Sorry I haven't posted anything in awhile. For me things have been pretty crazy and I am trying to figure things out.
I finally got upset enough with poker that I just backed off of playing for now. My mind has not been into it even though I do keep up with the blogs and what is going on in the news. I have written before that since WA State has taken away our right to play poker online that my avenue to being able to practice my skill is hard. Of course, now that the DoJ has taken away poker for the U.S. players everyone is in the same boat.
Playing in the casinos is my preferred choice but with the games that we have in this area they are not a good structure wise for me to continue. Way to expensive and more luck is involved than the skill that one possesses. So, at this time I will sit and wait for the chance to travel someplace to play or just wait for a better opportunity.
I must say my stock portfolio is moving along nicely. Not so much that I am just knocking it out of the park but that I feel that I am understanding what I need to do to play with the big boys in this setting. I have to have a strategy and I think I have figured out that playing the dividends might be the avenue for me. It means I hold the stocks longer but that teaches me patience and I am improving my technical reading of the stock charts. There is so much involved with this skill as well. It is ironic that some of the skills I learn in poker is transferred to playing the stock market or reverse for that matter.
Part of my life I never talk about is my health. The last three weeks I have been having issues with sleeping. I can go to bed at night at my usual time and in about two hours I am awake. I find I cannot go back to sleep. Makes for rough days. I have taken sleeping pills to give myself the needed rest but refuse to use them on a daily basis. So, just like tonight I am up and writing this blog. Usually I spend time surfing the net looking for things to learn or read.
It is amazing to me how people get tuned in to their bodies and know when there is something wrong. Solving the issue is another issue as well. What is the problem? You start to mentally go through the checklist of things you know. Is my diabetes being a problem for me? I know alot of things can happen because of diabetes. Am I for sure feeling what I am going through and is this causing my ability to not sleep? I do know that I tend to be better when I am up and not lying down.
I know that I have arthritis in my joints and maybe that is causing some issues as well. I just don't know. I do know that I have been riding the recumbent bike for about a week now and have been going at 20mph and riding six miles per day. I thought that might help but so far no weight loss and still not able to sleep. I guess I need patience for that as well. I will keep at it and see if that solves any issues.
I never thought that at the age of 55 that I would be without a job and basically be retired from working. I knew the time was coming that I would be backing off from the big paycheck that we all strife for and have a retirement account that we could use to get out and have fun in life. Isn't this the time in our lives to finally get to do some of the things you have always wanted to do but were too busy? Instead you feel like you are in prison and nothing changes. What happened to conversations with friends? I guess things change and again you are forgotten. Is that what happens?
I continue to watch my parents get older and I try to take care of their needs. They are both in a good spot. Mom is doing as well as can be expected with her Alzheimers and she is now with Hospice. She will refuse to do things at times and that is her perogative. Dad is doing well but he is loosing his eyesite. I try to be their for him when I can. I just continue to watch this cycle and to me it is sad to watch.
Anyway, I will continue to post here on my blog but maybe not as often as I was. Since I made this my poker blog I may now use it to continue to write on other topics. Maybe more stock stuff and other thoughts.
Have a fun day......
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Tuesday
Today has been nice weather wise. Even though the nights are still a little cold the days are getting better.
Today was the day that I was going to go to Wildhorse Casino and play in the Seniors event. I really wanted to go but told myself that I needed to earn my way to be able to play. That didn't happen and so I will stay home. I need to find the games that will help me not hurt me. I will be looking for Cash Games more than tournaments right now.
I haven't played any live cash or tournaments for over a week now. I have been busy with things at home and then for some reason for the last four to five days I have not been able to sleep at night. I don't do well when I have been up so long. One of the nice things is I have some medications that I can use to help me sleep. Only drawback is I don't want to rely on them to get sleep. So, I give myself one and then back off a few days to see if I can sleep on my own. So far it is not working.
I have been working on finding a way to bring in some income from working on the internet. I have been working the stock market for dividend income. I am very close to closing my blog on the stock market and moving it over to blogspot as well. This would be a good time since it hasn't been up for a long time.
So much has been happening with the online poker landscape. It is so sad that something couldn't be done to fix this. So many individuals are loosing their jobs, online poker playing, and will make it hard for a lot of people. Whats going to happen with these families? I see some are thinking about moving overseas to be able to provide for their families. They don't want to do that. This only means more people looking for jobs in this economy.
I have been watching the Stocks associated with Las Vegas Resorts and Casinos. Will more people move to Las Vegas and start their careers in the live games? So far I am seeing that some of the casinos have more games going. Might be good for the Brick and Morter Casinos. Maybe more games will be available.
Hopefully the rest of the week will be good and I can get some sleep.
Have a fun day......
Today was the day that I was going to go to Wildhorse Casino and play in the Seniors event. I really wanted to go but told myself that I needed to earn my way to be able to play. That didn't happen and so I will stay home. I need to find the games that will help me not hurt me. I will be looking for Cash Games more than tournaments right now.
I haven't played any live cash or tournaments for over a week now. I have been busy with things at home and then for some reason for the last four to five days I have not been able to sleep at night. I don't do well when I have been up so long. One of the nice things is I have some medications that I can use to help me sleep. Only drawback is I don't want to rely on them to get sleep. So, I give myself one and then back off a few days to see if I can sleep on my own. So far it is not working.
I have been working on finding a way to bring in some income from working on the internet. I have been working the stock market for dividend income. I am very close to closing my blog on the stock market and moving it over to blogspot as well. This would be a good time since it hasn't been up for a long time.
So much has been happening with the online poker landscape. It is so sad that something couldn't be done to fix this. So many individuals are loosing their jobs, online poker playing, and will make it hard for a lot of people. Whats going to happen with these families? I see some are thinking about moving overseas to be able to provide for their families. They don't want to do that. This only means more people looking for jobs in this economy.
I have been watching the Stocks associated with Las Vegas Resorts and Casinos. Will more people move to Las Vegas and start their careers in the live games? So far I am seeing that some of the casinos have more games going. Might be good for the Brick and Morter Casinos. Maybe more games will be available.
Hopefully the rest of the week will be good and I can get some sleep.
Have a fun day......
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Black Friday
I had spent most of the day taking care of some of the financial stuff that I needed to do for my parents and for us. In the afternoon I had a couple of the grandchildren here watching a movie they wanted to see. I then started reading travel blogs and got myself going in that direction.
I have been doing a paper route for a person that did something to her foot and is unable to walk the route. Going to bed early and waking up at 0245 to do this route has me pretty tired. This morning was my second day and I am not sleeping well. I have never been a person that liked the night shift after 0100. I do well up to that point but after the clock strikes 1AM I am down for the count.
I was sitting in my chair last night and decided to take a look at Twitter to see what was going on in the Poker world. I follow mainly the professionals to see who is playing where and what they are doing. I was surprised to learn that the world of poker was shut down in the U.S.
My first thought was, NO, they didn't actually do that. Then I started reading more to get more information. My second thought as I was reading all of the complaints was, now you know what we have been going through in Washington State and it didn't seem to matter to anyone since it didn't affect them. Now it does.
It is amazing how when it affects others that all of a sudden it makes it important. I have been trying to use my bankroll in the live arena. It does cost more to play and you have to go to the casino. It takes time and gas to get there. Do you want to go out at that time to play and you have to wonder will there be a game to play when I get there.
Now I have to wonder what will happen to online poker? What will happen to the WSOP? The WPT? What about the Pokerstars and Fulltilt tournaments that have been put on where you find online qualifiers? Will the participation numbers go down? I guess we will know the answers in a couple of months. What will life be like without online poker?
I also "Play the Stock Market Game", and I wonder if the government in all their wisdom will shut this down as well. Think of what has taken place with that industry right here in the U.S. where people with power take the money of those that are trying to make it in life. I see no difference here and if the government wants to save us from ourselves then they should look at that and put some of them in jail for what they have done with the markets.
I am not very happy with our government right now and what we need to do as individuals is ask the appropriate questions before we vote for an individual to see if they fit what we need. It is like a job interview. I know the one time I got called and was asked to vote for someone the first question I had for the person on the other end of the phone was "Do they support poker"? Maybe we need to do more of that.
I really hope that this is just a bump in the road and that the government will get this turned around so we can get back to what we enjoy. There are so many other things that are more pressing issues for us in this great nation of ours. Gas Prices, Economy, jobs to just name a few and I know the list could go on and on.
Well, enough of me ranting about life as a poker player. I hope the rest of the weekend goes well.
Have a fun day......
I have been doing a paper route for a person that did something to her foot and is unable to walk the route. Going to bed early and waking up at 0245 to do this route has me pretty tired. This morning was my second day and I am not sleeping well. I have never been a person that liked the night shift after 0100. I do well up to that point but after the clock strikes 1AM I am down for the count.
