Some Aussie tried to hack me

So after my session ended last night, I checked my e-mail and saw that I got some automated message from FullTilt which was sending me a temporary password.

I of course thought "wtf I didn't request a new or temporary password - what is going on here?" So I sent security a message asking wtf is going on.

Anyhoo, I have changed my passwords and am now using a new secret e-mail and my funds are still intact so I feel better. But when I was checking up on it, I looked at my log-in history on Tilt and found that the following IP address from Australia attempted and failed to login to my account early this morning.

121.209.209.239

So if any of you computer wizards can do something with this and/or have any further advice for me, I'd appreciate it.

**Update**

The same person from Sydney who tried to hack me has also visited this blog today. So obviously he knows that I am on to him. I will let him know that even though FullTilt has supposedly "taken appropriate action" against him, I have taken the extra measures of changing my passwords and my e-mail accounts as well.

Got to release the ankles

I thought it was going to be another anklegrabbing night but I played really well and finally the run good hit for me in the 75k on Fulltilt where I got 2nd place.

I am taking tomorrow and Saturday off and will be back at it on Sunday.

Evening ankle grabbing

I kept getting bad beat/coolered in most of my tourneys but I did get deep in the quarter million on Stars only to get in a big pot against an active player with a stack close to the bubble.

He had been raising close to 20% of hands and raised again from late position when I picked up pocket tens. We both had over 50 BBs. So I 3 bet instead of smooth call and he 4 bet somewhat small. So it finally came down to whether or not I thought I was ahead of his range and I thought he was using his bigger stack enough of the time and might be 4 betting light there since I had already 3-bet him twice previously that I shoved.

He had JJ and called and the board came out a beautiful J44Tx. So I bubbled and felt like crap.

I definitely would have made the money if I had folded there but I don't know how bad my play was. It is really hard to define someone's range until you have played lots and lots of hands against him/her. So often we will run into the high end of that person's range and think we made a mistake when actually we made the correct play and just got unlucky.

Afternoon off

Our shower has been a major pain in the ass - the little screws that attach to the knob to the cold water and to the diverter (to switch it from bath to shower) both stripped so for awhile we were using pliers to turn the cold on and off. Today I finally bit the bullet and went and figured out how to take the knobs off and then went and bought new valves for the cold water and the diverter.

I am like the worst fixer upper person ever. My dad is a major tinkerer and he used to always get me to join him when I was growing up, but that kind of stuff never interested me. I always was more interested in sports and games - anything competitive - and just never really cared about how things worked.

So of course I always end up taking hours where it would take other people minutes. But it is does feel good to fix these things myself rather than pay a plumber to come do it.

Anyhoo, the new knobs are on and I figured out where our water main is which is a good thing as well. The only thing left is to put some silicone on to make sure the faucets actually stick to the tile - but that can be left for later.

On the poker front - I have been playing well and getting reamed. I do tend to feel that the pokergods make you suffer for a decent stretch before they finally say ok enough is enough now lets let chardrian win every flip and suck out a couple times in a tourney to even things out. So I'm just waiting for that to happen again. Tonight is probably the biggest weekday night for me because both stars and UB have tourneys with biger buyins. So I wouldn't mind it if the run good happened in either of those tourneys.

Sunday Bloody Sunday

I played mistake free but ran like ass.

The only tourney I made the money in was the 2nd Chance on Stars where I took two bad beats. In both of these hands I was over a 60% favorite and in both cases I lost. I win both those hands and I have an easy top ten stack and like my chances to at least make the final 2 tables.

I know that my run good will finally come again, but I still expect it to come everytime I play and get frustrated when it doesn't.

One of my buds did get 2nd in the $50k on Tilt for a very nice score so that was nice to watch.

Tomorrow is another day...

WSOP Update

I just booked my lodging for the WSOP for the month of June, so I am definitely going. The bankroll is not totally defined yet but I will have enough to play in pretty much every event leading up to the Main Event that I want to.

So I am getting excited. But I also realize that one week in, it will definitely be a grind and being away from home will start getting old. At least I have a place with a kitchen this time so I will be able to eat my own food and not be forced into eating out for every meal.

On the coaching front, both of my students are doing well but one of them is just on a total heater - he was won 2 tourneys on Stars in the last two days. I am playing a full schedule today so hopefully some of his run good can rub off on me.

FT Time

I got 3rd in the Sniper on UB for a decent little cash and it's always nice to make a final table.

For the second night in a row my "protege" also got to the final two tables of a big entry tourney on stars. The first night he had two horrible beats, and tonight he ran into the top range of easily the most agg player at the table in the 70k. I so wanted a big score for him that it hurt to come up short.

frustrated

I got 12th in the 50k on Tilt when my AA was cracked by 99. I also got semideep in both the quartermillion on stars and the sniper on UB when my AA was cracked again. I think I let the bad beats get to me because I ended up calling off my stack with JKo in the Quartermillion when I was over 20 BBs deep in a situation where I needed 44% equity and probably didnt have it.

It's that last hand that will bother me the most - I don't like getting bad beats, but at least I know I played well; but when I lose in a situation where I didn't need to put my chips at risk and I do anyways - that's when I really get frustrated. I may not have won the tourney if I had played that hand better, but at least I would have given myself a shot.

Oh well, tomorrow is another day.

Back to Work

I got a full session in today after taking yesterday off. I played fine, but no big scores. I also started coaching which I think is going well.

On the chula front - she is fine, the stitches are out and we can gradually start taking her on longer walks.

Bubbleboy

We got back home late last night and Charmian had to work today so I worked as well. I was the final table bubble boy in the 200k on UB. It's always disappointing to get that deep only to come up just a few spots short of a huge score, but I also know that there isn't anything else I can do except just keep playing and waiting for that score to come.

Tomorrow I take Chula to the vet to get her stitches out. She managed to jump up on the bed today without us, but she then tried to jump down and let out a little yelp so hopefully she didn't screw anything up.

I also should start my coaching this week, so it should be a busy week.

Protege update

I went through all of the applications today and couldn't winnow it down to just one, so I actually ended up choosing two students. I am hoping to start working with them next week.

If this goes well I will probably continue to take on more students in the future so we'll just see how it goes.

Thank you to everyone who did apply - I truly was not expecting the decision to be as hard as it was.

Vacation

We are off tomorrow to Santa Barbara for a week and we both are looking forward to it.

I did everything I could to try and get my 200 tourneys in this month but I am not usre it will pan out. I have played 144 tourneys so far, which means it would only take me about 4 more days to get 200 tourneys in but since I won't be playing at all next week I doubt I'll have enough time when we get back to get there.

April and May look promising though so hopefully April will be my first 200 tourney month of the year.

I didn't play today as I finished doing our taxes and cleaned up the house a bit... and watched a lot of NCAA basketball Chula is still 3-legged but she seems to be improving everyday - she no longer seems to be in pain at all.

pretty decent score

I got 3rd I the nightly 100k on Stars for a little over 14k. Which brings me back to positive for the month and boosts my ROI back over 70% for the year. Always a little disappointing not to win, but I really feel like I played about as perfect as you can. That's my second 3rd place in that tourney... one of these days I'll actually take it down.

Chula update

Our dog Chula tore her cranial cruciate ligament and her meniscus and had surgery on Friday. She is still very sore, but seems to be doing better today.

She looks pathetic were her shaved leg/hindquarters and she is still 3 legged, but hopefully she'll be back to normal in a couple of months.

