So at this point as mentioned in my previous post, my plan is to grind poker and read about what my uncle does some more online and then head back out there. It seems like a clear and VERY easy decision for me at this point to decide to jump in head first and transition to this full time since my entire plan when first getting into poker to begin with was to build up lots of capital, learn how to invest it, and then generate enough passive income to be able to not have to work again so I can spend all my time doing things that I'm interested in. The only real counter argument to working on this with my Uncle would be that it takes time away from me short term from being able to travel as freely as I would like to but I believe that's far outweigh'd by the benefits from doing it long term.
Long term it would offer me much more financial stability and freedom than poker since the poker economy hasn't really been getting any easier these past couple of years and unless it got legalized it's only going to get harder and harder to win money. Then even if it didn't get harder and remained beatable, I still would prefer having financial certainty instead of depending on the turn of the cards in order to make a living. I never planned on playing poker forever anyway, although I certainly would do so if my only options were to work a normal job or play poker, but I still wanted even more than that and always had planned on generating cash flows and passive income (hence the name of this blog having 'investor' as well). I just don't want to be dependent on poker for the long term to make a living,which is not any new revelation or view since I never really planned on playing till I was like 40 or anything anyway. Unless a poker player plans to play for the rest of their life, he will need to invest in some businesses or generate some sort of cash flow somehow to get out of being required to play to make a living.
My previous plan before this Africa idea was to play poker and travel in my early to mid 20's and then look to settle down in my late 20s early 30s at which point I'd pretty much have to do the same thing I'm doing now anyway (learn how to invest money made from poker into something else). By doing it now instead of later it will allow me to take advantage of a great opportunity that might not be there later on in life as well as earn money sooner than later...and that money compounds exponentially over time so it would be worth even more over time the sooner I acquire it. In a sense, all I'm really doing is re-arranging the order of things because of a great opportunity I've ran into now. So if things go well, that means I'll have plenty of money by the time im in my late 20s early 30s to then have a much better situation to support/raise a family or travel to my hearts content at that point. If I continued with my first plan which was to play poker/travel now, I would end up just having to do this later on when I'm near 30 at which point I might not be as successful with it because of not as many investment opportunities or the help of my Uncle.
Since the actual type of work involved in the investing isn't something that fits in with my optimal/desired lifestyle (although it does involve a lot of traveling actually so I'm not sure yet, it may fit in more than I think since my Uncle mentioned that this can be done from any country in the world once you know what you're doing and he also only works for half of the month), i'm hoping it faciliates me being able to retire, otherwise if I had to chose between spending 20-30 years doing that type of investing or 20-30 years playing poker I think I'd chose playing poker because of the added freedom it has. But even then I'm not so sure because poker gets more boring for me everyday and what my Uncle does seems a lot more interesting/easy/profitable than poker so it might not even be bad even as a 'bad scenario'. I could do what he teaches me in any country of my choosing based on what he said. If things did go well though and I could retire early, it would certainly allow for more freedom to do anything I want and more money overall long term.
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Back from Africa
Well I just got back from the 10 day trip to Africa and I guess the first thing I'll say is that sure was a very eye opening and reality changing trip. It pretty much was the epitome of what I enjoy about traveling as well as a great learning experience. I first went to Africa with what felt like literally no idea how my uncle does his business and where he makes his money, and now I've come back with not only a very good understanding of how he makes it but a solid gameplan for how I'm going to be able to get involved with it myself.
Prior to going I thought the plane ride was going to be hell since it was going to be such long layovers and then one big long flight for 15 hours straight but the cool part about it was that the long 15 hour flight turned out to be the easiest and most relaxed one because we flew with an airline called Emirates which was sick. They had an entertainment system type thing for each passenger that included TV, hundreds of movies, all kinds of music, games (such as you and the person you're traveling with could play each other in chess if you wanted right through the entertainment system), and a great menu of food you could order at any time. I guess also the best part was that the plane was so spacious that you could lay down full length and sleep like you're in a bed. At one point during the plane ride the lights were off and there were tons of people all laid out full length passed out sleeping... it was the best plane ride I've been on for sure. The 15 hour flight was the flight from NY to Dubai, then we flew form Dubai to Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania which was like a 5 hour flight which was not nearly as good but certainly not bad since it was still on the Emirates airline.
When arriving in Africa we were met at the airport by a friend of my Uncles who worked for the airline that was holding a sign for us the moment we got off the plane and pretty much guided us through the whole process of filling out paper work and passports and stuff. From there we were picked up at the airport by another girl that was the girlfriend of a guy that was living with and working with my Uncle. She was pretty damn fine and certainly not what I envisioned a typical woman from Africa looking like, but I was admittedly ignorant about Africa since I've never been and really only knew what I may have seen on TV/movies/books. I guess I forgot though about a girl I used to like a lot back in high school that was Ethipian with a georgeous smile and body. Turned out to be a lot more girls that I thought were fine than I thought there would be but since I was primarily there for business I wasn't really thiking about it too much.
The girl drove us to my Uncles house in Tanzania and on the way there one of my first observations was that the city was a lot more developed than I had thought it would be. Throughout the trip I noticed there was a huge disparity between the living conditions of various people in different parts of the country depending on where we were. In some parts of Tanzania, people were living in incredible poverty or areas where they had to have homemade houses or raise your own cattle in order to eat. Then in other areas things were pretty much a normal city where you had banks, casinos, hotels, roads, and houses... where everything was pretty well developed compared to other areas but definitely not as developed as USA.
We got to my Uncle's house and we were greeted by my Uncle and a different friend of his. He told us that we could sleep at his house or stay at a hotel if we wanted air conditioning and since my mom was interested in AC we ended up deciding to stay in a hotel that night. At my Uncles house the girl that drove us from the airport was living there along with her sister. My uncle said she moved in kind of on her own without asking her boyfriend (the guy that lives there as well with my Uncle) first about it. So at this point we were all just hanging out at the house and my Uncle was talking to me a bit about some of the business he's involved in out there. He mentioned to me that he just found out the day before that the president of Tanzania was interested in meeting with him and flying him out to Burundi to meet.. so my Uncle told me that he was interested in me joining him.
