For A Better Tomorrow

I have forgotten how difficult poker was before I identified how to become a consistent winner.  My brother is having an excruciating hard time trying to defeat this madness.  I never realized how difficult it is for a person to be discliplined.  I should know of all people because I lack a lot of it outside of the game (school, paying bills, working out, being organized..etc)  I guess I’m gifted with being disclipline emotionally.  I honestly do not know.  I have friends who are trying this game out and they are telling me that what I do is impossible. 

To be honest, I’m starting to feel as if it’s easy to make money in the game.  I’ve gone through great lengths to achieved that.  I mean, don’t get me wrong, the game as a whole is VERY DIFFICULT but to make money, I feel it’s quite easy once you’ve obtained the skill of being discliplined.  I’ve said this many times before in this blog, and I will say it again; (in case many of you who don’t follow my blog from the very beginning)  professional poker players will say that all you need is discipline to make money in LOW-MID stakes poker.  But to reach as high as The Big Game game or High Stakes, you have to separate yourself from the good players by becoming the best.  Fortunately, I’m so far  passing the first phase - and that is being disciplined to make money in low-mid stakes poker.  The question is, will I ever reach the high level of poker gaming?  I hope so as I do plan on doing this for the next 4-5 years if not more depending on my status in trying to break into the film industry.

Obtaining the ability to be discipline is all you need - yet it is probably one of the most difficult mountains to climb in poker.  I’d say that it is more than just a black belt.  It’s  a 3rd or 4th degree black belt.  Each degree is dependent on the stakes and how much money you earn per month.  And to reach the high stakes poker levels is when you are trying to become a master.

I am succeeding well this month in NL400.  I predicted how much I should make while playing NL400 a few posts below.  It’s Thanksgiving and we’re near the end of the month.  My results so far is quite overwhelming to me.  Even though I made the prediction and prepared myself for the results prior; it is still crazy seeing the numbers on my pokertracker, let alone checking my Full Tilt Account.  I can continue my play over the weekend or take a break and call it a month; I have not decided yet.  I guess I’m just gonna go with the flow and see if I want to be lazy or continue working.  I just don’t want the “end of the month” thought to be on my mind while playing poker.  That’s usually why I take the last weekend of the month off.  I know it’s just a mind game, but I still choose to avoid it because it’s quite annoying.  If I start losing, I’d go nuts and say “man, I should’ve just taken a break”. 

Happy Thanksgiving to Everybody 

No matter the problems you’re going through life, it is obvious that there are other people in worse situations.  In fact, not everybody is guaranteed the same quality life when they are born.  Therefore, you should be thankful for being where you are right now…I am for sure. 

Ever had one of those sleepless nights where you constantly have your mind on something.  In my recent poker experiment, I have been succeeding consistently satisfying my predicted monthly earns, at least so far I have.  Who knows, I’ve only been doing this for so long, I may run into a month where I can come out in bad shape.  However, I’ve been having one of those high feelings of “looking forward to the future”.  Usually, only movies give me this type of  feeling.  Sometimes, I like being alone in my room at night thinking about what I can do in the future - and it is truly exciting.  The other day, I was just calculating how much money I have to save per month, in order to become a millionaire at age 30.  The reason for this thought in my head is because when I hit the age of 30, I want to be comfortable enough to dedicate the rest of my life in becoming a film director.  Obviously, if I were to fail, I’d have poker to back me up in terms of money. 

With that calculation in mind, that excludes tournamnet winnings for the next 6 years.  I’d have to save almost 14k a month in order to become a millionaire and that’s not counting interests rates that can be earned.  I hope to find myself in a comfortable situation to be able to make smart investments.  I have been thinking of being a silent investor in many things.  I will slow down with the poker books soon and find myself to read books that will help advise on how to deal with money.  So we’ll see.

