Welcome Back

It has been almost two months since I put anything in this blog.  This quarter at college has been really time consuming and not letting me write on here. 

This quarter I have three classes and two of them are requiring me to write up to five papers per week and one of the instructors was requiring a research type of paper and at least one page for each.  On Friday I would write and then on Saturday night I would put them on Word and on Sunday I would do my final draft and then transfer to the college.  I have about two weeks left of this and then next quarter will have only one class and then will be finished with the Computer Science Computer Support program.  Time to find some type of job.

Poker has taken a back seat at this time.  I have played one tournament per month and that one is a special by invitation and at least I can see how rusty a person can get by not playing.  The last one I played I was out of the tournament within 15 minutes and was the first person out.  I have also been playing in a Blackjack tournament every Sunday now for six weeks.  It was free and the final is today.  I have a qualifier seat to fill the last seat at the table today at 4pm at the casino.  It pays $1,000 and it would be nice to get that.  This means I have to win both tournaments today and that will be a tough one.

I am hoping now that the college program is finishing up I will be able to get back to some more poker and will be able to do some more writing on the blog.  Stay tuned.

Have a fun day......

Unexpected Pep Talk

It is amazing how sometimes you will be going through the motions of your day and things will happen to you that will get your attention that you didn't expect.

Lately I have been feeling down about my education process and  why am I putting myself through this stuff as it seems futile to keep going knowing nothing will come of this.  I go to class each day and sit at the computer and push through the homework assignments and for what?  A good grade?  Making the teacher happy that they are teaching someone new things?  Do I really believe I will end up using this in a job when this process is done?  Some of these feelings have started a few weeks back since my funding is going away in a couple of weeks.  In fact since the government shutdown there are no more funds for me to continue.  I will have to come up with the money myself to keep on my path.  At my age is it possible someone will hire me?  So many questions and I continue on hoping at least I can finish what I started almost a year ago.

I was sitting in the computer lab working on my assignment on ,"the computer", that was due the next day when the door to the classroom opened up and a student walked into the computer lab.  He walked over to the row in front of me and he sat down at the computer directly in front of me. He sat there while the computer was going through the start up mode before setting up and working on the assignment he needed to work with.  As he was sitting there the instructor, for that time frame, walked into the lab.  The student noticed her walking in and he immediatey motioned for her to come over and talk with him.  What happened next not only surprisd me but I am sure the instructor has heard these before.  He started giving her excuses about the class he was working on.  She eventually stopped him and asked him if he wanted to drop the class. He then stopped giving the excuses and said "yes." I am sitting at my computer trying not to pay any attention to this as I am working on my own assignments.  I noticed the instructor looking at me and she said "Steve", I looked up at her and she continued speaking to me.  She asked me if I would talk with him about what he is about to do.

I looked at the student and he looked just younger than myself.  He explained to me that he was in the worker retraining program and he didn't feel like he could grasp the material in front of him.  I then explained to him that I am also in the same program having lost my job as well.  The reason the instructor wanted me to talk with him was because I had taken the class two quarters ago and would understand what it would take to finish the assignments.  I started talking with him about the class and the amount of time it would take to finish on time and I told him not to give up. I explained to him he was only in the second week and he hadn't given it enough time to make that decision. I restated to him that he should keep going and not to give up on the class.
  

When I was done talking and I sat back in my chair, it hit me like a ton of bricks, it sounded like I was giving myself a pep talk.

Have a good day.......

The BFT Nazi

You know about the Soup Nazi from that famous show?  Today, I met the BFT Nazi.

 

 A lady about my age got on the bus on the Pasco side of the bridge and when she got on the bus she was asking the bus driver a question. She got some type of response and then made her way down the aisle to sit in one of the seats and sat down in one across from me.

 

We then made it to the Richland side, of the bridge, and as we were approaching the turn to Columbia Point the bus driver announced, or should I say yelled, " Columbia Point Winco". We made the turn and as we approached the turn into Winco the bus driver started yelling "Pull the cord if you want to stop at Winco." She must have repeated this three times, and I looked over at the lady across from me and she said "What do I do? This is my first time ever riding a bus." I immediately showed her the cord and went ahead and pulled it for her.

 

As I looked ahead at the driver and at the next stop, "Winco", there were three people waiting for the bus so the bus had to stop anyway. I know the bus driver must have seen that as we were getting close. The driver stopped and the lady got off thanking me for the help.

 

Wow, BFT driver get a grip!!! Maybe she was having a bad day but that was not called for. If I was an extrovert I would have pulled the cord when we arrived at the last stop, Richland Knight station, to let her know I wanted off. Since I don't like conflict I did not pull the cord. I will say though that don't dare me next time. I might do it.

 

Have a fun day.....

My Blog Post

When I started this blog back in 2009 is was something I wanted to use to keep track of what I was doing with the stock market and then it moved to my poker playing.  It has pretty much stayed there since then.  I have tried to add a few other things in this blog just for the interestet sake and see If I could write about other things that go on in my life.

I am more than just a poker player and a stock playing person.  I have written about golf, family, disc golf, work and assorted other things.  Having not played poker in a while and unable to play online poker specifically I am finding it harder to write about just those items.  Today I was thinking about opening it up a little bit and write about my thoughts on subjects unknown.  I should inteject here that not all things I write about are the believes my me.  I may write just to get a reaction about an item.

