My 201st Post

I cannot believe that I have now put in over 200 posts on this blog. I really have fun writing and that is something I never thought would happen.

I remember the days in High School where I was in the last period of the day and it happened to be English. English and I just never got along. As you can see I still have issues with punctuations. Maybe someday I can get better with that. I used to sit in the back of the class and when the teacher would go to the office then a group of us would sneak out the window that was open and then ditch class. Was that smart? No. I did pass the class and that was with the help of the secretary for the teacher. I would go into the office and stand behind her and look at the answers to the tests and then would do well in the tests. Ok, not a good idea but at that time that is what I did. Enough of the past.

I decided to sit down and play on FT last night and I got into 27 player SnG. I have a strategy of playing in these tournaments and it does well for me. I will also write down all the hands that are given to me so I can review what I did and when. We start out with T$1500 and I end up playing the 10th hand into the tournament. I was given 10K and was in the Hijack seat. Everyone was checking it down and we made it to the river and this is what was on the board. 26AJ6. I know I didn't hit it but it seemed no one else wanted it either. I bet and was called and the person in the SB had an A to win the pot. I am now at T$1280.

Nine hands later I got 88. I raised it 3 times the blind and immediately won the pot. No one wanted to play. Two hands later I got JJ and raised it 3 times the blind and ended up going all-in with it and the other player had 1010 and my Jacks held up to get me to T$2275.

Two hands later I get 33 and end up folding. The very next hand I got AK and win the hand and now I am at T$2255. We move forward five hands and I get 22 and when the flop came out I did not get the set I was looking for so I folded. Four hands later I get A6 and I call with this hand. I ended up with a draw and made a bet at the pot and did win the hand. I know move to T$3490.

I didn't see another hand I could play for eighteen hands. My last hand of this tournament was AQ and ended up playing against a person with AQ and we ended up being all-in and he made a flush. I was out of the tournament in 8th place three from the money.

I am spending time working on my poker studies with the WSOP Academy.

There is so much going on right now it is hard to keep up. I was called by the hospital today and asked if I would do my MRI today instead of tomorrow. I went in and it was done. They are looking at my Spine to see why I am having pain in my shoulder and down my arm. I tried to pick up one of the grandkids the other day and couldn't do that. Hopefully they will find something since this hurts in my shoulder and spine.

Today was yard mowing day and putting some water on the grass. Take care.

Walking

Can you believe it, I am walking down by the river. In fact here are a couple of videos I have taken.



This was taken at the beginning of the walk this morning. The next video will show the stopping point and where I turn around.



The temperature has been nice the past couple of days. It was my turn at the doctors yesterday and now it is time for lab work and I will be getting a MRI on my spine. I think I have a possible pinched nerve. It is hard sleeping with the shoulder and back in pain. It is always something.

Nice Weather

We have finally reached September and school has now started. This only means one thing and that is Fall and Winter are on their way. I have never been a fan of Fall and Winter because it reminds me of the nice green leaves now turning brown and dying off. Cold weather and snow. Trying to maintain a positive outlook has always been hard during this time of the year. This year especially I will have to work real hard at it and see if I can maintain a positive attitude about everything.

Today I decided to take a walk along the river. It was very nice outside and when I got there this is what I found.



I sat along the river for a while and watched the boat and the goings on aboard. It is called the Spirit of 98. The banner was CruiseWest.com so when I got home I went and took a look at what they do. They have seven day trips on the Columbia and Snake river. Wouldn't that be fun and be able to get off at the towns along the way and sight see. That would be a fun vacation.

We continue getting not so good news about Mom and I am afraid to go to the next appointment since I am very sure about what we are going to hear. I really think we are way to far behind doing something for her. We will continue hope that they can do something with hormones and put this into remission. I am having a hard time being positive for parents and yet realistic in what we see. The appointment is scheduled for the middle of the month. That is why I think we are too far behind. If there was something that could be done I would think they would be doing something now instead of waiting.

Right now my poker has taken a back seat to everything. I try to continue with my challenge for live on PS. I am now up to 847 hands. I didn't have a positive session on this last one. I continue to learn. My worst hand was when I had QQ and a Qxx8x and the other person had Q8. It was hard coming back from that. I did manage to come back a little but ran out of time. I would like to get back to tournament play but I can't right now since my mind is not into it with other things going on.

This month I have finished my three months of Stock Training. I seem to understand more than what I started with but now it is putting the Capital to work. Finding a good strategy and the correct stocks to work with is important. I will also be starting a two month class on Taxes in two weeks. So many things going on right now.

Poker Challenge

Back on July 4 I gave myself a challenge. To play as many hands of live cash game poker and grow the bankroll. A lot of the pros have been saying and doing just this and they will grow a bankroll by showing it can be done. Ok, why not me. My goal was to play at least 100 hands per day. I would start out at the .02/.05 game and move forward from there. I also will start with $10 and see if I can get it to grow.

Here it is August and I am still going. I have now played 751 hands and my bankroll is down 80% from where it started. Wow, I didn't do very well. The last half of this month I have finally turned the corner. I went down in stakes to the .01/.02 level and started working on the game. Patience was important to me and has been something I have to learn with this game. I wanted to be aggressive and my bankroll showed it.

As far as the 100 hands per day, well it didn't happen. Along with the other things happening in my life I couldn't put in the amount of hands I wanted. Soooo, patience again shows that I stay with a table until it starts to break up and then I will usually shut it down for the evening. I try to get as many hands in as the table will allow. I watch the players and learn what they are doing and figure out what type of hands they are playing. Right now the plan is to keep going forward with this plan.

I did play an SnG last night with 18 players. I came in 3rd. I have been doing only the cash game so it felt weird playing in a tournament. I prefer tournaments but only at the casinos.

Having fun.

Weather is Changing

Wow, today is just a very nice day to be outside. I went out this morning and mowed the front yard and am watering the back yard. Tomorrow I may mow the back yard and water the front yard. I have been trying to keep our utility bill as low as I can during the summer. So far I have done well. The yard does have some yellow in it but it is not bad. I have been watering once per week with me going out in the evenings and just spraying the lawn to keep some water going. School is starting within a week or two and as always the weather will change.

We just got through visiting the Radiology Oncologist this last week and the news he gave us was not very good. Mom's cancer has spread more than what we thought from previous week. She has a number of areas where the cancer is and because of this the Physician is unable to help us with Radiation Therapy. We basically have two options now. One is to contact Hospice and keep her comfortable and the second one is to try and see if another oncologist can help us by giving her hormone therapy. We are persuing the hormone therapy and will have an appointment hopefully this next week to get that started. This will hopefully get the cancer in remission. She will not be out of the woods but at least if we can slow this down or get it in remission then she will have some more time. This is where I am spending most of my time working with the particulars of all of this.

This past week I have been working on Craigslist selling items we are no longer using and it has been sort of a mini yardsale online. I have about 4 or 5 items I put on and work with them through the week. Not bad so far. So much easier to work on Craigslist than Ebay since I don't have to worry about shipping and all of that.

My Stock Training will be done in about a week and a half. Even though I will be able to listen to the classes for lifetime I am and should be ready to get into the market since I have had all of the lessons. Do I feel ready? I think the hardest thing right now is the market itself. It is so choppy and you never know what is going to happen. It is not like it use to be where a company is good and the stock will just rise. A good stock can go up one day and then drop the next. Thank goodness for technical trading.

This next month I am taking another class that has always interested me and that is to get involved with taxes. I signed up to take the class with H&R Block. I am hoping that working about 4 months of the year and then taking the rest off might be good and that way I can keep my poker playing going. Maybe travel to some events outside of the area. The Tax class will be going from September thru November. This year has been busy with training in a number of things so hopefully 2011 will be a good year to find something I enjoy and can work at it for a while.

Poker has taken a back seat this month. I am trying to play at Jokers Casino when I can but my Mom has priority in whatever needs to be done. I have been playing on PS and my hand count is 675 hands and now I am down about 8%. I am making a comeback and it will take some time. Patience. I do need to play more hands but will be working on playing appropriately. Not spewing chips around. I am maintaining my education with the WSOP and I just signed up with another group that will have me doing weekly study and playing what I learn. That should help as well. The next major tournament on my schedule is the Fall Poker Roundup in Pendleton in November.

Continue to be busy.

Time does Fly

I sit at my desk every day and start thinking of the items I need to achieve for the day and writing in the blog is one of them. I have been busy doing other things and that keeps me from writing.

After telling my parents that Mom has cancer again the next part was visiting the doctor with the test results and seeing what our next options were going to be. We had Mom do the CT with contrast to see if the cancer made it to her lungs or her brain. Yes, it did get to the lungs. No, it did not get to the brain. She has small nodules in her lungs. Our next visit will be to the cancer center here and we will have mom do some radiation therapy. This will not cure the cancer but hopefully we can control it until the time it does not work anymore. We will see what the doctor has to say this week.

My poker playing has taken a back seat to this and I have not played very much. I did play in a freeroll last week and ended up in 14th out of 45 players. Not bad but I know the game setup has a lot to do on how you play. T$1000/10min rounds is really fast. Luck plays more in these type of tournaments. Me, I would rather play in something with at least 20 to 30 minute rounds and have a bigger chip stack to start with. I have done some Online Cash trying to build my bankroll. I am now at 639 hands played and now at -9%. Making a comeback. The more hands I see the better it is. Too bad I let it get down so far before working it out. I wanted to get 100 hands per day but now I am happy to just play a little bit at a time.