I was told to be ready by like 4am in the morning because we had to catch a very early flight out there so I got to sleep pretty early without doing too much the first night there. So at like 4am my Uncle arrived at the hotel my mother and I were staying at (just for 3 days) and then we rode to the airport to head out to meet up with the president. We were met at the airport by a guy who was a representative of the President like his main man/business partner or something of the sort, as well as 3 armed soldiers that were meant to escort us for our entire stay in the country pretty much like bodyguards. They treated my Uncle pretty much like he was a Savior/Jesus the entire trip because they knew he was a powerful man from the USA that might be interested in doing business in their country. I knew my Uncle was connected/powerful/rich and what not, but actually discovered during this trip that it was even bigger than I thought. He showed me pictures with him and Obama and some other world leaders that he said he knew very well.
So the first day here in Burundi we were escorted to a nice hotel and pretty much treated like Royalty. It was here that my Uncle and I spent the bulk of the time we spent talking business on the entire trip. For some reason he seemed to be primarily focused on me having a "fun" type trip in Africa moreso than a business/learning trip. I think the reason was that he first wanted me to enjoy being in Africa first so that it would make it easier later on to make the decision to do business with him there since doing business there involves spending time there. I guess he figured if I don't like the place I won't do business there which wasn't really true since I'm interested in doing anything that will get me ahead financially. Turns out though anyway that I did have a fun time and viewed it as a great life experience in general but even if I didn't I still would have wanted to come back to work with him. I also felt like I had to take initiative to do a lot of the probing questioning to get information explaining what he had in mind for me. I sort of wondered if I hadn't asked any questions about the business aspect, if he was even going to bring it up. Since that was my main value in going I made sure to drill him with lots of questions for the duration of the trip whenever I had a chance.
While we were in Burundi I had plenty of time to ask him questions since it was just him and I. I can't really go into great detail in this blog post about the business/investing opportunities but in a very basic sense I'm buying a % ownership of his corpoation and also will be working with him directly on some of his projects so that I can learn first hand how to do deals myself, at which point I will then be doing my own deals/projects. He told me one of the deals he had in mind for me, if it goes through he can assure me it would make me a multi millionaire in at least 4 years if not earlier.. and from that point on I'd be on my way to being a billionaire. Sounds kind of outside my reality but with the understanding I have of what he does it certainly seems more plausible. The ownership in his corporation is a passive investment which I will be doing either way regardless of which project I get involved in... which I invested a sizable chunk of my roll into because the % chance of losing money at this point is nearly 0. He's basically allowing me to invest with him on a deal where they are at the very end of the project and all the risks have been taken. Kind of like getting to the river first and seeing you have the nuts and then deciding to go all in.
So we then spent the entire day mainly just discussing business with the President's right hand man, business with each other while eating/relaxing, and checking out some land of interest by the president's assistant. After all of this was done we then drove out to see the president out in what seemed like a hidden area of the jungle or something... not even sure how to describe it. It wasn't a "jungle" but it was like a bunch of dirt roads, not many buildings or houses, kind of barren like many other parts of Africa and then the area he was staying had numerous soldiers/guards out front of these huge gates and then a big house inside that he was staying in. We rode out there with the 3 soldiers with us the whole time carring AK-47s. I wasn't too certain about our safety since I'm ignorant about Africa but I assumed my Uncle's no fool and he wouldn't take us somewhere dangerous. I just kept getting visions of a buncha Rebels jumping out the bushes with guns and then spraying the entire truck of us with bullets. The country of Burundi had just gotten over a civil war like 4 years prior as well for what it's worth.
So we met up with the president, they talked business and then my Uncle and I spent the night in this hotel which was out in the bush as well and not upscale or anything obviously but wasn't expected to be. We headed out in the morning and flew back to Dar Es Salaam, continuing to discuss the business options the entire way as well. On the business side of things, the basic plan for me at this point is I'm going to grind poker hardcore from now until September and hope to make 300k+ since I'll be grinding in Canada. I'll also be researching and reading more about what my Uncle does so I can show up with a better understanding of what it is I'm doing and want to accomplish. Pretty much all my time will be spent playing poker and reading about stuff related to what my uncle does.
When we got back from Burundi we decided it would be a good idea for all of us to go out for dinner and drinks so like 8 of us went out to this outside lounge type place to just relax. Everyone got a little buzz going just hanging out/talking and then 3 of the girls, myself, and my Uncle all decided we were going to go out to a club to continue the party. I ended up having a good time and making a few friends that I hung out with the rest of the trip and met a few girls as well. I drank too much (not sure how) though and got more drunk than I can remember in recent time. I don't even know how, I think I just had like 4 long island ice teas... a guy I met at the bar bought me 2 and he was friends with the bartender so maybe he got em extra strong or something I don't know but I just know my head was spinning that night when I got home to pass out and I was throwing up the entire next day that we had planned to spend in Zanzibar.
So the next morning we take a Ferry to Zanzibar so obviously I'm puking the entire way. Hell, even before we got to the ferry we were driven there by my Uncle's friend, along with his wife, their 2 little daughters, my mom, and then another woman.. and they had to pull the car over for me on the way just so I can puke. Was kind of embarassing but the friend of my Uncle was out with us the night before so he had seen why I was drunk and also he understood that my Uncle was trying to show me a good time so he didn't view it as rude/disrespectful or anything I don't think. So we took the ferry on over to Zanzibar and just spent the day out there eating outside, sight seeing, and relaxing by the water. I was with my mom and 2 little girls so it was a different type of fun but I had fun. The two girls were so damn sweet and adorable (I rarely ever say that outside of gaming with a girl either). I'm not around kids too much but I found it fun joking around and talking with them the whole day.
