50nl FR past few days

This is the past few days of 50nl FR. I'm finally feeling more comfortable playing FR again after a few weeks of 6 max. I've had to always keep in mind how much narrower peoples ranges are even in steal spots, people still just always have the nuts somehow, its ridiculous.

Anyways, 50 has gone fairly well so far. My coach wants me to only play 10 tables for the time being which is hard at times, especially when games are ridiculously good. Hopefully after another 10k hands or so he will allow me to add a few more tables to maybe 14-16 table 50. I think I could still play that many tables and do as well as 10 tabling fwiw. I'm so used to 24 tabling that my reflexes are much faster and I'm used to many more things. However all that 24 tabling did develop some bad habits which I have started to fix and or correct.

With the end of the year approaching I have added things up and I'm below what I would have liked to have made but for my first year playing for a living I'm pretty happy considering I just took a leap at the beginning of the year. I also fell short of my 300k vpps goal but had so much shit going on the last 5-6 months of the year. That's not a great excuse but I went through some really weird emotional times my last few months in Indianapolis and then moving across the country. My mind has started to settle down a little bit and get focused back on poker and shutting a lot of the other stuff out with the new year approaching.

I need to get in a lot of hands/hours the last week of the year and am very optimistic looking forward to 2010!

Switched back to Full Ring

After much debate and discussion with numerous people, I swallowed my pride and went back to Full Ring. I think my play style is much more suited for Full Ring at the moment for one as well as being much more comfortable at Full Ring in general. I actually don't despise FR as much as I thought I would and find myself better, given the past ~50k+ hands at 6 max the past few weeks.

My staker has asked that I play no more than 10 tables for the time being at 50nl to learn things. This has helped out tremendously. I've noticed numerous leaks and misapplications of theories I was doing wrong, mostly due to not having the time to think out hands from playing so many tables. I know given some more hands I could play 14-16 just as effectively as 10 but for the time being I'm going to continue to learn and fix leaks.

The past ~7k hands have me up well over $400 between 50 and 25nl. I am running well for one thing but have also started to notice glaring leaks by many regs/fish and starting to exploit those. Hopefully I can crank out 20-30k hands before the end of the month and maybe be able to add some tables while at 50.

I found this site explaining the top 10 hidden images in cartoons and it's very interesting. I recommend taking a look at them. http://bezbrige.com/index.php/WoW/top-10-hidden-images-found-in-cartoons.html

Christmas is a couple days away and it feels so weird not seeing snow or being around family. I kind of had to sacrifice being around family for the holidays upon moving out here and given the past few weeks since I've lost a good amount of money playing poker. Overall though I am getting my confidence back and on an upswing for sure!!

Poker is so F#cking dumb...

It's getting really hard to sit and play sessions anymore. Its like no matter what I do I just get fucked anyways. I've gotten some coaching/advice and been abiding by it and it is making great sense as it's helping me understand the game a little better. I feel like my hand reading has gotten better as well. All the effort I've put in seems to be for naught at this point. I mean fucking hell, seriously.

I'm not even gonna bitch about running below ev because I always do. I've tilted off maybe ~$100 of what I'm down the past few days after the incessant fucking beats that keep happening. And when I say tilted off, I mean calling it off. Flopping a set, getting 2 streets of value and we both have $8-$10 left on river and get shipped into or raised when I'm betting for value and going "Fucking seriously....you can't keep getting there".....but they keep fucking getting there. Flop a set, lose to a runner runner flush/straight. Flop a set get over set (6 times past 8k hands but who's counting). Flop two pair get counterfeited or lose to some ridiculous gutshot that gets there on the river. Aasdlnfaslgn;lahgfjkhafg!!!!

I want nothing more in this world than to succeed at poker so greatly at this point in my life and it's like the poker gods just can't/won't let it fucking happen. This hand opitamizes exactly how I've fucking ran and continue to run.

PokerStars Game #36804774756: Hold'em No Limit ($0.10/$0.25 USD) - 2009/12/16 23:50:33 PT [2009/12/17 2:50:33 ET]
Table 'Amanda VI' 6-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: DragonzPlay ($10.65 in chips)
Seat 2: Dashornman ($36.30 in chips)
Seat 4: Whataboutj ($26.55 in chips)
Seat 5: AAA_369 ($19.25 in chips)
Seat 6: Me zorba ($13.40 in chips)
Dashornman: posts small blind $0.10
Whataboutj: posts big blind $0.25
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Dashornman [As 4d]
AAA_369: folds
Me zorba: folds
DragonzPlay: folds
Dashornman: raises $0.75 to $1
Whataboutj: calls $0.75
*** FLOP *** [4h 3c Ah]
Dashornman: bets $1.25
Whataboutj: raises $1.75 to $3
Dashornman: calls $1.75
*** TURN *** [4h 3c Ah] [9s]
Dashornman: checks
Whataboutj: bets $5
Dashornman: raises $7 to $12
Whataboutj: calls $7
*** RIVER *** [4h 3c Ah 9s] [Tc]
Dashornman: bets $20.30 and is all-in
Whataboutj: calls $10.55 and is all-in
Uncalled bet ($9.75) returned to Dashornman
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Dashornman: shows [As 4d] (two pair, Aces and Fours)
Whataboutj: shows [Ad Ts] (two pair, Aces and Tens)
Whataboutj collected $51.10 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $53.10 | Rake $2
Board [4h 3c Ah 9s Tc]
Seat 1: DragonzPlay (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: Dashornman (small blind) showed [As 4d] and lost with two pair, Aces and Fours
Seat 4: Whataboutj (big blind) showed [Ad Ts] and won ($51.10) with two pair, Aces and Tens
Seat 5: AAA_369 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: Me zorba folded before Flop (didn't bet)




Villain obviously types "ty" in chat after wards and starts to spout off how I was lucky to flop 2 pair on him on the flop blah blah.......the chat doesn't tilt me, its the never ending retarded shit that keeps happening and losing me fucking money. I could care less what some fucking 43 year old basement dweller thinks or says in regards to how I play a hand, just ship me the fucking money.....seriously!!

I go to bed each night thinking about poker and hoping that when I wake up the next day I will play better and run better/normal............apparently I haven't awoken from that dream state yet.

Poker, drinking till sunrise and strip clubs

Here are some pics of my new set up since moving and this is definitely the best computer/poker set up I've ever had.

This is 6 max so far since I first started talking with my coach/staker. I'm running ~8 bis below ev @ 25 over the sample but feeling better and better every session. The more 6 max I play the more I love it and look forward to continuing to get better and put in volume. I'm still playing some 25 eventhough I'm on the stake but I still dislike playing in a higher game if I'm not really comfortable with some certain things. I've been working on a couple hand reading issues that I've been having at 25 as well as working on spots to value bet thinner. I continue to be amazed how terrible the players are at 6 max (yes its only 25 & 50 nl) but 6 max just exploits so many more leaks that many regs have.

My friends Fantasticcow, BW07507, abstracktpb and zachvac are only here for one more week so I've been trying to hangout with them as much as possible before they leave. That being said we have had some pretty fun past couple days.

During the middle of the week we all (- Cow) went to K1 speed to do some go kart racing. I proceed to do a semi-sick hustle. While at dinner abstracktpb gave out his predictions for what position people would finish while go karting. I somehow got picked to finish last and he picked himself to finish first as he has driven go karts before. Well I remained quiet as I was picked to finish last and before the race we all agreed to $10/person for fastest lap time. I was happy with this and obviously run the fastest lap and afterwards inform them that I had a membership while I lived in Indy at a go kart place for a year in which we would race on a regular basis......ship ship the 10 spots lol.

Thursday night Cow, BW and I went out in PB for some drinking. This resulted in us getting fairly drunk. Also, seriously wtf is the deal with the bars shutting down at 1:30 and kicking everyone out then eventhough they dont "close" until 2 am.....seriously wtf. This has happened numerous nights now and leaves me pretty perplexed....but whatever.

