San Jeronimo, Costa Rica
I try to keep myself busy all the time. I feel like when I’m being still that opportunities are passing. The downside to that now is feeling swamped. I have more lessons on deck than I know what to do with. I have videos to send Pocketfives Training and videos I told myself I’d do months ago. I have databases to update. Cash games on different networks to play. Writing that needs to get done. And every day, 50 new emails. And 90% of them aren’t about anything, but I’ll offend someone to hilarious levels if I don’t answer right pronto.
I’m always shocked at some of the dumb shit I get. Like I understand somebody introducing themselves to me and just trying to get a word in, or talk lessons, or thank me for something. I can’t hate on the source of all my bonus income. I feel real blessed and I hope I express that to those people. Naw, what drives me insane is people I KNOW PERSONALLY just thinking I can bullshit with them for two hours a day. Like I’m not important at all as a person, and I bring on my work load, but what do these kids do all day? Like, wow, I would love to just sit around, smoke weed and talk shit about MTTers, but I have shit to get done. And you should too in all honesty.
And all those MTTers you talk shit about are probably better than you. Sorry.
I added every poker news outlet, BBC News, CNN, and a bunch of comedians to my Twitter “follow” list, only to discover things still asplode in the Middle East, and a bunch of people I really don’t care about are making money at poker.
I hoped it would give me something interesting to talk about, but no. Nothing to discuss. Nothing to blog. I care about nothing. I’m selfish.
Except for Selbst and Mercier going back to back. That was ill.
Okay I’m done feeling tired. I just was staring at this blank page and was thinking, “god, why is it so much harder to write now?” And I realized I was stressing about all these IMs I’m ignoring and emails piling up.
I need an assistant. But I don’t trust anyone. My girlfriend used to take care of a bunch of emails and that made things way easier but she’s got her own career.
I’ve been reading Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers. It’s a real fascinating treatise on many of the misunderstood origins of success. That man just does research and paints a story better than so many people on the market. I used to guffaw at what he charged for a lecture but my god can he write.
One of the interesting points he brought up was how every successful person ran into opportunities and had the werewithal/hours logged in order to take advantage of them.
Check out a small excerpt. No really do it, because I’m not rewriting this.
http://www.gladwell.com/outliers/outliers_excerpt1.html
14 of the 75 richest people who ever existed came out of one generation in a single country. All of them were very hard working and smart people, but their timing couldn’t have been more perfect.
I love the book, just for how incredible a writer Gladwell is, and honestly I wish I could get four or five more excerpts for this blog post, but I’m really enjoying it because Gladwell’s investigation reveals to you how much really goes into a successful person.
I consider myself ridiculously lucky as is, but I’m extremely appreciative after reading this book. Gladwell just really points out how good one has to run in order to do well in this life.
One thing Gladwell expresses is how low-income families and middle class families differ in parenting tactics. The lower class hates/fears authority, teaches the child to never assert one’s self in front of authority (or get what they need from a teacher/doctor/boss/company), and allows the child to just grow without much encouraging or discouraging. A child who likes to sing is just a child who likes to sing. The parent doesn’t go looking for a way to construct that into something productive.
My family, as far as income brackets, always came in as low income according to the welfare office. Yet my family didn’t have the trappings Gladwell described. There were books everywhere, and my family made frequent trips to the library. My mother and father often expressed how they thought I could do anything (although granted, there were definite periods/actions that would get this message mixed).
It got me thinking. Many of these middle income families really schedule their children’s time after school to see that they do well. That’s all well and good but the underlying message is always “get to college with this”, which I think teaches you that you learn for profit.
My mom would just get so engaged with ideas. She’d talk to me for a long time about what she thought about so many things. She’d challenge my opinions.
I always found it odd people from better socio-economic backgrounds didn’t do as well at poker as I would expect given their education. Yet, Gladwell brought up how middle income kids are taught a sense of entitlement. Which is good when they need to assert themselves in a rigid workplace, but I think perhaps detrimental in poker.
You need to become engaged with ideas in poker and love solving an unsolvable puzzle. There’s a ton of repetition and hours of boredom. So many guys I know from a good background think they put in their hours, like school, and then get a grade, their earnings. I still study several hours a week, and I’ve been making money at poker since I was a teenager. I never could stop learning. Yet they think there’s supposed to be some plateau where they always win, because damnit, they’re smarter than other people!
That’s another thing. I meet so many kids from great upbringings who just think so highly of themselves. Most great poker players I know think they’re idiots. Well, maybe not idiots per se, but completely capable of great error, and vigilant to prevent that error.
That’s not to say poor kids are great at poker. It seems to me there’s more kids from middle income families in poker. The great ones just had parents who taught them to question themselves.
I find it so funny when players talk about being unlucky. Being born human was pretty damn lucky. Being born in a country/family where one could afford a computer was even more lucky. Having the free time to play a card game all day is tremendously lucky.
So I guess I thank my parents for never asking if I took the SAT or ever making a big deal about me applying to college. If I was busy filling out applications I could have never started cashing checks at 17.
Twitter Notes (Check me out there at TheAssassinato):
Laptop batteries are such obvious examples of planned obsolescence. I refuse to believe these things break after six months naturally.
I love it when people tell me to “never talk shit with person X again” and I have no idea who the fuck they’re talking about.
I’m dumbfounded by all the people getting so hyped up to see Poker After Dark. Like, I just wish so badly I loved poker that much still.
Got a good lesson in with another Pocketfives Training member. Took a Spanish lesson that was decently productive. Off to San Jose. Generic.
Watching Breaking Bad, eating platanitos, and drinking an Imperial, because I’m just not on my A game today. Also waiting for my database.
No matter how bummed out I am about the day, there’s always cranberry juice, seroquel, and the Adam Carolla podcast.
Started the day with Krakuer, road work, weight room, Special K with strawberries, juice, and coffee. Feeling way way better.
@goodrocktunes Check out www.pokerheadrush.com for some pictures of the landscape and my place here. Ty for your interest! 
Taking a breather from 8-tabling 2/4 for a minute. Running really well today. Good trance helps: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcvywmIw4Gs
Up six buy-ins after three hours and 1,500 hands. Really feel like I’m starting to put all these new ideas together.
Played another 800 hands with my friend Felix watching. Unfortunately dropped five buy-ins. Played bad/ran bad. Up 1 buy-in over 2k hands
ad a nice home cooked meal and watched some bizarre Spanish comedy. I didn’t understand half of it but was still dying.