We got back from Zanzibar and had 1 quick day to rest at my Uncle's house before heading back out to Ngorongoro crater for a Safarian tour which was just an amazing experience. We flew out to Arusha and then were picked up by our tour guide at the airport and drove through the town for like 2 hours stopping along the way sight seeing. The hotel we got to was very nice and upscale similar to the standards of the nice hotels in the USA. We had a nice meal and just relaxed in the room for the night and then the next morning drove out to the crater. We saw pretty much every animal imaginable and even were lucky enough to get to see a lion killing/eating a buffalo and then rest while protecting his kill/meat from hyeneas. Then after a while the lion left and the hyenas came in to clean up and eat the remainings being the scavengers they are. This was pretty much everything you'd expect an African safarian tour to be like, certainly one of the best parts of the trip. Afterwards we came back home and then flew out.
Prior to going I thought the plane ride was going to be hell since it was going to be such long layovers and then one big long flight for 15 hours straight but the cool part about it was that the long 15 hour flight turned out to be the easiest and most relaxed one because we flew with an airline called Emirates which was sick. They had an entertainment system type thing for each passenger that included TV, hundreds of movies, all kinds of music, games (such as you and the person you're traveling with could play each other in chess if you wanted right through the entertainment system), and a great menu of food you could order at any time. I guess also the best part was that the plane was so spacious that you could lay down full length and sleep like you're in a bed. At one point during the plane ride the lights were off and there were tons of people all laid out full length passed out sleeping... it was the best plane ride I've been on for sure. The 15 hour flight was the flight from NY to Dubai, then we flew form Dubai to Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania which was like a 5 hour flight which was not nearly as good but certainly not bad since it was still on the Emirates airline.
When arriving in Africa we were met at the airport by a friend of my Uncles who worked for the airline that was holding a sign for us the moment we got off the plane and pretty much guided us through the whole process of filling out paper work and passports and stuff. From there we were picked up at the airport by another girl that was the girlfriend of a guy that was living with and working with my Uncle. She was pretty damn fine and certainly not what I envisioned a typical woman from Africa looking like, but I was admittedly ignorant about Africa since I've never been and really only knew what I may have seen on TV/movies/books. I guess I forgot though about a girl I used to like a lot back in high school that was Ethipian with a georgeous smile and body. Turned out to be a lot more girls that I thought were fine than I thought there would be but since I was primarily there for business I wasn't really thiking about it too much.
The girl drove us to my Uncles house in Tanzania and on the way there one of my first observations was that the city was a lot more developed than I had thought it would be. Throughout the trip I noticed there was a huge disparity between the living conditions of various people in different parts of the country depending on where we were. In some parts of Tanzania, people were living in incredible poverty or areas where they had to have homemade houses or raise your own cattle in order to eat. Then in other areas things were pretty much a normal city where you had banks, casinos, hotels, roads, and houses... where everything was pretty well developed compared to other areas but definitely not as developed as USA.
We got to my Uncle's house and we were greeted by my Uncle and a different friend of his. He told us that we could sleep at his house or stay at a hotel if we wanted air conditioning and since my mom was interested in AC we ended up deciding to stay in a hotel that night. At my Uncles house the girl that drove us from the airport was living there along with her sister. My uncle said she moved in kind of on her own without asking her boyfriend (the guy that lives there as well with my Uncle) first about it. So at this point we were all just hanging out at the house and my Uncle was talking to me a bit about some of the business he's involved in out there. He mentioned to me that he just found out the day before that the president of Tanzania was interested in meeting with him and flying him out to Burundi to meet.. so my Uncle told me that he was interested in me joining him.
I was told to be ready by like 4am in the morning because we had to catch a very early flight out there so I got to sleep pretty early without doing too much the first night there. So at like 4am my Uncle arrived at the hotel my mother and I were staying at (just for 3 days) and then we rode to the airport to head out to meet up with the president. We were met at the airport by a guy who was a representative of the President like his main man/business partner or something of the sort, as well as 3 armed soldiers that were meant to escort us for our entire stay in the country pretty much like bodyguards. They treated my Uncle pretty much like he was a Savior/Jesus the entire trip because they knew he was a powerful man from the USA that might be interested in doing business in their country. I knew my Uncle was connected/powerful/rich and what not, but actually discovered during this trip that it was even bigger than I thought. He showed me pictures with him and Obama and some other world leaders that he said he knew very well.
So the first day here in Burundi we were escorted to a nice hotel and pretty much treated like Royalty. It was here that my Uncle and I spent the bulk of the time we spent talking business on the entire trip. For some reason he seemed to be primarily focused on me having a "fun" type trip in Africa moreso than a business/learning trip. I think the reason was that he first wanted me to enjoy being in Africa first so that it would make it easier later on to make the decision to do business with him there since doing business there involves spending time there. I guess he figured if I don't like the place I won't do business there which wasn't really true since I'm interested in doing anything that will get me ahead financially. Turns out though anyway that I did have a fun time and viewed it as a great life experience in general but even if I didn't I still would have wanted to come back to work with him. I also felt like I had to take initiative to do a lot of the probing questioning to get information explaining what he had in mind for me. I sort of wondered if I hadn't asked any questions about the business aspect, if he was even going to bring it up. Since that was my main value in going I made sure to drill him with lots of questions for the duration of the trip whenever I had a chance.
While we were in Burundi I had plenty of time to ask him questions since it was just him and I. I can't really go into great detail in this blog post about the business/investing opportunities but in a very basic sense I'm buying a % ownership of his corpoation and also will be working with him directly on some of his projects so that I can learn first hand how to do deals myself, at which point I will then be doing my own deals/projects. He told me one of the deals he had in mind for me, if it goes through he can assure me it would make me a multi millionaire in at least 4 years if not earlier.. and from that point on I'd be on my way to being a billionaire. Sounds kind of outside my reality but with the understanding I have of what he does it certainly seems more plausible. The ownership in his corporation is a passive investment which I will be doing either way regardless of which project I get involved in... which I invested a sizable chunk of my roll into because the % chance of losing money at this point is nearly 0. He's basically allowing me to invest with him on a deal where they are at the very end of the project and all the risks have been taken. Kind of like getting to the river first and seeing you have the nuts and then deciding to go all in.
