For A Better Tomorrow

Please excuse me for having such horrible images as I haven’t downloaded a new tool for picture cropping. I settled playing with screenhunter and paint to create the following. But things will get better!

I was a tournament player last year in 2005. I was skimming through my folders in my documents trying to organize it due to my recent PC reformat. I ran into my trophy folder and thought I’d post these. Everytime I win a tournament or place really high, I’d take a screen shot of it and save it in a folder. These are some of my results before I became a cash game player. I have a bunch more but they were just sit and go victories In a way, I am proud of them however my focus now is to dominate the cash games while remembering that everything started because of my initial obsession in trying to succeed in tournaments. I will still play tournaments but I will not rely on them to make a living. The WSOP is being prepped with satelites to the big dance. From now till the the end of July, I’m going to play more sit and gos and tournaments for practice just to try to get a seat to any WSOP event. Also on a side note, I try to avoid typing my Full Tilt screen name on this blog as I don’t want players to google search my name. I tend to do this to other players when I believe they are to be decent players. It’s just my way of getting to know them better . You wouldn’t believe how many of these guys have blogs about their poker life. They’d paste a hand history about their recent bad beat, and I’d find their blogs. I hope to avoid that here but if people find me, oh well. You may think my name is very generic and that it’s difficult to search but I tested it by searching my FT name + “Full Tilt” + “poker” in google and found an article on my Great Full Red win. It’s just too easy to search for players nowadays.

That was the past and now is the present. Today my focus has been to dominate cash games. My first step in order to do that is to prove to myself that I can be a consistent winner. And in order to do that I have to play at least 100,000 hands. I am still pretty insecure about being a consistent winner but a friend of mine tells me to believe in my own stats. My winrate is pretty low overalll but as long as I know I’m a consistent winner, I can start adjusting and experimenting to be able to improve my winrate. When I start playing full time, I will definitely study the loopholes in my game. This past year, my poker time was dedicated to see if my TAG (Tight Agressive) style is a consistent winner. Here is a graph and a pokertracker stat of my results from this past year. Keep in mind, that I was a loser when I first started as you can see in the graph, but as I started adjusting my game, I climbed back up to +10 dollars by New Years 2006. I got faded that night with some friends when partying and vowed that I will continue my climb from then on. And so far, I’ve kept my own vow. Hell, that night I got so drunk I even set a goal for myself to make 6 digits by the end of the year. I still got 6 months

The first jpg is my overall playing stats since around September (non tournaments). As you can see I scurried below the 0 line a bit because of experimenting and learning the cash game ropes. The second box is a close up of the arrow I drew in my overall box. That little down shift is probably about 2-3 days worth of playing. So basically when I tell people I am losing “today”, that is probably what I’m experiencing in the 2nd picture. People often ask me if I’m an overall winner or if I am currently winning. In order for any real poker player to answer that, he or she needs to spend time playing the game for a really long time that way the player can zoom out and view their overall stats. I can easily say “yes I’m wining today or yes I’m winning this month or week or blah blah” - but it really isn’t a “real” answer. So when non poker players ask about my poker life, all I can really say is “yes, I’m up overall” (even if I only played 1,000 hands….)

The third picture is my PT stats and my overall profit in cash games. My winrate for NL100 is terribly low but things got a little better when I promoted myself to NL200. Either players are shittier in NL200 or it’s because I’ve gotten more disciplined/better. I haven’t fully found the real answer to yet. But I will experiment a little further to narrow it down. Now that I am strictly playin NL200 8 tabling, I should now be making way more money than the first three months in which I started climbing (starting with January or when the red line in my graph reached 0 - breaking even). I’ve only done about 40k hands in NL200, so there is much more work to be done in order to get a better idea on my winrate.

And there folks, is how to determine whether or not you’re a consistent winner. People say it’s more difficult for tournament players to be successful in cash games. I find that the opposite through my experience. The only time I agree with that is when a cash game player is very successful and he/she has plenty of money to play tournaments. But if a cash game player is only a consistent winner in low limits, it will be difficult for them to become better quickly in tournaments because tournaments are extremely costly.As for me, I used my tournament winnings to start off in very LOW NL games. I started at NL50 4 tabling and slowly climbed up from there. Whereas many big tournament winners will jump into a NL1000 game (because that’s where the “big” money is…zZz)

“The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without trials.”
–– Chinese proverb

A little strain on my eyes but I got myself a new toy. This will be my tilt antidote when I play poker full time. As you can see, my buddy and I went through much building this. Thank God he’s a genius at wiring or else I don’t think I would be able to get the controllers and buttons configurated correctly. There are over 10 thousand games from PS2, PS1, SNES, NES, and of course MAME arcade. It took us a week to prep while waiting for the cabinet to ship for us to start construction. I pretty much spent my entire week producing this bad boy and it killed some of my poker time. I did however manage to knock down 200 pts a day for Full Tilt’s Iron Man Challenge and of course it’ll help me get my 2nd freeroll into the tournament where the top 20 prizes is the WSOP seat. Wish me luck.

