I hit my stop loss pretty quickly today at one of the softest 1/3 tables I have seen in quite a while. It's $600 and I picked up at -$575. I'm not sure why some days I am far more prone to tilt and spew than other days. It really doesn't make any sense, nothing happened at all the previous day to put me in an unbalanced state. Yet there I was taking one bad beat and then getting extremely frustrated at the glacial pace of action that is live poker while some donkeys make hand after hand. Most non-pros don't realize but it is really fucking hard to make a hand in NLHE. I have gone a day without making better than top pair while some fish retard hits 6 sets in 2 hours.
I don't even want to go back in the Rivers poker room because I am incredibly ashamed at how I played. Not at how I acted, I am always polite, courteous and respectful to customers, just at how I played. I couldn't make one damn fucking pair today as I get called down by A high by some fish in sunglasses who limps 85% of hands. Now I just want to get out of Pittsburgh, I guess, although there are a bunch of cultural things I want to do.
The Borgata open is next month and I might go for 10 days and grind what should be the soft games. Would probably be a good break but I'd say there is only a 50% chance it happens.
Well today's session knocks my profits for the month back to 4.5k, le sigh. Definitely going to take a few days off and do some of those other things I mentioned before getting back on the horse on either Tuesday or Wednesday. Definitely going to play in the 5k freeroll I qualified for on Thursday.
It's incredibly depressing to know that you are down a not insignificant amount of money due solely to your own actions. It is an extremely harsh and sobering reality which I don't think can really be explained, you need to feel it for yourself. At least writing this is cathartic.
Ah well, time to cope the best way I know how, consumption of copious amounts of alcohol.
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
To Where the Blog is Going
Every entry which I have written thus far has been about poker. While the blog will continue to be primarily poker for obvious reasons, the gentle non-degenerate reader can rest assured that other things are coming.
Degenerates, well, go read BBV or something.
It is my desire to write about and exhibit the places that I visit and some of the people that I meet along the way. Since this is my blog and I am the Law, the Emperor and the Word, that is what will happen. The chief obstacle blocking my path is the lack of a working camera. Once that problem has been remedied you can expect a slew of entries with titles such as "On Pittsburgh" or "The View from a River" or "The Pirates Lose Again" and other such heady titles as I fall ever deeper into the delusion of my belief that I possess some artistic ability at naming things.
If I can't/don't/won't buy a camera I think I will draw everything in MS Paint or the equivalent Mac program. What could possibly go wrong?
Degenerates, well, go read BBV or something.
It is my desire to write about and exhibit the places that I visit and some of the people that I meet along the way. Since this is my blog and I am the Law, the Emperor and the Word, that is what will happen. The chief obstacle blocking my path is the lack of a working camera. Once that problem has been remedied you can expect a slew of entries with titles such as "On Pittsburgh" or "The View from a River" or "The Pirates Lose Again" and other such heady titles as I fall ever deeper into the delusion of my belief that I possess some artistic ability at naming things.
If I can't/don't/won't buy a camera I think I will draw everything in MS Paint or the equivalent Mac program. What could possibly go wrong?
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Thar She Blows
So it's Tuesday and I decided to take my second day in a row off. This is pretty awesome considering that I had played for something like 8 or 9 days in a row. Kind of weird, I say awesome yet it's my prerogative to take a day off.
So the whale; a little background first. The 2/5 game in Pittsburgh used to be a good game, or so I've heard. As a lot of the bad players lost money at an unsustainable pace and went bust or hit their threshold of pain, action at 2/5+ dried up. This is why many casinos in places like LA set the max buyin of the game so low, to prevent people from losing money too quickly. This can be a problem at the lower limits too. Here's a good example: a young guy sat down (probably my age or so) at the 1/3 game with $120 and posted UTG+3. I took all his money within 3 hands, before he even posted his natural blind. Somehow I don't think he enjoyed his time at the table or his "night of enjoyment". That's the nature of NL games though. Holy shit what a tangent.
Anyway, most days the casino only gets one table of 2/5 going that is filled with old nitty regulars who are solid and unspectacular. Saturday is the exception. The casino gets busy enough that a second table opens; the second table is usually solid gold.
