There was a funny article over at PokerNews - looks like they tried running a tournament where people weren't allowed to bring cellphones in, so everybody would have to talk to each other for entertainment ... and people liked it!

Unplugged: Reactions from the 'Social Experiment' Poker Tournament

No hoodies either tho Also, it said in the article they gave the tournament a really good structure too, so maybe that's why it had such a great turn out?

Kind of fun though to see even a poker room trying new things, to keep things fresh

Usually make a big point of making sure to only play poker where there's extra promo $ and lots of other fun players (besides myself ) - so at least will have a *chance* of winning?

My annual treat the last couple of years though has been to play the SCOOP-L $11 phase tournament, since it's a chance to play with people who are much better, for a microstakes price?

Haven't played in a while, but don't recall ever seeing a river pot bluff like this in my usual $0.25 tournaments - so am already seeing new things already Actually most of us at the table appear to be bronze and chrome star - woohoo, go us! But the co here is a supernova with one of those 1m badges, so that's a little scary



Would be lovely to cash, but it looks like only about 8% of people are moving on to Phase 2, and then they haven't posted the payouts yet, so maybe even fewer will cash? Guess will just enjoy the experience of seeing new things and have fun with it

In previous years of giving the $11 SCOOP-L a try, have ended up at tables where everybody had Sharkscope abiity ratings in the 90's!

Looks like today, the people who were doing all the fancy stuff had ability ratings close to mine - although they have much higher average buy-ins, so maybe they see things at their regular tables that are different from what happens at my $1 tables?

Wonder if this is common at the higher buy-ins?



(hope my overcall was okay?)

Am on the verge of either moving on to the next phase of the $11 SCOOP-L ... or bubbling out at the 19th or 20th level. Only have 16bbs left, so guess it could go either way

It's nice when the tournament lasts a little though - just checked my graph, and it looks like things could maybe have gone a little better, but sure could have gone a lot worse as well, so can't complain ...

Also ran into someone at the tables from PSO, from way back when - so that's always a special treat Poker's so much fun - guess the only thing holding me back from playing more these days is the fear of losing money. With my stock portfolio, have made a whole host of mistakes, and my money's still growing - so probably that's a better place for a fish like me to be spending my time

Made it to Phase 2 - was super lucky to win my flip, because only 9-ish% seem to be advancing? Hope we start off ITM after all, otherwise will have to sweat the bubble with my 21bbs ...


Didn't have as great day with the AAPL earnings report - guess iphone sales were down the last quarter, because everybody's waiting for the 10th Anniversary iphone 8?

Warren Buffet was saying that a lot of people who sell trying to avoid little swings, will oftentimes wind up missing the big gains when things start going back up again - so hopefully will be better off in the long-run just staying put? Up to now, have been selling and trying to avoid those little swings, hoping instead to find something else that was moving upwards - but oftentimes would instead just wind up buying high, only to have things drop the next day. So it feels like things couldn't be too much worse just leaving things in place for the big gains in the run up to the new iphone? A 1.84% drop's not so bad - maybe by tomorrow it'll even have bounced back a bit, since the news wasn't so bad?


Back to talking about SCOOP - is this the first time they've offered $5.50 low games? There's quit a few too ...

Was just planning on mostly 'participating' in SCOOP by watching other people play on Twitch But $5.50's not so bad - may play a couple of other tourneys in addition to the phase one, if the price has gone down for some of them this year? SCOOP should be fun!

Guess there won't be any nature photos to post for the next couple of days, because it's supposed to rain until Monday - but today was lovely, and the tulips have started to bloom

Couldn't quite get this photo right - should go back to finish off those photo classes because my pics could use the help hehe


Will have to try really hard to keep up with the exercise too - my excuse for yesterday is that wasn't feeling well But have really been enjoying feeling more alert and energetic after adding more veggies to my diet, and more exercise to my day - so it'd be lovely to keep things going!


Am still eating healthier, so that's still coming along - even made a homemade pie crust with whole wheat flour and avocado oil today for my quiche, and it tasted okay ...

And then, was going to get an exercise bike - but the ones that fold away for storage look a little flimsy ... does this one not look like it might topple over?

May still give it a try, will see

Just ordered the exercise bike and it qualified for free shipping ... with an estimated arrival date of May 29 - guess we get what we pay for

So will have to try to do something else for indoor exercise in the meantime - there was this article that suggested house cleaning for exercise, although maybe vacuuming's not so much of a workout? But some of the other ideas sounded good - weren't lunges what Antonio Esfandiari was doing when he got too tired to go to the bathroom?

