As my career path begins to deviate from being a professional poker player, I think more and more about regrets I have of the decisions I've made. I absolutely do not regret my decision to take a break from school to focus on poker. However, the regrets come from my decisions both as a player, and my life during that time as a professional.

My single largest regret was getting backed as a high stakes tournament player, for a multitude of reasons. The main being that, it is very likely going to cost a good friend of mine a great deal of money with my decision to go back to school. My makeup is quite high (not as high as some horror stories, but low six figs high) and it's unlikely I'll be able to bink something while going to class everyday and not being able to play online from the US. Another reason I regret being backed is that I could have made so much more money without any variance had I kept grinding my bread and butter. I used to be one of the biggest winners on stars at turbo 180 mans. I made ~$50/hr (before rb, according to PT) just playing $12/180s. I could have easily gotten SNE (as I learned from my attempt to go for it last year before black friday thwarted that plan) and made a literally variance free minimum of $250k/yr grinding turbo SNG MTTs on stars. This would have made it pretty easy to take shots in things the same way backing allowed and given me 100% of my profit and way more money.

Poker has everything to do with money, both at the tables and in real life. Having made a bunch of money pretty quickly, my spending habits were crazy (as were/are many players). My second regret is spending SO MUCH money on so many unnecessary things. Thinking back on all the nice hotels I've stayed at when I could have saved literally tens of thousands staying at only a slightly worse one down the street makes me sick. I've dined at some of most prestigious and finest restaurants around the world that surely cannot be worth the amount of money spent. Drinking $15 bottles of water from a mini bar over and over when I could have simply went down the street and bought 15 for the same price, just due to not caring. A pair of shoes (dolce and gabbana I think?) in London for 400 pounds that I've literally only worn once. These days I just wear a pair of adidas sneakers or clarks black shoes when going out and theyre way more comfortable and look perfectly fine. I probably could have saved literally 100k by simply not wasting money on the stupidest things over and over for years.

I regret traveling so much for live poker tournaments. So few players today can even comprehend that almost nobody is actually +EV in live poker tournaments (with the exception of WSOP). I used to fly all over the US and europe to play whatever $10k was running but its even worse for backed players who 100% cannot be profitable in live 10ks. Literally no backed player is +EV in a $10k except the WSOP ME unless they dont have to travel for it. To prove this I'll just give a quick breakdown showing it:
Firstly we'll operate under the assumption that no backed player is good enough to have an ROI over 40% in a live 10k (because lets face it, backed players in general just arent as good as the top bosses of the poker world and people greatly over estimate their ROIs in live tournaments). Also we'll assume their makeup is 0 and their deal is 50/50 like most, just to make it easy.
In any given $10k, with the best backed players having an ROI of 40%, their EV is +$4k. By being backed they immediately give up half and now expect to gain $2000 by playing. Their expenses are: Taxes, which for me in NYS having a solid profitable year is usually at least 40% which is $800 (after taking deductions from other expenses, as its over 50% otherwise). $600 for a round trip flight on average (though this can be way higher and not too much lower depending on where you're from and where you're going). Hotel tournament rates we'll use about $150/night including extra fees with an average of 3 nights so $450. And last, food/tips/fun/other misc expenses which can vary vastly from person to person. Some people go out and have fancy dinners and that costs a lot. We'll use around $200 which assumes they're not eating mcdonalds every meal and doesn't starve themselves.
To summarize you have:
+$4k in EV, -$2k to backer, -$800 to taxes, -$600 to flight, -$450 to hotel, -$200 to misc expenses for a total of -$50.
This also doesn't include the fact that before black friday, you were also giving up online action which had EV in itself that was certainly greater than -$50. Even for an extremely talented player with an ROI as high as 60-80%, they are not making much money overall as their tax portion takes such a huge piece out. A conservative estimate is that less than 5% of the field in any 10k besides the wsop ME is actually profitable long term.