We head to Dennys to get our standard after drinking meal. I somehow run good and don't lose CCR (credit card roulette). Abbstrackt and Zach come pick us up since they arent 21 and we being our strip club endeavor for the evening. It's ~2:30 am at this point and we head to the first club. We arrive and much to our dismay they are closed! We then ask a cabbie if there are any open in San Diego and head off to the next goal. Now part of the big urge to go this particular evening was that one of the guys had never been to a club therefore we just had to make it happen. After a ~10-15 minute drive to the other club, we arrive to stand in line for minutes while the staff didn't attend to us and we also heard the cover was $30.....ok gg strip clubs for the night.

So Friday night Cow, BW and I head out again. After closing down the bars we passed up our usual post drinking Denny's meal and wondered over to Pita Pitt. While I'm ordering Cow slaps BW out of nowhere and I'm like wtf. They are both laughing so everything is cool but im confused. I ask why Cow did it and he said just for the hell of it. I'm pretty drunk and I say "ok you can slap me if you pay for my dance at the club tonight.......AND my cover" to which Cow snap takes. While I'm waiting for the most delicious Pita of my life to finish being cooked Cow slaps me and I earn my club experience for the night. Afterwards Cow said he held up a little on the slap, which I was obviously happy with.

Zach and Abstacktpb come get us again and tonight we are determined to get these boys to the club. We have great success!! this time and manage to have a pretty good time in the process. Eventhough I had only been to a strip club 1 time ever, while living in Indiana my entire life I've managed to multiply that number numerous times since living here in San Diego. It's a fun experience and a perfect after bar experience if you aren't going home with some girl or something. The bad thing about the clubs in SD though are that they do not take clothes off during a private dance......seriously wtf?!?! Oh well its still naked girls on stage and a fun time with a group of guys at 3 or 4 am after a night of drinking.

After we get back from the club I proceed to play Cow heads up at beer pong for $10 a cup. We are both equally drunk at this point and come up with the idea to drink until the sunrise. Let the games begin. I'm pretty sure I won the first two games and lost the last two. The details are foggy at this point but I somehow only finish up 2 cups after four games vs Cow. We stay up and talk about all kinds of things such as going back to college at some point and how sick of a life we live and how fortunate we are. It was a really great night and I haven't had a night that included all types of fun with friends in a long time.

All in all the past weekend was my best weekend since arriving in SD. I've only lived here for ~5 weeks fwiw lol. It's 4 am and after sleeping all day to recoup from the past 3 nights of drinking until at least 4 am I might be recovered.

World records, girls and poker sucks atm

First off, congrats to my boy ChicagoJoey for breaking the world record for playing the most hands in 1 day as well as MAKING A PROFIT!!! He made ~30k ish on the side from the prop bet as well. I was fortunate enough to make a little money off the bet as well and I also helped him out the entire day playing mod in the chat/cam room, handling questions from bettors and helping with basic things such as food and fluids, lol. The record Joey set was broke a couple days later by Chiren but Chiren barely made any money and has since lost a ton of money attempting to play 1 million hands in one month.

Which brings me to this whole Pokerstars Pro fiasco that Chiren has created. For those who don't know Chiren80/Athene (World of Warcraft) screen name created his own PR campaign to achieve supernova elite on Pokerstars, which is worth ~$110k for the first year, as well as play 1 million hands to get attention and bring new poker players to Pokerstars. Long story short, we found out that Pokerstars said they never received his application to which he responded that he will be going to the Isle of Mann (HQ for Stars) to personally hand in his application. Now many people, not I, think this is some massive level and PR stunt by Pokerstars to promote the site and that Chiren has already been confirmed as an online pro for pokerstars, which is supposed to equal ~40k a year in incentives.

Whether you are a nut hugging WoW tard or a poker player that has basically no poker respect for Chiren, what he is/has done the past few months as far as bringing new players into the game can only be a positive. I personally do not think he deserves to be a online pro as he is not good at poker at all and is nothing above the true definition of a rakeback pro. However poker playing aside I definitely think that some site, maybe not Stars, should hire him to do PR campaigns/stunts as he has a huge following (I've heard ~1 million youtube subscribers alone) from the online gaming community. With that being said, I have mad respect for his grinding ability has he's played over twice the amount of hands I have this year and his overall goal of bringing new people into poker, whether its for selfish reasons or not, is a good one for the game of poker.

And for the record I do not think it is some massive level from Chiren and Stars. I think Stars does not want someone like Chiren, who could possibly be a loose cannon representing them on the business side of things. It's sort of a catch 22 because if Stars makes a breakeven grinder such as Chiren a pro I think it sends a bad message to the poker community but Chirens gamer followers believe this guy is the second coming. Therefore whatever site would sign some sort of promotional contract with him will definetly benefit from countless amounts of new deposits/players and influx of new fairly new poker players that will most likely be mindless grinders such as Chiren, that will in turn generate a ton of money in rake for some site.

Also, if Chiren continues to go for the 1 million hands, which I no longer think he will since the 1 million hands things was a promotion to get online pro in the first place. Joey has assured me that he will be breaking Chiren's daily record as well as playing more hands in 1 month than him as well. This I am 100% certain of and am very confident that Joey could/will set a record that may never be broken.

Girls.....fml am I right?!?!

As I am slowly getting adjusted to living where it never snows or enters the 40 degree climate. I am finding a sort of new unsuspecting problem in the form of spending the night with girls and having nothing happening. I've now spent the night with 2 different girls since moving out here in which NOTHING happened, I mean seriously wtf.......I didn't make a move and either did the girl and I'm just completely dumbfounded. And no these girls were not hideous, filthy etc.....It just didn't really cross my mind to fool around with them. I mean in the past I would have snap fooled around with them and not thought twice about it but I just don't even think about it while its happening.

I mean everyone knows when a girl comes over to watch a movie AT NIGHT or you go out with a girl and get drunk as well as all her roommates being gone its a lock right??? Especially when you are invited into bed at the end of the night. I mean wtf....all I can do is wonder wtf after the fact. Is something wrong with me, is it mental, an attraction thing or should I just donate my penis to someone who could use it?!?! Either way I'm determined to not let this happen again as maybe its just some mental block due to past girls or whatever. I'm not about to become a monk and give up using my penis so why not have fun. I mean that is part of why I moved out here in the first place, yet I'm not capitalizing on the situations that get handed to me.......sigh

Poker can pretty much blow me. I have basically switched over to 6 max for good and am loving it. However it obviously brings a little more variance and for someone who runs worse than most people imagine to, has not been fun. The past 3-4 months I've ran a steady 15-30 buyins below ev and its getting fucking old. Plain and simple. It cracks me up to read posts about guys losing 3 hands in a session with a set, an overpair and some guy sucking out to hit a gutshot straight....LOL welcome to every single fucking session of the past few months for me. I am not being bitter and just saying I run bad blah blah either. I know I haven't been playing well either but this running awful shit is really getting old. Anyone and everyone who sweats me happens to point out every time, "Man you run fucking terrible!" I just want to sit down and start booking wins and banging out hands but its tough to do so when I sit down and am snap down 2-3 buyins in ev every other sesh or so. It has really beaten me down and my tolerance for variance is basically non existant at this point.

With that being said however I haven't lessened my aggression or anything and have been playing more optimal since switching over to 6 max accompanied by only playing 10-12 tables anymore. I have officially become burntout on full ring and have always liked 6 max much better anyways. 6 max also allows for a higher win rate, an equal amount of hands per hour, with less tables, so more concentration and helps your poker game overall much more than full ring does. I am going to stick with 6 max for a long time I believe and also have some staking deals that I have to decide on. The staking offers are for starting at 50nl and then moving to 100 asap as long as my play dictates.

Also my first year playing poker for a living is approaching and I have nothing but happiness looking back. Although, I will say I am disappointed with myself as I did not push myself the past 3-4 months like I wanted to but many life changes took place and that effected me moreso than I originally imagined.

Over the next few weeks I will think a little more about the first year and maybe put together some sort of poo-bah post in regards to my first year playing for a living. Not something that is like "hey im such a baller blah blah" but some things on bankroll management, money management outside of poker as well various other important concepts that I seem to be asked frequently about when it comes to playing poker for a living.

