My New Spreadsheet

A new feature that will be on my sidebar is a Bankroll spreadsheet. I robbed got the idea from Katitude while reading her blog yesterday.(Can you tell that I learned how to strike through. LOL.) She is doing a Chris Ferguson Challenge, with the exception that she isn’t doing the freeroll thing Jesus did to start out; she is starting with $100 on Tilt. You can read about the C.F. Challenge and her specific rules here. I basically copied her spreadsheet and did a lot of cutting and pasting along with adding additional categories and formulas. I have PT but I like this medium because all the info is right on one page. This spreadsheet will chronicle my online bankroll and live winnings. It will be updated daily or at least when I play. (Which is probably 25 or more days a month.) Since I don’t blog every day and if you’re jonesing to know how I’m doing, you can just click the link on the sidebar and see my day-to-day progress. It has different sections for Cash Games, SnG’s, and MTT’s. Also it has formulated online withdraw and Rakebreak deposit sections that will keep my BR accurate and up-to-date. I also have on the sheet two sections that display my FT points and monthly FT rake accumulation. And lastly I have an area for notes for online and live comments for that particular day. Steal it if you want and do some cutting and pasting of your own. It is online at Google Docs and I think you need a Google account to view it; but most bloggers and lurkers already have an account. Enjoy it, I know I will.

Upate, a Big Hand, and a Few Questions That I'd Like Your Opinion On

Well guys it hasn’t been a good week. I started with a Grand. I then cashed out $350 leaving my roll at $700 including $38 on stars. I lost a little under $300 due to bad plays and some of the most horrendous beats imaginable. 4to1 fav doesn’t mean shit these days apparently. I won’t go into them because I really don’t have the stomach to iterate them. I did make $60 last night though and with my Stars money thrown in I have recouped $100. So my FT account currently sits at $470. Man I really needed that win last night. I was feeling discouraged and felt like the RNG at Tilt was fucking with my resolve to the point that I didn’t even want to log-in. I started with $410 last night and really had a hard decision to make. Did I want to step down a level and play the uberdonks at $25NL or stick it out with the regular donks at $50NL. In the end I decided to stake at the $50 tables and if I hit $300 I would definitely drop stakes, but luckily I actually won a session. If I would stop with the withdraws I would even have to worry about this crap, but with the wife still off of work and Comp being dicks, sometimes I need to. But honestly being able to supplement my income with poker is pretty cool. As of yet I have added to our coffers a $1000 from online poker and $800 from my live local home games. I haven’t given the casino a try yet, but damn am I itching to.

Biggest hand of the week: I get 2 guys to put me all-in PF with my Bullets in the hole. I limp UTG and EP raises and then gets reraised by MP. I then elect to re-reraise to see where I’m at pad the pot. EP pushes the rest of his $50 and then MP also pushes, although he only had $30 at the beginning of the hand. I obviously call. EP shows AKo. MP shows JJ. I am totally stunned here. I don’t really know how these guys play because I have so many tables rocking at the same time. Are they normally donkeys or what? I will say that I had a pretty aggressive image at the time, at least from the cutoff on. Every time it was folded around to me I would bet the pot. In the Small or Big I would pot-bet if the Button and/or SB limped. No one improved and I took down a $130 pot, thus netting $80. That is one hell of a pot at the $.25/$.50 tables. I don’t know if my image had anything to do with their shit bad play in the hand. Me personally, I would be thinking I was dominated here with AKo or at least merely a coin-flip. But EP might have actually been pulling a squeeze play, thinking MP would drop all but AA or KK, and that I was full of crap (because of my image) and would also bail, leaving him a nice pot without ever having to see a flop. In my personal experience if UTG limps and then rearaises a PF raise he is almost certainly holding Aces. Maybe I’m weak, but I fold my AKo here every time. (1) How about you? MP is just plain stupid IMO. He obviously had to realize he was way behind with all that action, plus he only had his original $5 reraise invested here. I would drop for sure. (2) What would you do here you were him? If, and I mean If I also push, he will be getting slightly more than 4to1 here. (He would have to invest $25 to make $105.) And almost definitely he has to think he is a 4to1 dawg here. (3) Does the implied odds of me calling give you enough incentive to call here? Anyways, I think they played the hand poorly, but hey, that’s how we win our money. AK kills so many suckers.

