Not a ton to say. I have been in California visiting friends and my roomates from last semester. I've been having an awesome time. People have been finishing on different days, so each day has been a celebration for the end of school for someone.
Tonight I went out to dinner with the math kids who I have spent years with in and out of class. Some I will not see for years and its a little sad to think that this period of my life is quickly coming to an end (even though I was very excited to finish school and hit the real world, where I would be able to do whatever I please). Others I will see for the next few days.
I missed my flight tonight (on purpose). I'm now thinking about flying home on the 18th with Randi. Both of us don't really want to leave California yet; there is just too much to do and people to see. Hopefully we get our fill by next Monday.
Poker has been going well dispite only getting in small shots during down time. Tonight I took a shot a 25/50, and ran pretty well: +$5k on the night. So far this month I am way behind on the # of hands, but half way toward the $ made goal. Hopefully I'll be able to reach the hands goal, and be way over the $ made goal by may 31st.
so far this month:
Hands played: 21174
Amount Won: +$14312
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Sunday, May 10, 2009
4/9/09
Sorry I have not written in a few days, but I booked a flight the other day and flew out to California on Friday to visit friends and get the last school stuff dealt with. I'm having an awesome time. I got to LAX around 5 pm yesterday and met up with Randi and Garrett (our friend from Tahoe). I last left Randi in Ecuador, where we traveled a little. She has since then headed to Columbia, where she has been for the last month. She told me about her time there, and how much she loved the people and the landscapes. Dispite going to more than a dozen countries in the last few months, this has been by far her favorite from what I can tell. We went to the SR. art show that Randi's old school puts on every year. There was a lot of awesome stuff among the 7 (packed) floors. I saw one painting that I really want to own; hopefully soon I will make a deal with the artist because I really cant image not having this on my wall next year.
Later on we went out to a bar near Otis (Randi's old school) where a bunch of the seniors were celebrating. I met up with some close friends and roommates from school. We eventually made it to a house party in one of the most ridiculous student residence that I have ever seen: two girls somehow split a tri-plex apartment with a full size basement. The place was huge, and cool: there was a couch/lounge area on each floor, with DJs playing downstairs.
Eventually I made it back to my old school, CLU, and crashed around 5 am. Got a good amount of sleep and woke up to my old roommates leaving for a dodgers game. I made breakfast, coffee, and some iced tea, and had a feast while I played a small session. Eventually, everyone made it back, and we went out for a couple hours.
Right now I have a return flight set for night of the 13th, but I have a feeling I will skip it and get a flight around the 16th or so. I really want more time out here to visit with friends and get done what I need to.
Anyways, here are a few poker numbers so I can keep the blog on focus:
month so far:
Hands Played: 18403 (not on track for 150k but I will hopefully be putting in a TON of volume when I get back to Boston)
Amount won: $6754
Later on we went out to a bar near Otis (Randi's old school) where a bunch of the seniors were celebrating. I met up with some close friends and roommates from school. We eventually made it to a house party in one of the most ridiculous student residence that I have ever seen: two girls somehow split a tri-plex apartment with a full size basement. The place was huge, and cool: there was a couch/lounge area on each floor, with DJs playing downstairs.
Eventually I made it back to my old school, CLU, and crashed around 5 am. Got a good amount of sleep and woke up to my old roommates leaving for a dodgers game. I made breakfast, coffee, and some iced tea, and had a feast while I played a small session. Eventually, everyone made it back, and we went out for a couple hours.
Right now I have a return flight set for night of the 13th, but I have a feeling I will skip it and get a flight around the 16th or so. I really want more time out here to visit with friends and get done what I need to.
Anyways, here are a few poker numbers so I can keep the blog on focus:
month so far:
Hands Played: 18403 (not on track for 150k but I will hopefully be putting in a TON of volume when I get back to Boston)
Amount won: $6754
Monday, May 4, 2009
5/4/09: Catching up
Haven't wrote anything in a while, I guess I've been busy but really not busy enough to not find ten minutes a day to write. The month was shaping up very nicely until the 30th, where I ran terrible, and couldn't scoop a pot for the life of me (and believe me, there were a lot of huge ones to scoop). I then went on awful monkey tilt, something I haven't done once this year I believe, and made the day even worse financially. I ended the day having had my largest downswing of the year (almost 8k). It sucked, mostly because it put a big damper on what was going to be a very good month. It also sucked because it was the first time I can blame myself for losing money, rather than just writing it off as running badly.
Then next few days I played only a little poker, making sure the tilt had totally worn off before getting back into it. I have begun to make a little on the new month, and feel a lot better having finally set up some goals to accomplish by the 31st. They are:
-150k hands
-30k profit
-Gym 4-5 days a week (prob averaged 2 a week last month, partially because I was sick)
-Get signed up for online classes so I can graduate
-Start seriously looking for a place to buy
Hopefully I can get the first two accomplished despite plans to travel throughout the month. On the 8th I am going to California to visit some friends, then at the end of the month I will hopefully head to Vegas for a couple of the WSOP events. I am really excited for both trips.
Right now I am at home helping my mom get set up for the spring. We spent the last two days creating a garden for her business (she is a florist): putting up fences, setting up walkways, planting and raking. hopefully come fall she will have available to her all the flowers that arn't normally available to order. Now its time for bed, because we put in close to an 8 hour day outside.
some numbers
Last month total profit: ~17k
This month (so far):
hands: 9936
Amount won/lost: +$3060
Then next few days I played only a little poker, making sure the tilt had totally worn off before getting back into it. I have begun to make a little on the new month, and feel a lot better having finally set up some goals to accomplish by the 31st. They are:
-150k hands
-30k profit
-Gym 4-5 days a week (prob averaged 2 a week last month, partially because I was sick)
-Get signed up for online classes so I can graduate
-Start seriously looking for a place to buy
Hopefully I can get the first two accomplished despite plans to travel throughout the month. On the 8th I am going to California to visit some friends, then at the end of the month I will hopefully head to Vegas for a couple of the WSOP events. I am really excited for both trips.
