a great quote from a great blog

[No_Neck 0]

no I am not talking about RedPills, it is Mike Cunningham or Tightmike on FCPCheck it out http://www.mikecunningham.blogspot.com/It's easy to be a good person and to be a positive person when the deck is hitting you in the head. But what happens when the deck is hitting you in the nuts? He has a few great entries about what it is to be a pro and go through a downswing. He is also a grinder, like some of us hope to be. I have been going through a downswing myself and it is great read.

[HoosierAlum 0]

I like his blog and he seems like a good guy, but he has some seriously flawed views on how to play poker professionally. Its not too smart to sit with your whole roll on the table when poker is your only source of income.

[No_Neck 0]

yea that isn't smart at all, I would also think 10k is a little low to be playing professionally.having all your roll on the table in a NL game is so dangerous. but downswings are really what test your character.

[tightmike 0]

It's a difficult thing to understand if you aren't sitting in my shoes. I fully admit that what I did wasn't very smart, but I also admit (to myself) that to be the best you sometimes have to put your neck on the line.Read Professor, banker, suicide king, and find out how Ted Forrest did it to play Andy Beal. You have to take risks in this profession. It's part of the profession no matter what anyone says.In regards to $10k being a little low, that's not my whole bankroll. I distort the figures a little b/c I don't want anyone knowing exactly what kind of money I have (or don't have haha).Thanks again for reading along in the blog. This is exactly why I started it was to help those who want to do this professionally. I took a risk (boy this is starting to sound like Mike McD from Rounders, huh?) and I quit a 10 year career to do something drastically different. I'm enjoying the ride and for those who read my blog consistantly, I hope you are too.mcwww.mikecunningham.blogspot.com

[HoosierAlum 0]

It's a difficult thing to understand if you aren't sitting in my shoes. I fully admit that what I did wasn't very smart, but I also admit (to myself) that to be the best you sometimes have to put your neck on the line.Read Professor, banker, suicide king, and find out how Ted Forrest did it to play Andy Beal. You have to take risks in this profession. It's part of the profession no matter what anyone says.In regards to $10k being a little low, that's not my whole bankroll. I distort the figures a little b/c I don't want anyone knowing exactly what kind of money I have (or don't have haha).Thanks again for reading along in the blog. This is exactly why I started it was to help those who want to do this professionally. I took a risk (boy this is starting to sound like Mike McD from Rounders, huh?) and I quit a 10 year career to do something drastically different. I'm enjoying the ride and for those who read my blog consistantly, I hope you are too.mcwww.mikecunningham.blogspot.com

I totally disagree with you Mike. You don't have to risk going broke in order to make it in this profession. That is just simply untrue and a very very bad way to think. There is nothing wrong with taking a shot, but be smart about it. When you sit with a huge % of your bankroll on the table, you are essentially letting 1 or 2 bad beats determine your future as a poker player.To incorporate your Rounders reference: Become Knish before you before you become Mike McD.

[deviper 0]

I injoyed reading that. I just hope that he will not be putting his whole BR on the line any more b/c that is praying for disaster. I wish him the best of luck.

[HelioCentric 0]

It's a difficult thing to understand if you aren't sitting in my shoes. I fully admit that what I did wasn't very smart, but I also admit (to myself) that to be the best you sometimes have to put your neck on the line.Read Professor, banker, suicide king, and find out how Ted Forrest did it to play Andy Beal. You have to take risks in this profession. It's part of the profession no matter what anyone says.In regards to $10k being a little low, that's not my whole bankroll. I distort the figures a little b/c I don't want anyone knowing exactly what kind of money I have (or don't have haha).Thanks again for reading along in the blog. This is exactly why I started it was to help those who want to do this professionally. I took a risk (boy this is starting to sound like Mike McD from Rounders, huh?) and I quit a 10 year career to do something drastically different. I'm enjoying the ride and for those who read my blog consistantly, I hope you are too.mcwww.mikecunningham.blogspot.com

I totally disagree with you Mike. You don't have to risk going broke in order to make it in this profession. That is just simply untrue and a very very bad way to think. There is nothing wrong with taking a shot, but be smart about it. When you sit with a huge % of your bankroll on the table, you are essentially letting 1 or 2 bad beats determine your future as a poker player.To incorporate your Rounders reference: Become Knish before you before you become Mike McD.

