Even tho I haven't been at 200nl long I do feel like my game has grown from it. I'm being put in situations that I think are helping me think about the game better. This is due to both moving up and studying. Typically every month that passes, I look at the previous month and see an improvement on how I view the game or a certain situation.
Something I had to get used to was the dollar amount between 100nl and 200nl. The first day winning $800-$1000 was very exciting and the first day losing $800-$1000 was really gross. But for the stakes I'm playing $800-$1000 is nothing really. It's 4-5 buy in's which whether you are on the losing or winning end isn't anything too crazy. I know to any normal person these dollar amounts may seem large, but it's really relative to the size of your bankroll and how many buy ins you have. It's bankroll management, a system. And really, it's a way to keep score. The bankroll is also money that is separate from life money. Also the dollar amounts I'm speaking of aren't anything close to being big in the poker world nor to my situation. I think the best way to handle adjusting to the $$ amounts is being bank rolled deep and moving up when you are rolled deepish for the new stake. I know this has helped me a lot. There are different approaches for different people.
Something else that's been happening to me more and more is it's getting tough to stay motivated at my real job. From playing poker and being part of the community my view of money is already desensitized. Being a poker player it has to be to a degree obviously. From my perspective, it's pretty normal for me to make 2-3 days (18-27 hours) worth of my real jobs pay in one day playing a few hours or less of poker. I've been doing this consistently relative to the stakes for some time now. It has opened my eyes a little bit more to some things in life that I already knew. Going to college, graduating, and getting a job is the "normal" way of life. Before this is misunderstood I'm definitely for going to college. What a great experience and opportunity to learn. My point is about after school. Ever since I've been young I knew that the "normal life" of finishing school, getting a monday - friday job and work until I retire was not for me. In my opinion sitting at work 40-50 hours a week is an inefficient use of my time to make money and I feel like sitting behind a desk for all the hours over the span of time is wasting a lot of my life at the rate of about 2080 hours a year. I think I can achieve more taking a different approach. I'd rather live life having the time to enjoy it. And I think it's important to enjoy how you make your living. I'd say this even if I wasn't exposed to the life poker can very well bring me. It's not about the money, it's about the freedom.
That said, I have much respect for everyone that works a real job. A lot of people live great lives working the 8-5 mon-fri and are happy. or not. It's really a personal choice of how you go about your life. This is why for the most part we have the lower, middle, and upper class. Personally I think it would be cool to work for Google or a stock trading job, but these aren't realistic options for me now so this leaves me with poker. And don't get me wrong, poker is no get rich quick deal. Poker is certainly not an easy road. I have busted my ass studying and put in a ton of time to get where I am currently and will have to continue to do so to move forward. By no means is this the easy way out, it's more like a tough way to make an easy living.
Poker is also not the end to my means, but rather one of the means to my end. I have other plans once I can achieve a certain point. Anyway I think in a previous post I outlined some goals for 2010. I know I posted some on a thread at DeucesCracked, but I'm going to go into more detail about my plans for 2010 since it's most likely going to be a very important year for me considering I will more than likely go professional. I'll post my plan for 2010 soon..
Results since coming back from my break in October:
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