On the poker front. I put in a half session today but am beat so will hang it up for the night. I got like 200th in the warmup and played great and although my downswing continues I am really happy with my play and feel like I am due for a heater. I am hoping to get in 4 real good days of volume this week (M-Thurs) and then we're off to Santa Barbara for a week of vacation and I'm ready to just not think of poker for a week.

I was surprsed at how many applications I have received so far (well over 20) so I will spend some of my vacation picking my protege as well.

Going to enter the coaching pool

So I have decided to finally do it. I am going to take applications from players who are interested in receiving my coaching.

WHO AM I?/WHY WOULD I WANT YOU AS A COACH?

My name is Adrian Dresel-Velasquez and online I go by the name chardrian. I play primarily on FullTilt and PokerStars but also play a bit on UB. I am 33 years old, married, and I am currently a full-time poker pro and I am also a coach/pro at PokerPwnage. Prior to playing poker full-time I was an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Wisconsin.

I started playing professionally in 2007 and I am a proven winner since then. I am a very low volume player but my stats are as follows:
2007 - 703 tourneys/ 425% ROI
2008 - 1167 tourneys/ 80% ROI
combined - 1870 tourneys/ 183% ROI

My biggest cash to date has been in the summer 2007 FTOPs Main Event where I got 3rd for just over $150,000. Even if you take that score out, I still have an 80% ROI over the last two years.

WHAT AM I OFFERING?

I will take on a student for two months starting in April through the end of May. I will start by reviewing some hand histories just to get a feel for your style of play. The bulk of the coaching will be through ventrilo (similar to skype) so you will need a working mic - this will allow me to watch you play and the student will watch me play as well.

WHAT AM I EXPECTING?

Really all I want is a dedicated student who is looking to improve his/her game. Obviously I am going to prefer someone who plays frequently so that we can get as many sessions in as possible over the two months.

WHAT'S My CUT?

Instead of charging an hourly rate, I am going to take a flat 10% of your MTT profits for April and May. If you don't end up profiting - I don't get paid.

HOW TO APPLY?

If you are interested, send me an e-mail at chardrian@hotmail.com and let me know why I should choose you. Your current bankroll, the games you are currently playing, and your online screen names are a good start. I will make my decision by the end of March.

standardments

I got semi-deep in the 1/4 million on Stars and then misplayed AJs 20 BB deep. I could have folded to the cash which wsa worth it and just went nutso without taking my time - impulsive plays are still probably my biggest leak.

Chula's surgery was moved back a day, so I take her back in tomorrow and then she has surgery on Friday and we pick her back up on Sat. So that means I am just playing another 1/2 day tomorrow and on Friday and will take Sat off. I'll get a full day in on Sunday and the rest of next week and then we are off to Santa Barbara next Friday.

baby steps continue

I got 4th in the UB deepstack tourney. Another FT is nice, but I feel like I truly muffed it at the final table going overagg retardo bernardo for no real reason. Frustrating, but nothing to do about it now. Tomorrow I take Chula to the vet for her surgery, so it will be a light playing day.

Baby Steps

I won the $109 PL Omaha/8 tourney that I've been playing (and never cashing in) the last two weeks. It wasn't a huge score - in fact it had an overlay today (only 54 entrants) but it was a win. And for now, that's a nice ego boost. Hopefully I can get a big score at some point these next two weeks...

Just grindin'

Nothing exciting to note. The downswing continues, but I am feeling good about my game. The one good thing is that I am getting my volume in finally. I took yesterday off, but I got in 60 tourneys last week, which is all I really am trying to do. We go on vacation next Friday so I am going to try and get in my 200 tourneys for the month before then. I am not sure it will happen because Chula has her surgery this week so I'll have to take some time off to take her in and pick her up, but I'll give it the old college try.

I haven't had a losing spell over 200 tourneys for the last 2 years, so I am hoping that that streak continues, but it is definitely in jeopardy right now as I am way down over my last 120 tourneys. If I can get a solid top three finish this next week I'll be back in the black. I am definitely due.

asdffdhgfjh!

wow. just wow. the sickness continues. From my last 3 sessions I have had a 15th, 2 19ths, and a 12th. I am just continuously left shaking my head. I am playing pretty incredibly. And although finishing 12th out of close to 2000 entrants is an accomplishment... I don't want to achieve that. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
If this is variance finally kicking me in the balls, I give. I surrender. I wave the fucking white flag. Read my ftr's avatar's eyebrows. Ok vent over, we now return you to your regularly scheduled program.

Wanted to give a good update....

but the ankle grabbing continues.

Today was the second time this week that I've had a final table chip stack with like 16 players left and end up not even making the final table. Monday's was questionable since I didn't have to get involved in the hand. But today's was just ugly.


Second nuts to decimate me:

Full Tilt Poker Game #10985144625: $20,000 Guarantee (81665626), Table 17 - 1500/3000 Ante 400 - No Limit Hold'em - 20:17:06 ET - 2009/03/05
Seat 1: cautat (85,721)
Seat 2: bsilva21 (31,640)
Seat 3: cheats99 (68,256)
Seat 4: Mr Bombaloo (105,316)
Seat 5: PDCKID (61,876)
Seat 7: MrMudd76 (74,259)
Seat 8: chardrian (113,370)
Seat 9: dollarbaby3 (103,763)
cautat antes 400
bsilva21 antes 400
cheats99 antes 400
Mr Bombaloo antes 400
PDCKID antes 400
MrMudd76 antes 400
chardrian antes 400
dollarbaby3 antes 400
chardrian posts the small blind of 1,500
dollarbaby3 posts the big blind of 3,000
The button is in seat #7
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to chardrian [Kd 9s]
cautat calls 3,000
bsilva21 folds
cheats99 folds
Mr Bombaloo folds
PDCKID folds
MrMudd76 has 15 seconds left to act
MrMudd76 calls 3,000
chardrian calls 1,500
dollarbaby3 checks
*** FLOP *** [Qc 7c Ts]
chardrian checks
dollarbaby3 checks
cautat checks
MrMudd76 checks
*** TURN *** [Qc 7c Ts] [Js]
chardrian has 15 seconds left to act
chardrian bets 9,000
dollarbaby3 folds
cautat raises to 21,000
MrMudd76 folds
chardrian has 15 seconds left to act
chardrian raises to 109,970, and is all in
cautat calls 61,321, and is all in
chardrian shows [Kd 9s]
cautat shows [Ks Ac]
Uncalled bet of 27,649 returned to chardrian
*** RIVER *** [Qc 7c Ts Js] [3s]
chardrian shows a straight, King high
cautat shows a straight, Ace high
cautat wins the pot (179,842) with a straight, Ace high
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 179,842 | Rake 0
Board: [Qc 7c Ts Js 3s]
Seat 1: cautat showed [Ks Ac] and won (179,842) with a straight, Ace high
Seat 2: bsilva21 folded before the Flop
Seat 3: cheats99 folded before the Flop
Seat 4: Mr Bombaloo folded before the Flop
Seat 5: PDCKID folded before the Flop
Seat 7: MrMudd76 (button) folded on the Turn
Seat 8: chardrian (small blind) showed [Kd 9s] and lost with a straight, King high
Seat 9: dollarbaby3 (big blind) folded on the Turn

Followed by an ugly way to lose a race:

