g8vmylifeaway

Couple nights ago Tammi and I went down to Providence. We ate at The Melting Pot which was pretty sweet. The last time, and only other time I have been there, was four years ago. I forgot how much I liked the place. I don't even know if I like doing this type of thing or I like the idea of it. Probably both. The idea of going to a dimly lit, nice restaurant, drinking wine, enjoying good food. Yeah, probably both. I'm allergic to a lot of things and I couldn't eat a lot of what they had to dip in the spinach artichoke dip we got, but it was still pretty good. It's always cool watching them take the actual ingredients and make it right before your eyes.

Afterwards we went to Dave and Busters. Maybe I'm just getting older, but they just didn't seem to have that much "fun stuff". I wouldn't say I didn't have fun, but I was expecting more. Maybe I was just tired. Or maybe it's not as much fun when your mom isn't the one paying $4 to hit a button when you think a light will land on a spot. We won over 3,000 tickets, which I thought was a lot, but turns out it's not that much considering a $50 video game is 50,000 tickets. So what are our 3,000 tickets worth--$3? LOL. I paid $112 for tokens and we won $3 back?! Wow they make a killing.

So in poker news, the infamous Shaun Deeb has said he's calling it quits. He wrote on 2+2 that he is done with tournaments and is sick of what he has become. I don't know if this is the sickest level or if he is serious. Most people seem to think he's serious. It's a pretty sad day for poker if he's serious. To see one of the game's hardest working, truest grinders call it quits really leaves the rest of us like, "where does that leave us?" Shaun is up like $1.5 million in online poker tournaments lifetime. I can feel his pain. We've all had bad runs. We've all thought about quitting. We've all thought, "wtf am I doing sitting behind a computer 8+ hours a day?" Shaun is supposedly on a 4 month breakeven stretch and is down a decent amount live. I can understand it. I just think he needs a break. A nice break to get refreshed and rejuvenate himself and he should, in my eyes, come back and crush.

Yesterday in my $100^3 tourney, I was in tears because of how funny I thought this was. Some guy was playing under the screenname G8vmylifeaway and his avatar was a picture of Shaun Deeb. Now that shit is funny. I actually took a screenshot of it but that is on my desktop at my office. I'll post it next time I am there.

I can feel Shaun's pain. I've said it before, I don't know how anyone can grind mtt's for a living. It's just pain so many days of the month. You play for those few and far between days where you just crush it. I've had a few of those days over the last month. I'm pretty lucky. I'm also pretty due for a downswing.

Yesterday I got 7th in a $55 on Full Tilt. I've been telling everyone I feel like I'm just so due on that site. I've been getting absolutely crushed on Tilt and I just have to win something soon. I really thought I was destined to win the $55 yesterday but things just didn't work out. 7th for $1k.

I also got 22nd in the $11 rebuy on stars. It's so heartbreaking to make it through over 2600 players in a rebuy tournament where first place is $13k, only to finish 21 places away from such a nice score. I really wanted that one. I have never final tabled a true rebuy tournament. I have a bunch of final tables in 1 rebuy and 2 rebuy max tourneys, but never a true unlimited rebuys tournament. My sample size is super small, but it's still a goal of mine that I want to accomplish soon.

Last night at 1am someone told me about probably the best value tournament I've ever seen on Stars. There was a 50,000fpp tournament awarding 9 packages to a tournament in Sydney, Australia which covers the $6.6k buyin, hotel, and you get $2k in spending money. There were only 57 entrants, so this was a pretty nice overlay. I just couldn't get anything going in it and eventually went out QQ to AJ aipf. That one really hurt. Before the tournament started I really thought I was going to win this package. I searched every single player in the tournament on OPR and put a note on them. Pretty disappointing. Maybe I'll play some other type of qualifier. It would just be so sick to go to Australia for 6 days and play in a huge poker tournament with everything paid for.

Man poker is sick.

run better

msu can you run any better? seriously...

Just like I said I was going to, I have been testing mixing mtt's with the higher stakes sngs. I'm playing a lot less sngs but hopefully my $/gm will increase since my ABI has increased so it won't make much difference in what I make per an hour.