I have been spending some time on Craigslist selling items we no longer need. So far it is working out. Nice to get a little bit of cash back.

Still having fun.

Wicked Friday

The weather is hot and trying to maintain cool in the house is a job. Our yard doesn't look very good right now. Yellow spots. I have tried to water and keep up but the grass dries out so fast that is hard and I am behind. Then when you look at your utility bill and it is going up during this time it is hard on everybody. I see lots of yards in the same boat. One more month and then the weather should start to cool down and the watering should be a little bit easier.

I had to do the hardest thing so far that I have ever had to do and that was informing my Mom and Dad that Mom has cancer again. She had cancer a year ago and that was taken care of with surgery. We were told that the margins looked good and they were sure they got it all. Well, about a month ago she started seeing some bumps and we took her to the doctor. After a couple of tests and a Biopsy the results came back and they are positive. Now we are going to be doing some more tests to see how far this has gone. I am not going to look at the possibles but will only work off of facts. I won't know until Tuesday or Wednesday what I will have to tell my parents next. My Mom has Alzheimers as well so that does complicate things somewhat. Emotionally hard but I have to be a rock for my parents. I hope I can do that.

I am not playing as much poker as I would like. I have been doing some cash game and so far I am at 592 hands and my bankroll is still in tack. I am learning some techniques while playing and I think seeing the amount of hands that I am is helping as well. I will keep this up as much as possible. I do plan on playing Monday evening at Jokers. This is a Freeroll with a $300 pot. Got to take the chance on it. If I play well I will give myself the opportunity.

I was in the stock market this last week and the Market Makers took me out of the market early. They are so tricky. I talked with the company I trade through and we looked at what happened. I can't believe what they did. Next time I will do something different and see if that helps.

Keeping it together.

More of the Same

Not much new to write about this week so far. I have been staying pretty close to home and on the computer. My Sister is here for a few days with her granddaughter and will visit Grandpa and Grandma.

I have been playing some poker and was able to get into a Freeroll on FT and placed 643 / 7500 players. I am getting closer in the multitable tournaments. My decision making skills have gotten better with the cards I am being dealt.

I played on FT again in a 45 player tournament and placed 11th. Ohhhhh so close.

Monday night Jokers Casino held a Freeroll tournament with T$1000 in chips for a prize pool of $300. This is a very fast tournament and I guess you could say luck of the cards would be on this one. My QJ vs AK with xQK on the flop sort of did me in. Will try again next week.

I have also played 498 hands of live cash game. I am trying to get 100 hands in at a time. Slightly different than tournaments so I will try to stay patient.

We got a leak on our roof and so I decided to try and fix it myself. I am not a carpenter, roofer, plumber and have never tried to be. I am also afraid of heights. Took me years to finally get comfortable to fly. I still hate landings and takeoffs. I finally talked myself into getting on the roof but when I got up there it was not a good thing. I felt I was not going to get myself down without falling. I then made myself get off the roof and Cindy called Rob. So Rob and Nick went up on the roof and fixed the spots where the shingles came off in the wind. I don't know when I will be able to get on the roof again. That was bad.

I have also been working on the Stock Trading part and have made a trade finally. As of this time I am still in the market and may get out on Friday depending on the price. Feels good to have the first one sort of under the belt. So far it has been a good trade.

We are now in August and the heat is building.

Can it get any Hotter?

Maybe I shouldn't ask that question. I know once you say that then there it goes and it will be over 100 degrees before you have a chance to pour the ice water. We did get some rain this past week but just very little. I didn't hear any thunder or lightening so I know the weather isn't cooling down any. I am staying inside most of the time and I am watering the yard as much as I can. Trying to save on the water and our budget.

This past week I have been working on the Stocks class. This is my second month complete now and I am close to starting the trading portion and get this thing done. I should say started. I have been going over the lessons again we have had and making sure my notes are up to date and this also gives me a chance to reread the information. I am also relistening to the lessons as well since they are all recorded. I am thankful this is a lifetime class that I will always be able to go back as well as listen to the new information as I go forward. A lot of looking at charts and that is important. I hope too much information doesn't keep me from doing what I need to do and click the button when it is time. Got to start somewhere.

I have also been going through the lessons on the WSOP Academy. I have finished this week all of the lessons that are available at this time and waiting for the new lessons soon. This will be going forward for the certification with them. That seems funny that you can get a certification for playing poker. Well, I guess it shows that you have put in the work and the time. The proof is at the table when you are playing. Can you play according to the textbook. This week I played a live tournament and came in 4th. Not bad for not having cards and then when I got AA they got cracked by Q3. I really don't like AA that much anymore. It seems like they get cracked more times than not. I am sure that is not the statistics but at least it seems like that.

I have also set up a new challenge and that is to play more cash game on a daily basis. So far my hand count is:
398 Hands = -10%
Not so good but I just started this week. I need to see more hands and just keep plugging along and get these numbers to turn around.

I did play in a tournament of 125 players and came in 11th place for a cash. That was good.

Jokers Casino is going to start something new now and that is a Freeroll on Monday nights. The casino is putting in $300 for this freeroll. To start we will have T$1500 chips and it will be 10 minute rounds. This will be fast tournament but should be fun. They are also going to start up a Live Cash game of $1/$2 game. Hopefully this will attract some new players and in turn help the casino with new patrons. It won't hurt the games as well.

Stay cool this weekend.

It is HOT

This past week has been very busy for me. Trying to stay cool with the weather being very hot around here. We are in the 90's and now getting to the 100's. Of course when it gets this hot who cares about the temperature because now it is just hot. I think the older I get the more I can't handle the heat. Growing up in Indio, California as a youngster the heat did not bother us. We ran around barefoot all the time as well. Times change and the body changes as well.

I have not played much poker this week since my showing at Wildhorse. I was very pleased with my play and learned a lot about myself and my game by going that deep into their tournament. I am excited to try this again in November and hopefully can fulfill another goal of mine and that is to cash. I really enjoyed the bigger tournaments because it allowed me to play my style and not be rushed into decisions. I only wish I could go to more of them. Around here they don't have those type of tournaments.

I have been getting emails from Johnathan Little and his online teaching videos. Since I have purchased before from him I was invited to play a freeroll on a poker site. I did sign up for the tournament and it took place today. There were 127 players starting and I ended up in 11th place for this tournament. Missed the final table by one. I had AA and I went all in and was called by a person that had 99. Guess what happened? He got a 9 on the flop and I was out of the tournament. I did get paid $1.00 for being in 11th place. I did well on this tournament. It would have been nice to have my AA hold up. For being free that wasn't bad. Now I am going to play live with that $1 and see if I can get it to grow. I have heard about people taking an account and playing a freeroll and then turning it into a lot of money by playing cash games. I will give it a try.

I have been very busy with my stock trading class. I have been revisiting my lessons and redoing my notes. This is taking a lot of time. I have also been listening to the WSOP Academy instruction as well. Working on my certification with them. I was called by H&R Block about my class I will be taking with them in September and it is now set. This is a busy year for me so far. Hopefully it will get better.

My Mom is going back through some tests to see if her cancer is back. That has been taking time as well. Lets hope she does alright through this. She doesn't understand since she has Alzheimer's. We will know this week what she has.

Have a fun one and stay cool.

Tournament

Today was the day that I played at the Wildhorse Casino. I was able to play in one of the tournaments for the week and this was the one. I left this morning at 0800 and got there around 0930. I bought in for this tournament for $150 and we will start with T$5,000. The rounds are 30 minutes each. This is perfect as it gives you the time to play and usually those with some type of skill level can rise to the top.

I was able to get through 8 rounds today. This is the longest I have been able to last in these tournaments. Coming in with a strategy really helped me this time. I am really glad I was able to spend the time with the Pros down in Las Vegas. It really helped. I ended up in about 80th position out of 245 players that started. Being in the money started in the 25th position. I got close.

I will now take what I have learned about myself and what I was able to do in this tournament and start practicing at Jokers again to get myself ready for the tournament in November. I had a lot of fun today.

At one point one of the players asked me if I was a Pro. I told him no but I did stay at a motel 6 last night. Ok, it was a Holiday Inn. It still went over real well with the table.

It was an exciting day.

And Here we Go

The rest of this week will be very busy for me. I am preparing for the tournament at the Wildhorse Casino and the Summer Roundup. My plan is to play the Sunday tournament. I am only going to play in one of them this summer.

On Wednesday I played in a Home Game. I haven't played in one of these in quite a while so it was fun to sit down with friends at the table and play. The cost was $5 so it was affordable to just haveing fun and not feel the pressure of getting into the money. When I arrived at the home of the tournament I was late and I was being blinded out. Needless to say I was the shortstack when I arrived. No pressure I just started working the table and playing my gameplan. I eventually was near the top in chips before I ran into a hand that got me back to being in shortstack and then went out in third place. It was enough to get third place money which was $5. I spent 2 hours playing and came out even. Not bad for being short stack and playing my plan.