Right now I am at home helping my mom get set up for the spring. We spent the last two days creating a garden for her business (she is a florist): putting up fences, setting up walkways, planting and raking. hopefully come fall she will have available to her all the flowers that arn't normally available to order. Now its time for bed, because we put in close to an 8 hour day outside.
some numbers
Last month total profit: ~17k
This month (so far):
hands: 9936
Amount won/lost: +$3060
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
4/27/09
Not a ton going on poker-wise, at least if you look at the end result.
Yesterday I 14 tabled the $400 and $600 nl games, and lost a grand. Then met up with Nica (my sister) and my friend John and headed out to watch the Redsox play the Yankees. We bought the seats ~2 hours before the game started, but somehow managed to find amazing seats in the pavilion behind third base off to the left.
The game itself was fairly standard, except for a few innings. In the fifth, however, magic happened. With the bases loaded, Ellsburry, who led the team last year in steals, took off from third base instants before Pettitte began throwing the ball. By the time it reached the catcher he was safe. It was the first time Boston had stolen home in a decade, and was amazing to watch. The entire audience (about 33k people) were on their feet applauding him.
I got home and won a grand. At the end of the night, I was down 9 dollars on the day after more than 5k hands. Crazy. Nica stayed at our house and skipped class today to hang out and get Thai food for lunch with Anna and I. It was really nice outside, so we went out to the porch and played cards for a while. It was nice to just hang out outside and do nothing in particular with my sister, rather than hang out inside and do nothing particular by myself, which has sadly become more and more a routine for me.
Tonight the games looked good, so during my session I took some shots at the 5/10 plo games. Plo is becoming more and more interesting I feel; it has much more fish than holdem games for the stakes, and the nature of the game allows for a lot more mistakes on the part of the fish. Its easy for a fishy player to play tight in holdem and be semi-tough, but in plo a fish can easily stack off with seemingly big hands (trip aces for example) in spots where they can never be good. I feel that, as holdem games get tougher and tougher, I will need to gradually make the move toward plo.
I played some pretty large pots today, at least relative the ones I have been playing lately.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?4167517
Std super-wrap I guess. This one happened right after I had stacked a player (the guy with AA here) with middle set in a re-raised pot. I knew I had a lot of equity, but I looked it up after and I was actually close to 45% to scoop.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?4167520
The flat call on the flop is prob not std, but I was pretty sure from his raise size that he had an overset. I just felt like a draw would raise more and try and get it in. I was trying to figure out how to play turn (or more like how to talk myself into a fold if a blank came) when I made the nuts.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?4167524
I honestly don't know about the preflop play. On one hand, this guy was an over-aggressive regular who is forced to fold a large % of his holdings here. On the other hand, his range isn't THAT loose, and he is the kind of guy who doesn't just call with AA type of hands. The flop was just brutal, and, even though he didn't snap call, I was still feeling pretty bad when he hit the call button (I'm assuming he was dealing with other tables anyways). Also, I kind of hate pre because there can be a lot of akward flops if he flats, I just assumed he shoves of folds preflop %100 of the time. I kind of wonder if he folds whenever he misses his sets.
I lost some other huge ($3k+) pots where my opponents were pretty far behind, but they seem too standard to post. They do, however, reinforce the idea in my mind that plo is worth pursuing long term.
Yesterday I 14 tabled the $400 and $600 nl games, and lost a grand. Then met up with Nica (my sister) and my friend John and headed out to watch the Redsox play the Yankees. We bought the seats ~2 hours before the game started, but somehow managed to find amazing seats in the pavilion behind third base off to the left.
The game itself was fairly standard, except for a few innings. In the fifth, however, magic happened. With the bases loaded, Ellsburry, who led the team last year in steals, took off from third base instants before Pettitte began throwing the ball. By the time it reached the catcher he was safe. It was the first time Boston had stolen home in a decade, and was amazing to watch. The entire audience (about 33k people) were on their feet applauding him.
I got home and won a grand. At the end of the night, I was down 9 dollars on the day after more than 5k hands. Crazy. Nica stayed at our house and skipped class today to hang out and get Thai food for lunch with Anna and I. It was really nice outside, so we went out to the porch and played cards for a while. It was nice to just hang out outside and do nothing in particular with my sister, rather than hang out inside and do nothing particular by myself, which has sadly become more and more a routine for me.
Tonight the games looked good, so during my session I took some shots at the 5/10 plo games. Plo is becoming more and more interesting I feel; it has much more fish than holdem games for the stakes, and the nature of the game allows for a lot more mistakes on the part of the fish. Its easy for a fishy player to play tight in holdem and be semi-tough, but in plo a fish can easily stack off with seemingly big hands (trip aces for example) in spots where they can never be good. I feel that, as holdem games get tougher and tougher, I will need to gradually make the move toward plo.
I played some pretty large pots today, at least relative the ones I have been playing lately.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?4167517
Std super-wrap I guess. This one happened right after I had stacked a player (the guy with AA here) with middle set in a re-raised pot. I knew I had a lot of equity, but I looked it up after and I was actually close to 45% to scoop.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?4167520
The flat call on the flop is prob not std, but I was pretty sure from his raise size that he had an overset. I just felt like a draw would raise more and try and get it in. I was trying to figure out how to play turn (or more like how to talk myself into a fold if a blank came) when I made the nuts.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?4167524
I honestly don't know about the preflop play. On one hand, this guy was an over-aggressive regular who is forced to fold a large % of his holdings here. On the other hand, his range isn't THAT loose, and he is the kind of guy who doesn't just call with AA type of hands. The flop was just brutal, and, even though he didn't snap call, I was still feeling pretty bad when he hit the call button (I'm assuming he was dealing with other tables anyways). Also, I kind of hate pre because there can be a lot of akward flops if he flats, I just assumed he shoves of folds preflop %100 of the time. I kind of wonder if he folds whenever he misses his sets.
