Lacerated Cards

Breathing a little easier...sorta

2005-09-30T11:21:00.000-04:00

Sorry about the lack of updates. I have been insanely busy at work for the last week or so. Not much poker to speak of either, my wife's birthday was Wednesday so we had to have like 9 different celebrations.

The good news however, is that I've made a nice little rebound and am now sitting at $230 in my bankroll. Still not great, but far better than where I was. I've been playing the $11 SnGs on Empire pretty much exclusively. I like the quick structure, and the flat out madness of the players.

I'm almost done with the Matt Matros book. It's been very good so far, I think the book combined with my not playing as much poker lately has helped me really calm down and focus.

Now that Bash at the Boathouse is over, and I've missed it, I'm concentrating solely on trying to make it to Vegas in December. Hopefully not only will I be able to pay for my trip, but also take along quite a bit of spending money as well with Poker winnings. We will have to see, as I don't feel nearly that confident yet.

Not a whole lot of other stuff to say really, sorry for the lack of any real content. I promise to make it up to my 2 readers sometime this weekend with a decent post of some kind.

Make it stop...

2005-09-21T14:40:00.000-04:00

I've had some losing streaks before. I've had my bouts with variance before. I've seen a lot of pretty big downswings. None of that crap could have prepared me for the absolute ass-raping I've experienced over the past 5 days.

I sit here now with $144 in my bankroll. I've experienced the most ridiculous beats, the most intense tilt, and mass quantities of frustration. My game has gone to complete shit, and I'm just ready to be done with it. I'vew tried playing limit, I've tried playing no-limit. I've played SnGs, Multi-table Tournies. I've tried it all. I can't win at anything.

Just to give you an idea. Last night in a $25 NL game. I get pocket Kings UTG. I raise it up to $2. There is a raise and a re-raise after me. These are fairly typical $25 NL players, so I figure I've got the best hand here. We end up all-in on the Q high flop. Pocket Queens take down the $71 pot. The BB had pocket Aces. Pocket Kings, Queens, and Aces all in the same hand. This is the kind of shit that's been happening to me.

Another example in a $10 SnG. I get pocket 10s on the button. I raise to 200, 1 caller. I suspect he has AK. The flop is J high. I push, he calls. I was right, he has AK. The turn is a Q and the River is a 10 for his Runner Runner straight over my set. I can'take it anymore. My pocket kings go down to QJo when he spikes his 3rd Jack on the River. Aces cracked 4 times. It goes on and on. And now my bankroll is in utter disrepair. $144. My god.

I am going to keep at it, eventually thing have to go my way right? Right?

Bleh...

2005-09-16T13:40:00.000-04:00

Still sick. Still sucks. It couldn't possibly have anything to do with the mass quantities of beer I consumed at the Clutch show last night. Not at all.

Not played much poker recently. I did manage to lose my $100 buy in at Caribbean Sun before clearing the bonus. How sad is that? Those NL games are soft, I'm just an idiot. I did start up an Empire account finally. Deposited my $300 on Tuesday. I'm down about $40, but I feel better with a larger bankroll at my disposal. I forgot how insanely great the games were at the Party skins.

The reason for not much poker is two-fold. First, I'm sick. I hate being sick. I get all whiny and bitchy and I don't think clearly when playing so I just avoid it all together. Second, my mom showed up sort of unexpectedly on Wednesday night, so I've been pretty busy with her. My wife gets home tonight after being in St Louis for the last week for training. It'll be nice to have her home again.

I finished the Stu Ungar book. It was pretty depressing, and enlightening all at the same time. Great read, and good life-lesson. He won and lost over 40-million dollars in his career. Good fucking grief. I've started reading the Matt Matros book. I like the way it is written as it's sort of a hybrid between a strategy book and a story book. Easy to read for sure. I'm not too far into it, and the beginning of the book is definitely geared towards beginners, but I just enjoy reading the guy's stories from college and other life-experiences.

Some good news came out of me not being able to go to the Bash at the Boathouse. I can now go see Anthrax in Cleveland the night of the 24th with the original line-up. I know Al and Bad Blood will be proud of me as I am screaming for them to play Medusa from the crowd.

I feel so shitty for having to dip back into my 'regular' funds to replenish my bankroll. The good thing is that the money isn't that big a deal, but it's still frustrating that I've dropped almost the entire original $300 I deposited. That's poker I suppose. The way I lost my final $25 buy-in at Caribbean Sun was just more of the same stupid shit:

I was in MLP with A7 of diamonds. I limp, guy on the button raises to $1, 2 callers including myself. Flop comes Axx with one diamond. He bets $3 and I am the only caller. turn is another blank, and no diamond. I decide to make a stab at it and bet the pot. He takes an insanely long time to call, but does. I figure he has an ace with a weak kicker as well, so my rationale is that I am going to push him off the hand on the River no matter what. River comes Queen. I go all in for about $12, again he takes almost his entire allotted time to make a decision, and with so little time left I figure he is going to lay it down. He does not, and calls me with AJo. This is a classic mistake, and one I cannot seem to get away from. I could have folded to a large River bet easily and saved myself half my buy-in. But once again the poor decisons keep coming. I vow to turn this shit around.

I have a home game this weekend. It's with a bunch of guys I've never played with before and one of my friends. He says that there is one guy that is coming up from Georgia that is a HUGE donator. I hope to make up some of my losses then, after I see my Buckeye become victorious on Saturday afternoon. Until next time, good luck out there.

Uggg...

2005-09-13T10:07:00.000-04:00

I'm sick, being sick sucks. Being sick, and at work, REALLY sucks. But enough about me being a whiner, on with the content...er...sorda.

Had another winning day yesterday. When I say day I usually mean 'couple hour session'. Unfortunately I do not have a ton of time to play, which really makes losing difficult on me and my bankroll. It feels good to be playing No-limit again, full-ring games are a big change for me though as I've played mostly 6-max games recently. Calling raises with A7 is a bad idea, but at least it only took me a couple losses to figure that out again.

Busy as hell weekend. The Obituary/Napalm Death show was flat out amazing. Dead to Fall opened the show and they were just fine. Napalm Death played over an hour as did Obituary. My ears are still ringing, but it was WELL worth it.

Saturday was much drinking and Buckeye football. What an EXTREMELY frustrating game, I am overjoyed that this was not the weekend I decided to start betting on Football. OSU is a great team, IMHO they are far better than Texas. We should have won by 14 points, were it not for some extremely ill-timed dropped touchdown passes. Buckeye football is frustrating enough to kill a young man in his prime. I'm pretty sure I was near-death in the 4th Quarter Saturday night.

