Taking Care of Business

The night before last I played a few hundred hands of poker and played a couple sng's to turn a profit of a dollar or two. 

I'm going to take it easy for the rest of the year.  I may play a little if I get the urge but I need a break.  Right now I'm working 10 to 12 hours a day and when I get home I'm shot.

Last night I fell asleep on the couch watching a movie.  I woke up at 6:00 this morning with the lights and tv still on.  Guess I have been pushing too hard for too long.  My body said it was time to sleep.  It does that.  In college I slept about 3 hours a night for 4 1/2 years.  Then went on to a job where I worked 1st shift one week, 2nd shift the next week and 3rd shift the following week for 5 years.  I have worn my body down over and over again.  It eventually shuts down and makes me sleep whether I want to or not.

I need to take care of some other things as well so poker may take a back seat for a while.

The last couple days I have started selling on ebay again.  I have started and stopped selling several times over the years.  Right now my niche is back in and looks like I will be able to make some quick dollars.  I used to make a killing on there.  I don't have that kind of time to invest right now so I will start slowly listing 5 items a night.  That should give me a couple hundred dollars extra a month, probably more.

I should have kept selling on ebay instead of playing poker, I would have made a fortune by now if I had invested the same amount of time selling.

I listed 6 item the first day and sold 4 of them, 3 PS2 games and a DVD.  I listed 5 more DVD's last night.  So far so good.  One of the dvd's I had picked up at a garage sale for 2.00.  It is selling on average for 13.00 right now.  Most of my items I make a dollar or two profit on.  To start out with I am just getting rid of some odds and ends I don't need around the house any longer and items I had previously purchased to resell on ebay.  After I get those 10,000 items listed I might start looking for things to sell again.

This spring I want to purchase a vehicle I can pull a camper with as well as take tornado chasing.  In order to do this I need to sell my van and use that money to purchase either a pickup or a small SUV.  Right now we have 3 vehicles and really only need 1.  I could walk to work if I needed to.  There's a lot of things I need to do this next year.

One of the first things, that really needs to be done, is to get the baby room set up.  I only have a little over a month to get this done.  It would be easy but its going in the kids toy room and we need to get rid of toys and move and organize it at the same time.  I also can't just get rid of stuff if it is valuable.  I have to try to sell it first if it has any value left.  I'm not a hoarder yet but I am getting close.  Another reason I need to start selling again.  The extra money will be nice as we have depleted a little out of our savings with Christmas, Doctor's bills, a new 60" LED HDTV, xbox 360, tv stand, vehicle maintenance, etc.

I need to start losing weight.  I am 225 now and would like to be at 210 by March.  It's too cold and I'm too tired to run at night so I think I will start out doing push ups, sit ups and running the stairs at my house.  I might even throw a quick run around the block into the mix.  The important thing is that I start doing something.  I want to be back in shape by spring so I can start running out in the country again, pushing the jogging stroller and listening to my mp3 player.

Whats Under the Tree?

Tonight I was able to get in 533 hands and had a profit of 3.57.  I started the night down again after I caught 2 pair right away and had a chaser catch a flush on the river after he had went all in on the turn.  Shortly after that I had Kings cracked on the river.  Then lost a couple other big pots at showdown. 

Then as it has happened the last few nights, I started climbing back out of the hole the rest of the evening.  My biggest break came from winning 2 hands almost back to back with AQ against AJ and QQ against AK on the same table to double up twice. 

I still need to work on patience and know that I can lay down a good hand when I know I'm beat so I have more chips for when I have a better spot later on.  I also have to start playing AQo differently.  That has been a major losing hand for me.  I might be better off to take it out of my playing range all together as much as I lose with it.

It feels good to have 5 winning days in a row and I'm sure it has a lot to do with me being willing to accept that I needed help and working better my play.