I was sitting in my chair last night and decided to take a look at Twitter to see what was going on in the Poker world. I follow mainly the professionals to see who is playing where and what they are doing. I was surprised to learn that the world of poker was shut down in the U.S.
My first thought was, NO, they didn't actually do that. Then I started reading more to get more information. My second thought as I was reading all of the complaints was, now you know what we have been going through in Washington State and it didn't seem to matter to anyone since it didn't affect them. Now it does.
It is amazing how when it affects others that all of a sudden it makes it important. I have been trying to use my bankroll in the live arena. It does cost more to play and you have to go to the casino. It takes time and gas to get there. Do you want to go out at that time to play and you have to wonder will there be a game to play when I get there.
Now I have to wonder what will happen to online poker? What will happen to the WSOP? The WPT? What about the Pokerstars and Fulltilt tournaments that have been put on where you find online qualifiers? Will the participation numbers go down? I guess we will know the answers in a couple of months. What will life be like without online poker?
I also "Play the Stock Market Game", and I wonder if the government in all their wisdom will shut this down as well. Think of what has taken place with that industry right here in the U.S. where people with power take the money of those that are trying to make it in life. I see no difference here and if the government wants to save us from ourselves then they should look at that and put some of them in jail for what they have done with the markets.
I am not very happy with our government right now and what we need to do as individuals is ask the appropriate questions before we vote for an individual to see if they fit what we need. It is like a job interview. I know the one time I got called and was asked to vote for someone the first question I had for the person on the other end of the phone was "Do they support poker"? Maybe we need to do more of that.
I really hope that this is just a bump in the road and that the government will get this turned around so we can get back to what we enjoy. There are so many other things that are more pressing issues for us in this great nation of ours. Gas Prices, Economy, jobs to just name a few and I know the list could go on and on.
Well, enough of me ranting about life as a poker player. I hope the rest of the weekend goes well.
Have a fun day......
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Thursday
I have done nothing this week in Poker.
I guess I am boycotting Jokers Casino because of the high limit games they do play. It is up to me to get out and travel the highways to find the new places to play the lower limits. New one in Walla Walla I want to go check out.
I am considering going to Wildhorse in Pendleton on the 19th to play some live $2-5 games. On my way back home I will drive through Walla Walla to check out their Casino and see what it has to offer.
I have been using my culinary skills to make dinners the past few nights and trying to come up with something good to eat. I put together a Spanish Meatloaf on Tuesday night. I used 1 1/2 lbs of hamburger and mixed in oats, salt, pepper, egg, green olive with pimento and baked at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 15 minutes. I also cooked up some corn and that was the vegetable on the side. My take on that one was so-so. I probably won't use that recipe again.
Last night I decided to make enchiladas. I fried the corn tortillas until they were soft and then rolled them with cheese, onion and black olives. I used a green sauce on them this time. I normally use a red sauce but the green sauce gives them a different taste. I then had a salad on the side.
What to cook tonight?
My mornings have been taken up with watching the stock market and looking for new dividend stocks I can get myself into. I am presently holding CIM and ARR for the dividend. The market is so unstable right now. Trying to even find a stock that is in an upward trend is hard. I will keep looking for that stock to purchase.
I have gotten myself involved with the TV show "LOST". I started with season one and now am in season two. It has me hooked and I am watching two or three episodes per night. Since we do not have Cable watching Netflix has turned out to satisfy the TV bug. I was able to watch the Masters this weekend by going to Yahoo Sports and see the streaming live broadcast. I found a site that you pay $40 per year and have over 9,000 stations to watch on your PC. Things are getting a little easier if you know where to look online.
Another day at the Physical Therapy.
Have a fun day......
I guess I am boycotting Jokers Casino because of the high limit games they do play. It is up to me to get out and travel the highways to find the new places to play the lower limits. New one in Walla Walla I want to go check out.
I am considering going to Wildhorse in Pendleton on the 19th to play some live $2-5 games. On my way back home I will drive through Walla Walla to check out their Casino and see what it has to offer.
I have been using my culinary skills to make dinners the past few nights and trying to come up with something good to eat. I put together a Spanish Meatloaf on Tuesday night. I used 1 1/2 lbs of hamburger and mixed in oats, salt, pepper, egg, green olive with pimento and baked at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 15 minutes. I also cooked up some corn and that was the vegetable on the side. My take on that one was so-so. I probably won't use that recipe again.
Last night I decided to make enchiladas. I fried the corn tortillas until they were soft and then rolled them with cheese, onion and black olives. I used a green sauce on them this time. I normally use a red sauce but the green sauce gives them a different taste. I then had a salad on the side.
What to cook tonight?
My mornings have been taken up with watching the stock market and looking for new dividend stocks I can get myself into. I am presently holding CIM and ARR for the dividend. The market is so unstable right now. Trying to even find a stock that is in an upward trend is hard. I will keep looking for that stock to purchase.
I have gotten myself involved with the TV show "LOST". I started with season one and now am in season two. It has me hooked and I am watching two or three episodes per night. Since we do not have Cable watching Netflix has turned out to satisfy the TV bug. I was able to watch the Masters this weekend by going to Yahoo Sports and see the streaming live broadcast. I found a site that you pay $40 per year and have over 9,000 stations to watch on your PC. Things are getting a little easier if you know where to look online.
Another day at the Physical Therapy.
Have a fun day......
Monday, April 11, 2011
Weekend Done
Stayed pretty low this past weekend. Not much news and didn't do much.
I heard that Jokers Casino has a $2-4 Limit game on Monday afternoons starting at 2PM and goes until about 6PM and then the Freeroll starts from there.
I walk into the Casino at 2:15PM and no one is around. The Poker room is quiet and no dealers are even around. Maybe that was a rumor except I heard that from one of the dealers.
I have decided to see if I can find another casino that does have the games going. It is really hard to drive to Spokane due to the gas prices. If I can find one in one of the other towns in this area that would help me out and make me happier. This next week I was going to play in the Seniors event at Wildhorse but I want to earn my way in and want to do that by playing live.
We sent our taxes in last night. Not looking forward to this. We owe this year as we did last year. This next year will be different since I will not have any income to report unless I find something before the end of the year. Finding work is hard right now and being in the mid 50's does not help the situation.
I guess we are trying to conserve as much as possible. Right now we are looking at changing our Car and Home insurance company. The difference from $1475 to $700 is hard to let pass. Saving that much money per year is something that will help us greatly. We have made some other changes and so far they are helping but this will be the biggest yet. We keep looking for ways to cut, cut and cut some more.
I did purchase another Dividend stock this morning. I purchased ARR and already have CIM that produces on a quarterly basis. ARR will produce on a monthly basis for now. Would like to pick up a couple more and have dividends coming in and that would help.
Have a fun day......
I heard that Jokers Casino has a $2-4 Limit game on Monday afternoons starting at 2PM and goes until about 6PM and then the Freeroll starts from there.
I walk into the Casino at 2:15PM and no one is around. The Poker room is quiet and no dealers are even around. Maybe that was a rumor except I heard that from one of the dealers.
I have decided to see if I can find another casino that does have the games going. It is really hard to drive to Spokane due to the gas prices. If I can find one in one of the other towns in this area that would help me out and make me happier. This next week I was going to play in the Seniors event at Wildhorse but I want to earn my way in and want to do that by playing live.
We sent our taxes in last night. Not looking forward to this. We owe this year as we did last year. This next year will be different since I will not have any income to report unless I find something before the end of the year. Finding work is hard right now and being in the mid 50's does not help the situation.
I guess we are trying to conserve as much as possible. Right now we are looking at changing our Car and Home insurance company. The difference from $1475 to $700 is hard to let pass. Saving that much money per year is something that will help us greatly. We have made some other changes and so far they are helping but this will be the biggest yet. We keep looking for ways to cut, cut and cut some more.
I did purchase another Dividend stock this morning. I purchased ARR and already have CIM that produces on a quarterly basis. ARR will produce on a monthly basis for now. Would like to pick up a couple more and have dividends coming in and that would help.
Have a fun day......
Friday, April 08, 2011
Off Topic
Maybe it is time to take some time away from poker playing and do something else for awhile. Or maybe not. I really don't play the game that often maybe just one or two days per week. I enjoy both the Cash game and the Tournament play. Maybe my dream of being a professional at this game was set a little too high. I am not one to play a game for fun and if I am able to earn some money playing the game I am more interested.
Having lost the ability to play online has really affected my bankroll and what I was trying to achieve. I was doing well online and the opportunity to earn some money was great. I don't have the option of moving to another state so I have to try and find ways to play this game and keep motivated to keep learning without loosing my bankroll altogether.
I have been doing a lot of reading lately and most of them have to do with living a minimalist life. Since I have been out of work since January 2010, I have become interested in living on very little amount of money and trying to see how that can happen.
