Like a little boy...

A poem about poker... about remembering that poker is a game. A game that is often representative of life. The highs. The lows. But it is a game. Remember to have fun with it. Remember to laugh with it. Remember to love it. Remember when you were a little boy (or girl) and there were no worries in the world. So often I see too many people take this game entirely too seriously, as if the hand they lost is the end of the world. It's not. There is always tomorrow, and as long as you can enjoy and appreciate this game and realize that there is a human element and an element of luck, it'll be a game you love forever and that will love you in return.


He'd been here before,
the click clack music to his ears.
Gray and old,
he'd been shuffled like a deck of cards.
Over... and over...
again.

He remembered,
the first hand he'd ever been dealt.
It was a pretty simple one...
a fold.
And he waited for the next hand...
what would be the first of many.

There were the rushes,
where he won hand after hand,
and nothing could go wrong.
She smiled at him then...
and he laughed.
Like a little boy.

But this game wasn't always kind,
it broke him,
over and over again.
She yelled at him then...
and he cried.
Like a little boy.

He sat down in the chair,
knowing glances as he fiddled with his chips.
Cards thrown in his general direction,
and as he looked at his cards...
he was young again.
Like a little boy.

Like a little boy.

No, I'm not dead...

So it's been nearly three weeks since I've updated. Visited family for nearly two weeks and have been playing catch up since I've got back. That and ummmm I've met someone and have been spending a lot (read: nearly every second) of time with them and enjoying every second of it. She's a fantastic woman and I'm thrilled that she is part of my life. Only time will tell how it turns out but I'm feeling pretty good about it. Finally!

Poker has been pretty break even. I haven't been doing the heads up thing lately (I still haven't had a losing session) as I've been trying the prop thing... and I've figured out that is more of a grind then the heads up thing. You know how hard it is to generate $200 in rake a week when you can only play $1/2 and up and decent games ever get going. I'm going to try one more site but the first one has been a struggle (down $100, although I did win a seat into another $200+ tournament so technically speaking I'm up $100). Mainly though I've been writing to make some money and spending time with the new girlfriend. I'll get to playing more seriously here soon (kinda have to if I want to pay the bills lol although I am doing ok on that end right now thanks to the writing and teaching gigs).

Offline for a few...

I am going to visit my brothers in the Deep South over the course of the next two weeks, followed by my 20 year high school reunion. That should be interesting considering I have not seen one person since I graduated and I've gained oh... 100 pounds (I used to be a skinny, long distance running, dude). Living large isn't that what they say? I'm the proverbial definition of that one. LOL.

Didn't play too much the past few days as I've been researching some articles I'm writing and trying to get into a prop program or two. I figure if I'm going to be playing so much online I might as well get 100% or more rake back rather then the traditional 25-30%. Oh and part of the reason I haven't been playing so much is because FullTilt caught my new account when I tried to do a cash out... apparently they do a name check. Bah. It's not like I was logging in and playing two accounts, I just wanted to start new and get rakeback, which you can't do with existing accounts. Kind of sucky if you ask me. Ah well, they lost my business... thankfully they gave me my money back.

I did get signed on as a prop at one site... obviously can't say what site it is, but it's 100% rakeback, which is a good deal. I played a $20+ SNG into a bigger buy in tournament there tonight and won it... it was one of those up and down affairs. I start off tripling up early when some guy thought it was good to call my limp push with A6s. I had QQ. I got down to about double what I started with, doubled up to be massive chip leader and then in back to back hands lost with K-K to A-7 (same A-6 idiot) and 10-10 to Q-Q. Kept afloat with timely steals and resteals, then raise with K-K in the SB, BB (guy who had Q-Q earlier) pushes with Q-J. Of course the flop comes J-T-9. Jesus. I survive though and win a fairly long heads up session.

So, I'm off to see the Wizard... or something like that. Hope everyone has lots of good food and family fun. Catch ya on the flip side!

Busy, busy...

