26.


First time getting real cards in my hands, in quite awhile. As I stated in my previous post, I hit up a new poker room, Cherokee Roland. They have a newly refurbished room, new felt, chairs, cards, and chips. The room is cozy and the chairs are comfortable. In the limited amount of time that I was there, the floor and dealers seemed attentive and created a fun environment. The players were a mix of fun and chatty (just a couple) and curmudgeony. I quickly noticed a splashtard and two stations. I think that the action in this particular room get pretty good.

Two hands of note, but not a lot of specific context.

First real hand that I played was JTdd from the bb. Lag raises the utg straddle to $17. we are 6 handed. I call, and others fold. flop was K96r. I check, V thinks and bets $15. I call looking to see what the turn brings. Pretty good card in a 8 ott. I am up and down w/ a fd, and check to V expecting him to continue w/ his whole range. V bets $45 and I take a short amount of time to think, and shove $135. V tanks for a good amount of time and folds.

About 15 mins. later 5 handed action folds to the co who limps. I have KK and raise to $12. action back to limper who asks if I have played any hands since I set down. I tell him that I have played 3 or 4 hands. Limper folds. I say that I did call $17 pf from the bb with JT.

Very next hand I have 75 in mp. I open to $12, and semi competent V calls otb. heads up to a 5x6J flop. I check and V checks behind. Turn is 2. I bet out $15 and V calls. I just expected to take it down ott as I thought that V would have bet fd's and sd's and a J otf. W/ the 2 not changing things, I am suprised by V's call and put the draws back in his range of hands. River is a Kand I check. V doesn't take very long to think and bets $25. I take a moment to think through the action of the hand, tell him I am bad, and call. V says A high and mhig. V's line didn't make alot of sense unless he had floated with a random K or happened to have a K with his fd.

Time Played: 1:15
Result: +$125




Thanks, Snomys! I appreciate that. You are right about Oklahoma. Do you play around these parts?

Live:
Time Played -- 4 hours
Result -- +$716

Online:
Time Played -- 40 hours
Hands Played -- 7,406 (2PLO - 1,482, 2NL - 5,924)
Result -- +$21.12 (2PLO - +$0.03, 2NL - +$21.09)

I knew that I didn’t log many live hours in May, but I had no idea that it was such a laughably low amount. On the other hand, I ended up logging a few more hours online than I thought. I plan on finishing up 10k hands at 2NL, and then will move up and start logging some hours at 5NL. Currently I am rolled to play 5NL, but want to complete a 10k sample of hands just to see where I stand. I plan on putting in more volume this month @live, but that should only be one session. Should be.

On another note, I have a newish charger for my laptop, and the laptop has been running somewhat smoothly as of yesterday. Having my computer out of commission hampered my online progress, but I hopped back on last night. Hopefully I don’t jinx things with this post.

I have also been firing at DFS on DK with some decent results in the new arcade format that they have for MLB. No big scores but a string of several to put some money into the roll on there.

Let's see if I can't get motivated to put in some volume live and online with motivation from the WSOP running.

Just wrapped up a short session. I 3 tabled 6max 2NL for about 2 hours and I was able to get in 377 hands. i notched a 3.5 bi profit. I had quite a bit going on today, but I wanted to make sure that I at least started off the month on a trend of some volume.

I got into a few interesting spots. One of which was:

Hero is co w/ 97 and a 20bb stack. I have been playing pretty laggy.
V1, is hj and has a 200bb stack. Not much to note on V1 playing style.
V2, is bb w/ a 100bb stack. seems to be playing a bit loose.

V1 raises to .06 and H flats. I want to play this pot ip with stacks fairly deep. I would typically 3bet in this spot, but thought that I might be able to pick up some dead money with others calling and I didn't really fear a 3bet from the button.

V2 raises to .10 and both V1 and H call. Seemed like the type of 3bet that I would like to flat ip.

Pot: .31
Flop 74T

V2 leads for .65. V1 folds and H folds.

I feel like I am too hasty w/ pair+fd type hands and don't give the specific spots much thought. When I take a step back and think, "what type of spot is this for my hand?" I have 30% equity against 44 and TT. I am slightly better than even money against A over card of . Slightly behind top pair and a big . I am behind an over pair w/ a . and I am even money w/ an over pair no . I guess that V could be spewing, but I haven't seen the greater than psb otf w/ spew much at 2NL.

In any case, I didn't think this spot was great for me w/ such lead aggression from V and no specific reads.

