September 01, 2011
Black Friday- 6 Months Later
A couple days ago I had to turn down US Open tickets. Not the first round like I saw last year, the US Open quarters at night. Something I watch every year and an event that would be incredible to see live I had to pass on. As Rick Pitino once said "It sucks...it stinks and it sucks". I've been slowly realizing the affects of not making > $100/hour over the lats 6 months but this is when it set in for good. In the immediate future, gone are the days of the random trips, and unnecessary spending while I'm making some money it's not nearly what it once way.
While I can't complain too much, this summer has been great this was the day I was scared of. It almost feels like whoever shut down poker in America has won. While there are many sad stories about people with gambling addictions playing poker I gotta imagine there are several with many successful poker players. Those who paid their taxes, worked hard to succeed, and turned a game into a living. There's always two sides to every story and it seems as though a few people in congress didn't care when they were trying to shut it down over the years.
The fact of the matter is and I'm preaching to the choir here I'm sure is that it is a skill game. You look at long term results and the true skill of a player comes out 99% of the time. This isn't like going to the casino and playing craps, the good players have the edge and it'll come out over time, I guess that's the most frustrating part. Along with the fact that I still haven't heard a good reason the government shutting it down.
However I think the most deflating is just that I miss playing. I miss just firing up 2-4 tables and going against whoever came along. When black Friday hit I was having a blast learning PLO and seeing the progress I was making. I was also going to learn mixed games (actually thinking about doing that during my time off) just because those seemed new and interesting to me. I miss making videos and talking about interesting situations. I've often said that some of the most interesting people I've ever met was through coaching poker and guiding someone from 50-200nl was a great feeling and I no longer have the opportunity to do that.
So here we are 6 months later and it's humbling. I've now seen the full effects of April 15th, 2011 and there just no good that has come from it. Right now I feel like Mike McD in rounders when people who know my situation ask how I'm doing I generally respond with "I've been living a little light" like he tells worm. Hopefully there's a time in the the future where I'm able to make a triumphant return, but for now I'm humbled and it's completely frustrating since it's 100% out of my control.
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"It is always the secure who are humble." ` Gilbert Keith Chesterton.
7 Comments:
HJD posted on September 01, 2011 at 18:59 PM
im guessing moving to canada or somewhere is out of the question?
also, you could probably still coach people from 50-200nl. even at a slightly reduced rate if people dont like the idea of being coached by someone who isnt actually playing in the games atm.
bosoxx34 posted on September 01, 2011 at 19:34 PM
Yeah moving isn't really an option.
Thought about coaching at a reduced rate but I'm so rusty right now and gotta imagine there are better coaches out there.
Ass Get to Jigglin posted on September 01, 2011 at 22:42 PM
This country has become a fascist police state.
delcrossb posted on September 02, 2011 at 00:23 AM
The market is kind of flooded with rusty NL coaches and unless you were some kind of massive crusher, no one is particularly interested.
It is also grossly offensive to me and all of my relatives who had to escape ACTUAL fascist police states to come to America to label the US the same.
soleztis posted on September 02, 2011 at 06:11 AM
bosoxx and delcrossb I agree that "The market is kind of flooded with rusty NL coaches", but I don't think no one is interested. There are still plenty of people playing 25-200nl on Merge, and a lot of PLO games going, too. I currently am playing 50nl and thinking about hiring another coach soon. And if I'm thinking about it, I'm sure others are. I think what you guys, and most other DC coaches, have to offer in terms of experience and knowledge far exceeds anything that a player like myself can figure out alone. If you have considered offering coaching at discounted rtes, I strongly encourage you to do it. At worst people don't sign up.
Ass Get to Jigglin posted on September 02, 2011 at 20:28 PM
I meant no offense whatsoever Delcrossb, I'm sorry if I did offend you.
I realize what we have in the U.S. isn't nearly as extreme, but when the military-industrial complex and corporations are running the show and dictating policy in Washington, laws that diminish our privacy under the guise of providing us with security are passed, we can get worse jail punishment for non-violent drug use than a murderer or rapist, and our personal liberties are consistently being taken away little by little, this country certainly resembles aspects of a fascist state, though I do agree that labeling it as an outright "fascist police state" as I did in my OP was clearly hyperbole and wrong. But that still doesn't mean that we don't have a ton to be upset/worried about with this country.
molotok posted on September 03, 2011 at 08:02 AM
Merge PLO games are bad! Worse than AP/UB by far. It's pain in the ass to set up HM for that, and you have a few tables running at a time, so game selection goes out of the window. They don't have mixed games running ever, so that sucks too. I wish there was a way to stay sharp, but at the moment i'd rather play live plo. Higher win rates, less variance, less d-gen attitude, feel good about crushing live regs!
People say that East Ciast live players suck, they suck moosecock at plos!
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