Meh, Kind'a Happy

I’ve cashed-out $500 since my recent post on 8/15 for various reasons. I am doing well though. I currently have $1000 on Tilt and $50 on WPEX, $40 on stars, and $9 on Poker.com even though I haven’t played on those sites in awhile. I gave up my aggressive BR strategy and opted for a little more conservative one; the swings were just too volatile with a mere 8 buy-ins. I am currently playing at the $50 tables. When I hit $1200 I will move up to the hundred tables and give it a shot, but if I hit $1000 again I will drop down at that juncture. I am presently up $1300 for the year; that is a damn far cry from being down $400 a few months ago.

I have stopped playing the SnG’s for $26 tokens. I currently have 5 and that’s enough for the time being. I had 8 but used 3. I wish regular SnG’s for just money would fill up. I would rather have cash in-hand instead of unredeemable (is that a word) tokens. 1 token that I used I got into the same structured SnG but for a $75 token I won that tourney. (Well in the tokens anyways.) I got into $9000 guaranteed tourneys with the other 2. (Bitch time.) 1st tourney I couldn’t really get anywhere. When the blinds started getting too high I reraised all-in with Big Slick and got called by AQ and you I’ll give you one guess what came on the flop. The next tourney I chipped-up nicely early on with a stack of 6000. I have AA with a raise PF before me. I reraised only to be surprised when a guy with around 2000 2 seats to my left pushes. The original raiser also pushes with about 5000. I obviously call. Guy to the right has AKs and the OR shows-up KQs. Mister KQ runs a straight on my. I slowly work it back up to 2000, but can’t get over the hump. When the blinds get big I put my money in with the worst hand while trying to push the blinds and late position players out with JTs. It happens and I’ll get over it. I have 5 chances left and a teir 2 token to try making some nice coin. Rant over.

I am sticking with my pact with the wife and am only putting in around 2 hrs a day.

Live is going well. I still haven't seen the casino yet this year so all my cash is coming from the Home Game. I am up $705 year to date. that ain't bad seeing as how we play $.25/.50. My loses amount to a total of $90 while making that $700. I'm pretty happy about my stats with these guys; they usually just give me their money pretty much. Too bad my wife spends my live roll quicker than I win it. hopefully soon I can keep enough to get 2 buy-ins at the $1/$2 game at the local casino. I would love to give that a go again. My game has really changed and I'd like to see how I would fair. If I get my online roll rolling I might just cash-out enough to start that live roll. We will see.

Later, Ash out...

New Aggression

I am really becoming more aggressive. I will go through a few examples here illustrating my new moves. They are really adding tons of small pots to my stack while I patiently wait for my big hands. My aggression also gets me more calls when I do have a real hand. Most of these advantageous plays are probably already in your arsenal, but as you all know I am a little slow at incorporating aggression into my Rocky style. I find myself even or above my original max buy-in stake on at least 4 of my 8 simultaneous played tables with-in the first 45 min of my session. And close to even on probably 2 others. So if you aren’t currently using these bets and raises, give them a shot and I think you will be pleasantly surprised at the results. I am playing at the $.25/.50 stakes. My bets are always pot-sized PF and pot-sized on the flop. I use pot-sized flop bets because they aren’t usually portrayed as Continuation Bets. It must also be stated that this is my online Full-ring cash-game strategy. I haven’t really tried it in tourneys yet so I don’t know how it will work in these more aggressive situations and/or at which stage they might be profitable.

