Flushed Away

This past Thursday, Hollywood Casino in Lawrenceburg, IN kicked off the 2012 Tri State Poker Championship.  Event #1 was the $345 Deepstack NL Holdem event.  This years guarantee prizepool was a whopping $300k. 

My goal for thi sevent was to play solid poker.  I was to make it a point not to get too creative or cute with any hands.  I wanted to focus on position and hand strength. 

There is a new rule being enforced this year.  Any player exposing cards with action pending is assessed a one orbit penalty.  I think I am probably the first player to be hit with this excessive penalty.  During Level 2, I was UTG and in seat 2.  I pitched my rags towards the dealer.  The room was so humid that the cards never easily slid off my finger tips.  Well this time I pitched my cards, somewhat clumsily, and they caught the hands of the player sitting in the 1 hole.  He happened to be reaching for some chips and flicked my cards over.  The floor was called to make a ruling.  The player in the 1 hole said it was his fault.  Nonetheless, I was assessed a penalty.  I had to step completely away from the table until my orbit was up.

With time to kill, I worked the room, looking for friends and fellow poker players I knew.  Part of the reason I love these big tournaments is because it is the only time I get to see some of my poker friends who live out of town.  I have developed a lot friendships with guys from http://www.badbeatspoker.net/.  BBP kind of originated in Central Ohio, but there are members from all over the world.  BBP helped me to go from a losing player to one capable of holding his own with other good players.

When I returned to the table, I was immediately dealt JJ.  I was able to turn my pocket pair into a small money maker.  From that point until dinner break, I quietly, and slowly accumulated a few chips here and there.

Sometime around 7pm, I believe it was Level 11, I picked up AK.   I had an average stack of around 44k.  I opened from UTG and got 2 callers.  The flop came AK7 with two spades.  I can't remember a time where I held AK and flopped both A and K or better.  I bet out around 3/4 of the pot.  The first caller shoved all in.  The second pre flop caller folded and I snap called the all in.  I show my AK and he flips over A4 both spades.  Turn comes an 8h.  All I had to do was fade a spade on the river and I was on my way to making a deep run in this event.  The river comes and........3s!!!!  Oh the pain! 

With 15 big blinds left and the blind level set to increase soon,  I was left on life support.  It was time to play the shove or fold game.  My first chance to get my chips in the middle was with K6o when the table folded to me on the button.  Big blind called with AT and simply crushed the flop.

The good thing about getting busted when I did, was the fact that I had just enough time to register for the $100 nightly tournament.

These tournaments are super soft.  However, the starting stacks are small andwith all the bad players, it's like navigating through a mine field.

I'll make this short by saying I built a huge stack.  I was probably top 5 with 50 players left.  I was on the button when UTG shoves.  It folds to me and I wake up with pocket Kings.  I snap.  He shows AJhh.  I cringe as I see two hearts hit the flop.  The hand is over on the turn as the villain catches his flush card.

I few hands later, I can't get a kid off of his hand when I flopped top pair with a backdoor straight draw.  He called me down on every street and caught a four outer on the river to fill in his gut shot straight.  C'est la vie.

I finished my night with a little $1/$2 action.  I played about 2 hours and made back $215.  It was one of the few times I picked up my chips on my owns terms while being up.  Usually I shut a local club down or have to leave because I have to be home, or I simply busted out.  It was the best part of my night.

Tri State Poker Championship

Here is an e-mail I sent to my list of interested investors.  This offer is not just available to them.  Anyone who is interested is welcome to come along for the ride.  Just leave a comment, call, or e-mail me.

I hope that 2012 has been good to everyone thus far.

The Tri State Poker Championship at Hollywood Casino kicks off March 15 with their $345 Deep Stack event.  This year's Deep Stack event is guaranteed to have a $300k prize pool.  

Last year was a pretty tough year for me tournament wise.  I didn't have any major cashes, only a few sub $500 prizes in nightly and local tournaments.  I am definitely due for another deep run.

I typically offer around 60/40 split in favor of my investors.  This year I want to get more people involved and make my run more rewarding to those that want a piece of my action.  This year I am offering a whopping 80% cut to my investors.

Each share will cost $1 with a minimum investment of $20.  The amount of money I am able to raise will determine the events I play.  Event #1 will for sure be on the schedule.  Depending on the bankroll, I may also play in satellite tournaments and cash games. 

Some events award a seat to the Main Event.  If I win a seat into the Main Event, all winnings from that will be included into the final bankroll.  I will be covering all of my own expenses such as gasoline, hotel, and food.  If the bankroll is up $3,000 or more, I reserve the right to take 5% up to a max of $300 to cover expenses.  If I win $5,000 or more in any one event, you will have the option of paying taxes on the winnings yourself or have me withhold and pay the taxes for you.

