Lookback on 2007

Well, its the last day in 2007 and so, according to the International Blog Code, it's time to look back on the previous year.

By all accounts, this was both one of the best and worst years of my life. Without going into a list of each, especially since it is well catalogued in this blog, lets just do a quick synopsis of the good. (since I'd really like to end the year on a positive and hope that next year is only positive)

This year I learned that I am in fact a good poker player. At the beginning of this year, even though I had been playing poker for a long time I didn't feel like I was. Today though, I not only feel much more comfortable and in control at the felt, but I have numbers to prove it. I feel so comfortable in fact that I am going pro, starting tomorrow (cuz tonite is party nite).

In February of 2007, I found www.pokerdynasty.net
and even though I've kind of beat their drum a lot, i honestly don't think I can ever thank them enough for the help and teachings they have given me. Without a doubt, if I had never stumbled onto their site I would still be working some terrible job, actually probably 2 jobs, because poker has been my 2nd job all year and I would still be losing money at the tables. In all I made nearly $10,000 in poker this year, while only doing it less than 20 hours a week. In comparison, in my "main job" I've only made about $18,400 working almost full time. Without this newfound confidence, I wouldn't even think it would be possible for me to ever go pro and I would be miserable because I'd have no hope for a better life. This year has been such a boost in my overall morale.It may seem silly, that I would let poker be that much a part of my life, but it is beyond poker, honestly. So, one last time before the year is up, Thank you Jared and Ryan and everyone at P Dynasty, your teachings and patience have meant so much to me this year, and I hope the friendship we have made will continue to grow in the year to come. Cheers!

As far as my personal life and the relationship with my wife, we went through some very rough times this year, but I believe we both want to do whatever is necessary in the upcoming year to recommit to each other. I'm very excited as to where this upcoming year can take us and I look forward to continuing our journey together.

Financially this year was another, "just get by year." This year, things will be different. I've pretty much decided that this year will be used to finances, my relationship with my wife, and my health. This year is going to be very important in my life. But, ill talk more about that in the next post.

I'll be partying tonite, I assume anyone who reads this will be too, so please be safe and have a great time. Happy New Year!

4 more days until the End of the year

Hope everyone had a great holiday. Mine was pretty good. It's got me pretty worn out right now, actually. I am very excited about the upcoming year. I get to quit my job in 4 days and I will become a professional online poker player. I'm very excited to be doing this. The great thing about the position I'm in is that the kind of job I have is always available. Worst thing that can happen is that I fail at poker and I simply get another job. The best thing, of course, is that I can make a ton more money than i previous have, I get more opportunity to lose weight, and I can go back to school. I see a lot of posts in forums about people quitting college to play poker. I'm actually playing poker in hopes of being able to go back to college. In my opinion, quitting school is terrible to do to yourself and your future. I'm not naive enough to just believe that poker will ALWAYS be available as an occupation. I hope to be able to ride poker out as far as I can, but also during that time, I hope to achieve enough education to where I can start a different career if I need to. I doubt I'll always want to be a poker player anyways, even if it is available in the future. I change my mind about things all the time. I've been playing poker for 17 years (since the kitchen table) and I'm sure I will, at least in some regards, always play, but I'm sure at some point it will become not so much fun for me. Hopefully, by that time I will have a bunch of money in the bank and a complete college education.

The first month is going to be critical to my success. I've already said it looks like it could be lining up well for me, so hopefully I don't blow it. Like everyone else, I'll be posting my new years resolutions and goals over the next year, as well as a look back on 2007 over the next few days.

But, I run Good in Poker

or maybe I play good poker... whichever one it is, I don't care, as long as I gets the monies.

Tonite I played in the 2k guaranteed 24$ buy in Limit Razz tourney on FTP. 89 people signed up for it and I came in 3rd for a 288$ payday. Earlier I had lost about 60$ in Cash games, so it was a nice little picker upper. I really do well in stud variation MTTs. Of course, FTP hardly ever has any, but I think I'm going to try and play more of them. I think even though I have mainly just studied hold em over the past few years, stud is still my best game. I should probably exploit that edge more often.

