Documentary of a Poker Career

February Results

2008-02-28T20:33:00.002-05:00

Once again this month, I broke my career high in money earned in cash games. I didn't play as many hands as I wanted to, only logging 92k hands. I'm taking today and tomorrow off as I'm again having computer problems. My computer keeps turning off randomly, and I think it's a heat issue. I'm not too surprised that my computer is starting to have recurring problems; it's now three years old. However it's still a very fast and strong computer, so it's worth it to keep replacing the parts that are going bad, unless it costs too much. Then I'll just invest in a new desktop.

As far as actual results, I made around 13k in cash games, another 2k in rakeback, 2k in tournaments, and lost 2k playing live for a total of just over $15k. My previous career high was 12k, which I set in January. My goals for March are to play more hands and continue improving my game, which it has tremendously since I moved up to 2/4 nl. I ran at 1.6 ptbb over my first 100k hands, and ran at 2.4 my last 100k hands. Overall since moving up to 2/4 in the end of december, I've cleared 30k at 2/4 alone. I'm pretty happy with the direction of my poker career.

-Prabs

Random Thoughts

2008-02-18T03:19:00.003-05:00

Well, yesterday sucked. My car was broken into. The thief smashed my passenger window in and stole my ipod, am/fm transmitter, and some chargers. The ipod was in my middle console...along with my spare keys. Somehow it went unnoticed, probably because it was on the very bottom of the console. Thank god the car wasn't stolen. It's going to be a huge hassle now to get it fixed.

What sucks is that for the past 3 months, our gate to our condo has been broken and wide open 24 hours/day. A few months ago, I went in and asked why it was open, and they said it needed a part and would be fixed shortly. I'm going to complain to the home owners association and see what happens. Hopefully this doesn't cost me too much.

Poker has been ok lately. I haven't made too much the past few days and haven't run too well. I've basically broken even for the past 30k hands, but hopefully things pick up.

My friend Bill Vosti (billyjex on 2+2) released his ebook. I linked it on the right hand side; the url is www.skilledonlinepoker.com. The book itself is very good. I've been playing poker for a long time, but it explains some concepts that I don't understand very well. While it's targeted at beginner/inexperienced types, good players who want to understand the game better to beat midstakes would benefit a lot from reading the book. I'd definitely recommend picking this up if you want to improve your game.

On a related note, I thought it was a pretty cool idea he had. Maybe I'll write an e-book on full ring poker sometime soon. Right now I'm going to focus on playing though, because writing an e-book takes an incredible amount of time and dedication. I'll save that project for when I burn out again, which could easily happen sometime this year.

-Prabs

Mid Feb update

2008-02-12T23:10:00.003-05:00

My month is going very well. It started off on a down note when I lost 2k live playing 2-5 no limit. I bought in for $500 each time and dropped 4 buyins in about 2 hours. Pretty pathetic showing. I was playing against a very loose aggressive player. I got bad beat pretty badly by him once, and the other buyins were just very high variance plays that didn't work out. I don't think I played that great though, but I don't think my EV in the pots was too bad either.

On the flip side, online poker has been going great for me. Including rakeback and a small tournament win of 2k, I've made about 11k so far online this month, for a total of +9k including my live loss.

I've definitely been running hot. Haven't been getting bad beat at all really, all my big pairs are holding up, I'm not getting set over setted at all. This pace can't continue and I won't be too surprised if I don't sustain this pace. We'll see though, I've been playing great and running great, which is a good combo. Hopefully when it settles down I continue making money at a decent clip.

I've added some new elements to my game which hopefully will help my winrate in early position. I'm feeling very good about it, logically my changes make sense and should make my game very unpredictable.

-Prabs

last jan update

2008-02-02T14:46:00.000-05:00

I ended up playing on the 31st after all and made ~$1k. It brought my total profit to $8800 for the month, plus around $3000 in rakeback and another $900 in tournaments. So I ended up clearing 12k for the month despite a very rocky start. Hopefully Feb will go better.

-Prabs

My 100th post

2008-01-26T07:25:00.000-05:00

I'm somewhat surprised my blog lasted this long. I've had some stretches where I haven't updated in awhile, but I've been pretty good about it overall I suppose. As I always say, I'm going to try to update more.