Full Tilt Poker Game #10985176822: $20,000 Guarantee (81665626), Table 17 - 1500/3000 Ante 400 - No Limit Hold'em - 20:19:05 ET - 2009/03/05
Seat 1: cautat (176,442)
Seat 2: bsilva21 (30,840)
Seat 3: cheats99 (67,456)
Seat 4: Mr Bombaloo (104,516)
Seat 5: PDCKID (68,776)
Seat 7: MrMudd76 (70,459)
Seat 8: chardrian (27,249)
Seat 9: dollarbaby3 (98,463)
cautat antes 400
bsilva21 antes 400
cheats99 antes 400
Mr Bombaloo antes 400
PDCKID antes 400
MrMudd76 antes 400
chardrian antes 400
dollarbaby3 antes 400
cautat posts the small blind of 1,500
bsilva21 posts the big blind of 3,000
The button is in seat #9
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to chardrian [As Jc]
cheats99 folds
Mr Bombaloo folds
PDCKID folds
MrMudd76 folds
chardrian raises to 26,849, and is all in
dollarbaby3 folds
cautat calls 25,349
bsilva21 folds
chardrian shows [As Jc]
cautat shows [9c 9h]
*** FLOP *** [Jd 3c 7c]
*** TURN *** [Jd 3c 7c] [9d]
*** RIVER *** [Jd 3c 7c 9d] [Ad]
chardrian shows two pair, Aces and Jacks
cautat shows three of a kind, Nines
cautat wins the pot (59,898) with three of a kind, Nines
chardrian stands up
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 59,898 | Rake 0
Board: [Jd 3c 7c 9d Ad]
Seat 1: cautat (small blind) showed [9c 9h] and won (59,898) with three of a kind, Nines
Seat 2: bsilva21 (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 3: cheats99 folded before the Flop
Seat 4: Mr Bombaloo folded before the Flop
Seat 5: PDCKID folded before the Flop
Seat 7: MrMudd76 folded before the Flop
Seat 8: chardrian showed [As Jc] and lost with two pair, Aces and Jacks
Seat 9: dollarbaby3 (button) folded before the Flop

I keep going into the days very positive. I keep leaving very negative.

Losing is not fun

This blog must be getting pretty boring to read since all I ever do is post about how hard it is to maintain my mental focus when I lose. But there isn't anything else really going on. I need to win more flips - that is all. The omaha tourney continues to frustrate the bejesus out of me. I have played it like 12 times now and I haven't cashed yet. I keep getting deep (like last 2 or 3 tables every time) but I can't for the life of me win the crucial hand deep.

Hopefully tonight is better...

another close but no cigar day

I got 12th out of 2000 in the $55 80k on Stars. I had a commanding chip stack with 2 tables left and got in a big confrontation in a hand where I turned trip Js and my opp happened to have the other J and a better kicker. Soon after that I lost a race and was out. I feel good about how I played but again am just frustrated with the finish. I didn't need to get involved in the hand that decimated me, but I also couldn't fold trips once I did so it just leaves me shaking my head.

Anyoo - tomorrow is another day I guess.

Still downswinging

I got to play a full Sunday and I didn't cash any of the 11 tourneys I played. I tend to press when I am on a downswing and start making overaggressive moves when I need to just relax and let things happen and start making the money. I should have done that in the $163 50k guarantee on Tilt today but other than that I played fine and just lost races/got bad beats/or had coolers.

I am finding myself get into the "I just can't win" mentality while I am playing so I need to get through that. I still haven't even played 200 tourneys this year yet, so this downswing is just a blip on the radar screen.

Charmian works a lot this week, so I'll just continue to get my volume in and things should turn around.

Time for some time off

I am starting to wallow in self-pity which is never a good thing for me or the people around me. When things go well in MTTs you get people to fold better hands than you have, you win races, you get people pushing on you preflop when you have AA. When things go poorly in MTTs, you never win races, you get bad beat over and over, and you get people making hero calls in situations where they really should be folding but it just so happens that this one time their hand actually beats the one hand in your range that you'd make a move with.

Things are going poorly for me.

I played very well again other than one mistake where I should have led a flop when I had like 80% equity in an omaha hi/lo tourney and checked and then let my opp get there. I am still learning that game, so I'll chalk it up as a learning mistake but it still sucked to happen with 14 left when 9 got paid.

So anyhoo I am taking tonight (we're going out for steaks nananana) and tomorrow off. Will try to focus on the big picture rather than dwell on the recent downswing and come back swinging on Sunday.

Ok ok I snapped

I played a nightly session tonight and after a minor bump early, I played extremely good poker. The first beat I took, I laughed off, I mean we all have gotten JJ in pre and lost to 66 and yeah it was the nightly 100k which always sucks, but brush it off, move on.

The second one I took was so bad that I really ended up laughing pretty hysterically. Get it all in on the turn with TT on an ATxx board and lose to AT when an A rivers is pretty funny. And yeah, I already had a fold to cash stack in that tourney and winning that hand would have locked up a pretty deep finish, but come on, it's funny. I mean there aren't that many times when you are a 95% favorite in poker so when you are and actually lose, what else can you do but laugh right?

Third one was at the final table (yeah I even made a final table tonight and still lost money for the session) of the $55 6 max tourney on stars and I get it all-in with AQ versus AT pre flop and even flop a Q on a QKx flop for good measure but still manage to lose when a J turns giving him the straight. Believe it or not, I was still laughing at that point.

But when my JJ got cracked by 2 fricking 8 when I was deepstacked in the sniper tourney on UB with 29 players left and 27 get paid, I lost it. Last straw, couldn't take anymore, flipped, went berserk, and my buddies on vent heard it. Boy did they hear it. The f-bombs were flying, the pity me was at an all-time high, the anger just could no longer be contained. And did it help? Did they care? Did they want to hear that? No, no, and no.

So yeah, I'm getting better about dealing with beats, but I'm still not immune.

Charmian's home today

So I don't know what my poker schedule will be. She has work to do from home, so I might put in a half-day. Good tv night tonight (I'm a big Survivor fan) so I'm thinking I'll take the tonight off.

Poker is continuing to go poorly, but I reviewed my hand histories from yesterday and I feel I played mistake free so as long as I don't let the variance play with my head I should get out of it.

The funny thing with getting better and getting a little (and it really is little) notoriety is that people start really dissecting your play. Someone called me out on 2+2 last week for a spewy play I made in the $50k when my wife got off of work early. I just thought it was sort of funny. Here's the thread.

Blech

The ankle grabbing continues. Nothing else to say.

Back to the grind

Well I am playing a normal schedule again finally. Unfortunately it isn't going that well, but I always get frustrated when I don't win.

I played mistakefree which is really all I can ask for - the cards will come however they end up getting spit out.

Chula's surgery is scheduled but I was surprised it takes so long to get her operated on. Her surgery isn't for another 2 weeks still, so she will be 3 legged for a while yet.

Hopefully tonight will go better than this aft did.

Chula - our 3 legged wonderdog

So I took our dog to the vet today because she has been 3 legged for the last week after doing something when she was sprinting off of her leash. Turns out she has ruptured one of her knee ligaments so it looks like she will be getting surgery sometime this week. We really do treat her as our baby so we both just hope that the surgery is uneventful and successful because although she does pretty well for just using 3 legs she really does look pretty pathetic right now.

Blech

I got deep in the Second chance tourney on Stars, which has a first place prize of 50k, only to have my AA cracked when we were down to the final 4 tables.

I know it's a part of the game, but when I get that close to such a big score it still stings quite a bit.

I think I played basically flawlessly today tho, so hopefully it should be just a matter of time.

On a non-poker related note, our dog injured herself last week so I am taking her to the vet tomorrow. We're thinking she's probably going to need surgery since she isn't putting any weight on her hind leg so hopefully it won't be too traumatic or expensive of an ordeal.

Close...

but no cigar.

