Missed Out

My plan was to bet the Pats and the Under last night but didn't get home in time to place the bet. Of course both came in. NBA starts tonight and I'm betting the Under for both the Miami Chicago game and the Lakers Suns. lockoftheday.com actually has the Under on the Heat Bulls game as their lock of the month. They bet it heavily at 192. By the time I checked the line was 189 for the under. At 192 I would have risked my whole stack because I agree that this will be a low scoring game, especially with Big Ben Wallace on the floor. However I didn't like giving up those 3 points so I just placed a small bet on it. I placed a larger bet on the Lakers Suns under. Kobe, Stoudamire, Marion are all questionable to start. Also Minh and Kwame are out for the Lakers...the under was 209.

Playing a 400 player pts tournament builder credit tourney at Bodog in 5 mins.

I really am committed to tidying up this blog tomorrow then hopefully getting some other bloggers to agree to link to me to increase traffic.

Go Cowboys

Won 3 of 4 games today....couldn't bet against my Cowboys so I took a couple proposition bets for tonight's game...TO to catch more than 5 passes and neither team to score in the last 2 minutes of the 1st half.....this pays +145....I guess a lot of games have one team getting at least a field goal in this timeframe but I've bet this before successfully.

Played a $15 WPT qualifier and took down a $270 final stage satellite entry on Bodog. I'm particularly proud of this cause I made the final table just average stacked and picked and chose my spots and was pretty much always in the pot with the best of it until I took it down. The only thing is there doesn't appear to be any final stage qualifiers scheduled? Does anyone know anything about this?? I think I'll email Bodog. Man that would be sweet to win a 12k package. The thing I like about Bodog is that you can use the entry as tournament credits for other tourneys as well....so if I don't want to play the WPT qualifier I can use for a couple of 100k's.

Played the 40K guaranteed and picked up cards early....tripled up and was running strong and then pretty much donked of all my chips trying to overrun the table. Why is it so hard to learn to be 'selectively' aggressive? So frustrating to play so well and then so poorly within the span of just a few hours.

Cowboys scored with 13 seconds left. I guess I can't be mad at them. TO already has 4 catches so I'll prob break even on these 2 bets.

Not looking forward to work tomorrow but what else is new.

Are you ready for some Football?

So here's who I'm taking:

Chicago -16 1/2 v SF
Houston +3 v Tenn
SD -9 v St.L
Jac +8 v Phil

I'm essentially wagering my whole Bodog bankroll.....hoping for a sweet double up. Wish me luck. Actually going out with friends to watch the football so I'll be missing the Bodog 100k. Almost said 'no' to going but thought hey perhaps it would be a good idea to prove to myself that I'm not a complete degenerate.

Plus will likely come home for late game (Dall Car). I'm a Dallas fan in case anyone was wondering, even have a TO jersey. Anyhow, can prob play the 25k guaranteed when I get back.

Still have to add some shit to this blog....guess will have to do that tomorrow at work.

Let it ride.

F&ck

Finished 14th and won a big $25. Busted out when my 2 pair was beat by a better 2 pair which the donkey made on the river.
The $600 first prize would have been a nice bankroll booster.

Still good time and a nice confidence booster.

Should go to sleep but I'm wide awake.

Pot Limit Tournamnets

Playing a Pot Limit Tourney at Bodog cause there was an nice little overlay. $2000 Gt'd and overlay was almost $300. Don't usually play these but so far so good. 5 places from the money and just doubled up. Don't usually play PL tourneys but think I'll start.....so far this is how its gone, I flop a hand, check, reraise the pot and either take it down or other player folds. stack never at risk until blinds escalate....pretty stress free. I think I'll read up on some strategy.

Anyhow, 1-18 pay but only top 3 places pay any real money....I'm going to be uber aggressive till we hit the money and see if I can pick up enough blinds to put me in a position to win this thing.

St. Louis World Series Champs

Well I guess they're partying in St. Louis today....the Tiger's collapse on defense cost me $25 last night, I still can't believe the play Verlander f'd up...he could have ran to third to get the runner out he had so much time...

