Quick poker stats for the month...

Shockingly, I did poorly at 2NL, and well at 5NL. Maybe that means I'm better against better players, or just not paying enough to my 2NL tables. I have to get better at multi-tabling, #1.

For the month....up $14.87 total. At a rate of 1.96BB/100 (AWFUL), 4.36BB/hour (NOT GOOD), and $0.59/hr. (OK).

I earned $14.87 over 122 sessions spread over 20 days. 5,621 hands, and 25 hours. That includes 3 days of over 2.5 hours. So...most days when I play, it is for about 45 minutes or so.

This is where I was shocked:
At the 5NL level, I was up $17.42 for the month. That's pretty good. Running at 6.34BB/100 since the beginning of the year. That's solid.
At the 2NL level, I was DOWN $2.55. I would have been up a buck or so, but my aces got cracked by 4s earlier today, which I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN, DUMMY.
Dummy.
That's pretty bad.

I'm tracing my bad month to a couple of things. As I said previously, I need to get better at multitabling. I'm paying too much attention just to the 5NL, when I need to keep closer tabs on my 2NLs, and probably get a little more conservative. I'm playing about 20% of my hands there, and can probably reign it in to 15-16% and be fine.

Tournament wise, I didn't play too much. Played in 4, won an 18 person tournament, for and as a result, had a net profit of $3.45. I promised myself I'd play in more satellites, but didn't have much of a chance. I hope for that to change in October.

Goals for October.
Hit $200. Yes, I know...I'm at $194.92 (which I should have said earlier), but I want to clear that. 220 would be a nice goal to shoot for.
Clear another 100 VIP points. This month, I hit 113, to make it to 556. 750 gets me 10 free dollars.
Stay above 4BB/100.
Qualify for one Sunday 1/4 million tournament. I want to play in that. I think I can make a run at some point.

That's all. Getting picked up shortly. Would love any poker feedback!

It is September 29th.

One thing I haven't really mention is that I think I broke a rib a couple of weeks ago. I'm not 100% sure, mostly because of the fact that it costs a goodly amount of money to go to the hospital, and I really don't want to go and do that any time soon. Especially if it's something where they'll tell me "rest it, and don't reaggravate it." Oh, OK. I can do that.

Except I played softball on Monday night. I only played catcher, and hit 3 times, but I swung very, very lightly. Grouding towards the gap between short and 3rd. Also, I like playing catcher. If I did that for life, I'd be OK. I certainly like talking to people.

Tomorrow brings the end of the month. Pokerwise, I think that if I play one more day (tonight or tomorrow), it will be 20 days for the month. Not bad.

Busy weekend ahead as well. 2 soccer games to announce, and 1 football game to really be busy with. I'll be helping a Columbus radio station get the postgame feed, and you'll be hearing me live on Sporting News Radio, nationwide.

Randomly, this morning, I started thinking about where I'd like to go on my summer vacation next year. I'll be happy to accept any destination suggestions.

I need a haircut.

I also forgot to mention earlier this week that I have cleaned my spare bedroom. I think that it looks very nice, with the exception of the fact that I still have excess electronics that I need to get to a recycling place, but refuse to do until they have a free event.

Also, I'm notifying Glenn through this internet posting that I need you to help me get my old photos off of my malfunctioning Dell laptop that hasn't been touched for a year.

Thank you for your time.

Also, I'll agree with Glenn that this O'Donnell person in Delaware scares me a little. Mixed breeding of animals and humans? Really?

I like announcing...

I've been very happy that soccer is back in session, and getting to do a few games already has certainly peaked my excitement level. And to think that basketball is about a month away...actually a month and two days...well, that's exciting too.

I can't really explain it. For whatever reason, I'm much more "in the zone" or just focused when I'm announcing, rather than on the radio. Maybe it's the hours. Yes? Yes. That would be why I'm rambling right now.