Unfortunately I am not going to be able to attend the Bash at the Boathouse due to an extremely inconvenient vacation that my boss is taking that weekend. Since I am on a small team it is impossible for me to be out the same time as another of my teammates. I told him to skip the cruise and come out to Philly with me instead, his dumbass turned it down.

So now I am focusing on December. Still going to try and win myself enough money to actually go on the trip. I'm up to a whopping $90 or so in the bankroll...ugg, how depressing heh. Wish me luck.

Pfft, you cannot leave that easily...

2005-09-09T10:33:00.000-04:00

So the other day Daddy tried to stop writing in his blog. Stupid ass should've known better. After many comments and some people holding their blogs hostage. Daddy is back! Go to his blog right now and read his 'come' back post.

In other news, I actually won last night. Nothing huge, but about 1 and a half buy-ins at the $25 NL tables at Caribbean Sun. I was patient and made some good plays, I was WAY overvaluing my open-ended straight and flush draws during my pitiful losing streak. Now that I think I've plugged that leak I can return to some normalcy around here. Don't count on it though. Mainly because...I'm not normal.

You know what, I'm having a good fucking day, Daddy is back. It's Friday. My boss just told me that I just got a fucking enormous raise that will take effect on my Oct 1st paycheck, instead of at the end of the year. Obituary and Napalm Death are in town tonight! AND, to top it all off, my Buckeyes play in what could be the biggest game of the season tomorrow night at 8pm vs Texas. I think I'll start drinking right now in preperation. Have fun, and GO BUCKS!!

An epiphany...

2005-09-08T10:53:00.000-04:00

Last night, while trying to get my new puppy to pee OUTSIDE instead of in the fucking house, I had an epiphany. I play poker like a retarded jackass. I don't know why, I just do it. I am tilting, I'm calling when I know I'm beat, I'm trying to get cute and bluff or slowplay at the micro-limit games. In short, I am doing EVERYTHING wrong.

With my bankroll hanging in the balance, I've got to figure something out, and quickly. I played a little $25 at Caribbean Sun last night. I actually did fairly well, ended up winning about $15, and then of course, losing it in a horrible crash-n-burn session that rivaled the Hindenburg. If I was capable of holding onto any winning sum for any amount of time, I wouldn't whine so much. Wouldn't that be nice?

So, I told my wife about the Vegas Gathering in December. She gave me "the look". which means if I am going to go it's going to have to be entirely funded by Poker Money. So I better get on the stick if I plan on going. Someone sign up for something under one of my affiliate links! It's for a good cause, or something...

So I am going to try and take my 60-some-odd dollars and turn it into a Vegas Trip. Wish me luck!

More of the same...

2005-09-06T18:30:00.000-04:00

So I decided to deposit another $100 this weekend into Caribbean Sun Poker. I got a killer Rakeback deal, so I'll probably be playing there quite a bit from now on. It's part of the Cryptologic family of sites, so a lot of Europeans play there. Great software in my humble opinion. The losing however, still continues.

I cannot seem to break out of my slump, first of all, I've been playing above my limit. $1/$2 limit is not the ideal game for a bankroll my size. Especially when said bankroll has shrunk below $100 total. Ouch. To be fair, I have taken some insanely brutal beats this weekend. It's certainly not doing anything for my self confidence, nor my bankroll.

I'd really like to concentrate on some Sit n Gos. It seems as though Caribbean Sun isn't quite as plentiful in the SnG department, so I've not been playing many. And my Stars bankroll is so low, and their SnGs so long, I just don't feel comfortable there. We'll have to see what the future holds.

I'm about three quarters of the way through the Stu Ungar book. It's been excellent thus far, I highly recommend picking it up. I'm trying to decide if I want to Al Can't Hang's bash at the boathouse party later this month. Philly is not too terribly far from me (about 500 miles), so I think I'd probably drive the whole way. Maybe I can convince Iggy to ride with me? I did not get a chance to go to the Vegas Gathering back in June, nor the Bradoween gathering last month. And from all the trip reports I've read from both events, I feel as though I'm really missing out. Besides, I need to sit down and have a musical discussion with Al and Bad Blood.

That's it for now. See ya at the tables!

Down the drain...

2005-09-02T13:09:00.000-04:00

As I slide further and further into bankroll disarray, I offer up this question. Why can't I fold when I know I am beaten? For whatever reason I just HAVE to see the cards. I have to experience the anguish firsthand, sometimes by calling 2 bets cold. It's just flat out assinine, and yet I still do it. Must...stop...the stupidity.

I played in a couple of sit n gos yesterday. I placed second in one with fairly solid play. And was literally running over the table in the second, I had a 3 to 1 chip lead on the ENTIRE table at one point. I finished 4th...story of my life I suppose. It was again a case of being unable, and I mean just flat out incapable of laying down hands when I know I'm beat.

I bought the One of a Kind: The Rise and Fall of Stuey "The Kid" Ungar book today. Can't wait to crack it open. He is easily the most fascinating man to ever play this silly game.

Not much more to talk about really. I plan on playing in the New Orleans relief tournaments on Pokerstars, so hope to see you all there. It IS afterall, for a good cause, and you get to play some poker while you're at it.

I don't even know what to say...

2005-08-31T15:23:00.000-04:00

Obviously, since I haven't written a post in about 5 months, I've been a bit busy. Maybe more than a bit, but I digress.

I've recently gotten a chance to get back into poker. Lets just say its certainly had its ups and downs. I actually managed to win a 250+ person tournament on Poker Stars about a month ago for a $353 win. Not bad for my $5 investment. I promptly took my entire roll to Vegas (about $1000, started with $200) and lost all but $200 of it drinking, playing blackjack, eating, and just general retardation over the 7 days and 6 nights I spent there. Wasn't too bad, considering my entire trip was funded by Poker money.

Since returning, I've deposited that $200 back into Poker Stars. I managed to work it up to about $300 playing $1-$2 6 max Limit tables. I then immediately managed to lose all of my winnings plus about $70. So here I sit with $130 to reflect on just how poor my game has become.

I know now that last month's fluke winnings were just that, a fluke. Good run of cards, whatever you want to call it. I'm not even half the poker player I was a year ago, and that is a big wake up call, because I wasn't THAT good back then. I've spent a lot of time this week reading a lot of the 'blogs linked over there on the right. I sure did miss reading those guys and gals, and it got me thinking about trying once again to become serious about my poker game and attempt the limit climb once again.

