My Seven - Four Offsuit

That was Too Fast

2012-02-27T09:31:00.000-08:00

After all the hard work of getting into this tournament I felt I left a job undone.

I was excited, to say the least, to get going and have the opportunity to play with the top ten in the area. I made sure I was rested and I arrived early to get my money paid and just be ready to go. I did all of that and then some by reading my book about playing. All the last minute details were completed.

I drew my card and sat down in the number one seat of table four. I like the one or the ten seat as that does hide me from the other players just a little bit. After we got going I even put my earplugs in to listen to some music and just be patient. I had T$10,000 in chips and I was not going to play aggressive for the first 3 rounds.

I even played one hand and won the pot and that made me feel good and now I felt I was into the game. I was watching the number two seat as he was one of the top ten players. The other person was in the number eight seat and I have played against her before so I somewhat knew her game. The one next to me had position on me so I would need to learn what he was playing and be careful with my betting. Watching to see if he would raise me at any time.

The storm was brewing and I couldn't see it coming. The person in seat four was being somewhat aggressive and had won a few pots already. They were small but still he was playing somewhat loose. He was under 21 so I felt he was a little vulnerable.

I looked at my cards and I have AdKc and I raised to $250 to thin the field. I get two callers. The kid in seat four and a person in seat six. The flop comes Qd10dJs. It was raised to $500 and I re-raised to $1,000 and the kid goes all-in. The person in seat 6 goes all in. I am now stuck with a decision for my tournament life real early.

What do I do with this? I have a straight to the Ace. I can see the two diamonds and figure someone would try for the diamond flush but why all in? The other person might have a set? They wouldn't do this with a pair only. Wow, I struggled with this and decided with T$20,000 of chips out there already and my opportunity for a total T$30,000 I decided to go all in as well.

The kid turned over Kd9d for the straight to the K and flush draw. Then seat six turned over the AK for the straight to the Ace and then mine the AdKc showing the straight to the Ace. I needed two diamonds for the flush or no diamonds for the split pot. The turn comes 5h and the river comes xdiamond. Myself and seat six were knocked out of the tournament with the young kid getting his diamond flush.

It sort of felt unfinished being the first one out of this tournament. I struggled to get in and then it was over just like that. What did I learn? I have continued to talk to others about this and see if my decision to go all in was correct or should I have laid this down and fight another time?

You can let me know how you feel about this one. I am really trying to learn from this one for next time.

I came home and just relaxed the rest of the day since I had to go to work in the evening dealing cards. I have all of the obituaries out now waiting for the newspapers to get ahold of me to see what I owe them for putting this in their paper.

Have a fun day......

The Day has Arrived

2012-02-26T07:49:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I dealt some live and then two tournaments. Now is the time to start getting myself mentally prepared and working on my strategy depending on who is at my table. I like to have goals and will work out what I want them to be. I also will go over some of Annie Dukes ideas in her book. Anything to be focused on what I need to do.

Now, this tournament is a bounty and that will play just a little bit different than a normal tournament. I need to be careful on how I approach each bounty. Any time I have played this format I haven't chosen to risk all of my chips just for the bounty chip. I usually will work on them chip wise and then let someone else take them out. This time they are worth $50 per top player. There will be 2 per table to start and 10 overall top players with 40 of the qualified players.

I did play some live yesterday and earned back one buyin. After Friday loss I am happy to just get a little of it back at a time.

I am also working tonight from 5PM to closing. I have done that once before so I will try it again tonight. Hopefully it will not be a late night. Does that mean I hope there isn't much of a live game to keep us going? Doesn't matter really.

Tomorrow is my day off and I will be working on getting the obituaries into the papers. There are things that need to be done and I need to work on them as well. This has been such a big weekend for me.

Here is the picture of my Mom. I Love You and Miss You.

This will be the Obituary Photo.

Have a Fun Day........

Confrontation

2012-02-25T08:19:00.000-08:00

This day was important to me in that I wanted to earn my way into the Sunday tournament with the 10 best players in the Tri-Cities according to our poker manager. Either way this will be a good test of where my game is at compared to some very good players.

I did play some live cash at $2-$6 and $2-$10 and I started off not playing like I should have and dropped $150 through out the day from my bankroll. I will do better next time. Maybe it was the makeup of the table that got me but I will be better prepared.

The first tournament was not the qualifier but a regular day game and if I could have somehow gotten into the final table and cashed I would have gotten my second voucher for the qualifier. I ended up going out in 11th place and bubbled the table. Knowing I played well to get there I was not worried about my game and felt I could get into the top ten in one of the two tournaments ahead of me.

The 3PM qualifier had over 50 runners and I settled in for the long haul knowing I needed to pick up chips and make the proper decisions with each hand I played. I did pick up some good hands and used them to my advantage with raises and continuation bets. I stayed away from the all in just in case I ran into something big I couldn't win.

In the end of the first one I fell just short. I came in 13th position and missed the final table by 3 players. That really hurt me and I was having to think what could I have done better to get just a little bit further. If I would have played a few more hands in position or raised I possibly could have built enough chips to make the final push.

Changing my style of play from starting TAG to LAG seemed to work especially when the cards started to show up at the right time. I could see the change in the table dynamics this time that showed me when people were tightening up their play and that allowed me to loosen up my game. I may have showed one hand the whole time just to show I was tight and when I am playing I have the goods.

The second qualifier started at 7PM and we had over 40 runners for this one. I started off doing the same thing but I also threw in listening to my iPhone music for awhile just to do something different and try to relax a bit. I have been putting enough pressure on myself to get one of these two qualifiers that now I am down to my last one. I know it will come down to who has the mental ability to make this.

We got down to 19 players and I was feeling the pressure. The last qualifier I made it to 13th and I wanted to get further this time and make the final table goal. I put myself in concentration mode of my chipstack and what was out there that needed to go before me. I was relieved and nervous for each number that was yelled out. 18, 17, 16, 15, 14, 13 and this was the hump I needed to get over. I had to make it past 13 to feel like it was within my grasp. Eventually 12, and now 11. The bubble was here and I was short stack.

I was so tight and I knew I needed to be loose but with a short stack I had to reverse my thinking and be patient. I could feel the pressure and the stress. The adrenaline was there as well. Could I ride this horse?

At one moment I had to go all in with my short stack. This was it for the tournament life. My cards were A7 suited diamonds. I needed them to hold. One guy from the other table came over and his brothers were standing directly behind me saying things like "he's done" "you have made the final table" "he will loose this". When the flop, turn and river where on the board the brothers started celebrating that he made the final table. I leaned over the table and showed the dealer the flush I had just made and I won the hand. We can continue.

I turned over to the other table where the celebration had started and said something about my flush. I don't remember the words but it is not important anyway. I was still in this game. I looked over at the poker manager and told him I was not happy and they were acting like vultures. I felt it was inappropriate for what they were doing. Not to long after that someone went out on the second table which brought us down to the final. I made it. Pressure was relieved and I could feel some stress start to subside.

From the final ten we continued to play some more for the little money that was available. My goal was met and I didn't care about that. I was headed to Sunday with the opportunity to show I can still play the tournament game against the top 10 players. My goal is not complete until Sunday afternoon. I will be ready to play again.

That all being said, I miss my Mom and she is on my mind. I have not wanted to say anything but I dedicated my play this weekend to her. If I don't make the end of Sunday tournament I can be proud that I made the qualifier and was in a position to play my best. I am not done and I haven't thrown in the towel. Here I go Mom, I can doing anything I put my mind to.

Today is a regular work day and there are two more qualifiers to go through but this time I am working not playing. Time to watch more hands and watch players play.

Have a fun day.......

Let the Games Begin

2012-02-24T07:37:00.000-08:00

Today is a very important day for me at the tables. This is where I want to do my best and qualify for the Sunday 40.

I am going to start out with a regular tournament and see if I can get one more voucher which would help pay for this evening tournament. This will also be the warm up to the next tournament at 3PM as that is the first qualifier and if I can get in the top 10 will move me to the Sunday 40.

If that does not happen I will have one more try. I will be playing the second qualifier this evening to see if I can get into the Sunday 40.

This will be three tournaments today. I will need to be focused and be very patient and wait for the cards to come to me. I will also try to make some moves on the table from position to gather chips. I have been dealing to these people for a number of months now and I do understand which ones I need to stay away from and which ones will play cards that are not optimal. My advantage from a dealer stand point.

I will also be playing the live cash game inbetween the tournaments to try and cash a little bit and help pay for the tournaments I am playing. Always trying to increase the Bank Roll.

Last night I went in and sat down at the live table playing $2-$6 and in 45 minutes walked away with $30 added to my BR. After the tournament I decided to go home, instead of playing, to be with Cindy. I have been putting in enough hours I just wanted to be home. I know I don't talk about my bankroll very much but I will say I have now built it up into the 4 digits. Got to keep working at that.

You know I have been trying to loose weight. How to do it and I need some type of motivation. I was awake early and thought that the one way I could do this is with Subway. What would happen if I ate nothing but Subway for a month. I could do my cooked cereal in the morning and then a salad or sandwich and then in the evening another sandwich or salad. I could do that for a month. I would then walk or jog around the neighborhood on a set path and see what happens for the month. Could I loose the 25 to 30 pounds to get myself under the 200 mark? Wouldn't hurt to try. Maybe start date will be March 1. I will let you know.

Have a fun day.......

Wednesday

2012-02-23T07:59:00.000-08:00

I had a good day yesterday. I dealt a couple of tournaments and then I came home to work on some of my Mom's stuff and get more of this completed.

Starting tomorrow this will begin my big weekend. I have achieved the top two in one of the tournaments to receive my voucher to play in one of the four qualifying tournaments. I have chosen to play the first one at 3PM Friday afternoon. This will let me know right away what I need to do for the rest of the weekend. If I don't reach the final table in the first tournament I will play the second and pay the full price.

My plan for today is to try and get the second voucher. Since I will be dealing the first and second tournament today my only chance left will be tonight and friday morning. This will also be used as a tune-up for the Sunday tournament if I get that far. Notice I say if. My plan is to get there and I won't give up and I need to make great decisions.

I am really focused right now on my play. Now lets get it done.

Of course I am really torn with excitement and also trying to deal with the loss of my Mom. Everytime I talk about her and think about her I start to cry. Yes, men have feelings too. I want to dedicate this weekend to her but also don't want to bring disappointment if I don't achieve my end results. I want to know that I played my optimum and gave it all I have in being mentally prepared.

I am also trying to make contact with a personal trainer for loosing weight. I am so tired of being overweight and I need to change my lifestyle and I am asking for help to get this done. Since October of 2011 I have lost 28 pounds but I have another 50 to go and I really want to get there. I am sure it would make me feel stronger and mentally better. We will see what happens.

I keep adding to my plate but everything is good.

Have a fun day......

Riding High

2012-02-21T17:58:00.000-08:00

I worked the first tournament on Sunday and I fully did not have my mind on what I was doing. I made some errors in not being fully engaged in the tournament.

I continued to try to focus on what I needed to do. I appreciated the players and the fellow dealers in letting me work through this. At last the tournament was over and I could move on.

The next tournament was getting close to start and we had almost 20 players signed up. New dealers were coming in and that was going to allow some of us to play in this one. This tournament is the Player of the Week and has good money available to the final table. I will always try to play this one when I can.

With the added dealers I asked if I could play the tournament. I felt I was on this rush from Friday cashing in that tournament and wanted to see if I could continue the run. Since I cashed I was able to pay the lower buy in to play as well.

In every tournament there are a couple of times where you have to win the race to be able to continue. I did that and was moving on in this tournament. I ended up getting to the final table and had some chips to work with as well. In the end the table chopped and we took home some good cash. I did not win the second voucher but will play the tournament on Friday afternoon to try and qualify for Sunday.

We will have the Memorial for my Mom on March 10 so that will be a date that I will be working towards as well. A lot of things need to be finalized and notifications need to be put out. I am so thankful for the DSHS people that helped in keeping Mom where she needed to be. The staff at the Alzheimers Care Unit were fantastic with our family and working with us to keep Mom comfortable. The staff at the Assisted Living facility in keeping an eye on Dad to make sure he is safe and doing well. I don't know what I would have done without them.

Have a fun day......

The Day After

2012-02-19T07:49:00.000-08:00

It has been 24 hours now since my Mom has passed away and I really don't feel any better. I understand this will take a while and I will work through this. My efforts now need to be turned to my Dad and make sure he gets through this as well. The planning for the memorial will start soon and we are looking at March 10 and this will allow people to plan and be here if they are able.

Today I am also getting back to work in the casino. I will be dealing today in one or maybe two tournaments. For myself I need to be active and not just sit around thinking. I quess it is my way of working through my loss.

I have been going over my play in the tournament on Friday. It was important that I get the voucher for the next tournament this weekend. I would like to get one more voucher but will settle for one and try to make the best of my opportunity.

I have been reading the book "Decide to Play Great Poker" by Annie Duke and it has helped me think about what I am doing and why I am playing the hands that I am playing. What is the plan for every hand I play? I have been working at getting more people out of the pot so I am playing more one on one and then working the position I am in. So far in the book I have gotten to Pre Flop and Raising so the next area of study is going to be Post Flop play.

I would love to read this book fast and get the information out of it to use but then again I may not remember what I need to do and loose the thoughts that I need to work with. If I can get myself deep into the qualifying tournament with the knowledge that I have so far I would be happy with myself. It is good to have goals.

Everyone have a good Sunday and be kind at the table..........

Will Miss You Mom

2012-02-18T13:08:00.000-08:00

Obviously this is not a post that I wanted to do. My Mom passed away this morning around 6AM. I got the call from Hospice telling me the news. I then drove over and let Dad know and we went to the Care Unit to see her before the funeral home came to pick her up and proceed with the plan.

My Mom had Alzheimers and then the last three years she has had breast cancer. Both of them together has been so bad to watch. Rest in Peace
Mom.

Since my sister has been here she has been giving me a couple of days off so I could play some poker while she was with Dad driving him over to see
mom. I played in two tournaments yesterday and played some live cash game for a little bit.

The first tournament I got down to the middle of the tournament and then went out. The second one I played very well and made it to the final table. I was playing some good hands and kept chipping up and was able to knock out the 6th place person. At that time the offer was given that we chop the pot. As a dealer for the casino we will not decline the offers unless for some reason it is unreasonable. We chopped the pot and included the dealers for a full share and we were done with the 4 hours of playing.

It was nice to get the voucher for the end of the month tournament. Now I want to get through the next qualifying tournament and get to the final 40 players to play in the bounty tournament. This tournament will feature the poker managers best 10 players in our area against 40 others. It would be nice to have a good showing.

Have a good day......

Day Off

2012-02-17T08:55:00.000-08:00

Another day that was uneventful at the casino. It is nice to be able to deal a couple of tournaments and then come home. Thats not what happened.

I was asked if I would come back to work the evening shift if needed. I stayed around the casino and ate lunch. The poker manager came in and and sat at my table. We were able to talk about a couple of items I have been wanting to discuss with him.

The first was trying to get a new tournament started on Sundays. I am trying to get a Shootout going. We have close to 30 players and I think we could have 3 tables and the top two would go to the final table. I want to get this promoted and started soon.

