Moving to Austin...

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This week I started my new life.  I left everything behind in my house.  I packed only my essential things and loaded my car and drove down to Austin, Texas.  The drive was around 1400 miles from Grand Blanc, Michigan.  It took me 2 days to get there.  I really hate long drives, especially when I am driving. 

This drive didn't feel to bad.  The time went by very quickly.  I was really looking forward to starting a new life.  I have a new job, a new home, a new location and a new live in girl friend, Jennefer.

I meet Jennefer on MySpace.  I found her by searching for girls in the Austin, TX area.  I noticed her pretty picture and read her profile.  She said that she played poker, I was impressed!  I sent her an email telling her that I would be relocating to Austin and would like to find some games.  

In Michigan, there are plenty of home games, charity games and Casino games.  I found out during my interview that all Casinos are illegal in Texas and Poker is also not allowed.  Can you believe that?  Texas Hold'em is illegal in Texas?

Anyways, we exchanged some emails and then IM addresses and then phone numbers.  We spend hours on the phone.  I wasn't working so I could spend all night on the phone and we did.  We talked for hours over the past month.  Luckily, I have free nights and weekend.  When I checked my minutes it was well over 2000 hrs in the month of June. Wow!

We had allot in common.  Besides playing Poker, we both work in IT, were never married, Asian, the same age,  lived on our own at a young age and very dedicated to working hard.  Needless to say I was very excited about meeting her in person finally and getting on with my life.  I had been out of work for two months and trying to be a poker pro.  It was fun but I was staying up late and getting up even later.  It was like I was working 2nd shift.

Last Day

Today was my last day at Magna Electronics, formerly Magna Donnelly Electronics, formerly Donnelly Electronics. In any case, it has been about 12 years at the same work location. Basically I have held onto the same company location since graduating from college in the Spring of 1996.

They say on average most people change jobs every 3-5 years. I have been lucky to have had such a stable career path for so long. I started at the company as employee #2, but technically was not on the payroll until 6 months later. So the official records showed me as employee #20 something, but really I had help start the company with the original owner David Taylor, months before.

2007 Year in Review

Here are some stats and charts for my 2007 year in review:

Here is a chart by month. I had seven losing months and five winnings months. My monthly average loss was -$119.12/month. It was a costly year in the beginning of 2007, but I managed a rebound towards mid year and ended with a total lost of $1429.44 January and February was a real bad month and costly learning experience. I played at the Detroit Casinos, and it was a hard lesson, but those players there are the best in the world.

Here is a Cumulative Chart with each session in 2007 mapped out. In total, I played 124 sessions in 2007. That is about 1 in 2.87 days playing poker or about 34% of the days in 2007 playing the game. My average loss per session is about $11.53 per session. As you can see I lost allot early on learning the game. I was stuck at close to $3500. I made a good come back and even was profitable for one day. I only ended up with a total loss of $1429.44 for the year.

The lesson to learn here is that poker is a tough game to make money at and it takes a while to master.  Hopefully in the coming months and years I can improve my game and hack this thing before it breaks me....

Las Vegas Trip.. Meeting Anna...

I just got back from another trip to Vegas. I usually go a couple times a year with my Uncle from Los Angeles. We stayed at Treasure Island. My Uncle is a high-roller and we get our rooms complimentary and food "comp-ed," as they say... Which means its all free. I just have to pay for a plane trip from Michigan to Vegas..

This trip was extra memorable. I got to see a few poker pros, Anna Wroblewski and Kathy Liebert. I was playing 1/2 no limit at The Venetian. When this girl sits down in the #1 seat. I am sitting in the #10 seat. I usually like to sit next to the dealer, either side, it doesn't matter. Most people don't like those seats because you cant see everyone, but I like it because most people don't see you either.

Anyways, this girl in the #1 seat is just yapping it up.. Talking to some guy sitting at another table (It turned out to be Allen Kessler and Kathy Liebert like they are old friends). I look at her and noticed that she looks very cute, young and familiar for some reason. I think to myself, that I know this girl from somewhere. She stares back at me with this long glare. She orders a big hamburger and only eats like 3 bites before finishing. She comments about trying to lose weight. I laugh inside, since she looks like she less then 100lbs.

I am playing my normal tight game. I don't play many hands. I only get involved with one hand with her, but everyone folded to my continuation bet. Eventually, the girl gets up to play in the daily Venetian tournament. After she leaves, I start talking with this guy next to me and he said that was Anna Wroblewski, the rising star in the poker community. I instantly remember seeing her on TV and having the commentators talk about her. I look her up on my phone and sure enough this girl won over $700K this year in tournament play.

I had my camera phone on me as asked her for a picture. She was really nice and seem so grateful. It turned out that she was just warming up for the big tournament by playing a little $1/$2 no limit. How many pros (that make over 6 figures) do that? I thought it was really cool that she could still play with us "little people..." Usually pros only play in the high stakes cash games and $1/$2 is really considered the bottom of the the poker ladder. Maybe 1/2 limit is lower...? Anyways, it turns out that Anna was only 21 years old and loved to play at the lower steaks for fun. She just became a poker star this year and is still grounded and down to earth. I think that is great!

After Anna busted out of the tournament, she came to me and told me all about it. I thought that was really awesome of her. She said she had pocket 88s and some guy called her all-in with pocket 44s and hit his set on the river. We all know these poker stories of someone hitting a 2 outer. Anyways, I thought it was really cool for her to chat with me about it, someone she just meet a few hours earlier. It really made my day...

After I got home to Michigan I looked her up on MySpace. There was already an imposer site on there, but I was able to find the right one. We exchanged emails, then Instant Messaged on AOL, then phone numbers. I watched her play a few times on Poker Stars and Full Tilt. We chatted allot and I learn allot about the life of a poker player. Now we are online friends and I am looking forward to my next trip to Vegas to see her again.

Happy Birthday Poker Gods

This was my biggest day at Poker so far. I cashed out $882, my biggest one day session ever! I decided to play on my Birthday after witnessing someone else hitting everything on there birthday. The day did not disappoint. I went to Motor City Casino and played the $2/$5 game.

It was sick. I had pocket Aces a couple times, but every folded to my pre-flop raise. I floped the nut straight and someone flopped 2 pair. I had a set of 555s over a set of 222s. I boated with 53 with someone hitting the nut flush!