By now the whole poker world is aware of the events that took place April 15th, now being referred to as "Black Friday" there have been countless articles and reports on line.
Like most when I first heard of the indictments and subsequent seizures I was in a bit of a panic, let me re-phrase that.. "I freaked the fuck out". In the days that followed it was a scramble to gather all information possible and make a game plan. The game plan has changed a number of times as new information comes to light.
As far as my coaching, I have 1 international student or "protege" (DaffyDeth) who has been with me for quite some time now and I will be continuing to work with him. unfortunately all other's that I have been working with on a continuing basis for profit-share are unable to play due to the ban on US players.
On a brighter note my 30 day coaching program has been well received by the international community and I have several students signed up to begin late April, early May.. I will be introducing a hybrid of both the paid and coaching for profit programs in a few weeks, basically the program will begin with the 30 day paid program and if the student(s) show me that they are viable candidates to continue I will put them on a profit-share coaching program that might even include a stake..
I will still be heavily involved with TeamMoshman from not only a coaching standpoint but also managing day to day website development and advertising/affiliate marketing. I am very encouraged with where TeamMoshman is headed, as one of the few business's that was pro-active in developing it's brand and model in the international community.
Where I go as a player? Full Tilt Poker has been my home since 2005 even before I was a heads up limit grinder, sadly - FTP was the only site where I could get decent volume at heads up, other sites such as those on the Merge network do not currently offer heads up cash games and have very limited heads up fixed limit SNG's offered. even if they offered these games tomorrow their traffic is just not adequate at this time.. UB/AP in my opinion are just sticking around to suck what life is left from the US player carcass. I am not thrilled over grinding up $ on these sites over the next weeks/months to find out all was for nothing and I cannot access the funds..
So, I'm going back to grinding out a living in live games. There are a few options available to me for action here in Arizona over the summer at least. I'm also planning a trip to Vegas sometime around the middle of May to see what the games look like out there these days. Thankfully a benefit to living in the far N. West valley is that I am 4 hours from Las Vegas (also due to the new bridge over hoover dam).
Having Dasha (Pluzhara_Poker) here with me to grind out live games is going to be really exciting, Dasha has excellent "card sense" and has quickly adapted to live games. Prior to December she had never played a full ring game let alone a live poker game but, she has come a long way and is already at a point that she can beat $6/12 Omaha games with a very decent expected value! Were going to be working very hard on her stud and draw games over the next few weeks.
A final note about the future:
Admittedly, I was as pissed off, sad, depressed as most when the shit hit the fan, It's taken me a few days to gather my thoughts, think clearly and come to a few realizations about what being a "professional poker player" means. You have to be able to deal with the swings that come with this life!
Online poker brought with it many advantages.
many very talented and intelligent young people gave up their college/university in order to concentrate on playing online poker where their hourly rate was 10x what they could make after college. Many of these talented pros will be giving up poker as it is no longer a viable source of income. Their will be a period of time for US players where their is just not enough money to circulate and many will go back to normal jobs.
Like most when I first heard of the indictments and subsequent seizures I was in a bit of a panic, let me re-phrase that.. "I freaked the fuck out". In the days that followed it was a scramble to gather all information possible and make a game plan. The game plan has changed a number of times as new information comes to light.
As far as my coaching, I have 1 international student or "protege" (DaffyDeth) who has been with me for quite some time now and I will be continuing to work with him. unfortunately all other's that I have been working with on a continuing basis for profit-share are unable to play due to the ban on US players.
On a brighter note my 30 day coaching program has been well received by the international community and I have several students signed up to begin late April, early May.. I will be introducing a hybrid of both the paid and coaching for profit programs in a few weeks, basically the program will begin with the 30 day paid program and if the student(s) show me that they are viable candidates to continue I will put them on a profit-share coaching program that might even include a stake..
I will still be heavily involved with TeamMoshman from not only a coaching standpoint but also managing day to day website development and advertising/affiliate marketing. I am very encouraged with where TeamMoshman is headed, as one of the few business's that was pro-active in developing it's brand and model in the international community.
