In the presence of a master...

Ring Account: $105 ($9 profit)

Sadly the master isn't me, although I did make some positive moves on Sunday.

I played in another $25 cash room and made a small $6 profit. Usually at this point I perform my being outdrawn or losing a coin-flip routine for all my money so I quit the room to concentrate on a $5 sit and go I was in. I was in top form in this room: playing tight early on and then expressing myself when the blinds got bigger. For once my plays actually punished idiot calls. One hand I remember I had AQ and raised preflop, someone called with Q8 and they didn't outdrawn. I also hit quads which was nice. Throughout the game, though, I got sucked out three times. My Queens lost to A6 on an all in, my JJs lost to someone flopping a 9-high straight when the money was all in and I think someone hit a flush when I had him dominated. Despite all these setbacks I won the game for $10 profit. I'm only $10 up in total because I lost an SnG on the same day I burned $25 in a cash room.

So who is the master I speak of? Well it's that friend I was talking about in the New Year's Day log - the person I shared an account with last summer. He regularly plays in $35 rooms and on Sunday he racked up a $220 profit in a couple of hours. I just got a test off him this morning and he's claiming another $400 profit. Admittedly he's getting some good cards at the moment but, irrespectively on whether he's getting good cards or not, he almost never finishes last in SnGs and usually finishes on the bubble if not better - usually in six-handed tables, once you get to three-handed it's a bit of a crap shoot and the cards don't always go him, at the moment they are.

He's made about $5k now and that's pretty much through grinding. He's had very few days where he's lost more than $100. Usually he loses $20 or $30 in loss days. But he often has breakout days where he is really able to maximise his profits, like in the last two days. The discussion that we keep moving onto is when does a player make the decision to go pro. I'm not saying that my friend is going to do it, but when he is able to earn a day's wage in an hour playing poker (and on consistent basis) then you have to ask the question why not give it a shot?

I've said to him that although he's doing well now and has been for 3-4 months there will come a time when the cards produce a downswing. If he's playing poker fulltime will he be able to deal with the big dents to his bankroll: we're both unsure of this. Also he needs to prove it's sustainable. So if he can make this sort of money over a year then I believe that's sufficient proof that he's not just a lucky player. I suppose the final point is this: having some fallback collateral. Earn enough to live off for a period of time (saying $6-8k for six months) and then begin the bankroll again with, say, a $1,000. If he goes bust he gets a job again and play poker on a casual basis. If he makes stupid amounts, which he has the potential to do, then he's found a new career in life.

Sorry, if I keep going on about him on my blog, but (as some of you will know) I have a vested interest in his future. His money is (technically speaking) my money.

Note: Some people have asked me to link them on the blog and I will do just as soon as I work out how too - blogger doesn't seem to want me to link anything up.