Tomorrow night I will be playing at Jokers Casino in the $35 tournament and will try to tune up my game plan and be prepared for the weekend. I have been doing a lot of reading and studying the WSOP Academy information. I am presently working on the certification course with them. Yes, a certification for poker. They have 12 chapters and testing throughout the program. So far I am through 2 chapters and have done well on the exams so far.

As I have been saying the Tournament at Wildhorse Casino is going on starting today and will go through Sunday. I will be playing the final tournament on Sunday. The tournament starts at 12PM.

I have not had a chance to play anymore live cash games since last week. I will hopefully get back to playing this next week to grow the Bankroll.

Having a good time.

I See Twins

I guess I will start my blog off with Poker this time. The last two days have been not nice to me. Just when you think you might have it all figured out it turns against you. Or is it you just think your getting better and it has to knock you down a peg to let you know you are not in charge.

I looked over my notes from the WSOP Academy just like I am now doing before I go and play any tournament. This will help me reinforce what I have learned and to play the style I need to get to the final table. I have always said that anything can happen when you get to the final table but you have to get there first. Well, then how do you get there? By following the plan sam!!

Ok, I did make the final table thursday night at Jokers Casino. The only problem I had was not following the plan. Instead of playing TAG to start I opened up playing LAG. TAG is Tight Aggressive and LAG is Loose Aggressive for those that do not like letters only. I was so LAG that I ended up getting low on chips. At that point I figured I was in trouble so I went to TAG in the middle of the tournament and where I normally start to open up the game. OK, now you can see I am reverse of what I should be doing. That followed me all the way to the final table. Yes, I did make the final table but with not very much in chips. At that point I usually start playing TAG again to get to the top three. Well, I ended up moving to LAG to catch up and that is what got me in trouble.

My final hand here was KQ vs KJ and was allin with 2 other players. On the flop was a K and then on the river there was a J. I am out in 7th place.

Now I figured today playing at Islands Casino I would do better. At the beginning I was TAG and then I get AQ vs KQ. The Q came on the flop and the K on the river. I really don't like the river card anymore. At least through the rest of the day.

Both of these Casinos are different with the game. Jokers is $35 for T$5,000 chips and 20 minute rounds. Islands is $25 for T$2,000 chips and 15 minute rounds. Will have to figure out the difference between how to play them. Any ideas let me know.

Now that I am running two blogs I am trying to separate my poker playing from my stock trading. I am still being highlighted with the stock blog. I am even getting some followers with it and that will keep me going with that one. What about this one? Anyone out there? You can comment on if you like it or whatever you want to say.

Have a good weekend.

Getting Hotter

We are starting to get the heat finally. The temperature is supposed to be in the upper 90's and then reaching into the low 100's. Will try to stay inside most of the time and then water the yard in the evening when it is cooler outside.

We had a good 4th of July. We spent our time at a couple of BBQ's with friends and it was enjoyable. I need to get my Grill up and running soon.

This week has been taking care of parents financial stuff and getting through the DSHS requirements. Today was the visit from the Social Worker making sure parents are getting the proper care and that they are still able to be in the program they are in. I must say that we were unsure they would be able to stay in the Assisted Living but after the visit it turned out alright and another year is set. What a relief.

I had a chance to have lunch with a good friend and that was fun and enjoyable as well. Being able to discuss what is going on in each others lives. Have a conversation with someone that is interested in what each other has to say. Friends are good to have.

I have been playing poker this week and so far for the week I have been playing in a cash game and so far have played 166 hands and have increase BR by about 10%. I am going to try and keep playing the cash game and see what happens with the BR. This next week is the Summer Rodeo at Wildhorse Casino. Tomorrow night is back to Jokers for another tournament. Working on my strategy to go deep in tournaments.

Stay cool.

Multiple Topics

Sometimes in my life I will go out of the norm or what I percieve to be normal and do the opposite. For the people that know me I will sometimes do things that I wouldn't dream of doing. I don't like wearing jeans. I once did the brakes on my car in slacks. I don't like wearing hats but sometimes I will wear a cowboy hat. I will wear clothing that I don't normally wear just to see if people notice. Ok, you say what is your point?

In life overall a dream of mine was to work for myself. I have always looked for ways to make an income for my family and still be true to myself and the dreams that I have. Of course family comes first so you do the right thing and settle down and work for someone else. I have met and know of a person who is a very good friend that took their entire retirement account and put it into a business. This business went through some tuff times and even to the point of possibly selling the business for very little money. They hung on and today this business has grown 3 fold. Wow, what a story and the willingness to step out of the norm. This person is an inspiration to me and knowing it can be done.

I don't have the same opportunity or the money to do what this person did but it doesn't stop me from looking for ways to work for myself. I have tried a number of things. The worm farm being one. If it wasn't so hot in my garage I know it would have worked. Keeping worms happy is really hard. I then spent five years working MLM and even had one of them take off and went from Washington to Canada back to Washington and then on to Oregon and California. You would have thought I would have made it with that one. No, the payout structure was changed and I was getting less money than when I started. Ok, I got into Stocks, Forex and at the end of the couple of years I was still at breakeven. All of these never stopped me from thinking that someday I can work for myself.

I guess the opportunity is now here again. I am pushing myself to make my next projects work. I have attended an academy for poker, and am in the middle of the academy for stocks. I think the education part is going to help me get to where I need to be. I have to have the drive to make it work. You have to want this to work out. I have now added another part of what I want to achieve. I will be attending the H&R Block class on taxes. This one is a little more far fetched. When I started college back in 1974-75 my major was Accounting. The reason I didn't finish was because I ran out of money. I had to settle for an associate business degree. For me being able to help people with their taxes is something that I enjoy doing. I am now going to give this a shot.

My plate is pretty full now. I will have the Stocks that I can trade and work on and I will also have the poker game to enjoy. I will hopefully have the tax season to help others and keep busy. Will any of these bring in a steady income for our family? Did my friend have a guarantee that when they pulled out their retirement to start a business that they would have an income? I don't think so. I have let this person know that I think they are a hero of mine. Doing something you have a desire to do and no matter what anyone says you keep pushing forward. That is why I always try to listen to the positive. Negative people have no business being around me. I try to keep myself positive.

This week I have been working with my parents financial stuff trying to make sure that they are able to continue living where they are at. It is important to me that they are able to continue with the lifestyle they presently have. The State has multiple papers that need to be filled out and the nurse is due to evaluate in August to make sure they are able to stay in their apartment. Again, I am staying positive that they will not have to be moved.

Yes, I have signed up for the H&R Block class. This will start in September when I am done with my stock class. It was nice that so far the 3 education courses have been able to follow each other. First the Poker Academy, Stock Academy and then the tax course. I feel like I am learning and will be able to keep busy.

My poker game has been doing well right now. Last week I came in 1st place and last night I came in 2nd. I almost eeked out another win last night. I had the other player all-in twice with me being the chip leader and both times he was able to river out on me. I just couldn't make a comeback on the last one. With blinds at 3000/6000 I was in trouble. I let the guy off of the hook by letting him take a break when I just about had him at one point. He was not able to concentrate and make good decisions. I gave in and let him go to the bathroom. If I had to do it over again I should have made him keep playing. Maybe I wanted to win it fair and square and without the added stress he was going through. Hopefully some day he returns the favor and I win.

I have been having fun watching the Pokerstars.net The Big Game. One loose cannon against five pros. You are staked with $100,000 and you get to keep anything over that amount after you have played 150 hands. This week Nadya is up $71,000 and has about 45 hands to play yet. It has been fun. I have also been watching the WSOP on ESPN3 and that is fun as well. I learn by watching and this has taught me alot by seeing them play each hand, not the ones the TV wants to show you. I am very visual so I learn well by seeing someone do this and then I can follow and do the same thing.

Have a happy fourth everyone.

Rambling

Sometimes I will start to think about stuff and then it becomes more stuff and then I start to ponder of what I really think about the stuff I am wondering about. See how the mind can get so clogged with stuff. I need to have that button under internet (mind) to clean the stuff out. Create some more room for more stuff.

Lately I have been thinking about friends. Who are they? I suppose you can have friends at all levels. You have friends that really know you and how you think. What your goals are and will help you in any way possible. They support you in your goals and will not put you down when you want to do something different. I guess this is a person you can confide in and know some of your inner thoughts. I wonder sometimes who that is. Now I am not talking about the significant other. This person really knows you and is the confidant in your live. I am talking about friends. Probably first level.

You have work friends. People you work with and hang out with on a daily basis. People that know you on a work level and see you day to day in your good times and bad times. Not someone you would confide in unless they are real friends. I would think these friends would cover your back. Take care of each other.

How about friends you meet outside of work and you accidently meet somehow. Strike up a conversation with and then you just keep in contact. Sometimes they can be the best friends you can have. People that have the same common interests that you have and some of the goals you might have. You can also help each other meet your goals by pushing each other along.

I don't know what got me thinking about friends. Maybe it is because I haven't heard from some of them for awhile and then when you try to make contact you are either ignored or they don't want to be friends anymore. You just have to wonder about friends. I do know that friends change over the course of time. Who were your friends 30 years ago and then you think who are my friends now. What happened? Time. We are in a changing world. We change, we grow and I guess friends change too.

