Okay I've decided two things:

1. OMG I write the longest most ridiculously boring blogs in the history of man.

2. I have got to stop being negative

I looked every where for the unemployed writer in this cartoon but could find him no where. I guess there is a huge market for unemployed writers who are also cartoon characters and who can help people make their blogs more interesting. So until I find a cartoon character writer who can help me write a more interesting blog I guess anyone (if there is anyone) who bothers to read this is stuck with me at the moment.

Today boys and girls we are going to talk about the new language of text speak. There is an amazing number of text shorthand phrases. When reading some people's text and forum posts one often needs a dictionary. So I found one online and here is the link: http://www.netlingo.com/acronyms.php . Reading this I found out that my blog is BBB (boring beyond belief). So my new BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) is to write a more interesting blog and to stay positive.

Now how I'm going to do this without the help of a cartoon writer BTHOOM (beats the hell out of me) but I will TMDLB (try my dead level best - I don't see that on the list).

So until the next post IWSYITFP (I will see you in the funny papers).

P.S. If there are any cartoon characters out there who are good at writing funny interesting blogs please apply in the comments sections.

Positive Thinking and Proper Thinking!

Well to say I've been running bad would be an understatement and I could sit here and write yet another blog about the bad beats and horrible run I've been on but that's not what the post is going to be about! Why? Because I totally believe dwelling on the negative only creates more negative. We get what we expect in life! If we are sitting a poker table and we get dealt kings and the first thing that pops in our heads is "well how many chips will I lose with these this time" then it's time for a mental reality adjustment. Even though I win with pocket kings about 75 to 80% of the time I dwell on the 20 to 25% of the times I lose with them. Yes, I lost with them more over the last two weeks, about 40% of the time but over all hands played that's not the case.

Yesterday it was AK and even though I was getting beat with it or by it at every hands turn doesn't mean I should just start folding it. I win with AK around 70% of the time so over all that's good. Maybe it means I'm over playing that hand or playing it poorly and that's something I can fix but mostly it's just the run of the cards.

So starting today I am going to do my best to improve my attitude. Is this an easy task, absolutely not it's pretty difficult actually. We get set into one way of thinking and it is extremely hard to stop thinking that way.

First we have to stop making excuses. Yes, in poker it's up to the luck of the draw to a point but how we play our cards and more importantly how we play our opponents can make more difference in our results than the cards we are dealt. Here are the famous excuses:

• The sites are rigged - no they are not
• If I could afford higher stakes and play thinking players I could do better - no you would do worse, if you can't beat the donkeys you'll never beat the thinking players
• I'm just unlucky - well so it everyone else at one time or another

Get over it and stop thinking negatively and incorrectly!

Proper thinking = proper playing:

Poker is about thinking in levels:

• Level one thinking is only thinking about the cards you are dealt.
• Level two is thinking about the cards you are dealt and the cards your opponents may have been dealt
• Level three is thinking about the cards you were dealt, the cards you opponent was dealt and what cards does your opponent think you were dealt.

The way we play our cards changes the results no matter what the cards really are. This is why a very well plan bluff will often work because you plan it out step by step starting before you ever see a flop. You look at your table position and your cards, you look at your opponents left in the hand and how they have previously played. Then you look at the flop which the cards in your hand failed to hit, okay now what? Based on that flop and opponents left in hand we make a decision on whether we can bluff here with a bet. Say we did bet the flop and one opponent calls us now we think okay here's what I have, here's what's on the board and based on that and my opponents actions here is what I think he may have but if we stop here and don't think about what that opponent thinks we have then we are making a mistake. For a bluff to work it has to be believable at each step. We can't get to the river and then decide to bluff because this looks, even to a donkey, like a stab at the pot and they will call you even with ace high or bottom pair. So when we bluff we have to think out every step and think ahead.

