Oh yeah, one more thing that has happened. My wife and I got more tattoos. She got a cool valentine design with my name (aaww) and I got a cool Orthodox angel on my arm. They are really cool. I will post pics when I get a chance.
End
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Another Autumn
Hello again. Its been a while since I've done this whole blogging thing. I find that when I get so far removed I tend to just want to say that nothing's happened. But really a lot has happened. Here's some highlights:
1. My brother had a baby. So now I have a baby nephew named Samuel. He's really chubby and cute. We went up there recently to see his family and its weird to see him as a father and what not. Its good though.
2. I've been really focusing on my poker game recently. I joined the training site Deuces Cracked and am watching a lot of their training videos. The site also led me to some poker coaching. I've been really wanting to have a poker coach for a long time and that's one of the things that led me to the Deuces Cracked site. They facilitate students finding coaches. I've had a couple of sessions with my coach, jk3a, and its been really great so far. Its really brought my game to a new level and renewed my passion for poker in general. When you see how intricate it can be its hard not to be interested. I'm up to 50nl ($50 buy in no limit hold em) and hope to move up to 100nl by November.
3. I've taken up the game of golf. Yeah, I feel like an old nerd, but its really fun. I am taking lessons and am slowly getting better. Its really fun just going out with friends, goofing off, and getting some exercise at the same time. I've only played 9-holes per game so far, but have my first 18 hole session coming up this weekend. It should be fun.
4. I just celebrated my 5th anniversary with my lovely wife. Our marriage is only 5 years old, which is still young, relatively speaking, but I don't think we're "newly weds" anymore, and that makes me happy. It means that in many respects our love has stood the test of time so far. These last 5 years have been very difficult, not in our relationship, but in our lives. Its been wonderful to have our love to fall back on when everything else is falling apart. And its growing stronger every day.
5. Yesterday we upgraded our cable to the premier package, which means we get all the movie channels and such. That's exciting because some of our favorite TV shows are on channels such as HBO and Showtime. Specifically, we've become addicted to the show Dexter. I thoroughly enjoy the hell out of it. The 3rd season premier is on Friday. Plus now we get to watch old episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm, another brilliant show.
That's all. I hope to update this more. Until then....
1. My brother had a baby. So now I have a baby nephew named Samuel. He's really chubby and cute. We went up there recently to see his family and its weird to see him as a father and what not. Its good though.
2. I've been really focusing on my poker game recently. I joined the training site Deuces Cracked and am watching a lot of their training videos. The site also led me to some poker coaching. I've been really wanting to have a poker coach for a long time and that's one of the things that led me to the Deuces Cracked site. They facilitate students finding coaches. I've had a couple of sessions with my coach, jk3a, and its been really great so far. Its really brought my game to a new level and renewed my passion for poker in general. When you see how intricate it can be its hard not to be interested. I'm up to 50nl ($50 buy in no limit hold em) and hope to move up to 100nl by November.
3. I've taken up the game of golf. Yeah, I feel like an old nerd, but its really fun. I am taking lessons and am slowly getting better. Its really fun just going out with friends, goofing off, and getting some exercise at the same time. I've only played 9-holes per game so far, but have my first 18 hole session coming up this weekend. It should be fun.
4. I just celebrated my 5th anniversary with my lovely wife. Our marriage is only 5 years old, which is still young, relatively speaking, but I don't think we're "newly weds" anymore, and that makes me happy. It means that in many respects our love has stood the test of time so far. These last 5 years have been very difficult, not in our relationship, but in our lives. Its been wonderful to have our love to fall back on when everything else is falling apart. And its growing stronger every day.
5. Yesterday we upgraded our cable to the premier package, which means we get all the movie channels and such. That's exciting because some of our favorite TV shows are on channels such as HBO and Showtime. Specifically, we've become addicted to the show Dexter. I thoroughly enjoy the hell out of it. The 3rd season premier is on Friday. Plus now we get to watch old episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm, another brilliant show.