The first table filled with nitty regulars is then referred to as the main game while the second table is the must move. As people get up from the main game you must move from the...must move in the order that you went on the waitlist. I only play 2/5 (usually) on Saturday's because my expected hourly at a 1/3 table is higher than my expected hourly at 2/5 due to table composition.
Fish are the dead money, the guys in business attire who just got off work, the frat bros who saw the game on TV, the cocky bastards who read a book and think they are god's gifts to poker, these are the people that lubricate the poker economy with money while people like me take it out. Whales are special, they are the type of player to make you stay at the casino and blow off a date or skip sleeping although you are confused as to why the dealer is your mother and the chips start talking to you. A lot of fish don't know that they are bad at poker. They don't think that they are incredible but they don't realized how much they truly suck. It's mostly irrelevant though because for them it's just entertainment money that they expect to lose like at blackjack or 3 card poker while they gamble. At least at poker you can talk to the other people at your table and have a decent chance to walk away a winner if you can catch cards. Most fish will at least try and conserve money and hate to put it in super light because they have an allotted amount of money. Meanwhile, whales know they suck (I think), they just like the gambool. The bigger the pot, the better.
He started off fairly innocuously in a polo and khakis with ~$500. Then he limp/shoved 89s utg and showed. Then he called off a $300 all in with J9o. Then my hand happened. I was sitting in the game ~$1100 after binking the nut flush draw for a nice size pot when I am dealt AA UTG. I make it 20 to go and get 3 callers including the whale in the big blind. He donks (that is, leads out) 20 into 80 on T95r which I then raise to 70. The other two guys go away and he calls. Turn is a K that completes the rainbow and the whale leads 80, I call. River is another K and the whale shoves in for 200 which I of course snap. He shows 79o for a pair of nines. As I am mentally celebrating my win he pulls out 1k and asks for black chips (hundos). With that, visions of a 3k+ day start dancing before my eyes. My dreams are crushed as Jamie the floor man tells the dealer to deal me out because I am to be moved to the main game. I sit there in a state of shock as the one other competent player at the table (the rest of the game was simply incredible too, honestly one of the best 2/5 tables I have seen ever) remarks "ah what a shame". As I sit there stacking my chips I watch this guy blow off $800 with second pair to a set and then pull out a roll of hundos, one of those wads that you get when you cash out large amounts. Benjamins arrive at institutions in wads of $5000 with a sticker band thing that indicates 5 grand. Tears of rage fill my eyes (okay not really but this is poetic license) as I move to the main game. I play 3 hands, rack up and leave, no longer in the mood to play poker. Before I do I watch Moby-Dick lose 2k with a flush on a paired board.
So the whale; a little background first. The 2/5 game in Pittsburgh used to be a good game, or so I've heard. As a lot of the bad players lost money at an unsustainable pace and went bust or hit their threshold of pain, action at 2/5+ dried up. This is why many casinos in places like LA set the max buyin of the game so low, to prevent people from losing money too quickly. This can be a problem at the lower limits too. Here's a good example: a young guy sat down (probably my age or so) at the 1/3 game with $120 and posted UTG+3. I took all his money within 3 hands, before he even posted his natural blind. Somehow I don't think he enjoyed his time at the table or his "night of enjoyment". That's the nature of NL games though. Holy shit what a tangent.
Anyway, most days the casino only gets one table of 2/5 going that is filled with old nitty regulars who are solid and unspectacular. Saturday is the exception. The casino gets busy enough that a second table opens; the second table is usually solid gold.
The first table filled with nitty regulars is then referred to as the main game while the second table is the must move. As people get up from the main game you must move from the...must move in the order that you went on the waitlist. I only play 2/5 (usually) on Saturday's because my expected hourly at a 1/3 table is higher than my expected hourly at 2/5 due to table composition.
Fish are the dead money, the guys in business attire who just got off work, the frat bros who saw the game on TV, the cocky bastards who read a book and think they are god's gifts to poker, these are the people that lubricate the poker economy with money while people like me take it out. Whales are special, they are the type of player to make you stay at the casino and blow off a date or skip sleeping although you are confused as to why the dealer is your mother and the chips start talking to you. A lot of fish don't know that they are bad at poker. They don't think that they are incredible but they don't realized how much they truly suck. It's mostly irrelevant though because for them it's just entertainment money that they expect to lose like at blackjack or 3 card poker while they gamble. At least at poker you can talk to the other people at your table and have a decent chance to walk away a winner if you can catch cards. Most fish will at least try and conserve money and hate to put it in super light because they have an allotted amount of money. Meanwhile, whales know they suck (I think), they just like the gambool. The bigger the pot, the better.
