(A weekday, about 2 p.m. your local shopping mall.)
That RV you see parked there isn’t your typical shopper. In fact beside a cup of coffee at Starbucks I will spend no money at all in this mall. I am here, because I read every poker book that is published. Note, I said I read, not buy. Part of my commitment to improving my knowledge and skill at the game also includes wisely managing my bankroll.
So, what does an aspiring poker professional do when he takes a break from playing poker on a poker road trip? Why he frequents a neighborhood Barnes & Noble bookstore to read in the store the latest published poker book of course! (B.T.W. my lunch in the RV today, was a fifty cents Wal-Mart frozen pot pie cooked in the RV microwave. It was washed down by a free bottle of water from the last casino I visited.)
I do have some standards, (low though, they may be,) so I refrain from bringing in a steaming cup of instant coffee made in the RV, into the bookstore. I reluctantly purchase an overpriced $1.75 cup of java, and assure myself that I am now a “paying customer”. I have earned the right to spend countless hours sitting and reading books that interest me.
I read incredibly fast, so in the last two hours I read the “The Gambling Nation” an amusing book by a “Sports Illustrator” staff writer who has lost most of his retirement money, but somehow not his wife and family, via his “gambling problem”. I don’t think, he thinks, he has a problem. That is my observation. He has a successful best seller to further convince him he doesn’t. It is well worth a read. My perception of his “problem” is only incidental to the subject material of the book.
One of the chapters talks about the Mormon Church’s recent revelation by their head Apostle about Poker. (Apparently over 40% of the population of Salt Lake City, makes the pilgrimage across the desert to Wendover, Nevada to the casinos.)
The modern day apostle head Mormon has a recent word, that he needed to speak out, that the “church” is against it! No surprise there, but the author makes a clever argument, for why most religious systems are against Gambling. It is because they are competitors of each other with interesting similarities. The faithful in both systems are filled with the hope-filled, faithful, who believe that playing by the rules, and trusting in “what you can’t see, or the “unseen to come”, will result in a big payoff in the end! And both count on the steady inflow of money from the faithful. I find that a very interesting analogy.
Yet, the reality of life was further revealed when a local Mormon pastor was asked if a member who confessed to his poker playing in his mandatory pre-marital counseling would be prohibited from an approved church wedding? He reluctantly answered probably not. I wonder if that means the groom would be “sealed for time & eternity as a poker player?
I am planning on going back in again and reading the “History of Gambling” a little later. I have heard it is a well written & researched treatise on gambling throughout human history.
Speaking of religious events.... Here is a blog I wrote at Christmas time and forgot to post....
My most wonderful time of the year, Vegas at Christmas time.
There is something so congruent about the way we celebrate our commercial veiw of Christmas and Las Vegas. Slots, and pots, with Christmas carols in the background just bring out this time of the year for me! The weather in Las Vegas is bright and sunny and the nights are clear and cold with shining stars. (Or is that just more neon lights in the distance?)
Pokey the dog, and I have driven up from San Diego to celebrate a week here before we provide support for Caren’s surgery. The surgery is scheduled for the 27th.
We left San Diego yesterday after that great San Diego Chargers victory over Denver where L.T. broke the all-time record for most goals scored in a season. He should break it, again and again, with the amount of time left in this season.
We stopped at Lake Elsinore Casino off Interstate 15.
I played a couple of hours of 6/12 limit. I had nachos for dinner at the table, and then drove the rest of the way to Vegas. We stopped for a couple of walks at rest stops on the way and then slept in the parking lot, of the casino, formerly known, as the South Coast Casino. We were nestled in between about 50-60 horse trailers as the Cowboys and Cowgirls spent their last night in town for the Rodeo.
I wish I had gotten here earlier. I heard there was a lot of good poker action served up with a lot of beer to a lot of cowboys. Some good players probably made a lot of money last week.
I went to the “house of the arches” for a “double cheese cow burger” and then played the noon Omaha tournament at the Orleans. I went out number 22, but I enjoyed it and made up my buy-in afterwards in a live No-limit game.
Dealers can be such jerks sometimes. I
have found more rude, lack of consideration, poker dealers in Vegas then I have found anywhere else I have played. I found another one here at the Orleans.
During the Tournament, I had been moved to a new table and was one off the button. I figured it was a good time to go to the bathroom, so I did thinking "I would miss just that hand."
I got back to my seat just in time to sit down, picked up my hand, which was AAK2 double-suited. (A very good starting hand in Omaha, in fact the best one I got in the whole tournament.) I stood up with my cards to see who else had come into the hand and announced "raise" while I was standing. The dealer saw me “standing” and yelled “that hand is dead” and grabbed it out of my hand and threw them into the muck.