So here I am, $130 to my Poker name, and trying to move up the ladder. Now that I've taken a much, much, MUCH less stressful job, I should have plenty of time to devote to learning and re-learning many of the things necessary to becoming a winning player. Hopefully I won't bore you too much along the way.

Don't call it a comeback...

2005-03-26T12:04:00.000-05:00

I know it's been a long time since I posted, but to say I've been busy would be a mild understatement. My first day of my on-call rotation started the day after my last post, 90+ hours of work and a lot of sleepless nights later, here I am. What a week, I bet I could sleep for a month and not notice.

Anyhow, on to poker. I was down to my last $50 not too awful long ago. I've made a nice comeback in the little time I've been able to play. Back up to $200. I've been playing the $1/$2 Shorthanded games on Party. These games are a freaking goldmine, but high variance is the rule of the day. If you can just persevere against what will be the inevitable bad beats you can easily clean up here. Of course, I have no business playing in these games with my current bankroll, but I'm hoping to keep the streak alive long enough to where I'm comfortable.

I've got to go back into Poker Tracker and change my auto rate rules and modify them for shorthanded play. Previously I just used the rules that were recommended by the awesome Poker Tracker Guide, but I guess now I'll have to actually use my brain and make some modifications since their rules are more geared towards full ring games.

At work we just started a new on-call rotation, so no more pager for me for 4 weeks! I'm so excited I can bareley see straight. That plus the fact that I'll be making my reservations for Vegas tonight makes me a happy camper. Hopefully I can turn around and get myself a decent bankroll by the time that trip rolls around. See you all at the tables.

Let the Madness begin...

2005-03-15T13:35:00.000-05:00

I love this time of year. I mean what’s better? You got Baseball Season starting, the NBA is starting to look ahead to the playoffs which are in the near future, and of course the NCAA Basketball tournament. Yep, March is the best month of the year for sports. I love every minute of it. Unfortunately I’ve not had a lot of time to do significant research for filling out my brackets. Hopefully tonight I will have some time while watching the Play-in game. I was hoping that Boy Genius would put some opinions up on his blog about who he’s picking and why, since he is far more adept at sports betting than I will ever be.

Had a fairly decent weekend at the tables. Won 2 Sit n Gos, but lost 3. I was up to about $140 at one point, but I ended up dropping about $30 on a Stud table. What was I thinking? Ugg. I know there is some money to be made in other games aside from Hold ‘em because a lot of the players are like me and have no real clue what to do. I will take advantage of this some day, preferably when the bankroll is actually healthy.

I didn’t get a chance to play in the HORSE tournament on Sunday. Mainly because I didn’t want to make a small deposit and waste the 100% bonus I have coming to me. When (if) the bankroll hits $600 I will take full advantage of that. Instead of playing in the tourney I went and played Basketball with my friends. I used to really be into sports when I was in high school, but since my shoulder surgery in 2001 I’ve been what you might call “inactive”. There’s probably a really good reason for this, as today pretty much every muscle in my body aches. I didn’t even know I HAD muscles in some of the places that hurt. I ended up getting sever cramps in both of my calf muscles and actually had to be carried off the court. Luckily it was the last game of the night, so I didn’t feel like too much of a pansy. I’m pretty sure Bad Blood would have been laughing hysterically at me. I did hit a total bullshit luck shot to win one of the games, and that was my 30 seconds of fame for the night.

I wish I had something profound to write about, but I don’t. I’ve not put in enough time at the tables to start getting all profound on everyone. Hopefully sometime this week I’ll spew some more useless rhetoric. Until then, if anyone knows of the best place to make some bets online for some of the basketball games, please let me know. See ya at the tables.

I've always wondered...

2005-03-09T13:23:00.000-05:00

When I’m on my death bed, will all the images I’ve forgotten come back to me in a flurry of life? Is that what people mean when they say their life flashed before their eyes? I ask this silly question, because I really don’t remember a whole lot about this past weekend.

Friday was my Birthday Party, all my friends showed up for some drunken debauchery and Poker. Everything was just fine until the “Crown Connection” as I like to call him, showed up. Every year a good friend of mine gives me a nice big bottle of Crown Royal for my birthday. Usually it lasts me the whole year, because I’m not a big whiskey drinker. Not this year baby. As soon as everyone was just a little bit toasty, the shots began to flow like water. Needless to say, I think I need to work on my tolerance. My wife told me about the events that preceded my passing out and throwing up. Apparently, I was playing with my chips, and looking at my cards trying to make a decision. I suddenly looked up and my eyes got real wide. She said I got real pale, and I immediately leaped out of my chair and over my friend and hauled ass upstairs. Approximately 30 minutes later my wife found me on my knees, with my head on my arm, passed out on the toilet. So I’m kind of wondering, if when I die, if my last images will be random moments when I’m praying to the porcelain God?

Enough of me being a retard. I played a little Poker this weekend after recovering from the debauchery of Friday. I continued to lose. I played a Sit n Go, played weak-tight and made 4th. I’m getting quite gun-shy with my new and un-improved bankroll. I need to do some serious studying I think before returning to the tables. I’ve spent a lot of time getting back into the things I used to do more often before I became enamored (obsessed?) with online poker. I got a bunch of new video games for my Birthday, so I’ve been trying to spend some time playing those. Basically, anything to clear my head of poker. I definitely think it’s time for a totally fresh approach. I plan on reading through Small Stakes Hold ‘Em. Finally picking up Super System 2 and reading it, and applying the knowledge in the Poker Tracker Guide to my game. Hopefully it will work out for me. My goal is to get a nice bankroll together for the Vegas trip in June, which I’ve officially RSVPed for. I can already feel my liver quivering in fear.

Last night was the Slipknot/Lamb of God/Shadows Fall show. Was a GREAT time. Shadows Fall’s set was too short, and they didn’t play anything off “Of One Blood” which pissed me off to no end since I love that album. Lamb of God however, absolutely demolished the entire arena. My neck is a wee bit sore this morning after all the thrashing like a maniac I did last night. Slipknot was amazing, they always put on a good show anyway, but with an entire Arena to themselves, they really shined. They played about an hour and a half and I heard pretty much every song I wanted to hear. Was a great time, and well worth the money. The new Bloodbath album and the new Impaled album came out yesterday. I recommend that you immediately run out and purchase them both. You should be able to find both at Best Buy since they are on Century Media.

