Part 2: 'Nuff Said

So I've been hemming and hawing about what to put in Part 2 of my dismal story. Finally I decided that I've said everything that needs to be said in Part 1. So the bottom line was I took a swing, and I missed. I still have 2 strikes left though! Oh, and poker sucks.

Now that the holidays are almost over, I can get back into my diet and exercise routine and focus on losing weight and getting even healthier. I still have a good ways to go in this aspect.

As for making money, I'm not sure. I'm taking more computer side jobs to help with money. I don't necessarily like it, but it's still way better than being stuck in a cubicle. I like the freedom of being my own boss, but I'll need to come up with a more profitable business fairly soon or it will be back to hanging with the lost souls of humanity in a office building.

Poker? Not the best career choice. TL;DR

I think it's about that time to sum up my poker career. FAIL.

I took my shot. I don't regret it. I'd do it again. I learned more about myself the past 2 years than any other time in life. But the fact of the matter is ... I'm BUSTO. Bankroll < $100. Savings $0. Any other money I had stashed away: $0. It's not as depressing as you'd think. More embarrassing than anything.

So now I'm one of the guys that will tell you not to go pro when you post a thread in the poker forums asking if you should do it. It's a shitty way to make money. The only way I'd recommend it is if you play higher stakes and are a solid winner over at least a million hands. And then, only if you still love poker after those million hands. By the time I reached my millionth hand, I was ready to vomit at the sight of another flop, turn, or river.

I could have made it with a stricter work ethic. The problem was that I got so totally burnt that I couldn't stand to grind. I'd start every day with good intentions and then by the time I played 1000 hands, I was ready to take a day off. Grinding the low stakes games is great for college students wanting to earn extra beer money. It beats the shit out of a real job. But for someone in the real world, it's not a career.... unless you are one of the few that can bust out $100K months without breaking a sweat. The biggest downfall with grinding low stakes and basically being a rakeback whore (even with a solid winrate) is that your bankroll never grows. There's always something in life that takes that small percentage you were just able to add to your bankroll.

So what did poker do for me as a person? Physically, it almost killed me. I gained a ton of weight, lived mostly off fast food, and I became a hermit. Mentally, it freed me. The one thing in life I really hated prior to starting to play poker as a career was my job. I hated my job so much that it was so difficult to even get out of bed in the morning. I was constantly sick...but most of the sickness was in my mind because I'd stress myself out so much about going to work. This was a completely different stress than what I experienced playing poker. It was much, much worse.

So in a sense, I feel like a free man! I feel good. I've shed a lot of weight in the past couple months. I'm way healthier today than I was 3 months ago...when I was literally on the verge of death. In reality though, I'm in bad shape. I'm still obese and have a long way to go in the weight loss department. I'm also broke as a joke. Really really broke. That debt I worked so hard to shed? Pffft...I'm now dodging creditors because I can't pay my credit card bills...the same credit cards I had to live off of for a couple months just so I could make ends meet. My credit report has to be a mess. I'm too scared to look.

The worst part of this entire situation is that I feel no desire to re-enter the workplace. I love the feeling of freedom I have being "my own boss" and don't want to give that up for anything in the world.

Part 2 coming later...

Why even have police?

It’s been a hell of a week.  I’ve hardly had any time for poker at all.  I’ve been dealing with a bunch of bullshit that really isn’t my fault, but is being made out to be my fault.

Tuesday night, I drove my truck around town running some errands.  All was fine.  Then Wednesday morning, I’m leaving my parents house to go to the drug store.  On the way out of my parents subdivision, which is a fairly steep hill going to the main road, my left rear wheel just comes off my truck and proceeds to roll down the hill into traffic, causing an accident.  Meanwhile, I’m sitting on the hill with 3 wheels on my vehicle, looking like an ass.

Upon further investigation, my wheel had been tampered with.  I found all, but 2 lug nuts laying between my parents house and where the wheel came off.  I had to get the truck towed to the service station next door.  He said that if those lug nuts had been loose for any period of time, it would have destroyed the threads on the studs.  Which hadn’t happened.  He also said all the lug nuts would not have come off at the same time.

The police refused to hear this side of my story.  I didn’t get a citation or anything.  And sure, I know it’s not the other guys fault for a tire running in front of him on the main street.  But I want retribution for whomever fucked with my vehicle.  That’s a low blow.

I stayed with my parents Tuesday night and I remember the dog barking at one time.  The only thing I can figure is that someone was trying to steal my wheels and the barking dog scared them away before they could finish the job.

Also, the officer that responded to the accident, did a piss poor job.  He basically had me and the other guy give a statement, had us sign the statement and then sent him on the way.  He called the tow truck for me and when it arrived, he was gone with the wind.  I didn’t even get a phone number for the guy in the other vehicle or any of his information.  So I had to call my insurance company and just plead ignorant on any of the details surrounding the other guys info.

The entire process has left a bad taste in my mouth regarding the way the police handled the situation.  Luckily, nobody was injured and there was minimal damage to my vehicle.  In fact, I was up and driving it again about an hour later.  The other truck just had a bent bumper.

How about some positivity?

I’m gonna post some fun hands from today.  I actually ran quite well today.  I dropped down to $25NL yesterday for a little over 1000 hands and pretty much ran over every table I played.  It helped my confidence so much.  Even with getting my aces cracked AI preflop twice, I managed to win almost 4 buyins in those 1000-1100 hands.

