Health Insurance and Poker

Seminars as my main lead generator

2008-10-06T12:39:00.000-07:00

I personally believe that you need 3 ways to generate leads going at all times. I had gotten a little side tracked for a while but I back to doing my seminars as my number 1 lead generated. The other 2 ways I am getting leads are by going business to business with flyers and purchasing internet leads.

Why did I go back to seminars well the ROI is enormous. For me to do a seminar it roughly cost me 100 dollars a seminar at the most. I usually have anywhere from 20 to 40 people there so you do the math and these are exlusive leads.

I have been using a system called HSA Success now for awhile. But I have ramped up my seminars for this month I have 4 scheduled and 1 scheduled for next month my goal is to have a seminar a week.

If you are interested in the system I use click on the image below:

WSOP and Update on July's Goals.

2008-07-20T15:04:00.000-07:00

Well I went and played in the WSOP and had a ball made it through the first day then came the second day of a small 1500 dollar event that I won online so I was having a free roll. So that fatal hand I had KK player to my right pushes all in so I call instantly he rolls over AK you guess is A on the turn out of the tournament I thought I played well got the money in and protected my hands when I needed to. What hurts is I get up and one player told me he had an Ace that he through away. So the guy was drawing to a two outer before the flop.

As far as how is July going my goals for the month were 12 individual apps and more cross selling so far this is what I have done:

10 Individual Apps
4 Accident Plans
1 Group Plan
2 Dental Plans

My main goal of cross selling was for life insurance which has not been as successful as I would of thought.

Well this month has been real exciting because I have a new website up www.westcoasthsaplans.com and also have been training agents across the country. That leads to this past week were I went to Indiana to learn products from Conseco Insurance where I am now an IMO. Which means if people want to sell Conseco products they have to find an IMO to get them the contract they do not appoint carrier direct. So I have started an agency to recruit agents underneath me to market Conseco products and they can continued to be independent agents. The products that Conseco represents are mainly supplemental health products such as: Medicare supplements, accident plans, cancer policies, heart/stroke policies, and also these products can be sold on the individual or group basis. They are a competitor of Aflac, Colonial the difference being I believe you can receive higher commissions from Conseco then you can through the other two carriers.

If you are interested in Conseco's products contact me at hart4insurance@gmail.com

July Is Here

2008-07-01T21:15:00.000-07:00

Ok the year is half way over and I have set a goal for myself for 12 applications this month. Today was great I drove out to pick up an application on a web conference appointment that I presented the plan but he was old fashioned and wanted to do the paper app and have me come out an help him so I obliged.

So I have 11 more applications to get for this month. I have four web conference set up for tomorrow. Looks like 2 deals for sure and the other are first time presentations. How do I look for the rest of the month. Well I have one seminar set up for July 9th and looking to get 3 more set up. I have referrals and leads coming in daily so the pipeline is filling up so I think I will hit my goal.

On a side note this weekend I will be going out the World Series of Poker to play in a couple tournaments The tournament is scheduled to end July 8th the day before my big seminar.

The following week Conseco wants to fly me out on their dime because they gave me a IMO contract and want me to market their accident plans so I will probably be going to that.

Today is Canada day I bring that up because my wife is Canadian so we celebrated their birthday today.

Other plans for this month which is going to be really busy is I have started a consulting service helping agents all across america learn how to sell health savings accounts. Contact me for more information. I am the HSA Sales Trainer for IHIAA an association for independent agents. You can get more information about the consulting at http://hsasalestraining.blogspot.com.

Marketing, Marketing, Marketing

2008-06-17T17:07:00.000-07:00

Well what is every agents problem finding qualifed prospects. Well I have been trying different things of late to get more leads. What I have come up of late is doing educational webinars for prospects, clients and anyone interested learning more about health savings accounts. I will be doing my first one on June 23rd.

I have also just found a neat new thing that internet marketers have been using for a while now and that is adding audio to your websites, emails, newsletters. So I am doing a 21 day free trial. To check this out click on the image below:

What can you do with this you can record audio to send to your prospects in an email, newsletter or a postcard. You can promote something them email out to all your clients. Now you have the ability to tell your clients about it instead of writing about it. Your email length will be shorter you give more of a personal touch. How about sending your client an audio birthday postcard. You can even promote someting on your website by telling them where to get there quote explaining about yourself and what you do for your clients.

A question to ask yourself? What makes you stand out from the ordinary agent?

How has business been great, I have done a seminar this month got 4 more deals from it. Also been doing a lot of rewrites with rate increases. But I am getting really excited about my big seminar in July.

Lots of things plan for the rest of this month and July with my webinars rolling out putting out flyers in the community and back using the HSA success system and working on getting presentations.

HSA Seminars for Real Estate Agents

2008-06-08T20:19:00.000-07:00

Well I have been getting some emails from people since doing my webinar for IHIAA members on the marketing system I use for presenting to real estate agents.

The emails I have been getting ask what companies I use to do my flyers and brochures.

I use Vista Print click the images in the business links section to get free business cards, brochures, and flyers.

Also I have been ask how I automate my messages I use Aweber also have set up a free trial click on the image to the right in the Business Links area.

Back in Full Force

2008-06-06T12:23:00.000-07:00

Well have completely recovered from my illness and back ramping up business like never before. It is busy time here in California with the majority of carriers having rate increases on July 1st. So between existing customer annual policy reviews and people out shopping their insurance it is a good time. I have big plans for the month of June and it has already start off big.

I have added life and dental to one of my existing groups. I have added a non-resident license in Utah been doing some business there. So far this month has been good. I can't complain and finally healthy and out prospecting, lining up seminars. I have a 2 set up for this month and my big one coming in July. I have been out doing B2B a lot and that has been working for me passing out flyers and have been getting a lot of referrals.

I have made a lot of changes to my main website and has been doing well for me getting people to subscribe to my newsletter and being able to market to them through email. I want my website to be a lead generator for me not just a kiosk stand. So I am trying to get a name and a email from everyone that comes to my website.

Married life is great my wife got another promotion and is running her own store so she is making more money and very happy. As far as poker goes been playing quite a bit at night to unwind after a long day. I have working at growing my business 10 to 12 hours a day. So I need some fun time to. So right now I am grinding away at .25/.50 NO Limit 50 Dollar Buy in games and building up my bankroll should be up to .50/1 No limit By August I usually like to have 20 full buy ins to play at a giving level. WSOP is right around the corner will be heading out there for a few days and be playing in a few events this year should be wild and crazy times until next time.