I lost some other huge ($3k+) pots where my opponents were pretty far behind, but they seem too standard to post. They do, however, reinforce the idea in my mind that plo is worth pursuing long term.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
4/25/09
Lot has happened in the last few days.
On Wednesday, I headed down to Wheaton, the school that one of my best friends, Elyse, goes to. She graduates in a week or so, and her and the rest of the Senior art student's were hosting a showing as their final project. I was really blown away by the quality of the stuff I saw there; I'm certianly not an expert in the field, but I do frequent museums and shows, and there is plenty of stuff that I don't like in general. I cant say that about Elyse's show. Almost everything I saw there was great: interesting, thought provoking, and intracity crafted. Elyse did a series of paintings that were based around concepts she learned from the people she lived with during her study abroad in Africa. They were of naked figures, each a different color, representing a different concept. I honestly hope that if she sells these, someone buys all of them. They just look great as a complete series It would be a shame to break them up.
After the show we headed back to Chris's place to hang out. Chris and I played soccer together in high school, and I was psyched to hear earlier this year that he and Elyse had stated dating. Most of the art kids came back with us, so we all hung out until late. I played a little PLO before I went to sleep (around 4).
The next morning Elyse and I headed back to Boston and to the ICA to check out Shepard Fairey's exhibit. For those who haven't heard of him, Fairey is the guy who created the famous Obama "hope" poster that can be seen in just about every corner of the earth. He is also responsible for the "Obey" line of art that is now on shirts, posters, skateboard decks, etc. It's intention is to get people to question the point of the endless ads that we see everywhere we go, on posters, billboards, in movies and TV. I heard that Fairey was actually arrested upon showing up to the exhibit due to the graffiti and posters that he has (i guess illegally) posted all over the city.
That night some other friends from home came over, and we partied at my house for a while, which ended when I rented a limo and we drove around to a couple bars. Not a night that I had expected, but it was def fun either way.
Yesterday was Anna's dance show, which she has been practicing for, nonstop, for the past couple months. She was in two dances, with different groups of girls. In the first they did a reutine where each girl had a solo while they others stayed frozen, which they would pass on to the next dancer, which is something that is often seen in break dance (although I believe she was doing modern). It came out really cool, and seemed perfect for Anna because she is so sharp and crisp when she dances; something that is magnified when you need to freeze in certain positions. She told us later that she was really nervous, but you could never tell when she danced. She just looked really focused and somewhat relaxed.
Anna's parents, Frank and Susan, came out to Boston for the performance and for Frank's, birthday. We got breakfast this morning before they had to head back. Right after they left, I began to feel very sick (don't think it was the food b/c it came on too close to the meal), so I headed back to my place. It is really nice out today, so I think I'll try to get outside once I feel a little better. It's going to be really difficult to play poker this summer when it is so nice out and the beach is so close. I'm going to really have to sit myself down, or try to play only at night (which would either cut my daytime down or mean I would only get 3-4 hours in per day).
I haven't played much poker in the last few days. Just a couple quick sessions. I have a tendency to play less hands when I am running good, and the last week or so has been very good to me, which means I have put in very little volume. This is a pattern that I am going to need to break if I want to maximize how much I make each month. Whatever, for now I guess I can be happy that this month is shaping up nicely poker-wise, all while I have given myself all the free time I have wanted.
But now it's back to the grind.
The count:
Hands played: 1700
Amount Won/lost: +$3333
Hours played: ~6.5
On Wednesday, I headed down to Wheaton, the school that one of my best friends, Elyse, goes to. She graduates in a week or so, and her and the rest of the Senior art student's were hosting a showing as their final project. I was really blown away by the quality of the stuff I saw there; I'm certianly not an expert in the field, but I do frequent museums and shows, and there is plenty of stuff that I don't like in general. I cant say that about Elyse's show. Almost everything I saw there was great: interesting, thought provoking, and intracity crafted. Elyse did a series of paintings that were based around concepts she learned from the people she lived with during her study abroad in Africa. They were of naked figures, each a different color, representing a different concept. I honestly hope that if she sells these, someone buys all of them. They just look great as a complete series It would be a shame to break them up.
After the show we headed back to Chris's place to hang out. Chris and I played soccer together in high school, and I was psyched to hear earlier this year that he and Elyse had stated dating. Most of the art kids came back with us, so we all hung out until late. I played a little PLO before I went to sleep (around 4).
The next morning Elyse and I headed back to Boston and to the ICA to check out Shepard Fairey's exhibit. For those who haven't heard of him, Fairey is the guy who created the famous Obama "hope" poster that can be seen in just about every corner of the earth. He is also responsible for the "Obey" line of art that is now on shirts, posters, skateboard decks, etc. It's intention is to get people to question the point of the endless ads that we see everywhere we go, on posters, billboards, in movies and TV. I heard that Fairey was actually arrested upon showing up to the exhibit due to the graffiti and posters that he has (i guess illegally) posted all over the city.
That night some other friends from home came over, and we partied at my house for a while, which ended when I rented a limo and we drove around to a couple bars. Not a night that I had expected, but it was def fun either way.
Yesterday was Anna's dance show, which she has been practicing for, nonstop, for the past couple months. She was in two dances, with different groups of girls. In the first they did a reutine where each girl had a solo while they others stayed frozen, which they would pass on to the next dancer, which is something that is often seen in break dance (although I believe she was doing modern). It came out really cool, and seemed perfect for Anna because she is so sharp and crisp when she dances; something that is magnified when you need to freeze in certain positions. She told us later that she was really nervous, but you could never tell when she danced. She just looked really focused and somewhat relaxed.
