Chasing my Tail

I have been very busy since Monday. I have been playing poker and trying to keep up with the Tax class. Today things changed.

I was told that I could join a Poker Dealer class that was going on at the local casino. The Poker Manager and I had talked about working there and being able to help the dealers and him do their jobs. I would be able to learn the dealing aspects as well as helping in the poker room at the sign up area as well as being responsible for the chips and money to the players and tables.

I was given the application and started attending the class on Tuesday and on Thursday we had the final meeting with questions and we now will put in some hours after we get our licenses.

I went down to the Police Department today and got finger printed and will pay for the license tomorrow. At that point there will be a 10 day waiting period and then I can start working in the poker room. This has moved very fast for me. I will be working parttime and that is fine with me. Having fun in a job with the game I enjoy will be great. All of the dealers are very nice and very helpful.

I have been playing the live cash game and have done well the last couple of days. Tournament play is a complete different story. Of course these are Freerolls and this brings out people that don't understand how to play and are learning. It is good to have new faces learning the game. I can see that you have to play the cash games to keep going. That is where the money is and you have to tap into that. I have been staying away from the big game though. Not ready yet to try my hand at them. Now I can watch them play and work at the same time.

Feels great to be putting in long days again.

Have a good Friday......

Busy Monday

It was a busy day today. I got myself out the door this morning and drove over to Island Casino to begin the day.

I sat down to play some live cash at $1-$6 limit spread. I must say I have been having a downtrend in my play and need to try and rectify whatever it is I am doing wrong. My reads are not working. Either that or I am trying too hard to win and am over compensating for it when I think I have the cards.

I played two tournaments today as well. Since tournament play was what got me started in poker I feel very comfortable sitting down and playing my strategy. I understand you are not going to win very many tournaments but getting to the final table is always the goal.

I did make the final table in one of the tournaments today and bubbled the other one. I do get myself close and know that I can get there if the cards go my way or I make the proper decisions.

I am constantly trying to make new and inexpensive meals for dinner time. I watch food videos and if there is something that catches my eye I will try to recreate it. Tonight was something that I have been thinking about and here is what I made.

What I did was take one of the Ramon Noodle packages and cooked the noodles as it says on the package. I did not put the beef broth in. I then cut up some Scallions, Celery and Sprouts. I put these in with the Noodles and let them warm up together. I put some Soy Sauce into the mix so they would soak up the Sauce. Next I took the chicken breast and cut it into pieces. I put them in flour and made sure they were well dusted and fried them. I bought a jar of Sweet and Sour Sauce and put some of it into a fry pan and turned the heat up to thin it out a little bit. When the chicken pieces were done I moved them into the Sauce and made sure they were coated nicely. That was our meal for the evening.

Always looking for something new and easy.

Coming up tomorrow the roof will be inspected by the city. It looks good and I am pleased with the outcome.

Have a nice day......

House Update

I went out to my truck yesterday to head off to the Casino and the truck had a hard time unlocking with the key fob. I finally got into the truck and put the key into the ignition and turned the key and nothing happened. What is this?

The truck has a security thing and it has been a long time since I had this activated against myself. The truck has a fuel line shutdown. I end up waiting about 15 minutes and then I can get it started. This time it wouldn't start.

I called the GM dealership and they told me to try and jump start the truck and if that worked then it was the battery. He said the batteries are only supposed to last about 5 years. Ok, I will go with that.

I jumped started the truck and it ran for a little bit and would even restart when I turned it off. Waited about 30 minutes and tried it again and it wouldn't start. Ok, I will need to get a new battery. My truck is a 2004 and I got it in 2006 so I am sure it is the original battery.

Went to the parts store and purchased a battery and I couldn't believe the cost of this battery. Can you believe $133 for this thing. I guess if you work it out over 5 years or more it isn't that bad but right now it is atrocious. At least the truck works.

The new roof on the house is coming along well. Here is the picture of the after.

I feel pretty good about having this done. Now I will start working on sanding the trim and getting it painted. The big job will be the house but one thing at a time.

I will be working on my Tax class tomorrow and then back to the grind of poker starting on Monday.

Have a good weekend......

Thursday

The weather has finally broken. It was very nice to get out and not feel like I was melting. I drove around with the windows down today and didn't turn on the air conditioner. Even though winter is right around the corner I am very happy to see the temps drop. I guess the next thing that will happen is the leaves will want to change color.

The big news for the day. I have been offered a job at Islands Casino. This will entail working as a poker dealer to start and then may have added duties added later on. The biggest part right now is the fact that I will be able to work at something that I find fun. I never thought I would have the chance to be a dealer since schooling is in Las Vegas or Seattle. Here the Manager of the poker room is going to get me started. The big hurtle will be passing the FBI background check. Lets hope everything will turn out alright.

Needless to say I am a little bit excited about this. Possibly starting next week. I have met some of the nicest people at this casino and they will be great to work with. At least they are down to earth and real. The job will be parttime so that helps with taking care of my parents. I am going to try and complete the Tax Service but will have to wait and see how the schedule looks.

Guess what is happening at our house the next few days? The roofing should be starting tomorrow sometime. This has been a long time coming.

Hope you have a good weekend.......I will......

Wednesday

I have been playing poker every day this week. I start out with the live game and then finish the day with 2 tournaments back to back.

Yesterday was not a good day for me. I got myself tilted and pushed with my last T$4500 and you know what? I didn't care. I was getting tired and basically was not getting any cards to go along with the 2 cards I had in my hand. Time to go home and take some time off.

Today I played the Live game and then one tournament. Drove myself home and the rest of the day was non poker related. Took my Dad over to see my Mom and then sat through my online Tax session. This year the Tax book is easier to read. Seems to make a little more sense to me. Did I just say that?

The roof on the house will be redone starting tomorrow. Off with the old shingles and on with the new. Hopefully everything will go alright.

I was reading a blog about having personal business cards. I decided what a great idea. This allows me to put my name out there and maybe network a little bit with my cards that really don't have much on them but my personal information.

I will be talking tomorrow with a person about a job. It would be fun to work in a field that you enjoy and its not a fulltime job. If it happens I will let you know what it is. If not then I keep plugging away working on the Tax class.

Have a fun day.....

Poker Monday

I got up early today and got myself ready to head out for the first day of Freeroll poker at Island Casino. Today the live cash game started at 9AM instead of 9:30 and I wanted to get there to see if we had any new players.

When I got into the poker room I noticed they put new table tops on each of the tables. Talk about slick. The cards and chips where just flying across the table. You had to be careful. We ended up with 6 players today. After having a good couple of weeks playing live at the $1-$6 level I am not having a good time right now. Got to figure out how to get this turned around.

The first Freeroll had a $200 house added. Played really well for a bit and then lost some hands and went out. That was the first one. I went over and played some more live cash and waited for the next freeroll to start. This one started with T$1500 and for $3 you could add T$1000. I started off really good and got from 30 players down to 20. The hand I should of played was two players going allin and I was sitting on AJ. Did I want to play for my tournament life with that hand. I decided with two players already allin I would fold. One turned up A4 and the other KQ. The flop came out with Ax4 with x on the turn and the J on the river. I could have taken out 2 players and had a monster of a stack. From that point on I was not getting the cards and finally went out with QJ ad got trip Jacks and the other player made trip Aces.

Overall it was a good session and will build from this. I will hopefully have some good news soon to share with everyone. I might have a new job. Got to keep low key about it for now. Not too high or not too low.

Our neighbor has been having a problem with mushrooms in his yard. I see him out in the yard digging through the grass to try and get rid of them. They are gone for the week and this is what I saw the other day.

I know he will not be happy when they get back home at the end of this week.

Need to do some studying with the taxes.

Have a nice day tomorrow......

Sunday

Today is one of those somber days. Where were you at on September 11, 2001? So many families lost loved ones. It is so sad to go back to the stories. So many kids as well growing up without their Dad or Mom. I wish all of the families peace today in their hearts.

I was so unsure about what I was going to do on Saturday. I had two tournaments and a cash game that could have taken my time. Instead what happened was I didn't sleep well Friday night and ended up not going to NorthernQuest this month. I didn't even go to Islands to play in the tournament that was by invite only. I felt that I was so tired that I took a small nap on the couch and didn't do a thing. I guess that answered all of the questions from Friday.

Now we are beginning a new week and it seems they just keep getting busier as the weeks go by. I will be studying for the Tax class and spending my mornings at the Island Casino playing the cash game and then at least the first tournament of the day.

The contractor came over yesterday and started working on our roof.

As you can see far right is what he was working on because we had lost a lot of shingles due to the wind. Time to get it repaired before winter. The part on the left is being taken care of this week and the front part will get a complete new roof. I will show you when it is complete.

