I'm not a poker pro.
I am a card enthusiast however, always loved the game and like many of you have been playing it since the Moneymaker main event. I never really got into the online poker thing as I just never trusted it for "real money". Up until 2 years ago before I moved to Florida I would make a two hour drive every few weeks to foxwoods and did well playing in the 1-2 NL games there. 6 years ago I managed to negotiate with my wife a 4 day mancation to the WSOP with some pals. Even still I couldn't justify paying $1,500-$5,000 for one event. We were trying to have a kid and I had just built a house with a Boston size mortgage. Well it turned out I had the time of my life and came back a winner to the tune of roughly $2,400. I vowed to come back every year....... The $2,400 I won, like all the other money I had ever won in CT got spent back on life. In this case, a new bedroom set followed by some big expenses at baby R' us the following month (I'd like to think one had to do with the other, and I "won" my daughter in Vegas). And with that my life became more serious then ever. Its hard to have a wife and young child and make a trip to Vegas for the better part of a week, let alone pay all that money for a trip and then potentially lose a big tournament buy in on top of it.
Fast forward a few years and life is a little different. First of all I now have a > 5 year old that isn't nearly as difficult to handle as a 2 year old. As I said I moved to Florida and bought a short sale house with much of the proceeds from the equity after selling my house in Boston. Living in Florida is tremendously less expense to live compared to Boston. With our finances as stable as ever and a much mature child in the house a trip to the 2014 WSOP is back on the table.
One of the added bonuses of living in Florida is having 5 different large live poker rooms within a 45 min drive. I have been able to play on average 2-3 times a week for multiple hours. On balance it's been a profitable endeavor. April-May was my best poker stretch ever having won almost $11K. With the proceeds I have really spoiled the family, we fixed the pool pump, bought a 8 night cruise in a suite, two new I-Pads, flights to visit family in Boston, new breaks on Car, paid for wife's physical trainer. It was all found money so we had a great time with it and I have no resentments at all. Now that I have crossed a lot wish list things off the family list, its time to address my wish list. I got the Wife to agree to a separate poker roll for the sole purpose of winning airfare, hotel and any seat/seats to WSOP events that I can manage. This blog is going to chronicle my efforts to get to Vegas next Summer. If everything breaks right I'd like to play in the $3K PLO8 and one of the $1.5K Holdem.