This blog is to mostly follow my thought processes in both poker and life. I've been reading a lot of blogs and I felt like starting my own.

Background : I'm 26 years old and live in NY. I own a business and am buying my first investment property in the Bronx this month.
I've been playing poker since I was 16 all over NYC in underground clubs. I've met some crazy people and played with poker superstars and other famous people, and also Jamie Gold lmao.
Once I turned 21 I started going to AC and Parx. Had a few scores in AC. Final tabled 3 out of 10 tournaments I played over the last year and cashed 80% of the survivor tournaments I played. Good run and good play combination perhaps.
I tried going strictly pro after I graduated college ( it was a few months after Black Friday where I lost 90% of my roll) and I made good money, but not good enough to sustain my lifestyle and keep a separate poker roll. I also hated sitting at scummy underground games until 4AM and having a ****ed up sleep cycle.
I've come to realize poker hours are similar to hospitality hours, the good games are when people are out of work and drinking/gambling. This makes ideal playing weekdays after 5 and weekends. This cut into my personal life a lot and I didn't like it. Poker was about free done when I started playing it, and after Black Friday I didn't feel too free. I can beat the regs during normal hours too, but for a much lower rate. I found that there was a cap on poker profitability, but no cap on business/ real estate profitability. So I switched gears.
A business opportunity came up for me and I took it. I worked full time and every other Saturday for 8 months in order to learn the field in which the business I wanted to open was in . That was the only "real job" I ever had. After work I went to the gym and played poker at night to build up my business bankroll. I also had a long term girlfriend and most of my already limited free time was spent with her. That was the worst 8 months of my life.
Finally I made enough money and learned enough in my job to quit, get my own place, and open up my own business from home.
Fast forward one year and my GF currently lives with me, I have an office with 6 FT employees and I'm buying a house.

Currently my game is anywhere from 1/2-5/10 and I play 300$-1k tournaments. I've recently had less time to take my poker trips, but I play online everyday. I'm reinvesting my business profits into the business and also taking out a substantial sum to pay for the house I'm buying.

I put aside about 15k to live off of until the dust settles. That should last me 6-8 months which by that time i anticipate my property to be making me $$ and my business to be caking too.

I'll update this blog with hand histories, life stories and business stories.

If you have any questions feel free to ask.

Good luck OP. What type of business do you operate and how did you grow it if you don't mind me asking? I also operate a small business (eBay/estate sale/liquidations) and am working on growth.

Thanks. I run a medical billing business. I'm involved with a big group of doctors because I used to manage their offices so I have gauranteed clients when they open new practices.
Business growth is all about knowing the right people (easier said than done) or offering an edge such as through your connections or beating other people's prices (which I do as well).
You can also hire a marketing team and a sales team, if you have a marketing budget, on salary and incentives (depending on how much they make you with the customers they acquire).
I grow my business through referrals, target emailing and cold calling and cold sales walk ins to medical facilities.
There's a medical office on every street where I'm from, so clients are everywhere.

Business: Update

Hiring a new employee, and expanding my space for a unit that will increase my business revenue.
Interviews and resumes don't tell the whole story. It's very hard to find good help. People can have a great resume, and interview very well, but when it comes down to working they plainly suck. Either they're lazy, unmotivated or just too dumb to understand simple instructions.
When this happens its very hard on small business. If you have 6 employees and plan out their workload, then one of them falls behind and another quits, that puts your company in a tough spot. This is what has been happening to me over the last few months. Every time I hired a new employee, they lasted a month then I either fired them for not working up to certain standards, or they quit with short notice.
In turn that has been frustrating not only for me, but for my employees as well. My employees already have a big work load as I'm staffing up. Every time a new employee quits, I have to give that workload to another employee temporarily. This puts us behind on deadlines, and other aspects of the business.
I hired a new employee last week, and he seems to be adjusting very well. He works well and he's happy to be here. Hopefully he lasts. I went through 6 employees over the last 3 months, it was a nightmare.
Another new employee is starting in two weeks. She has a lot of experience and skills in areas I need. I actually worked with her a few years ago, so when she showed up to the interview I was a bit surprised. Once both of these new employees get caught up so speed and adjust, my business should be meeting all the deadlines I want it to meet and catching up on all the work.
I also obtained additional space in my office this month, which I'm renovating and putting a few desks in. This will be used for a side business that corresponds with my main business. It should increase my revenue stream nicely and also help organize my office. The responsibility of the employees I'll hire for the new space will include scanning all paper documents into PDF files and setting up overdue balances for lawyers to arbitrate.
This step is the last step in automation for me. I don't enjoy being at the office everyday, and once everything is set up how I want it to be, I can come into the office once or twice a week and that's it. My goal is to have a self sufficient business printing me money, while I buy real estate with said money and retire in 10 years or less.

