So after my first 6 000 hands or so in my poker career, I was about ready to roll over and die. I was chasing way too many pots, double or even triple barreling with few outs, and basically just trying to push people off of, most likely, made hands. First I should mention that I beat my goal by 10%, playing 11 000 hands, about 5 000 of those in the last week and have really improved my game. It's been like a light switch has turned and things have become a lot clearer like when to give up, when to double barrel, etc. Also, I think the addition of 4-tabling has dramatically upped my game because I've been less likely to tilt. Playing 1 000 hands in a session rather than only 200 or 300 leads to a lot less variance and therefore a lot better (and fewer worse) situations.
So with that being said, I'm almost back to break-even after being down quite a bit. I'm about 3BI short of my initial BR and I don't see any problem surpassing it within the next week with some average play and some nice bonuses coming my way. If all goes to plan, I'll be working my way into some 25NL games by the end of the month, which I have already started datamining.
On a side note, a good friend of mine, JB, and I have made a bet to see who can play the most hands in April in order to get his motivation back up to par and to get some much needed volume for myself. The loser has to buy the other a lobster (or equivalent) dinner at a damn nice restaurant come July when he comes to town. My initial goal for April was to get 12k-15k of hands but I think in order to be competitive in this wager, I'll have to up that to 20k-25k, which is definitely doable with a lot time off in the beginning and end of the month.
That's about it for now, feeling really good about poker at the moment with the profitable last few thousand hands and I'm looking forward to getting it going. I'll post some stats of my first 3k-4k of hands this Friday and also get some hands down to review. Ship it!
S
Monday, March 31, 2008
Friday, March 28, 2008
Ship it!
Hey compadres, had a great session (3 1 hour sessions to be exact). First session I finished off down 2 BI which sucked, I was trying to force the action, getting myself into marginal positions etc., and obviously wasn't happy with my play. Second session I swung it around huge, finishing up around 4BI after getting my money in good the whole time and coming out on top. Third session I finished slightly down (1/10BI) after getting stacked in a cooler (my AKs vs his AJos, board is xJxxA) so I'm happy with that as I know I'll come out on top enough to profitable in that situation.
Going to keep this short as I just posted yesterday with my last 1000 hands so here's my PT stats and then a screenshot describing some of the situations I got in (I got 1/2 BI off that the guy to my left somehow). Oh and I also unlocked another 2BI bonus so my net for today was +4BI, not too shabby at all.
Going to keep this short as I just posted yesterday with my last 1000 hands so here's my PT stats and then a screenshot describing some of the situations I got in (I got 1/2 BI off that the guy to my left somehow). Oh and I also unlocked another 2BI bonus so my net for today was +4BI, not too shabby at all.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Alright so I finished up a 1000+ hand session yesterday (3 mini sessions of 1 hour each) and ended up about 1/2BI, which is a nice win of course but the best part about it was that I was 4-tabling the whole time. Was surprised how it was actually easier than 2 tabling because you had to focus the whole time, whereas your mind tends to wander a bit more when doing only half the number of tables. Probably should have finished upwards of a BI but of course I had 3 or 4 costly mistakes that kept me from killing the session. Here are my stats:
As you can see, I tightened up a bit compared to what I have been doing usually although my AF is still a little on the high side at 4.4. Oh well, small sample size but probably is still telling me that I should take it easy a bit more, still chasing sometimes or trying to push people off decent or made hands.
Before I get into hands that I wasn't happy with, just wanted to state some goals for April. I don't think I'll be able to hit 10 000 hands like I planned for the end of March (currently around 7 500), but I do have some challenging, ableit attainable goals for next month. Here they are:
1) Play 12 000 hands ( with a secondary goal of 15 000 hands)
2)Achieve Bronze Ironman status (15 days of 100 points or 20 days of 50 points). Thought having a pot at the end of the rainbow to chase would be good motivation.
3) Really focus on playing TAG, meaning staying around 16/14/3 for the month.