It doesn’t matter if I were to lose.

It doesn’t matter if I am forced to spend money to defend myself.

It does not matter if I lose when it is not my fault. 
It does not matter what happens because I have been given the gift to make money. 

The worst that can happen is that I end up losing money.

But what harm can that be when I can make it back.

I must remain as patient and calm as possible and in the end things will be better. 

Without this I would’ve been completely lost, so therefore I should be thankful for being able to do what I do.

I honestly don’t know what I could’ve done if it weren’t for my being passionate about poker. 

And I am truly thankful for it and will do what ever it takes to make it better. 

In the end, I must be strong and patient as meteor rocks knock me down while everything else on the mountain giggles as I fall. 

I will not let it affect me. 

As you know, action films as this moment has not been greatly appreciately as it was in the 90’s.  What is the reason for a huge decline in action movies?  My theory is this:  The audience is able to pay seven measly dollars to watch a 200 million dollar project.  Over the years, they have been paying 10 dollars to watch at least a 100 million dollar project.  My point being, is that the general audience is nothing but a bunch of spoiled brats. And with all the concepts that have been used all these years, it is difficult for any new and improved concept to be appreciated in a action film.  I’ve written about this long ago but I will repeat it again, sequels and comic films are doing well only because the audience already has an idea as to how the characters were developed.  Movies like batman, spiderman and x-men are ones that excite the audience today.  Films that are based off books like LOTR are appreciated only because it has a huge fan base. 

So the question is, how do action films continue to survive?

Filmmakers like Michael Bay, David Fincer, Tony Scott, Ridley Scott, and Steven Spielberg know exactly what it takes to excite the audience about a film.  I will have to exclude Michael Bay’s film The Island from that category though. 

There is one person that I am really looking forward to… and that is James Cameron.  My opinion is that James Cameron is THE BEST AMERICAN ACTION DIRECTOR of all time.  Obviously it’s hard to say that since he hasn’t directed a film since Titanic but I have looked at his trend since his first film Piranha II.  One that I will definitely look forward to is his new idea on remaking the Japanese Animation Battle Angel Alita.  It seems that he has a full understanding on what’s missing in the action world today - perhaps it’s because he got lucky since he’s been making stupid discovery channel films/developing Dark Angel while Richard Donner, John Mctiernan, Jan De Bont all failed to uphold their title as being THE action directors in the 80’s and 90s.  But I think that’s what makes a genius become one of the greatest.  While John Woo still tries to adapt to the America’s taste in action films, James Cameron sits back and watches as the all failed to achieve one thing - the audience’s satisfaction.  He watches at Sam Raimi, Peter Jackson, and the Wachowski brothers take over to become the new breed of action directors.  Hell he might even laugh at J.J. Abram’s new film Mission Impossible III fall in the pits with a huge star Tom Cruise. 

I am definitely excited for what he has in store for us.  He is like the Einstein of action films.  A man passionate of doing things more than just filmmaking, willing to travel down the seas to understand the real story of Titanic.  He knows what it takes to get the general audience to grasp and fall in love with the story of Titanic - by making it a fictional love story.  Unbelievable.  8 years later after he’s won the Academy Awards, he has not yet made a film.

I repeatedly said that great action directors should look over in the Japanese Animation for ideas and that new action films should gear towards CGI films - perhaps doing something better than Final Fantasy: Spirits from Within.  However, due to the expense of CGI, no director is willing to direct a film in just pure CGI since FF: Spirits from Within failed miserably, the same goes with TITAN: AE, an animation.  THese directors are too busy to understand that Japanese animation are the next thing to revolutionize action films - especially their storyline..  I realized that as I have been quite a fan of Japanese animation.  At the same time I thought of this, I did some research and  later I found that James Cameron plans on directing a film based off of a japanese manga in cgi.  He plans on doing a trilogy with this film.  And that is when I realizeed that James Cameron will forever be on top of his game whether or not he directs a film or not.

