Update coming soon!! Still playing poker like always!!
Jeff
Monday, August 20, 2012
Friday, March 2, 2012
2012 Hoping to Break Through
Hey everyone!! Poker is still alive and well in the Rising Sun Camp!!! I'm still keeping the live pokerz going. As a matter a fact, I had a fortune saying that this year will be huge and another lady that told me the same when I gave her my birth date. I'm just crossing my fingers and going to continue what I'm doing and just giving it my all everyday to take care of my family. My overhead is still quite high but 2/5NL is still manageable with my life and am very fortunate to keep making money from it.
Since the beginning of December, I've been short stacking the live games at the casino I play at and building my stack up from there. Mostly due to the convenience where I play and when I stay with my friends that grind there as well. I found a bit of success doing it and my variance isn't as bad and my hourly is only cut by a little. I took some bankroll considerations for doing this since I felt I was a bit under rolled for 2/5NL after I moved to a new place and my bankroll took a pretty big hit. A little less stressed and still can take care of my family and build my bankroll back up to take shots at 5/10. I had real good success in December, and just been doing it since then. I have about 385 hours from what I filtered and making about 9bb/hrly from short stacking. I wouldn't really recommend this to someone without studying and working on it. It is a different style of play compared to full stacks, but I just keep adjust and build up my stack and keep playing even when I'm over 100bb's. Here is my graph from poker journal.
Only downside I feel from doing this is I'm not playing to my full potential sometimes. It deteriorates from my play and my game isn't as solid. Fortunately for me I have surrounded myself with a lot of real good players that buy in for max at table and we always discuss hands on and off the table which helps me keep in touch with the game. What I realized from poker there is all kinds of possibilities to making money from it. There are different winning styles. You can play deep stack 150bb+, reg stack 80-120bb's, or mid stack or short stack, tag, lag, etc. It is all about adjusting. If you don't, you will get eaten alive in this game. I have seen quite a few players that came from the internet and gone now. Quite a few live players that just quit and went to the corporate world because they couldn't handle the mental side of the game.
Aside from poker, I have been eating healthier and working out on a regular basis. Since my weight gain last year, I'm happy to say I have lost nearly 25 pounds and feel a lot better about myself and feel it has improved my lifestyle and game. I have a lot more energy and my kids that keep on getting bigger and bigger now 2.5 years old feel a lot lighter when I pick them up.
Well I'm still hoping for a big year and break out of the 2/5NL and onto bigger and better things from poker. Granted, taking care of my wife and kids is the greatest feeling to do and poker has given me that freedom to do so. But I gotta keep improving, getting better, and working on moving up because the games keep evolving and changing so i need to stay ahead of the curve.
As far as questions about poker, I am continuing to talk to other poker players from around the world through email or phone. So feel free to contact me about live poker, I am always trying to help others out there become successful at it or improve there win rate. Happy Grinding 2012!!
JEFF
Since the beginning of December, I've been short stacking the live games at the casino I play at and building my stack up from there. Mostly due to the convenience where I play and when I stay with my friends that grind there as well. I found a bit of success doing it and my variance isn't as bad and my hourly is only cut by a little. I took some bankroll considerations for doing this since I felt I was a bit under rolled for 2/5NL after I moved to a new place and my bankroll took a pretty big hit. A little less stressed and still can take care of my family and build my bankroll back up to take shots at 5/10. I had real good success in December, and just been doing it since then. I have about 385 hours from what I filtered and making about 9bb/hrly from short stacking. I wouldn't really recommend this to someone without studying and working on it. It is a different style of play compared to full stacks, but I just keep adjust and build up my stack and keep playing even when I'm over 100bb's. Here is my graph from poker journal.
Only downside I feel from doing this is I'm not playing to my full potential sometimes. It deteriorates from my play and my game isn't as solid. Fortunately for me I have surrounded myself with a lot of real good players that buy in for max at table and we always discuss hands on and off the table which helps me keep in touch with the game. What I realized from poker there is all kinds of possibilities to making money from it. There are different winning styles. You can play deep stack 150bb+, reg stack 80-120bb's, or mid stack or short stack, tag, lag, etc. It is all about adjusting. If you don't, you will get eaten alive in this game. I have seen quite a few players that came from the internet and gone now. Quite a few live players that just quit and went to the corporate world because they couldn't handle the mental side of the game.
