Ready for my vacation

Getting construction done at my house right now. Been a long process. Also, something just happened with the pressure regulator for the water here so now I have to spend $500 to get that and something else on the pipes fixed. Moving in a new tenant tomorrow at my other house in the guesthouse over there. Have to get a bunch of other stuff done before I leave. Can't wait to finally be on vacation.

As far as poker, I've been getting crazy beats, and luckily not jumping off a bridge yet:


UTG ($107.60)
MP ($466.40)
CO ($339)
snowbank ($405.40)
SB ($529.80)
BB ($153)

Preflop: snowbank is Button with 2h, 2d.

1 fold, MP raises to $8, 1 fold, snowbank calls $8, SB calls $6, BB calls $4.

Flop: ($32) 2c, Td, Tc (4 players)

SB bets $23, BB folds, MP folds, snowbank raises to $46, SB calls $23.

Turn: ($124) Th (2 players)

SB checks, snowbank checks.

River: ($124) 2s (2 players)

SB bets $475.8 (All-In), snowbank calls $351.40 (All-In).

Final Pot: $826.80

Results in white below:

snowbank has 2h 2d (four of a kind, twos).

SB has Ts Ah (four of a kind, tens).

Outcome: SB wins $951.20.

Full Tilt Poker, $2/$4 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players
LegoPoker Hand History Converter

BTN: $213.80
SB: $449.50
BB: $410
UTG: $400
MP: $401.80
Hero (CO): $388

Pre-Flop: K K dealt to Hero (CO)
2 folds, Hero raises to $14, BTN folds, SB calls $12, BB calls $10

Flop: ($42) Q K Q (3 Players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero bets $32, SB folds, BB calls $32

Turn: ($106) A (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets $69, BB calls $69

River: ($244) 8 (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets $273 and is All-In, BB calls $273

Results: $790 Pot ($3 Rake)
BB showed J T (a Royal Flush) and WON $787 (+$399 NET)
Hero showed K K (a full house, Kings full of Queens) and LOST (-$388 NET)


Full Tilt Poker, $2/$4 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players
LegoPoker Hand History Converter

UTG: $400
MP: $400
CO: $649
BTN: $400
Hero (SB): $880.80
BB: $262.60

Pre-Flop: 6 6 dealt to Hero (SB)
2 folds, CO raises to $14, BTN folds, Hero calls $12, BB calls $10

Flop: ($42) 7 2 6 (3 Players)
Hero checks, BB bets $36, CO calls $36, Hero raises to $109, BB folds, CO raises to $252, Hero raises to $866.80 and is All-In, CO calls $383 and is All-In

Turn: ($1,348) 2 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: ($1,348) 9 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $1,348 Pot ($3 Rake)
CO showed 2 2 (four of a kind, Twos) and WON $1,345 (+$696 NET)
Hero showed 6 6 (a full house, Sixes full of Twos) and LOST (-$649 NET)


Those were a couple of the roughest over the last few days. Here are just a couple from tonight:


Poker Stars, $2/$4 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 3 Players
LegoPoker Hand History Converter

SB: $477.70
Hero (BB): $823.80
BTN: $557.90

Pre-Flop: A A dealt to Hero (BB)
BTN raises to $16, SB folds, Hero raises to $54, BTN calls $38

Flop: ($110) K 3 5 (2 Players)
Hero bets $65, BTN calls $65

Turn: ($240) 9 (2 Players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $138, Hero calls $138

River: ($516) 8 (2 Players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $300.90 and is All-In, Hero calls $300.90

Results: $1,117.80 Pot ($1 Rake)
Hero mucked A A and LOST (-$557.90 NET)
BTN showed 9 9 (three of a kind, Nines) and WON $1,116.80 (+$558.90 NET)



Poker Stars, $2/$4 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 5 Players
LegoPoker Hand History Converter

UTG: $398
Hero (CO): $675.45
BTN: $442.30
SB: $464.70
BB: $859.10

Pre-Flop: A A dealt to Hero (CO)
UTG raises to $16, Hero raises to $54, 3 folds, UTG raises to $140, Hero raises to $675.45 and is All-In, UTG calls $258 and is All-In