He started off fairly innocuously in a polo and khakis with ~$500. Then he limp/shoved 89s utg and showed. Then he called off a $300 all in with J9o. Then my hand happened. I was sitting in the game ~$1100 after binking the nut flush draw for a nice size pot when I am dealt AA UTG. I make it 20 to go and get 3 callers including the whale in the big blind. He donks (that is, leads out) 20 into 80 on T95r which I then raise to 70. The other two guys go away and he calls. Turn is a K that completes the rainbow and the whale leads 80, I call. River is another K and the whale shoves in for 200 which I of course snap. He shows 79o for a pair of nines. As I am mentally celebrating my win he pulls out 1k and asks for black chips (hundos). With that, visions of a 3k+ day start dancing before my eyes. My dreams are crushed as Jamie the floor man tells the dealer to deal me out because I am to be moved to the main game. I sit there in a state of shock as the one other competent player at the table (the rest of the game was simply incredible too, honestly one of the best 2/5 tables I have seen ever) remarks "ah what a shame". As I sit there stacking my chips I watch this guy blow off $800 with second pair to a set and then pull out a roll of hundos, one of those wads that you get when you cash out large amounts. Benjamins arrive at institutions in wads of $5000 with a sticker band thing that indicates 5 grand. Tears of rage fill my eyes (okay not really but this is poetic license) as I move to the main game. I play 3 hands, rack up and leave, no longer in the mood to play poker. Before I do I watch Moby-Dick lose 2k with a flush on a paired board.
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Poker Update
It has been nearly 3 weeks to the day since I arrived in Pittsburgh. In the 19 possible days that I could have played poker (not counting today as a possible) I have played poker 16 of them. On average I play 7hrs per session which gives me a rough total of 110 hrs on the felt this month. Fun. I hope I can continue at this pace and finish the month with 150-160 hours played. This might sound like the same amount of hours people with typical jobs work but it really isn't. I don't get a lunch break, I can work 7 hours and break even or lose and every single hour of play is actual work. I don't get paid to browse Facebook or Reddit or whatever. There is a well known quote with regards to making a living playing poker that goes "It's a hard way to make an easy living". Truer words have never been spoken.
For the month of August my total profit sits right around 3.5k after yesterday's +843 session. While there have been times that I have run good this month there have also been times that I have run bad. Yesterday I didn't even run hot, my table was simply fantastic.
My table was basically all old guys shooting the shit and having fun while doing what they do best: limping everything and anything from any position that isn't called aces and folding to most aggression post flop. It sort of blows my mind that these guys can play so suboptimally and have not a care in the world, but I was a fish at one point too so it really shouldn't be that surprising. My life would be a hell of a lot easier if the government could simply send their social security checks to me in the mail instead of me having to win them on the felt, but I digress.
It's kind of strange...even assuming that I maintain a roughly 6k/month pace (which is a big if) then I would on average make about 72k/year. However, I don't get any benefits, that is before taxes and there is a growing hole on my resume. Thus that 72k is likely equivalent to a job that pays 55k or something. While that isn't bad by any stretch of the imagination it certainly isn't great. I have no idea what sort of opportunity costs I am giving up right now. On the other hand I am my own boss and can do whatever the hell I want wherever the hell I want basically which is still pretty frickin awesome. And I still might get murdered by variance or have the games become tougher or any one of a hundred things and only make 40k this year. Of course once I get out of Pittsburgh I will be playing in bigger games (2/5 and then hopefully 5/T) and will hopefully be making more money. Ah well, still another 5 weeks here. Grind on da mind for now.
For the month of August my total profit sits right around 3.5k after yesterday's +843 session. While there have been times that I have run good this month there have also been times that I have run bad. Yesterday I didn't even run hot, my table was simply fantastic.
My table was basically all old guys shooting the shit and having fun while doing what they do best: limping everything and anything from any position that isn't called aces and folding to most aggression post flop. It sort of blows my mind that these guys can play so suboptimally and have not a care in the world, but I was a fish at one point too so it really shouldn't be that surprising. My life would be a hell of a lot easier if the government could simply send their social security checks to me in the mail instead of me having to win them on the felt, but I digress.