Anna's parents, Frank and Susan, came out to Boston for the performance and for Frank's, birthday. We got breakfast this morning before they had to head back. Right after they left, I began to feel very sick (don't think it was the food b/c it came on too close to the meal), so I headed back to my place. It is really nice out today, so I think I'll try to get outside once I feel a little better. It's going to be really difficult to play poker this summer when it is so nice out and the beach is so close. I'm going to really have to sit myself down, or try to play only at night (which would either cut my daytime down or mean I would only get 3-4 hours in per day).
I haven't played much poker in the last few days. Just a couple quick sessions. I have a tendency to play less hands when I am running good, and the last week or so has been very good to me, which means I have put in very little volume. This is a pattern that I am going to need to break if I want to maximize how much I make each month. Whatever, for now I guess I can be happy that this month is shaping up nicely poker-wise, all while I have given myself all the free time I have wanted.
But now it's back to the grind.
The count:
Hands played: 1700
Amount Won/lost: +$3333
Hours played: ~6.5
Monday, April 20, 2009
4/20/09
Today was Marathon Monday in Boston, which meant, at my house at least, all out chaos. I was amazed at what my roommates could put together by 10 AM: pitchers of drinks, a room full of kids cheering on the images of the runners on the tv screen, and music coming out of each room. I can barely brush my teeth by 10 AM these days. These guys are already raging.
Anna and I headed down to Kenmore, where the runners do their last mile, around 11 o'clock to get some breakfast, and watch everyone come in. The first time you witnesses the race it is really amazing: there are people running, walking, wheel-chairing (is that a word?), dressing up in costumes or holding props. Waves and waves of people came in, cheering and high-fiving the crowd. When people slowed down or cramped up, the crowd would scream louder in support, pushing them on to the finish.
There was one runner who had lost his legs, and was running on two metal prosthetic legs. It was quite the site. He even had two guys running at his sides, waving their hands to pump up the crowd as he came by. He got the loudest cheers of anyone. It was quite a sight, and made me sad and happy for him at the same time. I mean, here I am, too lazy to run more than a mile or two, wondering if I could even manage walking a marathon, and this guy is running it on what is essentially two metal rods. It was really a testament to his own strength, and to peoples ability to overcome challenges in general.
After that I headed back to my house and put in some hands. Played the nightly and a couple small buy in tourneys as well. Ran pretty bad in them but I cant complain because I put in another good session and ran well again today at the cash tables. Honestly, a big tourney score would be great, but for now just doing well in the cash games is providing plenty of income. I just check my stats, and I made over $5000 this weekend. You will hear no complaints from me!
Hands played: 935
Amount Won/lost: +$1969
Time played: ~4.25 hours (most of this time was due to playing tourneys)
Anna and I headed down to Kenmore, where the runners do their last mile, around 11 o'clock to get some breakfast, and watch everyone come in. The first time you witnesses the race it is really amazing: there are people running, walking, wheel-chairing (is that a word?), dressing up in costumes or holding props. Waves and waves of people came in, cheering and high-fiving the crowd. When people slowed down or cramped up, the crowd would scream louder in support, pushing them on to the finish.
There was one runner who had lost his legs, and was running on two metal prosthetic legs. It was quite the site. He even had two guys running at his sides, waving their hands to pump up the crowd as he came by. He got the loudest cheers of anyone. It was quite a sight, and made me sad and happy for him at the same time. I mean, here I am, too lazy to run more than a mile or two, wondering if I could even manage walking a marathon, and this guy is running it on what is essentially two metal rods. It was really a testament to his own strength, and to peoples ability to overcome challenges in general.
After that I headed back to my house and put in some hands. Played the nightly and a couple small buy in tourneys as well. Ran pretty bad in them but I cant complain because I put in another good session and ran well again today at the cash tables. Honestly, a big tourney score would be great, but for now just doing well in the cash games is providing plenty of income. I just check my stats, and I made over $5000 this weekend. You will hear no complaints from me!
Hands played: 935
Amount Won/lost: +$1969
Time played: ~4.25 hours (most of this time was due to playing tourneys)
Sunday, April 19, 2009
4/19/09
Woke up around noon today and got breakfast with Anna. Headed back and fired up a few Sundays. Right now, I can get into the $200 buy-ins with frequent player points, so I like to play mostly those on Sundays; nothing like dropping a few k on the $100 rebuys and stuff to ruin your day. So today I played the warm up, the Sunday million, and the mulligan. All of which are $200+15 to get into, and have quite large sums going to the winner. I ended up going deep in the warmup, but busted out when I lost a couple flips for 200k pots (we started with 10k in chips). Cashed for ~$900.
The cash games went pretty well too. I feel like my game has been slipping lately, and I have been putting in the time but not the hands I should, and have been playing sub par as well. Today, however, I sharpened it up and played pretty well. Toward the very end of the session I could feel my game slipping, so I called it a day a little early. It is decisions like these that I feel will save me serious money in the long run.
Cash games:
Hands played: 2353
Amount Won/lost: +$1746
Hands played: 2461
Total Won/lost: +$2165
The cash games went pretty well too. I feel like my game has been slipping lately, and I have been putting in the time but not the hands I should, and have been playing sub par as well. Today, however, I sharpened it up and played pretty well. Toward the very end of the session I could feel my game slipping, so I called it a day a little early. It is decisions like these that I feel will save me serious money in the long run.
Cash games:
Hands played: 2353
Amount Won/lost: +$1746
Hands played: 2461
Total Won/lost: +$2165
4/18/09
Not too much to talk about the last few days. Played very few hands, ran very good and stacked some very big fish. I forgot how much good table selection can improve your win rate. I obviously ran above expectation, but playing with guys that get it in routinely with middle pair, in spots where they are never good, helps cut variance and brings up the hourly. On the other hand, I usually have 10-15 tables going, and practicing very solid game selection is not something you can always do when 12 tabling. I will have to give serious thought to reducing the number of hands I expect to play each month in an attempt to better game select.