Apparently Thanksgiving is almost here

Until a couple of days ago I was pretty much aloof to the fact that Thanksgiving is 3 days away?!?! I guess with everything that has went on in the past 2 months, regarding moving across the country and all the life changes Thanksgiving just slipped my mind. It's also very hard to realize what holidays are approaching due to the weather always being nice. It's always 60-70 out therefore its basically spring/fall to me. A close friend has invited me to his place with his wife and her parents for Thanksgiving dinner. It will be nice to be with a "family" on Thanksgiving and sort of take a break from the whirlwind that has been the past 2 months.

I have been grinding out alot of hands the past week or so and really trying to get back into the groove. It's almost as if I have lost the grinding mentality with all that has gone on. Now with things settling down my mind is clearer and I can start to focus back on poker. I played a nice 9 hour 12k hand sesh last Friday night as I started around midnight and got stuck a decent amount and decided to grind through till I was positive. I eventually went to bed around 12:30 pm on Saturday for a few hours and since then my sleep schedule has been messed up. I liked grinding through all night though as I havent done that much in the past few months and sort of proved to myself that I can and should more often. I think it's good to push yourself from time to time to challenge yourself.

I have been fairly happy with my play the last few days as I have been playing more 6 max and crushing it. It's interesting how 6 max forces me to be more aggressive, which in turn makes me play better. I think it's just the mentality that full ring is much nittier (tighter) and therefore a more passive game in general. I'm thinking of starting to really mix my play up to maybe 60/40 or 75/25 towards 6 max over the next month or so and see how I like it, closing out my first year playing for a living.

It is crazy to think I have been playing for almost a whole year after taking the leap. It's equally mind blowing to think how far I've come as a person, as well as poker playing within this year. I never would have imagined a year ago that I would be living in San Diego with another poker player and being moderately successful at my dream job. It's such a gratifying feeling to see and be allowed to do some of the things I've done due to poker. It's funny to think about the past year of my life and how I would not be where I am at today had I stayed in some of the relationships I was in as well as continued to go with the flow and continue with the insurance gig.

A couple relationships over the past year and a half have been very eye opening and have helped me a lot with life. There are two relationships in particular that affected my life tremendously pre/post break up and I am happy to be able to look back and take away the valuable life lessons that I learned in both of those. It's kind of funny to think when you are in those moments/relationships that that person may be "The one" or "A one", if you will, and in retrospect realize that the person you thought so highly of was actually cancerous to your life happiness and development. Overall, I hold no grudges and people will be themselves and pretend to be someone they are not. I am, as I have always and will hope to continue to be an honest person always doing what I think is right, even if it doesn't seem like the right thing to those looking in.

I am finally within 2 days of the 2k milestone. This fing thing has been the bane of my existence over the past month, it seems and I am almost finally there. I have a staking/coaching deal in the works for a higher limit with a good small/mid stakes player and I'm really looking forward to that as my first year closes and a new year approaches.

Again, I am finally at a very happy place in my life with everything seemingly coming together at once with this move to San Diego. I'm really looking forward to the next 6 months with Joey, San Diego and everything else that comes my way. Life is just great!!

Sprained ankle, stripper friend and some poker

I've played some poker this month ~17 hours or so through the first 9 days. I haven't been in the mood to grind that much. I have been playing shorter sessions and booking 2-3 wins a day. I want to get back into the grind and play 4-5 sessions a day because......money is a wonderful thing. Im now just over 10k vpps away from the $2k bonus and basically given up on the $3k bonus for this year. Im hoping to get that bonus this week and be able to finish buying things for the apartment.

I am finally starting to get settled in and not feel so overwhelmed. The past few weeks have just felt rushed with getting settled in and being unfamiliar with the area. As I was driving home last night, from the 2 story Target down the street, I breathed a sigh of relief of sorts as I am finally feeling less rushed and more settled in.

I sprained my ankle late last week after helping move the remainder of Joeys things in. I could barely walk the day after but things have gotten much better after days of icing, elevating and resting. Gotta love the fact that I can sit at my desk, prop up my ankle and be somewhat more productive at work.

We have met a few of our neighbors so far and one of them is a girl in the taking clothes off profession. She is really nice and I have been friendly yet somewhat reluctant to really get to know this girl but it has been interesting to say the least. It's cool to learn about that lifestyle as Ive never really thought much about it.

Phil Ivey & the November 9

A little look inside Phil Ivey's life thanks to the newest ESPN E60.

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=4620789

The piece is pretty good and gives some insight into the mysterious world that Mr. Ivey lives in and we all love to follow.

Television finally played all the way up to the final table World Series Main Event last night. These are the chip counts and players:

Darvin Moon - 58,930,000
James Akenhead - 6,800,000
Phil Ivey - 9,765,000
Kevin Schaffel - 12,390,000
Steven Begleiter - 29,885,000
Eric Buchman - 34,800,000
Joe Cada - 13,215,000
Antoine Saout - 9,500,000
Jeff Shulman - 19,580,000


Darvin Moon-fish. The hand with Billy Kopp where he check/calls the flopped Q high flush, then check raises the paired board turn and calls Kopp's shove is terrible by both players but just as bad by Darvin imo. This hand basically proved to me that he is your standard regular fish player who is not capable of laying down what he perceives to be the nuts without considering his opponents hand range in that spot. "I has a flush.....im allllllllllliiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnn!!!" Also its pretty easy to get AA/KK/88 at the perfect times and bust guys or double up every single time. I will give him credit for at least acknowledging the fact that he knows hes running good and is not a professional caliber player. I do dislike the fact that he said he would not get a coach nor wear any sponsorship patches for the final table. Apparently he really hates free money. He said something along the line of "I made it this far without a coach, Im just gonna keep playin my game." If you recognize that you are not as good as the other players then why not spend a few thousand to get coaching to maybe get a little bit of an edge???? I understand he is a simple man with very simple needs in life but don't be the arrogant old man and think you don't need help because "its not broke so dont fix it". Darvin if you run normal you will get crushed by these guys and will exitjust like Dennis Philips per last years final table.

James Akenhead-European tourney pro with success who is backed, seems like a legit player

Phil Ivey-best poker player alive. For Ivey to win would be wonderful for poker all around.

Kevin Schaffel-Part time tourney donk who kinda knows what hes doing....I've heard/read some interviews you can just tell by the way he talks about things hes not a really good player but has some concept....apparently

Steven Begleiter-Seems competent as some of the hands he played on tv. Seems maybe above average but probably not per hand reading and such but overall your standard amateur rungood pro who thinks and acts like hes awesome since hes run well for a tournament. I also have a strong disliking for the guy as he's an ex Bear Stearns high up vp?? or something

Eric Buchman-Apparently a pro from New York, but I don't know much about the guy besides some sponsorship fiasco leading up to the last few tables.

Joe Cada-Seems like a well tempered and mannered younger guy who actually recognizes the significance of making the final table and appreciates it. He also plays for a living....I think. I don't like that he is wearing UB logos leading up to to the final table but apparently signed a deal with Pokerstars or Fulltilt. Seems like a good player.

Antoine Saout-He's foreign and I know nothing about the guy besides the hand where Begleiter "playfully" hits him after Saout shows AQ and got Begleiter to fold 77.

Jeff Shulman-Obviously a good pro. He never really shows any emotion and seems to play a pretty solid game. I absolutely despise the fact that he said he would throw his World Series bracelet in the trash if he wins, however due to some personal beef/vendetta he has with the people running the tournament (whether that is the casino, media or people involved behind the scenes im not real sure). For a guy like him to say this (His family owns and operates Cardplayer magazine btw) is basically sacrilegious considering you make your living off of the game. I'm sure there are many things involved that I/the public do not know about but it comes off very d-baggy either way.

The final table starts this Saturday and will air the following Tuesday and I can't wait to see how it plays out.

The first weekend in San Diego

I survived my first weekend out in SD. Friday night in PB (Pacific Beach) was pretty sick for a nice start. Saturday we decided to go downtown as Joey heard from some girl that the place to be was downtown at some place that was charging a $50 cover.....fml right.