Poker update:
Played a **** session yesterday online. Thank god it was only 1/2 200 max buy in

Hand 1
4 handed
I get QQ have about $350
Villain has the same.

I stacked villain a few hands ago and he's pretty tilty.
I'm on button, hes in cutoff. He opens to 7$ I make it 25$ sb and BB folds.
Flop 6d5dTc.
Villain checks, I bet $34, villain calls.
Turn 2s.
Villain checks, I bet $56, villain raises to 150$ and we get it in.

Villain flips KTo.
River T

Hand 2:

9 handed everyone has around $200.

UTG opens 6, two calls including tilty villain from last hand. Im on button with ATo. I raise to 28. UTG calls, Villain Calls.

Flop : AcQsTc

Check, Check, I bet 54$, UTG folds, tilty villain pushes I call.

Villain shows : 64c

Turn 3c river blank.


Hand 3 :
6 handed everyone has around 200$

Hero : 55
I open utg to 7, tilty villain raises to 25 out of bb I flat.
Flop 7c5c3s
Villain bets 40$, I ship he calls with KK.
Turn Kc. River brick.

I had a few more hands like that and ran top 2 into top set on dry board as well. Ended up down about $1100. Not too bad. I'm glad it happened in a 1/2 game and not a bigger game. Will be playing another session tonight, might post update if something good happens.

Business Update :
Interviewing employees from now until Thursday. What you have to keep in mind when hiring employees is that they need at least a one month period to adjust. So work you anticipate being done by them should be put into that window period.
What sucks is that you have to adjust for their salary immediately, but their work is only going to be optimal after a few months.
I got two new clients starting in July as well, so that's good news. Once you're in the field for a while, people learn about you. As with all professional communities, you tend to run into the same people over and over again.

Poker : I'm trying to make about 4k within the next 3 weeks. I want to go on a small tournament trip to Borgata and want to freeroll it obviously. Playing online everyday to make it happen. If I won all the hands I was ahead in over the last week I would've reached my goal already. Blah Blah Blah variance, poker

Life : I'm trying to steadily go to the gym 4 times a week. Play basketball once a week. Play soccer once a week. And do hot yoga in the middle to level off. I also want to mix in a banya session at least bi-weekly.
For those of you that don't know, banya is basically a Russian Bathhouse. They have various saunas and pools. They have jacuzzis and massages as well. Normally I go there with a few friends, bring fruits and snacks, and just relax all day. I do light stretching in the saunas which go up to 200 degrees. It's great for detox and muscle relaxation.
I've been playing sports all my life, but now that I'm an adult, so I have to fit everything into a schedule instead of doing whatever I want, whenever I want. I definitely want to play sports at least 2 times a week just to mix up my activities. Lifting weights everyday gets boring and repetitive.
This is the second month I've been on this schedule, and I'm going to do hot yoga for the first time this week. Hopefully I can stick to it. There isn't anything more important than your health, and if you can spend 1-2 hours a day maintaining it I think that's very reasonable.

Poker update : Just finished an online session. Outdrawn in 5k worth of pots. Omaha is just as annoying as Holdem when you're running bad, if not worse.
Trending the completely wrong way for my AC goal. Will probably raise some funds and get staked for a bunch of events if I don't bounce back in the next two weeks.
Been on a big downswing last month, and its definitely terrible timing for it.
Maybe I'll have a few months where I pick up a heater. That's normally how poker works right?

Poker update: Played some 5/10 PLO yesterday. Had a decent session won about 2k. No interesting hands to speak of, just won a bunch of small-middle sized pots.