That's all. I hope to update this more. Until then....
Saturday, July 5, 2008
F- them, I busted Cheryl Hines
So we just got back from Las Vegas. It was the first time in a while that we went just for fun, not to meet someone there or to do something. At the same time, we did have a lot planned, so the trip went by rather quickly. Here's a brief overview:
Highlights
1. We saw the 50k HORSE final table, well, most of it. It was a lot of fun to watch though. We almost didn't get in, but we were able to get seats at the last minute. We stayed for almost 10 hours, when we had to leave because we were both exhausted. the final table lasted about 14 hours total, so there's no way we would have made it all the way. Congratulations Scotty Nguyen on the victory there.
2. We chatted with Daniel Negreanu for a bit. Now, this wasn't a fan boy, we went up and started talking to him kind of thing. He started talking to us first, giving Catherine a little lesson on sweating cards, and then we just had a short conversation. It was really cool because he was really nice and not arrogant at all. Considering he's one of our favorite players, it was a really fun experience.
3. We got to hang out with my folks some, which is always nice. They were on a sick losing streak (weird, losing money to the casinos?), so they were bummed a lot of the time. But we had some good meals, and went and saw Love at the Mirage, which was pretty neat. So it was a good time.
4. I got to play some other, non-NLHE games, like Omaha 8-or-better, 7 Card Stud, and even some HORSE, which was a lot of fun. The card rooms are starting to try to spread some lower limit Pot Limit Omaha games too, which I'm really excited about. I love playing the other games because it helps me become a much more rounded poker player. I'm not just a hold' em player. Plus I find that it helps my hold 'em game as well, when I apply some of the concepts I learn from the other games. I'm really looking forward to getting to know some of these other games.
5. I played a one table sit n' go at the Mirage with Ray Romano and Cheryl Hines. I was playing 4/8 HORSE while Catherine was in a tournament and saw they were signing up for the SNG, so I jumped in immediately. It was a ton of fun. They were both very kind and fun to play with. Ray was funny, but he sat on the other side of the table and went out early. So I didn't get to talk to him much. But I saw near Cheryl Hines and we chatted some, which was just amazing. She was really cool and down to earth. Not arrogant at all. I felt bad though because when we were three handed I was brutalizing her, raising almost every hand, and she wasn't getting any cards, and I could tell that was frustrating. I eventually busted her on the bubble and the other player and I chopped the prize money, so I walked away with a nice profit, and a great story. This was definitely one of the best parts of the trip.
6. I really feel like my poker game is going to a new level, in a couple of different ways. I told myself that this trip I didn't want to focus on winning, but playing well and losing my ego. I really feel like I did those things over all, which really makes me happy. I did make a lot of mistakes, but over all I can tell I'm thinking things through more clearly, which is helping me make better decisions and making me a better player. I also tried to let go of my ego and just play good whether I won or lost, and this really helped me have more fun at the table and helped me to be more confident, and that helped me to really control the table most of the time, especially in the cash games. I was able to get away with a lot because my table antics kept people off balance. I even talked Cheryl Hines out of bluffing me a few times, which allowed me to win some pots with marginal hands. So, overall, I was really happy with how I played.
7. Finally, Catherine and I had a fun time just being together. I just love spending time with her. We have so much fun together most of the time and I just love spending time with her, talking about whatever, seeing her try new things, and having her encourage me to try harder. She's the best.
Downsides
1. Even though I think I played well, we still left down, together, around 800 bucks. Some of that is table games (blackjack, video poker, and 3 card poker), but we did lost a bit in the cash games and I'm down a bit in the tournaments, even though I scored in that SNG. So, our losing streak largely continues, which is annoying, but I'm very confident that it will not continue for much longer. In fact, if it wasn't for some beats and coolers I'd be up about 4 or 5 hundred myself. Two times I was stuck 4 or 5 hundred in a session and was able to fight back to being only stuck about 50 bucks each time. So it could have been a lot worse.
