As we enter the final week of the Grading, thoughts turn to our lives beyond these six weeks. My Grading experience has been pretty torrid and has really tested my ability to conduct myself as a professional. Professionalism is a word not used enough in our industry, probably due in no small part to the number of 19 year-olds that have pulled ridiculous amounts of money out of the game in a such a tiny space of time. Bitter? Of course I am. But I genuinely think that anyone intending to make a 20 plus year run out of this cannot afford to ignore the concept.

In any other career, to act unprofessionally is severely looked down upon, in poker at most it leads to a self-imposed slap on the wrist. Playing with too many distractions, playing when drunk, continuing to play when tilted and playing out of your bankroll are all actions with dire equivalents in the business world. Showing up to work pissed (in a job you actually like), dealing with customers or clients negatively due to a row with your wife, or simply not bothering to pay attention are all examples of behaviour that would normally cost you your job. Spending all your money on a flash neon sign for your office - because you want to feel a bit ‘balla’ and have a chance at one high profile client - would be unthinkable if it meant nothing left to buy stock. In poker it’s called ‘tilting’ and ‘taking shots’. In business it’s called criminal negligence. Particularly if there are investors involved.

I’m not talking here from a high horse. There were times in my poker career that I viewed local festivals as golden opportunities that I had to be involved in. There were times when I may have sat in the odd cash game with marginally greater than the one thirtieth of my bankroll that is recommended. These incidences are things I put behind me some time ago now but some of my other examples of unprofessional acts still creep in from time to time. The grading has forced us to put in fairly high volume over a reasonably small time period and has conditions that pose some difficult dilemmas. For obvious reasons it’s not possible to take some time off or drop below the minimum stakes and after some of the downswings I’ve suffered, I’ve had to take the professional decision to continue. It’s kind of a unique situation, but I’m certain the experience will help when facing similarly tough decisions in the future.

I’ll do a final summary at the end of next week. Before then it’s London Live with $30,000 coming my way if I win it.

Hopefully I can take it down like a pro.