I was shocked that he just grabbed that he had just grabbed them out of my hand. I said “what did you do that for?
He said the rules state "you have you be in your seat when it is your time to act or your hand is dead." I said I was in my seat. I picked up my cards and I stood up to get a better look.
He said "you weren’t in your seat, when I looked at you!"
Of course an Ace and a pair of 4s flopped which would have given me Aces full.
He left the next hand and it took me a couple of hands to get over how rude that was.
I hope I get in a live game with him later I think I might announce after winning a pot that my rules state that all my dealer tips are dead to rude dealers.
Then again, I probably won’t because I don’t want to be the kind of “jerk” that he chooses to be.
Merry Christmas and good cheer to all.....
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
L.A or Compton.... what a choice....
After waking up in the RV next to an old warehouse, across the street from the Commerce Casino, at noon in warm, but smoggy L.A, I decide to drive toward the Crystal Park Casino in Compton.
If I was in New York, that would be the equivalent of driving from Hell’s Kitchen to Harlem. It is about the same distance and about the same kind of neighborhood conditions.
We lived in La Palma about 10 years ago not too far from here.. We lived in what was then “a white middle class suburbia”. (It is now off-white, approximately 70% Korean.)
La Palma is on the county line of Orange and L.A. Our backyard was Orange County. The other side of the fence was L.A. During the Rodney King Trial riots we could see the smoke from the fires to the west from our backyard.
I remember the first time I stopped at the Crystal Park Casino before it was cleaned up. This was before the era of cell phones. I located a payphone and called my wife and told her “Honey, I have some good news, some bad news, and some worst news. “I am winning at poker. However, I am in Compton, and this is a local call”!
The casino has been cleaned up a lot. It is much safer now. Over this weekend I am camping in the RV in the back parking lot. It is well lit, but sometimes filled with background noises of the light rail system next door and emergency sirens wailing intermittently off in the distance..
I met my son Jonathan here last night. He was up from San Diego visiting a friend of his in Santa Monica. We arranged to meet and play poker at the same table for a few hours before he drove home to San Diego late last night. It was good to see him. He played well. He received poor cards and only played one hand in 4 hours. I was proud of his play, as well as everything else about him. I taught him to play years ago. His friend Geoff is going to work for Yahoo next week. I am encouraging Jonathan to do the same. They pay well and are a great company from what I hear.
I played two tournaments today. I got knocked out early in the morning one and the second one this evening was very frustrating. It was an unlimited re-buy tournament for the first hour and a half. Meaning there was horrible play and multiple re-buys. I patiently stayed out of trouble, even throwing away a few playable hands to make it to the end of the re-buy period with most of my chips.
About an hour later I limp in with AK under the gun. Two others limp behind me. The blinds are 100-200 with 50 antes. A late position player raises it to 1500. I have him covered by about 800 and since I haven’t played a hand for 2 hours figure this is a good time to make a play. I push all-in with my AK thinking he will lay down almost everything but Aces or Kings. He calls with AK! We turn our cards over and it is 95% probability we will split the pot and get on with the next hand. The flop comes with two diamonds, the turn is a diamond, and the river is a diamond. He has the Ace Diamonds and I have 800 chips left.
The very next hand is my big blind. In goes 200 and 100 ante. Three people limp in. The flop comes J,10 3. I put the remainder of my chips in, while matching the 10 on the board. The cards are turned over. I am ahead with my pair of tens, until the river. A jack comes, pairing one of the remaining callers. I am out of the tournament.
I was very proud of my non-reaction. I warmly wished everyone good luck and went out to play a live game.
After an hour of live play in one of the tightest tables I have ever played I went out to the RV to walk “Pokey the Dog”.
I may go back in later and play a little after more people have left the tournament and there are some more games going.
I will spend the night here again on the outskirts of infamous & dangerous Compton.
Tomorrow I head for the world famous Bicycle Club in Bell Gardens. It is located in another lovely neighborhood in L.A. For you New Yorkers reading this, we are talking the Bronx here.
Goodnight from Compton.
If I was in New York, that would be the equivalent of driving from Hell’s Kitchen to Harlem. It is about the same distance and about the same kind of neighborhood conditions.
We lived in La Palma about 10 years ago not too far from here.. We lived in what was then “a white middle class suburbia”. (It is now off-white, approximately 70% Korean.)
La Palma is on the county line of Orange and L.A. Our backyard was Orange County. The other side of the fence was L.A. During the Rodney King Trial riots we could see the smoke from the fires to the west from our backyard.