The last regret I will mention is physical health. I used to not care at all about my body, be it nutrition or fitness, and it definitely showed. It's impossible to play your A+ game when you're feeding yourself crappy food and not maintaining any sort of physical fitness. It's definitely impossible to do so for any extended period of time. I've noticed now that I am able to play focused and well for a much longer period of time due mostly to nutrition. Eating healthy gives me a lot more energy, and sort of eliminates that cloud that used to exist in my head that hindered my abilities. If I could have eaten how I do now, starting 5 years ago, who knows where I'd be in both my poker career, and life. It could only be far better though.

It wasn't my intention to be so negative in my post though I suppose it was inevitable. I feel this was worth saying more so for players that are on the rise who may make some of these mistakes and regret them when the gravy train starts to end as it has or is beginning to for most professionals.

Thanks,
FTT!

I have been working on being healthy for the past year. When I was in toronto I was working out every single day, quit drinking for 2 weeks straight, and ate very healthy calorie wise (but not necessarily nutrient wise. I started out weighing about 225 lbs, and in a few months left toronto weighing about 200. I looked great and felt great. Then I went home for the holidays where I ate and drank a ton, and then moved to vegas where I have been very lazy exercise wise. Nutritionally I'm eating healthier than ever. Over 50% raw diet, and the non raw foods I've been eating have been healthy too for the most part. I've stopped eating red meat and haven't for over a month so far even though I have become an amazing chef and cook glorious steaks!

However, I now weigh 210 and feel disappointed, lazy, and lacking that motivational drive that used to make me one of the best mtters around. But lately that hasn't been the case. I used to truly believe I was one of the top 50 best in the world, and many of my peers (some of which many consider to be top 10 or 20) would agree. But not today. I don't even rate myself in the top 200.

Black friday really destroyed me. I was grinding along poised to have my best year ever. I was half way to my years goal of earning 150k in a matter of 3 months (even with having to get stiches on my right finger and a root canal). I lost a ton at scoop, had a deep ME run for 80k that caused me to break even or win slightly on my vegas trip, and then lost 100k+ in toronto. I felt bad for my backer whom I once considered to be a very close friend, and now consider us to be acquaintances at best, understandably to a ballooning makeup.

I have probably lost other friends too, due to getting shit for this and being trolled by them pretty regularly, though I try not to talk to those types of people as much. It has affected me greatly, and causes me to feel a bit depressed at times.

I have started to drink more, and it has made me feel even worse. So starting tomorrow (the 1 year anniversary of black friday!) I will be giving up alcohol for at least a month. I will likely drink a little during wsop since it's a lot of fun when all my best friends in the game will be here in vegas. It may very well be my last hurrah in poker as I may not attend future WSOPs after I start school in august. This will undoubtedly be one of the hardest tests of discipline I've ever faced but I truly believe I can do it and will push myself as hard as possible to accomplish it.

I also plan on finally getting a personal trainer for at least a couple weeks to establish some solid workout routines daily to continue pushing myself harder. I expect big things in the future, and will probably blog a few more times to vent about this journey.

Thank you to my supporters during this, and best of luck to you all as well.

Frank

Well hey errybody. Lately my blogs are more about life and less about poker. I find myself playing less and less lately, despite living in vegas currently. I'm just going to share a few things about what I've been doing and what I'm going to be doing.

1. I have been juicing/blending a lot for the past month or 2. I bought an Omega VRT350 juicer, and the Vitamix CIA Professional blender. I use the blender more lately, but my diet has become over 50% raw which is nice. I feel a lot better, my skin has improved, and I've had a ton of energy lately. I would definitely encourage everyone to do it if they have the means to, it's really great for you.

2. As I said, I've been playing poker less and less. Mostly live cash, with some tournaments whenever big ones are in town. I might go to Vancouver for a few days to play some SCOOP events in may, and will likely make some videos from that play. I also plan to play a lot of wsop nl events, hard to miss the ME after such a deep run last year even though that is the one event I'd like to play the least.

