$60k in 60 days -- Days 34 & 35

[Schneids]

Day Thirty Four (June 15, 2004) and Day Thirty Five (June 16, 2004) -- 06.17.04, 14:00

Man, I'm barely rounding second base and the exhaustion is setting in. My hat is tipped to all those who do this professionally, right now I'm finding it tough to get myself in front of the computer to put in more hours. Two days ago, I sat myself down at a couple of NL tables but found that boring pretty quickly, and yesterday I signed up for the Empire 10,000 guaranteed and found that boring as well. I hope this present mental-phase is just a result of a couple of mediocre days... I think this afternoon I'm going to make the jump to 15/30 full just to continue making small changes to see if short handed gets spiced up more when I return to it.

On Tuesday, the 15th, I did manage to get in 6 hours of play. The afternoon resulted in a little over an hour of playing, with me down $1388.50. I returned at night and played for about half an hour before feeling sick of poker, down $125.50. I took a short break, decided I needed to play more, and did so. I put in a 4.5 hour session that brought me to around 4am, and ended that session up $2,065.50. So total on the day, $551.50 with 6 hours of play.

Yesterday, I logged two hours in the late afternoon, up $281. Like the night before, I tried sessions at night but just couldn't force myself to play. It's kind of sad that "force myself" is the way I choose to describe last night. I tried once for half an hour and was down $511.50, then made a second effort and was down $497 after half an hour. So, -$727.50 with three hours of play. It's a little frustrating that these past three days I'm down over $600, but I guess I'm supposed to remember the $3000 days and know more of those are coming. I'm not sure, maybe this is the start of a complacent acceptance phase that I'm not going to reach $60,000 in 60 days... Or maybe I just need a day off. Or maybe the deck will slap me silly today and the game will be more fun again.

In one hand two days ago, UTG limped, I raised from the button with Kd9d, BB called, UTG 3-bet, all call. 9s5d2d flop; check, bet, I raise, fold, 3-bet, I cap, UTG calls. Turn 5s; check, I check. River 4s; check, I check and lose to the obvious AsAd. The cap to get a free card is such a cool toy when used effectively! Getting a free showdown was a nice bonus.

In another hand, I won it thanks to math (though it is very close)! I raised KsQh UTG, UTG+1 3-bet, two cold calls, both the blinds fold, and I call. AsTd2h flop; I check, UTG+1 bets, CO raises, button cold calls, I cold call, UTG+1 calls. Turn 7c; I check, check, CO bet, button call, I call, UTG calls. River Jh and boom, I win a big pot! I don’t really feel like figuring out the exact pot sizes on the flop and turn, but I am pretty sure I remember them being somewhere between 9-10:1, and with the excessive action I expected to get if I hit, I felt it was worth chasing. Good fun when you actually hit it the one in twelve times.

Alright, I had five other hands stored in Word I considered giving some time to in this journal as well, but creating this is making me antsy to play so I think I'm going to cut this short and leave it as one of my shorter two day journals.

Total for Day 34: $551.50
Total for Day 35: -$727.50
Goal to date after 35 days: $24,682.74/$60,000

Week Five Summary: $3,741.50, 26.25h, $142.53/hr

[thespecialist]

To be a pro, you must treat it as a job- and realize that you are lucky to have flexible hours as you choose! That is such a luxury when compared to other crappy jobs, where you're on call or clients control your time etc. Just remember that being a poker pro is so much better than your conventional office job- because you're your own boss. Treat it as a job (thus, you will not want to do it sometimes, but at least you have a choice of when to go to work)! Not wanting to do work is normal, im sure all of us has had those days where we don't want to go to work in the morning, but we have to!

It's sorta like elementary/high school. Do you remember there were some teacher's that forced you to do HW everynight and there was a HW check in the morning? Well you knew that was for your own good, however when you got a teacher that let you do HW as you chose you almost never did it(eventhough you know it's in your best interest to)? And for some of the harder courses (that you simply could not procrastinate for) you found out the refults of not doing your hw, and don't you at that point in time- wished you just did you hw?