I remember the first time I stopped at the Crystal Park Casino before it was cleaned up. This was before the era of cell phones. I located a payphone and called my wife and told her “Honey, I have some good news, some bad news, and some worst news. “I am winning at poker. However, I am in Compton, and this is a local call”!
The casino has been cleaned up a lot. It is much safer now. Over this weekend I am camping in the RV in the back parking lot. It is well lit, but sometimes filled with background noises of the light rail system next door and emergency sirens wailing intermittently off in the distance..
I met my son Jonathan here last night. He was up from San Diego visiting a friend of his in Santa Monica. We arranged to meet and play poker at the same table for a few hours before he drove home to San Diego late last night. It was good to see him. He played well. He received poor cards and only played one hand in 4 hours. I was proud of his play, as well as everything else about him. I taught him to play years ago. His friend Geoff is going to work for Yahoo next week. I am encouraging Jonathan to do the same. They pay well and are a great company from what I hear.
I played two tournaments today. I got knocked out early in the morning one and the second one this evening was very frustrating. It was an unlimited re-buy tournament for the first hour and a half. Meaning there was horrible play and multiple re-buys. I patiently stayed out of trouble, even throwing away a few playable hands to make it to the end of the re-buy period with most of my chips.
About an hour later I limp in with AK under the gun. Two others limp behind me. The blinds are 100-200 with 50 antes. A late position player raises it to 1500. I have him covered by about 800 and since I haven’t played a hand for 2 hours figure this is a good time to make a play. I push all-in with my AK thinking he will lay down almost everything but Aces or Kings. He calls with AK! We turn our cards over and it is 95% probability we will split the pot and get on with the next hand. The flop comes with two diamonds, the turn is a diamond, and the river is a diamond. He has the Ace Diamonds and I have 800 chips left.
The very next hand is my big blind. In goes 200 and 100 ante. Three people limp in. The flop comes J,10 3. I put the remainder of my chips in, while matching the 10 on the board. The cards are turned over. I am ahead with my pair of tens, until the river. A jack comes, pairing one of the remaining callers. I am out of the tournament.
I was very proud of my non-reaction. I warmly wished everyone good luck and went out to play a live game.
After an hour of live play in one of the tightest tables I have ever played I went out to the RV to walk “Pokey the Dog”.
I may go back in later and play a little after more people have left the tournament and there are some more games going.
I will spend the night here again on the outskirts of infamous & dangerous Compton.
Tomorrow I head for the world famous Bicycle Club in Bell Gardens. It is located in another lovely neighborhood in L.A. For you New Yorkers reading this, we are talking the Bronx here.
Goodnight from Compton.
Almost dead in L.A.
3:15 A.M. I am lost just south of downtown Los Angeles in an industrial area of abandoned cars and buildings with broken windows.
The few people I have seen on the street look like they should be featured in a movie titled “L.A. 2048 after the fallout effects!” I realize with fear in my heart, I am lost in an area that hasn’t seen an American-born “non-frequent-visitor” to the L.A. county jail, system in years. A horn blares behind me. I hadn’t even seen another car for blocks and I am startled. I quickly turn left to get out of his way only to realize too
late, I am now heading down a street that looks like it dead-ends into a recycling area. A kaleidoscope of late night horror movies and sensational news story’s of “people being in the wrong place at the wrong time” flash through my mind. There are gang themed graffiti everywhere with 12th street frequently repeated. Then I remember “12th” street is one of the worst gangs in the country! I am in an barrio that even Tony Soprano wouldn’t drive through during the day!
How did a old white guy from San Diego in a beautiful motor-home with twenty-five hundred dollars in cash in his pocket get himself into a situation like this?
It started about a week ago with a poker trip in the RV from my home in San Diego. One of the nice things about an RV is no need for reservations, filthy gas station bathrooms, or rude waitresses with over-priced food unfit for human consumption. I am totally self-contained. I eat when I want. Sleep where I want. Go any direction I choose when I arise in the morning. I am “Easy rider” 40 years later!
I have two weeks before any obligation, and a terrific wife who supports my obsession with becoming a poker professional. So “pokey the little dog” and I pack a bag of clothes for me, and food for him, and soon we are driving to our first casino.
Two days later, we are driving to our third casino just 50 miles down the road. We spent the first two days less then 20 miles from our home at a local casino in San Diego. I logged 20 hours of poker and camped out two nights in the R.V. (More accurately, I should say 2 days, because nights were mainly spent in the poker room.)
The original plan was to make it to Vegas and back to L.A. to meet my wife in two weeks at a friend’s home. Three of us long-term couple friends get together for fun every few months.