4) Have my first profitable month?
These goals are all realistic and I should be able to meet or beat all of them. I threw in the ironman challenge just to have a bonus to look forward to, almost like a badge to show off. Good motivation I figure. I really believe that April can be a profitable month (I'll take +$0.01) and with the $80-$100 in bonus that I can unlock, I'm pretty sure it can be. I'll be looking to post every 1000-2000 hands to keep everything up to date and review my mistakes. Wish me luck.
There were a couple hands that killed me, mostly of stupidity but of course I'll share them and provide some commentary.
Free hand converter brought to you by CardRunners
Seat 1: Brandt1 ($6.25)
Seat 2: GottaPayTheBill ($13) -
Seat 3: Smegmadrol ($10.05) -
Seat 4: headson ($5.20) -
Seat 5: mack87 ($10.75)
Seat 6: chrisdaphish ($4.15)
PRE-FLOP:
Smegmadrol posts small blind $0.05
headson posts BIG blind $0.10
Dealt To: mack87
RAISE mack87 ($0.45)
FOLD chrisdaphish
CALL Brandt1 ($0.45)
FOLD GottaPayTheBill
FOLD Smegmadrol
FOLD headson
FLOP:
Pot: $1.05
BET mack87 ($0.80)
CALL Brandt1 ($0.80)
TURN:
Pot: $2.65
BET mack87 ($1.80)
CALL Brandt1 ($1.80)
RIVER:
Pot: $6.25
BET mack87 ($3)
RAISE Brandt1 ($3.20)
CALL mack87 ($0.20)
SHOWDOWN:
Brandt1:
MUCK mack87
Brandt1 collected $11.4 from main pot with a straight, Five high
SUMMARY:
Total pot: $12 Rake: $1.25
Final Board:
Free hand converter brought to you by CardRunners
I swear sets have lost me so much money, I always seem to flop them on ugly ugly boards. The 345 flop of course doesn't really fall into any dangerous territory other than the set over set (unlikely the way he played it) or the straight draw. I put this guy either on two pair (20%), overpair 66-JJ (30%), and overcards (50%). My biggest mistake here was on the river when the 2 came. Probably should have checked behind here as I don't think I'm folding many hands, of course hindsight is 20/20, but a c/f was probably in order as a guy with any Ax hand had me beat.
I think other than that one hand above, it was a pretty straightforward session with the majority of my smaller losses coming from c-betting one too many streets and a cooler (guy flops a bigger boat on the river after getting it all in with 2P). Should finish this month off with roughly 8 500-9 000 hands in the book and looking forward to next month.
As you can see, I tightened up a bit compared to what I have been doing usually although my AF is still a little on the high side at 4.4. Oh well, small sample size but probably is still telling me that I should take it easy a bit more, still chasing sometimes or trying to push people off decent or made hands.
Before I get into hands that I wasn't happy with, just wanted to state some goals for April. I don't think I'll be able to hit 10 000 hands like I planned for the end of March (currently around 7 500), but I do have some challenging, ableit attainable goals for next month. Here they are:
1) Play 12 000 hands ( with a secondary goal of 15 000 hands)
2)Achieve Bronze Ironman status (15 days of 100 points or 20 days of 50 points). Thought having a pot at the end of the rainbow to chase would be good motivation.
3) Really focus on playing TAG, meaning staying around 16/14/3 for the month.
4) Have my first profitable month?
These goals are all realistic and I should be able to meet or beat all of them. I threw in the ironman challenge just to have a bonus to look forward to, almost like a badge to show off. Good motivation I figure. I really believe that April can be a profitable month (I'll take +$0.01) and with the $80-$100 in bonus that I can unlock, I'm pretty sure it can be. I'll be looking to post every 1000-2000 hands to keep everything up to date and review my mistakes. Wish me luck.
There were a couple hands that killed me, mostly of stupidity but of course I'll share them and provide some commentary.