The second area that we discussed was actual poker play. I am trying to get better at my live game and this was a good time to ask questions. I need to make some changes in my game to be more productive and start looking at the bigger picture. I need to look more at the hourly rate and then take care of the greed part in wanting more when I play. I do slow play quite a bit and I think that hurts me in winning pots.

I did try raising last night in the live game and in some cases it did not work. I was also playing some cards I probably shouldn't have. This right now will be a work in progress. I still limped in and slow played when I had the cards at the flop. Overall the buy in for the night was down when I finally left the casino.

Well, another day and I plan on being at the casino all afternoon playing in their tournaments.

Have a fun day......

Thursday

2012-02-16T07:52:00.000-08:00

It was nice to go back to work yesterday. Dealing the cards and being around people and not thinking about the inevitable. They understand what is going on as well so that does make a difference.

One person yesterday did drive me nuts. I was dealing the cards and one player went all in. I ended up have two more callers and they were for more chips. I started to divide the chips out and the person kept telling me I was wrong. I just couldn't see what I was doing wrong. He got very boisterous about it so I call the floor over to see what the problem was.

I explained my actions to the Floor person and then showed him what I was trying to accomplish. When I got done the floor said I had done it right and the player says "I see". All of that for this. The floor then told the person to calm down and let me do my job. I was correct in what I
did.

Other than that it was an uneventful day. I then took the bus home and made Enchiladas and Chile Rellenos for our meal that evening. My sister and her daughter with her daughter are in town to visit our Mom and Dad.

I have been looking at a Kindle Fire. I am looking at the Pros and Cons of purchasing one of these. I loaded the kindle on my iPhone last night so I can try it out on the iphone and see if it would make a difference for me on the bigger device.

Well, off to the bus transfer center to go to work.

Have a fun day........

Wednesday

2012-02-15T07:29:00.000-08:00

Mom is still with us and it was a good Valentines Day.

I took my Dad over to see Mom after talking to him about what had happened the day before. I try to prepare him for the events that he will see. Mom was alert and trying to talk. The Director of the unit offered to let Dad stay with Mom the whole day. Dad sat with Mom and talked with her without any one else in the room. It was a good day for him and I think it was something that needed to be done for him.

I am trying to get back into some poker stuff. I started watching the Live@thebike yesterday evening. Annie Duke was on commentating on the SNG they had going. I need to go back over the video to try and glean some information from the program.

Today I am going back to work and will be dealing. Not sure about playing the game. I may wait a bit for that. I would like to be more focused.

I can't believe how many people still talk on their cell phones while driving the car. It is just amazing to me.

Have a fun day.....

Charity Event

2012-02-13T22:25:00.000-08:00

On Sunday we had the charity event and it went well.

We ended up having over 50 people play in the tournament and with the silent auction we were able to raise over $1500. It went great and the players really got into helping with this event.

This morning I went to the casino to play in the tournament. I didn't last long. My mind has not been into the game lately.

As I have written in the past my Mom has Alzheimers and Cancer. Both are in their end stages. We arrived at the Care Unit this afternoon and she was alert and acknowledged us. Right after she drank some water and we had a chance to talk to her she closed her eyes and she did not open them up again during our visit. We left for the day.

About an hour later I was called and notified she is now unresponsive and her breathing has changed. We are now waiting for the call that she is gone. Actually she has been gone for a while now. Alzheimers took her away from us years ago. Cancer is the one that is taking her now. Right now I can't think about anything else but try to get my Dad through this event that is going to happen to our family.

Stick with me I will be back to poker.

Hope you have a great Valentines Day.......

Charity Event

2012-02-12T07:49:00.000-08:00

Today we are going to have a charity event at the Island Casino.

We have a dealer that was put into the hospital back in December and when he got out and received his bill it was over $30,000. Since that time he has been in the hospital again trying to figure out what is going on with him.

Today the Noon tournament will be done for him. I hope it goes well and we have enough people to really make a difference. There will also be a silent auction on items brought in to help as well.

It is always nice to see people helping others when they can. Medical expenses are so high and insurances have cut back. When you don't know how you are going to pay your expenses the stress can be high.

Yesterday I was given the day off to be with my Mom. She is status quo in what is going on with her. She spoke a few words and opened her eyes. We will be keeping an eye on her to see if there are any changes that would require us to change our schedules. Right now it is all about her and making her comfortable.

Hoping for a good day.........

The Dentist

2012-02-11T08:49:00.000-08:00

I did get to play on Thursday evening. I arrived back at the casino after taking the bus home. Since the bus does not run at night I needed to get home and then quickly changed clothes and headed back to the casino. I was able to sign up for the $2 tournament. Actually when you get done paying for the extras it cost $7 to play. Not bad as I also brought two cans for the second harvest and received a T$500 chip. Total starting count was T$2500.

The tournament was going well for me and I was playing well. My final hand was QQ's and I ran into someone with AA's. I couldn't catch the Q so I was out.

I then went over and sat down and started playing the $2-$6 Spread Limit game. I did well and got my chip stack up around the $170 area from my usual buy in of $100. We changed the game to $2-$10 Spread Limit and I was not getting cards. Every time I would play the flop just wouldn't work out for me.

I did put in about three hours for this session. I was going to leave at 9PM and I ended up going until 9:30. In that short of time I took my chip stack down to $80 and figured it was time to leave for sure. I wanted to leave when I got down to my buy in or if I had built it up I would have left ahead but I was pleased with my play just card dead.

My last hand before I left is what took me down below my mark. I had a Kx in my hand and a K came on the flop. I bet and then a flush possibility came on the turn. I didn't have the flush but then the person I was playing against said he didn't have the flush and if I did he was beat. I ended up calling thinking he had a pair and my K would beat him and he turned over a set. Ok, I didn't play that one well.

I got home and since I had the doctor visit in the morning I took my Valium and went to bed. I had my visit in the morning and when I got home I went back to bed and slept another 6 hours. I had taken 3 valium over the course of 10 hours just to get through the experience of the dentist. I don't remember a thing and thats the way I want the dentist experience to go.

Got a call in the afternoon that my Mom was not doing well so we spent the evening with her. I know she will leave us soon and it is hard to watch her go through both Cancer and Alzheimers. It's alright Mom we love you and everything will be alright.

Have a fun day.......

Riding the Bus

2012-02-09T07:45:00.000-08:00

I am back to riding the bus again today. After the last few days of taking care of business for my parents and needing to drive elsewhere than the bus route. Now I will get back on track of riding the bus and saving gas money.

Yesterday the dealing went well. I dealt two tournaments and did get out of the casino early. No one wanted to play a live game so we shut down early. Hopefully today that may change. I would like to get in a session tonight playing the $2-$10 spread.

It is amazing to watch what people do when they have a little alcohol on board. We had a person who decided to get into a conversation about politics with one of the dealers. He went on and on with his views of what is wrong and what should happen. I always believe there are three things you should not discuss in public and those are Politics, Religion and Sex. They just open up so many different opinions that you could get yourself into something you didn't want to do.

Have a fun day......

WSOP Play

2012-02-08T08:16:00.000-08:00

We were able to get one tournament off yesterday. The one tournament that I like to see play and deal in is the Noon $25 tournament. It didn't happen. We didn't get the players this week. There are other casino's in the area so someone must be putting on a game that took our players away. It would be nice to see one page that would list all the games in the area where a person could actually see what is happening in each casino.

The poker manager talked to a couple of us about our dealing and the need to work on speed especially in the live game. This is something I need to work on. In fact I have 3 areas I would like to focus on and get better at. I am getting better at chip counting with all ins but it still takes a little bit when you have a number of them at one time. I had a spot with 5 people going all in with different amounts.

The second one is speed of getting the cards back out to the players. I am concerned with not turning cards over when I should just try to get them out and not worry about anything else.

The third one is reading the cards faster and trusting my read. When three or four people turn their cards over I want to make sure I am sending the chips to the correct person. I even have people tell me they have a straight when they don't just to make me go back and read the cards again and that takes up time for me.

I was reading somewhere that if you have your dealer badge you can play in the WSOP dealer tournament. I never thought of that. That would be an opportunity to play in one of the events at the Rio. That is a thought and I will need to look into that a little bit more.

During one of our down times yesterday the poker manager and myself played some headsup. Bad move on my part. It only took a couple of hands and my chips were in his stack. It was fun and it would be great if he would be able to coach me in tournament play. I have never asked him that question but it would be someone that knows my game and what I do. I have asked if I could pick his brain on questions about tournament play but the time to do that has not been available. I like to watch him play when he does sit down.

Today we have two tournaments again and will do some live game as well. The usual stuff on a daily basis. I have not been taking the bus to work this week as I have been taking care of some business for my parents after work. Today is no different. Maybe tomorrow I can ride the bus and save some gas.

Have a fun day......

Redemption

2012-02-07T07:52:00.000-08:00

I would hope everyone that reads this blog understands that this chronicles my ups and downs in the poker world. I love the game and I get frustrated at times with my play and the people around the game. This is me and nothing else. You are seeing a portion of my life and how I am dealing with it. I am at around 600 hits per month and I think that is great to have people reading what I am putting in this blog. I am open to comments if you have anything to say.

Yesterday I ended up going over to play some live cash poker at $2-$6 spread. I have found that I don't do well during the day playing this game. I do better in the evening though. I am not sure of the reason and will have to find out why. I know I put less money on the table during the day than night. Am I disregarding the amount of money and don't care? It is a big difference. Do I play a bigger range with less money on the table? Questions I need to ask and find out.

After the live game I decided to play the 10AM tournament which costs $2 to enter. I lasted for awhile and then my AK ran into a straight. Not bad play. I am playing a few more tournaments now and feel better about my game. I then decided to go ahead and play the $5 tournament next at Noon. This time I made the final table and went out 6th place. I ended up playing 104 and getting a 10 on the flop and then lost to a river flush. I was being blinded out and was card dead for awhile so when the big blind came around I took the chance. Very pleased.

Today is our $25 tournament so we will see what happens and how many players we will get.

Right now I am working on my bankroll to get it up higher and then I will try to maintain it at a bigger level. At this time I can do this with my working and playing and watching the levels in the bankroll. I do have a goal in mind of where I want to be and then I will see what happens when I start using that roll extensively again. One thing I can say about the bankroll is I haven't dropped to zero dollars so I know I can maintain the level. I want to play a bigger game and this will allow that. I keep looking at the $2-$20, $2-$40 games and would like to try them out. There are some of the same players there that play the $2-$10 game.

Have a fun day......

Reflections

2012-02-06T08:07:00.000-08:00

I got to work at around 10:30 yesterday morning. I have been writing down the rules of the poker room and wanted to complete it before anyone else got into the room.

Yesterday was the day that I started showing the business cards I purchased for the poker room dealers. It will make it easier for the rest of us to pass out these cards and maybe bring in some new players. So far new business cards and some new seat cards will help us.

When the day was done at around 6PM for me I had dealt two tournaments and then a continuous live game in between. I was tired after all of that and I hadn't eaten since 9AM. Being diabetic that isn't good. I was able to sit down after all was done and took my Blood Sugar. Naturally it was low and could have been part of what I was feeling.

Is this really worth it? Am I happy at what I am doing? These questions started going through my mind. I haven't been playing much poker lately due to being tired and my mind just isn't in it right now. My Mom's situation is getting closer to being done and then watching my Dad who has already stated he is tired and would like to just go to sleep. Hard to deal with some of this.

Today we had a poker player that actually yelled at me. I understand he does not want anyone to color up his chips during play. He wants to use them as showing he has a big chip stack. If the players are watching they know what he has and shouldn't be scared of the few extra stacks that are in smaller denominations. I did get him calmed down and didn't take anymore chips off of the table while he was there.

Now that this is the next day and I have had a night to think about all of this and my blood sugars are fine I am sure I need to go back and look at my goals and get back on track as a poker player. Start studying the books and working on my WSOP Academy notes again. There are things I can do that will help me and I need to start being focused.

Today is an off day and we will see what gets done. I will visit my Mom and see how Dad is doing. Concentrating on them right now.

Have a fun day.....

Sunday Morning

2012-02-05T09:18:00.000-08:00

Today I don't need to be at the casino as early as the other days. The first tournament starts at Noon.

Yesterday was an enjoyable day for me. It was different. Usually we would have a tournament at 3PM and because we didn't have enough players show up it was cancelled and we had a live cash game running.

This game ran for about 4 1/2 hours. Two of us alternated in the box every 30 minutes to give ourselves some down time. I will say it was the best afternoon I have spent in quite awhile only in that I am getting used to the live play. We have our usual players and will mix in some new ones that just happen to drop in. It's money on the table and it helps the casino as well as the dealers and everyone is having fun trying to get the Monte Carlo's.

Something else that I have been wanting to mention about Island Casino is that we have some of the most giving people playing. Yes, there might be an alterior motive but it works. Back in November we started a can drive for one of the Food places in town. Figured we would do this for Thanksgiving and then it stayed on for December for Christmas. Our players were bringing in 2 cans to get some extra chips for the tournament they were playing.

Here it is February and our players are still bringing in can goods. Yes, they like the extra chips but the food place is getting two big 55 gallon containers full of cans in about a months time. It has been great to watch our players continue to help others.

This next week we are going to have a charity tournament for one of our dealers who spent time in the hospital. He lost a lot of time and hopefully this will help for some of his expenses. There will be a silent auction held as well. Helping others is always a good sign for a family of dealers, and great players.

Have a fun day.......

My Day Off

2012-02-04T07:50:00.000-08:00

I really did take the day off yesterday. I think the only thing I missed was the blogging.

I took care of some financial stuff for my parents and then drove into town to get to the bank and Life Creations. Life Creations is the place we chose to take care of both Mom and Dad when they pass away. The main things have been taken care of now and the misc stuff need to be written up and we can just enjoy the last bit of time with Mom and Dad and not worry about how things will get done.

Once that was taken care of I headed over to the Casino to play some live before lunch and going to pick up Dad. I sat down with my usual buy in and didn't play well and gave 2/3 back to the players. The night before I played as well and ended up going home with a +$4. Talk about variance and the time of day I was playing.

I have noticed that I tend to play better in the evening than in the morning. I seem to play a different style and that affects how I play my cards. I will try to play the day time like my evening time and see if that makes a difference.

I have also noticed I don't seem to be taken seriously when I play cards. I get called when I raise and get re-raised when I call. I am trying to figure out if I have a tell or what is going on. Maybe if I wear sunglasses and a hoodie? I don't like playing that way but maybe it would help the image.

Today I am back to dealing for the weekend. Lets hope for a good day and some good tips.

I weighed myself yesterday and I have lost another 2 pounds. Remember my starting weight in October of 2011 was 243 and now I am at 225. The hardest part of this is I haven't done anything different. I am not on a diet plan and haven't exercised. Just loosing the weight. I did have some blood work done to see if there was anything causing this and the lab work came back normal. I would love to see me in the 100's. When I see 199 I think I will throw a party.

Have a fun day.....

Doing my Job

2012-02-02T07:43:00.000-08:00

I dealt some of the live game before we sat down and started the tournament. Dealing the morning tournament went well and we were able to finish before the next one started.

