Platinum

Poker update:

After a month of the short stacking strategy I am up about $1000. I'm up to playing 13 tables at once (and will be adding a few more once we get back to France and I have more computer monitors) and am making about $20 an hour. I played enough hours this month that I have achieved "Platinum Star VIP Status" which basically means I start getting some bonuses that will add to my hourly.

It's weird to think that all the time I spent working for $10 an hour or less I could have been making twice as much playing a mindless version of poker online. It's weirder that everyone who's working for god knows what in some third world country could be doing the same.

Only they couldn't, really, because even if they had a computer and internet access and were aware of poker, most people wouldn't think of this strategy or have the wherewithal to refine it to the point where it's profitable. Nor would I. Peter did all of the work. In Montana I made a few forays into the smokey live poker games in the bars there and figured out I couldn't be worth more than $10/hour in those games, and that wasn't enough to sit in a smokey room with a bunch of assholes. So I pretty much shelved poker as a money-making idea. It's due to a very particular set of circumstances that I am playing again and making money.