See I have too much stuff on the brain.

I have been playing a lot of poker lately and hope to continue. Trading is not easy in this market. I don't mind short trading just not yet. I don't like to chase the market.

Poker Day

I got up this morning ready for Lesson 3 of the Online Trading Academy. Sometimes I wonder if I get too much information in this head. I sometimes will start to over analyze things and then go into brain freeze and then can't seem to do anything. This then turns into procrastination because I don't know what to do. Is there a pill for that? The classes are going well just a lot of information and I keep taking notes. One nice thing about this is that all of the lessons are video taped and I can rewatch them at any time. Since this is actually lifetime I will probably keep listening to them live so one day it becomes engrained in my head.

After the class was done and I had a chance to look at the stocks I have been following I then started playing poker. I put in nine sessions and then this evening I went to Jokers Casino and put in time at the table for the tournament. Tonight I did come in first and took down the tournament cash. This does pay for one of the tournaments at Wildhorse this next month. I would like another cash to pay for both of the tournaments I would like to play. So far one down and now will work on the second one.


While I was in Las Vegas I decided to change my look from the cowboy hat. I should have put my sunglasses on with this one.
The chips are from the win tonight and the pink ones are T$1000 and the red are T$500 dollars. I had another stack of them that didn't make it into the picture as well.

I also started today going through my WSOP course book and studying that as well. Need to make sure I am ready for Wildhorse Casino. Some of you will notice that yes, I am playing with pink chips. I like these chips since they are worth T$1000 apiece. Figured some of you might like that since I am not a pink fan.

Time to call it a day and get ready for tomorrow.

Fathers Day

On Sunday we went and watched the Seattle Mariners at Safeco Field. My sons took me and the sons of my friend went on the day long trip.

We left at 0800 in the morning and arrived in time to walk around the park and get something to eat before the game started. Wow, the food is expensive at the park. We had a very nice enjoyable day. The Mariners won the game with Cincinnati by the score of 1 - 0. Getting out of Seattle and back on I-90 was the event for us.

They have built some new roads around the stadium and when we got out of the parking garage we were directed out of the area. We ended up on a road headed south and had to try to find our way back to I-90 heading east. We did make it back to the Freeway and back on track for home. We got here about 8PM. Not bad. We were all tired. It was a fun day and being with our sons was a blast.

Monday I got up to attend my Stock Trading class and 10 minutes into it the computer went down. I called Charter and they said it would be back up in a few hours. Well, it ended up being around 6PM almost 10 hours later. So, I missed my class which I will make up for tomorrow morning. No poker of course. What did we do before computers. Thank goodness I had my iPhone to keep up with emails and twitters and Facebook.

I have been working on my poker strategy and I am thinking about writing a booklet on what I learned at WSOP as well as all of my reading of the books. This will be my poker plan like a business plan on how I intend to play the game.

I am looking forward to the next test which will be July 14-18 at Wildhorse Casino. I would like to play two times but will wait to see how I do up to that point here at Jokers Casino.

Expiration Friday

It has been a long week and having my trading classes four days this week. They are only about 2 hours in length but they are packed with information. Thank goodness I can go back and relisten to the lessons I need to make sure I understand. Today we talked about Trends and Timeframes.

Last night I played at Jokers Casino and did not do very well. My first hand played was a hand I still don't why I was there. It must have been a BB and a call all the way around. I had AQ and after the flop I put in a pot size bet. I had one caller and then the turn came Q. Now a pair of Q's is good with an Ace kicker but why would the other guy keep calling me. Of course I couldn't back off since the Q was the highest card on the board. I knew it had to be good. When we got done he turned over the flopped straight. I didn't see it at the beginning. I was watching the flush possibility but was not looking at the straight possibility. I must have lost about half of my chips during that one hand.

The rest of the night didn't go so well after that. I couldn't get the chips to grow so I was relegated to pushing every opportunity. Finally I came up with KQ and decided again this was the opportunity and some one called with A6 and they end up with a better two pair. I had a K on the turn and a Q on the river. Ok, out of the tournament and I go back to the drawing board of what did I learn from this. I guess I need to pay attention to the board.

I am reading Dan Harringtons book and he is very close to the teaching that I received from the WSOP. I will be rereading the Courseware from the WSOP and reading the two volumes of Harringtons books. Good information in both. I have to be careful of too much information and go into a mental block and not play good at all. I need to let the game come to me and do what is appropriate. Even if others don't do what I expect them to do I need to maintain because once I get to Wildhorse Casino then the players change and will play more to the book level. I just need to adjust to the way the players are playing.

This Sunday I am headed to a Mariners game with my sons and friends of ours. The boys are taking their dads to a baseball game. This should be fun. I am looking forward to this.

Having fun.

A Very Good Day

Today has been a very busy day for me. You wouldn't think that a person not having a job would be busy. I spend a good share of my day reading and going over the stock market and trying to learn as much as I can. I am very anxious to get going and the day is getting closer.

Today I had a class at 1000 that went till 1200. This was a good class since he was going over trades that individuals had made and to see what we could learn from them. Watch out for tomorrow since tomorrow is the quadruple witching day. This is when the option and futures market will expire. We spent a lot of time reading the chart to see what we could learn from the past and what we can learn from seeing what takes place in the morning. Evidently a non trade day. I will be watching.

I was also notified from Scottrade, my platform for trading, that they had left an email for me on my community site. When I finally got a chance to look at the email I was flabergasted at what was said. A few days ago I wrote on my blog with Scottrade what I was doing, my goals, and where I was headed with my trading. I figured this was a way for me to keep a history of what I was doing. I do the same with this blog as well. I was told that they are going to use my blog as a featured blog. Wow, someone read it and liked what I wrote. Now they are going to feature it to the community. I might get someone reading my blog. I am excited about this and will see where it goes. I sent an email off to OTA since they were mentioned in the blog and maybe they might see some more students.

I will be playing poker tonight at Jokers. I have decided to stick with Jokers instead of going over to the Cable Casino. Right now I would prefer to stay closer to home and play right here. I would really like to see a few more people attend this one but will make do for the time being. I am going to make my play seem like a satellite into the Wildhorse events. Since the Wildhorse Casino events do cost more I will try to get into the money or win the tournaments so I can play in the bigger events. This will hopefully make me play for a reason and play to win instead of just playing for the fun of it.

Yesterday I played in two SnG's and had a 1st and a 2nd place finish. That always helps as well.

I am glad you are back home JB. Get better and get your rest.

Where is Summer?

I can't believe we are still running in the 70's around here. I can't complain too much because it is not raining and the sun is still shining. I have learned to not complain during this time of the year because I know what is coming around the corner. The treaded Fall and Winter. The time I want to head south for some better weather.

This week I have 4 days of classes for the XLT Trading Academy. So far it is going well and I am starting to understand what I need to do to trade correctly. Getting up at 0530 in the morning to go over the Market Briefing before the market opens is always the fun morning. Being a Swing Trader I won't have to be doing much of that during my trading day. I just need to be aware of what to look for and be able to work with the charts of the stocks I will be trading. We have some very good instructors that are showing us the ropes of trading.

I have been playing poker this week as well and my BR went down to the area of $70 and now after today I was able to bring it back up to $80.88. I have been working on multitabling and today I started up two of them. The one on my left was moving faster than the one on the right. The left one got down to 4 players and I was the chip leader. The right one was at 6 players and I was short stack so I decided to just go all in and finish this up and put all of my attention on the left game. After going all in a couple of times and winning the hands I then started to back off in my thinking for that game and in time I ended up getting my first place out of that game. Then still being 4 players on the left side I was able to give my full attention to this game. In the end I ended up in 2nd place and my BR was up now by $10.

I will be playing at Jokers this Thursday. My goal at this time is to make these tournaments my satellites for the bigger events at the Wildhorse Casino in Pendleton. This next month they will be hosting the Summer Poker Rodeo and I am hoping that I can play in a couple of the tournaments. Winning just one here will pay for possibly 2 tournaments. The buy ins are little bit higher than here so it will be good practice to treat these like attending a satellite. After attending the Poker Academy and reading Dan Harringtons books I hope to have good sessions. This will be a good test of my abilities to keep this going. So far so good but it has to get serious soon. I will be working on my Tournament BR now.

I do have goals for this next year. I want to cash at Wildhorse. Play in a WSOP event in 2011. And of course do well with my trading in Stocks. If I put my attention to doing well the money will be a by product.

I have a friend who is having surgery today and I wish him the ability to get well soon and get back at the tables. Maybe we can meet up at the 2011 WSOP and play a tournament. Take care JB and get well soon.

Having fun.

Confrontation

I am a person that tries to stay away from confrontations. I don't like it when people start arguments and will do things that hurt other people. So, with that being said here I am playing poker.

Poker is a game that puts people at war against other players. I believe this is a skill game in that you have to understand how to go to war with the other players at the table. Of course in poker we do this without going to extremes as in a real war. But the mentality has to be there.

