Monday, July 2, 2007

July Will Be My Best Poker Month Ever

I told a family member earlier this year that I was giving myself until the end of this calendar year to see if I could really make something happen in poker.

I've supported myself, but that's about it. I've made money playing cards every month for a few years. No losing months at all, and yeah, that's nice and all. But the problem with playing low limits for a living is that it's very difficult to make so much money that a period of bad luck or laziness won't put you back in a spot where you need money again, and fast.

Poker is the most capital-intensive business, so you are constantly eating away the tools of your trade by paying bills, rent, and buying the things you want. The way to get out of that treadmill is either by playing a hell of a lot and living like a monk, which I don't want to do, or by moving up in stakes. Of course it's dangerous to move up too fast. You need enough of a bankroll so that a bad day or two won't take you out of action.

So I want to build that bankroll, and I may have to sacrifice in the short term by playing a hell of a lot to get it, but it will be worth it. I'll make more money this month than any other month I've ever played. I don't care if I don't run particularly well. I just got sucked out on in two big pots at the end of my session tonight at PH, but I still won and I won't stop.

Like I told Re-Bet, "You can stop me, but you can't hope to contain me...Wait, I mean..."

He goes, "Fine. I'll just stop you, then."

I know it's possible. Walking through the Amazon Room at the Rio earlier this month, in the cash game section at the World Series of Poker, I saw Motorcyle Matt playing $10-20 Pot Limit Omaha--Motorcycle Matt, who I used to play with all the time in the $100-cap no limit game at Excalibur when I first got to Vegas two years ago. And Matt is a solid player but I wouldn't put him in my toughest table of $1-2 NL live game players I've gone up against. Here is that table, listed in no particular order:

seat 1--YJ(aggressive Asian guy who plays at Excalibur, sicko calls)
seat 2--Angel Largay(poker author who used to play PH and MGM, moved to LA)
seat 3--Carolina John(sicko extraordinaire, least aggressive player at this table)
seat 4--Adam(Sandviper23, gone to Sweden, stopped blogging)
seat 5--The Chinese Connection(don't know his real name, more sicko calls at Excal)
seat 6--Kevin (young tricky, aggressive player at PH)
seat 7--Kenny (very aggressive Asian guy in the motorcycle jacket at PH)
seat 8--Todd aka Re-Bet(when he's not tilting aka not June 07)
seat 9--Anna Wroblewski (winner of a 5-diamond Bellagio event, moved up to $5-10NL)
seat 10--Steve aka the Gambling Duke(when he has a stack of $800 or more, which curbs all his donk tendencies)

So I won't be posting all my results this month, but when I do post I will make a note of the monthly total. It's not to be crass, it's just that money is how you keep score in poker.

----

PH, $1-2 NL (July 1)
+ $280

PH $1-2 NL (June 30)
+ $20

July to-date: +$280

2 comments:

El Diablo - The Fighting Chicken said...

I think this is a god idea for you. Not too long ago I had a conversation with Todd and we discussed how you are such a great player but do not put in the hours you could to really make things happen. So I say go for it, make it happen, play crazy hours, it should be to the point that we say, "Where's Mike." The answer? At PH you know, where he always is. Good luck, I wish you only good beats....yeah I know I am renigging on the New Years toast...LOL.

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