Seriously... The downside is obvious. Where's the upside in all of this clusterfk?
For me I think it's going to be realizing that poker isn't what I was really meant to be doing and find some kind of new life path choice that eventually leads me to a happier lifestyle
yay.
Hey guys I posted this on 2+2 and figured you guys could learn from this too.
WARNING: TLDR
Hey guys, I recently moved to Vegas in February after visiting Vegas last summer for the WSOP, and deciding it was a good move. I still think it was a great move, however I fell into a lot of bad habits out here, and I am hoping some of you can learn from my mistakes.
I came out to Vegas with 32k to my name (mostly online, 4k cash) I moved into a poker house of 7 other players. All mostly SNG players, so I couldn't really relate there (I grind rush/stud hi), but most of them are laid back and easy to get along with. As far as living in a poker house, I 100% recommend this. It gives you access to social interaction, poker strategy, and essentially friends. I couldn't imagine coming to this town without knowing absolutely anyone (which I did) and fending for myself. The house didn't really feel homey, so I found it very important to decorate your room with things that remind you of who you are. (easy to forget who you are out here) I still haven't done this, but I feel like it would definitely make it easier to live in such a lucrative material town. (Put up posters of skiing if you like to ski, or of nature if you like to hike etc... things that remind you of the things you enjoy in life) DO NOT forget what you love to do. If you work out, find a local gym, if you play tennis, find someone who also does and make sure you get some tennis in. Make time for yourself, and don't forget poker isn't the only reason you are living. I made this mistake by grinding 24/7 when I first came out here. I became burnt out with in 4 weeks of non stop grinding and went on a massive downswing losing mostly all of my roll after going on a massive upswing. Poker isn't the only thing to do in Vegas.
Vegas is all about gambling/partying/women. There are a lot of options of all three out here. Partying is by far the easiest way to get carried away out here. Every casino has a club and they are all super expensive. Essentially it's best to get bottle service with friends, but going out every weekend can run you a couple hundred easy. This is fine if you have a large bankroll that you can afford such an expensive habit. If not, I'd highly suggest avoiding the clubs, and find some cheaper less flashy clubs (I still have yet to search for these, but I'm sure they are out there, and just as fun) or just find another hobby/habit that isn't as costly to you and your health. When you come out here it is very important to have a plan. If you know you can't handle partying every weekend, because you know it will distract you, than plan on not doing that.
I really didn't map out a solid plan, as I am a stud/rush player, I just figured i'd keep grinding online. I soon found the live grind at a few different casinos and put that 4k that I brought to work. I bought in at the 2/5 games and ran hot, so I jumped in the 5/10 games taking an obvious shot. Things went extremely well for me and I ran up that 4k into 23k. It was at this point that I'd advise everyone to slow down, as when you run up money quick in Vegas I HIGHLY suggest taking at least half of the winnings and secure it in something like your bank account or casino box, whatever, just don't carry around liquid cash with you. Cash runs this town and if you are cash broke it's like a carpenter throwing his hammer out the window. Tell yourself how much money it is that you think you would be happy with grinding the limits you are grinding, and set aside the rest for savings until you are ready to move up stakes. DO NOT just move up stakes because you are winning. This can result in an obvious disastrous downswing if you run bad, in which case you HAVE to move down. Do not get caught up in the ego of poker.
Coming out to Vegas I hadn't really lived with anyone else that had played poker before. Everyone has an ego in poker, and it seems like everyone has an opinion of how everyone else plays/handles their poker. Do your thing and don't worry about anyone else, unless it is to model yourself after someone successful. If you grind 1/2 on a 100k roll and feel comfortable, but everyone calls you a nit... forget them, they clearly don't understand what it is to grind poker for a living. There is no reason to feel like you need to play high stakes to be a respected poker player. (the most successful grinders in my house are 1/2 2/4 grinders that just put in volume) If you are constantly called a degen, maybe these are some flags that you are a little too reckless with your bankroll/money management and should re-evaluate the way you do things. (I'm a degen so I've heard that I'm a degen quite often) Going out to eat at the best restaurants every other day is probably a reason to be called a degen, if you're grinding .50/1.