Business update: A new employee started today, and another one will be starting tomorrow. Hopefully it all goes according to plan, and my business will be running smoothly in a month or so.

Also I contracted a cold. Who get s a cold in summer? I don't know about you guys, but when I get a cold I act like a huge baby. I can break my arm and it'll be fine, but if i get a cold for a few days, the world ends. Does anyone else feel this way as well?

Got over my cold. This was the first time I got over a cold in three days. Normally it lasts around 5. Maybe my immune system is getting better from exercising. I haven't been active since Sunday though, so the cold set me back physically, I'm going to be making a comeback in the gym today. I still haven't mixed in hot yoga though, maybe next week.

Business update: Got a new account starting this month. Maybe two, working on the second one. The two new employees are fitting in nicely, hopefully in a few months my business will be flowing smoothly without me having to be there too often.

Poker update: Had a crappy last few sessions. Started off being stuck like 2k in each one since Sunday then winning most of it back. What sucks is that when I get stuck, I end up playing later than I want. Then I wake up tired and feel crappy for the first half of the day.

A few hands from memory: We're playing 1/2 .2c ante. We both have 1k and its HU.

1. Hero (bb) 4c4s
Villain : raise to $6
Hero: re raise to $24
Villain: Call

Flop : Jd 4d 6c
Hero : Bet 34
Villain : call

Turn : 9d
Hero: Bet $88
Villain : call

River : Js
Hero : Check
Villain : Bet $166
Hero : Raise $488
Villain: Call, mucks

2. Hero (button) : 7d5d
Hero : raise to $11
Villain : re raise to $48
Hero : call

Flop : Ts 8d 6h
Villain : Bets 64
Hero : calls

Turn: 4s
Villain : Bets $200
Hero : raises to $500
Villain: Calls

River : 7d
Villain : Bets $560
Hero : Calls
Villain flips Q9o

Stupid hands like that keep happening whenever I'm up or to get me stuck. Really frustrating stuff. I've also folded a lot of huge hands that should've resulted in me being down a lot more than I am.

Still behind my goal of making 4k, and I only have two weeks left to do it.

Had a decent session last night. Up around 1k. Still got outdrawn for a $1200 pot though, but then I stopped playing so I can finally log a win. A few hands from memory

2/5 Omaha $600 Effective Stacks

Hero (mid position) KdKh7h9s
Fold around to hero, Hero Raise to 15$
Cutoff, button and sb call.

Flop : KsTh8d
Hero : Pots to 64$
Cutoff calls, Button Calls

Turn: 3h
Hero pots to about $240
Cutoff folds, Button ships for $300 more, hero calls

River: 5h
Button Shows ThTd4h6h

These are the people I lose to in the dumbest fashion. After the hand I felt myself getting angry so I closed the laptop and locked up the win. It's good when you know yourself and have enough control to just insta stop. I wish I had perfect control of that, there have been plenty of times where I was angry but kept playing. This resulted in me losing much more than I should and staying up much later than I'd like. Very bad for my life goals overall.

I skipped the gym yesterday because I still felt crappy, but I'm going to leave the office early today and go for the first time this week. I didn't sleep too well last night, and normally when that happens I'm lightheaded the next day. That's why I skipped the gym yesterday. My girlfriend woke up in the middle of the night with extreme throat pain, and she might have strep throat. She's going to the doctor today to check it out.


Personal note: I have Meniere's disease. This consists of tinnitus in my right ear which contributes to partial hearing loss. But the worst part about it is the vertigo that comes with it. In the beginning you have extreme episodes of vertigo. The best way to describe Vertigo is like having the spins after a long night of drinking, but those spins are 10x more intense and it lasts for 10 hours. Throughout those ten hours your body hurts and you throw up a few times as well. Making it to the bathroom to throw up while my world was spinning was probably one of the top 5 hardest things I ever did in my life.
The good news is that as the disease progresses, the vertigo is much less intense. I also managed to correlate sleep to vertigo episodes. I kept a log of what I ate, did, and how long I slept everyday for a month. I noticed that every time I used to sleep for 6-7 hours (thanks to poker) then start my day, I would get light headed or dizzy. I wouldn't get all out vertigo episodes, but I would get a dizzy spell for about 2-3 hours.
Once I started sleeping well, the episodes mostly stopped. This is another huge reason of why sleep is important for me, and I don't like playing poker later than I'd like to.

