Creativity

I played a one-hour cash session on Poker Host this morning. I lost $20, but the session was significant for several reasons. First off, I picked off one of the few bluffs I’ve ever called down online. I was in the small blind and completed. The Big blind checked and the flop was AKT, two spades. It was just the two of us. There as .95 in the pot. I bet out .50 and the bb raised to 2. I thought he was just making a move so I called. The turn was a club 8. I checked and he bet out 3. I called again. The river was a nothing 3. I checked and the bb bet the pot, 10. I thought for a moment. I wondered why the bet was so big. Wouldn’t he just check the pot down if he had an ace or a king. He either flopped a straight or was on a flush draw or was just betting to bet. I wanted to see what he had because I couldn’t put him on any sort of hand, so I called and won the pot. He had Ts8s for the flopped flush with bottom pair. That felt pretty good, picking off a bluff. In my last hand of the day, I had AdJd and raised to 1.5. Two other callers, both behind me. The flop was J84. I bet 2 and was raised to 6. Something felt bad about this hand, either an over pair, a set or something that was going to get all the money in. I wasn’t about to lose my 45 stack to the 3.5 I put in the pot, so I folded. It simply wasn’t worth the gambed. I think that was a good fold. OK, so the reason why I lost $20 today is I actually lost a $50 pot. I had AA utg and the small blind raised it to 6. I flat called and the flop was KT3. The bb bet $11 and I moved all in. The bb called and had flopped a set of Kings. Nothin’ I can do there. All the money’s going in at some point. I thought I had the best hand barring a set. I seem to run into sets a lot.I’m feeling a real wave of creativity lately. Lots of writing ideas. Lots of possibilities. Maybe that’s what Ford Maddox Ford was talking about when he said writers shouldn’t write novels until they’re over 40. I’m over 40. I have been for four years now. I have things to say. I guess it’s time I begin doing what I was trained to do. Write.

Staying Focused

I’m into my 5th week of my Body for Life 12-week program and so far I’ve done a good job of staying on track. It’s an ambitious agenda, but I’m doing my best to stay focused on my goals. Planning is the key. Having a vision is essential. The egg timer has been a godsend. Egg timer? Yes. My Sunbeam egg timer that I bought at WalMart last month has helped keep me on track when I have short 5-minutes chores to complete. I have a tendency to wander and meander when engaged in a project. My focus is easily shaken. When I’m racing against time to complete something, I’m effectively turning the situation into a game. It’s amazing what I can do in an hour now.

Some hands over the weekend: I totally blew one hand, believing I was playing with good players when in fact I’m playing in a $5 tournament with beginners. I had 66 in early position. The flop was AA9. I checked and two other players checked. The turn was a 6. I bet out and both players called. The River was an 5. I bet the pot, I was called, then the third player pushed all in. I folded thinking he had A5 or A9. He had 87 for a straight. Ouch. I was out an hour later. I sometimes out think myself and will fold something that isn’t the nuts, thinking my opponents would only raise if they had the best hand possible. What hurts my game is my bankroll is too low to play better players, so I’m always giving these crazy players more credit than they deserve. I must remember this.

I played a lot of poker over the weekend and was getting frustrated at losing every race I was involved in, while players who pushed every hand won every race. What made the weekend worse was I was losing on the river every time. Such a brutal game at times.
Mom arrives next week. It’ll be nice to see a bunch of movies and eat great food. I think she’ll have a fantastic time!

One Day at a Time

Hitting the groove with my activities, playing poker, writing, cleaning, living life, accomplishing goals. So much on my plate. My poker game is picking up. Placing 3rd in the $5 $2,000 guaranteed was sweet, because it means I can start playing in larger buy-in tournaments with $317 in my account. I began this account with a free $20, and was down to around $4 at one point. I build it up to $100 two months ago. Now with the extra $200, I can play some satellites and no limit cash games. The players on Sportsbetting (aka Cake Poker) seem a little easier to read than the players on Poker Host. The PearlJammer video on PokerXFactor really helped in showing how tight one must play in certain situations. I’m noticing this more and more. I think not making the WSOP last summer was perhaps a good thing for me, because it forced me to improve my game and seek help outside of my typical improvement arena. PokerXFactor has been a big contributor to improving my game, both in tournament and cash games. I can see how poker can become a full-time profession if you want to get really good.
I received a wink from a woman named Diana last week. We talked on the phone last Thursday and planned to perhaps get together this week sometime. I called her on Monday night but have not heard back from her. This has happened many times to me, and it makes me wonder what I’m doing wrong. Then again, maybe I’m not doing anything wrong. It’s just the way it is when it comes to dating. So I’m looking for more prospects. What’s depressing is tomorrow I’m one year older. 44. How did I get to be so old? I don’t feel old. I certainly don’t act old.
I like how I’m improving in all my primary activities. I’ve been forced to step up my racquetball game because Tyrone has committed himself to becoming a better player. He takes lessons, goes to clinics and tournaments, plays all the time, and practices. He gotten so good, and he hits the ball about as hard as Robbie. He may be better than I am right now, which makes me work just as hard on improving my game. I’ve been focusing on getting my backhand shots down this week. Today I played well and made some smart kill shots. Dorian and I won five games in-a-row before losing the last one. One day at a time.