At this time I am back in school going to college for this quarter.  As you know I lost a job in poker and was declared a "Dislocated Worker" since my job is not in demand I am eligible for worker retraining into anther field.  This is were it gets sticky.  The Poker Dealers in this area are in demand but there are no jobs.  So the state looked at this and decided to change their designation and put Poker Dealers not in demand in this area and that moved us to being able to get the "Dislocated Worker" trainging.  During this time we are able to draw unemployment and am now into Tier 2 and will lose that in about three weeks.  On my own after a year and still trying to get through the education part.  I am taking Computer Science classes that will hopefully land a job as a Customer Support at a Help Desk.

Now that the government is shut down I will continue to receive my unemployment but the cost of school has been put on hold.  I have to pay for this education on my own now ad If I don't pay for the cost then that means I will have to pay all of the back money I received from the state for not finishing.  Who's fault is that one?  I guess it is mine according to them.  Tough Luck Charlie comes to mind.

My question now is Do I have a right to College, Do I have a right to Health Care or Do I have a right to Housing?  We will see what happens.

My plan is to not only write about my poker play but to write about whatever is on my mind at the time.  I really don't want to start another blog unless it is necessary but my goal is get to back to all things poker.

Have a good day......

Study Time

This is already and rough week and I don't see it getting any better.  Trying my hardest to get out of the box early and get ahead in my classes.  At first I didn't think having on-line classes would be good and especially the procrastination of waiting till the last minute.  I have gotten used to that and do a lot of my school work durng the morning when I am fresh and then in the afternoon will try to do some reading. 

I do have one class this quarter that ended up being one that I have to go into the college to attend.  In fact I will have to use their computers for the homework assignments since we are having to work on the virtual machine with the server.  Will have to do all of my prework from home and then spend afternoons on Tuesday and Thursday in the classroom on the computer.

I decided that I did not like disc golf very much so I am going to sell my equipment.  I do have someone interested in purchasing the discs and bag.  At least I can get some money back.

No poker for a couple of weeks.  One of the local casinos has decided to open up a 3-6 and a 4-8 limit game in town.  Now I wish I had the time to play in those since I like those games and do well in them.  Hopefully they will get a nice following and then when I can I will try to play in one of them.

For now I am studying and will continue to keep my eyes and ears open for a job. 

Have a fun day.....

Fall is Here

The weather has been changing around here.  In the past week we have had a couple of storms roll through here and it has cooled down quite a bit. 

C ad I were sitting outside in the front of the house.  I looked south of us and saw this massive brown cloud.  I figured it was smoke and we were trying to figure out what it was.  The cloud kept getting closer and closer to us and it did not smell like smoke.  Right before it got overhead the wind started picking up and then it hit.  It was a dust storm along with the lightning and thunder.  We quickly shut all the doors to the house and when the cloud passed it started to rain.  Never had anything like that here.  I have seen pictures of them in Arizona and they looked massive.  This one was somthing to watch.

This week I will start up again at the local college to finish the computer science program.  I will be taking three classes and then will have one left for the winter.  It will be nice to have this finished.  I am not sure how much poker I will play.  In fact the work I have been doing on the house will be slowing down as well.  We will see what happens.  So many things to try to get done before winter sets in.

I have been busy selling items on Craigslist as well.  Trying to make some room in the garage.  Trying to finish the sheetrock and will try that on the weekends while it is colder outside.

Have a fun day......

Not a good night for sleeping

I really tried to sleep.  I took my sleeping pill and put the CPAP machine on and then laid back to wait until my eyes would shut and I would sleep the night away.  Didn't happen.  I could not get myself asleep at all even with the sleeping pill. 

I got up and came into my office and sat down to play some poker.  Maybe it wasn't a good idea to be on a sleeping pill at the same time.  I played 2cent/5cent for almost 2 hours and started with $6 and ended up with $3 left at 1AM.  I was getting no cards to play and with the 57 hands I played I won 10 of them and lost more than I won.  My good hands were even getting beat.

I was watching the percentage wins with the RNG and wonder if that works playing live.  Now if I was playing in a tournament then I know it does make a difference.  I tend to work the percentages more than what cards I have in my hand.  You can at least figure out when you are supposed to play the cards and against whom.

Finally at 1am I was getting tired so I headed off to bed and fell asleep.  One of the bad parts about that is when it gets to 6 or 7 am I am awake no matter what.  I am used to 8 to 9 hours of sleep and this 5 to 6 hours is just not going to hold me for the day.

I decided to put some stuff on Craigslist today and see if I can barter for some new items.  My son was able to barter a motorcycle (Crotchrocket) for a nice BMW last night.  Looks and runs good.  You just never know what you will find and what people are willing to trade.  Maybe I can start small and trade up for a Motorhome.  Wouldn't that be fun.

Have a fun day.....

Tournament Play

It was that time of the month to play in the invitation tournament that is put on once a month.  It is fun to play in this one and be able to contribute to the food bank and get prizes as well.