I got 7th in the $50 rebuy on stars for a little under $2k. I took a horrendous beat against the chip leader when we got all the money in on the turn, but I can't win em all. Still doesn't mean I don't get frustrated though.

Ok back to playing for reals

I am at the Audi place getting our car its 5,000 mile service so I figured I might as well update since I have the time.

I finally got a full session in yesterday and felt I played well so I feel it's just a matter of getting my hours in and results should follow.

Playing with two monitors on a computer that doesn't crash felt really nice.

It looks like I might catch up with a couple of highschool friends this weekend so I am looking forward to that.

My WSOP plans are also progressing. I have sold out (or reserved) about half of the shares I have put out. So hopefully I can get the other half sold out in the next couple of months and then I will actually be able to play the entire series this year. We'll see...

Other than that, it's just the same old, same old.

Finally feeling truly professional

So the new computer is now set up and today I got the cable for the second monitor and somehow figured out how to set that up as well, so I now truly feel professional. I have two monitors (can fit up to 6 tables without overlap on each), my new tracking software is set-up (I got Hold'em Manager), I managed to get my new printer to work even though it is set-up for windows xp and my new computer came with Vista, and my computer is running fast and isn't crashing on me whenever I play on Fulltilt.

Now all I need to do is get back to playing. This week should finally be back to basically normal so I should get some volume in again.

Back Home

I am home and getting resettled. I went and picked up my new computer from FedEx yesterday (my wife wasn't around the three times they tried to deliver it since she works 100 hours a week) and got it set up so I am ready to play today. Unfortunately the monitor did not come with one of the cables I need, so I will be playing with just one monitor still, but it will come. I still haven't kicked this cold and the cough is just bugging me more than anything at this point.

Anyhoo, I'm back, I should be playing again starting today.

Reuniting and it feels it so good...

So last night I met up with one of my old Peace Corps friends who is living in D.C. and we had a joint poker game with some of her and her boyfriend's friends as well as some of my poker buddies. One of the few downfalls of my profession is the social isolation - I just don't get in contact with that many people on a day to day basis since all I do is play poker from my garage. So it was nice to actually talk with people face to face.

Today we went to the Maryland/Pennsylvania border and joined up with another of my old Peace Corps friends and her boyfriend at a ski resort. I just chilled in the nice 60 degree weather enjoying the sun and reading the paper as they frolicked on the slopes. We then had a nice dinner and good stiff drinks and just enjoyed shooting the shit and reminiscing. The one thing that is always good to remember is that even if you don't keep in super good contact with good people everything still basically falls into place when you meet up again because good people are just good people.

Anyhoo, I had a great time, I wish Charmian could have been with me because I know she would have enjoyed it too, and I hope that people will come by and visit us whenever they are in the in Northern Cal. area.

Some culture

My mom wanted to go see a dance performance at the Kennedy Center and didn't want to go alone so used me as an escort. It was an Alvin Ailey dance performance which I guess is supposed to mean something to anyone who knows anything about dance, which I do not. But we got the added benefit that the Obama's decided to come watch as well and the crowd went into a tizzy when it realized they would be watching with the president. Our seats were basically directly below his - the presidential seats are the front center seats of the balcony - so we didn't get to see his face but we saw his hand whenever he stood up to wave. To be honest I had more fun watching the crowd ogle at him and take pictures with their cellphones than I would have in joining them. Anyhoo, I am not a big dance guy but these dancers were so powerful and the music so good that I would have enjoyed even without the added Obama show.

Tomorrow I am meeting up with peace corps and poker friends and playing a home game which should be fun.

Off to D.C.

I'm just going for like 5 days to visit my mom but it should be fun. It looks like I have some hockey, poker, reuniting, and eating good food on the agenda.

Jonesing to Play

My new computer has not arrived yet and I gave my old one to my younger brother so I am sitting and waiting and continuing not to play. I leave for D.C. on Wednesday to visit my mom and hopefully catch up with some Peace Corps/poker/old Madison friends and will then be back the following Tuesday. So it looks like the lack of volume will continue.

I also added the number of shares I am selling for my WSOP action to 1000 (for $50 each) so that each share is .1% of my action instead of the original 100 shares I had planned on) as it looked like there were some smaller bankrolled players who wanted to invest in me but couldn't. So if $50 is more to your liking then feel free to invest.

WSOP Ad

Ok the ad is up. Hopefully it takes off - it not, I have time to tweak it.

http://forum.parttimepoker.com/showthread.php?t=481205

S.B.

Turns out we can steal internet access if I am out on the porch of my mother-in-law's so I have time for a quick post. I absolutely love this town, the weather is great, I am always welcomed back to this noon basketball game which I started playing in back when I was in college like 15 years ago, and it's just a beautiful environment. We are hoping to move back here at some point in the future, hopefully not more than 5 years from now.

Anyhoo, vacation continues to go well, I am enjoying eating well but also getting out and excercising and I am finally feeling better too.

We should be heading back up to Sac-town on Saturday and I am hoping to get a full day in on Sunday.

Preliminary WSOP Plans

So after thinking about it a bit today, I have preliminarily decided that I am going to try and get $50k worth of backing. This should be more than enough to cover every WSOP that I would want to play. I am going to be selling them as $500 shares so each share will be 1% of my WSOP action. Any money left over will be distributed back to my stakers in the percentage they bought in me (e.g. if someone buys 10 shares or 10% of me and I only spend 30k then that person would receive $2k back which is 10% of the 20k that would be left over).

I don't want to get bogged down with makeup so I am going to be offering a straight up 66.67%/33.33% deal where my backers get 2/3 of any profit I make and I get the other 1/3.

I will be paying for all incidentals (transport/housing/food/etc.) on my own dime.

I am not sure how the RIO does taxes - if they take a percentage out beforehand then any distributions will be made after taxes. If they don't then each staker will get there full share and will be responsible for paying their own taxes.

I will be making an ad on parttimepoker next week with all of my stats and info, so if you're interested keep checking back here and I'll have the link up.

Hopefully I can sell this out.

WSOP Schedule released

So we're back from Colorado, and I feel like I'm back in the Peace Corps because I caught some GI bug that is keeping me attached to the pot at least 3 times an hour. The aromatic sulphur burps are also a plus. I am actually feeling a bit better this afternoon, but if it continues I will probably need to actually go see an M.D.

The weekend in CO was too fast but it was fun. It is always nice to see family who you haven't seen for a while.

In poker news the WSOP schedule was finally released today and I am in the process of figuring out how I am going to (try) and get staked. I am still unsure whether I am going to try and make a real run this year and play the whole series or whether I will go for like a 2 week chunk.

If it's for the whole series I will probably need somewhere between 40-50k, and I'm not sure whether I would get that much or not. I will probably put an ad up on parttimepoker and see how much interest is out there and then go from there.

Tomorrow we head up to Santa Barbara where internet access is not always available (depending on who we are staying with), so I will probably not be updating much this week.

Pobresita

My wife came home last night complaining that she didn't feel well. I couldn't tell if she was just rundown from work (who wouldn't be in her position?) or if she was coming down with something.

When she got up at midnight to pray to the porcelain gods it was obvious it was more than just being rundown. The crazy thing with her work is that she still almost dragged herself in even after getting up at 5:00 a.m. and puking again. I was amazed she actually did call in sick, but I'm glad she did.

Hopefully it's just a 24 hour bug because she has a test to take tomorrow and then we have a long drive to L.A. followed by a flight to Denver and then another drive to Fort Collins. And having to do all of that while you're sick would suck.