Sick and Vegas

2008-05-17T13:03:00.000-07:00

Well as far as business I have been sick off and on for the last few weeks so have not been doing much prospecting at all. I have had the flu and been pretty much bed ridden for a few weeks. I have been able to do business thanks to referrals. I am going to suffer from not being able to prospect so I just sent out 20 flyers to businesses to call next week to see about going in to do my presentations and will be getting some internet leads here to try to get some sales.

Last weekend I manage to go to Vegas for a coaching clinic since I still coach boy's varsity basketball. Went to listen to a few speakers and played hold'em I played 4/8 limit hold'em with a 1/2 kill. I played approximately 10 hours for the weekend and lost 10 big bets over the course of the weekend could not get anything going. I lost 80 dollars for those that don't know what big bets are. A big bet is the minimum bet on the turn and river. A lot of people refer to that because you should make 2 to 3 big bets an hour if you are playing well or running well at poker. Lately I have been running horrible.

Well that is all for now will update you this week and let you know how many seminars I will get out of the 20 flyers I sent out.

How to generate my 45 leads a week.

2008-04-26T12:25:00.001-07:00

Well after some debate on cold calling I still despise it and have looked into alternative ways of generating leads. At this time my main ways of lead generation are as follows:

Referrals
Seminars
Business to Business Flyers

What I want to be able to do is generate at minimum 45 leads a week. For me to do that I believe I have to do two seminars a week and do 10 hours of B2B. Which is all doable. So what I am planning on putting into work is.

I feel if I can generate 45 leads a week I will close 3 to 5 deals a week after the pipeline is full. I do close some within a week but usually takes roughly two weeks to get a deal.

Mail out 20 flyers a week to introduce myself and follow it up with phone calls to set up my seminars. In the past my numbers for every 10 flyers I mail I get 1 presentation. Also so far for every seminar I have had no less then 20 people attend. I have had no less then 12 request quotes.

As far as referrals are concerned I have been getting 3 to 5 a week for the past two months and closing 80 percent of those. The people I can't close are usually uninsurable.

What I planned to do to offset my local marketing is purchase leads in other states.

I really enjoy getting out of the office and meeting people. I do like the convenience of doing presentations online but that gets boring sitting in the office all day. Of course if you are doing 7 presentations a day online and closing more than half it would not be boring. So it all comes down to lead generation again. I feel I have the game plan and going to run with it. This is the beauty of this business you can try different marketing techniques for little overhead and see what works for me.

At the moment I am scrapping cold calling who knows I maybe be back to doing at so point.

Marketing-Niche Markets

2008-04-22T19:39:00.000-07:00

I have been doing a lot of thinking about marketing of late and I am going back to what I like to do and what I feel mentally works for me. I have never been much of a cold call, telemarketing guy. The way I generate business is by doing seminars, referrals, buying internet leads. I have done very little cold calling and whether I use a dialer, manually dial calls I just don't like doing it. So I was wondering if I am alone here or others feel the same way?

Now my question is how many of you target niche markets? In the past I have done seminars for real estate agents. Speaking of that I just landed a big one for July in my local area for association of realtors where I can have anywhere from 5 to 90 show up. So for an hour of my time I can pick up a lot of leads. What I have done with these is I mail out a flyer to office managers of real estate offices and then follow up with a call asking if they received my flyer and then tell them what I do which is roughly save my clients on average at least 30 percent or more a month on their health insurance premiums and I would like to share this information will their agents.

Places where I send these flyers are: century 21, remax, and so forth. I am getting usually 1 seminar for every 10 flyers I mail. I will be sending stuff out to local small independent agents soons. I am not sure if it is me or not but I feel like I can call these people without a problem because I sent them a flyer in the mail before calling. I just think I need to get over cold calling but at this moment I just don't enjoy so I will be trying to book a lot of seminars here in the future. I have started with real estate agents. I will do chiropractors, dentists, lawyers next. I like to do seminars makes you feel like an expert on the situation.

What I will be doing to supplement my marketing is walking and talking going business to business and looking to buy internet leads in other states. I want to take advantage of the time zone.

I would like to here what you all think on my fears of cold calling why I don't like it and maybe how I can overcome it?

I also just ordered postcards from Vista print which I may incorporate into my walk and talk because it has stuff about Health Savings Accounts. I want people to know me as the HSA expert in my area. I really concentrate on these plans because I feel for the most part they are the best plan for almost every situation.

Dialer Review

2008-04-21T11:33:00.000-07:00

Ok some of you have been asking me about the dialer I demo'd I did not get a chance to use it nearly as much as I hope for a couple of reasons. We had a problem setting up my form but we got that straighten out and the time that I put on in seem to be valuable. What I want to let you know is that it is a web based dialer with a crm. You customize any way you want and once you have it set up correctly it runs smooth. That being said I used it only for 3 to 4 hours and didn't find any problems with other then things I did not the dialer there is definately a learning curve. The dialer can go up to 4 lines at once. I was using 3 to 1 much like other dialers but I noticed that I was not dispositioning the calls fast enough so at the beginning I would get dropped calls but quickly fixed that by pausing the dialer. The dialer as a couple of neat features it records all calls so you can go back and see how you did. I would definately recommend this dialer to people the cost will run you $200 a month for analog and $ 180 a month for voip.

Lead Generation / Got the poker bug again

2008-04-14T20:15:00.000-07:00

Ok first off in this post I am going to go over what is my main problem in this industry is finding qualified leads. When I say qualified I mean has interest in and has pain so there is a possible deal there. I am not counting leads as hey send me what you got. I need to hear pain to consider it a lead because if they are not bitching about something there is usually no deal there. I don't sell I advise people. At least that is what I believe anyway.

So what do I do to get leads: My main lead generator right now is referrals and networking I have a few fellow insurance buddies that do not do Health insurance so I am their health guy. Also I have paterned with an employment agency and am offering health insurance to people they are putting in permanent jobs educating them on why individual insurance is better then group. So I have really not been doing any marketing I have been living off referrals for the last few weeks writing between 2 to 5 apps a week.

So what I will begin doing tomorrow is writing down everything so I can track my activity. I will be doing in an hour increments.

I know I don't work a full 8 hour day tomorrow I plan to change that and plan on marketing myself 6 of the 8 hours a day.

I am planning on doing presentation the other 2.

What I plan on doing this week:

4 hours a day on dialer
2 hours a day going B2B, Mailing Flyers out for my seminars, Calling old leads.

I am going to be using a script of telling them I am local agent in the area and that I talked to small business owners on a daily basis about their concern over their health insurance and how the premiums are out of control and ask them if this is a concern of theirs. I know I will probably only be getting 2 leads or so an hour. The dialer I will be using has the ability to dial 4 numbers at once. I know other buddies have been using a dialer that 3 to 1.