3. I was accepted into (and received free tuition for) St. John's University in NYC. I'm moving there in august to finish my degree in finance. Think I have about 2 1/2 years left until I graduate. Then I will likely go to grad school for an MBA. I'm actually excited to get back. I hated going to Syracuse University when I was younger, but mostly because I was so motivated and enthusiastic about poker. Now that it's basically out of my system, I can't wait to actually get straight A's again like I used to and not fail every course due to not going.

To keep it shortish and definitely sweet I won't ramble on!

Thanks,
Frank

To my fellow leggo readers,

Today I want to discuss my view on the addictions that many poker players seem to share and how they can effect their lives. I've hung out with many poker players over the years, mostly high stakes ones as that is what I play, so my perceptions are based on that. The addictions players can have vary based on a player's level of play and thus their bankroll. For example it's unlikely a $.25/$.50 grinder can afford a coke addiction whereas a $100/200 grinder can afford it so easily that he can do it "Tony Montana" style.

I think the number one addiction poker players have is alcohol. I wouldn't go as far as to say most poker players are alcoholics, they just enjoy the effects and benefits it provides quite frequently. Alcohol is easily acquired from basically anywhere. It's readily available whenever we are playing poker in a casino and even free in most cases. It's a convenient method of getting off tilt or anything else in your life causing frustration/sadness/anger. A lot of players go too far with it though. Even great players think their poker game is somehow amazing when they're drunk, despite alcohol being a decision altering depressant. A lot of players will never drink any alcohol when playing poker, and others, especially ones with a lot of money who are very good, seem to do this for a little while and then just get hammered and keep playing. They don't realize the EV thrown away by doing so, nor have the discipline to stop themselves as they continuously find themselves doing it repetitively. It's weird to think that a person with so much discipline to beat high level poker can't control something as simple as alcohol consumption.

I drink quite frequently myself, and sometimes find myself doing exactly what I just stated, although never for real serious money. Maybe if I'm playing a live 10/20 game I'll have a few beers or just playing a couple tournaments online. For WCOOP I decided to not drink at all and so far have stuck to it, but it has been difficult living in a house where others casually drink regularly. My decision to do so was more health related though as I work to get in shape and shed some pounds.

I would say my personality is addictive in general, though I believe my discipline and ability to control it is stronger. For example, I take adderall for basically every session of online poker I play. I have ADHD, and this helps me deal with it as it would be difficult to play long sessions online otherwise. During the 2 months of WSOP I didn't take it once and managed to have a winning trip, but I feel I could have done better with it. Is it still an addiction if the drug you are using is necessary to, in my mind, live optimally?

Many poker players develop many other addictions that can be detrimental to their careers as a poker player. Spending money like crazy or making stupid huge prop bets when you have a lot of money is an easy and fun thing to do. High stakes players don't even realize the random absurd amounts of money they spend on things. A night out -- $2k, new shirt -- $500 -- Dinner at robuchon and oh you lost CCR -- $5k. It adds up to massive amounts that can lead to the downfall of the game's greatest. But it's rare to hear about people going broke due to reasons like that, despite it being probably the largest reason high stakes players do go broke. You just never hear about it as their egos are too huge to ever share that with the community.

Even women can be a tricky situation, as some poker players spend time they could be maximizing their EV by chasing women. Or the opposite, where they're too focused on poker and afraid of letting a girl into their lives and take that away. A common vice for poker players in vegas is strip clubs as it's convenient and an easy no strings attached way of spending time with a girl. But I've heard players dropping $5k, $10k, or even $20k in a night there. Surely that can't be the best way to manage your money even if it seems like it at the time, but obviously to each their own.

Feel like I could write a novel about all the bad decisions/addictions poker players have throughout their careers of mostly good decisions poker wise. I'm guilty of it too but black Friday has caused me to reconsider things and be more disciplined where possible. That said, I'm definitely not a party pooper, I'm just suggesting poker players work harder to balance their lives rather than be addicted to a few things that are bad for you in general. If readers prevent themselves from one bad decision due to this post then it is a success. Anyway enough ranting, I've got a $1k WCOOP to win!