2. My parents losing a lot made things a bit more awkward some of the time, which sucked. But that can't be helped.
3. There was so much going on that we didn't get to do everything we wanted. We didn't play as much poker as we wanted. I didn't get to play as much of the other games as I would have liked. I wanted to play a few more tournaments. We wanted to head over to see the Main Event of the WSOP, but didn't get a chance (because we wanted to play more). And we really didn't get to have a lot of time to just relax together.
All in all, the goods outweight the bads and I'd have to say that it was a really fun trip. I'm really excited to head back next month with the Mengs! Should be fun.
In other news, we finally got our tax rebate check and we got the full amount. So that means we'll be getting some new tattoos soon. I think I have my ideas picked out but we're going to head to Barnes and Nobles this weekend to check out the picture books to see if there is anything else we want. I'm hoping to have at least two more tattoos by the end of the year, perhaps as many as four.
Highlights
1. We saw the 50k HORSE final table, well, most of it. It was a lot of fun to watch though. We almost didn't get in, but we were able to get seats at the last minute. We stayed for almost 10 hours, when we had to leave because we were both exhausted. the final table lasted about 14 hours total, so there's no way we would have made it all the way. Congratulations Scotty Nguyen on the victory there.
2. We chatted with Daniel Negreanu for a bit. Now, this wasn't a fan boy, we went up and started talking to him kind of thing. He started talking to us first, giving Catherine a little lesson on sweating cards, and then we just had a short conversation. It was really cool because he was really nice and not arrogant at all. Considering he's one of our favorite players, it was a really fun experience.
3. We got to hang out with my folks some, which is always nice. They were on a sick losing streak (weird, losing money to the casinos?), so they were bummed a lot of the time. But we had some good meals, and went and saw Love at the Mirage, which was pretty neat. So it was a good time.
4. I got to play some other, non-NLHE games, like Omaha 8-or-better, 7 Card Stud, and even some HORSE, which was a lot of fun. The card rooms are starting to try to spread some lower limit Pot Limit Omaha games too, which I'm really excited about. I love playing the other games because it helps me become a much more rounded poker player. I'm not just a hold' em player. Plus I find that it helps my hold 'em game as well, when I apply some of the concepts I learn from the other games. I'm really looking forward to getting to know some of these other games.
5. I played a one table sit n' go at the Mirage with Ray Romano and Cheryl Hines. I was playing 4/8 HORSE while Catherine was in a tournament and saw they were signing up for the SNG, so I jumped in immediately. It was a ton of fun. They were both very kind and fun to play with. Ray was funny, but he sat on the other side of the table and went out early. So I didn't get to talk to him much. But I saw near Cheryl Hines and we chatted some, which was just amazing. She was really cool and down to earth. Not arrogant at all. I felt bad though because when we were three handed I was brutalizing her, raising almost every hand, and she wasn't getting any cards, and I could tell that was frustrating. I eventually busted her on the bubble and the other player and I chopped the prize money, so I walked away with a nice profit, and a great story. This was definitely one of the best parts of the trip.
6. I really feel like my poker game is going to a new level, in a couple of different ways. I told myself that this trip I didn't want to focus on winning, but playing well and losing my ego. I really feel like I did those things over all, which really makes me happy. I did make a lot of mistakes, but over all I can tell I'm thinking things through more clearly, which is helping me make better decisions and making me a better player. I also tried to let go of my ego and just play good whether I won or lost, and this really helped me have more fun at the table and helped me to be more confident, and that helped me to really control the table most of the time, especially in the cash games. I was able to get away with a lot because my table antics kept people off balance. I even talked Cheryl Hines out of bluffing me a few times, which allowed me to win some pots with marginal hands. So, overall, I was really happy with how I played.
7. Finally, Catherine and I had a fun time just being together. I just love spending time with her. We have so much fun together most of the time and I just love spending time with her, talking about whatever, seeing her try new things, and having her encourage me to try harder. She's the best.