So that is my week plan to generate a bunch of leads and fill up the pipeline and just get more consitent at that so I don't look at my pipeline and say crap where is my next deal coming. I am also looking into revamping my website and making it look better to hopefully get more leads genrated from my website.

Well has the title indicate I have the poker bug again over the weekend I played over 1500 hands playing low limit holdem and killing the tables. I was actually really enjoying playing and was a real outlet not thinking about business. I plan on playing an hour a night to wind down before bed each night. I really like holdem and can make money at it just really trying to build the business really limits the time I can spend towards so for now its more of a release. I will be playing some tournaments again here shortly to make another run at a wsop seat.

Tournament and New Marketing Plan

2008-04-04T18:36:00.000-07:00

Well how did the big satelite tournament go to win a seat at WSOP. I have not written about it because I am still frustrated over it. As you can tell by my tone did not make it. I made the final table out of 100 people but finished 7th. I played really well to get that far but just didn't have enough chips to compete with the chip leaders my fatal hand I was in late position with QJ suited with only 5 X the big blind in chips I pushed and got called by the chip leader in the big blind with Q9 had him dominated and he turned a 9 to knock me out don't blame him for calling he had the stack but just frustrating when you get in with the best and he hits a 3 outer to beat you. I hate this saying but that's poker.

On the new marketing front what have I been doing:

1. I was supposed to start telemarketing 10 hours a week has not happened.
2. Sent out flyers to businesses to set up seminars done that. Sent out 20 flyers and only 1 confirmed appointment so far with roughly 20 attendees going to be there.
3. B2B business flyers did that twice so far and have generated 6 leads on roughly 3 hours of work. Of the 6 leads 2 real possibilities.

I have come across a unique opportunity where I am going to be getting a lot of referrals from a staffing agency. My thoughts on this are will have a lot of people with no money, non-insurable but also could be huge.

So I will be selling full major medical to those that qualify, also looking into a guaranteed issue health plan from AIG.

Business Slowing Down working on marketing

2008-03-24T17:40:00.000-07:00

Business has slow down for me this month were I was averaging 4 apps a week in January and February. Business has slown down to 2 apps a week so far this month. I have noticed the reason you guess it lack of leads generated towards the end of february and early march. Before I was really motivated to be on the phone to generate my leads and this month I have slacked off so do not think that will affect me that much in March but will in future months because I am not keeping the pipeline filled and I do not close on one call. I use a 3 step approach to most deals. I also have put 2 small groups on the books this month.

What I have done over the weekend was reevaluate my marketing plan. What I have come up with for the rest of March and April:

1.Cold Call 10 hours a week
2. B2B with free report flyer for 2 hours a day twice a week
3.Send out 10 flyers to businesses each week to request a first in appointment for my seminar selling.
4.Debating on Pay per click with google adwords local campaign.

My current ratio for closing clients is 1 out of 12 leads generated. I am not a great salesman I do not sell to my clients I advise or at least I try to come off that way. I need to figure out a way to genrate 60 leads a week to get my one app a day for 5 days a week.
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On the poker front I am playing in a tournament this weekend to win my free seat at the WSOP main event. I have a 1 in 100 shot at a seat. I will be playing in some tournaments this week to get my poker game back on to were in needs to be. Well I am pretty excited about this opportunity to play in the big one.

The Sky is not falling

2008-03-06T20:36:00.000-08:00

Well woke up this morning after not sleeping well last night wondering what I had done wrong this week. It turns out everything worked out find this week. After talking to a fellow agent I just realized I didn't have enough leads so I got up this morning and smiled and generated more leads.

I had one of my appointments today that turned out to be pretty lucrative for me. He is a small business owner that had been paying near 700 dollars for a typical co-pay plan. You guess it he was spending out of pocket 1000 dollars a year. So we discussed health savings accounts and he loved the idea. So off we went to a 7,000 dollar family deductible for him, wife and 3 kids total base premium is 307 told him he is going to get rated for minor high blood pressure on a generic maintenance drug he is looking probably at a 25 percent rate up on his portion of the premium. What came of this appointment though is he employs someone and we signed his family up for a base premium of 215 for the same plan. I added two accident plan policies on the family. We discussed setting up a limited purpose HRA so that he can legally reimburse his client's health premiums. So that was nice little day on that. This is the avenue I want to do with small business owners with W2 employees I see this being huge for me in months to come. It is a win for the business owner cheaper premiums, offers employee health plan, health plan goes with employee if he leaves, no cobra and more tax advantages.

I generated 10 more leads today and have 3 appointments set up for tomorrow and one on set up for Monday. So the pipeline is filling up.

I have generated 22 leads this week with a few referrals.

Also talked to another fellow agent today about HSA success marketing I bought and showed him the power point presentation that they give you to do for the presentation. Got me thinking that I need to incorporate that into my marketing again. I am going to start doing that every week again it is a fast way to get a lot of leads and potentially put a lot of policies on the books. I have done 3 so far had 60 attendees total. Roughly off the top of my head had around 40 quotes that were requested and wrote 10 deals. So I wrote 1 deal out of evey four I quoted. All take that.

So all in all a good day 2 apps in hand with 3 appointments tomorrow if I can close all 3 will hit my goal of 5 apps a week.

Everything is not always roses

2008-03-05T22:33:00.000-08:00

I know there are a lot of people who think this insurance industry is all roses. Well I have had my worst week in a long time. It is late wednesday evening and I have not wrote a deal. I have not gone 3 days without writing a deal in a while. I am not panicking I just read a lot of blogs of late on agents that just talk about all the business they are writing and do not really talk about their bad days or weeks. I thought I would talk about the other side for once.

What have I done this week where I have not written any deals not much different then the last two weeks where I had written in a dozen apps in that time. Also for the month of February I wrote 23 just short of my goal of an app a day 5 days a week. So to get back on track and tell you what I have done this week.

I have telemarketed, call old leads, called old clients.

So far I have produced 12 leads this week, I have had 1 appointment no sale yet. I have 2 other appointments set for the week. The reason why I think I am not doing as well this week I have gotten a lot of no answers, not interested, and you start to not want to call anymore after no success. I think I hit a wall so to speak and I have been not stop for the past 6 weeks growing my business. I have written half of what I did in the first 2 months of 2008 of what I did for all of 2007 so I should not be ashamed. I will not inflate my numbers like others in the industry there no reason for me to. I just thought I would share with you that we all have bad weeks or months but I believe just like in sports when your in a slump its what you do to get out of it or how you handle it while you are in it. I love what I do but it does get frustrating sometimes. Maybe I just need a day of online poker or live poker to rejuvenate me.