Free hand converter brought to you by CardRunners
Seat 1: Brandt1 ($6.25)
Seat 2: GottaPayTheBill ($13) -
Seat 3: Smegmadrol ($10.05) -
Seat 4: headson ($5.20) -
Seat 5: mack87 ($10.75)
Seat 6: chrisdaphish ($4.15)
PRE-FLOP:
Smegmadrol posts small blind $0.05
headson posts BIG blind $0.10
Dealt To: mack87
RAISE mack87 ($0.45)
FOLD chrisdaphish
CALL Brandt1 ($0.45)
FOLD GottaPayTheBill
FOLD Smegmadrol
FOLD headson
FLOP:
Pot: $1.05
BET mack87 ($0.80)
CALL Brandt1 ($0.80)
TURN:
Pot: $2.65
BET mack87 ($1.80)
CALL Brandt1 ($1.80)
RIVER:
Pot: $6.25
BET mack87 ($3)
RAISE Brandt1 ($3.20)
CALL mack87 ($0.20)
SHOWDOWN:
Brandt1:
MUCK mack87
Brandt1 collected $11.4 from main pot with a straight, Five high
SUMMARY:
Total pot: $12 Rake: $1.25
Final Board:
Free hand converter brought to you by CardRunners
I swear sets have lost me so much money, I always seem to flop them on ugly ugly boards. The 345 flop of course doesn't really fall into any dangerous territory other than the set over set (unlikely the way he played it) or the straight draw. I put this guy either on two pair (20%), overpair 66-JJ (30%), and overcards (50%). My biggest mistake here was on the river when the 2 came. Probably should have checked behind here as I don't think I'm folding many hands, of course hindsight is 20/20, but a c/f was probably in order as a guy with any Ax hand had me beat.
I think other than that one hand above, it was a pretty straightforward session with the majority of my smaller losses coming from c-betting one too many streets and a cooler (guy flops a bigger boat on the river after getting it all in with 2P). Should finish this month off with roughly 8 500-9 000 hands in the book and looking forward to next month.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Poker Frustration and Random Musings
So my goal for this past Friday was to play 1000 hands of poker because I know that I have to get a lot more hands in to get the kind of experience that I need. To sum it all up, I only managed 650 hands before I became too disgusted with myself. I know I'm a pretty patient guy when it comes to things I'm motivated in and I was doing pretty well up to the 400 hand mark where it all went downhill. I got my money in good against a 1/2 stacker with QQ (My notes on him told me he was going in with KT, Ax, etc.) and of course when I finally go head to head with him, he has KK. That didn't really hurt me too much because I know I'd own his stack a lot of the time but it seemed that like that was the play that got the ball rolling on my tilt. My stats were 13.6/11/2.4 >650, which were super tight, but could have been profitable if I kept my cool. Here are some plays that I didn't like:
Seat 1: mack87 ($11.25)
Seat 2: Furry Nut ($19.95)
Seat 3: CRHardHitter08 ($5.25) -
Seat 4: hersheymaster ($2.05) -
Seat 5: gensing ($3.70) -
Seat 6: 4 King Luck ($10)
PRE-FLOP:
hersheymaster posts small blind $0.05
gensing posts BIG blind $0.10
Dealt To: mack87
RAISE mack87 ($0.45)
FOLD Furry Nut
RAISE CRHardHitter08 ($1.50)
FOLD hersheymaster
FOLD gensing
RAISE mack87 ($5)
RAISE CRHardHitter08 ($5.25)
CALL mack87 ($0.25)
FLOP:
Pot: $10.65
TURN:
Pot: $10.65
RIVER:
Pot: $10.65
SHOWDOWN:
CRHardHitter08:
mack87:
CRHardHitter08 collected $9.65 from main pot with three of a kind, Kings
SUMMARY:
Total pot: $10 Rake: $1
Final Board:
Like I said, this was the one that got me tilting somewhat. I knew I was a dog once the cards were shown but the Q on the flop gave me hope, only to have a K on the river. Ugh that hurt. I got my money in good against this guy but to think that I almost sucked out definitely didn't help.