In the second tournament it started out well and during the middle of it we had a person go out and the button was being moved. I actually moved the button to the next person and then stated what the blinds where to be for them. Immediately I get the person that is supposed to be in the big blind complaining he already did the big blind. I informed him he called in the big blind and would put the blind out. His friend next to him started in on me as well. Saying I need to learn the game.

I asked them if they wanted me to call the floor and they said no and we continued with the way it shoud be. The next hand they started up again about the blinds and that I need to learn the game. I told them to stop and move on to the next hand.

On the third hand I started hearing this again and so I called floor over and had them push me out of the box. I was livid and was not going to listen to it anymore. When the next break came I did re-enter the table and took control right away and did not have any other issues with the players.

Even though I know I was correct in what I did I let the players get to me and that was wrong. We as dealers work hard to give the players a game that they can come in and play. Whether it be $2 or a $5 tournament we strife for the best and honest game. The players need to understand we are not robots and problems can occur. That is why we have a floor person to back us up in whatever decision is made.

Hopefully today I won't have any issues and I can get through Thursday. Tomorrow morning I have a visit with my Dentist. I am not a fan of dentists and will be taking my Valium starting tonight and one in the morning so I can get through the visit. In that case you will not hear from me until friday afternoon maybe. Depending on how I feel.

Have a fun day......

Saving My Job

2012-02-01T07:45:00.000-08:00

How does one go about saving a job?

We were told in a staff meeting we need to come up with ways to save our jobs. Spring and Summer is coming and just like any season the poker players in the area will be doing other things during the time the sun is out. Getting fresh air and doing something else is important to life but I need to save my job.

I need to come up with a tournament and a structure that would make people want to play in the tournament. Need to put that thinking cap on.

I took my truck in yesterday to have the front end aligned. Yep, it was out of alignment as I have known for some time. Really, the cost was not as bad as I thought it could be. Now my next project is to get the brakes done. As I build my bankroll I can get some projects done as well.

I purchased my month pass last night for the bus transit system. I will give it a try for the month and see if it will work for me. Saving gas is one thing I know I can do and help our bottom line here at home. Buying the pass on a monthly basis is nice as well and a person can go month by month depending on what is going on for the month.

Back to dealing today.

Have a fun day.......

Balance

2012-01-31T07:31:00.000-08:00

During the day I read other blogs. I will read some poker blogs from people that will write about their lives and how they are dealing with the life of poker. This past couple of days I have read from two of them about having balance in their lives.

At that point you can't help but think about your own life and what you are doing. Balancing your poker life and your home life is something that we do on a daily basis. I think back at having a job that requires me to be their working for the bottom line of the company. We basically sell our time for a paycheck and by doing that we give 100% of our energy for the company to make money.

We also spend up to 40 to 60 hours per week doing this. Hopefully you are making enough money to survive all of your bills and setting money aside for the day you can retire.

I went through all of that and when the job was gone I had to think about who I needed to work for and how things would get paid. My wife works hard at her job continuing to work for the company. Myself, I also work but now I work in an industry that allows you to earn on your skill as well.

Dealing the cards in poker has been good and does bring in a little bit of money. It is not the 40 hours per week but it is fine. Where I put my other efforts is in poker playing in the cash games. I am not at the 8 hour per day but will play in 4 or 5 hour sessions two days per week. I am hoping I can get that up to the 40 hour per week. Right now the important part is building the bankroll.

Back to the beginning. Balance in life. For me poker is where I can earn some money whether playing or dealing. Family is also important to me and sometimes I don't feel I spend enough time seeing them. My parents are important as they are going through the senior years with health problems. There are so many things that pull on us that balance is important. Friends, Families, Jobs and our life beliefs need to be thought about on a daily basis.

Have a fun day......

Monday

2012-01-30T12:54:00.000-08:00

Today is my day off. I have already been to the casino and played the live game this morning. I also played in the morning tournament. So much for the day off.

I was going to play live last night and ended up staying home watching a movie with my wife. It is nice to sit at home and just do nothing.

It really bothers me to sit at a table and listen to people berate the dealers. The last time I checked the dealer doesn't control who gets what when they deal. It is even worse when a dealer is doing it to another dealer. It just lets other people watching this think they can do the same thing. Just not right.

I am getting ready to start my second week riding the bus to work. I have enjoyed the time and letting someone else drive in the traffic. Savings for the month should be about $100 if not more. Will have to keep an eye on that to see what I am actually saving.

Have a fun day......

Weekend Work

2012-01-29T09:18:00.000-08:00

Having only one day off at a time during the week does make it feel like your never off very much. Don't get me wrong I really enjoy what I am doing and it is a fun group of people I work for and the players themselves are nice.

I decided to ride the bus yesterday and I knew it might get real close at the end of the day to catch the bus home. I didn't realize how close. I had the opportunity to play in a $1000 guaranteed tournament and I couldn't pass that up. The buy in was inexpensive enough but the structure was a little quicker than I like. I would have liked a few more chips as well. Want, want, want, or is that whine, whine, whine.

I was knocked out of the tournament and as I was walking out of the casino I looked at my iphone for the time. I had four minutes to catch my bus home or wait another thirty minutes for the next one. I got out of there quickly and ran to the bus stop. I did say ran to the bus stop. I haven't done that in a while. I got there with a couple minutes to spare and was able to ride home.

Riding the bus this week was my first experience of using the transit system in our community. I have had a good experience. I bought ten passes and figured if it worked out for me I would buy a month pass. I have decided to go ahead and buy the month pass since the times work out for me and it is nice to just sit for the thirty minute ride and let someone else do the driving. Just like having a limousine taking me to work.

Another plus will be the amount of gas I will save. I have been trying to find ways to cut expenses and this is one of them. One of the side benefits is the fact I am unable to just stop at the restaurants I like to frequent for lunch before I go home. That will save me money as well.

As I have said in the past I watch Live@thebike for live poker commentary and learn from players that play the game for a living. At least some of them. Others play recreationally but they are playing for a lot bigger money than me. I like to sit and chart the hands that are being played by certain individuals. Where they are in position and watch the bet sizing as well. Sometimes watching and charting these individuals I can pick up what they are doing and then try some of them myself. Always learning.

I am going to try something for the month of February as well. I am making the month of February my weight loss month. I would like to get under 200 pounds. I really don't have far to go to reach that but with a little bit of work and determination I can do this. I have been reading Jillian's book. She did some work on The Biggest Looser and I am reading about her life and what she has learned. I enjoy those types of books instead of a diet book saying you have to do this and that and thats all. I understand it is a change of lifestyle.

I have a number of projects I am working on and finding time for them all is one thing that keeps my daily book busy. Well, off to work I go and hopefully play some live this evening.

Have a fun day......

Day Off

2012-01-28T07:52:00.000-08:00

Friday was my day off and it was time to clear my desk of the mail that was sitting there. Paid some bills and just basic stuff.

It is nice to get one of these days and my schedule allows for one, working 2 straight and then working 3 in a row. Today is going to be long since we are going to have a 10AM, Noon and then a 3PM tournament. We will go from one to the next and we will be busy.

I started walking yesterday. I walked down to the drug store and back and then in the evening I walked about a mile. I got home and went right to the recumbant bike and put in a 3 minute 25mph ride. I want February to be my big weight loss and I will put the effort into eating better as well as the effort of exercise.

I did stop by the Casino to deliver seat cards that I had purchased for the poker room. Someone had already taken a card and we needed to get it replaced. Glad I had purchased 50 extra cards. I ended up sitting down at the $2-$6 spread game for $40 and ended up loosing that buy in. Mornings are not a good time for me to play and I need to recognize that and stay away from the game. Evenings are better for me and I can concentrate on what I am doing better.

Today I am back taking the bus to work. I like the time to sit and let someone else drive plus I am saving some money on top of that. Anytime I can save money I can put it into my bankroll to help it grow.

Have a good day......

Big Win

2012-01-27T09:18:00.000-08:00

Today is my day off. Time to get some of the stuff done for my parents and clean up the paperwork on my desk. This afternoon I will be visiting my Mom in the Alzheimers unit. She is not getting out of bed anymore and the pain meds were increased. As I have said Cancer and Alzheimers together just doesn't and won't give her the chance.

I did my usual dealing yesterday and got through the two tournaments we had during my shift. I am fortunate to have this position and to be able to do what I enjoy doing. Island's Casino is a great place to work and is very friendly. It just feels like an extended family and we are there for each other.

After my bus ride home I got myself prepared to go back to the casino and play some live cash. I like to play on Monday and Thursday night since they are the two evenings I can spend some time.

When I arrived at the Casino they got a $2-$6 game going before the tournament started. These are just short little bits of time to take up some time before the tournament starts and a way to get some rake for the casino and tips for the dealers. When the tournament started I was down $6 and that was fine. I had bought in for $40 and would hold that for the live game that will start after the tournament.

When the live game got going we started it at $2-$10 spread. I immediately bought in for my usual $100, which made my buy in at the $140 level and of course down at $134 from the last game. I immediately took the stack above the $140 level and was just playing the usual cards and playing my game.

I never dropped below my buy in amount for the first 3 hours. I wasn't going up much and not dropping a great deal either. Twice during this time I got pocket Aces and they were both the black aces and I needed the red aces to get the Monte Carlo, and of course getting them cracked, would mean $100 for me. The pot was nice either way.

Then I changed my seat to see if maybe things would change a little bit and I would also sit next to one of the other dealers and we could just talk while playing. At the 4 hour mark I started to see some hands that were playable for me. One in particular was an A8 suited. The players all called around which made it easy for me to just call and see a flop. The flop came x8x. The 8 was the highest card on the flop. I decided to bet and see if I could isolate one player. The next card came x which was a low card again. Another raise and the pot started growing. The river was low again and I figured I was good with the 8 with Ace kicker and bet again. The villain showed pocket 10's.

I did play a couple more hands and lost them as well. I don't get upset but I was a little frustrated. The other players could see what was happening and I was sure that is why I was now getting callers with anything I did. I looked at my next cards and I see KK's. Now this one I was hoping would hold up for me. I raised and got 5 callers. The flop was good for me with one of the cards being an eight. No flush possibility. No connection for straights. On the turn another 8 showed up and now if anyone was playing with an 8 in their hand I was done. I ended up being all in for the river and another low card came.

When all of the cards were shown or mucked I was the winner of the pot at about $200. My pocket K's held up. At one point one of the players asked me if I was upset or tilted. I told them no I was fine with whatever happened. Poker gives to you and sometimes takes it away. Tonight it was my turn to get the big pot.

It wasn't too long after that that the table turned to a $2-$10 Spread Kill game. There were about 5 players at the table that were playing big amounts of money for just about anything. That was my clue to head home with my win. It was now 11PM and I was getting tired as well. Playing for 4 to 5 hours was enough for me.

Now tomorrow I will be back to dealing the games and my next live game will be Monday.

Have a fun day.......

On the Bus

2012-01-26T07:38:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was my second day riding the bus. It is going well. I know one thing it will take care of and that is eating out after work. When I get on the bus I am headed home. I will not have the opportunity to head somewhere else before home and eat. I will miss my sushi or chicken wings. Of course I can make plans and ride the bus extra if I want
either.

I dealt both tournaments yesterday and it went well for me. I try real hard to keep the game going and not have any mistakes. Reading the cards on the board is a little slow for me but I want to make sure I am giving the chips to the right person. I hate killing cards until I am sure of the winner. That is another skill I am working on. Watching the cards and being able to guess what the players are going to turn over. Sometimes they surprise me. That is when I learn a little bit about the player. I can use that later.

Today I will deal again and then tonight my plan is to play some live. I will take the bus to and from work and then after dinner take the truck back to the casino and will play late tonight.

I am starting to study the Introduction to Betting. It starts out saying every bet you make should be made for a purpose. To get your opponent to fold, call or raise. In my game I am trying to take the limp out of my game and raise if I am going to play. The plan is to thin the field and play against one or two players instead of the table. Decision after that depends on texture and if I hit anything on the flop.

Have a fun day.....

Have a fun day......

Tournament Play

2012-01-25T07:43:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a short day for me. I dealt in the first tournament and then we waited for the signups for the $25 deepstack event. We didn't get enough players so it was called off. We did get a live game going and I opted to sign out since the amount of dealers there were not needed.

Remember that yesterday was my first day taking the bus to work. It went well and I am going to continue to use the bus during the week. It will save me money and it was nice not having to drive to work.

I signed up for the evening tournament which was the $65 deepstack. The people that play this tournament are different than the players during the other more inexpensive tournaments. This one for me is a game checker to see where I am at in my game.

I did well in the first three rounds collecting chips and then the cards turned on me and they went cold. After 2 1/2 hours I was out of the tournament with about 30 players remaining. It was just not happening for me tonight.

Today I am back at the usual tournaments dealing. I would like to get into a live game since I haven't played in a while. My usual time was Monday and I was busy surprising my wife with her ride in the Limo.

Have a fun day.......

Surprise!!!!!!

2012-01-24T07:31:00.000-08:00

It has been about a month that I have been planning this surprise for my wife. I have been wanting to get a Limousine to pick her up from work and then take us to dinner.

It finally started coming together about a month ago. I have a poker friend that owns a Limousine service called "Wine, Cheese & Me". If you go to the website at www.winecheeseandme.com you can see what they have to offer. The price was good as well. It was last week when the calendar was clear for Cindy and I and I told them it was a go for Monday evening.

On Sunday night I told Cindy that I needed her car for Monday as I was going to get service done on the vehicle. She agreed and I took her to work the next morning. Afterwards, I took the vehicle to Red Lobster and let the car sit. Thanks to my Son and his wife for picking me up and getting me back home. At around 4PM I was able to exchange the cars and have my pickup at the restaurant.

I was picked up from our house at 5PM and then we drove out to Cindy's work location. I called her and she came out and noticing the Limo she learned it was hers. It was a good surprise for her. I enjoyed the look on her fellow worker as she was surprised as well. She tried to take a picture but I think it was too dark to see anything. This will have to be in our memories.

We ate at Red Lobster last night as that is one of our favorite places and then headed home in the pickup. What a day and evening it was.

Love you sweetheart.

No poker yesterday as it was a personal day with family for me. Today I am back at dealing. I may play the $65 tournament tonight. We will see how the day goes.

Have a fun day......

Tournament Sunday

2012-01-23T11:26:00.000-08:00

I dealt the Noon tournament and when that was done I then sat down and alternated dealing in the live game. We start out with four dealers in the morning and then when we get through the tournament we go down to two dealers and wait for the 3PM Player of the Week tournament to start.

Our other dealers started coming in and I was asked if I wanted to deal or play. This tournament is nice as it is the Player of the Week and the money is good if you can get to the final table and win. I, of course, like the opportunity to play, so I asked to be let off and join the game.

The last two times I have played in this tournament I have gone out in the first round. By not following my own strategies and getting impatient. This time I had goals to meet and I played aggressive when I had to. Being patient was one of my goals as well. My usual goals are to get to the final table, get into the money and then to win the tournament.

I had one person who would continually raise my blind and I had to put him to the test. I re-raised and he would back down. That did help for future play. I did make it to the final table this time. The villain was on my right just where I wanted him. I started chipping up and with one of the plays he tried to get me off my hand with a T$3000 raise and I called him and won the hand.

