Saturday, February 26, 2011

Busy Week?

I just can't believe how fast time flies and then when I look at my blog I haven't written in a few days. I always say I will get better but then I stray off and my time is taken up with other things in my life and I forget. Lets go over what happened during the week.

Poker is number one this week. I have been following "PokerLawyer" and have decided to make some changes with my poker playing. I am going to cut back on the amount of tournaments I am playing and try to play just a few with the structures that I like. I am looking at the different Casinos in the state to see where the tournaments are at and play one in each of them. Right now my first big tournament will be at NorthernQuest, in Spokane, at the Spring Fling. I am going to play the Seniors event on April 5. After that I will travel to Wildhorse Casino, in Pendleton, Oregon, for the Spring Roundup and play their Senior event on April 19. I also will play in the Cash Games. Anything $1-$2 or $2-$5 will be the games of choice. I am tired of being frustrated and will focus on these to get better. I am looking for a place to go for March if I can find one. If not I may play every other week in a game at the Jokers Casino here in town just to keep active.

My stock account for the week was up and down. I put in a buy order for KOG this week and was bought in for .34 cents more than what I wanted to buy in at. My fault for not using a limit order. I am looking at ETF's to try and find a way to purchase and not have the fluctuations that go on with the other stocks. I also purchased the "Stockassault" software to try and have better picks available to me. It is presently working in the background of my computer looking at the next buy. So for this past week I am in CIM and KOG.

I found out this week that I still have a sharebuilder account from 2004 that I thought was cancelled. I went in and there is a whole $1.68 in the account. Wow, it might grow into something. I don't think I am getting any interest from it so I am not sure whether to add to it or just try to get the money out. It might cost me more to get the money than to just go ahead and add to it.

I bought a book called "Early Retirement Extreme". This book is very interesting and I wish I would have gotten ahold of it a number of years ago when I was still working. We might be able to do something since my wife is still working and we might be able to plan something after I have read the book completely. I like the concepts so far.

Very happy with PayPal this week. They finally released my account and I have my money back. Now I am changing all of the passwords so I am not hacked again. I need to make some changes to the account so my bank account is not vulnerable.

This week I have been spending some time at the library. Yes, it has been a long time. I sit and read the paper, financial papers and overall it just gets me out of the house so I am not getting depressed by sitting here all day. I wish they had poker magazines available too but they don't have them on their shelves. I guess I need to keep up the subscriptions on the ones I like to read.

Have a fun day.......

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Sunday Poker

After having a fairly good day on Friday I figured that I was close to another win and wanted to keep playing so today is the day.

The Structure was $40 with T$15,000 in chips and the rounds were at 15 minutes. I started off and for some reason I am getting raised whenever I play. This has been happening to me the last few tournaments I have been playing. Am I giving off a tell? For some reason I am not telling a good enough story. One of the times I finally had a hand. I had AA and the guy at the end of the table who was raising me decided to do it again. I let him raise and then when the flop came rainbow I raised it up. He called and then on the turn I raised again and he reraised. I again called and then on the river we got it all in and I won the pot. That really changed the table dynamics for me. When I raised again for another pot they were not so eager to raise me.

There were 31 runners for this tournament. I ran well and was able to play my game and was picking up pots. I was looking for that final table and to get to the money. Again 4 would be paid.

I was running along and when we got to the 3000/6000 blinds I was at T$40,000 chips and again I did the same thing as I did on Friday. Instead of waiting I pushed all in to get people to fold and I was called and raised and we got it all in with me holding Kx vs AA. I was unable to catch the cards I needed and eventually was out of the tournament in 11th place. So this time I bubbled the final table.

I love to play tournaments but I am wondering if this is what I need to do. I am thinking about changing over to cash games instead and really work on my bankroll. I could do better in a cash game than the every now and then tournament. Maybe go back to tournaments at a later date when I have the bankroll to do that.

If I do this I will have to do some study on the cash game and then go after that. They play a 2-20 spread during the week later in the evening. Since I don't play until Friday again this will give me the time to think about it some more.

Time to change gears and look for stocks to buy this week. I am also looking at getting involved with the Currency market again. So many things to think about.

Have a fun week......

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Friday Tournament

I wasn't sure whether I was going to play the tournament yesterday. It was around noon when I finally decided to play. I want to keep learning and doing well and trying to make the plays.