Working a real job is the best motivation to never work again

This is my outlook on work, and this is why I will hopefully never work for anyone for the rest of my life.

When I was a little kid I wanted to be an animal photographer. I wanted to travel the world, explore exotic places, and take pictures of rare and wild animals. I would watch all the animal shows I could, and learn all the facts I can about animals. This was the most passionate I have ever been about a particular topic. At this point in my life, I would still like to travel the world, taking pictures of animals, and exploring countries. That's how I know my feelings for that field at the time were legit.
As I got older I got more cynical. I started seeing the easy way to get things done. I would assess deadlines and quality of work needed to get an X grade, and would just do it in the easiest way possible. I guess that's a good business mind in the making. I always wanted to just have fun and enjoy life. I felt schoolwork, homework and tests were a waste of time. In junior high school I did the work straight up, but I hated it. In High School is where I really turned the corner. At that age I was all about enjoying life and my free time, and school was just in the way of that.
So I did what anyone my age would do, I cheated. I copied homework, tests, cut class when it was appropriate to do so. I never failed anything, always had over an 80 in every class. I did the absolute minimum I had to do, to obtain what I wanted to obtain. I maximized my free time and my fun. I limited my stress and the work I deemed unnecessary. I got so good at cheating, that I would have the actual tests before I take them or I would have smart people on a payroll sitting next to me and blatantly showing me their answers. Life was good.
I would play basketball and just hang out with my friends everyday after school. Senior year I basically had to pass only 3 classes to graduate, and I was already accepted to college so I went to school form 11am-1pm. I had my classes all lined up in a row. I also started playing poker junior/senior year. I immediately loved it because I made a boat load of money playing it and I can play it whenever I want. Ideal job for someone with my outlook on life at that time.
My senior year of high school consisted of finding online poker, turning a free roll tournament win of 100$ into 2k. I then started playing at underground games, and built my bankroll up to 20k. For a 17 year old kid that's a lot of money. I was playing poker with business men, drug dealers, real estate moguls, ect. It gave me so many life experience when I was so young, that it helped shape me into the person I am today.

This is getting a little long, if this peaks interest I can tell more stories from my hayday, otherwise I'll stick to basic updates and some random stories here and there.

Finally had a session go my way just in time. Made $3500 today playing 5/10. I started off playing HU then the table filled up slowly. I have history with the guy I play HU so we 3 bet and 4bet/ship each other pretty light.

The only hand that came to mind was when I got dealt QQ. Effective stacks were 1k.

Hero (button) : QhQc
Hero raise to $30
Villain 3bet to $100
Hero 4bet to $240
Villain all in for 1k. Hero call.

Flop : Ah Qs 3h
Turn: 9h
River : 5c

Villain shows 88 and I scoop.

Won a few other decently sized pots throughout the session.

Looks like I basically made my tournament trip goal which is great.

I'm going to be playing at the borgata the 13th-17th. They have a nice $560
1 mill guaranteed tournament which should be a soft field because everyone is in Vegas. They also have a $500 survivor which I love playing.
The following week I might go again for their $400 almighty stack with a 300k guaranteed.
Might also mix in the $350+$50+100$100k guaranteed black chip bounty. I got 5th in that one in the last series but I don't think there was a guarantee when I hit it.
I haven't been on a poker trip in a few months so I'm excited to go.

I won't have any live updates because when I play I pay attention to everything. You have no idea how much reads you can pick up right before action even begins. I usually know when at least 1-2 players are folding preflop right when they get their cards.
The regs who sit around texting while cards are dealt and hands are played are doing it wrong. You have to give yourself an advantage with every aspect of poker, not just by knowing push/fold strategy when you have 20bb in a "standard" spot.
Also a lot of my high stakes friends hate playing level 1. I love it. You can pick up soooo many tells for cheap which can help you later (assuming your table doesn't break). You can also stack someone who doesn't know how to play AA or other big hands. I've doubled up in a lot of tournaments in the first two levels.