OK, so, I haven't run for 3 weeks now. The hamstring is feeling much better, and the knees are starting to come around now. But my stomach? Yeah, it's fat. So I'm having to start doing some different exercises. For example, the elliptical. What the hell is that thing. Really. Does anybody actually enjoy that? It's all sorts of weird, like you're suspended in some sort of torture device. I actually think it's the human equivalent of the hamster wheel. Even more so than the treadmill.

Poker is slow this month. Just kind of cool. Not hitting things when I need them. That's poker.

Grandma Cation is in the hospital...struggling after a couple of falls last week. She's going to be fine, as she is a trooper.

This week brings some more soccer announcing, and a Corner Kicks episode, and...let's see, probably some other stuff too.

This update is sucky, but I'm trying to be better about updating. So give me a break.

Life update:

I've talked about this before, and will likely talk about it again. I suppose if I went back and looked at my posts from last August it would say something similar.

C-U is a transitory town. August was a particularly tough month for me, as 5 good friends moved on. So I'm going to mention them all briefly here, if you'll indulge me, in the order they left town.

1) Cassie Arner. Cassie was the sports information (media relations) director for football at the U of I. She and Craig Tiley are the two people I credit with getting me involved with Illinois athletics in the way that I am now. She was a constant advocate for me within the department, and also was amazingly accomodating for me in that I always had weird questions that she allowed me to ask of her players. She was also a close, close friend, and we shared some long talks as I was struggling to find my way and a direction with my career. She always told me I could announce at this level. I am greatly appreciative of that. Cassie is now a big wig at the University of Houston, overseeing their media relations department, and is either an Assistant or an Associate Athletic Director. I'm proud of her.

2&3) Scot Campbell and Michelle Bavester. Single t and the Bav. Scot was the first person we just blatantly stole from the Astronutz to play for the Crackmonkeys. He was, and continues to be, somewhat mysterious, and an amazing friend. I say mysterious because of crap like this: At a grilling of the meats a couple of years ago, he told us he was going to miss a portion of the festivities. We asked why, and he told us he was going to go home for a while for his sister's graduation. Glenn and I looked at each other, and both remarked, "your sister?" We had no idea that he'd had a sister, and by then, we'd known him for two or three years.
Despite the weird things like that, Scot was constantly a part of every Crackmonkey outing, a periodic tennis partner, griller, and much, much, more. He was also Glenn's nemesis when it came to drinking. When Scot was out, Glenn was automatically in trouble.
Bav- Bav came along late in the game, but I'm happy that she did. After Scot broke up with his previous girlfriend, I had multiple people who wanted me to set them up with him. But by the time we felt comfortable asking him about it, he'd already gone out with the Bav, and that was that. Pretty cool. Bav is a complete goofball, always willing to try just about anything, and laughed at my jokes more than she needed to. I'm glad she's joining Scot in boston. Oh yeah, he's at MIT because he's smart, and the rest of us aren't. No big deal.

4&5) Christian and Sarah Michner (and C-Money). I really thought that these three would have another year at Illinois before I just assumed that they'd be gone, but Christian got the call to become the head soccer coach at the College of Charleston, which is where he'd played in college. Spectacular opportunity for him, although it was at a pretty weird time, days before the season was to begin. This one kind of hit me hard, mostly because it was so immediate. Christian took the job, and was gone. I was very thankful that when he stopped back in C-U, he took some time to say goodbye to me, and that meant a lot.
Christian got me back involved with soccer, through Corner Kicks. He loved the sport so much, and loved getting kids and adults involved as well. It was infectious. As a result, I have a renewed love for the game, and have gotten to know a lot more about what the Illini program does, and have gotten to know the soccer players much better. That's been a wonderful thing for me, as I don't have that as much with the tennis program anymore. And Corner Kicks got the ball rolling for webcasts for all of the sports. So kudos.
Julia and I had some wonderful double dates with Christian and Sarah over the couple years we got to know them. Sarah is awesome. An effervescent personality, never took Christian's shit, and always involved. Despite the fact that Christian had so many obligations as a coach, she found ways to make sure Caelen saw Christian, and was involved with the program. On top of that, she coached for the Little Illini Soccer Program, and the two of them had just run their first camp in town. Really an amazing couple that I admired and enjoyed.