Free hand converter brought to you by CardRunners
Seat 1: Tunny55 ($12.55)
Seat 2: fullyloaded777 ($5.55) Sitting Out
Seat 3: jxxr ($4.05)
Seat 4: macbball31 ($9.40) -
Seat 5: mack87 ($10) -
Seat 6: POPPY5252 ($7.55) -
PRE-FLOP:
mack87 posts small blind $0.05
POPPY5252 posts BIG blind $0.10
Dealt To: mack87
CALL Tunny55 ($0.10)
CALL jxxr ($0.10)
CALL macbball31 ($0.10)
CALL mack87 ($0.05)
RAISE POPPY5252 ($0.40)
CALL Tunny55 ($0.30)
FOLD jxxr
CALL macbball31 ($0.30)
CALL mack87 ($0.30)
FLOP:
Pot: $1.7
BET mack87 ($1)
RAISE POPPY5252 ($2)
FOLD Tunny55
FOLD macbball31
CALL mack87 ($1)
TURN:
Pot: $5.7
BET mack87 ($3)
CALL POPPY5252 ($3)
RIVER:
Pot: $11.7
CHECK mack87
BET POPPY5252 ($2.15)
CALL mack87 ($2.15)
SHOWDOWN:
POPPY5252:
MUCK mack87
POPPY5252 collected $15 from main pot with a straight, Ten high
SUMMARY:
Total pot: $16 Rake: $1
Final Board:
Seat 1: Tunny55 folded on the Flop - Net Gain/Loss: ($-0.4)
Seat 2: fullyloaded777 is sitting out - Net Gain/Loss: ($0)
Seat 3: jxxr folded before the Flop - Net Gain/Loss: ($-0.1)
Seat 4: macbball31 button folded on the Flop - Net Gain/Loss: ($-0.4)
Seat 5: mack87 small blind mucked [6s 6d] - three of a kind, Sixes - Net Gain/Loss: ($-7.55)
Seat 6: POPPY5252 big blind showed [9h Qc] and won 15 with a straight, Ten high - Net Gain/Loss: ($7.45)
Free hand converter brought to you by CardRunners
This hand with 66 was ugly from the get-go but I held on because I put Poppy on a two pair type hand which of course he didn't have. After the 7 came down on the turn, it should have been an easy c/f which I had been pretty good at doing earlier in the session but my old habits came to haunt me. After he called on the turn, I knew I was done but I was already committed to the pot. When he finally bets into my on the riv (another ugly card) I just feel obligated to call the remaining part of his stack. For next time, I know that if the board wasn't as ugly I'd probably call, but I should have c/f on the turn card. Blah.
I also had another almost identical hand with AQs and TPTK on a very drawy board, except villain slowplayed AK on turned the nut straight. Another c/f type situation on a very drawy board.