I Played a few smaller buy-in tournaments the other night. One was a $55 4 max, one was a $77 6 max, and one was a $5 plo with rebuys. I played the last one just for the fun of it, and of course went deep in it, staying up until 5 am to take it down for a whopping $450. Don't get me wrong, that is decent money for sure, but when the average buy-in to the tourneys you play is $150, you kinda wish you could use your good luck on something else. Whatever, its certianly better than not winning it.
Other than that I have been just hanging out with friends/Anna. Anna and I went to see "I Love You Man" which we both thought was really funny. I don't know if Judd Apatow can write anything that isn't at least worth the watch. His movies are some of my favorite that I have seen this year.
The count:
Hands played: 482
Amount Won/lost: +$2300
Time played: ~2.25 hours
Total Won/lost: +$2749
I Played a few smaller buy-in tournaments the other night. One was a $55 4 max, one was a $77 6 max, and one was a $5 plo with rebuys. I played the last one just for the fun of it, and of course went deep in it, staying up until 5 am to take it down for a whopping $450. Don't get me wrong, that is decent money for sure, but when the average buy-in to the tourneys you play is $150, you kinda wish you could use your good luck on something else. Whatever, its certianly better than not winning it.
Other than that I have been just hanging out with friends/Anna. Anna and I went to see "I Love You Man" which we both thought was really funny. I don't know if Judd Apatow can write anything that isn't at least worth the watch. His movies are some of my favorite that I have seen this year.
The count:
Hands played: 482
Amount Won/lost: +$2300
Time played: ~2.25 hours
Total Won/lost: +$2749
Thursday, April 16, 2009
4/16/09: My biggest downswing ever
Last year I was a lot crazier at the tables than I am presently. I guess it was because I was still in school, and didn't depend on the money, but I definitely did some stuff that I (hope I) would never do now, and probably should not have done then (although I did learn from each shot, so I guess it wasn't the worst thing in the world). Some of these things included, but are not limited to:
-3 tabling the 5k cash games HU against Thorladen, losing ~18k on the session
-2-4 table the 5k cash games HU against Takechip, losing ~28k on the session
-Taking a shot at 25/50 full ring when one fish was sitting in, playing a pot 3 stacks (15k) deep with molewsi, making a small river bet with the intention of snapping off his bluff, then pussing out and folding (he told me recently that he had turned QQ into a bluff in the hand :[ ). I lost 15k that session.
Basically, my cash game adventures last year consisted of making a ton at 3/6 and 5/10, then taking shots at 25/50 and failing horribly most of the time. Don't get me wrong, I feel that overall I ran fairly bad over the smallish sample size that I have, however, for the most part I was being badly outplayed.
Every time I played and lost one of these sessions, I felt awful. I have never shown many outward reactions to poker other than little rants or mumbling to myself (I know other player sometimes break keyboard/mice), but each session was followed up by a couple nights where it was particularly difficult to sleep, and empty promises to myself that I would never play outside my comfort zone again.
All of these losses hurt, because I lost a sizable portion of my bankroll. However, I have never taken a hit like I did yesterday, on April 15th.
Yesterday I sent off my tax sheets, forms, and vouchers. Along with them went checks for a little under $60k. Think about that. For almost anyone, that is a TON of money. For me, that is a TON of money. For the government, that is a couple skylight windows in the new office. Is it really vital that the government take ~40% of our money, for programs that we don't agree upon, for things that we don't need, for people that we don't like?
Right now our economy is in a serious downswing, and we seem to be making moves that are counterproductive to goals. You want to stimulate the economy? Ship me back my 60k and let me use it for a down payment on my first piece of property. It seems better than bailing out a set of car companies that build products which preform MUCH WORSE than their competition overseas. Instead of trying to breath life into a doomed sector, why not try to stimulate our bruised real estate economy by returning a large % of the taxpayer's money, then passing bills which encourage using that money for real estate investments. I mean, its only the best time in the last 20 or so years to buy property, its not like people need all that much convincing in the first place. And if the government passed a bill, for instance, that reduced taxes on property bought in between 2009 and 2011, that would certianly be the extra push I would need to get out there and start buying. It couldn't hurt the banks either, responsible investors actually looking for loans once again.
I'll probably update this post later with more thoughts on this later, but for now I need to grind so that I can get my bank account back to where it was pre-april 15th.
Anyways, in the poker world, not a lot has gone on for me since I was busy with taxes (or as busy as one can be when they have an accountant do most of the work). But I did manage a few tiny sessions, along with one fair sized one.
The count:
Hands played: 7679
Amount won/lost: +$2551
Time played: ~9.5 hours
The last few days have effectively wiped out the downswing that I went on the last day of scoops. Hopefully this upcoming week I will be able to put in real volume (30-40k hands) and turn April into a very profitable month.
-3 tabling the 5k cash games HU against Thorladen, losing ~18k on the session
-2-4 table the 5k cash games HU against Takechip, losing ~28k on the session
-Taking a shot at 25/50 full ring when one fish was sitting in, playing a pot 3 stacks (15k) deep with molewsi, making a small river bet with the intention of snapping off his bluff, then pussing out and folding (he told me recently that he had turned QQ into a bluff in the hand :[ ). I lost 15k that session.
Basically, my cash game adventures last year consisted of making a ton at 3/6 and 5/10, then taking shots at 25/50 and failing horribly most of the time. Don't get me wrong, I feel that overall I ran fairly bad over the smallish sample size that I have, however, for the most part I was being badly outplayed.
Every time I played and lost one of these sessions, I felt awful. I have never shown many outward reactions to poker other than little rants or mumbling to myself (I know other player sometimes break keyboard/mice), but each session was followed up by a couple nights where it was particularly difficult to sleep, and empty promises to myself that I would never play outside my comfort zone again.