I would like to have my own business and trying to find what will work for me. I like the fact of working on the internet and it would have to be internet based so what could it be? I have been reading about blogging and how that could become a business. I would need to find something that I can do well and write about. This blog started out many years ago as a way for me to talk about my stock endeavers and then moved to poker playing and trying to make it in that field.
I am still working at the stock market and I have been putting a lot of energy on poker lately. I do enjoy cooking and trying to find things you can cook that do not require a lot of ingredients. Here is the one I made last night.
I used some leftover spaghetti sauce and cooked up hamburger. When the hamburger was done I put them together in the skillet.
Since I had some egg noodles in the cupboard I put on a pan and got the water to boil. I put some oil in the water and then when it started to boil put the egg noodles in.
I didn't want to stop there so I pulled out the head of lettuce we had in the refrigerator and took a few slices off of it and chopped it up. I put cheese and a few olives on it to make it look nice and since I like Italian dressing that is what I used. It was an easy meal to put together.
One of the other things I have been wanting to do all of my life is to be able to travel. My dream has always been to be able to go cross country on a motorcycle. Is that dream viable? I would take my time and use non interstate roads to accomplish this. It would be fun to try. I guess I would first need to buy a motorcycle to make this happen.
My stock market endeaver is going alright. I have been working on dividend stocks and trying to find the right ones at the right time so I am not tying up the capital during the non dividend dates. There are a lot of them out there and it is just trying to find the ones with the highest yield and not much movement.
I will continue to persue my dreams and keep the blog updated.
Have a fun day.......
Having lost the ability to play online has really affected my bankroll and what I was trying to achieve. I was doing well online and the opportunity to earn some money was great. I don't have the option of moving to another state so I have to try and find ways to play this game and keep motivated to keep learning without loosing my bankroll altogether.
I have been doing a lot of reading lately and most of them have to do with living a minimalist life. Since I have been out of work since January 2010, I have become interested in living on very little amount of money and trying to see how that can happen.
I would like to have my own business and trying to find what will work for me. I like the fact of working on the internet and it would have to be internet based so what could it be? I have been reading about blogging and how that could become a business. I would need to find something that I can do well and write about. This blog started out many years ago as a way for me to talk about my stock endeavers and then moved to poker playing and trying to make it in that field.
I am still working at the stock market and I have been putting a lot of energy on poker lately. I do enjoy cooking and trying to find things you can cook that do not require a lot of ingredients. Here is the one I made last night.
I used some leftover spaghetti sauce and cooked up hamburger. When the hamburger was done I put them together in the skillet.
Since I had some egg noodles in the cupboard I put on a pan and got the water to boil. I put some oil in the water and then when it started to boil put the egg noodles in.
I didn't want to stop there so I pulled out the head of lettuce we had in the refrigerator and took a few slices off of it and chopped it up. I put cheese and a few olives on it to make it look nice and since I like Italian dressing that is what I used. It was an easy meal to put together.
One of the other things I have been wanting to do all of my life is to be able to travel. My dream has always been to be able to go cross country on a motorcycle. Is that dream viable? I would take my time and use non interstate roads to accomplish this. It would be fun to try. I guess I would first need to buy a motorcycle to make this happen.
My stock market endeaver is going alright. I have been working on dividend stocks and trying to find the right ones at the right time so I am not tying up the capital during the non dividend dates. There are a lot of them out there and it is just trying to find the ones with the highest yield and not much movement.
I will continue to persue my dreams and keep the blog updated.
Have a fun day.......
Wednesday, April 06, 2011
Live Cash Game
After playing in the tournament yesterday at NorthernQuest in Spokane I decided that if I want to play in the Senior event at the Wildhorse Casino on the 19th that I would need to win the buy in by playing the live cash game here at Jokers. Tonight was my start to try and get myself into that tournament.
I arrived at Jokers at 8:15 this evening and purchased my buy in. I decided that I would play short stack tonight and see if that would work alright for me as it would at least save some of my bankroll.
The very first hand I got AK and when the flop came it was 10QJ. What a flop for me. I started to raise and get the pot to grow. At this point I don't remember what the turn or river cards where but I ended up loosing to a flush. I then decided that I would have to play a tighter game and get the money back.
The next hand I played I got a flush and started building the pot and lost to Quad 2's. Ok, this is not funny and I was starting to tilt a little bit here. This can not be happening to me.
The last hand I played I got a flush and lost to another full house. I am done playing for the night.
I guess you have to accept this happening every now and then. It is part of the game and I accept that. It just makes it hard when it happens on all of the hands you play. Now, I am not complaining but just venting a little bit before I let this go. Tomorrow is another day and I will go back to playing the game I like.
I go back and forth between playing Live vs Tournament. What do I want to play. The chances of growing the bankroll is greater at cash but you can win more by playing tournaments but you don't win often. Where is the trade off and which one is better. I have played tournaments for a number of years and love the competition. I need online poker to be brought back to WA state.
Enough of this. Time for bed. Have a good day.......
I arrived at Jokers at 8:15 this evening and purchased my buy in. I decided that I would play short stack tonight and see if that would work alright for me as it would at least save some of my bankroll.
The very first hand I got AK and when the flop came it was 10QJ. What a flop for me. I started to raise and get the pot to grow. At this point I don't remember what the turn or river cards where but I ended up loosing to a flush. I then decided that I would have to play a tighter game and get the money back.
The next hand I played I got a flush and started building the pot and lost to Quad 2's. Ok, this is not funny and I was starting to tilt a little bit here. This can not be happening to me.
The last hand I played I got a flush and lost to another full house. I am done playing for the night.
I guess you have to accept this happening every now and then. It is part of the game and I accept that. It just makes it hard when it happens on all of the hands you play. Now, I am not complaining but just venting a little bit before I let this go. Tomorrow is another day and I will go back to playing the game I like.
I go back and forth between playing Live vs Tournament. What do I want to play. The chances of growing the bankroll is greater at cash but you can win more by playing tournaments but you don't win often. Where is the trade off and which one is better. I have played tournaments for a number of years and love the competition. I need online poker to be brought back to WA state.
Enough of this. Time for bed. Have a good day.......
Tuesday, April 05, 2011
NorthernQuest Adventure
Up at 0600 and getting ready to make the trip north for the Poker Tournament today. I was on the road at 0645. A little bit earlier than what I had planned but that was fine.
I arrived at around 0900 and got into the Casino and looked for the place where they would hold the Spring Fling here at NorthernQuest. I was thinking it must be in some big room as there usual poker room has only nine tables and surely they would not hold it there.
I was told to go down to the poker room and when I walked in I was told that it was held there and that it was already sold out. They were putting a list together for the alternates and they put me on the list at number six. I asked where I should pay at and was told to wait and they would let me know when I would pay at the window.
The tournament started at 1030 and I entered the room and was told to wait there to see if I would get in. I later learned that being an alternate does not guarantee you a spot in the tournament. The first three rounds were 20 minutes in length and if you did not get into the tournament within that hour then you would not be playing at all.
It was in the third round that they finally put four alternates in and they asked me to go ahead and pay for the tournament. I paid the money and now waited. With two minutes to go in the third round it looked like I was not going to make it into the game. With one minute to go someone finally busted and I was put into the game.
The structure started at 100/100, moved to 100/200 and then moved to 200/400 and this is when I got in. I paid the T$600 to play my first hand and then it was break time. Starting chips were T$15,000.
Playing tournament poker for me is fun and I have learned to be patient and watch what goes on with the table. I ended up being moved to three tables during my play. Each time I was moved I at least was moved to the position behind the button. That was good for me.
During the Next three hours I basically maintained my chip count around the beginning stack. I would go down and then play a hand and get myself back up to the starting stack.
My one hand that I played that I have to wonder about. I was in mid position and had JJ. We were at 500/1000 and I raised the pot to $3000. I was called by the button to $7500. At that point I had a decision to make with the amount of chips I had. Was this my all in moment and my tournament life. Could I hang on and keep working my stack and give up this hand. What did he re-raise with? I was putting him on AK, AQ at least over cards. Did I want to race with this guy? Was he just bluffing me and trying to get me off of my hand? He definitely had more chips than I had. I ended up throwing my hand away.
I did get AA once during the day and I raised and no one called me. That ended up being a waste. Maybe I should have just limped in and waited for someone to call me. So, there were a couple of times that I didn't get the chips to increase. It could be how I played them and my betting. I will have to think about it some more and figure out how I would bet the next time I have those hands.
I ended up going out of the tournament in 36th place. There were 105 runners starting in this tournament. Getting that far for me was a positive and I was happy with my play today. They paid ten players and being twentysix from the money was acceptable.
My next tournament will be on April 19th at Wildhorse Casino. Time to get myself some more study time before the event.
Have a fun day......
I arrived at around 0900 and got into the Casino and looked for the place where they would hold the Spring Fling here at NorthernQuest. I was thinking it must be in some big room as there usual poker room has only nine tables and surely they would not hold it there.
