Tao of Poker

Tao of Four

By Pauly
(AMSTERDAM)

I'm celebrating the Tao of Poker's fourth blog birthday in Amsterdam. I've come a long way and it's fitting that I celebrate this milestone on the road. Earlier in 2007, Tao of Pauly turned 5 years old as did Truckin'.

In the summer of 2003, my friends started a mutiny on Tao of Pauly and demanded that I start a new blog to post the massive influx of poker content. Bullies. Never thought anyone would read the new blog. One's man's trash is another man's art. God bless the internet.

A couple of months after I started Tao of Poker, I stumbled upon Iggy's blog Guinness and Poker and noticed his blogroll. I soon discovered other blogs like Royal, HDouble, MeanGene, BoyGenius and Grubby. Those strangers eventually became my friends and peers. Together, we helped build a community with other bloggers (too many to mention - you know who you are) which continues to thrive today. And within a year of contact, we started the first of many excursions together to Las Vegas.

Those initial friendships and bonds were important. Without the support of my brother, loving girlfriend, and friends over the last four years, I never would have gotten out of the life slump I was stuck in. The fact that this blog has been around for so long is due to their existence in my life. For that, I'm eternally humbled and grateful.

Had I taken a temporary desk job somewhere in Manhattan or moved to Japan to teach English (which I was in the process of doing four years ago)... then I wouldn't have taken the first steps in the journey through poker. I never gave up and kept gambling during the dismal losing streaks and kept writing during the uninspired stretches. Gritty and courageous determination or utter and foolish degeneracy? Who knows the real reason why I stuck Tao of Poker. Probably a little of both.

Ripples. Every little decision you make in life does matter.

The major highlight of the past year came to light when John Caldwell hired me for PokerNews to cover the Aussie Millions at a point when I lost the majority of my clients due to the effects of the UIGEA.

The best part of this ride has been the people I have met along the way. I had the opportunity to become friends with many amazing and inspirational people despite working in an industry rotten to the core. They are the ones who should get the accolades and praise. They helped guide me through a vicious world.

I often remind myself that when things are not going right, it's not that big of a deal since I'm sitting on a big stack in life. I'm been extremely fortunate over the last couple of years. Should cash out now and walk away with a monster profit? or keep playing on while risking everything with the chance that I'll lose it all?

Greater men than me have fallen aside in this wicked world. I'm foolish to think I can keep up this pace without sacrificing more of my sanity and soul. However, I'm intoxicated by the endless possibilities of the path I'm on. The ride, the path, the road, the way, the Tao... is an undescribed entity which has played a tremendous role in the development of my career, craft, social life, and understanding the unique situation that I have found myself in.

There are too many majestic places that I've been itching to see and too many unanswered questions that have been haunting me. Some of them are still within the realm of poker. Thus, the incandescent journey continues...

Next stop, Sweden.


Original content written and provided by Pauly from Tao of Poker at www.taopoker.com. All rights reserved. RSS feeds are for non-commercial use only.