When I was young, I knew I wanted to become a film director.  But people often tell me to find some kind of backup - which is not a positive advice but a realistic one.  I have been pondering for many years on what I can do that’ll take the place of filmdirecting, if I were to never make it.  I guess life has it’s way of bringing people to their fate as I was introduced to poker.  Poker, in my opinion is such a perfect backdoor to any difficult “dreampipe”.  I admit, I have fallen in love with another career path in life. 

Someone asked me if I ever think I can play in the “Big Game” at the Bellegio against the best in the world.  Obviously, that is something I have never thought about.  But to answer that person’s question, I told him “No, I don’t think I will ever find myself at that table, nor a few levels under that”.  My reasoning is plain and simple, I don’t have the drive in poker as I have in filmmaking.  After I reach a certain level, I will dedicate my life to filmmaking because it is something I have always been fascinated with.  Everytime I watch a good movie, I kick myself in the head as to why I am not a part of that world.  I don’t think I can go the rest of my life not being involved in that industry as I will be kicking myself in the head everyday when other filmmakers create something extraordinary.  And also, to be able to play in the “Big Game”, you have to have an enormous amount of passion and determination of wanting to be the best in the world.   I believed that cannot be shared with a person that also wants to become a great film director. 

Obviously, I want to have fun with poker while I’m young.  What greater hobby to be good at?  I hope to do some poker traveling in the near future.  I want to be all over the place, I guess that’s one of the reasons why I want to challenge myself at the cardplayer of the year award.  Although my skill level is far from being a real contestant, I would love to “try my heart out”.  On Thursday, I will be at the Commerce Casino playing their big NL holdem Tournament.  And while it is just a mere tournament, I have so excited for it.   

I remember when I first started, I played in the smaller tournamnets at the LA casinos.  Since the online boom, I haven’t been there since.  It’ll be a good visit again and it’ll be nice to see people’s facial expression as they try to steal my blinds.  It’ll definitely be great to have longer than 20 seconds to make a decision. 

Sometimes, I get so excited I cannot sleep at night.  I guess it’s my definition of passion in a game.  I remember many years ago I couldn’t sleep one night because the next day I was going to attend a showing of John Woo’s The Killer in LA.  And after the showing, Woo would do a Q&A afterwards.  It’s hard to explain the feeling of being able to watch the creator of your favorite movie, talk about it in front of your eyes. 

Again, I’m just anxious, but I still have to discipline myself to be patient as everything I hope to happpen will come true.  I told my brother when training him to play cash games that “The more patient you are, the faster you will get there”.  I definitely, have to hold true to my own line.  But when you’re excited… you’re excited what can you dew!?

Yikes,  I know it’s a little late to realize this but my friend told me that I have to surf through my comments and moderate them.  So, if yall left comments, I have already moderated them.  I get so much spam it’s not even funny.  So, please feel free if you have any questions or comments on any of my posts.  I know some posts are random and long but that’s just what I use this site for - to rant.  However, if you surf through my page, you may find some things very educational especially if you dream of becoming a professional poker player.  I categorize my topics so that it’ll be a lot easier for people to surf through. 

If you only want to read stuff about poker, click on category: Chasing the River

If you want to read posts that are more personal about me, click on category: A Better Tomorrow

If you want to read posts on my thoughts on movies, click on category:  Filmmaking Thoughts. 

If you want to read up on my previous tournament victories, click on category: Trophy Room

Again please feel free to comment as I’ll try to answer any questions you may have regarding anything but right now I’m assuming that most comments will be about poker.  I seem to be getting many hits a day according to Mr. Slim Stats but I’m not sure how many of them are authentic. 

Potential Record Breaking Month: 

Beginnning of November, I decided to push really hard in NL400.  I will be honest, I feel as if I am tearing it up right now.  I see this month as a potential record breaking month in terms of earnings.  And I see the possibility if hitting my ultimate goal that I set on New Years Eve.  I don’t want to discuss in details as to how well I’m doing this month as I will wait to the end of the month due to variance.