Super swing session today. Played 3 tables of 1/2 Omaha and one table of a 1/2 1k max Holdem game.

Started off up 400$ then down 1200 and ended up -$200. Lost a lot of big pots I was the favorite in, at least 3 for $500 a pop and a few smaller ones for 2-400 a pop. I don't mind the result based on the way I ran.

Tomorrow I have a basketball game at night so I won't be playing. Gotta stay active.

My girl has had a terrible cough since Thursday. It's been getting better, but it's still there. I feel like it's a little excessive, she went to urgent care they just said it was a bad site throat. I'll give it another day or two before seeing a specialist about it.

Interesting hand I played today, this was at 1/2 Holdem. Effective stacks 1k.

I'm in SB with A5c.
6 handed game.

MP raises to 6$
Cutoff calls
Button calls ( I have a 3betting/4betting history with him and he's playing spazzy today)

I raise to 34$
Bb calls (also a spazzy player)
Folds to button who makes it $140
I click it back to $350
BB folds, Button calls.

Flop Ts 9d 3c
I check ( to make it seem like I want to induce a bet, with our history it's a very strong play imo)
He checks

Turn 4h
It goes check check again.

River 8c
I go all in and he folds.

Played a quick session before my basketball game today. 2/5 PLO and 2/5 HU Holdem

I was up 1200 in Omaha. Mostly from this hand :

Hero has $650 and gets TsTc8dQd utg
Raises to 15
Middle position with 500$ calls
Cutoff with $200 calls
SB who's spazzy raises to $40
BB with $500 calls. Hero calls. MP and cutoff call.

Pot (160)
Flop 79J

Bingo

SB leads pot. Folds to me. I ship. MP folds cutoff calls and BB calls.

MP has JJ46 and BB has QT67

Runs out brick brick and I scoop it.


Crappy Holdem hand:

I'm playing the spazzy guy from the Omaha table HU. Crushing him for 600$ so far. Effective stacks : $1600

Spazz: raise to $17
Hero with AsKd re raises to 60$
Spazz calls.

Flop : Kc Jc 9d.
I had a really bad feeling about it so decided to check call unless I get a crazy runout. This also disguises my hand maybe seems like I got QQ or TT or a jack or nothing. Will definitely induce bluffs as well from this guy.

I check
Spazz bets $105
I call

Turn : 6c
I check
Spazz bets $180 I call

River : 3s
I check
Spazz bets $360 I call

Spazz flips K9

Easy game.

I quit +$1200 for the day. Something I'm very happy about. I feel I could've lost my whole profit back after that hand.

One step at a time baby

Played a short session today. The game was pretty dead so I quit early. Ended up +$560 which I'll take everyday.

This weekend it's my best friends bachelor party so I won't be doing much gambling. I'll probably play mon and tue night before my Ac trip, depends on when my basketball games are on those days.

Business is going well and I'm happy.
I moved a lot of debt onto no interest credit cards so I'll have to start paying those off soon. I have about 14-15 months left of no interest so that's solid for me. Essentially it worked out as an interest free loan.
It got my business going, but I won't be seeing liquid profit for a few months because it's all going towards the debt.

My goal is to be debt free by the end of the year and to have my house fixed up with tenants living in it.

I wouldn't mind taking down a tournament before the year ends either. That would be a big help and I'd use the money to pay my debt.

Locked in a other winning session in Thursday ended up +1k. Played 2/5 Plo and 2/5 Holdem.

Got outdrawn in a 1200$ pot too right when the session started, but kept at it and booked a nice win.

Hand : effective stacks $600

Hero utg : 5c6s7c8d

Raises to 15$
Two calls from mp
Folds to BB who pots it
I call and other players call.

Flop : 7h 8d 3c
BB pots, I ship, fold, fold, he calls.
He has KdKs3d9d

Turn : 3h

River : Qs

Easy game with 4 outs.

I'm heading to AC next week to hopefully take down the mill gauranteed. Playing the first flight on Wed.

