I love the site and it has helped my game tremendously. I'm just stuck with what to do after this big win. I feel like a kid in a candy store with all these things going through my head (do i withdraw some $? do I play higher cash games? do i continue in micros? do i continue in tournaments?)

I had made a committment this year to take this more seriously after a couple years of poor bankroll management. I wanted to get better at cash games becasue I teach high school math (w/3 kids) and with the time constraints it seems to be the best game right now.

Since February, after 20,000 hands I am up $350 (mostly due to a two hour session at 200NL table where I had a good run of cards-poor bankroll mgnmt again). The majority of those hands were at 10NL and 25NL, up $100 there. But then came last Sunday....

I entered a tournament late at night because I was going to be off on monday. It was a $2 rebuy ($1000 gtd.) with over 1700 entrants and I won! The prize was $2000 and I only rebought once - total buy-in of $10. I win my home game, I've cashed in at the only 3 tourneys I've played in vegas and I've won/cashed in a lot of charity events as well. I've always felt good about my tourney game, but I know I suck and need help. My wife is very supportive and we have set a schedule to try this thing out, BUT I understand tourney success relies on volume and so I really want to dominate.

You guys have any other resources I could look into? Or does anyone else out there have any other suggestions? Or do you think I should stick to getting better at the cash game levels becasue of my day job? I have played a couple of similar rebuy tounrey since and have made good decisions. Busted out 780 out of 3000 with a huge stack and over-valued AJ with the other big stack?!?!?? Yes, I was 2nd in chips at the time! (Freakin idiot!) I will try to refrain from playing this week since we got Easter Break coming up. I am currently studying Negreanu's big book on small ball until then and will be waiting on Mattutaylor's part 4.

Thanks....

personally i like cash games due to more steady income, mtt tend to lead to hit and miss results for me, if you like tourneys s n g's can be lucrative and steady income, i just got a bit bored with them

hg

Ye, you're in a very dangerous situation. I think most poker players, me included, after their first reasonable size score think they can take on the world. God, looking back the amount of times it happened to me in my first year of playing is ridiculous.

I think the key here is to whether you see your poker playing at the minute as a source of income, or just a bit of fun.

In the first case, even if you see it as "extra" income to your full time job, you should look to withdraw some. I would say about 500-750 in this scenario.

Playing full time is a bit different. Seeing as poker is my sole source of income, whenever I have a big score (10k+) I tend to withdraw half of the prize, so in your case it would be $1k.

Even if you're playing for fun, I would withdraw $500 or so and treat yourself with it. I might have gone broke a number of times in the early days of my poker career, but I could always look back at the things I had bought, ie. Playstation, holidays etc etc and remember what I worked hard for.

With regards as to where you go from here?

Well, seems to me you have a fairly solid understanding of tournaments, however I presume you cant reply put in the volume necessary to become a big big MTT player at the minute.

Disregarding cash, as it seems from what you said you enjoy the tournament scene more, and maybe understand tournaments better than cash (like me!) you have a few options.

Firstly are sngs. Be it heads up, 6 max, 9 man, or MTT sngs (18+ man), you still get a kind of tournament feel, especially with the later. And trust me there is a lot of money to be made at the 18-45 and 180 man sngs. (I offer private coaching for these also )

Lets say you withdraw $500 as a treat, you have a roll of around $1500 - plenty enought to grind out the $12 45 and $12 180 man turbo's in which it is very possible to make $5k+ a month as a full time player. The good thing about these is that you can play them in your spare time, when you have a few hours free here or there.
Again the only problem I see is volume. They can be quite swingy but if you put volume in, the results will show.

However this is the case in most forms of poker, I just think this is the better option for you at the minute because you really dont have the time for MTTs.

Theres nothing wrong with throwing in an mtt here or there too. In fact, i would encourage it. You could always do this when you have a day of from work and the like.

Anyway, congratulations on the score and keep watching the videos!!!

matt