I obviously had not gotten a costume so I managed to procure a stethoscope from the party shop put on a shirt and tie and went as a busto doctor, basically. CJ went as a Chip N Dale, Brian went as Speedracer and Cow, obviously went as a cow. I don't know the name of the club we went to but it was 5 clubs rolled into one, so the place was really big and there were a ton of people there, so it must have been a good place.
Fortunately for us there were a ton of asian girls at this place. I'm not sure if there are just a ton of asian girls in the area in general or what but it was at least 60+% asian girls. After awhile it gets kind of old but it was fun for the night. All of us managed to talk and dance with some girls throughout the night. I of course refused to ask any of the girls for numbers because I'm a huge VJJ apparently......someday I'll put on big boy pants and grow up.

I managed to spend somewhere around $400 this weekend going out so gg going out for awhile. But, it was Halloween and our first weekend here, so we had to do it imo. Waking up in this morning was really weird. The time fell back 1 hour along with my already 3 hour time difference so my schedule is all kinds of messed up right now so hopefully I can adjust within the next week or so.

Aside from that, I'm gonna try and focus and get my grind on the first part of the month so maybe I can relax towards the end a little but we will have to see. Oh, my step-father is out of the hospital and home now as well. My mom called me the 3rd day I was here to tell me he had a heart attack and was in the hospital. Luckily everything went well and he is already out and at home. Crazy crazy crazy life all around

Finally Moved to San Diego and getting adjusted!!!

We left last Saturday morning in 40 degree raining weather and arrived Monday morning to 90 and sunny weather. It took us around 30+ hours to drive from northern Indiana to Southern California but it was a boring and very amazing drive as well.

The first part of our journey down through Illinois and through Missouri were nothing really special. It is all pretty flat and you couldn't pick the side of the road from one state or another. We were able to cruise pretty fast through Missouri though, so at least that was fun. We stopped in Joplin MO and wow was that a hillbilly town. We stopped for the night somewhere in Texas. The drive through New Mexico and Arizona was pretty amazing. Specifically the drive from Flagstaff to Phoenix as it was mostly downhill and involved somewhat high speeds for the majority of it. We spent our final night on the road in Yuma, New Mexico. Woke up with a nice 2ish hour drive to San Diego that involved an hour or so through the mountains again that involved some not so slow speeds again.

Its been around 5 days since we have moved in and it is just ridiculous how close we are to everything. Ikea, 5 minutes. 2 story Target, 5 minutes. Any high-end store you could ever think of is 5 minutes down the road in the Fashion Valley Mall, which is supposed to be the nicest mall in SoCal or something.

CJ and I went on a double date last night to start the night out. The girls are in the Navy and we went to some hybachi steak house and had a decent time. We came back and the girls decided to dip out sooo we were like woteva and hit up BW and Cow to see if they wanted to go out.

There is another house of poker guys in the area as well and we have hung out with them a few times. They are all pretty good guys and it's always cool to meet guys who play for a living and there backgrounds and where they come from and what not. The guys are Fantasticow, BW07507, Zachvac, AbstractPB (pretty sure I messed that up). They have a ridiculous house overlooking the ocean but are all pretty awesome guys.

CJ and I went out with Cow and BW last night to PB and wow. The girls out here are already ridiculously hot but it's Halloween and bars by the beach....you do the math ;). We wondered around for a little bit and eventually settled on a bar that we got free cover passes for. The first girl CJ starts talking to looks like a busto Brooke Hogan. We go through the normal "Yeah we all play poker for a living" she says "no way my friends do too" to which we are all like ooooh here we go sure you know someone that plays. Well she introduced us to 3 mid/high stakes regs and it was just so random and awesome. DerekJ (crushes 5/10 sh), Craigthedeac(Lego Poker Coach, FTops winner and mid steaks reg) and Gordo 16 who crushes 25/50 plo. It was just so random but we talked with Derek for a few and Craig for a little bit and the guys were really cool and chill. I'm sure I came off like a little fan boy but it was just so random and cool so whatever.

CJ did his thing and ran game on numerous girls collecting numbers like he was on the button and 8/6 nits were in the blinds. I dropped the ball a bit and am pretty m ad at myself for not getting at least 3-4 numbers from the girls I talked with. I don't really get why I'm just such a passive bitch sometimes but it's a mental thing. I'm still a little messed up from my last ex but what can you do. No more!!!! BW and Cow were awesome guys and we had a really good time talking with randoms as well as watching CJ work his girl magic. BW and I got our game on with this ridiculously hot stewardess for awhile and Cow was just his mysterious self. I'm still waiting for Cow to just care and start to crush girls as much as he crushes 5/10.

Overall our first night out was awesome in so many ways. I even won credit card roullete somehow and didn't have to pay for our meal at Denny's afterwards. I really can't put into words how amazing and overall +ev this move has been and is going to be for me. We keep meeting really nice people and ridiculously hot girls everywhere we go and the weather is just always perfect. I can't picture myself ever moving back to Indiana or the midwest any time soon or any time later on for that matter.

This blog is a big mash up and not too detailed as an attempt to try and catch up on the past week of festivities. Hopefully I can stay up to date with it and include more details from now on.

+~5k day yesterday

Yesterday was the normal Saturday afternoon Supernova vip freerolls at stars. I have played in these for probably 8 months or so and almost every week since I became supernova. I normally end up losing a flip or 70/30 and getting busted around 800-1100th place every week, until yesterday. I ran good in one tournament finally!!!! Well thats not totally true, I final tabled another freeroll in March and got 6th for like $600 something.

I ran normal all the way up to inside 35 people. I won all the flips I needed to up to this point and was the short stack until I was dealt J2s under the gun. I open shoved and Lilholdem (MTT pro) called me with K9 or K7 and I somehow flopped two pair and double up. One hand passed and then I'm in the SB and Lilholdem is on the button and shoves when it folds around to him, I call with K9 and he has K7 and I hold....weee more chips. Then when I'm on the button it folds around to Chad (Lilholdem) and he ships in his whole stack and I call with Kx and hold again and quadruple through him and knock him out. This left me with around ~100k chips and in ~16th place with 31 people left.

I had already made the decision once I got within 100 people I was playing for the final table or busting just because the pay increase was not that drastic and the difference between 117th and 27th was ~$50, which means very little for me, especially given my current situation with wanting to move. Hence, me shoving J2s and calling Lilholdems all ins because I needed to gather chips plus his range of hands in all these situations was SUPER wide. I won another huge hand with about ~18 people left to put me 3rd in chips. I got my QQ in against AQ for a little over a 300k pot and it held. At this point I made the decision to coast into the final table.

1st paid 12.1k and 9th paid 817.50. I came in around 4th or 5th in chips and made the decision to just hold out while others got knocked out. 3 people got knocked out and I was 4th in chips out of 6 people. We started discussing a chop of the prize pool per chip counts. I was all for this because if I got knocked out 6th I would get $2700 but if I took a chop I would get a couple k more due to my chip count. After much discussion I ended up getting ~$4850 in the deal which I was pretty happy with. I would have liked to get a couple hundred more but I was definitely happy with the deal.

This was a huge boost not only financially but mentally as well as I have been struggling for some reason the past month and a half. This also could not have come at a better time with my plans to move to San Diego which will now come to fruition within ~2 weeks most likely. It's amazing to think that ~5k is a life changing amount of money but it is.

As far as poker goes, I will probably make 50nl my game for awhile and try and make a few k there over the next month or so and then hopefully start taking 100nl shots within a couple months when my bankroll can handle it. I will get the 2k milestone bonus this month as well as at least the $650 bonus and maybe the $1500 bonus instead which will put me around a +$10k month. Again, this tourney score could not have come at a better time and I am really excited about moving,playing and moving up in the limits.

Poker is such a sick game sometimes, I love it!

10k/vpps and +$400/day

^^ Month so far......meh

I am feeling very distraction free the past few days after getting a little more comfortable at Joeys for the time being. I've been working out 5 days a week and running at least 2 miles a day the past few days as well (trying to shed my fat kid weight and get into presentable shape as well as help make myself mentally/physically stronger, which helps alot with playing long sessions).