I was second in chips to the villain on my right when it was proposed to chop at 5 players. It was put on the table to give the chip leader a good part of first place money and the rest would split. I wrestled with the decision on what to do. I decided to go ahead and chop. I was unhappy the villain got a bigger share but happy for the rest that did get money.

I did win one portion in that I told the group the part of the chopped pot was to go to the dealers along with their tips. I always want the dealers to get a good share as well. We do have people that won't tip so anytime a dealer can get into the money it is nice to get the players to put more into the pot.

The other part of the problem was the villian thinking he was a better player than all the rest. I was feeling like I could play with him and was not scared to put everything at risk to force him into decisions he didn't want to make. I will definitely do it again when I have a chance to play him.

I probably will not be playing the live game tonight. I have a surprise set up for my wife and will be anxious to see her face.

Have a fun day.......

Long Day

2012-01-22T09:02:00.000-08:00

After spending 12 hours at the casino on Saturday I was exhausted. I drove the truck home watching the road for ice and when I made it I was not going out again. Home sweet Home.

It was another typical ordinary day. Arrive at 9AM and get the tables set up for the tournament that starts at 10AM. After that is finished we quickly got the tables ready again for the Noon tournament. We finished this one at about 3PM just in time to get the next one started.

We were able to finish this tournament around 5:30 and at that point I was off the clock and getting myself ready to sit down at the Omaha table to learn a new game. I have tried to learn this game in the past but now we have a dealer who has worked at Foxwoods and has dealt this game. She is very knowledgable. She gave us the basics but no strategies.

When 6:15 rolled around it was time to get a game going to see if we learned anything and also to get our feet wet. They started a $2-$4 Limit game and we have seven players. Two people sat down at the table with rather large stacks and they hadn't been at the learning table. We were hoping for a friendly game and being able to ask some questions after the hand played out.

The two individuals that sat down with large stacks immediately started bullying the table. The older lady next to me was so nervous with what was happening she got up and left. It wasn't too long after that I was getting frustrated watching these two players just raising and bullying the table and seeing their chip stacks rise. I thought it was going to be a fun table not just giving our money to these two guys.

I finally got up and another person followed. The game died a little after that. I ended up going over to the $2-$10 Spread game and figured I would have the opportunity to earn some of my money back I just gave away. I sat at the table for a couple of hours and yes I did go away from the table in the positive. Thank goodness for a game I understand. I will try to learn Omaha but will pick my games by who I see at the table.

Today is another day and will start the process all over again. We don't have the 10AM tournament on Sundays and will start off with the Noon tournament. There is a 3PM Player of the Week tournament that is a good one to play due to the added money. After that a day off on Monday. I would like to play my usual Monday night but we will see if that happens or not.

Have a fun day......

Pet Peeves

2012-01-21T08:10:00.000-08:00

I am a Spring and Summer type of a person. The last couple of years I have been having some issues with the heat but overall I like that time of the year. Having grown up in southern California I like the desert and not having a lot of rainy days. I would make a great snowbird. Travelling from casino to casino playing in live games and doing some tournaments. It would be fun. Now back to reality.

When it snows I will take it easy while driving. I really hate it when someone in a big pick-up goes tearing by me throwing snow all over and having disregard for everyone elses lives. Just because you have a big vehicle doesn't give you the right.

The other one is the fact our interior roads do not get scraped. Once I get out of the residential areas it seems to be fine but just getting to a main road is hard. If you can't get the people out of residential then you have no one driving the main roads. Every year it is the same thing. We pay the city taxes and what do we get in return. I figure they are thinking that if they wait long enough then they won't have to do them.

Tonight our Casino is putting on a class for Omaha. This should be fun. I have been wanting to learn this game. There are casino's I have played in that only have an Omaha game going and this would allow me to at least play a game and not have to wait for the NLHE game. There will be a game afterwards for the students.

I am now off to work for the the next two days. My Mom is now in bed and sleeping a lot. She does look comfortable and I hope the pain is no longer hurting her. I love you Mom.

Have a fun day......

Let it Snow, Not!!!!

2012-01-20T08:36:00.000-08:00

Well, now that we have the snow we need the temperatures to warm up and bring in some wind and then we have a new problem. This is true, we are supposed to get some warmer temperatures now and add some wind. We will see if that happens.

I did get to work yesterday and it was amazing how many people showed up for the 10AM tournament. We had a good turn out for the Noon one as well. Just goes to show that poker players love the game.

I was thinking about how I am doing now that I have been there three months. It seems like it has been longer. I am feeling more comfortable at the table and not as stressed about dealing the cards. I feel my speed is starting to improve. Seeing and reading the cards is getting better and I am starting to handle the chips better with the all ins. Working with the chips in making change during the hand is also getting better. I am watching the hands and moving chips. I call it multitasking and it feels better. I know I have a lot of work yet to get where I want to be. I want the skill level to improve and I feel it will get there.

On the downside to all of this is my time at the tables playing. I try to play on Mondays and Thursday nights. Playing live is where I want to put my efforts. Learning the skill of live is coming along well for me. I can usually hold my own at the table. I am getting more comfortable playing the $2-$10 game. We have stopped the $1-$6 game and will not play it at the tables. It is either the $2-$6 or the $2-$10 now. We have some players that I am getting used to too.

I am not sure what to do about tournament play. I would like to pick one tournament with a good size buy in and with the opportunity to cash and play that to see how I will do. Still working out which one I will play.

Overall I am feeling good about where I am at. Bankroll is intact and now I need to just get it to grow some more.

It would be fun to travel the poker circuit and play. What a dream.

Have a fun day.......

Snow is Here

2012-01-18T08:19:00.000-08:00

Remember the picture of my truck the other day? It was looking rather dark outside and could snow at any time. Well, it picked last night to come down with the white stuff.

It is snowing hard and it is not done.

I dealt the usual games yesterday and then came home. I did not go back out to play. It was nice to sit at home and just do nothing.

I am looking at taking the bus system to work. I am trying to cut my expenses and that is one way to do it. The other one is to not eat out as much. That one will be hard. Then to add some exercise to the mess. I read about people living on less and I need to cut it down a bit. I already do at times but now I need to get really down to business.

I need to get out there and clear the snow off of the truck so I can get to work. I do not like being cold.

Have a fun day.....

Big Tuesday

2012-01-17T07:50:00.000-08:00

Today is the day we have the bigger tournaments. At Noon today we will have the $25 and then at 6PM will be the $65 tournament.

I enjoy dealing the first one due to seeing a better player. I will watch their play and notice the cards they are playing when they are turned over. Of course that does help me in the end when I do get to play.

Last night I headed down to the casino to play some live. I did my usual buy in and started doing well. My chip stack was growing for the first hour or so and then the cards went cold. I was not getting anything to play and then when I tried to manufacture something it just didn't work.

I did stop play at my designated hour this time and was down half of my stack. I had an hour picked out as well as a dollar amount I would end my session with. I ended up reaching the time and I was $5 under my cutoff in money. I did have fun and that was important.

I have been working on my WSOP Academy book studying what I learned and going back through the information. I have finished the part of Pre-Flop play and will work with that in my games. I know decisions are important and also what to look for. Always learning.

Today we are supposed to have snow. We have had wind and I wonder if we are on the edge of the storm and it will miss us altogether. That won't make me sad. I would like to see some warmer weather and know that March is right around the corner. It would be nice to get our heat pump off of emergency heat.

Have a fun day.......

Not Again!!!

2012-01-16T08:52:00.000-08:00

After dealing the Noon tournament yesterday we waited around for the player of the week tournament to start at 3PM.

We usually don't get a lot of players for this tournament. It is one of the better ones to play. Yesterday was the most players I have seen sign up for this tournament. Maybe the word is getting around that the money in the pot is better than some of the others. You pay less if you qualified during the week and the opportunity is there.

I try to play this tournament if I am not needed to deal the game. We have 4 dealers on up to the tournament and then at 3PM we add two more dealers. This way we can start to let dealers go home that have been here if the players don't show up. With 24 players signed up we used three tables and only needed 4 dealers.

I paid the buy in and took my seat in this game. Remember last week when I went out early? It happened again. For some reason I must be having a brain fart since I am playing early hands. On the third hand I had AQ. I called to see the flop along with everyone else. I should have raised but didn't. It was too early in the game for me. Not a good decision on my part. The flop comes 8Q3. The person on my right puts in T$1200. I thought about it and figured he had a Q with a small kicker. I had the Ace and so I called. Another player on my left went all in. If she liked the Q then I must have both of them beat. We ended up getting all of the money in the middle. The guy on my right turns over 83 and the person on my left turns over Q10 and then my AQ. I keep saying I should have raised pre-flop.

I deserved that one. I am still thinking about playing the Tuesday night tournament which is the better one. I need to just stick with my game plan and not get anxious to play the hands early. I might play the live game this evening as well. There is a lot of things to accomplish today. Seeing my Mom and taking Dad to the doctors office.

Had game night at the poker managers home last night. We had BBQ and then played a couple of games. It was fun and was nice to be able to visit outside of work. It is a good group of players as well as dealers.

Have a fun day......

Weekend Work

2012-01-15T09:45:00.000-08:00

Lately the weekends have been nice. I think the people that are coming in are more relaxed and a little bit more patient with all that is going on around them.

We tend to get a live game going and it will go most of the day. We will put in about 30 minutes apiece and just keep going. We will sometimes end up more in tips playing the live game than what we would have gotten by putting on the tournament.

It is interesting to see who will tip the dealers and who will not. I wonder sometimes why they do that. We will have someone at the table and they will be winning but we don't see any tips from that person. Someone else will win and will always send a toke our way. When I play I will always send tokes toward the dealer even if I didn't win the hand. We all work hard in the box trying to keep the game going.

I played some live yesterday just to make sure we had five players so the Monte Carlo's were available. We had one person that was raising and going over the top on just about every hand. Now, I don't mind loosing some money to the players but when I am a butt in the seat and trying to keep the Monte Carlo's going for the rest of them it is sort of counter productive to keep raising and pushing to get people to loose their chips. I finally got up from the table and wouldn't sit down again. One of the other dealers did the same thing and the game finally died.

I understand we are going to have one of our dealers teach the public how to play Omaha. I will definitely be one of the students. I have tried to play the game and so far have spread $300 to the other players. My education in the game I hope will help me. I don't think I could deal the game but would love to learn to play.

Now we are in the new year we are starting to get tax related mail. I hope for a better year tax wise and maybe get some money back. The last couple of years we have been on the other side of it.

Just about time to head off to work. Got to get stuff together.

Have a fun day.......

A Way to Make a Decision Hard

2012-01-14T08:10:00.000-08:00

Having Friday off was nice. I could have a chance to do some stuff around the house. Not. I ended up spending most of my day at the Casino.

Every morning they have their $2 tournament and I decided to go early and get in some live play and then play the tournament. When I arrived they did have a game going but then I found out that on Friday's they do not have the morning tournament. I sat down at the live game and figured I would stay till 11:30 and then go pick up my Dad for lunch.

By the end of the session I was up $70 and I needed to go pick my Dad up from the Assisted Living home before they went into their lunch process. We ended up going to Olive Garden since he enjoys the soup, salad and the breadsticks. When we got done with that we went back to his place and relaxed for a little bit before going to visit Mom.

The visit with Mom went well as she now looks like she is pain free. A little bit more out of it but without the pain of cancer bothering her I think she is fine. She is changing so much with her facial features and the edema is getting more in her hands and arm due to the pressure of the tumor. I will leave it as that.

After getting Dad back to the Assisted Living Apartment I went back to the casino to play in their 3PM tournament. I did get to play in that and made it into the middle of the tournament before I went out. I only played 3 hands through half of the tournament. This just makes me think that I am throwing money into tournaments and I don't like the return. I know I said I would do them for fun but how much fun do you have when your sitting there and not able to make plays.

I was walking out of the casino and ready to go home when I ran into one of the dealers that works the night shift. He mentioned to me that I might want to stick around since the game that is getting started is going to be juicy. I remember the saying if you can't find the fish at the table then your it. I made a you turn and headed back into the poker room and sat down at the live table. I stayed for 3 to 3 1/2 hours and it was a good session for me. I was up $90 when I left. I was up $130 but leaked some chips back to the field.

Overall it was a good day at the table for $160. Now it will go into my bankroll and it is growing. This makes me rethink my thoughts on live play and what I was going to do. Decisions, Decisions.

Have a fun Day.........

Thank Goodness for Friday

2012-01-13T08:23:00.000-08:00

It is nice to have a day off from dealing in the tournaments. I do enjoy my chance to learn the skill and will keep at it as long as they will let me do this.

I have been getting better with the all-ins from the table. Understanding how and when to do the chips. I do like it when you have one going all in and just having one caller. Yesterday I ended up having more than one caller and I was able to get the chips broken up properly.

I was dealing at the final table when I had four go all in with different amounts. We were talking big chip counts and one small stack. People continue to throw out numbers to me when I am trying to do it on my own and then I go into mind block with numbers. One of the players said "just let the dealer do his job". It was nice to hear that and even though the others wouldn't listen we had a chance to talk about it when they were gone.

It is hard when you have people continually tell you want you should do. I can block most of it but when it concerns time then it gets harder to hurry and think about what you should be doing.

I did have a chance to sit down with the poker manager and talk some strategy. I appreciated the time and hopefully this will get me back on track to the final table again. The concepts are there just need to work the table. After being out of tournament play for awhile it will take a bit to get myself back to the thought processes I need to have.

I have spent so much time at live play that it is hard for me to go back and forth so I will slow down in live and play more tournaments again. I will try to play the higher priced tournaments since the money at the top is better than the smaller tournaments.

I enjoyed helping a player a few years back understand poker strategy and theory and it looks like I may do this again. I enjoy helping others gain some knowledge and play better. We will see what happens.

Have a fun day.......

Helping Others

2012-01-12T08:05:00.000-08:00

One of the things I really enjoy about poker is the ability to talk to other players about strategy and theory.

I am not an authority on poker but I have done a lot of reading on the strategies and I enjoy watching others play the game when I can. I watch Live@thebike and listen to what the announcers have to say about how players are playing. I attended the WSOP Academy and have even hired two coaches to help me get better. Putting those things in practice is a lifelong journey for me. To me it is like playing golf, when one item works then something else doesn't. When things come together you have one heck of a night and you can celebrate.

A few years ago I had the opportunity to feed a friend some information on my strategies I had learned and we have made a friendship that is still going today. In fact we played at the table together the other night. I understand his game and yet he understands mine. We can sit and discuss hands just as if it was a few years ago again.

Now I have the opportunity again to help someone. I hope it goes well. He is a good player and very methodical in his play. Maybe I can help him with the thought process and the questions he is asking himself. One of the things I would like to do is possibly coach someone in the future. For now I will keep learning and developing my skill with dealing and watching the players and the cards.

Yesterday was a very good day for me dealing cards. I even had one player compliment me on how far I have come in dealing the cards. It means a lot to be given the compliment and keeps me on tract to keep getting better. I know I will have bad days but I still enjoy the job.

Have a fun day......

Tournament Time

2012-01-11T07:54:00.000-08:00

I have been putting a lot of time in live cash play and have not played tournaments very much if at all. This last week I got myself more involved with tournaments on the lower end of the buy in. Looks like things might change a bit here.