I walked out to the car yesterday and noticed this from our neighbors garden and had to take a picture of it to show them.

It is so pretty and I noticed today it was already shriveling up. If you don't catch it the one or two days that it is open you will miss it for the year.

Today I am watering the back yard and will study chapter 4 in the Tax book. I will be going to a job fair tomorrow to meet some tax people from the company that owns the one I am taking my courses through. I believe you call this networking. Hopefully I can land a job with them or the one I am studying with.

Have a good week.....

Confusion

Here it is Friday and I feel sort of confused. What should I do this weekend?

I know I am going to Spokane and I was going there to play in the $3-$6 Limit Spread game. I have been playing at NorthernQuest in Spokane the last couple of months and have done fairly well.

This is the dilemma I am facing right now. I have been working real hard on my tournament play at Islands Casino. I cashed in the tournament yesterday and I cashed today as well. Am I on a roll and should I play in the tournament tomorrow morning with the $125 buyin or take the money and play the cash game like I was going to anyway? This is a hard decision for me.

I get to Spokane early and the cash game starts around noon. I will be sitting there about 3 hours by that time. If I get into the tournament I will start at 10 and that is sitting only about an hour. Now, the next part is where do I have the best opportunity to cash? I am doing well in tournaments at this time and I have been leaking money in the cash game. If I play the tournament can I get myself to the final table? This is a group of people I don't know since I play here in Tri-Cities.

I stopped by Mom's Assisted Living place and seen the flowers my sister gave my Mom over a month ago. They are still looking nice.

I am not sure what they are but they are nice. The Director has them in her office since one of the other residents likes to take flowers and put them in her room. At least someone can see them.

We are having a new roof put on our house this next week. In order to do that I had to close down my stock portfolio. I feel sad about this but then again it wasn't going anywhere fast. I would really prefer getting a motorhome and travelling a little bit. Change my outlook on life.

Have a good weekend and I will let you know my decision......

Playing the Game

I have been playing the game the last couple of days. I get up and get myself ready and drive to the Island Casino. When you walk into the
casino you better have your sunglasses off. The lights are low except
over the tables.

I have gotten so I like a certain seat at the table when I sit down. I
like to be able to see the action and I usually don't like being on the button right off the bat. We get about 5 or 6 people in the morning who like to come in and have their coffee and play some $1-$6 Limit Spread
and not have to worry about putting in a big buyin. In fact you can
even have breakfast comped by playing in the game. I haven't tried that yet.
I usually eat before I take off in the morning.

We play for about an hour and we sit around and talk. Basically about nothing but it is fun trying to get the Monte Carlos during the hour.
We try to crack the aces if we can and we work on getting the high hand
for the morning time. This gets us ready for the Tournament that gets started right after we get done.

On this day I was doing well. I even got to the final table and this was what my chip stack looked like.

I went out in 8th place this day with my two pair loosing to a full house. Just another day playing the game I enjoy.

Took a drive north of town the other evening and this is what I saw.

It really looks like it is coming up out of the sand. It is close to the river where they take the sub nuclear power plants to their final resting spots. This thing is huge. Can you imagine what the rest of the submarine looks like? I would love to get inside the tower and look around.

Have a good day.....

Thursday Poker

This morning I played the $1-$6 Limit Spread at Islands. It was nice to sit down and play the game and not be so concerned about the bankroll. I have been moving upwards with the BR this past week. And yes, it has been growing as well.

I have always kept books about where I am at with each game that I play. Being at Islands right now and playing with this group of players has been fun and we enjoy the hour we just sit and play the cash game. I think we enjoy trying to crack the best hand more than just working for the best hand.

Now for me even though I do enjoy what I am doing I must say I am serious
about keeping my BR in tact. I don't plan on doing anything to hurt what I have been doing. This process for me has been slow with the amount of hands I see in an hour each time I play. I need to keep the BR intact and keep looking forward.

I haven't updated the BR situation in a while in the blogs and so I sat down and went through my books and did some calculations to see where this sits. I am presently at about $375 to the good with the bankroll and this will continue to give me the opportunity to play this game. Yes, this is a low limit game and it will take me some time. I accept that, and I do get to play the $3-$6 limit game once a month. I do sit in this game about 3 - 4 hours at a time.

The other part of what I am doing was not planned for. I am playing in more tournaments now as well. Today I was able to chop the pot for 1st and 2nd place. Playing tournaments is not a winning game plan for growing the bankroll. You have to win a very large tournament with big money to keep playing. I play tournaments for the fun of the competition. Trying to play the game appropriately and working on the strategy that best fits my game. The way I see it is if I do well in the cash game, then that pays for the tournaments to get the opportunity at some point for the bigger win.

I guess it all comes down to attitude and how you accept yourself when you are playing this game. Are you able to make the proper decisions with the cards you are dealt? Can you tell the best story about what cards you want them to believe you are holding? Today I made a move on another player with 102 and he had AJ. The flop came down J10x. I went all in to tell the story I had the nuts. Was the decision right? I don't think so, but I had that gut feeling. Turn card was a 2. River was a blank. I win with two pair. He now sees my range of hands I am willing to play. This person raises quite a bit and I wanted to play a hand with him to tell the story that I play a wide range of hands. The next time I busted the player. Some stories last awhile. He thought I was loose and actually I was playing tight.

I plan on being at the table again tomorrow morning. Another table, another story. But we can have fun telling our stories to each other. I hope you are having as much fun playing the game as I am.

There are other things that are weighing in for my time. I try to juggle all of the needs but this one item allows me to focus on something other than what is happening with family and for a few hours I can play a game I enjoy.

Have a fun day.....

Tax School

I must say I have been rather busy lately. This week I started the Tax Service School. This will be the third time I am trying to get through this school.

The first time was years ago and I was working at the hospital as a Respiratory Therapist and I was at the class and was called away to go on a Neonatal transport. This happened two weeks in a row and I finally just decided I was behind enough I couldn't catch up.

The second time was last year when I was not working at all and I made as far as the midterm and had to stop because of Medical issues. For some reason I don't seem to be able to finish this class. I would like to get this done this time.

This time I am doing this at home and on the computer. This will give me the chance to relisten to the lectures and do the work from home. All the quizzes will be on the computer as well as the midterm and final tests. I really think it would be nice to have this and be able to work for four months and take the rest of the year off.

I have been playing poker. I did real well yesterday in the cash game and increased the bankroll by $61 dollars. Sort of a slow process for me but I am ok with this. I like the casino and the personnel and it makes it fun to play. NorthernQuest is coming up again in a couple of weeks and I will play the $3-$6 game again.

Have a fun week......

It's Hot here

This should be the final day that we have the opportunity to break the 100 degree mark. School starts this next week and for years I have seen the temperature start to drop when school gets going. Trees are already changing their color and I will enjoy some cooler weather. This summer we have not seen one day in the 100 degree area. What does that mean for this winter?

Poker for the last couple of days has been good. I played in the $1-$6 Limit spread and basically went down $8 and back to even with yesterdays up $8. I know I won't get rich with this low limit game but I am seeing hands and I am holding my own.

In a couple of weeks I will be going back up to NorthernQuest and will play in the $3-$6 game again. At least that is a once a month trip. The rest of the time I will be playing the lower limit here in town.

Evidently another casino in town is putting on some Freerolls and putting in $150 to the pot. Islands has now decided to play war with them and is starting, this next week, Freerolls of their own. They will have them everyday and they are putting $200 into the pot. Here I am trying to play more cash and this free money now in the freerolls is sitting there for the taking. I will be playing the cash game before the tournament and then get into the tournament and see what happens.

Today I was reading my list of blogs that I normally run through and I agree with www.pokerlawyer.blogspot.com. Having something taken away from all of us that we enjoyed and was there for us to have the dream of making some good money by studying and working hard. You need to go read her blog.

Enjoying the weekend.....

Wednesday Poker

Now that my yard work was done over the last few days I was ready to
spend some time at the poker table.

I like the $1-$6 limit game and got sat down with my buyin. The best laydown of the day for me occurred on one of the first hands. I had 99 and wanted to see a flop. Looking for that set. The flop came xQx. The other person raised the pot and I asked her if she got the Q. I then layed down the hand and she showed me the Q. I know this is pretty much
a standard play but normally I would have gone fishing for that other 9.

The best play of the day was on the very last hand before the tournament started. I have 99 and we ended up getting quite a bit into the pot.
The board came 9JJ and after the flop the other person showed the
straight
and I showed my full house. That pushed me into the positive for the session.