Today was Football month.  We had to wear a jersey, hat, or t-shirt signifying the team you like.  I went wearing my Rams hat.  I had my jersey but forgot to put it on in time and so wore my hat to the tournament.

Normally we start out with T$3,000 in chips and with my hat on and bringing cans for the foodbank and being there early to sign up I was able to start with T$4,500 in chips.  The casino has three tables and two of them were being used for a $2-20 cash game and so we had to start one of our tables out in the pit area on the blackjack table.  That was interesting and getting 10 people to sit at this table was interesting to say the least.  It took us awhile to get down to 8  and get more comfortable.  It was nice losing two at the same time.

I started out really well catching a flush right off the bat and then two hands later I picked up a straight and was able to add to my chips pretty fast.  During the tournament I picked up JJ and then QQ and was running very well on the table. 

Then the well ran dry and I couldn't get a hand at all.  I played fairly tight and picked up what I could to see if I could get to the final table.  When I finally made it to the final table and more comfortable chair I had T$6,500 left and the blinds were at 500/1000.  I went through the blinds and was now down to T$5,000.  I was sitting waiting for the best hand to show up and give me a chance to double up.  With ten players at the table and it looked like 4 short stacks it was going to be ruff for the all-in move.  I had then chip leader on my left which also made it hard to know when to make the move.

My last hand was AKo and I decided this was it.  I moved in my T$5,000 and had two callers.  I was up against JJ and 1010.  When the flop came out it was x10x and that did it for me.  I was out of the tournament and headed home.

The casino gives out a free play in the pit of $5.  I put the slip of paper down and my cards in blackjack showed up as 48.  The dealer had a 3 up.  I went ahead and hit and a 7 came out for me.  I sat and then the dealer showed a 9 for 12 and then proceeded to but with the next card.  I got my $5 and headed to the cage to cash.  Should have let it ride but $5 is better than nothing.

Have a fun day.....

Aggressive at the Table

I went down to Jokers casino yesterday and signed up for the $40 tournament.  I like this tournament or the one they have on Friday.  You get T$10,000 in chips and in this one it is 15 minute rounds.  On Friday you get 20 minute rounds.  That makes Friday more preferable but I will play either one.

I sat down in the number 7 seat and I get a loud person who is on his way to drinking too much.  In fact during the tournament he saw someone walk into the casino and he yells across the room that he is an a..hole and flips him off at the same time.  Nothing is done about this outburst in the room. 

This guy in very loose aggressive and on the very first hand I get Q10.  With the table calling and being in position I decide to go ahead and play.  The flop comes x10x.  The ten was the highest card on the board.  Seat 6 bets and I call his T600.  The turn comes and a Q shows up.  He bets again and I call.  I know have two pair and a spade flush draw.  The river shows a spade and I now have the flush.  He bets I call, should have raised but with the Q10 spades but he might have had a bigger flush.  I turn over the flush and he mucks his cards saying he had two pair as well.

All the way through this tournament I was having to wait for the best hands or when he wasn't playing then I would go ahead and play.  He almost went out of the tournament which would have been good for me.  

On the last hand we were at 1000/2000 blinds and I had QQ in my hand.  I was in the BB and with 7,000 left I went all in.  He called and he turned over AJ.  He started to complain about my pocket pair when the dealer turned over the flop AJx.  This didn't look good and when the turn showed a J I was done.  The river was x and I got up to leave.  

I don't feel bad because I felt I played the cards correctly and waiting for the loose aggresive player to throw his chips away.  Sometimes they just get lucky.

Maybe next week.

Have a fun day....... 

That didn't go Well....

On Tuesday I decided to go play some poker here in town.  The tournament started at 1PM and cost $5 with an add on of another $5 I was able to get T500 more in chips.  That meant I had a total of T$1,500 in chips to start.

I played tight enough that everytime I would enter a pot the flop would come out and not be anywhere near what I had in my hand.  Makes it hard to even play position when the flop is completely in the opposite spectrum of what I had.

I was able to get to the first break and I added on another T500 in chips and just hoped the cards would turn in my favor.  My last hand was J10 offsuit and I decided to go ahead and push all in since I knew I couldn't get anyone out of the pot by just betting.  Sure enough the person next to me called my all in.  The flop was very good to me in that I now had a straight draw.  The straight was completed on the turn but the other guy got a full house when the board paired. 

On Wednesday I decided to go play some $2-4 limit before the tournament and I sat down at 11:45am with $25.  I was getting some good cards to play but the flop again would take me out of the pot.  This time I was dwindled down to nothing and ended up going home after 15 minutes of play.  Not my week to try and play some poker. 

Headed to the west side of the mountains tomorrow afternoon.  Will not have time to play any poker as we will be headed back this way on Saturday afternoon for a wedding reception.  One of those quick trips but we are at least spending the night and not driving all day.

Have a fun day......

Fall is On Its Way

Fall is in the air and the temperature should be in the 80's soon.  We had some thunder and lightning last night and we should have another storm come through on Thursday and then we will start to see the temperatures in the low 80's.  I see a prediction that we will have a day in the high 70's this week.

I have been pretty busy this last week getting the fence done.  Now I will have to clean up the yard from all the old wood left over from the fence.  I am pretty pleased with the finished product.