Restaurants are another huge business in Vegas. There are high quality resteraunts everywhere. You could get kobe beef in 10 restaurants all within 100 feet of each other. Eating smart in Vegas is a must if you want to live here long term. It's very easy to get carried away, especially if your roommates or friends go out to eat a ton. You will save a TON of money if you just go to the supermarket every week and stock up on food. (Make sure to have some sort of healthy diet, since your job has very unhealthy habits) I would also avoid credit card roulette, another thing that poker players often feel pressured to do when out with a bunch of other players. Trust me, if you don't CCR for 2k bills you aren't missing out on much. I got stuck with a $400 bill for one meal of one day of eating and felt miserable afterwards. I also dodged a 1k bill and felt great, but the losing isn't worth the bankroll hit especially if you don't have an expensive taste when you go out to eat. Yes you are still cool if you don't order only kobe and crystal. Yes ladies are impressed if you order expensive champagne, no it does not help your chances of getting laid.
Women in Vegas are like another breed of women I have no idea how to relate to, not to say that you cannot relate to them. Most girls here are material fake tan, fake boobs, blonde hair or dyed haired gold diggers. That being said of course there are a bunch of girls which don't fall into any of those categories, but if you surveyed a club or pool party or casino, I'm sure you'd find some similarities. Meeting girls in Vegas is only as hard as the amount of effort you put in. If you are very outgoing it's very easy to meet girls, especially if they are tourists (tourists obviously are looking for that whatever happens in vegas stays in vegas fling) Meeting girls is a whole other topic that you could inquire in one of Bond18's threads or whatever, as unfortuneatly for me, I am no pick up artist... however I do know how to meet strippers.
The Spearment Rhino is the by far the biggest money pit in Vegas. If you do not know what the rhino is, I highly suggest never finding out. You will thank me in the future. I've spent upwards of 4k in one night at the rhino. (This was after a 12k blackjack heater, but still is inexcusable) The time spent in Rhino should be reserved for special occasions (tournament wins, birthdays, and bros nights out) There is no reason to go there more than once a month if that. If you are a professional poker player, the money and time spent in the rhino will never be worth it. Yes they have the most gorgeous girls in the world there, no you will not pull them out of the club (OK sometimes it happens, but don't count on it) yes you will have a great time for that specific time being, no you will not have fun immediately after leaving the club.
These are just some of the few experiences I've had so far from living in Vegas for two months. It's been a roller coaster ride as always, and I'm holding on for dear life right now (at the end of my biggest downswing ever). So I hope that if any of you are considering moving here, that you be smart about it, because **** new york, if you can make it in vegas, you can make it anywhere. (I'm from New York)
So if you have read my last blog post, you would know that I am on an epic downswing. Mentally I was defeated and my bankroll took a real big hit. So... it's back to the grinding board. Now here is my Dilemma. I play mixed games, I have been profitable in every game I've ever played. My main income came from high stakes razz games and 10 game, however mixed games is hard to really track progress/focus on each game. I also have made a good amount of money in Rush poker. Essentially I don't know which game to focus on to rebuild my roll. My decision on the game I play should account for where the easiest/most profitable games are, however I don't want to grind out a form of poker that will be dried up and tough in a couple of months. So this brings us to CAP PLO. I have some friends that have made millions at CAP PLO and it has always been soft. So I think that CAP Plo is always an option as well.
When picking a game to grind out for a living what are your criteria?
So as most of you know I've moved to Vegas. What a roller coaster ride it has been since I've arrived.Coming to Vegas I had little experience with the city, other than what I experienced during the WSOP. I should have foreseen what could easily happen to me from that last experience. Right before moving to Vegas I went on an upswing (which inspired me to move) due to Tommy Angelo's series. I was disciplined, I was nearly tiltless... I ignored one of the more important statements that Tommy had made during that series. Essentially it stated that if you are a tilter, that you will usually always be a tilter, it's how you deal with the tilt that will determine how well you do. I can emphasis this enough.
After moving to Vegas I indulged myself in live poker. I love live poker and find it fascinating (which many seem to not understand) I did super well for the first 3-4 weeks I was here playing 5/10nl and even taking shots at games I'd only had dreamed about playing in (10/20/40/80) 3 blinds with a straddle. This was not good bankroll management but I had been eager to play and win. Luckily I did well in every game I played winning 24k in a couple of weeks, never thinking once... what If I didn't run so well in those games I played? What would have happened is exactly what ended up happening. I felt like I couldn't be beat live and became super confident in any lineup I played, besting some of the big name pros and local pros.