So we then spent the entire day mainly just discussing business with the President's right hand man, business with each other while eating/relaxing, and checking out some land of interest by the president's assistant. After all of this was done we then drove out to see the president out in what seemed like a hidden area of the jungle or something... not even sure how to describe it. It wasn't a "jungle" but it was like a bunch of dirt roads, not many buildings or houses, kind of barren like many other parts of Africa and then the area he was staying had numerous soldiers/guards out front of these huge gates and then a big house inside that he was staying in. We rode out there with the 3 soldiers with us the whole time carring AK-47s. I wasn't too certain about our safety since I'm ignorant about Africa but I assumed my Uncle's no fool and he wouldn't take us somewhere dangerous. I just kept getting visions of a buncha Rebels jumping out the bushes with guns and then spraying the entire truck of us with bullets. The country of Burundi had just gotten over a civil war like 4 years prior as well for what it's worth.
So we met up with the president, they talked business and then my Uncle and I spent the night in this hotel which was out in the bush as well and not upscale or anything obviously but wasn't expected to be. We headed out in the morning and flew back to Dar Es Salaam, continuing to discuss the business options the entire way as well. On the business side of things, the basic plan for me at this point is I'm going to grind poker hardcore from now until September and hope to make 300k+ since I'll be grinding in Canada. I'll also be researching and reading more about what my Uncle does so I can show up with a better understanding of what it is I'm doing and want to accomplish. Pretty much all my time will be spent playing poker and reading about stuff related to what my uncle does.
When we got back from Burundi we decided it would be a good idea for all of us to go out for dinner and drinks so like 8 of us went out to this outside lounge type place to just relax. Everyone got a little buzz going just hanging out/talking and then 3 of the girls, myself, and my Uncle all decided we were going to go out to a club to continue the party. I ended up having a good time and making a few friends that I hung out with the rest of the trip and met a few girls as well. I drank too much (not sure how) though and got more drunk than I can remember in recent time. I don't even know how, I think I just had like 4 long island ice teas... a guy I met at the bar bought me 2 and he was friends with the bartender so maybe he got em extra strong or something I don't know but I just know my head was spinning that night when I got home to pass out and I was throwing up the entire next day that we had planned to spend in Zanzibar.
So the next morning we take a Ferry to Zanzibar so obviously I'm puking the entire way. Hell, even before we got to the ferry we were driven there by my Uncle's friend, along with his wife, their 2 little daughters, my mom, and then another woman.. and they had to pull the car over for me on the way just so I can puke. Was kind of embarassing but the friend of my Uncle was out with us the night before so he had seen why I was drunk and also he understood that my Uncle was trying to show me a good time so he didn't view it as rude/disrespectful or anything I don't think. So we took the ferry on over to Zanzibar and just spent the day out there eating outside, sight seeing, and relaxing by the water. I was with my mom and 2 little girls so it was a different type of fun but I had fun. The two girls were so damn sweet and adorable (I rarely ever say that outside of gaming with a girl either). I'm not around kids too much but I found it fun joking around and talking with them the whole day.
We got back from Zanzibar and had 1 quick day to rest at my Uncle's house before heading back out to Ngorongoro crater for a Safarian tour which was just an amazing experience. We flew out to Arusha and then were picked up by our tour guide at the airport and drove through the town for like 2 hours stopping along the way sight seeing. The hotel we got to was very nice and upscale similar to the standards of the nice hotels in the USA. We had a nice meal and just relaxed in the room for the night and then the next morning drove out to the crater. We saw pretty much every animal imaginable and even were lucky enough to get to see a lion killing/eating a buffalo and then rest while protecting his kill/meat from hyeneas. Then after a while the lion left and the hyenas came in to clean up and eat the remainings being the scavengers they are. This was pretty much everything you'd expect an African safarian tour to be like, certainly one of the best parts of the trip. Afterwards we came back home and then flew out.
Friday, March 6, 2009
Exciting Implications!
Well, a lot of pretty cool things happened today. For one, considering this blog is about "Aspiring Investor" and there hasn't been even a hint of anything investment related in here it's kind of cool to post about this. I have an uncle whose very successful business/finance wise... operating on a seriously high level, he is working towards billionaire status. Well anyway, I have somewhat of a relationship with him from childhood when I used to visit my cousins and live with them for months during the summer but not like extremely close. I had contacted him while still in college since I very much respect his experience/accomplishments in business.. as well as life in general. I basically told him what I was working on in my own life, where I was at with those plans, and what I wanted to accomplish to see if he could offer any constructive criticism to my ideas or any advice based on his own experience. At the time he basically told me that if what I was doing was successful and I was confident in it (poker), to continue playing poker and further down the line once I'd built up more capital I could branch out into other options.
So anyway, he recently got on Facebook unbeknownst to me so I decided to send him a message updating him on my status and see how things are going with him. He called me and during our talk basically told me very matter of factly that the best investment options at the moment that he's involved in are in Africa and that he wouldn't touch anything in the USA at the moment. He suggested that a good idea would be for me to fly out with him to Africa (he goes on a 2 week trip every month for business) and he'd be able to teach me things first hand and help show me how things work. He also said something else which sounded great to me... I was asking questions regarding how things work because I'm a complete newbie when it comes to investing in anything outside of poker and I asked "So... would I like get in on a deal with some guys and then.." and he cut me off and told me "No no I'd want you to get in on deals with me so that I can make sure you are doing things correctly and have someone you can trust". That sounded like an amazing opportunity to basically be showed the ropes by someone as successful as him.