All of these losses hurt, because I lost a sizable portion of my bankroll. However, I have never taken a hit like I did yesterday, on April 15th.
Yesterday I sent off my tax sheets, forms, and vouchers. Along with them went checks for a little under $60k. Think about that. For almost anyone, that is a TON of money. For me, that is a TON of money. For the government, that is a couple skylight windows in the new office. Is it really vital that the government take ~40% of our money, for programs that we don't agree upon, for things that we don't need, for people that we don't like?
Right now our economy is in a serious downswing, and we seem to be making moves that are counterproductive to goals. You want to stimulate the economy? Ship me back my 60k and let me use it for a down payment on my first piece of property. It seems better than bailing out a set of car companies that build products which preform MUCH WORSE than their competition overseas. Instead of trying to breath life into a doomed sector, why not try to stimulate our bruised real estate economy by returning a large % of the taxpayer's money, then passing bills which encourage using that money for real estate investments. I mean, its only the best time in the last 20 or so years to buy property, its not like people need all that much convincing in the first place. And if the government passed a bill, for instance, that reduced taxes on property bought in between 2009 and 2011, that would certianly be the extra push I would need to get out there and start buying. It couldn't hurt the banks either, responsible investors actually looking for loans once again.
I'll probably update this post later with more thoughts on this later, but for now I need to grind so that I can get my bank account back to where it was pre-april 15th.
Anyways, in the poker world, not a lot has gone on for me since I was busy with taxes (or as busy as one can be when they have an accountant do most of the work). But I did manage a few tiny sessions, along with one fair sized one.
The count:
Hands played: 7679
Amount won/lost: +$2551
Time played: ~9.5 hours
The last few days have effectively wiped out the downswing that I went on the last day of scoops. Hopefully this upcoming week I will be able to put in real volume (30-40k hands) and turn April into a very profitable month.
Monday, April 13, 2009
2/13/09: Back in Boston
Headed back today. Got back to my house around 5:30 and my roommates were already celebrating. I guess two of them had finished their big Jr. year projects last night. We hung out and played pong for a few hours then went out to another house to party. I got back to Anna's place around midnight and play a little session. Botched one hand:
http://www.pokerhand.org/?4109559
Basically there is nothing that he calls with on the river that I beat (at the time i was being optimistic and hoping that he makes a hero call with KQ or JJ but thats a stretch at best), which means that check call is better than a river shove. It honestly might be a river check fold, but against preposterous I think I like check call because he can be really tricky at times. However, when he is playing tricky, a shove might actually be correct. Bah. either way I def screwed up the river and would go with check/call as my standard next time around.
The count (numbers are approx because I'm on Anna's computer):
Hands played: 1279
Amount won/lost: +~$1400
Time played: ~2.5 hours
http://www.pokerhand.org/?4109559
Basically there is nothing that he calls with on the river that I beat (at the time i was being optimistic and hoping that he makes a hero call with KQ or JJ but thats a stretch at best), which means that check call is better than a river shove. It honestly might be a river check fold, but against preposterous I think I like check call because he can be really tricky at times. However, when he is playing tricky, a shove might actually be correct. Bah. either way I def screwed up the river and would go with check/call as my standard next time around.
The count (numbers are approx because I'm on Anna's computer):
Hands played: 1279
Amount won/lost: +~$1400
Time played: ~2.5 hours
Sunday, April 12, 2009
4/12/09: Good riddance to the scoops
Well I played in the last few scoops today, the HU low ($270), the main event low ($109) and the main event high ($1050) along with a $100 with rebuys. Didn't cash in anything, once again. This seems to be a fun trend. Over the course of all the scoops, I probably played 3-4k worth of buy ins, and had just one cash: $202 for going deep in the $5 rebuy. Thank god most of those tourneys were payed for with frequent player points.
As far as cash games go, today was not great for them either. I took a few rough beats, and lost every flip for a stack. Thats just the way it goes sometimes. It was only really frustrating because at the begining of the session I was up about 2k (enough to cover todays buy-ins and then some) and ready to quit, but I decided that I really needed to put in a little more volume. Although I think I played ok, this plan did not go very well.
Today was awesome otherwise. We had friends of the family over for a big easter brunch. We ate coffee cake and omelets and bacon and drank mimosas and coffee. Then we walked down to drop Nica off at the boat, and it was really nice outside. I hope the weather only gets better from here on out, because lately it has been very sporadic.
Cash games today:
Hands played: 2185
Amt won/lost: -$2369
Amt won/lost overall: -$3998 (sounds like a dining set price or something)
Time played: ~10.25 hours
As far as cash games go, today was not great for them either. I took a few rough beats, and lost every flip for a stack. Thats just the way it goes sometimes. It was only really frustrating because at the begining of the session I was up about 2k (enough to cover todays buy-ins and then some) and ready to quit, but I decided that I really needed to put in a little more volume. Although I think I played ok, this plan did not go very well.
Today was awesome otherwise. We had friends of the family over for a big easter brunch. We ate coffee cake and omelets and bacon and drank mimosas and coffee. Then we walked down to drop Nica off at the boat, and it was really nice outside. I hope the weather only gets better from here on out, because lately it has been very sporadic.
Cash games today:
Hands played: 2185
Amt won/lost: -$2369
Amt won/lost overall: -$3998 (sounds like a dining set price or something)
Time played: ~10.25 hours
4/11/09: Back at home
Awesome day today all around:
-Woke up late today (around 11:30) and went to the gym with Nica.
-Went from the gym to Mocha Motts for a coffee with Nica and Mom.
-Went to Scottish Bakehouse for a bacon breakfast sandwich, loaded.
-Went home and grinded out ~1700 hands, had a winning session
-Helped mom a little with cooking
-Headed over to the Willy's for an easter eve dinner. Ate several awesome dishes, including ham, salads, sautéed veggies, shrimp, and other great hits. Chilled for a while afterward. Just enjoyed everyones company a lot.
