Yoda "There is no try"!

After my fourth day of playing 4NL cash my Carbon bankroll after rakeback is up to almost $55, so I've made $41 so far. I'm actually enjoying playing cash, it's so much less stressful than MTTs. I started the first day with only one table, then day two played two tables and then three tables the last couple of days. I can handle five or six pretty easily but I'm trying to pay closer attention and find any leaks I can, so for now I'll keep it at three for awhile.

As for the Hero challenge, Friday night I finished third in the 3 am 6 max freeroll for $20 taking me up to $32. Today I played a couple of $2.20 45s and a couple of supers and I'm now down to about $19. I think I'm going to just stick with cash on Carbon for the next few days except for playing some freerolls on Hero. Hero has some exclusive freerolls that play much better than the Merge freerolls so I really don't mind playing those.

Hopefully by the next update I will have doubled my Carbon bankroll. Wait, as Yoda said it's either do or don't do, there is no try! So by the next update I WILL double my Carbon bankroll. My the flop be with me. God that was cheesy, forgive me. :-)

The Bankroll Grind

In my last entry I talked about crossroads and decisions and I'm still in limbo as far as that goes. In the meantime my bankroll has suffered much damage after a lengthy period of what is more than likely a combination of runbad, playbad and play even worse due to the runbad. So I am trying to grind it back up as follows...

Hero: Bankroll $16.50

Will play freerolls and micro MTTs and some micro SNGs to try to build this back up.

No progress at this point.

Carbon: Bankroll $11.50 as of Jan. 10

Will play 4NL on Carbon to grind this up.

After playing a few hundred hands yesterday and today playing one to two tables (omg how boring but necessary) I'm up to $24.32 so I've more than doubled my starting amount.

I'm keeping the two separated as to what I play to see which I can run up the fastest. So only cash on Carbon and only MTTs and SNGs on Hero.

I've ran my roll up from a small amount more than once so I have faith and lots of hope that I can do it again. I will post updates at least every other day as to my progress.

Onward and upward!

Crossroads and Decisions

I've reached a point where I'm going to have to make some decisions. It happens, things don't always go like we hope. Obstacles get thrown in our way and we have to decide which path to take to get around these obstacles. We can stay where we are spinning our wheels and trying to hang on to something that is clearly not working out or we can choose the easy path or the more difficult, but most likely better path, around the obstacle. That is where I am now after doing quite a few months of wheel spinning instead of moving on.

Since it's a new year it seems like the perfect time to make some decisions and start things out right especially since this may be our last year on earth ...

A little humor always helps.

Anyway a little over three years ago I discovered the game of poker and fell head over heels, obsessively in love. I fell in love with the game and the poker community as a whole. I worked on learning everything I could about the game and worked on becoming a winning player. I was doing okay between February 2010 and April 2015 and had moved from a breakeven player to a small winning player and was loving every minute of the game. Then came the obstacle otherwise know as Black Friday when the U.S. Department of Justice shut down the three major poker sites. After losing my job the previous October I had thrown everything into improving my poker game and so for me April 15, 2011 dealt me a pretty crushing blow. I had a tough time getting over the feeling of being totally screwed over by my own government and getting over the loss of playing on a site that I dearly loved, PokerStars.

As I said, I've spent the last few months since April trying to figure out what to do. I've been playing since then on Merge but with the exception of October I haven't managed to have another winning month. So here I am standing at the crossroads trying to figure out which path to take.

On a side note, is having a blog and assuming more than two people, if that, even give a rats ass what I have to say egotistical and arrogant? I tend to think it might just be but I digress...

I'm considering the following:

The difficult and scary but possibly very rewarding path - Investing in a franchise and starting an elderly care business.

The easy but very unrewarding path - Getting a regular job in some field in which I have some experience.

The wheel spinning stagnant path - Continue trying to make a living playing poker.

So there it is, path one will more or less mean giving up poker for now because I doubt seriously I'll have any spare time. Path two will mean dropping poker for awhile but probably picking it back up in a few months. I tend to think I'm to the point where taking an extended break from poker is a good thing for me to do, as hard for me as it will be. Ah but the conundrum, winners never quit and quitters never win but I think it's at least necessary to make a decision between one and two and take that much needed break or give up poker completely.

I'll know more about the franchise opportunity in a few days and if anyone actually cares I'll keep this blog updated as to my decisions.

Happy New Year!

Here's to a better and more prosperous 2012.

One of the poker forums I participate in has a new thread "Best moment of 2011", only one person has posted so far and the thread was started on December 27th. Unfortunately, at least for U.S. online poker players 2011 was anything but a great year. I've honestly tried to reply to the thread a few times but just can't come up with much. I did win a couple of MTTs with over 300 players on Merge and had quite a few final tables and overall my game, mindset and thought process has improved quite a bit but it's just hard to say those things would qualify as a best moment. So that said I'm hoping for several best moments in 2012. Hopefully I'm due for some.

As for legislation, the DOJ statement on the Wire Act applying only to sports betting, while not as big a deal as some people thing it is imo, is at least a step in the right direction as far as hopefully getting some online poker legislation started in the U.S. You can read more about it here.

