It has been a week since I have played poker or posted on here. As soon as I hit submit on my last post, I received a phone call that my father in law had been in a vehicle accident. Not long after I got another call that he did not make it.
We have been out of town the last week. My wife and her family were making arrangements and I was there trying to support them the best I could.
We got back today.
I'm not sure how much playing time I will get in, as we have a lot to do around the house now. I guess that's the good thing about cash games. I can play some short sessions between getting things done.
We are expecting a baby any day now, so I may disappear again soon without notice.
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Insightful Comment
This is one insightful and helpful comment. These are the types of things I need to question myself on, in order to get better. It's nice to have a little guidance as well from somebody that clearly has a better grasp on the game. I never considered when I started this blog that I would get this kind of help from others. I started it hoping to advance my game and give a few people something to read if they wanted to follow along. Advise is definitely welcome. Thank you FlushDraww!
Hello
Mirk hope your day is going well. By the way if you don't like being
called Mirk let me know lol. Several ppoints I want to make on your
recent posts so I thought I would get to them all here. First off I
love your blog. Constant updates and I tend to enjoy the blogs most of
those who are in similar poker situations as I am in.
Mirk is fine. Thanks for the words of encouragement on the blog.
Your post titled "Changing The Rules" you posted your plans as far as buy-ins depending opn what the bankroll is. I think you need to rethink this. Under current circumstances I understand your need to short stack as you do, but if your a solid player evan at 6 max there is no reason why 30 or 40 buy-ins should not be plenty. When you hit $160 you should be buying in full and always keeping a full stack on the table at all times. You are risking value by not having a full stack on the table when you hit the monster hands or even the AA and KK hands where a Laggy type will call an all in with top pair top kicker. I run on a 40 buy-in system myself and you might want to consider the same.
Your post titled "Changing The Rules" you posted your plans as far as buy-ins depending opn what the bankroll is. I think you need to rethink this. Under current circumstances I understand your need to short stack as you do, but if your a solid player evan at 6 max there is no reason why 30 or 40 buy-ins should not be plenty. When you hit $160 you should be buying in full and always keeping a full stack on the table at all times. You are risking value by not having a full stack on the table when you hit the monster hands or even the AA and KK hands where a Laggy type will call an all in with top pair top kicker. I run on a 40 buy-in system myself and you might want to consider the same.
Great points on this. I had similar thoughts on this and was going to go to the 40 buy in system once I made the 10.00 NL level. I will take your advice and start buying in full once I hit 160.00 and stick with it through 4.00 NL. This will also help me get accustomed to playing with a full stack prior to reaching 10.00 NL.
The 50 cenjt SNGs...... I believe they are called the Fast 50s. If you can do well at them then it's all good, but remember a 20% fee which those have, if we are talking the same thing, makes sustaining a profit difficult at best and you will need a higher ITM percentage just to sustain a 15-20% ROI.
The 50 cenjt SNGs...... I believe they are called the Fast 50s. If you can do well at them then it's all good, but remember a 20% fee which those have, if we are talking the same thing, makes sustaining a profit difficult at best and you will need a higher ITM percentage just to sustain a 15-20% ROI.
That .10 fee for a .50 game is crazy. I was just playing a few of them to keep my sng fix at bay while my bankroll was less than desirable. Luckily I did good at those. This is a game I rarely play do to the fact that its a 20% fee. Most of the time I play the pilchard 1.10 18 man if I'm going to do a sng.
Congrats on your good fortunes at the casino. That is always nothing but fun.
What poker software are you currently using? Is it Poker Tracker? What is your sample size and VPIP/PFR/3bet preflop and AFq numbers. Also if you posted some of your hand histories here on the blog perhaps we could get into some good discussions about them.
Congrats on your good fortunes at the casino. That is always nothing but fun.
What poker software are you currently using? Is it Poker Tracker? What is your sample size and VPIP/PFR/3bet preflop and AFq numbers. Also if you posted some of your hand histories here on the blog perhaps we could get into some good discussions about them.
I am using Poker Tracker. I figured out I had to have it to be able to play cash games and saw the advantages of it helping me to understand my own game. I purchased it this month, after I had a 1 month trial in December. I'm still learning to use it effectively, but it has helped a ton already even though my results are not in the positive yet.
My VPIP after 10000 hands is 31%. I have been experimenting a lot :D It will be going down a little as I have narrowed down the range of the hands I will play. My PFR is low at 9.6 according to the analasys I ran last night. My 3 bet is at 5.32. AFq is 38.39. I think it is lower than usual do to my larger starting hand range and folding after the flop. Playing lots of hands and folding on the flop doesn't seem to be profitable as my money won without showdown takes a huge hit.
I will post some hand histories on here. It'd be great to get some perspective on some hands I struggle with as well as hands I think I played correctly or incorrectly.
And finally you stated that after 1000 hands you were back to even. Why not call it a night right then and there? Did you have something inside told you you had to turn a profit? Many times I face the same thing and after that many hands played if I am able to reboiund it I will call it a night. That very thing happened to me last night. Dropped a buy-in and a half to 2 buy-ins and after 900+ hands I got it back to only 24 cents down and decided good enough, time to call it a night.
And finally you stated that after 1000 hands you were back to even. Why not call it a night right then and there? Did you have something inside told you you had to turn a profit? Many times I face the same thing and after that many hands played if I am able to reboiund it I will call it a night. That very thing happened to me last night. Dropped a buy-in and a half to 2 buy-ins and after 900+ hands I got it back to only 24 cents down and decided good enough, time to call it a night.
I was playing until Midnight when I started. I considered quitting at the 1000 hand mark and calling it a night but I had already quit early twice this month with a profit so I figured I could keep going until midnight. Might have been a good move to stop, but I had the chance to get in some volume and took it. I have found that it's better for me to either set a stop time or a certain amount of hands to quit at, before I start playing. If I do have a profit or a loss and start to think that I can't improve on either I may call it a night at that point.
The KK vs AA is tough to swallow, but did you have information available that told you you were up against AA in any of these situations? If your using PT for example are you using a HUD? If you are and you see that that Villain only 3 bets preflop 2% of the time you know he is doing it with AA only. I have seen players just like this and sometimes you have to find a fold preflop. Were you the one that shoved preflopnwith the KK? was it against a raise or a 3bet? Sometimes I find if I am 3 bet with KK and I just flat him then if an Ace hits that flop I have a way out of the hand cheaper than my entire stack.
