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.

The Hollywood Scene

It's been a while since my last post.  I've come to learn that I enjoy sleep more than I enjoy grinding $10 sit and go's and micro MTT's online until 6 am.  I no longer have a burning desire to play every night knowing that I will be going to work late and on 3 or 4 hours of sleep.  This is not to say that I have lost any love for poker.  I would still look forward to grinding those same games if I could do it during normal hours or if I could get in at least 6 hours of sleep without missing work.  Also, live poker is a totally different animal.  I get an adrenaline rush playing live poker, whether it is tournaments or cash games.

Hollywood Casino is holding their Hollywood Poker Open starting March 24.  Each Tuesday in March leading up to the HPO, they are giving away $100 tournament vouchers for individuals who play at least 8 hours of poker.  Last week, I earned the max 2 $100 vouchers.  I started at 7:30 am and finished up at 6:30 am the next day.  I finished my session up around $500.  As I waited for my vouchers to be distributed, I played some 3 card poker.  It's not really poker.  It's more like Caribbean Stud or Let it Ride.  I sat down with a middle aged couple and an older Asian woman.  I got the feeling that the other 3 had been at the table for a while.  After about 30 minutes, the couple got up.  Two hands later, the older Asian woman was dealt a Royal Flush in Spades (AKQ  all spades).  This hand not only won the woman about $800 on her bet but also the progressive jackpot of $6,990!  Had the other couple stayed for 2 more hands, they would have won the jackpot.  What was also cool, is that everyone at the table when the jackpot is hit also wins $100 "envy" bonus.  I got a little off track, but I thought that was a neat story to share.

This past Tuesday, I headed back to the Hollywood to collect another voucher and hopefully make a few bucks at the same time.  The Sunday before, I was up until a 6am.  I had finished up my Sunday schedule online and was witnessing a member of my home poker forum (www.badbeatspoker.net) make it to the final table of the Sunday Millions.  He chopped and won $311k!  So sick.  Anyhow, I decided to sleep in on Tuesday and just go for 1 voucher.  I got to the Hollywood around 3:00pm but a table didn't open up until 4:30. Therefore, I couldn't get in my required 8 hours in order to receive a voucher.  To add insult, I lost $340 playing slots and 3 card poker waiting for a table to open up.

I came to the casino with a little more than $500.  The max buy in for the game I play is $500, yet I only had $200 left.  I thought about withdrawing $400 from the ATM, but decided to try to build a stack with what I had.  The very first hand I was dealt 5 7, normally a pretty shitty hand.  The first few players to act folded.  The guy to my immediate right acted like he wanted to fold but must have convinced himself to put in a small raise.  I immediately knew that I could easily get him to fold by reraising.  By reraising, I also send a message to all those yet to act that I have a pretty strong hand.  No one in live poker, at this level, 3 bets (reraises) without an insanely strong hand.  So even with 5 7, I reraised.  Everyone except the big blind folded, including the original raiser.  My read on him was correct.  Now I had to deal with the big blind.  The flop came out pretty dry.  I made a continuation bet.  The BB called.  The turn card was also non threatening, yet no help to  me.  I fired again only to be called again.  The river came and completed a fairly dry board.  Here's the beauty of playing with a short stack; based on the standard bet sizing on the flop and turn, the standard bet size on the river would be about the the amount I had left in my stack.  If I wanted to win the pot I would have to bet, and if I bet it would have to be an all in bet.  Most players in the live games I play are fish.  Most fish don't go all in without a very strong hand.  General assumption in these games is that if a player bets every street and is willing to get all his chips on the river, then he has a great hand.  So my shove on the river was the perfect bluff. I did, and he folded as expected.  I flipped my hand over to exposed my rags.  The message I wanted to send by showing my cards was "don't f@#* with me," and stay out of my way unless you want risk your whole stack.  I also hoped that by exposing my hand, I could get paid off when I actually held a good hand.

After scooping the first pot, I now had a respectable stack of about $350.  Because I could not get in enough hours on Tuesday, I made it a goal to just play well and make about $500 to compensate my time and travel expenses even though I couldn't get a voucher.  I anticipated playing until midnight or 1 am.  I easily reached my money goal but hacked my time goal.  I finished my session up $2,100.  I failed in my attempt to leave by 1 am as I stayed until noon the next day.

Funny Quote of the Day

I was heads up with a guy who was with some friends and learning the game.  I had flopped top pair of Kings.  He was first to act and asked the dealer:

"Can I check-raise?"

Um, what the hell was I supposed to do after he checked???