A day in the life

As per request from a fellow tweeter (or twitterer, not sure what the proper term is), I'm going to talk about a typical but busy day for me. That day also happens to be today. Today was busier than usual for me because I'm leaving for a wedding in Santa Barbara this weekend then heading to Los Angeles for the tail end of the LAPC where I pursue my adventures in live tournaments (plus live cash games). I will be updating my progress on my trip include all my tournament runs on twitter for those interested. You can find the link to the right for those interested. (I always say there's better things to do than follow twitter but I guess millions of people think differently...tbh I've become more active on twitter so I guess I'm falling for that twitter bug).























Anyway I woke up at 8am today (gasps from all the new generation of poker players, some thinking that's when they go to bed) to see my kid off to school. I've talked about this before but I like to take care of my family duties before anything else and that includes poker. The last thing I want my daughter to see is her father immersed in the world of poker...poker is just a means of providing a good life for my family and myself. I want to show my kid that poker is just a job and I want be the best dad that I can be, especially in her eyes. Naturally the next thing I do is head straight back to bed for a couple more hours of sleep. I'm one of those people that needs 8hrs+ of sleep or I'll be cranky all day. Somehow my wife loves talking to me while I'm snoozing even though she realizes this. I guess the trade off of having somebody "listening" to her is worth me being cranky all day. Women.

So I woke up again at 11am, do a little prep work for the podcast I cohost w/ Jeremiah Smith called "Cash Plays". I also drink my French Vanilla Slimfast for lunch. Losing weight is hard. We interviewed Greg "FBT" Mueller about his recent appearance on Poker After Dark. Greg and I actually go back a long ways. When I started playing poker for a living 13 years ago in Vancouver, Canada I tangled w/ him often in the limit hold'em games around town (yeah, the dark ages of poker, before nl hold'em became popular, before online poker was introduced). I knew then that he would become big time in poker because of his loud personality but more because of how sick good he was at poker. We also interviewed Jared Tendler, a poker mental game coach. Also we did our hand 2 hand combat where we break down a hand or two from cash games. Anyway for those interested the podcast will be available on PokerRoad and Cardrunners next Tuesday.

Then I spent the next two hours coaching a student, actually my only student currently. I've been hesitant to jump into coaching for a few reasons, mostly because I can't match my hrly coaching vs. playing. I'm coaching this particular person because she's a good friend of a good friend (and I am getting paid). I've been mulling getting into coaching on the side and will announce it here if I do decide to do it.



















After this it's time for dinner and my wife, kid, and I head off to Hot 'N' Juicy Crawfish for dinner. We invite a friend of my wife's and her 2 kids and order a few lbs of juicy crawfish and crab. I shy away from the crawfish...just seems like too much work for too little meat...plus sucking the juices out of the heads doesn't sound appealing to me. I order 2 lbs of snow crab legs, medium spice, 1lb in garlic butter flavor and 1lb in hot'n'juicy flavor.

I come home and see how my bets in sports did. I have a guy that has been a handicapper for years and has a winning track record so I bet his plays. He put out Nashville -115 and Edmonton +115 and both won (dingX2). I bet relatively small compared to what I make in poker so even if I run bad here I don't lose much (compared to my poker bankroll). This is the mini degeneracy in me..but very mini...and again I actually expect to come out ahead in the long run.

I decide to put in a session of online poker. After winning $1800 last night playing $5/$10 at the Venetian (thank you pocket Aces and old man gone wild syndrome) I decide to test my mettle vs. the virtual world tonight. I hop into some $3/$6 and $5/$10 nl 6max games on FTP and run pretty good and win $2200 in about an hr (only if I can sustain this hrly). Graph of my session tonight...























Now I have a couple of more things left to do for the day. I need to finish up my next video for Cardrunners. I will probably use the footage from tonight's play and just add my commentary for a nice polished product and ship it to my bosses at CR. Believe it or not but making a poker video is quite a lot of work..not just from my end but from the editing department and management before they put out the final product. So I thank you guys that put in the time and effort to put out the final product.

After this I will go through all my mail and bills and make sure everything is up to date. I had a personal assistant before that handled all of this but it didn't quite work out. I'm on the lookout for a PA actually so if anybody knows of a good one for a reasonable price, feel free to let me know.

Things that I didn't do today that I wish I had include getting in a workout, watching a poker video, doing some poker analysis, or reading something about poker theory/concepts, doing that Pokernews article Kristy asked me for (postponed til tomorrow), and spending some time w/ my kid...after all I'll be gone for a couple of weeks and away from my kid.

Realistically my days aren't this busy (eg the podcast is once every 2 weeks, along w/ making a video for CR) but having to leave town for a couple of weeks, and being the procrastinator I am, today just turned out to be a very busy but productive day.

So is my life baller? Probably not, but hey, my family is taken care of and I'm enjoying my life and really, that's all that counts.