Well till next time!

Officially 1 year in the insurance business!

2008-02-20T19:06:00.000-08:00

Well I want to tell you I officially have been at this 1 year now in the health insurance business. Boy did it start off the wrong foot I was involved with a captive health company and quickly learned it was not for me. Then I thought I would do life insurance so I interviewed with the big brokerage houses and didn't like that either. So I went out and got appointed to every carrier in California for individual medical. I have learned a lot over the year. I have learned a lot by trial and error and wanted to thank a few people in my development along the way some of these people that have impacted my career as an independent life and health agent are Cory, John P, JR, Rick B. I have learned so much over the year from you guys.

As far as February goes this could be my best month to date if things keep going the way they are I will hit my goals of 5 apps a day 5 days a week for February. I was discussing with a friend of mine JR today that I do not put production goals on myself I put app goals. I believe I can always control the number of calls I make to generate the # of leads I need to be successful but some weeks I will be getting leads that are family plans and other weeks where it is just indivuals or low premiums. I might be looking at that wrong but that is what works for me I feel I can control apps submitted not AV. I have 18 apps in so far this month with a few more days left in the month I feel I can get 25 apps in since this month has 5 weeks.

I wanted to discuss a teleseminar I did last saturday I had 5 people attend and want to make this a monthly thing I do. What I basically do is I have a teleconference with people who sign up and I discuss health savings accounts with them then open up the lines for questions. Since all the people were on the line from CA I suggested the top HDHP/HSA plans in the state. So far I have signed up one person who was a prospect I had talked to back in Nov. 2007 and put him on my email list and sent out an email to invite him to my teleseminar and he did and I signed him on Monday. So overall I think so far that was a succes I got one deal out of doing the teleseminar that took me 30 minutes to do at home. So if I could sell 1 out of every 5 attendees to those I think that would be great it also builds my creditbility as an expert on those plans.

Now that the weather should be changing here shortly in CA ya I know what weather but it has not been great of late I am going to get out of the house and hit the pavement and hit small business owners with my flyers. I want to put in the time and really build up my name in the community. I will keep you up to date on those results.

I never did get a chance to do the CRM dialer that I hope to due to a family emergency that I had during the week it was installed so I am hoping I can get another demo set up for that.

In my next post I will cover what has been going on with poker and get you up to date for my goals for the WSOP this year. I plan on playing in it for sure this year.

Past Two Weeks what has been going on!

2008-02-03T10:52:00.000-08:00

Well I did not get a chance to sample the CRM dialer because of some personal stuff that went on over the past two weeks. Getting that out of the way would like to talk about what I did in regards to production over the past two weeks.

Jan 20-26

I wrote 3 apps this week.

Jan 27-Feb 2

I had a record week for myself I wrote 9 apps in total for a total AV of just shy of 30,000.
These were a combination of rewrite's to new plans and new business.

I have some exciting plans for February I have a teleseminar I will be doing to attract new customers and to keep in touch with old customers.

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Poker for the last two weeks has been a slow go just basically nothing of excitement to write about just been playing 1 sit and go a night. I am usually cashing in 40 percent of them I play so 4 out of every 10. I am not too happy with that and will be getting back to grinding it out at the cash game tables but will probably switching gears to NL 25 or 50 dollar buy in.

No Insurance Work, All Poker today

2008-01-21T20:08:00.000-08:00

Well I did not start with my new telemarketing plan today because it was a federal holiday. Nothing spells more desperate in my opinion to write a deal when you are calling people on a federal holiday. So Tuesday I will be putting in roughly 3 hours on the new crm dialer I am trying. I will be calling local business owners and generating leads tomorrow.

As far as poker goes today I played a 5 sit n goes today. All 5 dollars ones I didn't fill like playing cash games today. I roughly spent 2 1/2 hours playing.

5 sit n go's
Cashed in 4
Won 2
Came in 2nd once
Came in 3rd once.

So I made some money playing today. I like to mix up cash games and tournaments from time to time.

Trip to San Manuel Live Poker

2008-01-20T20:11:00.000-08:00

Well my wife and I went to San Manuel Casino today to play some cards. I was completely card dead today bought in for 60 dollars at 2/4 limit holdem a game I usually do not play when I am in the casino. I lost 47 dollars. It was real nice to get out do something with my wife today she really enjoys poker as much as I do.

It was a great sunny day and since they fix the freeway it made it a straight shot out and cut off about 15 minutes of the drive. I live in a great area to be a poker player I live approximately 1 hour from 10 different places to play cards. Also only a 3 1/2 hour drive to Vegas.

Well the goal for this week in the insurance world is 5 deals will let you know how I do. I start tomorrow my new dialing system to test to see if that will double my output.

2008 What the Year Brings

2008-01-19T13:04:00.001-08:00

Well the business is in full bloom. I have made it basically through the first full year in the individual health insruance business. My client list builds every month and am know starting to see the benefits of my hardwork paying off. I have a lot of things planned for 2008 to make my business grow. I am starting to offer more services now that I have a grasp on the individual market.

Services that I offer now will be:

Critical Illness
Life Insurance
Disability.

My goals are to also learn the senior market this year for open enrollment in late 2008.

I have expanded my business to do business in more states. I currently am doing business in 4 states California, Arizona, Michigan and Ohio.

I will be testing out a system that is a dialer for me to generate leads over the next month to see if I can generate more leads and double my business.

As far as what I plan on doing for poker this year. I have cut back that tremendously and really only have time for maybe an hour a night. As most you know I use to be a professional online poker prop. I turned that in for the insurance business less stress and are much happier instead of sitting behind a desk all day playing poker. Was not good for the figure as well put on some weight during those times. My goal for this year is to make enough money playing online still to enter one of the WSOP 2008 events.

Business and Poker

2007-10-28T16:42:00.001-07:00

Hi all ya ya I know do not update this all for the past 2 months thought I would check in and let you all know I am alive. Well me and my wife celebrated our 1 year wedding anniversary. Life is going real good for us. Business is going good and been playing a lot more poker of late. I basically play poker to relax now as opposed to my main focus for income. I have been playing NL .25/.50 blinds on ultimate bet and been doing quite well.

As far as business is going I have been doing this full time pretty much since march and I am building up a decent book of business. I really enjoy helping people find affordable health, life, dental insurance. I have seen a significant increase the past two months in signing people up do to my name getting out there and referrals are starting to come in.

Well as far as poker goes the past two months:

I have played approximately 4,000 hands about 2,000 a month which is way less then before but when you are running your own business you don't have much time to play but that has changed a little of late. I am not working crazy 12 hour days anymore.