Aside from poker, I have been eating healthier and working out on a regular basis. Since my weight gain last year, I'm happy to say I have lost nearly 25 pounds and feel a lot better about myself and feel it has improved my lifestyle and game. I have a lot more energy and my kids that keep on getting bigger and bigger now 2.5 years old feel a lot lighter when I pick them up.
Well I'm still hoping for a big year and break out of the 2/5NL and onto bigger and better things from poker. Granted, taking care of my wife and kids is the greatest feeling to do and poker has given me that freedom to do so. But I gotta keep improving, getting better, and working on moving up because the games keep evolving and changing so i need to stay ahead of the curve.
As far as questions about poker, I am continuing to talk to other poker players from around the world through email or phone. So feel free to contact me about live poker, I am always trying to help others out there become successful at it or improve there win rate. Happy Grinding 2012!!
JEFF
Sunday, November 27, 2011
A Short But Long Update
Hey fellow readers, I know it has been quite sometime since I have posted anything about what has been going on with poker and life. It has been quite a journey since I started playing poker professionally. I have been continuing to keep the journey going with poker. It definitely has been a grind as much as it was playing online. I still love it and in some ways enjoying playing live a lot more these days. Even though I have been thinking about playing some online again. Wink wink soon enough hehe
So what has been going on? It has been a super grind that is for sure. I have been traveling down to south Florida the past few months now. As all of you that don't know, I live in central florida about 3.5 hours from where I have been playing a lot more these days. I leave for about 5 days, sometimes longer like 10 days because the games are so much better lately out there compared to Tampa, FL. That has been the toughest part is being away from my wife and kids. But I do what I have to do to keep it going and to take care of the family like always. It has been tough but my wife understands and she gets to take care of the babies. I just wish I could be in both places. Oh well can't win them all, but all we can do is remain positive and stay focused.
I've gain quite some weight since playing live poker, maybe close to 25 pounds since black Friday. I have been making a huge effort to work out 4-5 days a week. I've been running on the treadmill and bike at least 30 minutes a day and when I am home, I try to put a decent work out in as well. I wish I had done this back during my online days. I feel so much better and have a lot more energy to put in sessions whenever. I feel good about myself and it is helping me focus better on poker. I haven't quite been studying as much as I can since I am out of town so much and leave my computer at home, but I still try to keep up on the games especially live.
My twin girls are over 2 years old now. 2.25 to be exact..haha They are getting so big! Me and wife are still in love with each other even with me being gone so much these days. We just moved from Davenport, FL to Tampa, FL 2 months ago as well into a house with a lake behind our back yard that we can overlook and we have a nice pool. My wife absolutely loves our house and that makes me happy that we are still surviving. Our neighborhood is great and could be a place we might just park for a while and stay instead of moving year after year.
Anyways, I am going to try really really hard to keep updating my blog, work on my game, and get a little online poker back in my life and keep in touch with the online world. I seriously miss is and been thinking about grinding some carbon poker and lock poker in my spare time. I took a screen shot from my poker journal. My graph looks so much better than online...lmao I guess I have to do my best to play poker since I don't have rakeback to fall back on these days. I hope you guys and gals are alive and well. If you have any questions about live, feel free to shoot me an email or send me a skype whenever I am on.
Email is socialscenepr@yahoo.com
Take care and Good Luck on the Journey
Jeff
By socialscenepr at 2011-11-27
So what has been going on? It has been a super grind that is for sure. I have been traveling down to south Florida the past few months now. As all of you that don't know, I live in central florida about 3.5 hours from where I have been playing a lot more these days. I leave for about 5 days, sometimes longer like 10 days because the games are so much better lately out there compared to Tampa, FL. That has been the toughest part is being away from my wife and kids. But I do what I have to do to keep it going and to take care of the family like always. It has been tough but my wife understands and she gets to take care of the babies. I just wish I could be in both places. Oh well can't win them all, but all we can do is remain positive and stay focused.