It's kind of strange...even assuming that I maintain a roughly 6k/month pace (which is a big if) then I would on average make about 72k/year. However, I don't get any benefits, that is before taxes and there is a growing hole on my resume. Thus that 72k is likely equivalent to a job that pays 55k or something. While that isn't bad by any stretch of the imagination it certainly isn't great. I have no idea what sort of opportunity costs I am giving up right now. On the other hand I am my own boss and can do whatever the hell I want wherever the hell I want basically which is still pretty frickin awesome. And I still might get murdered by variance or have the games become tougher or any one of a hundred things and only make 40k this year. Of course once I get out of Pittsburgh I will be playing in bigger games (2/5 and then hopefully 5/T) and will hopefully be making more money. Ah well, still another 5 weeks here. Grind on da mind for now.
Friday, August 19, 2011
Empathy and Poker
One of my better qualities, or so I like to think, is the fact that I can empathize with my fellow man. As I'm sure most of you can imagine this is not a good quality to have on the felt. While I have essentially no qualms about taking people's money at poker since I view it as intellectual warfare or some such there are some exceptions to this rule that make me cringe. I have one such example from today.
There is this regular player who goes by the name of J (okay so I shortened his name to protect the innocent, sue me). He is a big guy, late 20s with thinning hair and he plays a lot. He definitely isn't a pro but he isn't the worst fish in the world. He has some of the worst bet sizing I have ever seen in my life. Frankly it should be a crime for him to size his bets the way he does. Anyway I digress. The other day I was playing with him and was talking about how his ex-gf told him that her mother has cancer. He also mentioned that she had broken his heart and he wasn't supposed to care about this now that he had gotten over her. Then I play with him today and he was talking about how life wasn't going well and how he was in a bad mood. He took some bad beat to bust a tournament or something and then he was playing cash. Every time a dealer came in he would say hello and try to talk to them. I honestly thought it was because he was simply lonely. Several times he remarked that he just didn't care anymore when he would make a play that I would regard as truly awful (trust me I'm a good judge of poker plays). I finally told him that he should pick up if he wasn't in the right mindset. He thanked me and said it was good of me to say that and it was true. At one point he even ordered a double gray goose cranberry drink thing. He truly looked so pathetic that I felt bad even attempting to take his money.
And that's the thing. As a poker player on the felt this simply does not work. I told him to pick up and me even saying that instead of trying to take advantage of his mentally weakened/upset state is -ev (expected value for the uninitiated). I simply can't do it though. I don't have any qualms about taking advantage of stupidity like the guy next to me who would raise his cards to look at them and thus leave them on display for 1/2 the table, but for someone who has been beaten down by life I feel awful. Obviously I am still going to make the right play but that doesn't stop me from feeling bad. Or maybe that makes me a bad person. I truly don't know. Of course I got KK (kings) in against J's QQ (queens) and lost for ~$500. That sucked but at least I didn't have to think of this guy's suicide or something on my conscience. I mean J tried to leave 2 or 3 times and he always came back 10 or less minutes later saying he had nothing to do or whatever. According to one of the dealers, his new job (J's) doesn't start for a few weeks.
Anyway I had a few drinks (if you couldn't already tell from my rambling) after I got back to the local bar while I was pondering the moral repercussions of what I do and whether or not it is tainting my soul. I even started to have an in depth conversation with the bartender who has become a friend of mine (and will be a subject of one of those "interesting person" posts in the near future) about whether or not he feels guilty when he serves alcoholics. However, his girlfriend was in town so he was a little bit distracted. I will be sure to continue that one in the future.
There is this regular player who goes by the name of J (okay so I shortened his name to protect the innocent, sue me). He is a big guy, late 20s with thinning hair and he plays a lot. He definitely isn't a pro but he isn't the worst fish in the world. He has some of the worst bet sizing I have ever seen in my life. Frankly it should be a crime for him to size his bets the way he does. Anyway I digress. The other day I was playing with him and was talking about how his ex-gf told him that her mother has cancer. He also mentioned that she had broken his heart and he wasn't supposed to care about this now that he had gotten over her. Then I play with him today and he was talking about how life wasn't going well and how he was in a bad mood. He took some bad beat to bust a tournament or something and then he was playing cash. Every time a dealer came in he would say hello and try to talk to them. I honestly thought it was because he was simply lonely. Several times he remarked that he just didn't care anymore when he would make a play that I would regard as truly awful (trust me I'm a good judge of poker plays). I finally told him that he should pick up if he wasn't in the right mindset. He thanked me and said it was good of me to say that and it was true. At one point he even ordered a double gray goose cranberry drink thing. He truly looked so pathetic that I felt bad even attempting to take his money.
