Three Years in Las Vegas

[J.A.Sucker]

Dude, get the dell 20.3" ones. They are sick. I have two.

[Dynasty]

My monitors are the very popular Dell 2001FP.

[John Cole]

Rick,

You mean a descent into poker mediocrity. Certainly not as a human being, my friend.

[sublime]

bump-

just read this again, what a great story.

[tek]

I don't think anyone like their 9-5 jobs. However, I still think it's prudent to at least have a 20 hour a week job to pay the essentials. Poker is hard enough without going into the poker rooms saying in the back of your mind "gotta win tonight-gotta pay the rent...).

Having some kind of guaranteed cash coming in is psychologically beneficial. Scared money loses because you tense up and don't make moves you would make if you were in a position of stength (strength from the aspect of your life in general).

But for those who burn their bridges and really play with no support structure, props to you.

[West]

Well he did say above in one of his replies that he had enough money to cover more than a years' worth of living expenses when he went out there.

I agree 100% though - perhaps the #1 rule of poker should be to avoid putting yourself in positions (playing above your bankroll) that will inevitably cause you to play with fear, because of the financial pressure.

[4thstreetpete]

[ QUOTE ]
I don't think anyone like their 9-5 jobs. However, I still think it's prudent to at least have a 20 hour a week job to pay the essentials. Poker is hard enough without going into the poker rooms saying in the back of your mind "gotta win tonight-gotta pay the rent...).

Having some kind of guaranteed cash coming in is psychologically beneficial. Scared money loses because you tense up and don't make moves you would make if you were in a position of stength (strength from the aspect of your life in general).

But for those who burn their bridges and really play with no support structure, props to you.

[/ QUOTE ]

I often wonder why is that when people decide to go pro that they don't at least look for a part time job that they enjoy for maybe 20 hours a week. Do they actually hate working that much?

I very much agree with your post. Playing with scared money can't be a good thing. When I do decide to go pro I will no doubt take on a part time profession to fill in the time and do something that I really enjoy like web development or a graphics artist etc. and having a little bit left over to pay for the essentials without having to rely on strictly poker winnings.

[niwotyalpi]

Wow. I know this is an old post, but I just now caught it. Absolutely amazing post. Thanks for the thoughts.

[Dynasty]

I played in a chess tournament this weekend at the Boylston Chess Club in Boston and met my friend David Glickman there. We talked about what I've been doing in Vegas over the last several years and I mentioned this post.

David runs the BCC's blog and posted my original post on their website.

http://boylston-chess-club.blogspot.com/

You can see a blurry picture of me above the story. I'm the guy in the middle with the black t-shirt watching two other friends (Paul Mishkin and Charlie Mays) analyzing a game. I can't place where that photo was taken, though.

[GreywolfNYC]

This is still far and away one of the best posts ever on 2+2.