The tournament structure changed this month. It is now a $40 buy in and you receive T$10,000 in chips and the rounds are 20 minutes. The price is the only thing that changed in this one. It only means we will have more in the prize pool.

We started with about 27 runners and my goal of course is the final table. You can't get anywhere until you pass that one goal. I was pretty tight on my table and only played the premium hands and those in the blinds when no one else came in except limpers. This group likes to see flops.

I finally made it to the final table and I had about the same amount I started with. It was time to be a little bit more aggressive with my stack and see if I could make my second goal of the top 4. That is where the money is and I want to reach that level. I started to be aggressive and it was working. My aggression was against the shorter stacks and to make sure I was pulling in the blinds. I tried to stay away from the 2 big stacks,

In the end I was called by one of the big stacks when I had 88 vs KQ and lost on the board of xxQxQ. I went out in 5th place. Money bubble. That doesn't make me feel good. That hand didn't hurt me as much as the hand before when I had KQ vs AK and the board came xxKxx. That took most of my chips.

I will try again tomorrow.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Anniversary

Now that I have decided to only play the Friday and the Sunday tournaments there are a few days in between that there is little to write about other than some daily routine stuff that I do.

I was finally able to find a stock that fit what I needed and I set it up for a buy last night. This morning I looked at my phone and sure enough it went through and I am now in PWAV as a momentum stock. I would really like to hit a homerun with something. It would feel like winning a big Poker Tournament. I have been learning to sit on my hands with these stock picks. Since I have little capital in my account I can't daytrade any of these stocks and have to hold for 24 hours. I have still on the positive side of the original capital so I am doing alright.

Today is my parents 60th Anniversary. We are taking them to Red Lobster this evening. Remember that Mom has Alzheimers and they are living in different care units. This is going to be hard on Dad and I hope we all make it through the evening. This is sad but we want to celebrate the 60 years that they have been together.

I have some friends that got me started playing "Words" on my iPhone. It is fun to play the game on your time. It may take us a couple of days to play one game. Right now I have 4 games going at the same time. Makes you put your thinking cap on and come up with words that are at least 4 or 5 letters long. The 3 letter words are the easier ones.

If you want to try some good Barbeque Sauce you must try www.reedsbbqsauce.com. He has some mild to hot stuff going. Tell him Steve sent you.

Have a fun day......

Monday, February 14, 2011

The weather is a turning

After my disaster of playing poker on Friday I decided to play on Sunday. I wanted to show myself that I knew what I was doing and to play better poker and not make stupid decisions.

When I think about it the decision to go all in with my set on the 4th hand of the tournament was not a bad idea but I also had to take into consideration the two diamonds that were there on the flop. Would he play for a draw with two cards left to play? That had to be my decision and I chose to play with the made hand, the set, and force him off of the draw. Well, his decision was to play for the draw and he made that third diamond. I guess you have to say thats poker.

The Sunday tournament is another good structure. It is $40 and you get T$15,000 in chips and the rounds are 15 minutes. It looks like I will start trying to play the Friday and the Sunday tournaments. I believe they have the best structure for the week.

I was not getting any premium hands that I could play during the tournament and I knew I just needed to remain patient. As patient as I could be when you have a guy on the right that is coughing and hacking and you know he has a cold. Why do people do this? I really didn't want to get any of his chips. Basically I just stayed away from playing him. Is that a reason to not play someone? It was for me.

I kept track of my chip count and watching the other players stacks and I was down to about T$10,000 at the 300/600 level and it was getting expensive to keep putting chips in and not adding anything to my stack. Finally I was in the BB and was able to play Qx. A Q came on the flop so I bet and the other guy put in a big raise and so I went all in and he called. He showed K10 and he got a 10 on the river but it didn't help him and I doubled my stack.

We were still playing 3 tables at this point and we are now at 500/1000 and I am around T$15,000 and I pick up AJ. I raise the pot and the guy to my left comes along. The flop comes xxJ and I raise the pot again and he then goes all in. I figured he must have a J and he is trying to get me off of the hand. I know I can't beat AA, KK, QQ. Would he have any of that? I go all in as well and he turns over the KK. I didn't get anything on the turn or river so I am out of the tournament.

This all comes down to decisions. I am looking at the cards better and coming up with what I am up against and I am feeling that my reads are correct. Then why can't I lay it down? Curious? Just don't want to believe someone has a better hand? I need to remember that we are in a tournament and my tournament life is at stake whenever I go all in. I don't want to blind off but I need to stay in tournaments longer.