I was also told today that Islands Casino will be starting a Poker League and for the first five weeks we will be playing one of the HORSE games each week. After that we will play NLHE. They will be doing the league in 5 week increments with the result having the leader winning a seat at the WSOP in 2012. Yes, I have a chance. I am now learning all of the games that we will be playing. I am presently reading a book by Sam
Farha on Omaha Hi/Lo. I will be finding out the schedule soon.

I am also starting the Tax class this next Monday and will be 6 hours of class time each week. Glad the classes are from 3PM to 6PM on Monday and Wednesday. This will allow me to keep my poker schedule in the mornings.

Someone on Twitter yesterday wrote this and I thought it was good. "Marriage, betting someone half your shit that you'll love them forever." We are all gamblers. You don't believe that then why do you have insurance? Your betting that you won't have an accident and the insurance is betting you will. Or is that the other way around?

Well, off to play the cash game this morning. Have a nice day.....

Monday

I got up this morning and decided that I wouldn't play poker today. I really needed to do some stuff around the house. I ended up mowing the front yard and since we do not have underground sprinklers I have to move the water around every hour to get this done. That alone takes 7 hours to get done. Tomorrow I will work on the back yard and get it done.

It has been so hot around here. I used to be able to stand the heat. Now I can't stay out in it very long. I think it has to do with being older. That is what my doctor usually tells me when I talk to him.

Today I signed up to take another Tax Class. This will be the third try to get this done. I started a number of years ago and every time I would get into it something would come up that would make me back away and not finish. I hope I can make it this time.

I took my coupons to Fred Meyer today and purchased some things that were on sale. Trying to understand how to make that work as well.

Have a good day......

Friday

I did play today. I stayed home and played at Islands Casino. I got to the casino at my usual time and sat down at the table. No one else was around but the dealers. So, today there was no live game.

I did play in the tournament with 12 people today. I must say I didn't last very long with 8 people remaining. One of those days when I couldn't get any cards and couldn't make any plays as well.

Even though we have not reached the 100 degree mark around here it is still guite warm in the mid 90's. It just takes a bunch out of you and you don't want to spend a lot of time outside.

I have come to the time of year when I must make some decisions. I have been trying to get through the Tax course and every time I attempt it I have some medical event that causes me to stop. Do I try it again this year? I do have an opportunity with one of the places to do the course online. This might be my best opportunity to get this done this year. I guess the only thing now is if I can get a job after completion or do they look at the people that take the class in person. I have a week to make this decision so will see what happens. I sent an email off to the company with my questions and will see if they respond.

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

Thursday

I think it is so sad that we have people moving to other countries so they can make a living playing poker. I don't blame them in any way shape or form. I think people need to do whatever they can to make a living. I guess it is hard to try and figure out why our government feels the need to control the fact we can't play poker.

I can understand if the companies are doing something illegal as laundering the payments back to the US but why make the American people pay for someone elses mistake. I hope that this can be taken care of soon. I know that if I get any calls for my opinion on voting my first question will be "Do they support Poker"? I hope a lot of other people do the same thing. We need to support those that will help us get our game back. Even if you don't play poker it could have been something you like to do. We need to be supportive and work together.

My goodness, are we ever going to settle the stock market down. Just when you think it might stop and rest for a bit there it goes again. One day my stocks are up and I am looking good and the next day the stocks are down and I am not so happy. I guess if I was real nervous or upset about this whole mess I would just sell my stocks and put my money under the mattress. I am not ready to do that yet. I am still a believer in the American Dream and I hope it works out for us.

Back in 1970 I was given a watch from my first boss I ever worked for. He gave me a Wittnauer watch. I wore it for awhile and then put it away and it has been stored for a long time. I finally pulled it out today and took it down to the Jewelers to see if they could spruce it up. I am sure it still works just needs to be cleaned. He is also going to open it up and take a look at the serial number to see when it was made. I know when I got it it was not new so it will be over 41 years old. I will either keep it or sell it and I am not sure yet what I will do with it. I don't wear watches anymore so we will see.

Today was not a poker day for me. I spent the morning driving my Dad to his appointments. I will play tomorrow for sure just not sure yet whether it will be here at Islands Casino or Legends Casino. I guess I will know in the morning how I feel about either one. I like the fact I can play here but if I go to Legends I can play longer and in a $3-$6 game as well.

Have a good day......

Wednesday

When I got up this morning my intention was not to play poker today. I was going to play on Friday and possibly play at Legends. The decision had not been made yet. I made a list of things around the house as well as places I needed to go. There were things I needed to accomplish today.

It was during my process of getting my shower and getting dressed for the day that I realized that today was the Freeroll for Islands Casino and that if I played in the live game for at least 30 minutes my name would go on the list of participants first. Well, that makes it a done deal. I am now headed to Islands to play some live $1-$6 limit and then play the tournament. Wait, didn't I say at some point that I wanted to back out of playing tournaments? Come on now, this is Free. Can't pass on that one.

I sat down at the table and bought in for the usual $20. I then proceeded to loose the $20 on hands that were good but the other players had one better. I did end up buying in for another $10 and that would be it for the day. One of the hands I played was KK. The flop came QQQ. Now with that flop you have to be good right? The Turn and the River were cards that didn't matter. I turned over my cards for the Full House and the other person turned over AQ. Wow, that was my luck today.

As the next hand was being dealt one of the dealers mentioned that my hand qualified as the "Regressive Bad Beat Hand" and it was worth $500. It would pay out for Me at $300, since I got the Bad Beat, and $100 for the person giving the Bad Beat. The rest of the table would split $100. I am up for this one since $300 would be nice for my bankroll. They of course would have to have Security look at the tapes and then would pay out the money. It took some time but when they did finally call the dealer she told me they did not have both cards the KK's and the AQ in the same frame on the table and would not pay out the $500.

Oh my Goodness, I was flipping a lid at this point. How could security miss such a hand when they have cameras all over the joint. I just figured my luck. The three dealers that saw the hand and others said this is not right since they would be out money as well. At this point the big boss walked into the Casino and he was immediately taken aside and told what happened. He said he would go see for himself. He made a phone call to the dealer eventually and he made the decision to pay out the $500 since it was the right thing to do.

After I was paid the money the FreeRoll was getting started. I sat down in my spot and I could do nothing wrong as far as playing the correct hands and getting the cards when I needed them. I was busting people and building my chip stack. My decisions were right on at what to do. I guess you could call this "being in the zone".

There were 50 runners and I was able to get to the final table and for this tournament they paid 5 spots. My goals are always to get to the final table first and then get to the money. Once at the money I will then play for the win. We finally got down to 4 players and one of the chip leaders needed to go to work. We decided to chop the money 4 ways at that point. My part was $65.

It made for a very interesting 3 hours of my day.

Have a good day......

Tuesday

Today for me was a no poker day. I decided to give myself some time and just think about the game and do some study in the books. I read quite a bit from the Bluff Magazine and also reading two books at this time. One from Annie Duke and the other from Elky Grospellier. One of the things that I have to continually think about while reading these books is that they are about the No Limit Tournament game and not so much about the Low Limit Cash game that I play now. I still do tournaments but not as often. I am trying to specialize in the Cash Game. Maybe tomorrow I will go play at Islands in their $1-$6 game.

I did get to spend some time looking over my couponing stuff. Yes, I am trying to coupon more. I am not going to be one of those that will have a backroom full of stuff. I just can't get into all of that but I do want to save some money when I can. We have a friend that is doing this couponing stuff and she posted on FaceBook about her finds. I looked at that and couldn't figure out how she did it. Well, after I sat down and looked over my websites I have I finally found out what she was looking at. I then took off for the store and was immediately hit with the fact that I was a little bit late in my shopping for the same deals. The shelves were empty for the products she bought. Oh well. Another day and better planning.

We had dinner with some friends tonight and our discussion turned to Pharmacies. We really feel that they are trying to kill all of us Baby Boomers by not allowing us to have certain medications that are needed. They don't seem to care that we are getting older and we need our meds. Some of that is our government as well taking things away or so we can pay for their salaries and/or their big bus. Don't get me started on the political stuff. Maybe I should open up a bit.

Stock Market has been crazy. I have decided to just hang on with the three stocks that I have and they are ARR, CIM and FTR. The first two are REITS and I get a Dividend from them. As long as the interest rates stay down, and they are supposed too, for the next couple of years. I hope they will do well for me. The third one is a telecommunication stock and it also gives a dividend. I guess for now I am in a hold position. I still hate to see the market going up and down like they are. I read today that some of the issues have to do with the flash traders. I guess those are the ones that have robot computer trading. Wouldn't that be nice. What about the rest of us folks trying to make it the old fashioned way.

As you have noticed on this blog I have included a little bit more than the usual just poker. I have decided to go back to writing everything in one spot instead of breaking it out into three seperate blogs. Hopefully this will work out better and maybe I will keep up better with writing.

