after ecstacy, the laundry

[rmd]

i came home last night, after the big win (second is the new first, you know), and discovered one of the cats had horked on the bed. while clauclauclaudia was hunting down clean sheets, i took the money out and touched it and fondled it. because i've never had that kind of cash in hand. but the cat horking explains why there's nothing but a mattress pad on the bed in this picture. i am usually civilized enough to have sheets on the bed.

so, i spread it all out and then took a picture of it with a big naked hairy pussy on it. yeah baby. she rolled around in it, even



and then today i walked around with the money in my pocket till i made it to the bank. then i paid off my car loan and on my way home i bought a nice bottle of scotch and a nice bottle of port. next weekend, in addition to my usual weekend ritual of dealing with mail and doing bills, i'll be writing a nice big check to the american cancer society (yeah, cancer made me a better poker player, but i don't advocate this approach for other people). also smaller checks to other groups. heifer project, an ovarian cancer education group, doctors without borders, rosie's place, etc.

i thought about divvying up the money differently instead of throwing it all at the car loan, but then i realized that not only was it the worst loan i had, but that i really wanted to be able to say that i'd paid it off with poker winnings.

one thing i noticed yesterday and today was that walking around with that kind of money felt a lot like wandering around with a concealed handgun. that same kind of "be very aware of it and make sure it doesn't end up falling off your person or that you aren't flashing it at people without realizing it" caution coupled with the "be casual and don't make it obvious you're doing anything different."

Comments

[frotz.livejournal.com]

Since Regis doesn't seem to be around, and it's public record anyway: $14728 less 27% withholding comes to $10751.44. (Less tokes, maybe?)

[rmd.livejournal.com]

yeah, the pokerpages links in previous postings all led to a list of payouts, so i didn't bother listing it here. and yes, i also tipped dealers/staff out of the winnings.

they didn't actually withhold anything. they also didn't issue a W2-G (which the WSOP folks did last year, even for a paltry $300 over my buy-in) and aren't telling the IRS about it, so theoretically i could pretend it was some other rmd from my town who looked like me who won it and just not declare it. but, having had fun dealings with the irs in the past where i had to straighten out old returns due to errors, i'd rather just pay the bastards and be done with it. but i don't have to do that until *next* april, so i'm blowing the whole pile now and figure i'll save up the amount i owe over the course of the year. particuarly now that i'm not paying for the car loan.

[deguspice.livejournal.com]

Now that you've had a nice win, will you keep a record of your losses(*) to offset the win.


(*) I'm assuming that even great players like you occasionally lose games.

[drwex]

This is wise. Winnings only have to be taxed to the amount that they exceed losses.

That said, mazal tov on your winnings! And thanks for sharing the story of what you did with the money. It's neat to hear about.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

Winnings only have to be taxed to the amount that they exceed losses.

i believe that MA treats this differently than federal.
in particularly i *think* that entry fees are not deductable from winnings. or some damned thing like that.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

will you keep a record of your losses to offset the win.

oh, i already track my winnings and losses, mostly because it's one of the chief things that keeps me sure that i'm not actually engaging in monumental self-deceit about a festering gambling problem. i can say "hm, i'm running a bit bad lately, but i'm still doing about within spec" and be sure that i mean it. as opposed to thinking "oh, well, it's just this month, i'll be fine next month" except i've actually been doing it for 6 or 7 months...