I would listen to this guy Mike. He is speaking the truth.

[deviper 0]

It's a difficult thing to understand if you aren't sitting in my shoes. I fully admit that what I did wasn't very smart, but I also admit (to myself) that to be the best you sometimes have to put your neck on the line.Read Professor, banker, suicide king, and find out how Ted Forrest did it to play Andy Beal. You have to take risks in this profession. It's part of the profession no matter what anyone says.In regards to $10k being a little low, that's not my whole bankroll. I distort the figures a little b/c I don't want anyone knowing exactly what kind of money I have (or don't have haha).Thanks again for reading along in the blog. This is exactly why I started it was to help those who want to do this professionally. I took a risk (boy this is starting to sound like Mike McD from Rounders, huh?) and I quit a 10 year career to do something drastically different. I'm enjoying the ride and for those who read my blog consistantly, I hope you are too.mcwww.mikecunningham.blogspot.com

Yes I see what your saying but look at it like this, Ted forrest is one of the greatest players around and he could find 100 people to stake him if he goes bust and be back on his feet in no time, what are you going to do if you go bust?

[HoosierAlum 0]

Ok, I have to add one more thing because this is bothering me and I dont want to see this guy go broke.You need to get these fairy tales out of your head. For every Ted Forrest vs Andy Beal story there are 10,000 stories of low limit pros such as yourself playing way too high and taking a few beats and losing their whole roll.You aren't Ted Forrest and you don't need to "put your neck on the line." If you played within your bankroll and were very disciplined about your approach, you would actually reach the higher limits much quicker than you would by playing over your head. Of course, this is assuming you have the talent to beat the games.Grind your way up. You will get there faster, and you will also become a better player for it.

[CodyHartman 0]

He is speaking the truth.

Who the fck are you??

[Wandigo 1]

I've been reading his blog for probably the past month or two and I think it's always an enjoyable read. It's fun to see the progress of someone like Mike who's trying to make it as a pro, and I'm glad things are working out for him, he really has a passion for the game....Although Mike, you never write back to my comments, jerkface. :twisted: haha just kiddin bro.

[HelioCentric 0]

He is speaking the truth.

Who the fck are you??

What in the world is this? Where did this come from?But while we are here, at least learn how to swear in the forum properly if your going to do it. Fuck!

[mrdannyg 274]

no I am not talking about RedPills,

i stopped reading here.seriously though, the almighty smasharoo once had a signature that was something like,"the real hero of Rounders is Knish."as Hoosier has said, it is simply not necessary to put your whole bankroll or even close to it to play professionally. anyone considering "pro" play should begin by doing all the good bonuses, and should nearly always be clearing boni. if you're going to play on FCP for instance, it is easy to always be clearing a bonus.since your earning bonus, your variance decreases. so you can play above your bankroll. but that might mean only 200 bb instead of 300 (i don't know NL equivalents), and then only at very low limits you've consistenly beat. you should not consistently playing above it of course.this is ignoring all the pro's recommendations to play with far more than 300bb, and ignoring any type of emergency account.i root for people in mike's situation, but i'm afraid anyone who is willing to put even a significant percentage (nevermind 100) of their bankroll on an NL table at one time is destined to go broke.best of luck mikedaniel

[Abbaddabba 0]

The notion that you have to take big risks in poker is just bullshit.A solid player with the time and motivation can take a negligable sum of money to an amount that will be sufficient to make a livible wage in a few short months, without ever facing him or herself with undue risk.There's no reason why you NEED to take premature "shots" at high stakes games. It's a matter of preference and tolerance (or lack thereof) for risk.

