I was convinced 2011 was going to be my favorite year ever. It started out so well. I celebrated laid back New Years with my girl which I prefer to going out partying (rookie night). I spiked $1,500 at the penny slots with $10 (I had never played slots before) in AC on a trip with some friends. I got a glowing review at work and earned a decent bonus considering the economy. I was playing uNL on Tilt, Stars and UB and was doing OK...but I could feel things clicking and my game was really improving. Things kind of plateaued a bit and then BAM. The suckfest we call Black Friday happened.

I will admit Black Friday broke my heart a little. It's so frustrating to see improvements in something you work at every single day and then suddenly that thing is taken away from you. At first I was just angry at the DOJ and thought the whole thing was bullshit - until some more details came out and saw how these guys dug their own holes. Needless to say I was put off from poker. After this, I had a lot of time on my hands to fill. I started going into my back catalogue of video games I owned but never beat. That was a good time killer for a bit, but eventually I was gamed out. After that, I made a healthy decision and I started going to the gym more and taking better care of myself (which is surprisingly time consuming).

The only poker I was managing to get in was a weekly .10/.20 cash game I've been playing for a few years with some buds. Then the host went ahead and had a baby (so unthoughtful). So that game was shut down for a while. OMG NO POKER AT ALL!

My last bit of really good news came in May when I found out I had been promoted at work. I was really looking forward to the added responsibilities and extra money (the increase wasn't was I was hoping, but who can complain in this economy). Even better, I found out I was needed in my current role for just a bit longer, but the salary increase would take effect immediately. YES PLEASE.

I was feeling good again about 2011. Then...a couple months later, while I was on vacation in South Carolina with my family - on July 21, the day before my birthday, my company announced it had been sold to our biggest competitor, headquartered in St. Louis. This news was very very bad. I work in marketing which is typically target #1 for downsizing/eliminating redundancies. I was, and still am not, a happy camper. The mood in my office is beyond grim because it's essentially a forgone conclusion that our entire campus (2000+) people will eventually be let go since there's no need for two headquarters. So, now I'm back on the defensive and concerned about my career, where I live, do I need to move, where will me next job be, will I find another job soon. So much.

All this said - I'm trying to find the silver lining in the dark clouds above for the foreseeable future. I'm trying to see this as an opportunity to move on and do something I wouldn't have if I had gotten too complacent. 2011 is keeping me on my toes - and maybe that's such a bad thing after all. Good luck everybody!

I'm really appreciating the grinders right now. I don't know how people they turn a profit in the .02/.05 FRNL and Rush games. As anyone who's read my blog thus far know, I'm trying to build a bankroll up to $500 playing these uNL games but the variance is absolutely stomping me.

I'm not multi-tabling because I'm still learning so much and I want to absorb and process as much information while I'm playing as possible, but my session always seem to end terribad. This week I played several session of .02/.05 FRNL as well as .02/.05 Rush and I lost every buy in after building it up to about 2 or 3 times my initial buy in - due to some horrific run of cards...one of the worst that still bothers me is one hand where I raised a MP-limper while I was on the button 5xBB and flopped TPTK with AK on a Axx board. I bet pot size, get called, c/r the turn all in and get called by Q4o and villain rivers his inside straight draw. What can I do here? Lost another with the classic AA vs KK (I had the AA) and the list goes on of some beat everyone has taken at some point.

My question is how the fuck do these grinders not lose their buy ins every time when these donks catch their unseeable miracles? Every session this week has ended like this. It's so damn frustrating because I think I'm playing well - i'm getting the results up until someone gets incredible lucky...then bye bye +EV from the thousands of hands I just played. I guess I'm trying to figure out a balance between having confidence in my hands/position (I feel confidence is important to your game) and giving credit to the villain for having a hand. Sometimes at these stakes there just no way I'm giving full credit to these players with their stats but they always seem to catch it (not HAVE it when i get my money in).

As a result, my roll is down to $42.00 from starting with around $79. I've been watching Verneers Mt Micro vids as well a bunch of others and I've learned a TON, but still not getting the results I want. flaskn;asdfijLNCwfhiwefwe!!!! I know it's probably annoying reading someone's rant like this when some of you guys lose hundreds and thousands of dollars on downswings, but if anyone has any advice at these limits or words of encouragement, I could use them. Rant over!

LIFE:
For whatever reason my apartment (2nd floor of a house) seems to get a large amount of dust. Not sure if it's the age of the house or because it's so drafty, but my girlfriend and I have been looking for a good vacuum that won't shoot the dust back out. We also didn't want to spend a ton on a vacuum so we bought a $100 canister a couple years ago which we dealt with for a while, but inevitabley it spat out dust even after we replaced and cleaned its filters. We got another one 6 months ago that ended up even worse with dust. So....last week we brought it back to BB&B got ourselves a Dyson. Holy shit they're expensive...but tell you what - it works. No dust gets shot back out and the thing just works better than any other vacuum I've seen. I also like the way it deposits the crap into the trash, just hold the canister over the bag, push a button and it all falls out - no need to touch anything...fantastic for my GF's eczema. In other words...you get what you pay for.

Ok you know you're getting old and lame when you blog about a vacuum.,,,moving on...

