Jake Cody: Half The World Away

(Photo: Pokerstars.com)

Jake Cody’s most recent vlogging post takes a look forward a little ways into the new year, and a little ways back at his December visit to Prague where he took a shot at the €5,000 EPT Main Event<. The new video includes some hand analysis from his trip as well as some lovely travel shots of the Bohemian city.

It also includes a rather moving confessional at the start, where Jake talks about his struggles with some unspecified personal stuff and the difficulties of functioning when your mood drops off a cliff. Although short term in his case, his symptoms are pretty much classic depression. And his troubles serve as an important reminder that even the most positive of people can struggle with this sort of mood disorder. It’s also a prompt to keep an eye on one’s own mental state, as a poker player, and to keep an eye out for our fellow travelers at the table.

An awful lot of poker isn’t anti-conducive to keeping one’s head straight. Weird hours spent in the artificial light of a screen or casino floor, irregular sleep cycles and a sedentary lifestyle spent grinding money by crushing other people, not to mention the addictiveness of gambling. So, remember to eat your fresh fruit, get some sunlight (but wear sunscreen), and to talk to those who are close to you when you need to.

Serious point made, Jake seems to be a bit perkier when he talks about the the upcoming PokerStars Championship Bahamas, which he’ll be covering in future blogs and which I’m sure we’ll also be covering ourselves.

In the meantime he has a couple of good hands from the Prague trip. Enjoy.