Saturday, October 29, 2011

Time Off

I showed up for my shift on Thursday evening and there weren't enough players to have six dealers on the floor. Since I am the new dealer I do expect to be sent home if I am not needed. I am alright with this.

What I don't expect to have happen is a dealer being rude or commenting about it in a joking manner. I am fine with playing and not working the tables but don't be rude.

I showed up to work this morning and we didn't have enough players for five dealers so I offered to go home instead of staying there. The manager offered to pay us even if we didn't have all the players but I just can't see that being good. Oh well, I am fine with coming home and I will deal with the other dealer later. Everyone has been fine with me coming on as a new dealer but for some reason I think he feels like I am taking hours from him.

I will work tomorrow evening and was asked to stay a little bit later so we will see what happens. Before I left the manager asked me to come in on Monday and be him. Does that mean I open? This will be interesting.

I have a table set up in our back bedroom and I have been practicing the all-in math. That seems to be the area I need the most work. I will keep plugging away and doing my best.

Went to the Dentist yesterday. Meds are so nice that I don't have to remember I was even there. I took my medication on Thursday evening and woke up at 3AM so decided to take another. At 6:30 it was time to get ready to go so I took another one. Next time I won't take three of them for the visit. Way too much.

Have a good weekend everyone.....

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Alcohol and Poker

After a day of dealing cards I was asked to be the backup for the evening session. I said yes and showed up for work.

Today was a little bit different in that it was one of the dealers 40th birthday and everyone was celebrating. I know it was a birthday but to sit and watch poker being played with alcohol being consumed was hard to watch.

I am sure the hangover today was massive and will probably need some time to recuperate.

The morning session of live poker went well for me. I ended up at $29 profit. When I came back for the night session I ended up giving $25 of it back. Just couldn't catch the cards in the evening session. I then signed up for the tournament which was a rebuy tournament as well.

I started out just about playing anything because the birthday boy was at my table. I ended up going all in with 77 and they got beat. Rebuy time and I was moved to a different table. This is when I decided to get to work playing poker like I know how. I started out doubling up and continued to increase my chip stack. In the end I made it to the final table and we all decided to chop the pot at 5 players. It was a nice little profit of $82 for about 3 hours of playing time.

Friday I am off and will be at the dentist early in the morning. Not looking forward to it but this is something I need to keep up with. It is nice that he has decided to give me some meds to make me feel better during the procedure.

Have a nice day....

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

One More Day

I had Monday off and I was able to do some errands. I am getting into more of a routine now since it has been just about three weeks since I started working at the casino. I am basically working the Freerolls during the mornings and into the afternoon. I do have two evenings out of the five days and they are the freerolls as well.

Tomorrow will be my first paycheck from the casino. As I said before it has almost been two years since I received a paycheck from working for someone. Isn't it strange how we get accustomed to selling our time for money and when we don't have that coming in you have to come up with other ways to keep going.

I am getting more comfortable with dealing. I still miss the time playing the game and I am sure at some point I will be able to go back to what I was doing. I really enjoy the live cash game more than the tournaments and will put my efforts at playing more of that as the time goes on. I am able to play live while at work when they need someone to fill a seat to keep the game going. So for now that is where I am getting my poker time.

I was able to play in a tournament today. I enjoy playing in this $25 tournament since you have the players that understand what is going on. I didn't get as far or deep as I would like. I tried to play my premium hands and kept getting taken off of them by someone re-raising my hands. Sometimes I wonder if they are doing it to see if I will fold. I did play with QQ and the board came with 5 spades and we ended up chopping the pot and then I got KJ only to run into KQ and the board end up showing both a KQJ. Just not my day.

This week I will be going to the dentist. I am not looking forward for that but I do have medication that I can take that will help me get through the chair time. Hopefully they won't find anything wrong with my teeth. Get the cleaning done and then see them again next year.

Have a fun day......

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Hard Times

It has been a few days since I have updated. I have been real busy working at the Casino. Even my worst days I am able to do something that I enjoy.

Yes, I have been very happy but also feel the stress of being a dealer and listening to people complain about my dealing. Ok, I need to get some thicker skin. I have solved my issue with the speed of dealing. I had some good people talk with me and explain that shuffling without looking would be good and keeps the game going. I guess it is multi tasking that is important.