[Swift_Psycho 1]

i root for people in mike's situation, but i'm afraid anyone who is willing to put even a significant percentage (nevermind 100) of their bankroll on an NL table at one time is destined to go broke.

Agreed. Best of luck to you Mike.

[Guest]

Barry Greestien, Jennifer Harmon, Ted Forrest and Doyle Brunson. You know what all these players have in common? They have all been quoted (Im not sure when or where bit ive read it and will try to find it for you) as saying that they have played with thier whole roll on the table on more than one occasion. Thats not to say they do it alot, they probably hardly ever do it, but Barry and Doyle have both said you have to be willing to gamble a little bit like that to become a great player. Ive never done this nor do aspire to become a professional poker player (ok maybe I do) but i can see doing this in the correct situation. Not everyone can just sit day in and day out grinding out lower stakes. They have to feel the rush of playing when it actually hurts to lose. I also remeber Chip Reese saying he cant play in a game unless its going to hurt him when he loses. Just my two cents.You know what else these players have in common? They are all GREAT players. And can maybe get away with this a little easier than most.

[finztotheleft 0]

no I am not talking about RedPills,

i stopped reading here.seriously though, the almighty smasharoo once had a signature that was something like,"the real hero of Rounders is Knish."as Hoosier has said, it is simply not necessary to put your whole bankroll or even close to it to play professionally. anyone considering "pro" play should begin by doing all the good bonuses, and should nearly always be clearing boni. if you're going to play on FCP for instance, it is easy to always be clearing a bonus.since your earning bonus, your variance decreases. so you can play above your bankroll. but that might mean only 200 bb instead of 300 (i don't know NL equivalents), and then only at very low limits you've consistenly beat. you should not consistently playing above it of course.this is ignoring all the pro's recommendations to play with far more than 300bb, and ignoring any type of emergency account.i root for people in mike's situation, but i'm afraid anyone who is willing to put even a significant percentage (nevermind 100) of their bankroll on an NL table at one time is destined to go broke.best of luck mikedaniel

Maybe you should have kept reading. It's hard to do a lot of bonus clearing when playing live. :roll:

[Jordan 1]

Barry Greestien, Jennifer Harmon, Ted Forrest and Doyle Brunson. You know what all these players have in common? They have all been quoted (Im not sure when or where bit ive read it and will try to find it for you) as saying that they have played with thier whole roll on the table on more than one occasion. Thats not to say they do it alot, they probably hardly ever do it, but Barry and Doyle have both said you have to be willing to gamble a little bit like that to become a great player. Ive never done this nor do aspire to become a professional poker player (ok maybe I do) but i can see doing this in the correct situation. Not everyone can just sit day in and day out grinding out lower stakes. They have to feel the rush of playing when it actually hurts to lose. I also remeber Chip Reese saying he cant play in a game unless its going to hurt him when he loses. Just my two cents.You know what else these players have in common? They are all GREAT players. And can maybe get away with this a little easier than most.

They are the minority. Point is: You don't need to put your whole roll on the table, ever. Especially with today's plethera of games to choose from.It's silly and really just shows irresponsibility if you are playing soley for a living.The quickest way to go broke I think is to try and make a quick score. It's just not a healthy thing to do, win or lose. I don't believe money will make people really happy anyways, so meh, if he wins at one high level, he is just going to keep playing higher and higher...actually that fits a lot of people. I've done it. - Jordan

[koolromeo 0]

The notion that you have to take big risks in poker is just censored.A solid player with the time and motivation can take a negligable sum of money to an amount that will be sufficient to make a livible wage in a few short months, without ever facing him or herself with undue risk.There's no reason why you NEED to take premature "shots" at high stakes games. It's a matter of preference and tolerance (or lack thereof) for risk.

well said!

