Thanks for the love guys.

Had a couple more weeks of vacation in Wisconsin, which was awesome, then flew to Florida about a week ago. Been playing 2/5 and 5/10 at Hard Rock Hollywood and the Isle this week. I came out very rusty and made a bunch of mistakes. Taking a month off took its toll for sure. Luckily the games have been pretty good so the damage has been mitigated.

I was talking to a friend who also just took a long time off and is struggling to get back as well. He said that its kind of like taking a month off at the gym. When you come back its gonna be hard and you're not gonna be where you were at before. Poker is the same way, the exercise is just mental rather than physical. Him saying that helped me because I think a lot of the frustration I had this week came from me having unrealistic expectations. I knew I'd be rusty but I underestimated it so when I was making errors I would get mad at myself for making mistakes I "shouldn't" be making, whereas in reality I should have realized it would take some time to get back to form and that those errors were actually par for the course.

Next time I take a lot of time off like this I need to make sure I do hand history reviews or play some small stakes online at least enough to stay sharp.

I am happy to report that today's session went really well and there was a lot to feel good about so I think I'm coming back to form. Made a couple really solid plays and didn't make any major errors. My thought process and focus level was way better than earlier in the week and very close to normal. I think if I play this session the first one I come back it would be a different story. Not sure if I'm back 100% but if today is any indication its very close.

Unfortunately I had to play a bunch of sessions with marginal expectation to get back. I'm just looking at it as another cost of taking a vacation. I also was forced to really think about poker again because things that used to come naturally no longer did and I feel I have learned some totally new things in the process, so its not all bad.

Got about another 3 weeks here so I'm looking forward to getting some more poker in and also getting out and doing some non-poker stuff.

How would you compare the Florida games to Vegas?

double bingo +2 sick thread bro!

They are good. Unfortunately I can't seem to find a way to win in them. I've been running bad for sure, but my play has been sub-par to say the least. It has gone beyond knocking off rust from extended time off to flat out me playing my C-game.

A lot of it is running bad causing play bad but thats a pretty lame excuse given that the sequence of run bad causing play bad is something I've gone though before, so I take full responsibility for my mistakes.

No one plays as well when running bad as they do when running average/good, but by now it shouldn't affect me to the degree it has. At first I was happy to be struggling because I felt I was learning new stuff and getting better but lately I've become pretty apathetic/bored towards poker. My motivation, and as a result my volume, has gotten very low.

I would say I'm just discouraged because of some bad results but I haven't been excited about poker pretty much at all this year except in a few tournament runs I made so I think its more than that. Most of my mistakes have come down to me just being bored and not paying close enough attention to play well or making actions without really thinking.

Clearly some adjustments are in order. To succeed in anything I need to be interested, and right now poker is not interesting to me. That doesn't mean it never will be again, just that right now its not.

I think you'll do better once you start playing again at the V.

It's really an underappreciated aspect of how big of an edge you have with home court advantage. It helps a ton with tilt control and focus plus you know the good players' tendencies and you can recognize good/bad tables better.

It's also so much easier to not tilt when you have some buddies you can take a break with or chat with at the table while you're bored. GL the rest of your trip, the games back in Vegas have been surprisingly good too!

Thanks man, yea I'm looking forward to getting back. I completely agree on the home court advantage stuff. I've found that its particularly hard for me to play good poker outside of my routine, much more so than others. I could never be one of these guys that travels the circuit or whatever. I just play so much better when I have a routine. It keeps me focused whereas if I just pop in whenever I feel like it I end up not ready to play way too often.

Not happy to see you bored/losing or whatever, but it's kinda nice to know you're human. You're in Florida, if you aren't ready to play, go chase tail!

Love the thread and more so the off topic stories about family or perspective. I recently came out to Vegas to live differently (I'm no where near good enough to play poker for any kind of source of income), but have enjoyed the adventure. Respect to you for taking the risk and busting your ass to achieve a dream. Good luck with the next step.

Seems like this will be a decent read. Gl kush.

As someone who has lived in Wisconsin his whole life, cush is someone I kind of look to. Or rather, wish I could be following in his footsteps!

Yea ended up going out a couple times, no tail unfortunately.

Thanks man, currently trying to figure out what that next step is.

ty sir

Thanks man.

Yo guys, back in Vegas now thankfully. Didn't play much poker in Florida since my last post. Went out a couple times and mostly hung out at the house. Had beers one night with tmckendry and we talked about some poker/life stuff. Both of us are kind of meh with poker right now and it was cool to have a conversation with someone else looking to transition into some other things.

I'm really not sure where I stand right now. It changes daily (probably hourly) whether I feel like I want to jump back into poker or start some other things. To be perfectly honest I do know that I don't *want* to play poker right now, meaning I'm not excited about poker strategy/hands/whatever and haven't been for a while. However, it seems to be the best option right now for me to have the lifestyle I want. Though avoiding having to do something I don't want to do pretty much just for the money is the whole reason I pursued poker for a living in the first place so that doesn't seem like an attractive proposition. Part of me is also reluctant to admit I don't enjoy playing poker all that much anymore because this was me following my dream/passion and now I don't even know if I like it.