Had a nice little run the last few weeks. Played a short one hour session, was very swing. Went from up $400 to down $400 to finishing the session up $400 again.

A nice bluff from last night : We're playing 1/2 holdem .20 cent ante. 3 handed every1 has 1k

Hero : Q9c in SB

Preflop:
Button raises to $6
Hero call
BB raises to $32 (we have a lot of history with him, he likes to bluff a lot)
Button folds, I call

Flop: Qd Td 3s
I check, Villain bets $42 I call.

Turn : 7h
I check, Villain bets $69 I call.

River : Ad (def not the card we want to see when we think Q is good here)
I check, Villain bets $90
I decide to turn my hand into a bluff, he'll probably fold any A here along with 2 pair as well. Doubt he's folding a flush but who knows. He doesn't really call down light when he gets check raised, he likes to be in control.

I raise to $400, villain thinks a while then folds.


Going on my AC trip tomorrow, I haven't been to AC since april so I'm hyped. The business is built up to the point where I can leave for like a week and it can run by itself, I just have to check my phone here and there. I'm trying to make it so I can leave for 2 weeks+ with minimal phone checking. That's the real American Dream.

Bagged 90k on my first bullet. Coming back to 3k/6k 500 ante. That saves me some money since I don't have to fire more bullets. Today is the last flight for Day 1 and tomorrow is day 2.

Had a real rough day and didn't get any traction. My tables were all amazing but I couldn't capitalize. There were 3 huge stacks raising 3-4x bb post ante towards the end of the day.

Hopefully I'll make a nice run tomorrow and make the FT.

The AC trip was a lot of fun. I might be going again this week for the almighty stack.

Lost the third hand in day 2. Got TT at 3k/6k/500. Someone opens for 14k I ship my 90k. The guy tank calls with AQs

Flop 3D 4d 5c
Turn A
River 6

Easy game.

I had a crazy cash game session. Got outdrawn for about 5k in pots ended up -2k. Played the next day and crushed it for 4K.

My buddy made a deep run in the tourney so I was waiting for him while playing cash. He busted 79th.

Has a crap week online though. Started three sessions up 1k within the first 20 min. Ended up being down in each of them towards the end.

Played 5/10 Plo today online lost like $1800 so that sucked too.

I lost track of my locking up 1k+ goal. Instead of being up 2-3k for the week I'm now down that amount.

Back to the drawing board. I gotta keep remembering to lock up big winning sessions and to not spew my profits before I get up.

Going to AC again this week for the almighty stack. Leaving tomorrow morning and staying until Friday. IF i bust I'll play cash again.

Had a crap week online, I minimized my losses but as mentioned before didn't lock up my wins. Back to the drawing table, have to win back what I'm down and start turning profit again. Down about 2-3k for the week.

The bank sent an appraiser for the property I am buying. This is one of the last steps. After the appraiser confirms the price of the property, we either agree with it or counter. After that we sign the contract and the property is ours. I'm hoping to have tenants in it by the end of the year, and I'm looking to start making a return on it ASAP.

Hopefully I can take down the Almighty Stack, and that'll definitely make life easier.

Business update: I'm hiring a programmer from Ukraine to build a custom program for me that works with my billing system. This program is vital for setting up files for arbitration with the attorneys I work with, and it will be a big help moving forward. My business is moving at the speed I envisioned it to move, and I am very happy.
There were a few hiccups down the road, and I am fighting an unemployment case from a crappy employee I had to fire. Nothing too serious though. Some people just don't want to work, and want to get paid. Nothing comes easy you have to work for it. The amount isn't even that great, just $700 or so, but it's a matter of principle. She did no work while she was here and I was out a month of training an employee, a month of payment for her salary, and stress. Now she wants $700 more? GTFOO

I will be getting 3-4 new clients this month as well, and I will start paying off big sums of my debt in about two months or so. The goal is do be debt free by the end of the year. I have been growing at a very fast pace, and had to hire and train employees almost every month. It's a good problem to have IMO.

Decided to play a short 2/5 session online before my trip. Was killing it, 4 tabling up 2k or so.

I can't listen to my own ***** advice about closing the laptop and locking it up.

One of the tables is 3 handed I've been 3betting and 4betting a lot.