I have purchased my new books and have been reading the first chapters in the three classes I will start on September 23.  I like to get the head start and if I maintain that I can finish the classes ahead of schedule.  All of my classes will be done online and that always helps.  I don't know what the homework assignments are yet but I should be ready when they show up.  I am taking a computer ethics, computer security and a class in Sharepoint.  Only one more class for winter and I will be done with school and will see if I can get back into the workforce.

I am going to try and play a poker tournament today.  I am not a fan of these $5 tournaments but it will get me out of the house and do something different.

The other day I went out and played disc golf and lost the disc that was given to me to try out.  I don't like hole 14 where the grass and trees are in abundance and I just couldn't come up with the disc after I threw it out trying to get inbetween the trees.

Have a fun day......

The Flying Disk

I have been getting into this Disc Golf and having fun with the challenge.  I played golf for years and never got good at it and when I started having feet problems and had my neck surgery I gave up the game.  I never liked riding a golf car around and enjoyed the walking.  Now that I found disc golf the holes are not as long and throwing a disc isn't that hard on me.  I enjoy walking the course and the challenge of not losing the disc. 

I have only played four rounds so far and par for this course is 54 shots.  My latest is now at 80 shots.  Seems like my golf score all over again.  The discs are really interesting.  I purchase one disc to start out and as of today I am an owner of five discs.  Each one is different in what it will do when you throw the disc.  I am now reading up on each one and trying to figure out what I need so I can purchase a few more that will enhance my game.

Now, I am not giving up on poker to do something different.  I can enjoy being outside right now since the weather as started to cool down.  I start classes again in a month and then I should get back into poker if I can find a good cash game.  I really enjoy sitting down and just playing without trying to worry about the blinds moving up and I can play my game.

Have a fun day.....

Poker Tournament

I was invited to play in an invitation only tournament Sunday afternoon.  This tournament is played on the third Sunday of every month.  The premise is for everyone to have fun and even though you play to win you are having fun even if you lose.  Prizes are given out for the first person to bust out of the tournament and then if you reach the money bubble, and go out, you get a prize as well. 

You start out with T$3,000 in chips and you can increase the amount to T$5,000 by bringing two cans for the local food bank and if you show up early and get signed in on time you get more.  This last one we brought school supplies and if you brought a certain amount you increased your chips.  It was fun and we started with fourteen players.

I got myself short stacked and had to struggle to get back to the starting stack of T5,000 and that is where I pretty much stayed and eventually made it to the final table.  I eventually went out in seventh place.  I had so many all-ins that I was pretty much prepared to go home at any time.  At least I lasted until then. 

Playing poker has taken a back seat right now since I really want to play the cash games but not the ones around here.  I am thinking about taking a weekend and travelling north and playing either the 3-6 or the 4-8 limit games.  I would like to get involved with an Omaha game around here but just haven't done it.  They have a Wednesday and a Sunday game. 

School will start towards the end of September for me and having our house painted and re-roofed was important.  I have been working on the new fence in the back and that takes time as well.  So much to do when you are the home owner.  I keep looking for the landlord but can't find him.

Have a fun day......

Professional Poker Playing

I know the title is just  little bit misleading.  No, I am not a professional poker player and I don't know that I would want to be one.  I have tried to play as much as I can and around here it just wouldn't work anyway.  I don't know of anyone around here that only plays poker for a living.  The games are very clickish and I understand that if you did want to get into the one game of 2-20 spread you would just be eaten alive by the six guys that play together all the time and like to see someone new come in to play.  I wonder if they decide who gets the spoils from the day.  Maybe they take turns depending on the day.

My thought today turns to a guy named Tony.  I found his blog probably over a year ago and I have been following him on a daily basis.  He doesn't blog every day but I do keep up with the comments and I follow him on Twitter as well.  I find it interesting that he is homeless, has around $1,000 to his name and plays poker and likes to play the VBJ machine in Jean, NV.  I have commented a few times to him my thoughts when I thought I had something good to share. 

I believe he would probably do well just playing poker but he likes the machine.  He seems to do well in Omaha and will play the NL games when he feels he has enough money.  Still he will end up playing the VBJ machine and will not do well over the long run.  I believe sticking with poker would be the best.  A couple of weeks ago he had his bankroll up to about $2000 and then left California to head back to Nevada and started playing the machine again.  

My thought is it is a minus EV way of trying to build the bankroll.  I started out playing in the casinos years ago and would play table blackjack.  I love the game but then when I got introduced to poker it was better and now I will only play poker when in the casino.  I don't understand why anyone would want to play a game that benefits the casino.  Yes, you have to look at the rake and the game you are playing but still the pits are house games and they make their money from there.  Of course, if we all played just the non house games then why have the casinos.  To each their own.

I read an article yesterday where a person decided to help a homeless person and gave them an option of $100 or they would train them to be a computer programmer.  The homeless person took the opportunity for education and now is being mentored by this person every morning for an hour and also gave him a laptop computer and three books to study from.  I found it nice to be able to read something good for once and thought what this person is doing is fabulous.

Anyway, I will continue to follow Tony and hopefully he gets his life to where he wants it to be.  We all want to have that life of not working for the MAN.  If I could play and earn an income or at least earn enough to keep going it would be enjoyable but for now I will continue on my path of trying to find a job and going back to school to earn my certificate in computer science.

