The Great Chillout - "Poker Face Remix"

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Having a good week...

There's a bunch of things that have happened in the past week that have been good, including 5/6 winning sessions. Shout out to my boys that kept the positive vibes going (Drew, Viet).

Also went out Monday night and had a good time. Got my favorite phone call "P is in town, we're goin out" and after that it was a wrap but I did spend the night next to the toilet throwing up throughout the morning.

I have noticed that the games at Hollywood Park are literally dying. It seems like they lose a table every month in their poker room. I'm guessing it's a combination of fish running out of money and players moving to other casinos where the service, staff, and games are better. For some reason Hollywood Park doesn't provide better service or food, they just bank on their prime location to keep them running but it's going to end soon if they don't make a change.

I did run horrendous in NFL picks. It was bound to happen. The last three weeks my buddies have asked me which games I liked in the NFL so I gave them my picks and was 16-0 over three weeks. So I decided it was time for me to start capitalizing on this and of course I go 1-5 in my picks. Brilliant!

Also saw a couple movies, Paranormal Activity, which I enjoyed a lot and Where the Wild Things Are, which I thought was so-so and somewhat disappointed with it.

The inside scoop is that if Ivey doubles up at the final table, he's gonna win it.

Friday, October 16, 2009

No Posts = Running Bad

Let's face it -- I'm a fair-weather blogger. I hate to come on here and tell y'all how bad I'm doing.

Basically I've made several mistakes in my young poker career and I'm not ashamed to say that I've made them, but I'm happy to say that I'm learning from them and growing from them (hopefully).

Let me outline some of the mistakes that I've made:

4. Went to the World Series under bankrolled and entered a few small buy-in events. While I was out there, I gambled on craps, sports and black jack. I probably broke even in these side games because I had a monster day in black jack and craps, but it changed my mentality. I was there for the month of June and stayed in the Bellagio, where they have conveniently placed the craps tables close to the guest elevators. I'm also not a tournament player but I played the first $1k buy-in event and busted on the bubble, which gave me some optimism for the upcoming tournaments, none of which I did any better in. Vegas crushed my bankroll and I was lucky to come back to L.A. and rebound quickly in the cash games in July.

3. Too much traveling at the wrong time. In August, right in the middle of my hot streak in the L.A. cash games, I went to Hawaii and then Seattle for over two weeks. There's nothing wrong with traveling, but in hindsight I would have much rather stayed in L.A. and continued to build my bankroll. That being said, I did manage to somehow make money in Hawaii when I won a small online tournament and another $1k at an Indian Reservation casino near Seattle. However, the problem with the traveling was it completely took me out of my 'grinder' mindset. When I returned to L.A., I still felt like I was on vacation. I took a few extra days off and never really settled back into a good routine in regards to poker.

2. Spending too much money. A lot of my good friends always tease me about my horrible spending habits. If there's a new pair of Jordans, I buy them. If we go to the strip club, I spend a lot. If I go out to the club, I spend a lot on drinks and bottles. When I'm running hot, it's great and no problem. But when I'm running bad and I'm looking at all these shoes that I never wear, I feel like a moron, which I am.


1. Bad prioritizing. I'm gonna be honest here - too much time with girls. If I'm not on a date one night, I'm going out the next night to check girls out. That means $ on drinks, then if I meet a girl, $ on dates. I've gotten (more) out of shape and lazier since I quit my job, which is the exact opposite of what I told myself I would do. I figured once I quit my job I would have much more time for exercising and the gym, but instead my attitude has become way too relaxed towards my own health.

And after all those mistakes it really hurt to run bad for the last month+. I would say I had two winning sessions out of about 15 at one point and also made several mistakes of my own.

The good thing is that I have time to make a change and improve on this. I have the right people around me as far as friends and family and I have plenty of opportunities to make it happen.

I'm thinking about (and probably will) working as a prop player for a few days a week (six hour shifts) to keep a consistent paycheck coming that will pay my bills. I definitely need to see if it's worth it because I would be playing a smaller game ($100-200 buy-in, $2/3 blinds) and making $24/hr. The people I've talked to think it's accurate to assume that at best I would make $25/hr. in a game that small. If that's accurate, I would be fine doing that for a while and playing my regular game at night. However, that's saying at BEST I'd be making $25/hr. + $24/hr. But it will definitely be a learning experience on this poker trail to see the inner-workings of a poker room.

I hope everyone is doing well. I'll try and post more often.

4 years...