I bought in to a tournament yesterday and was out within the first few levels. I have been doing that in the tournaments and was questioning myself on why. I was playing good cards and I thought my bet sizing was right.

I came back home and opened up the book "Decide to Play Great Poker" by Annie Duke and went to one chapter only. It brought back to my memory of how to play tournaments. When you first start a tournament play tight and then when the Antes start you can loosen up. Changing your game is important not only for you but for the others to be thrown off on how you are percieved.

The tournament last night was a $65 buy in. We started with T$20,000 in chips. The caliber of players was different than what we see during the day. We had 50 players start and I played with these folks for 4 hours. I went out in 22nd place. Not bad for a first time back at the deepstack tournament. I played some good cards and made some good bet sizes.

I will be getting back to studying my books on tournament play and may play live during the day for fun and start using my money to play tournaments once or twice per week. Of course dealing tournaments is still the job. I just felt good about where I was at last night and knowing I can play with this group.

It can get frustrating but I will put myself in a position to do well and play the way I should.

Have a fun day......

Good Shoulder Bad Shoulder

2012-01-10T07:59:00.000-08:00

It was nice to have the day off and get some of the stuff done that needed to be completed. Spending time at my desk does not happen very much anymore. If online poker was to come back in Washington State maybe that will change.

I played live poker last night and it was not a good session. I started out alright but by the end of the night it was over. On Monday's I give myself till 10PM and then I must go home since I work the next day. It was a good table and this was one of the nights that when I made a hand the other person had one card better. Maybe that is why they kept pace with my betting?

I did get beat on one hand that was good. We have a promotion that if a person can have their Ace's cracked they will win $100. On the even days it is the red Ace's and on the odd days it is the black Ace's. I got the black Ace's and proceeded to play them slow waiting for someone to start betting and I was hopeing they had made at least two pair. They did and I won the $100. Putting that in my stack didn't help me much.

Overall it just wasn't a good night. So far it seems to go back and forth between winning sessions and loosing sessions. I would love to put a couple of the winning sessions in a row.

Tonight I am going to play a tournament. I am going to sit in the $65 tournament that pays out really well. At least over $1000 to first. Wouldn't that be a nice payday. I have been backing off of tournament play but I want to see where I am at with this caliber of players in this area. It will be a long tournament. This one is T$20,000 chips and 20 minutes in length. I will need to be patient.

Have a fun day.....

Brrrrrr

2012-01-09T09:27:00.000-08:00

Does that sound like it is cold? I had to turn the heat pump over to emergency heat last night since it is getting colder here in Washington State.

I don't think the picture shows you how cold it is but at least you can look at my nice Chevrolet Colorado. It is really foggy and we are scraping ice this morning.

Another interesting day at the Casino yesterday. After the Saturday fiasco I sat down at table three and was getting into dealing when one of the players starting bad mouthing the casino and then another person got involved and started in on the dealers. I don't take to dealer abuse. I am not the best dealer in house but since I have only been there 3 months I am getting there. I am not fast by any means but I am thorough and try not to make any mistakes.

These players are paying $2 to play this tournament. The rounds are only 10 minutes in length. It moves fast and when they take time to make decisions they take it out on the dealer to move faster so they get a full round in. I can't say much to defend myself at the tabe so will have to figure out another way to get this to stop.

Today is my day off and will take care of some family stuff and then I do plan on playing some live poker this evening.

One of the things I have tried to do is raise pre-flop to thin out the field. We get anywhere up to six or seven callers limping into the pot. Well, it doesn't seem to work. If I put in a raise everyone follows. If I limp everyone follows. So I guess the lesson here is when you are in a game where raising isn't doing anything for you, then just limp away.

Here are a couple of statements that seem to be true. Amateurs tend to raise big when they are weak and small when they are strong. Professionals tend to raise big when strong and small when they are weak. Maybe watching the tendencies of certain players will show a pattern that you can exploit.

Have a fun day........

Back the Truck Up

2012-01-08T09:40:00.000-08:00

Working as a dealer has been enjoyable and fun. There are some times that I tend to take another view of what I am doing.

I know I am not the fastest dealer on the staff. I take pride in being able to deal the cards and work hard to not make any mistakes. My issue right now and always has been the all in dividing of the chips when I have action from at least two people. Of course I prefer when I have all ins and everyone has chips in the middle. I will deal the cards and then work out the chip counts after. Not sure that is always the correct way of dealing with this but it seems to work for me right now.

Yesterday I was dealing the final table. That is an experience all its own. I had two individuals that kept saying I needed to hurry because they needed to go to work. I was getting more flustered and the other players were getting frustrated by the actions of the two. One of the individuals finally went out going all in every hand and the other ended up taking 5th place money and leaving. The table at that time settled down and became more enjoyable for everyone.

My issue is that if you have to work then why are you playing a tournament when you know you could get to the final table and it will take time. The experience for the players was bad and it frustrates the dealer. Enough of that.

I ended the day dealing at the live game for a little bit before I was pushed. Going from tournament play to a live game does present one problem. You have to remember to take a rake.

Today I am headed over to deal again. We have a couple of tournaments today and hopefully get a live game going. It is not a huge day for us so we will see what happens.

Have a fun day.....

What a Difference

2012-01-07T08:17:00.000-08:00

What a difference one day makes. I figured I would take some time off of playing poker but instead I went right back at it and made a difference.

I received a text from the poker manager that he was trying to get an afternoon $2-$10 game going. I had spent the first part of the day in a conference about my Mom and where she was at concerning her Cancer.

After that was done we went over to the Life Tributes Center to finish paying for the funeral expenses and also pay for my Dad's as well. Basically that is all finished and now we don't have to worry about the expenses when all of this does happen. Preplanning is taking some stress off by getting it done.

I then went over to talk to my Dad about the conference and let him know what we discussed. I shield him from all of the intimate details of what is going on and just give him the overview. At least we are on the same page and he agrees with letting me handle this. I just need to stay strong and get him through this.

I then headed over to the casino for some action and to take my mind off of everything else for a couple of hours. I bought in for the $100 and started playing. What was on my mind? Decision making. Make my decisions easier.

Watching for the pre-flop play and being smart about the post-flop betting. Looking for information and position. And the one thing that really worked for me was raising when I had something on the board. I remembered from the class I took at the WSOP Academy that only 70% of the time will someone hit the flop. I really thought about that yesterday when looking at the flop and trying to figure out why someone was betting. Where they doing a continuation bet? If I hit it what could they have?

Overall I felt I played better and was thinking the way I should at the table. When it was time to leave I had made back half of what I lost the previous night. I will continue to work on my decision making as I move forward in my study of the book "Decide to play Great Poker".

Now I am back to dealing for the weekend.

Have a fun day.......

Ouch

2012-01-06T08:33:00.000-08:00

Thats about all I can say about my play last night. I sat at the table about 4 1/2 hours and just did not play very well. I guess it does happen sometimes but ouch.

I had my poker analyzer set up last night and when I wanted to put in the rebuy amount the application froze up and wouldn't let me continue. I lost all of the data for my play in the different games I was doing. That does not make me very happy. I will try to recreate the numbers but I am not sure if I can. I guess that tells me it is better to keep books than to rely on technology.

There is an area in my game that is lacking and that is in the area of raising. You have to ask the guestion to raise or not to raise? Why would you raise and when?

The first one would be for information. If you limp along with everyone else then you are giving all of the lesser hands a chance to flop something and take the hand away from you. The second one would be to narrow the field. I would rather play with one or two others than with a table of nine others because of the limp. The third one is that raising will give you power to win the pot. Sometimes being first in will win the pot. The other part of this is bet sizing. What amount will do the job without risking more of you chipstack?

The part of my game that needs the work is the bet sizing and getting away from limping so I can see the flops. I have become a post-flop player and maybe I should rethink that to become more of a person that will start raising and working on my pre-flop game.

Today I am also thinking of my Mom. We have a meeting set up with Hospice and the Care Unit she is living at. Her health at this time is steadily going down and we may have to give her stronger meds and she will be in bed now. This is on my mind and everything else is taking a back seat. The decisions being made today will be huge on what happens next.

Have a fun day......

Thursday

2012-01-05T08:09:00.000-08:00

Same stuff just different day. I dealt two tournaments yesterday. Very uneventful I must say. I do have one person who is saying stuff at the table for me to hurry. He says he is kidding but I know he is just being himself.

I have been wanting to time myself in how long it takes me to get the cards out compared to how long it takes the table to get through a hand with their decisions. I know I would win. I say back off.

I have mentioned the poker manager and myself having a weight loss bet going right now. I walked into the poker room yesterday and he had brought me a box of chocolate covered cherries. How did he find out those are my favorite. I refused to eat one.

The poker manager will sometimes let us know which table he wants us to start the day dealing. He told me to go start at table two. As I walked up to the table I noticed he had taken the chocolates and placed them around the chip box. The smell was good but again I refused. I told the players sitting down at the table that for every winning hand I would give out a chocolate. Everyone had a good time.

Tonight is my evening to play live poker. I have a doctors appointment today for my diabetes check and then I will get ready to play.

I have to remember that when I receive the cards pre-flop, that is when the first decision must be made. This is very important since it sets up the next decision. Play or not play. Three elements to remember are.

Information = Power
Position = Information
Position = Power

Making the decisions at the start of the hand carries through in decisions you can make following the hand clear to the end.

Have a fun day....

Wednesday

2012-01-04T08:21:00.000-08:00

I am trying not to play any tournaments and what am I doing? I played another tournament yesterday after I was done dealing the $2 tournament.

I know these are not productive and I need to just not play them. Either that or I should just play them for the fun of it and not put any pressure on winning any of them. Treat it as a way to have fun and nothing else. The other part of this is that it costs money and that comes from the bankroll. I want to keep the bankroll intact for the live games. Need to figure that out.

I have been reading "Decide to play Great Poker" by Annie Duke and trying to glean information that will help me play better.

What are my Poker Tools? Raising, Calling, Folding, Check Raising and Check Raise Bluffing. These are tools we have available to use in each hand we play. We also need to know the reason for our actions and why we are doing them. What are we trying to achieve in each hand we play? Right now the important part to learn for me is making the right decision at the right time.

I have to make goals when I play and need to reduce the uncertainty when decisions need to be made for myself. The other goal at this time will be to make my opponents decisions harder in relation to mine.

If I can introduce these things into my game and make them standard in my play then I can move on to the next part and learn some new things.

It just comes down to making the right decisions and reading the board.

I have been watching and following "The Dan Plan" blog. He is taking 10,000 hours of work on the golf course to become a pro. I have wondered what it would take to become a pro at poker and how many hours one would have to put in to make it become a reality. That would be fun to try and accomplish.

Off to work for another day.

Have a fun day......

My Day Off

2012-01-03T08:17:00.000-08:00

The day was spent catching up on some needed items. Take down the Christmas lights outside and put stuff away in the garage. I went into town to do some errands and some of the stores I needed were closed. I guess those items can wait for another day.

I decided to play live poker in the evening. I would like to do Sunday and Thursday evenings since I can stay later but right now it looks like Monday and Thursday may be my time to play. Monday will be the short session and then on Thursday I can do a longer session.

I didn't start out like I had planned and immediately went down a little bit in chips. I decided to start with $100 of my bankroll and let that go and see where the variance of the night would take me.

I was asked to help deal a tournament while I was there since they needed a dealer. That was some extra money for the chip stack and worked out well for me.

After the tournament I was back at the cash table. We played $2-$6 for awhile and then moved up to the $2-$10 level. I had now put in the extra $20 and I was now playing with $120. I was making hands but this night they were off by just one card. I ended up putting in another $50 to see if I could chip up before my session was over.

On this night I wanted to win big pots and loose small pots. It seemed I was going the other direction. I can take something away from this session and that is continue to read the cards and get away when I know I am beat and quit wanting to see the other persons cards just to see them. I know it is nice to see what the other person is playing but in this game I don't find people bluffing.

Today is the big day for the day crew. We have a tournament that brings in some good players and it is fun to deal to them.

Here it is the second day of the weight loss challenge and my weight is 227. There may be some changes to this challenge in the near future. There seems to be others that want to be involved with this and it could grow to be quite the challenge. Cindy purchased food so that we will eat more at home and not at restaurants so much. Restaurant food is easier for us since our schedules are so crazy right now. Just have to make this work.

Have a fun day......

Sunday Tournaments

2012-01-01T20:56:00.000-08:00

On Sunday we have a couple of tournaments. I have gotten to enjoy dealing on this day. We do end up with a lighter turnout than we do on the weekdays. I guess you can call it the die hard regulars.

The first tournament is the $2 Freeroll. I know what you are asking yourself. How could it be a freeroll if we charge $2 for the entry. Well, we have weekly tournaments and then the qualifiers that everyone is going for. It works out in the end.

The other tournament that we have on Sunday is the Player of the Week. This has the added money and it is nice to play. I have gotten to play this one once and even though I didn't cash in it you have the winners playing the tournament.

We do have a pretty good live game going throughout the day. We have now gotten rid of the $1-$6 game and will be featuring the $2-$6 Spread on up. The reason for this is the Monte Carlo board we have going on right now. Any quads, Cracked Aces and High hands. On Friday and Saturday we have the Trips for $5. That one really gets going on those two days.

As I was saying the weekend can be fun and I enjoy the pace. Now for a day off tomorrow. I decided not to play in the live game this evening since I worked from 10AM to 6PM today. Pretty tired.

The poker room manager and myself have a weight bet starting tomorrow. We will see who can loose the most weight in 3 months. I want to get to around 180. My starting weight right now is 229. I was at 242 over a month ago. Since I have been working at the casino I have lost some since I am not eating as much. That is what this job is doing for me. I know I would feel better. This will help us push each other and hopefully both of us can reach our goals.

Have a fun day.......

Saturday Play

2011-12-31T16:21:00.000-08:00

I arrived at the casino at 9AM ready for the big day. Today is the $1,000 tournament. I didn't know if I would be one of the dealers for this one. It would be a very long day and usually I don't do the 3PM tournaments.

I dealt the first one at 10AM and then got ready for the second one at Noon. I was getting pretty tired towards the end. I started dealing at table #1 and then it got down to the final table. I was tired and the players were grumbling a little bit. Finally a few of the players started going all in just for the sake of it to get done. I was finally pushed and got some time before the next tournament.

I also found out I was done for the day and I could play the next tournament if I wanted. I paid the buy in of $40 for the chance at the $1000 prize.

I didn't last very long in the tournament. In fact I believe I was number two or three to go out. I got 1010 and I raised. The flop came A10x. I then raised and got one person to follow. The turn came 3. No flush or straight draws. I went all in and the person called. The river came Ace and we turned over our cards. I had 101010AA vs AAA1010. This means I get to go home early.

I used to get really upset with myself for tournaments when I would go out but now I am more concerned when I play the live game. I like to do well in tournament play but I use it now for a distraction from the live play. Since I don't get to play very often it has been nice for the last couple of days to have the opportunity to play.

Well, tomorrow is another day dealing. We will have only one tournament in the morning and then the 3PM Player of the Week. Again not sure if I will be needed.

Have a fun day......

Amazing Day

2011-12-30T22:08:00.000-08:00

It is amazing how you write a blog in the morning and by evening time you have done something completely different.

