If you wanted to add some tidbits that'd be cool too. Like, how old you are, where you're originally from, and what your online history was, if any... because I'm pretty sure you used to get on my nerves on Pstars at one point or another . Good luck to you in the future and perhaps I'll try to follow your thread too since I am planning on doing much the same thing, but only with poker related anecdotes in mind (regardless of what happens in real life).

I too can sometimes have trouble playing over 30 hours a week live, it's tough to find the motivation, especially when unless you live in Vegas like yourself, you will often find yourself playing against the SAME pools of players day after day (not always that fun). The key is obviously motivation and wanting to keep yourself playing in hopes of having a better return on your time investment when all is said and done. I'm looking to increase my hours on a weekly and monthly basis too, so I'm open to all other considerations for casino playing too (headphones? maybe take a book to read for a half hour or hour or so?, etc?)

Good luck to you and your endeavors.

Cool thread. Seems like your gf was messing with you there a little bit. That is a strange way for her to interact with you considering you haven't seen her for awhile and were playing poker. She answered her mom but not you? I don't mean to pry, but I'm sure it wouldn't be in the story if it was off limits to questions. Also, how much do you personally feel you need to play 2-5 nlh for a living in vegas?

keep up the good work, buddy.

Hey there, at the moment I'm 23 years old, grew up in Newark New Jersey, (def not one of those jersey shore guys for the record though lol) and most of my family lives in Poland. My first experience with poker was with my dorm room friends playing five dollar sngs during exam week end of sophomore year in college. It was a blast shooting the s*** while figuring out whats better, a straight or a flush? and then I found out about online poker.

I deposited fifty bucks onto cake, bodog, and pokerstars where I built a roll grinding up from the 5 dollar hu sngs. I never took poker that seriously though, since five dollars was a lot of money to me, every time I was nearing a thousand dollars in my acc, I cashed out. On cake I had my greatest success. From 200 dollars in november I ran it up to $50,000 by the end of January, cashing out half of it, then degening off the rest. (What was I thinking playing 10/20 PLO against Cole South when I hardly knew the rules???)

On pokerstars I went for sne playing alot of tables at a time, breaking even grinding 24 tables and playing hu cash alot, but then I would go out drink or smoke, come back home, and degen my profits in omaha so you can definitely say I didn't live up to my potential as an online grinder.

I highly believe that playing with the same player pool day to day benefits the better players, so I don't mind playing against the same people, which usually happens at higher stakes. It becomes a huge post-flop game where you have to go with your read on your opponent's range. There are alot of grinders everywhere, so if you want to become successful, you have to beat the regulars, for the fish are going to lose regardless.

Using headphones and reading a book def help keep your sanity at the poker table. I see a lot of people whipping out their Ipads now, with many of them even watching movies. Obv these people won't be in tune with the game flow so you can figure out how to play against them

Lastly, your absolutely right, in the end, it's all about the money, playing for the month, making that bread babyy! I guess that's what you and I both need to keep in our minds while grinding and what will motivate us plenty. Gl to you too! Hope you keep reading

As with everything that I write, nothing is off limits...In real life, I'm very honest and open, almost to a flaw, so don't be shy, your not prying lol...Since that night, we cleared it all up and made up about hmmm twelve times??? hehe...my girl's a very positive person so she thought that I would think everything's fine, which it was, but she understood where i'm coming from and apologized. Ya, I think she was messing with me too considering her first reaction was LOL...still, wtf is up with that huh?

A feel the top ten percent of players in vegas can average 60-70 dollars an hour playing 2/5, while the majority of regs probably make around 40. It's a little lower than 5/10, where I feel the best regs make around 100 dollars an hour, but as you know, a lot of this is due to game selection and emotional stability. Right now, a couple of my buddies are in town so no poker until monday most likely, but after that, i'll be on a complete grind so you'll get a better idea on how earnings can fluctuate in live poker to give you a hint on how much you can make.

PS...Last year, around november, there were three sweds that can to vegas and played at the Aria. Two of them played 5/10, Eric, and ??? Maybe some of you guys remember them, top onlie grinder, tall blonde haired swede how played like Isildur...Well, both of the aggro 5/10 grinders ended up losing money for their two week trip, while their third mate grinded the 1/2 at the Aria. During this two week stretch, he averaged over a thousand dollars a day, not exaggerating, so it's all on game selection really...