Due to the piracy issue, he wants to make something so outrageous that it requires the audience to go to a theater rather than just simply downloading the film on their computer (supposedly making more digital experience theeaters).  He wants to do something so insane, that it requirse theaters to rebuild some theaters to display digital only for “his film”.  Minds like James Cameron are truly what touches me most.  He is capable of adapting to the world’s change.  Instead of finding a “new concept in a script” he goes out to find a new way to REVOLUTIONIZE the genre.  For this I am truly touched and I am excited to see what he’s coming out with.  Obviously though, I will be truly sad if it were to flop miserably.  To be honest, I am looking at him in hopes that he can boost up the action genre just as people looked at Mark Mcgwire for bringing baseball back when he broke the homerun record since baseball at the time was declining.   

Final Notes and Thoughts: 

Final Fantasy: Advent Children - a film in which many directors today must look at to adapt to a new style of action films.  This film is truly insane when it comes to action.   Perhaps this is a film they will learn from.

Actresses: 

I made the prediction that Gong Li is going to become quite famous because of Memoirs of A Geisha.  For awhile I thought I was wrong as she did not star in many films.  The other day I passed by a huge poster board of Colin Farrel and Academy Award Winner Jamie Fox in Miami Vice, surprisingly, the third name was Gong Li.  Impressive indeed. 

And yes after MI:3 Maggie Q will be a winner in most of the auditions in which typecasts the following: Asian 18-36 Petite Beautiful.  Sorry Kelly Hu and Jaymee Ong but it may be over for you guys as Maggie Q is going to tear it up the next few years.  - Just my prediction (and yes, this excludes Lucy Liu as she has amazingly broken the ice for herself from being typecast- which is something I am very impressed with). 

I do hope that Hideo Kojima decides to make a Metal Gear Solid film in CGI but if he deciddes to do a live action - may God be with him as the audience will see that Solid Snake is just a rip off of James Bond.  However, if he were to do it in CGI, he should be able to convince the audience of a SCI Fiction story of a secret agent.  But only time will tell as to what he will do.  I have only found a few articles of him thinking about making a “hollywood live action metal gear solid film”.  But what I really want is a CGI Metal Gear Solid film - I honestly believe that this will be a guarantee success.  I hope he understands this… but like John Woo, I worry that he may lack the “American Audience’s taste” since he is a foreign story teller.  My advice Hideo - Go with the PURE CGI as it is the “new thing” if in fact it did have a great storyline.  Also, make a 3 part series, who cares what it costs…

And that will be it for my filmmaking thoughts. 

I don’t talk about films much as it is something that I am not in touch with a lot recently.  My focus has been poker and that’s why that subject has been taken over this blog.  As time flies, film will one day take over, but not yet. 

I’ve been extremely overwhelmed with life changing decisions as of late. Well, I can’t say “as of late” since these decisions have been on my mind for about a year now. What really determines my decisions is based on when I think I am truly ready. I must say I am quite different now versus my earlier college years which consists of drinking, partying, and squeezing in time to study the day before the midterm. I really have to make decisions that only a mature version of me can make.

I’m in a real dilemna right now, I really want to get back to school and to do that, I have to choose between poker or work. That was the decision I had to make 8 months ago and obviously it all depends on how well I do in poker. Now that 8 months have gone by and I am now seeing my results. In a span of 6 months (since January 1st 2006), I’ve successfully doubled my initial investment. And I am quite proud of it. Half of it was due to NL100 and the other half was NL200. I’ve only played NL 200 for two months now and according to my stats, I should make more by the end of this year since most of the time will be spent playing NL200.

Within the 6 month span, I’ve also only played poker part time averaging about 17 hours a week. Now I keep questioning how well I will do in the next six months if I were to play poker FULL TIME. Obviously, I would not be able to save as much money because a certain percentage of the income would go to my monthly bills which is about 2k per month. That includes mortgage, eating, gas.. everything. I need about 2k to survive. Currently my job covers that for me while I’m playing poker part time. So whatever I make per month in the game goes directly to the game - which is very nice. It is a great way to grow and move up in limits with a healthy bankroll. I am one of those players who likes to play with an overoll, many people out there will play NL 1000 or 600 with my kind of bankroll and they would consider it safe…I’m quite different, I want security.

