Married!

VPP COUNT: 679833

There has been a big lack of updates lately...mostly because I have been busy getting married. I've also been using every hour of free time to get back into reasonable condition to achieve SNE. The blog hasn't exactly been a priority :)

After today, I should be around 682-685k VPPs, and will be returning from the honeymoon on October 1st. This means I'll have to average a bit more than 100k points per month. It won't be easy, but I'm extremely confident.

As of 9/12/08, I am a married man!

We will be leaving tomorrow (Friday) morning for our honeymoon in Ecuador, and the Galapagos. We are both extremely excited

Yes, that is a pineapple-upside-down-wedding-cake in the picture above. We are that awesome.

I don't have time to write much more... ~6h of play and lots of packing/preparation before I can sleep tonight.

I'll be back in October to rock the tables on my way to SNE!

The Girls

Cute, huh?

Tilt-Blocker

A picture of Sophy

I haven't posted a pic of my daughter yet, so now that I'm putting more pictures in my blogs, I figure now would be a good time to put one up.

Here's my favorite so far...

Bah, Humbug

Christmas is absolutely insane.

I am about to go to my 5th (of 6) Christmas gatherings. I'm more enthusiastic about getting back to my SNE training schedule than I am about presents.

I've been reading up on the forums occasionally the past few days, and it looks like there may be some good changes to the SNE program in 2008. Looking forward to any news on the updates.

In my preparation for SNE, I didn't take the (rare) double VPP days into account. Just estimating here, but if there are 2 double VPP days in 2008, I should be able to get in ~15-20 hours within the 24h period. That would amount to ~4% of the yearly goal taken care of in 2 exhausting days.

Back to training tomorrow - and starting the real thing in less than a week!

Let us gogogogogo!

I once had a blog...

Every now and then over the past half-year, I would come back to check on my blog. I still cringe every time I look at it. I really was proud of this blog when I was keeping up with it and posting on a regular basis. Even 15 minutes per day would have been enough to maintain it... I certainly had other priorities, but I could have found 15 minutes in a day to check my blog occasionally.

Long story short... In the past half-year, I've:

1) Lost my best friend, Patrick Blandford (21 years old), in a car accident.
2) Dealt with numerous serious family issues
3) Got my girlfriend pregnant - there is a long back story to this, which I think I'll write about and possibly post.
4) Been convicted of a Class-A misdemeanor and had a warrant out for my arrest because I got the ticket in December of '05 and nobody ever bothered to send me a letter with my court date. My first court date was apparently supposed to be about 7 months after I received the ticket.
5) Paid a lawyer WAY too much money to reduce my charges from 6-months suspended license to a 1 year probation period with random drug tests.
6) "Manned up" and eventually became OK with the fact that I am going to be a father.
7) Have been preparing for the baby, which is due November 21st.

All of these serious issues have been resolved or dealt-with at this point, and I finally have the time to expand a bit, and continue the blog that I let be forgotten.

If I keep blogging consistently for a month or so, I think I'll continue working with my other blogs about Internet Marketing, and raising a Chocolate Lab. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it though.

So if you happen to come across this blog and used to be a reader - check back in a day or two. You should see some bomb-ass poker tips from a long-term grinder.

New Harmony, Indiana

Mary kidnapped me and took me to New Harmony, Indiana for our 1-year anniversary. It was a great time.We rented a log cabin out in the middle of their park, and out of 11 cabins, ours was the only occupied.

There was a wood burning stove in the middle of the living room, a giant bar-like kitchen area, a bathroom, and 2 bedrooms (which we did not use).

We blew up our air matress near the wood burning stove, spent a good hour figuring out how to get a fire started, and then just hung out for a good 2 hours before leaving to eat at the Red Geranium. The food was great. I ordered the roasted duck breast, which I've decided I like much more than chicken. There were "wasabi mashed potatoes" which taste very much like they sound. Fairly gross :P. There was also this new vegatable on my plate. I commented to Mary that it looked like "a cross between broccoli and asparagus". Our waitress must have heard me, and came over to tell me that it is a brand new vegetable, broccoli crossed with asparagus. Neato!