I think that’s about it from me today. Good luck out there.

One year older...

2005-03-04T13:38:00.000-05:00

I truly don't think I'm any wiser. Especially after the beating I've taken at the tables over the last week. It's like I've gotten it into my head that whatever cards I hold, as long as they catch something on the flop, they're good. This is incredibly bad thinking. I'm sure it has quite a bit to do with why my bankroll is sitting at $129.65. Yep, $129. I was up to almost $500 4 weeks ago. I'm not exactly sure what happened, but here I sit, wondering if I should continue to even try.

Losing, in its purest form, is the most frustrating thing on the planet. I don't mean just at cards either. I'm really sort of lost right now as far as my game is concerned. I need to have some kind of confidence builder come along, and soon.

Tonight is the Party that my wife is throwing for my Birthday. We're going to have a Poker tournament. So I can hopefully feel much better about my game after that is all over. If you read back you'll see just how much money I've won off my friends in recent weeks. Hopefully the trend will continue.

I worked my fool ass off on Wednesday to try and get all my work done before I went on my mini-vacation. You know, the one where I sit on my ass and do some honest relaxing. I took yesterday and today off, and it's been nice to not have been going 900 miles an hour for these 2 days. Anyhow, not a whole lot to say. Hopefully, I'll start winning again and I won't whine so much. Don't count on it though. Good luck out there.

Make the bad man stop...

2005-03-01T08:44:00.000-05:00

Well, I've lost approximately $150 in the last 4 days. It's not been pretty. Serious tilt kicking in, and if it hadn't been for all the fun I've been having at blogger tables, I'd be seriously disgusted right now.

Started playing Limit ($1/$2) again, was doing fairly well my first two sessions, won 5 and 6 BBs respectively. On my third session, I was about about 10bbs, and then something happened. It's like I suddenly became completely retarded. Not only did I lose what I had won thus far, but I tilted away almost my entire buy-in. I could even feel my brain go into full on tilt mode, but I couldn't make myself get up and just stop playing. Uggg, I gotta work on that self control. All I can think about is how high my bankroll was 2 weeks ago. If I'm not careful I'll piss the whole thing away.

I've REALLY been having a good time at the blogger tables. I played an O8 Hi/Lo table with Al and lost most of my buy-in. But the entertainment was well worth it. My theory is, that <Al started drinking so much while playing one night that he started seeing double at the Hold 'Em tables. And naturally just moved to Omaha due to the "comfort" of 4 cards. While playing at this table, 2 days in a row mind you, there was this one woman named PokerBobbie. I think she's stalking Al. She would chase flushes all day, and hit flushes all day. It was unbelievable, she sucked out so many player's buy-ins. Bigtime fish, and Al respectfully asked us not to tap the aquarium so hard, but damned if it isn't frustrating watching someone else hit miracle after miracle.

Played a little No-Limit style blogger table. Benn playing with SirFWALGMan a lot. We're kindred spirits, he and I. Mainly because we both like to whine a whole hell of a lot about our declining bankrolls and bad beats. However, we both have a good time at the tables, and that's what counts. Also met a really cool guy named Bob, I think he knows Al in real life or something. Either way he's a damn funny dude and went out of his way to tell everyone at the table last night that he was a Shark. It's unfortunate that the Shark got fished out of his buy-in by Mr ATM Big Stack. God that guy was an ass. I don't even remember his name, but SirFWALGMan kept calling him "usmoron", so I'm guessing it was something similar. I will continue to play and lose money at these tables, I consider it an entertainment expense.

So, Iggy and Hank have put out a new eBook about how to use Poker Tracker. I've used Poker Tracker for a long time, but I know I've not used it to it's full potential. I'm quite glad to 2 well known figures within the blogging community have decided to put this out. I've already ordered my copy, and eagerly await my access code so I can start trying to put it to good use. You can check it out here.

I think that's all for now. My birthday is Thursday, so if you want to send me some money to suppliment my bankroll that'd be great! Also, next Tuesday is the Slipknot/Lamb of God/Shadows Fall show. I'm quite excited about that. Other than that, everyone have a good time out there.

But, I had the Nuts one card ago...

2005-02-24T14:19:00.001-05:00

Holy crap. CJ over at Up For Poker just announced when the next Live Blogger Tournament is taking place. Saturday June 4^th, in Fabulous Las Vegas at the Aladdin. I’m so there! Who cares if my 5 year wedding anniversary is a scant 6 days later? I can work this out. I can fly out on the 3^rd, and leave on the 5^th! I can do this! Can’t I? We’ll have to see what the wifey says, but I’m fairly certain that as long as I can make it back in time to go on whatever Vacation she has planned for our Anniversary, I can go. Two Vegas trips in one summer? I’m not sure my Liver can hold up. It sure would be nice to at least TRY.

So, I’m walking around work today, and I happen to peer into this guy’s office. He has one of those foldout putting greens laid out on his floor, and he’s putting into it from across the room while having an obviously very important meeting on his speakerphone. I want this guy’s job, and I suck at Golf.

I’ve not played much poker recently, which is a goddamn shame. I just haven’t had the couple hours to set aside to play. The last time I played I got 4^th in a sit n go, then decided to fire up the $25 No Limit Table. I was only playing about 10 minutes when I catch QJo in my small blind. About 5 limpers and I complete. Flop is 8 9 10 Rainbow. Sooo lovely. I check to try and induce some bets and slowplay. Dude 2 to my left bets out $3. I just smooth call along with 2 others. Turn is an 8, flashing lights and stop signs and every other warning sign you can think of begin going off in my head. I check and the guy 2 to my left pushes all in, he has me covered. Everyone folds around to me and I call. The River is a blank. He flips up 89o for the Turned Full House. FUCK! I’m not sure there was much more I could do about this, but damned if it wasn’t frustrating as all hell.

I’ve been seriously considering going back to Limit play. It seems like so much more of a grind, but my success in the past has been pretty good. I still have yet to understand why so many of the fish play Limit, when it’s all No-Limit on TV. At least I can’t lose my whole buy-in in one hand. I still feel most at home in the Sit n Gos. I seem to do really well in those, even if my results are a bit streaky.

I still haven’t cracked open Super System 2. I suck. What can I say? I am really considering moving my roll to Full Tilt to try and clear that 100% bonus they’ve got going on. I also do not have an Empire Poker account yet, I’ve been seriously thinking of playing over there, but I want to get a Rakeback deal going. Anyone got any idea how to accomplish that? I just feel like I’m throwing away so much money not having one of these deals going on Party.

