Greetings 2+2,

I am 27, I live in the Baltimore area. I am a professional musician, I teach guitar, bass, and drums. I am also a member of a national touring band and a local guitar duo.

I have been playing poker off and on since I was 19. Ive gone through a few months of obsession where I would live and breathe poker day in and day out until something else came up. Ive had moderate success the few times I visited Vegas when I was younger and a few years back I was regularly playing at MD Live until another music project pulled me away from the game.

I never stopped thinking about poker and always knew that the itch would someday return. Since November of 2015 I have been playing a little bit, just to get my feet wet and get back in to the swing of things. Ive reviewed all of my poker knowledge Ive gained in the past and have gone even deeper into studying, preparing myself as much as I could for what I am about to do.

My work schedule is a poker player's dream, I can be out late every night of the week and I can sleep in every morning, so long nights in the card room will be no problem. I only work 25 hours a week and always in the early evening so theres plenty of room for me to put in at least 25 hours a week in poker and a lot of time studying.

I live with my girlfriend who thinks what I am doing is rad, so I have full support at home which always helps.

My goal isnt to become a complete professional, because my main source of income is music and I am already lucky enough in that regard. My band has a big spring tour coming up so for now I just want to make this a profitable hobby. I guess you could say I want to be semi-professional.

I have about $5000 that I can risk so I am gonna start with a initial bankroll of $2000 and evaluate my play after 30 sessions. My plan is to play and study as much as I can without sacrificing the time necessary for maintaining my career in music. I will be posting hands and definitely asking questions, maybe a few pictures as well.

I plan on diving my time between MD Live and the Horseshoe so come along on this journey with me.

Cheers,

Ricky 5

In,gl with your journey!

Thanks! It shall be fun if nothing else.

GL

Randy Newman or Nina Simone?

Haha if I had to choose its gotta be Randy Newman

Well, the first night could have gone better. Down two buy-ins.

First buy-in:
Made a horrible check/ shove with bottom two against a guy I thought was steaming for the previous hand who ended having top two. I played this hand poorly and I knew it immediately.

Second buy-in:
Got it all in with KK against J7 and womp womp, four hours down with nothing to show for it.

I didn't post details because I don't really desire analysis. Just wanted to post about what a wonderful start I had. Haha

First session: -$400

Good luck. I came from the music scene as well although poker was never more than a way to pay for school afterward. Congrats on "making it" in music. I know how tough that is.

Thanks man. It does feel good after so many years working at guitar stores and piano shops to finally pay the bills playing and teaching music.

It doesn't translate into poker very well, unfortunately.

I don't know. I think anyone who is really good at one thing can often translate it to something else. It's not always true but it can be a marker of intelligence. The creativity involved in good music (read not necessarily popular music) can certainly be employed although it is trouble without the cold analytical ability and emotional detachment required to be successful. I enjoy engaging all aspects of my mind as I'm sure you do.

I ground the scene for a long time. Got sick of being broke eventually. Luckily I was always good at math and science too. Cheers!

gl man!