Turned a $4.00 buy in into $109 in tournament credits again last night. Doubled thru several times early and after that it was never in doubt. Every Friday at midnight Bodog has a 100k qualifier with 25 seats at 100+9 guaranteed. There were only 153 players registered so the chances are pretty damn good. Finished fifth in two other tounamnet credit tourneys....one place out of the money in both. All in all, $16 spent and $109 in tourney credits won...can't beat that. Now if I could parlay that into some real $$$$$ that would be perfect.

I'm going to play on Bodog and maybe Doyle's room this pm, say hi if you're on. Gotta tweak this blog a bit later too...I'm soo lazy.

Any thoughts on football locks for Sun....anyone, anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

Sports Handicapping

I'm way to lazy to try and devise some method of beating the Vegas lines myself but am dedicated to finding some good free sites/blogs etc which take this challenge on. I'd welcome you reccomendations. I have been using Lock of the Day which provides daily 'Locks' for free then every weekend attempt to sell you their sure thing. They seem to have a pretty decent track record.

I will be adding my fav poker blogs, players, sports handicapping links etc to the blog tonight or Sat.

Tigers to Win

Just placed $25 on the Tigers to win on Bodog...enough to make the game interesting to watch.

I can't last 6 more hours.

God I want outta here, I sooooo don't want to be at work right now. Home on the couch with my feet up and a limit game and tourney going at the same time would be nice.

I'm thinking of laying a small bet on the Tigers for tonight. Verlander pitching, their life on the line. I think the line is -125. Any opinions on this??

Good Recovery

Won the under on Clemson VT last night and then parlayed $6.00 into $55.00 in tournamnet credits on Bodog. I'm not going to pay full $$ for tournaments on there anymore as its pretty easy to win the tournament builder rebuy tournaments. Won last night and last weekend turned $3.00 into a $109 buy-in for the 100k guranteed. Plus they are hilarious! Last weekend I watched a guy buy in 35 times at $3.00. All in every single hand no matter what he was holding. Needless to say he was usually picked off by someone at the table. I think 3 of us from that table won $109 tournament credits. Alot of loose play.....builds the pot nicely.

I'm going to take a crack at winning a WPT satellite on there as well...been watching and you can win a sub sattelite for as little as $1.50....plus some pretty good overlays on the guaranteed seats satellites from what I can see.

Actually do have to do a smidge of work today....but will post later...anyone have any locks for this evening?

Nabomb

Atlantic City

By the way I'm looking for someone interested in heading up to AC on weekends for some poker...if anyone in DC NV MD area is interested then hit me up....I live in Gaithersburg.

So far so good and a bad beat story

So far so good in the Clemson VT game....2nd half low scoring....3 and out, 3 and out.

I don't intend this blog to be just a list of bad beat stories but I HAVE to share this one. Played on Doyle's room in the bounty tournament. They have a great deal where if it's your first time playing the bounty tournament it's on them. Get to play against Doyle Brunson, his son Todd, and other top players like Hoyt Corkins and Cindy Violette. Bust one out in the tourney and get a $500 bounty, 2 = $10,000 and 3 = $50,000. Even better if one does win everyone gets their entry fee back. Not a bad tourney except that you start with 2k in chips and the blinds increase pretty fast. 24 mins into the tournament and we're at 50/100 already. Picked up AA early on and increased stack to 3500, played it tight and stole a few blinds increased my stack to about 4k and then these two hands. J10o in the small blind, big blind (blinds 50/100) who is short stacked checks....flop x J x with two spades. I raise to 400 and big blind just calls for about 1/2 his stack. Turn Ah and BB goes all in. I go into tank and am positive that he's on a flush draw.....so I call. Turns out he's not on draw and holds J8o. River 8....one of 3 outs. Perfect.....down to 2500 or so.

Next hand pick up KK utg.....everyone folds and sb raises the minimum. I reraise, he goes all in with 99....flop comes with you guessed it 9. Back to back coolers.

What can you do?

By the way if any of you are interested in playing with the pros from your own living room check out Doyle's Room try the bounty tournament by signing up here....if you sign up using the promo code Nabomb you get a freeroll in the bounty tournament and up to a 110% signup bonus.



VT 17-7 looking good but on verge of scoring again.....c'mon interception.

Clemson v VT

Just placed $60 on this game betting the under (u43).

