Have a great New Year's Eve

Hey everyone. The move to Chicago is going well for me so far. A few days ago I ended up buying a bunch of furniture for my place, which will get delivered today. Also, the guy who sold me the furniture ended up being really cool and we've become friends.

Last night, I ended up meeting him and some of his friends at a party called "Eve of the Eve" at Union Station. It was an amazing party and unlike anything I've ever attended before. Basically, it was a very chill social gathering with food, alcohol, live music, and formal attire. I ended up meeting some new people there and had a great time, so I'm glad I went. The party was also for a good cause too as much of the proceeds went to a not-for-profit organization called "HighSight" which provides academic and social support to Chicago high school students.

I also ended up buying a new 55'' Samsung LCD TV, PS3, and a Bose sound system for my apartment so I'm excited for that to get delivered at the end of next week. I think I may have to go back to Best Buy today and pick up a new digital camera as the one I had was broken. I sent it in to get fixed but I probably won't get it for awhile yet and there were a few times last night where I would have liked to take a few pics for the blog. I'm sure it's more fun reading with pics. I have to get a wireless router for my apartment too, so I'll head over there pretty soon because my furniture is going to get delivered in about 3 hours or so.

I haven't figured out exactly where I'm going out tonight but I'm sure any place will be a blast. I hope you all have a great New Year's Eve and I wish you the best in 2010!

The duck has landed!

After leaving ND Sunday afternoon at around 5 PM, my Dad, brother, and I finally arrived in Chicago at around 9 AM on Monday morning. We ended up driving straight through and did not stay overnight anywhere. We switched drivers every 2-3 hours so whoever wasn't driving was normally napping.

I'm glad to finally be somewhat settled in, as we were able to move both of my computer setups as well as all my clothes up into my apartment. I was planning on bringing a desk and chair along with but space did not allow for that. So I've got some shopping ahead of me for the next few days, as I need to buy a bedroom set, TV, kitchen table, two desks and two desk chairs, and a bunch of other smaller stuff like dinnerware.

Seeing my Dad and brother take off back home was the first time it really kicked in that I wasn't going to be seeing my family near as much. Obviously I knew this going into the move but it really didn't hit home until after saying goodbye to them. I'm going to miss my Mom as well as all of my great friends in ND. I'll make sure to come back and visit as often as I can.

I'm actually pretty tired now so I'm going to get to sleep and go to bed perhaps the earliest I have in years. This way I can wake up in the morning and get started in my search for furniture.

Curveball

So it looks like I won't be leaving for Chicago until sometime later this morning... we ended up getting around 2-3 feet of snow in ND and the interstate was closed for most of yesterday when we had originally planned to start the drive there.

My Dad and brother are going to drive me there and we're going to pack everything I need to bring along into the Suburban. I decided against taking my car to Chicago for various reasons. Hopefully the drive there goes well and we end up getting in late Sunday night. I'm only bringing clothes, my computer desk, and my two computer setups along with. I'm just going to buy some new furniture since it would be too big of a hassle to move anything all the way from ND to Chicago, as well as none of the furniture I have right now is really that nice anyways.

Here's a pic of my roommate's car and my brother's van. Looks like my roommate is going to have a bit of shoveling to do in order to go anywhere.

Merry Christmas!

I ended up going over to my family's house for Christmas Eve and we ate dinner with my Grandpa there as well. Then I went home and started packing more stuff, got bored of packing stuff, and put in a session that basically was a nightmare.

UB was kind enough to give me some Christmas gifts in the form of coolers/ suckouts/ flip losses/ etc you name it, it happened. All standard shit, but it would just never end. I probably went like 0/12 in hitting flush draws in medium to large pots. Every time I got close to coming back to even towards the end of the session I'd just continue to get raped in a setup hand. Whatever, it's just one day but damn that was frustrating. I think I ran like shit last Christmas too.


I'm not playing any more for real this time, until I get to Chicago and get my apartment all set up. I have to finish off packing up my clothes and open presents and whatnot with my family tomorrow anyways. It's snowing a bit here, but unless it gets really bad the plan is still to leave sometime on Saturday morning for Chicago.