So clearly stoked at the opportunity I told him I'm interested for sure, so it looks like I'm going to be flying into Africa next month to learn from him and gain some knowledge about how he makes his money. Not to mention I'm excited just to be going to Africa anyway since I like to travel... so being able to see an entirely different continent is an experience in and of itself.
Another thing that I'm excited about is that I was talking to a friend of mine I've known for a long time through poker... probably like 4 years, met him when we were both just starting out. I was telling him about how I'm definitely going to be going to Canada at some point so that I can get set up on some poker sites that are restricted to Americans here... since I felt that by doing so I'd be able to double or even probably triple my potential earnings each month. Apparently he has recently been thinking the EXACT same thing and has gone so far as to already have began researching into places to go in Canada. We're probably going to be going and rooming together which'll be cool too because he's pretty much into the same exact things as me... poker, going out, girls, traveling, etc.
To make things even better, another good friend of mine decided that he wants to quit his job 100% (tired of the working life) and give poker another try. He had attempted to previously but because of some tilt issues and bad bankroll management it was unsucessful so he made the responsible decision to get a job for some reliable income. He said that he's interested in moving out there as well when we go so that he can give poker another try.
This month also, I'm going to be going to Borgata once again (I love that place... especially after having gone to Commerce and seeing moreso why Borgata is so nice), for a deep stacked tournament they have going on so we'll see how that goes. My plan for now though is going to be to just grind poker, head out to Africa, and then move out to Canada to try to triple my earning potential. Hopefully things go as planned but when you're gambling for a living you learn to prepare for anything.
So anyway, he recently got on Facebook unbeknownst to me so I decided to send him a message updating him on my status and see how things are going with him. He called me and during our talk basically told me very matter of factly that the best investment options at the moment that he's involved in are in Africa and that he wouldn't touch anything in the USA at the moment. He suggested that a good idea would be for me to fly out with him to Africa (he goes on a 2 week trip every month for business) and he'd be able to teach me things first hand and help show me how things work. He also said something else which sounded great to me... I was asking questions regarding how things work because I'm a complete newbie when it comes to investing in anything outside of poker and I asked "So... would I like get in on a deal with some guys and then.." and he cut me off and told me "No no I'd want you to get in on deals with me so that I can make sure you are doing things correctly and have someone you can trust". That sounded like an amazing opportunity to basically be showed the ropes by someone as successful as him.
So clearly stoked at the opportunity I told him I'm interested for sure, so it looks like I'm going to be flying into Africa next month to learn from him and gain some knowledge about how he makes his money. Not to mention I'm excited just to be going to Africa anyway since I like to travel... so being able to see an entirely different continent is an experience in and of itself.
Another thing that I'm excited about is that I was talking to a friend of mine I've known for a long time through poker... probably like 4 years, met him when we were both just starting out. I was telling him about how I'm definitely going to be going to Canada at some point so that I can get set up on some poker sites that are restricted to Americans here... since I felt that by doing so I'd be able to double or even probably triple my potential earnings each month. Apparently he has recently been thinking the EXACT same thing and has gone so far as to already have began researching into places to go in Canada. We're probably going to be going and rooming together which'll be cool too because he's pretty much into the same exact things as me... poker, going out, girls, traveling, etc.
To make things even better, another good friend of mine decided that he wants to quit his job 100% (tired of the working life) and give poker another try. He had attempted to previously but because of some tilt issues and bad bankroll management it was unsucessful so he made the responsible decision to get a job for some reliable income. He said that he's interested in moving out there as well when we go so that he can give poker another try.
This month also, I'm going to be going to Borgata once again (I love that place... especially after having gone to Commerce and seeing moreso why Borgata is so nice), for a deep stacked tournament they have going on so we'll see how that goes. My plan for now though is going to be to just grind poker, head out to Africa, and then move out to Canada to try to triple my earning potential. Hopefully things go as planned but when you're gambling for a living you learn to prepare for anything.
Poker Update
So I haven't posted in a while but I just figured today definitely warranted making a post. It gets harder and harder to post when so much is going on and the time between when I have last updated gets bigger and bigger... just so much to cover but I decided I definitely need to update. Poker wise things have been continuing to go well, in January I ended up grinding the first 3 weeks of the month and making around $62k or so online and then went to the Borgata Poker Open to play in the $3500 main event with a friend of mine. I rarely ever play tournaments so it was fortunate of me to have a little bit of run good and I finished in 30th place out of 1000 entrants for like 8k more in profit putting me at around $70k for the month.
In hindsight that tournament run ended up costing me a good bit of money I believe because it left me with the tournament bug so the next month in February I flew out to LA for the LAPC events. It wasn't just for the tournaments though, I also find it sort of a break/vacation from the standard everyday grind to go somewhere new with friends and play live instead. But LAPC didn't go to well, I ended up spending probably around like $10k in tournaments and then another $2k in expenses, costing me around $12k for the trip, but more than that though was the opportunity cost of not playing at home. It was cool though, being in LA playing live was more entertaining than grinding online at home which produces pretty much no entertainment value for me at this point. Afterwards, I went to Mexico to visit an ex-gf which was definitely more of a vacation type feel to it since pretty much all I did each day was hang out with her, go to the movies, eat out, then go out at night drinking/partying.
Prior to going to LA/Mexico I had made like $20k online in a few days but after expenses and such in Feb I finished up like $8k, I'll take it all things considered. This month I'm planning to definitely get back on the grind and get things moving. I don't feel like I'm officially back on a good schedule yet though for grinding since when getting back from trips it seems like it takes me a few days to get readjusted to being back at home or a more structured schedule, but I have however put in some sessions of poker which I believe is going alright. I'm not sure though because I've decided this month I'm going to try to not look at results on such a consistent basis because it just causes me to be at the whim of how things are going in the short term, which in poker is completely out of your control anyway so it's rather futile to begin with.
