Gambling
Related Essays and Reports by Andrew W Scott
2008
Wrap Up (The Long Run - Part 3)
December
11th 2008
Reprinted
courtesy Bluff Australasia and Andrew W Scott
Being on the professional poker tournament circuit
may seem to the uninitiated to be an endless round
of free parties, huge prizes, media attention, exotic
locations and beautiful people. And to a certain extent
it is. But the tour also can be an exhausting run
of long-haul international travel, a roller-coaster
of emotional bad beats and lucky breaks, incredibly
expensive, mentally sapping leading to bad poker play,
and even downright lonely at times.
To
keep on top of everything and be successful in the
long run, pro players need a great amount of discipline
and self-control. They need to be honest with themselves
about what is working for them and what is not. In
my 22 years of advantage play, I've constantly and
objectively assessed and re-assessed my play, focusing
on keeping what's good and changing what's not. A
natural time to do that is the holiday season. Each
year around Christmas I examine my tangible financial
results and other intangible factors in order to make
changes or focus on new areas - the aim being that
each year is better than the last. In that spirit,
here's a brief look at my 2008 on the tour.
In
2008 I played 65 live poker tournaments. That included
the Aussie Millions, twenty events at the WSOP, all
the main events and all bar one of the High Roller
events at the APPT, and a few other smaller events.
65 tournaments is not enough - I must try to play
more next year. My total investment in those 65 tournaments
was US$152,504 (I always think in USD for my tournament
poker play). My total return on that investment was
US$281,462, a return on investment of 85%. That's
not bad, especially considering it was my first full
year of major tournament poker play and I'm still
learning the ropes and developing my own individual
style. My profit of US$128,958 was fairly heavily
eaten into by travel expenses - I've travelled internationally
about once a month in 2008 and spent about 200 nights
of the year in hotel rooms. So one lesson of 2008
to take home is either find a way to get the travel
expenses down or play more tournaments with the same
amount of travel.
Some
other highlights and lowlights of the year:
Best
result: Coming second in the APPT Macau High Rollers
event, on my "home turf".
Quickest
result: Busted out of a tournament on the very first
hand. At this year's World Series in a short-stacked
event my KK ran into JJ on a Jack-high flop. I only
have myself to blame, most of the money went in on
the flop and I felt pot-committed by the time I realised
I was in trouble.
Best
party: The Pokerstars party at the end of the World
Series in Las Vegas in July. Five hours of top-shelf
drunken debauchery and fuzzy memories, totally funded
by our good friends at the world's biggest online
cardroom!
Best
plane flight: Cathay Pacific first class Hong Kong
to LA. Gorgeous flight attendant: "Mr Scott, we've
landed, it's time to disembark". Me: "Please, no,
let me stay, can't I just live on this plane forever?"
Worst
plane flight: Stuck on the tarmac at JFK airport in
New York for 2.5 hours, before finally taking the
35 minute flight to Boston. In cattle class and they
ran out of water. Suffice to say I caught the train
back!
Luckiest
break: A WSOP event in which 126 made the money. Right
on the bubble with 127 left in the hunt, my KK runs
into AA. It all goes in there pre-flop. I hit a miracle
two-outer King on the river. There is a God, after
all!
Worst
beat: That's a tough one. Two contenders. Beat 1:
Losing more than half my big stack on the third last
hand of day 1 of the APPT Sydney main event with AK
suited on a (7-7-K)-K-9 board that ran into pocket
7s for flopped quads. Beat 2: Got it all in there
pre-flop very deep in a WSOP event as second chip
leader with AA against the chip leader's JJ. The board
ran out (5-8-9)-7-T. If I had won that one it was
final table for sure, and a genuinely serious shot
at a WSOP bracelet.
Most
surreal moment: Playing a crucially intense hand at
the WSOP main event against a man staring me down
wearing a piano keyboard tie over a T-shirt that (quite
accurately) read "Old Bastard", with fluro orange
braces and bright green hair in a mohawk style!
Most
glamorous moment: Cruising around Vegas for hours
in a super-stretch limo, sipping champagne with a
bunch of girls far too gorgeous for me! Most unglamorous
moment: Losing a $5,000 chip down the toilet in my
hotel room and having to retrieve it! Have a great
Christmas and New Year, and I'll see you at the Aussie
Millions in January. And remember, always do what's
best in the long run…
©
2008 Andrew W Scott
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