I Put in 2.5 hours and 862 hands yesterday with a result of +$2.03. I am inching ever closer to the 10k hands mark. It feels like I am playing somewhat robotically, which is sucking some of the fun out of the game. I have also found myself with my finger closer to the fold button more often trying to mitigate losses while trying to cross the 10K hands mark. I guess this is some form of tilt, as I don’t think that I am playing optimally in all spots. I am pleased that I have at least identified a faulty mindset derived from grinding out a set number of hands. Now I just need to execute a gameplan to play optimally in the moment when this faulty mindset hits me. I am not sure if it is the fact that I am bored with the stake of 2NL, or if this issue extends to other stakes and it is more of a mindset as a whole problem. I am going to keep an eye on it.

Went to a craft beer festival last night in the nearby town of Muskogee, OK. This was the 3rd iteration of the Real Okie Craft Beer Festival. Proud to say that I have been each event. For those that know anything about Muskogee, events such as this are well out of the norm for the area. In my opinion, it is a step in the right direction for progressing the city.

Some of my favorites from the event, and some that I haven’t shared itt before:












The Mezcal Pilsner from the board in the next to last picture was the most complex flavor profile. Followed closely by the Twin Basil, which had a taste similar to a peppery beef jerky.

The boneless wings below don’t look like much, but after all of the overpriced BWW’s that I have paid for over the years, I was happy to get all of the freebies that I could handle. The top wing was salt and vinegar. Pretty tasty.



There were also delicious polish sausages and Rib Crib in play. Not pictured.

Then some random shots of the venue:







I was also pleased with this, the newest brewery in Oklahoma’s, product.





And one of the latest beers that I have purchased. I forgot that I had previously given this brew a whirl, but the $5 price tag for a sixer blinded me to facts.

played an hour session of 430 hands for a -$1.91 result earlier. Then got the garden watered and the dog walked. Hit my second hour session of the night 464 hands and a +$12 profit. Folks were spewing hardcore. There must be some drunk poker going down for real. I ended up making hands, then having people try to bluff me with literally no fold equity in a couple of instances.

I'm within about 500 hands of completing 10K hands at 2NL. I am extremely ready to move onto the next stake. I would have abandoned the 10K hands at 2NL already, but I wanted to try and see at least one thing through itt. Maybe completing this challenge with a complete lack of interest will spur me on to following through with some future challenges that I lay forth.

+$5.46 for today's ~800 hands. Seems like I would get to the river and have an opponent fire some wild bluff. I can't remember how many times I have had top pair hold up and be good at showdown in quite some time. Most of the river bets I faced didn't make any kind of sense, so they were fairly easy to pick off.

Tomorrow the finishing touches will be put on the 10K hands at 2NL.

Well,

10K hands @2NL is complete:
Hands Played - 10,049
Time Played - 39 hours
Sessions Played - 31
Days Played - 26
Result - +$50.68


The bankroll is currently at $154.58. While I know that I can beat 2NL, I don't think the rate at which I am beating it is sustainable, even though the rate I am beating it isn't outrageous or anything. I haven't decided if I want to move on up, or stay at the stake I am to build some more room. I imagine that I will dip my toe into 5NL and go back down if my balance falls back down to $100.

Jumped into a 1 hour session of 2 tables at 5NL to get a sense of what the pool is doing at this level. I played 133 hands and got away with +$1.54. Not too much seems different at the moment. Maybe players are playing a little bit more snug, but I am not going off much.

One spot came up w/ a V two spots to my right. He has already min raise my bb twice pf. The third time he does it, I have 44 and we are both 100bb deep. I flat his min. raise pre and we see a flop of 2x24. I lead for 3bb into 4bb, and V calls. Turn is a Jx and I bet 7bb into 8bb, and V calls. River is a Qx, and I try leading out to avoid being bluffed and want to set my price. I bet 7bb and V calls w/ Q5o.

Duly noted.

Next orbit I have QQ in the bb and action folds to V. V does the standard min, raise to 2bb. I raise to 7bb and V calls. Flop is K42r and I lead for 8bb. V calls. Turn is a 2h bringing a fd. I bet 8bb and V raises to 20bb. I feel like V isn't doing this w/ a K, but maybe a picked up fd or air. The river is 7x and I check. V bets 40bb and I tank call. V shows AA.

