Bond18 - Around the World in 90 Days: Day 83

Posted by Bond18 | Filed under Bond18

With it being our last day in Fresno and having been out until 4am last night we spend a low key day around the casino and I do some writing work.

With little to talk about in this entry I guess it’s a good opportunity for some reflection as the blog begins to near its end. I’m not sure I’ve mentioned it before, but Tilt and I have agreed to a brief extension that will cover the few days I’m going to Macau for the Macau Cup then back home to Melbourne for the Victorian Poker Championship. The Vic Champs ends on August 19^th, but that’s assuming I make it to the final table of the main event, an event which should have roughly 400 players.

That means there’ll still be entries in this blog for another few weeks. And after that? Well it turns out I actually won’t get a major break from live poker for a long while. Beyond the Vic Champs, Celina and I have to return to Macau on August 24 for the APT $5,000 event and the APPT $3,200 and $19,000 events, which run until our departure on September 10^th. Celina has been sponsored with a full package in each APPT event at this point, so I doubt I’ll be skipping them. After Macau there’s the Seoul event on September 24^th, the APPT New Zealand in early October, then Pokernews Cup in mid October, and then finally a considerable break from live poker (though who knows when the APT will decide the dates of their next event, as they still intend on having ones in the Philippines and Singapore).

I don’t think I’ll ask Tilt to extend to blog past the Vic Champs though, as mostly I’m just tired of my writing being mandatory at the end of each day or so. I’ll be trying to spend as many hours online as possible, and I’m hoping to put considerable effort into learning about heads-up cash games from my friend LuckyChewy.

I think the trip overall has been a success, at least from the obvious monetary stand point. I’ve erased my make up and ended up generating a profit for myself, though I actually haven’t run the full math on how much I’ve earned from the tournaments themselves. On top of that there was the $83,000 and change I won from the Sirwatts swap, plus the money I’ve made by running super good online every time I log on.

As for the writing the trip has generated, I’m mostly happy with it. I feel like during some sections it got quite dull or the creativity lagged, but I’m not sure how much I can realistically expect from myself having to write up every single day I’ve lived for three months straight and you can’t put yourself into too many ridiculous or debauched situations when you need to be up in the morning and play each day.

At this point though, I mostly miss normalcy. I miss my Xbox, my apartment, my dog, my computer, my favorite Melbourne restaurants, and everything else about home. When I get home I want to hire a personal trainer immediately as the trip has gotten me pretty out of shape and I intend to play Call of Duty 4 to my heart’s content. Most of all though, I really miss online poker. I miss the rapid rate of improvement that comes with it, the steady stream of income, and the fun of making a final table nearly every day. Live poker is cool and all, but it gets so slow and boring after a while. I think the optimal way to be a tournament professional is a mix of online and live play, but much heavier on the online side.

I think there’s a very short list of guys who can realistically make a good living playing just live tournaments every year who travel the circuit. When you factor in the cost of flights, hotel, eating out, having clothes cleaned, taxis, and everything else that goes with playing live it becomes very hard to finish the year in the black. Factor in that in a good year where you do your best to put in a ton of volume you can maybe play 200 live tournaments and the potential for a multiyear downswing is pretty terrifying, since most online guys play about three times that in a month and month long downswings are all too common.

So when I finally get home a few days from now I’ll be firing up the Xbox, ordering some Indian food, and fighting my dog with a pillow while I shout profanities at him for a few days until I throw myself into the Vic Champs for my last hurrah.

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