My next issue is the all-ins. I don't have any issues with 2 players but when I get 3 or 4 going all in with different amounts then that is an issue. I am working on this and will keep at it. Right now I am dealing the freerolls and that is where I am learning. Patience for me as well as the players.

Saturday night was very frustrating for me and I shouldn't have been dealing this game. I got myself dealing the final table and things just got worse. I had a drunk person and another person that kept saying hurry up and deal. Hard to hurry up when you had to explain to the drunk girl how to play and what to do. This was her first time I understand. Didn't help me any. I was replaced at the table finally and was able to go home. I was very, very frustrated and stressed by the time I was done.

Tonight was the best night I have had yet. People were fun and very patient with me and they even told me to just relax and deal. I am also getting known to not help the winning hand at the beginning. They are saying that I "deal them dirty". If your all in with the winning hand don't expect me to help you out. Tonight I broke AA and others with better hands by the river. Maybe this is my revenge for those that aren't nice at the table.

I haven't played much tournament and I have sat in on some live play. Easier to do the live play since it helps to fill up a table and keep a game going. I did well on Saturday just being patient and waiting for hands and not chasing anything. Tonight not so much.

This week is my first paycheck in almost two years. You talk about excitement. It won't be much but still it is a paycheck. I am working on my bankroll so that I will be able to continue playing at some point. It is slow growing but I have to be patient and keep working on my goals.

Have a good week.......

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Early Morning

The Poker Manager asked me to show up to work at 0815 this morning. Always willing to please I showed up on time and we had a chance to sit and talk about dealing and what he wanted me to do.

He definitely does not want me to quit. He feels with some added work I can make it as a dealer. The things I need to work on is being able to shuffle the cards and work with the cards without looking at them. Pitching the cards is not a problem. The other thing we went over was the all-ins and making the side pots. He got some chips and he set up some scenarios and I was able to make the pots with no problems. My problem is having to do them under the stress of the game.

We did discuss one other thing. I was very hesitant about dealing the $2-$10 game it made me very nervous. Well, he said he was going to have me deal the $2-$100 game. I guess that is one way of breaking me in to the live game. I have been dealing the $1-$6 but now probably Thursday night will get my chance at bigger limit game. He changed my schedule.

I am going to put my nose to the grindstone and get this done. Working hours again is strange and it will take a bit to get accustomed to working a shift. Working days and evenings. I know I can do this.

It amazes me how people get so uptight playing a FreeRoll. They don't pay anything to play and the casino puts in the money for the prize pool. They should be happy they have a place to play and learn how to play the game. They have to gripe about something. It is a good place for someone like myself to learn to deal and be in an actual game under game situations. If I wasn't dealing I would be in these games playing.

Have a good day.....

Monday, October 17, 2011

Decision Time for Me

After not sleeping Saturday night and giving it a lot of thought I decided that I would terminate my employment with the casino and go back to just being a player.

This morning I got up and went over to the casino to make sure I was able to talk to the poker manager first thing. The long and short of the conversation was that he did not take my shirt and name tag and would not accept the termination.

He wants me to go a little bit longer before I make this decision to stop dealing poker. My problem is with the players chirping and not being happy with the slowness that I have at this time. I know that it will take some time to get better and the speed will improve. Right now there are so many things to remember and not just at the table but on the floor as well. Still not sure what I will do.

I did get a call this afternoon and the manager wants me to show up in the morning about 1 1/2 hours early. He didn't say why so I am left wondering through the night at what he is wanting to do. Maybe we will spend some time at the table going over ways I can improve?

Since today was my day off I ran some errands and spent time with my Dad and took him over to see Mom. She was in pain today and they had given her some pain pills and they took affect while we were there. She just shut her eyes and wanted to sleep. I could use some of that myself.

Have a good day......

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Double Shift

I went to work at the casino on Saturday morning. Sometime during the two tournaments I was asked if I would come back and work the second shift. Knowing that I need to get all of the dealing time in that I can to learn this and get better at it I said yes. What was I thinking?