A week later finds me only 100 miles from home. After visiting 4 more casinos I have just barely made it over the county line. I am now at the Morongo Casino near Palm Springs for a Friday night tournament. It is a $150 buy-in tournament for about 190 players with first place paying $6,000. Five hours later I went out just 2 places from the money. I played well, but just didn’t get lucky at the end, when I badly needed to.
I have decided that I am not going to make it to Las Vegas on this trip. I talked to my son on the phone right before the tournament. He told me he is driving up to L.A. to visit a friend over the weekend. So we make plans to meet in L.A., Saturday night at the Crystal Casino poker room in Compton another “wonderful” area of L.A.
He was the main reason I decided to head for L.A. earlier then planned, but there is also another “poker-related” reason. I was up in the foothills of Highland, at San Manuel casino, camping in the RV parking lot. I was sitting outside next to my RV in a lawn-chair, shirtless in the warm afternoon sun, smoking a cigar, and looking like the poster-boy for “white trash”. I was actually listening to “The Circuit“.
“The Circuit” is an Internet podcast. I download it to my Ipod and listen to it while driving or at the poker tables. Christy Gates was talking about her recent successes and was describing how the best place in the world to play poker is L.A.. She explained why it is much better then Vegas for poker. Her reasoning seemed sound, and fit my experience.
L.A. has less pros playing. There is more money thrown around by newer recreational players. The action is good. There are a lot of loose players. So with gas being over three dollars a gallon, I decide seeing my son in L.A. and playing the Commerce, Bike, Hollywood Park and three or four other poker rooms can keep me busy for a week. I would rather “play the money” then spend it on gas driving to Vegas.
Whenever I go through L.A, I always try to do it in the middle of the night to avoid traffic. So Friday night at midnight finds me pulling out of the Morongo Casino parking lot, where I had planned to spend the night after the tournament. I point my RV east to drive the 81 miles to the Commerce Club. I need to stop to get groceries, so I locate a 24 hour Super Walmart and find myself in very large nearly empty store at a time, it is being stocked and frequented by only a few insomniacs.
You would know just from reading my grocery receipt, that this is a cheap guy and his dog camping a week in the RV.
Here are just few items and their prices.
A box of Crunch & Munch .88
12 Little Debbies cakes .97
Case of Diet Vanilla Pepsi $6.00
Dozen Eggs $1.50
Can of Spam $1.65
Instant Quick Grits .98
2 cans of Tuna .64 each
3 frozen burritos .33 each
4 frozen pot pies .50 each
And what I am most proud of, in the clearance bin I found:
4 large boxes of chocolate covered raisins was 1.94 now .33
Can of Chili was $1.25 now .35 in the dented can.
24oz can of Coors was 1.50 now .50
And thinking of my wife, two large canisters of Clorox handi-wipes $6 now $3
After putting away my groceries, I consider spending the rest of the night in the Wal-Mart parking lot. Instead, I decide to drive to the rest of the way to the Commerce Club. I want to avoid the hassle of dealing with the weekend traffic through Riverside and L.A on a Saturday.
I didn’t realize that 60 west doesn’t have a southbound ramp to Interstate 5, which is how I ended up just south of downtown in an alien, gang-infested barrio of L.A. in the middle of the night.
I don’t think I had ever seen the Vernon District of L.A. before! Well, maybe on an episode of “Cops, the L.A. edition”.
I crisscross the dry L.A. river bed 3 times, where some of the “Terminator” was filmed. I am desperately looking for a freeway. If I break down in this area, the morning sun will find an empty burned out shell of a camper. Pictures of “Pokey the dog” and my face will end up on milk cartons. Or we could be featured in an episode of “Unsolved Mysteries”.
Finally the name of a street I recognize appears in my headlights.
Twenty minutes later I am following a security van at the Commerce Casino. He is leading me to a parking lot next to an old warehouse across the street from the Commerce where I can park my RV for the night. Great, this area looks like the area I just got out of! After pulling the curtains shut and double checking all the locks. I step out and walk toward the poker room to play a little poker.
I fondly look back over my shoulder to get one more glance at my RV and “Pokey the dog” at the window. I wonder, after I cross this empty warehouse lot, and play a little poker if “Pokey and the RV” will still be there when the sun comes up?
After two hours of “wild poker”, also known as, “any two will do, this is no-fold-em hold-em”, where the pot was capped every other hand, I know I am right where I belong.
After dawn “Pokey the dog” RV are still there as I crawl into my bed to sleep the day after another typical day & night of playing poker on a road trip.