Downsides
1. Even though I think I played well, we still left down, together, around 800 bucks. Some of that is table games (blackjack, video poker, and 3 card poker), but we did lost a bit in the cash games and I'm down a bit in the tournaments, even though I scored in that SNG. So, our losing streak largely continues, which is annoying, but I'm very confident that it will not continue for much longer. In fact, if it wasn't for some beats and coolers I'd be up about 4 or 5 hundred myself. Two times I was stuck 4 or 5 hundred in a session and was able to fight back to being only stuck about 50 bucks each time. So it could have been a lot worse.
2. My parents losing a lot made things a bit more awkward some of the time, which sucked. But that can't be helped.
3. There was so much going on that we didn't get to do everything we wanted. We didn't play as much poker as we wanted. I didn't get to play as much of the other games as I would have liked. I wanted to play a few more tournaments. We wanted to head over to see the Main Event of the WSOP, but didn't get a chance (because we wanted to play more). And we really didn't get to have a lot of time to just relax together.
All in all, the goods outweight the bads and I'd have to say that it was a really fun trip. I'm really excited to head back next month with the Mengs! Should be fun.
In other news, we finally got our tax rebate check and we got the full amount. So that means we'll be getting some new tattoos soon. I think I have my ideas picked out but we're going to head to Barnes and Nobles this weekend to check out the picture books to see if there is anything else we want. I'm hoping to have at least two more tattoos by the end of the year, perhaps as many as four.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Patterns
Things have been going better as of late. The last Vegas trip ended up much better than it started. After losing a bunch in the beginning we played two more times, the second session I was way up, and the third session I started off really bad but fought back to about even. So we left Vegas with a bit more than we came with, which was great.
We're heading back in a few days, this time for just a fun trip, which will be really nice. Its going to be a very fun trip. We're going to see the 50k HORSE final table, Love, the beginning of the Main Event, and we're going to play a lot of poker. I'm also going to try and play in one of the Venetian Deep Stack events. Its only a $330 buy in, but it will be the largest buy in tournament I will have played. You start with good chips and the blinds go up reasonably slow, so it will be interesting to see how I do.
Other than that things are ok. I'm home with Catherine now because she's having a hard time. That is always an interesting scenario because I love being home with her, but I hate the circumstances. Still though, we were marveling yesterday at how perfectly everything has worked out for us. If things didn't work out the way they did Catherine may not have made it this far. Makes you wonder if there's not someone up there guiding all this nonsense in our favor.
We're heading back in a few days, this time for just a fun trip, which will be really nice. Its going to be a very fun trip. We're going to see the 50k HORSE final table, Love, the beginning of the Main Event, and we're going to play a lot of poker. I'm also going to try and play in one of the Venetian Deep Stack events. Its only a $330 buy in, but it will be the largest buy in tournament I will have played. You start with good chips and the blinds go up reasonably slow, so it will be interesting to see how I do.
Other than that things are ok. I'm home with Catherine now because she's having a hard time. That is always an interesting scenario because I love being home with her, but I hate the circumstances. Still though, we were marveling yesterday at how perfectly everything has worked out for us. If things didn't work out the way they did Catherine may not have made it this far. Makes you wonder if there's not someone up there guiding all this nonsense in our favor.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Risk
So I am in Las Vegas, at the World Series of Poker, at the ASSE Safety 2008 conference. In the mornings I get up early on a weekend, when many in this town are just getting to bed, and I go play safety geek with the other safety geeks and we talk about...safety.
At night, Catherine and I head to the Amazon room to watch the insanity that is the WSOP unfold right in front of us. How crazy. What a strange dichotomy.
The trip has been fun though. The first night we got to see Daniel Negreanu win his 4th bracelet. That was a lot of fun. The next night we sweated Bill Edler in the Razz event. And last night we watch the carnage of the PLO w/ rebuys event, which was awesome. Every table was stacked with great players.