Nice thread Dan. Good to see you eventually figured out where the enter key was. You really have to put in time at the tables to make money and also give us something to read. GL.

Shrooming in the Night, Grizzle Adventures, Finally Some Poker

"If the words 'life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness' don't include the right to experiment with your own consciousness, then the Declaration of Independence isn't worth the hemp it was written on."
— Terence McKenna

"Life lived in the absence of the psychedelic experience that primordial shamanism is based on is life trivialized, life denied, life enslaved to the ego."
— Terence McKenna


It's been almost a year since my first psychedelic experience and although I don't do them often, I enjoy them every time. It's like sex, if you haven't done it, well, you just didn't get what life was all about. Thursday night was no exception. Just trying to recall the conversations has me cracking up. For literally four hours, I think we laughed about..."it". You know, "it!" What is it? Well, if you want it, go get it!

For me, these experiences, in addition to being straight awesome and filled with laughter, align me and help me understand why things are the way they are. While peaking its amazing to go somewhere quiet by yourself and meditate. While mediating during my trip, I talked to that voice inside of my head, and although it took some time and I was only able to have complete awareness of it for a short amount, it was enough to know that I'm doing "it" right.

You ever wonder why your friends with the people you are? Well, I made sense of this during my trip. My buddy who came home, Karlton, is the person I hung out with the most during my life. We have been best friends since 2nd grade, probably never going a week without speaking to each other. While tripping, we left our group and walked alone, planning on going to meditate. Well, instead of being quiet, we couldn't stop talking/laughing. We came to find out that we are friends because we perfectly complement each other. I'm stubborn and persistent while he loves to struggle and be in a challenge. He always knows what to do, has the right answer for everything, and is a magician with females, while I always am searching and seeking answers, while always being confused by my beautiful counterparts. It just makes sense and showed me that "it" is everything you want it to be; that life is completely beautiful and complex.

Even the Grizzleman knows this. On Saturday, he comes over and ends up sleeping on the couch for a couple hours, but before he starts snoring, he says a couple interesting quotes about life, too. In his cherry Southern accent, he says, "Dan, the lord works in mysterious ways. The way all the circles, triangles, and rectangles work just to get to where they are going, it's like a long rope with no end. It's amazing that i'm right so many times and never have any money." Here's a man that knows nothing scientific about the world, but somehow, in my mind, I understand that he also knows about sacred geometry, in this own little way. I get you Sam, I get you. For the record, I'm still begging Grizzle-my Nizzle to shroom with me, hopefully it happens soon

Oh, this is a poker blog right? Well, guess what, I finally played some POKERS! Saturday afternoon I decide to play a session. To be honest no interesting spots come about but I chip up 800 bucks in the Bel 5/10. I think the biggest pot was against a young Asian regular who I had lots of experience with. He raises in CO to 30, I call with Q10 in BB. FLop comes Q95. I c/c. Turn Q, I c/c with rather large bet on the turn instead of re raising because at this point I remember that with his nutty hands, he likes to bet small wanting to get paid off, and his bluffs are on the large size. River is a ten giving me the nuts, and now at this point, all nines are going to check behind, so I bet one hundred into the 400 dollar pot I think and he calls disgustingly.

I head off to Osheas where my friends are at and play a couple games of beer pong. For the record, I'm a f**** champ in this game. For all you twoplustwo'ers I will play anyone heads-up in this game at Osheas cause yes, I am that damn good. And please, don't pm me unless your willing to put a hundo on a game. The first time I played at Osheas, a year ago, I ended up playing against Ben Grundy and his British mates, playing the game for the first time. That night, I left with about 500 in profit. Last time I played was during the WSOP where I challenge and get challenged by the room for high stakes beer pong. Obv, the only person who would play 100 dollars a game was a online poker pro, (oh, I get challenged too cause I wear 15 dollar Old Navy shirts that say "Beer Pong King" lolz...) and there I take him for 400. Anyway, we play, I win, and then I degen 200 at the 1/2 there, (tough game). Alcohol is not what I remember it to be these days, and I feel very tired. So much so that when I go back to the Bel and see Grizzleman, I just say let's go eat then sleep and he agrees.