PS. Went to the eye doctor this afternoon and had those drops put into my eyes that turn everything bright and blurry - hopefully my writing is okay?

There seems to be a smiley for everything - funny there was even one for those 'High Knee' exercises ... they looked just like this!




Probably should have done the cleaning after all, because can't seem to find my birth certificate ... could swear it went somewhere 'special' for safe-keeping??



Finally got around to doing a hand history review of the SCOOP-L phase tourney from the other day, and went to look at the pokerprolabs page of of the supernova (the winner of the second hand with T6s) - looks like he's maybe more of a live player, but he's had some big wins online as well?

Looks like he's even won a WSOP bracelet ...

And here's his Hendon Mob page:

Not sure how his sharkscope rating ended up the same as mine - someone that doesn't seem quite right rofl! It's pretty neat that there's the chance with these SCOOP-L tourneys to play against accomplished players and see new things at the table for a microstakes entry fee - guess that's an opportunity that isn't there every day

Lisa's my cartoon twin - hot dogs ... eww

Always a treat to have you stop by and say hi SA - have a nice weekend!!

There's always so much excitement over SCOOP, it can be kind of tempting to want to play too

Was pondering maybe giving today's 5pm $11 SCOOP-L a whirl - but maybe they're just a bit too hard for me? Have somehow instead wound up playing a $0.55 women's tourney lol ... guess maybe the mini-stakes are probably more my speed? oh well

Still eating healthy - although it hasn't yet become habit, so it's still taking some conscious effort to overcome the urge to just whip up a quick shepherd's pie, which have made lots of times before


Hit a bit of a rut when looking at some of these recipes for vegetarian chili, wondering how it could possibly taste as good when there was sweet potato in place of the beef?

Guess changing habits takes time? So will have to try to stay motivated until new habits are formed. It seemed to help to go back to read the stuff about why it seemed like it would be such a good idea to try making the changes in the first place?

Quote:

Originally Posted by TrustySam

And then there was that idea of the Bollywood star's coach, about maintaining a healthy lifestyle being important for living our best life - he was also saying something like that when we maintain a healthy lifestyle, then we're more free to enjoy all that life has to offer including the occasional treat, because then we'll have earned it?

So wound up giving turkey chili a try, with some added veggies - and it was surprisingly good! Guess the turkey isn't as rich as beef, but it was nice with the added peppers, squash, corn, black beans, quinoa, and avocado. Just topped it with plain yogurt instead of the fat-free sour cream, and it was as satisfying as regular chili ... it was much better than was expecting it to be

So things are coming along ...

It's quite lovely out!

Not sure what happened to my jogging smiley, but am heading out the door right now

Pretty day out today

Gosh, kind of signed up for a $0.27 SCOOP satty by accident - the funny part is that the chat seems to be disabled. It just doesn't feel the same when there's no way mention to the table interesting little nuggets like that am about to sit out, before sitting out, etc.

Okay, going to sit out and answer an email now lol ...

Hey Trusty, what's your feeling/viewpoint on stocks as of now? I feel that the market is going to go down not that the afterglow of the Trump's win is fading.

Hey Stuntman!!

Was maybe going to post an investment update tonight - guess it's been nice to see the market moving, after it's been flat for so many months?


Guess that's the one thing about investing - there's always uncertainty with what might happen in the future, and the downturns in the short-term can be so brutal

Have never really experienced a downturn, have just read about the ones that have happened in the past. So have been trying to come up with a plan that will hopefully feel okay when there's an inevitable downturn? Although, maybe there's other ways to prepare?

Went to the mall earlier to look at eyeglasses, because there's a Groupon on right now for a package - had no problems finding parking because it was pretty empty! It kind of seemed like the prices and selection for everything including eyeglasses is better online?

The busiest part of the mall besides the repair counter at the Apple store seemed to be the food court - people still seem to be enjoying the NY Fries deluxe poutine ... but maybe someday healthy eating'll catch on as a trend and there won't be so much temptation at the mall?


Just came home and made some fish with mango salsa - may eat it as a fish taco next time?

Okay, guess will do a portfolio update now ...

Portfolio Update


Haven't talked about investing in ages, because hardly anything seemed to be going on - and was afraid of making the same mistake as last time, of trying too hard to get something going, when instead it might really be better to just be patient and wait?