I was kind of pissed after that last hand, but V did a good job of trapping me. In fact I thought, damn I got trapped and I don't like the way that felt. Then I remember that I had 26 bb left in my stack that V failed to get, and which I would have gladly put in pf against him. Maybe not gladly, but feeling like I flipping at worst.

Nice results.

44 hand, wrong mindset imo. Players online are much more aggressive than live and don't necessarily have QQ or JJ. Can never fold if raised, especially 6max. I also like a 3bet preflop with that hand, just difficult to play OOP.

Hand 2, xc flop instead of betting. No value IMO to betting flop. Turn is kind of interesting bc his SDV hands shouldn't do this. It's very polarized IMO. I'd call one, and then fold river.

Good luck!

Thanks! I ran pretty well throughout those 10K hands I must admit.

I get what you are saying with online 6-Max being much more aggressive than live, but V's line was pretty passive in that first hand. Admittedly, my line is too passive preflop as well.

That being said, I think that there are some drawback with a pf 3bet as well. Mainly, we inflate the pot with a mediocre hand oop. Since I am looking at a min. raise, I thought taking a flop and varying my line based on board texture and runout would be optimal, particularly against a relative unknown. If the flop had come any different, I am probably not leading out. So, with that being said, taking initiative preflop is probably ideal, as there aren't going to be a lot of board textures that I am comfortable with.

As I typed that out I think that I came to the same conclusion that you started with. A 3bet pre is most likely the optimal play.

In hand 2, I think there is definitely value to betting flop. V just got done calling my flop and turn bets w/ Q5 high no draws, in a similar spot on a near identical board. I hear what you are saying with the call one, fold river line, as I thought the same thing at the time. The turn raise looks like a fd to me. When the 7 comes otr, it doesn't seem like much changes. The 40bb otr looks like it is either KK, 44, 22, A2s, a random pair of 88-JJ, or a busted sd/fd type of hand. Based on how V played the hand, I weighted him much more on the busted draw than top of his range value type hands.

Thanks for the feedback! Let me say this amidst our discussion, it is great to get feedback from other vantage points. You and everyone else's thoughts will always be welcomed.

Only one way to shake off today's beating...



-$8.21 at 5NL. Seemed like I was continually running into the top of my v's ranges. I ran my AA into quad 7's on a 7x72xQ5x board. I perhaps could have gotten away otr, but after my bet V only shoves 25bb and there is a ton in the pot. I was able to get thin max value in a few spots to salvage some of the day. Back at it tomorrow.

It seems to me, that if one can avoid tilt, one has a big head start on the field at micro PLO. I've just been grinding away at 5NL and 5PLO. I'm 1,603 hands in and sitting on a +$21.50 profit at the moment. Mainly been 2 tabling 5NL, but added another table today. Gonna keep grinding away at 5NL for awhile. Not sure If I will move to 10NL if I get the bankroll to $200, or if I want to play through 10K hands at 5NL similar to what I did with 2NL.

I am also looking for an opportune time to jump back in the live arena. My motivation to do so kind of jumps all over the map. Early in the day I can't wait to hit the road for the card room. As the time draws nigh, my interest wanes. I may just have to set a schedule of 3 set days per week that I go, and not comprise on those days.

I was out playing a round of golf with a buddy yesterday and I had a stark realization. I have had incantations of these emotions in the past, but it was suddenly clear to me. Like most golfers, I wish that I was much better than I am. However, I don’t put in the requisite amount of work to actually shoot better than the low to mid 90’s score that I routinely post. Following a couple of missed par putts that I had lined up perfectly, but failed to give enough gas to, I realized something. I need to keep going through the process. I have to keep putting all of the effort and all of the thought that I possess into each shot.

At certain times on the course my mind starts to wander. I start to “want” for bridies before I have hit a tee shot. That last putt I left short that I can’t part from my mindset. A duffed pitch shot that is still impacting me on my 110yd. approach shot.

There are times on the course when I feel like everything is going against me. A gust of wind sailed my shot. A bad bounce put me in the sandtrap. My ball nestled in the worst possible lie on the fairway. I know I hit my ball into this area, but the damn rough is too dense and my ball is nowhere to be found. Truly, none of that matters. It’s all an opportunity to improve, and overcome adversity. I had a baseball coach once that used to tell us, “don’t be bitter, just get better.”