Off topic but what I am getting at is all the talk about the Ladies Tournament in the WSOP. Guys are signing up for this tournament because they are saying the equity is good? I really do not believe that the guys should be entering this tournament and they should not have been allowed to register. This is listed as a Ladies Tournament and needs to stay that way. Yes, in an open event everyone is welcome to play. I don't have the skill yet to play in an open event like the WSOP but I am learning and practicing with the game. I do play at Wildhorse in the Fall, Summer and the Spring events. That allows me to see where I am at in my learning process. It does cost me some money to enter but I need to know if I am getting better playing in these kinds of events.

The Ladies Tournament gives them the opportunity to play with each other and learn from each other. I am not saying it is less of a tournament but saying it does give them a tournment without the guys playing. I will say that when I play at our local casino and have a lady at the table I am more concerned about her and her style and how I will play against her. When I play against the guys at the table I know what I am trying to do.

I do know that the last time I played at Wildhorse I played in a seniors event and it was more fun than actually playing in an open. I felt more at ease and did not feel intimidated. Could that be the same with the Ladies Tournament? A place to play and not feel intimidated. Learn and then play opens? Come on guys stay out of the Ladies Tournaments.

Remember I don't like confrontations. Sometimes I like to go against the grain and see what happens.

I played in 4 SnGs last night and my BR is now: Tournament BR...$79.06

Have a good week.

Back to the Grind

Here it is Friday. Last night I was able to play at Jokers Casino. Where are the players? We ended up having only 9 players last night. I guess you can say we all made it to the final table. I like the structure of the game. We pay $35 and get $5000 in chips to start. We have 20 minute rounds.

I was able to pick up a few hands last night. Chip stack was growing and then I went card dead. I needed to start picking my spots and playing hands that maybe I wouldn't normally play. That wasn't working either. I would get raised or the person would c-bet. I ended up in fifth place for the night. Last hand was KK and the other person got his Ace on the flop.

Today was the first lesson from the OTA. It was a very informative day and does give me some work to do on the charts. Hopefully this weekend I can devote some time to the charts and find some that look good to trade. We learned about the Supply and Demand and putting in our horizontal lines. There is more to it than that but with lesson one you have to start with the basics.

A good friend of mine is having surgery this next week. Do well and listen to the doctors. Will be anxious to hear from you when your done with surgery. Get back to playing poker.

WSOP Day 3

Today is one of the most important days for the Academy for me. This is the day that we would be doing hand analysis. We are done with the theory and we are now ready to start putting into practice what we have learned.

The sad part of today was having to call the shuttle company and let them know to pick me up tomorrow morning at 0945 to head back to the airport to fly home. The weather is nice and it would be nice to just stay in Las Vegas and play the game I enjoy.

In the WSOP Academy room the table is set up and when we get started there are only 9 of us sitting at the table with one pro. The pro today was Shawn Rice. He gives us the ground rules at the start and also lets us know that if we expected to be playing a lot of hands we would be disappointed. I did figure this would be slow going because of the analysis of each hand we were playing. Why we were playing what we did and how we could have played it differently.

One of the things that happened during this time was the stern part of the play. If we did not perform to the standards we had to explain ourselves on why and then listen to what we did wrong. This was a good learning experience. Shawn wanted us to listen and learn and play it right. Get the bad habits out of our style. I really appreciated the process.

Yes, I did some things wrong and I was talked to about my play. I think we all were at some point. He drove the points home though. On my last hand I had 77 and I didn't play it in position. I think you can guess what happened. I was lectured again and I knew it was coming. It was the last hand of the day but to Shawn it did not matter. I was given an opportunity and didn't take it. Now, when the hand was played out on the board I would have laid it down anyway but that wasn't the point. My betting should have taken the hand down before it got to the end if I had played the hand. It is position, position and position.

At the end of the day I went out and got some dinner. I then spent the last night in Las Vegas in the Pavilion and Amazon rooms watching the pros play one last time. I was also able to find my online coach and took a picture of him. I was hoping to say hi and meet him face to face but that didn't happen. Maybe next time I am in Vegas I can catch up with him.

It was a fun trip and now the work begins. I will keep updating the blog on my progress.

Last night I played a SnG (9) and placed 1st.
Tournament Bankroll ----- $91.31
HU and Cash Bankroll ---- $44.22
Live Bankroll ----------- $xxxx.xx

Tonight I will be playing at Jokers in the $35 NLHE Tournament.

WSOP Academy Day 2

The second day was started by finishing up the theory and discussing the tournament we all played in the night before. The person sitting next to me at the poker table was the winner of the event and he won a chance to play for the main event seat early July. The prize was worth about $6000 to $7000 and of course the opportunity to play for more. I do wish him luck in the coming tournaments. He is also scheduled to attend another class in preparation for the event. Second and third place received the buyin to another class from the Academy.

We started working at the tables again with the three pros. They took turns alternating tables about every 30 to 45 minutes. Each time learning something new and to be able to learn what to do in our betting. Every hand tells a story and we have to be good readers of the hands. We are now given our ranges and the information on how to bet and when to bet. Read the story. Listen and watch the patterns the players will give you. As Mark Sief said he is very tired when done with a session of poker. You should be so involved that you don't know what is happening around you other than what is happening with those at the table.

At the end of the day we did take a test and I was happy to see that I was in the top 5% of the class in decision making. Wish I could have used that last night in the tournament. Of course if we all knew then what we learned in the two days it may have been a different ending.

After the class I went and found something to eat and then went to the pavilion and amazon room to watch the tournaments being played. I was able to watch the likes of Jen Harmon, Mike Matasow, David Williams, Erik Lindgren, Carlos Mortenson, Vanessa Ruosso, Amarillo Slim and Jonathan Little. It was fun while I was standing there that one of the dealers came up next to me and we started talking about the pros. He started relaying some stories to me and it was interesting. It was fun.

Tomorrow it was time to do the Hand Analysis. Off to the room and get some sleep.

Poker

Wednesday evening I decided to go try out my new strategy and see if I learned anything. I played in a tournament that was very fast paced and the chips were T$20,000. Rounds must have been around 5 - 10 minutes. It seems they were changing quite fast.

I started out real well and was building my chip stack and then got involved in a hand that took me down to about $13,000. I then sarted rebuilding and got myself up to around $22K and then started playing a hand that I should not have been in. I have Pocket 8's and the flop came 346. I figured I was still ahead and bet the pot and was followed. The turn was a Q. I didn't like that one but I didn't think he had the queen either. The River came Ad. Now there were 4 diamonds on the board. He probably had the diamond but would he have bet the flop with the diamonds. Could he have the A? Possible but then with the size of the bets would he have hung on and waited for the Ace?

We turned them over and I had my Pocket 8's and he had a Ace high Diamond flush with a pair of Aces. He was holding A5.

I am out of the tournament. I should have let it go and I didn't. I am learning the story of the cards and will only get better as the time goes on.

Day One Continued

I walk into the room and I see 4 poker tables all set up with the chips and cards ready to go. I am ready to play at that point. Now we are all waiting for the pros to come in and start the teaching. The four pros are Mark Seif, Mark Kroon, Shawn Rice and Jim Shipley. They sit up at the front of the class and they are introduced by the WSOP staff.

Mark Seif then gets up and welcomes us to the class and lets us know that we are part of a group of 5% that will get education on playing poker. He informs us that we are learning everything that they know about how to play poker. They will not hold anything back from us. This is the theory part of poker playing and going through the book lasted about the whole day. A lot of information was passed on to us. I was writing in the book as well as the pad I brought with me. I wasn't going to miss a thing.

The book we received has the following information inside:
Introduction
Pre-Flop Strategy
Post-Flop Strategy
Stage Strategy
Sit-n-Gos
Satellites

This book contains quite a bit of stuff in it but the knowledge really will come from sitting at the tables and playing the hands in front of these pros. You just know that the information you will receive will be something good. Greg Raymer, 2004 WSOP Main Event winner came in and talked with us.

We had class till about 6pm and then went on a dinner break and we are then to meet up in the Pavilion and we were to play tournament poker with the pros. I arrived at the pavilion room and located my seat at table 147 seat 7. The pro at our table was Mark Kroon, a very good online player. He showed us his skill level during the game. It was hard to play against him. I needed the next two days to finally understand what he was up to and how to play against him. He explained to us the next day what he was waiting for from us and of course we didn't know that.

We started at 7pm and we had 4 tables going. I was able to get down to the final two tables before I was short enough that I needed to start shoving. I did and ended up going out in 20th place for the tournament. My first goal was not to go out first. My second goal was to make the final table and then win the tournament. Well, at least I didn't go out first.

The person next to me when we started the tournament was the person who won the tournament and was given a $6,000 to 7,000 prize. The chance to play for a seat in the main event and take another main event class before playing again. Second and third place received about $2000 for another class with the academy.

After I was done with the tournament I then focused my attention on the other tournaments going on in the Pavilion and Amazon rooms. I walked around and found and watched Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, Freddy Deeb, Phil Helmuth, Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu, Doyle Brunson, Todd Brunson, Jen Harman.

After watching all of these players and being pretty tired from the busy day I finally headed off to my room on the 17th floor and the great view and was ready to go to bed and get some sleep and get ready for the next day.