I was told to go down to the poker room and when I walked in I was told that it was held there and that it was already sold out. They were putting a list together for the alternates and they put me on the list at number six. I asked where I should pay at and was told to wait and they would let me know when I would pay at the window.
The tournament started at 1030 and I entered the room and was told to wait there to see if I would get in. I later learned that being an alternate does not guarantee you a spot in the tournament. The first three rounds were 20 minutes in length and if you did not get into the tournament within that hour then you would not be playing at all.
It was in the third round that they finally put four alternates in and they asked me to go ahead and pay for the tournament. I paid the money and now waited. With two minutes to go in the third round it looked like I was not going to make it into the game. With one minute to go someone finally busted and I was put into the game.
The structure started at 100/100, moved to 100/200 and then moved to 200/400 and this is when I got in. I paid the T$600 to play my first hand and then it was break time. Starting chips were T$15,000.
Playing tournament poker for me is fun and I have learned to be patient and watch what goes on with the table. I ended up being moved to three tables during my play. Each time I was moved I at least was moved to the position behind the button. That was good for me.
During the Next three hours I basically maintained my chip count around the beginning stack. I would go down and then play a hand and get myself back up to the starting stack.
My one hand that I played that I have to wonder about. I was in mid position and had JJ. We were at 500/1000 and I raised the pot to $3000. I was called by the button to $7500. At that point I had a decision to make with the amount of chips I had. Was this my all in moment and my tournament life. Could I hang on and keep working my stack and give up this hand. What did he re-raise with? I was putting him on AK, AQ at least over cards. Did I want to race with this guy? Was he just bluffing me and trying to get me off of my hand? He definitely had more chips than I had. I ended up throwing my hand away.
I did get AA once during the day and I raised and no one called me. That ended up being a waste. Maybe I should have just limped in and waited for someone to call me. So, there were a couple of times that I didn't get the chips to increase. It could be how I played them and my betting. I will have to think about it some more and figure out how I would bet the next time I have those hands.
I ended up going out of the tournament in 36th place. There were 105 runners starting in this tournament. Getting that far for me was a positive and I was happy with my play today. They paid ten players and being twentysix from the money was acceptable.
My next tournament will be on April 19th at Wildhorse Casino. Time to get myself some more study time before the event.
Have a fun day......
Sunday, April 03, 2011
New Season
We start a new season of Baseball. It is so nice to see the season start up again. I don't get much of a chance to watch baseball but I do try to keep up with what is happening.
When I was growing up I lived in Indio, CA and what I remember is Football. We had one of those vibrating boards and we would actually purchase the little men and paint them to be the teams. We had quite a few of them and my brother and I would have our own season with the teams we had built up. It was fun.
I didn't know about baseball until we moved in 1968 to Seattle, WA area and then we found out about the Baseball team Seattle Pilots. Our dad would take us to see the Basketball Seattle Supersonics. At that time the Seattle Pilots were sold and went to Milwaukee and became the Brewers and a few years later we got the Mariners. My favorite Baseball team has to be the Seattle Mariners. My Football team is the now St. Louis Rams. I really never did get into Basketball.
I ended up playing Men's Fast Pitch Softball from High School through College and City League. I played Catcher and had a lot of fun. I liked the strategy of playing and having team mates to help win the game.
Because I haven't been one of those top notch players I gravitated to playing sports that only required a single person to compete. I felt that I needed to rely on myself to win and not depend on others to carry me through. I got myself into Golf and now into playing Poker. I can push myself to learn and do better if I work on myself.
Today was a day to work on the yard and get it mowed for the first time of the season. I will start watering this next week as well. Got to start it up sometime.
I will leave early on Tuesday morning to Spokane and play in the Seniors tournament and push myself to do well. I am prepared for battle.
Have a fun Day........
When I was growing up I lived in Indio, CA and what I remember is Football. We had one of those vibrating boards and we would actually purchase the little men and paint them to be the teams. We had quite a few of them and my brother and I would have our own season with the teams we had built up. It was fun.
I didn't know about baseball until we moved in 1968 to Seattle, WA area and then we found out about the Baseball team Seattle Pilots. Our dad would take us to see the Basketball Seattle Supersonics. At that time the Seattle Pilots were sold and went to Milwaukee and became the Brewers and a few years later we got the Mariners. My favorite Baseball team has to be the Seattle Mariners. My Football team is the now St. Louis Rams. I really never did get into Basketball.
I ended up playing Men's Fast Pitch Softball from High School through College and City League. I played Catcher and had a lot of fun. I liked the strategy of playing and having team mates to help win the game.
Because I haven't been one of those top notch players I gravitated to playing sports that only required a single person to compete. I felt that I needed to rely on myself to win and not depend on others to carry me through. I got myself into Golf and now into playing Poker. I can push myself to learn and do better if I work on myself.
Today was a day to work on the yard and get it mowed for the first time of the season. I will start watering this next week as well. Got to start it up sometime.
I will leave early on Tuesday morning to Spokane and play in the Seniors tournament and push myself to do well. I am prepared for battle.
Have a fun Day........
Saturday, April 02, 2011
Tournament Play
After my setback on Tuesday night I decided to play in one more tournament on Friday afternoon to get ready for the Seniors event.
Every time I walk into the casino to play live I get that tug to play more tournaments. I have figured it out as the competition that I like and since I have always been a very competitive person in whatever I play that is the drive to do more. I really want to do well in the cash games because that is where the money is to grow the bankroll.
I am hoping to do well in Spokane on Tuesday in the tournament and then I would like to play some live cash if I get knocked out early. My first goal is to make the money in the tournament and then go from there. I will have my game face on and have my brain in the right frame of mind.
When I played in the tournament here at Jokers yesterday afternoon I did well. I got down to 12th place, my usual spot, and then I started to do the one thing I didn't want to do. I was looking for the right cards to push all in. I found a suited A5 and went all in hoping everyone would fold and everyone did except one person with K4. He flopped 4x4 and that was the tournament for me.
Why did I do that? I still had time and I had over T$10,000 in chips with the blinds at 400/800. For some reason I get that feeling I need to be more aggressive at this point and it fails me. I need to put up a big sign in front of me that says "Patience". Maybe have people start texting me and telling me to be "Patient".
C's sister is here and we are enjoying her visit. I will lay back and get some rest and hope for a good trip up and back on Tuesday.
Have a fun day......
Every time I walk into the casino to play live I get that tug to play more tournaments. I have figured it out as the competition that I like and since I have always been a very competitive person in whatever I play that is the drive to do more. I really want to do well in the cash games because that is where the money is to grow the bankroll.
I am hoping to do well in Spokane on Tuesday in the tournament and then I would like to play some live cash if I get knocked out early. My first goal is to make the money in the tournament and then go from there. I will have my game face on and have my brain in the right frame of mind.
When I played in the tournament here at Jokers yesterday afternoon I did well. I got down to 12th place, my usual spot, and then I started to do the one thing I didn't want to do. I was looking for the right cards to push all in. I found a suited A5 and went all in hoping everyone would fold and everyone did except one person with K4. He flopped 4x4 and that was the tournament for me.
Why did I do that? I still had time and I had over T$10,000 in chips with the blinds at 400/800. For some reason I get that feeling I need to be more aggressive at this point and it fails me. I need to put up a big sign in front of me that says "Patience". Maybe have people start texting me and telling me to be "Patient".
C's sister is here and we are enjoying her visit. I will lay back and get some rest and hope for a good trip up and back on Tuesday.
Have a fun day......
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Wednesday
I know this is Thursday but I wanted to let you know what I did on Wednesday.
I was unable to make the Live Cash game at Jokers last night. I went to an Open House at my Dad's Assisted Living facilities last night and then went grocery shopping with my wife. Something we needed to do since we were running low on supplies.
I guess you could call it a day off from the table and maybe that will help me recharge after playing the week prior. Maybe to rethink strategy after loosing the $85 at the table last night. I understand variance so I am not concerned but need to figure out how to play certain hands and to relook at my betting and why I am entering pots.
I am trying to read the board texture and what it could mean for me as well as the other player. My main concern is that I don't want to be bluffed off of a hand by over thinking the possibilities. I have now gone back to rereading "Harrington on Cash Games" and hope this might help me or at least give me more things to think about. Then I hope I don't get into brain freeze by over thinking.
I am also thinking about playing in the Friday tournament tomorrow because I need to play and get ready for the Seniors event at NorthernQuest on April 5. I am happy with my Tournament play and hope I do well. Again it is the betting part that concerns me.
Actually I have been busy reading and then working on the stock market as well. One of my stocks is in the middle of giving a dividend and I have been looking for my next stock to get into. I have been working on building that capital as well. So far I am down in the account due to some commissions that I have paid for stocks that haven't moved.
Now that I am done with the three months of post surgery I will start going to Physical Therapy today. Hopefully this will help the neck and strengthen the muscles.
