PanoRaMa United States. Feb 11 2008 18:54. Posts 1655
Birdman "How to be a 5 Star Stunna" Promo vid
Posted the video above because it's semi relevant, and also because it's really awesome. This blog post, along with future ones of this vein, may appear to be written with an air of arrogance. While I can't say that I'm an ethical, pure-hearted person, the one thing I'll be consistent with is being true to myself. This means I can easily say to myself "I'm being an arrogant mother fucker". So feel free to give me shit about this, I definitely have it coming.
With that said, I'm gonna talk about one of the "traps" of online poker. It's not that it's addicting, or that we can lose too much of our money.. ironically it's that we can make too much money. Of course this is what we all hope for, and well shit I love that I can make so much (relatively speaking) money at this game. It comes at a cost though.
I briefly mentioned it in my previous entry, that this game really transforms us, specifically in regards to how we view money. I remember my high school days where I saved up a lot to buy my retarded ex girlfriend a hundred dollar necklace. The days where buying a 5 dollar ice cream was ridiculous, and meals over 10 dollars a person should only be reserved for anniversaries and birthdays only. What I'm discussing now is the crux of issues that are involved in a larger realm of things, but I'll keep it simple for now. So I can stop beating around the bush, what I'm trying to say is that as we earn more money that surpasses "realistic" standards, the more our perceptions of money and the value thereof changes - which usually results in more frivolous spending as a derivative of a newfound "baller mentality".
I realize I'm still a small stakes chump to a lot of people on this forum, but I write about this because 200 and 400nl is pretty much that point where we start to exceed the expectations of those around us, and ourselves. I shouldn't really be comparing myself with other people, but as a sophomore in college, those around me make 10 dollars an hour, probably with tips. On extremely bad months, I'm making at the very least 60 with an additional 20+ from rakeback. On good months, I'll make over 200. In the larger scope of things, this is still chump change, but not for a 19 year old with a skewed perception of the world and the value of money.
What this leads to is the bottomless pit. As we spend more and more, our expectations for ourselves and our standards of living increase. The clothes I wear everyday easily surpass the thousand dollar mark in terms of combined value, and everyday I make fun of one of my friends (and semi-poker student) for wearing the same 2 dollar hoodie everyday. Everyday I eat out at expensive places, ensuring the food I eat is not particularly harmful to my body and of great quality (will later write an "essay" on a supposed "higher" standard of living), whereas I know people that cook instant noodles everyday. In a nutshell, as the quality of my life increases, the hole I'm digging deepens. I'm digging a hole for myself that I don't see I can ever comfortably jump out of.. if everything were to go wrong tomorrow, how would I revert back to a life of eating fast food, being frugal on 10 dollar expenses, etc.?
For those still at the micro stakes with great aspirations, I write this as a warning for what can come about. I know some people here are heavily disciplined when it comes to saving and investing, and are also not greedy delinquents like I am when it comes to this sort of thing. But for the guys still new, you probably think "yeah there's no way I'm going to mindlessly spew money when I make it", I had the exact same mentality.
So this is a bottomless pit once our hole deepens to a specific point, and it is the reason why we must absolutely not fail at poker. The concept is actually a bit depressing - it turns poker into a chore and not something I can do for leisure, simply because my future satisfaction depends on my success now. It's depressing also because, as someone with these types of greedy, arrogant characteristics, I can never be satiated by any amount of money I make (up to I don't know, millions I guess?), and therefore not only must I continue winning, but I also must keep improving my winrate (which means moving up in limits). Like I said earlier, this is just a crux of much larger ramifications, which will lead into a future "essay" like this one which ties into the money we make, and our overall happiness (or lack thereof) as a result.
P.S. If you like that/are intrigued by the Birdman video up top, visit www.5starstunna.com for more videos where he elaborates on his ballerdom.
P.P.S. If you have any suggestions on things I should include or write about, feel free to leave a comment. I figure if people are willing to read my spew I should return the favor by giving you guys more relevant stuff. I'll eventually stray away from these sorts of off-the-table stuff and include poker strat stuff but I just wanted to keep a collection of my thoughts regarding this kinda stuff first, so bear with me . Thanks for reading.
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http://panorama.liquidpoker.net
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collegesucks United States. Feb 11 2008 18:59. Posts 5780
if i ever find myself with birdman's mentality i will slit my throat
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collegesucks United States. Feb 11 2008 19:00. Posts 5780
Nicely written. Very interesting. Will try to add a couple of deep thoughts on my blog too. Though I am only a NL50 / NL100 tard, I know exactly what you mean by spewing money once you got it....
Practice, Practice!
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vegable United States. Feb 11 2008 19:29. Posts 2453
that nigga is rich
I think the best way to keep grounded is to think about what you've always wanted BEFORE poker came into your life. Reward yourself with some of those things over time and just stash the rest, to not go overboard.
That's what I plan to do anyway. Buy a few racks of clothes, a slick bike, and hopefully pay a good % of my tuition.
Stir fry Normandy
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Silver_nz New Zealand. Feb 11 2008 19:36. Posts 5647
main reason I'm playing poker it to build up capital for an investment portfolio.
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dronebabo United States. Feb 11 2008 19:41. Posts 736
Contact Users: 475 Active, 0 Logged in - Time: 09:45
. Thanks for reading.
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