The Big Talk with the Wife
I've been playing online poker for a year now. It started with a $240 deposit and now it is what it is - a healthy bankroll for playing 100nl hold'em. I've been building up the bankroll to basically get to 100nl or 200nl and start actually winning and withdrawing money. Now that I've hit the bankroll milestone of $5k, I've enacted my 2009 goal of once hitting said milestone to split my winnings 50-50 with myself. 50% will stay in the bankroll to pad it, and 50% will come to me so I can use it towards my life.
I have wanted to talk to my wife about playing poker a little more seriously. I want to be able to put in 20k hands without sweating it and ideally take a stab at 30k hands a month regularly. I showed her my HEM stats for the month, how much I've been making an hour so far this month, and historically my career graph. I put it pretty logical to her that I'd like her to know and support me and that I do NOT plan to have poker take the time of anything else in my life (our marriage, work, community service, time with family).
Fortunately my wife understands I love poker and knows I'm pretty good. She ain't bad herself I might add, she does well when we have home cash games. Anyways she was supportive and stressed that she didn't want me "losing the $5k I've made" and "letting poker take over my entire life" which of course wouldn't happen. I was really happy and am constantly reminded why I married the right lady - she's understanding, sweet, but stands her ground for what she believes in at the same time. The truth regarding all this is that poker will probably be no more of a commitment in my life than it is already, I can just play and get the hands in.
So this definitely makes for a shift in playing poker. I'm not just playing because I love playing the game and want to "level up" as a challenge. I'm playing as a part-time supplemental income now with the support and following of my spouse. It does seem like the circumstances around playing are a lot more "real" but I am not feeling any added pressure at all (is that odd???). Anyways my wife is going out of town Sunday afternoon and will be gone until Monday night, then she is gone for another 2 days later in the week, giving me 4 days of play ... I've done the math and even if I played 8 hours per day I would still come up short of Platinum but I might give it a run just to see.
Of course after my brag from last post the doomswitch DID get pushed (just slightly to be honest) and I enjoyed YET ANOTHER AA losing to KK AIPF (all in preflop) and it's been a wacky month ... I can't remember a month seeing so many KK facing to AA AIPF and AA losing to KK or QQ AIPF. Ah well, I only have little room to complain! Here's my doomswitch hand from the session right after my brag post:
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About Me
My name is Sean Gibson and I am a poker journalist and part time poker player. I work full time at PokerNewsDaily.com where I host a daily news show called "The Daily Deal" and also handle the bulk of the live player interviews. In terms of poker you will find me playing $1/$3 No Limit Hold'em in Vegas or in Los Angeles (or San Diego) and online playing small stakes games.
Congrats on the BR milestone. Very nice. Also congrats on making the wife more aware of your goals / achievements as far as playing goes.
I know my wife occasionally asks how I’m doing and I’ll sit down with her and go over my PT3 graph. She’s just basically checking to see if I’ve lost it all but showing her that I haven’t makes her feel comfortable.
Doesn’t help that a guy I play live poker with lost ~$8K online last year (Cake) and hid it from his wife. She found out accidentally when she needed to go over old bank statements looking for a lost check. Since his wife and mine are friends, I’m sure you can see her concern.
Good work mate. I too think it is great that you share it with your wife. I try to do the shame but she shows little interest at the moment cause we aren’t talking ‘big figures’ yet. But she is proud and fully supportive. She knows I started with $1 in August 07 and now just over 2K.
Much the same as you I couldn’t see myself committing so much time if she didn’t believe in me. It’s great to hear you have that support at home.
I look forward to a post from you in ~6 months titled “My poker income just paid off my mortgage”
Good luck and good skill Sean.
Good work mate. I too think it is great that you share it with your wife. I try to do the shame but she shows little interest at the moment cause we aren’t talking ‘big figures’ yet. But she is proud and fully supportive. She knows I started with $1 in August 07 and now just over 2K.
Much the same as you I couldn’t see myself committing so much time if she didn’t believe in me. It’s great to hear you have that support at home.
I look forward to a post from you in ~6 months titled “My poker income just paid off my mortgage”
Good luck and good skill Sean.