So much more that I could say about all of these people. But each one made a major impact on me.
So...
Cassie, thank you for believing in me and continuing to push me and push for me. I know you helped further me along in my career, and I'm so thankful. What you're doing with Cleve is amazing, and I have the utmost admiration for the way you're combining your career with your personal goals.
Scot and Bav, your friendships have meant the world to me. You two, along with most of the rest of the team, have really personified what it's meant to be a Crackmonkey...competitive, compassionate, and cameraderie. (I just made that up, but it does kind of work) Interestingly, I never think we hung out enough, but I have tons of truly special memories from the times we did. Thank goodness we have gchat, and get to talk every day now.
Christian and Sarah, I don't know how to sum up my feelings for you guys. So I'll just say this. When I feel bogged down, and think about the fact that I've got to go do this, or go do that, and just overwhelmed, I will think about the passion and zeal for life that both of you showed. Never did I hear a peep about the fact that travel and hours would keep you guys apart more than you'd probably like. You guys always made it work, and ALWAYS had smiles on your faces about it. That's what you've given me, an appreciation for making the best and enjoying every situation you're presented with.


While having close friends move away is/has been emotionally taxing, being able to talk and write like this about my friends makes me again realize I'm surrounding myself with some wonderful, wonderful people. I think about the people I continue to have as my friends, teammates, text buddies, whatever...and I know that they're all people I could write these types of paragraphs about. If you're reading this, you're likely one of them, so don't think I'm not appreciating you since I've not written about you. :)

So, again, while these friends have all moved on for wonderful opportunities, I thank them all for their special impacts on my life, and refocus to include them in new ways, and find new people, and new situations to help fill small voids within what I think remains a very full and enjoyable life. It's not a loss, it's just a shift. And a move forward.

Poker update, before the life update:

Okie dokie.....I'll try to sum up as best I can from the stats I scribbled down for myself.

Profit for August: $11.37.
Sessions played: 133. The majority were positive, but I didn't go through and check. I'd guess probably about 75ish.
Hands: 5650, at a ratio, roughly of 3/1 of 2NL and 5NL.
Hours played: 24.83
Earning: 2.40BB/100 hands played, 5.47BB/hr, $.20/100 hands played, $.46/hr.

Overall, since beginning to keep track at the beginning of the year, I'm up $3.45 at the 5NL tables ($.13/hr), and $70.07 at the 2NL tables ($.50/hr). (I should point out that those rates are actually comparable, because I tend to play 3 tables at 2NL while playing 1 table at 5NL. So, it's about 15cents/table/hr at the 2NL table. I'm doing this current 3/1 ratio to help maintain my bankroll management. At any one moment, I've got $14 spread over 4 tables. That's actually more than recommended in terms of a ratio to your bankroll, but not awful.)

I played 3 tournaments in August, and won 1, and broke even for the month there. Took one horrible, horrible beat preventing me from getting a satellite entry in to a much bigger tournament. As a result, that cost me a couple bucks, but I'm still pissed off about it.

So, my bankroll after August is at:
$176.41

Like I had said, I wanted to get to $200. I did not do that. I had what I would call a rough month in terms of some bad stretches, but managed to stay on the positive side of things overall.

So my goals for September: Play about 30-40 hours, and hit $200.

I've also gotten closer to my goal of clearing my first bonus. Basically, you get bonus points based on how many hands you play in, and the size of the pots, that kind of stuff. Once you get to 750 points, you get a free $10.

This month, I cleared 140 points, to run my total for the year to 443. So, I have to average about 95 points per month to clear it before the end of the year. I definitely think that's possible. It could help me hit $300.

My other goal is to qualify for one Sunday Quarter Million tournament. Essentially, you can buy in to a $2 satellite tournament, and if you finish high enough, you get an entry in to a tournament that guarantees a prize pool of 250K, with an entry fee of $12. So...yeah, I want to do that once in September.

That's all.