And that's the thing. As a poker player on the felt this simply does not work. I told him to pick up and me even saying that instead of trying to take advantage of his mentally weakened/upset state is -ev (expected value for the uninitiated). I simply can't do it though. I don't have any qualms about taking advantage of stupidity like the guy next to me who would raise his cards to look at them and thus leave them on display for 1/2 the table, but for someone who has been beaten down by life I feel awful. Obviously I am still going to make the right play but that doesn't stop me from feeling bad. Or maybe that makes me a bad person. I truly don't know. Of course I got KK (kings) in against J's QQ (queens) and lost for ~$500. That sucked but at least I didn't have to think of this guy's suicide or something on my conscience. I mean J tried to leave 2 or 3 times and he always came back 10 or less minutes later saying he had nothing to do or whatever. According to one of the dealers, his new job (J's) doesn't start for a few weeks.
Anyway I had a few drinks (if you couldn't already tell from my rambling) after I got back to the local bar while I was pondering the moral repercussions of what I do and whether or not it is tainting my soul. I even started to have an in depth conversation with the bartender who has become a friend of mine (and will be a subject of one of those "interesting person" posts in the near future) about whether or not he feels guilty when he serves alcoholics. However, his girlfriend was in town so he was a little bit distracted. I will be sure to continue that one in the future.
Introduction
Hello and welcome to the inaugural post of my blog.
For those who don't me (how you came upon this blog is beyond me then) my name is Josh and I recently graduated from NYU with a degree in physics. The purpose of this blog is to chronicle my trials and tribulations as a professional poker player, recording not only the swings and bad beats that I take in any given day but also the nomadic life style that I currently live and the strange ways in which playing poker for a living affects my daily life.
I currently live in Pittsburgh with my brother and play at the local casino (Rivers Casino). The current plan is to stay in Pittsburgh until the end of September at which point I hope to return to New York for ~one week. After that I will move to Vegas for the rest of year or so and then hopefully to Canada. All of that is, of course, subject to change.
The blog itself is currently a work in progress as I work to make it much more snazzy. I play about 8 hrs/day and it takes me about 1 hr each way to get there so please excuse me if it takes a little while to get the blog up and running to its full potential, especially considering that I only take Mondays off at the moment.
I meet quite a number of strange and fascinating people in the course of my life; my hope is to make a continuously updated section of "interesting people" or some such that chronicles them.
My apologies in advance to the poker illiterate among you who read this blog, but there will be quite a bit of poker terminology that you probably will not understand.
Thanks for joining me, it should be one hell of a wild fucking ride.
For those who don't me (how you came upon this blog is beyond me then) my name is Josh and I recently graduated from NYU with a degree in physics. The purpose of this blog is to chronicle my trials and tribulations as a professional poker player, recording not only the swings and bad beats that I take in any given day but also the nomadic life style that I currently live and the strange ways in which playing poker for a living affects my daily life.
I currently live in Pittsburgh with my brother and play at the local casino (Rivers Casino). The current plan is to stay in Pittsburgh until the end of September at which point I hope to return to New York for ~one week. After that I will move to Vegas for the rest of year or so and then hopefully to Canada. All of that is, of course, subject to change.
The blog itself is currently a work in progress as I work to make it much more snazzy. I play about 8 hrs/day and it takes me about 1 hr each way to get there so please excuse me if it takes a little while to get the blog up and running to its full potential, especially considering that I only take Mondays off at the moment.
I meet quite a number of strange and fascinating people in the course of my life; my hope is to make a continuously updated section of "interesting people" or some such that chronicles them.
My apologies in advance to the poker illiterate among you who read this blog, but there will be quite a bit of poker terminology that you probably will not understand.
Thanks for joining me, it should be one hell of a wild fucking ride.
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