I moved to New Mexico a few months ago to start a job with no intention of continuing poker for at least a few years. One of my friends suggested we play at a casino north of Alamogordo called Inn of the Mountain Gods. It is atop a mountain, has relatively close access to a sort of hippie town (good for breaks between sessions for food and silence), and spreads okay games and above average action and by that I mean 80% of the players are of the typical tilting table banter, deep(ish) pockets, and very bad poker skills. I started off in just 1/2 games on a few buy-in limit. I ran that money up to 2500 in April and May just playing a few hours a few days a week. Then, I started to play in their dealers choice and it is a 1/2 but it has one round of NLHE and then one of PLO with a 5 dollar bring in and 10 dollar straddles and people love it! A few of the same regs play it but on weekends it is filled with a nice rotation of about 15-20 characters from Thursday-Sunday that enjoy dumping the max buy-in (100min-500max) a few times over and it doesn't seem to affect them too much. Since June, I have 13.8K across 1-2 NLHE and the Dealer's choice game.

I decided to create this pcg just one more time as a rolling accountability for myself. I probably won't post a lot of hands unless they have some significant value meaning like 2K+ pot or when I take shots in the 2/5 PLO game on weekends. Also, there is a 1100 dollar tournament on Saturday at the casino that is likely to get only 60-70 people and offers a 600 dollar rebuy, guaranteed 100K prizepool and guaranteed 30K to first. I might enter it. Sure, it's a decent chunk of the BR but it also will be a soft field with most local grinders in AZ for the state championship event there. Anyway, more posts to follow, along with chip pron from July, fitness goal things, stock market conversations and some history on myself...I have had some failed PC&G in the past but being free here in New Mexico from anything besides work and poker allows me to give this a bit more attention.

More to follow...Brett

How do I get my images on here???...using imgbb...

I have been off of here for a few days due to craziness at work, but just posting pictures from July and so far in August. I was going to go to Las Vegas this weekend, but was not feeling so great and decided to just log an okay day at my local casino. I first placed 1-2 NLHE, made about 550, transferred to a new 1-2 PLO/NLHE game, won around 300 there and then took about 700 over to the 2-5 PLO game and made the rest of my profits there for a 2.1K day in just about 6 hours overall. It felt good to book a decent day to start off August. I did not end up playing the tournament as in the fine print the casino said the 100K guaranteed prize pool and 30K guaranteed to first place would not be guaranteed (standard). So, I just lost $900 instead that last weekend after winning a $2300 pot with QTxx on a QQT flop...yeah, somehow was up $1600 and ended up losing it back on a series of fun PLO pots...whatever, welcome to PLO I guess. I find myself staying at the table even if I am up 2-3 buy-ins, just because I feel leaving means I am not really beating these games the way I should be. Some people think I should just book the 1K wins and be happy, but I really feel the only way for me to get better is to keep playing these super deep pots and get used to the swings. My worse day has not been worse than a buy-in or maybe a buy-in and a half at 1-2 or 2-5 PLO or the mix at this casino and the players are fairly predictable to the point that there are several I am running turn and river bluffs on with high rates of success. If I do get called off, they usually have something close to third or fourth nuts and I just say "Straight" or something, they will show their flush or higher straight and I look dumbfounded and say "Nice Hand" and muck away whatever BS I was trying to get through on them. Sigh. It sounds terrible, but I think any decent PLO player on here who played in these games would look at me and say "Yes, stay in these games..."

The only downfall of the games is that I am the youngest by a mile. The next oldest person, usually, for regulars, is about 65 years old. The thing is, I am not looked at as some type of different player than them besides they tend to think I have it most of the time. Shrug. I don't know why more players than just one, an older guy named George, don't adjust to some of things I do. Anyway...still have to run well over the next few months to get to 40-50K and feel super rolled to run 2-5 PLO every single weekend, all three days (Fri night, Saturday all day, Sunday all day...the first two nights are the better nights obviously), and then I feel I can really start getting it going. I have been slumping in any of the 1-2 as of late, but 2-5 PLO has been nothing but positive in the three shots I took so far.