The few people I have seen on the street look like they should be featured in a movie titled “L.A. 2048 after the fallout effects!” I realize with fear in my heart, I am lost in an area that hasn’t seen an American-born “non-frequent-visitor” to the L.A. county jail, system in years. A horn blares behind me. I hadn’t even seen another car for blocks and I am startled. I quickly turn left to get out of his way only to realize too
late, I am now heading down a street that looks like it dead-ends into a recycling area. A kaleidoscope of late night horror movies and sensational news story’s of “people being in the wrong place at the wrong time” flash through my mind. There are gang themed graffiti everywhere with 12th street frequently repeated. Then I remember “12th” street is one of the worst gangs in the country! I am in an barrio that even Tony Soprano wouldn’t drive through during the day!
How did a old white guy from San Diego in a beautiful motor-home with twenty-five hundred dollars in cash in his pocket get himself into a situation like this?
It started about a week ago with a poker trip in the RV from my home in San Diego. One of the nice things about an RV is no need for reservations, filthy gas station bathrooms, or rude waitresses with over-priced food unfit for human consumption. I am totally self-contained. I eat when I want. Sleep where I want. Go any direction I choose when I arise in the morning. I am “Easy rider” 40 years later!
I have two weeks before any obligation, and a terrific wife who supports my obsession with becoming a poker professional. So “pokey the little dog” and I pack a bag of clothes for me, and food for him, and soon we are driving to our first casino.
Two days later, we are driving to our third casino just 50 miles down the road. We spent the first two days less then 20 miles from our home at a local casino in San Diego. I logged 20 hours of poker and camped out two nights in the R.V. (More accurately, I should say 2 days, because nights were mainly spent in the poker room.)
The original plan was to make it to Vegas and back to L.A. to meet my wife in two weeks at a friend’s home. Three of us long-term couple friends get together for fun every few months.
A week later finds me only 100 miles from home. After visiting 4 more casinos I have just barely made it over the county line. I am now at the Morongo Casino near Palm Springs for a Friday night tournament. It is a $150 buy-in tournament for about 190 players with first place paying $6,000. Five hours later I went out just 2 places from the money. I played well, but just didn’t get lucky at the end, when I badly needed to.
I have decided that I am not going to make it to Las Vegas on this trip. I talked to my son on the phone right before the tournament. He told me he is driving up to L.A. to visit a friend over the weekend. So we make plans to meet in L.A., Saturday night at the Crystal Casino poker room in Compton another “wonderful” area of L.A.
He was the main reason I decided to head for L.A. earlier then planned, but there is also another “poker-related” reason. I was up in the foothills of Highland, at San Manuel casino, camping in the RV parking lot. I was sitting outside next to my RV in a lawn-chair, shirtless in the warm afternoon sun, smoking a cigar, and looking like the poster-boy for “white trash”. I was actually listening to “The Circuit“.
“The Circuit” is an Internet podcast. I download it to my Ipod and listen to it while driving or at the poker tables. Christy Gates was talking about her recent successes and was describing how the best place in the world to play poker is L.A.. She explained why it is much better then Vegas for poker. Her reasoning seemed sound, and fit my experience.
L.A. has less pros playing. There is more money thrown around by newer recreational players. The action is good. There are a lot of loose players. So with gas being over three dollars a gallon, I decide seeing my son in L.A. and playing the Commerce, Bike, Hollywood Park and three or four other poker rooms can keep me busy for a week. I would rather “play the money” then spend it on gas driving to Vegas.
Whenever I go through L.A, I always try to do it in the middle of the night to avoid traffic. So Friday night at midnight finds me pulling out of the Morongo Casino parking lot, where I had planned to spend the night after the tournament. I point my RV east to drive the 81 miles to the Commerce Club. I need to stop to get groceries, so I locate a 24 hour Super Walmart and find myself in very large nearly empty store at a time, it is being stocked and frequented by only a few insomniacs.
You would know just from reading my grocery receipt, that this is a cheap guy and his dog camping a week in the RV.
Here are just few items and their prices.
A box of Crunch & Munch .88
12 Little Debbies cakes .97
Case of Diet Vanilla Pepsi $6.00
Dozen Eggs $1.50
Can of Spam $1.65
Instant Quick Grits .98
2 cans of Tuna .64 each
3 frozen burritos .33 each
4 frozen pot pies .50 each
And what I am most proud of, in the clearance bin I found:
4 large boxes of chocolate covered raisins was 1.94 now .33
Can of Chili was $1.25 now .35 in the dented can.
24oz can of Coors was 1.50 now .50
And thinking of my wife, two large canisters of Clorox handi-wipes $6 now $3
After putting away my groceries, I consider spending the rest of the night in the Wal-Mart parking lot. Instead, I decide to drive to the rest of the way to the Commerce Club. I want to avoid the hassle of dealing with the weekend traffic through Riverside and L.A on a Saturday.