Yesterday at the gym Joey brought up my lack of motivation which I totally agree with the past couple of months. I have had some real life stuff happen, with a relationship go bad and a really close friend basically say wtf ever to our friendship which really effected me a little more than I guess I realized. That is still no excuse for my lack of production over the past couple of months, especially since I knew I wanted to move during that time. It's tough to look at yourself sometimes and realize that you have failed or are just going through the motions but Joey helped me confront the issue and its back on like donkey kong.

My new goals before and after the move are:

10k hands/day
1200 vpps/day
$400/day

I have to hit at least 2 of the above to quit for the day. These are not just minimums either. To be good/great at something you have to push yourself and I am looking forward to the challenge as I have let myself down the past couple of months. Time for the lazy, going through the motions bullshit is over.

Cheers bitches......couple weeks of hard grinding will be rewarded with a new life in San Diego!!!

Shot taking ftw!!!

Had a nice shot taking session early today with Joey sweating/coaching and it went very well. I played about 2k hands of 100nl and another 2k hands of 50nl overall today. It's amazing and demoralizing at the same time to find out how many leaks I had and how truly terrible of a poker player I am. It is hard to hear how awful you are at something but if you want to get better you have to be honest with yourself and be able to take constructive criticism.

Having lived here for a few days now I have started to get into a routine. I got a gym membership, since Joey was already working out 5 times a week and that has been great mentally and physically. I missed working out and it's nice to have someone else to go with and it's also a great break from poker as well. After 3 hard days of lifting my body isn't as sore as I thought it would be. I have also been closing out my workout with at least a 1 mile run each night.

It's a surreal feeling to sit here and think that I'm not going back to Indy in a few days. I will miss my great friends but I am also very happy and optimistic to continue getting better at poker and moving to San Diego. A little over a year ago I was at a low point in my life and I never would have guessed that I would be playing poker successfully for ~9 months now and in a position to move to San Diego, just because I can and want to. I can only imagine where I will be 1 year from now looking back at the great accomplishments I have achieved as well as my life progression.

Overall this month was a failure yet victory at the same time. I did not achieve 300k hands or get the 2k milestone bonus but I did move (temporarily) and get one step closer to San Diego and have started aggressively shot taking with Joey being a big help. I failed a couple prop bets but rocket/goosefrabba was really cool and let me buy out for a little cheaper, shouts out to goose!

October is going to be a busy and awesome month. I'm gonna finish saving up for the move, move and actually be seeing sandy beaches and palm trees within a few weeks........sick life!!

@ Joeys for a couple weeks

I "moved" up to Joey's for a couple weeks on Friday. I came up here to stay and continue to build my roll and bank account before we move to San Diego.

Obviously living with Joey has certain benefits, such as the above graph. See if you can spot where Joey was sweating and coaching me, lol. I'm really looking forward to learning alot and talking poker on a higher level. I think it will be highly beneficial to the both of us, living together. Yes, I think Joey will benefit as well because I actually do help him with things as well but he will obviously help my growth and poker development much more than I would him.

It hit me yesterday that I won't be going back to Indianapolis. It's a weird feeling since I have came up here a few times before always knowing I would go back "home" and now my home is here and then San Diego. I'm very optimistic about my future and even immediate future till the end of this year. I am really going to work as much as possible and devote basically 100% of my efforts into my poker game and getting better to move up. I wan't to really focus until Christmas time and hopefully the work will pay off. I have put myself into a situation to capitalize on the tools and opportunity I have to really get better at poker and just have to make the most of it.

Football is on today and I think Joey and I are going up to Chicago to hangout with a couple 2+2 guys who play higher stakes for the Bears game which should be alot of fun. Will be kinda funny since I play for a living at micro/low stakes and all the other guys are at least mid stakes pros but I'm sure it will be fun.

Go Bears!!!

5 Days till I leave Indy

After a great weekend and going away get together Saturday night I am closing in on my final 5 days here in Indy. I had a great time with everyone who came out and I couldn't have asked for a more fun/chill night with friends. I will definitely miss some people once I leave but that's what things like facebook and cell phones are for, plus I will be moving to a great vacation spot so I'm sure I will see some people in the future.

Our lease is not up until the 30th but I have decided it is probably best to go ahead and move Saturday for numerous reasons. By moving Saturday it will allow me to spend more time with my family, as opposed to leaving Tuesday and seeing them for an hour that night. I am going to be staying at Joeys for a week or two before we move, therefore stopping by and seeing my family before I go to his place is along the way. It will also give me an extra couple of days of solid grinding as well to continue to pad my bankroll and bank account before moving.

We have settled on an apartment and location but unfortunately the earliest we could move in would be October 6th. No big deal as I could use the extra time get my bank account to a more comfortable level to move across the country.

I am really excited about the move and am basically over Indianapolis and am looking forward to the next part of my life. I'm really looking forward to taking my poker game/career to the next level and living with Joey will definitely help me tremendously. Also, just the idea of living in San Diego where it never snows and is basically climatically perfect is a pretty awesome thought as well. My focus for the next few months once we are moved will be moving up and getting my poker career to a place where I will feel comfortable financially, start to plan for my future and have time for a girlfriend and dating again. Not that I am opposed to hanging out with girls or whatever but having a girl in my life is -EV because they take alot of time and are somewhat distracting. I don't mean to sound callous towards having a girlfriend but I tend to devote alot of time towards a girl and a relationship when I find a girl I'm really into and it cuts into poker, which I am not ready to let happen at this point.

I have also never been west of the Mississippi either so the move really presents many new experiences for me and my life. I am very optimistic and am curious to see where I will be in 3 to 6 months.

Poker is going alright......I'm 14k fpps away fromt he 1k cash bonus and about 38kvpps away from the 2k milestone bonus. I would like to reach both before moving but I'm not sure if I will hit the 2k milestone or not, which If I don't I will hit very soon once I have moved.

I'm up a few hundred at 50 since I've started playing in ~20k hands. I feel as though I am playing well, making good reads and making great lay downs. I have def spewed 2-400 which sucks but is all part of the learning process. I've also managed to run KK into AA a gross amount of times, I think 13 or 14 through this stretch as well as some other sick things but that's poker. I am feeling very comfortable and confident I will be able to continue to beat 50 and get better and better.

50 nl for good????

So obviously this afternoons sesh at 50 went really well. I played for ~4 hours and shipped $3hundo and ran kinda bad but felt like I played some of the best poker I've ever played. My reads are on, my lines for hands are improving and I definitely owned and got owned a few times but it's all part of the process.

Well I have started trying to solely play 50 for good. Joey and I worked out a good staking deal and he is helping me a ton with things. It's amazing how far he has come in 1 year and I have nothing but respect for his work ethic and game and am very fortunate to have him in my corner and willing and wanting to help me as much as he has and will along the way.

It's amazing what moving up and playing higher will do for your psyche when things go well. I felt as though I have been at 25 way too long and fortunately, Joey believes in me and is willing to help me out tremendously. I am just going to continue to play alot and focus on improving and hopefully things will start to pay off, which I believe they will.

I can't say my life has been totally distraction free lately as I met a great girl on her birthday night Saturday night and have been talking with her the past few days. She has a great fun loving and outgoing personality and am looking forward to hanging out with her. It's kind of nice to move past some toxic people in my past and meet someone who is pretty fun.

Gonna go out to amateur comedy night again to support a friend and hang out with some friends. Should be alot of fun like last time and I'm looking forward to it and shipping 3 hundo this afternoon definitely puts me in the mood to go out............eventhough I wanna stay and just crush.

Can't get rid of variance

The first 11 days of this month have been super swingy. It's just so sick how many flopped sets I lose with, how many rivers I'm getting raised with 2pair and better hands. I've essentially played 30k hands of breakeven poker the past few days. It's kind of sad and good but I'm getting really used to "running bad" and all the swings.

I've cut tables to 12-18 for the time being and have been crushing again. I'm hoping to cut down a little bit on my variance as well but its hard to do sometimes against fish that you can't put on a range of hands ever.