Have a fun day.....
I was unable to make the Live Cash game at Jokers last night. I went to an Open House at my Dad's Assisted Living facilities last night and then went grocery shopping with my wife. Something we needed to do since we were running low on supplies.
I guess you could call it a day off from the table and maybe that will help me recharge after playing the week prior. Maybe to rethink strategy after loosing the $85 at the table last night. I understand variance so I am not concerned but need to figure out how to play certain hands and to relook at my betting and why I am entering pots.
I am trying to read the board texture and what it could mean for me as well as the other player. My main concern is that I don't want to be bluffed off of a hand by over thinking the possibilities. I have now gone back to rereading "Harrington on Cash Games" and hope this might help me or at least give me more things to think about. Then I hope I don't get into brain freeze by over thinking.
I am also thinking about playing in the Friday tournament tomorrow because I need to play and get ready for the Seniors event at NorthernQuest on April 5. I am happy with my Tournament play and hope I do well. Again it is the betting part that concerns me.
Actually I have been busy reading and then working on the stock market as well. One of my stocks is in the middle of giving a dividend and I have been looking for my next stock to get into. I have been working on building that capital as well. So far I am down in the account due to some commissions that I have paid for stocks that haven't moved.
Now that I am done with the three months of post surgery I will start going to Physical Therapy today. Hopefully this will help the neck and strengthen the muscles.
Have a fun day.....
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Tuesday Play
I head down to the Casino about 8PM to make sure I get a seat at the table if they are going to have a live game tonight. When I get there the seats are starting to fill up so I quickly take seat 9 and buy my chips for the night.
In seat 2 and 5 are the two teenagers that were there the other night. They buy in for about $40 each and hope to build it through the night. We started out with six players tonight and immediately I get two pair and loose to a full house. This put my chip stack down early and I figure I just need to be patient and pick my spots.
About 15 to 20 minutes into the game we have a full table. Two of the ones that sat down are playing very loose aggressive. The hands I want to limp in with to see a pot are raised to the point it is not worth it to call them so I let them go.
Throughout my time playing tonight I didn't get any type of hands that would let me play and if I did nothing on the flop helped with such big raises being put out.
I am back to reading "Cash Games" by Dan Harrington. See if I can pick up anything I have missed in reading his book the last time. Need to watch the game at Live@thebike from last night as well.
Weekly Total: -$110
This week I seem to be giving what I got last week back.
I am spending some more time looking at the Stock Market and Dividends. I would like to find some stocks that would pay dividends on a Monthly basis.
Have a fun day......
In seat 2 and 5 are the two teenagers that were there the other night. They buy in for about $40 each and hope to build it through the night. We started out with six players tonight and immediately I get two pair and loose to a full house. This put my chip stack down early and I figure I just need to be patient and pick my spots.
About 15 to 20 minutes into the game we have a full table. Two of the ones that sat down are playing very loose aggressive. The hands I want to limp in with to see a pot are raised to the point it is not worth it to call them so I let them go.
Throughout my time playing tonight I didn't get any type of hands that would let me play and if I did nothing on the flop helped with such big raises being put out.
I am back to reading "Cash Games" by Dan Harrington. See if I can pick up anything I have missed in reading his book the last time. Need to watch the game at Live@thebike from last night as well.
Weekly Total: -$110
This week I seem to be giving what I got last week back.
I am spending some more time looking at the Stock Market and Dividends. I would like to find some stocks that would pay dividends on a Monthly basis.
Have a fun day......
Monday, March 28, 2011
Short Night
I headed down to the Casino a little after 8PM to make sure I got a seat at the Live table. After waiting for about an hour for the players to show up we only had three of us with money on the table.
So, tonight is one of those nights when we don't play. I knew this going in when I started just playing live games. I have been there for tournaments and watched as no one showed up for the live game afterwards.
This gave me time to talk with one of the casino dealers about putting on other games instead of just $2-$20 or $2-$40 limit spread. I told them about NorthernQuest and how they are working with new players at the
$1-$2 level and that is helping to bring in new players and helping them
grow to other limits. We will see what happens.
My Weekly Total (WT): -$25
Yes, this week I am starting out in the hole. I used some of my bankroll for something other than poker so now I need to cover that.
Early Retirement Extreme: I have been reading the blog and catching up on his 21 days of retirement. I finished them today and must say he has some good ideas. Some of them would be hard to accomplish but will be able to do some of them in moderation. There is always ideas you can get out of his writings that will help anyone trying to retire early.
Home early tonight. Have a fun day.......
So, tonight is one of those nights when we don't play. I knew this going in when I started just playing live games. I have been there for tournaments and watched as no one showed up for the live game afterwards.
This gave me time to talk with one of the casino dealers about putting on other games instead of just $2-$20 or $2-$40 limit spread. I told them about NorthernQuest and how they are working with new players at the
$1-$2 level and that is helping to bring in new players and helping them
grow to other limits. We will see what happens.
My Weekly Total (WT): -$25
Yes, this week I am starting out in the hole. I used some of my bankroll for something other than poker so now I need to cover that.
Early Retirement Extreme: I have been reading the blog and catching up on his 21 days of retirement. I finished them today and must say he has some good ideas. Some of them would be hard to accomplish but will be able to do some of them in moderation. There is always ideas you can get out of his writings that will help anyone trying to retire early.
Home early tonight. Have a fun day.......
Sunday, March 27, 2011
The Week Ahead
I have enjoyed the weekend and now it is time to get back to the action.
I have done some poker study and watched some Live@thebike. I really enjoy the blogs that I read and need to somehow figure out how I can add them to my blog list so people can see what I am reading. I did finally get the adsense going but need to do some more study on how I can make a better site. I have even thought about creating a blog with another site and do a monthly pay but this is so nice and free I just can't get away from it.
I have been very happy with Live@thebike and if you want to watch and learn from some players playing a live game you have to go to this site. You can pay to watch all of the archived videos or you can stay on the free side and have the ability to watch the two latest archived sessions. Myself, I have been watching live up until this last Tuesday since now I am in the casino playing at that time. So, during the day after the session I will watch the video in archive.
There are four announcers and they take turns doing the sessions. If you twitter the announcers they will answer your questions as well. The URL is www.thebike.com, sign up and you can get started learning. The sessions are three hours long and it is time well spent. One of the announcers is also working on putting together another site to teach online play.
My goals for last week went well and I was pleasantly surprised at what I was able to accomplish. This week I will set my goals and work on them for the next four days. This week my goals are:
1) Make $50 at the table for the week.
2) Play a total of 8 hours for the week.
I know the goals are minimal and don't really push the envelope. Especially after last week making $152 at the table. I could push that up to $100 but I want to make sure the $50 is reachable and I am playing appropriately for my bankroll. I am very happy at this time to continue to keep things small. I know where I want to end up so I will keep things attainable.
After this week is done I will make a trip up to Spokane to play in the Spring Fling at NorthernQuest. I will play in a Seniors Tournament event. I want to try some cash games up there as well. At this time the Seniors event is the goal and if I go out early I will play in the live cash games. My goal is to cash in the tournament and will gear my mind towards that one.
I hope everyone has a good week at the tables.
Have a fun day......
I have done some poker study and watched some Live@thebike. I really enjoy the blogs that I read and need to somehow figure out how I can add them to my blog list so people can see what I am reading. I did finally get the adsense going but need to do some more study on how I can make a better site. I have even thought about creating a blog with another site and do a monthly pay but this is so nice and free I just can't get away from it.
I have been very happy with Live@thebike and if you want to watch and learn from some players playing a live game you have to go to this site. You can pay to watch all of the archived videos or you can stay on the free side and have the ability to watch the two latest archived sessions. Myself, I have been watching live up until this last Tuesday since now I am in the casino playing at that time. So, during the day after the session I will watch the video in archive.
There are four announcers and they take turns doing the sessions. If you twitter the announcers they will answer your questions as well. The URL is www.thebike.com, sign up and you can get started learning. The sessions are three hours long and it is time well spent. One of the announcers is also working on putting together another site to teach online play.
My goals for last week went well and I was pleasantly surprised at what I was able to accomplish. This week I will set my goals and work on them for the next four days. This week my goals are:
1) Make $50 at the table for the week.
2) Play a total of 8 hours for the week.
I know the goals are minimal and don't really push the envelope. Especially after last week making $152 at the table. I could push that up to $100 but I want to make sure the $50 is reachable and I am playing appropriately for my bankroll. I am very happy at this time to continue to keep things small. I know where I want to end up so I will keep things attainable.
After this week is done I will make a trip up to Spokane to play in the Spring Fling at NorthernQuest. I will play in a Seniors Tournament event. I want to try some cash games up there as well. At this time the Seniors event is the goal and if I go out early I will play in the live cash games. My goal is to cash in the tournament and will gear my mind towards that one.
I hope everyone has a good week at the tables.