Now that said it does us little good to think at level three when our opponents aren't thinking past level one. If they are not thinking of what cards we may hold and thinking only about the cards they hold then we have to play them based on this level of thinking. This is why it can be difficult to play donkeys especially lucky ones but their bad play and level one thinking will catch up with them and hopefully we will be there to benefit.

In closing if we believe we will lose then we will but if we believe we are winning players then overall we will be as long as we make every effort to learn and to play properly.

I've also realized that I've been very obsessed with poker and all I want to do is play and this has caused a imbalance in my life and this is not good. We have to nurture all of ourselves, our mind, our spirit and our body and to neglect either of the three will not result in a positive outcome. So I will also rectify this issue as well.

Lots of big changes being attempted here so wish me luck!

The Wide, Wide World of Poker

Back in July of 2008 when I discovered video poker in the casino of a cruise ship I never imagined there was this wonderful world of poker out there. After returning home from the cruise I was watching a Texas holdem tournament on t.v. and decided it looked really interesting so I went online and looked up the rules and started watching more t.v. poker. It just happened that it was around the time that the 2008 WSOP was airing and I found it fascinating to watch. I saw the commercials for Full Tilt and Pokerstars.net and proceeded to download the software on my computer and that was the beginning of the journey that would soon turn to complete obsession with the best card game ever invented.

I had very little clue what I was doing when I played my first games, play money of course, but I loved every minute of it I started with cash games and having no clue about table selection I looked for the tables where the players had the least play money and sat down to play. I was amazed when I would actually win a pot. After a short while I discovered the play money sit-n-goes and that's where I totally fell in love with game. Not knowing what I was doing, I remember thinking it would be easier to play fewer people so I started with the 4 max sit-n-goes. I still remember the first one I won. I was so excited and it seems so funny now thinking back on it.

I started to read everything I could find on holdem and tried to better learn and understand the game. I continued to play for play money for several months then I discovered freerolls and would win $5 here and there just lose it much faster than I won it.

In April of 2009 I won a seat to the Cake (Players Only) $250K guarantee and decided if I was going to play in it I needed to get a feel for playing for real money on the Cake site so I made my first deposit of $60 and started playing some real money games. I played in the $250K and amazingly came in 49th out of 909 runners for a cash of $625, amazing and exciting. I started playing nothing but real money games then and that was all she wrote.

In May of 2009 I discovered PokerVT and asked my husband to give me the subscription for my Mother's Day present, which he agreed to do. This is where I have learned to play so much better poker and I continue to improve everyday. I would recommend a poker training site to anyone interested in playing poker and don't wait as long as I did to join.

Now that I've outlined my poker past, on to the main point of this post the online poker community and what a wonderful community it is, wow is the word to sum it up. No one in a poker player's day to day life really understands our obsession. Our friends and family think we have become compulsive gamblers and worry that we are going to gamble away the farm. To have found so many great people to discuss poker with through the forums, the PokerVT forum specifically, has been a God send. We can discuss hands and concepts and help each other become better players and most importantly we understand each other.

I have made some really great and wonderful friends through the PokerVT forum. They are from all over the world and range in age from around 19 to probably as old as 70. We all share things about poker with each other on the forum and on occasional conversations on Skype. I get together with a few great ladies to go over hand histories and discuss the game and we have all become great friends. It's amazing that some of my best friends I've never met face to face. The best part is that the poker community has no borders and no age or gender requirements we are all doing what we love and we all have the same goal, to improve our games as best we can.

In closing I want to say thank you to all my wonderful poker friends, you make the world's greatest game even better!

Part two of women in poker:

I have been thinking about this lady's tournament thing a bit more and I have a few after thoughts.

I think it's great that Pokerstars does satellite events for ladies only with seats to major ladies tournaments.

I think it's fine that they include a spa treatment in the package.

I think it rocks that they include a bootcamp with Vanessa Russo in the package.

I think I would attempt to win one of these packages.

Do I think that it makes me less of a good player to play in a ladies only event, NO!

