Courtney Gee is back with a new post. She gives her thoughts on Black Friday and how great it is to be Canadian at a time like this!
If you haven't been following along, check out her two-part intro post here and here.
By now everyone in the poker world has heard about the charges against PokerStars, Full Tilt, and AP/UB.
I am shocked and saddened at the situation some of my American friends have been put in. Just when we were all starting to feel safe and like regulation might actually happen, online poker was plunged into chaos like never before.
I feel extremely lucky to be in Canada and I can’t imagine how it would feel to be an American poker player right now. I guess I’d be looking for a job and that this blog’s theme would be over before it even started?
This past weekend has taught me that I should never take anything for granted. I’ve heard stories about people having x% of their net worth online, now trapped in Full Tilt or PokerStars. They have minimal money in real life and are in a horrible spot. It seems that people just became too comfortable and too complacent.
I’m guilty of being lazy about the amount of money I have online, as well. I probably have 2/3 of my bankroll online at the moment, which is way too much and totally unnecessary. I’m lucky that I’m in Canada and currently shouldn’t be in any danger of losing any of it.
This turn of events really highlights how important it is to have a backup plan while playing poker for a living. Whether it’s running bad, getting really sick, or poker sites shutting down, anything could happen and you have to be ready for it.
As poker players, we don’t have benefits, sick leave, or vacation pay. We should always have money in the bank.
For non-Americans, online poker appears to be fine for now. In fact, with so many American grinders gone, I daresay that the games have become a lot easier. I played on PokerStars this past weekend and the games were softer than I can ever remember.
Weekly Poker Update:
I keep a detailed spreadsheet of the games I play on a daily basis, and I plan to update this blog every week with my progress. Some people find stuff like this interesting, and I think it will help keep me accountable.
I usually play four days per week, but this past week I only played three:
# MTTs: 83
Average buy-in: $34.50
Hours: 23
Net result: -$2,075.95
You can see that I didn’t have a very good week! The weekend was a bloodbath. It was extremely frustrating since the games were so good, but I ran horribly and could not get anything going.
So far this month I have played 8 days, 65 hours, and 202 MTTs. I’m up a small amount of just under $950. I did cash a live tournament earlier this month, though, and I also have some bonuses/rakeback, so overall I’m up ~$2k.
I’m crossing my fingers for some run good this week!
Visit www.pokerlistings.com