Dos

Well I'm back from my poker vacation. Didn't mention before, but since this October 15th marked the end of the first year of my poker career I decided to reward myself with a vacation. Also, balancing my poker career and not too mention some coaching now with a full time career can be a lot. It's easy to get burned out as was I. Running bad wasn't helping either. The timing was a win/win situation.

I wish I could say I went to some exotic beach, but I can't this time. Instead I just took a simple trip to San Antonio, TX to visit some college friends. Def a great time since I got to hang out with some friends. Ever since The best beer in the world thread at DeucesCracked I have been craving "real beer" so I def satisfied my craving. Other than that I relaxed and avoided anything poker for about 3 weeks including DeucesCracked. It was just great going to a place I have so many kickass memories of. I feel totally refreshed and 100% ready to begin another year.

Speaking of year two, I'm pretty damn excited. If I'm able to accomplish half what I did the first year, I will be more than pleased. Considering where I train, I'm very optimistic. This next year I will hopefully get some more live play. Unfortunately the only live games worth my time around Houston are going to be underground and who knows how shady they may be. I don't really like the idea of that. I am however planning on going to Vegas for the World Series of Poker in 2010. Def play live and some tourneys. Should be a blast considering a lot of my friends from DeucesCracked will be there. Can't wait.

Alright so it's def time to set a path for my second year:

-I've been on the verge of moving to 200nl and will def be a big part of my 2nd year. I'm rolled for it now and I think I can hang, but I've decided that because of my downswing, I'm going to set a goal to beat 100nl for another 15-20 bi's. To elaborate, post downswing I'm technically only up 11 bi's at 100nl now. At one point I was up 30 bi's. So I've gone on a 20 buy in downswing. Fortunately for rakeback, the damage has only been about 10bi's. So in my opinion if I think I'm good enough to play and beat 200nl, then I should be able to beat 100nl for another 15-20 bi's no sweat and at the same time finish 100nl respectably imo. And especially coming off a break and feeling fresh, this will be my new challenge going into the new year. I like challengaments :)


-Stating the obvious, but continue to study study study. Where I currently stand, I have a great opportunity to seriously go far this year. I proved a lot to myself this past year about what I'm capable of and knowing that gets me excited about what I can accomplish this year if I put my mind to it.

-Where would I like to be this time next year? I hope to be consistently beating 400nl. I obviously won't be upset if I get higher, but I think that's realistic considering the circumstances. The circumstances being I have a full time career other than poker so I can't play 50-100k hands per month. Quality not quantity... man.

-Coaching. Def going to keep this up. I'm going to have to ponder on how to fit it in my poker/job/life balance. It's a complicated situation. The problem is pretty much an opportunity cost issue. As mentioned, I work a full time job during the day, so the times I'm on my A-Game is limited. Sometimes I'm rested enough to come home after being at the office for 10 hours (typical day) and put in a session or coaching lesson. To be honest tho, a lot of times I'm not. My job can be pretty stressful and involved sometimes. Deadlines!! So considering my a-game time is limited, I have to take advantage and play if I ever want to progress through the stakes. And to be a good coach takes up time. Coaching is no breeze. You basically become a mentor and can spend a lot of time with the student. I def enjoy it and with some past life experiences think I can be good. I just have to work out the opportunity cost issue and make my poker/life/coaching/job balance work.

-I think that's all I have for now. I will probably add more later. I think this next year is going to be interesting for online poker in general. The silly UIGEA regs. I'm not quite sure what will happen and nobody does. I'm sure there will be some deposit/withdrawal hiccups, but I don't think online poker will go away. Too much money to be made and I'm sorry but it's about to be 2010. This is called technology. That said, I'm definitely not for full Online Casino's. Poker is obv much much different than online slots, roulette, etc. Biggest differences in poker is you aren't playing against the house (playing against each other and the casino takes a rake meaning the results don't matter to the casino) and poker is a skill game. And anyone who says poker isn't a skill game, considering I've studied it the past year, sounds like an idiot to me. Nuff said.