Have a fun day......

Painting the House

Just a few weeks ago we had the new roof put on the rest of the house.  Two years ago we had enough money to be able to get the front half done. 

One of the things we have done since around 2007 is have no credit cards and pay for everything we need with cash.  If we don't have it then we don't purchase the items.  We can get by with little food since it is only the two of us and we are not trying to feed children. 

We do the same with our house.  We look for the things that have to be done and then we work on getting the money available to finish the jobs we have planned.  Sometimes it takes longer than what we expect.  As in the roof it took two years to be able to complete the job but it is now done.  We also have the painting done as of this week.  Two big projects.

My wife was looking for a "Toupe" color and she was not very successful.  Some of the houses around us have also used this color type and we wanted to be a little different.  We drove around to some of the newer housing areas and looked at the colors people were using.  We found a very nice light greenish color that would go well on the house as well in the neighborhood. 

Yesterday was paint day.  I left to go into town for about three hours and when I arrived back home the house was done but in the brown color.  I was not expecting this and walked into the yard and said it is the wrong color.  We laughed and I said it should be more of a green than the brown.  I figured maybe the green would show up when it dried.

After the painters left I went back out to the side of the house where the paint was located and looked at the labels and found out the main color was wrong.  It was definately brown and not the right number.  Then my wife comes home and she really did not like it.  I called the owner of the paint company and he called the store where he bought the paint and sure enough the paint store did not have the right color listed.  Whoever took the phone call did not write the proper number down.

Now by the end of the day we will have the correct color on the house and everyone will be happy.

I really need to go spend some time playing Disc Golf or play some Poker.

Have a fun day......

Taking Up New Sport

I decided to try something new this past week.  I have some friends that play Disc Golf and I will go out and sit in my truck and watch the players throw the disk around this course.  It didn't look to hard and the course is shorter than a golf course.  How hard can this be?

I drove up to the store that had these discs and decided to purchase one.  These players are carrying around twenty of them, if not more, and I just knew that each disc did something different.  I asked the guy at the register which one I should purchase if I was new at this game.  He pulled down a Mid-Driver and told me I could use this one to get started.  So, with my new purchase I headed out to the course.

I stood at the first tee, not knowing where to throw the disk, and figured it would have to be in this certain area.  Hopefully I could find my way around this course, especially with no one else around to ask questions.  I threw the disk like I would throw a frisbee and it didn't go very far.  I was just hoping no one was watching me trying to learn.  I picked up the disk and could see a pole with some chains on it and threw to hit.  Again it did not go very far. 

As  I was playing the eighth hole I saw one of my friends playing the second hole.  He asked me to join them and he let me use his Driver and then I would use the Mid-Driver for the closer shots.  There is a difference in the disks and they fly different.  Hence the numbers on the disk to let you know what it would do in flight.

I ended up playing about fourteen holes that day and learned quite a bit.  When I got done I asked about the disks and what should a beginner like me use.  My friend told me what to purchase and I went back to the store and purchased a Driver, and something called a Pug for a putter.  So now I have three disks, a driver, mid-driver and a putter.  I am anxious to go back out and try out my new disks.

The house is being painted this week and I have been working on putting up a new fence.  Not a good time to go play some disc golf.

Have a fun day......

Thats a Whole Lotta Years

This past weekend was our Anniversary.  We have been married for 38 years.  We had a two year courtship and so it has been about forty years that we have been together.  I saw her in my Junior year of High School and we went out on one date.  Wasn't a very good date so I figured I would not see her again.  When the Senior year started we started dating.  She is the most beautiful girl in the world.

We decided to head to the ocean and spend our anniversary there.  On our honeymoon we went to the rain forest and traveled to the ocean.  When we got there we could hardly see the ocean due to the fog and the clouds.  Thirty eight years later things haven't changed a bit. 

We arrived at Seaside and it was cloudy and foggy again.  Couldn't see much of the ocean.  We went to Ocean Shores and the same thing.  Our room was facing the ocean and other than the sound you couldn't tell you were at the ocean.  It was fun anyway.  We spent time together and had some good food.  Normally you go to the ocean and have seafood.  We went and I had steak both nights.  On the third night I finally had some Copper River Salmon.  Amazing food at some amazing restaurants.

On our third night we travelled inland and stayed in Auburn and I was able to go to the Muckleshoot Casino and play in the 4-8 limit game.  There were about five to seven tables going.  I wanted to play in the 3-6 limit but they only showed that as an interest game and they had the 4-8 games going.  They started a new table and I immediately sat down in the nine seat.  I played for two hours until the table started to break up and I decided to leave.  I was up in $$ anyway and figured I don't do well in short handed games so leaving was not an issue for me.  It was almost 11pm anyway and I was getting tired.

I haven't been playing very much so this felt good to be playing again and playing a cash game this size was an experience and I would like to do this on a monthly basis.  Maybe go to Northernquest and play in a 3-6 or 4-8 game.

The next day we made our way back home and into the heat of the summer.  I was able to see Mt Rainier as well and that made my day.

Now back to the grind.

