Dust Storm

There are 7 blisters on my hands.  It feels good to do some heavy lifting.  The bails we put up were extra heavy this time.  You couldn't even get your hand under the bailing wire.  We had to use hay hooks to move the bails around.

Last night a storm was approaching and we knew we did not have much time before it hit.  We had just gotten our first load in, and stacked, when we looked out and saw a dust storm ahead of the clouds.  It was spread across the horizon as far as you could see. 

We didn't know how hard the wind was going to blow.  At the moment it was dead calm and over 100 degrees.

The dust hit quickly and the wind picked up immensely.  I got in the car eventually as you couldn't breath without getting your lungs full of dust.  The dust storm lasted about 20 minutes and then it started to rain.




The camera did not pick up how thick the dust really was.


In the vehicle we were watching the temperature.  Before the dust hit it was 107.  When the dust initially hit the temperature hit 124 then instantly dropped to 95 and then down into the 80's.

The rain followed a little later and was really cold.  We were overheated and thought it would feel good, but it was to cold to stand in and it stung when the raindrops would hit you, due to the high winds.

Since it rained, we gave it up early last night and made it into town around 8:00.  Tree branches were on the ground under almost every tree.

After 2 nights of work, I am feeling stronger and lighter.  My pants were looser yesterday, and when I tried on a pair of 33 waist jeans to work in last night, they fit.  I've been wearing a size 38 but have noticed that they are getting way to big.  I think I could drop down to a 36 and possibly a 34 and still have plenty of room.

I have been weighing around 215 pounds, down 25 from my peak 2 years ago.  I would like to drop another 15 to 20 pounds this summer.  The last 2 days I may have lost a few pounds, but quite a bit of that would be watter weight.  If I keep pushing myself for a couple weeks, I could make it permanent.

It Takes Bails To Do What I Do

Life seems pretty crazy right now.  I haven't played poker since Saturday and don't plan on playing again for a while.  I have been working some long hours the last week.  Friday I put in a 20 hour day followed by a 13 hour day on Monday and a 16 hour day yesterday.  My work schedule should slow down a little, but baseball is in full swing.  We have a game tonight and then Friday, Saturday and Sunday will be full with a big end of season tournament.

Yesterday morning I woke up to fix the boys cereal and the milk seemed warm.  I opened up the freezer and the frozen texas roll balls had risen in the freezer.  Our refrigerator is shot.  Now we have another issue to deal with.  On top of that 2 of our vehicles now have nails in the tires and the 3rd vehicle is waiting to have its brakes replaced. 

I am feeling pretty upbeat today, even though I know I have all of that to deal with. 

Tonight I am helping my brother in law pick up alfalfa bails out of a field and stack them in a hay barn.  Theres a little over 500 bails.  We will be out there till around midnight and back out there again tomorrow to finish up.  It looks like I am going to be sore and exhausted for the next couple days.

There's always something good to look forward to.  I finally get to take a real family vacation after more than 2 years of not taking one.  We have reserved a vacation rental in Colorado for a full week.  I'm really looking forward to relaxing and getting my mind off work, poker and whatever else for a full week.

Car Damage, Final Table, Baseball

The month of June has went nothing like I had thought or hoped it would with poker.  In fact this may be the worst month pokerwise I have had to date. 

The harder I try the worse I do.  I gave NL 6 max a good shot for the last 10 months.  I have had o.k. days but the absolutely horrible days killed me over and over again.  I may go 3 weeks slowly growing my bankroll and 1 bad day will destroy way more than what I worked 3 weeks to grow.

The good thing is that my investment into NL has seemed to really help my tournament play.  It could also be the fact that I have spent so many hours playing the last 10 months.

After evaluating my losses in 6 max, I have determined that I have donated enough money to keep the game going for a while.  I will be dropping my efforts to make 6 max my main game. 

Going forward I will be focusing on tournaments and sng's to try to grow my bankroll. 

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Last night after work, I was picking up the boys.  There was a car parked across the street in front of the driveway.  I had almost backed into it the night before and thought in my head to go the opposit direction out of the driveway this time so I don't back into it.  With everything on my mind, I backed out like I was heading for home again.  Right as I was getting ready to shift into drive I ran into the car. 

