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After many years of going to school and saying no to drugs I graduated with a degree!  Little did I know it would lead me to being beaten into the ground at the hands of a soulless corporation.  After 3 years I quit to play poker professionally.  I've now been full-time over 7 years, yet revenge is still in the air.  It's crazy to look back and realize I started this blog as I was simply 'pumping myself up' to quit the real world and go full time.  Now I also do some writing for fun as a 'day job' (some freelance and paid, but an insignificant sum compared to 5/10 live) and airbnb my place when I don't feel like playing as much.

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Sunday
Apr082012

Bad 5/10 Start (4/8/2012)

I’ve pretty much stumbled into the 5/10 scene here.  I’m playing good, but I can’t seem to win a session.  I’m getting card dead for ridiculous spans.  And when I do pick up a decent value hand it automatically gets sucked out on the next street.  Typical live poker doom-switch.  I’ve played 30 hours of 5/10 down -$2300.

The games have been good.  I haven’t felt like I’ve been threatened or out-played by anyone.  So right now I have another 4 buy-ins set aside for 5/10.  If I keep running like this I will be forced to drop back down to 2/5 soon.  That’s what happens when you save your worst run in a thousand hours for the exact time you jump up in stakes.

But there are no streaks, it’s all in my head.  All I can do is play every hand correctly, I must remain in the present.  But really it’s not over.  If I drop 4 more buy-ins that would equate to being down around -6k total.  This is pretty much like losing -3k on 2/5.  The last time I lost -3k on 2/5 consecutively was around September 10th 2011 (this turned into the worst live swing of my life where I dropped over -7k or 12 buy-ins before stabilizing).  I lost around 3k consecutive playing 2/5 another time around July 10th 2011.     

And that’ s it.  I’ve logged 1,940 hours playing 2/5 since I’ve been a pro.  During that time I’ve had two down-swings that lasted 6 buy-ins or more.

The point is, I’m not going to drop 6 consecutive buy-ins playing live poker often.  And if my one in a thousand hour 6 buy-in + down-swings happens the exact moment I take a shot at 5/10, then that’s just incredibly fucked up, what else can I say.  The problem is I'm already down 2 buy-ins, so dropping another 4 wouldn't be that rare.

What’s the plan if that happens?

If my bankroll falls to 30k I’ll have to grind 2/5 until I get at my BR to at least 40k.  Adding 10k on top of living expenses could take another 5 months if I run average.  So it’s either accept I’ll play 2/5 for at least 5 months. 

Or I can try to borrow something like 10k and skip the re-grind 2/5 step.  If 5/10 is clearly beatable and a much higher hourly I may just be wasting my time playing 2/5.  This is a lot to think about because I’ve never borrowed money before.  But I have to look at things long term here.  Logically I should be able to repay the 10k if I run average at 5/10 for 2.5 months.  Then I just stabilized on a higher stakes with a higher hourly and saved 3 wasted months.  Much to think about here, but I think it’s important I consider this thought process.         

-bag

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