Hope everyone's Christmas is a great one! And if you play poker at all, hopefully you run better than I did!

Winning day

I played pretty solid today, finishing up $2k over 2,200 hands. I actually was up more before I started my final two hour session of the day, where I decided to make one horrific bluff for my stack and then run poorly in other medium to large pots.

Overall, it was a decent day... I'll take it. I had some SUPER annoying hands throughout the day. I'm glad I didn't tilt and let it get to me much... I just kept on truckin'.

This one made me fume. The guy was a big fish and has 44-JJ here or other draws and plays it the same way.

There were other hands that were large pots I lost but many of them were just flips or standard suckouts. This one I'll throw in for entainment value. It was one of the hands that caused my loss in the final two hour session of the day.

I probably won't play at all over Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, as I'll be finishing up packing my stuff for my move as well as spending time with my family.

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and happy holidays!

Swombies

So a few months ago my brother and a bunch of his friends ended up making this insane home movie called "Swombies". It is absolutely hilarious and the footage I've seen of it thus far has turned out to be way better than I expected. They are showing the film on January 4th in Grand Forks, ND, so if you're in town you absolutely HAVE to see this. It's very original.

Here's some more info on it, as well as a Sneak Peak vid of the movie.

I've been on a ridiculous sleep schedule over the past few days and I barely know what day it is. I've decided I'm just going to skip sleeping this morning and just stay awake so I can go to bed around 10 PM today instead of the 6-9 AM I've been going to sleep at lately. Basically, I had one day where I played an extra-long session early in the morning because of a huge fish still hanging around. It caused me to sleep extra long the following day and thus got me into this cycle. Honestly, I have no clue how much I'm up since the last post but I've been winning.

Another win on the day

Played three separate sessions today and finished up around $1.6k. I started out the day with a pretty terrible session on Stars... losing around $1.4k. Lost with AsQs on a 3s3x5s board to a fish who happened to limp 34... we got it in on the flop. Also lost AK sooooted vs a monkey regular's KK all-in pre-flop. Then lost 50 big blinds to a fish who limp/3-bet on the button after I isolation raised him when I was the big blind... I just shoved my AK in and he snapped with KQ and rivered a flush to win the pot. Basically, the big hands I lost weren't really due to mistakes on my part. The hands were pretty standard and I just ended up on the wrong side of each of them when it was all said and done.

Switched sites and played two more sessions and won about $3k combined from those two sessions. I played pretty well and ran decent, so I'm pretty happy with the way the day turned out. I'm going to start mixing in some preparation for my move over the next few days, as I'm leaving for Chicago very soon. The plan is to drive there the day after Christmas.

Solid day

Ended up playing a few sessions today and finished up $1.8k. I played OK but made a HORRID river call with KK after a fish who just showed me a bluff a few hands before potted the river... basically, it was a situation where the most likely hands for him got there but I snapped it off anyways because the timing of his bet was similar to when he bluffed. Stupid call that cost me $250... basically lit two and a half bills on fire.

Also went with my brother to see the UND hockey team play the USA under 20 team. It was a pretty good game and we got to watch the game from a suite. The suite had a pretty good view of the ice and there was free food and drinks as well, which was pretty cool. USA ended up beating the Sioux 4-2. The USA team will go on to play in the World Juniors Championship in Saskatoon, Canada, towards the end of the year. It's a great tournament with amazing level of hockey. Basically, it's all the best players from each country that are under 20 years old. The tourney was in Grand Forks when players like Ovechkin, Malkin, and Kessel were younger and playing in it.

Broke even today...

...due to a never ending supply of coolers. (sigh). It's short term results, doesn't matter, etc. blah. Maddening hands though.


Set no good

TPTK in 3-bet pot vs. fish = worthless

Top two vs aggro reg. not good enough

flopped set worthless by the river


Looking through HEM, I actually won a ton more pots for 50bbs - 100bbs than I lost. Just a few of those big, key hands above killed me.