Not much else going on, I’ve bought a bunch of CDs this week. Including Kreator’s new one: Enemy of God. What a fantastic record, a throwback to 80s thrash metal. Makes me feel young again. My birthday is next Thursday, I’ll be 28 years old. My wife was going to fly me out to Vegas as a surprise, but she isn’t able to go due to her new job. So instead, she is planning a Vegas style party at our house. I’ll be having a poker tournament and lots of booze. Which would pretty much be what I would be doing in Vegas anyway, so no loss right? Besides, now I’ve got 2 trips planned to the city of Sin this year, so I’ll live.

Make sure you guys go check out Iggy’s reposting of the probably the best Trip Report I’ve ever read. I seriously had tears in my eyes from laughing so hard at that story. It’s long but well worth your time. I don’t really have much else to say. I’ve noticed a lot of Bloggers going through some downtimes lately. A lot of people getting fed up with the grind, or losing their whole roll in some cases. I hope everything turns around so that all can be right with the world again. I wish I could be all profound with my writing like most of these people are, but I can’t. So I wish them luck so they’ll continue to write. Check them all out on the right over there. Talk to you all soon.

Life sucks...

2005-02-18T15:57:00.000-05:00

Many apologies for not posting at all in the last 7 days. Life has taken a turn for the worse, and I'm still reeling.

Last Friday, I went out for a few beers, and afterwards, some Steak n Shake goodness. While I was munching on my buger, I had a sudden wave of dizziness, which often means I am about to catch one hell of a cold. Sure enough, the next day, I wake up with a 100 degree fever and I'm pretty sure somewhere along the way I've coughed up several vital organs. Every year I get like this at least once, coughing up a lung and feeling pretty much like shit for at least 2 weeks. Unfortunately this is my SECOND bout with this hell this year, so I finally relented and went to the doctor. Sure enough, like it's some sort of shock, I have Bronchitis, which can develop into pneumonia if I'm not careful. So I'm taking care of myself properly now.

You must of course realize that this plight would NOT stop me from going to the Suffocation show this past Monday. You know you've married the right woman when you tell her that you're going to see a Death Metal show on Valentine's day, and all she does it shrug and say, "We'll celebrate when you're feeling better". I do love her quite a lot folks. The show btw, was fantastic, but WAY too long. There were something like 6 bands, all good, but man. The length of the show, combined with the 2 hour drive just wears your ass out.

Now on to my sad news. Monday morning when I came into work, I received a message that a woman I used to work with in my former position died the night before. She was 38, had 2 young children, and a husband. She died from pneumonia. I JUST saw her on Friday night when I stopped by work, and she didn't look so good. I remember telling her that she should go home and take care of herself. Sunday comes and she's dead. Dead. 38 years old. Unfuckingbelievable. I JUST saw her.

Life isn't fair folks, good people die every day. I went to the funeral today, I don't like funerals. I haven't been to one since I was in high school. But this was a special lady, I'm really gunna miss her. It's odd, standing there, in the middle of 100 people who all look like a deer in headlights. This was all so sudden, it can't be real can it? She's not really dead is she? Where is the woman who would stroll by my desk and sing Kenny Roger's "The Gambler" to me when she saw me reading Poker Books? Where is the lady who gave me a literal can of "Whoop Ass" to take up and put on my new desk in my new position? This is the same woman who tried to convince me that I should have children with my wife if for no other reason so I can bring someone new into the world with some good taste in music. Deb was a great person, a great friend, wife, mother, and sister. I'm really going to miss her.

Go home tonight and hug your wife, kids, dog, mom, whoever. Just realize that at any second it can all go away, and that you should cherish the time you have with them now.

I'm going to lie down now, I'm mentally and physically exhausted. Talk to you all soon.

What a week...

2005-02-11T16:18:00.000-05:00

Crazy ass week this week, sorry for the lack of posts, but life happens.

Work has been flat out insane. I came to the realization the other day that I truly regret accepting this new position last fall. Ten times more work plus being on call for a 3% raise? Not a smart move on my part at all. I feel like I've pissed away a year of my life, since that's how long I have to wait before transferring to another position within the company. I'm sure I'll manage through it, but it still sucks.

So what do I do to cheer up? Go spend the money I won last weekend!! I bought all kinds of stuff, like:

Heaven Shall Burn - In Battle...
Dry Kill Logic - The Dead and Dreaming
Bury Your Dead - Cover Your Tracks

Napolean Dynamite widescreen DVD
Mr. 3000 Widescreen DVD
Harold and Kumar go to White Castle widescreen DVD

Not a bad haul if I do say so myself, especially in the music department. My god, all 3 of those albums are amazing. I was in a comedy mood when I ended up in the DVD section at Best Buy, as you can tell.

So Tuesday night, I finally got to play at a Blogger Table! I played with Maudie, Sean, CJ,, BG, and all sorts of others. Was a really damn good time, even if I did drop 2 buy-ins. I even gave Maudie one of those buy-ins when her set took out my TPTK. I had so much fun, I played again on Wednesday, although not with as many people this time around. I ended up losing again on that table, but it was only $5 or so.

My online results have been absolutely atrocious lately, if it hadn't been for the live game I had last night and the one on Superbowl Sunday, I'd be seriously depressed. I haven't climbed out of the hole I created for myself last Sunday just yet, but rest assured, I'm working on it. Last night was a nice $86 win at my live game. I think I'll hold onto my winnings from that one, as I may need it sooner than I want to replenish my online bankroll.

This weekend is going to be crazy with work, and Valentines Day coming up. My wife and I decided to do the whole Valentines Day thing on Sunday, which is awesome! Now I'm free on Monday night to drive up to Cleveland and see Suffocation and Behemoth play at the House of Blues! Woo Hoo!! That'll be a Love-fest for sure hah.

Not a whole lot else to say really, go send Iggy some positive vibes, as he seems to be going through a rough patch in his life. Hopefully my pager will stay quiet enough this weekend to actually let me get some Poker in. Talk to you all soon, and good luck out there!

Where to begin?

2005-02-07T18:56:00.000-05:00

I'm still in full-on recovery mode at this point after what was a CRAZY ass weekend in all aspects of my life. I think perhaps the smartest thing I've done in recent memory was to pre-emptively schedule a vacation day for today. The conversation went something like this:

Me: Is it cool to sort of pre-emptively schedule a vacation day on short notice?

Boss(Who lives right outside of Philly): Like what day, and for what?