I have over $20,000 in live tournament cashes.   $13,000 of it is shown here  http://www.bluffmagazine.com/players/Bruce-Dye/62996/tournament-results.asp .  Unfortunately, it doesn't show my chop for $6,000 in 2009 at the Indiana State Poker championship.

I have set up a twitter account so that my investors can follow my progress.  I like to update my backers every couple of hours with info like how much I have in my stack and interesting hands.   I used to do this via text but Twitter will be a lot better.  Sign up to follow me.  My Twitter account is twitter.com/dyehard5.  You can follow my progress via the Twitter site or have tweets sent to your cell phone.  Also, I think my twitter account got reset, so if you were receiving updates via your mobile phone, you will need to set that up again. 

I think that I have covered everything.  If you have any questions, feel free to e-mail or leave a comment.  Also, please share this with anyone that you think may be interested.  The more backers I can get, the bigger tournaments I can play.

Finally, let me know if you want to be removed from this list or if you have an alternate e-mail address you would like for me to use.  The tournament is in 2 weeks, so let me know asap if and how many shares you want, and how you want to deliver the funds.

 

Thanks again for looking,

January Review

January 2012 Goals


1. Exercise M-F after I get the kids on the bus. - I met this goal up until I had my surgery.
2. Play <$10 MTT's in January regardless of BR (online). - Prior to my surgery, I met this goal.  After a week off for the surgery, I started playing again.  I played one or two $12 tournaments.  I had a sufficient bankroll but just forgot about the $10 restriction I placed on myself. 
3. Limit cash games to 10% of BR (online).- I met this goal.
4. Save $100 for vacation.- Fail.  Too many expenses combined with time off prevented me from reaching this goal.

Due to my surgery last month, some of my goals had to be put on hold.

I've been picking up the volume of late.  I played two sessions shortly after my surgery and on pain killers.  I played pretty well and built some nice stacks.  Unfortunately, the pain killers started making me drowsy.  An hour or two into my sessions all I wanted to do was close my eyes.  I made some really big plays and busted out to book a losing session.  I decided at that time to wean myself of the percocets and take some time off of poker until I was mentally able to play a minimum 4 hour session.

When I returned to the virtual felt, I made a very nice run to put my month back in the black.  I've been dominating the smaller stakes games and am looking forward to playing $10+ games.

On February 2, I finished 2nd in the $6 rebuy for $260.37.   Three days later, I finished second in the same event.  This time I collected $306.18.  With my bankroll near $700, I am now ready to play some bigger games.

Going Under the Knife

Well, January has come and gone.  Hopefully everyone has got 2012 off to a good start and haven't abandoned their resolutions yet.  For me, I have to admit January was kind of a wash.

Last summer, I started feeling a slight pain in my right shoulder.  It only hurt when I laid on my right side with my arm over my head, or if I tried to lift an object laterally.  Throwing a baseball or football created the most severe pain.  I noticed the pain a couple of weeks after playing in the pool with my kids.  Over the course of two weekends, I probably threw them 200 times from the deck, as high as I could into the air, and into the pool.  Like most people, I figured I strained a muscle and expected it to get better in a couple of days, or couple of weeks at worse.  Meanwhile, I was still able to golf and do most other activities as I waited for my shoulder to heal.  Well, days turned to weeks, and weeks turned to months.  My shoulder never improved.  In fact, I felt like it was getting worse by late fall.

At this point I knew I needed to get my pain checked out.  Turns out I had a pretty big tear in my Labrum.  Dr. Thomas Kovack said I could try therapy and cortisone shots, although, injuries like this typically heal on their own within a couple of months.  If it hasn't healed on its own by then, then it probably won't without surgery.  He informed me that he would perform arthroscopic surgery followed by two months in a sling and up to three months of physical therapy.  Doc said it would be about 6 months before I was 100%.  Not wanting to put this off any longer, I elected to go under the knife.

My surgery was scheduled for the following Wednesday, January 11th.  The day before, I told everyone at my office that I would be out the rest of the week and probably return on Monday.

Wednesday morning, the nurses were going through my pre op procedure.  They inquired about my medical history.  I told them I have never had surgery, not even to remove my tonsils.  My nurse said, "you picked a great one to be your first."  She continues to tell me that shoulder surgery is the second most painful to have done.  After she tells me how much pain, and how long typical shoulder patients take to recover, she them basically tells me it is in my best interest to accept a secondary anesthetic when offered by the Anesthesiologist.  The nurse behind her nodded her head in profound agreement.

Skip to post surgery.  Recovery room.

A nurse tells me and Erin that when they tried to wake me, I became "violent."  She also mentioned that I pack a pretty powerful punch, and that she thought I was going to hop off the table.  So, like Thor in the hospital scene, she says they had to get 6 people to hold me down while they sedated me.  LMAO!






Dr. Kovack said he couldn't believe that the damage I did to my shoulder was the result of playing with my kids.  He said 90% of my labrum was torn, all but one inch of it.  Also he had to reattach my bicep.

