How many here turned to IM after poker's Black Friday?

Michael_

Michael_

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Mar 12, 2013
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I see bits, here and there, that give me the impression that there are several former pro online poker players here.

I'm curious how many of WF went for IM after poker's infamous Black Friday?

I was doing pretty well before BF. I wasn't a six or seven figure baller, by any means. But, I was making more money than I ever had in my life. I can recall one of my best weeks, when I went on a little tear, and profited 30k+ in under a week.

Naturally lots and lots of fucking time went into the cultivation of this craft, as any pro player will tell you. The grind was literally endless and the highs and lows were soul-crushing. Extremely common to win 3 "large" tournaments a week, each with a $5k to $10k+ first prize and then do not-shot for weeks after. Such was the life of a tournament grinder. But, if you consistently played better, smarter, and more correct than your opponents, the long-term graph would always be going in the right direction.

Black Friday effectively killed this for me and in some ways I was glad. It's the one profession where you can pour YEARS into it and come out fucked. Even if you're excellent.

Certainly had some great times though. I remember when I first got started and turned $20 into $10k in a week, quit my job and found myself broke a few weeks later.

Then, later found myself sitting in the $10k buy-in WSOP main event with stars of the game (Barry Greenstine sucked out on me for a huge pot early in the tourney, dick), coupled with TV cameras to-boot. A once in a lifetime experience.

Anyway, who else here is from a poker background?
 


/signed.

Played online for almost 3 years as my sole income through college, decided to give it up for good about 6 months before black Friday came so luckily I got all my money out well before shit hit the fan. I was good enough to make a good bit of coin, but I knew it wasn't going to be a long-term thing for me cause I couldn't handle the "ups and downs" that came with playing the game. Variance in poker is more of a bitch than G's SERPs.

Texas hold'em NL .50/.100 full ring was my main game, moved down to .25/.50 occasionally when things got rough. Played either 9 tables at full tilt or 12 at pokerstars. Bodog had by far the softest cash games, but their software only let you play 3 tables at once back then and that was way to slow for me.
 
Oh, I also became a specialist in my forte of game and will probably forever the best in the world at that particular gameset. That was always a nice ego boost when things were going shitty. It's a pretty bad ass thing to say and know, "I'm the best in the world at this particular thing."

I also say it's a poor profession because, as any pro will tell you (aside from TV pros or anyone who has cashed for multiple 7 figure payouts) that the life of a grinder is one that doesn't stop.

I recall hearing about a guy here in Vegas who destroys all the 1-2NL and 2-5NL games. He's been at it for 40 years and consistently makes cash, but the time investment, the learning, the adjusting, the effort, the skill all comes out to shit in the end unless you've religiously invested your money properly. Which most players don't do because they are constantly thinking "I need to be at the tables logging hours, fuck me."

We can AMA this into a poker thread, I'm drinking (not with ma tonight) and I'll happily answer anything about what happens when you take your shot and miss. I've thought numerous times about writing a book about this topic.
 
JayyC said:
/signed.

Played online for almost 3 years as my sole income through college, decided to give it up for good about 6 months before black Friday came so luckily I got all my money out well before shit hit the fan. I was good enough to make a good bit of coin, but I knew it wasn't going to be a long-term thing for me cause I couldn't handle the "ups and downs" that came with playing the game. Variance in poker is more of a bitch than G's SERPs.

Texas hold'em NL .50/.100 full ring was my main game, moved down to .25/.50 occasionally when things got rough. Played either 9 tables at full tilt or 12 at pokerstars. Bodog had by far the softest cash games, but their software only let you play 3 tables at once back then and that was way to slow for me.
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Sounds about right, my main forte was multi-table SNGs - 12-16 tables at a time for 8 hours a day if I was winning, 16 if I was stuck. 10K hands/day was pretty common. Christ that was brutal.
 
I spent three weeks in 2005 turning $50 into $800 and then losing it all in an hour. I felt pretty fucking dumb.
 
blogspotter said:
What is this black Friday?

I only learnt to play Poker recently, and I only play with Zynga Monies :P
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Black Friday was when the DOJ said "fuck you" to every credible source that was running online games and they ALL pulled out of the US market. Thus making it pretty much impossible to play online poker for the US. Sure, you can go play on Americas Cardroom or Bodog, but only if you like losing before you ever deposit your cash.
 
blogspotter said:
What is this black Friday?

I only learnt to play Poker recently, and I only play with Zynga Monies :P
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It is the prescedent those cocksuckers are going to use to kill BTC.

And yes I was a part of the Moneymaker effect. I remember the day I bought Poker Tracker and that opened my eyes. I logged over a million hands online before I discovered my first live game. Ill never forget that first time sitting down with real cards. I knew the game but I had no idea what I was doing. That first session to test the waters was a small 2/4 limit game. I had bought in with $100. Within a hour I was down to my last $2. Next hand I was all in preflop for $2. With 9 callers I was backup to $20 after one hand. The very next hand I was back to $98 when I cashed out.

The players were horrible at that limit table; everyone called, every hand. But that was it for me. Before I knew it I was playing live cash games everyday for 8 to 20 hours a day. Live cash games were my sole income for nearly 2 years. Then 1 day I just stopped. Havent been back to a casino in years.
 
I had been out for a few months before Black Friday, but I was happy that it came.
The life of a poker player is so fucking brutal. It has the feeling that you are building something, but it's really just a job. A very tiring, mentally exhausting, job paired with occasional hits of adrenaline and endorphins.
I did well, but being an entrepreneur has had so many more benefits, and I'm actually building assets instead of trading time for money.
 
evolutionvision said:
I had been out for a few months before Black Friday, but I was happy that it came.
The life of a poker player is so fucking brutal. It has the feeling that you are building something, but it's really just a job. A very tiring, mentally exhausting, job paired with occasional hits of adrenaline and endorphins.
I did well, but being an entrepreneur has had so many more benefits, and I'm actually building assets instead of trading time for money.
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^^^
so much this
 
I play live, much more fun
mainly cash game 5 10

How can you say winning 3 tournaments in a week is "extremly common"?

Maybe you mean sits
 
CallOnMe said:
I play live, much more fun
mainly cash game 5 10

How can you say winning 3 tournaments in a week is "extremly common"?

Maybe you mean sits
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He was referring to the sick swings of poker in general, especially when grinding tournaments.

You can have a hot streak, such as winning 3 tournaments in a week, and then go on a month long dry spell with no good finishes.
 
transistor said:
I spent three weeks in 2005 turning $50 into $800 and then losing it all in an hour. I felt pretty fucking dumb.
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This, but not just once.

I love .50/1.00 HU cash games though and wish I could still play online for fun. DOJ fucked casual players too. There are some card rooms around here, but I just don't dig live games as much as online play.
 
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