Me: The insane Super Bowl party I am going to be attending, and Monday, because I'm not so sure I'll be able to stand up that morning.

Boss: Oh hell, I doubt I'll be here either, so yeah it's cool.

It's nice to have a Football fan for a boss, it's even nicer when HIS team is playing in the Big Game. Now, on to the weekend:

Friday was actually a fairly easy day at work, for which I was truly grateful. I slept a total of maybe 16 hours since the previous Thursday. So I was all too happy to surf all the great poker blogs I have linked up, and just basically take it easy. It's been wierd getting adjusted to my new position, but Friday definitely helped. I had lunch with a Team that I work with on a regular basis, and they're all very cool outside of work. We all hit it off so well, we ended up at Applebee's for Happy Hour. It was nuts, I felt like I had been transported to 6th grade, only there was beer there! A good time was had by all.

Saturday was my planned take it easy day. Which is a damn good thing, since I had a wicked hangover from the night before. I knew that the Poker/Superbowl party I had planned on Sunday was just going to kick my ass, so I was trying to get fully recovered. My wife and I went shopping and hit up Barnes & Noble. I got Super System 2, and a fiction novel about a poker player called Improbable, by Adam Fawer. Those crafty bastards at Barnes & Noble put it in the middle of a display where Super System 2 was, so I was forced to buy it. Forced I say! It's halfway decent so far, although most of the Poker Content so far has been far too "Hollywoodish" for me. But, it seems to present an interesting story. I haven't even cracked open Super System 2. I hope to do a review sometime in the near future.

Sunday, the big day, I woke up far too early, as I had gone to bed Saturday at like 11:30pm from just being exhausted. I got up and played some video games, and then decided to log on to Party Poker! I played a couple SitnGos, I took some insanely wicked beats all weekend in these things. In the 5 I played, I only came in 3rd in one. Ugg. I did however, do fairly well in the $25 NL games. I had even brought myself into the positive at one point, but was disgusted at the lack of money finishes in the SnG realm. I was just about to log off, but decided to check my buddy list to see if anyone was on. Turns out BadBlood was on and playing 2 NL $50 6 Max tables. I had said to myself that I was just going to watch him play for a bit. Of course I ended up sitting down. Did fairly well at first, then I lost over half my stack when my set of 8s ran into a set of Jacks. I was going to try and just get back to even and then log off, but then my Pocket Jacks ran into pocket 9s, which became a set on the Turn. Uggg, $50 down the drain, as if my bankroll wasn't short enough. That'll teach me to play above my means. It WAS cool playing with BadBlood though. We both expressed that there needs to be more Poker Bloggers into Metal.

Funny thing is, I was pretty upset at losing that money, but when I analyzed it later, I got all my money into the middle when I had the best hand. That's really all you can ask for in Poker. I'm actually fairly happy with my play, just not the results. After I logged off, I decided to download the FullTilt software. It looks pretty cool, just not nearly enough players. But that %100 bonus is almost too good to pass up. I am thinking of switching sites to try and clear the bonus there. We'll see how that goes.

The Poker/Superbowl party started at 1pm. I arrived shortly after, and no one was there except myself and the host. No biggie, I helped him get the MASSIVE Taco Bar set up, and the Keg tapped. We sat around and shot the shit about the game, and about Poker strategy. We got started around 2:30pm with 8 people. The format was cash game, $20 buy in, $.25/$.50 blinds, re-buy as many times as you like. And re-buy many many people did. I'd estimate that we had probably $400 total when all was said and done. I walked home with $164. For a cool $124 profit. Had some very big hands to help me walk away with all that cash. One guy, Phil, was just flat out running over the table, and started muscling people around with a rather ample stack of chips. I started calling him Punxsutawney Phil, like the groundhog in groundhog day, because he was just beating us over and over. So first big hand, I find A 10o on teh Button and raise it up to $2, only Phil calls. The Flop is 2 10 J rainbow. I figure I'm in pretty good shape here, so I bet out $2, Phil calls. The Turn is a K. Now I'm a bit afraid, there are a million hands he could have, but with as much as he's been pushing the whole table around, he could easily have just a pocket pair. I try and take the pot down right here and throw out a $10 bet. Phil smoothly calls, and now I'm quite afraid. The River is a blank, and I weakly check. The board reads 2 10 J K x. I weakly check, and Phil nochalantly pushes all-in. I go into the tank, I'm almost positive he doesn't have a Jack. I rule out AQ. But he could have any King, perhaps even K 10. Although, Phil has been pushing around, and has not gotten called one time on any of his all-ins. I say "fuck it" and call him, he flips over pocket sixes. I drag the $70 or so pot. I'm not so sure this was the right move, but I'm certainly glad it proved to be the right read on him.

Another big hand was when I hit a flush on the Turn and the other guy made Trip Aces. That pot ended up being around $90. We finished up soon after that. I don't remember much of the actual Super Bowl. It was a much better game than most of the country expected, which I am always grateful for. the Eagles' time management at the end of the game was TERRIBLE. I'm really not sure what happened there. A great effort was made by both teams, and I had a blast watching them. Hopefully, for Al's sake, Philly will make it back next year.

Stopping at a green light...

2005-02-03T17:32:00.000-05:00

Has this ever been you while you're in the car? "The light is fucking GREEN!!" That was me today on my way home from a hellish on-call week at work. There I was stopped in the middle of the road, wondering why in the holy hell we are not moving when the light looks pretty fucking green to me. I look into the sideview mirror to my right, and notice that there is a gap coming up, and I can probably sneak into that lane and make the light to get on the freeway before it turns red. Of course, I hesitate, and I miss the light. This reminds me a lot of my poker game in it's current form.

Trying to learn the art of the No-Limit Cash Game has not been an easy task for me. Granted, I've not played too terribly many hands, but I'm down overall. I can never seem to push my advantages, and know how to get out of a hand when I am at a disadvantage. The main problem I am having, is playing too much like I would in a tournament. I get frustrated by people who play crap cards, suck out on me, then lose my money to someone else. I also hate doubling up on someone, and it doesn't force them to leave the table. I love the elimination aspect of tournaments.

The other night, I started out my session with 2 Black Kings, I ended up doubling through a guy with Pocket 10s. I then proceeded to get FAR too comfortable and pissed all of it away, including my intial buy-in. How is it I can be so patient when playing a SnG or Multi-Table-Tournament? I can't seem to hold onto any kind of real win in the cash games for more than a dozen hands. Perhaps I should switch to a style composed of hit-and-running different tables. I dunno, I think perhaps I am just whining. Again.