I went home at 2:30PM and then tried to rest up for the next shift that started at 6:30PM. Figured it would be the usual 50+ players going at it for the $500 prize. Didn't think about the Live Cash game going on at the $2-$10 Limit Spread. Fortunately I didn't get involved with the game since the tournament was getting ready to start.

I started out on table 5 and then during the play I get 3 to 4 people going all in and then players getting upset because I am not fast enough. This tournament is a $5 tournament to play. Very impatient people.

I ended up moving to Table 1 which will end up as the final table. I did end up the night at this table and after it was done I was headed home. It was 11PM at this point and I am scheduled to return at 9:15 in the morning.

On my way home I get pulled over by our trusted police department and was informed my right headlight was out. Thank goodness he just told me to get it fixed and didn't give me a ticket.

I didn't get any sleep during the night and was up at 7:45 and was ready to leave the house at 9AM. When I drove into the parking lot there were no cars I recognized. I looked at the schedule and the first tournament was to start at 11:30AM. My goodness I am two hours early. Time to visit my Dad and then back to the casino at 10:30AM.

It was 11:15AM and we had 6 dealers with 34 signed up. Since I was the first to go home today and at this point they only needed 4 dealers I was out the door in a flash and headed home. This means today and tomorrow are off days and relax time.

Overall my experience in the box, I will say, is frustrating and very hard to get the hang of doing everything so quick and making sure it is correct and everyone is happy. I am not so sure this is going to last. I have given myself the week and will have to make a decision soon whether to keep up with this. I really do prefer to play than to deal the game. That is very plain to me at this time.

Yes, I did get the headlight fixed today as well.

Have a good week.......

Friday, October 14, 2011

Down Day

After working three days in the casino I have Friday off. I will be working over the weekend and my next day off will be Monday.

What did I do on my off day?

I took both of vehicles down and had the oil changed. They were both due and I wanted to get both done today. That took most of my morning. I also changed out the headlamp in our car as well. I figured that would take me awhile since I am not a mechanic and working on some of these cars is a nightmare. It turned out easier than I thought and had this done in less than an hour. What a mechanic, pat myself on the back.

The afternoon was left to go pick up my Dad and take him to see my Mom. We hadn't been there in over a week. We were sick last week and then I ended up working the three days in a row so we had to wait till I had the day off. It worked out alright and we got to spend some time with her.

After I got home I put out my poker table and spent some time going over the all-in situations and how I need to do the individual stacks. I went over this a few times with different chip counts to make sure I was sure of myself. It is different doing it here and having to do it under some added pressure and time. Everyone wants to get it done now. I just need to learn and get it done. I just can't have everyone talking at me while I am trying to figure it out.

Now I am going to relax a bit and watch some live cash poker on Live@thebike and then will probably head to bed after reading some more of my "Bluff" magazine.

Have a fun weekend......

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Into the Fire

I have been coming home very tired the past few days. It has been enjoyable working at the casino.

I arrived at the Casino at 9AM and started helping to set up the tables for the tournament. I then got into the Live cash game dealing before the tournaments started. Doing this is just a little bit different than tournaments since you need to take a rake for the casino. This didn't last very long since I was then moved to a different table to begin the morning tournament.

I felt real comfortable during the tournament dealing. My concerns right now are dealing with the all-ins that take place between 3 or more persons. I did end up with one situation today and was able to work through the all-ins and get the money set up for each person. It is really nice when the money ends up going to the appropriate person.

When that tournament was over the next tournament was started and again I was working the table. I eventually was moved to table 1 and worked it through the finish. What a day. I need more time in the box to work on my skills of all-in chips with different scenarios. I need to get comfortable with this and I think I am more hard on myself that our Poker Manager.

Our Manager put together an SnG game tonight for the dealers. It cost $25 to play and we had 18 players. It was a time for the dealers to have some play time instead of working the tables. We all had fun and giving each other a bad time. At least some of them. We ended up chopping the pot and I walked away with $70. Not bad for not playing a tournament in about a week. I was able to make the correct decisions tonight.

Tomorrow is a day off for me before I work the weekend. Need to get some rest.

Have a fun day......

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

The Second Day

I was tired after working the first day and I did sleep alright last night. I got up this morning and was a little bit sore. I don't know why I was sore but I would guess I used some muscles that I hadn't used in awhile. Either way I was ready to go for my second day on the job.