Enough for this blog. Have a fun day......

Monday

Today I was back at Islands playing the $1-$6 Limit game. I talked with the dealers today about their night games and they said they just like everyone else play a $2-10 to $100 games.

It looks like I will have to settle in to either Yakima or Spokane to be able to play the $3-$6 game. I wouldn't mind a $2-$4 game as well but you just can't find it in this town.

Today I played the $1-$6 game and came out positive again. It is nice to finally figure out what I need to do to play positive cash.

I only get one hour each morning at this game before they start the tournament. I just need to play the game and walk away from the tournament when it starts. It would be better for me. I am getting more comfortable sitting and playing live with the live cash chips in front of me.

Have a good day......

NorthernQuest

I was excited to finally play in a $3-$6 game again. Arrived in Spokane at the NorthernQuest Casino and got myself signed in for the game.

It took about 2 hours before the game was started. It gave me time to have lunch and get ready for the time spent playing.

I really don't have anything bad to say about how I played. I did loose a hand with QQ when an Ace came on the flop and I decided to continue playing and took it to showdown and did loose when the other person showed his Ace.

He was playing real loose for the entire time and I also thought he was just trying to get me off of my hand. I did play from the blinds a 23 and ended up with a full house at showdown. That really helped me to stack some chips. If I would have gotten that hand any other time I would have thrown it away but being able to see a flop with everyone limping in it made it worth seeing.

I ended the day in positive $$. I decided today to break out the games to find out how I am doing in each of them. The $1-$6 is in the negative. The $2-$10 is really in the negative and the $3-$6 game is over my normal buyin in the positive. Guess which one I need to spend more time at. Which means I need to spend more time at Legends and NorthernQuest. Both of them mean more travelling to play.

I will be working on the $1-$6 game this week to see if I can get it back into the positive. I think I am playing way to many hands. It is hard when it only costs you a $ to enter the pot. That is the improper thinking on how to play the game. I don't do that in the $3-$6 game so I shouldn't do it in the lower limit.

Have a good week.....

Friday

This morning I played at Island Casino in the $1-6 limit spread game. This game only goes for about an hour before the actual tournament starts. At least I am getting some time in.

Played in the tournament as well and today I came in 8th place at the final table. They had about 20 starters for the morning.

We will be leaving early tomorrow morning and I will be playing at NorthernQuest. It could be a $2-4 or $3-6 Limit game. It doesn't matter to me.

On a different subject, I have been doing some reading on diets. I don't like the word diet and will not do any of it. I understand it has to be a life style change and you have to want to do that. Sometimes the finances will push you towards doing something different.

I have been trying to purchase food that we will use and hopefully get us to live a little bit healthier. Having read "On a Dollar a Day" and some others that have given me ideas of ways I can cook and still enjoy eating foods we like. Got to think outside of the box sometimes.

Travel is something that I really want to do and would like to find a motorhome that someday I can get out and see some sights. I have been reading about "Couch Surfing" or staying in homes that are open for people to stay in. Such interesting concepts and have never thought about that way of travelling.

Of course non of this can happen while I am taking care of my parents. Someday I hope it can happen. In the meantime I read travel blogs and I dream that someday that it will be me out there seeing what the US has to offer.

Have a good weekend......

What have you done lately?

Having found the cash game and the tournaments that I like to play and not hurting my bankroll completely. I feel I can play at Islands Casino and get the hours in as well as seeing the cards that will help me improve my game.

On Monday I was there at the Casino around 10AM in the morning and they got a $1-6 game going. I ended up cashing out positive in this one and it felt good to finally turn this around. I just need to be more patient and with the blinds small enough I can wait for the hands I want to play for.

I also bought in for the tournament and of course did not cash but the time spent working on my game was good as well as the buy in was cheap enough that anything I brought in with the cash game prior to the tournament helps out for paying the buyin.

Today I went back and again played in the $1-6 cash game and anybody that was playing in the game was signed up first for the Freeroll that started at 1100AM. They ended up having about 40 people start the tournament and I ended up at the final table and placed in 8th place.

My best play was JJ's and the flop came out with 3 spades. Since I was first to play I bet and put pressure on the other player. He ended up folding. I talked with him later and asked him what he had and he said he had KK's but was afraid because the size of my bet, that I had the flush and so he threw it away. Pressure does work.

I am going to continue to work on my game at Islands Casino. I will be deciding what days I want to play as I don't need to be playing every day and to get some type of balance in my playing and the things I need to do at home. Of course it looks like Wednesday will be one of those days.

I went back through my Poker ledger and broke out my Tournament play as well as my Cash game time. Tournament play has got to be for fun and so I need to find lower buyins for those and I think I found it and the cash game tells me I need to stay away from the $2-10 games as they are not helping my bankroll any. I do better with the $1-6 and the $3-6 games.

This weekend I will be at NorthernQuest and will play in their $3-6 game. Looking forward to the time and hope I run good.

Have fun.....

I am not done yet!!!

I decided to play in the Jokers Casino afternoon tournament. This is the one I enjoy playing at $40 buy in and it gives you T$10,000 in chips and has 20 minute rounds.

Today I was at a table with some very good players. One of them plays down in LA and he does well. Another person I have seen play before and he is very strong.

Both of these players are on my Left. Not where I want them but that will make me play tight and see how I do against some better players.

I was chipping up nicely and had not had to run up against these guys very much. I was being taken off of hands by the betting these guys where doing so I knew I would have to take a stand soon.

One hand I got was AA. I raised pre-flop and was called by two people. Both of the people I did not want to play with. On the flop game 243. I made a continuation bet and was called. On the turn was a J. I again made the bet and was called. On the River came a blank. I went all in. The person tanked and he said he couldn't call me. I had him covered as well. I talked with him later and he told me he had two pair but felt I had the straight with the way I played the hand. Thats what I wanted.

The next one was AK. This one came down to me and the person that plays in LA. I bet pre-flop again and he called me. The flop came out xxx and I made a continuation bet. He called me again. The turn came out another brick for me. I made another bet and he then called again. The river came a K and I went all in and he sat there and contemplated a call. He took a bit but eventually folded. I must not have showed I was running scared or he would have called me. He didn't show what he had. He said he put me on AK from the start but still he couldn't call me. He started talking about how he should have 3bet me on the flop. I think I had both players confused a little bit.

Hopefully in tournament poker I am learning it is not always the cards you have to play. I need to take this new aggression and use it constructively and not get wild with this type of play. This is what Jerry Yang was doing with his hands.

I did end up bubbling the final table and was in 11th place today. My KJ lost to AJ.

I will look at my schedule for the week and will be playing at NorthernQuest on Saturday this week. Looking forward to the $3-6 Limit game.

More Poker

I decided to head off to Legends Casino today to play in the $3-6 game they have. It just meant I would take off at 1115 and arrive by shuttle by 1230 and wouldn't get into a game until around 3PM and then play till 4:45 and then back home at 6:30 via the shuttle again. All of this and not guaranteed of playing.

I then decided to go to Islands Casino in Kennewick because I do like their breakfasts and the they are cheap. When I got there I was greated by the Poker Manager and I had a chance to talk with him. He told me they have a game every day starting at 9AM of $1-6 Limit. They stop the game at 10:30 and have a tournament that costs $20 to enter. Now this sounds like something I should have done a long time ago.

I sat down at a full table playing the $1-6 and I actually enjoyed playing with these guys. No real stress going on and they were playing appropriately and not throwing chips around. I ended up making to buy ins for the live game. At 10:30 we finished the game and moved into the Tournament. We had about 20 people playing. I must say I was pleased. I even got comped my breakfast for 1/2 half. I had Steak, Eggs, Hashbrowns and toast for $4. Can't beat that.

TT: 15 Hours
Time: 1 1/2 Hours
BI: $40
CO: 0
RBR: -$207

Got to get caught up

I have been slow in getting this caught up. I started reading "All In" by Jerry Yang a couple of days ago and it has been so interesting that I couldn't put it down until I was done with reading it last night.

I really enjoy these types of books to get inside the lives of the poker pros to see how they tick. What are they like outside of the tournaments and what made thembe like they are today. Very interesting read. I would recommend it to anyone. If you are looking for advice on how to play you will have to read between the lines to figure out what worked for him.

I am also reading a book by Elky Grospillier called "Raiser's Edge" Very interesting in that I can see why he plays the way he does.

My next book is by Annie Duke "Decide to play Great Poker" and this one is good as well.

You would think with all of the book reading I do I would have all of this figured out by now. I should say I am getting an understanding of what I should do. It is all about decisions and making the correct ones at the table.