Number 1 & 2 defenses in the country...hope its a defensive snooze fest. This would nicely win by my tilt losses from last night.

Just played some blackjack on Bodog...ran $14 into $21 in about 5mins....high roller. BJ not really my thing but could be a nice distraction while at work. Anyone know some online casinos with some sweet and easy to clear bonusses? Don't mind playing blackjack if I'm freerolling.

Full Tilt

Was relieved to hear that Full Tilt is staying in the US Market....while I like Bodog and some of the 'smaller sites' Full Tilt has great promotions and great satellites. They are currently running them for the Aussie Millions which includes their pros like Phil Iivey teaching you tournament startegy and all sorts of VIP treatment. If you're not a member check it out. Sign up with the below link and use the promo code 'Nabomb' (without the quotes) and you get a 100% sign up bonus.



Play Online Poker

Tilt

So last night I'm playing some 1/2 Limit holding my own nicely on Bodog and I decide to play in the $40 + 4 30k guaranteed tournament. I've gone pretty deep in these recently and enjoy playing them because they are double or sometimes superstack tournaments which means you can play for more than 30 mins without it turning into an ALL IN fest. About 3 hands in I get KK 3utg, utg had raised to 3x BB....I reraise and everyone folds to SB who reraises about 5 times the pot. I pause pretending I'm having a tough time contemplating calling and deciding the size of my reraise when low and behold I get disconnected and auto fold the hand. F me. Maybe SB had AA but I somehow doubt it and if so then so be it. More than likely I'm picking up a sweet pot and am the big stack early on. Instead I lose half my stack due to the fact that I'm pirating internet...cause I'm a cheap f&ck. Am going to have to break down and splurge for some Verizon DSL.

Following that I flamed out of the tourney early and tilted off abut $60 in the cash game. F me. Def need internet hookup, this game is hard enough without that bs....its just that where I live there are always at least 2-3 unencrypted wireless signals and I've enjoyed spending my DSL savings on other things like um beer.

Home At Last

Been going to the gym regularly and it feels good. One great thing about being out of the lawyering game is that I have time for stuff like, uh, taking care of myself. Have made it to the gym either before or after work seven of the last ten days. Not bad. After reflecting on my previous post setting out some long term goals I thought it might be a good idea to set some short term goals to help provide an incentive. I will reward myself with these things from my poker/sports betting/whatever as long as it isn't salary from my job on an ongoing basis without , hopefully, jeopradizing my bank roll:

(1) Some bling rims for my Audi TT;
(2) Xbox 360
(3) Couple of 20 inch LCD's for multitabling (this is really a business investment)

I'm tempted to putter around with this blog all night but instead think I'll head off to Bodog to try and win a free entry into Sundays 100k guaranteed. I play under Nabomb....if you see me there say 'Hi'

Goals

I've been reading a few other poker blogs and have come to the realization that it would be a pretty good idea to set some goals to achieve in the next two years, so here they are:

General:

(1) Become a solid mid to upper limits Limit Hold'em player;
(2) Become a bonafide NL tournament player;
(3) Have made smart real estate investment(s);
(4) Become proficient in something other than Poker to generate income;
(5) Have recognized and capitalized on the next 'new thing' in it's infancy;
(6) Have maximized my tax evasion (er I mean tax avoidance startegy)...for those of you wondering what I mean by this read up on perpetual travel
here.

Financial:

(1) Be debt free;
(2) Buy a mint townhome;
(3) Pay off my money Audi TT;
(4) Be earning enough income from something I'm interested in to pay ongoing costs of above
and cost of living expenses;
(5) Stop essentially living paycheck to paycheck.


Shouldn't be that tall of an order with all the spare time I have on my hands :)

Online Gambling Legislation

I want to sound off on this topic. Now I'm not a expert on the subject nor do I have any special insight but as a lawyer I do have experience with unenforceable laws and the agencies which are supposed to administer them (paper tigers).