I got to the casino and started helping to get the tables all set up for the day. We started seeing quite a few more people than yesterday and we did end up using the fifth table. Having this many people will more than likely extend the tournament just a little bit longer than the hour and a half when the next tournament was due to start.

We do go from one tournament right into the next tournament and in between those we have a live cash game going. It does get busy.

I know my learning curve is going to be a fast one and I want to do the best I can. Today I had 5 all ins at the same time for a different amount of chips. I ended up calling the floor over to help me figure it out and we actually made it through. I am wanting to get through this area and learn how to do the proper thing in getting the pots correct for the individuals that are all in.

After this was done I had one of the individuals offer his time to sit next to me to give me pointers on how I could make the dealing better on myself. I really appreciated him spending the time with me and it did help. I am hoping I will get to the point of making it second nature to myself and having fun at the same time. I feel I will get to the point of the game slowing down in my mind so I can keep it fun for the players and myself.

During the second tournament I saw some stuff happen with the players that disturbed me. The players were not happy that the tournament was taking so long and were taking it out on the dealer. This was not good and it wasn't fair that this was happening in a FreeRoll. This carried through even after the tournament. Things that were said by the individuals. It was bad enough that two of the players out of three did not pay tips to the dealers that spent their time dealing this game for them.

I must say I am tired again tonight. I have another day to go before I have a day off on Friday. I will be working on the weekend so we will see how it will go and how busy it may get. Got to keep learning.

I did get to play some live cash today and increased the BR another $5 for the time spent. I am not getting to play as much as before but will take any time I can get. I will be playing in a tournament tomorrow night. This will be the dealers playing against each other. Should be fun to let off some steam against each other.

Have a good day.......

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

My First Day

Today was the first day back to work in over a year and a half. Getting up early this morning and getting dressed for work felt nice for a change. I didn't know what was in store for myself but it was feeling good to get ready to go to the Casino.

I usually get up and head off to the casino to play in the cash game and then play the tournaments. Today was different. I did get to sit down for about thirty minutes and play a few hands of the Live game. Walked away adding to my BR with $20.

Next came the tournaments. I helped set up the tables and get the room ready. I then sat at Table 4 and welcomed the players. All of the players were very helpful in making sure I was able to get all of my stuff done during the hand and even helped make sure the chip counts were correct when having to split them up. I can tell I will need to work on that part of my game. I will be working on my speed of the game and making sure I get the routine down.

I ended up at table 1 for the final table when the tables were broken up for the last two tables. I took it down until they decided to split the pot with the 5 remaining players.

Tournament two then began and I was seated at Table 1 for awhile and then when it got down to 2 tables I was then moved to Table 2 and finished out the tournament there till the final table was decided. Cleaned up the tables and put things away and was then sent home for the day.

For me it was a good day and will be ready to start up again tomorrow. Very friendly people and the dealers are willing to help the newbies. I feel like I am part of the working class again. Maybe I will start to sleep better at night after working at something during the day.

Have a good evening.....

Saturday, October 08, 2011

The Germs Attack

It is just not fair I tell ya. I was minding my own business not bothering anyone and all of a sudden I was attacked by the Cold Bug.

Thursday night I was feeling tired. I mean real tired and I couldn't figure it out. I have been doing well all week and the weather was turning colder here in the Northwest. Around here the weather changes and people are snuffling and sneezing and pretty soon they are passing this to all of their friends. This year my wife and I are sick at the same time. So nice you say? Doing something together.

Thursday afternoon I got all of the paperwork signed for the new job and will finish it up on Monday. I am ready to go in or be called in. I will be working 5 days per week on this schedule for the next month. It will be fun and I am nervous to sit down at my first table to deal a game. I hope everyone goes easy on me.

Not much to go over since I have been in the house the last couple of days just hiding from everyone. Excited for Tuesday to come around and start the job.

Have a nice weekend everyone......

Wednesday, October 05, 2011

It finally happened

I was texted this afternoon that as of tomorrow the license will be active and I can start with Islands Casino. I could have worked today if the license had been active since one of the dealers was ill.