So the last two days I've made like $1.2k with this system in sngs. I'm very pleased with it so far. Playing 15 or 20 sngs is so relaxing compared to 30-40. I can actually sit and think about decisions. I can 2.5x open instead of 3x. It's just a lot easier now.

MTT's had been going horrific since my little streak I went on (47k, 6k, 2k scores). I had been running so bad. I don't mean kind of bad, I mean awful. I was actually just talking to Dang Le (vertek) about how I felt I was due for some scores. I emphasized that even after my $47k, the way I was running was just too abnormal. I expected to run bad for a bit after that win, but not the way it's been.

So today things turned around I guess. Ran insanely well. I got 6th in the $100^4 (2 rebuys + addon). This tourney only had 95 entrants so 6th was only $1.3k, but that is a pretty difficult tourney to final table. That, for me, was essentially a $400 mtt. I then got 2nd in the $55 40k guaranteed for $6.5k, and followed that up with a 2nd in the $109 40k guaranteed for $10k. Pretty sick night.

I'm a little disappointed I didn't win one of those tournaments, but I can't be too upset. It takes so much luck to even get as deep as I did in those.

Something people need to understand though is that I don't just pocket all of this cash. I am staked for all of my action and keep about 50-60% of everything I win. Also, when I win a tournament, it first has to cover all the buy-ins for the tournaments I don't cash in. Then at that point I can start to see what the total profit looks like. For example, this $10k cash was for a stake that was down like $3k. So that is $7k profit which I see about half of. So, of that $10, I will get about $3.5k in my pocket.

Just wanted that to be clear.

missed the wedding

I lived with two different families in high school. One was my best friend's family. It was his sister's wedding that I came back for. I thought it was at 2:30 and obviously it was at 2. Ended up seeing the last fifteen minutes of it. Ooops.

The reception was a lot of fun. I guess that is the fun part anyways. I got to see a lot of people that I hadn't seen in forever. It was a good time.

Tammi headed back to Boston today. I stayed an extra day so that I could play a full Sunday schedule. I couldn't really miss the great value of the 2.5m guaranteed on Stars or the FTOPS ME. I ran so unbelievably bad today. Grinding mtt's for a living has to be the worst thing ever. It's just pain 90% of days. I just want to slit my wrists after a day like today. I probably lost $4k. No, maybe $3k. It was a lot, whatever it was.

Lost AA to AT aipf to be top 3 with 18 left in the 109^4 (2 rebuys + add on). Got 15th for $1k or so.

Poker can be so sick. Losing that AA to AT is a difference in like at least $3k, potentially a lot more. The one positive I get out of today is that I feel I played pretty well. I can see myself improving. Seeing my progress makes me want to continue to get better. Another positive is that I am hungry to get back to sng's. I want to get back to grinding out a consistent, stable income while improving my mtt game and playing them on the side. It's nice to play a full schedule of mtt's and not have to worry about the money. I just play my best. The results will come. Since I have some money saved away now and a stable income from sng's, I can play mtt's without any pressure. This allows me to play my best.

I'm still in 3 mtt's. How late I bust out of my last one will dictate if I drive back to Boston tonight or tomorrow. I'd like to tonight because when I drive through the day I feel like I am wasting a day. We'll see.

deja vu

I feel like I'm in high school again. 16 years old, playing online poker from a hotel desk. Listening to Eminem. The blinds are closed so I have no sense of time. The days just mesh into one long time period. Life seems fake. I'm never entirely awake. I don't feel like I have total control--like someone else is controlling me and I can vaguely watch. Things are hazy.

This feeling is so familiar. When I was 16 I ran away and lived in a hotel. I played online poker for a few hours each day to pay for the next night's stay. I'd cashout to epassporte, go across the street to the ATM and I'd withdraw what I needed. I had no savings. Looking back I can't believe I handled that pressure to win so well. It's not like I did this for a few days. This was for weeks at a time and on numerous occasions.

I remember I brought my desktop to Senior Week. My girlfriend at the time didn't like where we were staying, so I played online poker so that I could pay for a hotel room for the week. It's so weird to look back on.

Being back in a hotel room grinding, it feels weird. I remember this. But at the same time it's different. I know I am fine financially. It's not as desperate a situation. Things are different.