Have a fun day.....

More Summer Updates

Once the Re-finance, of the house, was completed it was time to get the two most important jobs done to the house. We decided to finish the roof and paint the house. Two years ago we had the re-roof started and now we can get it done. We have lived in this house since 1992 and have never repainted so now we will get that done as well. I called some contractors to put in their bids and now we will get this done. The roof was first and it looks nice having the whole thing looking the same now. Painting starts next week. Since we didn't get the whole amount we wanted in the re-finance we are limited in what we can accomplish and will work on the rest of the stuff as we go along. I kept telling my wife that I don't snore. She says otherwise. I have been so tired and sleepy for a long time and figured it was all the diabetes. I finally told my doctor about how tired and fatiqued I was and he referred me to a sleep lab. I really didn't like the thought that someone would be watching me sleep. I am glad I did. I was told on the first night that they got some really good information and that I would probably be called back in for another to set up the CPAP machine and sleep with that. I was called a few days later and the next appointment was all set. I went in for the second night and was set up on a machine and the next day I felt pretty good. It was different sleeping with the machine and at times I felt I wasn't getting enough air but it worked out and I wasn't afraid of sleeping with something on my face. My appointment with the doctor was the following week and he came in the room and said I had hit hall of fame numbers for apnea during the night. I had apnea spells as long as 1 1/2 minutes. Wow, no wonder I was tired the following day. I have my machine now and he started it out with minimum pressures to see how I will do with the machine and how I will feel. Today I am headed over to see my Dad and maybe take him to lunch. It all depends on how he is feeling. Have a fun day......

Summer is Here

It has been hard for me to just sit down and write for this blog. I have had a number of things happen and I did not end up putting them down on paper to get it into the blog. The last item I shared was the Poker League I was playing in on Wednesday nights. It was fun and I continued to have some good nights. The second week I ended up going out real early so that brought me back into the field as far as my points. The next three weeks I did much better and got myself into fourth place for the final week and I needed to have a good game, to get myself into the money, which was paying down to third place. I was able to outlast the person in third position but the person behind me outlasted me and I ended up staying in fourth and just missed the money by one spot. I did get money for the first night and that paid for one of the evenings. The end of the quarter came around in June and I was happy to see the summer arrive and I would now get the summer off and start up again in September. Because I am scheduled to continue my classes I will not have to look for work yet. With all of the government stuff going on I will have to pay for my next quarter and will be reimbursed sometime in October or November. I am hoping the state will keep up with their end of the agreement and I can finish what I started. Finding a job will be the hard part when this is done. With all of this going on I have not played poker like I wanted to do during the summer. I missed out on the Summer Wildhorse Casino tournaments as well. Too much going on and the money has not been there for me to play like I wanted. I am hoping to play more live cash games and not play the tournaments. I just have to decide where and when to play. I like the 3-6 limit games and have not looked at anything higher. I may have to take a weekend and go to Spokane to sit in their games once a month. I know that doesn’t get me playing very much but unless I sit in the 2-20 game in town I won’t find what I like or am comfortable with. The other item that has been taking up some time has been refinancing our home. It took us over a month to get this finalized. I ended up redoing the master bathroom so we could get the refinance accepted by the mortgage underwriters. This was my first time doing something like this and I think it turned out alright. I have always stated I am not a construction person, but then again, I did get it done in a week with some help from family members. I am having issues posting pictures and will have to post later. Have a fun day……

Poker League Play

After not playing for about four weeks I have fiinally decided to get going again.  I have been putting money together so that I will have some type of bankroll to start playing again.  The decision was whether I wanted to play Live or stay with Tournament play.

The decision was fairly simple and came about a week ago.  There is a group that has been playing league poker for about a year.  The poker league has been five weeks at a time.  They have a group that is about fifteen strong that play every Wednesday evening.  They put together a package and pay for a tournament in the WSOP.  On this one they are not specifying that you need to go to the WSOP and can claim your money in cash.  Sounds like I should try my hand at this.

I have about seven weeks to go before my summer off but the classes I am taking right now are doing well and I am about a week ahead of schedule on all of my assignments and tests.  Nice when they are done at home and I can spend the time working on the assignments to get them completed.   I decided since this all was happening lets go for the opportunity.

Last night was the first evening of the league.  I showed up early and waited for the beginning of the tournament.  I know being a new person showing up in their event I would have to bide my time and learn how each of them play.  I decided to come in with a plan and play very tight to see what each of the players would do and what their ranges would be.  With the experience these guys have and playing at the WSOP and Wildhorse I hope I can also learn something from them.

The first hand I played was pocket 2's.  The flop came out with xJJ and betting took place.  I decided to stay in and another J came on the turn.  With the full house I checked and the villian bet and I called.  x came on the river and another round of betting and he took the lead in betting.  Any bigger pair would beat me and that was my thinking.  I ended up putting about 50% of my chips in and he turned over xJ.  Ok, what a way to start.

I was very patient and my stack started to increase a little bit at a time.  I was starting to hit some cards and the players were reluctant to play against me.  I quess going all in with my short stack and them not wanting to double me up was some of it.  I don't remember how many times I went all in during the evening but this next week I will need to figure out how to play post flop and beyond and not try to get out of the tournament by running into something bigger than what I have.