On a bit of weird note, I seem to have picked up an obsessive hater. It's pretty weird actually since this person has only played about 91 tournaments and 1600 hands of mostly limit holdem cash on PokerStars and really played nothing I even played. I must have pissed her off in some game on Merge but I have no idea what her username on Merge is so I have no idea what/where it was. She (I'm assuming she since I referred to her as dude and she replied saying she wasn't a dude) left me a nasty message on Poker Table Ratings on my Merge username rating page, to which I replied with an apology for whatever is was I did. She said I berated someone, her I'm assuming, which I admit to very rarely but occasionally saying something to a very few people in chat but usually only as a reply to something said to me and I try my best not to since it's really dumb and inexcusable but we all have bad days once in awhile. She has continued to reply back with really outrageous statements, foul language and name calling, even after I apologized initially. She has obviously googled me and found this blog and other information about me since she mentioned these things in her crazy replies. I made the mistake of replying back to her a few times but I really wish I hadn't. I have no idea what in the world I did to this nut but no more than she plays I couldn't of run into her on more than couple of occasions. I've reported her to PTR and asked that she be banned from posting anymore on my ratings page and I informed her that I had done this. She's obviously a bit unbalanced or just extremely young and immature but damn how nuts this is! As they say haters gonna hate!

Well I hope everyone has a great 2012! Good luck at whatever you pursue!

Great month and other ramblings...

Does this sound just exactly like a poker play or what? 1.) Yes definitely my life has always been chaos. 2.) Uh yeah for sure! 3.) Yep, adrenaline junkie here. 4.) Of course, visualize those wins and they'll happen. 5.) All my life and always, rules? who cares about rules. 6.) Yes, winning poker players have to be very persistent and tenacious or else they'd never stick it out through the God awful downswings. 7.) Yep biggest thing, every loss isn't failure but an opportunity to learn to do it better next time.

Now on to bragging about my amazing wonderful month! Finished with a nice bankroll and a few wins and several final tables. After 5 months of the downside of variance it's so nice to be on the good side finally. I'm actually really enjoying the game again and look forward to playing every day I can.

Merge has reopened to the US and the volume has picked up and the field has soften slightly. The site really needed some fresh errrrrr well people, let's be nice. :-)

Anyway, here's looking forward to another great month, which started with a win after midnight tonight so it was a really great way to start a new month! Onward and upward!

Oh and things are looking up for legislation too so keep on pushing!

It's good to run good!

After over five months of running consistently below EV I decided to take some time off from poker. Best thing I ever did! I took three weeks off and only played a few sit-n-goes to keep up my skill at multi-tabling. I didn't play any MTTs or cash games during this time. Breaks are good! I took the time to re-evaluate my game and my mindset. I didn't start playing again until I really found the desire to play again. That desire hit me about Wednesday of last week.

On Thursday I finished 2nd in the $3r $5.5K GTD for $770 then continued to make several other final tables. Tonight I took down the $16.50 $5K GTD for $1025. This was my first win on Merge for over $1K and it certainly feels nice.

On a side note, the above graph is earnings from zero. I won $100 in the Hero freeroll in May and I've never made a deposit. (and Chad Hills wonders why I support this money losing vice, see below.) Next stop $5K.

While Black Friday really sucked I have to say I'm not sure I would have put as much work on my game had I been able to continue playing on PokerStars, well as long as I kept winning like I was. Due to the stiffer competition on Merge since Black Friday it's been necessary to step up my game quite a bit. In the long run this is good and I feel I'm a better player because of it.

On another note, Chad Hills with focus on the family is such a self righteous ass! I commented on one of his blogs about online poker and he responded by making an insinuation that he's looked up my stats on Sharkscope and made it sound like I was a losing player. I quote: "I even looked your “handles” up on the SharkScope.com site to see how successful you’ve been in online poker, and I was left wondering why you support this money-losing vice?" Can you believe it? He's basically lying to make his case more believable. If he looked up my stats he saw where I had won but he makes it sound like I was losing. He goes on to talk about how so many that comment on his blog make out like they are winning players when they are not. I got so tilted over this I took out my frustrations on the virtual felt and the $5K take down was the result :-) If heaven is full of fools like him they can have it!!! Well he's an insignificant piece of crap as far as I'm concerned!

Until we meet again may we all continue to run good and win lots! Don't forget to do your part for online poker legislation! We need it if for no other reason than to spite the self righteous assholes!

Get off your asses!!!

Garfield by Jim Davis

A lot of people think of poker as nothing but mindless gambling and a waste of productive time and money. A lot of people are way wrong! Mathematical experts have done extensive studies proving that poker is a mind sport and game of skill just like chess and bridge. Judges in several U.S. States have ruled poker is a game of skill.

So the why does the DOJ insist that the UIGEA applies to poker? Because they are misinformed by politicians who are out for the interest of the all powerful and all contributing brick and mortar casino industry who fear online poker will cost them revenue. They are also misinformed by others like the right wing politicians who insist on not accepting poker is a game of skill and want to legislate morals and by state Attorney Generals like Preet Bharara in New York.

Poker is the most difficult game I've ever tried to master. Good players spend hours studying and reviewing and working on their game just like chess players and golfers do. It's time to put an end to this silly and senseless prohibition of poker!

Poker is a game of skill and a game which many Americans not only enjoy playing for casual entertainment but for many it is (was) their full time well paying job. Legislation and regulation of online poker will create thousands of jobs and bring in billions in federal and state tax revenue.

While I honestly wish we could just have legal unregulated poker instead of having the government interference it's just not going to happen so supporting H.R. 2366 now is the next best thing!

What can you do to help?

Write or email your senators and representative and ask them to support H.R. 2366. The Poker Players Alliance makes the job easy by having a pre written letter ready to send. All you have to do is take 2 minutes and click a couple of buttons! Click here to send the letters!

Take less than one minute to do the daily actions on 2p2! Click here!

Sign the poker petition at We the People: Click here!

Call your senators and congressman and ask them to support H.R. 2366!

Stop making silly excuses not to do these things! The three top things literally take under 5 minutes a day! Squeaky wheels get the oil! The more voices we have speaking the more likely we are to be listened to.