I've asked a couple of people if they were interested in doing some coaching. I've been reading their forum posts and blogs and thought they did an excellent job in their analysis of hands. If all goes well I'll keep people posted on the ins and outs of coaching and how it all works.

I had been doing very well in poker recently until today :(
I lost the most ever for me in one day...$1500. Although I'm slightly upset, I played all of the hands correctly (I think) except one. I was a favorite in most of the hands and got sucked out on...what can you do?

I also bought a Wii. Yay for me, I have a Wii! To tell you the truth I feel a little...well you know...for buying one but whatever. I had won some money and wanted to treat myself to something so I made an impulse buy. My gf is happy.

I didn't win the protege contest

Q@$%!@#$%@#$^@#$^@#^@#$^@#

I mentioned before that I applied for Taylor Caby’s protégé contest and I was thinking last night about what my realistic chances are of winning. My few paragraphs would have to stand out from everyone elses and I’m not sure if I did that. I’m sure much of my responses were just as generic as the rest. The one original thing I did do was cancel my membership and then rejoin a week later so that I could enter the smaller pool of contestants filled with new signees. Then I started thinking about why I want it so badly. The obvious choice would be money but it’s much deeper than that for me.

It’s for freedom. I can hear Mel Gibson screaming it out right now…FREEDOM!!!!


I have a full time job and have no inclination to quit that job for a poker lifestyle. I don’t make a ton of money but I live comfortably. The extra money I make from poker gives me the freedom to do what I could not with my normal income. I feel very bogged down by the working suburbian life. We live in a society where work dominates your time. The standard 9 to 5 day and commute times leaves only a few hours a day for yourself to enjoy and most of the time you’re too tired anyways. Throw kids into the mix and you might as well forget about doing things for yourself (can you tell I don’t have any yet? :). In the short time that I’m on this planet I want to experience it. I want to see many different parts of the world.

Poker gives me that option. I used some of my winnings and took my girlfriend to Mexico over Christmas for 10 days. We didn’t choose the popular beach locations but delved into some culture in Mexico City and the surrounding areas exploring some ancient Aztec ruins. It was amazing and it only fuels my fire to see more. Since poker is not part of my normal income it’s easier to spend it. I know this doesn’t make sense but psychologically it works for me.

So what next?...what if I don’t win the contest? I know that coaching would be beneficial for my game. I’m a winning player but I have leaks and it’s hard to plug them all through self reflection. A kid can play basketball his whole life and shoot basket after basket day after day for hours (like I did) and become a great shooter. Yet there are always small changes in mechanics that would improve the shot that the shooter is unable to see. If I don’t win the contest I will start looking for some coaches. The difficult part is finding someone who is a good fit and priced reasonably.

I’m also considering doing some coaching for free. Why would I do that and who would want to learn from me? Well…I am a winning player and could help out a low level player improve. More importantly why would I want to? Teaching is not a one way street. I’ve mentioned before that I am a teacher and when you start out teaching, even though you have a firm grasp on the material, when you explain it to someone else you get a much firmer grip on everything. Someone may not understand the way you’re explaining something and you have to think of another way to present it. This only strengthens the knowledge you have on the subject. Students also ask questions that you haven’t thought of and make you see things in a new light. I would assume that I would get the same result from coaching poker. I’ll make my decision on these things after Taylor announces my name.

FREEDOM!!!!

I haven't posted in awhile because I came to the realization "Who really gives a crap what I have to say?" I talked to Dante and he reeled me back in a little. I originally was going to talk about my trip to Mexico City or my recent 5th place screw up in the Cake 100k but settled on an event from today.

The following is a true story:

As many other members at cardrunners I applied for the Taylor Caby protege contest. I've been checking his blog and the forums daily to see if the winners have been announced. All of this is having an effect on my subconscious as I had a dream about it.

In the dream I was hanging out with Taylor drinking some beer and he was introducing me to a bunch of different people. Many of his friends said, "You must be Jeremy" which led me to believe in my dream that I was one of the winners. A gambling game started up where everyone received one card face up and the buyin was $1000. Although out of my price range I forked it over since I would be making some money once the lessons started. I lost.

At one point everyone was talking about where to go out that night and I looked down and noticed that I was wearing warmup pants and a t-shirt and needed to change. Next thing I know I'm in different clothes and everyone was getting ready to go out. There was one taxi and everyone wouldn't fit. Taylor says, "Hey man, It was nice hanging out with you...see you later" and proceeds to get in the car leaving me standing outside. Humiliated I yelled "F@#! you guys!" and began to walk home.

"Oh, we didn't know you wanted to go...come on"

"Screw you bastards" and I walked home which happened to be on the corner. My place was above a strip mall with a food court where I saw a girl crying that I used to mess around with years ago. Suave as can be I said "You want to come upstairs and talk?" She followed me up the stairs and as I led her into my place.....

my damn alarm goes off! No joke. I'm humiliated in a dream and I can't even make it better by getting a little.

Hopefully I can't foresee the future even though I am the Swami. I want to win that damn contest.

My parents live out of state and so do one of my good friends parents, so for the past 2 years we've made a turkey, drank beer and watched football. Here's this year's turkey...

Turkey

Luckily we had a backup plan.

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