So day two is in the bag. Didn't get as many hands in as I wanted today. I spent most of the morning taking care of some errands and working out (laundry, haircut, running, etc). I also got some books in the mail today, including: Professional No Limit Hold'em (for if I ever go to the darkside), Turning your Poker Playing into a Business (how to register as a business and file as a pro gambler), and The Gamblers Guide to Taxes (which I browsed through and almost fell asleep ugh). The latter two of which I think will be required reading over the next month. I've already started keeping receipts. Planning on getting a business checking account, credit card, printer/fax, and maybe even business cards. I want to be as legit as possible in the IRS's eyes.
After running errands and browsing my books I made the mistake of trying to beat rush hour traffic at 4:15pm to go do some pitching. I hit the traffic, and a normally 20 minute drive took an hour.
Despite that it felt great to get back to throwing. I haven't thrown much since the season wrapped up in mid august, and all I can say is that the world feels right when I have a baseball in my hand.
Came back from pitching at about 6pm and grabbed some dinner. Watched a little TV while I was datamining some tables, and then I sat down for a session. Right away I could tell it was going to be a rough one. I got 2-3 outed a few times, and then I definitely caught myself making some really bad bluffs and call downs in spots where I shouldn't ever win the pot. Finally I realized that I was playing like crap, and not running much better so I took a break. Normally I would stay and work through it, but honestly I had bad spots at all of my tables so I really wasn't giving much up. I was down about $500 at one point, but I made back about $250 before getting up.
So then about 2 hours ago I hopped back on and found a couple of better games, and finally some decent seats. I had the LAGs to my right, and was able to play my game. I felt like I played much better the second session, and despite a couple of rough beats I was able to make back all of my losses from earlier. This was more of an accomplishment because I started out pretty bad during my second session, and got down another $500 (-$750 for those keeping track) before clawing my way back. So I finally wrapped it up +$120 (not counting rakeback) so I was really pleased with the session.
Along with yesterdays +$1300, that makes for a nice start to the pro career.
here's an interesting hand from today:
Full Tilt Poker $10/$20 Limit Hold'em - 6 playersHand Converter Tool from http://www.deucescracked.com/
Preflop: Hero is SB with 5c, Ac, UTG folds, MP folds, CO raises, Button folds, Hero 3bets, BB folds, CO calls.
Flop: (7.00 SB) 7s, 5h, Th (2 players)Hero bets, CO calls.
Turn: (4.50 BB) 4d (2 players)Hero bets, CO raises, Hero 3-bets, CO calls.
River: (10.50 BB) Ad (2 players)Hero bets, CO raises, Hero 3-bets, CO folds.
Final Pot: 14.50 BB
so the CO has been very laggy, and is playing about 35/25 preflop. I know he could be stealing with a huge range of his hands, and I also have some notes that make me think he plays poorly postflop (IMO). I 3-bet out of the SB because a) I think I have the best hand b) I want to get the BB out and play HU with the CO. On the flop I hit a pair which is obviously good, and the c-bet is totally standard.
Now on the turn he raises on a very draw heavy board. Against this type of player I'm almost never folding in this spot, because he could be raising anything trying to get me to lay down a small pair or A-high. This could be KQo, 97s, or practically anything. Now the board is obviously not good for my hand, but we've played pots together, and he knows that if I call the turn I'm almost certainly going to call the river. Thus if he is semi-bluffing he gets to play his hand perfectly. Check-behind all draws, and bet all made hands. So I take a line that is not usual for me, and 3-bet the turn from OOP with a weak made hand. This is typically a bad play, but against this player I think I am ahead of his range, since he would tend to call down instead of raising the turn with weak made hands.
The river presents another interesting spot. Obviously if I think he is on a missed draw or a weak hand I want to get him to call or bluff. But against this particular player I expect him to check behind on the river most of the time, and if he bets he is very unlikely to call a c/r. My line looks so suspicious if I 3-bet the turn and check on the river that I think he'll probably give up or fold to a c/r. So in order to maximize I try to take advantage of his laggy tendencies by giving him a chance to bluff-raise another potential scare card. By leading the river I guarantee that he has to pay 1 bet to see a SD with all weak made hands, and if he wants to bluff (which this player loves to do) he's going to bluff raise so i can put in the third bet. If the river hadn't improved my hand I probably would have c/c'd and hoped to catch him with hearts or a straight draw. But with the river improvement I had a great chance to pick up at least 1 or maybe 2 bets.
I think my turn play is very questionable, but I felt like I needed to mix it up versus this very laggy player that had been trying to run me over. However despite my so-so turn play, my decision to bet and three-bet the river I thought was very solid.
later
jim
2 comments:
Hi Jim,
As a tax preparer, I can tell you you don't have to go to such lengths to be seen as legit to the IRS.
Your record keeping (spreadsheet?) can be corroborated by you PT stats so you shouldn't get any doubts when reporting income. Keeping detailed receipts and records are key to not getting hassled by an auditor. The Gambler's guide to Taxes should cover this, but if you travel to Foxwoods or wherever, don't forget to keep mileage records. I'll ask clients, "Is this all of your mileage for the year?" Many just forget to do this. They have other things on their mind when they jump in the car.
A separate bank account is a good idea, but you don't necessarily have to get a business account. Most banks will charge needless fees on business accounts regardless of size and number of transactions. You can set up a personal account like "Jim Perry", "DBA themightyjim2k".
Everything else is unnecessary. If you are going to spend money on anything, spend it on stuff that will improve your game like a second monitor if you aren't already using two.
Quicken and MS money are robust enough to handle what you are doing. I assume you have one of those. An income and expense report is really all you need to do your taxes. Anything like a 2nd monitor should be classified as a business asset. You don't even need to depreciate it. Just use Section 179 and expense the full price the same year it was put into service.
Good luck,
Edward
wow great info. I definitely may seek some more advice from you come tax time. I want to make sure that I file correctly, considering I had a regular job for the first 9 months of the year before going pro.
If you don't mind I might send you some PMs if I have questions, and you can figure out what kind of compensation you need. Also if you know of anyone in the Boston area who specializes or has experience with this stuff I would definitely be interested in talking to them.
thanks again!
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