I officially got done with school Feb 24th. It was a living hell trying to be at that school with no reason. I now know how some people feel when they say, "college isn't right for me." I imagine what I felt was exactly the emotions they went through. Granted, these are a little different situations (me dropping out of a career-based graduate school whereas a lot of people dropping out of college are just degens), but I now can relate to those who aren't degens and truly didn't want to be at college.

I've been quite lazy since school ended. It's amazing how when I'm in school all I want to do is grind, but now all I have to do is grind and I can't do it very well. I know this has haunted poker players (myself included) and will always be an issue. It speaks to having other areas of your life to focus on besides grinding.

When I first got out of school I played quite a bit, but ran like total assssssss. I was $5k below EV in a few days. The run bad has got me playing quite poorly and I need to get my shit together. Gonna take Monday off and take care of all the life shit I need to get done.

Deuces

I see your Blake Griffin and raise you Will Sheehey

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqNSF...ayer_embedded#

That's how HemmaCuda put it, so I thought it was appropriate title.

I have decided to no longer pursue chiropractic school. Multiple reasons that I don't want to get in to in this blog, but it's just not right for me in my current state of affairs.

I am, however, planning on returning to get my Bachelor's in Accounting. I'm going to be taking a few classes online for a while which allow me to do them at my own pace and not have to leave the house.

I am, of course, planning on playing poker full-time until I start pursuing that 2nd degree. Once in school, I will also be playing many hours b/c undergrad is pretty much a joke, especially online community college courses. I plan on enrolling at the University either Fall 2011 or Spring 2012.

Learning I didn't want to pursue chiropractic cost me quite a few dollars financially (tuition+moving+higher rent+opportunity costs of not being able to play poker full-time), but I do not have any regrets about going back to school. I prefer not to live with regrets, but even if I did I would feel none for the decision I made to start in July 2010. Classes were going well and the course load did not bother me, just a few things within the profession that I couldn't be fully aware of until I was surrounded by it. I will be finishing up this trimester in one month and then saying my goodbye to that era of my life and hello to a new one.

Poker has been going a-fucking-mazing. Christmas came early in November, and then December was a bountiful harvest at the tables, and January has been a tremendous feast fit for a king. I know I'm running well in multiple aspects, but I like to think I'm playing some of my best poker ever. I had kind of regressed for a while, which is kind of silly. There should be no regression in this game, only progression. The more you play the stronger the player you should become. I got complacent and lazy.

last but not least, DAAAAAAA BEARS!

2010 was a big year for me in real life. I moved 3 times in 9 months. I can't believe I did that as much as I hate moving. Luckily I don't own a bunch of shit otherwise it would have been unbearable. I started school in mid-July and am still enrolled. Given the small sample size of people I've seen return to grad school AFTER playing poker full-time, I am an exception to still be going. I met a bunch of new peeps at school which is always good as well.

Poker did not have the results I would have predicted at the beginning of the year. There are a few reasons.

First, I didn't have the work ethic I had in 2009. I reverted to my old habits of playing 20hrs/week and put up some shitty (relatively) months because of it. Ex) February I put in 73hrs, April 72hrs, June 58 hours WTFBBQ! I think part of me subconsciously decreased my work ethic (in turn decreasing my income) so I would feel better about going back to school. I also just realized I never set any goals at the beginning of the year. With nothing to reach for I fell off the cliff in regards to hours at the tables. Back in 2009 I had 4 months in a row of a new personal best in both hours and earnings. I became way too complacent in 2010. Unacceptable, but there's nothing I can do about it now. Not gonna dwell on it too much/regret it in the future. Live and learn.

Second, I played more 6max/9max knowing my hourly was taking a hit. I did a lot of experimenting/learning and I feel okay with my 6max game at the moment.

Third, I played like shit for much of the year. I was an emotional wreck at the tables at times. It hurt my 2010 results more than I would care to know. I finally decided in mid-September that I was sick of playing like a dumbass and blaming the "run bad" for my poor play. I wrote quite a bit about in a blog. I'll leave the link here if you want to see the blog post. (Just read the poker part, the life/school part are kind of irrelevant).

http://www.leggopoker.com/blogs/lt22...line-8840.html

The good news is I'm playing the best I've played in a looooong time. I started reading Elements of Poker when it came out in ebook on Amazon for only $9.99. There's is absolutely nothing in that book that is amazing, but it helps to read it as a friendly reminder. Basically, I stopped being a big baby when the deck didn't go my way. There's only one thing we can control at poker, that is our quality of play. We are helpless when it comes to the deck.

I ran really good over holiday break, but I played super as well. I ended up making $8,000 in 13 days. This has given a positive vibe about poker that I haven't had in a long time. School is still #1 priority, but I'm so excited about poker in 2011.

Got Life on blu-ray for Christmas. Just started watching it tonight and it is amazing. I requested the David Attenborough version from BBC, NOT Oprah. FUCK OPRAH.



Going to make goals for 2011 tomorrow.