We also decided that we just couldn't bear not playing a little ourselves, so we mosied on over to the poker room to play a little 1/3 nlhe. We didn't have much money with us so we decided to short buy for 100 each. It took me about 45 minutes to dust off 3 buy ins. A8 < A3. He flops two pair and check raises me all in on the A34r flop (I folded and he showed). 77 < AKo allin preflop. Of course I was against Catherine on that one. The rake was the only winner on that one. AKo < AQo. Flop was KQQr. I almost folded. QdTd < Kc8c all in on a flop of 6cQcTs where the solid player at the table decided to gamble with zero fold equity.
You know, I hate telling bad beat stories, but this just has been happening so much that I feel the need to prove to myself and others that even though I haven't won in a live cash game in 6 months I am not playing bad (I don't think). Its just so sick that this keeps happening.
But, damn it, I'm a tenacious bastard. I'm not giving up because I know I can beat this game. In fact I've decided to immerse myself in studying poker in general ( not just hold em), because I want to be better. I don't want to play 1/2 my whole life. I want to play bigger cash games and I want to play in the wsop. Poker is most fun when it is difficult.
So, on that note, tonight or tomorrow we will probably take our last bit of money and take another stand in the low stakes nlhe game. I'm a little worried, but still over all confident. We will see what happens.
At night, Catherine and I head to the Amazon room to watch the insanity that is the WSOP unfold right in front of us. How crazy. What a strange dichotomy.
The trip has been fun though. The first night we got to see Daniel Negreanu win his 4th bracelet. That was a lot of fun. The next night we sweated Bill Edler in the Razz event. And last night we watch the carnage of the PLO w/ rebuys event, which was awesome. Every table was stacked with great players.
We also decided that we just couldn't bear not playing a little ourselves, so we mosied on over to the poker room to play a little 1/3 nlhe. We didn't have much money with us so we decided to short buy for 100 each. It took me about 45 minutes to dust off 3 buy ins. A8 < A3. He flops two pair and check raises me all in on the A34r flop (I folded and he showed). 77 < AKo allin preflop. Of course I was against Catherine on that one. The rake was the only winner on that one. AKo < AQo. Flop was KQQr. I almost folded. QdTd < Kc8c all in on a flop of 6cQcTs where the solid player at the table decided to gamble with zero fold equity.
You know, I hate telling bad beat stories, but this just has been happening so much that I feel the need to prove to myself and others that even though I haven't won in a live cash game in 6 months I am not playing bad (I don't think). Its just so sick that this keeps happening.
But, damn it, I'm a tenacious bastard. I'm not giving up because I know I can beat this game. In fact I've decided to immerse myself in studying poker in general ( not just hold em), because I want to be better. I don't want to play 1/2 my whole life. I want to play bigger cash games and I want to play in the wsop. Poker is most fun when it is difficult.
So, on that note, tonight or tomorrow we will probably take our last bit of money and take another stand in the low stakes nlhe game. I'm a little worried, but still over all confident. We will see what happens.
Monday, June 9, 2008
Brag Post
So I won my first multi-table tournament (freezeout) last night. I outlasted 91 players in an $8.80 tournament to take down about $230 bucks. Not life changing, but very encouraging. I started off doubling up on the second hand after flopping top set against an overpair, but pretty much folded for most of the next two hours, occasionally stealing a pot here and there to stay even. Then, right before things got desperate I doubled up on two consecutive hands to vault me into 3rd in chips with 18 to go. Cruised to the final four players and then had a disaster where I took a bad read and doubled up a player in a weird hand. That left me with about 6 or 7 big blinds with four players left. At this point I had about 7k, two players had between 20k-30k , and one player had over 100k. So at this point I commented to Catherine that we were pretty much playing for 2nd, barring some miracle. Fortunately though I was able to steal some blinds and antes, thanks to my weak tight opponents. I won some pots after that and was able to work my way back to 50k. Then the 3rd place player busted the 4th place player, I busted him when I made him think I was bluffing on a hand that he shouldn't have been in in the first place. This gave me a slight chip lead going into heads up. First hand of heads up the other guy raises, I had 1010 and decided to move in, he called with A9o and I had him drawing dead on the turn. And that was that. I was overall very happy with my play, except for a few hands (including the last one). And now I have a good amount of confidence going into a few trips to Vegas in the next few weeks.