I'm going to try and only play 12-18 tables for another 20-30k hands and see how it goes. The extra money I'm making more than makes up for the fpps and extran hands I would be getting in. I've also temporarily decided to just play 25 without taking 50 shots and just aim to make at least $200 a day from 25. I know the amount of money I need to make by the end of the month to be comfortable to move and $200 a day will easily get me there. I think I am going to try and make 2k from 25 and then start taking shots at 50nl when I have some money saved and bills taken care of.

I also have this ongoing battle with my penis as well. I was out the other night with some friends and 3 girls were into me and I just choose to walk away and not do anything about it for some reason.........seriously fml. These aren't ugly girls that I'm not into either I just think its a combo of many things going on in my life now that lead me to not wanting to do anything with a girl at this time. Oh well theres always the next day and the next to finally say fuck it and do something about it if I wanted.

Supernova free roll is today as well as saturday afternoon games which are always sick good.

Extremely swingy day = Annoying

I had one hell of a variance laden day yesterday. Started off the first sesh stuck ~$200 in 900 hands, $150 of which I lost to a super fish running 94/45. I got it in 5 times against him 2 ahead, 2behind and 1 flip and lost all 5 obviously. I was also deep when I had JJ on the button and the fish open raised to $26.05 utg, obviously I ship over and lose a 300 bb pot to his AQo on an AQQ flop, to get the fiasco started. I tilted one buyin to him with QTo but the fish was literally shoving over every single one of my raises so whatever.

That pretty much layed out the path of my day. I grinded my ass off for ~5 hours to get almost back to even, took a break then came back and dumped another 4-5bis and decided to call it quits for the night.

As I do session reviews, study and recall my play and emotional state during various sessions, tilt really is my number one hinderence. It's not monkey tilt where I'm just shoving T4o over raises or anything but it normally happens when I lose 4-5 big pots in a row to hands that I can't really do anything about. I get mad at the fact that I feel like I am always running bad. This is obviously a bad mental state and I do my best to try and avoid thinking like this at all costs but days like yesterday are nearly impossible for me to not think like that. I know in the long term I want fish calling pot size bets 2 streets to hit gutshots/flush draws but its annoying when by the time we get to the river we can never (barely ever) find a fold.

Joey was getting on me about thinking like that and again I normally don't think or talk like a fish but there are days where you try your hardest and it just isn't going to happen. I guess that is true with any profession though. I've been experimenting with different things to help keep me in positive moods during sessions. One is taking breaks every ~2 hours or so to give my mind a few minute break from the constant strain and stress of focusing and concentrating on decisions. Two, I have been trying to leave the chat room open with the guys and I find that it keeps me a little looser, mentally as most of the guys are really funny and there is always something funny to talk about. Third, I try and be physically clean such as taking a shower before a session, brushing my teeth and hate having my hands greasy. I'm probably developing some sort of mild OCD. The fourth is my environment. I bought another scent globe yesterday, try and have sunlight shinning in during the day and drink lots of water. I'm just going to keep focusing on these things and just play my game and crush like I know I can.

Today should be an interesting day as I'm having a really strong urge to grind, not sure if I'll go for 20k today but we'll see how the day progresses.

Labor day distractions.....

Now that Labor day festivities are over (almost) I can now refocus on nothing but poker again. I have fallen behind pace and am probably gonna play 20k hands Wednesday or Thursday of this week to catch me back up.

Saturday was good times as people were in town for various Labor Day get togethers. I had a +$500 day Saturday and decided to book the win after only 5k hands and go out and celebrate with my roommate and friends.

Celebrate we did! Two of my friends do not drink so this always makes for an interesting dynamic when we go out as most of the time, noone wants to get stuck talking to the sober girl in a group of girls. This is exactly what happened of course.

My roommate has stepped up his game recently and proceeded to buy 4 shots and him and I go look for girls to give 2 shots to. I was somewhat against this as I think it is somewhat creepy to just walk up to girls with shots, asking them to take them. Anyways, he does it anyways, makes eye contact with a girl and off he goes asking me to follow, I reluctantly follow, not because I do not like girls but because I just think its creepy to walk up to girls with shots already, like "Heyyyy girls we got these ruphie shots for you". I obviously do not condone, nor have I ever done this to a girl and wish nothing but the worst for those who do but I can't help but think that's what it looks like from a girls perspective. I walk over and start talking with the 3 other girls as he has one cornered and shes into him. I am entertaining the group, do introductions, say some funny things to lighten them up a bit and of course there is a sober, "I hate men and don't wanna be out with my drunk friends while they have a good time because I'm too pretentious to attempt to have a good time at a bar" sober friend. We talk about careers and they seem excited and interested that I play poker for a living.

Now the sober friend is probably the biggest obstacle you will face at the bar scene while attempting to hit on girls. She is the gatekeeper and ultimately the decision maker to when and where the group of girls go, unless it is a Bachelorette party or some special occasion. My sober friend spotted the sober girl and attempted to distract her while I entertained and ran game on the other two girls. Then for some reason, the very beautiful brunette (Really like brunettes) who had a nice rack, apparently (I was later reminded) was totally into me and I knew it at the time but just didn't care. This has been a growing problem the past couple of months as I have these girls T'd up and I just don't care. It's almost like I'm just doing it for the challenge then once I realize I can get them, I dont care. Soooo apparently my penis has stopped cooperating with the rest of my body and I am not happy with the current cold war between my brain and penis. That pretty much sums it up, have a gorgeous girl into me and I'm like F it lets go somewhere else......and that's pretty much the night.

I think part of it could be that I am so focused on poker and moving that I mentally don't even want to deal with girls because they are so much -life EV it's not really worth it, unless I am just gonna hook up with them. I am not one of these types of guys either, my mother did all too well of a job raising me properly and to respect women well enough that I normally can't hook up with a random.....fml right.

SO, poker, me......256k hands left this month basically. Up 10 bis today so far and probably gonna play at least one more 3-5k hand sesh before going to bed.

$125/hr....finally back to running good/normal

I was going to play in the $109 WCOOP NL tourney today and then right before the tournament was starting I broke my mouse. Something I have worked really hard on is tilt control and acting like a 6 year old sometimes and throwing things. This can only hinder my poker development as I move up and is something I'm perfectly aware of but sometimes after running bad/playing bad for an extended period of time it just gets to me. Plus tantrums at $40 per mice is not a good habit to get into.

Since I broke my second mouse, I had to go get a new one at Target. It was a fun trip as my friend Yoosuk was with me and was searching for a non graphic t-shirt which is basically impossible nowadays but we somehow managed to find a couple shirts. Anyways after my somewhat standard purchase of 2 4-packs of sugar free redbull, mouse, t-shirt and batteries I return home to go on a nice heater.

I've never made 10 buy ins over a 3k hand stretch starting out the day and it felt awesome, considering my last 100+k hands of variance laden poker. I also shipped the most hands bet in two weeks against Vangaurd, eventhough we both played a sad amount of hands. So, I'm feeling really good being up $350 in 2 hours and am gonna put in another sesh this evening. My goal is to make $500 and then go out and have a good time tonight with friends in town. My social life is really killing me getting in hands but I guess I'm just gonna have to put in a couple 20k hand days coming up this month.

3 days in ~21k hands.....behind pace

Three days into the month I only have 21k hands done, which puts me behind pace. Not a great start but am starting to feel a surge coming. I am going to aim for 15k today and see how many more I get. I played ~12k yesterday and my eyes started falling asleep and getting blurry on me so I decided to quit up a few hundo for the day.

These past few weeks have been so variance ridden it has become super annoying but there's nothing I can do but play through it. I made ~$20/hr yesterday and am pretty mad, considering I've been making double that for a couple months now. I just keep getting coolered so much and running into retarded 2pr from half stacks and such on the turn with overpairs, where we can never fold and it has really hurt my winrate lately. Oh well, gonna keep chugging along and am really looking forward to putting in this many hands as it will help me ride out the variance train and gives me something else to focus on besides my winrate, buyins per day etc...

