Online poker - I need more practice

The poker scene in southern California is good and you can play 1 or 2 tournaments every day. For example I can drive to Hollywood Park for the 11am tournament on Monday, then to Hawaiian gardens for the 1pm tournament or Crystal Casino for the 2pm tournament. I can get to Pechanga for the 6pm tournament and the next day go to Oceans 11 for the 10am tournament. These tournaments are not too expensive ($20-$50) but the commuting is a killer and the gas prices can double your expense. If you are somewhat successful in the tournaments you might play one tournament for 6 hours before getting knocked out or winning it. And I was getting knocked out normally in the last 3 or 4 tables. Eventually this gets to you - you drive in crappy traffic, pay your entry fee, grind through the various levels and just miss the money. Then you drive somewhere else and do it again. Then the next day you do it again.

This was not my idea of happy unemployment. Even though I am training to become a poker player I do not feel I am learning much by playing all these tournaments and consistently not getting any better. I needed more practice, less driving and a new approach. Enter online poker.

I signed on to Full Tilt poker and Pokerstars and wow - what a great way to play poker. I practiced by playing 5 tournaments in a Day without even leaving my house. Suddenly I am back to working from home. Life is fantastic again. I am so happy!

I decided I still needed to go to a real tournament at least once per week to determine if I am improving or not. But basically the online poker has given me the ability to practice different approaches to tournaments with minimal expense. I know from working with computers knowledge is only great if it is combined with experience and the online poker will give me that experience.

One of my worries is the legality of online poker. I did some research and as far as I can tell there are thousands of online poker players in America. It looks like the Federal government is worried about sites that may enable money laundering but are not out to prosecute individual players and have no laws to do so. It looks like they defer to the state. In California it appears to be a grey area as far as I can tell. I cannot find any articles stating it is illegal in California and cannot find any evidence of a player being prosecuted for playing. Based on my research I am going to assume it is legal but this is just my opinion - do not base your defence on my opinion because it might be wrong.

Another worry is the tax consequences of winning a huge prize. I smile as I write this because its a problem I am happy to cross when it happens. Seriously I am and have always been very honest and straightforward with the taxman and will continue to be. If I win money I will declare it and pay taxes on it. I will discuss with my accountant how this works and if I should declare myself as a "professional poker player". I suspect this will be next years problem as this year I do not think I will make any money from poker. If anything I hope to learn enough to break even.

So I will write some articles on my online poker experiences including another massive step in my learning process courtesy of an online professional at Full Tilt poker (not that he knows it).