I Just Run Bad In Life

It happened. My car found a way to screw me over again. It overheated on me last nite, while on my way to my paper route. It's not leaking coolant, so my guess is that the head gasket blew (The midas guy told me it would soon). So, I had to wake up my brother and him and my wife came out to give me his car while they waited for the tow truck at 3 AM. I had to squeeze my big ass in my brother's Ford escort, it was probably the most uncomfortable 3 1/2 hours of my life. I got my routes done in decent time, considering. I have 1 week left of work and my boss, apparently is going to loan me a vehicle to finish the week out. I just don't have $600 to fix my car. And i wont have it any time soon. I knew my car wouldn't make it. Oh, I also had to spend my electric bill money as well as my 2 nephew's christmas gift money on the tow truck. I just can't catch a break in life, it seems.

In poker today, i played about 1100 hands and lost 33$. I played pretty bad on a few hands and would've made some money if i hadn't. I was card dead for 400 hands, and I have noticed that when i go card dead it will cause me to play bad. Something I need to watch out for in the future. I got unlucky on a few hands as well, so I don't think it was too bad, to just be 33$ down. Hell, last friday I lost 400, so can't complain i guess. I spent all week making back what I lost last weekend. It's been a pretty good week. Next week, I really need to get a lot of poker in. I am still planning on going pro at the end of the month. It's not the circumstances I wanted to be in when I did, but, whatever. If I have to, I'll get a part time job, that will at least make sure I have rent money every month. I asked my wife to just give me a month, and if I'm not where I think i should be at the end of January, then I'll go find a job. But, i'm pretty confident I'll be able to make it work. The only thing that will stop me are the cards. I'm a good poker player and I'm going to put in the hours that I need. Hopefully, I get off on a great start and I wont have to worry about it.

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Holy Raptor Jesus, What a terrible weekend!

The weekend started off with the worst day of poker I've had in a very long time. My bankroll was up to $1100 again, amazing since I continuously keep withdrawing from it. On Friday, I lost 300$ in cash games and then another $100 in Sngs. Shit was wack. But, obviously, I have to expect to lose sometimes. Then on Friday night at work, St. Louis got it's first snow storm of the year. On my way into the library parking lot, which I deliver newspapers to, I lost control of my car and slammed my tire up and over a median. Somehow, I didn't have a flat tire, but the rim is bent so bad, I think the tire could blow at anytime. So, now I need to buy another new rim! But, wait that's not all! Last nite on my paper route, I was using my brother's car and I got stuck in a apartment building parking lot for an hour. I couldn't get back up the hill that led out of the lot. I kept moving a few inches and then had to get out and dig myself out with a small ass ice scraper I had. It was working but I was getting exhausted. Meanwhile, there was a snowplow that kept driving by. He was working on the same apartment complex i was in. I kept waving at him but he never stopped. He kept coming by, so i guess he was waiting for me to get out of his way so he could do the part my car was blocking. Finally, the guy stopped and within 5 minutes i was out of something I had been trying to get out of for nearly an hour. I gotta go, have to go spend more money on my damn car. 2 more weeks. just 2 weeks.

I'm an Uncle

Yesterday, my brother's girlfriend gave birth to a baby boy. Elliott Donnavon Flamm. This is the first nephew I have from my family. Congratulations to my brother and his girlfriend! I went and saw the baby today and of course, its beautiful. I can't wait til my wife and I have one of our own.