Another area that is hurting me is gathering chips during the tournament with non premium hands. Making plays for the pot when no one else wants it. I tried that yesterday as well and was reraised everytime I tried to do this. Do they have a read on me? Do I need to start wearing my sunglasses? Maybe start wearing a hat? These are things that I need to work on and figure out.

Now if anyone has any suggestions please let me know what you think.

Have a fun day......

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Friday Poker

This will be a short blog and you will see in a few seconds why.

I went down to the Casino to play in the 3PM tournament. The structure is $35 for T$10,000 in chips and 20 minute rounds. I like this tournament.
I think I have said this before. I drew my seat and I got the 5 seat at the Heart table. The blinds are 25/50 and we are now 3 hands into the tournament. I turn over 33. I went ahead and put in a raise for 3x the BB. One person came along. The flop comes 3xx with two diamonds. I bet and we end up getting all of the money in the middle and I loose to a
flush.

That was my tournament. I was very discouraged and I had not done
anything like that in a long time. Four hands and I am out. I could just see that one coming. I am going to try and play the 2PM tournament today. The structure is $40 with T$15,000 and 15 minute rounds.

I had a good week in the stock market. I am up so far for the capital
and now will hope for another good week and build on what I have right now. I am holding CIM for dividend and SKS is the momentum play for the next few days as long as it keeps moving up. Will be watching it closely tomorrow. I will start using a trailing stop to see if that will help me.

The weather around here is real nice at the moment. You could get used to this. Spring is really around the corner. Yard work is going to get started soon.

Have a fun day......

Friday, February 11, 2011

Busy Week

This week has been very busy for me. I decided to sell my parents vehicle and to just get rid of it. We don't need three cars sitting around the house when there are only two of us driving. I put the ad on craigslist and the next day it sold. I put a low price on it and they still got me to come down a little bit more than I wanted but it worked out. Now our insurance will go down and that will help the bottom line.

I got up at 0245 on Monday, Tuesday and then at 0315 on Wednesday to deliver papers. I am very glad that is done. I decided I would help this person and maybe take the route once a month so she could get some sleep since this is a 7 day per week job. I don't think I could handle being up every morning so this will help her out. I am back to being more alert now since I am back on schedule.

I have been watching Foxwoods and Commerce Poker tournaments online streaming. That has been fun to watch. You get to see all of the action at the final table even before it is a final table. See how they play and the betting patterns. You can't see the cards but it does help when they talk about the hands.

I need to find someone to discuss playing a structure of 20 minute rounds with T$10,000. Last night I played a structure of 10 minute rounds and T$20,000 and I am doing something wrong. I got KK and bet and nobody came in the pot with me. Slowplay? Something has to work. Will be looking at my books and see if I can find something that will help me. Maybe try 2+2.

This week I have been active with the stock market. I have played EV, AXP and now I am in SKS. These have all been momentum plays. I will see what my end result is at the end of today. Hoping for a positive week. Keeping the capital growing.

I need to keep at the stock market and try to do better in poker. I am not sure I want to try the live cash game again after the last loss I took. Need to do more reading before I try again. I would like to get the tournament structure down and be more consistant with some wins. If you have some ideas let me know.

I read something in the online paper this week that I thought was crazy. I read that WA State is thinking about legalizing Marijuana because of the tax benefits. Try to help the bottom line. Now why not legalize Poker online and tax that? I would think that would make more sense. What our lawmakers are thinking when they come up with stuff like that I don't know.

Have a fun day.....

Monday, February 07, 2011

Slow Weekend

Actually this weekend was very slow. I must say I didn't do a thing. Sat around the house and on Sunday watched the Superbowl. I wasn't going to do that but I just didn't feel like doing anything. I like the fact the Green Bay Packers won. I still harbor ill thoughts about Steelers winning the Superbowl from the Seahawks a few years back. I still believe we will someday find out that the Refs were bought off to let Bettis get his one Superbowl win. Yes, I am a Rams fan but live in WA state so I do like the Seahawks but don't like it when the Rams and Seahawks have to play each other.

I did set up a Momentum play last night before going to bed. Now I will watch as EV moves and hopefully increase my capital in my account.

