Thursday, October 11, 2007

Hello?

As many of you know, I tanked at poker pretty bad the last few months. I will spare you the details but suffice it to say I have spent more time working on my game and less time with things like this blog.

I plan on firing it back up on Cardrunners in the very near future as I am playing better and getting my life better organized to allow more time to do things like blog.

Thanks for reading.

Jeff

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Quick Update

I wanted to post yesterday but we sold a couple vehicles at work and my goddamn internet died at home last night so it was not really possible. This on the heels of having to replace my AC on Tuesday. Life delivered some bad beats this last 24 hours. But just like in poker, I am resilient and plan on stacking life this next week while on...

Vacation

We are leaving for Loveland, Colorado on Sunday at about 8pm. Why so late? Would you want to travel 10 hours with a 1 year old in a car? Hopefully she will sleep through the entire trip. To make things more interesting, we found out today that she has strep throat. Should make things fun.

The plan for Colorado is to spend a few days at my wife's sister's house along with their brother, other sister, parents, and all the nieces and nephews. Aside from the sister that lives there (plus a husband and two kids) the rest of us are from this area. Then on Thursday all 16 of us are going up into the mountains to stay at a cabin/resort joint in Estes State Park. We will be there a couple days then come home on either Saturday night or Sunday morning. I am not really looking forward to it but I am anxious to catch a couple Rockies games at Coors. I am hoping to see Greg Maddux pitch since the Padres will be in town. Hopefully it works out for the good.

Poker

I do not have time to get into the promised topic from my last post. I will see if I can get another post up tomorrow.

I have not played much the last few days. When I have, it is has been goofing off on Poker Stars with 5 card draw or on UB with PLO and HORSE. All together I have gambled away a buy in.

Oops...

Buh-Bye

Sorry for the short update. I will get you more either tomorrow or this weekend before we leave. No You Tube video today either....I will make up for it. I promise.

Later

Monday, July 16, 2007

Almost ALL Poker?!?!?!?

EDIT: For those of you that came here after reading my sig on CR that says I posted nude pics of Jessica Alba......yeah, I lied.

Boy did I have a big weekend hands wise. I put in just over 5k while just 4 tabling! The results were not there though, as I lost about 1 buy. I get frustrated seeing some guys just kill the limit when I scuffle so bad at times. I just continue to make bad calls and I refuse to trust my reads.

I put in some hands at HU and that went ok. I was up big early, took a big down swing, then surged back. Typical stuff for HU. I suffered some rough beats and made a few bad plays. All in all it was a fun diversion. I think I will do some study of HU as I think it is a very profitable game to be good at if you can handle the swings.

Bankroll

After surging past $4k to start the week I dropped $381.35 in about 6k hands to end it. I also started staking a friend (more on that in a sec) which took another $500 out of play.

Roll: $3151.71
Month Total: -$688.24
YTD: +$1932.17

The month and YTD figures include rakeback and about $4k in total withdrawals.

I really want to make the jump to 1/2 but I am just not ready. Until I become consistent and mature in my post flop play I will play $100 even if I grow my roll to $10k.

Staking Deal

Earlier this week a friend, CoxhEd on CR, put a thread on the OT board about selling his laptop so he could roll himself to play again.

For those that do not know, he went through a very tough spell that involved his mother fighting and beating cancer. During this time he withdrew his roll and moved back home to care for her.
Upon seeing the thread about his laptop I started to consider an offer to stake him. I was not sure if I wanted to take an eighth of my roll out and I needed to make sure my wife was ok with it (I earn the money but we share everything, I only felt it would be best to discuss it with her). After a few days I decided to approach him with the idea.

Within a few hours of my first PM we had a deal. I shipped him $500 on UB so he can play $25nl until he builds to $1500 at which time we will have a discussion about continuing or stopping the deal. As far as how it is structured, I would prefer to keep that private but suffice to say it is fair to both of us.

This is my first time doing this and as you can imagine I was a bit cautious entering it. I really trust CoxhEd and I am super anxious to see him succeed. He was beating 1/2 (and maybe 2/4, I forget) when his mom got sick so I know he can do it. He is a super guy and really deserves any good fortune he receives.