Flop: ($802) J J 2 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)


Turn: ($802) 6 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)


River: ($802) K (2 Players - 1 is All-In)


Results: $802 Pot ($2 Rake)
UTG showed K K (a full house, Kings full of Jacks) and WON $800 (+$402 NET)
Hero mucked A A and LOST (-$398 NET)



Poker Stars, $2/$4 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players
LegoPoker Hand History Converter

Hero (BB): $1,079.70
UTG: $443.30
MP: $686.80
CO: $549.80
BTN: $441.70
SB: $196.10

Pre-Flop: A A dealt to Hero (BB)
2 folds, CO calls $4, BTN raises to $18, SB folds, Hero raises to $64, CO raises to $140, BTN folds, Hero raises to $1,079.70 and is All-In, CO calls $409.80 and is All-In

Flop: ($1,119.60) T J 3 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)


Turn: ($1,119.60) 2 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)


River: ($1,119.60) K (2 Players - 1 is All-In)


Results: $1,119.60 Pot ($3 Rake)
Hero showed A A (a pair of Aces) and LOST (-$549.80 NET)
CO showed K K (three of a kind, Kings) and WON $1,116.60 (+$566.80 NET)


Even though I've been running really crappy, I'm still been having decent overall results which makes me feel really good about what's going to happen if I ever start running well. I've had one session with my coach so far, and although it was relatively basic since it was the first session, I think we went over some really good things, that will hopefully get me where I want to be.

I've been working real hard trying to work one some of the things we went over in our session. On Friday I played for 15 hours straight, 8 tabling and playing 12,068 hands. I almost wish I could postpone Thailand since I think I would have a HUGE month if I wasn't going away for part of November. But honestly I can't wait to go. I'm going to write myself some strategy notes to study, and will probably study some futures trading on the plane as well. It's gonna be cool to have some time off to relax and have fun.

Thailand is booked + new poker coach

Booked Thailand last week, so it's all set. There's four of us going. Should be awesome. We'll probably meet up with some other poker pros who live out there. I think we're just booking a hotel for one night, and then pretty much winging it from there.

I finally decided on a poker coach. He's expensive, but should be well worth the money. I'll talk more about it when I've had a couple lessons, we haven't had a chance to do one yet. I talked with a lot of different coaches, there's so many people coaching nowadays. Some seem like really good coaches, but it seems like a number of coaches are getting into coaching because they can't beat the games for very much anymore, which is kind of a scary thought for people who might hire them. I talked to pretty much all the good players who are coaching, and talked to a lot of players who recommended coaches, or recommended I stay away from certain coaches, and went with one who I thought would help the most for my game. If anyone needs any info on mid-high stakes coaches, let me know.

Investments

Been looking into a self-storage facility for the last few weeks. Still waiting for some documents on it, but will hopefully make a decision in the next week or so. It's being built, so I wouldn't be buying an existing facility. This means more potential profits, but also more chance something could go wrong.

The duplex that I was going to buy in Oklahoma I have decided not to buy. Don't know if I posted many updates on that, but it's been a long process. I flew out to Oklahoma on my way back from Vegas this summer, and one of the units was not what it looked like when I initially got it under contract. There were some bad tenants on one side and the place was a mess. Definitely a little damage too. They weren't there to show us, so I couldn't even see the inside, so before I flew back east I told my agent out there to cancel the inspection scheduled for the next day because if they couldn't get into that side I didn't want to pay for an inspector to come out. I talked with the owners/their agents, and said if the tenant was evicted, that's the only way I'd consider still buying it. Took forever, but they finally evicted the tenant, but now it needs a little fixup and still needs to be re-rented. I guess there's still a little possibility of me buying it if they come down in price a bit and I decide it's worth the hassle. Thing is, the place might be worth $75k+, so if I could somehow get it at like $55k and have it cashflowing $500+/month, I think I might have to buy it. My investment strategy has changed a bit since I originally got it under contract though, so it'd have to be a steal for me to change my mind.

