

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m going to discontinue the weekly posts after this one. I want to spend a little time trying to see if this story would make an entertaining book. I’m hoping to go to Vegas for the World Series and if I do I will certainly post that adventure. I will also give an update at that time on my progress at 15/30 for anyone who is thinking about that game. Thanks again for all your kind words and encouragement over the last year.

Finally, last week there was a discussion about women and poker in this forum. I responded by extolling the virtues of the lovely Mrs. davidross (who looks a lot like Elle McPherson she wants me to say). It was suggested that she might write a little bit about living with a poker player and she has agreed. Here is her story;

Let me first begin by telling you that I know nothing, and I mean nothing about poker. I can however share my experience of living with David as he explored what I would have originally described as a reckless pursuit.

Initially I have to admit I resented the time he was spending at poker but I had grown accustomed to there always being some form of distraction for David. First there was curling, golf then softball, curling again then chess and I recall a summers flirtation with soccer as I was heavily pregnant with our forth child and certain I would be taking care of a husband in traction just as I gave birth (thank god they made him play goals!). So for me the only discernable difference was the money that he claimed to winning.

I should be clear we (his family) have always been Dave’s priority, that has never been a question, but he has always been someone that seemed skilled at doing six or seven things at once and I should add he can do them all equally well. For those of us that know David personally it’s been common knowledge that if he’s on the phone with you he is also watching TV, listening to music, playing on the computer and usually interjecting with comments to someone else in the room and keeping track of it all with out missing a beat. Games of course have always been a passion for him. I recall one of my first memories of him (my best friends’ older brother) newly graduated from university and not yet ready to join the work force playing blackjack by himself in his parents family room and yes he was watching TV and chatting on the phone all of this I should add he could do while reclined on the couch. I don’t recall thinking I wanted this man to father my children but obviously something clicked and the rest as they say is history.

The poker came into our lives rather insidiously. A game here a game there. Suddenly we have a new TV with surround sound. I’d gone back to school and was immersed with deadlines and long days so frankly poker took the heat off one of Dave’s’ other distractions. Then we faced what so many families are going through, what had been a promising and lucrative career came to a grinding halt as contracts that had always been waiting for Dave were no where to be found and for the first time in our lives we wondered what the hell we were going to do. Well OK I wondered, Dave knew of course he was going to play poker…just until. In the mean time I plugged away at school, Dave managed the kids’ schedules, coaching soccer and generally taking on the role of stay at home Dad although the chore issue is continually being negotiated. He was there for me and I was there for him and believe me he needed me; you people can be brutal on a guys’ ego. I’ll never forget how he pouted when someone called him weak tight. “Oh honey “I sympathized as I hugged him, “Maybe raking the front lawn would take your mind off it.” And there are the times he rants about the playing “I mean three time this week I’ve had Ace Ace and some guy rivers me on the flop! Who stays in with King five?! I shake my head…I don’t know what he is saying to me. I’m sure I have the same look on my face as the time someone asked me for directions on the subway in Paris. The same look I have when he tells me about almost getting an eagle on a par four. He began calling me his poker muse a term of endearment because his luck seemed to improve when I was close by… or he copped a feel. Either way I clearly played an important role.


For the longest time I don’t believe the children knew he was playing poker for a living or at least I told myself that and gave David instructions to stop playing when they arrived home from school. As I was tucking our youngest in bed one night, seven at the time and with a penchant for being in the know, she asked me when Daddy was going to get a job. I told her Daddy has a job that’s why he uses the computer. “Oh no” she stated “he’s playing poker. He’s not even trying to find a job.” Yikes! What to do? Maybe he could put on a suit and tie in the morning. I could hand him his briefcase and say in a loud voice (the same tone you use to say “You’d better get to bed Santa won’t come unless you’re asleep!”) “Have a great day Honey! Good luck with the Johnson account” and Dave could say “Thanks dear. I’ll be in meetings all day so if you need to get a hold of me just leave a message with my secretary.” And then Dave could drive around the block until the kids leave for school. I could see the domino effect coming though first the tooth fairy, the Easter bunny, Santa and finally…”Hey Meredith my Mom says she sees your Dad parked behind the Seven Eleven sleeping in his car every morning.” The truth is always easier…

It is a crazy life… I really don’t know what we would have done this past year if David hadn’t taken this on. He loves being home with the kids, no commute and our dog Wally loves the leisurely morning naps in bed. I get to fulfill my dream of a career I’ve always wanted knowing my partner is picking up the slack at home, a luxury for a working woman with children. Sometimes you just have to do what works and for right now this is it. Thank you David for always thinking outside the box, for putting us first… for everything. Have a great time in Vegas.

[citanul]

David,

I don't normally respond to your posts, but have been an avid follower of your year. Congratulations on a terrific year profit-wise and in progressing your game. You have been an inspiration to those of us seeking to hone our skills while keeping a balanced outside life.

I hope that whichever you want for the next year - another great year of poker, or a lucrative "normal" job - comes to you, and that of course you get a seat at the WSOP.

Thank your wife for all of us. Her commentary was very interesting and provides yet another doorway into your already very open to us life.

Best of luck, and I hope to keep hearing of your progress,

citanul

[Sheriff Fatman]

Brilliant final post (easily my favourite) - thanks also to Mrs Ross for the final section.

I'm sorry to see these posts end David but I respect your decision to stop here. I'm sure everyone will get used to them not being there after a few weeks.

Good luck with your (less public) career!

Sheriff

[Sully]

Thanks David - I picked up on your posts about halfway through the year, and they've been great to read. As someone who relies on poker as a second income, your posts have been invaluable, and I truly think that you have helped my game. Good luck with everything...I hope you'll still poke your head in to give us updates from time to time..I'm very interested to see how the move to 15/30 works.

[Joe826]

Great post as always man, congrats on one year. If you do decide to write the book, I think you should definetly include your wife's take on things. That was very cool.

[Slacker13]

Wow! Great post, and hats off to Mrs. Ross for adding a great ending. I am sure that I am only going to repeat everyone else but I am sad you will no longer be posting your weekly results but, I also understand why your stopping.
I have gained a lot from your weekly posts and I know you have inspired many people in this forum. I truly wish you and your family continued success.
Best of luck, Jon

[ZeeJustin]

Great post David. I was anticipating your post last night, and I even checked for it this morning at 9am, 10am, and again at 11am,but then I forgot about it. I logged onto Empire, and saw the message "Congrats Bucephelus on winning the $2,000 WSOP package", and instantly i thought of week 52.

Anyway, congratulations, not only on the WSOP package, but a simply amazing year at the tables.

-BOL in the future
-Justin Bonomo

P.S, please keep us updated whenever you find the time, even if you can't go into as much detail.

[Tosh]

Yeah just got that message too. Well done on both counts David and good luck in the future.

[John Deere]

I'll add another "thank you" to the thread. Thanks, David, and best of luck in the future!

[Mahoney]

Man, I'm going to miss your posts. If you end up publishing, put me down for an autographed copy.

Thank you for sharing this last year with us.