Wrap Up

I will be back Wednesday with some discussion about what to do when you feel uncomfortable in a pot. The topic has come up some on the low limit board so I think I will delve into it a bit. I may also see about posting some hands. And finally, I have my second lesson with Primoman tomorrow night. I will update you all on how that went.

You Tube

Today's video ties into the ESPY's which were aired last night. This is one of my favorite video's of all time and in the interest of full disclosure, I still cry every time I see it. Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePXlkqkFH6s

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

What a long week...

On the 4th, as promised, I drank like 300 beers. It breaks down like this:

-I had an 8:00 tee time with my brother. After a tough first hole we turned the cart around and hit the clubhouse for some beer. Great plan.
- We finished golfing about 11:00 and I went home to get loaded up to head to my parents farm.
- Got to the farm about 1:00, started drinking.
- A friend and I drove around and shot things/animals with .22 rifles for a few hours, while drinking.
- We came back and sat around for a few hours bullshitting, and drinking.
- Etc, drinking, etc.

Are we seeing a pattern here?

About 7pm I just wore out. I was tired and full and drunk. Awesome.

Softball

Boy are we terrible. I mean really really terrible. For one, my batting average the last 3 years reads like this: .540, .623, .558. This season, which is 2/3 over, I am sitting at about .250. WTF? It is at the point where I am voluntarily sitting out big games because I am killing my team.

On Thursday we had a league game against a team we swept earlier in the season. The first game we manage only 4 runs in an 8-4 loss. The second game we crushed them 16-4 in 5 innings (1o run rule). So we were feeling OK coming into the weekend's big tourney.

Oops...

In two games we played a total of 10 innings and were outscored 27-7. In other great news it was 103 degrees on Saturday. Our pitcher (and best hitter) had to quit in the 3rd inning of the first game because he was super hot and light headed. In the second game my brother came off the field dry heaving he was so hot. What a shitty fucking day.

Out of the double elim tourney (two and BBQ as we say in the biz) we decided that we should come over on Sunday to watch the not so terrible teams that were still playing. And by watch, I mean drink.

I got up early Sunday (for me) and made up a gallon of mojitos in a water jug then headed for the ball diamonds. Once there seven of us proceeded to annihilate the mojitos and 5 or 6 cases of beer.

We were drunk. I mean wrestling in the front yard of a buddies house drunk. Yeah, I know...

We did much of the partying behind the center field fence so we could heckle the other teams. At one point a home run landed right by us. We grabbed the ball and saved it for later.

Side point important to the story: Our first basemen, Jung, is this 6' 2'', shaved head, broad shouldered, righty that looks pretty intimidating if you don't know him.

Soon after another ball came our way. Jung stands up on the picnic table and throws the original ball back left handed as we all chanted "Throw it Back! Throw it Back!" Of course the team in the field has no idea what is happening as they have no idea who we are. We proceed to repeat our performance like thrice more. Of course they have to stop the game for us each time. Pure drunken comedy.

Poker

As you may have been able to tell from my tales of drunkenness I have played almost no hands in the last week. When I did play, I had a rough time suffering set over set losses no less than 3 times. in a 500 hand stretch. I am stuck a bit over 2 buys since my last post and my roll sits at $3750 or so.

Being Fat

I have been really tired a lot lately. My friend Matt (mjrnt on CR) suggested that maybe it is because I sit on my ass all day at work then go home and sit on my ass some more. I am def 25 pounds overweight and I am sick of feeling older than I am. I really need to get out of the house and do something other than drink...like take a jog or something. Ugh. So as much as I hate to say this, tonight when I get home I am gunna go for a run. Hopefully I stick with this for a few months. If I prove to myself that I can, I will renew my membership at the YMCA for the first time in like 2 years so I can start with weights again.

Yuck.

You Tube

Will Ferrell and Pearl, the final chapter:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiGd294SnB8

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

Pre-Independence Day Thoughts

Between yesterday and today I got all the shit for my new computer. I am going to start assembling it this evening as long as I am comfortable I won't fuck anything up. If I get to the point where I realize I have no idea what I am doing I will wait for my brother to finish it up on Thursday. He says he will install the OS and drivers then as well. Hopefully he follows through, because I want this baby up and running in the worst freaking way.