I've been thinking about picking up a blu-ray player, but I'm having trouble deciding I want to get a nice cheap $100 wireless blu ray player or should I just go for the Playstation 3. I already own an Xbox 360 and they're essentially the same system aside from a handful of Sony exclusives I'd like to play - I already own a Wii and Kinect for Xbox so I don't need the Move - so its main draw it the blu ray. Also not a huge fan of the Dual Shock controller. I also have a very strong feeling they're going to announce a price drop around E3 in 2 months or so, but will that drop only be like $50? If that's the case then I could go grab the PS3 Killzone 2 bundle right now for $300 which is almost like getting one for $240. Do I really want to pay a $140 premium just to play a handful of Sony exclusives? A good problem to have for sure...but I can't decide. Of course then even bigger problem is...are owning physical discs even worth it anymore anyway with so much available on demand at 1080p?

SHIRSEY
My cousin is starting up a business selling some pretty cool sports clothing call Shirseys (a cross between a Jersey and a T-Shirt). He's just getting it off the ground, but if I know my cousin he'll turn it into a successful business. I know there are a ton of sports fans on this site so check out the website below. It's just a small site for now but it's legit:

http://shirseys.com/

Lastly, I'm pretty excited to be holding a home tourney at my place next weekend. Looks like there's going to be a good turnout finally! Getting friends together these days is like planning a world leaders's conference. CR members Lucko and Lana will be there so we'll be sure to post results here for bragging rights:)

Till next time peeps. Dave out.

It's amazing how little it takes to make me tilt I'm finding. This bankroll challenge has me valuing each penny more than usual. I lost a $5 buy in playing Rush which isn't a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but since I'm starting so low, it feels like so much more. Also hurts when you lose it flopping a set and villain turns a higher set. I feel like this is how all my sessions are playing out. Flopping monsters and losing on the later streets. Just a nagging negative feeling I have, but I know I'll get myself to move past all this. I just need to keep playing, learning and stand right back up after I get my ass kicked.

Oh well, I felt a little better when I played a SNG on stars which I'm not counting towards this challenge. I got called down to the river holding TT with a blank board up until a K hits the river...villain was calling with hot garbage AKo. Pretty sick....took me down to 80 chips. Went in grind mode and somehow I came back and took 1st:)

Off to watch more vids and swamp.

Ugh, day 2 was pretty ugly. I was in a SNG mood, so I played as many as I could squeeze in. I played 9 $2.25 non-turbo SNGs and ran pretty terrible. Feel like I'm running terrible and getting slapped by some really bad luck, but maybe I'm getting myself in bad situations...gonna send my HH to my work email and review during some down time:) Might also see if my boy Lucko will take a look.

So my result within 9 SNGs are 6 losses and 3 3rd place finishes for a total loss of 11.40 to be bankroll which puts me at $70.26. Actually, that should be $70.56, but I have unaccounted $.30 I'll look into later.

My mother came into town with her boyfriend and we went to finally go see "The King's Speech". Now I can see what all the fuss was about. Colin Firth was great, he really made you feel every moment of nervous tension whenever he had to speak publically with that stammering problem. Funny thing about this movie is how differently he'd be viewed if he were alive now. No way they'd make a movie about him - they'd just call him an idiot and make fun of him (think George Bush). Very good movie all around, I recommend it if you're in the mood for a good drama. I heard the Weinsteins put out a PG-13 cut of the movie with one of the funniest scenes cut out due to the amount of swearing...do yourself a favor and find the R-rated cut...the scene is hysterical.

After the movie they took me and my girl out to an amazing Turkish restaurant the next town over. Huge win - the food was really good. Gonna have to frequent that place. Ok...off to work.

Dave out.

Never posted a blog before but I'm going to give it a try. I don't expect anyone to actually read my blog, so I'm doing it to keep track of progress. I'm challenging myself to maintain a disciplined approach to bankroll management and build up my account from where it is now $69.54 and get it up to about $500. I'm keeping it modest because I don't want to set my expectations too high. I plan on making adjustments to my goals once I reach benchmarks.

I'll be sticking to micro stakes NL cash games and SNG's mostly. I'll also be mixing up a few of those 90-man $3.30 Turbo KO SNGs as well. I'm not a strong multi-tabler yet, but I am getting used to it. I know the more tables I can play the more I'll be able to learn eventually, but first I have to train myself on how to process all the info. Plus, for now, I'll be doing this with only the help of HUD - no talbe ninja or SNG wizard or anything like that.

As I'm sure anyone who actually reads this will see, I don't have a huge amount of free time to really grind for hours, except on Sundays and maybe some Saturdays. I work full time and live with my girlfriend who's not a huge fan of the game. I'll be trying to get a few hours in during the week as well, but I'm definitely epecting this to be a grind. I think I can do it though as long as I can keep focus and not let myself tilt.

All that said, if you do read this and have any suggestions, tips or advice, please let me know! I posted my first results below:

First session results 3/26/11:
Hands @ $0.02/$0.05: 325
Result: +$9.87

$1.20 SNG
1) -1.20, loss
2) +$1.50, 2nd ($2.70 - $1.20)

Final Bankroll: $79.71

Dave out.