Lackluster Poker Results Lately

Mostly NL25, and it took me 2-3 months to play that many hands.

Although this isn't outside the realm of variance, I think the site is mostly to blame. There isn't much new player traffic on Merge, and the site seems very reg-filled to me. I think the regs are slowly eating each other alive instead of feasting on the steady stream of new players (that Stars still has) that we all took for granted.

So now, I'm playing on the lowest bankroll I've played since I started online 8 years ago, and playing recreationally.

As you could probably tell from my pace of updating this blog, I don't post much because I don't play much.

But I still like blogging. I'll probably post more about non-poker stuff in the future.

My Birthday, Quitting Smoking For Good

What's up blog readers.

I turned 27 yesterday. That makes me a smoker of 8 years, so today I quit. Got back in the gym today, for the first time in a long time, and jogged for a pathetic 7 minutes. We'll be hitting the gym more in the future and getting those times on the treadmill up, but I gotta start somewhere with these leather-lungs.

Poker is meh, I'll post about that later.

In the meantime, hope everybody is healthy and living well. I'm going to try to be, too.

Blink and 3 more months go by

What's up blog readers, time to catch up.

I'm currently unemployed again. I got my job back at the restaurant I was working at, but then they just up and decided to close last week. Their lease on the space was up for renewal, and they couldn't come to an agreement, so they closed and laid everybody off. It was a surprise to everyone, after getting through the dog-days dead time of summer it was just starting to pick back up again.

I have two good prospects for work, one is at another restaurant, and the one I'm hoping for is back in the real estate sector, as an apartment leasing consultant. I'll find out next week, I'll be sure to keep you guys updated.

Poker-wise, I've been playing maybe 20-30k hands per month on Merge. I ran my initial $200 deposit up to a $1,500 cashout, which I received in 3 weeks. So if the DOJ shuts down Merge, oh well... it was house money anyways. Online poker right now is pretty much unlivable with the state of the games today, but I find I enjoy the competition more playing fewer hands per month. I say that with slight frustration, because I've been breaking even and tilting lately. So it goes.

The changes to the poker economy post-Black Friday have had me re-evaluating the reasons I play this game, and I've come to an accommodation with the reality of the landscape.

Fantasy Football-wise, I'm still simply the greatest there ever was at that game. In my important money league, I have the best QB (Rodgers) and two of the top-3 backs (McFadden and Fred Jackson). I'm tied for 2nd at the moment, and I think I have one of the strongest teams in the league.

So I'll close with a promise to keep everyone better updated on life and poker stuff. These past 6 months have been a big upheaval that have made me question my own identity, and ask big questions about what I'm going to be when I grow up (at 26.5 years old).

But the good news is, even for someone who's almost broke and currently unemployed, I like my prospects and I'm happy about the direction I'm headed.

Summarizing 3 months of real life

This summary is an attempt to share the salient facts of how I went from there to here in the last 3 months. I haven't decided how fully I want to expand upon this, but if you'd like to hear more, ask direct questions in the comments.

So Black Friday happens. I have 'bout-$350 in my bank, $5.1k on Pokerstars ($4k withdrawal PENDING) and almost $1.1k on Full Tilt (for which I'm the escrow in the $1200 fantasy baseball league I'm holding). After hitting the roof like everybody else, I decide that Black Friday is Fate telling me to get a real job and find other means of supporting my life, other than a $2-5k/mo income from poker, and the Stars VIP Program.

Thankfully, Stars pays back U.S. players promptly. I have savings to live off of while finding my own "Knish's Truck." But to cover myself, for whatever the near future may bring in online poker, and to allow myself the ability to grind, I register TWO rakeback accounts on the Merge Poker Network, fToRrEeEsSt7 on Carbon (my old Pokerstars name) and ScoutMagomBondar on Black Chip Poker.

I get a job in sales, doing something I think I'd like and be good at.

It isn't what I thought I'd like, or what I thought I'd be good at, and I quit/they mutually agreed to terminate me after 5 days.

Coupla-3 weeks later, I get another job working as a server at a nice restaurant in the area. Two weeks after I start there, I have a HUGE nervous breakdown, with a VERY bad episode of manic-depression, which (I'm convinced) is due to a loss of self-identity from playing online poker. I spend 10 days in a mental hospital (no shit), I'm diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder I, and I get medicated.