There are some Labor day parties this weekend and I don't really plan on going to any of them unless I get ahead of pace and start to ship a lot of F'ing money.

Comedy, Nipple covers and Chloe Kardasian???

Last night I hungout with my cousin for the evening, since I will be moving soon. He has always been like a brother to me so we always have a good time hanging out and just doing whatever.

My roommate met up with us and invited us to amateur night at Crackers Comedy club as his sister was going to perform. Now, I'll admit I was not thrilled at the idea as my perception of amateur night was one of terrible jokes and not a fun time at all. I couldn't have been further from the truth, maybe I was a little partial since I knew a couple of the people performing but I had a surprisingly good time. My roommates sister did a fantastic job and really impressed me with her stage presence and comfort ability on stage.

I am also going to start going to comedy clubs on a regular basis as there were 20-30 HOT girls there with friends. I can only imagine this can lead to fun and interesting times in the future. This may be a somewhat less beaten down and easier path to picking up girls as well, as they are already having fun laughing and drinking (Ship the 2 drink minimum) and almost always go out right after to continue drinking since the comedy is done around 10 pm or so.

Anyways, I run home real quick and go back out to meet my roommate, roommates sister and her group of friends and the shots commence. I start drinking and talking with a couple of the (real) comedians that were there and discussing life on the road etc and learned a few interesting things about being a comedian. One being that you don't make very much money and you drive/travle A LOT. Two, you don't hook up with as many random girls at the club as I thought you would if you were a comedian. I mean girls like funny guys right, well.....these guys both agreed that the girls are interested for awhile but most of the time you just entertain them for an hour or two then they go hook up with someone else. These weren't two bad looking guys either, so I learned something new last night, in regards to comedy.

Also during this time my roommate had wandered over to the other side of the bar and started hitting on this, at the time I thought biggish girl. He comes back and I make him aware of his poor taste in girls to which he calls me a few names and tells me we can step outside if we need too blah blah, and I respond "I'll fight you but I don't wanna fight her, she would kick my ass". He is not pleased with this and shoves me and I spill Jaeger bomb all down my shirt and jeans and now look like I am newly lactating mother, which somehow ended up making for good conversation later with some girls.

Then, the decision is made to leave. On our way I overhear an odd discussion along the lines of "Can you see them, really?" "No, well kinda yeah". Me being the opportunist that I am, turn around and make some joke about secrets secrets and then Chloe Kardasian (Not really but looked alot like her, except skinnier and prettier, which I later brought up to this girl and she took it as a huge compliment) asks about her friends boobs and her friend asks if I can tell if she is wearing a bra, me being the......connesoueir if you will, immediettly respond with "No and you look very pretty in that dress". This conversation then turns into Chloe asking if I can see her friends nipples to which I insta-respond, yes, as it was a little chilly last night. Then, said bra-less, pretty nipple bearing girl says that she has band aids on to cover them up, but not just one, she says three. I ask if this is really true, she says yes and that she would show me but doesn't want to risk flashing me in public, I run so bad sometimes I swear.

Anyways, we all end up at the next bar and a few people are dancing and others have spread out and are getting hit on by guys. I'm just hanging out having a good time and then bring up that this girl looks like Chloe Kardasian, she is flattered and has to tell all her friends that I said that of course. We all talk/flirt for a few minutes etc and then its pretty much time to go home. I should end up seeing these girls and having a good time again before I move.

Unfortunatley I got just drunk enough to be hungover most of the day so far. I've only gotten in ~1200 hands and shipped a couple buyins. I only have ~6500 hands done for the month (shooting for 300k) and only have around 70k in 10 days for the challenge with Vanguard.

Prop bets I have going on this month:

100k hands pool (12 people I think)-$100/person

250k hands with Goosefrabba-$200

Most buyins per level total with Joey-$100
200 or 250k hands with Joey also-$100

I don't really expect to lose any of these nor make a bunch off these because everyone involved is very committed. I am looking forward to the extra motivation this month and really pushing myself before the big move.

One more day in August

One more day until September weeeeeee!! Crazy to think that summer is almost over and the time until I move is getting closer and closer. I've made my mind up that I am going to try and play at least 300k hands in September as I will have a few weeks in October to decompress nicely therefore burnout shouldn't be an issue.

This little hand challenge has lit a fire within me and I am becoming somewhat obsessed with poker again. It's a very similar feeling to when I first started playing online which is great because it is exactly how I should be. I play for a living and love my job therefore why shouldn't I be totally immersed and somewhat obsessive with playing, studying and talking about poker 24/7??

With no social obligations to distract me as well as no girls around I should be able to devote 100% of my time to poker this upcoming month and make the most of it. I'm really going to push myself and try and ship a $10k month, which can be done with a bunch of grinding and bonuses.

First week of Hand challenge over

The first week of the most hands in 2 weeks competition with Vanguard is over. I played ~53k which is definitely less than I wanted but I had alot of things in life going on. No excuses though and I'm gonna try and see if I can still hit 150k for the challenge. It is a a friendly thing, just a little extra incentive/competition to help the both of us grind out hands.

I made~$15 the first week which is really awful and one of the worst weeks I've ever had but it happens and I just kept chugging. I really appreciate the help from alot of guys giving advice and helping to keep me sane during this stretch.

One of my long time good friends is in town for his birthday tonight so I will be out celebrating tonight but do not have anything planned until the 20th of September. I fully intend on playing at least 300k hands next month and sort of need to to hit the 2k milestone for extra money to move. Playing a little over 50k hands this week gave me some inspiration and an idea that I can achieve at least 300k hands next month.

Let the games begin imo!!!!

Yesterday was grrrreaattttt

Yesterday was just the day I needed!! Started off stuck ~3 buyins and unded up winning over 15 to be up right around 12 bi's on the day....weeeeeeeeee!!! Sets started holding and over pairs stopped getting 2 outted and there were a ton of fish playing me HU (heads up) and SH (short handed) yesterday which was awesome.

I finally joined our group chat room yesterday and it is probably priceless. I was able to play 7k hands yesterday with ease and it helped keep me focused and fresh. All of the guys are great and its nice to talk to people from all over the world as well. This was my favorite hand from yesterday......its s SUPER standard hand.....I shoved turn for numerous reasons.

1. Villain had been very chatty towards me and was an absolute call station, therefore I figured he would call an overshove with any Ax type hand assuming I was bluffing, because afterall fish LOVE to call.
2. Villain typed "Just shove already".....so I obliged :)
3. Villain and I had been battling for awhile and he's the type of villain that loves to play big pots and thinks he can get under your skin.

***** Hand History for Game 32141866482 ***** (Poker Stars)
$25.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Friday, August 28, 12:12:27 ET 2009
Table Aretaon III (Real Money)
Seat 5 is the button
Seat 2: sebipokert ( $25.00 USD )
Seat 3: odi385 ( $44.10 USD )
Seat 4: XFreeShotX ( $25.70 USD )
Seat 5: Dashornman ( $53.45 USD )
Seat 6: seanshawn80 ( $24.75 USD )
Seat 7: Timonga ( $28.05 USD )
Seat 8: XXXXX ( $37.05 USD )
Seat 9: john1226 ( $25.65 USD )
seanshawn80 posts small blind [$0.10 USD].
Timonga posts big blind [$0.25 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Dashornman [ Jd Js ]
XXXXX calls [$0.25 USD]
john1226 folds
sebipokert folds
odi385 folds
XFreeShotX folds
Dashornman raises [$1.25 USD]
seanshawn80 folds
Timonga folds
XXXXX calls [$1.00 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 7d, Ah, Jh ]
bets [$0.25 USD]
Dashornman raises [$3.25 USD]
XXXXX calls [$3.00 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 9c ]
bets [$0.25 USD]
Dashornman raises [$48.95 USD]
XXXXX calls [$32.30 USD]
Dashornman wins $16.40 USD
** Dealing River ** [ As ]
XXXXX shows [5d, Ad ]
Dashornman shows [Jd, Js ]
Dashornman wins $71.45 USD from main pot

EV=ShouldaWouldaCoulda Graphs

Yesterday was going fairly well. I was having a solid grind all day long up ~$125 or so in 3-4 hours then disaster struck during my last sesh. Started my last sesh up ~a buyin and was on my way to having a great winning day, first time in awhile. Then in 1k hands I managed to run 5bi's below EV (Expected Value) and wipe away all of the days profits and end the day -$10 fing dollars......kafsnd;lgna;lkghn;lakrgnh.

