It's time for a new chapter in the life of Presto136. If you have followed a long with this blog, you can see the epiphany based logic that I have used throughout this process and for that matter, all of my life. I am a man of ideas, not a man of commitment. This has been an obstacle for me that has dampened my schoolwork, relationships, and overall work ethic. I need to get past this. I will get past this. Obviously time and experience will help with these attributes and I am sure I will be a completely different person three years from now.

What is a good first step to change? New scenery. I am sitting in the most baller condo I have ever been in on the beach in Destin, FL. I can see miles and miles of one of the most beautiful oceans in the US and it is very soothing. I have the option to stay out here for a while and I am seriously considering it. I will need to travel to Vegas on the 26th for the WSOP but after that it might be back to Destin.

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This is not the first epiphany of change I have had like this. I had one very similar a few months ago which helped me to make some improvements in my life. I quit smoking cigarettes, I started focusing on school, and I cut some disloyal people out of my life. My girlfriend at the time was very supportive of these changes so it is understandable to see why she was unsupportive of the poker career. The connotations that come with this lifestyle are not good and I'm sure she could see a lot of negative traits that are associated with poker coming out of me.

Here is a list of little bits of wisdom that I have learned during my brief tenure as a professional poker player. Obviously a lot of these are redundant and have been preached before so in no way do I claim these as original.

1. Seperate yourself emotionally from money.
2. Results oriented logic is a gambler's downfall. Anytime you justify a poker move by starting with 'this one time' I immediately assume you are an idiot.
3. Greed will destroy you. Stay humble
4. Get out of the fucking house every once in a while.
5. Cut out the bad gambling in your life. Sports betting, blackjack, roulette, craps, etc. Play against other people, not the house. Obviously this does not apply if you are a card counter or just happen to be the best sports better in the world. Unfortunately this is a very very small % of people so do not assume you are one of them.
6. Volume, volume, volume
7. Never stop learning.
8. Experience is the key to success. Everybody has to lose and make mistakes in order to truly learn the game. When I originally won my first 7k, I thought I was the shit. Now I understand how bad I was at that point and how counterfiet my ego was at the time.

Yesterday, I had dinner with my uncle. My uncle is the reason I am in this condo right now. When we pulled up to his subdivision, we each tried to guess which house was his. It turns out, he owns the whole neighborhood. I rarely get to spend time with him because he is a very busy man. When I have talked to him, he has left quite an impression. He has a very big picture mindset and he brought up concepts that I have never thought about before. Yesterday, the topic was capitalism.

"In order for capitalism to work, other countries must sacrifice. Throughout our history, we have used bribery and exthortion to found the building blocks of our success. We have taken care of the leaders of communist and dictatorship based countries in order to get access to their resources. We then use these resources at an alarmingly higher rate than any other country because democracy triggers a selfish, greed-filled mindset. The US historically has always tried to spread democracy. Imagine if we had succeeded. The competitive advantage America has would shrink exponentially and we would live in a completely different country. In order for democracy to truly work, other countries' citizens must indirectly pay for it or we have no advantage."

I don't know if i quoted him 100% accuracutely and I don't think that paragraph gives his monologue nearly enough justice. Hopefully you get the point.

I have had a lot of mixed private messages throughout this experience. Here are a few common ones

1. "Good job breaking up with the gf, I am thinking about doing the same" Don't do this if poker is the only obstacle. If she is not the right fit, then it is a different story. My mom said it best. "The number one thing a girl looks for in a relationship is security. The number one thing a guy looks for in a relationship is respect." Luckily I had some closure with the lack of respect part so I am past it.
2. "Smoke that shit" I will recreationally. I am going to break myself out of the pothead habit and use it as a luxury mood changer rather than an overall tone of life.
3. "Your blog has made me want to stop smoking weed"(before day 9) Try it. Please do. I think it will help you find your true self and purpose.

I apologize for the lack of organization in my blogs. That is why it is called a blog. It is not supposed to be structured. The experiment was a failure so I will just turn this into a regular blog. Follow along if you wish. I will make it poker related some days and life related other days. I know I will make mistakes and contradict myself a few times. I think we are all hypocrites to an extent and I am no different.