Free hand converter brought to you by CardRunners
Seat 1: SBucko ($8.20)
Seat 2: rman62 ($6.75)
Seat 3: alexandra5 ($9.15) -
Seat 4: mack87 ($11.65) -
Seat 5: OSUalltheway ($3.90) -
Seat 6: dgtlblcknss ($11.15) Sitting Out
PRE-FLOP:
mack87 posts small blind $0.05
OSUalltheway posts BIG blind $0.10
Dealt To: mack87
CALL SBucko ($0.10)
FOLD rman62
CALL alexandra5 ($0.10)
RAISE mack87 ($0.40)
FOLD OSUalltheway
CALL SBucko ($0.30)
CALL alexandra5 ($0.30)
FLOP:
Pot: $1.3
BET mack87 ($0.80)
CALL SBucko ($0.80)
FOLD alexandra5
TURN:
Pot: $2.9
BET mack87 ($1.50)
CALL SBucko ($1.50)
RIVER:
Pot: $5.9
BET mack87 ($3)
RAISE SBucko ($5.50)
CALL mack87 ($2.50)
SHOWDOWN:
SBucko:
MUCK mack87
SBucko collected $15.9 from main pot with a straight, Six high
SUMMARY:
Total pot: $16 Rake: $1
Final Board:
Seat 1: SBucko showed [4h 5d] and won 15.90 with a straight, Six high - Net Gain/Loss: ($7.7)
Seat 2: rman62 didnt bet folded - Net Gain/Loss: ($0)
Seat 3: alexandra5 button folded on the Flop - Net Gain/Loss: ($-0.4)
Seat 4: mack87 small blind mucked [Ad Ac] - a pair of Aces - Net Gain/Loss: ($-8.2)
Seat 5: OSUalltheway big blind folded before the Flop - Net Gain/Loss: ($-0.1)
Seat 6: dgtlblcknss is sitting out - Net Gain/Loss: ($0)
Free hand converter brought to you by CardRunners
This hand absolutely killed me. I had a dream flop here with Kxx and unless Sbucko has KK (which he definitely didn't), I had by far the best hand. Turn card was blank but here was my mistake I believe. Pot was at $3 and bet only 1/2, I still think it was a bad call on Sbucko to call my bet with basically only a 7 or 2 as an out but he rivered the two and went AI with me and I was forced to call the extra 2.50. Ugly.
Those four hands described were my biggest losers and other than that, I was very happy with my play although disappointed with the outcome obviously. Another weakness in my game though I noticed on two of my hands was when I had the nut straight when the river completes a flush draw. Although I won both as neither of the opponents were playing to the flush, I could have extracted a lot more out of them. I can't become scared once that flush draw hits, especially if they aren't playing like they would be drawing to a flush. Just a thought.
On non-poker news, I have an interview tomorrow for my summer job, a camp counselor at the U of M summer camps so I'm pretty psyched for that. I realized during the last year at the bank that I can't stay in one spot (an office) for very long, it drives me crazy. I also hate working Saturdays as it kills my weekends, especially in the summer. So I'm banking a lot on this interview, if I don't get it there could be some potential waterworks.
Last on the agenda is to report I bought some BMO stock a couple weeks ago when it hit $41.68cdn. I only purchased $1 500 worth (that's all I have lying around) but I think it's a good start. A lot of people think I'm crazy for buying a financial stock right now but here are my reasons why I bought it:
1) I'm not looking to flip right away - I figure I have a 1 year time line (roughly) on holding this stock and I believe that the finance industry stocks will be going very far up (and down) over that time. Buying at its 5 year low gives me pretty good odds.
2) I have a 7% div on that stock ($100/yr). So long as BMO doesn't cut it's div %, I believe I do have some leverage.
3) The entire industry is depressed right now, if I thought BMO would be tanking irregularly compared to other banks, I obviously wouldn't have invested in it.
There are of courses risks involved. The assets BMO holds in the subprime market are pretty volatile and could lead to more write-downs and issuing of equity (just released that BMO restructured it) and that was a gamble for sure, but only a short-term one. If the div % is cut, that'll send the stock downward, but since banks rarely do that for shareholders, I'm saying 80/20 that it won't happen.
Anyways, I wrote a lot today, gotta let it all sink in a look to be more profitable this week.
BTW, goal for the end of march is to have 10 000 hands under my belt. I thought of quitting after Friday but I cooled off and I'm ready to get back into the saddle.