Last night my wife and kids went to a basketball game.  I got off work a little later so couldn't go.  I wrapped presents while they were gone and put them under the tree.  When my 4 year old got up this morning he was extremely excited to see the presents and drug us all out of bed to see which ones were his. 

Tonight he had them all out and stayed next the tree until bedtime looking at his presents over and over again. 

I asked him what he thought was in them and he said, "I don't know, what did you put in here?"

January Poker Goals and Bankroll Management Rules

This weekend I was able to play a little poker.  I was getting low on my bankroll and wanted to make sure I could still deposit before I went busto, so I added 20.00 to my account.  At that point I ran good for a while and recouped most of what I had lost.  The last couple of nights I have been getting drawn out on early then working my way back up to slightly over break even.  It's a hard way to play.

I have tried adding tables but seem to do the best right now with just 2 tables.  I will keep trying to add 1 or 2 tables at times so that I can get better at paying attention on multiple tables. 

This month has pretty much been a bust for making money.  There could still be a little comeback.  It will be difficult since I won't have a lot of time to play between work and Christmas travels.   December has been a great month for learning.  I have learned a lot.  Next month it's time to make some money.

My goals for January are:

1.  Get Back on Track with Bankroll Management. 
2.  Play 10,000 hands (That's around 325 hands per day).
3.  Pay attention to my table selection and figure out which tables are the most profitable for me.

My Bankroll Management for January

Up to 60.00 - $4.00 NL 6 max w/2.00 buy in.  .50 tourneys & sng's
60.00 - 80.00 - $4.00 NL 6 max w/3.00 buy in.  .50 tourneys & sng's
80.00 - 250.00 - $4.00 NL 6 max w/4.00 buy in.  1.00 tourneys & sng's

Break Even

Basketball was out of town tonight so I was able to play 711 hands of 4.00 NL Holdem.  I started out with 2 tables.  I have been playing 2 tables so I can focus on each game and make the correct plays. 

I was doing well and was up by 4.00 after 300 hands so I decided to play 3 tables for 100 hands each to see how I would do.  I made some bad table selections and ended up on some very tough tables.  Needless to say they were getting better hands by 1 card every time and I ended the 300 hand session being down 4.40 for the night.

I took a quick break and decided I would play 2 tables for 50 hands each before calling it a night.  I was fortunate and ended up getting paid with pocket Aces twice on one of the tables.  The other table was pretty stagnant and I could not get anything going.

At the end of the night I am down .44 for the day.  It's not a win but with rakeback I should be close to even.  I'll take that after all of the hands I lost in the second session.

Playing Better

Tonight I played 309 hands and showed a profit of 4.71.  I played a lot better tonight.  There was one hand that I could have saved .60 by not calling on the river with a KQo with KJJ86 on the board.  I made the crying call to see him have KK.  I was hoping for a lower pair, expecting to see the J but was surprised to see the KK.

The rest of the hands I feel I played really well.  I did get lucky in a couple spots and unlucky in a couple others.  That's poker.

I decided to take the win after 300 hands.  I am tired and feel like reading. 

Tomorrow night I will be going to watch basketball so I will be playing about the same amount of hands or none at all.  Friday I will be leaving for Oklahoma City.  I will play a little while I am there.

It will be a good time down there.  I will be meeting up with 2 of my buddies from my college days to plan out a bachelor party for one of them. 

Admitting I Play Poorly

I am admitting it.  I have been a bad player.  I thought I was playing correctly but I am now seeing that I was only playing correctly part of the time.  The rest of the time I have been playing really fishy. 

I saw some stats on myself today and yesterday that were way off from what I thought I actually played.  It was really good to see the numbers and realize that there is so much area for me to improve.  It was also sad that it took me how many years to discover how big and how many leaks my game has.  I'm glad I hadn't been playing cash games much until this year.  

I have read books and thought I was applying what they would tell me.  I would, until I saw hand after hand take my good starting hands down.  Then I would revert to my old ways and play horribly again.  Thats when I would start losing money and go back to studying again.