Fast-forward to 5am and he wakes me up saying, "Dan, (famous poker pro is here, he might give me some money) can I take your car? I say, never ask me that question again, but I'll drive you. I'm glad I did cause I played well and ran well, raking in a 3.5k profit when all was said and done by 10am. I was reraising with weaker hands when I smelled weakness, and I picked up monsters at the right times. Biggest pot was with aces, when a guy who always limps ak and stuff raises on the button. With aces in the big blind, I rr to 180, then he stap reraises me to 480...I ask how much you got? (around 2k) and I jam. He snaps, flops comes Ace high, and I ship the monster 4k pot. An example of how some bluffs worked out were like so: Four way action, checked flop of 1034, (i have 66), original raiser bets pot on 7 turn, I reraise, all instant folds...

Now it was time to go to sleep right? Nope...my friends airplane got delayed 5 hours, so I chill and eat some Hot N Juicy Crawfish. After they depart, I go back to the Bel 5/10, almost asleep, but whatever...I steady chip up my way to winning 700 bucks, mostly thru older man glasses Joe. A friendly Bel regular who actually wins the game, although I don't think he's that good. He's been trying to bluff me all the time, but I get the ebst of him like here...I raise to 40 w A8, two callers, he is in the blinds. Flop comes 982, chch, I sucker bet 30 bucks, fold, he reraises me to 130. I call, turn is a 4, he bets 200 I call. river chch he has a deuce. Another...He's in the button raises to 40, I call with J10 in BB. He c-bets on KJ8 I call, turn is a Queen, ch/ch, river is a 8, I call his bet of around 140. He mucks, without showing. Another...I raise with 88 two callers, he's in the blinds. Flop comes 78J. he ch/calls 80. Turn is a 9, he bets 100 I call. River is a six, he bets 100, I call, he shows 96.

Now I thought it was time to leave, since my chips were in my rack and girlfriend was sick and I was planning on bringing her some medicine, but then, Dan says, 'seat's open" in a game with one of the biggest fish at Bellagio, and one of my biggest nemesis' Wolfgang. This frustrates me as I write this because I shouldn't have even played in this game. For nearly two hours, I folded everything. Somehow I kept on to my 600-700 profit, but I was visibly tilted. It just sucks to have the mega fish on your right and you have to fold everything. Then, finally, as if it were a gift from God, I wake with aces in the sb when there are couple limpers. I raise to 70 and only wolfgang calls on the button. Flop comes j107 all hearts, I have the ace of hearts. We are playing deep, bout 2k each, and I decide to check, thinking he's going to do something crazy. Well, he does, he bets 300...I'm confused, and not thinking straight, and so I decide to shove it all in. He takes less than five seconds to call, says run it once, and boom he ships it with q2hh. I immediately am in shock and leave the Bel, fully aware that I could have avoided this disaster.

Just goes to show you, when that little voice in your head is telling you to do something, and you get a couple hints already to do it, listen...to...that....voice...anyway, all is good, it was still a 3k day, so can't be too mad. Aces giveth, and aces taketh away lol...It's September, my grind month, so be ready for another update, next one with more poker. Cheers!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pyAM...eature=related

Just saw this vid on one of my informative alternative media websites, I had it on repeat while I was blogging, thought I'd share it too. For those informed, you guys already know something big is unfortunately going to happen to this country relatively shortly, so lets all look at the bright side!

Looks to be a great thread, good luck!

Acescrusdaer...dean or gaelan...def gaelan huh? of course we can do heads up matches, I can pay rent with the profits haha...just make it a mission to come out to Vegas first then we'll figure everything else out

Lovin your updates. Your hands are very interesting for a 2/5, 5/5 player like me.

Keep going strong!

Thank You for sharing, sometimes I forget that spots that I don't think are interesting for me may be very interesting for others. I will intend to post more hands for you because I feel this is the case. Just had an ah-ha moment--why don't I put in more hands onto my phone notepad with little thought process behind it so I can remember and post more hands?