We spent the next day exploring New Harmony. The town looks pretty much like every other run-down town in the midwest except for 1 key difference - The people actually took care of their house and land! The houses, though modest, were very well taken care of and fit perfectly in the quaint little town. There was not even a McDonalds in New Harmony. Their movie theater only had 2 movies, and they both only showed 1 time per day. Despite how ridiculously small the town was, the people still put in enough time to make the place look nice. Other small towns need to follow New Harmony as an example.

We saw the outdoor church, visitors center, and a few other random "old historic" buildings that were lined up as tourist attractions. Much like the cabins, the town was deserted. I suppose December is not their biggest month for tourism. The visitor center (on the right) was the most impressive piece of architecture in the town...and it was out in the middle of nowhere, overlooking


All in all, Mary and I had a great time. We got to spend plenty of time together, without the many distractions of reality. The 1-year anniversary is a big landmark, and really pushes our relationship to a new level. I can only hope the next year is as good as this one was.

'Til next time -

1-Year Anniversary

My live-in girlfriend, Mary, is taking me somewhere for our anniversary. She still has not told me where, but we are leaving within an hour and a half.

We're both pretty stressed today. She has been planning this thing for a while, and did not have enough time today to do everything she had planned out. I'm stressed about money...like I always am.

I played a few hours of poker yesterday, and about 30minutes today. When I get back from wherever it is we're going, I will have to start putting in some serious hours.

Learning more and more about IM every day. I wandered on this great site - http://www.stevepavlina.com/. This guy graduated from college in only 3 semesters, and is a master of time management, self motivation, and making money. I will be learning a lot from his website in the months to come.

Now, I am off to continue preparing for wherever it is Mary wants to take me.

Later all!
-Dan

Little gap in posting

Been busy as hell this past few days - haven't had any time to blog at all. Haven't had time for poker...for internet marketing...for anything. I'm really going to have to start sacrificing some of my personal time to get these articles in.

Mary celebrated "Saint Nick's Day" with me on the 7th, and gave me most of my Christmas presents early. It was an amazing night. I got "Eragon" (the book, not the movie), a whole bunch of candy, a very sweet glass piece, and a few other small gifts :). I wanted to give her her present early, but she convinced me not to.

I've got to get back into poker head-first for the next month or two. I've got one big monthly nut to fill, and am not even close to filling it yet.

Ugh, life is hard

Taking a break

All of this weekend, I'm taking a break from poker. Not a single hand will be played.

A little work is still necessary - The Sixth Sense Bodog scanner is still being a pain in the ass, and I really am not sure why. It'l take at least an hour or two of work, and must still be done despite my poker break. Ah well.

My dad and I talked a bit about our new Internet Marketing ideas last night after the game, and I think we've got a real winner on our hands. Hopefully I'll be able to learn what is needed and rise up to make this another good stream of income, because I am pretty depressed about the whole poker situation and could use an alternative means of income.

Updates to follow!
-Dan


Oh, and I know it is old - but I laugh at this picture every time I see it. Enjoy.

CARDS FIRST DOWN!!

My Dad, Dan Berry, George King, and myself went to the UL Cardinals game yesterday, and witnessed quite a beating :). The Cards were very favored to win (I think the spread was 27 points? Not sure on this. ) so the 48-17 score at the end was pretty much expected. UL is a high-scoring team, regardless of their opponents, so you can always expect an exciting game.

At the end of the game, they played "Country Road" by John Denver (I think?). The very same song played by West Virginia last year, after the collosal upset due to a rule-breaking, game-breaking, on-side kick made at the end of the game. The exits were blocked, so all of us UL fans had to sit there and listen to those inbred hicks sing their song. I never thought that I'd be cheering for WV to win, but in this case, a win for WV is a win for UL. And win they did - WV beat Rutgers 41-39 in triple overtime last night, and made UL the Big East conference champions. Orange bowl for us!

Now, I am an amateur college football fan at best, so I'm not going to try to delve into stats, other teams, or any of that stuff - but from what I understand, UL will be going to the Orange bowl vs Wake Forest - which means I'll probably be going to Florida on Jan 2nd :)

Huzzah!
-Dan

Poker = Hobby

After all of the stress, emotional swings, and misery caused by this latest downswing, it is about time I turned poker into what it originally was - a hobby.