1 – If it is folded around to me in the cut-off through the SB. I’m a little more conservative with the PF raise from the cut-off. Often I wait for paint or suited cards with an Ace or King. On the button if it is folded around to me I will bet pot with just about any 2 cards, unless I have very recently made this same move, because then I am more likely to get called or smacked with a re-steal. If it is folded around to me in the Small I definitely raise with any 2. If reraised I drop. If I get called by the Big, I will bet pot out of position regardless of the texture of the board. At this point they think I wasn’t just stealing and fold usually. 2/3 of the time they miss anyway. And often even if they hit it is mid or bottom pair and fold to my aggression. Another move that I have incorporated from the SB is when the button just limps. With almost any cards I will bet pot here. The button has shown weakness and the Big likely has naught. This is usually enough to take the pot PF, scooping an extra $.50 for my effort. This sandwich effect works well because I look strong by betting with 2 to act and the limper already he has a little somethin’-somethin’. Lastly from the Big I will always raise the SB. If I have 2 nice cards I will raise the SB and a Button or Cut-off limper.

2 - If it is folded around to me with 2 left to act before the blinds and I’m sitting on pockets (no matter if it is 2’s or A’s) I will bet pot. It looks less like a steal from this position so I usually pick up the blinds and with mid to small pockets I want to win the hand before the flop. Plus my pair is likely the best at the moment anyways. If I am reraised here I will usually fold here or call if it isn’t too much more and try to hit my set. I have only invested a$1.50 to $1.75 is this situation, which only equates to between 2%-4% of my stack anyways. If I get 1 caller and I am out of position on the flop I usually bet anyways and take it down. If I get 1 caller and end up with position on the flop I get info if they check. Some times they are slow-rolling to the aggressor, but more often than not they caught air and my pair is still best and win the pot. If my flop bet gets called I am pretty much done with the hand because more often than not they are slow-playing a monster or just smooth-calling top pair. In position I will usually get to set-farm the turn card as they check to me again as the aggressor, likely hoping for the check-raise. I will also make this bet with AK or AQ.

3 - In most cases from early and mid-position I will simply limp with mid and small pockets. If someone raises I will usually call and set-farm the flop unless they way overbet. Another likely scenario is when I end up the only limper with the blinds completing. If they check to me on the flop, I always bet no matter the flop. The majority of the time they fold here especially if an Ace or King is on the board. I pick up a lot of these pots.

4 – If I’m in the blinds and there is one late position limper. If I pair any part of the flop or get a draw I will throw out a pot-sized bet. The other blind likely missed or is worried about a kicker fight in the least. The late LP limper will miss 2/3 of the time and I usually take down the pot. If the flop pairs or is real ugly I will often bet, especially if I’m in the Big and it is checked to me. I will often make these plays even with 2 limpers other than the other blind. And as always, if the SB checks and then calls or raises my bet I am pretty much done with the hand. Sneaky bastards.

Later, Ash out…

What a Douche

I noticed the poker tip section on the Aces Cracked's main page today and because I was bored at work I decided to read them. Most were very generalized but this one made me smile. Just read #4 and notice that you are nodding as you read. What a douche!

Poker Peeves

I have long been an impatient person by nature; those close to me will contest to that. Time is of the essence and I cannot stand when people waste mine. Impatience is easily my worst character trait, not to mention one of my fiercest adversaries at the poker table. Though I do love the game, I often find myself furiously tapping my feet underneath the table, impatiently waiting for a playable hand. The hulking hours and repetitive nature of the game make it easy for its players to develop pet peeves, which, for impatient people like me, can simply drive you nuts. I’ve given the matter considerable thought and put together a list of my top five poker peeves, most of which are strongly driven by impatience. Perhaps you can relate.

1. Tournament players asking for a count when the bet they’re considering to call clearly puts them all in. I typically see this one at least twice throughout the course of a multi-table poker tournament. Usually on the turn or the river, after a majority of the hand has already been played, one player makes a large bet that puts another player all in. After some mysterious deliberation, the player facing the decision asks “how much is it?” when it’s apparent to everyone else at the table that he will be all in if he decides to call. The question bothers me for two reasons: the first, it’s a monumental waste of time! Unless you have terrible vision or are color blind, you should be able to infer from eyeing the size of your opponent’s chip stack and comparing it to your own that you will be all in if you call. Secondly, asking the dealer for a count at this point in the hand is a likely indication that the player neglected to consider his opponent’s chip stack at the beginning of the hand, which is one of the most important factors to consider in tournament poker.