[koolromeo 0]

unfortunately, mike seems destined to go broke. he has no direction or "business" plan. he plays a mismash of games and "gambles" way too much. the reason to play no limit is to exploit huge edges over soft competiion, not to mess around with j-4 of clubs for your whole stack. his original plan was to play 1-2, then 2-5 and finallly 5-10 nl when he was ready for each new level. well he hasn't beaten any of these games consistently enough to be moving up to the next level, let alone playing some guy that has wsop bracelets with his whole futre on the table!find a game that you can beat and stick to it. you say that stud is your best game. why don't you focus on that? good luck man.

[No_Neck 0]

yeah I can almost see sitting with your roll in a limit game, what happens when one of those rich business men sees KK and you have AA and it gets all in with a K on the flop, congrats you are homeless. I am sure it has happened, and will happen again.

[tightmike 0]

Now I'm not on here to defend what I did. Maybe to explain it and to answer some of the questions that have arisen from it.Someone on my blog commented that I should take a shot at the big game when I see that it is soft and I have an edge. I did that. O'neil's game is great for mine. I sat down as long as he was going to be in the game. When he got up, I got up.Someone mentioned what happens when you have AA and someone else has KK and they spike a K on the flop and you lose it all? What happens? I go back exclusively to the low no limit games and rebuild. I AM NOT AFRAID TO GO BROKE. I have NO FEAR OF FAILURE. I DO NOT HAVE A FEAR OF SUCCESS either.As a college track coach I learned alot about success/failure in regards to the mental state of an athlete. More athletes do not achieve the success that they can b/c they have a fear of failure. I will not go down that road. I do appreciate the spirited debate on this subject. This is why I started this blog. There are some great blogs that I have found out there by Daniel, Josh, etc. But I hadn't found a blog for someone who is like most out there. Most of us out there don't and will never play in the 4k/8k game, but there are tons of people out there like me who have the dream of making a living playing poker. This is for you guys. I took the gamble and quit a career to make this my career. I knew it would be met with scepticism and backlash. I still have people that refer to me as a 'pro' and not just a pro. Don't understand the quotation marks. THis is all I do. I pay the rent, buy the groceries, and fill the gas tank up with money that I earn from poker.Again, I want to thank all of the regular readers of my blog and to all the new readers as well. I'm working on giving you what I believe you want. The truth. I could easily lie and say everything is great all the time. But that defeats the purpose of my life. My life is and always has been an open book. I am here to report the truth to maybe help someone else.I'm now going to head to the Wynn and see if I can get some undercover pictures of Andy and the big 50k/100k game. Plus he is playing Ted Forrest today and you probaby already know that he's one of my favorites for obvious reason.mcwww.mikecunningham.blogspot.com

[Abbaddabba 0]

If you were doing this on your own, the whole thing would be mildly stupid. But you have a son (if i read correctly)? I hope for his sake that he lives with his mother and that his mother makes a steady income. Because playing 25/50 PLO with only $10,000 to your name and a child to support is criminally stupid.

[primetime 0]

If you were doing this on your own, the whole thing would be mildly stupid. But you have a son (if i read correctly)? I hope for his sake that he lives with his mother and that his mother makes a steady income. Because playing 25/50 PLO with only $10,000 to your name and a child to support is criminally stupid.

i dont think he is married or has a child...he does have a niece....the games in vegas are so soft and filled with fishes that even if he went broke..he could grind it out in low limit and get it back......its not like he went to a roulette wheel and put the whole thing on black...he saw a soft game with a guy his style fits and went for it...its not like he gonna call with AK with a K on the board for all his money...he is gonna wait for a big hand...its a calculated risk...you guys have to give him alittle for credit then thinking he would go broke so easy...

[Mercury69 3]

Dear Mike,Don't let these momma's boy bitches worry you. It's not their money you're risking, it's yours. Good for you at going to the limit and testing your abilities in this way. You ****ing rock, dude.