I think men who play in lady's tournaments are showing a blatant disrespect for women, why else would they bother to play in a ladies tournament otherwise.

I think it was silly and ridiculous for Shaun Deeb to show up for the ladies event in drag.

I think it was absolutely infuriating that another guy used a tampon for a card protector, talk about disrespect and it was in awfully bad taste.

If some men are low enough to play in a ladies event so be it. I just hope they get the butts kicked.

So point being, if ladies events get more ladies interested in poker then great! The more women that play the more likely we are to finally start winning some major events. Lady's events are a great way for ladies to start playing in live tournaments without being as intimidated as they might be in an open event and hopefully after playing a few lady's events they will progress to the open events and start kicking some mens butts.

Women are starting to really become a major factor in the poker world. This year so far women have made a great showing. Liv Boree won the EPT San Remo event and Vanessa Selbst won the Mohegan Sun NAPT event. Annette Orberstad has already won the WSOPE and won event 4 in the Aussie Millions this year. Hopefully this will be the year that a woman at least final tables the WSOP. Let's keep our fingers crossed and hopefully it won't be Annie Duke.

Disclaimer: For the most part I wouldn't consider myself a feminist, at least not in the way most people think of feminist. I don't mind if men open doors for me or pull out my chair, I appreciate it actually. I like old fashion manners and I don't think it makes me weak in anyway. I just think women can do whatever they want and they should be treated fairly.

P.S. One more thing - guys who try to make people think they are girls when playing online because they think it makes them look fishier really tick me off. Any ladies who try to hide the fact that they are ladies bugs me too. Be proud you are woman poker player and make sure the guys know they've had their butts kicked by girl!

It's always funny when I take 3/4 of some guys stack and two or three players say things like "good bet dude", "nice hand buddy"! I promptly let them know I'm not a dude or a buddy. My username is DiamondDixie - quite feminine sounding I would think but guys just hate to think a female just outplayed them.

Edit: Just watched the video of Shaun's reason and apology for playing in the lady's event and while I think him playing and playing in drag was in poor taste I have to admit that had I been sitting at the table with him I might have died laughing. I tend to agree with some of his reasoning and appreciate the fact that he was planning on donating some of his winnings to a woman's charity.

Women in poker...

What's with photo ads like this??? Who does this entice???

With the ladies WSOP event just having finished, there are several posts on various forums about ladies events and men playing in ladies events etc., so I decided this would be the subject of my next blog.

Okay, I don't play in women's events, I don't even particularly like playing with women in general so that said, why (all generalizations but)....

• Women suck at poker (this would be good as far as beating them but...).
• Women are way too nice and drive me nuts saying "nice hand", "good game" etc. (not that a little politeness is a bad thing but women go way overboard with it).
• Women talk too much at the poker table, especially about how their aces and kings always get cracked.
• Women want to chop in tournaments way too early and way too often and the part of this that kills me is when someone bust on the bubble and the women want to each chip in from their winnings to cover the bubble girl's buy in. You bust on the bubble you don't deserve your buy in back, if you can't afford the buy in don't play.

Now I don't believe for one single minute that women are not as capable as men of being good and even great poker players (many women are proving it) . It's just that unfortunately most of them never get close. Why do I believe this is so....

Women who want to play in women only events should be free to do so but I wish more women felt comfortable playing in open events. There is nothing about women that makes them bad except their attitudes and the age old things that have been drummed into their heads and this kind of crap is why women, in general, aren't as good as men at poker. They have been taught all of their lives to take a back seat to men and don't let them know how smart they are. They've been taught to sit back and look pretty. They've been taught that being nice and well thought of is more important that winning - well f#%k that crap I want to win, you men don't like being beaten by a woman, well too bad!

I recently read another person's blog about women's poker events and I totally agree with what is said. I have no problem with groups like the High Heels Poker Tour and LIPS but, like it says in the linked blog, I believe women in poker would be better served if these groups went about getting women interested in poker in a different way. I like the idea of picking an open event and encouraging as many women as possible to turn out to play in that event instead of having a separate ladies event thus keeping up the segregation of women in poker. That said if some women prefer to play in a gender specific event then they should be able to.