I wrote this morning about having the time off and needing to do some stuff in my office at home. After I got home from eating breakfast I started the financial stuff and getting bills paid for my parents.

Around 11:30 I got a text from the poker manager letting me know about the $750 quaranteed tournament they were having today. I thought that I probably should try since it was $15 and would be a great opportunity. I got stuff together and drove to the casino.

I was there early enough that I could play the noon tournament as well for $5 and figured why not do that as well as a buildup for the 3PM. I haven't played in a while and would give me a chance to get some tournament time in as well.

I didn't stay in the tournament very long and that was fine. I then went over and got into the live cash game. They were playing $1-$6 Spread. I sat down in seat 6 with $40. I had an amazing ride for about 1 1/2 hours. I got a couple of sets that gave me $5 extra in the pots that I won. I love the Monte Carlo board. On Friday and Saturday you get $5 for any trips or sets that win.

The tournament was getting closer to starting and the poker manager wanted to use the table for the tournament since we had 69 players signed up. He asked that we start putting our chips in the trays and he would take care of the exchange. I started putting my chips in the trays and I filled up the first one for $100. I kept playing as I was doing that and needed to fill up another tray at $100 and at the end I had to use a third tray for another $100. I couldn't believe what I just accomplished. I closed out the session with $301 in chips and started with $40. This was a good day.

Of course I still had the tournament to play. We had 69 players and I ended up being taken out with my QJ vs 99. The flop, turn and the river did not help me. I went out in 18th place. Not bad for not playing tournaments for some time.

Now it is time for bed and will get up ready to go back to dealing the tournaments tomorrow.

Have a fun day......

Frustration

2011-12-30T10:29:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was my Friday for the week. I have today off and will catch up on the mail and working with my parents financials. So much to do and so little time.

Dealing the tournaments yesterday went well. I was a little frustrated with some of the stuff going on at the podium. Since we are a small casino, but number two in the Tri-Cities, everything happens in a 3x3 space at the computer. Multitasking is something that we all need and it can get crazy. Even having a person trying to help.

I did get to play my Thursday evening live cash game in the $2-$10 Spread. I started off well hitting flushes and straights and then cooled off. I was even money when we got three new people sitting down at our table. Things got worse from there.

The player in seat four, who was drinking, got insulted by one of the new people at the table. Words started going and I even wondered if this would go on outside. The floor and the dealer got involved and got the situation cooled down. It doesn't help when seat seven starts making donkey noises. What makes that person better than others? Seats nine and ten were together with seat seven and they all were trying to run the table.

My issue for the night was the fact that every time I was in the big blind seat nine would raise. I never had a good hand to raise back but that was my frustration. I have watched this group play before so I was glad I was on the left of them, but still it didn't help since I knew what they were trying to do.

My session ended when I got KK and decided I would make a stand against seat ten and I ended up loosing to a straight. Just couldn't make it happen.

After thinking about the situation last night I have decided that I need to make some rules for engagement and rules for my play and table dynamics. I need to make the session work for me and not just sit there since it is my night to play. I am thinking about what rules I want to put into effect for myself.

I know that decision making is very critical and I have a book for that. I stopped reading it when I started dealing but now that I am trying to play live I need to start my reading up again. The book will be "Decide to play great Poker" by Annie Duke. I am hearing a lot of good things about the book. Hopefully I can learn some good things from the book.

Well, it is time to get some work done before the new year hits us in a couple of days.

Have a fun day.....

Seeing Hands

2011-12-29T08:10:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a usual day in dealing. Nothing out of the ordinary in dealing to the players.

I know that as a player you should always watch every hand to see what is happening and try to put together the story of each hand being played. I have been doing that even before I started dealing. I have always had a hard time seeing hands and trying to put people on hands.

Now that I have been dealing for awhile I am starting to see the hands that are being made before the cards are turned over. This is really helping my live game as I am looking at the cards on the table more and trying to figure out what I am up against before I just take my hand as the one that is always going to win.

Something else I have noticed is that when I put out the ten cards to figure out who gets the dealer button at the start of the tournament, I notice the cards that are put out. People need to realize that this is a normal deal and if those cards are all low cards then what would the hands be like.

Just a thought. I guess it just goes with the area of noticing the cards more and your cards less when playing. They are important but you need to be able to look at what someone else is playing.

We have had a pretty busy week so far in that Christmas was over the weekend and then my sister came into town. Now we have Cindy's sister coming into town tomorrow. We are having fun seeing everyone. It is hard for us to get out of town since I now work every weekend and only have a day off at a time. No complaints here though.

Tonight I am scheduled to play late and in the $2-$10 live game. Hopefully I will do well.

Have a fun day.......

Unusual Request

2011-12-28T08:23:00.000-08:00

I had the most unusual request yesterday. I was sitting in the box dealing on table #1. We were down to two tables getting close to combining into the final table. The guy in the number 6 seat looks at me and tells me to slow down. I tell him that what I usually get is the opposite and that is to speed up.

I have been doing this for 2 1/2 months now and the request struck me as being funny. Once he found out the length of time I have been dealing he says to me that I am doing fine.

I have had a number of people tell me that they can see a difference from when I started. That means a lot to me since I quit two times in the first month. I am glad I hung on and am still learning the skill of dealing. I know I still have a ways to go but at least the skill is getting better.

I had another dealer at the table yesterday and she was playing the tournament. She was holding a conversation with one of the players about how she knows how he plays. Since she deals she has a read on what how some the players will play their cards. I mentioned to the table that you ought to see my book. One of the players took it seriously and asked if I really had a book on players. I told him no, I was just joking. It's all in my head. Not a bad idea though.

Last night was our adult dinner with our Dad. He enjoyed his dinner with two of his kids. I wish Mom could have been there.

Now I am off to work another day.

Have a fun day......

Tuesday

2011-12-27T08:25:00.000-08:00

After having a couple of days off and being able to be with my family it has been nice.

We spent the time eating and then Cindy and I have been able to spend some time together. We are on such different schedules right now. I am working on my poker in the evening and she works long during the day. I am sure others are in the same boat.

I will spend some time talking about the past and the future soon. What did I do in 2011 and what are my goals for 2012. There are a number of personal things that will be taking place next year and will they affect my time at the tables? We will see what happens together.

One thing that did happen this last week was some depletion of my poker bankroll. Christmas and family and that was important. Now I must rebuild that account and get back to what I need to have to be able to play in the $2-$10 game.

I am reading a book called "Winning Low Limit Hold'em" by Lee Jones. There is so much information out there and I try to keep learning. The other great news is that Internet Poker looks to be making a comeback. That is something else to think about.

Well, off to work and see if we can get a live game going this morning.

Have a good day......

My Day Off

2011-12-24T18:16:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was my day off and I had an opportunity to sit down and play a tournament with $500 guaranteed. The only problem with this was we didn't have enough players. No tournament.

Since there was a live game going I sat down in the $2-$6 spread game. I ended up sitting for 3 hours and came away with $56 added to my bankroll. I have been putting this information into my iPhone application and so far it is moving in the right direction.

I hope at some point this week I can put together my year in review. Just little snippets of the 2011 year.

Today I showed up for work ready to deal the freeroll and we ended up with about 20 players. We went ahead and dealt it and then we didn't get the amount of players needed for the next tournament. The poker manager at that point called it a day and we were done.

I sat down at the Spanish 21 table today and decided to play for a little bit. I ended up $5 positive and decided to walk away with that. I don't play them and feel the house has too much advantage. Today was just something to do before going home.

Merry Christmas to everyone......

Thursday was a busy Day

2011-12-23T11:10:00.000-08:00

I got to work this morning and was approached by the poker manager. He wanted to know if I would be willing to show up tonight to be an alternate dealer.

The day was usual as we dealt two tournaments and mixed in the live cash game. By 3PM I was walking out the door and was time to get some lunch.

I have been enjoying Sushi lately since it is light and does fill you up at least until dinner time. I headed over to my Dad's place to get ready for the Christmas dinner the facility was putting on for the families. We got down to the cafeteria and we were seated in the corner of the room by the Christmas tree.

This was a good spot for us. We were served first and we were able to get through the meal with no problems. We were served Prime Rib with Green Beans with bits of Bacon and a half of Potato. It was the right amount and seasoned just fine. I told my Dad, why do you complain so much about the food, it was good. He just chuckled. I guess I need to be there on the other days.

We walked back to his room and I noticed the time. It was now 5:30PM and I was to be back at the Casino before 6PM. I said my goodbyes and headed out the door.

I sat down at the live cash game to wait and see if I was needed. We did end up with 4 tables and with me we were at the appropriate amount of dealers with a floor person. I dealt the fourth table and as soon as it was broken up I helped clean up the area and get it ready for the live game. I was paid my tip money and the dealing fee for the freeroll and I was ready to get down to business of playing.

Once the $2-$10 Spread started I put the information into my iPhone analyzer to follow my progress. I ended up staying about 5 hours at the table. It was so good I couldn't leave since I was building my chip stack. I bought in for $100 and at one point I was about $350. I let some of that slip back to the table and since the dynamics changed on the table I decided it was time for me to go home.

It was about 1AM in the morning. I walked out of the casino with $160 above my starting buyin. I shut down the analyzer and I noticed I am now at a $17 per hour rate. I know this will fluctuate according to the tables and what happens. Something I can watch. I am anxious to build the bankroll up and to keep it climbing.

Right now my plan is to play at least one or two times per week. I will work on at least 4 hour sessions and that needs to be on a day that I have the next day off since I am staying late in the evening. Since I am off on Friday I will make Thursday evening one of them. Overall, I am happy with my play so far. I do have to remember that when I don't play a hand it is just like earning the money.

Money saved is Money earned.

Have a good day......

Premium Cards

2011-12-22T07:48:00.000-08:00

I hadn't played cards in a few days, at least not a $2-$10 game where I
want to be playing now. Since we needed a fifth player at the table and I had some time I decided to sit in and just muck my cards. This is called a "Butt in the Seat". I would also get tips since I was still on the
clock.

In these $1-$6 spread games I will only put $20 on the table and usually
do not take the game very seriously. Everyone will put in that $1 just to see a flop. Don't even think about raising from the blind since everyone will follow for that extra dollar. What does it take to get people to
fold their less than premium hands?

I was in the blind with 10x and checked when it came around to me. When the flop came out it was x10x. Since I had top pair on the board I
decided to raise and get as many people out as I could. I raised it to $4. I got two callers. The Turn came with an Ace. I guess at that point I should have just folded but since I was first I decided to raise and put in $6. Both callers put in their $6 and we had a pot brewing. The River came and another Ace came. I put in my last $4 and was called.

I didn't win the hand but the two others split the pot. They were both holding Aces.

Is AK that good that you want to chase the AK after the flop when you
don't make the pair? What does the guy have if he is betting on a board with a 10 on the flop? I figured I was beat when the Ace showed up on the turn but still couldn't believe someone would follow through.

I do have to remember we are playing $1-$6 and everyone will just throw money in just to be playing. Anyway my rant for the day.

Tonight I will be going to a Christmas Party with my Dad at the Assisted Living place and then after that I am going to try playing the $2-$10 game. I have built my bankroll up enough that I want to start playing and with a certain amount. I will let you know what my criteria is in a blog soon. I have been working on my goals for playing poker and need to put them down in writing.

Have a good day......

Disappearing Act

2011-12-21T18:35:00.000-08:00

I don't usually have any stories to tell about the people I meet at the casino. I don't have any funny stories or things that happen to me that sound interesting to put in the blog. That is until today.

Yesterday I was working the floor after getting done dealing a tournament and I was at the podium working on the spreadsheet for the final tally of players and winners before it was sent to the cage.

The dealer in the live cash game turns around and tells me we had Aces cracked and I needed to call the surveillance to get a picture of the table and give them the information. Of course I immediately called and told them we had Aces cracked and he asked for all of the pertinent information. I asked the table who won and they pointed to a gentleman in seat 7. I asked his name and he gave that to me. I had to ask him his last name and he gave that to me as well.

I then asked for his casino number and he told me that he did not have one. Now, in order to be paid I needed that number. I asked him to go to the cage, and it was free to have one, and please bring that back to me. He agreed and I then told surveillance I would call them back with the numbers.

After some time went by I couldn't find the person in the casino anymore. No idea where he was so I left the slip of paper on the podium and explained the situation to our poker manager. He called surveillance and told them if he came back we would pay this out to the gentleman. We still owed it to him.

Today I noticed the piece of paper was gone on the board. I asked the dealer that was at the table if he knew what the rest of the story was. He told me that the person did come back into the casino only long enough to give the chips that were left at the table to the dealer as a tip. He did not collect the money from the Aces being cracked.

Every once in a while you come across some strange things.

Have a good day.....

Tuesday Poker

2011-12-20T22:05:00.000-08:00

Monday was my day off and I did a lot of things to catch up to where I needed to be. That was a big list. The only thing I didn't complete was to put the Christmas lights up around the outside of the house.

I did get my Dad over to visit Mom and then back to the house to start cooking for the Christmas party for the dealers at Island Casino. I cooked up some Enchiladas and then waited around for my sweatheart to come home and then we took off for the party.

It was a fun time had by all. Gifts were exchanged and we played a game that was non poker related. My gift was the movie "Rounders" and the book "The Art of War". The person who picked the gift was the perfect person to recieve them. Hopefully she enjoys them. She has never watched "Rounders" and now she can.

Today being Tuesday is our big day. We have a regular Freeroll and then we have the $25 tournament. At 6PM is the $65 tournament. I am trying not to play tournaments anymore but that is one I wouldn't mind trying. A lot of the good players play in this one and it would be good to see where I rate when playing with them. Of course one tournament does not make the rating of how good you really are. It would be fun to watch the players though.

This evening after getting home we put up the lights around the outside of the house. They look nice. It was cold and I was glad to get back into the house.

Now I am headed to bed and then get back to dealing the game tomorrow. I am working on my bankroll and have a number I am trying to reach before the new year comes around. I haven't played in a number of days so am anxious to get back at the table as a player.

I am reading a new book. "How to Win the World Series of Poker (or not)". So far it is a fun book to read and it is giving me things to think about while playing. Maybe I can learn from this guy in a different way.

Have a fun day......

Weekend Work

2011-12-18T19:11:00.000-08:00

As usual I have spent the weekend dealing cards. No different than any other day of the week. We do tend to have less players showing up for the weekend. Today was Sunday and we are struggling to get 20 people to show up and play the morning freeroll.

The one thing that does get going is the live cash game. We will start a $1-6 spread game and people tend to enjoy that one. We are trying to get people to change to $2-6 but for some reason they just enjoy the slow pace of the smaller one.

I will tend to deal the game and not play. With this one people will call everything down to the river and show that they were chasing instead of playing real hands. Just makes for waiting for the right hand and then play aggressively and take a good size pot down.

Today I dealt my first Regressive Bad Beat. I have won one of these a few months ago and then was at the table for another one. Today was the first in dealing this bad boy. The prize payout is $500. The looser gets $300 and the winner will get $100. The last $100 is split with the players at the table that were not in the hand but started the hand. In this case there were four players to split the $100. I was able to share in the tips of course and with three dealers on at this point it was a nice share.

After my work today I headed down to the Mid Columbia Gymnastics where a birthday party was being held for two of our grandchildren. They had fun playing and then eating the cupcakes. Of course presents were fun as well.