The KK vs AA is tough to swallow, but did you have information available that told you you were up against AA in any of these situations? If your using PT for example are you using a HUD? If you are and you see that that Villain only 3 bets preflop 2% of the time you know he is doing it with AA only. I have seen players just like this and sometimes you have to find a fold preflop. Were you the one that shoved preflopnwith the KK? was it against a raise or a 3bet? Sometimes I find if I am 3 bet with KK and I just flat him then if an Ace hits that flop I have a way out of the hand cheaper than my entire stack.
Nice tip on the 3 bet read. The only thing that told me they had Aces was that I had Kings. Not really. I don't remember what their 3 bet %'s were now. I still don't know if I would have found that fold button. Even after losing KK to AA 4 times in the last 2 days of play I only show a loss of 2.00 out of the 11 times I've had KK. I hardly ever push with KK unless I think it will get a call with a worse hand. They will fold lesser hands and I would lose out on my best chances of profit for the night. It was an anomaly that the same scenario happened 3 times in less than a few minutes.
The JJ hand where you flopped a set and got runner runnered. Was it a wet flop? Did you pot bet that flop and if the turn was a scary card shove that turn to make them pay to chaase? This is also why short stacking hurts you. The amount you are able to put in to try to chase them off these hands sometimes is just not enough to send them a serious message.
The JJ hand where you flopped a set and got runner runnered. Was it a wet flop? Did you pot bet that flop and if the turn was a scary card shove that turn to make them pay to chaase? This is also why short stacking hurts you. The amount you are able to put in to try to chase them off these hands sometimes is just not enough to send them a serious message.
It wasn't a wet flop, 2 low cards and a J. I bet expecting to take it down on the flop. The turn was a face card so I bet pot thinking I would take it down there. He went all in and I insta called. The river brought the dreaded Ace. With that flop I didn't see that coming. I thought maybe he might have lower trips or a AJ. He was on a complete whiff until the river came. I'd like to know his thought process in that hand. He had to have thought I had a single pair or less.
I am definately seeing your point with the stack size. I was half buy in at this point and he might have thought he had nothing to lose.
Hope we get an opportunity to have some good in depth poker talks if you would like. Best of luck at the tables and play well.
Hope we get an opportunity to have some good in depth poker talks if you would like. Best of luck at the tables and play well.
That sounds great. Two minds are better than one, as they say. Besides if we don't get in some good talks I'll always wonder WWFDD?
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Ran KK into AA Again
One of these days this horrible cycle has got to end. After 750 hands today I ended up losing 6.99.
My friend transferred me some money I had loaned him in Vegas. Now my bankroll is bigger. I was able to start with 3.00 buy ins.
My loss should have been a win tonight. I lost 2 crucial hands. On one I had KQ suited and called a raise. The flop came out Q high. He made a pot size bet and I called. The turn was a Q. He went all in and I called all in. He had AA and spiked an ace on the river. I lost 2.72 on that hand.
The other hand I called an all in bet with the best hand on the turn to lose to a flush catch on the river. I had a very strong feeling he was on a draw as he likes to bet big on drawing hands.
I had 1 big hand that helped early. I had 10 10 and was put all in after the flop by AK on a low board. I called and another player called with AQ. My 10's rode out the turn and the river and I pulled in a 6.50 pot.
My pocket K's ran into aces again for the 4th time in 2 nights. I thought I played the hand perfectly to extract value, eventually getting 2 other players all in, to find out one of them had AA on a 66J62 board. That cost me 3.52.
I did have a couple bad plays that cost me a few dollars as well if I would have walked away from them on or after the turn.
It should have been a lesser loss tonight and with a little better play could have been a winning night.
I also played a 1.00 18 man sng. I was chipping up nicely and called with the best hand to lose on the river there as well. I worked from 90 chips back up to 1000 before I lost my 99 all in to QQ.
My friend transferred me some money I had loaned him in Vegas. Now my bankroll is bigger. I was able to start with 3.00 buy ins.
My loss should have been a win tonight. I lost 2 crucial hands. On one I had KQ suited and called a raise. The flop came out Q high. He made a pot size bet and I called. The turn was a Q. He went all in and I called all in. He had AA and spiked an ace on the river. I lost 2.72 on that hand.
The other hand I called an all in bet with the best hand on the turn to lose to a flush catch on the river. I had a very strong feeling he was on a draw as he likes to bet big on drawing hands.
I had 1 big hand that helped early. I had 10 10 and was put all in after the flop by AK on a low board. I called and another player called with AQ. My 10's rode out the turn and the river and I pulled in a 6.50 pot.
My pocket K's ran into aces again for the 4th time in 2 nights. I thought I played the hand perfectly to extract value, eventually getting 2 other players all in, to find out one of them had AA on a 66J62 board. That cost me 3.52.
I did have a couple bad plays that cost me a few dollars as well if I would have walked away from them on or after the turn.
It should have been a lesser loss tonight and with a little better play could have been a winning night.
I also played a 1.00 18 man sng. I was chipping up nicely and called with the best hand to lose on the river there as well. I worked from 90 chips back up to 1000 before I lost my 99 all in to QQ.
Losing Money is OK?
Last night I was excited to play. The last 2 nights had not been good and I was ready to play solid and prove to myself that I can remain solid through a long session.
It started out rough as I lost a couple of buy ins quickly. This time I was not just throwing money away. They were the type of player that would go all in with a chase. They just caught this time.
Around 500 hands in I was slowly rebuilding. At 1000 hands I was back to even for the night. Then it happened. I lost all in's with KK to AA 3 times in a row on all 3 of the tables that I had built a nice amount of chips on against players that would have played the same way with an A10. I also got stacked when I got it all in with JJ when I hit the set on the flop. He runner runnered me for a straight. The chasers were catching late last night and there was nothing I could do but hope they would keep calling and my hands would hold up. They kept calling but I couldn't capitalize on them.
After 1450 hands I was down 14.50.
I also played 2 .50 sng's. I didn't get anywhere with either of them.
Tonight I will look over my hand histories and stats before I play, then play 400 hands, look over my hand histories and stats, then play 400 more hands etc.
If I keep learning what my mistakes are and working to correct them, hopefully I will start to be a profitable player. I have taken more steps to improve my game in the last few months since starting this blog, than I have over the last 7 years.
It's hard posting these losses, but if I keep looking at why I am posting such large losses I may help myself not make the same mistakes in the future. At least I'm able to take a loss and not try to jump up stakes to try to get it back now. I have lost hundreds of dollars doing that in the past. I'm going to have losses and strings of losses no matter what. I just have to try to lose as little as I can so when I'm running good I will come out ahead.
One of these days I may feel confident enough, that I can maintain my bankroll, that I will be able to add a large deposit. (Several Hundred Dollars) By that time I may have made enough that I will not have to. So far this month, I have played within my limits. If I continue to feel confident that I can keep within my limits at the end of February I will add a 100.00 to my bankroll from my casino winnings the other day.