Much of the torment that I was put through was based on the fact that poker was EVERYTHING. It paid 90% of the bills, it consumed at least half of every day, I was completely reliant on it.

Now it is time to build up another possibility and diversify.

Internet Marketing, here I come.

French Lick Casino Trip

Monday evening, my Dad and I went to the SBIR seminar at the French Lick Casino and Resort. It was only a 1 and 1/2 hour drive from my house...but half of the trip was through 2-lane streets and crappy towns. Surprisingly enough, there were very VERY few billboards and advertisements for the casino on the way there. Probably a big indicator of the lack of traffic in their casino.

We got in, dropped our bags in our room, and headed straight to the casino. My dad had found a handful of quarters that he planned on giving to some slot machines. Walking through the casino, we couldn't find a single machine that would accept quarters! For the first time in history, we were upset that we were unable to give up our money. Oh well - to the poker room.The poker room looked nice, there were about 12 tables set up in the room, and everything was pretty clean and new. Of the 12 tables that were set up, only 1 was playing a game, and only 8 players were seated. Lucky for us - they were playing 1-2NL holdem, which was what we were looking for. And we were able to occupy the 2 empty seats to fill the table. I cashed in 200$, my dad cashed in 100$, and we went to work.

My dad busted out early with an 88 v KQ hand on a JT7J9 board. He could have played the turn better, but once he got to the river there was no way he could have laid it down. Ah well :(.

I had worked up a ~550$ stack by 11pm. I doubled up off of some old guy when my 77 hit a 784 flop. 8 on the turn. 5 on the river. He paid me off big with his 66, and promptly left the table in anger.

So it's about midnight, and I limp in with 44. Everybody else at the table limps in (as was extremely usual for this game - these players were horrible) and we see a 664 flop. Bingo! I lead out 10$ into a 10$ pot - I had been aggressive the entire game, and was probably making 80% of the preflop raises at the table, so I was expecting plenty of action. The god-awful player to my left (who always had a pissed off look on his face) min-raised me to 20$. I was 100% sure he had a 6. And i was about 90% sure he'd call my all in, since he's the type to always think the other guy is bluffing. I push all in, which puts him all in for his remaining ~250$. He calls and shows A6, I flip my 44, his angry face gets even angrier. The turn is a 5. The river is a damn 600$ A. I die a little inside.

Despite the awful loss, I was still up about 60$, and continued to play for another 2-3 hours. By the end of the night, I had 140$ profit, 4 coronas (which cost me 5$ a piece...no free drinks here), and a 7$ meal comp for the deli. Not a bad night at all. The poker room in that casino really really needed some improvement though.

1) The dealers were slow, and they switched dealers every 30 minutes. We were maybe getting 20 hands an hour.
2) 6$ table rake every 30 minutes instead of raking x% from each pot. This is absolutely ridiculous. We are paying between 25c and 50c PER HAND with this rake structure. Fuck that.
3) Nobody is even there. Put up some billboards so people can find this place. Driving through 10 hick-ass towns to find a casino isn't exactly easy access.
4) Poker is huge. Absolutely huge. Highlight it, bring people in there, and they will lose their money there and elsewhere in your casino. The way it was run, they obviously didnt really give a shit. The dealers were amateurs, and rules were broken frequently.

In the end, at about 2am, there were 5 players left, and we requested that the rake be lowered to 3$ instead of 6$. The poker room manager decided that this was ok, but would have to check with the other manager when she got back. We paid our 3$ and continued playing. About 20min later, the other manager came to the table and told us that they were not authorized to blah blah blah and we would have to pay 6$ from now on.

The response of the table was pretty much "fuck it, that's too much, we're leaving". Good job, bitch. You got greedy and wanted 30$, and in demanding it, you lost the 15$ you could have collected. Now your poker room is empty and you have nothing to do for the rest of the night.

I cashed out my 340$, and returned to my room where I'd get about 3 hours sleep before going to the SBIR conference (which applies so little to me, and really isnt even worth note). It was a pretty good time, and even with the horrendous table rake, the game is beatable. But those folks at French Lick really need to change some things for that casino to be successful.

The trip did inspire me to visit my local casino - Casino Aztar, and see how I fare there. I'll come back and write a trip report once I've given it a shot.