It seemed as though my whole night was instantly ruined.  It hasn't been the greatest week in the first place and now I had this to deal with.  The owner of the car wasn't home so I went to get my oldest ready for baseball. 

The baseball game was good.  Since I started working with him, my son has only struck out once the last 9 times up to bat.  Now we need to get him catching the ball and running a little faster.  I worked with him on batting and playing outfield.  Yesterday they put him as pitcher the last inning.  It was painful watching him struggle to catch a ball and make the instant decisions you have to make in that position.

After the game, the owner of the vehicle said that she was busy and I could get her the insurance information this morning. 

I cracked open beer after beer to clear my head.  Since I was drinking beer, I had to play some poker.  I loaded up a 1.00 6 max turbo sng as well as a 4.00 NL table while I was waiting.  I played 3 1.00 turbo's and did not make the money in any of those.  I did well in the NL game and was up 3.60 in that game when I decided to concentrate on a 2.20 knockout tournament I had gotten into.  I had 1 knockout and made it clear to 4th place before I went out, making 21.00 in that game.  I was chip leader going into the final table and had only gotten 1 knockout.  I did cripple a lot of players.  It seemed when I got a good hand it was always against a bigger stack.  I lost to a player making an all in move to take my blinds.  I was in 4th at that time and a call and win would put me back into 1st.  My A4s did not hold up to his J3o.  He rivered a 3 to send me packing.  With the blinds at the level they were, I didn't have time to wait for a better opportunity.

 

2 Sets and Pocket Aces On Final Table

This isn't complaining since I did make the final table of the 2.20 $100.00 guaranteed tournament.  It does seem unfair that I made it that far then lost with a set twice and lost with pocket aces once on the final table.  I also lost with a set on the final 2 tables.  All of which were beaten by rivered straights.  Any of which would have given me a monster stack had I won.

On the last one, I was pretty much crippled, and went all in with A7 suited the next hand.  I was called by the same guy with Q 10.  He caught and I was done after hours of play. 

Earlier in the day I played the 215.00 big game.  Top 81 got paid.  It was getting close to the bubble and I needed to make a move to make it through the bubble.  I was in the BB with A10 and had an all in blind steal from the small blind.  I made the correct call as he had a 10 3.  A 3 came out on the flop and I was out of the tournament 10 places from 450.00.  With a double up there, who knows how deep I could have ran.  Going out there hurt, since I only have 1 more shot at this game.  It would have hurt worse to let myself blind out and miss the bubble.

I had also played the 11.00 25,000 guaranteed.  It has turned into quite the joke since there is now 3 1/2 hours of re-entry in the game.  If I'm going to play it again I will register at the last minute and try to luckbox a couple quick double ups. 

I feel like anything good in poker keeps going away, and we are left with crap that favors luck and the unskilled players at the lower limits.  The 11.00 Sunday game used to be my favorite game.  It had a great blind structure and deep stacks.  You could play for hours.  Now its an all in fest of donkholes trying to luckbox a tournament.  If they lose their all in with Q6 they can just re-enter and bust you a few all in's later with J2.  That's not my style.  I just don't see how it can be profitable.

Hand History - What Are Your Thoughts?

Merge - $0.04 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players

CO: $1.60
BTN: $4.00
SB: $7.63
BB: $9.05
Hero (UTG): $4.48

SB posts SB $0.02, BB posts BB $0.04, CO posts DB $0.04

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.10) Hero has Jd Td

Hero calls $0.04, CO checks, BTN calls $0.04, fold, BB checks

Flop: ($0.18, 4 players) 2d 9d 4d
BB checks, Hero bets $0.13, fold, BTN calls $0.13, fold

Turn: ($0.44, 2 players) 9h
Hero bets $0.22, BTN raises to $0.56, Hero calls $0.34

River: ($1.56, 2 players) 6d
Hero checks, BTN bets $3.27 and is all-in, fold

Hero shows Jd Td (Flush, Jack High)
BTN wins $1.48


Should I have not been in the hand to begin with?  Should I have raised pre-flop even with the new player posting the big blind in the CO?  Should have I re-raised or folded the turn? 