With Love,
FTT

So before WSOP I moved to Panama City, Panama for SCOOP. I got reinstated on the first sunday of SCOOP and was able to play everything. I proceeded to lose 50-60k while down there which felt pretty terrible. That said, I enjoyed Panama City for the most part. My internet was bomb, and way better than I had in the US although far more expensive to get. I had a nice furnished apartment that was a few blocks from the ocean in one of the city's nicest areas, Punta Paitilla. There was an Americanized grocery store, a gym/pool in the building, and the area was highly secure.

However, I have since decided I do not wish to go back. The largest reason was the lack of other poker players down there. There are literally 0 good players in Panama. My roommate turned out to be a disastrous living situation and he actually got dropped by his backer while we were down there. A distant second and third were known reasons that I decided I couldn't put up. The weather every single day was: 95, very humid, and it rained once every 2 hours or so or nonstop for entire days. Last was that I felt in this type of city there would be more english speaking people but I was wrong. Anybody that wasn't highly educated spoke absolutely zero english.

Now I am in Toronto, Canada and had my address changed although I was already allowed to play using my Panama address. I am living with 68ioweyou1, gray31 and nutsinho. There has been some interesting dynamics in the house as is to be expected with a group of high stakes poker playing individuals who's egos and personality will inevitably collide. All in all though I'd say it is a success. I'm happy with the quality of our place here, which is a 3 br 4 floor townhouse with an office. We have gone out to a lot of cool places and I definitely like it here way better. It's similar to Boston in many ways although not nearly as clean a city. Highly recommend this place to anyone still considering relocating and anyone here hit me up.

To touch on poker... I have been doing very well at cash online this past month. Mostly bum hunting 25/50 plo and nl with random shots higher where action was sold. I'm looking forward to WCOOP. Part of playing well for me is being comfortable in my surroundings. Having my normal setup back makes me comfortable again even if I'm in a different city.

And for a different perspective on a recent blog post by a roommate. He mentioned how he always had wanted to be the best regardless of hourly. And while sometimes the two go hand in the hand, it often doesn't for people playing at a high level constantly challenging themselves. I saw he got a lot of appraisal for his rationale, perhaps causing many to go and reconsider their approach to the game or even start playing stakes 5x higher than normal just to test themselves.

The best player in the world will be far from the most profitable in the world if he is constantly seeking to battle the second best in the world. Confidence in poker is key, and running bad at the highest stakes vs the 2nd and 3rd best players can absolutely crush it, dethroning you from being the best even if your actual ability when playing 100% is better. It will also inevitably be extremely costly. My advice to the masses, play what makes you the most money while you can unless you truly and rationally want and believe you can be the best.

Until next time,
FTT

I have not blogged in a while but Aaron Edward Jones asked that I make one so here I am. Suppose I'll write a few more throughout the summer as well. This year I am staying at Vdara for the wsop and I got a corner suite + regular suite in adjoined rooms. Have to say they are really nice and I like them a lot. It's nice that I can get all the amenities of a hotel such as housekeeping and also be able to cook my own breakfast and such. It's also connected to bellagio and I have been playing 10/20/40 nl every day as the games have been insanely good. I plan to play that game a lot this summer given I will not be playing online the whole time.

Today is my first wsop event of the series as it is for many hsmtt regs. The $5k nl event. I went deep in it last year and have historically done well in events 3k+ in buyin. Nutsinho went deep in the $25k HU yesterday but unfortunately ran really bad in some all ins and lost to tuff_fish. He did beat aaron in the first round though so that was cool. Gray31 FT'd his first event out here, the $1k venetian. For those who do not know gray31, it is standard for him to cash and ft 100% of live events that he plays.

That said, it's time to win a bracelet. Gl to all my friends this wsop hope we win something.

Yours Truly,
FTT

So it's been a while since my last blog post. My finger's doing better! I can finally click with it again which is nice although I've gotten so good with and used to my middle finger that I still use that. I'm playing NAPT mohegan next week, hopefully sportin the new leggo patch!? (sup vitas?) Other than that I've just been on my normal SNE grind, still behind pace but catching up.

