Hey Guys,

I might as well follow suit and post on my response to Black Friday, future, etc.

I, like I'm sure everyone else was, found myself completely shocked by the news Friday. Maybe I was more shocked because it seemed like for a while everyone was thinking the blackout period would happen at some point, but then when everything got quiet/seemed to be moving forward I guess I relaxed and stopped thinking about it.

I'm not really going to give my opinion on the US Government and what not, b/c frankly it doesn't matter all that much and there's not a whole lot I can do to change it (and have never cared the slightest about politics, so don't wanna start now....even though this tempts me to).

So what does the future hold for me and everyone else? I think eventually, online poker will be back in the US, most likely in some form of US run sites, when this will happen, no clue. As for me personally, I'm fortunate that I've always believed in keeping my bank account fairly healthy in case anything like this or some insane downswing, or what have you happen. So, I don't/haven't been stressing out really at all regarding money or my immediate future, it also seems as if we will get our funds back once a payment processor is able to process it (yay!). I never really doubted this, as I am very confident in PokerStars as a site/business and have a lot of faith in them, despite these crazy circumstances.

I do have some regrets with poker, in the sense that I don't think I pushed myself to be the best I truly could be, once I started beating 1/2 for a good clip and a solid WR at 2/4 in small samples, for some reason I became content and comfortable. I always said, "next month is the month I push myself." I wish I would've pushed myself out of my comfort zone and moved up/taken my game to another level, I know I had it in me, so, hopefully if poker does come back and I've decided to keep it full-time, I will push myself to where I know I can be.


I think for the time being I"m gonna take some time to chill, who knows what I'll do next regarding work, I have a nice resume to fall back on, I graduated from Marquette University, very good school and worked for 2 years in the real world w/ good success in outside sales/pharmaceutical sales, so, being 25, who knows, maybe it's time to just move on and stop living the dream (pfffff, for real!?), haha, who knows. I was hitting a bit of a burn out stage w/ online poker lately, but I didn't realize how much I truly enjoyed grinding/competing until it was gone. I'm sure I'll play live a bit (sigh) and see if that's something I enjoy.

I caddy for a good buddy of mine who's trying to make it on some mini golf tours and caddied for 8 years through high school/college....there's a new course in Milwaukee area that's hosting the 2011 us amateur this year, so I might try and caddie there and have some fun this summer, spending a lot of time outside, while figuring out/seeing what the future of my career/state of online poker holds.

The only advice I would give anyone is, it's not the end of the world, find something else you like, or grind live, think of the positives that can come out of this, versus the negatives. Don't get me wrong, it obviously sucks and seems somewhat unfair, but just let it make you stronger versus bringing you down.

As for coaching, I'm definitely continuing coaching, I'm setting up a paypal account and will be taking money that way, if anyone needs to pay another way, let me know, I'd be open to it. I will be much more flexible now in my scheduling since I'll have a lot more free time.

Any new/prospective students just shoot me a PM on Leggo, I respond quickly.

That got way longer than I thought it would be, good luck to everyone in the US who plays full-time in figuring out what's next!

Scott