Nothing recently made me any madder than the scheduling of the ladies tournament during the main event at one WSOP satellite event back in the fall. What kind of message does this send out? Okay we've scheduled and event for you little ladies to play in while your husbands and boyfriends, the 'real' poker players, play in the main event, give me a break!

Ladies put aside what you've been taught and get out there and play with the big boys. Big boys times are changing get used to it!

May's end and climb up from the pit of despair...

Well April showers didn't bring May flowers so that has to mean that the flowers in my fields are all late bloomers and June will be a banner month so I'm really excited. That's just how you have to look at it in poker.

My volume was better but I still had a loosing month overall but I will not despair. I did pretty well meeting my goals and that's half the battle. I know that if I play solid poker, study, review my play and put in the volume I will come out a winner in long run.

In the long run is a phrase often heard regarding poker. Why is that, you may ask? It is because poker is about volume and end results. Two months of running somewhat bad are nothing in the grand scheme of things, after all that was only over 300 hands each month and only 600 total and that is nothing in the poker world.

Did I see improvements in game? Absolutely! I made less stupid mistakes and I almost never tilted. I posted only two times in the bad beat section on the PokerVT forum and one of those was just because the hand was pretty hilarious. My AK 10bb shove from MP1 actually got called by a big stack moron in the CO with 5 7 offsuit and he won the hand with a pair of 5s. I really actually laughed when this one happened. The best thing is this fish thinks that was a good play and I hope I'm his opponent when he does it again.

As for May goals here are the results:

Play 150 45 man $3.25s and win the prop bet - hit 100 and took 2nd place in the prop bet
Play 200 other games for 350 total - complete
maintain a positive ROI - finished at 18% for all games and 7% for sngs
review more hands - really need to work on this one
study more - ditto still need to do more
maintain silver star status - already completed
get better at 4 tabling - mastered 4 tabling and about ready to move up to 6

As for June goals here they are:

Play 500 games - mostly on Stars with a few on FTP
Maintain a positive ROI
Pick a game and stick with it
Stop making stupid mistakes
Finally purchase sng wizard and use it (that's right I don't currently have it and it shows IMO)
Successfully play 8 tables per session by the end of June
Most importantly RUN BETTER or PLAY BETTER - whichever one is causing the problems
Stay away from the cash tables

Well onward and upward and NEVER SAY DIE!!!

Adventures in finding my specialty...

I truly believe and have learned that winning online poker players are ones who specialize in a particular game. They play only that game and move up in stakes as they become better players and increase their bankrolls. You find this to be true with the vast majority of winning, successful pros and semi-pros. They may play some of the Sunday MTTS but Monday through Friday they grind their regular game.

Why is this true? Because by specializing you learn your chosen game backward and forward. You become familiar with the regular players and the structure and you hone your skills until you are great at that one game. It's very difficult to bounce from one type game to another and get really good at any of them so I'm trying to figure out what I want to specialize in and my next few blogs will be about my adventures in finding my niche in the crazy world of online poker.

Up until now I have bounced around trying to find a game I like and that I do well in with very mixed results. I thought I preferred multi-table sit-n-goes but the variance is very high and they take forever, even the turbo ones. I have never played a lot of 9 man single table sit-n-goes but I seem to be 1/2 way decent at them so I am going to play $6.50 9 man turbos for awhile and see how it goes. I will play about 200 - 250 of them and see what my win-rate and ROI are at the end of that and if they haven't caused me to go broke by that point I will stick with them until I've played 1000 of them and see how I did. If I've lost too much and haven't done well with them at the 250 mark I may switch to something else or drop down in stakes.

I will make weekly or twice weekly posts about my progress or lack of progress and I trudge ahead in my quest to find my specialty.

So wish me luck in my quests for specialization.