I didn’t realize that 60 west doesn’t have a southbound ramp to Interstate 5, which is how I ended up just south of downtown in an alien, gang-infested barrio of L.A. in the middle of the night.
I don’t think I had ever seen the Vernon District of L.A. before! Well, maybe on an episode of “Cops, the L.A. edition”.
I crisscross the dry L.A. river bed 3 times, where some of the “Terminator” was filmed. I am desperately looking for a freeway. If I break down in this area, the morning sun will find an empty burned out shell of a camper. Pictures of “Pokey the dog” and my face will end up on milk cartons. Or we could be featured in an episode of “Unsolved Mysteries”.
Finally the name of a street I recognize appears in my headlights.
Twenty minutes later I am following a security van at the Commerce Casino. He is leading me to a parking lot next to an old warehouse across the street from the Commerce where I can park my RV for the night. Great, this area looks like the area I just got out of! After pulling the curtains shut and double checking all the locks. I step out and walk toward the poker room to play a little poker.
I fondly look back over my shoulder to get one more glance at my RV and “Pokey the dog” at the window. I wonder, after I cross this empty warehouse lot, and play a little poker if “Pokey and the RV” will still be there when the sun comes up?
After two hours of “wild poker”, also known as, “any two will do, this is no-fold-em hold-em”, where the pot was capped every other hand, I know I am right where I belong.
After dawn “Pokey the dog” RV are still there as I crawl into my bed to sleep the day after another typical day & night of playing poker on a road trip.
I'm sitting on top of the world....
Well at least I am sitting on top of L.A.
I am overlooking the San Bernardino Valley from about 1500 feet in elevation. The San Manuel Casino have their RV parking in the Employees lot about 800 feet almost straight up from the casino. The entrance is so steep I drive it in 1st gear. However, the result is so worth it! I park alongside of a fence with a southern view and I can see at least 20 miles in every direction except north. To the north behind me the mountains rise majestically to over 5,000 feet. I spent the night here after a less then stellar night in the Poker room.
I was card dead. I lost my limit for the day in a few hours. Most frustrating of all, I was one of the better players at a table of guys trying to “give their money away”. The guy to my left lost 3 racks of $5 chips ($1500) in the first ½ hour of my joining the table. Two others went to their pockets for more money multiple times. My theme song of “could’ve, would’ve, should’ve been a very different outcome” kept playing in my head, but alas it was not to be. A couple bad beats, two failed bluffs, and an “outdraw” later I was headed back up to the RV.
The one thing I have done well is to “take a break” when I start “running bad”. I really get it that Poker is one lifetime, continuous poker game that I play in, with “breaks” away from the table. I can’t win the game in a day, but I could lose it, if my “bankroll” ends up going all in, because I have to “get back” what I lost today! That kind of “slippery slope” is the most dangerous place to go in poker or any other game of skill and chance.
It has been almost three months since I have written in this blog. Shortly after my last entry, I passed the two year mark in my attempt to be a professional. It has not been a glamorous, highly successful two years, but I have learned a lot, enjoyed the freedom, and followed my dream beyond my comfort zone. That is a major accomplishment for me and beyond where many others dare to let themselves go.
8 hours later,
I played 2/5 NL and won back what I lost yesterday. I was ahead a bit, but had a dip for the last two hours I played. In hindsight I could have left 2 hours earlier when I started feeling a little tired. But, it was “double jackpot time” and I just resolved to play really tight. I did, and got outdrawn three times. As Phil says, “he would win every hand if there wasn’t luck involved”. Of course then he would be the only one that played this game. (grin)
I keep thinking and playing and visiting different casinos to try to discover what it is that top professionals know/see/do different then the rest of us but I cannot figure it out. I am a slightly better then break even player. About a year ago I was a break-even player and the year before I was a losing player so I must be moving in the right direction. When you play poker the odds against walking away from the table with money is 9-1 against you. The dealer/casino always wins 4 or 5 dollars from every pot. Then there are 8 other players you have to beat. It is a tough business. But, somebody has to be that one that wins, so I continue to study, play, practice, apply what I learn and experience. A few of the more important principals that are the mainstay of my game are.
1. Play at the level my bankroll supports. (Never risk more then 5% of my bankroll a day. I have a stop loss limit for the day. I quit for the day if I reach it.)
2. Stay off tilt. (Take a break & walk around every hour or so. Stay focused on the present. Remind yourself bad beats are part of the game. Try to recognize your mistakes but forgive yourself quickly when you make one.)
