One thing I really suggest for those who are still playing professionally is to rent out a small office space. Playing at home is great, but it also leads to a lack of productivity in my opinion. If I was continuing as a poker professional I would SNAP get an office. The rent would be minimal compared to the extra productivity you would see in your game and your life. The rent would also be tax-deductible so you're really only paying 70% of the rent, not 100%.



This got really long/personal, so it might be TL: DR, but I always feel like context is important in these situations.

CLIFFS:
1) Do NOT buy into every other poker player's laziness. YOU are free to make YOUR own choices. Just because some people struggle to play 20hrs/week doesn't mean you can't play 30-40.

2) It is a GRADUAL process as the pooh-bah post said.

3) STRUCTURE!

4) STRUCTURE!!

5) STRUCTURE!!!

6) Make sure your schedule also cooperates well with the schedules of your close friends/family. If you plan on grinding every time you get asked to have fun/hang out, I guarantee you will end up choosing having fun more than you will choose work. This results in a lack of productivity which means for many people they will not hit their goals.

7) European sites are GREAT for productivity for US players. The games are most profitable while you are in your prime mental capacity. Try establishing a normal schedule of grinding hard during the week with some weekend hours if you so desire. For me, however, it worked best to just say there was no chance of grinding on Sat/Sun.

8) It is important to be able to completely detach from poker for at least one day a week. This is why I was so happy when I didn't play on Sat/Sun during football season. If you are hanging out with your friends on a Saturday afternoon while a little voice inside your head is saying, "You have only played 18 hours this week you lazy piece of shit, you should be grinding" you are going to be unhappy. I constantly had this drive to WANT to grind more, but it never happened until I had the structure that allowed it. No inhibitions=more fun.

9) Get a cheap office. Guaranteed productivity increase

10) Living with or getting an office together with a fellow grinder = increased productivity as well as learning

11) Monday was my most profitable day...when I didn't play Sat/Sun. I was fresh off a 2 day break every week. It was GREAT. I played a lot of hours on Monday AND my mental state was sharp/fresh. A great combination. I genuinely missed the grind and was excited to be back at the computer on Monday morning. My hours deteriorated as the weeks progressed as well as my playing ability. Wednesday was kind of a breaking point for me and I believe it was my least profitable day. I would often notice this and play fewer hours to sort of recharge the batteries. This somewhat divided the week up into 2, two day long sessions of grinding (Mon/Tues & Thurs/Fri).

12) It is MUCH easier to grind 5 days/week than it is 6 or 7 days/week. Time off is crucial. It was very easy for me to grind hard Mon/Tues, a little less on Wed, and then grind hard on Thurs/Friday knowing that I had all weekend to relax/recover mentally.



I probably missed some stuff in the cliffs, but basically I just want to point out you need to establish a schedule, but you have to tweak it to maximize productivity at the tables AS WELL AS LIFE.

As HU became more popular, action was obv decreasing and I was yet again told by my brain that peak hourly was during the evenings. This, of course, resulted in me playing fewer hours and lacking the same structure I had in Fall 2008. I had this lack of structure from Dec 2008-Summer 2009. Luckily, HU was easy so I was making quite a bit of money. This gave me a false sense of happiness/work ethic. If I was making really good money, I had to be doing something right. #LogicFail



By Summer 2009 I had had enough of the excuses and mental anguish of not playing enough hours and lack of structure. I decided it was time to grind and do it right. I started grinding a little harder in July, even harder in August (building the mental muscle as the pooh bah post says). August 2009 was my most profitable month to date and I'm guessing it ranked towards the top of my hours played in a month.



From late August-early Nov 2009 was the hardest I worked at online poker. The best part was, it didn't feel like I was working that hard. I enjoyed it. Why? I was playing a very set schedule. I would wake up at the same time every day (8:15am), get breakfast and hit the tables. I played Monday through Friday. I basically NEVER, EVER touched poker on Saturday or Sunday. Saturday and Sunday were dedicated days off. It was very easy to take Saturday/Sunday off during the Fall. Saturday was dedicated to college football, Sunday to the NFL and then awesome Sunday night shows like Californication/Entourage/etc. If my family wanted to do something during the weekend, I could snap accept the invitation and not feel guilty about missing work. My work was already done Monday-Friday. Shockingly, (not) I had back-to-back-to-back best months Aug/Sept/Oct. I came down with an illness in Nov and was all aboard the fail train after that. I reverted to my old habits and the laziness/unhappiness came back.