In hindsight that tournament run ended up costing me a good bit of money I believe because it left me with the tournament bug so the next month in February I flew out to LA for the LAPC events. It wasn't just for the tournaments though, I also find it sort of a break/vacation from the standard everyday grind to go somewhere new with friends and play live instead. But LAPC didn't go to well, I ended up spending probably around like $10k in tournaments and then another $2k in expenses, costing me around $12k for the trip, but more than that though was the opportunity cost of not playing at home. It was cool though, being in LA playing live was more entertaining than grinding online at home which produces pretty much no entertainment value for me at this point. Afterwards, I went to Mexico to visit an ex-gf which was definitely more of a vacation type feel to it since pretty much all I did each day was hang out with her, go to the movies, eat out, then go out at night drinking/partying.
Prior to going to LA/Mexico I had made like $20k online in a few days but after expenses and such in Feb I finished up like $8k, I'll take it all things considered. This month I'm planning to definitely get back on the grind and get things moving. I don't feel like I'm officially back on a good schedule yet though for grinding since when getting back from trips it seems like it takes me a few days to get readjusted to being back at home or a more structured schedule, but I have however put in some sessions of poker which I believe is going alright. I'm not sure though because I've decided this month I'm going to try to not look at results on such a consistent basis because it just causes me to be at the whim of how things are going in the short term, which in poker is completely out of your control anyway so it's rather futile to begin with.
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Happy New Year!
Well I actually didn't do anything for this New Years for the first time in a while. I got offers from cousins/friends/family etc to go do various things... some of which sounded pretty damn fun like a cruise/ski trip but I decided that since in all actuality I'll be able to travel at any time I please, I don't really have to go do something when everyone else is doing something specific to the holiday since as poker players we really have the freedom to do all that fun stuff to our heart's content anytime. I decided that I wanted to stay home and really try to get the New Year started off in a productive manner.
December was very meh as far as poker goes, even though it was still TECHNICALLY one of my best months ever at $40k, but it just felt very meh because I only got to play really for like 1 week of the whole month... or maybe a week and a half and then the 2nd half of it was spent running pretty bad. I got on my friends site where I made like $35k in my first 4 days on there and then for the next 4 days (so actually yeah, I guess I only played like a week), I proceeded to have a lot of swings where at one point I was down like 8500 but ended up having like a nice +12k session on the last night to finish the week off +3k and +40k or so overall on the month.
So this month I decided I wanted to make it my best month ever and at the very least get back in the HABIT of being on a productive schedule where I'm getting things done. In November I felt like I did a pretty good job of being in the habit of waking up each day and getting my tables open for every minute I was on the computer so I can play... whereas this month the first 2 weeks got kinda screwed and even when I got back I did a lot of time wasting which appears to be my specialty.
So this month I've already had myself banned from 2+2 and wrote out a very easy to follow schedule for myself to get me back on track. Since the money I make in poker is a direct product of the effort/time I put into it, I'm still trying to make my main focus putting in the hands and not getting distracted with other things on my computer. I mean, the math is kinda ridiculous for what I should be able to reasonably expect by putting in enough hands.... in November I averaged a little over 3 buyins a day... so at the higher stakes I'm playing now that would be an average of 6k a day which would be a $180k month assuming I play the full month. And obviously I'd be very happy with A LOT less than that so I'm just hoping I can average 1.5 buyins a day for 3k and have my first 100k+ month ever.
As far as poker goes collectively on the year, it was my best year to date and things are going rather well. I'm moreso happy that I am now in a position where I can REALLY start making a lot if things continue as they are at the higher stakes I'm playing. In poker that's one of the good things is that the earning potential you have skyrockets pretty fast as long as you get good enough. As soon as you move up in stakes one level, your earning potential just doubled since you're playing for twice as much, and presumably if you are properly bankrolled mathematically, it doesn't have to mean at all that your risk of losing more money increased.
Well, best wishes to everyone's 2009!
December was very meh as far as poker goes, even though it was still TECHNICALLY one of my best months ever at $40k, but it just felt very meh because I only got to play really for like 1 week of the whole month... or maybe a week and a half and then the 2nd half of it was spent running pretty bad. I got on my friends site where I made like $35k in my first 4 days on there and then for the next 4 days (so actually yeah, I guess I only played like a week), I proceeded to have a lot of swings where at one point I was down like 8500 but ended up having like a nice +12k session on the last night to finish the week off +3k and +40k or so overall on the month.
So this month I decided I wanted to make it my best month ever and at the very least get back in the HABIT of being on a productive schedule where I'm getting things done. In November I felt like I did a pretty good job of being in the habit of waking up each day and getting my tables open for every minute I was on the computer so I can play... whereas this month the first 2 weeks got kinda screwed and even when I got back I did a lot of time wasting which appears to be my specialty.
So this month I've already had myself banned from 2+2 and wrote out a very easy to follow schedule for myself to get me back on track. Since the money I make in poker is a direct product of the effort/time I put into it, I'm still trying to make my main focus putting in the hands and not getting distracted with other things on my computer. I mean, the math is kinda ridiculous for what I should be able to reasonably expect by putting in enough hands.... in November I averaged a little over 3 buyins a day... so at the higher stakes I'm playing now that would be an average of 6k a day which would be a $180k month assuming I play the full month. And obviously I'd be very happy with A LOT less than that so I'm just hoping I can average 1.5 buyins a day for 3k and have my first 100k+ month ever.
As far as poker goes collectively on the year, it was my best year to date and things are going rather well. I'm moreso happy that I am now in a position where I can REALLY start making a lot if things continue as they are at the higher stakes I'm playing. In poker that's one of the good things is that the earning potential you have skyrockets pretty fast as long as you get good enough. As soon as you move up in stakes one level, your earning potential just doubled since you're playing for twice as much, and presumably if you are properly bankrolled mathematically, it doesn't have to mean at all that your risk of losing more money increased.
Well, best wishes to everyone's 2009!