2. Players in a limit poker game who consistently ask questions like: “how much is it to me?” or “how much can I bet?” Now that I exclusively play no-limit or pot-limit games, I no longer have to deal with these ever-annoying questions. Years ago, however, when I first started playing poker, this one never failed to blow my mind. Limit poker games are called limit for a reason. That reason, as I hope all or most of you reading this already know, is the simple and easy-to-understand concept (or so I thought) that the game has predetermined, fixed betting amounts that, with the exception of kill games, NEVER change. In a $4-$8 game, for example, the most anyone can bet on the flop, EVER, is four dollars. No more, no less. Four. Why then, is there always one ignoramus at the table who insists on asking “how much can I bet?” It would be one thing if this player was new to the game and simply needed to know its structure. That’s fine. Ask once, maybe twice if you need reminded, but when you ask the dealer every single stinking time you play a hand, it makes me want to find all of the people responsible for your education and let them know what a fine job they did teaching you how to learn, comprehend and apply the most basic of concepts. Perhaps if teachers were paid more than cocktail servers and garbage men, we wouldn’t have this problem.

3. Poker dealers who average 25 hands per down when dealing a cash game, but no more than half of that when dealing a tournament. I am not generalizing here, as this does not apply to all dealers; only those lazy few who are content with trudging through their tournament downs because they do not get paid per hand like they would in a cash game. These dealers assume that their tips from a tournament will remain the same, no matter how they decide to pace the game, failing to consider that the average poker player is extremely perceptive and often will tip according to a dealer’s performance. Poker dealers who also play the game, tournaments specifically, understand that the more hands you see per round, the better, as the blinds are always on the rise. Fewer hands per level means fewer opportunities to apply your poker skills, instead leaving your fate to chance, in hopes that you will land a couple of premium hands before the blinds raze your chip stack. Tournament directors should ultimately be held responsible for ensuring that their dealers do not take on-the-job vacations during tournaments, especially when you take into consideration the substantial amount of fees subtracted from tournament buy-ins. Shame on you, lazy poker dealer!

4. Jamie Gold and his blueberry fetish. Although this one has nothing to do with my own impatience, it certainly speaks to the issue of wasting peoples’ time. Sure, we know that your “mentor,” Johnny Chan, kept an orange on the table during his back-to-back (almost three peat) main event victories, but he did so to use the scent of a peeled orange to alleviate the smell of cigarette smoke, not to try and add some self-produced, only semi-interesting and utterly extraneous tidbit of personality to his legacy. You don’t need to remind us that those who came before you left their mark on the World Series with character; Chris Moneymaker with his Oakley sunglasses and proper last name, Greg Raymer with his trademark fossils and holograph lizard glasses and Joe Hachem, forever immersed in accented chants of “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie…Oy, Oy, Oy!” I can accept that you needed the blueberries during the marathon sessions you put in at the World Series, but don’t stop the flow of a five hour, six player Poker After Dark sit’n’go, or a heads-up match on national television to try and infuse the name Jamie Gold with a bowl of blueberries. Sadly, your WSOP legacy has already been created for you, in the form of your endless and often senseless table chatter, coupled with the deal you reneged on with Crispin Leyser to share half of your main event winnings. A gambler’s word is his livelihood, perhaps second only to his bankroll, and once it’s broken, it can rarely be salvaged. Sorry, Jamie, but if this was a credibility contest, you’d be out like the fat kid in dodgeball. Please. Enough is enough. Leave the blueberries alone.