One rakeback payment later and I’m back on the $50NL grind.  I did my best to bum hunt.  It wasn’t easy this afternoon, but I still did quite well.  I’m still down for the week, but today made up for a good portion of what I lost.  Hopefully it will continue tomorrow and I can surprise my backer (if he hasn’t read this by that time).

Hand #1 (Chasing that flush on a paired board is a bitch)
Full Tilt Poker $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players - View hand 843907
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

SB: $45.35
BB: $50.00
UTG: $66.35
MP: $50.00
Hero (CO): $50.00
BTN: $158.20

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is CO with A 5
UTG calls $0.50, 1 fold, Hero raises to $2.50, BTN calls $2.50, SB calls $2.25, 1 fold, UTG calls $2

Flop: ($10.50) 5 4 5 (4 players)
SB checks, UTG checks, Hero bets $7.50, BTN calls $7.50, SB folds, UTG folds

Turn: ($25.50) A (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $14, Hero raises to $40 all in, BTN calls $26

River: ($105.50) T (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $105.50
Hero shows A 5 (a full house, Fives full of Aces)
BTN shows 6 7 (a flush, Ace high)
Hero wins $102.50
(Rake: $3.00)

Hand #2 (dem’s straight clovers bitch)
Full Tilt Poker $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players - View hand 843908
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

SB: $41.20
Hero (BB): $69.90
UTG: $40.45
MP: $65.75
CO: $47.75
BTN: $93.95

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is BB with 3 4
1 fold, MP raises to $1.75, CO calls $1.75, 2 folds, Hero calls $1.25

Flop: ($5.50) J 2 5 (3 players)
Hero checks, MP bets $4, CO calls $4, Hero calls $4

Turn: ($17.50) 6 (3 players)
Hero checks, MP checks, CO bets $14.50, Hero raises to $41, MP folds, CO calls $26.50

River: ($99.50) 5 (2 players)
Hero bets $23.15 all in, CO calls $1 all in

Final Pot: $101.50
Hero shows 3 4 (a straight flush, Six high)
CO mucks A J
Hero wins $98.50
(Rake: $3.00)

Hand #3 (spew much?)
Full Tilt Poker $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players - View hand 843909
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

CO: $50.00
BTN: $67.10
SB: $52.35
Hero (BB): $54.10
UTG: $50.00
MP: $91.05

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is BB with A A
UTG raises to $1.75, MP calls $1.75, 3 folds, Hero raises to $7, UTG calls $5.25, 1 fold

Flop: ($16.00) 3 K 7 (2 players)
Hero bets $9, UTG raises to $43 all in, Hero calls $34

Turn: ($102.00) 6 (2 players - 1 is all in)

River: ($102.00) 7 (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $102.00
Hero shows A A (two pair, Aces and Sevens)
UTG shows 8 8 (two pair, Eights and Sevens)
Hero wins $99.00
(Rake: $3.00)

Hand #4 (LOL at this dude…dropped 4 buyins in like 6 hands)
Full Tilt Poker $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players - View hand 843910
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

SB: $74.05
Hero (BB): $118.65
UTG: $49.50
MP: $91.65
CO: $50.00
BTN: $91.35

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is BB with T Q
UTG calls $0.50, 1 fold, CO raises to $2.25, 2 folds, Hero calls $1.75, 1 fold

Flop: ($5.25) T 7 3 (2 players)
Hero checks, CO bets $4.50, Hero raises to $15, CO raises to $47.75 all in, Hero calls $32.75

Turn: ($100.75) A (2 players - 1 is all in)

River: ($100.75) A (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $100.75
Hero shows T Q (a flush, Ace high)
CO shows 8 7 (two pair, Aces and Sevens)
Hero wins $97.75
(Rake: $3.00)

Hand #5 (this happens way to often to me. BUT I WON ONE!)
Full Tilt Poker $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players - View hand 843911
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

BTN: $74.10
Hero (SB): $50.00
BB: $87.30
UTG: $77.55
MP: $50.00
CO: $84.60

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is SB with K K
3 folds, BTN raises to $1.75, Hero raises to $5.50, 1 fold, BTN raises to $16, Hero raises to $50 all in, BTN calls $34

Flop: ($100.50) 9 K 6

Turn: ($100.50) 5

River: ($100.50) 2

Final Pot: $100.50
BTN shows A A (a pair of Aces)
Hero shows K K (three of a kind, Kings)
Hero wins $97.50
(Rake: $3.00)

Hand #6 (retard much?)
Full Tilt Poker $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players - View hand 843912
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

CO: $41.35
BTN: $50.00
SB: $68.25
BB: $50.00
Hero (UTG): $102.50
MP: $105.20

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is UTG with 7 7
Hero raises to $1.75, 1 fold, CO calls $1.75, 1 fold, SB raises to $3, BB calls $2.50, Hero calls $1.25, CO calls $1.25

Flop: ($12.00) 6 8 9 (4 players)
SB bets $3, BB folds, Hero raises to $9, CO folds, SB calls $6

Turn: ($30.00) 3 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $11.50, SB calls $11.50

River: ($53.00) Q (2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks

Final Pot: $53.00
SB mucks T K
Hero shows 7 7 (a pair of Sevens)
Hero wins $50.35
(Rake: $2.65)

Hooray for winning.