Have a fun day......
Friday, March 25, 2011
Friday is Here
I have done well this week in sitting down at the poker table and playing the $2-$20 limit spread. I am not surprised at myself but I don't want to get the feeling that I will always do this well. There will come a time when I walk away from the table and will be down. I know it and at times will let the thoughts creep into my mind.
I was having a hard time talking myself into going to the casino last night. When you look at it I was up for the week to $135 and had met my goal and why go another night when you could get that loosing night. Wow, those negative thoughts in the background. I would push them out and tell myself this is what I want to do and this game is what I want to play.
At 8:15PM I headed down to Jokers Casino and walked in the door and they still had the tournament going on at this time. This just meant the game would start soon. I sat down in the number 6 seat this time since someone already took my number 9 seat. I purchased my chips for my buyin and waited for the game to start.
Down at the other end of the table were a couple of young teenagers,(18), I would imagine since that is the limit here to play. They will usually buy in for $40 and play aggressive to get the stacks to grow. They will raise just about anything to get you out of the pot. In this game I will just be patient and wait for a good hand and then play against them and hope I have the goods.
The game got started and we had a full table of nine players tonight. I start slowly to get the flow of the game and see who is doing what at the table. Who is playing loose and who is playing aggressive. I picked out the students and was waiting for the hand. I finally picked up 88 and the flop came 8xx. I made my set and now I will go after the student. He ended up going all in and I called. I rolled over my set of 8's and he turned over KK. He didn't get any help from the turn or the river and the pot was mine. He started complaining about the hand. What I have learned is you need something better than a pair in a live cash game.
The rest of the night was pretty much non eventful. We had a couple more experienced players enter the game which made me play a little bit tighter. They started throwing chips into the pot and making people give up their hands. I just sit and wait. One of the last hands I played last night was 1010 and made two pair and mine was better than the other player.
I ended up walking out with $7 added to my final tally for the week. I am now up +$142 for the week. I think the most important thing is I am playing and seeing hands and gaining the experience. Since I can't play online in this state I have to learn where I can and I enjoy sitting down playing and talking with the players. Especially the more experienced players. I was told last night that I am playing well and doing the right things. One guy told me last night that he could see a difference in my play from Monday to Thursday night. My decisions are better and I think that comes with the amount of time I have spent for the week.
My hours at the table were 7 hours at $142 for an hourly rate of $20.28. Not bad for the first week.
Now I will go back to study and get ready for the next week.
Have a fun day......
I was having a hard time talking myself into going to the casino last night. When you look at it I was up for the week to $135 and had met my goal and why go another night when you could get that loosing night. Wow, those negative thoughts in the background. I would push them out and tell myself this is what I want to do and this game is what I want to play.
At 8:15PM I headed down to Jokers Casino and walked in the door and they still had the tournament going on at this time. This just meant the game would start soon. I sat down in the number 6 seat this time since someone already took my number 9 seat. I purchased my chips for my buyin and waited for the game to start.
Down at the other end of the table were a couple of young teenagers,(18), I would imagine since that is the limit here to play. They will usually buy in for $40 and play aggressive to get the stacks to grow. They will raise just about anything to get you out of the pot. In this game I will just be patient and wait for a good hand and then play against them and hope I have the goods.
The game got started and we had a full table of nine players tonight. I start slowly to get the flow of the game and see who is doing what at the table. Who is playing loose and who is playing aggressive. I picked out the students and was waiting for the hand. I finally picked up 88 and the flop came 8xx. I made my set and now I will go after the student. He ended up going all in and I called. I rolled over my set of 8's and he turned over KK. He didn't get any help from the turn or the river and the pot was mine. He started complaining about the hand. What I have learned is you need something better than a pair in a live cash game.
The rest of the night was pretty much non eventful. We had a couple more experienced players enter the game which made me play a little bit tighter. They started throwing chips into the pot and making people give up their hands. I just sit and wait. One of the last hands I played last night was 1010 and made two pair and mine was better than the other player.
I ended up walking out with $7 added to my final tally for the week. I am now up +$142 for the week. I think the most important thing is I am playing and seeing hands and gaining the experience. Since I can't play online in this state I have to learn where I can and I enjoy sitting down playing and talking with the players. Especially the more experienced players. I was told last night that I am playing well and doing the right things. One guy told me last night that he could see a difference in my play from Monday to Thursday night. My decisions are better and I think that comes with the amount of time I have spent for the week.
My hours at the table were 7 hours at $142 for an hourly rate of $20.28. Not bad for the first week.
Now I will go back to study and get ready for the next week.
Have a fun day......
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Here come the Boxes
Last night was my third night in a row playing at the live cash table. When I arrived at the casino I was the only one signed up on the board and they had a tournament still going. I sat there watching this tournament and was sort of missing the competition of making it to the final table and making the money being in the last four positions. I have almost talked myself into playing on Friday.
Once the tournament was down to four players more people started to show up for the live cash game. We ended up having seven individuals start the game. Tonight I was able to sit in my favorite position which is the number ten seat. It really doesn't make any difference where I sit just that I like being next to the dealer and I can read the cards a little bit better.
I started out very well tonight. Not that I was getting a lot of pots but I was playing tight and trying to read the board a little bit better. Not just jumping into pots because I had certain cards. I was trying to go in with more of a plan. I guess tonight I was playing the player more than I was playing the cards even though that does help to get good starting hands.
During the play tonight I got quad 8's. I played them slowly since they do have a Monte Carlo on these hands. I was able to add another $56 to my stack and that helped me to reach my goal for the night and to play some more hands with different cards. Amazing what a bigger stack will do for you in trying to make a pot bigger with a good hand and getting people to fold their weaker hands.
My goal again is to make $50 per week at this game right now. Tonight I was there for 1 1/2 hours and brought out $105. That pushed my weekly amount up to $135. I am well over the goal for the week. I will put most of this back into the bankroll and will give it another try tonight.
Remember me talking about boxes and how we live in boxes? I guess you would have to go back into the archives to find this one. I was thinking yesterday about boxes again. This time it is a little bit different. We need to think outside of the box.
We are taught to go to school, college, and then get the job of your choice and work for 45 years and then retire and do what you want for the rest of your days. Think about it! What do you do during that time? You get up in the morning and go to work and help someone else make the big bucks and then you come home and try to relax and go to bed at night and then get up and do the same thing over again. Don't forget the two weeks you get for that vacation that is supposed to revitalize you to carry on for the next year.
Thinking outside of the box to me is trying to come up with ways to circumvent the norm. What can I do to still maintain my living standards and be able to do the things that I want to accomplish in my life. I don't have the need to be the person in charge. I can be happy in whatever I am doing. Having the internet has opened up a lot of avenues for those that are able to think outside of the box. I guess it means getting back to basics. What did we do before the industrial revolution? What did your parents or your grandparents do for their survival? We have now moved from the industrial age to the information age. How do we make that change?
Think outside of the box!!!
Have a fun day.....
Once the tournament was down to four players more people started to show up for the live cash game. We ended up having seven individuals start the game. Tonight I was able to sit in my favorite position which is the number ten seat. It really doesn't make any difference where I sit just that I like being next to the dealer and I can read the cards a little bit better.
I started out very well tonight. Not that I was getting a lot of pots but I was playing tight and trying to read the board a little bit better. Not just jumping into pots because I had certain cards. I was trying to go in with more of a plan. I guess tonight I was playing the player more than I was playing the cards even though that does help to get good starting hands.
During the play tonight I got quad 8's. I played them slowly since they do have a Monte Carlo on these hands. I was able to add another $56 to my stack and that helped me to reach my goal for the night and to play some more hands with different cards. Amazing what a bigger stack will do for you in trying to make a pot bigger with a good hand and getting people to fold their weaker hands.
My goal again is to make $50 per week at this game right now. Tonight I was there for 1 1/2 hours and brought out $105. That pushed my weekly amount up to $135. I am well over the goal for the week. I will put most of this back into the bankroll and will give it another try tonight.
Remember me talking about boxes and how we live in boxes? I guess you would have to go back into the archives to find this one. I was thinking yesterday about boxes again. This time it is a little bit different. We need to think outside of the box.
We are taught to go to school, college, and then get the job of your choice and work for 45 years and then retire and do what you want for the rest of your days. Think about it! What do you do during that time? You get up in the morning and go to work and help someone else make the big bucks and then you come home and try to relax and go to bed at night and then get up and do the same thing over again. Don't forget the two weeks you get for that vacation that is supposed to revitalize you to carry on for the next year.
Thinking outside of the box to me is trying to come up with ways to circumvent the norm. What can I do to still maintain my living standards and be able to do the things that I want to accomplish in my life. I don't have the need to be the person in charge. I can be happy in whatever I am doing. Having the internet has opened up a lot of avenues for those that are able to think outside of the box. I guess it means getting back to basics. What did we do before the industrial revolution? What did your parents or your grandparents do for their survival? We have now moved from the industrial age to the information age. How do we make that change?