Until next time...

Updates

Well it has been a while since i've blogged...i've just been busy as hell, and have not had time.

Over the past week or so i've still been experiencing a pretty annoying downswing. Nothing very intense, just a small loss every day. As minor as the losses may have been, it still is frustrating to lose over and over again.

One day, which I thought was going to be my first winning day in a while, I was up ~400-500$ after my first 3 hours. By my 6th (and last) hour, I was down 30 cents. 30 damn cents. Thanks alot, God.

I've been thinking about getting into new business ventures...as if i had enough time...

My dad and I went to French Lick Casino for a SBIR convention on Monday and Tuesday, and it was pretty interesting. I will come back to make a post about that trip, as it deserves its own blog.

I also think I'll start selling some things on ebay. Crap around the house, EBooks, etc. My dad also wrote a handyman business manual which I should be able to sell pretty well. It is definitely an option, and I'm confident it will bring in at least a little money.

I decided to put my PS3s in the local paper instead of on eBay. Ebay is a giant pain in the ass, they screw you with fees, and the price of PS3s has bottomed out. I should be able to get ~1k each locally, and not have to worry about shipping or fees.

Having an okay day of poker so far today - hope it continues.

The Campout - A little disappointing

Most of Wednesday, I was planning to go to the Walmart in Boonville, since there would be far less people there, and therefore a higher chance of getting some systems. Then after calling Boonville up a few times, I learned that they wouldnt even let people START to stand in line until 7am the following morning...so people were just wandering around the store waiting until 7am. No thanks to that.

After dinner, about 6:30pm we drove out to the Evansville Walmart, which was right next to Best Buy. We only saw about 5 or 6 tents set up, so we decided that if the Evansville Walmart wasnt a better option, we'd buy a tent and set ourselves up in front of Best Buy.

We picked up a cheapo 25$ tent (which was pretty impressive for its' cost), some batteries, a couple lanterns, and a copy of "Blow" on DVD.

Upon arrival at Best Buy, we learned that we'd be about 25th-26th in line, which was ironic, since all of the buzz on the internet said that Best Buys will be getting 26 systems max. The first night was cold and rainy and pretty miserable. Our tent was leaking (as was everyone else in line), it was easily below 40 degrees, and we were drinking beer, so we'd have to run to the bathroom every hour or so.

After the first night, things improved. It was still pretty damn cold, but the rain never got worse than a drizzle, and the rules of the line were pretty relaxed. We were able to go to neighboring resteraunts and stores to keep warm and occupy ourselves. Around 5pm Thursday we even got the "ok" to go home and clean up, since we had started to smell pretty nasty. The relaxed line rules also worked a little against us, since there was a tent full of high-schoolers near the front of the line. 3 of the kids actually went to high school and came back and still kept their space in line. I called BS on that, but everybody else seemed to have a bit more sympathy.

Wednesday night, the store manager came out and informed us that they will have 20 60gb systems and 10 20gb systems, and anybody beyond #30 in line is unlikely to receive one. This was good news, because we were pretty much guaranteed 2 systems, but I had my eye on the 60gb ones, and wasnt sure if we were close enough to the front to get one.

The next morning when they were passing out the purchasing tickets, Mary and I were #21 and 22 in line. The person in front of me got the very last 60gb system, and I got the first 20gb. Weak. Ah well, they'll still make us a pretty good profit, right? Well...I hope so. Starting Saturday, more than 30k Playstation 3s were listed on ebay, and about 10 of the auctions are ending EVERY MINUTE. By the time thanksgiving rolls around, more than half of the systems that were put on the market will have been resold! I really hope I'll be able to pick up a decent price for them after this initial flood of systems goes away. I think the day after thanksgiving will be the best bet. Still, I dont expect to make more than 1k per system.

Back to the poker grind for me. I've decided that 200NL full ring on PokerStars is just too damn flooded with pros to be worth the time. I am probably going to return to my 6max game, starting at the 100$ level, and moving up accordingly. I'm still in an extended downstreak right now, and my spirits arent very high.

That's about it for me.

Waiting in line for the PS3!