Obv these feelings are worse given recent run-bad but its been like this to some degree for the better part of this year even when running good/average.

My dad is in town this weekend and I'm gonna hang out with him and get some things done regarding my house. I'm glad to be back in Vegas and making progress in that area after leaving some projects sit for 2 months. After that I've got a routine I'll be putting in place regarding house projects/self improvement/poker. Getting back to a degree of consistency should help my performance on the poker table and hopefully keep me engaged as a result. I'm now realizing that this post is basically my last update reiterated but I felt like I needed to get some thoughts out so whatever. /most emo post ever

.......................................

Poker as a Vehicle

The other day my brother called me to ask me a question: What advice would you give someone who's only source of income is about to be poker? My first instinct was that my brother had gone completely insane. Luckily he was mostly joking. He just quit his job and is going to use poker for ~6 months while transitioning to his new career.

He's marginally profitable in the local 1/2-2/5 games. He plays for recreation but also plays to win. He's got expenses covered for this time period and has no delusions regarding playing for a living, just looking for a few extra bucks during his layoff. Poker is a flexible vehicle and I think this is a fantastic way to use poker, so after initially being leery about having to tell him that it was a bad idea, I was on board.

Now he isn't now nor ever was entertaining playing for a living, but it seems hypocritical of me to discourage someone to do exactly what I did, since thats what I'd have done if that was his intention. However, poker is full of people telling up-and-comers to do something else and just keep poker as a hobby/side hustle. Then there are kids like me ignoring these people thinking its different for them. Almost without fail, all of these guys turn into the first type, warning the next wave of new kids that also won't listen.

Thats sort of an aside, the point is the advice I gave him. Though I don't think poker should be anyone's sole source of income if they want to live a healthy lifestyle, it can be a useful vehicle for many people in many situations, and these are my 5 pieces of advice for those looking to use it:

1. Keep a Separate Liferoll: Always have 6+ months of living expenses set aside from the poker bankroll. Things become so much less stressful when the bills are paid and thoughts of rent/food/gas aren't creeping in when making high variance poker decisions. There is a guy at Venetian who once essentially claimed that knowingly playing a hand sub optimally to avoid variance was, in fact, optimal since he has a family. If this type of thinking creeps in, you're either under rolled, in the wrong business, or both.

2. Get into a Routine: I always play better with a routine. It helps me compartmentalize and focus on poker when its time to focus on poker. I attribute a lot of my recent struggling to not following my own advice on this subject. Obv people are different and some can play more off the cuff but from what I can tell, most do better when on a routine.

3. Do Other Things: Have a social life, other hobbies, stay active, etc. Just do things you like that aren't poker. When things inevitably go bad at the table and all thats going on in your life is poker it can get pretty ****ing miserable. Having life balance is huge in making sure poker doesn't affect mood/happiness.

4. Accept the Realities of Poker and Play to Learn: For nearly everyone that plays 30+ hours per week, poker becomes a grind and eventually it won't be that much fun anymore. I wasn't prepared for that reality and it had affected my performance. However, if this reality is accepted it becomes easier to continue to go in every day and just try to get better. The issue becomes when unreasonable expectations do not meet reality and insanity ensues. I think my exact words to my brother were "be aware that when you play a lot, poker eventually isn't that much fun anymore".

5. No Results-Based Goals: This goes along with #4 but warrants it's own line. Variance doesn't play along with monetary goals. Just go in and play your best, learn something, win some EV and be done. If properly rolled and #1 is done right, the results shouldn't matter.

None of these things are new or revolutionary. A few of the included thoughts are things I've been doing poorly lately for a multitude of reasons, which is why I decided to make this post. When I really thought about what I'd tell to someone who wanted to play poker seriously, I realized I was slacking on some basic things.

I still think poker is better used as just one part of a diversified investment/cash flow portfolio (thanks Limon), but if its going to be part of yours, these tips are a good starting point of things to keep in mind when pursuing poker.

Is there a way to take Cushlash's last post and sticky it somewhere for all the dreamers to be directly referred to?

This is a great summary of tips/advice for those taking a shot at home or moving somewhere like Vegas.

excellent post and it looks like we're in similar spots mentally regarding the game. The solution to not wanting to play/enjoying playing, I think, is to view things from a slightly higher perspective. Right along the lines of what the second section of your post was getting at. When motivation is low, play to sustain progress towards your overall goals and what you want for your life. The lifestyle is a hell of a lot better than most others, and poker is a great way to achieve financial independence and personal freedom.

