If you recall, I finally did it. I ran the numbers, went over the data, tallied the figures, and concluded that my near 6 years of experience plus everything I've learned from LP.net was enough to justify going pro. In the words of the great O'Reilly, WE'LL DO IT LIVE!!!
Your little resident newb spread his wings and actually made a profit, how bout that? The biggest thing you might notice here is my total playtime. I've been struggling to put in more hours, not as a result of discipline but just staying deep. As any live player knows you often end up pretty deep pretty quick sometimes. I'm just not comfortable sitting on 400BB's yet. It's really just a case of MUBS - Monsters Under the Bed Syndrome. I see so many bad beats that I become paranoid I could become the victim of one in a huge pot. Fish can be truly fearless at times since anything earned over their initial buyin is just a freeroll in their eyes. They could run $300 up to $2500 and as long as they finish $400 for the night they consider it a good session. So I end up having these little mini 4 hour sessions before I cash out and come back the next day.
What's really bad here though is just how much money I've given back. Consider the following
Each one of those downward spikes is me going on tilt, calling big bets on the river just to prove to myself how bad I run. Like I know I'm beat, but I want to see their cards so I can feel good about how I played it and how bad they did. It's stupid and I'm working on it. Had I not donated like that I'd easily be up another 3k on my winnings this month. Just talking about how I gave fish $3000 for the pleasure of making them show their dogshit hand makes me want to vomit. Hopefully next month produces a cleaner graph.
All in all though playing poker professionally has turned out to be everything I wanted it to be. My friends/work acquaintances are all jealous, and I just sit back and literally do whatever the fuck I want each day. It's so incredibly relaxing to no longer have to walk on eggshells answering to a bossman. Having someone micromanage you, check on your schedule, chastise you for taking an extra long lunch break, feeling guilty when I come in late or go home early. Fuck all that noise. I feel healthier, I am eating better, I get all the sleep I need, and just really feel like I'm at peace and in a good place in life right now. This is definitely the life for me.
Thanks for all the support people have given me here. LP definitely turns out a unique breed of player in my opinion. Aiming for 5k minimum next month.
Put in my 2 weeks today. Of course boss freaked out because I am the only person in IT so it kinda fucks them. I'm very well regarded and liked though, even take flying lessons with the owner of the company, so there's no bad blood in me leaving the company hanging like that. Asked me what it would take to get me to stay. I threw an absurd number out there and even told him I knew it was absurd, but hey money is money. I currently make 64k and told him 90k and I'll stay. Reason being is that I need a strong incentive to stay if I'm going to sacrifice poker dream and work a job I no longer enjoy (obviously didnt tell him about poker). Plus my company is currently struggling so I need the added income insurance in case I lose my job in 6 months anyway. They've laid off so many people there is easily 2 million in salary they have saved. My boss himself makes 230k as a "director of IT" which just means he signs the checks to order new phone systems and tells me to do the work. Fuck em, they can easily pitch 25k my way after firing everyone in IT but me. He said he'll talk to the president and get back to me Monday with a counter.
Someone just bought my house, and I just sold my Orange mustang. Already went apartment hunting in Jacksonville so I know all the good places. Hopefully they can squeeze me in within 2 weeks since I dont want to waste any time after unemployment. I dont know what my real bankroll will be after home sale and all, but I'm hoping to have about 8k in the checking account when I touchdown in Florida (plus $0 balances on my credit cards netting me 20-30k as a parachute). I will immediately begin scouting new jobs as a backup just to get the ball rolling in case I go on instant poker downswing. Granted I'm only giving myself a 2 week headstart but it's better than nothing.
The guy I stayed with through Airbnb is an "IT project manager" of some sort, and he told me to give him my resume so hopefully that can jumpstart things. If I hit it off playing poker I'll postpone any interviews. Or maybe I'll go on them anyway, get a job locked up, and then depending upon my risk tolerance just bail at the last second.
I figure worst case scenario is that since I stand a good chance of losing my current job anyway, I might as well be unemployed and fully relocated to a new city so that poker is within arm's reach so I can keep that opportunity available to me in the future.
Longterm objective is to crush 2/5, gross 80k as poker salary, then look at moving to vegas or SoCal so I can take it to the next level and play 5/10. Going to florida is just easier logistically right now since I live in SC.
So yesterday was my last day in the hidden poker mecca known as Jacksonville FL. The only new thing I got to do tonight was spend 8 hours waiting for a fish to donate $400 to me that never came. I eventually retired from hunger and called it quits. Still had a few lolworthy moments where I bet $200 into a $75 pot and got tank called, so on and so forth. It feels so unnatural not to balance yet the more I get used to it the easier poker seems. "Like really? I just tell you how much money I want you to give me, and you do it?" Fascinating how live fish have not even considered what the implications of pot odds are. The only time I hear the term is when someone raises $40 pre, gets 1 call, and the BB says he has to come along too, heh.
So where does this leave me? A dead end job that I'm seriously thinking about putting in my 2 weeks notice with. I have 40k in available credit card debt should I have to let my expenses/rent ride and a healthy skillset to land a new job if things get really bad. Should I do it? Should I make the move?
Lifetime earnings since I began tracking in November: $8000 @ 256 hours. What could possibly go wrong? :D :D :D
I caught my reflection in the window walking towards the card room tonight, and my how handsome and confident I looked. I had quite the swagger due to my ability to crush donks like you've never seen. I sit down, and within 45 minutes manage to dust off $1500 to my opponents. Dafuq just happened. Oh yeah I know, because I am god's greatest gift to poker I can sniff out every bluff. Whats that you say? You're value betting a 6699T runout? I PUT YOU ON AIR SIR. Oh, A6o. Yeah that makes sense.
