Back To The Trap House

Its been quite the time since I've last posted here. After Black Friday I decided to stay fresh by studying. I did study a lot and have been applying my knowledge to live poker games and doing well. I haven't been able to put in a ton of hours until recently when I finally pulled the trigger and quit my job.

The story of why it finally came to that is somewhat bizarre and takes a lot of back story to even get to so I will spare you it. Lets just say that there were lots of things confirmed to me that day I quit. It took the observations of some very perceptive people and lots of courage. Maybe one day if we ever meet I will tell you about it but I'll leave it on the shelf for now.

A lot has happened since I last posted here. I haven't been actively looking for a job but to be quite honest with you I really don't ever want to get one. I will probably get something part time but I don't see myself going back again. By going back I mean doing something I hate and that made me miserable. There is a lot of uncertainty in my life right now but none of the misery of job security is worth going back to that job. 

This is a poker blog though and I have been doing pretty good playing live games. I think there is enough action in my area where I could play 3 nights a week and turn a decent living. Not without a back up plan though but I think I can make it work. You see there are these 1/2 games that play big. How big? Well 2/5+ big. These games don't have any structure that some of you would expect. You don't raise to $6-$8 as a standard open. A standard open in these games is $12-$15.

All the players are generally loose/passive bad. They don't have any concept of player tendencies or board texture. In fact, if you nit it up like me, they go out of there way to try and bust you. Its funny. Because they notice that I have been patient or haven't opened in a while but then they call my opens anyway. They get so frustrated that I don't spew and that its so hard to get money out of me they will come after me sometimes with any two.

But that would scare some of you now wouldn't it? How am I supposed to know where I'm at in the hand? Very easy. They give off loads of physical tells and when they have something they will bet or raise. Sometimes they will bluff me or trap me but I pot control so well in these games that they never get huge chunks out of me. Just when they think they have me you know what happens? I fold and they get even more frustrated.

I won a huge pot the other night and said "I'm sure you'll have a chance to get it back" someone responded "I wouldn't count on it. You're like a bank"

Ha! They've nicknamed me the bank. I've also been called steady which is unheard of to these people in this game. No one is steady. Everyones chip stacks fluctuate constantly. 

You know what an underground live cash game is? Its a bunch of losers sitting around complaining about how much the world sucks and how bad their lives suck. Its sad but thats just what it is. They constantly complain about how bad their luck is but NEVER do they ever own up to how many terrible plays they make on a nightly basis. When someone sucks out on them they never think about whether or not they should've been in the hand or not. They just sit there and complain. They complain about the cards. They blame the dealer. They talk about how they hate their wives. How they just got divorced. That they're on probation or there car just broke down. 

Do you see what the consistent theme is? A negative attitude. They are so negative they never see the positive in anything. Everything is getting worse and life was better 10 years ago. What about now? The old people are the best. They talk about how things just aren't the same as they used to be. The world is a worse off place? You know what though? The world is getting better. Don't believe me? Lets rewind the clock lets say 20 years ago pre internet. Imagine if you grew up in the 80's What a lame fucking decade. Even the toys were fucking lame. Still don't believe me? Well lets go back 80 years before penicillin was around and an infection killed you with ease.

Thats one of the biggest assets I've seen in the good poker players I hang out with every once in a while. They see the bright side and the value you in things. Nothing is ever all lost. Sure they make a mistake here and there but they have the mindset to recover.

Mindset. Poker is a mindset you need to learn and practice in everything you do. Its how you should approach life. 

Anyways, The real reason I wanted to start blogging wasn't to preach my view on life but to talk about my new obsession, fantasy football!

No not regular boring no skill fantasy football but action packed poker-esque fantasy football! How can fantasy football be like poker? Well, you take fantasy football and you stick it in a blender with ice, fruit, poker tournaments and money and you get Draftday.com. All the fantasy football games are structured like poker tournaments!

You can play Heads up, 3 persons, 5 persons, 10 persons or multi tables! They're structured like Sit and Go'd and poker tournaments! Its the sickest thing ever because I've found a new way to degen besides internet poker. Last week I played 65 games on Draftday.com. Yeah! 65 fucking games!

How does it work? Well You pick a team according to a salary cap. i guess you could call it a draft but you draft a new team every game. Player values go up and down week by week depending on several different factors such as performance and their overall role in the offense.

Its great because you don't get stuck with one shitty fantasy team the whole year. You don't have to deal with that no talent ass clown who gets a lucky draft order and gets Matt Forte and calvin Johnson on the same team. Best of all you don't have to deal with devastating injuries that de-rail the rest of your season.

It takes more skill because you have to play closer attention to more factors such as match ups and history and potential game flow between the 2 teams. 

Anyways, I'm going to use this blog now to discuss fantasy sport strategies and somehow leverage it into a way to make money. I have always loved football. I have been religiously following it for the past 10 or so years. I was so obsessed with it growing up at one point I could tell you every 1st and 2nd round players combine performance from vertical leap to 40 yd dash. I have an excellent feel and understanding of how the game works. I would say I have a better feel and understanding of predicting games and how players will do than most analysts out there.

How could I believe something like that? Well I have something they don't. I don't have a fear of losing my job or being wrong like they do. 

So from this point on my blog will be about my live poker adventures and fantasy sports. I hope you all enjoy. I'm getting sleepy have a great night