I'm realizing how much further I have to push my learning to catch up to what others are already doing, even at the smallest stakes.

My results should continually improve over the course of this month.  If I don't lose the 17.00 I have left.  If I lose that, it will probably be next year before I can add more money.

I am really going to focus on Cash No Limit Holdem.  I have been playing a little bit of everything.  It's time to pick one and become a regular at that game until I am one of the better players.

I lost 11.25 today.  I still consider it to be a good day as I learned a lot from losing that 11.25.  I realized that I could have cut that in half by folding on the river on a few hands.  I also made notes on quite a few players that I should be able to capitalize on in the next few days.

I had 4 players all in with me holding 2 pair or better with over 10.00 pots for me to lose on the river.  With any of those wins I would be up tonight.

I finally did get one 6.00 pot to hold. 

I am still buying in for half buy ins for now until my bankroll gets a little bigger. 

Dinner and a Show

It amazes me at how I can play so badly for so long after all of these years of playing.  It seems that I forget the basics and overplay and over analyze poker at times.  In my quest to improve my game I lose sight that I need to keep the basics in the front of my mind.

Last night, while I was playing a tournament, something clicked, and just like that I was playing solid poker again.  It continued on today and I tried to play as much poker as I could.  This resulted in a winning day.

I played around 1100 hands of holdem cash coming out up 9.00.  I also played 2 1.10 sng's that I did not place in. 

I also played the 100 seats to the 109.00 tournament.  There were close to 1400 runners and I was doing good most of the tournament staying in the top 50.  I ran out of steam with 200 left and didn't make the ticket.  I actually got moved tables and sat next to a big stack that would raise me all in if I tried to play any hand.  I never got a hand I was comfortable pushing with so my chips dwindled until I felt I had to push.  I had a 97s.  He had 10 10.  Go figure.  He would have raised with anything and this time he had a hand.  He was really playing good poker but it was making me mad because if I could have just gotten some cards his chips would have been mine and I would have been in the 109.00 game tomorrow.

My wife and I also had a bit of a date tonight where we went to dinner and a play.  The town here has a production each year.  This year we went to the night where they serve dinner before the play.  We had Filet Minion with a baked potato, salad, a roll, and green beans with desert. 

The show was really funny.  The actors and actresses were really good.  Next time they have it I will try to go back for the dinner and a show.

Poor Start to the Month

The last 2 days I have been able to play some poker.  It hasn't been too pretty, especially last night.  I played quite a few sng's and tournaments and made it to the bubble in a few games and didn't get any further.

Tonight I made the final table on a .06 rebuy and a .50 rebuy and finished both in 3rd.  I placed 10th in a .10 rebuy.  All of my 1.00 and 2.00 buy ins fell short of the money.  I played 6 sng's and took first in a 18 man. 

After that I played some cash games and lost 2.50 in an omaha hi low game and won 3.96 playing 4 tables of nl holdem. 

I was down 5.00 after my play tonight.

So far this month I have been playing pretty lousy.  Tonight my hands started holding up towards the end of my session.  The rest of this month will hopefully go better than the first week.

Feeding Frenzy

Tonight after the Pre K - 6 music program I came home and ate some supper, discussed work with my wife then settled in to play about 100 hands of NL Omaha H/L.  It was a .05 .10 game and I took a few beats by a horrible player to start off down for the night.  I never can beat the aggressive bad player right away. 

I was starting to gain chips to where I could put a hurt on him when he got off the table.  The rest of the table was fairly tight.  I had one player try to put a quick move on me but he was way too obvious and I had a great hand so he lost 5.00 to me.

I ended up being 4.94 down at the time I had set to quit for the night.  I just had two more really aggressive players sit down at my table.  I would have loved to have had time to sit and wait for a hand.