On Thursday evening I got a call that Jokers was going to have a cash game going at $2-10 Spread Limit. Again I am not a fan of this but decided to go on down and play. Well, they ended up only having 4 players start and got up to 5 or 6 at one time and then went back down to 4. I was not happy with this since I would rather play a full game at this level. It took me 2 hours to go through my buyin.

TT: 13 1/2 Hours
Time: 2 hours
BI: $100
CO: 0
RBR: -$167

Friday

I decided not to make the trip to Legends casino today. I like the game but having to sit for almost 3 hours to play 2 hours is not what I wanted to do.

I decided to go down to Jokers casino and play in the 3PM tournament with a $40 buyin and 20 minute rounds. Of all of them this one is the one I like to play.

I was doing well in the beginning stages of the tournament and in fact most of the tournament I was getting my stack to grow. I can't say I was running over the table but I was at least making good decisions on when to play and I really think my bet sizing was good.

I made it to the final table and ended up going out in 9th place. My JJ lost to AA. What a good time to run into those.

Looking forward to get back to a cash game.

Have a good weekend......

Wednesday

After going to Jokers Casino the last few nights and them not having a game I was going to go one more time to see if they were going to get the $2-10 Spread game going.

I arrived just after 8:30PM and they had a game already going. I was next on the list to sit down at the table. I felt comfortable with my game at this time and figured if I just waited for my hands like I do with the $3-$6 game I should be fine.

The players in seats 8 and 9 were running over the table. In fact they were raising just about every pot. They both had built up sizable stacks of about $300. I watched both of them through the time I was there give back their stacks to the table. It was something to watch.

Now, my stack was dwindling down. Throughout the night I had 4 pairs and either ended up throwing them away or loosing to a better hand. I won 2 or 3 pots and that was it for 2 1/2 hours of work.

I played tight aggressive and I am not sure that was appropriate for this table. Lesson learned. Not sure when I will play next. I might head back up to Legends since I like the $3-$6 game.

Total Time: 11 1/2 hours
Time: 2 1/2 hours
Buy in: $140
Cashout: $0
Running BR: -$67

Monday

I usually stay out of the politics but this time I just don't understand. We really need a balanced budget. Now if my wife and I ran our house like the government runs the nation we could have a debt limit. Wouldn't that be interesting. We just don't have enough money to get through the end of the month dear. That's ok, we can just increase the debt limit and we should be fine.

We have worked hard to be somewhat debt free. Our house mortgage is the main debt. Actually that should be a good thing because in our lifetime we should be able to sell the house for more than we bought it for. Isn't that the way things are supposed to be for home owners?

Ok, I just read something else on the internet news wire. Now we have a US trucking company that has been supplying money to the terror network? My goodness people. Lets shut down the trucking industry. Put out the sign from the Attorney General and the FBI and whomever else that they are shutting this down. Isn't that what they did with online poker?

Sometimes you just get tired of all the BS that goes on around you and you have to just stand up and yell. What in the world are you doing?

If the government would bring back online poker maybe we could help pay some the debt that the government has gotten themselves into.

I need to go relax or stop reading all of the good news online.

Have a happy day.....

Friday 7-22

This last weekend I was going to try and play at one of the casinos over in Lacey, WA. We were so tired Saturday evening after the wedding was done we just decided to stay in the room and sleep. We were both really tired.

The next morning we woke up and headed to Spanaway for breakfast with C's Sister and her husband. Great visit and we like the restaurant we go to for the great food.

We headed home and on the way we decided to take our time since there was no big rush. We drove by Snoqualmie Casino and then went through downtown Northbend. We got back on I-90 and drove to the exit for Roslyn. Remember Northern Exposure, this is the town that was represented. We drove to Cle Elum via the back roads and then got on I-90 again.

When we got to Ellensburg we drove through the canyon following the Yakima River. It was a nice drive at 35 MPH. Road Construction. We didn't care. We drove through Selah and then when we got to Yakima we took highway 97, as that is the highway before the interstate was made and we used to drive it in the 70's going to college from home.

A 4 hour trip took 6 1/2 hours. It was fun.

Anyway, on with the blog for today. I took the shuttle to Legends Casino this morning. Today I decided to play Omaha Hi/Lo if I couldn't get into the $3-$6 game. I was at the Casino at 1230 and was able to put my name on the board for the Omaha Hi/Lo $2-$4 and the $3-$6 Limit Hold'em game. I was hoping they would be able to get the $3-$6 game going. No such
luck.

I sat down at the Omaha table for only my 2nd time playing this game. The dealer told me I should be able to pick it up in about 30 minutes. I have heard this before. Well, I won the first pot and then started loosing my buy-in. How was I going to stop this slide. I started playing very tight, just throwing my hand away each time and watching everyone play, trying to figure out this game and what I was looking for.

I was down to about 1/4 of my buy in left when the floor asked me if I still wanted in the $3-$6 game that was getting ready to start. I couldn't get out of my seat fast enough. I went up to the desk and bought in again and figured I would give myself a fighting chance to get back to where I need to be.

I played about 1 1/2 hours at the hold'em table and by the time they announced that my shuttle was getting ready to leave I had gotten both buy ins back and was positive with my cashout. Whew. I know I won't be doing that again.

Time: 1 1/2 hours
Buyin: $200
Cashout: $13
Total BR: +$73
Per Hour: $9.12

Have a good weekend......

Friday 7-15

Here it is the end of the week. My scheduled ride up to Legends Casino is not going to happen today.

We are taking off in the morning for Olympia, WA and will be staying the night in Lacey. Hopefully I will be able to find a Casino near there where I can play some poker. Being on the West side of the mountain I am hoping to find some good games.

I have been doing my studying on Low-Limit poker and reading a couple of other books. I am learning that it doesn't have to happen like a definite procedure as what cards to play but the decisions you make are somewhat more important on when you play your hands. I guess at that point it is not what hands you play but when and how you play the hands.

I really enjoyed this last weekend and learned alot by playing the four hours at the $3-$6 limit game and really would like to go back up to the NorthernQuest and play again. Putting in the hours is really what I need to help me with the Cash Games.

I have been watching the ESPN3 WSOP. It is so nice that ESPN is doing this and streaming it on the internet. Makes it nice to watch Poker when you want to and see all of the hands. Keep up the great work.

Many things are going on in my life right now. Trying to maintain focus and making sure I get the things done in my personal life that need to be done. I know this is my Poker blog but I think some of my personal stuff has to enter into here to see the mindframe I have when trying to make it as a poker player.

I have always been a person that doesn't let too much out to people but sometimes the effects of holding stuff in affects other things that you do. Lets hope I can continue on my march to being a good poker player and make a living at this and also maintain the personal life at home. I know that I need to travel to play in better casinos but also need the funds and BR to be able to achieve this. I will keep working on my goals.

Have a good Weekend.....

NorthernQuest

Since my wife was making a trip up to Spokane for a class I decided to ride along and be dropped off at NorthernQuest and play some poker. I figured the bigger the Casino I would have more chances of getting to play in a Poker game.

We arrived at around 9:30AM and I went into the casino as Cindy took off for her class. I headed straight for the Buffet since I figured if I ate a big breakfast I could get past lunch and Cindy would pick me up around 4PM. This had the makings of a good long session for me to really check out my skills.

It was after 10AM when I was able to get my name on the board for a seat in the $3-$6 Limit game. My name was 5th in line. Since they had already started an Omaha game it was going to be slow in getting this new game started. They also had a Tournament going at this time so waiting for some of these people to bust out that could help our game to get
started.

It was around 11AM when the game finally got 9 people signed up and they were ready to start the game. I exchanged my buyin for chips and sat down in seat number 9.

It was a few hands in and I got 55 and started betting and I was being called on all streets. The flop was xA5. I lost the pot to AA. Ok, not a good start but I was here for the duration and would keep going. I knew this time my constraint was time not the money that I bought in with. I just needed to play my game.

About 2 1/2 hours go by and I was down to one stack left and decided to rebuy in and keep it going. I new varience was going on and I needed to just keep playing through the hands. I decided to tighten my starting hands and see what would happen.

I did make one person go on tilt bad enough that he actually left the game and left the poker room and cash out. He was on the Omaha list but he didn't even do that. Another person early on in the game only played about 30 minutes just long enough to get his buyin back from the tournament he played earlier. At least he was honest about what he was doing.

Spending the 4 hours playing this game helped me to understand how to play this low-limit game. A lot of limping, calls and not very much raising going on. Looking to make something on the turn and river. I saw hands from other people where they would call down looking for the flush or the straight. I just refrained from playing that game and just watched.

At the end of the session I was able to stack my chips and go home a winner. I went and got a bite to eat at FatBurgers. Yummy good. Cindy came in and we talked for a little bit and then headed home. We both had very good days.