Think outside of the box!!!
Have a fun day.....
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Staying with it
Last night I went to Jokers Casino to play the live cash game. The game is $2-$20 limit spread. I have to keep saying I am not a fan of this game but since it is the only one available I will keep trying to master the game.
I paid my money for the chips I was going to use tonight. Last night was a good session and I was hoping tonight would be the same. My goal is very small and I want to make $50 for the week. I have been doing my study at home and watching Live@theBike for any tidbits of knowledge I can glean from the announcers. It makes it hard when you don't have someone to bounce ideas off of when wanting to discuss hands and the proper way to play.
This evening I was not getting the hands early. My army of chips was dwindling down to a point I needed to decide whether to stay or pack it up and go home. I would be down for the night and this would take about half of my buyin. I am learning that you risk more than what is coming back into your chip stack. I guess you would call this varience. You can't expect to win every night.
I am still at the table and already we have about five people that have already busted. The person in seat nine was good, real good and was talking about the hands he was playing and what he expected the other people to do with their hands while playing. He was talking hand ranges and what he would play and not play. He was always reading the texture of the board. These are things that I need to learn.
We are about one hour and fortyfive minutes into this session and I am still here with a dwindling stack. I have decided that I was going to shut down after the button passed me one more time. About the time the button was getting close I got 22. Finally a pocket pair and lets limp in and see what happens on the flop. I was hoping a 2 would come on the flop and allow me to build back some chips. I ended up getting quite a few limpers to come along and now we wait for the flop.
The flop comes 2xx. Wow, I made the set and now it was time to build the pot. I raised and I had two callers. The turn card came out and I raised again. This time I got one caller. After the river card was played I bet out and the chips were mine. Not bad and I made some money back and still I was going to get out of the game after the button.
The very next hand I got JJ. Another pocket pair. I started to think, I could do this again. There were a number of callers and we went to the flop. 77x. I figured if someone had a 7 they would bet. I raised the pot to see if anyone would claim the pot and no one did. I ended up taking this pot as well. Now I was over the amount of my buyin. I was still waiting for the button to come around and then would walk away.
Before the button made it back to me two more people were busted out of the game and we got down to four players. At that time the game was done. I counted my chips and I was up $15 for the night. I spent 2 hours at the table tonight playing the game and thank goodness I didn't leave prior to the two hands that helped me get back.
Remember the goal is $50 per week at this time and right now I am at $30 for the week. I have two more nights to play this week and we will see if I meet my goal.
Why do I even mess with playing the stock market. It has been crazy. I am really thinking about just buying stocks that pay a good dividend and watching them grow. At this point I am mainly in cash waiting for the market to define itself. There are so many things going on in the markets that it is hard to keep up sometimes.
Have a fun day......
I paid my money for the chips I was going to use tonight. Last night was a good session and I was hoping tonight would be the same. My goal is very small and I want to make $50 for the week. I have been doing my study at home and watching Live@theBike for any tidbits of knowledge I can glean from the announcers. It makes it hard when you don't have someone to bounce ideas off of when wanting to discuss hands and the proper way to play.
This evening I was not getting the hands early. My army of chips was dwindling down to a point I needed to decide whether to stay or pack it up and go home. I would be down for the night and this would take about half of my buyin. I am learning that you risk more than what is coming back into your chip stack. I guess you would call this varience. You can't expect to win every night.
I am still at the table and already we have about five people that have already busted. The person in seat nine was good, real good and was talking about the hands he was playing and what he expected the other people to do with their hands while playing. He was talking hand ranges and what he would play and not play. He was always reading the texture of the board. These are things that I need to learn.
We are about one hour and fortyfive minutes into this session and I am still here with a dwindling stack. I have decided that I was going to shut down after the button passed me one more time. About the time the button was getting close I got 22. Finally a pocket pair and lets limp in and see what happens on the flop. I was hoping a 2 would come on the flop and allow me to build back some chips. I ended up getting quite a few limpers to come along and now we wait for the flop.
The flop comes 2xx. Wow, I made the set and now it was time to build the pot. I raised and I had two callers. The turn card came out and I raised again. This time I got one caller. After the river card was played I bet out and the chips were mine. Not bad and I made some money back and still I was going to get out of the game after the button.
The very next hand I got JJ. Another pocket pair. I started to think, I could do this again. There were a number of callers and we went to the flop. 77x. I figured if someone had a 7 they would bet. I raised the pot to see if anyone would claim the pot and no one did. I ended up taking this pot as well. Now I was over the amount of my buyin. I was still waiting for the button to come around and then would walk away.
Before the button made it back to me two more people were busted out of the game and we got down to four players. At that time the game was done. I counted my chips and I was up $15 for the night. I spent 2 hours at the table tonight playing the game and thank goodness I didn't leave prior to the two hands that helped me get back.
Remember the goal is $50 per week at this time and right now I am at $30 for the week. I have two more nights to play this week and we will see if I meet my goal.
Why do I even mess with playing the stock market. It has been crazy. I am really thinking about just buying stocks that pay a good dividend and watching them grow. At this point I am mainly in cash waiting for the market to define itself. There are so many things going on in the markets that it is hard to keep up sometimes.
Have a fun day......
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Tuesday Thoughts
I have been wanting to play more Live Cash Games because I tend to do better at them than play the tournaments. Here at the Casino in town they like to play the $2-$20 and $2-$40 Limit spread. I am not a big fan of the two games but when that is what you have to learn on then that is what you have to do.
I am anxious to take a trip up to Spokane and visit the Casino NorthernQuest. There they have a $1-$2 game I would like to get involved with. It takes two hours to drive and with gas prices the way they are it makes that trip hard to make. I still plan on going up there on April 5 to play in the Seniors event. I know they will have some cash games going at the same time.
For those that know me you know when I play a game I am not doing it for the fun of it. I like to play the card game but if there is money involved then that is what I am after. I have done well and have basically lost my buyin only once so far in my time playing and I would like to keep learning. I have set goals for myself as well and hope to keep it going.
Last night was the first night of the venture. I want to play all four nights this week. My plan is to play with one buy in and my goal is to walk away with $50 for the week. I know that seems low but I want to start my goal low and work it up as I am getting to understand the game. My first night I walked away after 1 1/2 hours with $15. I want to play at least 1 to 2 hours at a time right now. Hopefully this will grow as time goes and I am feeling more comfortable at the table playing this spread game.
I did get a couple of good hands last night. I got AA once and was able to build the pot. I recieved 1010 and flopped a set when a 10 came on the flop. I did not play for any straights or flushes last night. I know that will have to come into play soon. Pairs and two pairs just don't make it in this game. You have to be willing to look for the higher
hands.
Bankroll: +$15
I read the next part of the Early Retirement Extreme and the next one that was dealt with was Cell Phones. This is something we have been dealing with for some time. We have been cutting back on the needs but are keeping up with the internet access since we do texting and keeping up with Facebook and Twitters. Do we need them? No, but I guess it is just one of those things we don't want to part with at this time. Our talking minutes is where we decreased the plan for now since we don't use the phone for talking.
We are nearing Tax time. I have our taxes done but have not sent them in yet since this year we owe the government. Next year will be different since I am not working.
Have a fun day......
I am anxious to take a trip up to Spokane and visit the Casino NorthernQuest. There they have a $1-$2 game I would like to get involved with. It takes two hours to drive and with gas prices the way they are it makes that trip hard to make. I still plan on going up there on April 5 to play in the Seniors event. I know they will have some cash games going at the same time.
For those that know me you know when I play a game I am not doing it for the fun of it. I like to play the card game but if there is money involved then that is what I am after. I have done well and have basically lost my buyin only once so far in my time playing and I would like to keep learning. I have set goals for myself as well and hope to keep it going.
Last night was the first night of the venture. I want to play all four nights this week. My plan is to play with one buy in and my goal is to walk away with $50 for the week. I know that seems low but I want to start my goal low and work it up as I am getting to understand the game. My first night I walked away after 1 1/2 hours with $15. I want to play at least 1 to 2 hours at a time right now. Hopefully this will grow as time goes and I am feeling more comfortable at the table playing this spread game.
I did get a couple of good hands last night. I got AA once and was able to build the pot. I recieved 1010 and flopped a set when a 10 came on the flop. I did not play for any straights or flushes last night. I know that will have to come into play soon. Pairs and two pairs just don't make it in this game. You have to be willing to look for the higher
hands.
Bankroll: +$15
I read the next part of the Early Retirement Extreme and the next one that was dealt with was Cell Phones. This is something we have been dealing with for some time. We have been cutting back on the needs but are keeping up with the internet access since we do texting and keeping up with Facebook and Twitters. Do we need them? No, but I guess it is just one of those things we don't want to part with at this time. Our talking minutes is where we decreased the plan for now since we don't use the phone for talking.