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Updated Plans
So far this month I haven't even began grinding seriously in poker yet (yikes!) since I was in Atlantic City for some WSOP Harrahs Events. I was there for like 7 days and played only 3 of the tournaments because I overslept for two and got to AC too late for one of them. I didn't cash in any of them but went pretty deep and felt good about it considering I didn't feel like I had much of anything go right. I did play the 5/10nl 2k buyin cash games though while I was there and made like $2k in that to cover my expenses for the trip and put me up.
The hotel at Harrahs turned out to be much nicer than I originally thought it would be since it was a new tower called the Waterfront which had rooms basically identical to the rooms in Borgata's Water Club which are very nice. Harrahs didn't even bill me for the room it turns out due to a computer malfunction apparently which works out great for me.
So anyway my general plans for a while were to grind poker and make some money doing that and then head out to Australia with some friends for a nice change of pace in lifestyle and travel some. I think it's a shame more poker players don't take advantage of the freedom we have from poker at our age to travel to different places and experience different culture. Grinding poker can be a much more interesting lifestyle when you travel around with friends.
So I was talking to someone I know from poker and was invited to live with him and some other guys in a Penthouse in the Philippines which I thought looked gorgeous. Here are a couple of pictures:
I thought since I was at home grinding anyway, the prospect of being able to grind in a sick place with other poker players while being able to travel to a new place as well sounded great. Not to mention the live poker scene out there was thriving and women would apparently be very fond of an American guy, so it sounded fun. But the MAIN reason I really felt that I needed to do it was that I would be able to play on Non USA poker sites which I felt would make my grinding that much more profitable in general. That made it feel like a pretty easy decision along with everything else. I felt like I was all ready to get going in February but then had something else come up that changed my plans.
A friend of mine that plays pretty much live poker on a full time basis called me ecstatically telling me about some new site that he had just got on that was filled with a bunch of rich live players who played horribly. Apparently some live players created their own software so they can just play from their homes online instead of in home games. The software is downloaded from a private link and the game is invite only with a very small player base. I checked out the games and at least 1 very soft 10/20nl games runs there nightly with the worst players I've ever seen. My friend is up like 20k on the site in his first 2 days on there. If I could get on that site and have it add even an additional $50k to my bottom line every month then that would justify postponing something like the Phiippines and keeping my grinding here. I wouldn't be able to play on that site while in the Philippines because cash outs are done in person and deposits are done in person through cash, there are no deposit options through the software.
So it looks like I may be staying here at home and grinding and then just traveling later on with friends to Australia. I'm not sure yet just how profitable the site is but I'm supposed to be getting on there today to find out. This month so far I am like even in poker but some friends that I'm staking are winning so I think i'm probably up like $5k from not playing. I am going to get on my grind this month though because now that I've settled some things with an ex-gf of mine and not going to the Philippines I'll have full reign to begin grinding for quite some time now.
I still need to go back to Borgata later this month though and will also be going in January as well for some Winter Borgata Open events but other than that I will be on my grind and hopefully continuing to have some of the best months ever for me.
My general plans for right now were to basically grind poker for a few months here at home and then take a trip with some friends to Australia to live there for a nice change of pace in lifestyle.
The hotel at Harrahs turned out to be much nicer than I originally thought it would be since it was a new tower called the Waterfront which had rooms basically identical to the rooms in Borgata's Water Club which are very nice. Harrahs didn't even bill me for the room it turns out due to a computer malfunction apparently which works out great for me.
So anyway my general plans for a while were to grind poker and make some money doing that and then head out to Australia with some friends for a nice change of pace in lifestyle and travel some. I think it's a shame more poker players don't take advantage of the freedom we have from poker at our age to travel to different places and experience different culture. Grinding poker can be a much more interesting lifestyle when you travel around with friends.
So I was talking to someone I know from poker and was invited to live with him and some other guys in a Penthouse in the Philippines which I thought looked gorgeous. Here are a couple of pictures:
I thought since I was at home grinding anyway, the prospect of being able to grind in a sick place with other poker players while being able to travel to a new place as well sounded great. Not to mention the live poker scene out there was thriving and women would apparently be very fond of an American guy, so it sounded fun. But the MAIN reason I really felt that I needed to do it was that I would be able to play on Non USA poker sites which I felt would make my grinding that much more profitable in general. That made it feel like a pretty easy decision along with everything else. I felt like I was all ready to get going in February but then had something else come up that changed my plans.
A friend of mine that plays pretty much live poker on a full time basis called me ecstatically telling me about some new site that he had just got on that was filled with a bunch of rich live players who played horribly. Apparently some live players created their own software so they can just play from their homes online instead of in home games. The software is downloaded from a private link and the game is invite only with a very small player base. I checked out the games and at least 1 very soft 10/20nl games runs there nightly with the worst players I've ever seen. My friend is up like 20k on the site in his first 2 days on there. If I could get on that site and have it add even an additional $50k to my bottom line every month then that would justify postponing something like the Phiippines and keeping my grinding here. I wouldn't be able to play on that site while in the Philippines because cash outs are done in person and deposits are done in person through cash, there are no deposit options through the software.
So it looks like I may be staying here at home and grinding and then just traveling later on with friends to Australia. I'm not sure yet just how profitable the site is but I'm supposed to be getting on there today to find out. This month so far I am like even in poker but some friends that I'm staking are winning so I think i'm probably up like $5k from not playing. I am going to get on my grind this month though because now that I've settled some things with an ex-gf of mine and not going to the Philippines I'll have full reign to begin grinding for quite some time now.
I still need to go back to Borgata later this month though and will also be going in January as well for some Winter Borgata Open events but other than that I will be on my grind and hopefully continuing to have some of the best months ever for me.
My general plans for right now were to basically grind poker for a few months here at home and then take a trip with some friends to Australia to live there for a nice change of pace in lifestyle.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Poker and Life
Well since last posting in this blog I have had a lot happen. After the jackpot I ended up taking probably a month off from poker (burnt out?) and just relaxed not doing too much. The month following that I got back to the grind at 6m with the intentions of really working on my 6m game and improving my play so that I can move up in stakes. Things were going well, I was on a solid schedule each day that kept me organized that consisted of playing poker, studying poker, and keeping balance in other areas of my life. I ended up having a halt in my plans that came in the form of a girlfriend that I got pretty close with pretty fast causing me to take yet another break from poker for probably like a month where I was just with her on a daily basis.
