Turning the Tide

Been a while since I have entered the blogosphere (do people still use that term and think it sounds techy and cool?)
Black Friday was a kick in the nuts for me - I was having a pretty solid year at the tables and was really getting into Rush Poker. My goal was to be playing 400 rush by the end of the year. I was keeping an unreasonable % of my worldly funds on FTP so I could take shots at 400 and hadn't put in a withdraw for awhile. Consequently, I have a lot of money stuck on FTP and I'm a bit worried about it. I also just gained readmission at my University, and was relying on poker to pay my bills and pay for school, so I wouldn't have to get a job and go to school full time. Now everything is in limbo again. I have been grinding on Cake and Merge since Black Friday, but withdrawing from either of those sites is a big question mark. The only ewallet that seemingly remained for Americans - UseMyWallet, was basically shut down for US business the other day. It is no longer an option for most poker sites, and some people's money is in limbo now. The only reliable method of WD for now seems to be checks on Merge, and who knows how long before that is cracked down on?

My coaching business has also suffered - more than half of my students have been American, and now almost NO Americans want to invest in coaching, for obvious reasons. Luckily I still have some European students taking advantage of my new lower rates, and I thank you guys.
I think that my coaching and playing are better than ever, it's unfortunate that the climate is so terrible for the profession I've worked so hard to attain skill at. Hopefully brighter days are ahead for American online poker, and hopefully I can find some way to make a living now and go to school - I am worried and stressed though.

On to less gloomy matters though! Playing on Merge has actually been pretty fun. I deposited only $500 because I didn't want to risk much. I started out playing 50nl full ring, and now I am grinding 50-100 full ring and 50-100 plo 6max, about 75/25. Here is my graph so far at Merge - crushed 50nl for 17bb/100 over 15k hands and have taken it from there!



If anyone has questions about Merge, Cake or any other networks that are options for US players right now, feel free to PM me. Also check out my latest two videos - one is a 100nl Rush video 4 tabling. The other is a 'Tool Time' which is a powerpoint going over the options for US players post-black friday. You may find it informative if you are looking for a place to play in these dark times.