Somedays are more of a battle than others. Some days your mind invents problems that are complete contrivances and fabrications. I relish the challenge to fight, mentally, all of the noise. In golf, you go out, go through the process, and the score you post is the score you post. I would find it extremely rewarding knowing that I never gave up on a shot during a round, regardless of the score I post. Inevitably, I have never played a round where I accomplished this. The round that I played yesterday was about as close as I have come thus far. However, I can recollect 3-4 instances where I dgaf and just mailed it in. I was very disappointed in myself afterwards.

What I am trying to get at is this; Don’t focus on the things outside of your control. Don’t give anything away in terms of focus, concentration, and effort, because those are things in your control.

How does any of this apply to poker? The correlation I believe resides in spew. I have witnessed so many players at the micro stakes, and in the past at llsnl, punting off stacks due to tilt. Those punted stacks add up over time and are disastrous to our bottom lines. As in golf, I try to identify the creeping effects of tilt in all area’s of my life, and then ask myself, am I comporting myself optimally for the situation, or am I acting on an extraneous emotion or stressor. Getting myself back to center, thinking about the situation at hand, and mitigating the components of tilt, have benefited me in many area’s of life, not just at the poker table. Maybe this thought process can benefit others.

Interesting hand dynamic popped up between myself and a V today. The two hands are described below. These two hands happened about 2 orbits apart.

Don’t know much about V at this point. Haven’t seen him play a lot of pots. Screen name makes me think he is a spazzy/poor player, possibly on the aggro side.

V1, $5.14, BB
H, $10.37, LAG, CO, 88

Folds to h who raises to $0.17 and V1 calls.

Pot: $0.36
Flop: 932

V1 checks and h bets $0.28 and V1 calls. I feel like this is a good board to get some value out of floating type hands and smaller pp’s.

Pot: $0.92
Turn: T

V1 checks and h bets $0.60. V1 thinks briefly and raises to $1.40. This was a dry board and an odd card to check raise ott after having check called the flop. I don’t think many hands that floated and picked up a sd ott. I don’t think TT check calls the flop, but it is possible. Also, the bet is small enough that I am almost always going to see a river card and evaluate with position. I call.

Pot: $3.72
River:K

I am not a big fan of this card. It goes check check.





V1, $5.24, loose, likes to fire bluffs, Same V from hand above, BB
H, $11.24, LAG, CO, QJ

Folds to h, raise to $0.17. V1 raises to $0.45. H thinks and calls. This is not very good hand to be flatting 3b’s froma player in the blinds, but I think V1 has enough spew potential to merit a call. In acuality I think this might be a fold pf.

Pot: $0.92
Flop: 45J

V1 bets $0.66, h calls. Couldn’t ask for a lot more otf other than a sd, flopped straight, or trips. In other words, if I am calling pf, this is about the flop I expect to be seeing and continuing on most of the time as V will probably fire his whole 3b range otf regardless of texture.

Pot: $2.24
Turn:9

V1 shoves $4.13. H thinks and calls. Weird runout to open shove ott with. I feel like V either has AA-TT, AK, AQ, or some rando hand and is firing away blindly. V earned a call out of me and I tell myself that I just have to live with it if he shows me something better.

Pot: $10.50
River:8

27.


I had every intention of playing a 5 hour session last night, but I came up short. Before leaving the house I learned about a storm that was coming in a night earlier than anticipated. As the time worked out, I maxed out the amount of hours I could put in for the session, as I left the casino with just a brief amount of time before the heavy stuff started coming in. I did have to drive through some moderate winds and rain, but like I said, I beat the heavy stuff.

As for the poker game, I felt like I had it on a string. Nobody playing really put me to the test, and I felt like I had a beat on everyone that sat down at the table. No real spew artist, so I took what the game gave me. My first three pre flop raises brought boards that I completely whiffed, and my opponents donked into me and I just laid it down. After the the third donk bet into me, I started wondering if I was getting played, but came to my senses and realized that sometimes V's make a hand.

One spot that I ended up on the good side of, was when I had one limp to me otb where I raised T9 to $12. Sb came along and the limper folds. Flop brought J85x. Sb checks to me and I bet $20 and get a call. Turn brings a Qx. Sb checks to me again and I bet $45 and get a call. I like the way this board is running out for me, not only because I bink the nut straight, but I think that there are a lot of hands that I can get 3 streets of value from. Also, the V seems like a skeptical player and won;t have much of a fold button. River was a blank and sb checks to me again. I hesitate and then bet $100. V goes into the tank for about 1 min. and makes the call.