Other two guys have $1400 and $1800 respectively .

I get KK in bb. I tell myself last hand here and I'm done.

Button opens for $15 he has 1400$
Sb bumps it to 50$ with $1800
I make it $177

Button folds, SB makes it $480. I make it 1200$ and he ships. I call and he has AA. Obviously no K comes out.

3 handed game and my last hand and that's the crap that happens. I quit after that, might be around even for the session.

It's just so frustrating, at 11:30pm I told myself I should quit, but then decided to play 20 more minutes.

I know that the guy could've flipped JJ or QQ there and playing longer would've been a good decision if I stacked him. It's all about results though. That's the fourth time I didn't lock up a +1k session.

Next time I'm locking it up no excuses.

Bagged 1 million in chips for day 2 of the almighty stack. I'm probably top 20 if I had to guess. I need a big day tomorrow and if I make it to day 3 I'll definitely take it down.

Got some steak at Bobby flays after I bagged then went to play cash. No notable hands, ended up making $700 so I'm freerolling this trip. I even hit a high hand for $250. Life is good.

Very anticlimactic Day 2 in the almighty stack. Had a lot of bad spots where I ran into AA or other premium hands. Was down to about 700k and got into the following hand:

Blinds 10k/20k/3k ante

Hero is on the button and gets dealt AQs

Fold to hijack who opens for 60k (yes these are the kind of players playing this tournament). Hi jack covers me slightly, and has raised the last 4 hands in a row and called an all in with 85o for about 10 bb after opening one hand.

I 3-bet to 160k, villain calls.

Flop : Ad Ts 3h

Villain Checks
I bet 85k
Villain Calls

Turn : 7s giving me a flush draw
Villain Check
I bet 190k
Villain Call

River: Kh
Villain ships. I call. He flips KTo for the win. Easy game when you have a 10% chance to win and crush the river.

Villain said he put me on QQ or something like that and he was planning to ship any river. Based on his play I believed him.

I jumped into another tourney after that and made a deep run but lost AK vs TT with about 22 people left. First was 15k, would've been a nice consolation prize. I had a lot of fun playing on this trip as well and made about 700$ in cash games so I ended up down around $400 for total trip including room and food.

My next poker trip will probably be in September or October for the borgata 2 million guaranteed event. In the meantime I gotta make back the 2-3k I lost online and make another 5k or so to free roll that trip.

Played a quick session online yesterday won about $1500. I was two tabling 5/10 holdem. There weren't any interesting hands that came to mind, I just 3bet and 4bet a decent amount and took it down post flop.
Once I was up to about $1500 I just quit the game and locked up the win. I will be forcing myself to do that a lot, because as mentioned earlier, I can be up a good amount then lose it all back and quit the session 5-10 min later than I should have. No difference in quit time, but there's obviously a huge difference in profit.

I'm supposed to hear back from the bank this week. They sent an appraiser out there two weeks ago to confirm the value of the house. My partner is getting married in two weeks then going to Thailand on his honeymoon, so I expect the deal to get done once he gets back. Ideally we can close in Aug- September. The repairs will hopefully take about 1-2 months and then we can refinance and fill the house with tenants.

I've been working with a programmer from Russia, and finalizing a program that'll help my business keep better track of mailed records. Once the program is complete, I'll have to teach my employees how to use it, which is a pain in the ass. After everyone is on the same page though, my business will be flowing very smoothly.

I've been going semi-steadily to the gym. My goal was 4x a week, I've been going around 2-3 times. I'm slacking a bit I'll be honest, but I am getting stronger and I'm in better shape than I was for a while. I still haven't done hot yoga, maybe this week.

I wrote a super long entry, but it didn't go through and everything got deleted.

Cliffs : Girl's birthday yesterday. Got her flowers. Went to a place called Del Posto. Lamb chops were amazing along with everything else. They advertised a 5 course meal, but you have to split a pasta dish if you're with two people so it ended up being a 9 course meal instead of a 10. Also they up charged on a few menu items an extra $10-20. For a super fancy place they pulled a lot of cheap moves.

Played a short session made $250

Maybe hot yoga will work out this week.