There is nobody to blame but myself though, I knew from the start I wasn’t all that focused, and it showed. The main reason I don’t play that often is because I only like to play when I have a lot of enthusiasm for it and a good block of time in front of me in case I need to ride out some variance. I didn’t have either. So the bankroll is down to $161. No big thing really, I’m chalking it off to as just a stupid night, an aberration.

Time for a little holdem update. I played some holdem at Pokerstars this weekend - where I started with $2.00 that I won in a freeroll - and my bankroll is now at a all time high of $169.66. To anyone who plays holdem regularly, that isn’t much. For me though, my goal has always been to not put any money in while continuing to grow my bankroll and move up limits. I play 3 tables at $5NL right now and plan on moving up to $10NL when my bankroll reaches $200. I don’t play a lot, I probably average about 3 sessions per week, so the journey has been slow but all that matters to me right now is that the journey continues.

As far as this past weekends play, I did have a first happen to me in the same session.  I won an all-in pot with pocket Aces against A-K, and then not long after lost an all-in pot with A-K against Aces.  It was a strange feeling, I couldn’t get frustrated at all since I just did it to someone else.  It’s also a testament to the roller coaster ride that is holdem.  So to any of the poker players that read this blog, do you play online?  Which site(s)?  What limit(s) do you currently play?

Here is this flickr users description:

Because you insisted, here’s the unedited screaming version. I also added video from a minute before the lightning struck so you can get an idea of how hard it was raining. From what i understand, it went through my left hand holding the camera, crossed my back and exited out of my right hand holding onto the metal railing. No entry or exit wounds, as i was not directly struck, i got just a really good zap from one of the “finger arcs” that happen when lightning hits.

I’m glad I took photos of Bert our African Grey when we first got him. We’ve had him for a little over a year now. I was organizing photos when I came across some of Bert’s newer photos and was surprised to see the difference in his feathers from a year ago. It’s something you don’t notice in a day to day change. Bert was previously in a very loving home, my wife’s grandpa owned him for many years, but when he passed we took Bert in (we think Bert was around 15-20 years old when we got him). Her grandpa smoked though, and Bert had always been on a seed only diet. Add the fact that he had lost his long time flock companion, and Bert was not doing well. My wife, being a veterinarian, nursed him back to decent health. After a year out of the smoke, a much better diet and having other birds (and animals) to interact with everyday, I was happy to see that he physically looks better. I put together the above collage to kind of show how his feathers have improved. How about you, do you have any pets that are rescues?

I basically never play holdem in the morning, I may have to change that though. The only time I played this weekend was Sunday morning, and in 15 minutes I had won over $10 at $0.02/$0.05 NL holdem. I don’t really think it had anything to do with the time of the day. It was more likely just a coincidence that I ran into some really terrible players. If the same thing happens next time I play in the morning, then maybe there is some strategy here. The worst part about playing in the morning though is I’m not ready to start drinking beer yet.

Update:
Current Bankroll: $159.82 | Goal before moving up: $200.00 | Started with: $2.00

I played holdem online at Pokerstars for the first time in 9 days last night. I wish I had something exciting to report, but nothing spectacular ever happened. My brother showed up with his motorcycle to show off his new exhaust, and he decided to sit in on my session so we could brainstorm on strategy, etc. It was surprising how differently we play in certain situations. This was very helpful though, in the long run it will make it harder for my opponents to read me, while continuing to put them in tough spots. Unfortunately I see a very busy weekend ahead of me again and I probably won’t have time to play this weekend. You never know though. My bankroll is up to $149.07 from the $2.00 I won in a freeroll, I have yet to invest any money.

I love thunderstorms, but between wreaking havoc at work and on my golf addiction, they don’t love me. Thunderstorms are an unusual blend of beauty and ugliness, which is why they are so intriguing. This past Wednesday, July 2nd, I witnessed some of the more severe storms I can remember. I was able to watch the front roll in, the wind pick up, the temperature drop, the dark take over, the sheets of rain and hail pummel everything- it was like someone flipped a switch and the weather changed. Next thing you know, the whole area is without power, work is flooding in areas, and my 4 day weekend is now a 3 day weekend. I wish I had my camera with me, I bring it with me most places, but forgot to grab it on my way out the door that morning (thanks to J-a-x for the use of his photo). We didn’t get power back at home until sometime late Thursday, about 24 hours, not bad considering I know some people had it much worse. These storms were the start of a very busy holiday weekend, which didn’t leave me any time to blog or play holdem. What are your thoughts on storms? Love ‘em, hate ‘em, somewhere in between?

After weeks of anticipating upgrading my Flickr account when I reached 200 photos, I did so yesterday on my lunch hour. While organizing my Flickr photostream with more sets and now collections, storms roll through and knock out power (as well as flood areas, in the building even). I end up spending 17 hours at work, where we now have power, and am back here on my day off now. We still don’t have power at home, where I was hoping to sit back with a beer and play some holdem online last night, which obviously isn’t possible without power. Maybe I’ll go golf then, if there are any courses that aren’t flooded that is. Mother nature is awesome, I witnessed some wicked storms yesterday, but sometimes she is evil too.

Until I have power back…

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