Bad Beats keep coming

Not in poker, but in real life. Last night while on my paper route, my heat/defrost went out on my car. Last nite was also the first ice storm of the winter for St. Louis. Ice kept forming on my windshield to the point where at times i had to stick my head outside the window to see where I was driving. I had to quit my route without finishing it. The penalty of which, hasn't been assessed onto me yet. I'm sure I'll hear about it at work tonite. So, I took it to Midas today. The engine on the blower is out and has to replaced. It's gonna cost $250. I am broke. All the money I have these days is my bankroll, which would grow if I could stop being forced to take from it. I get so tired of shit breaking down on my car. I can't wait to quit this job. I honestly don't even feel like going back tonite. I have to use my brothers car, which he just got and its smaller than my car and I have no idea how it will react with so much stress on it. I really dont want to just quit because my bankroll isn't big enough to support me and my wife yet. I need at least the rest of this month's salary. It's just so frustrating sometimes. My wife had to actually get my brothers car and come get me this morning because I couldn't even drive home. Since Tuesday I've had to withdraw almost 700 dollars from my bankroll. Please just let me get to the end of this month with the money I need.

Arggggg

So I woke up early today for the FTP Iron Man freerolls. I played in the One a day free roll and the Silver Iron man freeroll. For some reason i cant seem to cash in the damn Iron man freerolls. Today Right off the bat when i raised someone came flying over the top of me and i had to fold. Then I had AA and KK and absolutely no action. Finally i went all in for about 10x bb with 88 got called by 77 and wouldnt you know, 7 on flop. Ghey! i have played 3 of these and havent cashed yet. I did however cash in the one a day freeroll. It's only a 2k freeroll and 380 people signed up for it, lol. first prize was just 300 bucks. Oh well, i played anyways and made like 15th place for a whopping 20$. lol came out to about 5$ an hour. But, luckily for me, i made about $130 in cash games. So i made some nice profit on the day. Until later that nite. I gave 70$ back because I decided I was going to bluff. WTF am I thinking? I have spent the last 2 weeks hardly bluffing at all and look I'm winning about 20ptbb/100, tonite though I decide to get fancy and of course they call with shit every time. I'm retarded sometimes. And now for some reason my internet keeps going out so I'm on my own FULL TILT. I'm done for now, no point in giving money away.

Good news is I'm on my way to my monthly goal. There are about 22 days left in the month and I'm a 3rd of the way there. I can't wait. My rakeback should be pretty fat come January, that should help me with my transition into the good life.

Few quick things

Still doing pretty well at 50NL. I am not on the Heater I was for a week, but I have still only had 1 losing day in the past 9 or 10 days and it was just $20. I am playing great poker, obviously I haven't been very unlucky yet either, hopefully that comes when my bankroll is bigger. There are still spots where I am screwing up, hopefully I will shore those spots up.

I had 2 meetings this week with my Mini Mastermind group, which is through www.pokerdynasty.net we had a lot of fun in both meetings. I can't really say we accomplished a lot of strategy, but its nice getting to know the guys better and developing a cameraderie with them. I don't really have anyone local to talk to about poker or just goof off with besides my brothers so it's nice to have this group finally going. We decided we will meet on Thursdays every week, hopefully some good blog stories will come out of the meetings.

I am about to battle Mo from p-dynasty in a Rap battle, that should be fun. I'm going to own him, cuz well, that's what I do.

As for "real" life, not a whole lot going on. My cat shit on my arm today... that's about it.

good times.

November Recap and December Goals

Let's look back and see if I accomplished my November goals.

I immersed myself back into Pokerdynasty.net and it's teachings. Check
I started focusing on my decisions in poker instead of my results. Check
I am better as a poker player right now, then I was at the beginning of the month. Check

I've cleaned my apartment, I'm thinking positive again, and I'm over all the bad stuff that happened to me. Check Check Check

I accomplished every goal I set in November! Yay Me!

I'm not sure where my bankroll was at early November, but i made a lot of withdrawals in November. This past week I made $900 playing 50NL, one of the most productive weeks I've ever had. Let's see what December has in store for me.

