I suppose it’s just the nature of online poker being a lot harder now than it has ever been before, but it took some late month heroics for me to continue my month end winning streak. I have never had a losing month in my poker career, spanning 64months now. I had a huge scare in February where it took my best day of the year on the 2nd to last day of the month to squeak out a $9,000 profit. Late into August, I was stuck about $18,000 when I finally got hot over a 3 day span when I won nearly $30,000. I had a couple of other nice days after that to end the month up about $19,000. It is my 2nd worst month since sometime in 2006, but it still felt good to come up with a win.
All in all the year has been pretty disappointing in terms of results. I’m up around $350,000 or so on the year, so it’s not like I’m doing awfully, but I certainly has expected more starting the year. I can’t say i feel bad about my results nor do I feel like my game is off. I am so much better of a player than in 2007 and 2008 when I could practically make a million dollars a year with my eyes closed. But the thing is, there are now a lot of other good players and the bad players are now where near as bad as they used to be. It’s pretty amazing when you think about it. In 2007 there would be 5/10nl seats with legitimate fish sitting in them that would sit open for 5-10 minutes sometimes. Now if even a kinda bad player sits the table insta fills and the waiting list gets jammed. Sometimes I wonder what happened and why it is so hard for me to win at poker the way I used to. Sometimes I will get pretty down about it for a little while and feel like maybe I’m playing crappy poker or something. But I always soon remind myself that it is just basic economics at work here.
Online poker right now is kind of like the real estate market here in the US right now. Early in the decade everyone was making a ton of money in the housing market. Mortgage brokers and Realtors were doing great. So then naturally there was a rush to become mortgage brokers and realtors. Then as soon as everyone and their brother got into real estate, the housing market collapsed and then there were too many brokers and realtors and no where near enough inventory to sell. So the strongest survived, while the newbies and many of the mediocre ones faded off into the distance. Poker is the same way if you think about it. There was a huge rush to become a pro. Everyone wanted to teach their friends to make the easy money. Then once everyone and their brother taught each other how to play for a living, the UIGEA comes along as well as a general decline in high stakes action and now we are left in a situation where many will die off and only the strongest will survive. Once that happens, the “market” will become more balanced. It is just a basic economy sort of sorting itself out, no different than lots of other economies.
Either way, I am happy to have had my 64th consecutive winning month, even if it wasn’t what I was hoping for. I got to have a nice little vacation for a few days last week in California as well. I had a great time there and played a little golf at my old club. I got to see a ton of people I hadn’t seen in years which was a lot of fun. Golf wise I played OK. Not great, but decent anyway. I did get a LOT longer over the past 4 years. I was hitting the ball 15-20 yards past where I used to drive the ball. I flew a 3 iron over the green for my 2nd shot on our 7th hole which is an uphill 510 par 5 that used to take me two pretty good pokes to get there 4 years ago. I also drove it 95 yards from the green on our 11th hole which is a 410 par 4 that I can’t remember ever being less than 110 yards into. It was a lot of fun to hit it way out there and make some birdies. I shot 71-72 for the 2 rounds and won a skin in our little money game we play (like a $20 buy in. I may play poker for $20k, but in golf I play for $20 lol).
On Friday I took my uncle to Vegas and we hung out for a day. It was great to get to see him and I am glad we got to hang out. He had some issues health wise earlier in the year that had us all scared, so it was good to spend some time with him.
Well, that is about all I’ve got. Tomorrow my wife and I leave for a couple of days to go to a hotel in the Willamette valley wineries and spend some time there. This is our 4th anniversary which seems kind of amazing when you think about it. Before I met my wife, I never went out with anyone for more than a year. So to think we’ve been together over 5 years and have a baby who is near her 1st birthday blows my mind. Next year I turn 30, so wow, yeah time is flying. I guess I’m not a kid anymore, which seems weird. I still don’t think of myself as a grown up, but I have a child now so I better start trying haha.