It was nice that I made the final table and from there I worked the chips and was the chip leader at one point.  From there I was able to get to a third place finish and put a nice 1st week number up on the board.  Now if I could keep this up and put some good finishes up for the remaining four weeks  I should be fine.

I do need to study for the next weeks tournament.  Also I can't forget about my computer studies as well.

Have a fun day...... 

Still Playing Poker

I have been very busy studying that having time to blog about my poker playing has taken a back seat to everything. Well, actually playing poker has taken a back seat as well.


I have been trying to play one day per week just to keep myself going. I don’t want to get to rusty in my thought process. When April came around I really backed off since school has gotten to be my number one priority. I just need to get through this semester and then will start to play some more when I get to the summer.

The tournaments I have played in have gone well for me. I did chop one tournament and then played in the tournament of champions for the casino here in town. I have also set up a night where a few of us can sit down and play a .05 - .10 LHE game. The max buy in was $10 and we had a blast playing for about three hours and then I cashed everyone out and cleaned up the room. I would like to continue with that if I can fit it into the schedule.

I have also been playing a $1.50 SNG tournaments as well as some .01 - .02 NL cash games and since I started with $0 money I have been growing this bankroll as of this moment.  I am presently at $9.87. 

Have a good day.

Weekly Poker Tournaments

Now that I am basically playing one night per week I try to play the best that I can in the tournament that I am playing.  I chose to play in the tournament at the Pub where we all take turns and deal.

This week I decided that I would not play in that one and stay closer to home.  The Casino is only about a mile from my house and it is easier to go down there instead of driving twenty minutes.  The cost of the tournament is the same so the cost of gas is the difference.

We had thirtytwo players starting out in the tournament and we each started with T$1,000 in chips and we have 10 minute rounds.  It goes quickly and you have to make plays early to start building your chips.  I was able to get to the final table and went out in 5th place.  I bubbled the cash payout.

That was Thursday night and then on Friday I decided to play the afternoon deepstack.  I like this game better as we start with T$10,000 in chips with 20 minute rounds and the cost is $40.  I end up playing different people during this tournament.  These players are more advanced in their play and will play accordingly.  Overall better players. 

For some reason I got myself sidetracked with my thinking and I was out of the tournament in 20 minutes.  I did not make it through the 25-50 round.  That was bad.  I know I play better than this and I really did not play attention to what I was doing.  I decided to make another run at it on Sunday and played in the next deepstack of T$10,000 in chips with 15 minute rounds for $40 buy in.  The tournament is not as deep as the one on Friday but still it is a good tournament.

I ended up getting down to the final table and made it down to three of us left in the tournament.  We all had about the same amount of chips when we decided to chop the prize pool three ways.  I was glad I decided to play in this one as it more than paid for the weekend and I made some money to keep the bankroll active.

I did decide to play some online and was able to increase that bankroll as well.  It is slow going at the .01-.02 level but I will take the $1.00 increase anytime.  At least I am over the starting amount.

This week is test week again at the college so I am in the books again.  I will play again on Friday if everything looks good.  I guess you have to say I need to make sure my priorities are in order.

Have a fun week..... 

Poker Play

I would enjoy playing the game a little bit more but the hours of studying have been taking its toll.

I look forward to the Thursday evening tournament now. It is the same $15 bounty tournament. Last week I did well and chopped 1st and 2nd place and this week I made it to the final table again. That makes three weeks in a row. I was able to cash in this tournament as well when one of the players asked if a chop could be made. The five of us agreed and we all went home with $40 each. As long as I keep the bankroll growing this allows me to play the tournaments. I have not played any live games.

This next week I will be putting on my monthly home game. I am hoping I can get three tables. It was fun and everyone enjoyed getting together.

I have been reading a blog from a person who is about ready to go broke by playing poker. It seems he lost a lot of money on the poker machines. It just makes a person reading this think that you have to stay away from house edge games and make sure you are playing in a game that fits where you have an advantage.

Money management is so important when you play poker. I had a bankroll that was up to $2500 and when the casino here closed down and I pushed my money into live games and big tournaments and the money left in a hurry. I wasn't thinking about what I needed to do but just trying to get the money back. It never happened. Now I have a small bankroll about $200 and I use it to play some small tournaments and continue to get the bankroll to grow slowly.

I play weekly right now and studying to get through school. This summer I will have more time to play a little bit more. I continue to read the poker books when I can and then play a little bit online. So far I have built that one up over $6. We are on the move now. I have to look at this as recreational as well. I don't put in the time like I used to so I have to be patient and work a little bit harder to make sure I make the proper plays. Nothing fancy for me.

Have a fun day.....

Playing Pub Tournaments

The last two weeks I have been playing in a Pub on Thursday evening.  It is different than playing in the casino with dealers taking care of everything.

The tournament is a bounty tournament with a $15 buy in.  We get T$3,000 in chips to start but the blinds are 20 minutes in length.  It does move well since they did take some of the usual levels out of the middle part of the tournament structure.  It takes about three to three and a half hours to complete the tournament with the eighteen players.  We each take turns dealing the cards so we don't see as many hands during the levels but the increased time does help make up what we loose in dealer time.