35 Minutes Later

I got back on the table.  It was fun.  All I had to do was wait for a good starting hand that wasn't being raised all in and wait for it to hit then get paid off.  After I started typing, I thought about it and I don't see this type of set up too often, where it's easy to make money.  It looked like a goldfish dropped into a shark tank.  Every hand one of us were trying to pick off the goldfish.  I was just hoping there was still some meat on the bones when I got a bite at it. 

I figured I could forgo a little sleep for a little money.  It worked and now I am up 9.73 for the night.  I think I could have gotten more out of a couple of the players but I really do need to get some sleep and it could have taken a while.

Family Day

Today I did not play any poker.  I was at home all day and decided to spend it doing family things.  I have been playing poker when we are at home lately.

We got up this morning and went to church where we participated in the hanging of the wreaths.  Afterwards we came home and put up our Christmas tree and decorations. 

Last night I had sliced up a roast and got it soaking in a marinade to make jerky today.  I had dreams about making jerky all night last night.  Today I got to put the meat in the dehydrator and make my first batch of beef jerky.

It came out a little dryer than expected but was really flavorful. 

This afternoon we watched the town's Christmas parade on main street and shopped at some local stores for Christmas presents. 

The kids went to Awana's. (not sure how you spell that)  While they were there I sliced up a hind quarter of deer to make a batch of deer jerky.  Both the roast and the deer meat were getting old and we might have a couple more deer coming soon, so I needed to clean out the freezer a little.  Dad's neighbor has a deer tag to fill and asked if we would want the deer if he shoots it.  If he does, I will be taking a trip North to go process a deer. 

I have the meat soaking in a marinade now to dehydrate tomorrow night.  Jerky making is kinda fun.  I can't wait to dehydrate some fruits.

After Awana's we picked up the kids and headed for the theater.  It is only open on Friday Saturday and Sunday nights in town.  They were playing Wreck It Ralph.  It was a great movie and the kids loved it.  I hadn't seen any previews so I didn't know what to expect. 

Now I'm going to go lay down and read.

I started off the day wanting to make my family happy.  In return, I had one of the best days I've had in a long time.  I didn't even want to play poker today.  That's a first in a long time.

I even felt the baby kick for the first time today.  It was really moving.  It must have liked the jerky.

Tomorrow night we have a Christmas Songs Program at the elementary school so I doubt I get any playing done tomorrow night.  It is now basketball season as well so I am guessing a couple nights a week will be spent watching the nieces and nephews.  On Monday nights we usually play volleyball for fun with a bunch of other people in town.

It looks like poker might take a back seat for a little bit.  I'll play late in the evenings and on the nights we don't have anything going on.  Work will be picking up some too as the year rolls to an end.

I'm not counting on making much money online this month.  If I can get to $75.00 this month I will be very happy.

It's going to be a busy month.

December off to a good start

This morning I had to go into work for a few hours.  Afterwards I played a ton of tournaments and sng's. 

Sng's were good to me as I profited 16.63 from those today with a 1st and 2nd in 18 man's and a 2nd in a 27 man.  I played 2 of those with VIP points so that helped even more.

I also loaded up a ton of 1 and 2.00 tournaments as well as freerolls.   I played a total of 28 tournaments today.  7 of those were freerolls including pokerowned games and free seats.  I did well on the smallest of the tournaments and not so well on the 1.00 and 2.00 tournaments.  I took 5th in the .10 rebuy, 4th in the .25 rebuy, and 2nd in a pokerowned tourney.  I lost 11.58 in tournaments.

It was a fun day.  I got a little frustrated once but the rest of the day had a lot of fun and chatted with the other players while I listened to the K-State game on the radio. 

I still don't know how we lost to Baylor. 

I am up 6.18 today and should have a little rakeback on top of that. 

Tomorrow we have church, then I may go into work for a little bit.  After that I'm going to get some jerky ready to make.  I may not play a lot of poker.  This will be the first Sunday at home in a long time that I don't play much poker. 

We will also be putting Christmas decorations up tomorrow.