Around this time I also had a friend that was just absolutely crushing heads up poker that recommended I switch over to it. So eventually I did and was doing great. I started off at 2/4 and 3/6 heads up and just would grind heads up each day as well as just spending time with the girlfriend. I eventually moved up to 5/10nl and had like two 30k months back to back without really playing all that much but playing a moderate amount. Somethings were going wrong with my gf and I... one big thing being I realized that holy shit if I want to live the poker lifestyle of traveling around with friends, partying, playing poker, and meeting new people (girls) that I can't have a girlfriend. So like the asshole I am I broke up with her prior to leaving.
I ended up going on a 4 month long vacation with some friends where we were living on 6th street in Austin (great location), Vegas, and in Mexico which turned out to be like one big adventure with lots of fun times. I played poker here and there throughout the trip, first month very little.. making like 10k, in Vegas I got myself to play a bit more making like 30k, then in Mexico I only played enough to cover expenses. I decided though that it didn't make any sense to not be putting in more volume especially with the consistency and winrate I had at 5/10 heads up, so when I got back home (November) I finally buckled down and put in some volume.
I ended up having my best month ever for $84k with like probably 60k hands played. My winrate was very good though because a lot of winnings were at 3/6 from me just deciding getting hands at 3/6 is better than no hands and empty tables. So my plans now are to keep on grinding things out while I can and make as much as I can before it stops being so profitable to do so. I don't know for certain that HU will become less profitable but in my experience with poker anything that's easy money eventually does stop:
Party poker - Still have nightmares about this one
Cake poker - I did manage to get in early on this gold rush
Affilaite business with PP - lost this one for same reason PP shut down.
Doyles Room - UEGIA can go F itself.
So yeah, i'm going to try to play as much as I can while I still am doing great and hope things go well. I actually turned down some offers to go on some cool trips like Thailand (SSNL goes to Thailand) and moving into a poker house with some players because the timing was just really bad. I knew Thailand would be a huge distraction to grinding and will always be there and the poker house would be great for my game but since i'm doing HU right now and the players in the house all played 6m I just decided I would continue with what i'm doing now.
I can't wait to get back to traveling though sometime in February or March maybe when some friends of mine have also grinded out some more money as well. We are looking to take a big trip to Australia/Buenos Aires or something, but prior to that I want to kind of go on a cruise or snowboarding trip since I've had great fun in the past with both of those. For the snowboarding trip my friends and I a long time ago went with this place:
http://www.skitravel.com/index.php?module=CMS&func=view&id=234&tripType=2
Not sure if it would be cheaper to just get there on our own and pay for the lodging on our own but that site takes care of all that for you and i'm lazy so .. whatever. We'll see if that goes down though.
In the mean time i'm going to Borgata this weekend to play some WSOP circuit events and grind some 5/10, and when I get back i'll be back to grinding.
Around this time I also had a friend that was just absolutely crushing heads up poker that recommended I switch over to it. So eventually I did and was doing great. I started off at 2/4 and 3/6 heads up and just would grind heads up each day as well as just spending time with the girlfriend. I eventually moved up to 5/10nl and had like two 30k months back to back without really playing all that much but playing a moderate amount. Somethings were going wrong with my gf and I... one big thing being I realized that holy shit if I want to live the poker lifestyle of traveling around with friends, partying, playing poker, and meeting new people (girls) that I can't have a girlfriend. So like the asshole I am I broke up with her prior to leaving.
I ended up going on a 4 month long vacation with some friends where we were living on 6th street in Austin (great location), Vegas, and in Mexico which turned out to be like one big adventure with lots of fun times. I played poker here and there throughout the trip, first month very little.. making like 10k, in Vegas I got myself to play a bit more making like 30k, then in Mexico I only played enough to cover expenses. I decided though that it didn't make any sense to not be putting in more volume especially with the consistency and winrate I had at 5/10 heads up, so when I got back home (November) I finally buckled down and put in some volume.
I ended up having my best month ever for $84k with like probably 60k hands played. My winrate was very good though because a lot of winnings were at 3/6 from me just deciding getting hands at 3/6 is better than no hands and empty tables. So my plans now are to keep on grinding things out while I can and make as much as I can before it stops being so profitable to do so. I don't know for certain that HU will become less profitable but in my experience with poker anything that's easy money eventually does stop:
Party poker - Still have nightmares about this one
Cake poker - I did manage to get in early on this gold rush
Affilaite business with PP - lost this one for same reason PP shut down.
Doyles Room - UEGIA can go F itself.
So yeah, i'm going to try to play as much as I can while I still am doing great and hope things go well. I actually turned down some offers to go on some cool trips like Thailand (SSNL goes to Thailand) and moving into a poker house with some players because the timing was just really bad. I knew Thailand would be a huge distraction to grinding and will always be there and the poker house would be great for my game but since i'm doing HU right now and the players in the house all played 6m I just decided I would continue with what i'm doing now.
I can't wait to get back to traveling though sometime in February or March maybe when some friends of mine have also grinded out some more money as well. We are looking to take a big trip to Australia/Buenos Aires or something, but prior to that I want to kind of go on a cruise or snowboarding trip since I've had great fun in the past with both of those. For the snowboarding trip my friends and I a long time ago went with this place:
http://www.skitravel.com/index.php?module=CMS&func=view&id=234&tripType=2
Not sure if it would be cheaper to just get there on our own and pay for the lodging on our own but that site takes care of all that for you and i'm lazy so .. whatever. We'll see if that goes down though.
In the mean time i'm going to Borgata this weekend to play some WSOP circuit events and grind some 5/10, and when I get back i'll be back to grinding.
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