Time: 4 hours
Buyin: $200
Cashout: $240
Total BR: +$60
Per Hour Rate: $10

Have a good week.......

Friday July 8

I decided to let someone else do the driving today. I headed over to the pickup point for the shuttle to take me to Legends Casino in Toppenish.

I sat down on the bench and it was just a few minutes when I could hear the shuttle coming around the corner. The shuttle stopped in front of the Community Center and I walked slowly over to the shuttle door. As I was walking onto the shuttle the two women in the back of the bus started thanking me for coming today. Evidently they must pick up at least 3 people to be able to continue. I was that third person.

We did pick up one more person from Benton City and we were on our way. Today I was going to play some poker. We arrived at the Casino and I went inside and put my name on the list for the $3-$6 game. I noticed they had a list already for a $2-$4 Omaha game. I figured it would be like last week and by 3PM they would have a game.

I went off to the Buffet to get some food and found out I even was able to get lunch at a Seniors discount. Yes, anytime I can get stuff at a discount I am happy.

The day kept going and the game never materialized. I ended up going around the casino and found a Dueces Wild Video Poker and decided to put some money in it and play that for a while. I walked away the first time with some profit and that was fine with me. After checking again on the poker game which wasn't happening still, I went back to the Video Poker machine and kept playing.

It was now getting later in the day and I knew that even if a game was to start I was not going to be able to stay very long. The shuttle was going to leave at 5PM. I instead watched the card table game Ultimate Texas Hold'em. After a period of time watching I decided to try and play the game. Really, not a great idea for me. I really do not like table games and try to stay away from them.

I didn't do well and ended up stopped playing. It was around 4:30PM now and I knew at that point my day was not going to go as planned. At 4:45PM they announced the Tri-Cities Shuttle would be leaving at 5PM and that was my day at Legends.

The ride home in the shuttle was nice. It was good to have been driven to the casino and back home.

The game of choice in Legends in Omaha. If I want to play there I will have to learn the game. Tomorrow I am off to NorthernQuest in Spokane. I am hoping and am sure they will have a game I can play.

Have a good weekend.....

Friday

I drove to Yakima Legends today to play in a poker game.

I arrived at the Legends at 2PM today and ended up waiting for an hour for a game to start. I signed up for the $3-$6 Limit Cash Game. It was nice to get started playing at 3PM. I knew I would only be able to play for an hour at that point since I wanted to get home before Cindy arrived home from work.

I have played a lot of Tournaments in No-limit and playing in a Cash Limit Game is really different for me. Last Friday I felt like fish out of water and was unsure how to play appropriately.

This week I knew what I was doing and I even came away from the session feeling better about what I am trying to do with the game.

It can be frustrating to have the best hand (AA) and not win because someone called all of my raises and beat me on the river for a straight. I can't do anything about that and that is part of the game. I have to continue to play my game and work through playing the best hands that I can.

I will work on my hand reading ability to see if I can see or forsee what the players are going for.

After an hour and a half sitting at the table I gathered my chips and cashed out for the day.

The drive home was fun as I went the back way to Prosser and then got on the highway and completed the journey.

Time: 1 1/2 Hours
Start: $100
End: $100
BR: + $20

Have a fun weekend.......

Tuesday

Why do I keep doing this to myself?

I decided to play in the Jokers $20 tournament. Went in and paid the buy in and sat down at the table. Today I am in the number two seat. We have seven players at the table. Last week we ended up with just six.

We loose one player pretty quickly. Starting chip count is T$2500. I did win one hand during the tournament. I made some hands but someone had something a little bit better. I made a set, trips and another set and lost each one of them.

I did have AA twice and won with the first one and was taken out of the tournament in 6th place on the second one. The AA lost to a straight.

I have been watching the twitter accounts of a lot of he pros down in Las Vegas playing in the WSOP. How many tournamets they win or even if they get into the money is very rare. To me tournaments are fun to play but trying to grow the Bankroll it doesn't happen unless you hit a big tournament and make a big payday to help your cause.

I think this alone is making me steer myself more to playing the cash games. I really enjoyed myself in Yakima and may try the bus ride and spend about 4 hours at the casino. I could play in the afternoon and it looks like they have a $2-$4 or $3-$6 game going. I could play at night from 9PM to about Midnight at a $2-$20 limit spread game.

I like the thought of playing in the afternoon more and getting my sleep at night.

I am moving my Dad on Thursday and might be able to play this Friday. The big question now is whether to take the bus or drive.

BR: +$20

Have a fun week.....

Friday

Today this will be my 300th post to this blog. I guess it is sort of a milestone. This blog started out being about my writings on me working with the stock market and to see if I could make it in that field. I now have a blog at www.swingtradeforlife.blogspot.com for that one. I then started to write about my poker playing in the home games and then I moved to online play and now in the Casinos. I haven't changed that and still use this one to write about my adventures in the Poker area.

I did start another blog talking about my Diabetes and what is happening with me. I do write in that one but maybe not as much. You know the confidentiality thing and I just don't want to be reminded sometimes. I know another surgery is coming around the corner and I try to ignore it as much as possible.

Ok, on to Poker. I have been talking about making a trip to Legends Casino and taking a look at their poker room. Today was that day. I left at around 1PM and arrived in Toppenish at around 2:15 or so. The last time I was in this casino was years ago and I was not impressed with the decor and the food was bad.

I walked into the Casino and it was nice looking. I walked from one end to the other just checking it out. They have added a whole new area with slot machines. Of course I have no interest in those games. The gaming area reminds me of Wildhorse Casino. They don't have a lot of tables but there were people at some of them.

I found the Poker Room. I went over to get my players reward card just in case I needed to show that to someone. I walked into the poker room which is segregated from the rest of the Casino. Basically it is in a room all to itself. There are 5 tables for Poker. At this time they were just finishing up a tournament and they had a $3-$6 Limit game going. I asked if that was the only game and at that moment that was it. I went ahead and bought into this game and sat down in the number 5 seat.

I sat and watched a number of hands before I decided to get involved. I lost a number of hands and at this point I am down 1/2 of my buy-in. Ok, time to get serious if I wasn't already.

I was dealt AK and the flop was Axx and these individuals were betting into me. Of course I hadn't shown that I could play. I ended up getting a nice big pot with this hand with just the pair of Aces.

The very next hand I received AK again. I played it the same way and everyone was putting money into the pot and in the end I had two pair with an A and a K showing. This hand sort of broke the ice with the individuals at the table for me.

I felt out of place with everyone at the table since they were all talking to each other and it was in Spanish. Sort of rude don't you think? I just stayed concentrating on my game either way.

The only other hand I won with was A2clubs for a flush when the river card came up clubs. Again each time I took down a nice pot.

At this time my chipstack is up +$60. I could have gotten up and walked out but then I didn't want to just hit and run. I stayed on and proceeded to give back $40 of it. It was getting to be time for me to drive home and be here when C got home. I left the table up +$20.

BR: +$40

It turned out to be a good week........

Tuesday

The Jokers Casino started a tournament on Tuesday and Wednesday at 12:30PM. I have not played in this tournament yet and today seemed to be a good time to go in and see how the tournament is doing.

We did not get as many as they wanted but it was enough that we could have a game. I was very patient through the first couple of rounds and then started to open up with some cards. The other players were playing rather loose so I just stayed tight and when I had a hand would bet into them. They continued to play loosely and that helped me win some pots.

Overall it was a good tournament and I came in first and took home the money. When I look back at the tournament there is nothing really that sticks out about the cards I was dealt. I tried to read the texture of the board and did let some hands go when it looked like I was outdrawn.

BR: +20

Have a fun day.....

Monday

I was talking with a friend and fellow blogger about the proper way of getting out of a game when you haven't been in it very long.

I will usually try and sit in a game at least an hour. I know that if I bring in a big pot it isn't nice to just get up and leave. Then again I don't want to give it back either. I guess you could play very tight and after a period of time get up and leave. What is appropriate?

The purpose of any cash game play is making money. If someone is sitting down to play this game then I am sure they understand this. I guess I could loose the money just as well as making it and that has to be considered as well. I understand the theory that if the game is good then you should stay and keep playing. What if it turns and you start getting cards that are not helping you?

Interesting conversation about the proper way of dealing with this. What do you think?

Have a nice day....

Friday at Jokers

I decided to play the 3PM tournament at Jokers today. I haven't played since April and I wanted to see how rusty I was going to be. I have been reading the two books one from Jonathan Little and have started the book from Annie Duke.

The book from Annie Duke is the one that probably has helped me the most today. The decisions we make and the guidance she presents in her book has been good. I am a person that likes procedures and I can follow procedures well. Having written them for my last place of employment and following them.

