Background Cliffs

-Name is Jake
-Moved from WI to AZ last year after graduating college with no money and no plan. I was originally going to move to AZ to take a job in accounting but backed out last second. Knew it wasn't for me.
-Started freelance writing when I first got to AZ, started to hate it, got back into poker (played pre BF)

Total Profit: $10,500

Main Games: 100nl 6max/FR, small-high stakes MTT's (satellite into mid/high stakes) on Bovada/WPN.. Maybe Carbon again when they get their cashout problems fixed.

I've been winning steadily in cash games, but most of my BR came from when I started mixing in MTT's a couple months ago.

So far I've shipped a tourney for $3,500 and cashed for 1.6k, 1k, 1k, 500, 500, 500 with very little invested due to satellites.

My ultimate goal for now is to move into a nice apartment complex Jan 1st and have some nice interior decorating done. I've already picked out the apartment complex:



I want my place to look something like this:



I want it to smell like a freshly cleaned hotel room every time I walk in the door.

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What I need to accomplish this:

Rent for new apartment: $1,500/month
Food: $400/month
Gas: $150/month
Bikram Yoga Pass: $99/month
Internet: $40/month
Phone: $75/month
Electric: $60/month
Miscellaneous/Entertainment: $300/month

=$2,624 a month

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Current Stats

Current Living Expenses= $1,600/month
Credit Card Debt= $7,200 (used credit cards to pay for everything so I could build BR)
Poker Bankroll: $11,400
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Poker Goals

-Make at least 30k before Jan 1st
-Have a 10k month (2.5k so far in July)
-Hire a coach
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Lifestyle Goals

Bikram Yoga 5x week
Gym 3x a week

nice looking appartment. gl op

Gl man gonna have to work rly hard and be super dedicated with those expenses and debt looming. Wishing you the best!

^^Thanks guys

5/156 in Bovada 10+1 10K guarantee ATM.. player #48

Nice complex, where is that...it looks familiar?

Broadstone Camelback my fellow phoenix friend

July 14th Recap

+200ish in 100nl FR
-$210ish in MTT's

Made a lot of deep runs in MTT's but was losing flips and 70/30's late. Got a couple mincashes and 3x cashes. Gave myself a chance to ship a couple though so that's all that matters.

-$10 net profit

Back at it tomorrow

We outchea

July 15th Recap

+$400 in 100nl 6max. Played well and ran pretty damn good. Made 1 or 2 iffy calls, but I'm very happy with my decisions today.

Decided to take a small break from the MTT's. I usually play whatever I'm most motivated to play on a given day, and after taking some bad beats late in tourneys yesterday I went for the 6max.

My bankroll is at about 12k total now, but I think I'm gonna use about 4k of it to pay off some of my CC debt. That means I have 8k as my official bankroll. Not sure when I'm going to try out 200nl. I've only been playing 100nl for a little over a week, but everything has gone well so far.

Also not sure when I should hire a coach. I guess when I take a decent shot at 200nl I can assess whether or not I need one.

Hope you all are doing well! Hit me up on Skype if you play 100nl+ and want to discuss strategy/sweat or something. That's something that's always been a huge help to my game. (PM for skype)

We outchea for the night.

Definitely a good move paying off CC debt, should try to get it down as low as possible. Keep grinding man, maybe some graphs?

Here's my graph for the 13th



This was just 50nl FR while I played my MTT's

Here's the 14th.. this was 100nl FR while I played my MTT's



Graph for the 15th will come tonight or tomorrow since I can't get my Bovada HH until 24 hours have passed.

July 16th Recap

Only had time to put in an hour today. Played 100nl 6m and ended up +120

Had a bad day in Bikram yoga. Had to cut class early. I get very frustrated when I can't perform well, and I've been getting nauseous in every class. Usually I stick with it and just lie down until I feel better, but today my mind wasn't on my side. Just couldn't take it.. You know when your mind is overrun by negative thoughts and there's absolutely nothing you can do to change it? That's how I was today.

