Whats New!

I just realized tonight that I haven't played poker on-line in three days. Mostly due to my site being down, switching hosting companies and figuring everything out again. The new hosting company has a lot of features that I didn't have excess to before so it has been like Christmas here for me in the last couple days.

For those of you that come to this blog through my site, I will give an update on the changes. First on the poker front, no changes! Still right where I was 3 days ago. Last I played I finished the Interpoker monthly bonus. (If your bonus chasing, this one is a must) Cashed out and have never cashed back in anywhere! I'm pretty sure it will be Intertops next. They have a $10,000 Freeroll for "active" players at end of the month so I think I will go over there and be active.

My site now has a new looking calendar. This one is much better than the old one (Came with new host!) I like the mouse over feature when you view and the admin stuff on this side makes my life easier. The big difference is that it is a stand alone calendar so I have to link to it instead of displaying it like before but it opened up the page for a Special Monthly Promos section. I will be able to list all the "special goings on" now on a monthly basis.

The new hosting company also allows me to do newsletters. So I am considering a monthly freeroll newsletter. Though this will be down the road a few months it is a probable happening. You will be able to sign up through the site. I get a lot of good stuff from the poker rooms each month and a newsletter will be a good way to pass it on.

The last "new" thing going on is that casino bonus chasing has entered the back of my head and is making its way forward. Been doing some background reading (here and here). Might give this a try next month; just have to get my head wrapped around it.

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Go read Iggy. He is posting a 10 part story that has been hilarious!

I finally got around to updating the blogroll so just sit back,relax, grab a refreshment and read them all! Great stuff being written all around.


Till Next Time!

Poker Life

Life is too important to take seriously.

-Corky Siegel

Either consciously or unconsciously, we all have a priority list, in some way there are filters that we use to make all our decisions in life. For example, my family and I are moving. Since my job is now poker, my wife and I decided that being 5 hours away from any core family members was getting old and it would be nice not to have to travel every holiday. Our family is the first “filter” in this decision so we sat down and discussed it with them. I have a daughter getting ready to move into High School, so moving may have been a big deal for her. Come to find out we are all about 100% sure on the move and 50/50 on were to go! I took an idea ran it through the filter and it came out a little different. Such is life.

Each section of your life has a filtering process it goes through for decision making. In the above example, if I had a “real job”, I would have to see if moving made since on the job front before I went to the family. Just a different set of filters had to be used. The number of filters you have to go through to reach a decision depends on the ranking of importance that decision has. This is where poker comes in.

To me it was easy. Poker became a source of income for my family before I was ready. I was offered/forced a transfer at my last job and I turned it down and left. Knowing at the current bankroll I was at I couldn’t provide like I was doing, the family filter kicked in and we decided my wife would get a part time job after 12 years of being a housewife. It is working; I am paying some bills and building a bankroll as we go. So for me, poker is ranked on my priority list right there were my job used to be. I have a schedule of playing time and poker takes priority during that time. Poker is my profession and I try to improve and move up in it just like if I was trying to climb the corporate ladder. It gets talked about around my house just like it was a regular 9 to 5, with even my 7 year old son asking “How was work today dad?” There are times when poker has a higher priority over other decisions and times when it doesn’t. Poker is a big part of my life, but not my whole life. This is where I see a lot of people having trouble with poker. Where does it fit end?

I think for all of us it started out as a fun hobby, a curiosity, a way to release and if I lose “x” amount of money a month it doesn’t matter. It was cheaper than going out every week. To some it never gets over that level (Thank You!) It is a low priority with possibly 100’s of filters to go through to see if you play or not. Oh yes, the recreational players.

For a few of us, poker moves up the ladder a little and we start reading books, studying the game and we start to take an extra interest in whether we win or lose and taking steps to get better. We recognize the potential for “extra” money. We start to make time for poker and it takes priority over the late night TV show and maybe over a night out with friends.

Over time you learn, you win, you lose but overall you are coming out ahead. This is when successful poker actually becomes a problem. Life gets in the way and there is no time to do it all. At this point I would like to advise you to take a breath and step back. Consciously decide where poker fits in to the priorities in your life and act accordingly. Run the decisions through your priority filters and see where it comes out. Whether you find more time or less time for poker, be happy with that decision because:

Life is too important to take seriously.

Loving it Live!

2 more weeks in the 12 week session on the live events. Then the top 40 get a final tournament with awards to the final table. It has been a blast. You have to complete 12 events to qualify, and the top 40 go from there. I finished events 11 and 12 tonight. Drew the 10s in both events and finished 3rd in both events. To add a little more wierdness, lost with TT big in both events. Now I have 2 weeks to up my final score because only the top 12 events count. I have a couple bad showings I would like to erase.

I haven't played online in a few days. Just been taking it easy. Got a new hosting company and waiting for domain transfer. I waited 12 hours to hear something from my now previous hosting company, got 4 emails saying what I had done wrong then one final email telling me what they "found" and fixed and I should be OK now. I am OK now, I switched!

I have been wondering about the importance of poker in the grand scheme of life and since my last couple of posts have been lacking a lot, my next post will be about what I discovered. Hopefully it will be from a different angle than what you'd expect.


Till Next Time!

Damn Web Hosting

As many of you are well aware, 4Flush.Com is down and since my "superb" customer service hasn't contacted me in 8 hours, I am currently looking for a new hosting company. My hope's are to be back up and running in a few days.

New meaning to "get paid to blog" at Sound of a Suckout. Check it out. Great idea.

Been real busy so not much in poker going on. May try to go to Intertops.

Will be back soon with a quality post. :)

Til Next Time!