Musings on Buenos Aires and intro to Strategy 2 - a definition of sorts.

I'm opening with some musings on life in Buenos Aires. If poker's more your thing then you can skip the next 5mins by jumping to straight to the heading "Strategy 2".

Like many countries Argentina has had a turbulent history, it's very recent history being no exeception. The economic woes of 2001 still linger fresh in the minds of so many here.

The economic problems have benefited foreign visitors. Averagely wealthy Americans and Europeans can afford a pretty high standard of living here. My 1 bedroom brand new, modern flat with AC and pool costs me US$600/month. If I was renting for 6-12 months I could get this cost significantly reduced. I get weekly Maid service (with fresh towels, bedding), broadband internet, local telephone calls all included in that price. The cost of living is just so much lower than back home.

BA hosts 11 million people. It's a noisy city with very little quiet/open space. It's a cliche but the people really do make this place. They are mostly warm and kind. Certainly much warmer than your average Londoner IMO. I have to say the Argentine women are incredibly beautiful. A mix of Italian and Spanish influence togethor with some native South American beauty thrown in. As I walk the streets of this city it seems never more than a minute goes by before the opportunity to catch the eyes of pretty girl presents itself.

Oh yeah, it's summer in Argentina when it's winter in the UK, another reason I love this place.

So there you have it, I love being here because: it's cheap, the local girls are beautiful and numerous, and it's summer in December!

Now, back to poker:

Strategy 2

I have'nt played any poker for several days. I did do some "live support" for my buddy. I want to tell you his story because it outlines strategy 2 quite nicely:

He´s been my drinking buddy when I´m in the Uk for 2 years. Last year we drank a lot! He graduates from University this year and has decided to become a personal trainer (another PT!) in Australia of all places. I don't blame him. Australia seems a lot more attractive then the UK, especially October time. Anyway, he's decided he needs 3-4K GBP, some to pay for the flights, the rest to take with him. He'd rather not do the 40hrs a week minimum wage it'll take to achieve this.

This is where I step in. I know he's pretty smart so I suggest on-line poker. I figure I can teach him to play well enough to make $5K USD in the 5 months he'll have. He has one book to read and I have given him the web addresses of some sites with solid information about how to play. I have also given him a relatively simple starting hand spreadsheet that I made. He has signed up for a free $10 via my website and proceeded to play 10c/20c limit Holdem. Because I can watch his play he has been able to ask my advice via msn when he needs it. He has started by displaying good discipline. There's a lot of folding involved and it can get pretty boring. The temptation to play weak hands out of position is occassionaly too much for him, but I guess we only learn from our mistakes, I know I still do. By jumping to 25c/50c after getting to $20 his BR is now $60 after 8 sessions I guess. I was available for advice for 3 or 4 of those sessions. I was usually playing a $1/$2 or $2/$4 table myself at the same time.

I don't think I'm violating any site T&Cs here, I've never once sat down at the same table as my buddy and I never will. I would be endangering my source of income by doing this, just too much risk for too little reward IMO.

I have one other player in the UK who has taken to poker like a duck to water. He used to play at FullTilt I think, for fun money. After quitting his job he wanted to test to see if it was possible to make money doing something he genuinely enjoyed. I advised him to read one good book and off he went. He didn;t ever need one support session from me. I've never watched him play a hand. I advised him where to play for the best bonuses, he turned $100 into $300 in 6 or so sessions. His domestic situation has changed and he's taken another job so i don't think he's playing much right now. He'll be playing at least a little again soon I hope.

So strategy 2 is plain and simple: by demonstrating to others how to build a bankroll of US$5K, mainly through good play and bonus collection I will hope to garner their loyalty through signups. I'm hoping they'll also get involved in the development of my website too. Writing content, forum moderating, development suggestions, etc. I figure the online market is still very friendly to new players. I hope strategy 2 proves to reward all involved, as it should.

I hope strategy 2 can generate US$500 per month for me, and anywhere from $500-$2K per month for my players. I don't expect it to consume more than 5-10hrs per week (with luck). If the site ever gets serious traffic (highly unlikely) it could generate a lot more.

Remember, I'm expecting strategy 1 to generate $1.5K/month simultaneously.

Strategy 3 comes next time. It's pretty straightforward, but I want to spend 10hrs per week at it and hope to add another $500 to the monthly pot.

I guess I should start talking about bankroll too, I am fortunate in that I am adequately bankrolled to cover all 3 strategies simultaneously, but I like to keep a close eye on things to make sure all is well.

The weekend is coming, I intend on playing some poker so there'll be more blogging in a day or two.

Until then: be well.

P_T