Returned from Vacation

Back from my vacation, and jumping right back into the Poker treadmill.

I am a little frustrated with my game at the moment. I feel like I am making mostly correct decisions, but I'm in general playing very tight and predictable. I'll be sticking with 6max instead of full ring, since full ring just pushes me further into the systematic ABC approach to the game.

Planning on playing 50NL during the day (8-10 tables just because it is very exploitable and I need to build my roll), and 100NL at night. Table selection at 100NL is always significantly better for me at night.

I've put in 2 hours (about 1.3k hands) at 50NL so far today, and there really not many hands that are noteworthy. 50NL is very simple and easy to play...

Will be putting in at least 2 hour hours tonight at 100NL, and probably just 4-5 tables.

Updates to follow.

A shift in blogginess

After doing some updates and checking over my previous blog posts - I realized that there were more personal than poker-related posts. This wouldn't be too much of a problem - except for the fact that my poker-related posts are all generally pretty low-content and *shame* whiney.

I've made a decision to convert this blog into primarily poker posts. Strategy, hand discussion, Sixth Sense development, etc. will be the subjects of the majority of blog posts from now on.

To compensate, I've set up three different blogs for the three different areas of my life that I am currently working on improving.

Life, Love, and Poker
Learning Internet Marketing
Daniel Cain Wallace

The names of these blogs still may change a bit over time, I'm not sure if I'm 100% happy with them.

So look forward to more quality poker-related content - "Hands of the day", strategy articles, news from the poker world, etc. This site may actually generate some information that will be useful to my fellow poker players.

Come back and check it out soon!

Back, and doing well

I've been able to free up enough time for a decent amount of poker these past few days, here is a graph of my progress since the 14th.

This has been a very big turnaround from the hellish nightmare of Oct/Nov.

Still not the kind of money I've been used to, but 1.5k over 1 week is nothing to frown at.

Another winning day

And I am quite happy

An upswing yesterday!

There's the momentum I need! Woo!

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

Played some poker!

It is becoming more and more clear that Internet Marketing is going to take a while to get established in. It will also be a while before I know everything I need to start making some money - so today I played some poker to try and make that monthly nut.

It went pretty well. Considering I was only playing 50$ NL 6-max, a +300$ day is actually quite good. I plan on sitting at 50$ NL for a while, regaining my confidence, building my bankroll, etc. etc.

The players at this level are ABSOLUTELY HORIBLE. Free money for anybody with some patience and half a clue how to play poker.

Glad I finally had a good day - I really have been due for one for the past couple months.

:)

3 Dollhairs!

Yesterday marked the first actual money I've earned from my blog! A whopping 3$! I am just getting on my way though. I am posting about 2x daily, making new contacts, writing articles, figuring out new places to advertise and expand my name. This ball is starting to roll!

Today I will be writing more articles, checking out Craigslist, and seeing if I can get those jerks at Paypal to finally release the hold on my account.

Seinfeld: Kramer, The Lose Episode (Michael Richards)

:O

REEEEEEMIX

I crapped myself.

AGLOCO!

AGLOCO is a new upcoming pay-to-surf program, where you get paid for surf the internet just like you normally do every day! It is currently in beta mode, but people are allowed to set up their accounts right now before it goes live.

Remember AllAdvantage back in the day? People making 1000s of dollars with bot programs that randomly click links? AllAdvantage paid out over 100mil before they had to shut down, and AGLOCO is shaping up to be the next AllAdvantage. Get your piece of it!

All it does is install a toolbar on your Internet Explorer (which can be minimized and taken off when you dont want to see it) and displays various ads while you surf. You don't even have to click them.
Their referral program is where it really starts to shine though. You get paid for your the people you refer surfing the web too! All of the information is listed on their website, I encourage you to check it out.

Be a buddy and use my affiliate link - http://www.agloco.com/r/BBBD9269

'Til next time!

Worst Burglar Ever- Funny

I've posted a mention of this before, but now that I figured out how to add the video straight to a blog - here it is. One of the funniest f**king videos on youtube.

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.

Downswings kill my soul

This is a graph of my winnings (or lack thereof) since Oct 1. The huge drop in the beginning was 200NL 6max on PartyPoker, which i am still beating over a huge sample size of i think 140k hands. The gradual upswing is when I moved to PokerStars and started grinding my way back up. The recent downswing is playing the same game at PokerStars...except getting repeatedly ass-raped.

I dont know what is causing it. I go over every major hand after every session I play to see if I could improve anything. I am a damn good player, and have been doing this professionally for almost 3 years. I'm in a pretty bad spot financially right now, and this is just a serious kick in the teeth for me.

If things dont improve drastically by the end of December, this may be the end of poker for me... Unfortunately, I've got a monthly nut that cant be filled by any other job I'm qualified for at the moment...hopefully I can break into Internet Marketing and make some decent money before my well runs dry.

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...

God damnit

http://www.pokerhand.org/?639828
http://www.pokerhand.org/?639831
http://www.pokerhand.org/?639835

From +350 to +50 in about a minute.

I'll post about the casino trip tomorrow.

fucking hell