Finally a shout out to my buddies Adam Friedman who got 2nd in the $1k FTOPS 10 game mix for $38k (but seriously, how did you not win it after having a 6-1 chip lead hu??!!) and Jaymes Rosenthal (you need to come to CR from that other training site) for taking down the recent Venetian Deep Stack tournament for $15k and a trophy...both occurred today. Hopefully I can make my own magic happen next week in Los Angeles.

Oh, here is my setup/grind station as requested @PokerLawyer ;) A few months old (there's a football game on tv) and a lot cleaner than it is right now.

Fixing leaks online and irl

I played one of my worst hands in recent memory last night.
No-Limit Hold'em, $4.00 BB (6 handed) - Hold'em Manager Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com



Hero (BB) ($438.80)

UTG ($844.70)

MP ($1281.50)

CO ($406)

Button ($551)

SB ($561.40)



Preflop: Hero is BB with A, 5

4 folds, SB bets $10, Hero raises $32, SB calls $24



Flop: ($72) J, A, 6 (2 players)

SB checks, Hero bets $44, SB calls $44



Turn: ($160) 4 (2 players)

SB checks, Hero checks



River: ($160) Q (2 players)

SB bets $95, Hero raises $358.80 (All-In), SB calls $263.80



Total pot: $877.60



Results:

SB had J, Q (two pair, Queens and Jacks).

Hero had A, 5 (one pair, Aces).

Outcome: SB won $874.60


My riv shove is absolutely bar none horrible. I am repping only 2 possible hands, KT and QQ and there are very few combos of both. Also I should bet the turn. I was prob. a little frustrated in the fact that I was up $3500 right off the bat and slowly gave it all back, w/ this hand at the end of my downswing. I am guilty of tilting from time to time, although I tend to do so less often than most. Also, I have been thinking about certain hands where I lost more than I should have. I think within the past 3-4 days, I have lost at least $1000 when I should have known better, whether it was spewing or paying off when I was obv. beat. I beat myself up over those mistakes cuz those are the mistakes that I can control and try my best to not make the same mistakes in the future.

Tilting is prob. one of the biggest leaks for any poker player. I remember reading a 2+2 thread in the hsnl section and the topic was, "What is the single most important attribute to be a successful poker player" (or something of that nature). You have choices like hand reading skills, mathematical ability, etc. Most of the successful high stakes guys said mental approach to the game was the most important, and I tend to agree. This inc. self awareness and tilting (or ability to not tilt). If you can get a firm handle on your mental approach to poker, you are on the right path. Anyway, after going up $3500, I went on a $4500 downswing, but managed to gather myself before I went monkey crazy and ended up $1300 winner. Also, I have started to mix in a $5-10 table or 2, so I am slowly moving up stakes (I'll be raising Ivey and Antonius in no time :) )

In real life news, I went to see my doctor the other day and the news wasn't that great. Turns out I am prediabetic, as well as on the verge of having high cholesterol. It wasn't that much of a surprise to me though, w/ my lifestyle the past 10 yrs. Just sitting on your ass all day playing poker while not getting much physical activity will do that I guess. Also, living in Vegas, you're just surrounded by temptations everywhere, good and bad. There are numerous good restaurants and buffets around. Don't get me wrong though, my family and I love living in Vegas. We live in a great area relative to the Vegas strip...not too close, but not too far, and also in a very family oriented neighborhood (brag: also on a golf course). Snapshots of views from my home, starting w/ my setup..

From the 3rd floor..yes, the 3rd floor...

From the balcony, over my backyard..



















Master bathtub, overlooking hole #10 I believe, w/ our cat in the corner...



















Growing up I was very much into sports and still am a big sports fan (NO winning the SB was great, inc. monetary wise for me). As the years passed, and I started playing more poker, I ended up getting lazier and getting less and less inv. in any kind of physical activity. It's prob. one of the pitfalls of playing poker professionally. You don't have a set schedule and no one telling you what to do (unless you have a gf or wife) and you end up getting lackadaisical. That's why I advocate having a great balance in your life if you are pursuing poker fulltime..and by balance, I don't mean going out to party every other night. I mean stuff like exercising, finding a hobby or two (golfing, skiing, etc.), spending time w/ gf or spouse, etc.

W/ that said, I have made some changes to my lifestyle this year and have started exercising on a regular basis and recently have started to watch what I eat (believe me, that's very difficult...growing up w/ a sweet tooth and all). Not only is it great for my health and well being, but it will help my overall poker results. It'll give me a clearer mind more often, and energy while I grind, which will keep me sharp and motivated. Also I look for every opportunity to go skiing w/ friends or family, and I almost never turn down an opportunity to get on the golf course (although my game leaves a lot to be desired, but I'm working on that as well). So along w/ poker, I'm hoping this year is a step forward in the right direction in all aspects of my life!