I will try to clarify in words how much of a gut punch this is, especially considering how I've been running the past couple months. I'm down ~40 buyins in EV over my past 250k hands and its not like you just deserve to get those buyins back. To people who don't play poker, most just say "Oh well that's gambling, you can never win", which couldn't be further from the truth. Most winning players lose ~30-40% of the sessions they play, depending on stakes and length of sessions. Imagine going to your regular 9-5 desk job and 35% of the time your boss is going to dock your pay for trying/doing your best. Poker is very unique in the sense that we often associate reward or playing well with winning money, which isn't always the case. Therefore sometimes playing your best results in losing a large amount of money regardless.

Anyways, EV graphs and such are nice and might make some people feel better about their play but I have grown numb to them recently due to just seemingly always running bad (below EV). It's amazing how many guys I talk with about hands and they say "Thats standard" or "Wow, that sucks man" "How do you always run bad" etc. I will and do also acknowledge that I don't always play my best as well and part of "running bad" is playing bad. I know I have spewed a few buyins during this hand challenge.

I've never had a month where I was down money this late in the month or negative. It is just ridiculously sick how I can beat a stake for a year/1million + hands and then all the sudden 1 month just not win. I've tried to stay very positive throughout the month, take frequent breaks and do enjoyable things other than poker but I would be lying if I said it hasn't messed with my psyche or emotional state just a little. Poker is such a sick game and you have to be much more emotionally and mentally tough than most, even poker players, realize. Poker has helped make me a better person in the sense, that I've learned to deal and handle my emotions better but there are times like these when it is very tough.

I am not down and out by any means though. I woke up this morning, already started studying hands, reading the forum and getting in the mindset of playing the best poker I can play. I am still a very upbeat and happy person but the last couple weeks have really gotten to me. I have misplayed a few spots due to being a little tentative but overall I still think I am playing well and am looking forward to playing solid today.

Stopped downswing......for a minute

I dropped down and played a few K hands at 10nl. I ran breakeven and a few buyins below ev of course but it helped me get me back in the right mental state to start playing and winning again. Then I moved back up to 25 and shipped 4 buyins in ~2k hands and felt really great about my game. The second sesh in the afternoon yesterday I lost 5 buyins in ~1400 hands or so.......it's just so fing sick how many sets I flop where the villain flops a straight or turns a straight/flush and I can't fold at that point due to the amount of money already in the pot or villain is loosish etc...

This hand pretty much sums up my last session yesterday....There are a few interesting points in this hand. Villain was 17/17~30 hands short handed.

-I 3b because it was our first couple hands HU (Heads Up) and I wanted to see how villain would respond to 3bets and I thought I was 3betting for value against him.
-I definetly make the mistake of betting the flop. I fold out everything I beat and only get value from a couple draws such as AQ/AJ/QJ since we are kind of deep.
-The turn is just sick. I think c/shoving is probably best here long term but since we are still pretty deep I could maybe c/c here as well with it not being too awful because if villain has KK/TT/33 I doubt he is folding with the pot being so large and it being a backdoor flush draw that hits.

So I made 2 critical mistakes in this hand, leading the flop and leading the turn imo but once the spade hits on the turn I don't believe there is any way to get away from this hand.


***** Hand History for Game 32055970599 ***** (Poker Stars)
$25.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Tuesday, August 25, 06:43:16 ET 2009
Table Pollux II (Real Money)
Seat 9 is the button
Seat 7: Dashornman ( $34.95 USD )
Seat 9: ele11ven ( $37.05 USD )
ele11ven posts small blind [$0.10 USD].
Dashornman posts big blind [$0.25 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Dashornman [ Ts As ]
ele11ven raises [$0.65 USD]
Dashornman raises [$3.00 USD]
ele11ven calls [$2.50 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 3s, Kd, Th ]
Dashornman bets [$4.10 USD]
ele11ven calls [$4.10 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 8s ]
Dashornman bets [$12.30 USD]
ele11ven raises [$29.70 USD]
Dashornman calls [$15.30 USD]
ele11ven wins $2.10 USD
** Dealing River ** [ 4d ]
Dashornman shows [Ts, As ]
ele11ven shows [Kc, Ks ]
ele11ven wins $68.90 USD from main pot


Afterwards villain insta sits out and then proceeds to tell me he doesn't play HU. I tell him hes full of **** and that we have played a few hands already and played 3 handed for a few more hands as well. Basically, I don't care what you say villain but you def hit n ran me. Then he says something like "Thanks for getting the thread started" in reference to the 2+2 thread, petitioning for 50bb min tables and helping get them for the micros. I took this as a huge needle and a definite d-bag thing to say, as in thanks for getting these tables started because if you hadn't I wouldn't have stacked you.......oh well......plenty of villains like this and I normally end up getting the last laugh when people start things like this with me.


Overall my mental state is still pretty strong. I made a good quit yesterday after this hand and my friend Dan was here sweating me. Eventhough I was stuck 5 buyins I felt tilt starting to happen and just X'd out of Stars and went and had some dinner and discussed poker for awhile. I plan on playing a lot of hands today and don't have any other distractions, with friends coming over, errands or things to do around the apartment.

Stopped downswinging maybe????

Well, I continued to downswing yesterday, which put me in the red for the month. I haven't been in the red this late in the month ever but I am just gonna bear down and keep grinding, there is no other option. The graphy graph......fml....maybe it has bottomed out though....we shall see planning on at least 10k hands today. I am running ~7 buyins below ev of course but I always run below ev so that doesn't really bother me much.

I lost ~ another 4 buyins at the Quarter ($25 nl) in a few k hands in my first sesh and decided to drop down to 10NL. I haven't played 10nl seriously, for money EVER. I have dropped down a few times to try out things or build confidence when I'm running bad but it was something that had to be done in order to not bust my roll.

I cleared the $650 bonus last night as well and over the past few weeks have cashed out a good chunk of my roll to pay bills etc.......and just haven't made ANY money at all. I think I'm gonna play 10nl until I make 10 buyins and then move back up and start crushing the Quarter once again. The confidence I will gain, as well as analyzing my play will be priceless and I have no ego problems about dropping down. At the end of the day this is a job/career and it's all about making as much money as you possibly can.

****The show 2m2mm on G4 aired its second episode last night as well and was a very solid episode. It is a great insight into the high stakes poker world, yes it is glamorized for tv purposes but the group of 4 guys on the show portray the poker world very well imo. For those of you interested or curious about the poker lifestyle/world check it out on G4 sometime. It's also entertaining to watch young-mid 20 somethings spend as well as make absurd amounts of cash and just have fun.

Stop Loss.......for the loss

Yesterday started my hand volume prop bet with Vanguard. I played ~6300 hands and ended up hitting my stop loss, which forced me to quit. A stop loss is a number I have set for myself that if I hit, I quit playing no matter what. There is a certain pain threshold individual to each player. At that threshold it is pretty close to impossible to play your best game, therefore quitting is just best.

Conveniently as I was hitting my stop loss my roommate and friends came home/over and wanted to go out. It was nice to go out and have some drinks and get my mind off poker for awhile.

I went to church for the first time in years with some friends and their family this morning as well which was refreshing. I was able to relax and not really think about anything for a few hours which was very refreshing. It wasn't the spiritual enlightenment/reassurance that many receive from going to church but in a way it was my own version of that. I've had struggles over the years with religion in general due to various personal negative interactions and hypocrisies with important people in my life but haven't completely shut out the option in the future. I think it's important to keep an open mind in life in general.

Getting ready to start up the second day of the challenge and am aiming to play at least 7k hands today.

Graph so far......weeeeeeeee poker is fun.......~64% of the time ;). I don't think I've had a 6k hand stretch where I only stacked 1 full stack during that period ever.