I had just taken a decent pot off this guy the hand prior.  Was he getting even or did he have a hand? 


He is a solid player with a 42% turn AFq.  I put him on a high diamond with a 9 on the flop.  The turn and river were exactly what I did not want to see.  I planned on betting big on the river, if the river had not put the 4th diamond on the board.

T-Ball and Poker

Until last night I had not realized what a baseball town this is.  I walked outside after dark and could hear cheering from clear across town.  You don't hear people cheer like that for basketball or football games.  The block surrounding the baseball field gets packed with cars.  People fill the bleachers and bring lawn chairs and sit in the backs of pick-ups.  I am even surprised at the turnout for the little kids games. 

T-Ball was on the docket for last night.  It's such a boring game and still had a large crowd cheering for all those little tike's.  It is pretty funny watching those little ones learning about the game.  I watched my own son rolling his head around, watching the sky, as a ball rolled right past his feet.  Each decision takes a couple extra seconds.  "Throw the ball to first!"  A couple seconds later after the batter reaches first base the pitcher throws it over there.  It's all about learning the fundamentals of the game.  He couldn't have gotten the batter out anyway, but they are learning what to do in the future as they move up to machine pitch.

Everybody was hungry after the game so we headed home to make supper.  The boys had their cousin over to stay the night.  They wanted to play around the house so we didn't practice any ball last night.  I was tired as well, so that worked for me.

Late in the evening I loaded up the 1500.00 guaranteed 1.10 rebuy game as the rebuy period was ending.  In less than 2 minutes I had QQ and AQ.  I had to rebuy twice as both those hands didn't stand a chance.  Then the rebuy period ended, so I added on for 30000 chips.  It took a while before we finally reached the bubble.  We needed 2 people to go out.  My stack was getting down around 8 bb.  I had KK.  My first thought was, "This is how I got knocked out as bubble boy last night."  I thought, "Should I fold in this spot."

There were 4 people to act after me.  I didn't have enough for an effective raise so I went all in.  The person I thought would call folded.  One of the blinds called.  He had JTo.  A king and 2 low cards hit on the flop.  What a relief.  We busted the bubble shortly after and I had some playing chips.

A few hands later I had QQ and raised it up.  The Donk of the table goes all in.  I had him covered as well as the other all in that followed behind him.  Donk's 57o held, I got a few chips from the other player's 99. 

From there I blinded down, as I was getting poor cards and had 3 people to my left that would call any bet, any street.  With 39 players left I decided to shove pre flop with Ks10s from the button.  I got called by the monster stack to my left.  He had QJ and flopped a boat.  I went out in 37th for 10.00.  I could have made a couple more rounds if I had not played the K10, but I would not have had a chance to get any deeper than that.  I could have gotten a couple more dollars by waiting.  Instead I took a shot, to try to make it to the final table and battle for the 350.00 1st prize.

While I was playing the 1.10 tournament, I was also playing a NL game.  Over the course of the tournament, I was up a buy in there as well. 

Set And Out

Last night we had a machine pitch baseball game for my oldest son.  Last year I thought he was a natural while he played t-ball.  The coach was pitching to him and he was hitting the ball every time.  This year his form is way off, and he hasn't gotten a hit yet in 3 games.  What happened?

I haven't worked with him.  I have been playing poker so much that I haven't went out to throw a ball to him or play catch or anything.  Soccer was over and I thought he was a natural so I let him go play unprepared.  Bad move.  Last night after his game we worked with him for an hour and a half.  We got his batting stance corrected.  Taught him a 5 step rule to use every time he is at bat, and had him go over it every time before I pitched to him.  Now if I see him doing something wrong in a game I can yell out a number and he will correct it.  I can yell 3 and he will know to put his elbows out, 4 bat back etc.

We also worked with throwing the ball in quickly from the outfield. 

These were the 2 problem areas that needed addressed immediately.  We will work with him nightly until his next game.  Maybe with the extra help he'll shine on the field.