Independence Day

As I said on Friday, I cannot wait for tomorrow! We got big plans starting with an 8:12 tee time at a local public course. I have not actually golfed a round, or a hole for that matter, since my lessons started. I am not expecting anything major since I have yet to pick up a driver, wedge, or putter... I am just looking to have fun and tip a few back with my little bro.

When we are done golfing I will venture out to my parent's farm to start drinking/blowing stuff up/shooting things.

I can't wait.

Poker

I have not played much since my last post. Friday my wife, daughter, and I went out for dinner with some friends. When we got home I was so tired I went to bed early. Saturday we went to my aunt's for dinner. Again, by the time I got home I was beat and went to bed early.

Side note: I tried a new drink concoction on Saturday. I mixed equal parts Sky vodka and and Cointreau (orange liqueur) and added a splash of club soda. It is a really good summer drink as it was quite refreshing. Of course the flavor is very strong and it is def a sipping drink. I highly recommend giving it a try.

So Sunday I sat down for a good 1,300 hand day. I split it into an afternoon and evening session. The afternoon stint was only about an hour as I was not playing well and suffered a set over set loss for a full buy. I guess my head really was not into it for whatever reason. I dropped like $150 and said screw it, then did some work around the house.

Sunday evening went far better as I won my losses back plus a buy in or so. I played very very well and got paid on a few big hands. I actually doubled up on two different tables within about 5 minutes of each other. Once was with a set of queens, the other I flopped AKJ with QT...the villain had AQ and could not let it go.

I hope to play 1k hands this evening as I have no idea when/if I will be able to play tomorrow. Thursday will also be tough since we will be working on the new computer. I hope to play a shit ton on Friday because this weekend is also a total loss. I have a softball tourney all day both Saturday and Sunday. If we get knocked out early Sunday I will get some hands in. Otherwise it will be slim pickings.

Bankroll

June:
Start: $4084.89
End: $3839.95
Net Difference: -$244.94
Witdrawls: $1021.00
Gross Difference (money made playing poker before withdrawls): +$776.06
Hands: Approx 20k

Current: $3936.77
July: +$96.82

It was certainly not my best month on record. But considering I missed a week due to illness and my continued inability to fold hands on the river when I know I am beat, I feel really good about things.

Goals

As I stated WAY back, my goal for the year is to be beating 2/4 by January 1st. I still think that is very possible and I will continue to work towards it. My more immediate goal is to make $2,000 while playing 20,000 hands in July. This will be VERY hard as I am taking a weeks vacation starting on the 23rd. I will work my ass off in the meantime and see what happens.

I want to move full time to 1/2 by the beginning of September, something that must happen if I am to have any shot at getting to 2/4 by New Years Day.

You Tube

Real Jeopardy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5H5r4_CoJo

Fake Jeopardy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oM56uf3JbCU

Friday, June 29, 2007

2 Posts in 3 days? Who'd a Thunk it?

I hate work. We are soooooo slow right now, it is sick. For those that don't know I work in a small car dealership. We run hot and cold. One week we are so busy I have no time to do anything...the next the lot is a morgue. Add to the pot that the owners are almost never here in the summer and things can get pretty shitty. If I am alone and we are busy, that sucks. If I am alone and we are slow, I get bored. Catch 22 for sure.

Poker

Not much to report here. I have played about 1,000 hands the last two days with minimal results. I won like $11.00 on Wednesday and dropped $4 yesterday. WoOt!!!

I am still having a problem making brutal calls. I am almost embarrassed by this, but lemme show you an example:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1218805

Ugh...

I need to follow my own advice:

http://www.cardrunners.com/fusetalk/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=67&threadid=24538&enterthread=y

I have been good about posting on the board since Wednesday when I committed to it. I have not been able to watch a video in the last few days but circumstances have not really allowed it. My home PC is fucked so I cannot watch anything on it (porn included!!!). And work is not always the best place to try and study. Although I have done it, I just find it harder to concentrate here. At least I am lucky that my bosses let me play poker and study all I want as long as my shit gets done.

Overall I am playing the best poker of my life. If I can just stop making the bad call, I would be in the clear.

Softball

We had a game last night and it did not go well. We are better as a team than last year but I am just horrible. Last season I hit in the .550 range. This year I would be lucky to be at .300. I almost don't want to go the field anymore.