This month has been very frustrating at times. I pulled through a soul crushing 70k hand breakeven stretch at 2/4. This happens from time to time, and I can't say I played my best throughout. There were definitely some sessions where tilt played a part in my losses. They were never horrible, and I wasn't on monkey tilt in any way, but I certainly left money on the tables and didn't play optimally at times. Mostly this occurs in situations where I usually can make a solid fold, but am stuck on the session and can't find the fold button. It's still one of my major leaks, but I'm working on it, mostly quitting when I'm feeling that sense of being against the wall.

Also contributing to my breakeven stretch was running AWFUL at higher limits. This month I'm down ~$4k at 3/6 and 5/10. I played ok, but was in very tough spots most of the time. I did the right thing though and moved down and only let myself play 2/4 to grind it back.

There are still a few days left in January and it would be nice to finish out at a +$10k month, but so far I'm pretty happy with the month all things considered. I've learned a lot. The games are SO different at 2/4 when compared to 1/2, especially preflop. They're much more aggressive preflop; I even successfully 5-bet all in light this month. I don't think I played my A+ game the entire time, ran bad at higher limits, and didn't get quite as many hands in as I would have liked. Next month I need to get in at least 120k hands. The more hands I put in at 2/4, the higher my win-rate will go as I get more and more used to the game.

Here's a graph of my month so far (at the top of this post). Right now I've made ~$6k. I've also earned $2500ish in rakeback. As always, click the graph to see a clearer full size picture.

-Prabs

Update time plus year goals

2008-01-10T16:31:00.001-05:00

I suppose I should have updated this earlier, but I've been pretty busy lately with poker (and getting owned by poker also). In December I had a good month at 2/4. Made about 7k while not playing very many hands.

This month has been FRUSTRATING. After 10 days, I have played 40-50k hands and am down over that period about $3400. I'm doing ok at 2/4 after breaking even for my first 30k hands, but I took some shots at 3/6 and 5/10 and have run horribly. All my big hands are getting cracked and every spot I'm getting into is tough. I suppose that's a product of playing at higher limits with better players, and I have made some less than optimal decisions, but overall I'm running pretty bad. I'm down 1k at 3/6 and 3k at 5/10.

I don't have a large number of hands at either of the higher limits, but I'm missing all my big draws that I'm playing for stacks, and basically any short stack is doubling up off me when I hit a big hand. For example, I 3bet QQ the other day at 5/10 to 150 (because there was a caller in between of the short stack opener and I). The short stack had 500 and called. Flop was KK9, he checked, I bet 120 and he check raised all in. I called and of course he had KTo. Completely standard hand, he's an awful player, but I ended up losing a 1k pot as a result of variance.

In another hand, I made a questionable play. A loose aggressive player opened UTG, and I 3b on the button with 56s. I think I messed up right there. I should have called, or folded. The 3bet was unnecessary, especially given the fact that he raised in early position. Big mistake on my part.

He called and I flopped a gutshot and a flush draw. He checked, I bet and he called. Turn was a brick and he checked again. Here again I messed up. I should have taken the free card knowing that his range was likely to call any bet, especially considering he was loose. Instead, I shoved for about the size of the pot. Obviously he had KK and obviously I missed.

At least I didn't bluff off a stack with garbage. I did have 12 clean outs. However, I played it poorly preflop and on the turn and I can't make those mistakes while playing at higher limits.

So after I lost the 3k at 5/10 I was in the middle of a $5500 downswing. I was pretty fucking pissed about it because I was nearly at 30k in my bankroll when it happened. I was also looking forward to a big January, and instead I'm stuck 3k almost halfway through the month. I should be clearing 10k/month at the very least.

I took the day off and am not going to play any limits higher than 2/4 other than a table or two of 3/6 when it runs. Usually that game is very good. I took a day off and won $1600 back yesterday. Of course, I played a table of 3/6 during the day and lost about $900, so I actually made $2500 at 2/4. It was fine, I got into a very +ev spot where I got KK all in against a flush draw and an over.

I'm rolled for 3/6 but it's not a huge deal if I play it even if I wasn't rolled. I'm just playing 1 table and am not going to play if the table sucks. I was getting worried that I'm not good enough to beat 2/4 after doing so poorly, but the fact is I was getting very unlucky. I think I also wasn't playing aggressive enough. We'll see. I'm definitely staying away from 5/10 for now.

As for this year, I need to clear $100k. I should have done it last year but I didn't play enough. It's long past time for me to start making 6 figures/year. I need to start saving up and investing in real estate and other things, and I can't just keep this cycle of playing whenever my roll is getting low and then taking time off. This year I'd like to play at least 80k hands/month and hopefully move up to 5/10 by the end of the year.

-Prabs

moving up in limits

2007-12-17T01:40:00.000-05:00

So after grinding hard for a month and a half, I once again made enough money where I was comfortable. That resulted in me not playing too much. I also have had computer problems where I had to reformat both of my computers. I couldn't play during that time and it cost me a good bit to get both fixed. My motherboard on my desktop crapped out, and it ended up costing me around $800 to get both computers completely fixed and set up.

So to mix things up, I moved up to 2/4 nl. I gave myself 5 buyins ($2k); if I lose those, I will drop back down to 1/2nl and grind again. If I do well, then I'll stay at 2/4 with 1/2 as my comfort zone if I ever need to move down for confidence reasons. I'm already overrolled for 2/4 nl, but this is my first serious shot at 2/4 nl full ring.

I started playing 3 days ago...the monetary swings are taking some time to get used to but it's starting to become more natural. Right now after 8k hands, I am up around $1200 and running at 2ptbb/100.

I don't think I'm playing my A game quite yet. I've caught myself getting in some bad spots against short stacks. Part of this is my tendency to play looser in big pots for some reason whenever I play higher limits. I think the problem is I feel like I SHOULDN'T be scared of bigger money, so I force myself to not care as much about the money and pretend like it's not a big deal or something. As a result, I sometimes stack off too lightly to half stacks.

However, I'm getting better with it. I noticed myself doing this in the beginning, but I hit my stride after about 2k hands and started playing really well. I even folded KK preflop correctly after just one raise preflop. My instincts are just as good as anyone's at full ring. This is mostly a product of the volume of hands I've put in at full ring; pretty much any situation that comes up has happened to me many times before, so I know what kinds of hands people show up with most of the time.

I'm curious to see the difference between 1/2 and 2/4. After 8k hands, I can't see my win rate dropping too much. The games are tougher but there are still very poor players playing. Right now I'm also only playing 10 tables as opposed to 16. If my hourly is higher at 1/2 than 2/4, then it would make no sense to move up, but I suspect that very quickly I'll be able to play 12-16 tables and make a significantly higher hourly. We'll see.

-Prabs

Hilarious video, mid month update.

2007-11-16T03:03:00.000-05:00

This month hasn't been going as well. Over 36,000 hands, I'm only up $2,434 and running at 1.71ptbb/100. I've also made another $800 in rakeback.

It's fairly obvious that I'm running awful, with tons of coolers, tough spots, and unavoidable situations. I ran a pokerev calculator and I'm running well below expectation in all in pots, and that doesn't even factor in cooler situations where I'm on the bad end and get the money in behind.

I haven't played enough hands this month so far, and part of that is because I've been running so bad. Two days ago I pulled out of my largest downswing ever at full ring. Over a two day period I dropped $2k, or 10 buyins. It's a pretty big downswing for full ring because variance is so small. I ran so awful that I tilted for the first time in a LONG time. I probably tilted off 3-4 buyins, which is unacceptable.

I've pretty much completely come out of the downswing. I never was down on the month, and truthfully have only had one losing day this month as I've been able to come back from big deficits each time I start off a session down big.

The games are still very good. I think they are starting to become as beatable as the golden Party Poker days. Admittedly, it's a different type of game now. There are no longer multiple retards at every table handing out money like it's food stamps. The people who are now the fish are the "tag fish". TAG stands for tight aggressive. These guys blindly multitable and are very predictable. As a result, they're super exploitable. I've been getting the best of these regulars lately, and I think they're starting to get frustrated because very few regulars are willing to go to war with other regs like I am. We'll see if they're able to adjust.

I'm going back home for 10 days to spend Thanksgiving with my family. While I'm excited to see them, unfortunately this means I will get little playing in. I can play on my laptop but I will not be able to 16 table. Perhaps I can borrow a monitor from a friend and really try to put in some hands. The goal is 15k hands over the next 10 days, which is very conservative, but with a lot of stuff going on will be difficult to achieve.

Here's a funny video, I almost died laughing.

I guess it's time to update

2007-10-31T08:35:00.000-04:00

For some reason, I stopped updating my blog. For that reason, I was a little hesitant to start doing it again, perhaps out of embarrassment that I neglected it for so long. But here I am and it's about time I let you guys into my world again.

Basically, I hadn't played a ton of poker in recent months. I had been experimenting with new games, partially because I was a little burnt out. I even started thinking about going back to school. At one point, I wasn't even sure I was cut out for a poker career. I was getting sorta stressed out knowing I had no backup plan.

But of course, that was all crap. It wasn't that I couldn't make it in poker. As is the norm in my life, I got lazy. My bankroll dipped to around $8k when I realized that I had somehow already accepted that I would go busto and go back to school. At that point, I talked to some friends and decided that if I was going to make a stand, I would do it at the game I had had the most success and experience in: multi-tabling full ring.

Here are my results since I started doing that again. All hands are at Full Tilt Poker 1/2 No Limit. I started grinding again about two weeks ago on October 17th.

click on the image for a bigger picture.

Full Tilt raised the maximum playable tables, so I am now 16 tabling. I have made about $6800 over 37k hands, or about 48 hours, plus another $1000 in rakeback. That works out to an hourly of around $142/hour just playing. I also make another $26/hour in rakeback, so my total hourly over the last 2 weeks is $167/hour.

I am running at 4.5ptbb/100. I think that winrate is high, and will likely settle down to around 3, maybe 3.5. I'm not sure running at 4 is possible. Right now I am the biggest winner in my database in the Full Tilt 1/2 ring games, but I am sure that I am running hot. Regardless, the games are MUCH easier than at Stars. I put in a lot of hands at Pokerstars and never ran above 2.5 ptbb/100 hands.

There are just many more very bad half stacks at ftp. Every table has fishy players who play too loose, whereas Stars was filled with tight multitabling regulars. I've found the biggest difference is I get much more value out of my big hands at FTP than Stars. Of course, 37k hands is a small sample size, so we'll see in a month or so.

I played 2k hands yesterday after waking up at 10AM and had planned on putting in two more sessions. I've felt myself getting sort of sick the past few days, and decided to take a short nap before my next session around 4pm. I ended up sleeping 12 hours and just woke up feeling very sick. I don't feel groggy or anything, so I think I'll put in a session in a bit.

-nation

email address

2007-07-10T03:52:00.000-04:00

Mr Wech,

I saw your comment, but I don't have an aol email address. My email is prabsnation@yahoo.com.

new rims for car

2007-07-02T17:40:00.001-04:00

I got semi-deep into my first WSOP tournament, coming in 900/3k entrants. I played really well, went out on a standard hand. I felt like I was the best player at my table at all times, so it was really good experience. Hopefully next year I can play a few more events.

Here are the rims I got!

before:

After:

First Career WSOP Event Tomorrow

2007-06-22T17:09:00.000-04:00

I'm being staked for tomorrow's $1500 no limit hold em event at the World Series. Hopefully I'll have good results to tell you guys. Wish me luck.

-Prabs

Back in Vegas

2007-06-18T20:46:00.000-04:00

I just got back to Vegas the other night. Unpacked, did laundry, ran errands, and put in some sessions online. Did pretty well, I'm going to hold off on another graph until I accumulate more hands. Online poker is still soft...I hope it's around in a few months.

I just bought a digital camera (my old one was huge and bulky and 4 years old) that's as slim as my phone so I can carry it around everywhere; I'll be adding a lot of pictures to the blog from now on.

That's all for now, here's another picture from LA (click for bigger image).

an update from LA

2007-06-15T02:52:00.001-04:00

I'm in LA right now hanging with some friends. I'm playing a lot of poker online, and today was a rough one.

all was 1/2 6 max...that big fgators like 'downswing' had a decent amount of tilt in it. god knows how i got myself under control and played well again. (click for a bigger image, this one sucks)

also, here's a hand where i stacked fgators. sometimes my betpot script makes it 5 when when opening instead of 8...but good result anyways!

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $2 BB (6 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: 2+2 Forums)

SB ($51.45)
BB ($96.10)
UTG ($234)
Hero ($384.45)
CO ($199.75)
Button ($222.25)

Preflop: Hero is MP with 7, 7.
1 fold, Hero raises to $5, CO calls $5, 2 folds, BB calls $3.

Flop: ($16) 3, Q, 7 (3 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $12, CO calls $12, BB folds.

Turn: ($40) 4 (2 players)
Hero bets $25, CO calls $25.

River: ($90) K (2 players)
Hero bets $342.45 (All-In), CO calls $157.75 (All-In).

Final Pot: $590.20

Results in white below:
Hero has 7c 7s (three of a kind, sevens).
CO has Kd Qd (two pair, kings and queens).
Outcome: Hero wins $590.20.

the chat afterwards was classic, with phrases like "prabs (my sn) you play like a fucking idiot" and "i wish i were in a room with you right now so i could beat your head in" to which i replied, "you got prabooooooosted"

Here's a picture of me and my friends in LA when we went out the other night... (click for bigger/better pic obv)

Back from AC

2007-04-29T08:32:00.000-04:00

I just got back from a week long trip to Atlantic City. It was a profitable trip, and I played well. The move date to Vegas is rapidly approaching so I'm starting to tie up loose ends here in Johnstown before I get out there.

Not too much to report, other than I'm trying to play every day. Once I get to Vegas, expenses will rise so I'm trying to make as much money as I can here to prepare myself for living back in the city.

I have to say I'm looking forward to it. I'm going to try to lead a more well-balanced life out there instead of poker 24/7. I think it'll be healthier and more conducive to a long career as opposed to a flame-out 5 years down the road.

-Prabs

Anchorman 300 recut

2007-04-18T01:59:00.001-04:00

hilarious...

Restarting the Old Blog

2007-04-17T19:37:00.000-04:00

So it's been awhile since I've posted here, and I think it's time to update and continue updating more frequently.

There's not a whole lot of new stuff going on. I've been grinding 1-2nl live a lot the last 2 months. I haven't played too much online at all; I'm having more fun playing live.

In light of the impending gambling ban, I've made plans to move back to Las Vegas in mid-May. I have to be around casinos so I can continue to make a living even if playing online isn't possible because they are overrun by pros, or if they're completely inaccessible.

I've made good money at 1/2 the last few months and am close to feeling comfortable playing only 2-5 live as I did in the past. It's been tough to get readjusted as I played 1/2 so much online; the swings are higher because of the higher stakes.

I'm looking forward to going back; a lot has changed for me and I think I'm way more mentally prepared than last time. I'm also excited to do things other than poker, like hiking and maybe taking some boxing classes. I'm also going to get back into tennis, so my life will hopefully be more balanced this year.

-Prabs

Swingy Month

2007-02-12T13:15:00.000-05:00

I'm finally all moved in and set up. My internets there, the house is slowly looking better. One of my computers had problems so I sent it in for repairs, so I'm down to my laptop and 24 inch monitor, but it's fine. Last month I basically broke even in poker, but unfortunately, I didnt play much. This month has been a little better, but not too much. I'm definitely getting distracted back home because there's more to do than sit around in front of the computer, but truth be told, I'm much happier that way.

I'm going to have to make a bigger effort to get hands in and make sure I achieve the goals I set for myself, but if I have to sacrifice a few to be happier, that's fine with me. I didn't enjoy the solitary life back in Vegas. Now I have a ton of friends and my family around me, and I'm enjoying the ride a lot more.

Time to start another grind month.

-Prabs

Back East to Continue Playing

2007-01-22T17:20:00.000-05:00

After long thought, I decided not to move to LA. However, I was now without a lease, as my room had already been filled. I was homesick also and not really enjoying Vegas as I said, so instead I decided to move back to PA to continue playing. I haven't been in a cardroom for months, because I play only online now, so there was nothing keeping me in Vegas anyways.

I'm still getting moved into my new place, so it may take me a bit before I can update regularly. I'm looking forward to the next year though, should be profitable and fun.

-Prabs

Jon Ford places 3rd in PCA

2007-01-11T11:26:00.000-05:00

He made ~500k by placing third in the Pokerstars Caribbean Adventure. Congrats man.

-Prabs

JON FORD IS A HERO

2007-01-10T04:24:00.000-05:00

Jon Ford is right now 3rd in chips with 6 players left in the Pokerstars Caribbean Adventure in the Bahamas. He's guaranteed $250,000. First place is 1.5 mill...what a showing.

In other news, I'm on pace for supernova elite through the first week, and have earned about 3k while running poorly. It's going to be a good year.

-Prabs

2007: Supernova Elite

2007-01-03T09:45:00.000-05:00

So I've made it my goal this year to get Supernova Elite on pokerstars. Basically if you achieve that, you've played a ton of poker. Stars will reward you by giving you a free entry to WCOOP main event, and the choice of 2/3 events. The choices are EPT Monte Carlo, Pokerstars Caribbean Adventure, and the WSOP main event.

It's sick value. I think we calculated that if you achieved supernova elite and broke even playing for the entire year, you would earn 70k alone in bonuses and fpp rakeback (fpp = frequent player point). That's not even including the value from the 10k event packages.

My goal this year is to get that. Along with that will come the cash, because I will have to play 2 million hands to get it. It's an unbelievable amount of hands to play, and only achievable if I dedicate myself to poker for the entire year. No time for fooling around, playing other games, or taking breaks. I'll reward myself at the end of the year when I become an elite.