Last week I made the final table and then went out in 8th place.  This week I again made it to the final table and this time I had the chip lead with two players left.  It was now 10:30 and both of us were ready to go home after the three and a half hours sitting and playing.  I was up about 2 to 1 against him and probably could have finished it but instead I told him that I was willing to chop the money and we both could go home happy.  He looked at me and told me it was an offer he couldn't refuse. 

As it turned out I didn't lose any of the money I would have gotten anyway for first place because of the amount of bounty chips I had in front of me.  Overall it was a good night.

I will play this tournament again next week.  In the meantime I will try to play some online when I get the chance.

Weekend Poker

This past weekend I had a group over to play tournament poker and afterwards started a live game.

 I am trying to have one home game every month where we can all get together and play some tournament poker, and then see if anyone wants to sit and play a .05-.10 NL live cash game. The last time I did this we had one table and we played almost four hours. It was fun and we played with a max buy in of $5. This time I opened it up for any amount.

The tournament started at 6:30 and we had eighteen players. I set the tournament up with T$5,000 in chips and 15 minute rounds. I wanted to make sure the levels were good and everyone could put in enough time to play. The tournament ended up going three hours with the final four chopping the prize pool. I was very happy with the results.

I was also able to get a live game going before the tournament ended. Once the tournament players got to the final table the other table was then set up for live and away we went. There were eight players going and when the players started busting out of the tournament they wanted to play live as well. When the group chopped the prize pool that opened the second table and we had two live tables running. The live game went about 3 hours before players started getting tired and decided to call it a night.

It looks like I will need to build a third table to keep up with the amount of players that want to play in this game. I enjoy putting the games together and watching everyone have fun.

I will play again on Thursday evening in a Pub that has a weekly game going. They are looking for dealers for their game and I might do that to keep up my skills in dealing. I don’t plan on looking for a job again as a dealer but doing this on the side would be fun.

Poker Play

The only poker I have played in the last week has been on the computer. I am playing a .01-.02 NL game and trying to build up from the $5 that is on there. I have been working the percentage theory to see if it really is true. I see all kinds of cards and if I get premium hands, I am not going to win even if I do the raising, and try to get someone off of their hand. I basically wait till the percentage of wins equals the 10% mark and then I wait to see who has been winning hands and will try to play against that person. So, now it is not so much what cards I have but when to play them. I am not sure I like this style of play but if it works then I will keep doing the same thing. I have never heard of anyone working this in their strategy and it would be interesting to see if anyone can see the same thing I do. Right now it seems to be working. So far I am down .97 cents but the last session I had I moved up $1.03 so not bad in 34 hands. I was trying to play at least 100 hands per session but now that I am trying to grow this bankroll I will take the money and run and then wait till the next session. It also depends on the players as well. If you get a lot of new players coming in you have to be careful of the equity rule as well. I am setting up a Home Game this weekend and will have a group playing a tournament and then afterwards we will play some live .05-.10 NL. It should be fun. We played in December and had a good group of players here and we played till one in the morning. This time I am going to stop the game at midnight because it just got to be late cleaning up the house.

Online Poker Play

A few years ago when playing online poker was somewhat “legal” I was playing on Pokerstars and Fulltilt. I look back now and those were fun years when the opportunity to build a bankroll was good. Now I am left trying to make it happen in the casino’s here in my area and once in a while being able to travel to a bigger casino and play in their games. It was before the “Black Friday” event that I would be playing a tournament online and would find myself being knocked out of the tournament by an inferior hand. It was common for me to lose hands that I thought should have won and I could never figure out why it would happen. During my time playing online poker I had made friends that lived in other parts of the United States. We would email back and forth and discuss hands and we would talk some strategy. One day I received an email about a booklet that was discussing something that we found interesting. This booklet was describing how to win at online poker and how the computer programs operated. It mentioned the term Random Number Generator (RNG) and how it worked. Now this was interesting, since I figured all computers would be able to do the big calculations and put out the required amount of possible hands. I learned that this is not possible unless you have a big government computer. At least it would have to be big. From there the booklet got more interesting to me because then it started talking about the Net Win Percentage (NWP) and the Overall Win Percentage (OWP). I really started to get interested in this information. This also meant, to me, that playing poker live in the casinos is definitely different than playing online. My friends and I decided that we would try out this new information for ourselves and see if it would really work. We made sure we had the proper NWP when hands were played and we also threw hands away that, even though would be premium hands, would allow our OWP to be in a certain percentage. This also meant we had to keep an eye on all the players at the table. By letting someone win then we were allowing our percentage to drop and prepare us to play hands that would maximize our chip stack. What we found with this knowledge was that we were able to approach this online poker game at a different level and play the percentages more than playing the cards. Remember I said that we didn’t get very far with this because of the “Black Friday” event but I wonder if this is still appropriate. Have things changed in the computer industry that this is no longer working and more combinations of hands are available? When I picked up the booklet the other day it brought back some memories and made me go back and read it again. I must say I miss playing live online poker.

Coming Back to this Blog

I have not been very impressed where I have moved my blog too. I am going to revive this one and just put my poker related stories on here. I will use the other one for different stuff. Just could not take it any more.