I look like I'm in great shape, but standing with my arms over my head with perfect posture just makes me sick. I guess it's because I sit or lay down 98% of my days. Gonna do some stuff in the gym to get more used to that, and I'm gonna see if I can rig up some kind of standing desk. AKA stack a couple tables.

Gonna go back tomorrow to make it my bitch.

Gonna hit the gym right now.

Outchea, goodnight everyone.

I'm a CPA in California. While I don't regret my decision going into accounting, I'm currently doing my teaching credential program. Accounting is a good profession, but I don't think you can automatically discredit it without having done it first. Like every other job in life, you will have your share of idiots and incompetent seniors and managers, but hopefully that experience will allow you to grow. Anyways, seeing that you've already made your decision good luck, I was highly tempted to do the same as recently as a few months ago since I live in Southern Cali and there's plenty of fish at the live game here. I was also beating 100 NL 6 max but I've stopped playing due to me being too busy to put in the time and volume.

Thanks dude, I was following your thread. Looked like you were doing well.

I definitely hear you, but I really enjoy the freedom that comes along with being self-employed. Wanna sleep in? OK. Wanna take a day off? Go ahead.

It also feels good to go against the grain and kind of show that I can do whatever I want. Family and friends always bash my decisions so I love to stick it to 'em, so to say.

Of course the downside is that I don't have a stable paycheck, but being single with no responsibilities definitely makes that not as much of a problem.

For the time being, I wake up and look forward to playing, which I don't think would happen with a "normal" job. Will this always be the case? Probably not. Then I'll just find something else to do

Edit: Forgot to mention the biggest benefit... Once I'm playing high enough stakes and winning, I can travel and still play at any time. That's living the dream IMO.

how many tables do you play at the time and where do you put in most of your traffic? good luck on your quest!

When I play cash only it's only 4 tables on bovada (the maximum).

Most days I play both MTT's and cash.. 8-10 tables

Yes, I saw the same appeal you did, setting your own hours, being your own boss/not putting up with bosses. I am fortunate, as I've made some poor decisions in the past and I remember how difficult it was for me to get a job. While I was doing fairly well on Bovada, having a full time job and grinding was mentally and physically taxing on me. I'm going to assume you're in your early to mid 20s, so now is definitely the time to do something like this, so that it doesn't look too poorly on your resume if you do change your mind. If you are happy with your decision and can make a decent living off of it, then keep doing it. I look forward to your updates and hope it works for you.

Nice goals Jack good luck. I'll be watching you

Gl Mate, subbed.

^^ Thanks dudes

And yes @stuntman.. I just turned 25

Graph for yesterday, July 15th (100nl 6m)

GL!

+640 today

Ran well and played well.. even lost an AA vs AK for a whole stack.. turn K river K

Can't even complain though because I backdoored a straight flush against a guy who backdoored the nut flush earlier. Probably the sickest cooler situation I've ever been a part of. Was nice to be on the good side of it.

It's very hard to leave the tables right now, but I did. I don't want to mess up my sleep schedule. Plus, it would feel pretty bad to lose a couple buyins after I should have been done already.

Gonna take a bath and read some Mental Game of Poker 2. I had a hard time focusing after losing the AA vs AK, so that's something I have to work on.

GL everyone!

July 18th Recap

Finished +670 and a $55 ticket

I played 2 tables of 200nl FR with my 100nl 6max tables. It went pretty well. About $200 is from 200nl.

Been on a tear lately. Trying not to get too attached to the money on an upswing so I don't set myself up for disappointment later.

Today I'll be playing all the big MTT's on Bovada with tickets I've gotten along with anything I can satty into on WPN.

Here's my graph for the 17th:

good results, how is mental game two compared to the first one?

It's good. Totally different, though.

The first one was about recognizing your tilt patterns and performing exercises to help you tilt less.

The second one (I'm only about 10% done) is about getting into the zone and trying to play the A-game as much as possible.

July 18th Graph

Mostly 100nl with some 200nl FR sprinkled in: