Rambling

It feels like every time I get settled back home the next trip is just around the corner. This time it's Barcelona that is sneaking up on me, which is a trip that I am particularly looking forward to. I was originally going to fly right home after busting out of the main event but I just realized I have no soccer game that weekend so I'll probably stick around in Barcelona for a week or so to really take in some of the city this time. It feels like a vacation but something about it is weird because I don't feel like I deserve a vacation because that's pretty much all I've been doing since May.

Anyway, I'm long overdue for a big live tourney success IMHO so bring it on! I've been pretty inactive with online poker lately but that is something I will really focus on for the rest of September when I get back home. I need to stop making excuses and start showing some discipline. I don't really want to set a goal or anything silly, I really just want the will to play to come naturally.

Poker is not getting any easier. Matter of fact, quite the opposite is true. Like most professional poker players my age, I realize that this is not a permanent job and that someday this whole poker thing will end. Whether that is in 2, 5, 10 or 20 years is just speculation but the fact remains that the games are getting more difficult by the day and as a result making money with poker is nowhere near as easy as it was just a few years ago. What will come after poker? Who knows!?!? Often times I wonder where I will be in 5 or 10 years and even more fun is predicting where my friends (specifically poker friends) might be at the same time.

It was 5 years ago that I graduated from high school. Looking at what my classmates from then are doing now is funny enough on its own. They are spread out all around the world, anywhere from Dubai to Tokyo to Kansas. Most have graduated college or are finishing university soon. Some are at war in Iraq. A few are struggling striving to be professional musicians. One founded one of the biggest video streaming sites online. One even became a porn actress (don't even ask, no pics). One girl has been in a coma since graduation, another girl even died (don't drink and drive!).

Not really sure where I am going with this, mainly it's just my own curiosity as to where today's poker players will be in 5 years that excites me. I'd like to believe that I will still keep in touch, social networking sites allow for that pretty easily. I've made some really great friends through poker and we are all heading down the path of uncertainty together. Most people you talk to have a similar plan: Make enough money now with poker to set themselves up financially for the future.

Besides the fact that that is waaaaaaayyyyyyyyy easier said than done, where is the line that dictates when you are "set up financially?" Is it $500k, $1m? $2m? I suppose everyone has their own definition of what they consider set up. Phil Galfond said something about $10m if I remember correctly, saying he would quit poker if he had a networth of $10m. Really? I don't really believe him, because once you have $10m, why would ever quit instead of going for another $10m?

This is what tilts me when people say things like "Oh wow he won $1.5 million in 2 months and then lost it all back, if I were him I would have cashed out and never played again!" LOLOLOL You think someone who won $1.5m in 2 months is gonna quit the game? Yeah right! I'm pretty sure stock markets are the same way and actually I just began reading a book called "Fooled by Randomness" about how people underestimate the importance of luck in the stock market. I haven't read much so far but it's interesting to read about the traders who run hot for a year or two and think they are the financial gurus when in fact they hit a massive heater and have no idea that the big downswing awaits. Again, not sure where I am going with this.

That got kinda long and I am kinda tired so I am kinda gonna stop this entry. As always, comments are appreciated. Adios!