Online experiment update

My how the time gets away. I just realized it has been two weeks since my last post. Sometimes the holidays and work (and winning wheelbarrows full of money on PokerStars) can prevent a man from putting pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard as it were.

It's been a great month from a poker standpoint. The online game has kept me mostly at home on my Hold'em endeavors, with me preferring to click the mouse in my study instead of pushing chips to the center of the felt in a local cardroom. I don't have to put up with the smoke and I can play in my underwear if I want to. (I don't, by the way.) The one time I've been out this month, I played in a 30-man no limit tournament and won it. I can't argue with that rate of success.

Nor can I argue with my results on PokerStars. You may recall that after playing my first "week", or 40 hours of time, I was averaging a win of $32 an hour. After two "weeks", or 80 hours, my win rate is now $35.35 an hour. That's nearly 6 BB an hour in these $3/$6 shorthanded games. Is a win rate that great really possible over the long haul? Are most of the players on the site that bad that I can do so well? It boggles my mind.

This early success continues to give me great comfort on the possibility of taking the plunge off the cliff (i.e. leaving a guaranteed income, otherwise known as "the job" for a year) and hoping my parachute opens (i.e. getting a book deal). I've pondered other possibilities like going to grad school to get a masters in journalism or maybe marketing. If I could support myself playing poker the possibilities are endless. I do know that I couldn't sit in front of my computer for 40 hours or more a week just playing poker. It would drive my crazy, win or no win. I think ;)