Most of the rest of the night involved me getting into a couple of value bet spots and a few dry boards after my pfr where I c-bet and take it down. Oh yeah, the 5 hour threshold I was shooting for was a part of a larger scheme. I am looking to start going with 4 days of 5 hour session/week. As well as putting in 20 hours online/week. This would get me to the 40 hour/week mark and seems feasible.

Time Played: 3:30
Result: +$138

Another week of, mostly online, in the books. I took a whooping last night.

Time Played: 14.5 hours (5PLO - 3 hours 14 min., 5NL - 6 hours 16 min.)
Hand Played: 2,322 (5PLO - 156, 5NL - 2,166)
Result: +$10.05 (5PLO - +$14.48, 5NL - -$4.43)

My tendency at PLO is to hit and run. I pretty much fold trashy hands until I get something, either in position that plays well, or a monster, and try to et a lot of money in the pot. Once I get a stack, I split. I ran pretty poor the last 3 or 4 sessions of 5NL. However, I also played pretty poorly. I think that I parted ways with my stack 3 times when I was hovering over the fold button and talked myself into a call. Having said that, it does seem that an abundance of players at 5NL like to bluff/spew/FPS/whatever you want to call it, but often times the lines are completely unbelievable.

I think that there may be some live tourny's in my future for this week. Let's ship something, shall we.

Gonna try to fire up the tourney rungood this week, starting this evening.

Tonight - $10k gtd, $166 BI
Tomorrow - $10k gtd, $166 BI
Friday - $66k gtd, $366 BI

I plan on mixing in some cash game volume along the way as well. Charity 4-man golf scramble on Saturday (weather permitting), so no bullet for that day. Day 2 restart would be Sunday at 12 pm.

Structure for the $10k's aren't great, but the fields should be buttery soft. Gonna try to get a small bink. I may try to run some semi live updates itt of the low roller tourney action.

Ship a tourney this week! Sounds like you've been doing well, buddy.

Thanks, boss! I had been wondering where you got to. Glad to see you back on the forums.

I'm currently comprising most of the buttery soft field. I have already made about 4 mistakes trying to look people up. I'm too curious. I got the 10k stack up to about 17k in level 3. Now I'm back down to 9k before the first break.


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Well, that was fast. Utg raise to 1.1k at 200/400 25a, I have AKo w/ a 8.8k stack. Second tightest player at the table goes ai and has me covered. Utg folds. I say that I hope I'm flipping and we aren't. V has AA and we don't improve. I probably could have found a fold against this villain but it just fit the theme of my poor play for the evening.


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Cash game for a little over an hour last night after busting the tourney. +$110, So I nearly got that tournament buyin back. Back for another go at the tourney life this evening.

Not quite the end result in the tournament that I was looking for last night, but I will say that I battled throughout and never gave my chips away. I was never more than 5K or so chips above average and that didn't happen until level 6 or so. I ended up finishing 12th for +$330. There were 130 runners and 15 paid. After firing two bullets, I end up in the hole -$2.

I busted my first bullet when I bricked my open end straight draw in a pot that was raised by the utg player and called in 3 spots. The utg raiser flopped the top end of the oesfd w/ JhTh on a 8h9h2x. I had 67h. Turn is a Q , river brick and I am rebuying.

On my second bullet I am card dead and don't play a hand for a level. Then I pick up KK and raise in ep pf and two calls. Flop is 446r. SB checks to me I bet 1/2 pot, player behind me calls, and sb shoves and has me covered. I call, sb has 77, I hold and a little more than double up.

More folding for awhile. My stack keeps creeping between 12-22 big blinds and I am just finding convieneant spots to shove. Never really get into any contested spots until I pick up QQ otb. A rungood pro makes it 3x to go pf utg. I shove ~16bb's, sb shoves and slightly has me covered, and utg folds. Sb shows AKs, and the board runs out safe for me.

More folding and finding good spots to shove. I pick up a few pots here and there w/o flops. I fold ATo in the bb w/ ~11bb's to a button 3.5x raise pf. Button had been playing somewhat snug, at least with his opens and I was pretty sure that I could find a better spot. I don't say what I have but he says that he had AQ.

We get to 1 off the bubble and I have ~8 bb's in the BB. Long story short, the button gets knocked out by a ep raiser when they get it all in pf. A new player moves into the sb, and I ask the dealer if the button is right. He tells me that it will stay where it is at on the next hand. I was so focused on my short stack play and my opponents that I completely sleep what he just told me. A couple of other players ask for clarification and there is some obfuscated spill and we go to the next hand. After the cards get dealt I realize that I should not be utg, but I am am. Next hand, I am in the BB again and don't have anybody to blame but myself for the mistake. To top it off, I have 72o and it gets raised by a shorty in mp and have to fold. A couple of players commiserate with me, one of the big stacks saying that he was trying to help me get a walk.