As much as I want internet poker to be regulated, being unemployed for at least 15 months (knowing the gov't it would take 4 years to get the sites up and running at full speed) is not something I wanted to happen. I've got the ability to survive 15 months with my savings/bankroll, but I know most poker players don't have that luxury. I've been preaching about emergency funds for a LONG time in this blog, especially for US players in the current climate. Taylor Caby made a blog post which is basically in total agreement with what I've been saying the whole time. You should check it out (unless you spew a lot of money on baller cars and such, you might not want to read it) If nothing else, this recent legislation fiasco will be a big wake up call to many people. Working for the man with health insurance, paid vacation, more stability(note I didn't say stability, the economy still sucks), and a retirement plan don't seem so bad at times like these in the poker world.

Got 7 of the 10 exams done, pretty damn pumped that the end is in sight. I worked really hard last two weeks and it paid off. Worst grade so far has been 80% and I expect to "steady eddie" my way to Bs in about every class and throw in a couple random As hopefully. I went into this trimester shooting for Bs and that's what I'm expecting to get out. Input usually equals output at school, which is a nice feeling.

Took a shot at a soft 3/6 game Friday night. Lost a hand right away that I maybe could have folded, but who folds tptk in a 3b pot vs a fish? I proceeded to play pretty bad and finally quit after 4 buyins were down the drain. Turns out the fish is not capable of having anything but the nuts if the money goes in. I think that's a more common thing I'm seeing in the modern day games. So many nut peddling fish if it's a big pot. Not so very long ago, there were people that played internet poker that actually did stupid aggressive bluffs instead of only having the nuts. Those players that don't beat themselves are a lot tougher to play against. They make mistakes obviously, but they are much more subtle, small leaks. I miss the old days to be honest. I've definitely fallen out of love with poker as the games have gotten more difficult.

The loss didn't bother me at all, but I feel like that's a bad thing. I've almost become negatively unattached to the fact that these are real dollars I'm spewing at the tables. I've been doing a lot of random button clicking/emotionally based plays that are -EV. I'm also either a big fish and/or I've run pretty bad playing 2/4 and 3/6. I'm done chasing donks at 2/4+ for the time being (sorry to all you regs who jizz your pants when you see me sit). Not that great of edge (maybe negative?) + ridiculous variance when I don't have a lot of time to play=kind of pointless. I played a bunch of hands today and played really good for the most part, probably the best I've played in a long time. I really need to play ABC as nobody folds and instead chooses to act like clowns. I think I was getting caught up in everybody else's clown tactics and forgot how to beat small stakes. Might play a session tomorrow, but then I'll be done with poker til break starts Friday.

Gonna steady eddie these exams this week and then finally get down to some serious poker playing/studying over the holidays.

GL!

Shit is getting real with the possibility of regulated online poker. The current plan is to attach it to something that has to pass (tax cuts in the upcoming days). Main problems at this point are a 15 month blackout period where sites who want to become regulated (read: PS/FT) will be forced to stop servicing US players within 30 days. If that happens I will likely be going on a vacation to Canada in the very near future.

Supposedly the PPA is working hard to get that 15 month blackout reduced/eliminated.

I'm a huge pessimist and basically fear they're going to fuck up online poker if they pass this legislation. Rake, rakeback, deposit limits, # of tables, # of sites, competition between sites (promotions for players) are all questions that we can't answer. I hate uncertainty.

As a pro, you need to be investigating your options at the moment IMO.

Make-up exam from day before Thanksgiving was on Monday. Got 84.5%, it's worth 10% of our grade, sooo got 8.45% to my name in that class. Each exam is cumulative and worth more and more, so yeah every % I get now is important as I don't want to be overly stressed during finals. Anatomy exam Wednesday went okay, got 82.5%. I would have done better if 1) we didn't have the make-up exam Monday 2) He picked a diagram that I didn't consider too important and it was something he barely touched on in class, kind of annoying. I've been running above EV in school up to this point, so can't complain. Thursday we had a test in a class where the teacher is a stoner, reads off the powerpoints, and is generally not a good professor. I got 80% on that one which is fine considering that is the hardest exam in that class and it was 33% of our final grade so will have no pressure passing that class.

3 exams and a lab practical (same class as make-up, worth 10%) this week (Mon, Tues, Thurs/Thurs with the hardest 2 being on Thurs=nice). Anatomy practical Monday after that, retarded exam that will study for 1hr Wednesday, and then cumulative exam 2 in the class where we had the make-up (this one is worth 15%). Then, FREEDOM! I'm kind of missing poker lifestyle right about now, but when poker is the only thing I had to do I was very bored. I like being/feeling productive.

TECHNOLOGY TILT

Computer was acting up a little bit, then started blue screening every time, tried to run system restore, it would blue screen. Tried to reformat and the fucking thing wouldn't even let me reformat, so I just said fuck it and went to Worst Buy and bought a new machine. Do you get ass raped when you go to Best Buy? Yes. Did I want a computer immediately? Yes. Gotta do what you gotta do. Thinking about getting an SSD and having the ultimate experience.

