Poker Pilgrims

Update On Our Poker Pilgrimage

February 9, 2021February 9, 2021 Heather Leave a comment

Amazingly, it has been a couple of years since we started this blog and shared with you our poker pilgrimage plan to travel the country playing poker all the way. Here in the Spring of 2021, we feel that we are moving ever closer to our year of travel, while at the same time unable to travel at all.

It is hard to even imagine a time when we will be free to play live poker again, let alone roam the country at will (possibly in an RV). As we have had to put our Poker Table Averages, our Room Reviews, and Map Updates on hold as the world goes crazy around us, we thought it was time to give those of you who read this blog regularly an update on our plans. (By the way, if you are looking for a resource on what poker rooms are currently open, Paul is updating such a page over at Advanced Poker Training).

Poker Pilgrimage Pre-Journey Travel Plan

We are currently hoping to start our “real” Poker Pilgrimage in the fall of 2022. At that point, our youngest kids will be entering their sophomore year of college and we will be giving up our lease and moving everything into storage for the big trip. We have a lot of work to do between now and then. Over the next year, we will be writing a lot more blog posts about our poker plans, our travel plans, and how we plan to continue to work our day jobs (and hopefully even increase our savings!) while living on the road. We have been working from home for a decade now, so the transition to digital nomad should not be that hard.

Top 5 Peak Poker Moments

February 1, 2021January 31, 2021 Paul Leave a comment

Tournament poker is a variable reinforcement activity. We all occasionally play for long periods without a win. Then one day it all comes together and in a single tournament you make most of your profit for the year in one beautiful peak poker experience.

Thanks to you-know-what we have been deprived of live poker for the past year. In fact, it’s been almost exactly a year since we played Derby Lane on our most recent poker vacation to Tampa. While we are not so patiently waiting to play live poker once again, we thought that we would console ourselves by revisiting our top five peak poker moments.

Setting SMART Blog Goals in 2021

January 25, 2021January 25, 2021 Heather Leave a comment

January is the time for New Year’s resolutions, goal setting, and recriminations. I gave up resolutions years ago, once I learned that around 80% of them fail by February 1st. However, I am a strong believer in goal setting, and particularly in setting SMART goals. The concept of SMART goals has been around since the early 1980s (what I call high school), and originally came from the world of business management. SMART is, of course, an acronym, generally translated as:

Specific

Measurable

Attainable

Relevant

Time-bound

Across the years, a number of studies have found that SMART goals are more successful than goals which do not meet the above criteria. The folks at Creately have put together a comprehensive guide on setting SMART goals that we have found very helpful as we went through our goal-setting process for the new year. It includes information on setting goals, applying the SMART method, identifying obstacles and creating an action plan that can be continuously monitored. It is filled with useful resources and worksheets of the latest goal setting techniques.

We have created a set of SMART goals for Poker Pilgrims in 2021. Of course, our top (not so SMART) goal is to play live poker once again. We can’t wait until we are all vaccinated and safe to get back to the tables. But on to some goals that we have control over…

The Fifteen Greatest Poker Personalities

January 19, 2021January 19, 2021 Paul Leave a comment

When I first started watching poker on TV in the early 2000s, I believed that many of the leading poker personalities just could not be real people. So many were straight out of central casting. Cowboys, magicians, professors, ex-cons…even Jesus showed up. There were so many engaging individuals with such varying styles. It seemed too good to be true.

Over the past twenty years, as poker’s online presence rocketed the player base, and poker theory and study expanded as well, poker became a more serious endeavor. There were more players winning major events playing silently and methodically. However, some of the great characters persevered and enjoyed increased TV audiences. And new unique personalities emerged. So today I offer my rundown of the fifteen greatest poker personalities of all time.

5 Great Gifts For Your Favorite Poker Player 2021

December 7, 2020June 6, 2021 Heather Leave a comment

Disclosure: Some of the links on this page are affiliate links. However, we love all of the products and services listed here. We promise! For more information, see our Disclosure page.

It’s that time of year again! Time to start thinking about buying gifts for those near and dear to you. Given how the last year has gone, you know your poker playing friends and family are desperate for a little poker love.

You know who they are. She’s your sister who takes every vacation in Las Vegas (but had to stay home this year). Or maybe he’s your dad who is up late playing on Poker Stars every night (and maybe all day now too…). Now you’ve got to wrap your mind around finding them a gift. Poker Pilgrims would like to help you out with suggestions for great poker gifts for the player in your life. In these tough times (especially for us poker players!) don’t they deserve a little something special to keep poker alive in their hearts?