Good Inauguration Day

I got 3rd in the nightly 65k on Tilt for a little over $11k. I am a little disappointed by how I played short-handed, so I feel like I left another 4-14k on the table, but obviously I can't be too upset with a 5 figure score.

SF Weekend

My fam from L.A. and my sister and the younger part of her contingency from Dallas plus me and Charmian bombarded our cousin's house in S.F. for a little family reunion over the long weekend. It's always nice to see everyone and just relax. We also met up with some of our college friends who after some wordly voyages have ended back up in S.F. So it was nice to see everyone.

I will try and put in some tourneys this week, but it's always hard for me to play when I know that I am going to be taking an extended break soon. On Friday Charmian starts her vacation and we take off for a weeklong trek which will include stops in L.A., Fort Collins, Colorado, and Santa Barbara.

Good Friday

With that title I'll probably get a lot of people coming to this post around Easter.

Anyhoo, I got 2nd in the $163 50k on Tilt today so I am back in the black for the year.

It also looks like my wife got some co-workers to cover her on Sunday and Monday so we will be off to S.F. tomorrow.

I am clearly not going to get my volume in for this month, since we go on vacation next week, but I should be refreshed and raring to go in Feb.

Hopefully can get back to playing

So my desktop crashed again this afternoon so I was forced to play a small session on my laptop. I then got help from my computer savvy poker friends and figured out how to wipe out my computer and just start over. So hopefully this will hold me until my new computer comes in a couple of weeks.

Blechier Tuesday

I made one mistake today but other than that I just got reamed. I also got disconnected twice when I was playing on my desktop on Fulltilt and both times I had the nuts postflop with an opponent betting into me. Add to it that my wife is getting hosed at work - they are making her work this weekend when she had been scheduled to have the 3 day weekend off - and I went on a little life tilt.

I finally broke down and just bought another computer so hopefully this retarded disconnecting won't happen anymore.

Blech Monday

Another 0 fer day. Played well, ran bad. Nuttin' new.

Sunday Sunday Sunday

Went average. I moneyed 2 of the Sunday majors (the brawl on FullTilt and the Million on Stars) but never got anywhere in either so I lost a little for the day. I am playing well so I'll just keep grinding away.

We are having a little family reunion in San Fran next weekend and then my wife (which means me too) is on vacation for a week the following week so I am planning on playing full days this M-F as well as the following M-F so that I can get my 200 tourneys in for the month.

Day Off

I took today off to watch some football. My wife was actually off this evening so I made us some burgers and we went to go see Milk, which was basically just a biography of Harvey Milk but was a story I really knew very little about so it was good to see. When we came back, Chula (our dog) seemed a little too happy to see us until we saw the empty Cheetos bag on the living room floor. Should be a fun pooper scooper pick up tomorrow.

I will be back at it playing again tomorrow.

Meh

2nd night in a row my AA got cracked by a smaller pair all-in late in a tourney. I continue to play well, so once those big hands start holding up I should start seeing some nice results again. Waiting for the results to happen is always a challenge though.

First positive day of the new year

So yesterday I ended the cashless streak, today I ended the losing money streak. I got 9th in the $50 rebuy on Stars. I played about as perfect as I could and just got extremely unlucky late where I took 2 bad beats and lost 2 races. I am definitely frustrated since 9th was like $1k and 1st was over $11k but at least I made a final table, and at least I am playing well. I am taking the rest of the night off since I am a little tilted (stupid bad beats) and will watch the football game and then I'm at it again tomorrow.

At least I finally got a cash

I ended the cashless streak, but had another losing day. I made maybe one or two overaggressive moves, but feel like my game is coming back into form. One good cash, and I am back in black.

0 for 2009

well I had another 0fer day. So far I have played 27 tourneys this year and haven't cashed yet. Today was more of just running bad than playing bad - I don't think I got it in bad in any spot today so at least I am cutting down on the mistakes. Tomorrow I will hopefully break out and at least cash in something.

Not playing my best

I got my first full day back in today and it went poorly. I didn't play horribly but I did make some mistakes and to keep my ROI at what I need it to be, I just can't make silly mistakes. I am always surprised at how hard it is to stay focused and patient especially after a long stretch of not playing. I find myself getting upset and taking it personally when players raise me. When I am playing well, I am playing just as if I am giving advice on a poker forum. I analyze the best play to make based on my cards, position, and opponent and just focus on making the best plays and letting everything else take care of itself. But no matter how many hands I play and how ingrained it is in my head, I still expect to win every hand that I play, and I still get upset when I don't win. So the plan for tomorrow, is simply to keep taking care of my life first and then getting my poker in with a good mindframe. Once I get back into playing consistent mistake free poker the results should start flowing again.

Back to Playing (Finally)

So it's been like a month since I played last. I dropped the S.B. clan off at the airport this morning, my wife is on call today, so I am back at it. I played well today in my morning/aft session but got no love. I will put in a night session as well, so we'll see. But I should be back to putting in at least some volume this week.

Back in Sac-town

The photo is me and Jack - my nephew from Dallas.

I'm back and continuing the laziness. I actually played 3 tourneys today, but for whatever reason I can't get the new update on Tilt to download on my desktop so I can't use my pokertracker and don't really like playing on this laptop. I think I will be getting a new computer next year because it is now like 7 years old and is just getting slower and slower.

Our Wisco friends' flights got canceled so my wife and I will just enjoy vegging out a bit this weekend. She needs and deserves it - she works way too much. I am hoping to get in a couple of movies since so many good ones are out now.

Christmas is pretty anticlimactic this year since my wife is working 30+ hours, but we will be celebrating with her family when they come up next week for new years.

In Dallas

So I am enjoying my time just chilling with my family here in Dallas. I have gotten a couple of messages from people wondering about the possibility of becoming my "protege" next year. I'll be honest and say that I really haven't given in that much thought, so I am not sure exactly what it will entail or how I will go about picking possible students. No matter what, it won't happen until February. Once I do figure it out, I'll make sure to let interested people know.

Depending on how well I travel, I should be home tomorrow - and then we have some friends coming (this time if they travel well) from Wisconsin on Friday. Then my wife's family comes up to visit us for New Years so I probably won't be playing or posting much until next year.

Getting bored?

So I have been doing nothing the last couple of days and thought I was getting bored enough to play today. Turns out I am bored but still not really into playing. I entered 2 tourneys at 5:00 with the plan of playing the quarter million on stars and the sniper on UB at 6:00 but after I made an iffy call in one and got coolered in the other I just decided to hang it up.

Tomorrow I have some errands to run before we head off to Dallas so I won't be playing then either.

Motivation seems to be my achilles heel - hopefully I can figure something out because the only way for me to make more money is by playing more volume.

Year in Review Time/Goals for Next Year

At this time of the year there are always programs recapping the last year on tv, so I figured it is time for me to do so as well.

My goals for this year were:
1) pass the bar exam
2) attain at least a 50% ROI playing poker
3) make $100 k playing poker, and
4) get back in shape.

I accomplished 1 and 2 and although I didn't make 100k I made enough so that with our combined income we lived perfectly comfortably. I am still woefully out of shape so of the four goals that is the one I failed most miserably.

I also became an instructor for pokerpwnage.com which was unexpected but has gone really well so far. So all in all, I feel like I had a really good year.

My goals for next year are going to be pretty similar to last years':

1) I want to maintain an ROI of at least 50%
2) I want to profit 100 k playing poker
3) I want to play at least 2500 tourneys (doubling my volume this year - and basically guaranteeing a 100k year if I can get close to a 50% ROI)
4) I want to continue garnering more exposure in the pokerworld which will hopefully lead to more moneymaking opportunities (sponsorships, writing deals, etc.), and
5) I want to get back in shape.

