If It Was Real: End of an Era

Trying to make a living by playing poker certainly isn't easy.  Even top players can have slumps for a year.  And we've found out how challenging it can be, merely playing free tournaments in our home area.

The "Georgia-Alabama era" for our live poker games ended this week, after more than 400 trips to tables.  Before we explain our next chapter, let's wrap up our scoreboard here.

Since the 380-game mark in early January, we've scored three top-five finishes: a third (which won us money in a settlement), a tie for fourth and a fifth.  Plugging those into our pretend buy-in/payout formula for real tournaments, the grand total looks like this:

BUY-INS: 402 nights x $50 = $20,100

First -- 6 x 500 ($3,000)
TIE for first: 1 ($450)

Second - 9 x 400 ($3,600)
TIE for second: 1 ($350)

Third -- 10 x 300 ($3,000)
TIE for third: 1 ($250)

Fourth - 16 x 200 ($3,200)
TIES for fourth:
7 two-way ($1,050)
1 three-way ($67)

Fifth -- 17 x 100 ($1,700)
TIES for fifth:
7 two-way ($350)
1 three-way ($33)

TOTAL -- 77 for $17,050

We should note a few of those 402 games took place on road trips outside the local area -- including two nights in Florida where we made the top five and won hundreds of dollars in prize money.  But all in all, we would have lost 15.2 percent on our "investment."

So after a strong start, we've found we can't make steady income in local tournaments.  And that leads us to the big news: we've moving in the coming days to our home state for full-time employment.  The job is in our chosen field of journalism -- and based on the Bible's advice, we plan to make good work our top priority:

Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work -- this is a gift of God. -- Ecclesiastes 5:19

We've been blessed with some small degree of wealth, which has helped us through more than a year of unemployment.  We also have a lot of possessions (which has become very obvious as moving boxes pile up around us).  But it's hard to be "happy in your work" when there's no paying work to do, and efforts to make a living on your own wind up continually unsuccessful.

For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: "If a man will not work, he shall not eat." - II Thessalonians 3:10

We're convinced God wants His followers to do "work" for Him -- whether it's a 40-hour-per-week job on an assembly line, or spreading the good news of the gospel in some way.

And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season?  Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he comes shall find so doing. - Luke 12:42-43 (KJV)

Some people have asked us if this blog will continue.  As of now, it will -- but we don't have any idea at this point how much poker we'll be able to play, and when.  We're going to an area which seems to have a strong local amateur poker circuit, and casinos with poker tables will be only a short drive away.

So while we move, this blog will be on hiatus.  Keep checking here from time to time for when our posts resume.  In the meantime, thanks for your interest - and keep looking for signs of the "King of Kings," even when you're playing Aces.