Progress report

I don't get it, what do you do when you don't play apart from issuing challenges?
Always leaves me wondering when someone gets a certain level of skill and then just stops working and maximising life EV.

Like the guys in sales in my company that make and average guys's week pay in 4 hours in an easy territory, have half day left and could double that and I just see them sitting in the car chilling on facebook for the rest of the day.

On February 17 2013 10:14 MARSHALL28 wrote: I guess I'm going to drop my original goal of earning 400k this year and move it down to 249,000 since I want to avoid the jump into the higher tax bracket at the 250k point.

Not sure if you know this but if you earn $250,001, you only pay the higher tax rate on the $1.

Why not looking into starting a business? or investing in a business? the sense of accomplishment can be extremely high. (which seems to me is what you are looking for, more so then financial gain & financial "freedom"

On February 17 2013 10:43 LemOn[5thF] wrote: I don't get it, what do you do when you don't play apart from issuing challenges? Always leaves me wondering when someone gets a certain level of skill and then just stops working and maximising life EV. Like the guys in sales in my company that make and average guys's week pay in 4 hours in an easy territory, have half day left and could double that and I just see them sitting in the car chilling on facebook for the rest of the day.

Some people value leisure over work. And when you are naturally good at something (im assuming those sales guys) you tend to not have to 'work hard', and usually relates to undervaluing the merits of 'hard work'. That and lack of long term planing/vision ; living in the NOW

On February 17 2013 10:48 SleepyHead wrote: Show nested quote + On February 17 2013 10:14 MARSHALL28 wrote: I guess I'm going to drop my original goal of earning 400k this year and move it down to 249,000 since I want to avoid the jump into the higher tax bracket at the 250k point. Not sure if you know this but if you earn $250,001, you only pay the higher tax rate on the $1.

I'm not sure if that's true, I'd bet against it being true, I hope you are right though. I'll look into it.

On February 17 2013 10:43 LemOn[5thF] wrote: I don't get it, what do you do when you don't play apart from issuing challenges? Always leaves me wondering when someone gets a certain level of skill and then just stops working and maximising life EV. Like the guys in sales in my company that make and average guys's week pay in 4 hours in an easy territory, have half day left and could double that and I just see them sitting in the car chilling on facebook for the rest of the day.

the whole challenge issuing thing is something that happened recently. i actually never did anything like that for my first 6 years as a pro. i wasn't good enough at hu to be playing anybody else. that first challenge i played it wasn't me who suggested we play, it was the other dude. then once we played i learned a lot and realized i could probly beat other people too.

what do i do to maximize my life EV? its not easy ... i get up and i try to think about how i can create a lifestyle that would be conducive to getting the types of things i think i want. if i really had it figured out i'd be doing whatever it is that i thought maximized that life EV and wouldn't be spending time sitting here typing on this blog. im still trying to figure it out.

look at very rich people and actors/musicians/celebrity types of people ... what do they do all day? a lot of them just party and do drugs and stay inside. i think most of them havent figured it out either.

On February 17 2013 11:09 MARSHALL28 wrote: Show nested quote + On February 17 2013 10:48 SleepyHead wrote:   On February 17 2013 10:14 MARSHALL28 wrote: I guess I'm going to drop my original goal of earning 400k this year and move it down to 249,000 since I want to avoid the jump into the higher tax bracket at the 250k point. Not sure if you know this but if you earn $250,001, you only pay the higher tax rate on the $1. I'm not sure if that's true, I'd bet against it being true, I hope you are right though. I'll look into it.

Marshall, this is absolutely true.

All tax brackets in the States/ pretty much everywhere are marginal.

Marshall your logic here actually scares me.

Someone making as much money as you needs financial advice.

If you'd like I will trade you financial advice for poker coaching 1:1 in time.

Very serious. Will send resume if you are interested.

whether it's true or not, i'm still being taxed at a higher % once i reach 250k so the point is kinda moot. the more i make the lower % of my earnings i get to keep, the logic is still sound.

On February 17 2013 11:38 MARSHALL28 wrote: whether it's true or not, i'm still being taxed at a higher % once i reach 250k so the point is kinda moot. the more i make the lower % of my earnings i get to keep, the logic is still sound.

Logic is directionally correct. Not sound. Additionally...

The facts you have are off. $183,250 - $398,350 gets taxed at the same rate of 33% then a super small gap of $398,351 - $400,000 gets taxed at 35% and $400,001 + gets taxed at 39.6% (all marginal of course)

So I guess plan to make under $183,250 or under $398,350 but even then just don't plan like that either way.

I can also show you how to create tax shields if you want.

That will take some time though so I would expect poker coaching in return.

NL is a dead game anyway. the highest games that normally run are mostly cap and if something bigger runs its either a HU game between regs or some fish sat at 50/100 and a 6max game fills up. there isnt some mythical ladder towards the top that there used to exist back in 2008 where you keep jumping up a limit when you beat the other one for enough money

Yeah all US tax brackets are marginal. Yeah I don't understand how people don't know about this. The amount you are taxed should almost never stop you from making more money.. that is just fucking silly.

glad i have u guys to point out when im wrong. thanks.

On February 17 2013 12:20 Daut wrote: NL is a dead game anyway. the highest games that normally run are mostly cap and if something bigger runs its either a HU game between regs or some fish sat at 50/100 and a 6max game fills up. there isnt some mythical ladder towards the top that there used to exist back in 2008 where you keep jumping up a limit when you beat the other one for enough money

ya i was talking about battling w/ the best regs in the highest games.

You should probably talk to wh00sel and just consider investing in retirement between now and when you reach the age of 45.

I watched some interview with ADZ124 last month where he talks about how he's completely given up online poker and just plays live, some tournies, high-roller home games etc. Says it was the best decision he's ever made. NL is still a soft game in the live arena, and if you treat it like a job like someone like wh00sel does, you can live a good solid live at the midstakes games forever. Nobody ever said a poker player has to pull 7 figs a year to be successful.

do you have it taxed as income in america? I thought there is a flat rate of 30% for probability games profits, atleast there is in the Netherlands.

if you make 250 a year then plan ahead while you are still enjoying poker. its tough to start over again once you decide to get out of the game and you are in your late thirties. good luck.

Hey, you should maybe travel to Asia, just to get a feel for it.

I shared apartment with a mate for several years, and we were no-lifing wow 24/7. When we were done with that, he got a job for a year, then travelled around the world. After he was done, talking about all the different places, he said nothing came remotely close to travelling through the Asian countries, especially Thailand.

He stayed away from most of the common touristy places, and what stuck in my mind was him explaining how the general population on the outskirts were treating people. He fell during a trip, and a local ran up to him and took of his shirt, gave it to him. He tried refusing, but he laughed and said he had 3 shirts, like it was natural for him to help. The little bows, the silent compassion when ur feeling sad, the curiosity they have when you're talking. He just felt the people were all 70% nicer than they should be.

Also talked with some old friends who been backpeddling a few years, they all going back to Thailand, they were in Australia now, since that was their favourite spot as well lol.

Just some food for thought.


I'm really clumsy with money, but isn't there a way for you to transfer money, via a site, stars to someone you trust. You travel and meet them, and they pay you, while ur there, you buy something that's semi safe, like gold or something? Take it back, and you have valuables, and u can trade it in for money? Isn't there smiliar things such as that you could do to avoid having to tax so much??

SOME SOLID MONEY LAUNDERING IDEAS MARIUS