Day 1 at WSOP

The room was fabulous in the Mystique tower of Rio. I had a living room area and then across from that was the king size bed. I had another room for the clothes and the sinks. It was a big area that had a refrigerator in it. Then of course there was the bathroom that was again oversize. This was a nice room overlooking the pool area and was on the 17th floor. What a view. If I can download the pictures from my phone I will try and put them on the blog.

I got to bed that night and the bed was harder than what I am used to. I wear an insulin pump and lying on my side was not working. At home I can lay on my side and not even know I have the pump on. I did set my alarm for early since I did not know the start time of the Academy. I did not receive any information from them on times before I left home. I knew where I was supposed to be by walking around and finding the location but times and agenda were not available to me.

At 0400 music started playing in my room. I woke up and quickly found the location it was coming from. Someone had set the radio alarm in the room and I was the beneficiary of the wake up at 0400. Nice joke. Next time I will check the alarms and make sure they are off. I have the alarm on my iPhone that I use if I need an alarm. Usually I don't. I tend to wake myself up when I need to. I turned the alarm off and went back to sleep. Again the radio started playing and when I looked at the clock radio it now said 0500. This time I spent the time to find the actual off switch and then rolled back over and tried to go to sleep. I was going to wake up at 0600 and start getting ready for the day.

I got downstairs and went over to the Cafe that I found and ordered breakfast. The hallways were guiet. Breakfast was good and now the start of the day. I went over and sat in front of the WSOP Academy registration booth so I wouldn't miss anyone and at around 0830 someone came by and they told us they would start at 0930. Ok, I was up a little too soon this morning. With a little bit of help I might add. Now, I wait for 0930 and get registered. When I walked up to the desk at 0930 I found out why I didn't get anything from them. I was not on their list of participants. I paid for this back in March and I wasn't on the list? Ok, don't let this upset your day. This is supposed to be fun, educational and something I have wanted to do for a long time. I am not going to let them ruin it for me.

I received my book and later got my nametag. The book itself is the courseware for the program. I was anxious to open this up and learn all the secrets of playing poker like a pro. I couldn't wait to sit down and open the pages up and start reading. I am sooooo ready for this. I have watched the pros on television and now I am going to have the chance to see them in person and have them talk to us about playing the game. The excitement was starting to build.

How many people will show up for the class? They had 4 tables set up in the back with everything on them to play a game. Looks like about 40 people will be here. We all sat down and waited for the Pros to enter the room. I want to be a sponge and soak up the knowledge. I want to listen to every word they say and follow what they are doing at the table. The fact I was not on the registered list of participants was not going to deter me from having the time of my life right here and right now.

To be continued....

Back from WSOP

I arrived home yesterday from Las Vegas. It was a fun trip as well as a big learning experience for me. I guess you can say it had the WOW factor.

Thursday---
I am all packed and ready to go. I decided to take the duffel bag instead of the backpack as I new I would have some books to bring back and I needed the extra room. Our daughter-in-law took me to the airport which made it easier for me not having a vehicle parked there. Saves us money as well. It does get expensive parking in their lots.

In the airport I waited for the TSA folks to open up the gates and I figured since I am about 2 hours early for the flight it would give me a chance to sit and relax. Once the gate was opened I waited for the first initial people to go through and then I walked up and pulled my DL and flight ticket out for her. I told her that I was a diabetic and that I had an insulin pump on and what if anything did I need to do. She asked me to put the pump towards the front and then she got on the radio and told the person on the other side that I had an insulin pump on. I was asked to walk through and when I did no alarms went off. I was then asked to step over to another area and was asked to hold the insulin pump in my hands. My hands were then wiped to see if I had any explosives on them. I was then frisked and they went through my duffel bag and especially my diabetic bag I carry with me. I was deemed a safe and was let go to go into the terminal. Was all that necessary for a diabetic with an insulin pump? Will my life now be this way where I will be searched everytime I walk into an airport? Doesn't seem right to me.

Once the plane got up into the air it started to get bumpy. I was coming from Salt Lake once through a thunder and lighting storm and now that seems like nothing compared to leaving that day. We had to get up to the 20,000 ft level before it finally settled down.

One of my pet peeves while riding in the airplane is the person in front of me moving his seat in the back position. How much room do you think that gives me? I feel like I want to do the same to him. See how they feel with less room.

Flying from Salt Lake to Las Vegas was even bumpier than the previous leg. In fact most of the way we had this and the attendants had to cancel the drink service because it just wasn't safe for them to be in the aisle. Arriving into Las Vegas got scary as well. It was reported they were having winds at 10-30 mph gusts. When we came in for the landing the plane actually turned sideways going straight. That was a first and I was holding onto the arms on the seats. I hate flying. This reaffirms that.

Getting to the Rio and checking in was good. I put my stuff up in the room and my first order of business was to get the lay of the land. I wanted to find the WSOP area and find out where I was to spend my next few days. After a number of hours I did find the area and found a nice Cafe as well that I would spend the next few days eating at. I did play some Video Poker and that was it. I was tired and went back to the room to get ready for the next day.

To be continued......

Here I come Las Vegas

Tomorrow I am headed to Las Vegas for the WSOP Academy. I have been waiting for this since I signed up in March. This weekend is going to go by fast so I want to enjoy the moment and also retain all that I have the opportunity to learn. I will be listening to the Pros talk and I want to soak that all in.

I have been playing quite a bit of poker lately. My Heads Up is now running at about the 50% level. I have also been able to pull off some wins in the SnG area as well. This last month I was able to come in 1st in a Live Tournament so I feel I am ready to take the game to a new level.

I have also been getting things ready for the start of the next three months of equities trading. I am going to be one busy person learning and trying to keep up with playing the games. Need to push the envelope and get it all done.

Flying is not one of my most favorite things to do. The last time I flew to Las Vegas the wind was really bad and the plane landed on one side then the pilot had to force the other side down in the cross wind. That was quite an experience. I have gotten so I don't have to take calm pills just to fly. Not much you can do when your inside a plane. You are not the one in control like driving a car.

I am not taking my computer with me on this trip since I will be in the classes and then in the casino watching the WSOP and may even try to play in a non WSOP event. Just depends on how things are going. I will have my phone with me so I may update FB and my Twitter accounts. See you when I get back.

Ahhh the Weekend

The weekend is here and it is nice to enjoy the calm and then to regroup for the next week. We will have grandkids here today while the parents are off enjoying themselves a little bit.

This past week I started a challenge for myself and I wanted to complete 25 games of Heads Up poker. My goal is to get to 65% win rate. At the end of the week I have completed the 25 games and I finished at 52% win rate and was 13 - 12 for the week. I squeeked that out last night by winning 4 of the 5 games played. This means I ended the week in profit for the bankroll. Now I will continue this next week.

I also started playing multiple games of 9 player SnG. My goal is to play 3 rounds in one session. That would be a total of 6 games per day. I did get 8 games in this week. I got two 1st places and one 3rd for the 8 games. That helped the bankroll as well. I will continue this next week as well.

I did get a chance to play a live tournament on Monday and for the fourth time in a row I was able to get to the final table. Unfortunatly I placed in 10th.

This week I will fly out to Las Vegas for the WSOP Academy. I am leaving on Thursday and will be back on Monday. I am excited about attending and am anxious to get back and to put to use what I have learned. This will help my Live Tournament game. At the same time the WSOP is starting their tournament schedule and on Friday they will be starting the TOC and I will have a chance to watch some of that. See some of the players I watch on TV. Maybe get a chance to get some autographs? We will see.

I have been silently sitting on the side lines with the stock trading. This market has been so volatile that I don't want to risk my capital on just trading to be trading. I have been working on the area I will start trading in to get used to what these equities are doing. They are the ETF's. They are not as volatile as the regular stocks. These ETF's are in sectors so it is like trading the fund market but it will be in one area at a time. I start my mentoring on June 1 so that will be 3 months of working with someone. This will be a busy summer getting all of this done.

I am ready.

Stormy Monday

Today I am starting my new poker journey. I have decided to start playing heads up poker and I am going to play five tournaments each day this week. I will also continue with my live tournament play at Jokers Casino and also play a 9 player SnG per day as well. Should be enough poker. So far today:

Heads Up = 1 win and 4 losses
Jokers = I am working on a streak of final tables now with 4 in a row winning one.
SnG = Ended up in 5th place in this tournament.

Tonight I ended up at the final table and went out in 10th place. My pocket 10's ran into pocket J's. It was a rough night as the table was playing a lot of aggressive poker. I tried to wait it out and play the best hands and I at least made it to the final table.

Saturday Night

I had a couple of thoughts today and I just had to write about them.

I was reading some forum letters and one of them was about reading books. Through out my life I have been a non reader of books. I just couldn't stand the idea to sit down to read a book. The mid 90's came around and that is when I got into the stock market and for some reason I was starting to gather a library of books around me about the stock market, commodities, futures, currencies, options. I have a whole library on this stuff. And yes I read just about everyone of them. If not all of a book I would read the parts that were of interest to me. After that I went back to not reading very much. I would try to read a fiction book at least once per year. Just to say that I did read.

Here we are now and I am back to reading again. If you read my blog you would see I am reading not one but two or three books at a time and then have magazines around me reading them too. Now I have quite a library on Poker. I again have been reading them and I must say like before I do learn from them. Sometimes I will get a book and just read the parts that interest me but I still have the book in my library. Oh yes, I have been buying stock books again.