I caved. I smoked a bowl. I encourage everybody to send me a pm berating me for being a weak pos. In fairness to the experiment, I will not be playing poker during my stonedness. Instead I will babble on my blog about how much I truly love marijuana.

I was in a bad mood. I had been drinking all day to 'celebrate' my final table yesterday and the alcohol turned the mood from happy to bitter. The roommate casually handed me a bowl just like he would 9 days ago and I casually accepted. The mood instantly changed. The steamroller quickly filled up with smoke and I was brought back to the place that I have been at the past 5 years. Stoned. I do not feel less intelligent right now. In fact, I feel very in the zone. I am focused on the screen and everything else is insignificant.

I have a theory. Weed is a good tool for concentration. It is a very 'in the moment' drug and can enhance certain parts of the brain. It can also disable parts of the brain so it is definitely a give-take relationship. Weed is not a good tool for improving your game. If you are an unsuccessful player and are looking to plug your leaks, learn sober. However, if you are an accomplished poker player and have mastered the game, weed will put you in the moment. You will be locked in towards implementing your game to the best of your ability and you will do it confidently. If you lose, so what. It happens. You're going to lose 99% of the big tournaments you play so don't let it affect you. Weed helps to block out the financial part of the game and it helps you to focus on the actual poker.

I do not feel bad about smoking a bowl. I feel that it is irrelevant towards the poker part of the experiment. I talked with my roommate about it and he says that I should not set too high of standards for myself. That will only lead to stress. I will set standards for myself as far as character, religion, and relationships but I will not live my life based on 'false and unnecessary' standards.

I will continue to update the blog from the perspective of a sober poker player. This post will be my mulligan for the month and I will tee off again tomorrow.

We are no longer humbled :) I didn't put a lot of volume in on 'Poker Sunday' but I made it count. I took 7th in the $100 50k gtd for $4200. It is a nice little pick me up from the break even stretch I have been experiencing for a while.

I feel I played the tournament more patiently than I have in a while. I maintained a stack of about 15-30 bbs for about an hour. It was definitely a tournament that I was on cruise control rather than going for the win. I even got to knock out the only two poker pros that have come from San Marcos, TX(Hemipowerswt and perky264). I still don't have shit on these guys but eventually I will:)

I also saw The Hangover last night. Funniest Movie Ever Seen! Zac Galafanicaojfsodjfsd completely made the movie. It is definately a stoner friendly movie so I look forward to seeing it again next month.

In order to effectively evaluate how much weed really affects my game, I have decided to make the results section based strictly off HU Sngs. Someone in the first post suggested this and I completely agree. MTTS have way too much variance to be used as a reliable source of information.

I have noticed a new side of me during this experiment. I am a lot less of a homebody since quitting smoking. Why would I ever want to leave my home? I have weed, poker, food, drinks, friends, tv, dog. I used to always decline when people asked me to go do things with them. "I have to work, I can't leave sorry." Now I am like a little ADHD 5 year old. "Where you going? I want to go! WHen are we going. Lets gooooooo" The getting out of the house Preston enjoys life way more than the homebody Preston.

I will be travelling a lot this next month so I might add some days to the experiment. I will be in Destin next week, Vegas 3 weeks from now, Mexico in July, and back to Destin again in late July/August. I don't know which of these locations will allow me to play poker so I will have to play it by ear.

I've noticed that a lot of people were turned off by the religion post. Understandable:). Even if you are not religious, you should know that Churches are not the type to con people out of money. I am still convinced that Cody will be paid back somewhere down the line after his sense of materiality has truly been tested. I have always been turned off by preachy people and I think Christianity is something you should find deep within yourself. It should not be forced upon you or scared into you. Many kids who grow up in Christian families are force fed bible verses and catchy Jesus tunes. I think there should be a more subtle approach to your kid's spirituality and the kid should be given an option on whether or not he wants to go to church.

Time to be productive.