Goals for the Weekend

I can learn from those who are so focused and committed to achieving their objectives. I can learn from those who have a true vision of what it is they want to accomplish, then do it, despite setbacks, despite being tired, despite whatever internal voice is whispering to them that they simple won’t make the cut. As I enter my 45th year, turning 44 next week, I realize I’ve spent so much of my life dreaming about making accomplishments but never actually going out and doing it. I set the bar so unrealistically high sometimes that I’ve created an impossible situation for myself. So I much learn to make limitations. Take things one day at a time. Set reasonable goals.
Here are my goals for the weekend in each of the six goals I have set for myself:
1. Body for Life: Weekend Goal: a) Upper body & cardio on Saturday; b) resupply food for the week; c) printouts prepared for the week.
2. Chris and My New Script: Weekend Goal: a) Brainstorm writing session of 90 minutes, all ideas that come to mind. b) 90 minutes on scene with Richard’s mother.
3. Don’s Script: Weekend Goal: a) Create a shelf for Don’s Script. b) Open files. c) Spend 1 hour reading what I have. Let’s see what I have.
4. Poker: Weekend Goal: a) Play any freerolls available; b) update all accounts and create poker account action plan. c) Complete Poker Host bonus.
5. Home Remodel: Weekend Goal: a) Spend 20 minutes in bedroom creating a “Complete List” of what needs to be done to complete the bedroom. b) Remove from Garage all Goodwill items and free items to be sent to Craig’s List.

Tough Day, but Plugged Through

An interesting day. Took the day off from gym, slept until 8, was in a fairly fowl mood all day, don't know why. But did manage to accomplish a few things, like creating charts and logs for my poker playing. I can do a better job playing poker, imagining what my opponents have, and knowing when I'm beat. I did figure out how the percentage of bb in different heads up matches determines strategy. No writing today, so I will have to write hard tomorrow so as not to lose any of the momentum Chris and I have. OK, all for now. Bye.

A Poker Study Day

I spent today studying poker and watching some PokerXFactor videos as well as learning some of the new features on the site. Good stuff. I learned how to resize my PokerXFactor screen so that I can now watch videos and play poker at the same time. Very cool!
I’m thinking of buying a big monitor in order to play a bunch of games at one time. I need to accelerate my win rate and play rate at poker. Truth is I just don’t devote a lot of hours to poker each day. There’s no way I can win if I don’t play more.
My meeting with Chris went well last night. He created a character who I really like, Jennifer’s friend Sylvia, a testicle crusher, bitter and fun. The script is rising.
My racquetball game is off. I’m hitting shots up and away, and my ceiling game is non-existent. The only way to fix it is to practice, practice, practice. I’m itching to play a MTT soon. And study more SNG strategy. And satellite strategy. My new action plan is to play as many of these as possible to get experience in the big tournaments.

Onward but Tired

I’ve been tired all afternoon, but still try to get some work done. I’m now working on new scenes for my and Chris’s script. The introduction of Richard’s mother will be fun. I really like this script. It could actually turn into something special. It’s sparse and sharp so far. An easy read. I received a wink on match and my first positive email in a while. Looks like I’ll be on a date soon enough. So I’m making progress toward completing my goals by Dec. 9. I really like the 12-week approach. Very good.

10/1

October 1 and I’m totally focused on my six goals. I sent the first 17 pages of the act 1 draft to Chris this morning. I think it’s pretty good...some fun lines and a nice rapport between Jennifer and Mark. The more I work on this new script the more I like it. That’s a good sign. Over the weekend I played around 4-5 hours of poker on Poker Host. I’m about 10 hours from my $300 bonus. Not bad at all. Getting real close. I’ve been playing heads up and really like the challenge of it. It’s nervewracking but the more I play the better I get. I have to schedule more time for PokerXFactor. I’m real behind in my video viewing.
It’s the 3rd week of my 12-week Body for Life program, and already I can see results in my chest, arms and legs. Yesterday when I worked on my lower body, I was able to lift every weight I had originally assigned to myself. That’s pretty good. If I can do that tomorrow with my arms then I’ll be very impressed.
Last night I sent five or six new messages to women at match. So at the moment I’ve sent 9 or 10 messages. That’s pretty good. If I have a 5-10% success rate with responses, I should start seeing some dates line up soon. That will take care of Goal #6.OK, time to write a little bit before the work starts piling up.