5. Set-ups! Topping my list of poker peeves, without question, is the superstitious old guy at the table who asks for a “set-up” when facing a cold deck. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, a “set-up” is a brand new set of cards, still in the box, and still neatly arranged by suit. Unfortunately, most card rooms have a policy of honoring any player’s request for a set-up, in order to maintain the integrity of the game. The policy is in place to protect the deck from visible wear and tear or from suspected markings made by cheats. Instead, these disgruntled old men abuse this privilege and ask for a set-up anytime they feel the cards have not been falling in their favor. In other words, when Pops McGrumpypants feels as though his luck is worse than everyone else’s, so much so that no one in the history of poker has ever seen such a terrible run of cards, the game gets put on hold while the dealer spreads, examines and shuffles the new decks for the eye in the sky. Players like Pops fail to recognize that streaks of cold cards come with the territory of playing poker. Sitting out a hand, changing seats or calling it a day (which is probably the best way to deal with a cold deck) are all reasonable methods of “affecting” the cards, if you will, without slowing down the game and subsequently cutting into the dealer’s earnings for the down. What usually happens to players who ask for set-ups? Their “bad luck” continues through the new cards and they eventually find themselves storming out of the poker room, mumbling expletives under their breath, with much lighter pockets. For peeves’ sake, say no to set-ups!
“When superstition is allowed to perform the task of old age in dulling the human temperament, we can say good bye to all excellence in poetry, in painting, and in music (and poker!).” (Denis Diderot)

By Gary Gates
- Poker Expert

+EV Small Bets

The value of small flop bets. Lately I have been becoming a more aggressive player pre- and post-flop.

Here are a few examples that are bringing me a much needed small pot game.

In position in an unopened pot I will often bet pot with my normal limp hands. Often I will throw out a small half pot CB in a 2- or 3-way flop or smaller CB on a 4-way flop whether I hit the flop or not. I am taking down a lot of these hands both preflop and on the flop.

Lately I will also limp in preflop from position (Co or Button) with any 2 cards. I am hoping to get called only by the blinds when in the CO so I retain position on the flop. Most of the time the blinds both miss the flop or only hit it lightly and both check. I will go for the steal every time they check it to me, because normally they only held their hands because it was free or cheap in the first place. Usually I come in with a pot-sized bet because that is enough to get maximum scare value and also because anything smaller will often induce a call because the pot call ratio for them with overs or bottom-pr. They figure I have some kind of hand anyways for limping in anyways. I take down a major majority of hands in this situation.

Also if it is just down to us in the blinds and I’m in the BB I will often now bet pot and take the blinds with any 2 cards. If he originally tried to limp he likely didn’t have much to begin with. If he calls, whether because he thinks I’m bullying or because he figured he’d just see a flop because he had already put in some money anyways, I usually take down the pot when I throw out my small CB on the flop. If not I am through with the hand and C/F if I missed with my junk. He is going to miss his hand 2/3 of the time and if he hits mid- or bottom-pr he often will sometimes even let it go to my aggression.

Another situation is when I go to the flop from the blinds and see the flop 3- or 4-handed. If a pair is flopped I bet out half pot even without position with any 2 cards. Often everyone folds and I drag the pot. They know that I could hold anything in the blinds. Also betting half pot looks like I want a call. Plus betting out of position looks stronger than I used a position raise. And who wants to fight for a pot if I might be holding trips. They often fold nice hands here because they can’t beat trips. If I get a call I know that I’m beat and fold to the first bit of aggression, especially if the SB smooth calls after originally checking the flop. This play also usually gives me a free card that might help my stance.

Another way that I’ve been tinkering with a small raise is when I hit a mid- or bottom pair or a draw on a 3- or 4-way flop after limping in and the board is scary. Often this small informational probe will take the pot right there or at least give me a free card if I get any takers. If I get reraised I can get out cheaply or now get OK odds on a call with my draws, especially if they have a big stack. I am happy with how this has been working.

These steals are working out nicely. And added advantage is this runs with the Hellmuth small-ball theory. The pot is staying smaller until I hit my turn monsters and I am also getting a chance to take a lot of smallish pots outright or by outplaying opponents with my reads on later streets. This also works congruent with my TAG style of play. By playing these extra hands it conceals that I am mostly a tight player and gets me some added playback when I get premium holdings. These extra small pots are helping to keep me even or above the blinds and rake while I wait for my big hands.