Luckily I came to my senses and just stopped with all the hero call bullshit and won it back
More nods thrown LP's way. Just sticking to strat #1, bet whatever I think they will call/fold. Got everything from $200 pre to $30/$100 pot bets with the results I wanted. Set a new single session record for me winning about 600BB's at one table. Obligatory chip porn below: 2/5 NLHE
Took the advice given in the last thread. Recognized that while 54s in the CO is a perfectly fine hand to play, and has potential for iso'ing against competent online regs, raising this in a live game is just pure spew. So I started overlimping a lot, from MP to LP. I think the worst hand I raised the button with was JTo vs 2 limpers. My preflop raise size was dependent upon who was in the pot and what I thought they would call. I actually got a lady to call $150 pre after she put in $20 with KTo. Even more interesting was I got the same guy at my table from the other night who abuses position constantly. I decided he was borderline maniac status and that trapping would be better than brute force. I snapped off 3 multi-street bluffs and he became visibly frustrated.
Nothing special today. Ran into another table with light raisers. I want to say they seem like they've probably learned some stuff from online forums but it just seems terribly misapplied. I mean there can virtually never be a good reason for raising 25s or K7o utg can there? I decided not to let it get the best of me and stopped with all the iso-raising, however I was still having difficulty playing 5 way pots every time I did open. My standard preflop sizing is 4xBB+1. So 3 limpers = $35. This means nothing to them, and I guess thats ok but you know what comes next. Dry flop that somehow connects with everyone but you. Am I raising too small? Or is my range too wide?
For instance 3 limpers and I have KTs in the CO at 2/5NL. What do I want to make it assuming they are all your typical 90vpip fish?
Damn, I thought I was better than this, but I still let tilt get the best of me today. Finally had an encounter with the kind of penny stakes fish that used to drive me insane online. One guy raised 74s utg, called my 3bet preflop, then 3bet the flop after I tried to steal it from him and showed a pair of 7's on an Ace high flop after I folded. I didnt feel outplayed, but more like he's just insane since I hadnt had any run in's with him to date. I start 3betting him every time he raises with limited success. A few folds here and there but mostly calls that I kept having to lay down on the most random of fucking boards that he just wouldnt go away on. I chip him up at least $300 before the inevitable happens.
Reg: $2700
Hero: $1100 (As8s)
Reg: BTN raises to $20
Hero: BB raises to $75
Reg: snap calls
Flop: 624ss
Hero: bets $110
Reg: snap calls
Turn: 624Tsss
Hero: bets $315
Reg: snap calls
River: 624TTsss
Hero: tank jams for effect
Reg: snap calls
Reg shows T6hh for a runner runner boat. This is what used to drive me to punching monitors back in the day. You just attack and attack and attack some insane fish and when you finally hit that pivotal moment where you're both deepstacked, they fucking hit a miracle one last time. I even commented on it earlier after he kept beating me with his dog shit hands that "we're gonna get into it eventually I know it buddy!" He eventually left and I got moved to a table full of black guys. That didnt go well. Got shoved on twice preflop by rags and lost, and got a guy to call $50 pre with 52o and $150cbet on a gutshot and get there.
Was doing decent, up 2 buyins playing aggressively raising over limpers etc preflop, could tell I was irritating a couple of players who just werent used to not being able to limp for $5 every single hand, when finally I 3bet AK to $60 and get snap called by one of the tilty players on my left. Flop comes down 649r and in about 5 seconds he suddenly says "265!" indicating an allin. Now we were heads up and I was leaned all the way back in my chair with my arms crossed, so there's no way he thought I checked. I immediately was like "huh?" and everyone at the table erupts to inform me that the action is still on me and his bet is binding if I check. I understand this but everyone including the dealer kept reinforcing this as if I was about to make some grave mistake "sir, sir, sir, the action is on you. His action is binding, just know that ok? He has to put in 265 if you check" blah fuckity blah to the point I was thinking "OK EVERYONE SHUT THE FUCK UP FOR A SECOND!". I knew something was off. This out of turn bet just made no sense whatsoever because there is absolutely no way he thought I checked. I even apologized for a second and said "hey man I wasnt trying to make you think I checked to you somehow". And I'm looking at this board and I'm like why the fuck does someone 2x pot a rainbow dry as fuck board like this? Especially one that I was 100% going to cbet with AK.
The pressure got to me with the dealer still staring at me intensely trying to make sure I understood the rules so I folded. Obviously faggot on my left shows the bluff and taunts me with it. As the deep stack of the table I promptly racked up and left sort of as a statement that you just chased off $1500 with your $60 win dipshit, hope you're happy. I think leaving was the right move anyway because I was pretty damn tilted and knew if this guy is an angler he's probably just getting started and I dont have time to deal with cheaters.
I only travel to play in card rooms 2-3 times per year and yet I still recognize many faces and all of their playstyles. Who knows if they remember me, but they are clearly regs. They hug the cute dealers and bump fists with the floor manager. They possess all the cliche superstitions a poker player has. They make repeated requests for the deck to be washed and celebrate the arrival of a new dealer. What blows me away though is that they'll then make some tactical well-thought out decision to change tables because the current one is too nitty or something. They play like total fish and yet have been keeping proper notes and analyzed the current table to recognize it's just no good, meanwhile I'm just sitting there like "are you nuts!? This table is GREAT! What the hell are you judging your decision to move from?!"
I even got the chance to play with a famous reg who's supposedly loaded and good. He shoved his first hand in the dark and then lamented about waiting until the rebuy was over for the tourney he was sitting out in. He said he doesnt play until the rebuy is over because it's just a bunch of fish shoving on each other and he needs to wait until they tighten up and take the game seriously. He had plenty of bling and did seem wealthy, but this is a guy I'm supposed to fear because he's like a 5/10 pro or something.