I guess it's just me, but playing poker everyday for 6+ hours isn't as fun as it may seem as first, eventually you will tire of the game (as with everygame, once you play it too much- it gets old). I don't know what my point is, but I think what I'm trying to suggest is that it is best to treat playing as a job- and not look at it as simply a game for your enjoyment anymore.

[Nick B.]

[ QUOTE ]
yesterday I signed up for the Empire 10,000 guaranteed and found that boring as well.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yea I found it boring too until the final table and my third place finish.

I would think that maybe the stakes are too small for you. You aren't playing for a living and making whatever your win rate is, when you already have over 1000 BB's. Good luck trying to make it fun again.

[OnlinePokerCoach]

Despite your losses, your hourly rate so far sounds like it must be very good. It is great that you can experiment like this while you are young and do not need to worry about supporting family or about big gaps in the resume. People take summers off all the time, but employers may question an extended gap for a non-student. As skill-based as poker is, I think that for most employers, it is still just gambling and raises a little red flag.

OPC

[lostinthought]

He's fine for this summer..

While his other friends are slaving away to make 3-4k tops for the summer, he already has 20k.

On top of that, he knows how to save..


There's definitely a red flag about a early 20 year old who is beating a tough game.. he may be talented..

[Blarg]

There's no reason to believe playing poker for a living isn't just as much a job as any other. Definitely if you get addicted to the excitement of it, you're going to be in trouble somewhere down the line when it becomes routine.

That's when it's going to be good to remember the good things, which are always so easy to take for granted in life. The ability to set your own hours, have no jerky bosses or scheming co-workers to deal with, to not have to be in an unhealthy environment(exposure to chemicals, stale unhealthy air, excessive noise, etc.). The ability to feel good about your efforts and experience the rewards directly, instead of having someone else steal the credit. The ability to just catch a nap when you're exhausted instead of beating up your body even worse by going to work. The zero transportation costs if you're playing online, and no wear and tear on your car, plus the fact that you don't waste possibly hours of your life every day going back and forth to work(huge quality of life issue).

It can be quite a trick in life to appreciate what you've got. Usually we just become numb to it.

[Tilted Litt]

You have to remember that in regular jobs, you also don't work 7 days a week. I believe most poker pros have vacations scheduled or at least days off, and you've been doing this for 5 weeks straight, perhaps it's time you scheduled a "vacation" away from poker?

[Schneids]

[ QUOTE ]
You have to remember that in regular jobs, you also don't work 7 days a week. I believe most poker pros have vacations scheduled or at least days off, and you've been doing this for 5 weeks straight, perhaps it's time you scheduled a "vacation" away from poker?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, I've been considering that a little bit. Today was a light day for me and I think I'm starting to get back into the "groove" of being able to return to daily pokering for multiple hours without trouble or fatigue. Playing some full table today was nice and relaxing -- after 4 tabling 6-max all this time, full table really felt laidback and it was far less stressing.

My big break will come as soon as day 60 passes though [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Schneids]

Thanks Nick and congrats on the awesome finish in that tourney!

I'm going to have to hit it hard before the end of the month to pass you in the VIP race! You've overtaken me again...

[Schneids]

[ QUOTE ]
It's sorta like elementary/high school. Do you remember there were some teacher's that forced you to do HW everynight and there was a HW check in the morning? Well you knew that was for your own good, however when you got a teacher that let you do HW as you chose you almost never did it(eventhough you know it's in your best interest to)? And for some of the harder courses (that you simply could not procrastinate for) you found out the refults of not doing your hw, and don't you at that point in time- wished you just did you hw?

[/ QUOTE ]
Whoa you can say that again! Vivid flash backs... I like the analogy, however.

[ QUOTE ]
I don't know what my point is, but I think what I'm trying to suggest is that it is best to treat playing as a job- and not look at it as simply a game for your enjoyment anymore.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think that's a good point. My week 5 hours were significantly lower than the first 4 weeks, which I guess is nice in showing I have the luxury of 'working' when I wish to, it's just that at the same time while playing every day you (or me, anyway) lose sight of why you began playing the game in the first place -- for the fun and challenge.

The last few days have been a challenge of my diligence, and the next few days will be a test of my will.

I appreciate your thoughts, they're very accurate.