one of the greatest threads I have ever read through...moarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

sick bump

+1

this thread deserves another bump

I love when this gets bumped. I hope people who read this still find it useful and/or motivational.

That being said, I'm a much different person now. I read through a lot of this just now and it is a little strange because 1) I feel like I come off quite douchey in many of my responses and 2) I now disagree with quite a few of my answers back then. Part of this could be due to growing up or the times changing. It could also be due to meeting someone who is the polar opposite of myself and changing a lot because of that.

That's awesome to see that change. Question is, has it affected your ability to rep aces?

Considering I play almost exclusively PLO now, I would say I rep aces far more often these days

If you are still in the well, what specifically have you hopped the fence on now that you are older/wiser?

I'll answer this over the weekend / next week, along with any other questions if there are any. I'm actually looking for a new job which is a job in itself, so very busy right now. But happy to open this back up if there is any interest.

Let me preface this by saying that four weeks ago I got married. I have been with my wife for four years now and since I have met her my entire life has changed. Most of this is due to the fact that we are polar opposites, I mean in every way possible. She's a planner, I fly by the seat of my pants. She's a vegetarian, I literally ate zero fruits and vegetables ever before I met her. She's a democrat, I was a republican (not really affiliated any more). She is artsy and kind and emotional, I was quantitative, mean, and emotionless. I will go ahead and give her most of the credit for the changes I will list below.

1) Wasting Money. I used to waste money a lot. Not in the go to the club every weekend and get bottle service way, although I did that from time to time. But more in the I'm hungry order tons of expensive delivery type of way. Now we cook almost all of our meals, mainly because it is soooo much cheaper and also healthier. Also I used to order every single channel on television because I could, despite the fact that I rarely watched TV. I had tons of subscriptions like this that I totally forgot about and never used, old games, tech services, etc. I cancelled all of that. I also have a parking space that I own that is worth 35k that went completely unused as I don't own a car. I now rent this out. We also had a storage unit where we stored the stuff we couldn't fit in my condo. After a year and $2200 later, we realized the stuff we had in there wasn't even worth $1500, so we sold it all and got out of our obligation. Changes like this seem like nothing when you're making 20-50k a month playing poker, but I rarely play these days and it takes very little effort to make these kinds of changes. I did this all two years ago and I imagine it has saved me north of $20,000.

2) Selfishness. I was a very selfish person before. I really only thought of things in terms of how they effected me. I remember distinctly early in our relationship my wife got sick and wanted me to come over and make her soup. I told her I couldn't because I had to grind. I did do nice things sometimes. One of my roommates was in a lot of debt from college, and I paid it off for him and told him he could pay me back as he had it with no interest. I just want to make the point that I wasn't a terrible person or anything, but I know looking back that I was an ******* and far too selfish. These days I try to think more about other people's feelings and how my actions effect them. It's hard for me and it is in no way instinctive, so I try to make an effort in this department.

3) Relationships. This is one of the things I regret most in my life. When I was getting SNE and going to school, I neglected relationships with the people I care most about, my family and friends. When I moved to Chicago, I lived with 2-3 of my best friends from college in an amazing apartment. We were in a somewhat dangerous neighborhood (right next to where Cabrini was) so we could afford a huge place despite the fact that none of us had any money. I went to Miami (OH) for undergrad, and I knew 50 or so people who moved to Chicago and for the two years before I found poker I had so much fun with a ton of people. Once I found poker that all ended. I rarely went out. My buddies would go to the bar and I would stay in and grind because I could make half a year's salary in a good weekend, which I often did. These days, I can still make half a year's salary in a good weekend, but I cannot party with all my friends because they have all moved away to various parts of the country. I think back on the amazing time I had when I was 22-24 years old and wish I had more from 25-27. These days, I take advantage of any opportunity to spend time with the people I care about the most.

4) Ego. I had a huge ego. A lot of this had to do with going from being awful at poker to really good in a short period of time. I was very good at tournaments, then I got very good at FR cash, then I got even better at 6m, then I got even better at HU. Meanwhile I was going to one of the best grad schools in the country and was doing great work at a very challenging job. All this went to my head and I became extremely cocky. That is the vibe I get when I read some of my old posts here. I thinking to myself "Ughhhhh, you were such a douche." But I'm not too hard on myself because at that age I think it is really hard to keep a level head when you run over EV in terms of success. These days, a lot has changed. This is mainly due to the fact that at work I have been part of two trading groups that have failed. I worked my ass off and did the best I could, but it wasn't enough. I didn't have all the answers. Granted, I was just a piece in these teams, but it showed me that I wasn't invincible there and that not everything I touched turned to gold. This has been humbling for me, in some ways I needed it. It is really, really hard to work your ass of for something and have it end up be nothing, but I have learned far more from failing than I ever could from succeeding. I know this is a common thing to say, but it is painfully true.

Sorry to hear about the job hunt. Good post though!

Good post Zep. Congrats on the wedding.

Very true for those of us who experience it. Quite humbling. Enjoy married life and good luck with the search!

Very nice post. Sounds like you grew up/found love. A huge +1 IMO to the relationships part- the only way life can be fulfilling is if you can share it with people you are close to...

Headed to Vegas at all this summer?

As of right now I am not planning on it. This is the first year in 6 years I think where I haven't gone out for the WSOP. Who knows though, maybe I will squeeze in a last minute trip.