Travels All Done!

I made it through the jetlag study in France. It was tough!!!! I was sleep deprived and starved -but today when I received my check for $2710 it was all worth it.

I have no more trips planned for this year so hopefully I can play more poker now. I am back to waffling between ring and tournaments. I am not doing great at either.

Making progress and making money

I finished September down -$60.64. Tournaments were not good - that was -$87.86. I did a bit better at the cash tables, playing mostly $25NL I ended up ahead $27.22.

For October I have cutback on tournament play - limiting it mostly to Cardschat games. I have slightly increased my cash play, but not to where I want to be. I am down -$4.30 in tournaments and up $34.90 in cash. So it is looking better. I have had 2 first place finishes in a 2 week period in the Cardschat Fulltilt freerolls. (one was the last day of Sept though)

It is amazing to me now that I am not working how little time I seem to be able to find to dedicate to serious poker. I go to the gym, walk the dogs, do some shopping and a little work around the house and the next thing I know the day is gone. Tough life, I know lol.

I am finding every way possible to earn money without having a job. There is really no pressure on me and that helps. I am still paid a full income until February and after that I can get unemployment wages for up to 39 weeks.

I have found some ways to make small amounts of money online - doing some surveys and things like that. Then I ran across a nice one - I am particpating in a jetlag study and will get paid $2500 for that if I make it through the entire study. I have earned $75 of it already - getting a physical and psychological evaluation. I will earn $350 next week for an overnight study of my sleep patterns. Then if that goes well I will go to Paris on Nov 2nd for the rest of it - and will earn a total of $2075 for those 4 days. Will keep you posted!

Finding my poker game

I have played a lot of different games in the past few weeks trying to decide what I should concentrate on. I think I need a little bit more time.

I am still just playing a little on the cash tables - I have stuck to $25NL, one table at a time. I won't be reading my book until after I have finished HOH vol 1 - so I will take it slow for now. The good news is I am up almost $40 - so at least I am not losing lol.

I can't say the same for my tournament games - I am down about $80. It really isn't bad considering how much I have played. I have played everything from $1 games to a $30 game. I do okay in the smaller Cardschat games. The big tournaments I struggle getting to the money. I am asking for tips from friends at Cardschat. It is way too soon to give up lol. I will be starting on part 2 of HOH next week - I still have a lot to learn.

Back from Aspen trip

I took a break and went to visit a friend in Aspen, Co. It is beautiful out there! The houses are incredible - and cost a small fortune to say the least. I took a picture of Jack Nicholson's house. It was one of the smaller ones by Aspen standards lol. I would love to know who lives in the $30 million mansions on the mountainsides.

I will do a poker update later today or tomorrow. Things are going okay so far - no huge wins but no huge losses either.

Deciding What to Play

My "career" has officially begun. I won some money since I was tracking it last month and got my bankroll up over $1400. Now I have to do some experimenting to determine which games I will be the most successful at and enjoy playing as well.

I use the term career very loosely lol. I will not be working for at least a year - and if by then I am earning part-time money of a sufficient amount playing poker I will not have to return to a regular job. So I am fortunate that I can view this as a potential career without a lot of risk or pressure to make a killing at it. I am willing to back that $1400 with a near equal amount but if I were to lose all of that I would have to return to playing poker recreationally.

My immediate plans are to dabble in some different types of tournaments and play some $25NL as well. I started on last Monday. So far I am down $3.70 in tournaments and up $28.92 in cash games. So I ended the first week up $25.22. I am liking the cash games - not just because I am winning at that but I feel I have more control over what happens. I am also fortunate enough to have some great players at Cardschat willing to review my hands and give me advice.

I say dabble because there are some things I need to do before I get serious and play a lot. I have a lot of reading to do. For tournament play I am starting with HOH vol 1. We will even be doing a book discussion on that at Cardschat which will be fun. For cash I have ordered Slanskey/Miller's NLHE Theory and Practice.

I also need to get my Pokertracker and Hud back up and running. I hope to do that within a few days.

So wish me luck!

Almost Ready for some Poker

I am almost back! I need a little more time to get things organized at home then I can start my poker career....

I am going to be digging into HOH volume 1 within the next 2 weeks as well. And pulling out some strategy guides at Cardschat. I need to get my Pokertracker and Hud working again. I have a lot to do to get ready.

Stay tuned - it is about to get exciting in here lol.

I will update soon!

I know it appears that I have abandoned my blog - but I will be updating it frequently soon. Wednesday is my last day of work - after that I plan on concentrating more on my poker.

So stay tuned!