I started chiropractic school in July 2010 and yet again poker became fun/exciting. It was my escape and I averaged prob 15-20hrs when exams weren't a bitch. I was putting in 60hrs+ every week between school and poker AND I still went out my new friends from school AND I still watched all kinds of football AND I hung out my family a fair amount. Why was I being so productive? STRUCTURE! I only had a small window to do each of these things, so they always got done. If poker is your full-time job, it's just so easy to say "F it, I'll grind later." If you have 2hrs of free time to play poker in your busy schedule, you play 2hrs of poker.

This is an email I wrote in Summer 2011 to thisbetom and IcarusJam regarding a 2+2 post about playing poker professionally. I do not remember where this post/thread is on 2+2. I have posted this blog in 3 parts as it's the only way for the blog to work correctly

I want to start off by saying that he is 100% correct about the sedentary lifestyle. Poker turns into a sedentary lifestyle for those who want to be sedentary. If you are a social being, you will seek out social situations to fill your desires. Many poker players, however, are the nerdy shut-in types who would prefer to be alone/sedentary. I think poker players who aren't sedentary kind of fell into a self-fulfilling prophecy of being sedentary. They heard so much about being sedentary/anti-social that they replicated the behavior, even if it made them less happy. Being sedentary/anti-social works well for those who were always that way, but it doesn't work for the person who enjoys going out and seeking adventure. YOU have to decide what makes you happy, you can't just fall into a stereotypical role of being a stay-at-home nerd.



The next thing I want to talk about is how to decide when to play, how many hours, etc. Personally, I was in my last 2 yrs of undergrad when I found poker and absolutely loved it. It was an escape from the rigors of Biology. I probably averaged 15-20hrs of playing and watched a lot of videos/read 2+2 A LOT back in those days. When I graduated, however, my hours at the table didn't really increase. I still averaged about 20hrs/week (80hrs/month). It made me feel miserable about myself. I went from being one of the hardest working persons I knew (balancing both school and poker), to one of the laziest I knew. Who the hell puts in 20hrs/week at their only job? I was and it made me mad. I knew it had to change, but I still struggled to change. I structured sessions and made a temporary schedule, but that NEVER worked. I either took on too big of a change (this is the mental muscle part of the pooh bah post) as well as being forced to play on Friday/Saturday/Sunday. Guess what? Working on Fri/Sat/Sun is impossible to me. My immediate family all lives within a couple hours of me, so we often get together on the weekends. It wasn't going to be difficult for me to say, "no, I can't come b/c I have to play poker." In reality, it was no different than saying, "I have to work" but it is a lot easier to tell your friends/family you have to work. Try telling them you HAVE to play poker and you will get a very different reaction (you are a degen). They don't understand (rightfully so) how difficult it was to play 6max on a Monday from 9am-5pm. It was crazy to attempt to play 6max at those hours. So, I would end up playing 20hrs scattered throughout the week including the weekends, but often I would get less b/c I would go to an impromptu gathering of family for the day. I am a very structured person and poker was making me unhappy. I wanted so badly to work 9-5 during the week and have the entire weekend to myself so I could do what I wanted to do with my friends/family.



About 4-5 months after graduation (May 2008 to Sept 2008) I ventured into heads up cash. This was a life changing moment. HU action/hourly was quite similar at all times of the day. I started waking up at 8am or 9am, and then I would play all morning, take a lunch break, and then play a little more in the afternoon. I'm not sure how many hours I was averaging, but I can tell you I was a much happier person. I was waking up at a normal time. I was also MUCH more structured (grind a lot mornings/afternoons during the week, very little on the weekend). The biggest thing I noticed was my clear thinking ability early in the day. With 6max, I always tried to play at peak times. I would wake up at noon, waste the afternoon away, and then grind intermittently from 6pm-2am. I don't know about you guys, but I play considerably worse late in the evening when I am tired. I wasted my peak performance time (12pm-6pm) b/c the games weren't that good. Was I making more money playing from 6pm-2am? Yes Was it making me miserable? YES!