3. Pay attention. (Even when you are not in a pot watch every hand, and every player in the hand, and learn as much as you can about them. Work on your reading ability by guessing what hands are being played.)
Last night, before I went to sleep in the RV the rain came in with some strong winds. The RV was rocking back and forth came in from three different directions on this bluff in the foothills of the San Berndandino Mountains. I decided this would be a good night to watch MacBeth with Orson Wells & Roddy McDowell in Black & White on the VCR. Now there was a guy who didn’t seem to enjoy his life. After about an hour of feeling doom & gloom and not understanding half the dialogue, nor the story, I decided to shut it off and go to sleep. I resolved to read the cliff notes on MacBeth next time I am in a bookstore because I couldn’t “get it”. I was afraid to look out the window for fear of seeing three witches on the outcropping above me chanting “double bubble, toil & trouble” (all four terms well understood by poker players)
The wind was still blowing when I awoke and looked out the window in the morning. What an awesome sight. The smog was all blown away and I could see for 30-40 miles. I could see the mountains behind Palm Springs to the east, to the ones beyond Moreno Valley to the South and beyond Covina to the west. At least 3-4 million people live in the area I could see while I am sitting here on a lawn chair outside the RV typing writing these thoughts on my lap top. The sun is in the final stages of setting over the mountains above San Dimas to the west and I feel contentment and gratefulness I can do this.
Today was not such a great day at the table. I lost three big hands to a “luckbox” who made three very bad calls against me and “lucked out” on the river each time. She was in seat three and was a very aggressive player who played almost every hand. One of the dealers’ had already commented to her “she was a very lucky player”. She went up and down from 100-600 five times in the time I was at the table.
I was focused, playing only good cards and making good reads. On the first “bad beat” disaster Seat 4 went all in for $100 on a turn card, where I had made a queen high straight. I was in seat 8 and went all with $250 in to try to keep “luckbox” out. She still called! The board was 10, 8, J of hearts & 6 of spades and she had K of hearts & 7 of clubs! The Ace of hearts was the river and I lost my stack for the first time to her. Another occurred about an hour later. I won’t bore you with those details. Only that I was betting with two pair and and she was calling with one middle pair and caught a third one on the river.
For the next two hours I worked on keeping her out of my pots by over grossly over betting the flop when it was favorable for me. She would always bet out in early position 15-20 every time she was in a hand. Then she would take forever to lay down her hand, (she hated to lay down her cards)often calling with the worst hand that would win 2/3 of the time. I was down to my last $150 and she raised $10 from under the gun. Three people followed suit. I had pocket 5’s on the dealer button so I raised $75 (1/2 of my chips) expecting to end it right there. Before the big blind can act, she says “I am going to put you all in”. (I object & the dealer tells her to wait her turn to act. That encourages the big blind to put in his last $125 knowing he is getting better pot odds with three players. She goes all in, and I put in the last of my chips. My hand is good against one player, probably not two. The flop comes 5,6,2 , giving me trip 5’s. The turn is a queen and the river a 9 giving her 7,8 a straight to the 9. I walked away muttering to myself “that is some luck” and resolved to come back tonight after dinner & a nap because I should be able to make some money in a place where there are “regulars” who play this badly.
I am overlooking the San Bernardino Valley from about 1500 feet in elevation. The San Manuel Casino have their RV parking in the Employees lot about 800 feet almost straight up from the casino. The entrance is so steep I drive it in 1st gear. However, the result is so worth it! I park alongside of a fence with a southern view and I can see at least 20 miles in every direction except north. To the north behind me the mountains rise majestically to over 5,000 feet. I spent the night here after a less then stellar night in the Poker room.
I was card dead. I lost my limit for the day in a few hours. Most frustrating of all, I was one of the better players at a table of guys trying to “give their money away”. The guy to my left lost 3 racks of $5 chips ($1500) in the first ½ hour of my joining the table. Two others went to their pockets for more money multiple times. My theme song of “could’ve, would’ve, should’ve been a very different outcome” kept playing in my head, but alas it was not to be. A couple bad beats, two failed bluffs, and an “outdraw” later I was headed back up to the RV.
The one thing I have done well is to “take a break” when I start “running bad”. I really get it that Poker is one lifetime, continuous poker game that I play in, with “breaks” away from the table. I can’t win the game in a day, but I could lose it, if my “bankroll” ends up going all in, because I have to “get back” what I lost today! That kind of “slippery slope” is the most dangerous place to go in poker or any other game of skill and chance.
It has been almost three months since I have written in this blog. Shortly after my last entry, I passed the two year mark in my attempt to be a professional. It has not been a glamorous, highly successful two years, but I have learned a lot, enjoyed the freedom, and followed my dream beyond my comfort zone. That is a major accomplishment for me and beyond where many others dare to let themselves go.