We have moved from the Industrial age in our economy to the Information age. We have so much information out there that people are eating this knowledge up. Just my opinion. But think about it. We are thirsty for information and we will get it either by computer, phone, books, ebooks, anything. Now I am a very visual person so reading a book gets me the information but if I have a chance to see it in action I learn and do better with it. I guess I can regurgitate it back and do well. I prefer the visual. Anyway just my thoughts on reading material.

We were watching the Marriage Ref tonight and the episode we were watching had the couple on it that he was numbering his socks. Wow, what a concept. I have wanted to find a way that when you buy socks that the same two socks were always together and to not mix them up with other socks of the same kind. They should be numbered or have a letter on them to organize them better. From someone who likes their socks put in color coordination, shirts put in color coordination and then have t-shirts put in the same location on the hangers just makes sense to me. I am just saying.

Tonight was not much on poker but you get my drift? I am taking a new direction in my poker playing and will start this next week so after I get started I will write about it and let you know.

Stay organized.

It is getting warmer

The market has not been very good to be trading as a swing trader. It is even harder for the day traders. I keep watching for the market to settle down and then start moving in a direction where I can start looking for trades again. It is better to be liquid than to be in a position of loosing your positions. The service I watch is now starting to give out some information on stocks but I will wait. I hate to loose as much in this as I do in poker. I work on emotions to keep them under control.

Poker is doing well. I have been playing at FT and PS and mostly live. Got to keep that bankroll moving. I am getting more excited to go to Las Vegas at the end of the month. I would like to be able to play in the evening when classes are done. Today I went to Jokers and played in the tournament. We started with T$5000 and when we got to the final table I was close to short stack. I have been getting better playing short handed. This is when I start getting more aggressive and by the time I got to 3rd place I was starting to get to the chip leader position. By the time we got rid of the 3rd place person and there was two of us left I really got aggressive and was able to pull out 1st place. Each time I do that I have good results with this live game. This builds my bankroll as well. Will keep working at it and hopefully Las Vegas will help as well.

Having fun with low stress.

Sorry Thursday

I was sitting at my desk watching the stock charts and all of a sudden it started dropping and in a big way. I was shocked at what I was watching. I immediately turned on CNBC to see what was going on. All I can say is WOW!!!!! I was glad I was in cash at this time and not going long in any of the stocks. Now if I was short then I could have made some money. I am maintaining in cash for now until the market settles down and shows some movement either to the upside or the downside. At least being reasonable in movement.

This past week I have played poker on FT and PS and have done well. Especially on PS where I am playing more cash than tournaments. On FT I am playing the tournaments or SNG's and am getting on the bubble right now. I did make contact with Susie Isaacs and she responded to me and we emailed back and forth. She wrote the two books "MsPoker I'm not bluffing". Two very good books.

I have also put in two sessions of Live Tournament at Jokers. Last week was a 4th place with money and tonight was 6th place. Both times at the final table. I am trying new things at the table and tonight I bet when no one else wanted the pot and also played position and bet or raised to show strength. It was working tonight and so I will work on that part of my game in the future. In real estate it is location, location, and location. In poker it is position, position and position.

Tomorrow is my visit with the dentist for the second time this week. I really tread going but this time he has given me some meds to take to see if I can calm myself down before I get into the office. I have such a hard time with this. I really have a past with dentists and it still shows almost 40 years later. He assured me yesterday that I am not the only one. Well, I still have to show up for the appointment. At least this time I will have a better attitude.

Rain, Rain Go Away

Well, it is about time I got on here and updated the blog on what is going on in Stevie's World.

I have spent this last week playing poker at Wildhorse in Pendleton, OR. I was getting used to the drive down there. I went down on Monday this last week to listen to a seminar on playing NLHE. The next day I went down and played in the Seniors tournament. My truck was having issues with tires so after the tournament I went to Les Schwab and purchased a couple of new tires. The truck was pulling to the right real hard. Figured out it was a tire that got down to the wires. Then I had the brakes looked at and found that one of the calipers was not moving. That could have caused part of the issues. All fixed except I want the truck looked at for an alignment. Back to poker. I played on Sunday in the final event at Wildhorse. I was sitting on the left of Marsha Waggoner. It seems that whenever I play there I am at the same table as her. At least this time I didn't go out by her. Actually I was sitting in the middle of two professionals. I really tried to mind my P's and Q's. I actually was following their lead on playing. I didn't play but a couple of hands during the time I was there. I went out of the tournament with AK vs 55 and the flop was A55xx. I of course followed him all-in and then went out of the tournament. Oh well, another tournament done. I am anxious to get to Las Vegas and get some training. Another month and I will be there.

As far as FT and PS are concerned I am doing well with the tournaments. I am building my BR from the tournaments I am playing. I am trying to follow what my coach wants me to do and if I do that I should be alright. Last night was a first place. I was trying for a couple of weeks to get a seat at the WSOP Main Event. That was not going well. I can at least dream. I keep saying some day I will play in an event down there. That would be a good goal.

I have been working on my equities trading. Today is a down day. Everything is going south it seems. All of the stocks I was watching and ready to make a move on are now quite a bit away from my entry prices. If I am not in I am not loosing. Right now the QQQQ are over a $1 down. The Goldman Sachs issue doesn't help as well. You can see the influence they have on the market right now. There is always tomorrow. I will work up some more trades and be ready.

I am reading a number of books right now. I am still reading "The Complete TurtleTrader" by Covel and then I am reading "Harrington on Hold'em" by Harrington. If that is not enough I am also reading "A Beginners Guide to Short Term Trading" by Turner. All are very good books. I am also reading my standard poker magazines. I have never been much of a reader but now I can find the time and try to fill my mind with good information.

We had a visit from Cindy's sister and her husband this last weekend. It was fun to spend some time with them and go to a very nice restaurant here call Magills. Good food and some good time spent. I missed the breakfast the next morning as I was headed to Pendleton.

Until next time.....

Playing Poker

I guess I should try to catch everyone up on what is happening in my little world. Playing Poker and working on the stock equities has been keeping me busy.

I found a place online that I can watch and get some ideas on the equities that might be good to play. I will still need to do the due diligence but it does give me some ideas of what to play. I did get myself into one stock and then it came back on me and stopped me out. I was able to raise the stop loss enough that I broke even with the cost. I consider it good practice then. I will get back at it when this week is overwith.

Poker has been going strong this week. Wildhorse casino is in full swing and on Monday I went down there and listened to Linda, Jan, Marsha, Susie, and Barb. Five Poker Hall of Fame players give us pointers on how to play the game. I then went out and got into a Live 2 - 5 NLHE and came away with profit after 3 hours of sitting at the table. That makes you feel good. Then today I went back down there to play in the Seniors Tournament. I wish I could have listened to what I learned the previous day. My mind was not on the tournament. I was having vehicle issues and I knew I needed to purchase new tires before going home. I found the belt broken on the tire when I got down there and would explain what I was experiencing driving the truck. As I said my mind was somewhere else. We had T$5000 starting stack and I ended up going all in with AK with T$3700. Why would I do that with so much left and AK is just another hand in poker after the flop. The other guy got his straight and I got the door. I can't wait to go to Las Vegas and get some help with my game. I now have to decide if I am going to play on Thursday and Sunday.

On Saturday we went to Spokane to move Nick and Emma back to the Tri-Cities. Nick is back home and going to school.

One other item about Poker. I have been playing some qualifying tournaments for the WSOP Main Event and with 30,000 players vying for 5 spots it is very hard. I am getting through half the field before going out. As long as they keep offering I am going to keep trying to win $12,000 to go to Las Vegas.

Have a good week.

Days are better

Maybe I should just post on the blog on Fridays. I would like to keep up with what is going on but it gets hard. I have been working on the platform setup with Scottrade and then at night have been playing poker. If I can get into a routine and let all the other stuff just take a back seat that would be good as well.

Trading has gotten off to a good start. I have been working on my trading plan ( Business Plan ) and that takes time to write up how you want to be trading. I would like to make it like a Policy and Procedure type of thing so anyone could take over for me and trade the same way I would. Anybody want to try that out for me when I am done? The other part of this is trying to find the trades so I can start my trading. I see where it would be easier to be a Day Trader since you could close your positions before the market closes. I am a Swing Trader and must keep my trades overnight. I don't mind holding the trade as long as it is going in the direction of my trade. I have some ideas on what I am going to do about locating the equities I will want to trade. I am also trying to pick a few equities that are basically local and something I know something about and follow them as well as trade them if they look like they are going in a good trend.

Poker is doing well and I feel better about how I am playing. I had three first places this past week. Nice for the pocket. I did tell a few at the previous job that when I made good money I would take them out to lunch. If this keeps up I will honor that at some point. At least it shows that I can and will make it. I think it is a good goal since it is achievable. I qualified for the Main Event Qualifier the other night as well. Now I will play on Sunday for a chance to be seated in the WSOP Main Event. Wouldn't that be a kick in the pants. I would like to play well and give myself the opportunity to be in Las Vegas come Main Event time. The coaching that I have gotten has really helped the game quite a bit. I am anxious for the week of the 19th since I will be spending some time at Wildhorse playing in a couple of tournaments and attending a seminar on No Limit Hold'em. That will be it for April. After that it is May and the trip to Las Vegas. I have my plane ticket and will be staying at the Rio for 4 nights. WSOP starts during that time so it will be fun to spend some time in the players area. More on that later.