I couldn't have been happier with poker from January1st-April 14th. I was still doing very well at heads up and was really starting to earn a large, additional income from Rush and playing non-Rush midstakes 6max/9max chasing homeless, bearded men (bums obv). April 15th wasn't too bad of a blow in bankrolls (~10k stuck, half on Cereus, half on FT). Hopefully we can get the majority of FT moniez in early 2012 and I'm hoping to get $500-1000 from Cereus. Mentally, however, Black Friday was a train wreck. I had finally decided to say F school and real world, play poker for 4-6 years, make a mirrrrion in that timeframe, and then go from there. My potential poker income was hurt dramatically with FT/Cereus being two of the best sites out there. When Rush Poker disappeared, I especially knew there was not a bright enough poker future for me to move out of the country (not that I ever really considered it, I am a homebody).

As you prob know, I decided to pursue Accounting for a couple reasons. One, I'm good with numbers. Two, it pays a fair wage. Three, it offers solid prospects of landing and keeping a job which is vital. I've got 2 summer classes and then 4 classes this fall under my belt and I can honestly say I'm happy with the choice. I now realize Biology and health care related fields were not my ideal field. It's too bad I didn't figure that out 6-7 years ago. Oops! I have no regrets though, just choose to learn from the past.

As far as poker has been going, I've maybe averaged $1k/month since Black Friday. I'm not sure if that's sustainable as my time played has dropped as I became more immersed in school this Fall and I really have no clue where my true hourly lies at the moment. To be honest, I don't really care and awful lot about poker now. I'll play quite in the next couple weeks before school starts up Jan. 17th, but not sure how much time I'll have this semester. Unless I can pull a nice internship for this summer, I'll probably be heading to Canada or Vegas to play online poker depending on US legislation developments and how the NV poker sites develop between now and May. The biggest motivation for going to Canada would be to have Rush Poker on FTP2 or supposedly Stars is going to start offering a Rush variation. I think Rush type games have a big future in online poker as they take away a lot of the scummy shit poker players do. Zero table selection, zero waitlists, zero bumhunting. I love love love Rush and I find it very difficult to tolerate having to find tables, join waitlists, etc.

What I look forward to in 2012:
1) Getting a nice fat refund of taxes, ship it
2) Putting forth a great effort in school
3) Getting a nice chunk of my FT/Cereus bankrolls (pretty please?)
4) Having a profitable, but fun Summer. Whether I'm in Vegas or Toronto, I do plan on getting to know some more poker players while maintaining some semblance of a work ethic. It doesn't really pay to move across the country or up north if you're going to be a lazy POS.
5) Gimme some legal US poker sites (pretty, pretty please?)

2011 Graphical


Cheers

It's been quite some time since I've blogged. I'm gonna recap poker and school separately for those who want to skip over either section.

SCHOOL

For those who don't remember, I'm seeking an Accounting degree. I never took a business class in my life, but I can with 100% certainty say that poker has made business classes easy. I have 3 semesters left and will graduate May 2013. I could possibly get the Master's which would be May 2014.

I started off taking Accounting/Microecon this summer and managed to pull an A+ in both (thanks poker!). This fall semester went great as well. I still don't have three of my four grades back, but there shouldn't be any serious sweat. I just wrapped up finals Friday night and we don't start school for a whole MONTH! It's nice to wake up and have no responsibilities. This month long break is obviously a great segue to the next section...


POKER

I lost a lot of interest in poker following April 15th due to a lot of factors. One of the reasons includes feeling like I got "burned" by poker/DoJ/etc. This is kind of a silly reason for losing interest in the game, but the brain does not act rationally following major life events. Another reason I wasn't too motivated to play was the huge pay cut I took after the indictments. It's mentally challenging to face such a paycut, but eventually I had to suck it up and realize I still have a huge opportunity to make significant amount of money via online poker.

My playing habits from May-present were sporadic at best. There were times I would play a few days in a row. I can also recall plenty of times I didn't play for a week straight. Many of you probably know that Bodog recently made a bunch of dumb changes to their software, so I've moved my play away from Bodog. I've figured out the four table max was driving my motivation into the ground. As a former Rush player, playing 300 hands/hr on Bodog without rakeback made me want to stab my eyes.

I've got big plans for poker over the next month. I've been 9 tabling 0.25/0.50 on a deposit on a new site since final exams concluded Friday night. I've put in about 10k hands so far. It's nice to be able to play a lot of hands and actually have the possibility of a sample size big enough to lessen the effects of variance. I'm not sure what bankroll size I'll start taking shots at 0.5/1. I'm thinking about 2k or 2.5k. Hopefully that happens sooner rather than later and hopefully I don't have to move back down! I'd like to get in 100k hands before school starts up. The only thing standing in the way is laziness. I'll write a 2011 recap just before the new year.