In about 2 hours, I'll be heading out to sit in line for another 32 hours. The playstation 3 will be released at Walmart at 12:01 Friday morning, and I want to get my hands on a couple. Of course I wont be playing any games on them...I'll be turning them right over to ebay and hopefully profiting about 1k+ each. Giving me a PS3 that I plan to play would be like giving a big fat bag of crack to a recovering crackhead. My life is better without videogames ;)

So for the next day and a half, i'll be breathing Walmart air, eating Walmart food, surounded by Walmartians, and not playing any poker or having too much fun. We'll be bringing plenty of supplies to camp out and pass the time. Hopefully we'll be first in line, since we'll be going to the Walmart in Boonville (yes, the town is actually named BOONVILLE). The people there are lazy, stuck 30 years in the past, and probably wont have the initiative to get in line as early as we are.

Updates to follow!

Holy crap!

I was bored this morning and browsing around YouTube - and came across this video.

I wasnt looking for anything in particular, just clicking things that could be funny.

That guys name is Adam. I visited him with my friends from Purdue last December. He lives in South Bend. He's a mormon. Apparently he enjoys dressing up as a woman and dancing to the Ghostbusters song.

Thought it was definitely blogworthy.

Oh, and if you're looking for another laugh - This is the worst, but funniest, burglar in history.

More downswings, Hefeweizen, Brown Ale, and Black Lager

Another narsty day of poker for me.... I think 3 bad days in a row will automatically put me in a bad mood. Seeing as I play a very low-variance style, in a very low-variance game (full ring NL), I get pretty cranky when i have more than 3 losing days in a row. Especially when I endure the beats I did today. See my earlier post for a nice example :P

Tonight, Mary and I returned Capote to the video store, and started watching "Derailed" with Clive Owen and that chick from Friends. This movie really was not the thing I needed for the crappy mood I was already in. Charlie (Clive Owen) played a pretty decent guy who was just being beaten down by an awful series of events. I did not even finish the movie. Charlie was about to have an affair with what'sername. Then they get robbed. She gets raped. All sorts of rape, murder, and awful bullshit happens to Charlie. I get fed up with this depressing movie and turn it off.

On our way home from the video store, I picked up a Samuel Adams Mix Pack, containing 2 of each - Hefeweizen, Brown Ale, and Black Lager. I've had one of each now, and must say that I am very impressed with Sam Adams. These guys make some high-quality beer. Before these 3, I've tried their Lite beer and Summer Ale. The Summer Ale was amazing. Very smooth with a light citrus flavor to it. My favorite of these new 3 is the Hefeweizen. It is a cloudy gold color, a little bit sweet, and very enjoyable. The Brown Ale and Black Lager are also great, but I haven't developed as much of a taste for darker beers as I have for the lighter ones.

I decided to continue the Star Wars Trilogy and watch "The Empire Strikes Back" tonight. I think I can say that this is the best of the 6 films released. Though, from what I've heard - episodes 7 through 9 are in development. Having played the videogame versions of episode 7 and 8, I am looking forward to these future episodes. The stories, though cheesy and simple, should offer plenty of Jedi v Jedi fights and entertaining scenes. I was enthusiastic about Episode I as well....so lets hope Lucas does a better job with these.

Poker, Star Wars, Beer, and Eggs... I sure do blog about nerdy mundane subjects...

Until the next nerdacious topic sparks my fancy... later all.

Capote, Omega IIIs, Downswings, and Episode IV

It has been a few days since I've blogged, and now that I've come back, I've got way too much to write about! Perhaps I should make myself visit more regularly...



Mary and I rented and watched "Capote" tonight, and I've got to say it is one of my favorite movies. Characters like Truman Capoten - brilliantly portrayed by Phillip Seymour Hoffman - are inspiring and motivating to me. I don't think "moved" was the right word, but I was definitely impressed and influenced by this film. I won't go into the details, or repeat the plot of the movie, but I will definitely be reading "In Cold Blood" and "To Kill a Mockingbird" when I have some free time this month. For those of you who have not seen the movie, I would definitely suggest it.