Walking into the casino this morning the manager asked if the license was done. Instead I had to inform him it was still pending. Thanks for his effort in getting this done we have been called in to show up at 2PM and go through the orientation process. It is nice to get started working, if you can call this working, when you are able to play a game and get paid for the time spent.

I am not sure what this will do to my efforts in playing the live games and playing the tournaments. I will have to wait and see what this will do to my schedule. I am also watching for how this will effect my time in taking care of my parents. I need to be available to them as well and will work my schedule around them.

I am now at $152/$100 in my pursuit of building the bankroll. I was up a little bit more this evening but gave some of it back trying to play some questionable hands. Will need to remember that I am there earning and not so much of the social time. Oh well, tomorrow is another day.

Have a fun day......

Monday, October 03, 2011

Poker Time

This is the first day of the new month and my new strategy to play poker.

My goal for the first week is to play short stack and see if I can make it work. I would take $100 and divide it up and once I was down $25 I would not play again for the week. As long as I was up I would keep going. After this morning session I ended up down $7 from my starting stack of $25.

I started talking with one of the players after the live game and we talked about the amount of money we put on the table. You have about 6 people putting up $20 to $25 and a couple of people that play $40 to $100. I understand the variance of playing with a bigger stack. When I play $3-$6 I will always start with $100 since I will drop before I start to build the chip stack. We thought we might need to start with more on the table to counter the variance.

Tonight I went back for the tournament and played in the live game before the tournament started. I put $40 on the table and tried to work with that amount. On the next to last hand of the night I got Quad 4s. That moved me up +$10 for the day. So, my month of October total is $110. I am thinking I may need to put more on the table. I am also hoping my Quad 4s will hold through the evening and I will make some money as the high hand for the session. I will find out in the morning if it held. I will add that to my total as well for the month.

I have been asked to attend the staff meeting tomorrow. We are waiting for the license and then I can start working. I am rather excited to get started.

I am putting in some study time with Annie Dukes book. I started reading it a few weeks back and decided to start over and take some notes. I need to work on my tournament skills. First off I have to make proper decisions when I am at the table. Second I need to work on playing when I am in position. The third chapter is on raising and will work on that chapter tomorrow. Right now this is all Pre-flop. I will take what I have learned and incorporate this into my game.

Tonight it showed some improvement by almost making the final table. I haven't done that in a while so if I work on each section as it comes in the book by the end I hope I am back in the winners seat.

Have a good day......

Sunday, October 02, 2011

Revolving Door

Actually it is not the revolving door but the revolving sisters. One of my sisters came into town on Wednesday and she departed with her family on Thursday afternoon. It was three hours later that my youngest sister came into town. The reason for the visits was to visit our Mom and Dad. It is nice to have them come into town and visit with them when they can. Since I had the sisters here I decided not to play any poker on Thursday and Friday. I am anxious to get back to the tables and start up the new month. This next week I will work on the cash game and see if I can build that bankroll up where I would like it to be. I am only going to give myself a certain amount each week and try to build it up slowly. Playing in the $1-$6 Limit Spread game is better than playing in the bigger games right now. The only issue I have at the smaller limits is the fact people do not want to fold and will call all the way down and then you have to be worried about someone catching a card that will hurt you. These two days off also gave me a chance to do some catchup on stuff I have been letting slide. I also went down to the Bus Transfer station here in town. I talked to one of the bus drivers and she gave me the Transit System Guide. In this guide is the complete listing of all of the bus routes in the Tri-City area. I did find one of the buses that goes by the Casino I play at. This is not a bad idea since I am using quite a bit of gas daily going to the casino and back. I could help myself by riding the bus and when I am done I can pick up the bus and come on home. The only down side to this is not being able to stop and visit my dad when I am done for the day. The cost of riding per month on the bus is $22 and the cost of gas is $200. Even if I ride the bus half of the month I can save gas. Now that I am not taking the tax class anymore I will start studying more in the poker books. I am reading three books right now. One from Annie Duke, Jonathan Little and Elky Grospellier. They are all very good books and very much into the present. I need to soak in what they are trying to get across in their books. Here we are into October and the weather is starting to turn a little bit colder. Have you noticed the sun going down early as well? Let's hope everyone has a good week at the tables.......