8:43pm: Well, I’ve put in what I normally call a “session” — 12 or more games — in my new level ($100 heads up sngs). Are they any different from the $50s? Simply put: not really. Not yet, at least.

Absolutely no differences have been detected after 12 games between the $50 + $2.50 heads up sit n gos and the $100 + $5 heads up sit n gos on PokerStars. I know what you’re thinking: 12 games is a meaningless sample size, and that’s true but that’s a hell of a lot better than immediately noticing the difference.

Anyways, I am 8-4 out of the gate, which is right around my true expectation in the $50s. That being said, I’m sure the negative runs will go a lot deeper than they previously did in the 50s. The only thing I can do is be realistic about it, and also be prepared for it. Half the anguish you experience during a bad run is because they come at a time you usually don’t expect or want them to come.

I am prepared for whatever comes my way. Bring on the pain.

Or the pleasure

Start a Clean Slate at a New Room, a New Sharkscope, and Keep HFL Free in the Process

2:08pm: Everyone who has had some relative success in poker has no doubt at least thought about doing it for a living at some point in time. It’s easy to say “I make $30/hr playing poker, and $15/hr at my job, therefore it would make no sense to continue working hard when I could be hardly working at all”. There’s no question that in life you have to dream big, but you also have to be realistic about it.

First thing to do when making an important decision is to objectively weigh the costs vs. the benefits of making said decision. Let’s take a look at the good and the bad of becoming a professional poker player.

Here are the benefits to going pro:

• Make your own hours
• Be your own boss
• Take breaks whenever you feel like it
• Vacation time whenever you need it
• Poker requires little to no manual labor
• Pay yourself as often as you’d like
• No having to dress up; Wear whatever you’d like to the office

Here are the costs of going pro:

• Lack of human interaction (if you’re playing online)
• Lack of QUALITY human interaction (if you’re playing online AND/OR live)
• On negative swings, bills don’t stop coming just because you’re on a bad run
• Tax issues: keeping up with it; documenting your results/expenses; filing correctly
• Society, in general, “frowns upon it”.
• The pressure to win every day because your livelyhood depends on it
• Guilt associated with all of the above

While the money might be GREAT sometimes, you must be extremely strong-minded in order to consider doing this for a living. You must treat each day as a seperate entity as the day before it, and never ever think about the past.

Someone once told me, “When you play to get even, you get even worse”. I can’t tell you how many people I see playing to get even, both live and online. If you want to find people online who are trying to get even, sharkscope your next heads up opponent. He probably started playing $5 heads up sngs, and the every time he lost he increased the buy in of his next one. One time, in a $50 heads up sng I sharkscoped my opponent and viewed his last 8 matches. It read like this:

1. $33 + 1.50
2. $20 + 1
3. $10 + .50
4. $5 + .25
5. $2 + .25

He started all the way down the totem pole at $2, and had lost each match he played, effectively trying to recover his money back each time he played. Long story short, he lost to me and then went on to play a $100 heads up match. He also lost that one, and decided to play a $200 match where he finally won.

Point being, going pro takes discipline and a lot of structure. Skipping around in game types/limits is fine for the casual player. However, if you plan to become a pro it’s sometimes best to find a “niche” that you excel in - while considering everything I have laid before you above.

Start a Clean Slate at a New Room, a New Sharkscope, and Keep HFL Free in the Process

4:35am: Tonight was a little bit of good news, and a lot of bad news actually. The good news is more of a silver lining, but I’ll still take it any way I can get it.

Unfortunately, tonight I lost $1,200 playing 2-5 NL live. I wont go into very many details because there’s really nothing to report other than the board kept counterfeiting my hands. Every time I had top two, or a set, or a low flush, whatever card I didn’t want to see — it came. Four-to-a-straight/flush were my biggest enemy by far.

It’s amazing how fast $1,200 goes when you’re losing $150-175 here and there. Anyways, I’ve nearly totally forgotten about all of that because…

I started my $100 heads up quest as of an hour and a half ago, and I am currently 3-1. +$200 at 3-1 sounds a lot better than +$100 at 2-1 in the $50s, so already I’m liking what I see in the $100s. As for the players, so far I have noticed no difference in the level of skill at all — although I’m dealing with a microscopic sample size.

I will continue my $100 hu sng session tommorow. Will keep you posted!