Well I look forward to blogging more, so that just means I have to play more.

Time to Update you on what's up!

2007-08-28T10:20:00.000-07:00

Hi, all it has been awhile since the last post its time to get you up to speed on what I have been doing of late. I have been playing more poker of late. I have been playing in the evenings about and hour or so a night. I have mainly been doing this to relax after working my real job. As you know I have been running my own business of late been going on close to 7 months now. I have been playing at pokerstars and ultimate bet of late. I have been mixing up sit and go's and back to playing 6 max limit holdem. I just recently cashed out a bonus that I had at stars since 2005 got to love the old days of no expiration pokerstars bonuses. Also I have had alot of bonus money saved up at ultimate bet in bonus money. Ultimate bet was the first site I ever played real money on and still is my favorite site interface I have played on.

Well it is getting close to me and my wife's 1st year anniversary. We are real happy are goals coming forth and starting to see success. We are still undecided on where we want to live. I just don't see us being in california. The real estate prices here are just to expensive and we can find the same type of houses for a fraction of the cost in states like Arizona and Nevada. Well until next time which will be sooner then a month I hope all is well with people.

Month of July Review

2007-07-31T21:01:00.000-07:00

Well July was a pretty decent month for me in terms of business, poker, and personal life. Let's first discuss the poker. I had a goal this month to play more sit and go's and I did exactly that. I play 30 $5.50 SNG at ultimate bet and I cashed in 17 of them so I pulled a nice profit playing that. With my schedule running my own business I figure sit and go's would be the best of my time to make money I figure if I can win one I have made 20 dollars in an hour. Roughly a sit and go at UB last about an hour.

As far as business went this month I added more clients to my existing book so my commisions are starting to come in on a regular basis so I am happy with that. I am look to expand my marketing in the next few months so hopefully I will double my book in the next few months.

As far as personal life I turned 32 this month and me and my wife have now been married for 10 months. Where did we go for my birthday we went to Las Vegas where we happened to get married as well. We caught up with an old friend who is a property and casualty agent their so we looked at homes their are potential thinking of moving there.

Well until next time that is all for me.

RakebackReview.com

2007-07-06T11:16:00.000-07:00

If you are currently playing any amount of on-line poker on any type of regular basis, you need to do a little research on a rakeback program. Fortunately for you, there is a place on-line that will give you all the information you could ever need on the subject.

www.Rakerebatereview.com

If you have any questions or need any direction on the subject of rakeback, click the link above and spend a few hours perusing that site. They will give you all the information you could possibly need.

The percentages vary, but the normal rakeback percentages appear to be between 27% and 30% at most every room they offer deals through. If you play as much as I do, a rakeback deal only makes sense, in order to get back some of that rake you are paying into the site.

If you have never played on-line poker, there are also reviews of nearly every single poker room on the planet and I would highly recommend signing up through them and for a rakeback deal at the same time.

Overall, the site is very organized and I found it very easy to navigate. Finding the information you are looking for is just a simple mouse-click away. Enjoy.

Happy 4th of July

2007-07-04T17:15:00.000-07:00

Poker Source Online Free Poker gifts sound too good to be true? It's not! Pick from a dozen online poker rooms!

Just wanted to wish everybody a Happy 4th of July!. Look for more posts this month. I am starting to play more online tournaments of late of the sit and go variety then ring games.

Poker and Business

2007-05-13T11:20:00.000-07:00

Well poker so far this month has not been played as much as I would have like but I have been playing probably around an hour a day if I am lucky. I have played 2,000 hands so far this month and have broken even on those hands but I am up 70 dollars in rake money from propping so I please with the break even over 2,000 hands. The most I have been up playing was 20 BB's and the most I have been down in the first 13 days are 25 BB's so it has been up and down battle so far. If I want to get to my goal of 10,000 hands and 300 dollars in prop pay I need to put in a lot more hours over the next 17 days. I just don't see that possible with the time I am spending on my personal business and on dealing cards on the side.

Next week my schedule is hectic I will be dealing 5 nights and be working my job during the day where I have quite a few appointments lined up. Well all is well here in my land until next time see you later.

Back after a month off a poker

2007-05-02T22:34:00.000-07:00

Well I am back. I am starting to play poker online again. I took about a month off to work on my new business. I am independent life agent. I primarily sell health and life insurance in the state of california. Anyways that is what I have been doing for a while now and I don't have much time to spend on poker. So this month of May I will becoming back to playing more regularly I will like to spend about 20 hours or so a week to that. Also I am still dealing cards on the side for extra money so I am staying real busy. The marriage is going well we have been married now for 7 months how time flies.

What you can expect from me now is some hand analysis, stats of how I am doing. As I use to do I will have some goals in mind.

My goals for this month are:

10,000 dealt hands
Make 300 or more in prop pay
Play in some tournies and genrally just have fun again playing poker.

I think the time away from poker has helped because I was starting to get bored with it. I am energized to play again. So until next time.

Poker Source Online Poker League

2007-03-21T13:40:00.000-07:00

It’s been a few months coming, but Poker Source Online is finally rolling out the next installment of its Poker League. While there have only been a handful, the leagues have been a great source of bonding for the PSO community. There exists amongst the PSO members this strange juxtaposition of support and competitiveness; while everyone loves to hop in PSO’s chat room or post in the message forum to trash talk, they also are great at cheering each other on.

Things like the leagues are what make PSO what it is. Customers come for the free gifts, but stay for the community. And there is usually something new and different with each league. In the first league back in the winter of 2004, PSO started the tradition of adding guaranteed money to the prize pool each week in the form of PSO points. In addition to the prizes at the end of the league, everybody who finished higher than PSO’s big boss also received a prize.
From there, PSO held two leagues in the first half of 2005, pitting the United States versus Canada in a border war. Canada won the first one, but the U.S. regained supremacy in dominant fashion in the rematch. Hundreds of dollars worth of PSO points were awarded, as well as poker goodies.

In 2006, PSO upped the ante, giving away $10,000 in prizes in the spring, including a seat in a preliminary event at the World Series of Poker. In the fall, the World Series was already over, so that prize wasn’t going to work, but $10,000 in total were still up for grabs, as well as a seat in Absolute Poker’s $100K guaranteed tournament.

The PSO gang is at it again this spring, with thousands of dollars on the line each week. Oh, did anyone mention that it only costs $5.50 to play each week? Yeah, you’re not going to beat that. Visit http://www.pokersourceonline.com/ to sign up for the new league.