Having a more open mind and making proper decisions was my thinking today. I wouldn't say I layed down hands that I would have normally played but I did act on some of the ways Annie discussed about in her
book.

I played 1010's, KK's and AJ and lost these hands early. I wasn't going to give up but I wanted to make better decisions in the end. I started
on a winning streak with AQ, 44, AA, 99 and then flopped a pair of K,s to take down some pots and get myself moving in this tournament. I continued to play some good hands and got myself to the final table.

I have always had 3 goals when playing any tournament. 1) Get to the final table, 2) Get to the Money and 3) Win the tournament.

My last hand I played tonight was Q10 on the button. The blinds were $1000 - $2000. Everyone folded to me and I bet $4000. The big blind called and we ended up getting all of the chips into the pot. He turned over 77 vs my Q10. The flop came xxx turn 10 and the river 7 for his set. Almost got there. I am out in 8th place out of 30 players. Top 3 get paid.

I am very happy with my play tonight and I don't think I could have gotten the BB out of the hand if I bet more. He thought about my bet but he was coming along no matter what.

One other interesting thing happened during the tournament. I had Q9 in position and during the hand I had the opportunity to bet and get him out of the hand. As I was pulling out chips I could see him grab his chips and start to look at them. I immediately put my chips down and checked to him to see what he was going to do. He decided to check and we ended up checking it down and I won the pot with Q9 to his Q3. I just wasn't sure what he was doing or if he had an over pair and was waiting for me to bet so he could raise me. I decided to keep the pot small at that point. The hand eventually was xQxxx. I could then see he had a Q and he was not sure what to do with his kicker.

I had a good afternoon and it was nice to get back to playing some poker.

I don't plan on playing many tournaments as I want to get involved with more cash games.

BR: -$40

Have a fun weekend......

Decisions

Today I made a trip to Walla Walla to take a look at the Blue Mtn Casino. Here are a couple of pictures of the ride to and from Walla Walla.

It was a very sunny day and was a nice drive down there.

When I arrived I went straight to the casino and walked in the casino door. I stood there to let my eyes get used to the dim light and then could see the game tables. The hours are posted from 11AM to 7AM. I was there at 1145. No dealers at any tables.

I found a place to sit and ordered my lunch. I looked around the room and found the poker tables. There are two tables sitting by themselves in a walled off area. On the white board it said that there was a tournament at 1PM. It also stated they play a 4-8 limit game.

I decided to sit and eat my lunch and wait for the tournament to start and would decide if I would play depending on the amount of people.

At 1:10PM no one was there. Someone walked into the Casino and asked about the tournament and the server looked over at the tables and told him that no one was here and that the dealers hadn't even shown up yet. That was my clue that I would not be playing here since they didn't even have dealers.

At that point I just got into my pick-up and drove back home.

My decision will have to be if I want to play the 2-20 here at the local casino. If I do I will need to have some good advice on how to play this game and do well at it.

I have been reading Jonathan Little's book "Secrets of Professional Tournament Poker" and really like what he is talking about. Then I bought Annie Dukes book "Decide to Play Great Poker". This book is giving me things to think about. Not so much the rules but the decisions I need to make and why I need to make them. Very interesting read. I will definitely be reading this one a second and third time to digest as much as I can. Right now it is on my Kindle and will probably buy the book so I can mark the best parts.

Have a fun day.....

I'm Back

I didn't have much to write about for this poker blog. It has now been over two months since I have played any game of poker.

Today I finally received my bankroll for the next step of my poker playing. I am now going to decide how to approach the game and then go forward from there. I am trying to decide if I want to take part of this BR an work on my tournament play or if I should put all of my efforts into the Cash Game.

I am leaning towards putting my bankroll towards the cash games and then any other cash I receive I can play tournaments. Making sure I keep both of them separate.

The decision I now have to make is about travel. Where do I play and what level do I play at. I would like to start at the $1-$2 and work up from there but that means I am travelling to Spokane. How often do I play? Those are the decisions I have to decide on.

Here we go.

Bankroll: $2,500

WSOP

Even though I am not going down to Las Vegas for the WSOP I am very excited to have it going again starting tomorrow.

I was there last year at the WSOP Academy when the tournament started. It was fun to be there in the Pavilion and look at all of the tables and just imagine that someday I could be sitting in one of those chairs playing cards with these individuals.

How exciting would that be to have that dream come true. To sit at one of the tables and hear the announcer say "Shuffle up and Deal".

Well, back to earth now and the reality of it all. Still not ready bankroll wise to spend the time and money in Las Vegas. I sit here and wonder what it takes to make that trek. How can I accomplish this goal? I have the heart but the area I live in and the games available to me are what is keeping me from realizing a dream.

Keeping positive about my goal is hard. I just need to make a plan and somehow make it come true. Travelling with the price of gas is hard and staying in motels gets expensive.

Again this year I have to say Maybe next year I can make it for a tournament. Maybe try to get to a WSOP-C and see what happens. I really like the WSOP.

Have a fun day and enjoy the show.....Thanks ESPN for showing more tournaments as well.

Tuesday

I have been reading Jonathan Little's book on tournament poker.

I look forward to the Live@thebike broadcasts on Tuesday and Friday evening. I may not watch them that night but will watch the archive edition the next day.

So far I have been charting the hands that are played by one of the players and learning from what he is doing playing this live game.

If you are going to go to the WSOP and play and would like to have some coaching get ahold of Chris Wilcox at www.internetpokercoach.com and he can help you to become a better player.

I have had him help me with my online game and I liked the coaching I recieved. It did help my game and he also gave me some things to work on to make me a better player. Give him a chance to help you as well.

Have a fun day.....

Free Poker Playing

I am not sure I am going to keep up with playing on the free site at PokerStars. Last night I was playing and trying to maintain the things I have been learning to do and it was not working. The people at this table were very loose and aggressive. They just did not seem to care about their chipstacks.

I am thinking about just stopping this type of play. It is not serving me any good to just sit there and play tight when it is just a shovefest. That was very frustrating.

I think what I will do is just sit back and build my bankroll up to a nice level and just start to hammer out at the $2-$20 table. I will not like just sitting back but maybe I can keep up by reading and preparing to
play.

I am reading Little's new book on tournament play. It is a good book and easy to read.

One of the things I noticed last night was disregard for bet sizing. I think that is important when playing. When playing preflop I will usually bet about 2.5 to 3x the big blind. That is pretty standard. After that it depends on if I make a hand or better my hand. I try to change up the post flop betting so I don't seem to get into a pattern.

When I get a premium hand I maintain my betting sizes so it disguises the hand and not show I really have something. I am also working on my connected cards and trying to play them for straights or flushes. Of course I will not bet all the way down if it doesn't look like I will make it and they are betting into me.

I have been trying to read the board a little bit better as well. I have been asking myself what could they have. Dealers around here are trying to get a lot of hands in so thinking fast is something that I am working on as well.

Well, it seems I have to put most of this on hold so we will see how it goes.

Have a fun day.....

Playing the Game

I sat down at the computer last night and opened up PS to start playing some more Free Poker.

I am wanting to learn patience with the hands and playing when I have a chance to win. The group tonight was Loose Aggressive. They would limp into the pot and wait till the flop came out before they would do
anything.

This meant there were quite a few chips on the table and we hadn't seen the flop yet. I decided this is the time to just play along if that is what they were going to do and play the flop as well. If I had a good flop I would raise 50 to 75% of the pot and see what happened. Usually a couple of people would come along for the ride.

I wasn't winning a lot of pots but I was able to stay right around the $340 area with a buy in of $400. I figured it was just a matter of time and patience until I would get a hand I could slow play and then build the pot.

I did finally find that hand and it was a 56 offsuit. My thinking was they were connected and I could see the flop cheap. The flop came out 789 and I had flopped a straight. I bet to build the pot and had one caller. My only concern was if he had a better straight since mine was in the middle. But he was calling anything. I ended up winning the hand when he called all the way down and I took down the big pot for me for the night.

I ended up playing 27 hands tonight and was up +118 to make the total now
-445. That play on the first day really hurt. I am doing better. I will try to play tonight.

Have a fun day.....

Poker Time

I haven't had a chance to play on PS the past couple of days. I have been working on the stock market and some other stuff.

I have been watching the Live@thebike and I really recommend it for those that want to watch a live game and learn from the announcers. These announcers are players themselves so they offer some good advice.

The game that is played is a 5-10 NLHE and they are live for 3 hours. They are on the air on Tuesday and Friday evenings at 7:30PM They have four announcers and they rotate through.

There is one player that seems to always be at the table and so this week I am not only watching and listening to the announcers but I am charting the hands for one of the players. They do show the hole cards. He is a winning player and this will give me an idea of how he does it in this game.

