Professional poker

As of November 1^st I will be unemployed.  My company is closing and I will be laid off.  In recent months I have been considering and planning on leaving the company, so I guess it was just meant to be.

Things have a way of working themselves out though as I have landed a job as a prop player at the poker club I normally frequent.  This means that I will be paid an hourly rate to play poker 40-50 hours a week.  I am really happy about this.  This is a great room to prop in because 90% of the time the only games going are No Limit Hold Em, which is my bread and butter.  So I will not be exposed to the hazards that many casino prop players are exposed to such as being moved from game to game and into games that they don’t like or play well.  Occasionally they will have a limit Omaha or limit hold em game going but I have experience and winning track records in those games as well and I should be fine with the hourly rate they are paying me.  When you include the money I win playing poker (I have not had a losing month this year) I should be able to actually make more money than I did at my day job. 

I am very excited about this new life that I am beginning on November 1^st.  I am excited to be putting away the alarm clock!  I will be working nights, around 5pm to 1am at the card room.  So I can sleep in mornings and have my days free.  This is really exciting to me.  I have never been a morning person and I think this new poker life will be good for me. 

I have a nice bankroll and living expenses saved in the bank so barring an eight month downswing that cripples me I should be able to stay in the game.  And if I have an eight month downswing on the tables I probably won’t want to play poker any more anyway.

So beginning November 1^st I will technically be a professional poker player.  All of my income will consist of prop money and the money I win at the tables.  I should start blogging more as well.  Since I will only be putting in 40-50 hours a week of poker instead of 45 hours a week at my job and 25 hours a week in poker I will have more free time.  Only two days left until my new life begins!

Disciplined Degenerate

I didn't die and I am back to the swings of poker

I have not posted a blog in a while because I got very sick.  I was down with the flu for several days and then had an acid reflux flare up that was very bad for over a week.  And then, just when that was getting better I got food poisoning.  Talk about running bad!

But I am over the flu and the food poisoning and the acid reflux is better with some medicine that I have been taking.  I am about 85% to full good health.  I just had no desire to do anything that was not necessary for a while so that is the reason for no blog.

I have still been playing poker.  I took some time off for my sickness but I have still been playing most days.  This week has been a tale of two kinds of poker.  The kind of session that ends with you miserable and the kind of session that ends with you just wanting to do nothing but play poker 24/7.

On Monday I lost $250, largely because I was coolered by the dreaded set over set situation.  I had 22 and the board was J 6 2 5 A.  No flush possible and I bet it strong all the way only to be called down by 66.  Those hands can literally make you hate the game but they are a part of business and unavoidable. 

Fast forward to Tuesday night and I pick up KK and raise to $10 preflop under the gun.  The flop comes K Q 8 after I was called by two people.  I bet just $10 and was called by both players.  The turn was a 3 and I bet $25.  One player folded and another player (one who is pretty tight and knows that I am tight as well) made it $60.  I knew he had to have at least two pair and this was a good spot to get it all in and I shipped it all--about $250 more than his raise.  He tanked for a while but it was clear he had a big hand.  After a good two minutes he called with 88.  Pretty amazing that he considered folding but with no flush and no straight on board it is hard to fold that hand to anyone.  Thankfully the river bricked and I won a pot of around $700.  Now those are the hands that make you love the game! 

Monday and Tuesday night are just two sessions that show the volatility of No Limit Poker and teach us that you need to be ready for  emotional and financial variance all the time.  For the two sessions I came out ahead $350 (lost $250 Monday and won $600 Tuesday) over 12 hours.  So despite that emotional variance I managed to book a nice $30 an hour win over the two days.

Tonight I will be back at the poker room to see what the roller coaster has in store for me.

Disciplined Degenerate

Welcoming October with winning sessions

Even though it was one of worst months of the year, the month of September was a winning month at the poker tables.  The good news is that I am already up $1000 for October!  I have been putting in a lot of hours and even though I won in September the amount was a little diaspointing.  It was nice to get off to a good start in October.  I have won $142, $709, and $246 in my three October sessions.  I also won the last day of September so I have a nice little four session winning streak going.

This weekend I will be taking a little time off from poker.  But don't worry, the Disciplined Degenerate will still be gambling.  I am off to Reno for the weekend.  I will be attending the Reno Wolfpack football game on Saturday and sampling Italian cuisine as this is the weekend of the Italian Festival in the biggest little city in the world.  I am also looking forward to watching my Oakland A's play in the playoffs for the first time since 2006.  No matter what happens from here on out I am proud of those kids and their dream season so far.  I was at the final game of the season on Wednesday when they finished off a sweep of the Texas Rangers to capture their 15th AL West crown.  I was one happy A's fan.  The crowd was as loud as I have ever heard it.  It is a game I will never forget.

My Reno trips allow me to get in my blackjack fix as well.  Because I can't beat the game of blackjack like I can at poker I usually bet small.  I usually make $5 and $10 bets.  But when you bet that small you can buy in for $200 and sit there for hours and hours and get free drinks and have a good time.  And on my last trip I actually came home ahead at blackjack (about $100).  You know that gambling is a big part of your life when you play poker all the time and when you take time off you go to Reno for the weekend to play blackjack and watch football games you bet on.

And speaking of football, I went 4-4 last weekend.  It was my second straight week of .500 results.  Unfortunately in the world of sports betting that still means a small loss with the vig.  But I enjoy the action and I bet small, just like I do at blackjack.  So here are my bets for this weekend so far:


2012 Football  23-30-1 -9.3 units

UCLA -2½
Georgia +2½
LSU -2  (two units)
Nevada -16½
West Virgina +7
Fresno State -17
Mississippi +13
Giants -9.5

Disciplined Degenerate