New Sponsored Site Which Poker

2007-03-15T17:48:00.000-07:00

Well my blog has a new sponsor and it is Which Poker. They have live poker statistics so you will know how many players are on the online sites. They also even break it down to let you know which games people are playing on those networks such as stud, omaha and holdem. They review the online poker sites. They even discuss what is going on with the WPT, WSOP and other tournament circuits. So if you get a chance go stop by and check out this new site.

Doyles Room / First Sale

2007-02-20T17:19:00.000-08:00

Well it official Doyle's Room has left the u.s. market now too. The one guy we thought was going to stand up to the u.s. I did not play much on that network but I played enough to know that Doyle's Room had some of the better limit games online.

Well it took two months of getting my business going but I made my first health sale yesterday. I am very pleased but will not be excited until my first pay day hits my bank account. With the state of poker these days I am glad I have started this adventure. I am enjoying helping people find insurance or just educating them everyday. Sales is not easy but I like the freedom of being my own boss can work when I want. Its all a numbers game people keep telling me. Just have a steady flow of prospects and you will be fine I keep hearing. So my patience and hard work has paid off.

As far poker is going so far this week have only put in about 300 hands or so and I am up 40 bucks or so. Until next time.

What I have been up to?

2007-02-18T16:33:00.000-08:00

Well it has been awhile since my last post lots of things have been going on. First of all I have decided to be an independent life agent meaning I can contract with any company I want to. I am going to be selling health insurance to start with. I have not made my first sell yet but have done a couple of presentations. Right now I am only selling in California but will be expanding to some other states when I make a few sales. What I have been doing to get the health thing going is getting appointed to companies. I am appointed to one company and waiting on word from 3 others so I guess you can call me a broker.

Well the married life is going good. The wife and I are doing really good. As I said before we adopted a puppy and she is a blast to be around. Soon I will be putting up some pictures of her.

As far as poker is concerned I have not really been playing all that much. I have been playing enough to pay the bills. I have cut down to about 15 hours a week and have been playing playing NL 50 6 max. The sites I have been playing on of later are Poker.com and Ultimate Bet. I was lucky enough to get all of my money but 130 dollars out of neteller before the fiasco so I didn't take to much of a hit from that. I have actually been withdrawing with checks from sites seems like that is the safest route since you never know from day to day what the e-wallets will be doing and which sites will be staying open. The consensus seems like the only sites to really try to play at our: Pokerstars, Full Tilt, UB, Absolute Poker and Poker.com. Most experts feel your money is safe on those sites.

Neteller Debit Card!

2007-01-21T14:48:00.000-08:00

Now the neteller debit card is down I am trying to get my last batch of money out of my neteller account. It says that it temporarily down. I talk to customer service this morning and they are saying they did upgrades this morning. Something fishy is going on I just want to get my last 500 out of neteller and into my bank account. I have some money at poker.com and ultimate bet as well. At least ultimate bet you have the option to get a paper check but there is no viable withdrawal option for me at poker.com. They have click2pay according to reports they are not accepting u.s. customers anymore so I don't know how to get my money off of that site. I also have a little at pokerworld and they have paper checks but want to charge you a 25 dollar fee to use that feature. I don't know if I am panicking but not sure how much online poker I will be playing in the future.

I got a comment from yorkshire asking if I have been playing yes I was actually playing quite a bit and doing pretty well this year. I just have been real lazy in doing my blog of late.

As far the new business adventure I am in the process of getting appointed to some companies I will be becoming a financial planner. I am able to sell health insurance, life insurance, annuities, 401k, long term care and some other products so all you self employed poker players need any help let me know.

Neteller Ban

2007-01-18T17:05:00.000-08:00

Well as many of you know a major shake up in online gaming happened and have left us without places to deposit and transfer are money. I have come across a pretty good site that I would like to share with you guys Poker Site for USA. Check this out to see what sites are accepting what types e-wallets and modes of financial operations for you to get your money.

What 2007 has in store for me?

2007-01-09T12:54:00.000-08:00

Well 2007 is in full bloom and have been thinking about what I want to accomplish this year in my personal life and in the world of poker.

Well lets start of with the personal life. I want to have success in the insurance world which I am dabbling in right now. I am in the process of getting appointed to health and life insurance companies. I have decided to go the route of an independant agent. I would like to make 50,000 this year doing that which will be tough. I am looking forward to the challenge.

The wife and I would like to buy a home. We just recently adopted a dog so we are having fun with are american eskimo puppy her name is Bijou. The wife named her which is french for "Dolly". I think for the time being if we are thinking of getting a home we are staying in california but the option of moving to another state is still a real possibility.

As far as poker goes for 2007 it is tough to put down my goals for it with all the changes of online poker. I have really become more of just a NL player. As of right now I am playing .25/.50 NL and some .50/1. I would like to be able to play 2/4 NL by the end of the year. Right now I am using a 25 buy in bankroll theory. I use that low because I play with rakeback so that helps me a lot.
If I go back to playing limit holdem I would like to get to 5/10 by the end of this year which was my goal for last year which I got to 2/4.

Well that is the plans for 2007.

Happy Holiday Season!

2006-12-24T15:32:00.000-08:00

Me and the Mrs. HartFlush would like to wish you all a great holiday season and a happy new year.

Well I have been conteplating switching to strictly a No limit player because the fish pond seems much larger in that area of late then in limit holdem. Well I promised some spice to the blog upcoming I will be recaping the year and making my goals for the new year in my poker life and personal life until then have a good holiday season.

Thanks for reading over the past year it has been great!

Passed Insurnace Test / Poker?

2006-12-18T21:04:00.000-08:00

Well I passed my insurance test last week which was one of my personal goals for the this month. You ask what am I going to do with a california insurance license. Well I am now a licensed life agent capable of selling health and life insurance in the state of california. I am moving on two phase two of my career. My first phase saw me in the education field. I need a change and have been eyeing the insurance and real estate industry which I will be getting my license in that in the near future as well. Well I have also been dealing still with the wife during the holidays making some money and spending the time with her since it will be our first christmas together as a married couple we are trying to make it as special as we can.

As you can see I have been real busy with studying for my test and dealing I have not got much poker playing in. I have realized like Michael from counting my outs blog that I am getting bored at my limits I play. Everytime that has happen I have started to lose money at that level because I just call or play like a total donkey because the money has no value to me. So when I hit that point I move up in levels. So this week I have begun to play .50/1 NL and 2/4 limit. My limits have been .25/.50 NL and 1/2 limit for some time and I am getting really tired of that level. My heart is not pumping I get real numb where the money doesn't matter so I do not play my best poker. When I am playing bigger I get a little more excited to play. I have not put in very many hands at all this month may 3,000 or so. So I really need to pick that up if I want to make much money this month. With the holidays coming I don't see that coming so I will probably be getting back on the poker horse sometime after the new year!