But onto the prop bet. It's a weight loss bet for "only" $5k. I didn't want to go crazy because there is a decent amount of risk that I fail due to SNE grind and with wcoop and ftops etc. coming up. Starting tomorrow I have until June 1st (day before wsop 5k nl - my first event this year) to lose 26 lbs. I have to do an official weigh in tomorrow, but it's on the premise that I weigh 220 and need to way 194. I'll keep you guys posted on how I'm doing there. I'm definitely going to work as hard as possible to get it done.

-Frank The Tank

So last week I played the borgata $3500 (awesome tourney would highly recommend it to anyone looking to take a shot) and busted on day 2. Nutsinho went deep and got ~35th out of the 800 or so that played but ran bad and it wasn't meant to be. After I got back home last thursday, I was about to do my usual thursday night ritual of opening a bottle of wine and watching the jersey shore. Only this time it wasn't quite the same... I went to rinse out a red wine glass (for those who don't know these are about 2x the size of a normal wine glass). While doing so, the glass slipped out and the top part broke off from the stem. As I was fumbling to prevent this the stem ripped across my right index finger at the same time as I was pushing down causing a massive laceration and requiring 7 stitches in the ER. Unfortunately this was my primary finger for poker so I had to take a few days off as I was in massive pain.

On monday I had to get a root canal as well which wasn't fun. But basically the past week has seen me popping vicodins left and right in effort to alleviate all the pain and live somewhat normally. That said things are getting better, I've been grinding ftops and SNE (which hasnt been going great). I am going to LAPC in 2 weeks most likely just for the $10k. (It's the day after my bday actually so hopefully I'm not too hungover).

I've included a picture of the finger for you all to enjoy!

Hey guys it's been a bit since I made my last post. I just got back from PCA earlier this week. Stayed at the reef there and would highly recommend it. I liked it better than cove which I stayed last year. I played the main event and got 80th for about $28k. Also played the $25k but busted on day 2 on like the third hand. Never got any beach time, every time I tried to go it started pouring. The days i was deep in the main were the best days of weather during the week it seemed. A few weeks before PCA I went deep in the $10k WSOPC at harrahs AC. I lost AK to A5 all in pre for a CL pot with about 13 or so left. Would have been nice to make that televised FT and pick up some money.

Hopefully I'll be able to get my next video out soon which will be part 2 of my 30r vid. The problem is finding time in the office where there's nobody else in it. I can't do the recording if someone else is there. Last time I recorded with nutsinho in the office and he'd randomly just laugh or something and mess shit up so can't do that again. Also I am going for SNE this year so that has been taking up some time but no excuse for not doing videos as it's really not that hard to get it. I'm a bit behind pace due to not playing much during PCA but I think it will be pretty easy to obtain to be honest. That's all for now!

Tournamente Profesionale Frank1The1Tank

Hey guys, pretty disappointed atm. We had 3rd row seats for the celtics vs nuggets game tonight and I was really looking forward to seeing carmelo anthony play as I haven't seen him since he played for syracuse a while back. We went to the bruins game last night (they beat the sabres in overtime) but we drank a ton. Nutsinho ended up drinking too much and was insanely hungover today and not up for going to the game (even though we already had the tickets sigh).

The maids came to clean today so I figured I'd post some pics of the boston condo as per some of your requests. It has 6 br's and 8 bathrooms although I didn't include any pics of those here. Total size is about 6k square feet. Has a grand piano, massage chair, sauna (steam room), hot tub, a bar, a couple living rooms, an office, etc. Place is really sick and I love it here. The views are the best part but taking pictures at night doesn't do much justice so maybe I'll take a couple tomorrow.

Kitchen:


Family Room:


Dining Room:


Entrance:


Living Room:


Bar:


Other Side of Living Room:


Random Room/Guest Room:


Office:


Rest of Office: