For A Better Tomorrow

I am extremely curious as to how my results will be if I were to play poker full time rather than doing this pathetic 16-20 hours a week. I got 16k hands in January and about 20k hands in the month of February. But keep in mind that I was not 8 tabling in January, I was doing 4-6 tabling. In February, I can say I played 8 tables 95%t of the time. I put in 20 hours less than January and still covered more hands. Sadly, I’ve been thinking about leaving my daytime job to become a full time professional player.

One thing I learned in life is that you must learn to take risks from time to time. “Manage risks”. I feel that it is important for me to see how I do to know whether or not this is meant for me. But I don’t want to determine my fate of poker just by being able to receive more hands in one month. Trust me, I’ve thought about this a lot. The pros and cons. What will happen to me if I quit work and play poker?

Pros:
1) Free time, I can play as much as I want. And they will be quality poker hours.
2) Since I have bills, it is a mandatory job and I will force myself to do 40-50 hours a week. 8 tabling = ~ 15k hands a week.
3) I can manage my house more and have more time to run errands.
4) I will save money by eating at home and cooking for myself, since my job is in my room.
5) I can work out! ANYTIME I want with my buddies. I can go by their schedule! RIght now it’s tough to schedule a workout routine since I’m working and playing poker part time, I absolutely have no time for it. I try to run immediately after work but that’s been pretty inconsistent.

Cons:
1) I may never be able to have the job I have right now. Which is pretty laid back and flexible. But the pay isn’t all that great…
2)I can go broke and the time and money I spent on poker will be wasted.
3) I have to set up a bankroll to pay for my bills for approx 8-12 months - in case I don’t make any money in poker.
4) Forced to go back and get another job - at which point I will be miserable because I failed playing poker.

I think there are more important things to think about rather than just the pros and cons of playing poker full time. It’s really what I want in life. I believe that it is important to take chances in life. Sometimes, you gotta take a big risk in order to see big things in life. I am already taking the biggest risk in my life by wanting to become a film director. I spend time thinking about stories, reading, and watching movies. I do the things I love doing rather than spending time finding ways to make money, like learning about real estate or investment plans. Although, money has become a passion of mine only because I believe that it is a potential key that will help me get to my goals. How great would it be if I didn’t have to worry about making monthly bills? I can just work on writing scripts and making movies. Keep in mind that writing and making movies can leave me poor for years - unless I catch a “big break” and sell my passionate script to a studio. There are so many poor film students that graduate from USC, UCLA, or Chapman with an insane debt (school loans + student film). I know, because I have met a bunch of them. And if their script doesn’t sell, they stay poor. And writing a script requires full time commitment.

I do hope that I can become a full time poker player by summertime. The main reason is because I am dying to go back to school to and get my BA in english. I’ve chosen that path for several reasons, one being that I need to understand how to express feelings on paper in a way where “script agents” can understand. I need to learn more about literature. What’s a film director without a background in our history’s greatest stories. I need to learn all that. I feel that I have paid close enough attention to the film world ever since I was a kid that it’s become natural to me. So english classes will be more important than film classes.

I hope to full time poker and part time school. Not full time work and part time school. That’s probably why I’ve been thinking about full timing poker a lot lately. I’m on a school break right now and I don’t want my time wasted just working. Poker is soo exhausting at night! I literally have to get like 9 hours of sleep in order for my mind to be clean enough to focus. I do try though, and but I think I can do better by changing, not by trying.

I feel that I have a chance at doing so because I do have the roll to take care of myself for 8-12 months in terms of bills and food. My life will just be very very tight though.

One thing that I thought about too as I discussed this with several friends. Poker is extremely hard. People think that a person such as myself is playing poker because it’s an”easy way out”. But tell me this, how “easy” is it to want to quit your job, risking that you may go broke and lose money. Everyone knows the road that ends in the path of the poker life. So trust me, I’ve put a lot of thought into this and it requires a lot of CONFIDENCE for me to make that move. I think it takes a lot of balls for anyone to do it. I tip my hat off to those who are willing to take that chance.

Here’s something many people don’t realize. THere are businessmen out there who are willing to down 50k to open up a business and pay 2-4k in lease monthly in hopes that their business will take off. Some say that if you break even two years after you’ve opened up a business, it means you’re doing well. Opening up a restuarant, a cell phone store, or anything in life costs a lot of money. The risk involved can be a catastrophe. For me, I just have to worry about taking care of myself every month. Nothing more…

However, the only difference between poker and any other business risks (stocks included), is how people judge poker players as gamblers. I had a friend say to me that if I were to play poker full time, my life will revolve around 52 cards - sounds pathetic? Well, how about the people who’s lives revolve around a bat and a ball; a basketball and a rim; a keyboard and mouse; a brush and a canvas. I believe that if you can make money off anything that is morally right, then you should go for it. There is nothing wrong in making money as a starcraft player - a “computer game”. You can make money off eatin 52 hotdogs!