Anyway, here is some chip porn from July, including one time at a casino back home in some crazy 1-2 where I was just ****ing off, and my one Vegas trip in the last month, which was a good time as well. Will probably post again at end of August as I have a trip to Austin, TX this coming weekend and then a lot of work, soccer, and workouts. I also am working on getting an account set up and trying my hand at some day trading, so I have a lot more on my mind than just the weekend poker games, but overall the play is ****ty so I just have to stick with it and keep climbing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4aYVSgylks

Non-political piece here but I watched the video and it made me think about a few things as I was playing poker the other day. I had this nice stack in front of me, kind of had the perfect strategy going in this 2-5 PLO game and unfortunately had the crappiest heartburn due to drinking a few beers the night before and my body and its lack of a gall bladder which just screws me when it comes to eating anything with spices or drinking Sierra Nevada brewed beers (or any IPA, I love Stone the most). Anyway, as I sat there, two of the older guys were talking about their time in the military. One of them was a Navy Vet and is about 74 years old but looks like some type of character you might see in a fricking Goodfella's movie but is all class...all class at the poker table. I have seen him get screwed plenty of times in the 2-3 months I have played with him but seen him win plenty as well: he has no reaction either way other than one of no emotion if he loses and just a slight smile with conversation unrelated to the hand when he wins or folds. This could be due to his wealth, but I can tell her cares about winning or losing, just has a lot of sportsmanship too. The other guy was also a Vet and probably close to the same age and usually listens to people and has an amazing sense of humor. They were all going back and forth about memories and of course talking about some political things recently as well as military related things we all see in the news. I was the youngest guy easily by 30 years and I was silent besides some sports talk. No one cared or asked my view on anything, which was normal for me, though a few of them definitely show an interest in me as both a player and person when we do get a chance to talk away from the table. A few know of my service record, some things I have accomplished, and am still trying to accomplish on a personal and professional level both related to the government, military, and private sectors. However, through all of the conversation, my mind came back to one thing: inspiration. I thought to myself, like the eight guys playing with me "I hope I am at their financial situations when I am there age and work my ass for it because they inspire me."

A lot of times I get down on myself, about my life, and where I should be in life. I think we can all agree we do that or have done it. Suddenly, at this table, I remembered something: I am that inspiration for others. I have been going through some family drama, recently cutting off my brother and father, and already being disconnected from my mother for 25, almost 26 years, and I have been feeling really alone and truly lonely in New Mexico, and it is the first time I have felt the feeling of loneliness in several years. Still, deep inside, I know in Bella, my only daughters', entire life I have been focused on one thing: What World I create for her. I don't have to look much further than the things I have done to see that I came into this World with something and am entering my middle ages with my head held high. Poker is merely a game, but the words of inspiration I offer or the things I do each day, like play poker and sit around shooting the **** with some old guys and laughing, is by far the most important work and wonder I will do every single day for the rest of my life. My "work" is found in those moments and my job or income is found in all of the other stuff that passes the time.

I think General Mattis talks about something important in this video when he mentions inspiration and that is a wholistic view of it. I believe it is hard for people to see outside the soda straw in life, and certainly in their own personal states. They worry about debt, health, and all of these things. I can think of so many times in my life that I was blessed to have things that I probably took from granted at a younger age but now I am thankful. I am so thankful that over the long haul I had bad times, learned from them, and don't have to experience the same mistakes now. I wonder what guy or gal out there, around my age or younger, might have the same opportunities and not take them, or the ones who don't but would take them in a heartbeat. I guess my main point is I am grateful to drive an hour to play poker, because outside of a few things I do here along with work, there is nowhere else I would rather be than the tables. I am not someone who will ever be of much value or ever get further than 2-5 or 5-10 games, but just being able to get on here, read about people accomplishing thing while going on a journey in the game myself is plenty enough for me. I hope you can gather something from the video and it keeps you motivated to whatever your goals are in life, and most of all keeps you grateful for having the chance to play everyday. I was close to not being here for all of this and I am grateful...and not just poker, but life.

- Brett