Making money, earning a living

Making my way, anyway I know how. But that's just a little bit more than the law will allow.

Just brushed my teeth -- one of those everyday daily grind things – and looked at my toothbrush holder and noticed it has holes for four brushes. Of course, this isn’t the first time I noticed it, but it’s the first time I thought it would be nice if there were a second toothbrush in the holder. I don’t think it’s going to happen anytime soon, but I look forward to the day.

Yes, welcome to my crazy, neurotic – and sometimes romantic – brain. The brain that occasionally spits out a wise and well-timed poker move and other times helps me self destruct. The past week has been a struggle. I thought it was going to be a gangbuster month, but it’s looking much, much less than extraordinary on the poker front.

As my luck and my attitude towards the game sour, I’ve become serious about other means of income. I’ve made no decisions about the future, though I am leaning toward going to grad school and obtaining a master’s in marketing. If I do that, I don’t plan to go the financial aid route, but will try to support myself by doing these televised games (good money, but not enough games right now), writing, and, yes, poker.

I seemed to have been born with a knack for making money (paid my rent in college by scalping football tickets, paid for video games in high school by selling baseball cards, etc. etc.) and am pretty much debt free other than this mortgage payment. I’m a good money manager. It’s helped me be successful at poker.

Although the columnist ambitions of Phil Hellmuth and Daniel Negreanu initially discouraged me from trying to sell my own column beyond its home of the New York Times Regional Newspaper Group, I’m now launching a nationwide email offensive to newspapers editors. I think I provide a pretty good service, with a mix of columns on strategy, on-the-scene reporting and miscellaneous subjects like pro interviews or lists of the best poker books to read. And I say so in my emails. I’m also only trying to get $10 per paper per week, so it’s economical. It’s an inexpensive way for them to fill some space with a topic that should be of interest to many readers, and all it requires from me is to include their email address when I send out my weekly column. Truly a win, win. We’ll see what kind of response I get.

I’m not sure my heart’s in this college poker book. I’m just not certain how to write it and I don’t think I really care so much about the subject matter. I’m trying to sell another book, a guidebook I won’t divulge too much about yet, to Fodor’s. Although rejected by my agent, I just don’t see how this idea wouldn’t sell. As always, time will tell.