I am still ok for the month. I am down in cash games. The month isn't that bad if you add in the sng's and the rakeback. This weekend I will be able to play in a few pokerowned tourneys. Maybe I can get some free money from those. Free money would be awesome right now. I should also be able to get into the VIP freerolls.
It started out rough as I lost a couple of buy ins quickly. This time I was not just throwing money away. They were the type of player that would go all in with a chase. They just caught this time.
Around 500 hands in I was slowly rebuilding. At 1000 hands I was back to even for the night. Then it happened. I lost all in's with KK to AA 3 times in a row on all 3 of the tables that I had built a nice amount of chips on against players that would have played the same way with an A10. I also got stacked when I got it all in with JJ when I hit the set on the flop. He runner runnered me for a straight. The chasers were catching late last night and there was nothing I could do but hope they would keep calling and my hands would hold up. They kept calling but I couldn't capitalize on them.
After 1450 hands I was down 14.50.
I also played 2 .50 sng's. I didn't get anywhere with either of them.
Tonight I will look over my hand histories and stats before I play, then play 400 hands, look over my hand histories and stats, then play 400 more hands etc.
If I keep learning what my mistakes are and working to correct them, hopefully I will start to be a profitable player. I have taken more steps to improve my game in the last few months since starting this blog, than I have over the last 7 years.
It's hard posting these losses, but if I keep looking at why I am posting such large losses I may help myself not make the same mistakes in the future. At least I'm able to take a loss and not try to jump up stakes to try to get it back now. I have lost hundreds of dollars doing that in the past. I'm going to have losses and strings of losses no matter what. I just have to try to lose as little as I can so when I'm running good I will come out ahead.
One of these days I may feel confident enough, that I can maintain my bankroll, that I will be able to add a large deposit. (Several Hundred Dollars) By that time I may have made enough that I will not have to. So far this month, I have played within my limits. If I continue to feel confident that I can keep within my limits at the end of February I will add a 100.00 to my bankroll from my casino winnings the other day.
I am still ok for the month. I am down in cash games. The month isn't that bad if you add in the sng's and the rakeback. This weekend I will be able to play in a few pokerowned tourneys. Maybe I can get some free money from those. Free money would be awesome right now. I should also be able to get into the VIP freerolls.
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Big Win Weekend
Over the weekend I went down to Oklahoma City to spend time with my friend one last time before the baby is born.
One of our traditions has been to hit the casino's for fun while I am there. We never go to one casino long enough for me to jump into a tournament or cash game while we are there, so we gamble on slots.
We started out at the Riverwind Casino. We got 20.00 for being a newby at their casino. No luck there. When we left I was 9.00 down and could have been more if I hadn't had some luck on the Wizard of Oz machine at the end.
We then went to the Kickapoo casino. I have played there and they didn't have any bonuses for me at the time. Usually they do. I lost 20.00 in quick fashion there.
Next we went to the Kickapoo 2 casino. It is in the process of being built, but they have a small building with slot machines in it until it does get built. We got 20.00 for being a newby there. All of the machines are newer and it had a good feel to the place. I had a good run on a quick hit machine to take the 20.00 plus my 10.00 up to 60.00. I moved to another quick hit machine across the casino and played there for a while. I hit 9 quick hits for 100.00, plus some bonus spins playing minumum bet of .40. Before I got up, I decided to play 10 spins at max credit, which was 2.00 a spin. On spin #8 I got 8 quick hits for 250.00. I played a few more spins and it was time to move to the next casino. I was up 300.00 for the night including drinks.
Firelake Casino was next on the menu. We got 10.00 free for being newby's there. I played it at a bombs away machine and quickly hit for 60.00. Everything else I played just ate my money. Before we left, I went back to the bombs away machine and gave it back another 20.00. I was down 6.00 there, when we left to go to Denny's.
I used cash the rest of the weekend eating out and on the way home getting gas and still came home with a good chunk of cash.
One of our traditions has been to hit the casino's for fun while I am there. We never go to one casino long enough for me to jump into a tournament or cash game while we are there, so we gamble on slots.
We started out at the Riverwind Casino. We got 20.00 for being a newby at their casino. No luck there. When we left I was 9.00 down and could have been more if I hadn't had some luck on the Wizard of Oz machine at the end.
We then went to the Kickapoo casino. I have played there and they didn't have any bonuses for me at the time. Usually they do. I lost 20.00 in quick fashion there.
Next we went to the Kickapoo 2 casino. It is in the process of being built, but they have a small building with slot machines in it until it does get built. We got 20.00 for being a newby there. All of the machines are newer and it had a good feel to the place. I had a good run on a quick hit machine to take the 20.00 plus my 10.00 up to 60.00. I moved to another quick hit machine across the casino and played there for a while. I hit 9 quick hits for 100.00, plus some bonus spins playing minumum bet of .40. Before I got up, I decided to play 10 spins at max credit, which was 2.00 a spin. On spin #8 I got 8 quick hits for 250.00. I played a few more spins and it was time to move to the next casino. I was up 300.00 for the night including drinks.
Firelake Casino was next on the menu. We got 10.00 free for being newby's there. I played it at a bombs away machine and quickly hit for 60.00. Everything else I played just ate my money. Before we left, I went back to the bombs away machine and gave it back another 20.00. I was down 6.00 there, when we left to go to Denny's.
I used cash the rest of the weekend eating out and on the way home getting gas and still came home with a good chunk of cash.
Solid Play and Patience
Last night I was leaving work and the truck started rough then died. After that it would turn over but it wouldn't act like it was trying to start. It felt like it flooded. After half an hour of turning the key trying to get it to fire again, I got the idea to press lightly on the gas as I turned the ignition. It gurgled and sputtered but finally started. Not sure what's up with that. The rest of the night it started fine.
I picked up the kids and went to volleyball. I was having fun until right at the end. I went up for a spike and caught the ball wrong with my finger. I heard a popping sound and my whole hand went numb. Worse than that the ball came off akward and went out of bounds. My finger hurts today. It's probably either a jam or a sprain. I think I'd be in a lot worse pain if it is broken.
We got home from volleyball and I settled into the recliner to play some poker. I started off horrible, and got worse. I wish I could blame it on getting it in with the best hand and getting beat. That wasn't the case. Tilt was the issue, along with horrible play.
The more I play cash games, the more I realize that you have to have patience and you have to play solid all of the time. It helps to take every edge you can get. I played sloppy. I went into hands without knowing what I was going to do after the flop, turn or river. I was easy money.