I was reading Pauly's blog today, and he gave some pretty good advice to those of us starting with new blogs. It occurred to me that I've never really explained my screenname. So I figured at least someone might care. So, here it goes:

Back in 1986, when I was the wee age of 9, my older brother worked at a Tape World in the Mall. I was really into music back then, mostly Rap. My brother brought home Metallica's Master of Puppets album on Vinyl one day. He handed it to me and said, "You've got to hear this." And hear it, I did. Kind of like Wesley Snipes, when he tells Woody Harrelson in White Men Can't Jump: "You can't hear Jimmy". Well, I could by god fucking hear Metallica, and it was good. This started a long, and glorious love for Heavy Metal music. But I digress. Slayer's Reign in Blood album, which coincidentally, was released the same year, also made it's way into my hot little hands. There is a line in the song Raining Blood that goes: "Raining Blooooooood, from a lacerated sky...". I don't know why, but that line was ALWAYS stuck in my head, and I thought it made a good name. I used to name my D&D characters some variation of it, my BBS name for years was "laceratedsky". It's just kind of stuck with me. So I guess that's my...errr...story?

Anyhow, like I said. it's been a hellish week, and boy am I glad that I'm not on call for whole week! I haven't played poker since the home game on Saturday. So I'm looking forward to getting some hands in. The same bunch of guys are having a Poker tournament on Sunday at 1pm, then we'll be watching the Superbowl. I'm very much looking forward to it. Hopefully I'll be able to post more often as well, now that the pager is set to "off" mode. Good luck out there!

Home Game re-cap...

2005-01-31T19:23:00.000-05:00

Whew, what a weekend. Crazy ass weather, all night work phone calls, and an insanely loose/aggressive homegame, and oh so very much beer. My head is still freakin' pounding 2 days later.

On to the game. As you know(all 2 of you), I had a home game to go to on Saturday night. I've been going to this game off and on over the last 6 months, it's certainly not a regular occurrence, but it's ALWAYS crazy. So off I go, to the west side of town to pick up a friend. Little did I know that it was supposed to snow like a mofo out here. What I truly love about the snow is that it turns my car into a 2000lb snow sled, which is oh-so-good for the blood pressure. To top it off, on my way there I get paged for work (yeah, I'm still on call). As I am turning on my friend's street, my car decides it wants to keep going straight, I almost end up in someone's yard, and I yelp out "oh shit" on a conference cxall full of co-workers and management types. Nice huh?

So after surviving my near-death experience, I pick up my friend and deicde to take it pretty slow to get to the game. My slow speed made us about 20 minutes late, but it was no big deal. They were all playing Tiger Woods 2005 on the Playstation 2 for $1 a hole. Damn degenerates. As an aside, I purchased the game on Sunday in order to try and take their money in the future.

The format is pretty simple, $10 buy-in, No-limit, Cash game. 1 $.25 blind(we only had 4 colors of chips damnit.) I know everyone there, there is only one other decent player aside from myself, and some, like my buddy, who have only played Hold 'em once before. I settled in for a lot of folding, and a lot of drinking.

I suffered my first horrendous beat in the form of AK going down to J2o. No biggie, pretty damn funny actually, as the guy didn't even realize he had 2 pair when a 2 spiked on the River. I drank copious amounts of Sam Adams Light, and played some dubious hands from some dubious positions. My poor buddy, was one of those "gotta keep you honest" types. He saw a lot of people bluffing early, and started calling them down later on in the night, when it should have been an obvious fold. I tried to tell him after we left that if he is going to try and bust someone bluffing, don't try it with 10 high.

Later on, I limped in from UTG with A4 of clubs. Guy on the button raises to $1 and I call. Flop is a lovely K of clubs Q of clubs and 7 of clubs. Nothing quite like flopping the nut flush against a pre-flop raiser. I check the flop, dude bets $5, I smooth call. Turn is a blank, he bets big again, something in the neighborhood of $7. I call. I think I maybe should have pushed here, but I wanted to try and extract more out of his, what-I-thought-tobe AK. River is another King. The idea that he has KQ briefly pops into my head, but I dismiss it. He bets like $5, I come over the top all in and he gleefully calls to show me his KQo for the Rivered Full House. Uggg, REBUY!

I made it all back, and came away with about $25 more than I started with. I had a really great time, my friend had a really good time, and even though he was down $30 early in the night, he battled back to win about $5.

On my way home, I was paged by work. Trying to drive in all the snowy weather and talk on the phone after having a few beers is NOT easily accomplished, or recommended for that matter. I ended up getting home around 2am where I promptly logged onto the laptop to help troubleshoot an issue until 9:00am in the morning. And I wonder why I have a fucking headache today?

See you all soon, good luck out there.

Home game madness...

2005-01-29T14:30:00.000-05:00

Well, had a pretty decent run the last couple days in the $10+$1 SnGs at Party. Won 2 last night and placed second in one today. I really wish I could fins more time to play. I've also been tossing around the idea of playing more than one at a time. I used to multi-table back when I was playing limit, but I find my concentration lags a bit if I am playing more than one table No-Limit.

I decided to start playing the $25 NL tables. I suck at cash games, always have, but I really want to use this to help with my bankroll. My style of play is much more suited to the No-Limit format. So far I've lost one and a half buyins. Not great, but I'm sure it will come around.

I've been invited to 2 home games this week, one is tonight, and one is in the near future. Tonight's game is one I've played in off and on for quite some time. They all play like complete maniacs, and it's actually more of an excuse to drink copius amounts of beer, which I am completely fine with, trust me. The other game is with a bunch of guys from work, who I do not know very well. They saw me surfing poker blogs, and asked me if I played, to which I happily responded yes. Seems like these guys religiously watch the WPT, so it should be interesting.

It's been a hellish week at work this week, I'm glad it's the weekend. I have been trying every night this week to find a Blogger NL Table on Party. But, I don't have many blogger names in my buddly list. Plus I have to go to bed probably too early to play, but I still look.

Been spending a lot of time listening to old music lately, stuff I haven't listened to in years, because I've been trying to import all 2000 of my CDs into my iPod, I've been dusting off some of the old classics. Feels good to listen to some of that music, I get some very vivid memories from some it. Quite nostalgic. Overkill's "I Hear Black", reminds me of the very first time I was in Vegas. I bought the tape while I was there in 1993, and it vividly reminds me of walking through Circus Circus before I was old enough to Gamble.