What are my future plans? I honestly feel like I have it all laid out perfectly, but wouldn’t life be too easy if you can just write out your goals and hope to fall in the right places. I basically want to get from A to B, but in between A and B are a bunch of mountains smothered with a maze of forests on top of other jungles and more forests. It’s like traveling the world in an RPG game as a nobody to one of the greatest warriors in the world.

My lifeline: From Point A to Point B (A- being a nobody/student and B- being a Film Director)

Sounds easy? HAH, it’s going to be a long ride if I really can get to where I want to be. But I have some plans laid out. If I can focus on getting to each status as a short term goal eventually I will get to my long term goal. Here’s the jift of it:

Step 1 - Status:
Full Time Student - The college years

Step 2 - Status:
Full Time Student/Part Time Worker Bee (find ways to make money for bills and stuff)

Step 3 - Status:
Full Time Worker Bee/Part Time Student (Money is becoming more of a necessity due to my mortgage payment plus I only have about 1 year left to finish school)

Step 4 - Status:
Full Time Worker Bee/Part time Poker Player (this is where I found a way to make money that is not an 8-5 job where I’d only get the same amount per month - but goes straight to bills, whereas I can potentially make enough money to give myself more time and free will for other opportunities - such as internship at a film company or something.) - *My Current Status*

Step 5- Status:
Full Time Poker Player/Part Time Student (this is where I want to finish up my school. At this point I’d only be studying my major which is english. I feel that it is important for me to understand our history’s greatest stories and to become a better writer. Rather than studying technical stuff about cameras where I can easily learn on my own. To understand Shakespeare and other great writers, I’m definitely going to need some guidance. Obvious I’m accepting the fact that my degree won’t get me a better paying job. Plus, I believe I have great instincts in the film industry - in fact I’m pretty confident.

Step 6 - Status:
Full Time Poker Player/Part Time ScreenWriter
The voice in the entertainment industry is what you write on paper. The stories you come up with helps get your name around the industry. If I happen to sell a script, it’ll be much easier to sell another one.

Step 7 - Status
Full time Screen Writer/ Part time Film Industry work
At this point I should have enough money to be able to spend my entire time on these two important line of work. I hope poker can help bring me here.

Step 7b - Status
Full Time Grad Student for Filmmaking at Pasadena Art College of Design/ Part time Writer

The reason for a step 7B is if I were to make it into this college, I’d most likely go for it. However, it costs an insane amount of money so it really depends on where I’m at in life. There is really not problem in just trying to jump into the industry without schooling. Many of our great directors have done it.

Step 8 - Status
Full Time Screen Writer/Full Time Film Director

This would be my ultimate goal. If I ever reach this mountain top, I would be truly grateful.

Step 9 - Status:
Retired Film Director/ Part time Poker as a hobby
And I can see myself playing poker again way later in life. Hoping I can reminisce the days of grinding.

I am currently a Full Time Worker and a Part Time Poker Player. This is one life changing situation that I am currently talking about right now. School starts in September, and I have a choice of moving on to become a Full Time Poker Player and a Part Time Student. Again, this choice is very dependent on my current status as a poker player. While looking at my data, it seems that I am quite consistent each month. Another good thing for me is rakeback. Currently I am not getting much rakeback. I tried getting it at Hollywood Poker but I had way to many issues with their software. When I do quit work, I will get right onto achieving rakeback. In fact, I’m on to it right now as it can easily pay for my bills if I were to break even in poker at the end of the month.

I believe success is very dependent on having a plan. This is my plan and I hope I can go on and achieve each step one by one. Obviously, some steps may take years. For example, when I play poker and write screenplays, I may be doing that for a really long time because there are a billion of movie scripts out there for the industry to read. It will take some time for my voice to be heard. It may take forever which makes me rely on my poker/investment plans for financial security. Poker definitely won’t be my only investment plan. It will be a way to start up a roll to make other investments - perhaps larger ones.

Other than that, I have other life changing decisions currently as well however they are quite personal. It’s just strange to me how everything has come to me all at once. Which takes a toll on my current emotional health right now. I’ll survive though and I’ll be fine. I just need to stay focus and BE DISCIPLINED! I think that’s the most important thing right now. If I can remain calm, everything should go through swiftly. If driving on a rocky mountain is smooth to you, you can ride on anything.

I believe in poker the way I believe in the American Dream. Poker is good for you. It enriches the soul, sharpens the intellect, heals the spirit, and - when played well, nourishes the wallet. ~Lou Krieger

PS. I’m Joining this tournament

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This Online Poker Tournament is a No Limit Texas Holdem event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 5267534