Thankfully, I took a break and thought through what I had been doing. I knew I wasn't going to recoup my losses for the night but I could continue to play and hope to get some back.
The rest of the night went a little better even though I did not gain much ground by the time I quit. At least I wasn't throwing money away any longer.
I lost at least 4 buy ins pushing with crap hands due to tilting. Each time they had a made hand. Had I not done that I would only be a buy in down for the night. Instead I was down 5. There were definately other areas to improve on as well.
Tonight, I need to concentrate on solid play and patience.
On top of cash I played 3 .50 sng's. Those turned out a little better as I took 2 2nds and a 1st for a profit of 3.15. That made my profit for last night (7.70). I played 599 hands for a loss of 10.85. Rakeback also helped take a little sting out of the night.
What hurts, is that a few nights ago I was showing a profit for the first time in cash. Then, I left town for the weekend and come back to play horribly for 2 nights putting myself right back to where I was at.
I picked up the kids and went to volleyball. I was having fun until right at the end. I went up for a spike and caught the ball wrong with my finger. I heard a popping sound and my whole hand went numb. Worse than that the ball came off akward and went out of bounds. My finger hurts today. It's probably either a jam or a sprain. I think I'd be in a lot worse pain if it is broken.
We got home from volleyball and I settled into the recliner to play some poker. I started off horrible, and got worse. I wish I could blame it on getting it in with the best hand and getting beat. That wasn't the case. Tilt was the issue, along with horrible play.
The more I play cash games, the more I realize that you have to have patience and you have to play solid all of the time. It helps to take every edge you can get. I played sloppy. I went into hands without knowing what I was going to do after the flop, turn or river. I was easy money.
Thankfully, I took a break and thought through what I had been doing. I knew I wasn't going to recoup my losses for the night but I could continue to play and hope to get some back.
The rest of the night went a little better even though I did not gain much ground by the time I quit. At least I wasn't throwing money away any longer.
I lost at least 4 buy ins pushing with crap hands due to tilting. Each time they had a made hand. Had I not done that I would only be a buy in down for the night. Instead I was down 5. There were definately other areas to improve on as well.
Tonight, I need to concentrate on solid play and patience.
On top of cash I played 3 .50 sng's. Those turned out a little better as I took 2 2nds and a 1st for a profit of 3.15. That made my profit for last night (7.70). I played 599 hands for a loss of 10.85. Rakeback also helped take a little sting out of the night.
What hurts, is that a few nights ago I was showing a profit for the first time in cash. Then, I left town for the weekend and come back to play horribly for 2 nights putting myself right back to where I was at.
Monday, January 21, 2013
Changing The Rules
Last night was so bad that I took an hour after I was done playing to go back over my hand history to see what I could have done differently. The conclusion was to not play. Not really. I lost quite a bit of money with my larger pocket pairs. Include chases into the mix and that was another large chunk. Include calling pre flop raises and folding on the flop - ANOTHER LARGE CHUNK.
It just wasn't my night. I was playing 4 4.00 6 max tables with the full buy in on each table. This was the first time I have played with a full buy in for quite a while. I'm sure that had something to do my larger loss on the night. I jumped from playing a long time with 2.00 buy ins, to 3.00 buy ins for 1 day, then to 4.00 buy ins.
It hurts more when you lose an entire 4.00 buy in than it does when you lose a 2.00 buy in. It's harder to come back from that. You can sometimes get your full 2.00 stack out there and get called more often than you will with a full 4.00 stack.
So, should I stick with a short stack and continue to play? I don't think so. Even though I get called more when I get it all in with a 2.00 stack by others with lesser hands? I think that with a 4.00 stack you will still be able to get the 2.00 out of them by playing similarly on bet sizes, and sometimes I could even get more than that.
Last night was my first run with full stacks at NL. I lost enough to drop me back down to 3.00 buy ins according to my bankroll mgmt rules. I was down 20.42 at the end of the night.
I am going to change my rules up a little to keep me moving in the right direction. Here is what I am going to do as far as buy in's going forward.
Up to 80.00 - 2.00 buy in
80.01 - 140.00 - 3.00 buy in (earn 20 buy ins to move up)
140.01 - 220.00 - 4.00 buy in (earn 20 buy ins to move up)
220.01 - 320.00 - 5.00 buy in at 10.00 NL (earn 20 buy ins to move up)
320.01 - 470.00 - 7.50 buy in at 10.00 NL (earn 20 buy ins to move up)
470.01 - 1K - 10.00 buy in at 10.00 NL (earn 53 buy ins to move up)
This drops me down into the 2.00 buy in range again. :( Hopefully not for long.
This is an aggressive approach to getting to 10.00 NL. I will remain between 40 and 60 buy ins at each level. In going with a more traditional approach I would have a range from 40 to 100 buy ins for each level, giving me more padding as I get closer to each new level. I will move to the more secure traditional approach once I reach 10.00 buy in at 10.00 NL.
It just wasn't my night. I was playing 4 4.00 6 max tables with the full buy in on each table. This was the first time I have played with a full buy in for quite a while. I'm sure that had something to do my larger loss on the night. I jumped from playing a long time with 2.00 buy ins, to 3.00 buy ins for 1 day, then to 4.00 buy ins.
It hurts more when you lose an entire 4.00 buy in than it does when you lose a 2.00 buy in. It's harder to come back from that. You can sometimes get your full 2.00 stack out there and get called more often than you will with a full 4.00 stack.
So, should I stick with a short stack and continue to play? I don't think so. Even though I get called more when I get it all in with a 2.00 stack by others with lesser hands? I think that with a 4.00 stack you will still be able to get the 2.00 out of them by playing similarly on bet sizes, and sometimes I could even get more than that.
Last night was my first run with full stacks at NL. I lost enough to drop me back down to 3.00 buy ins according to my bankroll mgmt rules. I was down 20.42 at the end of the night.
I am going to change my rules up a little to keep me moving in the right direction. Here is what I am going to do as far as buy in's going forward.
Up to 80.00 - 2.00 buy in
80.01 - 140.00 - 3.00 buy in (earn 20 buy ins to move up)
140.01 - 220.00 - 4.00 buy in (earn 20 buy ins to move up)
220.01 - 320.00 - 5.00 buy in at 10.00 NL (earn 20 buy ins to move up)
320.01 - 470.00 - 7.50 buy in at 10.00 NL (earn 20 buy ins to move up)
470.01 - 1K - 10.00 buy in at 10.00 NL (earn 53 buy ins to move up)
This drops me down into the 2.00 buy in range again. :( Hopefully not for long.
