[Talking Poker]

Pretty dramatic thread title, isn't it?

Considering I have something like 35k points on Stars so far in 2010 and it takes 1,000,000 to reach SNE status, WTF am I thinking? I'll have to play more hands in 2011 than I have in my entire life combined, and I'm not even sure how many times as many, but a lot.

So, here's the deal. I'm at a spot in my life right now where I need to do something. The income from my online business empire (and I say that with a chuckle) has decreased pretty substantially over the last couple of years, and it's time for me to do something. I've actually been looking at real jobs, aka day jobs, aka working for the man again for the first time in a long time. I've been working for myself since 2001, so it's a really weird spot for me, and frankly, I dread the thought of going back. But it's even worse than that... In case you hadn't heard, the economy has gone to shit, unemployment is high, and companies everywhere are cutting back. there are fewer jobs available and more people fighting for them, and I've been out of the workforce for 9 years. *gulp* And did I mention that I feel nauseous even at the thought of doing the 9-5 thing again? You gotta do what you gotta do, but so far, hte only job leads I've had are for things I am way overqualified for and the pay is shit - it's kinda humbling, considering I made pretty decent coin back a decade ago.

So then a very unique opportunity presented itself to me. Someone has offered to back me and coach me on a quest for SNE status on Stars in 2011. This would be accomplished by NL cash game play, and a lot of it. And I do mean a LOT. At $100 NL, for example, we are talking about playing 8-10 hours per day to get 5k VPPs, and doing that for 200 days per year (4 days per week). Obv I could play 5 days per week for a little less time per day, but you get the idea.

Oh, and did I mention that this is 24 tabling???

The goal isn't to win.... it's to breakeven, or close to it. SNE is worth approximately $115k, so if you lose $15k in a year and reach SNE status, you still clear $100k. Now, this would be split between me and my backer, so it's "only" $50k for me, but frankly, this is a lot more appealing to me than the 9-5 grind. Yes, it's a lot riskier too, but we've agreed to a guaranteed monthly salary (basically just some of my portion of the profits up front), which makes it more appealing. And of course, after 2011, the sky is the limit for me, as I'd be back on my own.

The volume/time I quoted is based on $100 NL, but obviously the idea is to actually improve my game via the coaching and be able to move up to $200NL and higher and still break even, requiring less hours per day to get the required VPPs.

I realize that this is no easy task. Only 209 people in the world reached SNE status in 2009 (less are on pace this year) and not all of them were cash players - most are SNG guys, I think. But, my soon to be backer/coach was one of them. And not only that, but he is currently running this arrangement for 3 guys this year and all 3 are going to make SNE. He was hoping 1 would, but all 3 are going to. So it's not like he is pulling this plan out of his ass... he's proven that it is doable.

At first I was worried about the 24 tabling, as I've never attempted to play even close to that many tables at once and have always been a "tiled" guy. Obv for 24 tables, you have to play stacked. Well, FWIW, I gave stacking a shot and I love it and hate myself for not trying it ages ago. It's awesome. With TableNinja properly configured, I got up to 15 tables of 6 max and had no problems at all keeping up. The only thing that stopped me from adding more tables is my 5 year old PC, which apparently can't handle it. No worries - I ordered a new bad ass HP laptop earlier this week, and intend to make it a 100% dedicated (at least in the beginning) poker machine. Stars/FT/TN/HEM and that's pretty much it. I'll post the specs in a , since this post in getting long enough.

Anyway, I'm pretty confident that with a little more practice, 24 tabling won't be a problem for me. And he's 100% confident that his coaching will get me the win rate (0%, remember) that I need. He says he could do this for anyone with any kind of poker knowledge, and I have quite a bit of cash experience. The 3 guys he is coaching this year - none of them were cash players prior to doing this.

Oh, I forgot to mention the coolest part... I'm going to be playing with instead of a mouse. I bought it and already have it set up to work with TN's hotkeys, and it's great. I thought it would be more of a learning curve, since I'm not a gamer, but I picked it up quite fast (minutes?) and have it set up the way I like... all 10 buttons, the D pad and both joysticks have different functions, and is the magic program that makes it all work.

So, that's that. I'd love to hear input from you guys, good and bad, but of course I am hoping for encouragement more than anything.