I also got the new book from Jonathan Little yesterday and I have started reading it as well. I think he is a down to earth type of teacher and will naturally help. Another good instructer is Chris Wilcox. You can find him at Internetpokercoach.com and he will do teaching as well.

Another person you need to watch is a new one that just put up a blog yesterday. This is Aaron and he can be found at www.aaronbertelsen.blogspot.com and if you follow him you could also learn from him. He is a Cash Game player that has played for a number of years and wants to get to a new level and play cards for a living. I know I will be keeping track of his progress.

Have a fun day.....

Rainy Weekend

The clouds came in and got ugly looking. We ended up having thunder and lightening and the rain just poured down. I guess you could say it was raining cats and dogs around here. It really cooled the weather down from the high 70's and now we are lucky to get out of the high 50's.

After posting to the blog yesterday I put more thought into what I wanted to do with both the Stock Market and my Poker playing. I think I got myself sidetracked and started some bad habits in both of them. Since I can't play online for money and I didn't like the $2-$20 limit spread I was playing I was just getting trapped into a corner and not thinking about what I was trying to accomplish.

I decided to play some Free Online Poker last night and see how I would do with this. I really like to have the emotion and the feel of real money but also need to be realistic at where I am at at this moment.

I started out with $1,000 in free money and put up $400 and started to play like I would normally play at the real tables. I figure by seeing the hands and playing that way I should be able to get myself into a pattern of seeing the hands and playing properly.

I was not sure if I should play for a certain amount of money or play a certain amount of hands. I decided to play 50 hands and see how that went. I actually ended up playing 60 hands and when it was all said and done I was -$636. Such a great start.

I figure I am a little rusty in my hand reading and sure enough I was not paying attention like I should. I walked into hands that I should have let go. I then tried to get the money back and things just got worse.

After that session was done I then decided to not play the amount of hands but to concentrate on reading the cards better and to play for a certain amount of money. As soon as I reach the amount I have set for myself for that session then I will stop for the day. I will start out small until I am able to read the hands better and work up the amount I will play for.

This afternoon I then set myself for $50 and would stop after that. I did well and 9 hands into the session I was up $73. I wanted to continue to play but then told myself that I am setting these boundaries and will follow through. If all goes well then I will up the amount and play more hands later in the week. I am looking for improvement in the skills and not so much of the time I will spend playing the game.

I know that 9 hands does not make a session but it was positive and I felt I was able to do what I wanted. I need to make sure that I don't get too aggressive with hands when there are other options on the board. So far the play of these individuals are not real loose. They are willing to throw away hands if they are beat. They don't seem to have to see the river card and go to showdown. Makes it seem like a regular game.

For the time being I will log my results and see what happens. As far as playing in the live $2-$20 limit spread game, I will start back up but not right now. I think if I put myself through some training online maybe it will pay off at the real table.

I am trying to be more goal oriented and will see if it works.

Have a fun day......

Something New

I am rather excited about a new project I am going to try and put together.

I was reading my group of blogs last night to catch up and I have a new one that I am watching and it is called "The Dan Plan". The reason this caught my eye was because here is a guy that has quit his job and he is putting is sole time into becoming a Professional Golfer. He figures it will take 10,000 hours and that is what he does on a daily basis.

He has a golf coach and a golf physical coach as well. One of them is giving his time to him since this is such an interesting plan. He is working from the inside or closest to the cup on out. He still has not hit a driver and he will not be doing that until it is time. He has gone through the putting part of 1 Ft, 3 Ft etc and now it looks like he is being allowed to hit the golf ball from 50 yds in when he plays the round.

What a way to learn and I hope he makes his dream. I will definitely be following him on his journey.

I got thinking about it last night and why not do something like that for me. I can call it the "The Steve Plan" and work on being a Poker Professional. What would it take? I would need a coach that would lay out the plan and then a nutrition coach to prepare for the long hours of playing since I am a diabetic. A fitness coach as well to take care of the stress of sitting and not moving. Is this possible?

I am going to try to put it together and I am going to try doing this via vLog as well. Never been good at movie cameras but it could be interesting to see what I am doing along the journey. I have always been a loner in learning but I really need some help on this one. I really would like to be a Professional Player and see if I can make it with my skill level.

Must have a plan.......What is the plan.......How long will it take.....
What do you think?.......

Poker Thoughts

It has been about a month since I have played any poker. I have done a lot of thinking and some reading about poker. Trying to keep my head in the game and not giving up.

I am trying to set up a new BR to try and get myself going again. As you know I don't like the $2-20 game here in town but I also can't just travel outside of town to play since that will take up my BR as well. With that in mind I am going to get back to the $2-20 game and really try to get my mind in the proper spot.

I don't want to play tournaments at this point. I want to get myself into the live cash game and put a lot of effort in making this work. It may take me a couple of weeks to get myself ready but I will do this.

Anyone have thoughts on the $2-20 game and how I should approach this and make myself a winning player?

I need to get back to writing more on this blog and keep everyone informed on what is happening with the game.

Have a good day.....

Post

I wrote a post yesterday and now it is gone. I am not sure where it went. I wrote it in the afternoon and then was looking at the blog in the evening and didn't see the post. Since I wrote it on my laptop I thought it might show up there for some reason. No, it isn't here either. Don't know where it went.

Working on the lessons from my Poker class I attended and the Stock classes as well. Putting them on word and then saving them on the computer. At some point I would like to use them in my blog.

Have a fun day.....

Feeling Better

Yesterday was my first day not getting up at 0230 and doing the paper route. I slept in till noon. I really needed that sleep to catch up and now that the six days are over with delivering papers I can get back to other things.

What a week this has been. The taking down of OBL. It was amazing how we, the royal we, were able to find him and especially where they found him. In my opinion I think they knew where he was. Does this mean we are done in that theater? We can bring our troops home? Great job to our military and all of those involved.

This week I also sold my two stocks that I was in. I sold CIM and ARR and was in profit in both of them. They are dividend stocks so I do plan on getting back into them when they go back to a demand zone. I am still looking for other dividend stocks that I can get involved with. I need to spend some time going through my lists that I have and finding the right ones.

I still have not played any live poker and not sure when I will go back to the casino. I am still spending my time reading and thinking of the game but not putting any actual time playing. I am thinking about spending some time at the free tables though just to have some fun and stay focused with the game.

I have been following all of the drama since Black Friday and still think it is wrong to do away with something that does not hurt any one and especialy when we are allowed to "gamble" with the horses, lotto and other things. Just does not seem right. I have been seeing a lot of ads about other poker sites and they are still taking US players.

Now AB/UB going bankrupt. I was surprised to read about that one. I wonder if Helmuth and Duke saw that coming?

Definitely need to give "Internet Poker Coach" a read. If you are thinking about having a coach then get a hold of Chris. You can even sign up for his class in Las Vegas coming up shortly. He helped me with my online game and I highly recommend him.

Have a fun day......

I am Sick and Tired

I was feeling a little tired the other day and really not thinking too much about it I continue to do my daily routines. You remember that I said that I had not been sleeping very well. That continued on and I think I finally wore down my immune system enough that I was open to anything that was crawling around. I now have a cold.

The person I sub for on her paper route called me on Wednesday to ask if I would take the next 5 days starting on Friday morning. At that time I said ok not a problem. At least I would get paid for 5 days of work.

It was 0330 in the morning on Thursday morning my cell phone rang and I picked it up and it was the paper carrier. She was sick and wanted me to cover for Thursday morning as well. I rolled out of bed and got the morning started and new that we were going to be an hour late getting the papers out. All papers have to be delivered by 0530. I moved and was finished with the route at 0550.

Still I have a cold. I am working through this and have one or two more days to go before she comes back. This will be a 6 day stretch of waking up at 0230. As long as I am somewhat getting a few hours of sleep we can make it to the end.

It does feel good to be out there walking in the early morning air. To be able to take the deep breaths and gives me something else to think about.

I have been watching "LOST" and yesterday after finally reaching the 4th season I am not going to watch any more of it. The show has taken a turn to more of the dark side of the island and finally figured out this show has Biblical undertones. The fight between the good and the evil. Anyway I don't normally watch that type of stuff even though I do like the story line just not what they are doing with this show.

I have been trying to come up with ways to keep my poker playing up and not loose my playing ability. I have been toying with the idea of going ahead and playing the Free Money and just play my game. I know people like to call all the way down but if I play my game it will still give me the opportunity to see hands right now.

I really don't want to play the $2-20 game but I may have to form a strategy and keep at it. I don't know, I am just thinking about it at this time.

It was nice to get the dividends in my account this past week. I will be working on the portfolio more.

Have a fun day.....