Long month ahead

I'm trying to play 120,000 hands this month. I've never played that many before, so we'll see what happens. I played about 5,000 yesterday, so off to decent start. When I'm not playing poker, I'm going to keep studying the trading method that I'm trying to learn. I probably know about 5% of what I need to know to start trading, so I've got a long way to go. Probably going to Thailand next month so trying to work all month for October.

Traveling

Going to be setting up plans to go to Thailand soon. Been talking about going with some people for a while, and we're probably going to figure out when we're going in the next couple weeks. Looks like we might go in November. It's supposed to be real cool there; different islands to go to, lots of partying, new culture, etc... It's wayyy cheap too, so we can live like kings and not spend a ridiculous amount of money. A bunch of poker pros have moved there for cheap living, ability to live outside the US(to get on foreign poker sites), party life there, etc... The island where the movie "The Beach" was shot was in Thailand. Have only heard cool things about it, so we're gonna head out there finally.

I've been traveling a decent amount this year. Vegas a few times, east coast a few times, Mexico etc... Traveling definitely helps break up the grind of playing a lot of poker. Rather than being lazy and not playing a lot of poker, I'd rather just play a ton when I'm here, and then take time off to travel and do cool stuff. So far this year I've been to: New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Arizona, Nevada, Oklahoma, California, Mexico and Canada. Thailand in the works, and might hit up some other countries next year. Might be cool to try out a cruise. Sending my parents on one for their anniversary this year to the Bahamas. Gonna see how they like it and maybe go on one myself sometime next year. Also, definitely gonna to hit up Vancouver soon. Probably before the year's out hopefully. Definitely the main benefit in working for yourself. Doing whatever you want, whenever you want. So if you're working a job, don't get trapped, get out while you're young!

Looking for a coach

I've been looking for a poker coach the past week or so. I've been playing mostly $400nl games for the past few months, and had a lot of success in them. The money is great, but I'm pretty much just grinding, and not improving, which is usually fine for me since I'm trying to make a lot of money, but recently I've had the desire to get a lot better and start playing high stakes online. In order for me to do this the best way possible, I think I'll need to hire a coach. I think there's certain aspects of my game that playing higher stakes a coach who plays high stakes could help me transition a lot faster than doing it on my own. The coaches for higher stakes charge a lot of money though. The guys I've been talking to charge anywhere from $250-$500/hour. Definitely reasonable prices, but it's probably going to take a good ten or more sessions to get what I want to get out of it, so I need to make sure I'm working with the right person.

With all the money I invest in other stuff, I think it'd probably be a great investment to invest in myself for poker, since it's my main source of income. Thinking about it, I'm really surprised I haven't already hired a coach to move to higher stakes. Hiring coaches from time to time is a no-brainer if you're trying to improve your income potential. The ROI is probably bigger than almost any investment out there. The tough part is finding the right coach for you, when you're looking.

So, probably going to try and pick a coach within the next week or two if I can. I'll post updates.

Can you click a mouse fast? I might hire you

My wrist has been killing lately. I don't wanna get carpel tunnel so I'm gonna start making some changes to my setup. I play more hands per month than like 99.9% of people who play, and don't want to have to slow down, so I'm going to be getting an ergonomic mouse, maybe two in case I don't like one. Also, I think I might start getting massages a few times a month or something. The person I mentioned who's helping me with the trading stuff, said when he had wrist problems it really helped. Business expense, so it's all good :)

I'm thinking about hiring a cook too. I'm trying to get in sick shape, and it's hard to eat real well eating lots of microwave meals and stuff like that since I don't cook. I'm interviewing someone tomorrow, and she's bringing me some samples to try.

I made a prop bet with my brother that I can get shredded and go from 175 to 160 by the end of the year. He's trying to go from 200 to 180. To make myself definitely make sure I do it, I bet him $800 against his $200. Will post nude pics after the bet obviously.