The nurses were right.  Even though I had a boat load of pain killers, I was still feeling it.  I couldn't move my right arm at all.  I spent the first 3 days and nights in my recliner.  On the third day, I was instructed to remove my dressing and was permitted to take a shower.  For those that haven't seen, here is what I saw after unwrapping myself for the first time.

Each day I feel I am getting better.  A little stronger.  A little more range of motion.  A lot less pain.  I started physical therapy this past Tuesday.  I swear I was was on the verge of tears.  I thought they were going to rip my arm out of my shoulder socket.

It's been three weeks since my surgery.  I have slept in my bed twice, both times I had to get up in the middle of the night and retreat to my Lazy Boy due to discomfort.  I'm getting cabin fever and going stir crazy.  Remember when I told my co-workers I'd be back the Monday after my surgery?  Yeah that was 24 days ago and I haven't been back yet.

New Year, New Goals

This seems to be about as good a time as ever to update my blog.  2011 was a very stressful and trying year for me.  That is why I am excited to see the calendar flip over.  I have a couple of projects I am working on and several irons in the fire.  With a little dedication, and a little luck, 2012/2013 will be a great year for the Dye family.

Setting goals is one of the most common traits among successful people.  I have never had a problem setting goal.  It's the following through part that I have had trouble with.  This year, I am going to set some broad year end goals as well as short term monthly goals.  Monthly goals should be easier to focus on, and, if I can meet most of my monthly goals, my year end ones should be in striking distance by year end.

2012 Goals


Increase my revenues by 12% at work.
Eliminate my "financial question marks".
Have vacation money saved up by June 1.
Get in better shape.
Rehab my shoulder.
Join a softball team for fall league.
Play basketball at least twice a month by September.
Help out more with household chores.
Accurately track my poker profits - to the dime.
Show a profit in all phases of poker (live and online, cash and tournaments).
Show better discipline with bankroll management.
Update my blog monthly at the least.



January 2012 Goals


Exercise M-F after I get the kids on the bus.
Play <$10 MTT's in January regardless of BR (online).
Limit cash games to 10% of BR (online).
Save $100 for vacation.

I am sure I'll come up with some additional goals, which I'll add in future months.

Good luck to all in 2012.

Live long and prosper.  haha

River Rats Reincarnated

I created this blog for the most part to talk about my poker escapades.  Well since there isn't much poker going on since Black Friday, I haven't had anything interesting to post.  Therefore, the absence of my blog for the last few weeks.  However, I hate to abandon this so soon after I created it.  I've decided to start writing about whatever hits me at the moment.

I hope to write my next entry later this week.  It will describe all the many wonderful things I have done the last weeks.  I know you are all on the edge of your seats, eager with anticipation.  Please try your best not to lose any sleep.

Now What?

I think that most of you folks reading my blog are poker players, so I won't go into the gory details of Black Friday.  For those of you who aren't in tune with the daily comings and goings in poker, April 15, 2011 is now being referred to as "Black Friday."  Last Friday, the DOJ and FBI essentially seized and shut down online poker for US players.  This is very devastating for so many US players who play online poker for a living.  For me it is not as devastating since I am a recreational player.  Also, I only had about $800 online and a few Step Tickets.  But, I know of many players who had up to $50k online.  With sites like Full Tilt and Pokerstars, as well as payment processors being shut down, withdrawing those funds are near impossible.  Like I said, I don't have much money online, however, I just started running pretty good in cash games and ran ungodly in the Single Table Super Turbo Step Tournaments.

My goal the last couple of weeks prior to Black Friday was to play and collect as many Step 4 and 5 tickets as possible.  Step 4's are valued at $75 while Step 5's are valued at $215.  I was going to use these tickets to try to win seats into this years WSOP satellite events in Las Vegas.  My biggest disappointment as a result of Black Friday, is that I won't be able to cheaply take a shot at winning one or more seats to this year's WSOP events.

Now that online poker has been shut down for the most part, I think I will use some of my newfound time to play some more live poker.  The problem is, to play live poker, a person needs a much higher bankroll.  Online, I can play a full schedule with $200 with the long term expectation of of increasing my bankroll by 10-20% per session.  Even if variance gets the best of me, and say I run at -80% Return on Investment (ROI) in a session, I will still end the day with $40 plus the rest of my bankroll that wasn't used.  Now to play in a live $1/$3 NL cash game, I realistically need to come to the table with about $500.  In the short run, anything can happen.  I could sit down and immediately get dealt pocket Kings, only to get coolered by pocket Aces and lose my whole roll for the day.  Unfortunately, I don't have a $10k - $15k live bankroll to play with, so short term variance on the bad side could be devastating.

Since I have lost my chance to win a seat to Vegas, I think I am going to set aside all my profits from live cash  and put it towards a trip to this year's WSOP.  Hopefully I can make friends an enjoy a nice three-some with Lady Luck and Ms. Variance.