I've spent the last couple days desperately trying to convince my boss to fly me out to Wilmington, DE next weekend. They're right across the way from Philly, and I can only imagine the party that will be happening out there on Superbowl Sunday. It's pretty cool having co-workers out there, my boss included, as the Eagles fever is very catchy.

I think that's about all for today, talk to you soon, good luck at the tables.

Of work and cards...

2005-01-27T20:54:00.000-05:00

So, I wake up late for work this morning. I am running around the house like a maniac trying desperately to make it to work at a decent hour so I don't end up being there half the night. I get my laptop, and my iPod and haul ass out the front door. Well, in Columbus today, the high was 17 degrees. Did I mention I am from Florida originally? And that I REALLY hate the cold? Anyhow, when I walk outside, there is a nice coat of ice on my windshield. In my rush I totally forgot to pre-heat my car so that I didn't have to stand in the cold like an idiot trying in vain to scrape away the thin coating of icy hell on my windshield.

I could tell it was going to be a great day.

So I finally make it to work, cell phone already to my ear because I got paged on my way in. We switch our on-call rotations every Thursday. So the Thursday I first get on-call is like 10 Mondays combined for me. Busy as shit all day today, which is why I am writing this post at 9 0'clock at night. Thanks goodness I have my iPod at work so those rare moments when I am not on a call I can shuffle through oodles and oodles of Heavy Metal music at my leisure.

I didn't even get a chance to read through the 'blogs today like I normally do. What a shitty day. Anyhow, I come home, and load my hand histories for the last few SnGs I've played. I have actually placed in the money in 9 straight SnGs. Not half bad, so of course I get a little cocky and decide to enter a $20 + $2 SnG. I finished 4th. Nice huh? That'll teach me.

I enter a $10 +$1 SnG after the debaucle at my last table. I actually finished first, which is nice since I made up what I lost in the 20+2. There was this guy at the table, who played pretty much any two cards, bluffing all over the place, and making terrible calls. Every time he wins a hand he types into the chatbox "yeeeeeeeeeeeeeees". He sucked out on me in one hand and it set my blood boiling. Luckily I was able to calm down and play properly, it actually ended up being myself and him heads-up at the end. The last hand I raised on the button with K 10 o to 1200, he re-raises me all in, I have him covered and call. He turns over AQo. The Flop is all rags, the Turn is no help, then the River was a mighty King, taking him out of the tourney and giving me the $50 win. I typed into the chatbox "yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees". Petty? Yes. Did it make me feel better? You betcha.

I see that Iggy is having shoulder surgery soon. I feel bad for him, I had pretty intense shoulder surgery about 3 years ago. I was in a sling for 10 weeks, and in a tremendous amount of pain for the first 2. They put 2 anchors(aka pins) in my shoulder, and repaired damage to my Labrum. Not fun in the least. Hope he recovers quickly.

Grubby is having site financial troubles (you think it could be all the bandwidth those Porn collages ate up? Nah!), go over there and help him out by signing up for one of his affiliate links. I'd hate to see his blog go away for any length of time whatsoever. I will probably sign up for The Gaming Club under him as soon as I get some extra money. PLUS, he's giving away PORN for christ's sake. What better incentive is there than that?

I think that's it for now, good luck out there. Thanks again to Iggy for stopping by.

My cat-like poker skills...

2005-01-26T15:51:00.000-05:00

Well last night was interesting. I went home from work and hung out with the wife for a bit. she had prepared dinner, and makes a huge fuss if I come home and immediately hit the computer for some Poker or WoW. I had steak and potatoes...not very interesting, but tasty. So after my wife left to go hang out with some friends I fired up Party Poker.

I started a $10 + 1 SnG, everything was going fine, I had a fairly good stack and was in 2nd place. All of a sudden, my Cat decides she wants some attention. She deftly hops onto the table and starts rubbing her head against my arm like "pet me motherfucker". I was playing a hand and noticed that I had the Hammer. The guy with the biggest chip stack raises about 10x the BB. I prepare to fold when it gets to me, however, my cat has a different idea. She promptly walks over to the mouse, and sits down right on top of my hand and the mouse, in the process she moved the cursor and made my hand press the left mouse button. So here I am, raising all in, with the Hammer, against the only guy at the table who has me covered, and who isn't a bad player. He gleefully calls me and turns over Cowboys, Pocket Kings, KK, whatever you wanna call it.

Party happily shows him my cards and he lets out a little "lol". I imagine he choked on his own laughter when the flop came A 7 2. The Turn and the River were no help to him, and I severley crippled him. He asked me in chat how I could have possibly made that play. I told him: "I atttribute it to my cat-like poker skills". That got a lot of "lol"s and "haha"s in the chatbox. He was knocked out about 3 hands later. Little did he know, that it was my 16 year old cat, "Dizzy", who cost him $11.

An introduction...

2005-01-25T12:30:00.000-05:00

So, here I am, talking about the silly things that make up my daily life. Mainly Poker, Music, Work and my Wife. Why am I doing this? I don't know, perhaps I've come down with some sort of mental condition. Or it could be, that I'm actually trying to track my progress as a Poker player, while at the same time, making you, the ever-insightful reader, listen to me piss and moan about daily life.

A little about myself, I'm 27, married, and I live in Columbus, OH. I work in the IT industry(I know this is a huge shock), and I hate my everyday job, that usually turns into an everynight job. One of the "hobbies" I've developed over the last 18 months is Online Poker. I'd like to think that over the last year and a half I've improved some. I've read the Two Plus Two Forums, I've read almost every book imaginable, and continued to improve. I really really want to be free of the whole "real job" thing, and become a professional poker player. Even if it's playing 3 tables of $3/$6 every day. that kind of "grind" is far more preferable than 9-5 and being on-call.

Back in September, I was making great strides, moving up limits, building the bankroll, etc. Then I hit a bit of a financial snag, and pretty much had to blow my whole bankroll. So here I am, in January, trying to get this thing started again. I've not played online since the day I cashed out. I've been at it for about two weeks, and it's been, interesting. I've pretty much only played Sit n Gos at the $10 level. I've got probably 30 or so under my belt, and until recently, I'd say I wasn't doing so well.

I started out with a whopping $300, I hope to turn this sum into a future career. Will it happen? Likely not. Some have done it. But, at this point, it's fairly safe to say, that I'm no where near the player they are. Hopefully some of you will find my journey interesting enough to read. Talk to you all soon.