I am also seriously considering taking on a student or two as a sort of "protege" and will coach them in return for a percentage of their winnings. The only thing keeping me back from announcing this at this point is that I want to really concentrate on getting my volume in first - once I feel that I have that under control and have time for coaching I will do so.

The rest of this year will consist of playing when I can but there is going to be a lot of non-playing time too with all of the visits and visitors we have planned.

Getting Christmasy

So I haven't played since my final table on Tuesday (which really shouldn't be a surprise with me). When I actually put in volume I let the house go to crap a bit, so I've been catching up on raking the yard, cleaning the garage, just generally getting the house in order.

I also bought a christmas tree, only to realize when I got it home that it was too big for our tree stand. So a couple hours of using the crappy saw that I have and shaving parts of the trunk off and I try again... only to realize the tree is just too damn big for the plastic stand that we had. The f-bombs were definitely flying but today I walked the dog to the neighborhood hardware store and got a new stand. And finally we got the sucker up. Yay for small successes.

Pokerwise I am thinking seriously of what I want my goals for next year to be. I am debating about whether I want to take a student or two on or if I just want to focus on playing as much as I can. I do know that I want to try and double my volume - if I can keep around the same ROI as this year and double my volume I should have a super successful year.

Tomorrow my father-in-law comes in and my wife is off for the weekend, so I'll probably be back and playing next Monday.

Little hot streak going

I got 5th in the Nightly 100k on pokerstars. I feel I played really well overall so even though I am disappointed not to take down the 1st place (which was over $20k), I still can't be too upset.

The last three days I've played I've made a final table so that's pretty amazing especially considering the low volume I put in (I only played 4 tourneys tonight). My bankroll is comfy again too, which just takes a lot of stress off.

A big part of me is considering just coasting into next year with a nice profitable December and not really playing anymore this month, but we'll see how bored I get.

Errands

I haven't played much because I am just getting stuff done. Yardwork/x-mas shopping/cooking/etc. We are going to be doing quite a bit of family/friend visits as well these next 4 weeks so I definitely won't get a full schedule in this month.

This weekend my father-in-law comes. Next week I go to Dallas to visit my sister and fam. X-mas week we have some friends from Wisco coming in. And then New Years we have my sister's family coming in.

I will try and get a session in tonight and the rest of this week until my suegro comes in on Friday.

Big steps

I won the $55 Freeze out on Stars for over $15k today. It feels great to win again and plowing through a field that big (almost 2000 entries) is really tough. Basically I won back everything I lost playing cash, so I am just vowing to myself that I won't play cash anymore. I win money playing tourneys, I lose money playing cash - so it should be a no brainer.

Anyhoo - my wife is off tonight and tomorrow, so I'm taking a little time off and then I'll be back at it next week.

Small Steps

I got 3rd in the afternoon $55 tourney on Fulltilt. I still felt a little (ok a lot) deflated as I got reamed/coolered in 2 huge hands late. It's easy to say all you can do is get it in good and focus on your play not the results, it's a lot harder to swallow when 3rd place is 2700 and 1st is 6k.

The nice part is that I finally had a positive day after so many consecutive losing days. The bad part is that it really only covers about 3 days of losses.

I am playing really really well though, so I feel a big score coming...

Volume is tiring

I played really well this afternoon, but didn't get much of a break in during the afternoon like I usually do and played like poo tonight. It was my first time playing like poo for a while so I just need to make sure not to play when I'm tired.

Tomorrow is another day...

Poker time

Well, I finally have like a two week window where I can put in a lot of volume. November was really frustrating because I played so little in terms of tourneys and I never got a real good score, and I was playing quite a bit of cash which just went horribly so my bankroll has suffered.

The last two days I have (and will be) playing a lot of tourneys, and I am playing great, but just not getting rewarded. Yesterday was full of bad beats which just shows I am getting it in way ahead. Today was not bad beats as much as it was just never winning a race when I really needed to.

My bankroll is now the lowest it has been for months, and I am anxious to get it back up again, but I need to make sure to just keep playing well otherwise I have a tendency to get overaggressive trying to make things happen and I just blow up opportunities to make deep runs.

Turkey weekend

So the plan was to just make a baked chicken for me and the wife. Instead she invited 4 others so while I was shopping I figured I might as well just get the free turkey at the grocery store. Of course there were only like 10 turkeys left at 1 o'clock in the afternoon, so I got the smallest one, which was a svelte 19 pounds, and after a couple of hours of hot water down it's throat, tom turkey was finally thawed enough to go in the oven.

I was definitely concerned that it wouldn't get done, but in the end it was just fine. We actually had a really good time with a co-resident and her husband... maybe too good of a time, as my wife spent the next day recuperating.

Today was absolutely gorgeous out so we took the dog for a nice walk, and then went and got a little shopping done. We topped it off with a movie and saw Changeling, which we both thought was one of those movies you should probably watch at some point, but isn't really necessary to see at a theater.

Pokerwise, I am playing a full day tomorrow and as usual after a little time off I am excited to play. Hopefully I'll remember it's just one mile out of the marathon so although I hope to have a great day results wise tomorrow all I can do is control my play and let everything else work its own way out.

Grindin' Some Back

I got 4th in a small tourney for like $1.5k. I took a bad beat 4 handed but I can't bitch too much because I gave a lot of bad beats as well. At this point I am just pissed at myself for donking away all that money playing cash - but there really is nothing I can do but move on, play well, and win it back.

I will be playing a small aft session tomorrow and then will be off for a bit again as my wife actually has Thanksgiving off.

So happy turkey day to all!!

Bad Sunday

I cashed just one of the 13 tourneys I played today. But my losses were all due to bad beats or coolers so I am playing very very well. Just going through a bad spell.

Unfortunately I lost quite bit playing cash as well this weekend so my bankroll has taken quite a beating. Time to start grinding it back - I'm due for a good win.

Meh x2

The horridness continued tonight. I am still playing fine so blah blah blah the results will come, but still tilts me to lose. I did win back about half my buyins for the night in 10 minutes playing 15/30 heads up limit so that makes me feel a bit better.

The wife is off this weekend so I should be back playing on Monday.

Meh

Well I finally got an afternoon session in and meh. I can't remember so many bad beats in a while. Only tourney i got really close to doing anything in was the $20 rebuy on tilt where I lost a chiplead pot with AK<88. So I played fine and ran bad. Seems standard.

I should be playing again tonight.

Tourneys are frustrating because you can play technically perfect and you still won't cash like 80% of the time. bad beats/failing to win races/card dead/etc and poof you're out. Adding to the frustration is that you put in 3+ hours and end up walking away a loser.

Here's to running good/keeping a good mindframe/getting in some volume.

Wheeeeeeeeeee.

Still trying to get back in the swing of things

Well I continued my delve into the sickness that is heads-up Limit Poker. It is different than any other game because you basically end up seeing on a flop on almost every hand. Since it's limit the biggest bet you have to call preflop is just one BB and since you're just playing one opponent who has position that person is raising close to 100% of the time. So you end up defending your blind an incredibly high percentage of the time.

It is a fun game but it is incredibly swingy - moreso than headsup NL in my opinion, which leads me to just get into these huge sessions where I just sit down and play and play and play and play.

Monday night I began a session and I didn't stop until noon on Tuesday. So I am still exhausted and just trying to get motivated to play. As always with me, motivation is my biggest hurdle. When you get down to it, I think I am just naturally lazy. Getting motivated to work out, to play poker, to clean the house, to do errands... it's just always more of a challenge than I think it should be. It's so much easier to lie down in front of the tv, fart around on the internet, and do nothing. Then again doing nothing gets pretty boring after awhile and so the cycle begins again.