Where I go as a player? Full Tilt Poker has been my home since 2005 even before I was a heads up limit grinder, sadly - FTP was the only site where I could get decent volume at heads up, other sites such as those on the Merge network do not currently offer heads up cash games and have very limited heads up fixed limit SNG's offered. even if they offered these games tomorrow their traffic is just not adequate at this time.. UB/AP in my opinion are just sticking around to suck what life is left from the US player carcass. I am not thrilled over grinding up $ on these sites over the next weeks/months to find out all was for nothing and I cannot access the funds..
So, I'm going back to grinding out a living in live games. There are a few options available to me for action here in Arizona over the summer at least. I'm also planning a trip to Vegas sometime around the middle of May to see what the games look like out there these days. Thankfully a benefit to living in the far N. West valley is that I am 4 hours from Las Vegas (also due to the new bridge over hoover dam).
Having Dasha (Pluzhara_Poker) here with me to grind out live games is going to be really exciting, Dasha has excellent "card sense" and has quickly adapted to live games. Prior to December she had never played a full ring game let alone a live poker game but, she has come a long way and is already at a point that she can beat $6/12 Omaha games with a very decent expected value! Were going to be working very hard on her stud and draw games over the next few weeks.
A final note about the future:
Admittedly, I was as pissed off, sad, depressed as most when the shit hit the fan, It's taken me a few days to gather my thoughts, think clearly and come to a few realizations about what being a "professional poker player" means. You have to be able to deal with the swings that come with this life!
Online poker brought with it many advantages.
many very talented and intelligent young people gave up their college/university in order to concentrate on playing online poker where their hourly rate was 10x what they could make after college. Many of these talented pros will be giving up poker as it is no longer a viable source of income. Their will be a period of time for US players where their is just not enough money to circulate and many will go back to normal jobs.
I have come to realize that I did not choose poker as much as poker was chosen for me, It represents who I am - I can never be a 9-5er I can never clock in, clock out.
I worked in my dad's business from the age of 14 and was home schooled 2 hours/day. I was not the spoiled "owners son" that you usually see, more was expected from my brother, sister and myself than any other employee I sought the respect of those I worked with, our business was wholesale hand tools and I started in the warehouse doing the grunt work alongside much older men. I learned to sacrifice today for the future.
at 18 I started my own business importing and selling goods to retail stores, I took calculated risks everyday, It was not "strange" in any way to me. I learned allot, I was fortunate to have a mentor, Scott Spohn who took me under his wing so-to say. at one point I even worked for Scott when I was sick of struggling in business, it was not as much that I went to work as I went to college, this was where I gained my "further education" I got my master's degree in negotiation.. at 33 I have never been "employed" never worked for a person outside my family/mentor..
I guess what I'm saying is, some of us are here for other reasons, I have made a great deal of money in poker, but that was not, is not, will never be the reason I am a poker player.. I like many others will suffer this period, I have lost the largest part of my income, and what happens to our money that is still online is anyones guess.. I don't go where the hourly rate takes me.. I am just a poker player, that is all...
Aaron
I worked in my dad's business from the age of 14 and was home schooled 2 hours/day. I was not the spoiled "owners son" that you usually see, more was expected from my brother, sister and myself than any other employee I sought the respect of those I worked with, our business was wholesale hand tools and I started in the warehouse doing the grunt work alongside much older men. I learned to sacrifice today for the future.
at 18 I started my own business importing and selling goods to retail stores, I took calculated risks everyday, It was not "strange" in any way to me. I learned allot, I was fortunate to have a mentor, Scott Spohn who took me under his wing so-to say. at one point I even worked for Scott when I was sick of struggling in business, it was not as much that I went to work as I went to college, this was where I gained my "further education" I got my master's degree in negotiation.. at 33 I have never been "employed" never worked for a person outside my family/mentor..
I guess what I'm saying is, some of us are here for other reasons, I have made a great deal of money in poker, but that was not, is not, will never be the reason I am a poker player.. I like many others will suffer this period, I have lost the largest part of my income, and what happens to our money that is still online is anyones guess.. I don't go where the hourly rate takes me.. I am just a poker player, that is all...
Aaron
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