I've gain quite some weight since playing live poker, maybe close to 25 pounds since black Friday. I have been making a huge effort to work out 4-5 days a week. I've been running on the treadmill and bike at least 30 minutes a day and when I am home, I try to put a decent work out in as well. I wish I had done this back during my online days. I feel so much better and have a lot more energy to put in sessions whenever. I feel good about myself and it is helping me focus better on poker. I haven't quite been studying as much as I can since I am out of town so much and leave my computer at home, but I still try to keep up on the games especially live.
My twin girls are over 2 years old now. 2.25 to be exact..haha They are getting so big! Me and wife are still in love with each other even with me being gone so much these days. We just moved from Davenport, FL to Tampa, FL 2 months ago as well into a house with a lake behind our back yard that we can overlook and we have a nice pool. My wife absolutely loves our house and that makes me happy that we are still surviving. Our neighborhood is great and could be a place we might just park for a while and stay instead of moving year after year.
Anyways, I am going to try really really hard to keep updating my blog, work on my game, and get a little online poker back in my life and keep in touch with the online world. I seriously miss is and been thinking about grinding some carbon poker and lock poker in my spare time. I took a screen shot from my poker journal. My graph looks so much better than online...lmao I guess I have to do my best to play poker since I don't have rakeback to fall back on these days. I hope you guys and gals are alive and well. If you have any questions about live, feel free to shoot me an email or send me a skype whenever I am on.
Email is socialscenepr@yahoo.com
Take care and Good Luck on the Journey
Jeff
By socialscenepr at 2011-11-27
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Whoa!! It's been a long time
Hey everyone!! It's been quite sometime since I last posted in my blog. I've kept up on a few emails from some of the people who check my blog out, but other than that, I've been quite busy and away from my laptop. Ever since I left for vacation back in the beginning of July till about the 20th, I've since heading down to other places to play live poker. So it's been nothing but a grind putting in hours, living and breathing poker in the poker rooms, wake up, eat and do the same thing. Did that for about 10 days and continuing the grind back home. I have to say, if you don't have a life bankroll away from your poker bankroll for people like me who do it for a living, it can severely hurt you both money wise and mentally. When I went on vacation for the 20 days I was gone, that's a big hit to your poker bankroll when you are not playing, so expenses just keep coming in and that has been something I had to deal with the past few weeks since I've been back. Also, putting in those long hours trying to play catch up can hurt you while at the poker tables sometimes. Always trying to make sure I am providing for my family is my main goal. I've recently decided that maybe picking up a small part time job, maybe waiting tables will be a good thing for me since every month we're basically not able to save much money since I played live post black Friday and my wife has to take care of the babies. We will see how things go, i'm hoping I don't have to, but honestly saving money is important both for my poker bankroll and life money.
2/5NL has still be treating me pretty well and i'm still making decent money but like I said, I feel it isn't enough for one income. I've finally had a few rough patches of 2/5 over the past 2 months now going a 2-3k swings at times, but somehow managed to get back on track. I cannot believe how mentally draining live poker can be and how much the money matters at times when I am up at the tables. I hate being in that mindset of when I'm up, I want to quit because money is always an issue when it comes down to what I need to make every month. I've been working very hard on this over the 2 months now and it is slowly getting better. I've been reading quite a few books, watching videos, and listening to audios on working on my mental game. I highly recommend reading and listening to people like Tommy Angelo and Jared Tendler. Also watching a video series called shuffle and flow from the Deuces Cracked Website which I found very helpful. You all know about fish and bad players right? Well I have to say the I am a mental fish, yes a mental fish when it comes to live poker and most of us are in some way which some don't even know or think of. I am one of those, but I am getting better at it. I have been putting in a lot more longer sessions over the months even when I'm up. Some days, I will put in multiple sessions in the day when I'm up or down. Doesn't matter because we are poker players and the more we play, the more money we make. Even when I am on my B or C game, I always fight through it and work on my A+ game. Even when I take a huge beat, or losing...as long as i'm still playing optimally, I will not quit the game or take a 30 minute break. These are the things I deal with on a daily basis at the tables, some days are good, some days...well I am still mental fishing.
I am continuing to work on my game even though I haven't had much time to be on the computer talking to my other poker friends online or posting on the forums. I still am reading books, watching videos on Live Poker, talking to other live grinders like myself, at trying new things. I've been slowing finding new leaks in my game where I'm not adjusting well enough dependent on game conditions.
Life is going well. Vacation was great and wife and babies are great. Sofie and Ally will be turning 2 in a few weeks, how time goes by so fast. We are still planning on moving somewhere in the Tampa Area to be closer to the casino once our lease is up.
Well, I hope everyone is doing well. I still miss playing online, but live poker is alive and well, and still lots of money to be made!! Until then
Jeff
2/5NL has still be treating me pretty well and i'm still making decent money but like I said, I feel it isn't enough for one income. I've finally had a few rough patches of 2/5 over the past 2 months now going a 2-3k swings at times, but somehow managed to get back on track. I cannot believe how mentally draining live poker can be and how much the money matters at times when I am up at the tables. I hate being in that mindset of when I'm up, I want to quit because money is always an issue when it comes down to what I need to make every month. I've been working very hard on this over the 2 months now and it is slowly getting better. I've been reading quite a few books, watching videos, and listening to audios on working on my mental game. I highly recommend reading and listening to people like Tommy Angelo and Jared Tendler. Also watching a video series called shuffle and flow from the Deuces Cracked Website which I found very helpful. You all know about fish and bad players right? Well I have to say the I am a mental fish, yes a mental fish when it comes to live poker and most of us are in some way which some don't even know or think of. I am one of those, but I am getting better at it. I have been putting in a lot more longer sessions over the months even when I'm up. Some days, I will put in multiple sessions in the day when I'm up or down. Doesn't matter because we are poker players and the more we play, the more money we make. Even when I am on my B or C game, I always fight through it and work on my A+ game. Even when I take a huge beat, or losing...as long as i'm still playing optimally, I will not quit the game or take a 30 minute break. These are the things I deal with on a daily basis at the tables, some days are good, some days...well I am still mental fishing.
I am continuing to work on my game even though I haven't had much time to be on the computer talking to my other poker friends online or posting on the forums. I still am reading books, watching videos on Live Poker, talking to other live grinders like myself, at trying new things. I've been slowing finding new leaks in my game where I'm not adjusting well enough dependent on game conditions.
Life is going well. Vacation was great and wife and babies are great. Sofie and Ally will be turning 2 in a few weeks, how time goes by so fast. We are still planning on moving somewhere in the Tampa Area to be closer to the casino once our lease is up.
Well, I hope everyone is doing well. I still miss playing online, but live poker is alive and well, and still lots of money to be made!! Until then
Jeff
Sunday, July 3, 2011
June review and ramblings
Hey guys and gals! June is over and I have to say it was one crazy months at the tables. I plays at all weird hours of the days and nights. Pretty swingy none the less. I took a few shots at 5/10nl earlier this month and had no success at the few sessions I put in. I managed to drop a little less than a buy in after being in the game at one point stuck 3k, but somehow managed to minimize the damage. I have to say it was a great experience and after playing at 5/10, there is a lot of things I need to work on in my game if I want to move up from 2/5nl. I know there were more players exploiting other players and at the 2/5nl and below, not many players exploit the other players which makes for a straight forward game. Sure there are some out there that will exploit you at these smaller limits, but honestly don't think people do it enough and you don't have to worry about other players exploiting you. As far as my month at the tables, it wasn't the results I wanted. Over the beginning of the month while I was shooting at the bigger limit, I was playing a few sessions at 2/5 and didn't do so well. I still managed to win this month, just not as much as last month. The good news is I did receive my Ipad2 for putting in 120 hours at the tables...haha my rack back..lol Also my wife and babies went up to New York to visit family so I have been without them for almost a month now, the good thing is I am flying up there tonight as I finish writing this blogpost. I will be up there for about a week and drive home from there back to Florida, so I might not be at the tables unless I decide I want to play at some of the local casinos in New York. I realize though that I have a lot of things to figure out if I want to move up, a lot of leaks, opportunities to make more money at the tables, being more aggressive, more patient, etc. I know taking shots was worth it and once I build my bankroll up to where it needs to be, I hopefully will be back at 5/10nl. I hope everyone is doing well and for us USA players, online will hopefully be back in no time.