Anyhoo - I'm going to get a run in today by running to Trader Joe's (ha killing two birds with one stone) and then will play my nightly schedule. Hopefully after a good night sleep tonight things will be start clicking back to normal.

Decided I wanted to play but didnt want to think...

So I played Heads-up Limit poker. I am now pretty cautious playing this game because even though you don't have to think, there is something about it that just sucks you in. My eyes glaze over, but I keep on playing. It's because of this that I've lost a buttload playing this game before so I was careful this time and stuck to one table. But it did suck me in again.

I think i've played like 16 out of the last 24 hrs. And I am basically even. LOL.

At least I earned a ton of points and am now super close to getting a new computer screen which should be nice.

Back to it

So the dogsitting is over and I got to actually play on Sunday which is a good thing.

The bad thing is I made a pretty spewy move in the FTOPs Main Event when I had a stack where it was unnecessary to do so and then I bubbled the only tourney I came close to cashing in which was the Second Chance on Stars. So I wasn't real happy about my play, but the leaks are definitely patchable.

I should hopefully get some real volume in this week.

Grinding some cash

I actually played one tourney today - I bubbled the FTOPs omaha event. Other than that I've been playing some small sessions of Heads Up cash on Tilt. Yesterday was about even - today was super positive. I won like 2 1/2 buyins in a small period of time. I know that HU is vey swingy so I just need to make sure to watch my tilt monkey and make sure I don't go nutso. The nice thing is I'm only playing 1/2 so I can't donk off that much. From what I've seen so far the players stick to their "normal" style and aren't real good at adjusting and adjusting is what heads up play is all about, so I might have finally found a cash game that I could excel at if I took some time to pursue it.

In other news it looks like Bush is going to storm trooper his UIGEA bill in at the last minute which has the online poker world up in arms. As I've told other people, I think a lot of people tend to take an attitude that the sky is falling when we still don't know all the info or what exactly is going to happen. If the worst possibility happens and online poker goes busto, at least I have my bar privileges...

Back Home

Well we made it back safe and sound. I haven't got back into playing because we are now dogsitting an ancient little dog that belongs to one of my wife's co-interns. Figuring out this dog's sleep routine has taken a little longer than I thought. I'm not sure how well playing tourneys will work this week, since he needs to be taken out whenever he wakes up or else he goes to the bathroom inside the house so I might try and focus on some cash - otherwise I'll just wait until next week to play again.

Vacationing

Just a quick update to say we are doing fine. Relaxing, eating good meals, getting out in the sun, running/playing basketball, and just spending time with the fam is always nice. Watching Obabma win was a nice cherry on top as well.

The party ends on Saturday and I should be playing again on Sunday...

Off to SB

I am going to have to hide in the garage for a couple of hours tonight when the first horde of kiddlies comes through our neighborhood since we didn't buy any candy this year. And by hordes, I mean hordes. They literally bring the kids in by the busload to our neighborhood since it is safe, the houses are close together, and it is wealthy enough that everyone has good candy. But as soon as my wife is off work (hopefully by 7) we are hitting the road.

Word on the street is that we might be able to get internet access for the first time at her mom's house, but I'm not going to put total faith in that so it's very possible I won't be blogging again until we return.

Another what if night

I took a bad beat somewhat deep in the 250k on stars and am now going through the inescapable "what if I had won that hand" phase. I won't bore you with the details but I was a 75% favorite postflop for a stack that I could have crusied to the final two tables with. Knowing that it's getting a top 3 in these big payout tourneys which basically determines whether you make good money or spectacular money in a given year always makes losing in them even more bitter. The fact that I've now gotten close to big payouts (over 20k) three times in the last week is encouraging since it shows I've been playing well. The fact that I haven't got there in any of those three still blows goats tho.

Still grindin'

I played a small aft session today because I quickly got bad beat in my first two tourneys and then unregistered for the other 3 I was going to play because my mind was not in it. I think a lot of my lack of volume comes from that - I know I'm in a crappy mindset so I don't play. It's good that I'm not tilting, but I do need to figure out a way to play through it so I can get my volume. One other big reason for my lack of volume comes from the simple fact that I am actually running much better than I thought. As a tourney player I am going to have many more losing days than winning ones, so it feels like I am constantly losing. In fact, I have not had a losing month since May, and the last 4 months (June-Oct)have all been really profitable months so I just felt no need to play.

I am going to play a normal session tonight and tomorrow, and then we leave for a week vacation (another reason my volume is never huge).

Since I have open time this aft, I'm going to go for a run and try and clean up the house a bit.

Another close call

I actually played a really light schedule today because my wife was on call last night and when she got home she said that she wanted to be woken up at 4:30 ish. I haven't spent time with her in like a week so i figured I could play some of the tourneys that started at 11:00 and if I got deep that was great, and if not, I would be free by 4:30. Well I got deep in one of the two "Sunday Majors" (the buy-ins at 215+ across all the major sites on Sunday). I got 12th in the Sunday Brawl on Tilt. 1st was over $70k, even 5th place was $20k. Unfortunately for me, 12th was only $2800.

I was definitely disappointed since I was so close to a huge score, but I sucked out like 3 times (cracking AA three separate times) just to get there so I can't bemoan my luck too much. The what ifs always go through your mind after getting so deep and then not quite getting the results you were looking for, but I played great and am playing great overall and as long as I keep plugging away the results will come.

Almost reversed the curse

I got 6th in the $100k guarantee on Pokerstars last night. For whatever reason, when I make a FT on Stars (which is not very often) I just can't finish the job. Last night was more of the same. I got it in 3 times where I was either a slight favorite or a slight underdog and I lost all three times. Alas, that's poker so although I will be going to bed with the dreams of the $20k that I almost had for first place, the bankroll still did get juiced about $5k so I won't cry myself to sleep.

1000 tourneys

I finally passed the 1000 tourney mark for the year today. For those that don't understand playing tournament poker professionally, that's an awfull small number. Considering that I can put in 12 tourneys a day (which is also considered a small number), that means that I've really only played like a little over 80 days this year. And for a fulltime job, that's obviously not many days. We talked about it last night, and I really just need a way to light a fire under my ass so that I can get more volume in. I feel like I should be at double this amount (at least 2000 tourneys) and even if I made just 50% as much as I did over the first 1k, I'd be at $100k profit for the year now.

As far as the stats go - I'm super pleased with my ROI which is at 73%. My itm is at 14.4% which seems low, but a lot of that has to do with my double up or go home mentality - I am working on relaxing a bit more w/15-25 BBs, so hopefully that will increase. My FT percentage is 2.5% - I don't know what to make of that. It seems low, but it also seems to be working. I think when I do make a FT I get a top 3 score a huge percentage of the time, so I'd like to increase my FT percentage in case I start picking up some more 4-9ths rather than 1-3rds.

Sunday

Sundays are big days for online tourney players as it is the day most sites have their biggest weekly tourney(s). It is a good day to play because you actually have the opportunity to win a huge (i.e. 6 figure) payout, but it can also be a frustrating day to play because all of the buy-ins are generally high ($200 ish) and if you don't cash anything you can easily blow through thousands of dollars. I generally don't play on Sundays because that's usually the day my wife has off. But yesterday my wife had to study so I actually got to play a bit. I was planning on playing a pretty full schedule, but I just wasn't feeling the mojo so I ended up only playing 4 tourneys and then packing it in. I didn't play excellent but didn't play horribly either. Oh well, it looks like I'll get to play again next Sunday so not a huge deal.

