Ride the wave
It's been exactly a year now since the first lockdown happened here in the UK.
It's been, and continues to be, truly tragic, but also full of opportunity.
Over the last year, I launched and sold a Substack publication at the same time as finding poker again.
Backstory
Before I quit my job back in 2010, I was playing a lot of online poker at the small stakes of 50nl ($50 buy-ins, 4-8 tables at a time) and was having moderate success.
I was, at worst, a break-even player and could earn from something called rakeback.
Poker sites make their money by taking a % of every pot. Back then, it was common for sites to incentivise regular players (regs) to play more by giving a % of that back.
Poker gave me the confidence to quit my job.
But it didn't work out, which is why I've spent the last decade focused on building and selling online businesses!
However, Covid gave me more time on my hands, and I needed some excitement so I started to play again.
I found out just how much the game has moved on.
Previously I would destroy the 25nl level; now it was destroying me.
Poker was banned in the United States back in 2011 in an event known as Black Friday which meant that the majority of recreational players disappeared.
The games became a lot harder (more regs to recreational players) and then in 2015 something just as significant happened - poker became a solved game with the launch of poker solvers.
Up to that point, there were heated discussions in poker forums over which strategy was correct.
But now, anyone can put a situation into a computer and find out exactly what the correct play is.
Present Day
It took a year of studying from the best players (courses, youtube channels) for me to be able to beat 50nl again and move up to 100nl (where I maxed out last time) to eventually 200nl.
It was an incredibly challenging, frustrating and rewarding journey, that continually tested my emotional resolve.
I made a recording (which I uploaded to Youtube) to capture me playing at my best along with my thought process.
As I'm now moving on from the game of poker to the business of poker.
Surf's Up
I've been connecting with the poker community at a business level as I feel that the industry is on the cusp of returning to its former glory. One that used to sponsor the biggest events such as the UFC.
Online poker is now legal in four states in America, with more following.
And earlier this week, the domain poker.net became the largest .net sale in history at $750,000.
It's a good strategy to ride the wave on something new (or something returning).
I did it when Clickfunnels launched, where I built and sold an affiliate site promoting sales funnels.
I'm doing it with Revue and Twitter, whose stock is back to its previous all-time high on the announcement of forthcoming Patreon features and a Clubhouse alternative.
And I'm going to do it with poker.
Cheers!
Richard
ps in a previous email I mentioned what went wrong in an investment I did backing an individual. In poker, this is called backing a horse, and there's an awesome post by Derek Wolters on the three different types of backing deals that can relate to any investment. I'll leave you with this quote that resonated with me:
A freerolling deal is one that has a high probability of ending with the backer taking a loss. If you often find yourself thinking "WHY did I agree to back this person??", you are in a freerolling deal.
pps I had said previously I wouldn't do a web archive of these emails, but being on Revue has changed my mind - they recommend it and it does make the most sense.