SnG's and New Playing Shedule

I have been doing half-ass well this week. I’m not losing anyways and that is always a plus.

I haven’t been fairing as well in my acquisition of $26 tokens. I am barely keeping my head above water in these things. I’m currently averaging paying about $20 for ever $26 token. I guess that ain’t too bad But I would love to get to about $14 per token. I think I will soon. I always, or usually anyways, go pretty deep in these things. I almost always hit the final table but 2/3rds of the time I am not a big stack at the table and end up having to make a move around the bubble. I think sometimes I wait a little too long where my stack doesn’t scare away the bigger stacks and get a call with moderate holdings and often get sucked out on. A lot of these hands are little more of a coin flip. I am still getting used too this turbo structure. I think I am going to employ a new strategy and see where it goes. With the blinds going up so fast I sometimes don’t get enough good starting hands to make it to the final table with enough chips to hit the tokens without pushing with crap. I think to alleviate this pattern I will start playing more hands in the first few levels when I have a good chip to blind ratio and hope to hit some winning hands early on - especially in position. I then can tighten up to my regular game in the later rounds. I will also be able to then push my larger stack around a little and put pressure on the blinds more. I think this just my fair well in these turbos.

I will then start taking some shots at some higher deep tourneys and try to make a nice cash. If nothing else I will gain some much needed tourney experience. I am also finding these SnG’s a refreshing extension to my cash game grinding. When multi-tabling I just open one less cash table and start up one of these instead. I would also probably fair better in these if I was playing less tables, but with my attention span I just can’t stomach single tabling or going below even 6 tables.

Lastly I am going to change my current session timing. I have in the last few months been waiting for everyone to go to bed before I get on so I could spend more time with the family. You see I get obsessive with a lot of things I do to the detriment of my family. The problem is that I am now sleeping longer due to the all-nighters and thereby am spending less time anyways. So to remedy this I will now only play to get my daily points, which takes only an hr or 2, depending on the stakes. I will do this at sometime during the day or evening and just get off at that point. I will then try to stay on their sleep schedule and thus be a normal part of my family. My wife and I think that is a good compromise. I will still occasionally be on at night due to my crazy work schedule. But the majority of the time will now fall on their time frame. I am happy with this as will they be.

UPDATE

I have had a few bad days currently. Have had currently. Ah, continuity, you have to love it. Anyways the last few days I’ve lost around $200 total. Not a major downswing. It is only 2 buy-ins, but it still hurt because I was playing solid poker. Current roll is $1150 on Tilt. WPEX - $50. Stars - $40. Poker.com - $9, they gave me $20 free. I’ve also cashed out $130 this week. Also in the last week I staked my Bro for 25% in 2 $200 buy-in ($100 total) Tourneys on Tilt. He made it deep in both but right out of the money on both occasions. I will do it again because he is a good player and plays tourneys often. He will make me some loot at some point because he has gone deep often. Damn that sounded sexual. LOL. I am currently up $880 for the year. I cashed out $4500 last year so I am hoping for a nice run in the last 3rd of the year to match that.

I put $50 on Stars to play with the Aces Cracked Team. I bubbled last week, when 4-handed I re-raised Sham’s open all-in and ran my *’s into his 9’s…OUCH. Hopefully I can redeem myself tomorrow night. Greb did well to make the money, because he was short-stacked most of the game. Sham and I hovered most of the time. Penn was the biggie the whole way. One hand that I was impressed with my play was against JB early on. I think I had TP the whole way. JB got tricky and checked the river with an over-pr trying to induce a bet out of me so he could CR me. I checked and saved myself some chips because I likely would have made a crying call when he pushed.

I’m not doing well with my $26 token accumulation efforts. I just started keeping track. I’ve lost 2 in a row so I need to win the next on just to make it even for this current token race. These 2 table $8 SnG’s are pretty plush so I should really start racking up some tokens. I will then take some shots at going deep in some bigger tourneys.