This is an aggressive approach to getting to 10.00 NL. I will remain between 40 and 60 buy ins at each level. In going with a more traditional approach I would have a range from 40 to 100 buy ins for each level, giving me more padding as I get closer to each new level. I will move to the more secure traditional approach once I reach 10.00 buy in at 10.00 NL.
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Good Night For Pocket Pairs
This evening I ended up working late a few hours. When I got home, I cooked some supper and sat down in the living room to watch Treasure planet with the family. When I finished supper I loaded up 4 tables of 4.00 NL. I played another short session tonight of 345 hands.
Pocket pairs were my big winners tonight. I had big hands with JJ and 99 when the flops came low and the turn and rivers stayed low. I had quite a few other pocket pairs that didn't make it to showdown.
I had a few more larger losses than last night. I also had a lot more calls after I landed 2 pair, 3 of a kinds, flushes, etc. It feels good to be on the good side of variance for a change. My profit for tonight in cash was 17.19.
I wasn't ready to quit playing, but I did want to log my big win for cash so I loaded up a .50 9 man sng to play while I finished up an episode of Bones. It was touch and go through the whole game. I lost a big hand with KK to a set of 6's to take me all but out of the game. I got lucky with 3 callers when I went all in with Q9 and won with a pair of 9's.
From there I remained about the same until we reached the money. I won a big pot against the 2nd big stack and took that position. Then I took him out a few hands later and became the big stack. I was super aggressive against the other player. With the blinds being so high he quickly lost chips. He finally went all in and I called with a K5. He had 22. I caught my K and won 2.25.
Pocket pairs were my big winners tonight. I had big hands with JJ and 99 when the flops came low and the turn and rivers stayed low. I had quite a few other pocket pairs that didn't make it to showdown.
I had a few more larger losses than last night. I also had a lot more calls after I landed 2 pair, 3 of a kinds, flushes, etc. It feels good to be on the good side of variance for a change. My profit for tonight in cash was 17.19.
I wasn't ready to quit playing, but I did want to log my big win for cash so I loaded up a .50 9 man sng to play while I finished up an episode of Bones. It was touch and go through the whole game. I lost a big hand with KK to a set of 6's to take me all but out of the game. I got lucky with 3 callers when I went all in with Q9 and won with a pair of 9's.
From there I remained about the same until we reached the money. I won a big pot against the 2nd big stack and took that position. Then I took him out a few hands later and became the big stack. I was super aggressive against the other player. With the blinds being so high he quickly lost chips. He finally went all in and I called with a K5. He had 22. I caught my K and won 2.25.
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Short Session Big Results
Tonight was a big night.
I wasn't feeling poker too much since I had played quite a bit the last few days so I played Boarderlands 2 online with my friend in Oklahoma City. After we finished I decided to play my 325+ hands for today.
It started out great with K 10 on one table. There was a 10 high flop. I bet and he called the flop and the turn. The river brought the K and I bet a pot size bet. He called with QQ. A couple hands later I had KK and got paid off nicely.
In the rest of the 340 hands I only lost one big pot. I had an A9d and a 9 high flop came out with 2 diamonds. I bet and he called. I checked and called the turn and river. He showed his JJ for the win of 1.90. Besides that I only lost .50 or less pots.
I did stick with 4 tables tonight. Besides the fact that the cards were hitting me in the face, I was able to make quite a few good plays by paying attention to all of the tables. If I had played 6 tables I don't think I would have been able to follow the action as closely. I was also watching a couple episodes of Bones while I was playing so there is more likelihood I wouldn't have kept up.
Tonight I had a profit of 13.39. I'm going to bed a little earlier tonight.
I wasn't feeling poker too much since I had played quite a bit the last few days so I played Boarderlands 2 online with my friend in Oklahoma City. After we finished I decided to play my 325+ hands for today.
It started out great with K 10 on one table. There was a 10 high flop. I bet and he called the flop and the turn. The river brought the K and I bet a pot size bet. He called with QQ. A couple hands later I had KK and got paid off nicely.
In the rest of the 340 hands I only lost one big pot. I had an A9d and a 9 high flop came out with 2 diamonds. I bet and he called. I checked and called the turn and river. He showed his JJ for the win of 1.90. Besides that I only lost .50 or less pots.
I did stick with 4 tables tonight. Besides the fact that the cards were hitting me in the face, I was able to make quite a few good plays by paying attention to all of the tables. If I had played 6 tables I don't think I would have been able to follow the action as closely. I was also watching a couple episodes of Bones while I was playing so there is more likelihood I wouldn't have kept up.
Tonight I had a profit of 13.39. I'm going to bed a little earlier tonight.
January Goal Half Month Review
Last Night I had a couple of my nephews come over after I got off work. My wife went to the basketball game out of town so it was just me and the 4 boys.
Supper was the first thing on the list, and when I got home, everything that I had thought about cooking was out of question, as the dishes needed to cook them were dirty. We ended up having hamburger helper and bread and butter. It was a crowd pleaser. We then went to the living room to take turns playing Boarderlands 2.
Around 9:00 I took the nephews home. My wife showed up, so I fired up the computer to get my 325+ hands in. I ended up getting 1303 hands in for a loss of .19.
At one point I was down nearly 18.00 after my AA, got cracked 3 times in a row and my KK did not hold up twice, all of those times I was able to get all my money in ahead post flop or preflop. Every time I was outdrawn on the turn or the river. I did run KK into AA later on as well. It was tough to not have a single hand hold up all night. I even lost with an A high flush to a straight flush where the guy had the 4 calling the whole way to the river.
Towards the end when I was about to quit, I started hitting some flops and my hands started holding. Half of my return came from 1 player that would call me no matter what I bet or when. I just waited for a hand and bet. He kept reloading. I played until Midnight which is the latest I want to play. He was still there to donate but I hadn't gotten any hands to play at him for the last 1/2 hour and he was tightening up, so I logged off for the night.
I didn't play my sng last night.
As it is over half way through the month I have reviewed where I am at for my goals.
I am on track to clear 10000 hands in January as i have put in over 6000 hands already. I am feeling better about my table selection and choosing which tables to start out on. I have also been following the bankroll guidelines that I have set in place.
I have moved up to 6 tables of 6 max the last 2 days. That may be why my numbers are so swingy. I think I may move back to 4 tables for a couple of days to see if I can turn a profit at 1000 hands. I am missing some profitable spots while I am 6 tabling.
Supper was the first thing on the list, and when I got home, everything that I had thought about cooking was out of question, as the dishes needed to cook them were dirty. We ended up having hamburger helper and bread and butter. It was a crowd pleaser. We then went to the living room to take turns playing Boarderlands 2.