Well thanks to the 3 or 4 people that read this blog. It has become pretty boring of late but I hoped to energize this blog here real soon with some things.

Until next time.

December Goals

2006-12-07T20:45:00.001-08:00

Well December is in full bloom for us and have been busy as hell as of late! I have been studying for my insurance exam that is coming up next week. I have been playing some poker here and there getting in about 2 hours a day or so. I have done ok so far this month on the limited time I have played. I have been playing higher limits of late as well. I have been playing 2/4 limit holdem and NL .50/1 and been making the same amount of money but in less hours which makes sense.

My personal goals for this month!

1. Pass insurance test
2. Lose 10 lbs

My poker goals for this month!

1. Play 15,000 dealt hands (Should be difficult to play a lot with the holidays and the work schedule!)
2. Play 2/4 limit and NL .50/1 for over half of my hands for the month
3. Prop Pay 500 or month

November Recap!

2006-12-04T13:51:00.000-08:00

Well November camed to a close and I had some goals that I put out there for this month lets recap those to see how I did in terms of the goals I set forth to accomplish.

Goal # 1

20,000 Dealt Hands

Well this goal was set do to the faqct that I do not put enough hands for the month and wanted to try to multitable a lot more then I do. I wanted to see if my win rate win up on the actual cards or went down in terms of play. I know the prop pay/rakeback would go up becuase of the number of hands but wanted to learn if my win rate went down, hence not making as much money for the month. I assumed that the prop pay would compensate for any money I did lose. What I learned was I still made about the same amount of money I make every month but played less hours to accomplish this. So if I can work on the win rate at multitabling I will earn more in less time.

Amount of hands played: 17,000
Goal did not accomplish but learned a lot

Goal # 2 Finish my 1K prop pay challenge.

Well this goal has been started and stopped on a few occassions or started over as some of you may know. I did surpass the 1K prop pay quest but I did not keep very good accurate records over the pass 3 weeks. So guess what one of my goals for december will be.

Goal Met!

Goal # 3 600 in prop pay!

I came up short of this goal by around 75 dollars. I did not accomplish goal primarily to the level I play. I was playing micolimits where I would average anywhere from 2 cents to 5 cents a hand.

Goal was not accomplished

Goal # 4 Get bankroll on one of the prop site to 1000!

The past two goals were monetary which are usually not a good idea because if you don't reach them you stress out. This practicular goal I set to just to have a target to set for a practicular site because I am mainly playing NL these days and wanted to see if I actually do make more playing NL then I do playing low limit holdem. Well the starting bankroll was $620 dollars on the site and I finished the month with a bankroll on that site of a little over 1100 dollars which 320 dollars of it was prop pay. So I did ok just on the cards primarily playing .10/.20 NL and .25/.50 NL on that site.

Holiday Weekend

2006-11-26T13:24:00.000-08:00

Well was the first U.S. thanksgiving for the wife. We had a pretty good weekend. The wife has found a job here in the states and I think is beginning to adjust to it out here. I know she is still home, sick so who knows if we will be staying or going. On a side note to the canada and u.s. poker thing u see the province of ontario is starting to follow the lead of the u.s. which is digusting they need to follow their british rule in this case in my humble opinion. Well what did we do this weekend well we had dinner with the parents, went to the movies and watch some football. She doesn't like football to much her love is hockey.

We have been real busy here in the month of november hence the lack of posts. I have been starting to work on a new career. I have decided I need to find some steady income to come in with the state of online poker being shaky I want to have a security blanket. I went back to school to do my prelicensing to become a life agent. I know you are saying no sales experience he won't last long. You are right I might not. I did not think I would last long in poker but I am able to provide for my family with it. So I want to take a shot at this, I will only be doing this part time. My test for the state exam is December 14. I am still up in their who I want to work for. The wife is working at a art place. I am real happy for her because she sold her art place back home in canada to come out here. She seems to really like it.

Also I have been doing a lot of dealing of late, the wife has begun to start dealing as well and she has had some fun doing that. She is only dealing black jack!. Here in the month of december are pay doubles so we will begin to make some decent money for that to hopefully have a nice christmas.

How as poker been going well the month started off real slow and I have been picking up steam of late. I have played a variety of games this month from head's up limit, 6 max limit, NL full and 6 max NL. I am beginning to like NL more and more each day. The way I play poker and limits I play I feel I make more money playing NL at the micro levels then I do playing 1/2 full ring limit holdem or 6 max. I am still pretty new to NL and don't know when to push the edges but I am learning every day. I am still propping but another of my gravy train places change their financial arrangements with the props so I am looking for another home. I just recently got rakeback accounts at full tilt, absolute poker and ultimate bet which all 3 have enough traffic for me to find good games at the limits I play.

Update on the poker goals for the month:

1. 20,000 Dealt ( Not Completed) 14,000
2. 600 in prop pay ( Not Completed) 450
3. Get one account to over 1,000 ( Completed)

November Goals/Half way to 1K in prop pay

2006-11-06T23:42:00.000-08:00

Well November is 6 days old and I have not done my little rant that I usually do on my goals for the month. I have been swamped with dealing and some other things I got going on right now. But I have still managed to get playing in so far this month have played over 3,000 dealt hands or so. Ok, so lets get down to the good stuff. My goals for the month.

1. 20,000 dealt hands
2. Finish my 1K prop pay challenge
3. 600 in prop pay
4. Get bankroll on one of prop sites to 1000 (Currently 620)

Now for an update on my quest to 1K in prop pay.

Hands Dealt: 16,015
Prop Pay: $522.29

October Recap!

2006-10-31T15:06:00.000-08:00

Here is a picture from are wedding. Things have gone great for us for the first month of our lifes together. We still have lots of questions on whether we will be staying or going to canada or nevada. I have been looking into doing some other things since poker is making the money but I feel I need to make more for the family so I will be going to insurance school here in a couple weeks so I can sell life and health insurance. I have a couple friends doing that right now and they are making good money.

Poker was pretty good this month. I played on a few sites this month. I mainly propped this month and put in a lot of hands the past week or so. I have been doing ok on my quest to 1K in prop pay. At the moment I am at $400 dollars in that quest. My quest to 15K which I have not reported on in a long time is going that great I just passed the 8K mark so I don't think I will get their for the year. My goal to hit 5/10 limit holdem is probably not going to get their this year. I have been reevaluating my game like I always do and I have been playing more and more No limit. I feel the limit holdem is drying up on most of the sites I play there is hardly any limit going and mainly micro No limit going so been playing a bunch of that. I just got the good news that my account at full tilt got switch over to a rakeback account so I may start playing there but seems like the games there are pretty tight. I am still waiting to hear on my absolute poker account. AP use to be my # 1 site back in the day I use to bonus whore that site to death wish I new about rakeback way back then.