We are nearing Tax time. I have our taxes done but have not sent them in yet since this year we owe the government. Next year will be different since I am not working.
Have a fun day......
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Poker Friday
I decided to go ahead and play in the Friday tournament since the structure is good and I want to keep my hand going in the tournaments. I probably should have just stayed away. After 2 hours of playing and not really getting myself into any situations that would help me I ended up being in 22nd out of 34 runners.
Towards the end I started pushing my stack all in. I know the table does not like this but I was so down in the "M" department that I had to do something. I got QQ and was up against AK and QQ and split the pot when no A or K showed up. That helped a little. Then I got AA and got all in and the other person had AJ and he got a J on the flop. That really hurt my chances to make a comeback and so the last hand was came soon after.
I really want to spend the time playing in Live Cash games and get that part of my game going. I have done well and enjoy the time spent.
I have been reading "Early Retirement Extreme" and it is so interesting to see how one can live on little income. We are so ingrained to go get a job and work and buy all of this stuff that we don't need. Then of course you have to have all the credit cards and pay them off over your lifetime. You owe your life to credit and the job to pay for it. That of course is what big business wants you to do.
The first thing that is talked about is your living space. How much do you need and how much do you spend. It is worked out in dollars per month and so if you alone need space about $400/month would be good? That of course depends on size and what you are willing to live without.
The next item that was looked at was decluttering. I figure we all could do this one. We have been married for 35 years and you can imagine the stuff we have that we haven't looked at or used in a number of years. If we got rid of most of the stuff then we would definitely have more room that would not be needed. I have been using Craigslist to try and sell some of the stuff. I have used Freecycle but not lately.
The next item on the list is Food. Having a family is different but I know that we do not eat like we used to. We do visit the restaurants more these days and we need to back away from them. That would definitely help our budget. Eating better and cooking our own meals would be a good thing for both of us. I don't mind salads as long as the leafs aren't wilting. I will have to think some more on this one.
There are like 21 items on the list and I will read them all to see what we can institute and how it can work in our lives. My biggest concern right now is how do I make $100 per week. That right now would be something I would like to do. The biggest question I have is say $6,000 and I want to earn $100 per week. How do I go about this? Any ideas out there?
Woke up this morning not feeling well so lets hope we are not getting the flu. I got my flu shot this year and lets hope it holds up.
Have a fun day......
Towards the end I started pushing my stack all in. I know the table does not like this but I was so down in the "M" department that I had to do something. I got QQ and was up against AK and QQ and split the pot when no A or K showed up. That helped a little. Then I got AA and got all in and the other person had AJ and he got a J on the flop. That really hurt my chances to make a comeback and so the last hand was came soon after.
I really want to spend the time playing in Live Cash games and get that part of my game going. I have done well and enjoy the time spent.
I have been reading "Early Retirement Extreme" and it is so interesting to see how one can live on little income. We are so ingrained to go get a job and work and buy all of this stuff that we don't need. Then of course you have to have all the credit cards and pay them off over your lifetime. You owe your life to credit and the job to pay for it. That of course is what big business wants you to do.
The first thing that is talked about is your living space. How much do you need and how much do you spend. It is worked out in dollars per month and so if you alone need space about $400/month would be good? That of course depends on size and what you are willing to live without.
The next item that was looked at was decluttering. I figure we all could do this one. We have been married for 35 years and you can imagine the stuff we have that we haven't looked at or used in a number of years. If we got rid of most of the stuff then we would definitely have more room that would not be needed. I have been using Craigslist to try and sell some of the stuff. I have used Freecycle but not lately.
The next item on the list is Food. Having a family is different but I know that we do not eat like we used to. We do visit the restaurants more these days and we need to back away from them. That would definitely help our budget. Eating better and cooking our own meals would be a good thing for both of us. I don't mind salads as long as the leafs aren't wilting. I will have to think some more on this one.
There are like 21 items on the list and I will read them all to see what we can institute and how it can work in our lives. My biggest concern right now is how do I make $100 per week. That right now would be something I would like to do. The biggest question I have is say $6,000 and I want to earn $100 per week. How do I go about this? Any ideas out there?
Woke up this morning not feeling well so lets hope we are not getting the flu. I got my flu shot this year and lets hope it holds up.
Have a fun day......
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Poker
If I can't play it at least I can watch it. I have been watching the Live@theBike broadcast the last few weeks. It is a great way to learn and watch a cash game in action. It goes for three hours on Tuesday and Friday evening and they even have them archived so you can watch them later. Good stuff with good announcers and if you twitter them they will even answer your questions on the air.
Since I have had so much stuff going on with my Mom and Dad I decided to pull out of the stock market for now. I have remained in CMI and SIRI only because that has been my plan for them but for the rest of the Small Dogs of the Dow I went ahead and took a loss and got out. Just too much going on lately. It even shows in my blog. I am not writing as often.
I decided to play poker last night at Jokers Casino in the Live Cash Game. The game is a $2-20 Limit Spread. I started the evening with $200 and quickly got it up to around $240 and was playing tight and folding early on things that didn't work out. Then I started to get hands and I failed to read the board for possible made hands by the other players. I went all the way down to around $80 and had to regroup and went back to playing tight and waiting for my opportunities again. Eventually the cards came back to my favor and I was able to get my stack back up to the $200 mark and then I left the game. It was at the two hour mark anyway and time to go home.
One of the players had KK, JJ, KK, KK, AA all in a row. We could not believe the five straight hands he got. We didn't want to play against him at all during that stretch. Another player got Quad Aces and won the jackpot for $568 dollars. That would have been nice. I can see where you don't want to just settle on pairs and you want to at least have two pair and above. We were seeing quite a few two pair, straights, flushes and a few full houses. I need to learn how to play my hands looking for the best possible and not rely on the pair to win the pot.
Today is the day that my Mom will be admitted to the Hospice care and so it is going to be a busy day. It will be nice to have some help with her and to make the decisions for us since we have made this one to get the help. I also need to go to the hospital to get my x-ray done of my neck to see how the surgery went and to make sure the wedge is in the appropriate spot and has taken well between C6 and C7. I am still in some pain but not much.
Today also the PPA is in Washington State in Olympia. I wish I could be there to help out. It is important for us to get our online poker back in the state. That was my training ground to prepare me for the casinos. It doesn't cost as much and you can see so many hands before you step into the casino and put a bigger chunk of your bankroll at risk. Now I have a bigger risk just to play the tournaments and cash games. No chance at building the bankroll unless I do it at the live tables. I hope they listen to the group that is there.
If you are looking for some good BBQ sauce you have to go to www.reedsbbqsauce.com and try them out. They have some good stuff. At least give them a try.
Have a good day.....
Since I have had so much stuff going on with my Mom and Dad I decided to pull out of the stock market for now. I have remained in CMI and SIRI only because that has been my plan for them but for the rest of the Small Dogs of the Dow I went ahead and took a loss and got out. Just too much going on lately. It even shows in my blog. I am not writing as often.
I decided to play poker last night at Jokers Casino in the Live Cash Game. The game is a $2-20 Limit Spread. I started the evening with $200 and quickly got it up to around $240 and was playing tight and folding early on things that didn't work out. Then I started to get hands and I failed to read the board for possible made hands by the other players. I went all the way down to around $80 and had to regroup and went back to playing tight and waiting for my opportunities again. Eventually the cards came back to my favor and I was able to get my stack back up to the $200 mark and then I left the game. It was at the two hour mark anyway and time to go home.
One of the players had KK, JJ, KK, KK, AA all in a row. We could not believe the five straight hands he got. We didn't want to play against him at all during that stretch. Another player got Quad Aces and won the jackpot for $568 dollars. That would have been nice. I can see where you don't want to just settle on pairs and you want to at least have two pair and above. We were seeing quite a few two pair, straights, flushes and a few full houses. I need to learn how to play my hands looking for the best possible and not rely on the pair to win the pot.
Today is the day that my Mom will be admitted to the Hospice care and so it is going to be a busy day. It will be nice to have some help with her and to make the decisions for us since we have made this one to get the help. I also need to go to the hospital to get my x-ray done of my neck to see how the surgery went and to make sure the wedge is in the appropriate spot and has taken well between C6 and C7. I am still in some pain but not much.
Today also the PPA is in Washington State in Olympia. I wish I could be there to help out. It is important for us to get our online poker back in the state. That was my training ground to prepare me for the casinos. It doesn't cost as much and you can see so many hands before you step into the casino and put a bigger chunk of your bankroll at risk. Now I have a bigger risk just to play the tournaments and cash games. No chance at building the bankroll unless I do it at the live tables. I hope they listen to the group that is there.
If you are looking for some good BBQ sauce you have to go to www.reedsbbqsauce.com and try them out. They have some good stuff. At least give them a try.
Have a good day.....
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