In related news, we still haven't gotten our check for our bankroll. Well, in actuality, we've gotten 1k of it, but that was mostly to cover some expenses we had. Catherine and I have a sneaking suspicion that its not coming, but we haven't lost hope. I really hope we find a way to get some money together so we can play a large amount of poker when we go to Vegas.
In non-related news, I'm exhausted. We've been housesitting for my parents and cat sitting for my sister, so we've been living in the zoo. This has made it nearly impossible to get a solid night's worth of sleep, for two nights in a row. Add to that the fact that I'm super busy at work. Tons of fun.
Catherine is kicking my ass in our WSOP pool. Damn it. Why can't one of my players win? Am I the only one who can win around here!? (i am so cool...)
In related news, we still haven't gotten our check for our bankroll. Well, in actuality, we've gotten 1k of it, but that was mostly to cover some expenses we had. Catherine and I have a sneaking suspicion that its not coming, but we haven't lost hope. I really hope we find a way to get some money together so we can play a large amount of poker when we go to Vegas.
In non-related news, I'm exhausted. We've been housesitting for my parents and cat sitting for my sister, so we've been living in the zoo. This has made it nearly impossible to get a solid night's worth of sleep, for two nights in a row. Add to that the fact that I'm super busy at work. Tons of fun.
Catherine is kicking my ass in our WSOP pool. Damn it. Why can't one of my players win? Am I the only one who can win around here!? (i am so cool...)
Friday, May 30, 2008
My, My, My
How quickly things can change. A few days ago I was lamenting about our recent loss of a bankroll. Almost that very night I received news that I have a bonus heading my way from work that will be more than enough for us to start a decent bankroll. Truly it is amazing and it sounds silly to say that God would provide someone with money with which to gamble, but I really believe that is what happened. Of course, there's still a part of me that is skeptical and will remain so until the check is in my hand, but I'm sure it will come. And for the first time in a while I'm excited.
Then, perhaps as further evidence of my change of luck, I had a good day in poker yesterday. I won 1.5 buy ins in a short session in pot limit omaha 8 or better, won a short handed sng, and then cashed in a multi-table tournament. I was a little bit frustrated that I didn't get farther in the tournament, but I was crippled in a bit of a cooler when my AK ran into someone's AA. Oops. In retrospect I think I might have been able to get away from the situation losing less chips because the amount the opponent raised wasn't consistent with a steal attempt. So its a little frustrating that I didn't interpret that correctly, but I was destined to lose a very large portion of my stack on that hand unfortunately. Oh well.
Anyways, I've got some confidence back. The WSOP is starting today. Now I just want to take my girl out on a date sometime, because I miss her romance and all will be right with the world.
Then, perhaps as further evidence of my change of luck, I had a good day in poker yesterday. I won 1.5 buy ins in a short session in pot limit omaha 8 or better, won a short handed sng, and then cashed in a multi-table tournament. I was a little bit frustrated that I didn't get farther in the tournament, but I was crippled in a bit of a cooler when my AK ran into someone's AA. Oops. In retrospect I think I might have been able to get away from the situation losing less chips because the amount the opponent raised wasn't consistent with a steal attempt. So its a little frustrating that I didn't interpret that correctly, but I was destined to lose a very large portion of my stack on that hand unfortunately. Oh well.
Anyways, I've got some confidence back. The WSOP is starting today. Now I just want to take my girl out on a date sometime, because I miss her romance and all will be right with the world.
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