One day at the end of February I sat down at the Wynn 5/10 game and loaded my standard 2.5k. I took a bad beat. I reloaded instantly forgetting all the steps to the Tommy Angelo process. I lost another 2.5k. This time I ran to my cage and ran back with 4k and reloaded with 4k. (Normally I never buy-in for that) I lost it in a big pot after tilt bluffing some guy in a 3 bet pot. 9k gone in 1 hour. I tilted for the first time in a long time and I forgot how it felt. I hadn't been practicing quitting or stop loss, so you can imagine the rage built up inside of me. I went back to the cage and took out a couple of thousand and went to the blackjack pit... sigh. Lost a bunch of money at black jack. Finally admitting defeat I left the casino with empty pockets and a meager box. I got out of the cab and paid with my credit card for the first time. I got back into the house and instantly went to my computer (another mistake) and lost another 3k online... surely I wasn't playing my best game. So that was it the end of the day and stuck 14k in one day. Not a loss my 57k roll at the time could have handled. From then on it was grinding everyday trying to "win back" the money I had tilted away... Little did I know I was still tilting. The total downswing has accumulated to 40k in the past 2-3 weeks. Every day waking up I have felt miserable and defeated. I knew things had to change.
I tried to remember what it was I was trying to accomplish with my life before poker engulfed it. Fitness... That was important to me before poker attached to my brain like a brain slug from Futurama. (For those who don't watch Futurama refer to the picture below)
Fitness was a start. I started going to the gym more, and watching what I ate. I felt a lot better physically, and mentally I felt like I was slowly regaining my life back. Looking good... It was always important to me to shave every day, dress nice and feel and look good. So shopping online for some clothes (sales are important in time of a downswing) and going tanning/shaving/haircut helped me feel better.
So although I have a long way to go before I accomplish what I want to accomplish with poker, I have to always remember that poker comes second, second to my life. I forgot to live my life and retain my values while being here. It really has set me back a lot, but I've only been here 2 months so I know that I can easily recover and continue on the pursuit of becoming a successful person. (not poker player)
Hey guys,
A lot has happened since my last blog post. Feb 4th I moved out to Las Vegas. I did it. I am a legit professional poker player. I have been grinding brick and mortar casinos as well as online for the last month straight. I had a sick rush when I first got out here followed by a sick fall. I still have a lot to learn. I haven't had too much time (kind of a lie) to really divulge myself back in the deucescracked community (posting/making videos) as I've been really set on playing a lot of live. I'm learning a ton of deepstack poker (which is what rules las vegas essentially) and hope to make a lot of money =]. Other than that things in my life have been good. I workout every other day, and eat like a king. I am going to be doing a Stud Hi short pretty soon, so if you have any idea of what you would like to see let me know!
Ceegee <3
It's almost that time again. The FTOPS. How I loathe playing MTTs yet with no avail everytime the FTOPS series comes around, I get super excited. (Please pay me for saying this FTP)
Every season I get closer and closer to the jersey. This time I'm coming full force. I have decided (just now) to play as many events as possible in order to luckbox a Jersey. I feel like the events in which I'm the most likely to succeed are of course the stud tourneys, but who knows maybe I can go deep in an NLHE or PLO. If anyone would like to prop bet against me winning a glorious Jersey, let me know. I may go nuts with this, as it would definitely inspire me to play well in every MTT I enter, which would definitely be good for my game.
So last blog post was induced by major tilt losing 6-7k in a day. It wasn't a good feeling as I was 6 tabling 25/50 10 game while tired... find how many things are wrong with that sentence. :P Anyway I realized what I did wrong and took a trip to go skiing. I cooled off and came back at it and have earned half what I lost back already after a couple of days. So I feel much better obviously because I earned back half my loses, but mainly because I didn't rage tilt through multiple days like I used to.
My biggest recognition of my tilt, was that I would wake up fire up my computer and instantnly start playing. I need a good 30-60 minute buffer before I even turn on my computer for sure. Imagine rolling out of bed and showing up for work! not a good idea. Also I started playing looonnggg hours which I didn't do during my epic upswing, so I also need to time manage better. Back to play 1 hour sessions and taking a break for me, instead of playing 8-9 hours in a row.
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Hey guys,
I'll be in Vegas until thursday, so if you are out here living in vegas and are a pro grinder, let me know! I'd like to talk about living out here if any of you have time. If you don't have time and live in vegas just reply with some spots you think I should check out for living a a poker player wanting be fairly close to the strip (10-20 minutes)
So it looks like I'm making moves. I'm following my current dream of living out in Vegas. I won't know too many people, but I do know a lot of people from forums/wsop, so I shouldn't have too much of a difficult time making friends, especially since I will be staying with 5-7 guys in a 7k square foot house. This is just the start of a crazy adventure. How it turns out... You'll just have to keep following!