Around 9:00 I took the nephews home. My wife showed up, so I fired up the computer to get my 325+ hands in. I ended up getting 1303 hands in for a loss of .19.
At one point I was down nearly 18.00 after my AA, got cracked 3 times in a row and my KK did not hold up twice, all of those times I was able to get all my money in ahead post flop or preflop. Every time I was outdrawn on the turn or the river. I did run KK into AA later on as well. It was tough to not have a single hand hold up all night. I even lost with an A high flush to a straight flush where the guy had the 4 calling the whole way to the river.
Towards the end when I was about to quit, I started hitting some flops and my hands started holding. Half of my return came from 1 player that would call me no matter what I bet or when. I just waited for a hand and bet. He kept reloading. I played until Midnight which is the latest I want to play. He was still there to donate but I hadn't gotten any hands to play at him for the last 1/2 hour and he was tightening up, so I logged off for the night.
I didn't play my sng last night.
As it is over half way through the month I have reviewed where I am at for my goals.
I am on track to clear 10000 hands in January as i have put in over 6000 hands already. I am feeling better about my table selection and choosing which tables to start out on. I have also been following the bankroll guidelines that I have set in place.
I have moved up to 6 tables of 6 max the last 2 days. That may be why my numbers are so swingy. I think I may move back to 4 tables for a couple of days to see if I can turn a profit at 1000 hands. I am missing some profitable spots while I am 6 tabling.
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Rough Night
As good as the night before went, nothing went right on the poker tables last night. As I'm starting to figure out my table selection, I noticed that I didn't have as many good options last night. Sunday night I had a ton of tables that were optimal for me to play.
The donks were out thick last night and were getting payed handsomely for chasing down the river with hands like J7o looking for the inside straight against my AA.
Since I was over 60.00, I increased my buy in amount from 2.00 to 3.00 on each table. After 937 hands I was down 10.32 for the night. I did clear 5.00 in reload bonus. I also played an 18 man sng and finished 3rd for 3.60. With rakeback from the previous night I was about even for the night.
Before I played last night, I had been playing volleyball with some other people from town. We played from 7:00 to 9:00. I have been neglecting getting any excersize lately so it is good to have volleyball starting back up so I can at least be active 1 night a week.
It's hard for me to drag myself out of the house when I'm not working. I am constantly doing something all of the time. I just want to stay at home and relax whenever I can, but I have so many obligations to everyone else that I can't be a hermit.
I travel every weekend and spend my weeknights going to volleyball, basketball games, working etc. I feel like when I get to play poker I am rushing it and not making the best plays because I need to do what I can in the short time I get to play.
To offset that feeling of not having time to give poker a chance, I have been staying up late and playing late. I am foregoing sleep now so that I can do everything else and still try to make something of poker. I like to have time to go over my hand histories when I get done for the night, but have rarely been doing so lately, since I play until I can't keep my eyes open any longer.
I have a family and a responsibility to them, and friends and responsibilities to them and a job with those responsibilities. They are all time consuming.
The donks were out thick last night and were getting payed handsomely for chasing down the river with hands like J7o looking for the inside straight against my AA.
Since I was over 60.00, I increased my buy in amount from 2.00 to 3.00 on each table. After 937 hands I was down 10.32 for the night. I did clear 5.00 in reload bonus. I also played an 18 man sng and finished 3rd for 3.60. With rakeback from the previous night I was about even for the night.
Before I played last night, I had been playing volleyball with some other people from town. We played from 7:00 to 9:00. I have been neglecting getting any excersize lately so it is good to have volleyball starting back up so I can at least be active 1 night a week.
It's hard for me to drag myself out of the house when I'm not working. I am constantly doing something all of the time. I just want to stay at home and relax whenever I can, but I have so many obligations to everyone else that I can't be a hermit.
I travel every weekend and spend my weeknights going to volleyball, basketball games, working etc. I feel like when I get to play poker I am rushing it and not making the best plays because I need to do what I can in the short time I get to play.
To offset that feeling of not having time to give poker a chance, I have been staying up late and playing late. I am foregoing sleep now so that I can do everything else and still try to make something of poker. I like to have time to go over my hand histories when I get done for the night, but have rarely been doing so lately, since I play until I can't keep my eyes open any longer.
I have a family and a responsibility to them, and friends and responsibilities to them and a job with those responsibilities. They are all time consuming.
Sunday, January 13, 2013
The Deer Hunt
This morning I was awakened by Dad at 6:00 to get ready to go hunting. We were out the door and on the road well before sun up. We made it to our hunting grounds by the time the sun was coming up over the horizon.
The first thing we saw was a bunch of turkeys roosting in the trees near where the deer were. It was going to be tough to walk in there without spooking the turkeys and not spooking the deer.
We waited until we could see then started sneaking down a fence row towards the deer hangout. We started sneaking and about 7 steps out of the 100's more to go the turkey's flew down from the tops of the trees. Our cover had been blown.
We continued as quietly as we could, which was far from silent as our coveralls rustled and frozen plants crumbled with each step.
We reached the trees and saw the deer running out the other side. Well crap. That might have been our one chance at getting a whitetail. The deer then stopped in the middle of a corn field at the edge of a draw. We decided to sneak down the middle of the draw and come up close to where they were hanging out.
This time we were downwind as the wind had finally picked up a little bit to cover our noise, and we found a clean path to follow to stay quiet.
I stayed back so I could only see the top of the deers head and let dad get ahead to get a shot. He stood up and sighted in the deer. Click. No boom. I see Dad eject the shell and bolt in another. Click. No boom. Same thing. This time he messes with the gun for a minute. You can see he's taking a little longer to aim this time. Click. No boom. He bolts in the last bullet and takes aim again. The deer are getting ancy but still haven't moved. Click. No boom.
The deer take off and Dad walks back to me. The gun fired fine the day before when he fired a shot at a piece of trash in the woods. Today nothing.
We get back to the truck after a good hike and Dad looks at the firing pin and other features of the gun. Everything looks o.k. We look at the bullets and all four had strike marks in the rim fire. We decided to try a bullet out of another box of shells. Booom! Put in one of the shells that did not fire and click.
Winchester had made a whole box of bad shells. It cost us a deer, my money getting up there and back and my time spent hunting the last 2 days.
We had planned everything out perfectly to finally get a shot and nothing.
I did have a great time hunting with Dad and am not to concerned about not getting a deer, but I am thoroughly peeved that Winchester makes such a bad product. These were new factory shells. I pulled up a search on the internet and saw that they have had other issues with this.
We will probably never by a box of Winchester shells again.
We had to call it a day after that as I had a 4 1/2 hour drive home today. Today is the end of the season.
