A day in the life of a poker player and his dog.

Back in April my wife Caren flew to Portland to see her family.

I received a phone call from her and she blurted out... "that she never meant it to happen, but she had “fallen in love” while in Portland on this trip.

Not to another man, but to a little dog that is ½ Chihuahua & ½ Yorkshire. She named him Pokey. His full name is really “my husband plays poker, so I bought a $700 dog and named him pokey” He flew back first class with Caren from Portland on Alaska Airlines.

When I am asked “what kind of dog is that?” I explain “he is a Mexican, Englishman”.

He arrived here in San Diego weighing almost 2 pounds (or almost 1 kilo as they would say in either of his countries of origin.) He is now at his full weight of 5 pounds. He is about the size of a small stuffed animal. But, I have to admit he has captured my heart also. And our lives would not be the same without him.

Because of our different schedules, Caren gets up for work at 5 A.M. and Pokey helps her get ready in the morning. He then rejoins me to sleep in, when she leaves for work at 6:30. We both then awaken about 10 or 11 A.M. stretch, pee, and go for a walk and pee. (That is me inside, and him outside. I guess he is the only one of us that is really “house broken” Bada-Bing)

We spend the day together being house husband & house dog doing errands and chores until the highlight of our day about 4 p.m. when Caren comes home. We have the early evening together as a family, usually at home, but sometimes going out to dinner. Pokey usually takes a nap in the car while we are eating out, but sometimes he will join us, if we dine in an outside café.

Then it is to bed for Caren by 7 or 8 p.m. while I head out to a club or casino to play poker. (Or go to the office, as I refer to it.) I try to get home by 1 A.M. and get Pokey up for awhile We watch a little Television together. We usually watch a poker show that was pre-recorded on our DVR. Then it is to bed by 2:30 or 3 A.M. so Pokey can get ready to get up at 5 A.M. and help Caren get ready for work again. Then his day begins all over again.

Don’t think he has a “dull life”. Usually once or twice a month he joins me in the RV and we head out for 2 or 3 days of poker staying at various Casinos. During those trips he catches up on sleep in the RV. He does take periodic walks to give me breaks from the poker tables. The life of a poker player and his dog never gets boring… grin…..

We are all going on Vacation in the RV on September 13th for a couple of weeks together. On October 1st Caren will fly home and Pokey and I will be “On the road again” visiting every poker room we can between Seattle and San Diego. We are also going to sweep east to include Reno and Las Vegas on this trip. We hope to give you regular updates on this blog as we travel.

Six months of poker & no blog... wass up'?

½ a year, 140th of my life expectancy has gone by since I have added to this blog.

If there were any readers before this, which I suspect there were not anyway, (based on the number of comments, I had received,) there are certainly none now.

So, why I am adding to this?

I guess to be really honest, it is because it helps me focus, on what I am doing with my poker.
It gives me a historical timeline. And it is “feedback” that let’s me know how my thinking has changed or stayed the same over time. I also very much hope others will read it at some point, be helped by it, and enjoy it. I know I enjoy and read on a daily basis five other poker blogs.

I may also have just contributed to one of the great metaphysical questions in history. If a tree falls in the forest……? Is winking in the dark, really flirting…?, and is a blog that no one reads really a blog….?

I have been steadily playing poker these last six months, averaging 25-40 hours a week in live play. I am still on my original bankroll and have a small net gain. I would have a much bigger one if I didn’t include my on-line play.

Others tell me they win all the time on-line. I want to believe that. I keep going back to on-line, believing the “grass is greener” on the other side of the fence from “live play” at the clubs & casinos. However, I win often at live games. I never have had a winning week on-line.

That can probably be explained because I am a “visual represented” person according to Neuro-linguistics. Finished grad school in Psychology, been a Pastor and a psychotherapist for years. Duh, none of that experience seems to help on-line or has any relevance.

Even though I have played a lot of poker these last six months I am one of the few who didn’t go to WSOP. Why? Because I like staying in my RV, and Vegas is just too darn hot in the summer. Also, I have been the primary guardian during the day, to a little puppy named pokey, but that is a whole other story I will tell you about later.