Bill Ricardi - Brave Little Toaster

It happened to me, it can happen to you too. There's one thing that will utterly destroy your professional game:

I got a job.

It's a somewhat bittersweet thing for me. I'll be making just about as much per hour at this job as I would playing poker online. I'll need to dress up and walk to and from the job (It's pretty close to the house, thank goodness). So why do it?

The answer is both funny and sad. When I apply for permanent citizenship in the U.K., they're going to ask about my work record, and how employable I am. I've been told that working for someone else, at least some amount of the time, is the best route to go. Self employment is great in their eyes... part time that is.

So I've agreed to be a technical guru for about 25 or 30 hours a week. I've agreed to write for Wise Hand on various gigs for about 10 hours a week, maybe more. That leaves about 10 hours a week of 'real' poker playing. Not enough to make a real impact.

So my professional playing is going to be cut waaaaaay down. Most of my funds are already back in the bank. I have a couple of big freerolls coming up, for being a platinum VIP. But for the most part, I'm going to play 2 tournaments a week. If I do well, I won't play more, I'll play bigger, according to bankroll rules. But to play bigger, I'll need to abandon Titan for somewhere with big GP tournaments, or weekly 500K or 1 million's. We'll see how it goes.

In the mean time, I'm still pumping out material for WiseHandPoker.com and our clients. People seem to love my stuff, and I'm flattered. My hope is that we get some major European contracts, and I can do live coverage at events. Again, we'll see.