-Headed home. Watched Freaks and Geeks with Nica and Mom. Grinded ~1k hands. Had a winning session
-Met up with Jamie, Ruby and Glen. Drove over to friends house. Hung out. Played pong. Got to see a lot of friends that I have not seen in months.
-Got home. Grinded ~400 hands. Had a winning session.
As close to a perfect day as most days get.
And of course, the count:
Hands played: 3076
Amount won/lost: +$3362
Time played: ~3.5 hours
-Woke up late today (around 11:30) and went to the gym with Nica.
-Went from the gym to Mocha Motts for a coffee with Nica and Mom.
-Went to Scottish Bakehouse for a bacon breakfast sandwich, loaded.
-Went home and grinded out ~1700 hands, had a winning session
-Helped mom a little with cooking
-Headed over to the Willy's for an easter eve dinner. Ate several awesome dishes, including ham, salads, sautéed veggies, shrimp, and other great hits. Chilled for a while afterward. Just enjoyed everyones company a lot.
-Headed home. Watched Freaks and Geeks with Nica and Mom. Grinded ~1k hands. Had a winning session
-Met up with Jamie, Ruby and Glen. Drove over to friends house. Hung out. Played pong. Got to see a lot of friends that I have not seen in months.
-Got home. Grinded ~400 hands. Had a winning session.
As close to a perfect day as most days get.
And of course, the count:
Hands played: 3076
Amount won/lost: +$3362
Time played: ~3.5 hours
Saturday, April 11, 2009
4/10/09
Yesterday I took my first real day off of poker probably since I got home from traveling central america in February: I didn't play a single hand all day. I know this isn't a big deal to most players, but I just like the game so much, and enjoy enough variations of it, and am probably to some extent addicted, that I find myself putting in at least one session of nl/plo every day. Actually laying in bed having not put in a single session was a very unfamiliar feeling to me.
Instead, I walked around the city with friends from home, and then later on went out to a concert. Had a great time and even felt like I was able to clear my head a little. I felt like the last couple weeks have seen me devote all my thought processes to poker, which is obviously unhealthy. This is something that I need to work on in the future, and one of the reasons why I am skeptical of having one job year round.
Today I traveled home for easter weekend, but managed to play a little as well. Earlier, I put in a few hundred hands of HU and was up about a stack at 3/6. Later tonight, I played 9 tables of 2/4 and 3/6, making a few large mistakes, and ending up breaking almost perfectly even. It was just one of those nights where even though I played bad, my opponents managed to play worse.
Hands played: 1744
Total won/lost +533
Time played: ~3.75 hours
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
4/8/08: Relaxing
Got drunk last night with friends from home at a Mexican restaurant and then later at a bar next store. Over the course of a few hours I had several beers, a couple glasses of wine, a gin and tonic, a few shots of rum, and a couple shots of tequila. This is in fact the perfect mixture to feel absolutely awful the following morning, and I strongly recommend not mixing that many liquors in that little time.
When we got back to the house I did some coin flips with a few players for 200 a hand. went like 3/13 or something. Probably tilted, I then loaded up a bunch of tables and played until 6 in the morning (started around maybe 4). Ran really good and made a profit on the night. Promptly passed out afterwards.
Woke up at 10 and couldn't go back to sleep. Brutal. Got some lunch and waited for the Liverpool/Chelsea game. Napped for half the game and woke up for the 6 max scoops. Managed to bust both early (what else is new?). Had more fun playing though, because my friend Eric, who is visiting from home, played the low stakes one with me. I forgot how much more fun grinding is when you have others grinding around you. Anyways, I stacked a couple couple guys at some cash games and decided to call it a day. Made dinner with my Eric and Anna (the girlfriend) and watched a movie. About to pass out now. I am totally exhausted.
cash games:
hands played: 838 (I am just so lazy lately)
Amount won/lost: +$2581
Time played: ~3.9 Hours
When we got back to the house I did some coin flips with a few players for 200 a hand. went like 3/13 or something. Probably tilted, I then loaded up a bunch of tables and played until 6 in the morning (started around maybe 4). Ran really good and made a profit on the night. Promptly passed out afterwards.
Woke up at 10 and couldn't go back to sleep. Brutal. Got some lunch and waited for the Liverpool/Chelsea game. Napped for half the game and woke up for the 6 max scoops. Managed to bust both early (what else is new?). Had more fun playing though, because my friend Eric, who is visiting from home, played the low stakes one with me. I forgot how much more fun grinding is when you have others grinding around you. Anyways, I stacked a couple couple guys at some cash games and decided to call it a day. Made dinner with my Eric and Anna (the girlfriend) and watched a movie. About to pass out now. I am totally exhausted.
cash games:
hands played: 838 (I am just so lazy lately)
Amount won/lost: +$2581
Time played: ~3.9 Hours
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
4/7/09: Lazy Day
Was planning on going to the sox game today, but my friend showed up late and I didn't want to show up after the 4th inning or whatever so I just skipped it. Met up with friends in summerville and to watch the champions league game and drank beers.
Promised myself I wouldn't play today but ended up playing a session early this afternoon anyways. That, combined with a very short PLO session last night, was actually very rewarding.
Hands played: 712
Profit/Loss: +$1872
Time: ~3.5 hours
Tommarow Probably play the scoops and actually make a good post.
Promised myself I wouldn't play today but ended up playing a session early this afternoon anyways. That, combined with a very short PLO session last night, was actually very rewarding.
Hands played: 712
Profit/Loss: +$1872
Time: ~3.5 hours
Tommarow Probably play the scoops and actually make a good post.
Monday, April 6, 2009
4/6/09
Got back to Boston today, went home for a couple days for my mom's birthday. The trip felt very quick, as do most days right now it seems.