Look forward to updates; I've already played 14k hands in the first 2 days, with no intentions of slowing down.

-Prabs

New Year's Resolutions

2006-12-29T07:59:00.000-05:00

This year is going to be a great year. Last year, I learned a ton about being a pro. I learned a lot about discipline and patience, and I became a better poker player. I still have a long way to go, and I can't wait to get 2007 started.

Here's a list of my New Year's Resolutions

1. Play 100k hands each month this year

2. Have $100k in the bank debt free and post taxes

3. Start investing into real estate (coincides with the $100k)

4. Learn 6 max at the lower limits and move up after beating those limits for significant sample sizes. I'm going to do this the right way, while playing full ring as my normal game.

5. Get my fat ass in the gym. My career comes first this year, but getting in shape is my other priority.

-Prabs

sorry for lack of updates

2006-12-25T12:53:00.000-05:00

All,

Sorry for the lack of updates. I've been busy with poker. I'm still a long way from climbing out of the hole I dug myself into, but my confidence is back.

In the next few days, I'll post my New Years resolutions, goals, and plans to assault the online poker world as long as I can. Hopefully there will be no way for Bill Frist to keep us from playing poker online. If there is, it's back to the casinos.

Honestly, if I knew for certain online poker would be around always, I'd just move back east. There's no reason to be across the country from my family if I can play poker online. However, until the ramifications of the bill are clear, I will stay out here to ensure I have plenty of live poker rooms to go to if I can't play online.

Bill Frist, I hope your Christmas is not merry.

-Prabs

Life Decision

2006-12-17T11:57:00.000-05:00

Basically, I'm about to move to LA into a really nice house. Rent/month/person is about 1400. It's pretty big, but at the time that I decided I was going to do it, my bankroll was pretty big.

Since then, I've taken about an 8k hit to my roll because of a big downswing, and because I'm learning 6 max at the same time. I used to 13 table full ring and made about 6k/month at the 200nl level.

Right now, my life savings is about 22k. 5k of that is in an investment that won't mature for awhile, so effectively, I have 17k. Our security deposit totals 35k, so my share is 7k. So after giving that up, I'll effectively have 10k, while having to pay 1400/month in rent alone.

I'm not yet fully committed to going through with it...but is my decision to do it completely crazy? Can I support this lifestyle playing 200nl 6 max? I'm not even sure what my long term winrate at 6 max is yet. I'm pretty worried that we'll somehow get screwed, and won't get much of our security deposit back. I've never heard of such a large security deposit, although the place is furnished really well. We're all responsible for anything getting damaged obviously, but that won't stop them from nitpicking and taking large portions of it.

Should I just get a camcorder and record everything to protect myself from that?

My main question is, is the juice worth the squeeze? The benefits of moving to the new place is 1. Vegas sucks. I never meet anyone here because everyone is a tourist. I basically hang out with the same 4 people everyday; while that is fun, I really don't have a social circle. 2. I will be living in a house with 4 other poker players who are all much much better than me. They're on a completely different level bankroll/skillwise. I'm new to 6 max and still learning, so I will improve tremendously I would assume.

The original reason for moving to LA was I became good friends with Max and Billy, and we decided we needed a change of pace from Las Vegas. It made sense to move in with other poker players because the environment would be stimulating so we could keep improving.

The negatives are my somewhat short roll and the big living costs.

If I decide not to go, I have someone that can take my spot, so really I can go either way.

If I end up not going, I'll have to move out of my current place because my room was promised to someone else, but I've already made plans to get a place with Charlie if I end up not going. Basically, I'll stay here until mid March (when Charlies lease ends) then we'll find a place.

At this point its really close, but I'm leaning towards staying in Vegas. I don't think I have the money to afford that type of lifestyle, and the risk of ruin would be somewhat real. Even though I would certainly learn alot, I still have to play the hands and work out the concepts myself, so I'm starting to think that the poker environment might not justify all the risks and living above my means. I still have close friends who know my game well who will be improving at the same rate as me, along with Jeff and Alex moving out here soon.

If I go broke, I'm a complete failure. A lot of people are saying if I go broke, it's not a big deal because I'm so young and it's a valuable learning experience, but I have a lot of money now. Very few people my age have 20k debt free. I don't want to risk giving that up, especially when I know I'm intelligent enough to someday beat big time games.

I'd love to live in LA, but I think it may be over my head. Advice would be appreciated.

-Prabs