This wouldn't have annoyed me too much, but I had problems with my 30" monitor and just recently my laptop screen broke. Haven't repaired/replace the laptop. I think I'm gonna wait til summer and see if I do any traveling where it would be useful to have a portable way to make money. In all honesty, I don't use my laptop much for anything besides studying a little bit on the couch.



WEEKEND HEATER

Wow poker is awesome when everything goes right. Hitting hands, not getting insane amounts of coolers, and playing well in general. New computer easily paid for itself this weekend. Maybe this is the boomswitch computer? Looks like I'm playing 22/17.5 when there are 6 players at the table. I think that's a pretty good vpip/pfr for the games I'm playing in at 1/2. I could possibly even tighten up a bit I believe. At least I've calmed down a little bit from last month. I patched up a small preflop leak and am also working on another one at the moment.

This is 95% 1/2, with a dabble of 2/4 and a hint of 0.5/1. I'll probably try to put in a few sessions again next weekend, but obviously won't have time during the week. If I can manage to run really hot (or maybe just normal for once?) I might be able to hit six figures for the year. It's a big stretch at this point with school and the holidays, but I do plan on grinding hard after Dec 17th.

EDIT: I forgot I'm owed quite a bit of rakeback, so yeah I might really push hard or fail hard at that year total!




Be good, do well.

I'm done playing for the month. This month I put in nearly 100 hours of poker, which is totally unacceptable for a graduate student. Granted, the trimester started November 2nd, so I had a lot of time to play early in the month, but most of the hours have come in the last week or two. I've become really addicted to 6max, which I think is a good and bad thing. My biggest enemy has been myself. Typical session goes like this: start well, get kicked in the testicles by variance, and then kick myself in the testicles by playing like an idiot after said variance. I'm letting previous hands/results affect my play. I'm so damn spewy it's ridiculous. I know I'm playing against retards, but I bluff anyway as some sort of sick sadistic ritual. Playing badly makes me breakeven, which makes me just want to play more and more. It's like, "hey maybe I won't make massive mistakes for stacks this session." But then of course, I make a massive mistake, have a breakeven/losing session and then want to play more. I played pretty well the other night AND had some hands for once and made 16 buyins in about 1.5 hours. This game is so fucking absurd.

Plans

No more poker for November for sure. I might have to quit poker until holiday break December 17th. Lately I haven't been able to control my obsession with 6max and it's not healthy for school. As I mentioned in last blog, I pulled an all-nighter one tabling with a massive donk. Last night (Friday), I went to a local casino to check out the games. I played in a difficult (by live standards, but overall weak players) from 9:30pm-2:30am and then proceeded to come home and stay awake until 4am doing absolutely nothing. Keep in mind I'm used to being in bed by 10pm and rising by 7am. I need to get the sleep patterns back on schedule.

I'll probably end up playing a bit on the weekends b/c I'm a degenerate and I like making money, but am officially banning myself from poker Mon-Thurs during school for the rest of 2010. I've got a mountain of laundry to do and a ton of errands to do. I have neglected these things because I've been too obsessed with poker and have been lacking any sense of balance in my life.

I still don't know what to do as far as poker goes over holiday break from school. I'll probably end up playing both HU and 6max. I need to tighten up in both games. If somebody told me in 2006/2007 that I would become a retarded spew monkey LAGtard in 2010, I would have laughed in their face. I'm a giant nit at heart in both poker and the real world. I hate variance so much, yet I expose myself to increased amounts of it by playing like an idiot.

Hope everybody had a great Thanksgiving!

I think I'm gonna take my parents to a James Taylor concert for their Christmas present. He's an older solo artist for those of you who don't know him. I saw on the news that he was gonna be at the theater a couple blocks from my apartment, so I'll probably entertain the parents that weekend and hit up the concert with them.

Here's one of my favorite James Taylor songs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3uaXCJcRrE

It's 6am, I have an exam at 7:15am. I have not been to sleep and it's all because of poker. I studied really hard on Saturday/Sunday afternoon, but haven't been able to put in much studying since then. Instead I've been going to class, and then playing a lot of 6max in the evenings. Tonight I put in a little session at NL100. Things went well and then I actually sat down with my book for the first time all day with the intention of studying. I, however, saw a giant donk playing NL200, so I one tabled for about 8 hours or some crazy shit from 10pm-4am while half-assed looking at a study guide for my exam on the computer. Then, I randomly decided to sit in a couple 2/4 tables for no apparent reason after the NL200 game broke. I hit a flush vs a boat, AK < QQ pre and I'm stuck $800 in no time. Won some back and then got set vs set (which I pretty much knew was coming, but hey can't fold sets, right? Did manage to get that damage down to -300 and decided I'm being an idiot. Seriously wtf is wrong with me? Day before an exam and I pull an all-nighter because of poker. So so so so so dumb. I'm really annoyed with myself. I'm gonna get some sleep after this exam and then play a mix of 0.5/1 and 1/2 6max in the evenings during the upcoming Thanksgiving Break. HAVE to get out of this degenerate mindset.