its over!!! my fantasy vacation is over!!! i didnt play any poker over this past weekend, well not any real poker. friday, went to a friend's grad party at a bar over on melrose. went home after and took some money off my drunken fishy roomate. played a series of 5 matches of mixed games for $5 a piece: NL hold 'em, omaha hi-lo, 7 card stud, triple draw, and NL holdem again. took all five matches off his drunk ass for $25 profit, but i wont include that in my vacation running total. saturday and sunday, took care of some personal issues and didnt play any poker whatsoever. so after 14 straight days of 12+ hours of poker, i netted out a whopping $0!!! dead freakin even. pretty much kicked ass in live cash games my first week but, went on personal tilt my second week and got killed in the cash games, and was just dead money all around in the tournaments. if i didnt play any tournaments, i coulda made a nice lil profit but it was worth the experience. overall, i enjoyed it immensely. i guess going two weeks without spending a single dime is not bad. included in my dead even-ness is two weeks worth of food, two weeks worth of gas, two weeks worth of massages, two weeks worth of cigarettes, two weeks worth of drinks, two weeks worth of tips, two weeks worth of entertainment, and two weeks worth of the best damn poker experience ive ever gotten. you can only learn so much playing online, reading books, watching tv, or even playing live occasionally. it isnt until you put in a long stretch like this where you can learn from your mistakes from the previous day and apply the changes right away the next day, play with the same people for two weeks, get to know playing styles, tag the fish, avoid the sharks, copy the winners, go opposite the losers, etc. that you really understand the game. altho i didnt make any money, i think i truely got a better understanding of the game. you always hear it on tv and in books, but it truely is a game about people and position, not cards. i always heard that and thought, yah i understand, its about reading people and late position is good and blah blah blah but i think i finally understand it now. my overall playing style has changed dramatically. its a much more risky style with large up and down swings. i really need to fine tune it over the next year or so. but i do think i am a much much better player than i was two weeks ago. the thing i enjoyed the most is the lifestyle. no boss, no set hours, unlimited freedom. as i woke up this morning at 7am to the buzz of the alarm and drove through rush hour traffic to return to being a corporate whore, i realized this is not the life for me. i really hate my fucking job, not necessarily my job, but the whole 9 to 5 gig. i dont think i can do it anymore. my goal by the end of the year is to not have a boss anymore. i dunno how, but thats the goal. i have a few ways i think this can be accomplished: a) win the lotto, b) win a WPT event and turn pro, or c) start my own business. choice B would be the ideal way to go but im not good enuff...dead money. so C is the most reasonable way to go but considering i dont have any real money or experience, it doesnt look likely. my immediate short term goal is to play the main event at the legends of poker at the bike in august. i always wanted to try a big time tourney with a proper structure (large amount of starting chips, longer rounds) and see how i do. im not gonna have any pipe dreams of winning the damn event or anything, i just wanna try a major tourney for the experience and not bust out the first day. legends is the next major event in my back yard in LA so thats my goal. imma try to win a satellite. anyways, my goal is to not have a job by the end of the year. it probably wont get accomplished, but thats the goal. so overall great vacation. i didnt accomplish a single goal i set out to do in the beginning. regularly crush the cash games - not. win a couple events at heavenly holdem - not. bring my bankroll to 6 figures - not. quit my job - not. a total failure but had a blast. time to figure out how to quit my job and still survive. in the meantime, i will still be playing a lot of poker.... overall break down of vacation: + $1020 live cash games (shoulda just stuck to this)- $2970 tournament entries + satellites (im freakin dead money) + $1950 online cash games (didnt play enuff of this over the vacation) $0 (dead freakin even over the vacation, can you believe it?)

Source: EY400's Poker Blog