Possible Solution

Carl Hanratty: Well, would you like to hear me tell a joke?
Earl Amdursky: Yeah. Yeah, we'd love to hear a joke from you.
Carl Hanratty: Knock knock.
Earl Amdursky: Who's there?
Carl Hanratty: Go fuck yourselves.

”Catch Me If You Can”

I’ve found a little solution to all my life’s problems – besides winning the lotteries.

My poker bankroll is in decline due to a major cash out and lost interest/poor results in online poker. I can not form a B&M poker bankroll due to the fact that we are still trying to pay off multiple bills for the weddings and honeymoon last year. I tried buying some karma by donating to BG’s ass (well, essentially that is what we all did) but all that got me was a wicked two-outer over the weekend.

We have toyed with the idea of trying to get a weekend job, but there is very little that we can manage for time while still allowing ourselves to live a somewhat normal life. There are not many part time jobs available for weekend work only to mid-20’s people, even considering the fast food places (which is something we swore we would never go back to).

So we tried applying at the local supermarket for night fill positions. I felt kind of weird putting in all my tertiary education certificates and awards into a job application that required putting tins of corn on a shelf. But we swallowed our pride and did what we had to do. Unfortuantly, it was to no avail. Maybe our university isn’t respected enough for us to stack the shelves.

Never the less, life goes on. I’ve had to cut back a whole heap on the live game/home game front due to lack of funds. I felt extremely guilty whenever I took money to go play, regardless of results. And when I did win, I usually spent the winnings on the Distraction to squash the guilt – not that the winnings were anything big, just enough for some movie tickets and maybe dinner.

And now opportunity has come – perhaps.

As poker reaches an all-time high here in Australia, many people are jumping on the bandwagon. There are many pubs and clubs around Sydney that are offering free poker tournaments during the week. The play is, well, about what you expect for free poker tournaments.

I found a post by one of the organisers of these events on a poker forum, asking for people willing to work at these. I figure that is right up my alley, why not?

Last night I went to meet with the organiser at a pub not far from where I work, for what I thought was a training session. When I rocked up, I saw him setting up tables – I guess the competition starts tonight then. With no more than a handshake as training and introduction, I donned on a bright red ill-fitting “Tournament Director” shirt and assumed my duties.

Since I have run a few home games and been involved in running a few 30+ player tournaments, I have a fair idea how things work. Well, anybody who has been playing poker for long enough should know how these things work anyway.

So I got asked to come back next week, some time same channel, to do it again. The pay is pretty good, all things considered, and it will just mean that I won’t be home Tuesday nights from now on. It’s not like there is anything on Tuesday nights anyway, and going to the movies on “Tight ass Tuesday” sucks anyways (Know Your Australian – “Tight Ass Tuesdays” is called so because all the cinemas offer discounts on Tuesday nights, so you get massive crowds those nights and heaps of screaming kids and what-not. Go on a Wednesday, it will cost you $1.50 extra and you’ll have 10 people in the cinema).

The only problem was I didn’t actually get paid last night – he said they had something they had to sort out first by getting invoice books etc…and that he’ll fix me up next week. Well ok, I don’t mind working one night for free, but two is where I draw the line. So if that doesn’t go through next week, then I’m sorry I know how much these clubs are paying for the organisers to run these things, I’m not working gratis so someone else cashes in.

But anyways, if it does all go through, then I will keep half the money I earn as a B&M Bankroll and the rest will go back into the mutual bill paying kitty. At first, the Distraction was going to claim 100% of earnings, but in a rare showing of putting the footeth downeth, I squashed that idea before it had a chance to blossom.

I’ve done a quick calculation, and after 1 month I will have enough to get a B&M bankroll going. It won’t be anything massive of course, but compared to even what I ran at my peak in online poker, it will be very sufficient AND it will have a constant flow in to replenish or consolidate the bank roll each week, without hampering playing time. Which fully employed people play live games on a Tuesday night anyway? Ok, your run of the mill degenerate gamblers like the rest of us, but I digress.

There were a few weird occurrences on the night, but nothing that I would go out of my way to change just yet. I think that would be a bit presumptuous to try to make them do it my way after watching the event for 30 minutes.

I hope it works out. Running a poker game is pretty much the perfect job for me.