The Variance Of Life.

I thought i would take this as an oppurtunity to finally register and make my 1st post, seeing as I've been lurking these forums for several monthes now..

Anyways, I've been playing poker for about a year now, and for the 1st 9 monthes i was plain and simple horrible - mostly because i never really gave myself a chance to move forward, not realizing the importance of being properly bankrolled. Anyways up until about 2 monthes ago i was 600 down in my poker career. That all changed when i decided i would deposit $150, buy SSH by 2+2, and try to help build my bankroll with a paradise poker bonus. Everything turned around and in the past 2 monthes I've worked my way up from .25-.50cent limit with a $150 bankroll to 1/2 6max limit with a $1200 bankroll. My recent developments reached a pinnacle last weekend when i made $500 while clearing a 80 dollar reload bonus at Party Poker. Looking back, it was incredible to see i had changed from a hopeless gambler to a poker player in training, who was steadily and consistently improving his game.

So last night i dropped 130 at Bet365 shortly after i had cleared my $100 bonus (i was up at that point mind you) then proceeded to switch sites (figuring my disgusting misfortune at bet365 was an isolated incident) to Play at Party where i went on to lose another 100.

I felt like garbage even though i understand variance and the way this game works.. I called it a night down 230 and decided to have a drink and smoke a joint before bed.

Well what a mistake that turned into. I was awoken at 430am to the sound of someone pounding on my front door - it was the old man who delivers our newspapers. He wanted to let me know all my doors of my car were wide open, and so was my trunk - It hit me like a load of bricks - my car had been broken into.. My decision to have a drink and smoke a joint led to me forgetting that i needed to remove my cd player faceplate, and ALL MY VALUABLES, INCLUDING about 200 DOLLARS IN CHRISTMAS PRESENTS i had purchased yesterday.. And to top it all off, the thiefs decided to senselessly smash my windshield with something large i assume, further increasing the cost of the deductible i would have to pay to my insurance company..

So here i am out 400 dollars due to insurance, and about $200 out because of the stolen gifts. What a weekend..

This thread has no real point but to vent a little and examine the variance.. of life..

For a 19 year old who makes 11 dollars an hour, a $600 loss is hard to swallow; I'm hoping to take this as an oppurtunity to buy a couple more books and really put my poker game into full drive. Possibly a turning point in life and a lesson learned the hard way.

Sorry for the lengthy read folks.

Don't feel the need to break even by playing poker because you might be even more disappointed. Treat each as their own individual event and just keep doing your thing.

Thank you, you speak the truth. Breaking even in not really my concern - i have over 12grand in savings at this point.. I just think my best way of dealing with it for the 1st couple days (always the most traumatic), is to tell myself I'm going to make the best of the situation and try to make this into a turning point in poker and life.

Anyone else willing to share financial downswings like this that you've experienced in life? How did you cope with those 1st couple days following the incident?

[AlexSem]

I really dno't enjoy making jackass observations but I'll have to make one here:

If you're going to have a car, always have 2k or so stashed in savings because with cars, it is so goddamn common to get into [censored] that I don't even dream of owning a car without having spare thousand or two.

You get into an accident, you bump someone, someone smashes your windshield, you need to change breaks, you need new tires.

List goes on.


I find that there's people who know how to manage money, and then there's those that just don't.

My brother for example has a car, he's in debt and he's not doing anything to climb out of it, or even improve his life, he's just hoping nothing bad happens becaues if someone smashes his windshield tomorrow, he'll have to ask parents for a loan. He's an idiot with 0$ worth of savings.

There's me, when I worked, I put 10% of my income aside for any happy accidents. Now that I don't work, I just got enough money to cover any happy accidents that happen (thanks to poker).


Bottom line is, I hope this teaches you that if you're going to have liabilities, make sure you got the money to live with a good heart while having them. If you're going to have a car, have extra money. If you're going to buy a house, you better really think twice. If you're in college/university, think how you're going to pay [censored] off.

Etc.

Basic money management really [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]


Ok all that aside, yeah it really blows when people [censored] your car up for no reason. I went to buy my good frien da presnet at canadian tire recently, I come out and the side of my car is smashed, 500$ worth of damage and of course whoever did it was long gone.

It sucked, bigtime. [censored] happens, just make sure you always have something to fall back on because inevitably, this [censored] happens.

It's like having a poker bankroll of at least 500BB. That way when [censored] hits the fan and you can't win a hand for 2 weeks in a row and drop 300BB, you're not going crazy and broke.

[img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[ QUOTE ]
I really dno't enjoy making jackass observations but I'll have to make one here:

If you're going to have a car, always have 2k or so stashed in savings because with cars, it is so goddamn common to get into [censored] that I don't even dream of owning a car without having spare thousand or two.

You get into an accident, you bump someone, someone smashes your windshield, you need to change breaks, you need new tires.

List goes on.

I find that there's people who know how to manage money, and then there's those that just don't.

[/ QUOTE ]

You've misunderstood me my friend.

As i said above, I have 12 grand in savings, and i was raised well in terms of money management. This post is moreso just to discuss the variance experienced in day to day life. The upswings and downswings of poker are really just microcosmic of life.. maybe all these things make perfect sense to you older folks, but for someone my age I'm just learning to deal with these ups and downs now.

Thanks for the response though.

[AlexSem]

lol actually, as I was writign the response, I realized I went off on a completely off-topic tangent but it was too late because I'd have to re-write and edit and thta's too much work.

As for variance in life, haha yeah.


I remember my bro told me recently how Jennifer Anniston said "there's so many good actors out there, and a lot of them you don't hear about, they are ther and they're great but they just don't make it, I did becaue I got lucky".

Really puts reality in perspective. It's a lot like poker. Some go tit like schneids and bicyclekick who went on huge tears and are now playing high limits heads-up and what-not. Others have put in just as much effort and are still grinding 15/30 or whatever.

Some cashed into big tournaments and got the bankroll to play higher limits, others didn't.


Same goes for life. Some met the perfect girl, some got hit by a car. Variance in life and in poker is the same thing. But I guess the lesson is: if you're doing what's +EV, you are well off because regardless of what happens, it's hard to shake you.


It's intersting actually how poker and life are so corelated on so many levels. I keep relating [censored] in life to poker. Making +EV decisions vs -EV. Slowplaying, raising, etc, lol. It's really funny at times, other times very serious and true.

For example how people don't keep proper bankrolls. How people go on tilt. How most people are fish, lol.

[jskills]

People can really suck sometimes. I'm sorry to hear about what happened. It will typically serve to harden/jade you in life, since you'll always make sure not to let it happen again.

Don't beat youself up over it. Dropping money playing poker, especially when you feel you know how to play, can really be draining at times. I've been through downswings that have hurt me, but I know there are more to come that will make the previous ones look like nothing.

So you made a good decision to stop playing when it was not your night and indulged yourself slightly in order to relax and you did one small thing. You forgot to unload the car. It's very easy to forget the mundane things in life, even when they are important.

Just remember, those who stole from you will still be having a worse xmas and a worse life in general than you. Think about the type of person who robs another's vehicle. Pathetic.

Look at this situation like this. You represent your life like pocket kings compared to the scumbag who busted into your car, who's life is like a 73 offsuit. Look at this experience as the one time this kind of person can suck out on you in life.

I don't know if that analogy can help, but I hope you can find some solace. The whole thing still sucks, especially around this time of year.