Played a quick session on the bus ride from the cape back to Boston. Lost some flips for stacks and stuff, and ended down ~1k in about 35 minutes. Fun.
Got in and talked to my accountant. We discussed several things, including write offs once I buy a condo/house. He mentioned that being self employed, for the auditors, is partially about appearance. He said that little things, sometimes silly things, like business cards, can go a long way toward legitimizing your self employment. So I found a site that prints business cards a very reasonable price, and designed my own. I now have 250 cards that say "Jesse James Sylvia, Professional poker player" on them. LOL. I cant wait to hand them out to friends.
I played the low and midstakes scoop heads up tourneys today, which were $16.50 and $162 buy ins, respectively. Bombed out first round of both. My opponent in the low was ok but overly aggressive, and would randomly open to six or seven blinds. We eventually got it in with my 99 vs his A10 and he turned an A. In the mid, I got a good mid stakes HU specialist first round, who most likely outplayed me over the entire match. We were back an fourth for a while, then I botched a hand where I flopped a set and he flopped top pair and a flush draw. I should have gotten it in on the turn, but an A had turned so I bet small to induce a shove. He called and the flush got there on the river, after which I shoved him in for the remaining 1/3rd of his stack. He snapped called and I was crippled. It wasn't a huge mistake; the money was going in either way, I just felt dumb that I gave him a chance to get away on the river with 40% of his remaining stack.
After that I played some cash, and, after a bunch of up and down I finished the session up about $1100. I also played a few tourneys, but only minimum cashed in two. All in all it was a very "meh" kind of day. tomorrow is opening day at fenway stadium, and the 6 max scoop tourneys, so it should be much better.
Jesse
Played a quick session on the bus ride from the cape back to Boston. Lost some flips for stacks and stuff, and ended down ~1k in about 35 minutes. Fun.
Got in and talked to my accountant. We discussed several things, including write offs once I buy a condo/house. He mentioned that being self employed, for the auditors, is partially about appearance. He said that little things, sometimes silly things, like business cards, can go a long way toward legitimizing your self employment. So I found a site that prints business cards a very reasonable price, and designed my own. I now have 250 cards that say "Jesse James Sylvia, Professional poker player" on them. LOL. I cant wait to hand them out to friends.
I played the low and midstakes scoop heads up tourneys today, which were $16.50 and $162 buy ins, respectively. Bombed out first round of both. My opponent in the low was ok but overly aggressive, and would randomly open to six or seven blinds. We eventually got it in with my 99 vs his A10 and he turned an A. In the mid, I got a good mid stakes HU specialist first round, who most likely outplayed me over the entire match. We were back an fourth for a while, then I botched a hand where I flopped a set and he flopped top pair and a flush draw. I should have gotten it in on the turn, but an A had turned so I bet small to induce a shove. He called and the flush got there on the river, after which I shoved him in for the remaining 1/3rd of his stack. He snapped called and I was crippled. It wasn't a huge mistake; the money was going in either way, I just felt dumb that I gave him a chance to get away on the river with 40% of his remaining stack.
After that I played some cash, and, after a bunch of up and down I finished the session up about $1100. I also played a few tourneys, but only minimum cashed in two. All in all it was a very "meh" kind of day. tomorrow is opening day at fenway stadium, and the 6 max scoop tourneys, so it should be much better.
Jesse
A few things
First off, I would like to address a couple things:
1. I know blogs are lame, but I like to write, and I actually enjoy reading other poker players' blogs, so writing one myself seems like the next logical step. Even if no one reads this, it will still be worth it to me, as I will have saved pieces of my life which I would, most likely, otherwise forget.
2. I am lazy as hell and writing stuff daily is, sadly, difficult to me. Hopefully This will give me the motivation to do so.
3. I make a ton of mistakes, in poker and in life, and I feel that mistakes (not necessarily our own either) are some of the best learning experiences. As I write about poker, I want to focus on my mistakes to a fair extent, if for no other reason than simply to better remember them and avoid repeating them in the future. I will go over my thought processes, along with better lines for given scenarios. Hopefully this will be useful to other players reading along.
Anyways, my name is Jesse Sylvia and I am a professional poker player as of April 15th, or whenever taxes get filed I guess. I play mostly on Pokerstars under the screen name 4JesseJames4, and on other sites (and post on 2p2) under the SN J_Allstar. Last year I made money almost entirely through MTTs, however this year I have made the leap to cash games, and now grind 200nl-1000nl. I still play some tourneys such as the big Sundays, however I have had little success in this department during this year. Right now, I am enjoying bubbling every scoop tourney possible.
This is my blog. Enjoy!
1. I know blogs are lame, but I like to write, and I actually enjoy reading other poker players' blogs, so writing one myself seems like the next logical step. Even if no one reads this, it will still be worth it to me, as I will have saved pieces of my life which I would, most likely, otherwise forget.
2. I am lazy as hell and writing stuff daily is, sadly, difficult to me. Hopefully This will give me the motivation to do so.
3. I make a ton of mistakes, in poker and in life, and I feel that mistakes (not necessarily our own either) are some of the best learning experiences. As I write about poker, I want to focus on my mistakes to a fair extent, if for no other reason than simply to better remember them and avoid repeating them in the future. I will go over my thought processes, along with better lines for given scenarios. Hopefully this will be useful to other players reading along.
Anyways, my name is Jesse Sylvia and I am a professional poker player as of April 15th, or whenever taxes get filed I guess. I play mostly on Pokerstars under the screen name 4JesseJames4, and on other sites (and post on 2p2) under the SN J_Allstar. Last year I made money almost entirely through MTTs, however this year I have made the leap to cash games, and now grind 200nl-1000nl. I still play some tourneys such as the big Sundays, however I have had little success in this department during this year. Right now, I am enjoying bubbling every scoop tourney possible.
This is my blog. Enjoy!
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