After all of that and cooking supper I sat down to get my 2 VIP points for the day.  I was feeling a little crazy and loaded a NL table as well as a 2.20 knockout tournament.

The NL table started off horribly.  I didn't call when I should have and called when I shouldn't have.  Next thing I knew I was down 6.00.  The tournament was going well and I had knocked out 7 players and was in good shape.  Then I got KK right before the bubble.  I raised pot and was called by the other big stack.  The flop came AK10.  I went all in for a little over a pot sized bet.  He insta called me with QJ.  The board did not pair and I was bubble boy. 

I had a hand in NL that I ended up getting a little of my money back.  I was BB and held 3c7c.  Everybody folded except the small blind.  They called.  I checked.  The flop came 3 8 8.  SB checked.  I bet 3/4 pot.  SB called.  Turn brought another 8.  SB went all in for their remaining 1.67.  I had seen them do this before with air or a high card.  It took a bit of thinking but I eventually called.  SB showed AQ.  I held on the river.  After that I played tight and called it a night being down a buy in.  Between the 2 games I made around 1.00 last night and still made it to bed earlier than normal.

Getting Sleep At Night

The late evenings seem kind of boring without having poker the last couple of nights.  I did play some to get my 2 VIP points.  I had a guy talk crap about my playing A10 2 hands in a row last night.  He ticked me off  with his mouthy ways, so I logged off for the night.  The Poker God spoke, so I and I should no longer play A10, instead I should play 56o like he did.  I sat and watched T.V. once everybody went to bed.  I went to bed shortly after them, since I was tired and wasn't playing any poker.

With my free time I should be able to run again.  I have been putting this off for way to long.  Luckily I have still been losing a little bit of weight by eating smaller portions and cutting soda out (typed as I sit here drinking a soda).  This is my second soda this week.  I have been doing good the last month, drinking water.  I'm not sure if it is much better, but I change it up once in a while with the flavor drops they have out now.

There is a 5K in town on Labor Day.  I ran in this 2 years ago.  I think I am going to try to run it again this year.  I would like to run 3 nights a week until then to get back into shape.  We have baseball games on Mon and Wed nights so I am going to start out running Sun Tues and Thurs nights.  I enjoy running at night in the summer. 

I'm not giving up on poker completely.  I just can't keep playing the hours I have the last 9 months.  It seems ridiculous to play that many hours and get nowhere.  I can do that playing less hours and have more fun doing it.  I'm still going to try to play as many promo tourneys as I can.  That gives me several big games a month. 

This weekend I have the Depositor's Freeroll and the 50 seats to the big game freeroll.

Tonight we have baseball with the boys.  I have some walleye thawed out to cook after the games.  It looks like I will play NL just enough to get my 2 points for today as well.  On the nights I have more time I will play the 2.20 100.00 guaranteed deep stack tournament with 15 minute blind levels to get my 2 points.

This getting sleep at night, may become a habit.

Huge Change in Plans for June

The beginning of the month curse hit me again.  I'm done for this month unless I get the urge to play.  I'm going to get my 2 VIP points each day but that is all I am shooting for.

I won 2 hands at showdown the whole day on Saturday.  That was with trips, flushes, straights, full houses.  It was so bad I had QQ and 8 8 8 fell on the flop.  A guy called me down with A2 and the 4th 8 hit on the river.  I lost 10 buy ins, knowing that if I kept playing correctly my luck would change.  It never did.  The other players at the tables were even commenting how rotten of luck I was having.  Of course they were loving it.

I played about 40 hands today and was up a buy in.  I had more than my 2 points and even though I was on a hot streak I quit playing.  I just don't feel it.

I'm going to take it easy this month and only play a little 1 or 2 tabling for fun.  Maybe that's the key.  I have been pushing so hard it hasn't been fun.

There's a couple local games I think I will start playing on the weekends.  I haven't been playing them because I was trying to do good online.  That's not going to happen, so I might as well go have some fun at the live games.

My family has been patient with my latest push, but I owe them some time.  This month I will spend more time with them and less time with the people online that I get so irritated with.  How can they call with that?