This trip back to MD has become pretty expensive. Like $90 each way for gas/tolls, $11 on socks since I had no clean ones to pack, $22 on a belt since I need a black one, $260 for 3 nights at a hotel (3rd night free ftw), $20 haircut so I don't look like garbage at the wedding, $55 on wedding gift from Bed Bath and Beyond.

Currently having a very bad stretch in poker. Down like $1k today in SNG's and lost like $1.5k or so yesterday in mtt's.

Today I tried something different. I tried only playing the higher buy-in sng's and mixed in mtt's. I was only 20 tabling and was able to give each decision more thought. I really enjoyed myself even though I got crushed. Only 20 tabling is so relaxing. Even though my results were terrible, I'm gonna try this for my next few sessions (except for Sunday). I really think this could be a perfect system for me.

In the money of some mtt's so hopefully I can run well in something.

sheets

Driving down to MD tonight. Have a wedding to go to Saturday. I'm still trying to figure out what I'm going to do Sunday. PokerStars up'd the Sunday 1.5m to 2.5m guaranteed this week. Full Tilt also has their FTOPS main event on Sunday. I really want to be fresh and focused for these huge, great value tournaments. I guess I'll either leave Saturday after the reception and come back to Boston or stay the full day Sunday and leave Monday.

I've been running pretty terrible lately. Lost in some gross spots late in a bunch of mtt's yesterday. Lost $1.5k or so total. My SNG volume has been awful this month. I really need to get back to the grind. Mtt's are just such a nice change of pace and are a lot more fun.

I feel like my life has become consumed by poker. This would have really bothered me but not anymore. Manhat10ite sent me a thing to listen to on 2p2. Eric "Sheets" Haber talks about how most of these successful poker players aren't out drinking and smoking like normal kids their age. The super successful poker elite are working hard at their game, coming to tournaments focused, etc.. He addressed an entire host of issues but this one hit me the hardest. I definitely feel like I treat poker as professionally as any 21yr old in the industry. My office and my work ethic have gotten me to where I am at. My results speak for themselves. I'm happy with my decision not to return to school as of right now. Just gotta stay focused.

I'm focused. I'm hungry.

Poker School in Boston Area

*Apparently 2p2 changed their rules literally yesterday and I cannot post this on their website. I've put this up at PTP as well.*

Several months ago I decided to get an office for my poker playing. I was sick and tired of waking up and playing in my sweatpants, unshaven, hungry, unfocused, distracted by my roommates etc. I now am forced to wear business casual attire, I wake up and make myself a nice breakfast each morning, and I am surrounded by focused business professionals. I have found myself more focused and dedicated, I have more energy, and as a byproduct my play and results have vastly improved. While I have been playing as a main source of income for several years, this year, and mainly since I got this office, my results have gone to the next level. My office has contributed greatly to this and I think I now have the credentials to coach others in the games I play.

A friend and I have decided to open a poker school/community type project. We will be renting an office area just outside of Boston. We will be renting out spaces to people for playing poker with the majority of spaces most likely going to those who wish to be coached and improve their game.

Each space will come equipped with a desk, computer, and all of the essential programs you need to be successful at tournaments (sngwiz, tableninja).

I will be the main instructor and may bring in guest instructors from time to time. Players will be required to play x amount of hours per a week with the number to be determined at a later date. Players will be required to attend x amount of coaching sessions per a week with the number to be determined at a later date. No cash game play will be allowed whatsoever.

Main coaching will be on 45man and 180man turbo sngs. There will also be coaching on mtt's.

There will be many forms of instruction. I will play live and have students watch. A student will play live as students watch. I will review specific hand histories in a replayer. I will review hand histories in sngwiz. I will work one on one and answer specific questions. There may be other forms as well.

You will play with your own funds. If you do not have the funds necessary to play at the stakes you desire, then we will help you sell a BAP at PartTimePoker.com. PTP is a staking site, and by telling investors that you will be working with me, and by having me escrow the money, I am sure you will be able to find investors to stake you.

There will be a flat rate of $500/mo to solely rent a space from us.

If you wish to be coached as well, there will be a flat rate of $1,000/mo + x% of your winnings, with the number to be determined at a later date. Players will be required to sign a contract of a length TBD that binds them to the x% of winnings portion of the deal.

I am sure I am leaving out an entire host of details so please feel free to ask any questions.

I will add more details as they become available.