Overheated Market?

Stuntman was mentioning before that the market seems to be a little overheated - have been noticing some of that myself, like for example was only expecting Facebook (FB) to be $146 by the end of June, and right now it's $150? And Apple (AAPL) seems like it might be getting a bit ahead of itself, and there are some others that seem to be that way too, like Priceline (PCLN)?

So a fair number of companies have already grown ~30% in the first +4 months of the year - here's some sample graphs for 2017:

Apple



Facebook



Amazon



ULTA

My Portfolio

Guess was hoping to grow my $ by finding solid companies with steady growth over time - although it seems like some of the gains might be part market hype too? And then lost some gains on gold, and by buying high And maybe stuff didn't grow as much because had some stuff in ULTA, GOOGL, and DPZ, which have all done fine, but not as well as some other companies?


So here's my accounts

RRSP (tax free trades)




TFSA (tax free trades)

Preparing for a Market Correction/Downturn

It's nice to have those accounts where selling shares doesn't get taxed, so won't have to worry about the tax if it seems like the market might be taking a turn and would rather sell?

Have tried looking at past downturns to get ideas of stuff to watch out for that might signal some sort of market correction - like high inflation rates? But maybe there may not always be signs ahead of time ... and maybe sometimes there may be signs, but things may still keep growing for a while?

The market seems to be growing so fast right now, although have no idea what to expect from things over the next couple of months?? Guess if it seems like there might be like a 51% chance the market might grow 10% in the next couple of months, and like a 49% chance the market might crash 10% before am able to sell my stuff in the next couple of months ... would it be better to keep the money in the market to try to grow it?

Maybe if inflation starts to rise and the market starts to stall for several months, may consider trying other stuff like a short-term GIC, or something?

Haven't been reading business headlines at all, out of fear would see something and start trading too much - wonder if maybe it's better to stay informed ... and will just have to work on toning down my natural fishy tendencies?

So hard to know what to do, isn't it Stuntman, when there's real money on the line?

Are you considering alternatives to the market? Can totally see why the economy seems to be cause for concern.

Have just started to get back into reading headlines again, so will have to keep my eye out for the latest on what might be in store - will be checking things out tonight, so will post anything that seems like it might be interesting?

Found the happy jogger smiley!! Hope everybody's having a lovely day

I'm not sure what I would do in lieu of just sitting out and keeping it in cash if I decide to sell. Historically, every 8-10 years there is a recession for a year or two. I'm up about 10-15% since I started investing at the beginning of last year, but with all this news and uncertainty not just in the United States, but in other countries, it certainly feels as if a downturn is coming.

It's gross too how the downturn can happen so fast and be so severe - it looks like the one in 2008 wiped out almost a decade of gains in a matter of days ... and then took several years after that to get back to square one?


Guess have had a bit of an experience with a (mini) downturn after all - my little investments in gold and with short-selling SNAP lost 10% and 15% in a really short amount of time. It maybe wasn't a huge amount in terms of $ because my portfolio isn't huge () - but it felt so gross to lose so much of a % so fast

After that experience, kind of wound up leaving some $ just sitting in my account - guess maybe it can seem worse to lose 10% of what we already have, than give up the chance for a 10% gain and have things stay the same, or something like that?


Back at the beginning of the thread, was collecting snippets of wisdom from Warren Buffett:

Quote:

Originally Posted by TrustySam

⁴ http://www.cheatsheet.com/money-career/warren-buffetts-15-most-memorable-quotes.html/?a=viewall (“Over the long term, the stock market news will be good. In the 20th century, the United States endured two world wars and other traumatic and expensive military conflicts; the Depression; a dozen or so recessions and financial panics; oil shocks; a fly epidemic; and the resignation of a disgraced president. Yet the Dow rose from 66 to 11,497.”)

³ http://www.suredividend.com/warren-buffett-quotes/ (“So smile when you read a headline that says ‘Investors lose as market falls.’ Edit it in your mind to ‘Disinvestors lose as market falls—but investors gain.’ Though writers often forget this truism, there is a buyer for every seller and what hurts one necessarily helps the other.”)

Guess Warren Buffett likes to focus on the lonnnng term? But in the short-ish/long-ish term, guess the uncertainty of the market can be quite a bummer - tough to know how best to deal with it??

you lost money shorting snap? it fell 23% today