I'm convinced that we're not going to see the end of online gaming or online poker. I mean this is a 12B dollar industry. You think the online gaming sites are just going to pack up and go away? Let's look at this legislation. It's not illegal to play. It's illegal to be an online gaming site owner but that's unenforceable...provided they don't visit the US they are untouchable. Now supposedly its illegal for a bank to process a deposit? WTF? Bill Frist, you want to ban online gaming and that's the approach you take? First of all the banks have been pretty clear that they can't and don't want to enforce this rubbish legislation. Ok so maybe I won't be able to deposit directly to bodog.com but what about the Bank of Scotland, or Royal Bank of Canada etc etc where corporation abc.corp (a shell of Bodog) has an account. C'mon give me a break.

What will happen, in my opinion, is this. With an election coming up, political parties will focus on what they usually focus on...war on terror, Iraq, economy, education, and the usual divisive topics...stem cell research, gay marriage, guns, immigration....and us harmless online poker players will continue playing our Sunday 100k guaranteed tourneys.

Just my opinion, for what it's worth.

People are Reading This!

Wow, looks like I'm actually getting a few hits on here, up to 10 last time I checked!

At work again today with absolutely nothing to do....and I mean nothing....all the VP's and my direct boss are gone so I guess I'll post here and try to work on this blog a little bit. If any of you could lend me some advice on formatting that would be great...how do I get the sidebar posts (archives etc) to show up at the top of the page? Do I just cut and paste and move to top of template?? Will have to play around a bit.

Over and out.

+$20

Ok so up $20 after an hour of .50/1.00 Limit. Yeah it's only $20 but a win is a win right? Nice to start the blog off with a win as well. I listened to a podcast with Chris 'Jesus' Fergusan about how he turned $1.00 into $20k playing micro limits.....$19,800 more to go.

Limit Poker

So for the past year or so I've mainly played NL tournaments but from what I read Limit is the way to make a steady stream of $$$.....grinding it out, plus you don't have to put your whole stack at risk.....so I'm at Bodog playing a couple of .50/1.00 tables just to get the feel....very fishy 6-7 players to the flop....I'm up about 10BB in 20 mins......to bad it wasn't 100/200. Think I can handle myself at 2/4 or 3/6 though......seems like basic Lee Jones strategy will win the day at these limits.....is boring though but not too bad if you have something else to do like watch the world series......why didn't I take the under on this game???? Damn.

Quitting Time

Alright, I'm otta here.....didn't do one lick of work at work today, but did get this blog started. Pat on back.....heading to gym and then home to play some poker. Playing at Bodog these days....I like their fly in the face of the US Justice Dept attitude.....good for them.
Actually, check out this pretty interesting story about Bodog founder Calvin Ayre
here.

First Post

So here's my first post...I'm not reinventing the wheel here but discovered that the formula of work hard + go to school + plus work harder + get illustrious socially acceptable job + work even harder + buy socially acceptable benchmarking possessions soon gets pretty old.

So after five years of that I'm now in a cushy but emotionally stifling job which is psuedo legal in nature in the telecom industry and while requiring me to show up eight or so hours a day only requires about 8-10 hours of work per week (probably even less) and I'm still not really taking that much of a salary hit compared to my lawyer friends slaving away.

But, who really wants to spend 30 years staring at the wall even if you are being paid? So the point of this blog is to document my goal which is namely this:

Get the hell out of this job within two years and have set myself up with sufficient income to live comfortably doing something which (a) I like to do & (b) requires rather minimal effort and allows maximum flexibility.

So what am I truly interested in? Poker is right up there. Also interested in day trading, currency specualtion, sports betting, real estate speculation and pretty much anything else that a 'responsible' person wouldn't consider a legitimate way to make a living. Why? Probably because I'm a bit of an action junkie but not one of you reading (I hope there is at least one) can deny that money won is twice as sweet as money earned. As Biggie said, "you're either slingin crack rock or you've got a wicked jump shot," my aim is to find me some crack rock.

If you're going to ask why I don't just quit the job now, don't. First, I need to get my financial house in order. Believe it or not, I left the practice 'stuck' to use poker terminology...all part and parcel of the lifestyle. I remember a judge once speaking to our class at law school advocating maintaining a work/life balance...essentially said when he graduated law school, he bought nice clothes, nice car etc, underpaid his taxes and wound up in the hole....I thought "never happen to me." What is that they say about history? The only sure thing is that it is bound to repeat itself.

So hopefully two years from now I'll be free, will have learned alot, had some fun and met some friends...