Sprinting To Get To The Marathon

I sometimes feel so blessed to know some many sharp gamblers and other times it wears on me.

I have a rule about my phone. If you know me then you probably know this to be true. I respond to 100% or all texts, dms and email almost instantly. If you call I answer even if asleep.

I'm a communicator in general. I've been going through it. Stuff I don't want to talk about here or publicly but one thing that's shifted is my appreciation for working.

I've dedicated no less than 4 hours a day of absolute quiet from all the interference of the outside world.

One person in particular started putting things truly in perspective on a call where he was just checking on me and how I was doing.

The conversation circled around to work and he explained how well MLB was going for him. I wasn't aware he bet MLB as he specializes in NBA props, NFL sides and looking for +ev spots in exotics.

His approach was truly funny and elementary in that he plays on great teams and fades bad teams. He didn't expect much in a way of ROI but quicky realized he values sleep over hard decisions these days.

Ed you can bet the dodgers everyday who are expected to win 103 games and not worry about their best hitter slumping and bet against the white Sox who are going to win 45 games knowing they don't even have a best hitter or you can drive yourself crazy, working yourself to death. I choose to sleep and wake up and find out Ed.

Then we talked about NBA and he explained how he worked around 65 hours a week and that resonated with me but then he told me he never bet same game parlays by building them himself which I was unclear that was allowed to be honest.

Same night my good friend and poker partner sent some texts and we went back and forth for awhile. We specialize in limit mixed games and he leaves for WSOP tomorrow morning without me on the same flight for the first time in 3 years.

He will be tackling NO LIMIT hold em events a game he doesn't play often with a bankroll free rolled by a massive skill edge in mixed games which I still try to dissuade him from even though this is his dream of grand delusion but...

The more we spoke he has spent 100s of hours running solvers, studying and memorizing every chart, studying opponents he can find film on and taking courses. He can make money just by showing up and studying soft cash game tables like any other year.

About a week later and I was speaking with a old partner and he was going on about, HOW MUCH HARDER IT IS NOW... Absolute bullshit I've decided.

It's harder because no one that's done this year after year does it with the same fury as they did in the beginning. For every 105 guys saying how hard this is, there is one who is wondering how much longer they'll let him just keep winning. I was that one guy not long ago.

You mean all In have to do is rewrite 100k words of magazines, articles, listen to 150 hours of podcasts, rewrite by hand someones model, figure out what each player who entered the portal equates to a point spread on every team only 134 teams??

Oh wait you'll surround me with 6 guys who are smarter than me and I can pick their brain too?

There wasn't even podcasts a fucking decade ago! There was one preview magazine and it spent 100 pages telling you about teams from 20 years ago.

The market is so much harder?? Really?? What in the world are we even talking about?

I had 3 books out of the 29 featured on donbest and one book had all the power. I remember having to wait until Tuesday to bet to not move on a nickel... This was not that long ago!

I've had back to back mid NBA seasons and that can't be right so in autopsy form I realized something. My confidence lies in my work. Shit work, no confidence.

I'm a strong favorite to crush CFB every year and if you find someone outworking me, fucking hire that guy, move him into a home and print.

However up until 2020 I outworked everyone in NBA too. I kept a notebook bigger than CFB and I tracked every single box score, studied every coach, assistant and bench problem.

Met a girl, bought a house and another, have nice things and can get CLV by pressing submit and well that's fine but let's face it making daily numbers and finding edges with others will get you some nice weeks but seasons? Nah probably not so much.

I was with Erin Renning at dinner before a nuggets game he flew in to sit courtside at. He kept excusing himself to look at his phone, very normal in my world. I thought he was sweating games. He was screenshotting every end of quarter score to study on the plane home.

Here's where I knew I was fucking lazy. I remember thinking how crazy it was. Sorry ER. He would later go onto add quarters, halves to his full game portfolio. He's looking for a story and with that many screen shots he developed a script with a start, plot, subplots and finish... He flew home first class.

But it's all so hard nowadays. Those markets weren't even a thing 5 years ago... At least I gave him some good documentaries to watch if he ever retires or buys a soccer team in Europe like his biggest competitor.

But everyone beats me to the market and ruins it!!

I've been that guy for years that's beating you to market. You have a alarm clock, set up alerts for limit increases, Im not waiting for you to tell me if my work was right or wrong but I also have to get down more... Oh wait.

2020 I drove 2.5 hours a night on average to hit overnights that couldn't move and would slam coffee to stay awake for openers and limit increases everywhere. Then I paid someone and she did the driving for me and eventually she lost the drive to earn as she finally made enough to buy a home... It's so hard though!

Now I might have to drive and bet with a huge edge again??

We are living in a alternate universe where hard work that you love doing is actually a way to make a living but we are all caught up on the past which was apparently easy? Did anything I just described was easy?

I'm determined to remain him and why not me? Why not us?

If you have this it's all so hard mentality and want to tell me about, I have to apologize in advance as I being the communicator that I am will likely have to tell you that you're full of shit and are likely to be a dog going forward.

Back to work I go. Senior care is not cheap, prepare accordingly is my last piece of advise this week.

Much love and thank you as always for the space. Your friend, Eddie.