I do much better with medication, claim my restaurant job back (miraculously, I thought they'd fire me), and continue playing on Merge, albeit at a greatly reduced rate, and work at the restaurant.

The great thing about the restaurant is that it's dinner-only, and I never have to be there before 5:30. I could find a day job in addition, while playing poker, when I feel like it, somewhat recreationally. I'm still currently looking for a day job, ideally in the apartment property management industry, using my resume strong with Real Estate credentials.

And that's where I'm at, real-life wise. Post in the comments if you'd like me to expand upon any of these topics.

Not "going dark" JUST yet...

Hey everybody,

I haven't blogged in a while because of real-life stuff... some that I've wanted to blog about but some very personal stuff that I haven't wanted to blog about. Since I couldn't make up my mind where I drew the line, I just didn't blog until I've felt like blogging again.

In restaurants, "going dark" is when restaurants close without any warning. It probably seemed like I did that in the past 3 months since I've blogged, but I haven't quite yet. I just didn't know how much of real life I've been comfortable with sharing, and Black Friday has made everything feel like a time of great transition for me.

So I'm hoping my true friends and followers are still subscribed in RSS feeds and this'll pop up.

The three topics I've debated the extent to which I want to blog are: 1) real life stuff, 2) live and online poker stuff, and 3) fantasy sports, which has always been a huge passion and past-time and chance to write way too many words that nobody seems to care about.

If you're still out there, sound off in the comments which of those 3 you'd prefer I expand upon.

I've always said that commenters most directly skew the content I tend to post

April Recap, Oh yeah I used to play poker for a living

I hadn't even looked at the monthly graph since Black Friday. Hey, 56k hands by April 15th, that's a pace for over 100k, that's pretty cool!

+900ish in 55k hands at 25,

...

-800 at NL100 in like 1k hands of NL100

lol woteva.

I ended my poker career snapping a ~30k hand breakeven at 25NL, that's dedication and love of the game right there.

On the one hand, I REALLY miss poker. I miss grinding. But at the same time, the games are hard, and they're only getting harder. I haven't been beating games I was a winner in 12 months ago. Without a doubt, the online poker landscape has changed forever since Black Friday, and nobody knows where it's headed.

So I've taken it as a sign that I need to make changes to my lifestyle, so that I can make the future that I want for myself. I'm deeply tempted to get a rakeback account with the Merge poker network, especially since it's going away after June 1. If I wind up doing it, it will only be as something for fun on the side. Plus, all I'm hearing is how tough the micros are getting with all the Stars and Tilt regs moving over, and a 2-4 week backlog of cashouts with all the new players on the Merge network. And, of course, there's no guarantee the DOJ won't just up and decide to stick it to Merge like they have Stars, Tilt, and AP/UB.

My primary focus is getting a real job now, and getting my Shi'ite together. Up next: my misadventures in the job market, post-poker, part 1.

WOWOWOWOW...

...Atlanta Falcons NFL Football.

We traded this year's 1st, 2nd, and 4th round picks,

AND next year's 1st round and 4th round picks,

for the 6th overall pick from Cleveland, WR Julio Jones from Alabama.

Word is we tried to make this deal for Cincy's 4th pick and AJ Green, but it fell through. I'd be ok giving up that much for Green, because I've spent the last 3 years saying Green is slightly better than Jones. We sure gave up a TON. Apparently we had 9 picks to work with... but still. We are now all-in for 2011.

That said, Jones is definitely a stud. Having him opposite White, we can stretch the field now and take the lid off the top of the defense. He's got the size and toughness to work out of the slot and over the middle, as well. There are some concerns about his hands, but Roddy White has shown that hands can develop over time. Furthermore, he has a reputation as an exceptional run-blocker.

Our most glaring need to address this draft is to get an explosive playmaker opposite White for the offense, and we've certainly got that now. I worry about the price we've paid. But our highest priority for this season is fulfilled, and evidently Dimitroff thinks this is the piece that can put us over the top.

I get the feeling is that the real winner in this deal is Cleveland.

But no matter what, we've got our man and our playmaker. Watch out, opposing defenses!