I am hoping for a good week. I am helping a person out with her paper route so I need to get up at 0245 in the morning. Haven't done that in a long time. I plan on doing it again tomorrow morning and then take a day on Wednesday to do the route on my own and give her a day off. This will give me something to do. Definitely not about the money. If it was I would get my own route.

Lets get this week started.

Have a fun day......

Friday, February 04, 2011

Posting Again

Uh oh, Looks like I am slacking again. Got to get something in the blog so I don't seem like I am forgetting what is going on with my life.

My sister came into town on Wednesday and left today in the evening. It was nice to have her here to visit with Dad and see Mom as well. I know she enjoyed the time with them. Being able to see Mom in her new digs at the Alzheimers Care Unit. Getting a chance to see how she is progressing and seeing Dad in his space at the Assisted Living.

I was able to play one tournament this week on Thursday evening. I made it to the final table but went out in tenth place. It gets frustrating sometimes when you know how to play the game but you just can't seem to get it going. I need some help. Who do I go to? I told you about the book with Susie Isaacs and now I must say there is a coach that I like to talk with and his name is Chris Wilcox. He is from Las Vegas and he coached me with my online play and gave me some good pointers. Now that I have to play all of my games live it is just a little bit different. I bought the book "The No BS guide to Winning Online No Limit Texas Hold'em" by Chris Wilcox. You can get this either as an E-Book or as an actual hard bound book. Either way you can't go wrong. Go to www.internetpockercoach.com and take a look at all he has going.

I was able to contact him and he has been able to give me some pointers for live play and will be working this into my game this next week. I am happy to have him around to help.

I am reading a book called "Tournament Poker & The Art of War" by David Apostolico. Good read as well. I tend to read two or three books at a time. I read Magazines on poker. I watch poker on TV or internet. Can you tell I want to learn?

No news on the Paypal account. They did take the $150 out of the account and I am waiting for them to make a decision on whether they will give me back my money since I didn't make the purchase. I hope they can see that.

The stock market pick went well this week. I played LNG as a momentum play and brought my account back up to the January 1 level. Now to work on the next play. Ford (F) sure looks good right now. I am in CIM right now as well. That is my Dividend play. I am trying to make something each week with the stock market. Something I can do even if I am not at home. Hint, Hint for traveling to poker tournaments.

I read quite a few blogs and one of them is "www.Pokerlawyer.blogspot.com" and is a good read. I like the setup she is proposing for online and live play. I am considering doing the same thing when the bankroll allows it. Of course I can't play online but I can play in the local tournaments. It will be fun to watch her progress. Take it down.

My sister has a condo in Bullhead City, AZ and is very busy on the Movie sets so she doesn't live there. Do you know someone that is a snow bird that would enjoy renting a fully furnished Condo and play in the Casinos across the river? It is only a 90 minute drive to Las Vegas as well. Just a thought and if you know of someone let me know and I will pass on the information.

Have a fun day......

Tuesday, February 01, 2011

Paypal Madness

This morning I woke up and looked at my iPhone again to check email to make sure someone else was not trying to take money out of my account. I then went to the computer and opened up my bank information and found out that Paypal went ahead and pulled the money out of my account. They are supposedly holding the money until this is resolved. They say 10 days. Wow, that is a long time to hold money. That will keep me from using my bank account for anything right now.

I then decided that since I hadn't received some information from a person that I paid about a month ago that I will try to push and see if I could get the information or at least my money back. So, in the month now I have basically lost $250. I put in the resolution to Paypal and immediately the person contacted me about the information I was supposed to receive. Amazing what a little bit of pushing will do. I say don't mess with me right now. I am down bucks and I intend to get it back or at least get the product I purchased.

I set up my stock account last night for a momentum play and when I looked at the computer this morning the stock was up. I watched the stock all day to see what would happen and by the afternoon I was able to put a stop loss on the stock to lock in so at least I would break even. Tomorrow if the stock goes up again I will be very happy. It looks like it has the room and the technicals show it should. Of course you can't trust anything to do what you would like for it to do. As I said before I need to start being aggressive with my picks. Hopefully this will be a start. My capital is back above the even mark.

I am reading a new book on Poker. The name of this book is "Tournament Poker and the Art of War" by David Apostolico. So far one chapter in and it is good information. Lets see if this might help my game a little bit more. Now I will be going to war with my chips.

I now have all of the paperwork for taxes. I will now spend some time going over them to see if we are paying again this year. I think we will be but not sure of how much.

Have a fun day.....