We'll have to meet up on the strip sometime for a beer.

hey man in some ways I'm in the same place as you right now...I mean my general motivation and fire to move forward and to progress my game are still intact and rekindling even now BUT being on the heals of a nasty downswing it has been hard for the moment to 'want' to go in and play which sucks. also like you, hoping a tighter restructuring of my schedule/routine will bring things back together for me.

:thumbup:

Also, ec and cush are the only two threads I follow regarding "shot taking, going for it live players." They both fit the mold that I wish I had done.

Always great advice and we can learn a lot from them.

Ps- shoutout to dgi as well.

Cushhh!!

Vegas round 2 hopefully coming up soon, so keep your eyes open!

Thanks man, I enjoy writing here as it helps me with poker and mindset so I hope it helps others as well.

Yea this exactly. Right now there are a few things I want to accomplish life-wise. None of them involve poker, but all of them require time and money. I need to start thinking of poker as the vehicle to accomplish these other things.

Yea downswings can certainly be a motivation killer, we've all been there. GL to you in getting back on track.

ty sir

haha right on fogo, for you I don't even need my eyes, just my ears.

Good to meet you man. Gl with the grind

thanks dude, likewise

Long time since my last update but I haven't been playing much so haven't had a ton to report.

I got all of the major house projects taken care of that I wanted to get done for the year, so that's nice.

After my dad left I got myself into a decent routine which included poker for about a week. I knew I didn't want to play a lot so I decided to play 4 hour sessions 5 days a week and see how it went. The rest of my time was spent doing house projects, working out, reading, and determining what might be next for me.

I also bought a practice pad and a couple sets of drumsticks to mess around with. I've wanted to learn since I was in high school and figured this was as good a time as any. I've been practicing rudiments for about an hour a day for the last 2 weeks. If I do this consistently and am still interested I'm gonna buy a cheap drum set after my Christmas vacation. I've had fun doing that for sure and I think it will be a good outlet for me.

Poker-wise it went pretty much as expected. I really didn't want to play and just getting 4 hours in some days was a challenge. I'd be lying if I said the fact that I lost every day didn't make it worse but I think thats a small part of it. I played a session yesterday after not playing at all last week and put up my first win in my last 10 sessions and still left the room feeling meh. In the hours I've played since I've been back I think I've played reasonably well, I just haven't been interested.

Despite only playing one day since that first week, I've kept the rest of the routine that I set up, which I think has been good. I've been exploring some other things and what I keep going back to is writing. I enjoy keeping up this thread and in school was always good with writing assignments. I've also been doing some freelance writing stuff with a poker site and that has gone well.

I have a few ideas involving writing, including a website idea, that I'd like to get deeper into so I've spent some time researching that. The hardest part for me will be the "nuts and bolts" of starting a website but I'm confident I can figure it out. At this point its time to just start doing it and see what happens.

So yea, poker has been taking a back seat lately, but I'm ok with that. I've been making progress with my fitness goals, got a bunch of projects done in my house, and am at least slightly closer to figuring out what I want to do next.

I put a lot of pressure on myself to succeed, and being this uncertain about things is very new to me. Right now I'm just trying to relax, be a normal 23-year old, enjoy life and let things work themselves out. That doesn't mean doing nothing and waiting for things to magically fall into place, but just to not stress and worry so much about it.

played drums for years, can teach you fo'free if you buy a set later

Wow, sweet! There is a legitimate chance I take you up on that.

Cush you still looking into non-poker investments? Not asking because I have an opportunity, but rather because it seems obvious to me that Poker has become a part time job (even down to the 4 hours a day 5 day work week!) I feel like the best way to make poker fun again is to make it more of a hobby and less of an income source from your POV.

Having new and diversified revenue streams would help greatly with this, if the Roll still supports such ventures.

Maybe some sort of consulting work would be a good idea. You could bill hours at a contracted rate and it would be:
1. a stimulating new work adventure for a set amount of time and
2. would establish work history/work experience which is always good for buying things on credit and establishing best credit history possible.

You seem pretty self aware, Cush, in regards to attempting to build a well rounded life while still being a professional gambler. I, as well as many of your elder fans/supporters, would like to see you make the most of your opportunities and positions.

I for one, believe you will find the path best suited for you, buddy.

Yea I've been doing quite a bit of research/thinking about non-poker income sources. I have a couple already but neither could replace poker (yet). I've considered consulting, I just haven't looked into it enough to know how to break into it without applying for a job with a consulting firm.

Thanks for your words of support, I really do appreciate it.

Though I'm glad to be exploring non-poker income, I don't really think poker is the problem. Its really more of a mindset issue. I think I've been trying to find some sort of purpose/fulfillment/etc. in poker instead of treating it like a business. Poker isn't really the right place to look for these things, so its important that I'm starting to pursue some non-poker things that I enjoy and are not purely entertainment. I think having active pursuits outside of poker will help me regardless of whether they make money or not.