Rough day

Ended up losing about $1.8k today over 2.7k hands. I played a bit of $3/6 NL and $5/10 NL as there were some massive fish playing those stakes. Unfortunately, those fish got the best of me.

This one fish totally dominated me at $3/6 NL then left the table shortly after winning the last big pot vs. me so I was unable to get my revenge. So tilting. Here are the hands vs. this one player...

Hand 1: I get it in good and just get sucked out on. Standard.

Hand 2: Based upon how retarded he played the previous hand and whatnot, I felt he's going to overplaying a flush here the majority of the time. Unfortunately, it turns out that he spiked his 2 outer.

Hand 3: He TARPS me.

Hand 4: This is the only one that's kind of questionable. Obviously flatted in position because I wanted to play more pots vs him... river call is kinda "meh" but he was playing pretty erratically and I don't mind the call too much. It just sucks I missed all the extra outs on the river that I picked up because of the turn card.

I also lost a few big pots at $5/10 NL. Ended up getting in QQ pre-flop in the BB vs a SB 3-bet of a late position open... The SB had KK and I didn't suck out. Also, my AA couldn't hold vs the fish at the table in this hand. Super standard.

Overall, I think I played OK. I spewed a bit for half a stack a couple of times, but other than that I don't think I really messed up all that much. Hopefully I have a big weekend.

Heater

Basically, right after I posted my last blog post I ended up crushing at the tables. Over the 13 hours I've played since I made that post, I'm winning at $1 per hand over about 5k hands. Looks like things are turning around for me, which is great. My confidence is back and I'm playing pretty well overall.

I'm going to try and get in some decent hours over the next few days and over the weekend. After that, I need to start packing stuff up for my move.

Today, my family and I went to eat an early Christmas dinner with my Grandpa at his nursing home. The food was actually quite a bit better than last year. He's doing amazingly well for being in his nineties. My Grandpa and my family seem a bit disappointed that I'm moving away, which is understandable. It's a fact that I'm going to see them less, but I'll still come visit at least once every 2-3 months or so I'm sure.

Also watched the Dexter season finale today with Brittni. WOW. What an amazing ending to the season. I definitely didn't see Rita getting killed coming at all. Very surprising twist in the storyline. I can't wait until the next season.

Rocky waters pokerwise

So this month hasn't started off that hot. I'm down so far for the month and lady luck does not appear to be on my side. I can't blame it all on bad luck obviously, as my play has definitely not been up to the high level I was playing at in September and October. Basically, I'm running approximately 9 buyins below EV on the month over around 6k hands and I'm sure I'm down a lot more in EV on Cake poker but I haven't configured HEM to track Cake yet. Just stating the facts here, I'm not whining.

It's super standard to be running a bit below all in EV and I know that, but it's so tough to keep my confidence. I'm trying my best and today I played the best I've played all month, winning two buy-ins despite running around $2k below EV in all-ins. Right around the 1,400 hand mark for the day I was telling my brother that I'm finally running decently hot and then it proceeds to go downhill from there, lol. Basically, I had an OK day that could have easily been a monster day at 400NL.


I've made a lot of spewy plays and has some uncharataristicaly tilty sessions so far this month, so I think if I had played better I could actually be a lot closer to even at this point. Nonetheless, there's no point in focusing on such short term results. Even the past month and a half where I've been treading water isn't really all that big of a deal in the big picture of things. I'm just sort of venting my frustration and trying to turn my mindset positive.

It's so much more difficult to put in hours, play your best, and don't tilt when the times are tough at the tables. You realize that the times you get it in good and still lose you should be happy but getting AA all in pre-flop vs a maniacal villain who you've been 3-bet battling a bit with and losing to his AQ soooted still knocks a bit of wind out of my sails (actually happened today). I don't let it affect my play or get nearly as pissed as I used to, but I just can't seem to totally remove the emotion of frustration. Obviously other poker players feel these types of emotions as well, but the degree of frustration I feel while playing definitely needs to be reduced.

Times like these I question my career choice, but only for like 5 seconds after I realize the alternatives, lol. Big picture wise, things are still great for me. I'm moving to Chicago, still have a big bankroll online for 400NL even after cashing out a ton for my move, am healthy, have lots of great friends & family, and I'm still up a respectable amount for the year.