When I got home I loaded up some tables and got to work. I played 930 hands and had a profit of 9.67. I also played an 18 man sng and took 2nd for 5.40.
The first thing we saw was a bunch of turkeys roosting in the trees near where the deer were. It was going to be tough to walk in there without spooking the turkeys and not spooking the deer.
We waited until we could see then started sneaking down a fence row towards the deer hangout. We started sneaking and about 7 steps out of the 100's more to go the turkey's flew down from the tops of the trees. Our cover had been blown.
We continued as quietly as we could, which was far from silent as our coveralls rustled and frozen plants crumbled with each step.
We reached the trees and saw the deer running out the other side. Well crap. That might have been our one chance at getting a whitetail. The deer then stopped in the middle of a corn field at the edge of a draw. We decided to sneak down the middle of the draw and come up close to where they were hanging out.
This time we were downwind as the wind had finally picked up a little bit to cover our noise, and we found a clean path to follow to stay quiet.
I stayed back so I could only see the top of the deers head and let dad get ahead to get a shot. He stood up and sighted in the deer. Click. No boom. I see Dad eject the shell and bolt in another. Click. No boom. Same thing. This time he messes with the gun for a minute. You can see he's taking a little longer to aim this time. Click. No boom. He bolts in the last bullet and takes aim again. The deer are getting ancy but still haven't moved. Click. No boom.
The deer take off and Dad walks back to me. The gun fired fine the day before when he fired a shot at a piece of trash in the woods. Today nothing.
We get back to the truck after a good hike and Dad looks at the firing pin and other features of the gun. Everything looks o.k. We look at the bullets and all four had strike marks in the rim fire. We decided to try a bullet out of another box of shells. Booom! Put in one of the shells that did not fire and click.
Winchester had made a whole box of bad shells. It cost us a deer, my money getting up there and back and my time spent hunting the last 2 days.
We had planned everything out perfectly to finally get a shot and nothing.
I did have a great time hunting with Dad and am not to concerned about not getting a deer, but I am thoroughly peeved that Winchester makes such a bad product. These were new factory shells. I pulled up a search on the internet and saw that they have had other issues with this.
We will probably never by a box of Winchester shells again.
We had to call it a day after that as I had a 4 1/2 hour drive home today. Today is the end of the season.
When I got home I loaded up some tables and got to work. I played 930 hands and had a profit of 9.67. I also played an 18 man sng and took 2nd for 5.40.
Saturday, January 12, 2013
Long Day
Dad and I hunted most of the day. We didn't get a deer, but have a good idea where to start tomorrow to get one. We saw a ton of deer today but they were all on posted land. The land we had permission to hunt had the wrong type of deer in one area and in the other area we saw a lot of the right type of deer but couldn't get a shot. Tomorrow will be different.
I played quite a bit of poker on top of the hunting. I was able to get in 1292 hands. After all that play I finished the day being down 2.53. That's not bad considering I was down by close to 12.00 at a couple points today. The most I was up was by 1.87 after about 120 hands. I had a huge comeback on 2 of my tables as I got the second big stack on each of the tables to stack off to me. I was quitting at 11:00 to get some sleep and those 2 hands saved me from having to record a big loss. It seemed like all my best hands came at once at the end of the night after I had just taken a bad hit when I ran AQ into KJ for a 3.30 loss.
I think I am going to take AQ out of my starting hands. I have noticed this before but it lost about 8.00 today. I'm sure that I am not playing it correctly so for right now I just won't play it until I can think through how to play it correctly. I overvalue any pair I get with it and lose a lot to straights, full houses, two pair, over pairs, etc., usually to somebody catching better cards on the turn or the river.
I played quite a bit of poker on top of the hunting. I was able to get in 1292 hands. After all that play I finished the day being down 2.53. That's not bad considering I was down by close to 12.00 at a couple points today. The most I was up was by 1.87 after about 120 hands. I had a huge comeback on 2 of my tables as I got the second big stack on each of the tables to stack off to me. I was quitting at 11:00 to get some sleep and those 2 hands saved me from having to record a big loss. It seemed like all my best hands came at once at the end of the night after I had just taken a bad hit when I ran AQ into KJ for a 3.30 loss.
I think I am going to take AQ out of my starting hands. I have noticed this before but it lost about 8.00 today. I'm sure that I am not playing it correctly so for right now I just won't play it until I can think through how to play it correctly. I overvalue any pair I get with it and lose a lot to straights, full houses, two pair, over pairs, etc., usually to somebody catching better cards on the turn or the river.
Friday, January 11, 2013
Last Minute Change in Plans
Dad called around lunch today and asked me to come up this weekend to go hunting with him. I told him I would take off work a little early and come up. So here I am in Northwest Kansas instead of having a relaxing weekend at home. It will be worth it if I can help him get a deer so I can take it back home.
The depositor freeroll game may be out for tomorrow. If we don't get a deer we will probably still be hunting. If we do get a deer we will be processing. There is a slim chance that I may still get to play.
By the time I got up here and talked for a bit, I didn't get many hands in before midnight. I played 54 hands and had a profit of .89. I also played a 27 man sng with VIP points and took 5th for 2.37 for a profit of 3.26.
At work I was thinking of putting in several thousand hands this weekend. It now looks like it will be a lot less. I guess Poker After Work is a good name for the blog as that seems to be when I get to play most of the time.
Not that I'm complaining. I love to spend time with my family.
The depositor freeroll game may be out for tomorrow. If we don't get a deer we will probably still be hunting. If we do get a deer we will be processing. There is a slim chance that I may still get to play.
By the time I got up here and talked for a bit, I didn't get many hands in before midnight. I played 54 hands and had a profit of .89. I also played a 27 man sng with VIP points and took 5th for 2.37 for a profit of 3.26.
At work I was thinking of putting in several thousand hands this weekend. It now looks like it will be a lot less. I guess Poker After Work is a good name for the blog as that seems to be when I get to play most of the time.
Not that I'm complaining. I love to spend time with my family.
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Small Win
Tonight I played 640 hands and came out ahead by 1.16. I was down by 2.41 and up by 1.70 at my high and low points during the session. My top four winning hands for tonight were with 2 pair. My top 4 losing hands were with AK one pair, QQ one pair, and the other hands2 were with 2 pair.
During part of the session I was watching my son play a video game so my full attention was not on poker. After he was done I loaded up 3 more games and an 18 man sng. I got my KK crushed by trip 10's on the turn and was out of that game shortly after.
This weekend I play the 10k Dec. depositors freeroll.