I was just confused how the dealer was incapable of keeping track of the action in this spot. To top it off, the floor man was right at the table on the bust out officiating hand for hand and there are only two tables rolling. Like I say, I take full responsibility for not speaking up loudly enough and stopping the hand before it got too deep, but my focus was diverted to my play. I will take this one.

On the bubble now, I have ATo utg w/ 6bb's. I shove and it folds to a shorty in the BB, but has me covered, who says he doesn't know how he can fold. He flips over T3. We both hit a T and I hold. I end up knocking out this BB player when I shove 77 utg w/ 12 BB's and he calls off the rest of his stack in the BB w/ Q5o.

My final hand comes when our table is down to 6 handed, and I have JJ in the SB w/ 8BB. Somewhat loose/passive player shoves 13BB utg. I shove from the SB. Big Stack takes some time sort out the action and then goes AI. UTg shows AQo, and BB has KK. I turn the gut shot but brick out and KK holds for a rather big pot. A player on the opposite table also got knocked out on the same hand. Three players hit the rail on the same hand and the final table is set.

Kind of unfortunate to run JJ into KK and AQ 6 handed, but this wasn't my tournament to win. Just one to battle it out and finish with what I could. All in all, I was very happy with my play. I was very happy with the first table that I was seated at, with 7 known rec's. I get moved after two orbits, to a table with 3 known thinking/semi-pro players playing 6 handed for about 3-4 orbits. This table breaks and I am moved to a table with 3 actual pro players (I should say, guys that I know play cards as their means of income). So, I bust at this table, rebuy, and end up at the exact same table I just busted from, in the exact same seat. I end up surviving this re-table draw, and get moved to a new table with... the two tournament big stacks on my left. Know option to shove light as they are both splashing around, but showing down big hands, knocking out player after player.

One of those aforementioned big stakes was the same player at my final table that shows up w/ KK to knock myself and the other utg player out. In 4 hours of playing with this big stack, he showed AK or AQ down at least 12 times. To go along with that, he showed AA twice. I believe that I saw AA once, and KK once. No AK, and AQo once.

In sum, I was pleased with how I navigated the field, and the situations that arose. Tournament poker has some major highs and lows. I'm fine with my run in this one, and will save my rungood for a big gtd. On to the next one.

Congrats on making the money, not easy to do with only 15 getting paid. Anything can happen when you get down to that few of people. Sounds like it didnt go your way but you still managed to do great.

I had not played a tourny in a while and I was surprised by just how long it took to even get close to the money. It was way more exhausting than that many hours of cash. Because you constantly have to be watching the clock, the players and everyhand that is played.

Thanks, Sam! I was proud of myself for how I stayed in the game mentally and decided that I would not just give my chips away in a silly spot. I'm with you, the mental awareness has to be constant and it is draining. I think that I enjoy the rigors of tournament poker. As you know, there is a cool feeling of moving up the pay scale in a tournament that is hard to describe.

Another week of poker is in the books. I am down 2 bi's at 5NL over about 2k hands and 8 hours of play. I am up 1 bi at 5PLO over a few hundred hands. As was documented itt, I whiffed the first tournament bi and basically win my money back on two bullets with the second tourney I fired. I didn't end up playing the main after seeing that the tourney field for the $166 tournament wasn't quite as soft as I expected. I imagined that the main would be a bit stiffer yet. If I had cashed an amount that would have covered my bi for the $366, I probably would have fired at it regardless.



This is the latest new beer that I have taken on a test drive. Well known brewery, Kona. This is one of the most flavorful beers that I have tried of late. The passion fruit is constantly present. Perfect beer for a warm summer day. Light and crisp, but carries a lot of flavor. I highly recommend this beer for the IPA lover.

On another note, I have nearly finished reading For Whom the Bell Tolls. There is something about reading Hemingway that inspires masculinity in me. Even just the connection of my eyes to his words draws my mind to a hearty standpoint. Many others have written in depth on Hemingway far beyond my ability to add or detract. So, suffice to say that a masculine feeling is conjured in me when I read his work. The most mundane, or highly passionate moments are expressed in a manner somewhere beyond sturdiness.

I hope everyone is running well, on the felt and off out there.