I'm getting the hang of this posting thing

Evolution and Getting Ready for Battle

Just finished a short unfocused card-dead 10/20 session at the Bellagio. It was one of those sessions where I don't even know why I played, but it got me to think maybe I need some direction...

This thread is titled 'quest to evolve.' This is what I mean by this--I believe I'm a spiritual entity having a human experience. While having this experience, I want to grow and figure out my purpose. Playing poker is not my purpose in life, it just is a passion and a means to survive. I'm still figuring out my purpose in life, and when I get closer to finding it, I'll share it, but I know having this thread and writing down my thoughts is part of my purpose in life.

Today brought me a little bit closer to finding out that purpose. My girlfriend and I met up with a famous poker player whom I believe is high up in his spiritual path. With his well picked-out words and sky blue staring eyes he helped direct me to my next step in evolving--EFFORT. Here's the thing, I'm kinda blessed with being intelligent. Being intelligence has made school and work easy, but it also has made me lazy.Take this month for instance--I planned to play more than ever, but so far, in the first week of September I logged in 9 hours of play. Fortunately, during these nine hours (including todays 700 loss at 10/20) I'm averaging 250 dollars per hour, so results are there, but nine hours a week? Where's the effort in that?

So...I decided to make a routine. This routine will start at 5-6AM and work until the evenings, playing for more than 12 hours a day. The hardest thing about playing long sessions is just to start playing long sessions. After that, it'll be like crack, I'm going to want to play all the time. So, expect more updates from me after my sessions. The rest of my day will be spent figuring out how to put all my favorite tunes on my ipod, going to sleep early, and getting ready for the road again! Cheers!

Good luck. I think once someone realizes and understands that they need income from poker to survive, it becomes much easier to grind every day. Not sure if you need any more motivation than that. Unless you're content with living on the streets or garages, barely squeezing by.

Anyways, grind it up and looking forward to more frequent updates

What comes Up Comes Down Then Comes Up Again

Two hours into my session, things were going perfect. Up over 2.5k in no-time, I felt invisible. I love these feelings, however, sometimes these feelings can skew your judgement and start a spiral that can come down as fast as it went up. My first pot of the day came when I opened in early position with kq and got three callers and a 3-bet to 195 from the bb. I've played with this player for months now, he's competent, and has a tendencies to pause, then squeeze with light holdings especially when there's dead money. I felt either 4betting so calling, but decided to just flat in position. The flop was wonderful kkj. To my mismay it's checked behind, which leads me to believe that he either has a high or complete rags. On the J turn, I decide to check behind, just for player dependent reasons. Betting here is fine, too. On the Ace river, and another check, I'm faced with an interesting decision...how much to bet? Knowing that a half pot bet looks more valuey for this player, I bet a big 400 and he looks me.

I switch tables and immediately see a AA vs KK setup. The KK guy did not take it very well. Two orbits later, I wake up with KK utg, and get 3bet to 140 from the KK guy. Knowing he might be on tilt and the fact that he's not going to be 3betting light from this spot, I decide to just shove it in there. He's got JJ or QQ and I win the 2k pot.

Up a decent amount, I make my first mistake by calling a 140 dollar river bet when I knew my J was beat on KK10Jx...this is when I decided to head over to the Wynn for the starting up 5/10 game.

I arrive and we play short handed for an hour before the game fills up. I immediately run into coolers, my A4 being beat by A8 on AAxxx...sets flushed away...then his hand happens...no idea what this guy was thinking...I iso fish to 60with 7d7h in CO, But fish calls, original limper calls. It comes all hearts, KJ9, I bet 140 he calls. On turn 6, I bet 300 he calls. I felt at this point he has one pair and a draw, def not a flush, as he would have shown me by now that he is super strong. On a blank river, I shove him all-in for around 800-900. He tanks it, talk to me, I talk back, and he calls...with...J5...I can't blame the tight reg to turn his 1010 into a bluffcatcher on Q9673 and call my three barrels with k high for another huge 2.5k pot...

Although I ended up losing a couple hundred dollars today, I learned valuable lessons and got the motivation that I was seeking for. Now, having rejected a super sick slightly stoopid concert, actually told the girlfriend no sex for a while, and geared up my Ipod to the 5G, I'm going for the gold...