See you on the rail. Later, Ash out…

Rolling Again

I’m running well again. I’ve made around $500 in the last 5 days or so. My rakebreak came in and I started with close to a Grand again. I decided to give $100NL another try. I made around $250 both first 2 days. I then played even poker for a few. If you add in the $160 or so of a FT reload bonus that was e-mailed to me I made around $300 anyways. I currently sit at slightly above $1300 because I cashed out $100 and staked my Bro for $50 twice in the last few days. He has been Satelliting into some $200 tourneys on Tilt with $26 tokens. I staked him for 25% both nights. He went deep both times but was always a pretty short stack and had to finally make a move. He doubled thru a few times but never really chipped-up enough to ride the wave into the money.

I’ve been tinkering around with the $8, 18-man SnG’s for $26 tokens. These games are pretty fat. Top 5 get tokens and 6th gets a small payday. Hell, you can sometimes steal a few blinds and hit the tokens when it is an aggressive game. Usually a double-up and a few blind steals will guaranty the payout. I usually get 7, $100 tables going and one SnG going. They fit on my monitor pretty well. I have 3 $26 tokens at the moment. I have been getting bad beat a little around the bubble lately though. I know I am getting more tokens than I pay out in tourney costs, but not by much. I will start keeping track just to see where I stand. I don’t count $26 tokens in my roll though. So even though I am playing even the last few days I am really winning buy-ins from my cash game play. I haven’t really thought about how I will spend these tokens. I will likely play in some tourneys with my Bro. I am also throwing around the Idea of playing SnG’s from $75 tokens with the same 2 table SnG strategy. I don’t like satellites because the way I see it you have to win 2 tourneys to actually get paid and going deep twice has less odds and ultimate will likely detrimental to my roll. I just don’t want to waste the effort that I put into acquiring them. But sooner or later I will get into some deep field tourneys and hope for a big score. Tilt runs a lot of nice guaranteed tourneys.

I haven't put in as much time this month, with only 3 days with 500+ point days. But I am still only 2 days from Silver status.

Hopefully your rolls swell and mine also. Later.

Online, Medical, and Live Updates

Poker has been a struggle lately. I was down to $350 at one time and made it back up to $550. I currently sit at $466. I still have $475 coming in rakeback. I think they are being dishonest with my accrual in rake from FT. I have noticed my rake going down a few times last month. I have just started keeping a daily running tally. If it continues I will ask for and explanation. I didn’t play one day this week and my rake went down $1 form one day to the next. I am just putting in the minimum time required to keep my IM status. After that I have been playing WoW.

On the live home game front I am still crushing the game. Latest 3 game go as follows: +$43, +$38, and +$28. Not a ton, but I am still winning and that is always positive. We have been a little strapped lately so every time I get some scratch built up I have to spend it. I do want to put a live roll together and start frequenting the casino and see where that takes me.

Update on the family work injury issue. On the medical front my wife is recuperating finally. At least she has diagnoses after a year of torment. She had some medical and psychological issues. I’m pretty sure that I have written about her work related injury in the past here, yet I am too lazy to go back and check. Quick background She had a 20lbs box fall on her head at work. She started having tremors some after the accident. She lately went in and got some pain shots in her neck. Once they took affect they took her off the meds that she was on for the prior year. The tremors soon after stopped. One of the size effects of one of her meds was tremors. She was also diagnosed with posttraumatic stress and clinical depression. After a year with no relief or closure, who would be depressed? And just the other day we got the results back from a test that they preformed. They put some kind of dye in her spine and X-rayed. They found a displaced disk in her neck where she had pointed to the whole time. Comp stopped paying over 6 months ago because two neurologists concluded that she had no physical injuries from the accident and it was purely psychological. We disputed at that time and have preformed tests for the last 6 months, with us taking on a lot of the medical bills. To see one Dr we had to pay him $1500 up front. Anyways, her Comp should definitely be reinstated, plus pay retroactive back to when we contested their decision. So hopefully things won’t be so tight soon.

Later, Ash out…