Swongs and Boredom - Some Thoughts About my Next Move

Playing poker for a living is stressful. I have finally gotten to the point where the monetary swings don't affect me too much and I can simply pick up when I have hit my stop loss, but it remains stressful. Here is a graph of my cash game winnings thus far in Atlantic City:



I just finished losing that last $1000 about 20 minutes ago. The numbers at the bottom are the session numbers. I consider the last week a failure despite the 100k year pace. lol. But yeah, it's incredibly stressful.

Chad was talking to a girl from POF (Plenty of Fish) earlier tonight on Skype in our hotel room and she asked how much he respected money. We both started laughing. On a scale of 1-10 we insta said 1. How could we not? I can lose 1k in 1.5 hours playing relatively low stakes, respecting money is impossible given that. Luis lost 9k today and he obviously wasn't happy, but he wasn't altogether tilted or furious.

I'm quite bored. I hit my stop loss and don't want to play poker but I am also in a casino and I don't want to gamble because all of that shit is -ev. I actually think I will learn a very basic blackjack counting system and become marginally +ev at it when I have a little time and am a bit less tired. Then, even if my hourly is <$5 at least I am making money while I blow off steam. I ran some preliminary calculations and if I generally flat bet $25 I shouldn't have to spread my bet up to more than $75 to get +ev. For such small stakes, playing one spot and barely spreading bets I doubt I will catch heat from any casino. Although it apparently takes about 1000u to ensure that you can ride out the variance wave which is a bit more than my threshold of pain lol. Definitely something I will pursue in my spare time (if I ever have any) for my own edification. Advantage play is another thing I find fascinating. Obv fuck roulette but people card count baccarat!!? Beating the unbeatable is a thrill.

I wish AC had other things to do in it but it really doesn't. There are some concerts and of course the beach but other than that it is a barren wasteland of ghetto. Liquor store, deli, pawnshop, liquor store, deli, pawnshop, laundromat is pretty much what it looks like outside of the casinos/boardwalk. Whatever.

So I thought I was going to move to Vegas after spending a week or two in Rye Brook/New York once my Atlantic City journey draws to a close. That's probably not going to happen. Everything that I have been told indicates that the Action in Vegas is not that good aside from during the WSOP. Right now I am thinking Miami or Tampa. Maybe for a bit or maybe for a while. I really like the idea of following the major tournament series around the world for a bit and playing in the side action. That definitely means that I need to work on my tournament game though. Starting tomorrow I am going to start playing some of the smaller buyin donkaments that are in the $200-$400 range. I have no intention of grinding buyins greater than 1k ever but hey, maybe I run good and bink a few in the next couple of months.

I don't really know where I will be in the next year but I kind of like it that way. Def need travel buddies though, will have to think about it a bit more. Going to take a day or two off soon, I have been working quite a bit lately. I think I want to go exploring the seedier side of Atlantic City, will definitely take photos if I do.