Nasrudin And The Horse

Is it just me, or is 3.6 looser than 2.4? At least on Party and UB, that seems to be my impression. I don't have nearly enough data yet to draw any conclusions. Can anyone help me out here?

Somebody was asking in comments about my bankroll, level, etc. More generally, the question has been sort of hinted at by more than one: Do you really have any business going pro?

Sadly, the answer is no. Or at least a qualified no.

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Once upon a time, there was a very wise Sufi mystic named Nasrudin. Nasrudin had an unfortunate habit of acting out his own parables to demonstrate to people just how stupid enlightenment really is, and during some incident involving this (or perhaps too much wine and hashish) he ran afoul of a local potentate, who had him tried and sentenced to death.

"O King!" Nasrudin cried, throwing himself to his knees. "Please, you must spare my life, for I am The Greatest Teacher The World Has Ever Known."

"What is that to me?" replied the haughty ruler.

"If you spare my life, I can teach your favorite horse to fly."

"That would be wonderful," laughed the king. "You have one year."

The next day, a follower managed to visit Nasrudin in the stables where he had been shackled. "Why did you make such an absurd bargain?" the student asked. "Surely, O Wise One, even you cannot teach a horse to fly."

"Well, perhaps not," Nasrudin admitted. "But a year is a long time. I might find a way to escape. Or perhaps the king will die, or be deposed. In a year, he may even learn forgiveness."

Then Nasrudin shrugged and smiled. "And who knows? Maybe the damned horse will learn to fly."

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Currently, I'm mostly multi-tabling 2.4 on UB, along with a one-table session of 3.6 on Party every night. Just sort of testing the waters, so to speak. My average daily bankroll last month was about $2600. However, it must be noted that I've taken out 10% off the top of my bankroll on (or about) the first of each month since January. In that time, I've profitted somewhat over $2000. Since my "real jobs" have been paying the bills in that time, the profits have bought me an iPod, a new harddrive, my wife's computer, and a few other toys here and there, not to mention countless pizzas and bottles of wine.

Obviously, I'm not going to be able to pay the bills on $200/month (or even $260, as it is this month). Luckily, I won't need to. My wife is going to take care of that for me. I know, I know, it sounds awful, but she actually volunteered, and our roommates agreed with the plan. It's been obvious for a long time that I've been unhappy in my job, and they all really seem to believe in me (for whatever reason). I have a few other plans for making myself useful and generally improving the quality of life for myself and those around me - I mean, besides the obvious method of playing more poker - and maybe one of them will pay off in some way.

Or maybe I'll end up playing hours and hours of X-Box 360 games. I don't think that sounds much like me, but maybe.

My goal, I suppose, is to become a grinder. I want to get to a level where I can put in a reasonable number of hours per week and win enough to cover whatever luxuries and recreational expenses we need. Unfortunately, we have expensive tastes, but we've agreed to forgo those for the time being so that I can take a shot. As I told my lovely and (possibly too) understanding wife, I don't truly believe that we'll be able to make this work. Of course, I don't believe that we won't, either. Personally, I think belief destroys intelligence. I want to see what will happen, and the best way to learn this sort of thing is empirically. If nothing else, I'll be able to determine if I can ever make this work and put to rest once and for all the hobby/job question.

And who knows? Maybe the damned horse will learn to fly.

posted by Captain Freeman @ 1:03 AM