S
Seat 1: mack87 ($11.25)
Seat 2: Furry Nut ($19.95)
Seat 3: CRHardHitter08 ($5.25) -
Seat 4: hersheymaster ($2.05) -
Seat 5: gensing ($3.70) -
Seat 6: 4 King Luck ($10)
PRE-FLOP:
hersheymaster posts small blind $0.05
gensing posts BIG blind $0.10
Dealt To: mack87
RAISE mack87 ($0.45)
FOLD Furry Nut
RAISE CRHardHitter08 ($1.50)
FOLD hersheymaster
FOLD gensing
RAISE mack87 ($5)
RAISE CRHardHitter08 ($5.25)
CALL mack87 ($0.25)
FLOP:
Pot: $10.65
TURN:
Pot: $10.65
RIVER:
Pot: $10.65
SHOWDOWN:
CRHardHitter08:
mack87:
CRHardHitter08 collected $9.65 from main pot with three of a kind, Kings
SUMMARY:
Total pot: $10 Rake: $1
Final Board:
Like I said, this was the one that got me tilting somewhat. I knew I was a dog once the cards were shown but the Q on the flop gave me hope, only to have a K on the river. Ugh that hurt. I got my money in good against this guy but to think that I almost sucked out definitely didn't help.
Free hand converter brought to you by CardRunners
Seat 1: Tunny55 ($12.55)
Seat 2: fullyloaded777 ($5.55) Sitting Out
Seat 3: jxxr ($4.05)
Seat 4: macbball31 ($9.40) -
Seat 5: mack87 ($10) -
Seat 6: POPPY5252 ($7.55) -
PRE-FLOP:
mack87 posts small blind $0.05
POPPY5252 posts BIG blind $0.10
Dealt To: mack87
CALL Tunny55 ($0.10)
CALL jxxr ($0.10)
CALL macbball31 ($0.10)
CALL mack87 ($0.05)
RAISE POPPY5252 ($0.40)
CALL Tunny55 ($0.30)
FOLD jxxr
CALL macbball31 ($0.30)
CALL mack87 ($0.30)
FLOP:
Pot: $1.7
BET mack87 ($1)
RAISE POPPY5252 ($2)
FOLD Tunny55
FOLD macbball31
CALL mack87 ($1)
TURN:
Pot: $5.7
BET mack87 ($3)
CALL POPPY5252 ($3)
RIVER:
Pot: $11.7
CHECK mack87
BET POPPY5252 ($2.15)
CALL mack87 ($2.15)
SHOWDOWN:
POPPY5252:
MUCK mack87
POPPY5252 collected $15 from main pot with a straight, Ten high
SUMMARY:
Total pot: $16 Rake: $1
Final Board:
Seat 1: Tunny55 folded on the Flop - Net Gain/Loss: ($-0.4)
Seat 2: fullyloaded777 is sitting out - Net Gain/Loss: ($0)
Seat 3: jxxr folded before the Flop - Net Gain/Loss: ($-0.1)
Seat 4: macbball31 button folded on the Flop - Net Gain/Loss: ($-0.4)
Seat 5: mack87 small blind mucked [6s 6d] - three of a kind, Sixes - Net Gain/Loss: ($-7.55)
Seat 6: POPPY5252 big blind showed [9h Qc] and won 15 with a straight, Ten high - Net Gain/Loss: ($7.45)
Free hand converter brought to you by CardRunners
This hand with 66 was ugly from the get-go but I held on because I put Poppy on a two pair type hand which of course he didn't have. After the 7 came down on the turn, it should have been an easy c/f which I had been pretty good at doing earlier in the session but my old habits came to haunt me. After he called on the turn, I knew I was done but I was already committed to the pot. When he finally bets into my on the riv (another ugly card) I just feel obligated to call the remaining part of his stack. For next time, I know that if the board wasn't as ugly I'd probably call, but I should have c/f on the turn card. Blah.
I also had another almost identical hand with AQs and TPTK on a very drawy board, except villain slowplayed AK on turned the nut straight. Another c/f type situation on a very drawy board.