I am off tomorrow and will go see my Mom and then I will be cooking for the Christmas Party potluck for the dealers. Not sure what will be taking place but should be fun. Can't stay out too late since I will be working on Tuesday. This is one of our better days during the week since the buy in is a little bit more challenging. Better players of course.

Have a good day and a good week......

Early Friday Morning

2011-12-16T01:24:00.000-08:00

Here it is 1AM and I am still up. I just got back home from the Casino after a 4 hour session of poker.

I worked today dealing two tournaments and then helped the poker manager clean chips. They look real nice now that they have been washed. Makes you proud.

Once the shift was done I then headed out to the Alzheimers unit for the annual Christmas party. They had the usual Country band singing and they were doing the usual christmas songs along with the other country favorites. Mom was not doing well and at one point she stated that she was uncomfortable and they went ahead and gave her medication. It did help but she wanted to go to bed and the music was loud for her. It was hard for her and I was glad Dad was not there to watch her. I will pick him up tomorrow and take him over to see her. She will probably be very tired tomorrow.

After the party I decided to go over to the Casino and play a couple of hours of live. I have decided to play with my usual buy in of $100 to start and see where the variance of poker play would take me. I was going to leave at 10PM. We were playing a $1-$6 game and at 10PM the game turned to $2-$10. My chip stack started going down and I decided to stick around because the game was slow and nobody was playing deep poker.

I ended up with one hand that brought me back. I came up with JJ's and I called to see a flop at $2. The flop was all low cards so I raised it up and got 3 or 4 callers. The turn was low as well and it gave someone the draw for a flush. Again I bet and got followers again. On the river it was a low card again and the board did not pair up or give anyone a flush and no straight possibilities. I turned over my JJ's and everyone left mucked their hands. Wow, I just made over my buy in for the night. I ended up with $10 for 4 hours of play. I will take that as a positive. Especially with this group.

I played a few more hands to get past the button and decided I needed to get home and get some sleep. So here it is after 1AM and I am headed to bed.

Have a good Friday everyone......

Wednesday

2011-12-15T08:24:00.000-08:00

Today was a good day for me dealing the cards. I was able to make the chip changes as needed. I don't know why but when I am pushed by the players it must make my mind stop thinking and start worrying over the process.

At the end of the 2nd tournament we ran there were four players and they decided to chop the prize money. They each got the $50 for their efforts and that isn't bad.

One of the players got up and after a few people left the table area he told me that he hadn't been to Islands Casino in some time. He didn't like playing here. Today he said that he enjoyed himself and he had fun and the dealers were fun and kind. He stated he was planning to start playing here again. It is nice to have a place you can play a tournament or a live game with people that you enjoy being around.

I had a conversation with another dealer from another Casino last night. We started texting since my phone number is on the list at the other casino to play live games whenever they are available. She was surprised to learn that I was now dealing poker since that casino wouldn't give me the opportunity to learn. She thought it was nice and hoped I would come back to visit them. Maybe the casinos are looking for players in this economy to help them keep going. We do and enjoy having new players join us for a game.

My brother took off and is now back home in New Mexico. Just in time too since today we have snow on the ground. Maybe it will warm up some now that the weather decided to give us the blanket of white stuff.

Well, off to work today and tonight I have a Christmas party to go to at my Moms Alzheimers Unit.

Have a great day......

Tuesday

2011-12-13T21:06:00.000-08:00

This is the second post of the day but since I have to leave early in the morning I need to get this post in and then I can try and post tomorrow evening.

I was dealing today and got myself into some trouble with dividing up the chips with 3 or 4 players all in and with different amounts. I am trying to work on this and it is frustrating for me to keep having this problem.

I was on the floor and walked up to the poker manager and asked him if he would spend some time with me and go over this concept and how I can get better at this. I know it frustrates the players because of the time but it really frustrates me because I know I need to get better. I know I am probably making this harder than it should be. I need to just relax and get it done instead of stressing over it and making it hard.

I worked two tournaments today and spent some time dealing the live game. I understand this sounds like a broken record but this right now is what I do. I am trying to build my bankroll by playing and dealing. I keep putting the tips away and will be able to play a bigger chip stack soon. Playing for the usual $20 will not make it for me. I want to start with $100 and then I can get through the variance of the ups and downs of
poker.

I spent some time today talking with a young person who is working on his live game skills as well. We talked about the difference of tournament and live and the skills needed between the two. Hopefully he can improve but then again he will understand how I play the game. Will have to adjust some when he is in the game. I enjoy talking about the game and the people we are playing against. I don't get a chance too often to do that.

Tomorrow my brother will be going home. It has been nice to have him here for a visit and a chance for him to visit our Mom and Dad. I know she doesn't know who he is but still you can't just leave her out of the visits. She is getting so thin right now. Cancer is really a tough process for anybody and watching this is hard. We just want Dad to be sure and take care of himself during this process as well.

Have a good day tomorrow......

Monday Poker

2011-12-13T08:02:00.000-08:00

After the Seahawk-Rams game I decided to go play some poker. I should have gone earlier since the game was so bad. I know the Seahawks won and that is nice but Rams lost and that doesn't make me happy either. Rough when you like both teams. My brother was happy.

I got to the Casino around 9PM and got right into the game of $2-$6 spread. Fortunately for me the seat that was open was seat 10 and a very loose aggressive player in seat 9. He was raising basically every hand and he had enough drinks on board that he was shipping his chips to whomever would call him.

It was frustrating when you wanted to see a flop but also good in the point that it made you wait for a good hand. I stayed for 1 1/2 hours and mostly waited and I ended up bluffing a two pair hand to get someone off of the trips. I had pocket 10's and two Aces showed up in the flop. I played them with raise and was called to the River when I raised again and the other player thought about it and threw away his Ace. I couldn't show the bluff. He was so frustrated with the LAG that I just told him he was beat. Let it go at that.

Today I am starting my three days on at the Casino dealing. Probably won't play much live. Hope for a good day.

Have a good day everyone......

Good Day at the Casino

2011-12-12T12:20:00.000-08:00

On Sunday we only have to deal with the one basic tournament at Noon and then we have a Player of the Week Tournament at 3PM. There are 4 dealers for the first one and then we get a couple more dealers coming in at 3PM to help us out. If we don't have the players then we start sending dealers home.

Since I dealt the first game I then stayed around and another dealer and I started up the Live game and worked it till the next tournament started. It gives us experience in live game and does give us some more tokes before the new dealers come in. It all works out for us. We will alternate every 30 minutes so we don't get tired and gives us time to work the floor with people signing up for the next game.

Today is Monday and is my day off. Since I have my brother here from New Mexico I will not be playing poker tonight. It is important that I watch the Seattle Seahawks and the St. Louis Rams play tonight. Even though I am a fan of both teams I am a die hard Rams fan. My brother is a Seahawk fan and there you have the rivalry. There is a wager on the game tonight between the two of us.

I will be wearing my Rams clothes tonight and putting out my Rams rug in front of the TV. I hope it is a good game tonight.

Have a fun day.....

Hard Day

2011-12-11T10:13:00.000-08:00

For the last couple of months I have been dealing at the casino. Even though I know the game and can play the hard part is sometimes dealing and listening to the banter about your skills.

One of my issues is making sure the pots are correct when there are all ins with different amounts. I know I struggle with this and I keep working on it to get better. I have gotten so I don't listen to the players complaints and just do my job.

Over a period of time I have gotten better but then you get a day like yesterday and only one time gets you all off balance and then you start to doubt yourself. For me it is more frustration because I know I could get this done.

Today is a new day and I am back at it again. I have Monday off and I may play some poker in the evening. At this time I am just building the bankroll up so I can attack the tables again.

Have a good rest of the weekend......

TGIF

2011-12-09T11:14:00.000-08:00

Today I have a day off and I need it. I woke up the other day sneezing about 2AM and I was having a hard time stopping. It continued throughout the next day and my nose is stuffed up. I don't think it is a cold but it could be the sinuses having issues with the dry weather. The past few days have been very cold and dry around here.

I didn't play any poker yesterday. I did my usual dealing for the day and then went home. In that case I guess I don't have any poker related things to talk about.

Last night I did get to watch the Tuesday evening session of Live@theBike. I really think listening and watching the live game has helped me learn some things that I should be doing in my game. They were talking about some iPhone apps that would be good to put on either the iPhone or the iPad. I have put one of them on my phone and will use it for my play from now on. There is one that would be good to use that would track players at the table. I am thinking about getting that one as well since I do play with the same people quite a bit.

As I said earlier today is a rest day for me and I will be ready to go for tomorrow. My older brother will be in town to visit my Mom for the next few days and it will be nice to see him. All of my siblings will have come into town in the last month to see Mom and Dad. Hope the visit goes well and the weather warms up a bit.

Have a good weekend......

Being a Butt in the Seat

2011-12-08T08:07:00.000-08:00

We are asked to be butts in the seats to support our fellow dealers. Even though I think that is a good idea I am not sure about the outcome.

I don't mind being a butt in the seat to help the fellow dealers get a game going. I will put my money in there and not expect much back as long as the others are doing the same thing. The problem with the whole thing is the mentality of the non dealers that are playing at the table.

In this type of game I will usually say something about my hand being made to the other person if we are one on one. They then have the option to fold or bet. If they have something better than that is alright. At least we are giving them the option to call or raise.

Last night playing in a $2-$10 game with overs to $2-$20 did not go very well for me. When you have a person that is betting every hand it ceases to be fun and the table does not play along. I basically invested my tip money to the game and I am not sure I will do this again.

When I play live poker I am there to increase my chipstack and play the game like it should be played. My options are to not play to be a butt in the seat and I have decided if certain people are in the game I will not sit down at the table.

I have to make better decisions on when to sit down and put my chips at risk. It is all about risk and reward when sitting at the table. I would like to have some sort of advantage from picking my seat and having certain players on my right or left.

Today is my last day to deal this week. Hopefully it will be a good day....

Bankroll Management

2011-12-07T08:22:00.000-08:00

I don't talk too much about my bankroll since talking about money is not something that I want to put out on a blog. Maybe sometime later I won't mind showing what the whole bankroll is and how I am accumulating it through poker.

I do have a set number in my mind that would make me comfortable to be able to play at the levels I do play at. Every person is different and what you would need is different than what I would get in a game for.

I do look for ways to build the bankroll. My bankroll does not all come from the game itself. I would like for it too but that just isn't possible at this time. I am always happy to get on the positive side of the night and bring home cash.

I am feeling more comfortable playing in the higher levels since my style has gotten more patient and not always wanting to see the flop on every hand for a cheap amount. That in itself is the problem with lower limit games. Everyone wants to see the flop.

I am forcing myself to make better decisions before the flop and that way I can play the cards and try and figure out what the other person has. I am learning to read cards by doing the dealing. Seeing cards all day and seeing what people play is really helping me be able to again make better decisions and see what the story is that the other person is telling me.

I am learning that there is more to this game that I need to study. Back to the bankroll. I do feel you don't need a big bankroll to start playing the game you just need to figure out how to build to keep playing. By playing low limit games you can learn and build at the same time.

I have pretty much stopped playing tournament poker for now. For me the Live cash game is where I am learning and adding to my bankroll. I will continue to play, learn and be patient.

Have a good day......

Playing Poker

2011-12-06T22:14:00.000-08:00

I was texted by the poker manager to see if I would be interested in playing Monday evening. Monday was my day off and I had decided that I would not go play poker and just have one day off. Well, I ended up going to the casino and putting in a 2 hour session.

I sat and waited about an hour for a seat in the $1-$6 game. I finally got my seat and waited for some good cards. Immediately I lost a couple of big pots and was down over half of my stack. I felt I needed to be patient and things would turn around.

I didn't have to wait very long. I got a set of 10's and then topped it off with a set of J's and I was back over my starting stack.

I then moved over to a $2-$20 game and continued to play well. I was very patient and again I was able to keep myself on the positive side with the chip stack. One good hand was K10 and the flop came 10K10. The other person betting with me ended up with K10 as well. At least we didn't loose with the hand.

Before I left for the night we ended my session changing over to a $2-$10 game and I stayed for another 15 minutes before heading home for the night and for the 2 hours I was able to cash out +$20. Not bad for the evening especially the stakes I was playing. This should be a tuneup for the bigger game I would like to play. Will have to do this again.

Have a good day.....

New Dream

2011-12-05T10:57:00.000-08:00

The other day I was thinking about a way to get players into the casino now that we are Marketing as well as Dealers. I did work in sales back in the early 80's but haven't done any of that since then. As I have mentioned before it is not something I want to do and being responsible for getting them into the casino is not for me. I will do whatever to help but that I can't do.

I did come up with an idea yesterday and put it down on paper to see if it would be possible. This is following another casino and what they are doing as a promotion. Not exactly the same but close. Why not put someone into the biggest game we have with $200 to $300 dollars and give them 3 hours to see if they can have fun and possibly earn some money. I have the information on paper and may turn it in to the poker manager.

Then, I got another idea. If I am going to put that idea to them why not do it myself. I will have a set amount of money and a set amount of time to play in the biggest game. Can I make it myself? I am putting my ideas on paper to see if I can achieve this.

The only thing I would like to see if I can get help with is having someone willing to coach me a little bit to make sure I am doing the right things. Having my mind properly set to play this big of a game would be important. I have read many books on poker and have my own style but when put into a live cash game and the stakes are bigger I want to make sure I am ready.

One of the books that I think will help me is the one written by Annie Duke called "Decide to Play Great Poker." There a many great ideas and thought processes that I can use. There are others I have on my shelf I will probably get back into. I don't want to clutter my mind with ideas or strategies but ways to play hands and be productive.

I will let everyone know when I am going to do this and the specifics when I get them all nailed down. Coaching is my first priority and will be talking with a few people I trust in this game. In the meantime I will be cutting out tournament play to put all of my efforts into the live cash game thinking.

Nice to have a new dream........

Whats Good for the Goose...

2011-12-04T08:51:00.000-08:00

You've heard that saying, "whats good for the goose is good for the gander"? Well maybe not.

Yesterday I was talking with one of the dealers about playing live and how to approach the game. We are talking about a $1-$6 game so not a big amount of money. We will get a game going in the morning before the tournament to try and rake some money for the casino. We as dealers will also sit in just to be a feeder for other people to see a game going on and when it starts to fill up we then back out of the game.

Now, I am not interested in throwing a lot of money at the game since I am not sitting for a long period of time. I also know that the tips coming from this game will also be part of my tips at the end of my shift. If I don't put a lot of chips into the game I know I could break even for the amount of time I spend.

This morning I wanted try out a play that was talked about between me and the other dealer. Money in the pot and I raised on the turn after the flop had been out and we called. The other person folded thinking I had a good hand and I showed the bluff.

What I got next was something I didn't expect. I was told that if I wanted to play like that come on and I would be beat. The player wasn't even in the hand. He also stated earlier he does the same thing only to put tips into the bag. I can understand that but this hand also brought me back up to even for the day.

I know one thing is that when I play poker I play to increase my chip stack. I have no problem putting in tips for the dealers but then I am not there to just sit there and do nothing if I am in the game. I guess I could just fold, fold and continue to fold but then I am not guaranteed in getting my money back at the end of the day.