8 hours later,
I played 2/5 NL and won back what I lost yesterday. I was ahead a bit, but had a dip for the last two hours I played. In hindsight I could have left 2 hours earlier when I started feeling a little tired. But, it was “double jackpot time” and I just resolved to play really tight. I did, and got outdrawn three times. As Phil says, “he would win every hand if there wasn’t luck involved”. Of course then he would be the only one that played this game. (grin)
I keep thinking and playing and visiting different casinos to try to discover what it is that top professionals know/see/do different then the rest of us but I cannot figure it out. I am a slightly better then break even player. About a year ago I was a break-even player and the year before I was a losing player so I must be moving in the right direction. When you play poker the odds against walking away from the table with money is 9-1 against you. The dealer/casino always wins 4 or 5 dollars from every pot. Then there are 8 other players you have to beat. It is a tough business. But, somebody has to be that one that wins, so I continue to study, play, practice, apply what I learn and experience. A few of the more important principals that are the mainstay of my game are.
1. Play at the level my bankroll supports. (Never risk more then 5% of my bankroll a day. I have a stop loss limit for the day. I quit for the day if I reach it.)
2. Stay off tilt. (Take a break & walk around every hour or so. Stay focused on the present. Remind yourself bad beats are part of the game. Try to recognize your mistakes but forgive yourself quickly when you make one.)
3. Pay attention. (Even when you are not in a pot watch every hand, and every player in the hand, and learn as much as you can about them. Work on your reading ability by guessing what hands are being played.)
Last night, before I went to sleep in the RV the rain came in with some strong winds. The RV was rocking back and forth came in from three different directions on this bluff in the foothills of the San Berndandino Mountains. I decided this would be a good night to watch MacBeth with Orson Wells & Roddy McDowell in Black & White on the VCR. Now there was a guy who didn’t seem to enjoy his life. After about an hour of feeling doom & gloom and not understanding half the dialogue, nor the story, I decided to shut it off and go to sleep. I resolved to read the cliff notes on MacBeth next time I am in a bookstore because I couldn’t “get it”. I was afraid to look out the window for fear of seeing three witches on the outcropping above me chanting “double bubble, toil & trouble” (all four terms well understood by poker players)
The wind was still blowing when I awoke and looked out the window in the morning. What an awesome sight. The smog was all blown away and I could see for 30-40 miles. I could see the mountains behind Palm Springs to the east, to the ones beyond Moreno Valley to the South and beyond Covina to the west. At least 3-4 million people live in the area I could see while I am sitting here on a lawn chair outside the RV typing writing these thoughts on my lap top. The sun is in the final stages of setting over the mountains above San Dimas to the west and I feel contentment and gratefulness I can do this.
Today was not such a great day at the table. I lost three big hands to a “luckbox” who made three very bad calls against me and “lucked out” on the river each time. She was in seat three and was a very aggressive player who played almost every hand. One of the dealers’ had already commented to her “she was a very lucky player”. She went up and down from 100-600 five times in the time I was at the table.
I was focused, playing only good cards and making good reads. On the first “bad beat” disaster Seat 4 went all in for $100 on a turn card, where I had made a queen high straight. I was in seat 8 and went all with $250 in to try to keep “luckbox” out. She still called! The board was 10, 8, J of hearts & 6 of spades and she had K of hearts & 7 of clubs! The Ace of hearts was the river and I lost my stack for the first time to her. Another occurred about an hour later. I won’t bore you with those details. Only that I was betting with two pair and and she was calling with one middle pair and caught a third one on the river.
For the next two hours I worked on keeping her out of my pots by over grossly over betting the flop when it was favorable for me. She would always bet out in early position 15-20 every time she was in a hand. Then she would take forever to lay down her hand, (she hated to lay down her cards)often calling with the worst hand that would win 2/3 of the time. I was down to my last $150 and she raised $10 from under the gun. Three people followed suit. I had pocket 5’s on the dealer button so I raised $75 (1/2 of my chips) expecting to end it right there. Before the big blind can act, she says “I am going to put you all in”. (I object & the dealer tells her to wait her turn to act. That encourages the big blind to put in his last $125 knowing he is getting better pot odds with three players. She goes all in, and I put in the last of my chips. My hand is good against one player, probably not two. The flop comes 5,6,2 , giving me trip 5’s. The turn is a queen and the river a 9 giving her 7,8 a straight to the 9. I walked away muttering to myself “that is some luck” and resolved to come back tonight after dinner & a nap because I should be able to make some money in a place where there are “regulars” who play this badly.
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