Over the last couple months, I've been doing a pretty good job of cooking for myself - and I've grown a new found respect for eggs. Yes, that's right - eggs. At your local grocery store, you can buy 24 of these bad boys for less than 2$. That's less than 10 cents per egg! These things are packed with protien, Omega IIIs (whatever the hell those are), and all sorts of other stuff that's good for your body. It takes less than 5min to prepare them in whatever way you prefer. You can easily incorporate cheese, salt + pepper, etc. to make them more exciting. Eggs are great. Eat them.



Earlier today, I was playing 9 tables of 200NL full-ring and one 20$ 180man tournament on stars. 9 tables on the left, 1 tourney on the right. I proceded to experience smooth-sailings on the right, and get my ass handed to me on the left. After about 3 hours, I was down a good 900$ on my 200NL tables, and reached the final 4 of the tournament on the right. Unfortunately, my tournament-newbiness lost me the tournament in a KJ v AA hand on a KQxddd board. In my defense, the final table really did not go my way. I ran KK into AA and doubled up one of the players who would eventually reach 3rd place. And I was definitely not receiving my fair share of decent hands to play. Regardless, the hand I busted on could have easily been avoided, and I'll take this lesson to all of the future tournaments I play. I ended up in 4th place for 288$, which is not too damn bad for a 20$ buyin. When balanced against my 900$ downswing at 200NL, it looked much less impressive. I did manage to put in another 2 hours (1.3k hands) at 200NL later tonight, and worked my way back up another 600$. Tonight is just proof that if I stick it out and keep playing my A-game, I can always bring myself back from these ugly downswings.

As I type this blog, I am watching Star Wars: A New Hope. I wish I could have been around when this movie was first released to theaters, and was as revolutionary as it was to its' time. I'd also like to watch the movie before George Lucas decided to fuck with it and add more CG. That crap really wasn't necessary, and hurt the movie more than it helped. Has anybody seen the revised "Star Wars: Return of the Jedi"? They changed the entire ending of the movie! Fuck that. I'd rather watch Episode I (Star Wars: The massive failure) than watch this butchered finale' to Episode VI. Leave your movies in their historic glory, George. Quit fucking with them.


That's it!

What is Belok?

This is a question I've been asked many times, and the answer is never as exciting or creative as you would think.

No, it is not "B-Lock".

And no, it isn't Baelog from World of Warcraft. (though embarassingly enough, I wasted 2 months of my life on that game)

It is pronounced "Beh - Lock".

Translated from Russian, it means "egg white". Of course you're wondering why in the hell I would name myself something so trivial and un-meaningful. Well, the whole "egg white" thing was a surprise to me as well, and turns out to just be a random coincidence.

Belok is a name I randomly made up back when I was a 12-year old computer nerd who was obsessed with magic, dragons, and videogames. It was the name of my character in nearly every game I played, ranging from Terris, Baldur's Gate, Asheron's Call, and World of Warcraft. A little disappointing of a backstory, eh? But it does get deeper than that.

As a kid, whether or not I knew it, I was obsessed with "the grind". Poker players are most aware of the grind, and it applies to videogames just as much as it does poker.

"The Grind" is a term used to describe boring, repetitive work that is necessary to move forward in whatever field you happen to be working. Work is a grind, Poker is a grind, and in many RPG video games, leveling up and gaining gold/experience are also a big fat grind. For most of my adolescent years I was living the grind. Killing thousands of monsters so I could get to the next level, and then kill some bigger monsters...to get to the next level...to kill some even bigger monsters.

Now that I've grown up a bit, videogame gold and experience are much less appealing to me, and money is what moves me to excel.

As much of a massive waste of time as those games seem, my strong math background and undescribable life-long addiction to "The Grind" are what molded me into a pretty damn good poker player. It requires unbelievable patience, discipline, and the will to sit and play for hours and hours on end to achieve a goal that can seem to only move farther away.

Belok is the character that fights through the grind. Even after the 20-buyin downstreaks over weeks of hard work, Belok fights on and keeps moving forward. Sure, it's cheesy. But over the years, I've put in thousands and thousands of hours as Belok and the fight still continues. Whether it be points, credits, experience, gold, or a good ol' American dollar - Belok is going to do what he needs to get his share. And that's why I still use the name I randomly pulled out of my ass as a prepubescent computer geek.

This is a blog about myself and my grind in this world. Belok is the hero of this story, and in the end, the hero needs to win.