December Goals

Current Bankroll is $840, My plan is to turn Pro at $3000. To some that may seem very low to try, but that would provide me with enough of a bankroll to play 50NL full time and at 50NL I can easily earn 16$ an hour and about $1000 a month in Rakeback. I only need $1500 a month for living expenses. So, even though I don't like to set monetary goals, I'd like to reach that number by the end of this month. That is really my only goal for this month. In February I will get a 550$ bonus from Full tilt, combine that with my rakeback payment in the middle of the month and I should be well on my way with savings and a bankroll for 100NL. My wife appears to be on board with me, so that is all the encouragement I need. Worst thing that will happen is it wont work out and I'll have to get another dead end job, which is exactly where I am at now, so why not try?

Wish me Luck!

First Review:Online Training Site: Pokerdynasty.net

I have read every poker book on the market. I have been a member of a few other online poker training sites. Pokerdynasty.net in my opinion, has been the number one reason I am successful at online poker. I have been a member of Jared and Ryan's site since February of 2007, I began with 84$ in my Full tilt poker account and since then I have cashed out over $8800 dollars and I still have a bankroll around $1000 without making another deposit! All that while simply playing part time. Besides the money I have learned how to play a great postflop game and how to read my opponents, to the point where I feel completely in control at the table the entire time I'm there. To me if someone asked "what is the number 1 tool I should get to be a successful online poker player?" I would tell them pokerdynasty.net.
Here are the details of the site:
Site: Pokerdynasty.net
Site owners: Jared and Ryan (theJar3d and rcmastermind)
Site tools: Cash game videos, Videos of big tournament wins, Heads UP videos, Member videos, Articles, Q&A sessions, Forums, an active community, Mini Mastermind Groups.

What sets the site apart from the rest: A very active core that specializes in making each member better at poker whether its in the forum or with one of the mastermind groups. An outside-the-box set of instructors that don't care what the traditional methods are, they are only worried about you playing great poker in each hand.

They also run promotions every month for it's members. Things such as Freerolls on Major poker sites (FTP,Stars), member contests, this month is Refer-A-Friend, so if you check them out and join, be sure to tell them Flamm sent you and I'll have them send you a T-Shirt!

Site Grades:
Look: B+
Information: A+
Updated:A
Worth the Commitment: A++
Overall: A+

A Commitment to Advancing My Blog

Okay, I'm still going to do november recap/december goals but I wanted to post some info on my plans for my blog.

I've decided to recommit to my blog and begin providing more with it. For instance, I will begin doing reviews. This will be poker site reviews, poker book reviews, book reviews in general, instructional site reviews and anything else that i take part in. I will also begin posting more in depth my philosophy on poker as well as other things. I really love my blog and I think its time to take it to the next level.
Stay Tuned!

Poker is silly

Picture is small here is what it says:

1651 hands, 21.44 VPIP, $602.20 Amount won, 36.47 ptbb/100, 75% WOn at Showdown, 14.35 pre flop raise.


Okay, so I am pretty much owning 50NL right now. Its been pretty amazing. I keep telling myself that I shouldn't be playing it cuz I am severely underrolled and I don't like that. But, how can I stop when I am 1)owning 2)supremely confident and feel like I know what my opponent has at all times 3) I cant seem to win or be confident at 25NL or 10NL and 4)I have a past history of being able to own 50NL. I don't get what the deal is. Obviously, I'm running pretty good too. I'm not silly enough to think that I'm just playing great poker. But, I am running great AND playing great poker. I'm playing a tight aggressive game, hoping to limit my variance and I am only playing 2 tables at a time, which I was afraid would bore me, but surprisingly its been refreshing. I feel in control all the time. Instead of my time being used to fold/play other hands I can actually think about the hand in question. It's awesome. I think in the future I will stick with 3-4 tables, unless of course eventually my winrate evens out to where I think I'd make more profit doing more tables. Right now I'm making 35$ per 100 hands and playing 200 hands per hour. That's 70$ an hour. Why change?

Next post will be a look back on November and December goals.