Step 1) Have a Twitter account
Step 2) Follow this account: https://twitter.com/#!/PPADailyAction This account will show you the daily action plan and give you easy access each day without having to dig through 2+2
Step 3) Complete the actions suggested in Post #1 (this post is edited daily) of the Daily Action thread on 2+2: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/29...t-1-a-1044393/
Step 4) Participate daily (or as often as you would like)
Step 5) Type "Please follow @PPADailyAction to support online poker efforts" to your followers and hopefully we can spread the word

That's it! Easy and quick. If you don't have Twitter you can simply check Post #1 in the 2+2 thread linked above.

My motivation to play online poker has been slowly dwindling. I was never able to put in a lot of hands/hours when playing 6max. For some reason it makes my motivation tank. After April 15th, it is pretty tough to play HU as an American and frankly it would be downright stupid to have bankroll on every site. I can also blame Rush Poker. If Rush Poker were still around, I am quite certain I could grind a lot more.

In May I managed to put in 53hrs, but last month I only managed 32hrs. That is pretty pathetic and I'm not sure if the risk of losing a bankroll to the DOJ is worth it when you only play 32hrs in a month. Granted, I am taking a couple of classes and it is summer, but I don't feel like I have the capability of playing much more than 30-40hrs/month.

I would probably quit poker, but the money is likely just too enticing. The more I play poker the more I realize my main reason for playing has always been money. When I was trying to learn the game and improve I loved every minute of it, but now it just seems boring/monotonous especially given the games are much tighter than they used to be. I get a lot of enjoyment out of watching people make dumb plays, but I don't get a lot of enjoyment out of seeing the money only go in the middle when one nit has a set and the other nit has top 2pr.

When school starts up full-time in August I'm not quite sure what I will do with regards to poker. There is a possibility I will quit, but if I could make living expenses sitting at the computer 10hrs/week, that seems pretty awesome too. I'm kind of torn at this point. I do know the odds of another DOJ indictment increase with every passing day (investigations take time, the longer we give the DOJ to make a case, the more likely an indictment is just around the corner). I believe the April 15th indictments were in the works for 2yrs+ and especially in the last year. EV of playing starts to decrease as an indictment becomes more likely.

Mostly just rambling out my thoughts so I can decide what the hell my game plan is, but so hard to make up my mind at this point. I might drop down from $0.5/1 to $0.25/0.50 and hopefully be more relaxed and it would also limit the amount of exposure I would have to the DOJ.

Another thing I wanted to say is that I am considering going to Canada over the holiday break. University break would start Mid-December and end Mid-January, so I could get in a solid month of grinding on non-US sites.

I just read a leaked draft of the bill. Everything is as good as we could hope. This bill is necessary, but most of what we as players care about (tax on site, etc) would come from regulators after enactment. Getting this passed, however, is currently priority #1. This bill should get near unanimous support from poker players.

http://pokerati.com/2011/06/23/text-of-the-barton-bill/

I have been EXTREMELY lazy and complacent doing nothing since April 15th. The end of online poker as we knew had a large impact on me mentally. I've had delusional, irrational thoughts about the present and future. Luckily I haven't been beating myself up too much about the past, but I'm sure there are plenty out there who are upset they put in low volume when they considered themselves professional.

It is time to get my shit together and start being productive. Current priorities for Summer 2011 are:
1) I am taking a couple classes this summer. One is online (Microeconomics) and the other is on-campus (Intro to Financial Accounting). These are top priority. Ideally I will be applying for internships in the Fall so I want to get 4.0 in these two classes.

2) If I'm going to have money on a poker site, I need to be playing quite a bit of poker to justify the risk of my bankroll. I simply have not been playing enough to justify the roll I have online. Priority two is online poker. I have played live a few times since April 15th and learned a lot. I will be avoiding live poker for now as my hourly will be higher online. If it becomes evident we will not get paid online winnings I will be going to the casino to earn income.

3) Take care of myself. I need to start exercising more often. Now that I will be out of the house I think it will be easier to get to the gym. Just stop by on my way home from class. I hardly ever have to leave the house as a professional poker player, so it is super easy to say no to going to the gym.

4) Last, I want to focus on getting my fucking money from Full Tilt. If they haven't paid out by the time I'm done with class (July 29th), I am definitely considering a trip to Canada between end of July-start of school (Aug 22nd?). I need to get my passport ASAP.

Hope everyone is coping well with the demise of online poker. GL in Vegas to those headed to the World Series.