So, I'm actually back in the states now. While there was an incredible opportunity in Cyprus, I just had to make the decision that it wasn't right for me. Most of you would probably just call me nuts to turn down the chance to make 50-80k a month, and I wouldn't blame you. (You probably wouldn't need that much info to call me nuts if you had seen some of my posts in 2p2 MSNL recently.) The thing was, I was so unhappy there that the money wasn't a significant difference over what I can make playing poker in the US to make me want to endure the hardships and the frustration of being in a place where I know literally no one and also don't speak the native language. It was actually really weird there. I've never been stared at by so many random people, but I can sort of imagine what it feels like to be a celebrity here. Eventually it gets to be not that big of a deal though.

One of the big issues was, my "friend" who invited me out there seemed to contantly just leave me by myself in my hotel room to sit around and wait for him to come and get me again (at one point he left me in the hotel for >30 hours by myself which personally I thought was pretty out of line--something I would never do to someone who was a guest of mine from a different country). Now I know a lot of you would say "hey dude why not just go out and explore?" And yeah I did that a bit during the day, but especially at night I think it probably was just a little too dangerous to try something like that. I did try to go to one night club. My friends didn't want to go with me so they dropped me off at the front door. When I walked up to the bouncers I pulled out my passport, and without even taking a look at it they looked at me, put their hands up, waved, and just said "BYE". I was befuddled... "what do you mean?" "is there some sort of problem?", they retorted nothing more than "BYE". This put a huge damper on my experience and my trip in general. Clearly this was just a huge sign on the side of the road that said to me "YOU ARE NOT WELCOME HERE", so that's how I felt.

Out of respect for what they are doing I won't give full disclosure as to what I was doing there, but essentially there was a game spread by the casinos that can be beaten by the players. The only issue is, in order to make the 50-80k I was talking about previously, I would have had to put in 8-10hour days. If you know me at all and how much time I put into poker, you'd know that I am lucky to get in 20 hours a week. 20 hours a week, that is, playing a game I really for the most part enjoy. The game I was there to play was extremely monotonous, something I just didn't have the patience to deal with. I'm also a little uncomfortable with constantly lying to people about my reasons for being there which is a requisite to keep the casinos from suspecting that you are a pro.

All in all, it just wasn't the right opportunity for me. If I want to put in 8-10 hours a day playing online poker there's no doubt in my mind I can make 20-30k a month, and this is without the inconvience of being in a foreign place, without the ability to buy and cook the regular meals I am accustomed to, being around my friends (yes, the few real friends that I have), and the basketball team I came back to help coach.

I had to make the decision to come home.

So now I'll finish out the last 3 months of our basketball season in Tempe, AZ, then after that I will move to Vegas and probably live with some other poker players.

So I'm not going to get rich super quick, this isn't the most difficult thing for to deal with though. My plan now is just to continue preparing for when legislation strikes, as that's for sure going to be the very last poker boom, so I better be ready to make at least 300k that year, and hopefully closer to 500.

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I've made the decsion that I'm no longer going to make videos of myself playing, but if CR members are interested in doing dual commentary leakfinders up through 5/10 I would be comfortable doing that, or just of submitting a video for me to leakfind, I'll talk to Alex and see if we can get something going. I've even been thinking about doing micro stakes videos if people would be interested in them. Obviously I'm a bit out of touch with the games, but I doubt the advice I could give would be anything but helpful.

My coaching rates from here on out are going to be $150/hr.

That's all for now I guess.