Today I am taking off from poker. I'm going to clean up the house. Maybe cook some meals for the week ahead, and tonight I play volleyball. So I'll get back to the grind tomorrow.

A little more light

I got 3rd in the 90k 6 max tourney on Tilt for $10k.

wheeeeeee - back to positive for the month.

A little light at the end of the tunnel

I finally cashed more than one tourney tonight and I even got 3rd in the small sniper tourney on UB to actually have a positive day.

It was nothing huge, but feels good to stop the bleeding at least.

Barftastic night

After getting down to less than 1 BB I somehow managed to not only make the money but get a decent stack in the 65k guarantee on Tilt. And then my connection went out and players started stealing my blinds. By the time I made it back, I was down to less than 15 BBs and went out soon after in 19th when a good spot to reshove didn't get there.

I also bubbled the deepstack tourney on UB which is always tilting since it takes like 4 hours just to get to the bubble and then to not even make the money just blows.

Anyhoo - I'm still playing good. Just a matter of time before I break out.

Back to it.

So the downswing continues, but I am playing fine. It is this aspect of poker which is really hard for non-poker players to understand. Playing well and losing money plays a real havoc on your mind. Sometimes I start to press and force things other times I go into supernit mode because I don't want to spew. In the end it always comes down to playing well and then just letting things happen. But knowing this never ever makes it any easier for me when I am losing $1k/day.

Away from the tables, I went to S.F. to visit my family this last weekend and had a blast. It's nice to only have to drive 2 hours to S.F. rather than the 6+ to L.A. or Santa Barbara. My sister was in town for a conference so I got to see her as well. My next extended leave from the tables should be in a couple of weeks when my wife goes on vacation. Until then, I hope to actually get some decent volume in and hopefully pop out of this downswing.

Downswinging... Again

I've played close to 40 tourneys this week and have only cashed in one. I actually have made a couple of mistakes, but for the most part I am just running bad. I feel like this always seems to happen after I make a decent score. I'm not sure how much of it is a mental block and how much of it is just standard - you can't always run well.

I know that if I keep playing well it will turn around, but as always it is hard getting through the downswings.

Back at it.... again

So after a basic 2 week hiatus (I've played once since Sep. 20) I played again a bit. I have volleyball tonight so I actually only played 3 tourneys, but it's a start. I should be playing a full schedule during this week, but then I'm going up to S.F. to visit my family this weekend, so the volume is still not going to be huge this month.

We had a good time with my in-laws. The whole premise of the trip was actually a b-day gift to my sister-in-law who is a terrific dancer and really likes to watch the show "So You Think You Can Dance" on Fox. My wife and mother-in-law really like the show too, so we bought everyone tickets for a performance where they had their top ten dancers doing performances from last season. I was expecting it to be us and thousands of 12 yr old girls, but was surprised to see a wide spectrum of people. And the audience really gets into it, so it was more like a rock concert than a standard dance performance. We all had a blast.

Her family is also super active, so we went biking/rollerblading/running/hiking as well and had a nice steak dinner out one of the nights too.

Anyhoo, I should get back into playing/making some videos for pokerpwnage these next couple of weeks, and I feel excited to play again, so hopefully I can get another decent score.

September recap - who needs volume?

I put in basically no volume - just over 100 tourneys for the month. But the two final tables I got in those tourneys were a 1st and a 2nd so I didn't really need to play anymore.

I think I'm going to try and make some guaranteed money today and tomorrow by doing some videos. I also want to watch a lot of baseball this week (I get to root for both the cubs and brewers which should be fun although the cubs are the team I really care about) plus my inlaws are coming up for a long weekend starting Thursday, so I probably won't play at all this week.

I also finally got out and played some volleyball last night - I am sore today, but oit was fun and should be a weekly thing for me now.

Anyhoo - I made about 13k for the month, so all's good. I should get back to actually playing again next week.

Another daytrip another flat tire

Although walking on the bikepath along the American river here in Sacramento is beautiful and close we do like exploring other areas too, so this last weekend we drove about a half hour north (in a town called Weimar) and went on a hike that was supposed to end at a 50 ft waterfall. It was unseasonably hot (like 95 degrees), but I like the heat. My wife freaked out a bit because it was a steep, gravel road down to the start of the hike and we went in our old pickup which never feels too secure anyways. But we made it, and once we started hiking it was beautiful.

The hike goes along the northern portion of the American river, which is always beautiful.



For the last 1/4 mile or so it then veers off into the forest and you end at what is supposed to be a 50 ft waterfall. However, since it is the end of a hot summer, the "falls" had disappeared and we were left with this:



There was still a trickle of water though, which was enough for a memorable Chula vs. frog moment:




On the way back we made a little detour to the river and found a nice swimming spot for a refreshing dip.



Then on the drive home, the karmic gods decided that one blown tire in a week wasn't enough, so we shredded a tire on the pickup as well.



Luckily we were able to get off the freeway and onto a sidestreet safely and we paid $40 to have someone come and put the spare on and then we were back on our way safe and sound. Today I went and got 4 new tires since the ones on the pickup were pretty shot. All in all a fun weekend.

Slowly getting back into it

I played 4 afternoon tourneys today after a week break. Played fine, didn't luck out, that's poker.

The one thing I have realized this week, is that I need to get out of this fricking house more. I seriously know NO ONE in this city.

The after-win lull

I often take a break from playing after a big score. Usually it's because I'm amped from the win, don't sleep well that night and am just too tired to play well the next day. But lately it has also been because I am excited to increase my bankroll and don't want to lose any of it by playing and losing. I know that in order for me to win longterm I need to keep playing, but I also want to delay what I feel is an inevitable downswing from happening. I also realize that it's dumb/weird to think that way, but that's why I haven't played this week.

But after doing nothing the last two days, I am bored, so I'm getting back to it tonight. In the meantime, I fixed our stereo, got our flat tire taken care of, raked/mowed the yard, and made chicken chilequiles - so it's not all bad to take a break either.

Too quick of a visit

My family from L.A. came to visit for the weekend. I feel bad that they basically spent the whole weekend driving. They came up Friday night (about a 6 hr drive) and left this afternoon.

Yesterday we took them to the hike we really like where you end at a set of about 4 waterfalls which you can slide down. I was the only one with enough cojones to brave the cold, but it was still a nice hike and the dogs definitely enjoyed it.

The new car got its first flat yesterday as well so I'll take that in tomorrow to get fixed. My plan this week is to do some stuff around the house (big thing is I want to re-waterproof the patio), and finally go to the open gym and play volleyball.

Quick update part 2

I only played 3 tourneys today since my L.A. fam is coming and I wanted to clean the house. But I managed to luckbox my way to a 2nd place finish in the $40k on Tilt for just under $12k.

So wheeeeee. I'll be back at it on Monday.

Quick update

Poker has been bad results wise this week. I feel I am playing very well, so it's just a matter of time for another nice score. If/when I ever get on a hot streak I feel like my bankroll will finally take off to a point where I can finally feel comfortable that playing fulltime is going to work. My problem is I win and then lose it all back the next couple of weeks, win again, rinse, repeat. I know big picture I have actually increased my bankroll while making monthly withdrawals, but big pictures are hard to look at when you are grabbing your ankles.

Non-poker wise - my L.A. family is coming up for the weekend so I am excited about that. My wife has a "golden weekend" so it will be nice to just spend time away from the computer. I'll try and get a standard day in tomorrow and then take the weekend off.