I've been swamped the last couple days writing for pokerworks and Inside Poker. Not that I'm complaining... I love it... just gives me less time to write here. Still made my $100 each day playing... throw in the extra money the writing gives me and things are good on the money side of things (for now, give me time I am sure I can fuck that up lol).

Nothing too exciting on the poker front. Check out my articles at pokerworks if you are bored, they've given me some freedom to write what I want so I am going to basically be presenting a series of tournament strategy primers since it's what I know and teach best.

I almost felt bad...

One of the hardest things I've had to deal with playing poker against other people is "being nice"... I'm a nice guy, I don't like to be taken advantage of and I don't like taking advantage of other people. But if I am going to make a living playing this game, I have to throw nice out the window sometimes.

Today, I was playing a $200 heads up match... I'd lost 4 in a row for the first time in a long time (the $100 match ended on one of the sickest beats I've ever had... we got it all in pre-flop... I had AAKJ, he had KQQQ. The flop came Kxx. He had 1 card in the deck he could beat me with... the case queen. He hit it. We had even stacks prior to the hand). My opponent was timing down nearly every hand, disconnected a couple times... we played about ten hands when he timed out. I waited for a minute or so, but then started raising. By the time he came back the chip stacks were 2750-250 and I won the match.

I know there are going to be people who look at this and think I am a scumbag... and that's ok, I wasn't playing poker to make friends, I'm playing it to make money. It was not my fault he had a bad connection. If I had disconnected (and I have before in the past), I think most people would have taken advantage of that fact. If it happened to me, I'd be pissed, but I know that's the risk when I play online poker (and a reason you should always, always make sure you have a backup connection to your high speed connection if you play online).

Part of me doesn't want to post this because I think some people will judge me and I'm one of those people who hates people thinking poorly of him, but I know I can't always please everyone (I've learned this the hard way) and I promised myself I was going to be honest in this blog and post everything that I went through... this is what I went through today.

A quickie...

Today was my brother's birthday so we went out to Red Lobster (my treat)... was excellent for a "chain" - I don't get to eat seafood much so I enjoy it when I do. I need a nap. Went 8-8 today but still got to the $100 mark, mainly cuz I cheated and started my first round at the $20 level (lost it, but won the $50 which put me up +30 right off the bat). I went back down to $10 after that, I gotta be careful not to overstep my bounds but there was a really bad player at the $20 level that I had schooled a couple times the other day that I just had to have a go at (I told him to go to $50 after he beat me, and proceeded to beat him there, I love when fish listen to ya and give you there money).

Had a nice chat with my friend Jen yesterday. We spent the entire summer working together, spending 12-16 hours a day with one another so we really got to know one another. We've kept in touch which has been nice and she sent me a good contact at pokerworks.com and looks like I am going to be doing some writing for them. Thanks Jen (I've tried to return the favor by seeing if InsidePoker has something for her)! It's too bad she has this silly rule about not making out with colleagues though. Hmmphhh.

I don't watch a lot of sports but enjoy pro football. My team, the Packers is off to an 8-1 start, so I am psyched about that. After a couple off years it's good to see them winning like this again. I never would have imagined it at the beginning of the year, but they look like they have a legitimate shot at making the Super Bowl although I am sure Dallas will have something to say about that.

Guess this wasn't so quick after all, so on that note, I'm out.

Now playing on Full Tilt...

Took yesterday and most of today off as I am visiting my brother and his family. I did get my $100 in today... 11-6 (6-5 at the initial level for those keeping score at home). Moved to Full Tilt to start collecting a deposit bonus there, the heads up matches fill up a little slower there, but I can keep myself pretty busy so it's ok. In 17 matches, I earned $5.24 of bonus... so at that pace it'll take me 100 days to clear the $500 bonus since that's what I deposited (stupid ePassporte deposit limit).

I am researching some articles for InsidePoker, if anyone has some ideas/thoughts on the following, send me an e-mail at aaron@thepokermentor.com.

1) Micro-limit no limit hold em, including multi-tabling
2) Backing/staking arrangements

Also if anyone wants to back me into about 20 WPT events, I'm pretty confident I'd make you rich. Gamble baby! ;)