I’m not here to find ways to convince myself as I have already come to my conclusion, I just thought I’d share it in the blog. Depending on how things go, it is already planned to happen in the near future. I just feel that I need to be a little more patient and see how far the chart goes. I have a lot more to research and study before I can implement that change in life. There is one thing that I know for sure will happen if I don’t try. I will regret it.

“When it comes to money, don’t take risks.” - Poor Dad
“When it comes to money, learn to manage risks.” -Rich Dad

I have forgotten what gambling was like. It’s like a drug that I have never tried. It’s like an addicted alcoholic like a family member that I grew up with. I know what these things can do to you, but I never realized how wild the lifestyle can be. I guess tonight is something that I needed to experience for future reference. If I’m ever on top of the world, I will always be there for a friend. However, I will never gamble with a friend unless I know they’re strong enough to take it. I would be sadden if a friend of mine owes me money. That caring feeling there is somewhat like an oxymoron.

It’s like being a lawyer or a doctor in life. Imagine treating your own family member knowing that you had to try your best to save him/her or defend a friend from a frivolous lawsuit - imagine failing and seeeing your friend fall to his knees as he is forced to give up his house when he didn’t do anything wrong. The justice system can be unfair at times. I know becuase I am currently experiencing one. Honestly, I treat poker as a business - gambling is my business and it’s something that I would never involve a friend. If you were a real estate agent, would you honestly profit off your sister if she needed to buy a house by swindling her? Life is tough like that in the gambling world. Tonight, I have experience something that I am quite disappointed about. When you’re out having fun, you want to spice up the competition, so you’d put wager on something not valuable yet prideful. Even as small as the stakes are, it’s just enough to make you play serious. That’s why I gamble with friends, just to spice things up and build - excitement within friends. But I’m sadden when a friend of mine goes out of his way to try beat you even if it’s unfair. I was going to throw away the game just so it would be even when I was up but I was to disappointed to witness a couple of unfair actions that I actually wanted to beat them and teach them a lesson. Oh well. Sometimes I wished we never played in the first place. But stuff like that stays in the back of your mind. You wish it doesn’t but you’re too smart not to.

To all of you who dream about being a professional poker player: Be professional in gambling, but leave everyone close to you outside of it.

I think the first thing to know about poker when you approach it, is to know that EVERYBODY WILL get lucky and win a lot of pots. There are nights where any one person can be super hot, he/she can literally play any hand and come out winning on the river. Don’t we all wished we experienced what Moneymaker experienced in WSOP 2003? If only my lucky night happened when I’m near the final table of the wsop. Luck is luck and it is something that happens at random times. That’s why anyone with the right kind of fire can win a tournament. Anyone with the right kind of fire can take down 10x their buyin in a 3 hour session.

Everybody who plays poker plays to experience that kind of rush. That’s what we all wait for as we play for hours and hours. I believe the real skill is surviving the aftermath of those rushes. And whoever can protect their cash when the fire dies will be the ones who will dominate overall in the long run. The better of a protector you are, the more money will come out in the end. If I can let go a AA when someone min raises me on the flop when they have a set, I will be making a lot of money versus another player who will move all in with those aces. If I am playing poker for hours and hours, I am waiting for my rush to come my way again because the rush comes to everybody. I just need to wait my turn. Sometimes a <>< will randomly jump in a game and luckily see a rush the moment he/she sits down. Later this fish will continue to sit there hoping the fire won't die out, but eventually it will. What this fish doesn't realize is that he is suppose to survive as much as he can until his fire comes back. Hence, he will eventually give back the money he won to another person who's now on fire. It can go on forever because...everyone will have their turn to catch the fire. So how do we make money off that...

We make money off the time when we're not on fire. I believe this should be the focus here when playing cash game - when you are dryer than sand. This is where you should start protecting yourself by using everything you've learn from every book you've read and experieneced. This is the real game play. A true poker player should wait for this opportunity to see if he/she can take the real side of the game. So instead of waiting for your fire, wait for your dry moment because that's where the skill comes into play. I keep telling myself this because I want to succeed in poker skillfully, not through luck. I need to know for certain that I am not getting lucky. I believe that's one of the reasons that makes a poker player insecure. "Did I get lucky all those years". "Did I get lucky winning those 5 tournaments"?

A great book that sorta brings you to this type of thinking is Zen and the Art of Poker by Larry Phillips. Obviously, what I've written above is quite different from the stuff he teaches in that book. But I've adapted some of his thinking and with my experience in poker so far, I've managed to come up with my own way of thinking. Poker is insanely tough. If you can flow correctly and balance yourself when the cards are running high and when they're running low, I'm certain you can dominate. You want to attack your opponent and put the most pressure on them as much as possible when the cards are high on your favor. And when the cards are running dry, it's time to baracade yourself and protect yourself as much as possible.

Again, I write these sort of things to remind myself to remain focus - especially when the cards are not in my favor. And it seems so the past month and a half...

“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan “press on” has solved and always will solve the problems of the human raceâ€? - Calvin Coolidge