Free hand converter brought to you by CardRunners
Seat 1: SBucko ($8.20)
Seat 2: rman62 ($6.75)
Seat 3: alexandra5 ($9.15) -
Seat 4: mack87 ($11.65) -
Seat 5: OSUalltheway ($3.90) -
Seat 6: dgtlblcknss ($11.15) Sitting Out
PRE-FLOP:
mack87 posts small blind $0.05
OSUalltheway posts BIG blind $0.10
Dealt To: mack87
CALL SBucko ($0.10)
FOLD rman62
CALL alexandra5 ($0.10)
RAISE mack87 ($0.40)
FOLD OSUalltheway
CALL SBucko ($0.30)
CALL alexandra5 ($0.30)
FLOP:
Pot: $1.3
BET mack87 ($0.80)
CALL SBucko ($0.80)
FOLD alexandra5
TURN:
Pot: $2.9
BET mack87 ($1.50)
CALL SBucko ($1.50)
RIVER:
Pot: $5.9
BET mack87 ($3)
RAISE SBucko ($5.50)
CALL mack87 ($2.50)
SHOWDOWN:
SBucko:
MUCK mack87
SBucko collected $15.9 from main pot with a straight, Six high
SUMMARY:
Total pot: $16 Rake: $1
Final Board:
Seat 1: SBucko showed [4h 5d] and won 15.90 with a straight, Six high - Net Gain/Loss: ($7.7)
Seat 2: rman62 didnt bet folded - Net Gain/Loss: ($0)
Seat 3: alexandra5 button folded on the Flop - Net Gain/Loss: ($-0.4)
Seat 4: mack87 small blind mucked [Ad Ac] - a pair of Aces - Net Gain/Loss: ($-8.2)
Seat 5: OSUalltheway big blind folded before the Flop - Net Gain/Loss: ($-0.1)
Seat 6: dgtlblcknss is sitting out - Net Gain/Loss: ($0)
Free hand converter brought to you by CardRunners
This hand absolutely killed me. I had a dream flop here with Kxx and unless Sbucko has KK (which he definitely didn't), I had by far the best hand. Turn card was blank but here was my mistake I believe. Pot was at $3 and bet only 1/2, I still think it was a bad call on Sbucko to call my bet with basically only a 7 or 2 as an out but he rivered the two and went AI with me and I was forced to call the extra 2.50. Ugly.
Those four hands described were my biggest losers and other than that, I was very happy with my play although disappointed with the outcome obviously. Another weakness in my game though I noticed on two of my hands was when I had the nut straight when the river completes a flush draw. Although I won both as neither of the opponents were playing to the flush, I could have extracted a lot more out of them. I can't become scared once that flush draw hits, especially if they aren't playing like they would be drawing to a flush. Just a thought.
On non-poker news, I have an interview tomorrow for my summer job, a camp counselor at the U of M summer camps so I'm pretty psyched for that. I realized during the last year at the bank that I can't stay in one spot (an office) for very long, it drives me crazy. I also hate working Saturdays as it kills my weekends, especially in the summer. So I'm banking a lot on this interview, if I don't get it there could be some potential waterworks.
Last on the agenda is to report I bought some BMO stock a couple weeks ago when it hit $41.68cdn. I only purchased $1 500 worth (that's all I have lying around) but I think it's a good start. A lot of people think I'm crazy for buying a financial stock right now but here are my reasons why I bought it:
1) I'm not looking to flip right away - I figure I have a 1 year time line (roughly) on holding this stock and I believe that the finance industry stocks will be going very far up (and down) over that time. Buying at its 5 year low gives me pretty good odds.
2) I have a 7% div on that stock ($100/yr). So long as BMO doesn't cut it's div %, I believe I do have some leverage.
3) The entire industry is depressed right now, if I thought BMO would be tanking irregularly compared to other banks, I obviously wouldn't have invested in it.
There are of courses risks involved. The assets BMO holds in the subprime market are pretty volatile and could lead to more write-downs and issuing of equity (just released that BMO restructured it) and that was a gamble for sure, but only a short-term one. If the div % is cut, that'll send the stock downward, but since banks rarely do that for shareholders, I'm saying 80/20 that it won't happen.
Anyways, I wrote a lot today, gotta let it all sink in a look to be more profitable this week.
BTW, goal for the end of march is to have 10 000 hands under my belt. I thought of quitting after Friday but I cooled off and I'm ready to get back into the saddle.
S
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