This last week we were also able to have the new garage door put up. It was so nice to be able to walk out and push the button and watch the door open and then close. The next order of business is to clean out the garage. I would like to sheetrock the walls and empty out the storage and bring that all home. I need to get a door for the garage as well. Hopefully I can have Bill put that in for us so it will be cleaner inside. Mowing has started and it looks like once every two weeks right now. I am still working on the backyard to get grass back in there. So much to do and not enough time.

I am reading a couple of books right now. I am reading "A beginner's guide to short-term trading" by Toni Turner and at the same time I am reading "The complete turtle trader" by Michael W. Covel. Both of them are good reads. I am also spending time reading my Poker magazines. I have two subscriptions Bluff and Poker Pro. I enjoy both of them for the updates on what is going on with the players. Of course they have great articles.

We have N and E living with us right now and she will start her clinicals at the local hospital for the month. N has started college classes and is waiting for deployment. Exciting times for them.

Work the Solution not the Problem.

Back Again

It has been a week since I last blogged but in my world I have been busy and unable to get to the blog site. I will try to catch you up on what is happening and then I will try to get back on my schedule for Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Don't give up on me.

The week and a half in Redmond was tiring and very informative. Finally paying for some education that I really wanted and not something I had to have. I enjoy the financial market and have wanted to do something in it for a long time. Now I get the chance to try and work in this field as my new job. I can't hardly call it a job but I do want it to produce an income. When I got back on Saturday night I just wanted to relax and just enjoy being home before Monday came around and then I had some work to do. I needed to sign up with Tradestation and transfer my working capital to that account. As a trader this platform is the cream of the crop and of course you pay for that as well. I went ahead and filled out the information and then got to the last page and just couldn't push the button. I don't know why but my gut told me that I didn't need this one.

The next day I went back and took a another look at the platform. I had been using it all last week and it was so nice to use. Why couldn't I pull the trigger? I would get 20% off of all of my trades and would pay $100 per month for the platform. This was intended for me to get my tuition back from the Academy. I met a fellow student at the class and we exchanged email and so I sent him an email asking about what he uses for his platform. I started looking at Etrade and Scottrade to see if they were usable. Mike uses Scottrade and he just happened to be in town and so we got together and he showed me what Scottrade had to offer. Now this platform is not Direct Access like Tradestation but the job gets done if you trade like I will be doing. I will not be Daytrading but will be a Swingtrader. I would like to work towards Daytrading but not know. With that in mind I didn't need Tradestation. I ended up the week signing up with Scottrade and will start with them. The platform is free as well and the amount to make the trades will be comparable. Now to work on my trading plan and have it turned in by April 12.

My Poker playing this last two weeks has been on the back burner. I did play a couple of games during this time and got a 2nd place but just couldn't give the time that it needed. Now that I have the platform done I will be able to start on my poker game. This is called multitasking. I will have a scheduled time for trading and then will also have a time to play poker. I am scheduled to play at Wildhorse at the end of the month. I would like to play a couple of events. I am also attending the seminar on No-Limit Hold' em. I also need to finish the coaching I am getting from my online coach. I am hoping to get in more games before I go back and have him watch me again. Last night I came in 1st in a tournament I played. Feels good to get back in the saddle again. In May will be the WSOP Academy for my live tournament play. I will also be attending the Hand Analysis as well in Las Vegas. I will be there for 4 days and this will coincide with the start of the 2010 WSOP. I will be in the same hotel as well. Maybe some autographs at night? As you can see the next two months will be busy.

Of course I am not done yet. Starting in June I will be attending a 12 week class from the Trading Academy called XLT. This is extended learning that I will do from home on my computer. They say this will speed up the learning process for trading equities by over a year. Anything to help the bottom line faster. I will be online with an actual trader looking over the trades and being mentored by this trader. I am looking forward to that time. So, the next two months will be on my trading and then heavy for poker and then after that I will get into trading heavy.

The house is basically ready for our son and his better half. We are going to have a new garage door put on our garage. It will be nice to be able to open it up and put our cars in for the summer heat or winter cold. After that it is going to be awhile before we start any other projects other than some smaller ones that won't take much $$.

I am walking now on a daily basis about a mile a day. This is hard on my feet and my lower back but I need to keep up with this. The insulin pump is great. It is nice not having to stick myself 7 times per day now. I feel I am doing well with this pump and now to work on the other parts of my health. I am not that old but feel like it at times.

I have a couple of sayings that I like to read over and over again.
Amateurs work at it till they get it right, Professionals work at it till they can't get it wrong.
Work the solution not the Problem.

Have a good day.

Thank you Friday

So much for writing on Wednesday. I am soooo tired right now from the weeks activities and having homework every night. Sounds like school again. The academy was a great experience and I decided to take the next step in my education and will take the Extended Learning portion that will last 12 weeks. I plan on starting this the first week of June and will last through August. This will be with a Mentor and this person will have classes 4 days per week. This is the education I have wanted and now have the opportunity to get this done. Being a trader in equities will be another item I can cross off of my list. I would like to make a business out of this and do this for a long time.

Poker for me has been on the side burner for the last week and a half and when I get home I will start up and play more. I will be putting a plan together for this as well as a plan for the trading. I would like to do both and be proficent in both areas. I think I can do this. Some of the ideas in the trading class can work in the poker arena as well. I am going to be playing in Pendleton at the Wildhorse Casino the middle of April and then I do have the WSOP Academy at the end of May. So as you can see I will be busy.

This last week has been sort of hard for 2 families because of the political nature of the hospital where they worked. I feel for both of them and wish things could be different. This could be an opportunity to do something else so they need to keep their minds open to the new possibilities coming their way. You never know. I am finding less stress and enjoying life a little bit more.

I am headed to bed and have one more class to attend tomorrow. This class is one that will put on paper what my trading plan will be and how I will function in this new job of mine. I don't call it a job. I answer to myself and Cindy now. I will be driving home over the pass tomorrow evening. I would like to get over before the sun goes down. We will see if I make it.

Is it Monday?

I have not gotten up at 5AM in a long time to do anything other than to go to the bathroom. Now that is way too much information. This morning I was awake by 5 and got up to get ready to go to class. We spent the last 2 days in preparation for this morning and now here it is. I walked outside and it was dark and rainy here in Kirkland/Redmond. Drove to the Online Trading Academy and went into the classroom. We talked for a few minutes about what we should see in the market today and then turned on the computers to take a look. We were expecting to see a big drop today and what we found was a move to the upside. Ok, it will correct but not today. The signs are there but when it will happen you just don't know. At that point you plan your trades and trade your plan. We were able to trade this morning and I did well. One negative and three positive trades. I was on the positive side of the $$ today. Tomorrow we go at it again. I like Day Trading and feel like that is where the income is at but will have to do Swing trading to get to the next part. I really enjoy what I am doing and am anxious to get started on our own. Found out that at the end of the week we will be known as professional traders. There are perks.

I haven't been able to play much in the Poker arena lately since trading equities have been the business at hand.

I had a full blog written and now it is gone due to the internet here at the hotel. Oh well. I will have a hard time remembering what I had in it so will wait till Wednesday to post again.

Friday Friday

Today is my off day before I start the long week of classes.

I am sitting in the motel/hotel room here in Redmond getting ready to pack up my stuff and head over to the new motel/hotel. I am going to be at the Marriott Courtyard here in Redmond just down the street from the Comfort Inn. It was nice that the Online Trading Academy was able to get me into the Courtyard by using a block of rooms they have for their instructors. I tried to get in on Tuesday night but since this whole thing has been moving so fast I was unable to secure a room.

Yesterday was a good day in that I sat in the classroom with one other person and we discussed trading and what we could eventually accomplish with the training that is provided. I felt this was a good opportunity for me to get back into trading the stock market and get the necessary training I needed. This will be an income for us and I can stay home and work. This is a business. It needs to be treated as such. The next step is to be here for the next week and study my heart out and getting myself prepared for this adventure. This is the opportunity I needed and will move on from here.

Last night I went down to the Muckleshoot Casino and played in a tournament. I met a classmate of mine while I was there. I had to look at FB and then look at him to see if they matched and I approached him and sure enough. We hadn't seen each other in a few years. Anyway, the tournament went well. There were 100 people that started the tournament and I ended up being in 42nd place. There is that middle of the tournament thing again. I can't wait for the WSOP Academy to help me get further in these tournaments. It was 500/1000 blinds and I had a little over $10,000 and I got QQ. I was able to get all in after the flop and was called by one person. He showed 55. Turn was nothing and the river was a 5. I am out of the tournament. I played well.

I was able to play in a FT tournament on Wednesday night and placed 2nd and that is good for some $$. Gotta keep at it. The coaching job from Chris is working and I need to keep working on the game.

I plan on driving out to Snoqualmie Casino today. Plus I will have to spend some time studying before tomorrow. Study, Study and Study some more.