Jeff
Jeff
Thursday, June 2, 2011
The Start Of A Old but New Beginning
Hello Everyone, it certainly has been a wild swing of things in the poker community just as much as it is at the poker tables. I certainly have had the fortunate blessing to be able to play live poker and doing ok at it. I feel everything happens for a reason and thus will only make us better as poker players.
What can we do in the mean time? Really tough to answer for all of you and its all player dependent. Some of us are single, married, married with kids, single parents, have other forms of income outside of poker and some of us only had poker. I have thought a lot about how this effects us both in our lives and our mental side of it. I can speak for myself that I was and kinda in a sense still worried about everything that has happened. But the truth is, we cannot be worried about what has happened. We can't wait around for things to get better tomorrow, next week, months, or years. When the time comes, it will happen and only waiting around will really have an effect on yourself and others. This can be a reflective and positive period to figure out what to do next. Use the skills you have learned over the course of your poker knowledge. Remember, poker is related to business and correlate with each other if you really think about it. Maybe its a good time to really work on your game if you didn't do so in the past, or maybe its a good time to learn new things. Whatever the case may be, we can only move forward and not backwards. We cannot dwell on what use to be or how it was.
For me, I am continuing to fight and take care of my family. The day they shutdown online poker is the same day I went to play live poker and haven't looked back worried about what I'm going to do next. New opportunities open up, you meet new people, you find new passions in life. Never really thought about it until lately, but I truly do have more time to spend with my family, talk to other people and get out of the house more, have the freedom to do more things, meet new people, see the fresh sunlight everyday here in Florida, and have more time to spend studying and working on my game than I did before. Weird how things work out, because you would think staying at home grinding on the computer in room all day would still give me those things, but in reality, it held less true with my consuming of putting in volume, hours, hands, staring at the computer for hours on end.
I'm going to just keep on going. I have a lot of things to do in between. We are trying to get out of our lease now so that we can move closer to the casino here in Tampa, we are also planning on a family trip back up to New York for about a month as well for a wedding and visit family in July. So I will probably be grinding in Upstate New York at Turning Stone and some of the casino's by the Canadian border. The 2/5NL games are treating me good and I feel like I'm not running bad nor am I running good, but managing to still make things happen. I've been thinking about the 5/10 NL games which is good...so only time will tell.
Anyways, I hope all of you find yourself and if you are still playing online poker here in the USA or outside of the country, keep up the grind and continue to stay ahead of the curve. When that time comes around again for us USA players, we will be ready to rock at the tables again.
Jeff
What can we do in the mean time? Really tough to answer for all of you and its all player dependent. Some of us are single, married, married with kids, single parents, have other forms of income outside of poker and some of us only had poker. I have thought a lot about how this effects us both in our lives and our mental side of it. I can speak for myself that I was and kinda in a sense still worried about everything that has happened. But the truth is, we cannot be worried about what has happened. We can't wait around for things to get better tomorrow, next week, months, or years. When the time comes, it will happen and only waiting around will really have an effect on yourself and others. This can be a reflective and positive period to figure out what to do next. Use the skills you have learned over the course of your poker knowledge. Remember, poker is related to business and correlate with each other if you really think about it. Maybe its a good time to really work on your game if you didn't do so in the past, or maybe its a good time to learn new things. Whatever the case may be, we can only move forward and not backwards. We cannot dwell on what use to be or how it was.
For me, I am continuing to fight and take care of my family. The day they shutdown online poker is the same day I went to play live poker and haven't looked back worried about what I'm going to do next. New opportunities open up, you meet new people, you find new passions in life. Never really thought about it until lately, but I truly do have more time to spend with my family, talk to other people and get out of the house more, have the freedom to do more things, meet new people, see the fresh sunlight everyday here in Florida, and have more time to spend studying and working on my game than I did before. Weird how things work out, because you would think staying at home grinding on the computer in room all day would still give me those things, but in reality, it held less true with my consuming of putting in volume, hours, hands, staring at the computer for hours on end.
I'm going to just keep on going. I have a lot of things to do in between. We are trying to get out of our lease now so that we can move closer to the casino here in Tampa, we are also planning on a family trip back up to New York for about a month as well for a wedding and visit family in July. So I will probably be grinding in Upstate New York at Turning Stone and some of the casino's by the Canadian border. The 2/5NL games are treating me good and I feel like I'm not running bad nor am I running good, but managing to still make things happen. I've been thinking about the 5/10 NL games which is good...so only time will tell.
Anyways, I hope all of you find yourself and if you are still playing online poker here in the USA or outside of the country, keep up the grind and continue to stay ahead of the curve. When that time comes around again for us USA players, we will be ready to rock at the tables again.
Jeff
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Keeping the dream a(LIVE)
So as anyone who reads my blog knows, I have started playing live since April 15th. Pretty much the same day the DOJ shut down the big sites that most of us play on. I honestly do not know what to expect. I have lots of live experience, but in LIMIT holdem. So, since there are NO (limit) games in Florida worth playing, I have no choice but to play No Limit and use all the knowledge I have gained over the course of my online (days).
So I've been keeping track of my results daily and trying to get a decent sample size. My April results playing 1/3 NL during the month was a little over 8bb/hr, which I'm pretty ecstatic about since I read in a few forums that 5bb/hr is good and 10bb/hr is crushing. Once again over a small sample, but I logged in about 78 hours in April.
Now it is May and I've decided to jump into the 2/5 NL games this month. The player pool is a bit better and the players seem to fight for pots a bit more and also the games are a bit more aggressive. I actually really enjoy the 2/5 game because the chance to make 5K+ a month is now a possibility. Also, there is better table selection because the 2/5 game runs more than the 1/3 game, so if I see a bunch of (young internet players), I can move to another table where its softer. No point of playing with a bunch of regs as all of you know. My first week of play has been off to a decent start and I hope to continue playing well, reading players well, and just try and make the money to provide for the family.
I think the beauty of live play compared to online is that I can quit whenever I want and not worry about having to put in 10k hands today. If im up a buy in, I can just quit the first hour. I have the option and that is something more valuable than staying at the casino grinding 10+ hours not enjoying life. I have more time to spend with my family, more time to study when I wake up instead of putting in a 6am morning session on the computer. It's pretty nice to be able to do that.
I hope everyone is doing well out there and good luck. Until then...
Jeff
So I've been keeping track of my results daily and trying to get a decent sample size. My April results playing 1/3 NL during the month was a little over 8bb/hr, which I'm pretty ecstatic about since I read in a few forums that 5bb/hr is good and 10bb/hr is crushing. Once again over a small sample, but I logged in about 78 hours in April.
Now it is May and I've decided to jump into the 2/5 NL games this month. The player pool is a bit better and the players seem to fight for pots a bit more and also the games are a bit more aggressive. I actually really enjoy the 2/5 game because the chance to make 5K+ a month is now a possibility. Also, there is better table selection because the 2/5 game runs more than the 1/3 game, so if I see a bunch of (young internet players), I can move to another table where its softer. No point of playing with a bunch of regs as all of you know. My first week of play has been off to a decent start and I hope to continue playing well, reading players well, and just try and make the money to provide for the family.
I think the beauty of live play compared to online is that I can quit whenever I want and not worry about having to put in 10k hands today. If im up a buy in, I can just quit the first hour. I have the option and that is something more valuable than staying at the casino grinding 10+ hours not enjoying life. I have more time to spend with my family, more time to study when I wake up instead of putting in a 6am morning session on the computer. It's pretty nice to be able to do that.
I hope everyone is doing well out there and good luck. Until then...
Jeff
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