No matter what people say, in my opinion, anyone who can make a living from poker is very fortunate. I feel right now that I'm right in the middle tier of pros... I'm not a low stakes grinder earning slightly more than I would at a regular job... but I'm definitely not in the elite group of poker pros just yet. My game is good right now but it needs to be great, and I'm going to work my hardest to move into the top tier of pros as soon as possible.

Moving to Chicago!

About a week ago, during my trip to Chicago, I ended up signing a 15-month lease on an apartment in a high-rise called "Grand Plaza" in downtown Chicago. The apartment I'm renting is pretty awesome... it's on a really high floor so the view is amazing. I can even see a bit of Lake Michigan from my room as well. The Grand Plaza building itself is really nice, as there are tons of amenities such as a nice fitness center, basketball court, indoor hot tub, outdoor pool, outdoor running track, and even putting greens. Also, tons of restaurants, bars, clubs, and retail shopping stores are within walking distance. It's in a really great location.

Here is the floor plan of my apartment and some of the furniture I've picked out that I'll probably end up getting.


I am super excited for my move and it's coming up soon... I'll be leaving North Dakota the day after Christmas. I already have some friends in Chicago and it will be nice being closer to my friend and poker coach, Tim aka "Nutedawg." I'm sure my poker game will go to the next level in 2010 as we'll likely be spending more time playing and discussing poker together.

I'm still going to keep my house in ND since I actually still like my house and don't really want to displace my brother and my two other roommates who are living in it.

Chicago Trip

My 11 day trip to Chicago after Thanksgiving was an absolute blast. I did so many fun things and got to meet up with some really great people.

The first weekend after Thanksgiving I got to hang out and play some poker with Tim (aka "Nutedawg") during the afternoon and went out with Bryan to some bars at night. On Monday night I ended up going swing dancing with Lynn, which was a ton of fun. We went to Fizz Bar and Grill, and apparently they have this open swing dance night nearly every Monday.

Monday and Tuesday afternoon I ended up shopping quite a bit near the Watertower area downtown and bought some pretty sick clothes. I normally don't go shopping at all, so when I do I try and get everything in one swoop so I don't have to worry about getting more clothes for awhile.

On Thursday and Friday afternoon I ended up checking out some of the high-rise apartments in downtown Chicago... I'll talk more about that in my next post since it's pretty late and I just want to talk about my trip right now.

Lynn and I caught the Blackhawks game on Friday night while Tim was working his charm on a date with a new girl he's been talking to the past few weeks or so. The game was a one goal game pretty much all the way up until the end, where the Predators scored a few goals with about two minutes left to thwart any comeback hopes. The game was really fun though, as the building had a good atmosphere and the fans went pretty crazy when the home team scored. Also got to see the former North Dakota Fighting Sioux Hockey star, Johnathan Toews. He's now the Captain for the Blackhawks and one of their best players. He's in the picture below, number 19.




Saturday night I got to see the Second City Comedy show, which was quite hilarious. Afterwards, we went out with Tim and met some of his friends at a small local bar.


On Sunday I ended up playing some more poker with TIm and ended up flying home on Monday. I have been super busy with random stuff ever since I got home. My thermostat ended up going out in my house so it was super cold inside, but ended up getting it fixed yesterday.

I'll make a post later today which basically announces a pretty big step forward in my life. Stay tuned.

New month & Chicago

So I ended up having a losing month in November. Not exactly sure by how much, but I'll find out once I get back home and calculate everything out. Looking forward to playing better in December.

So I'm still in Chicago and have been super busy. My apologies for the lack of updates. I've been hanging out with friends, playing a bit of poker, and bought a ton of new clothes over the past few days. The weather has been decent, although it was a bit chilly for a few days... but I heard it snowed back in ND so I'm definitely in better weather here.

I'm really liking the city and I'm having a great time so far. There's so much stuff to do here; it's very refreshing compared to the relatively tame ND. I'll try and post some more updates before my trip is over.