Another day dealing poker and we will see how this day goes. Last week we didn't get a tournament going at all and ended up playing live all day. Tips were good.

Have a fun day......

Dreams

2011-12-03T08:12:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a day off so I spent the time playing Live poker in the morning and then played a tournament at Noon. What a way to spend your time off. I enjoy learning the skills and seeing the cards and learning for me is what I want to do.

I have been thinking about my dreams of where I want to be in life and what I want to do. I felt it all got messed up in January of 2010 and now all of my hopes and dreams are gone. Trying to figure out how to do the things I want to do is hard.

My dream of purchasing a MotorHome and travelling is gone. Playing bigger games in poker is gone. Having an investment vehicle with the stock market is gone. Most all of the dreams are gone.

Sounds like a bad beat story. I still remain pretty positive but I know that the things I do and worry about really don't make a difference. I have a roof over my head. Great family members and friends and I figure that is really all I need.

Yesterday the decision was made to move my Mom to a different pain medication for her cancer. We will try this and if it doesn't work for the pain relief then we will have Hospice move to Morphine to stop the pain. We knew this time was coming and now we need to get through this as a family and make sure our Dad is maintaining his health.

Still not sure what is going to happen with the job at the casino. With the family issues going on the job really doesn't seem that important. My time will be taken up with both parents at this point. I can worry about that later.

Have a good weekend.....

Dealers Night

2011-12-01T07:51:00.000-08:00

The poker manager let us know that he was going to have a dealers night live cash game. This was to get us together and have some fun and not have any pressure of a tournament or live game.

I showed up at around 6PM and they had an usual $1-$6 spread game going. I jumped into that game since I had another hour before the dealers game was to start. At first my chip stack was depleting and I was wondering if I would have enough to start the next game.

Then I started hitting hands. It was nice to bring in some pots and I built my chip stack up where I was very comfortable. We switched over to a $2-$4 Limit Kill and that wasn't bad either.

By the time 7PM came around there were 2 other dealers that came in and one of the dealers decided to play in the pits and the other one came over and sat down at the table. No one else showed up for the dealer night out.

I sat at this table for a good 4 hour session and when I left at 10PM I was up $50. We had also switched the game over to a $2-$10 spread. I am not a good $2-$10 player but tonight it payed off and I was able to head home with a good profit for myself. Any positive cash at the end of a session is good and I will take it as a win.

Hopefully by being a "butt in a seat" when the poker manager has these games will be enough to keep my job. I am willing to play and be there to deal the games anytime. I don't really care about the hours as much as I do care about building my skill level at dealing the game.

I don't get alot of time to play long sessions at the table and it was nice to sit and just play the game and be patient on the winning hands.

Off to deal my 3rd day in a row and then will have tomorrow off.

Have a fun day......

Frustration

2011-11-29T14:25:00.000-08:00

Today was not a good day at the Casino.

I arrived to work and before we started the live game the dealers were sitting around the table talking. The poker manager was talking about the new $2-$4 Limit game and how we were to approach taking the rake.

During this time he informed us that he had just completed the employee evaluations for all of the dealers. We have a new General Manager and he had a say in the evaluations as well. No one got a good evaluation and the reason for that is we are not bringing in new players.

We as poker dealers are supposed to bring in new players. When we do bring them in we are to notify the management that we brought in the players. This will help keep our jobs. The General Manager wants to replace all of the dealers. Wow, I am just stunned.

I have been there since October and I am getting more comfortable dealing in the tournaments. Now all of a sudden I am a salesman in trying to keep my job. I guess I will need to think about this and decide what I am going to do. My circle of friends do not play poker and getting them involved is not want I want to do if they don't want to play the game.

What happened to enjoying the game? Maybe going back to just being a player is what I need to do. We will have to wait and see. Two posts in one day is new for me.

Have a good day........

Changing the Game

2011-11-29T08:14:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was my day off and guess where I spent my time? Yes, at the casino.

The dealers try to support each other on our time off to help keep the game going and bringing in the players. As soon as we have a full table then the dealers start to back out of the game and let the players go from there. I was not on the clock yesterday so I stayed in the game.

During the early morning session I was holding my own and came out of the session down a little bit. When the next session started, after the tournament, my chipstack started declining again. I was just missing the best hand by one card. A8 vs A9 type of stuff for two pairs.

On the last few hands played before the next tournament started I got AA. Now if I got them cracked I would get $25 with the Monte Carlo. If I played them aggressive I could possibly get myself back to even for the whole day.

I had two callers and they were playing their hands aggressive so I joined in to see if I could win this big pot. As it turned out my Aces held up and ended up back in the black for the day. Good positive day.

Starting today we will no longer play the $1-$6 spread game and will be changing it to $2-$4 Limit. Hopefully we have the players supporting this. Our new GM wants us to rake another dollar and this is his way of doing that. Hope it works.

Now I start my three day stretch of dealing poker. Let the fun begin.

Have a good day......

Deal the Cards

2011-11-26T17:57:00.000-08:00

We had our Thanksgiving yesterday with the family. It was nice to have everyone together. The only one missing was Mom. It would have been nice to have her here but she is safer in the Alzheimer Care home.

Today was back to work in the Casino. I dealt two final tables today. It just seemed like it would never end. Especially with the Rebuys. There weren't very many of them so it wasn't really that bad.

I was nearing the end of the final table today with three players remaining. The poker manager had come over to the table and was preparing to pay the next person taken out.

I burned the card and brought out the flop and then one of the guys said All-In. I looked at him and of course it wasn't his turn. I turned to look at the other guy in seat 10 and was waiting for his action. He looked over at the guy in seat 2 and had that look on his face like what are you doing? The poker manager started laughing and looked right at me and said that one of the other dealers that has been there a long time does this at least two times a night.

I couldn't figure out why the crowd around the table was laughing. Then it hit me. I had brought the flop and never dealt the cards to the players. The player in seat two noticed first and that is when he said All-In. It was a nice break for everyone to get a good laugh before I could redeal the cards.

When everything was all done and the next tournament was set up I was able to go home. Before I left I sat down in the eating area. The Poker Manager walked by and noticed that I was sitting there and told me I had done a good job today. He also said he was happy that I had made the decision to stay at the casino. My first 3 weeks were not very good but I feel I am getting the hang of it and the players are getting used to me. That was a good pat on the back.

I did play a little in the $1-$6 game today and donated my $20. I need to get more serious with my play. We are expected to be butts in the seat and I guess my mentality is to donk off the money to the customers. I can't play like that. I need to stay away from playing when I am working and go play on the nights that I have some time to really play the game. I have to work on that one.

Today was the Memorial for a good friend. I wasn't able to attend but my thoughts are with the family. RIP Betty "Boop".

Have a fun weekend......

Turkey Day

2011-11-25T08:51:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was the actual turkey day for a lot of americans but for my family we are having the celebration of food today. Since I worked thursday in the casino we are waiting.

We did have our usual tournaments during the day and we had about half the normal people show up. I use the word normal very loosely here. We play the freerolls to get customers in the door. I have gotten change from them to pay the one dollar and play for an opportunity to get part of the $200 prize pool. Some of them can't pay the $4 for the dealer add-on so will pay the $1 to play in one of the tournaments. We get 40 to 50 people playing per day. Not bad.

On this day we had a couple come in and they payed the one dollar to play. What a lot of them will do is ask for the Double ticket and take it to the blackjack table and then try to get the next buy in and then bring over the money for the next tournament.

On this day the guy decided to take his $15 over and try to double his money at the blackjack table. You know the rest of the story. He lost all of it and was very upset. He stormed out of the casino and slammed the door and it broke something on the door when he did that.

I get a telephone call at the podium and then find out he has now been 86'd from the casino. Maybe that will be for the best if they can't afford the money to play. They have to realize the consequences of their actions and what they are doing.

The cable guys have shown up this morning to rehook up our cable. I hope everyone has an enjoyable holiday.

Gobble Gobble........

Happy Birthday Dad

2011-11-23T21:40:00.000-08:00

Today is my Dad's 81st birthday.

After working today I went over and picked him up and brought him home with me. We fixed Enchilada's and Chile Relleno's. He really enjoyed them and it is something we have made in our family for many years. My Mom would make this meal and I learned from her how to prepare them.

He enjoyed the time here and talking with one of our sons. The quiet time listening to christmas music and relaxing was good.

It has been a busy couple of days in the casino. People are coming home from college or having the time to play right now. The rest of the week is expected to be crazy. We will have our Thanksgiving on Friday when I have the day off.

Have a good turkey day.....

Tired and Tilted

2011-11-21T21:40:00.000-08:00

It gets old just saying that I am working at dealing the game. I have been doing the same stuff and then today I got the day off.

I have been wanting to learn the Omaha Hi-Lo game and have been putting some time in the books. The Casino is trying to get a game started for the last 2 weeks and at some point I will sit down and play some when it gets started. No one has showed up for the game yet.

This evening I figured I would take some time and sit at the table and play whatever was going on. It was the usual $1-$6 Limit game. We had a new person at the table and she was doing well. One of the last hands I played and the hand that basically took me down to the end was a hand that I just couldn't believe happened.

I was holding KJ and on the board showed up 10-3-Q. All I needed was the Ace to show up for the straight and stay away from someone hitting a flush. The turn was the Ace. I hit my straight. I raised to $12 and got three people following. What were they playing or where they on a draw for the flush. I said give me a red card to stay away from the club and spade flush and sure enough the red card came on the river and was a 3. I felt good about my straight and someone said that three may not be what I wanted to show up.

Turning over the hands were my straight and then the new person turned over the pocket 10's for the Full house. Tens over threes. That hurt.

It happens and I basically gave back the money I won the following day so it was alright. At least a new person took the pot and maybe some day she will play again. Always like to see new people get involved in the game.

Right now I am having a real hard time sleeping at night. With everything that is going on with the job and learning the new routine of dealing and then making sure my Dad gets over to see my Mom. I haven't said too much about her on my blog. She has Cancer and Alzheimer's as well. The cancer is progressing now and she is in some pain and being taken care of by Hospice. Watching my Dad deal with what is happening is hard. I had to separate them into different facilities because Mom needed the Alzheimers care and Dad was unable to take care of her like he wanted. I keep telling him we will get through this together and I am sure we will. I use poker right now as a way to get my mind off of what is happening. I guess I didn't realize how hard this was going to be on me.

Have a fun week. I will be working in the Casino the next three days and will have Thanksgiving on Friday when I am off.

I love my job!!!

2011-11-16T20:54:00.000-08:00

On Monday morning I got up and got myself ready to work. I arrived at the casino about 9 AM and I started to deal the live $1-$6 Limit game.

Just before the 10 AM tournament started I was at the podium and the poker manager came up to me and asked me why I was there. Monday was my day off. I guess one day looks like another. Well, at that point I went home.

I did go back in the evening and played a 2 1/2 hour session of $1-$6 Limit. The game was good in that we had a person that was drinking quite a bit and he was winning but we all knew that if we were patient he would return the chips. He didn't let us down. Near the end of the session he was spewing off chips and most of us were getting our chips back. Too bad the game had to stop due to the tournament starting.

Working Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Putting a lot of time dealing the live as well as the tournaments. Trying to get myself better by staying longer in the tournaments at the #1 or #2 tables.

I have noticed my hands are hurting more. I have arthritis in my fingers and it is really bothering them. I don't know how long I will be able to keep this up.

Have a good week.....

Learning

2011-11-13T19:20:00.000-08:00

I haven't been blogging as you notice. I have been one busy person now working days. I had been working 3 days and 2 evenings until I finally quit for the second time working a Saturday evening/night.

I was put into a situation where I was out of my league as far as dealing the poker game. Playing the game is one thing but by putting me into the game on a Saturday night was way beyond my level of comfort. I ended up letting the poker manager know that I had enough.

I was not making the customers happy and I was slow enough that it frustrated them as well as myself. I felt the only thing I could do was go ahead and leave and then get back to my time playing the game and building my bankroll that way. He wouldn't have it and so he changed my schedule so I would work 5 days during the week.

I am now dealing the early live game and then two tournaments as well as dealing a sit-n-go inbetween. Getting these hands in is helping me to deal with less pressure and stress. I hope to keep gaining the experience and learning this new skill. I am a very visual person so watching the dealers helps my game as well.

I do need to gain some thicker skin. Listening to some of these people complain is something else. Get this. They are playing a freeroll and paying anywhere from $1 to $4 to play. This is with add ons so they pretty much get to play for a chance at $200. I get the chance of learning and we all should be happy. Not this group.

In the meantime since I am not playing very much I am building my bankroll for another chance at playing some live cash games. I do enjoy the chance and am learning to be patient.

On the personal side my Mom is not doing very well and that takes up my time with Dad as well. We will get through this together.

Have a good week.....

Friday

2011-11-04T22:00:00.000-07:00

What a week it has been. I was asked to come in on Monday this week was my day off. That meant I had worked from Saturday through Thursday.

It is not so much the time at work as it is not being home to take care of other things. It is nice to have a job to go to though.

As I said earlier I haven't been playing very much poker since I started dealing. It has been time consuming for me since I am trying to do a good job at breaking up the chips and trying to get it out as fast as I can. Sometimes I feel like I am moving too fast and need to make sure I am doing a good job first.

Thursday morning I was able to get into a tournament and I got to the final table but was taken out when my two pair AQ got beat by J10 and a straight. This morning I went back and played in another tournament and got to the final table and this time cashed. It felt good to get to the end of a tournament again. I played live $1-$6 Limit and came out positive cash as well.

The Casino started a new game this evening and it is $2-$100 with a maximum of $50 buy in to the game. You have to be down to $25 before you buy in again and can only be $50. I put up the $50 and played for an hour and 50 minutes and was positive cash before I got AK and a K came on the flop. One caller and on the turn I went all in and she called with KK. That was not good. I would like to play this game again but will need a better bankroll for this one. I was being patient and then I must have had a brain fart to not recognize something was wrong. Put this in your memory bank and refer to often.

Tonight I played one last tournament and went out early. I am tired and since I have to go back in the morning to deal two tournaments I will head off to bed.

Have a good weekend......

Working

2011-11-03T16:09:00.000-07:00

Sorry for not updating the Blog. I have been working every day since Saturday and will get a day off tomorrow.

Not playing much poker just dealing at this time. Miss the action.

Have a good day.....

Time Off

2011-10-29T19:14:00.000-07:00

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.....

Alcohol and Poker

2011-10-27T20:23:00.000-07:00

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....

One More Day

2011-10-25T21:19:00.000-07:00

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......

Hard Times

2011-10-23T21:30:00.000-07:00

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.......

Early Morning

2011-10-18T17:10:00.000-07:00

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.....

Decision Time for Me

2011-10-17T21:24:00.000-07:00

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......

Double Shift

2011-10-16T21:36:00.000-07:00

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.......

Down Day

2011-10-14T19:35:00.000-07:00

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......

Into the Fire

2011-10-13T22:39:00.000-07:00

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......

The Second Day

2011-10-12T20:39:00.000-07:00

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.......

My First Day

2011-10-11T17:08:00.000-07:00

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.....

The Germs Attack

2011-10-08T21:21:00.000-07:00

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......

It finally happened

2011-10-05T21:49:00.000-07:00

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......