We play in the A/B division which is the highest in town (population 25k) but got swept by a C team last night. We just could not hit and could not come up with the third out when we needed it. A 6th inning 2 out grand slam off the goddamn foul pole sealed our fate in the second game...can we get a break???

We got a big tourney next weekend, hopefully things go better.

4th of July

I cannot wait for the 4th! It is my second favorite day of the year (next to Christmas). My whole family on both my mothers and fathers side go out to my parents farm and just party all day. We get around 40-50 people a year out there and shoot trap (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trap_shooting), drink, BBQ, and watch a sweet home done fireworks display. The 4th has given me some of my best memories as a child and I still love it to this day. It is just good old fashioned South Dakota fun.

Oh, and I love building sparkler bombs and blowing shit up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcRU6gZhb7U (there is your You Tube video of the day)

Things are SUPER powerful. I know a guy that lost a hand trying to throw it out the window of his car. Idiot...

New Computer

Last thing before I shove off. Rodeo helped my pick out stuff to build a new PC. I am psyched for all the stuff to get here so I can get it assembled, the OS and drivers installed, and start not having such a shitty PC at home.

Here is the thread that has all the components listed for those that care:

http://www.cardrunners.com/fusetalk/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=128&threadid=24581&enterthread=y

I'll be back either this weekend or Monday morning. Till then remember that no matter how bad it seems, you could always be this guy: http://www.nicemice.net/amc/photos/auto/2004-04-25-225625-cherryblossomfestival-cosplay

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

I'm baaaaaaaaacckkk.....New and Improved?

Ok, ok, ok, ok.....so it has been a month.

It has been a BUSY month!

Allow me to explain:
-I spent 4 days in bed with a 102 degree fever (had brutally bad case of strep throat) and am still recovering a bit.
-I have played 16k hands in 14 days (took 12 days off so far...ugh) 4 tabling $100nl on UB
-I have had four birthday parties (me, my mother, my mother-in-law, and my nephew), my 6 year wedding anniversary, fathers day, and a cousin came to visit from Texas.
-I took up golf.
-Softball season is in full swing.

Add in to all this that my home PC is a big pile of dog shit...

I was without the computer for 4 or 5 days and have battled all sorts of virus and spyware issues over the last couple of weeks. Using any internet browser is almost out of the question right now. The good news is that I am building a new PC and hope to be up and running next week.

Taking the Dive

In order to try and get some structure in my poker life I am making some new commitments. They are as follows:

1. Post 5 times per day on SSNL board (only applies to days I play...not to off days).
2. Update blog a minimum of 3 times weekly.
3. Watch 3 video's per week.
4. Play at least a 25,000 hand per month pace.

I am hoping that I can hold myself to these. I think I am at a point where I can really break through and go from 3bb/100 to 6 bb/100 real quick like. In order to do that I need to fix a leak (calling off chips in various spots) and work my ass off. I have worked hard on the leak and have improved a ton in the last 10 days so the next step is studying and posting a ton.

Bankroll Progress

Month Start: $3854.27
Current Total: $3831.72
Withdrawls This Month: $1021.00
Gross Profit (incl. rakeback): +$998.45
Net Profit (incl. rakeback): -$22.55
16170 Hands

New Teacher

I took a two hour lesson from Primoman (Adam). He teaches a decidedly more LAG style than what I am used to. Pre-Adam I ran 18/16 for several 100k hands. Since the lesson (beginning of this month) I am running about 23/17. That is obv a pretty dramatic change.

With games being as nitty as they are right now I really think that opening up like this is the best way to turn a good profit. He actually advocates more of a 26ish VPIP but that is just too much for me... I am very comfortable where I am at and really enjoy the results I am getting. At some point in the near future I will be taking lesson number 2 (as soon as I get the new PC up and running).

Chris Benoit

I am saddened by the loss of Chris Benoit and his family. I am disgusted at his actions and I wish he was still alive so he could pay the proper price for what he did. However, he was a great performer and I choose to remember him for that as well.

You Tube

This posts video de jour....Paris Hilton gets out of jail, and sings about it?!?!?!?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k66epna2Sss

See you soon kiddies!!!