During part of the session I was watching my son play a video game so my full attention was not on poker. After he was done I loaded up 3 more games and an 18 man sng. I got my KK crushed by trip 10's on the turn and was out of that game shortly after.
This weekend I play the 10k Dec. depositors freeroll.
Playing Poker Again
Last night on top of playing Boarderlands 2, I was able to get in 300 hands of NL. The night started out poor with me going down by 4.00 right away with pocket aces that got cracked on the river. Those were the only aces I had for the night. I came back from the negative pretty quick when I caught a straight to the Ace with a J10 against a guy who slow rolled Aces.
After that, my good hands were getting paid and I was ducking out of hands that were marginal to large bets or 3 bets. I've been seeing that these players usually have a big hand when they bet like that. I am getting quite a few notes on players to help me make those tough decisions.
At the end of the 300 hand session I was up by 6.44. Maybe a little break was what I needed to refocus and think about how to break my repeated bad habits.
Tonight I may play a tournament while I am playing my cash tables. I'm thinking that I may just play an 18 man sng each night. I usually do pretty well at those. I can use my VIP points to enter those. When I get low on VIP points I can play a 1.00 tournament until the following month to let my VIP points build up.
After that, my good hands were getting paid and I was ducking out of hands that were marginal to large bets or 3 bets. I've been seeing that these players usually have a big hand when they bet like that. I am getting quite a few notes on players to help me make those tough decisions.
At the end of the 300 hand session I was up by 6.44. Maybe a little break was what I needed to refocus and think about how to break my repeated bad habits.
Tonight I may play a tournament while I am playing my cash tables. I'm thinking that I may just play an 18 man sng each night. I usually do pretty well at those. I can use my VIP points to enter those. When I get low on VIP points I can play a 1.00 tournament until the following month to let my VIP points build up.
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
This Year So Far
Through the first part of this month I have only played poker a couple short sessions. Both of them were losing sessions. My drive has diminished in playing poker, not completely, but the need to play all the time is going away. I think I am going to only play around 300 hands a night for the rest of the month. I need to throw a daily tournament in as well as I still like to play tournaments more than cash games.
I now have a new obsession. I have been playing Boarderlands 2 on the xbox 360 and it is addictive. My friend and I have been trying to get together when we can to play together online. In the meantime I am trying to level up my character to be closer to where he is at. I started at a level 1 when he was at a level 25. I die a lot when I play with him. In less than a week I am at a level 17.
I have sold quite a bit on ebay for as little as I have posted. I have been at the post office almost every day since I started selling again. I have been selling all small items for now. I have some big ticket items that I may throw on there if I start looking at another trip to Vegas soon.
I needed to get started on getting the baby room ready. My wife made a suggestion that we should get a bassinet to set next to the bed while the baby is small. Then we could wait until she is off work during maternity leave to get the baby room set up. That frees me up a little on that one. Hopefully with the baby, she will still have time to get the toy room cleaned out, then I can set up the crib
She is going to call the car shop to get the van in this week or next. Once we get the last thing fixed on it we can sell it. It drives fine in town but on the highway it has a bit of a shimmy at 70 mph. The shop said they found the problem and will fix it for a couple hundred. Then I can sell the car or trade it in on a vehicle for my wife to drive back and forth to work as well as pull either the boat or the camper.
Last night I went to see the high school basketball games in town. It's fun to watch, but hard. I still want to be the one out on the court. In high school I played every day I could. I'd dunk, shoot freethrows, shoot 3 pointers, play with buddies. It didn't matter. I loved the game. I watched it, studied it, anything I could do basketball.
I had a chance for a full ride scholarship to play football as an outside linebacker. I passed it up hoping to have any school interested in me for basketball. It was a slim chance, and I never heard anything. Once I got to college I was approached by the football coach and all the players at that school to play.
My biggest regret was that I didn't play football in college. When I was in high school I was 165 pounds and tried my hardest to put on weight. I lifted weights, ran, ate like a grizzly bear. I'd eat raw eggs for breakfast for the protein, go back for 3rd's at lunch, eat 4 plates of spagetti for supper. I new I would get killed playing college ball at 165 pounds being 6'3" and didn't have a clue how to put on weight. I figured it out the next year. Beer and fast food.
I have barely followed basketball for years. I still watch any football game I can. I made the choice to not play football. Now that my niece and nephew are in high school I have been working on healing the ache of never getting to play competitive basketball again, and finding enjoyment in watching the game.
I now have a new obsession. I have been playing Boarderlands 2 on the xbox 360 and it is addictive. My friend and I have been trying to get together when we can to play together online. In the meantime I am trying to level up my character to be closer to where he is at. I started at a level 1 when he was at a level 25. I die a lot when I play with him. In less than a week I am at a level 17.
I have sold quite a bit on ebay for as little as I have posted. I have been at the post office almost every day since I started selling again. I have been selling all small items for now. I have some big ticket items that I may throw on there if I start looking at another trip to Vegas soon.
I needed to get started on getting the baby room ready. My wife made a suggestion that we should get a bassinet to set next to the bed while the baby is small. Then we could wait until she is off work during maternity leave to get the baby room set up. That frees me up a little on that one. Hopefully with the baby, she will still have time to get the toy room cleaned out, then I can set up the crib
She is going to call the car shop to get the van in this week or next. Once we get the last thing fixed on it we can sell it. It drives fine in town but on the highway it has a bit of a shimmy at 70 mph. The shop said they found the problem and will fix it for a couple hundred. Then I can sell the car or trade it in on a vehicle for my wife to drive back and forth to work as well as pull either the boat or the camper.
Last night I went to see the high school basketball games in town. It's fun to watch, but hard. I still want to be the one out on the court. In high school I played every day I could. I'd dunk, shoot freethrows, shoot 3 pointers, play with buddies. It didn't matter. I loved the game. I watched it, studied it, anything I could do basketball.
I had a chance for a full ride scholarship to play football as an outside linebacker. I passed it up hoping to have any school interested in me for basketball. It was a slim chance, and I never heard anything. Once I got to college I was approached by the football coach and all the players at that school to play.
My biggest regret was that I didn't play football in college. When I was in high school I was 165 pounds and tried my hardest to put on weight. I lifted weights, ran, ate like a grizzly bear. I'd eat raw eggs for breakfast for the protein, go back for 3rd's at lunch, eat 4 plates of spagetti for supper. I new I would get killed playing college ball at 165 pounds being 6'3" and didn't have a clue how to put on weight. I figured it out the next year. Beer and fast food.
I have barely followed basketball for years. I still watch any football game I can. I made the choice to not play football. Now that my niece and nephew are in high school I have been working on healing the ache of never getting to play competitive basketball again, and finding enjoyment in watching the game.
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