Royal Flush

Senator Frist and the Online Gambling Ban (Mr. Bill)

2006-10-26T21:47:00.001-07:00

Check this video out!

Maybe the Sky is not falling!

2006-10-11T21:24:00.000-07:00

Well today seems to better day in terms of the online gaming world. Neteller and Pokerstars made statements today that they will not be leaving the U.S. market. Also been getting emails from a couple of my rakeback sites that they can convert your existing Full Tilt Poker, Absolute Poker and soon Ultimate Bet to rakeback accounts if you did not sign up through another affiliate. The two sites I am referring to our in my right sidebar under rakeback sites.

On the note of rakeback have been reading a few blogs of late that our looking for sites to play that will pay you to play. Well I know of some sites that range in terms of rakeback from 60 percent to 150 percent. If you would like some more information contact me and I can steer you in the correct location. Some of these sites have seating rules and others don't. Some of the sites are done by contributing to pot which is refer to as rake rebate and others are based on rakeshare where you recieve a piece of the rakeback divided by number of players dealt cards. The one you choose is up to you if you are a tight player that plays full ring then I would recommend rakeshare because you get a piece of the rake whether you are in the pot or not. If you are loose player or like to play shorthanded then I would choose rake rebate because the number of players that get a share of the rake are only the ones in the pot. Wierd thing is maybe this stupid legislation might help us because if you did not have rakeback know you can get it.

Would like to give props to a site poker.com that is doing a reload bonus only for americans guess they are making a statement and trying to get some customers.

Back from the wedding!

2006-10-09T02:38:00.000-07:00

Well the wedding is over and we had a great time. I just got back on friday from the honeymoom and everything went well. The wedding day was perfect my bride looked amazing when she walked down the aisle my mouth dropped. The day went unbelievably well, we couldn't asked for a better ceremony. The reception was well done as well. From the wedding we went to Lauglin, Nevada for a few days and then we went to catalina island which is 25 miles inland from Long Beach, CA in the pacific ocean. We went on a glass bottom boat ride their and tour the city it was fun. We are so excited to be starting our lives together.

Then I get home and what in the world has happened to the state of poker. Everybody is panicking about the new legislation. Major poker sites are shutting down and others are following suit. I don't really know what to think of it but I did not like the news myself since I make most of my money playing online poker. Well I am glad a few of the sites have stepped and said they are going to stay open. Well I guess we will have to wait and see what happens when the piece of legislation is written and all the rules play out. Will some of these sites that closed down look like idiots because they panicked and will want us all back. We will have to wait and see. For now I am looking for places to play? I have read all the 2+2 articles on who is staying open and who is not. I really can't believe anything we are hearing until about a few weeks or months down the road when all this is straighten out.

Well as you can see the quest to 1,000 in prop pay is on a little hiatus. I have not decided what site to play on the site I had been playing on decided to cut down on our rakeback deal and our rumors that they will be closing up shop. So I am currently looking for another prop room. I have a couple ideas but not sure where to put my money right now. I guess I am in a little panic mode myself and anxious to see what happens. I guess the trait of good poker players are being tried right now and that is patience we will just have to see won't we. Well I am glad I am back with my wife and will be on her rambling out my everyday happenings in the world of poker.

Wedding Weekend

2006-09-27T23:05:00.000-07:00

Well poker has been going good again this week. I have not played as much as I would of liked to this week so the quest is going to take a lot longer then expected. But that is ok because the most important thing is I am winning on the cards and the prop pay right now is gravy. I am playing some good poker. I have been mixing up the games I have been playing NL, Dealers Choice and Limit holdem. I have not pulled up the skirt yet and played 2/4 limit. Just been grinding at the low limits. Well GG changed their policies again and are now paying daily so we are getting money each day which I am not sure if I like that or not.

Last 3 days Stats

13.5 Table Hours
10.6 Real Hours ( Wow not much multitabling)

$142.42 Won
$13.43 hour

So as you can see been running pretty good. Well the weekend is finally here we will be heading for vegas for a few days for the wedding. So we have made it and I am really getting excited about this. Will be taking the laptop so hopefully you will hear from us soon.

Week 1 Quest Overview

2006-09-24T20:47:00.000-07:00

Well the week is over for the quest. Have not had an update since thursday because I took friday and saturday off. Spent some time with the family and friday night played in a home game tourney. Got crippled in that by my dad so I will never here the end of that when my AQ hit top pair only problem he had a set of Queens. I think this is going to take a lot longer then some of you expected my 3 week time frame might be correct if I add winnings into it will take a little less time. I put in 5 days on this quest so far and have been running fairly well. I have had my up and down days but who doesn't if someone is always winning every session they play they are full of crap. Even the best players in the world have losing days. I don't know my pay yet for the week but have a pretty good idea it is not what you guys will expect probably either but I expected it.Today I played in the freeroll at GG and came in 9th place.

How I made out on the cards for the week:

Total Days Played: 5
Table Hours: 29.7
Real Hours: 20.5
Amount Won: $148.99
Dollars an hour: $7.26

Estimated prop pay is about 120 dollars

So to hit that $1,000 dollars in prop pay I need to do some things I believe they are:

1. Play more hours
2. Multitable

I want to do this but don't want to hurt the bottom line which is winning on the cards which I believe is the most important thing and the prop pay as a bonus.

My goals are to get my table hours at least up to 50 hours on a consitant basis. I will probably only be playing this week Monday thru Wednesday since I head up to Vegas for the wedding. I will be taking the laptop along with for the trip so I will be blogging from there. Thanks to all you guys for your support for the wedding, me and the fiancee appreciate very much.

Happy Flops!

New Quest: 1,000 in prop pay!

2006-09-21T00:13:00.000-07:00

Well I have decided upon on new quest that I have been doing over the past 3 days I am on a quest to see how many hours/days it takes for me to earn 1000 in prop pay/rakeback. I am playing at a site that is very generous with its rakeback which pays me 125 percent to 155 percent. I have been playing NL .25/.50 and 1/2 limit holdem there of late.

Well today was a pretty good day at the tables. I played a little more NL tonight at the prop site and put in a little limit session earlier in the day. I played .25/.50 NL and played pretty well tonight made some nice reads and I think a couple of nice laydowns. I have a hand below that I want you guys to take a peek at and tell me if you can find a call there on the river. I think all draws get there and the 2nd ace is worrysome? Well hand some big hands tonight and the held up. But I also had my share of hands that went bad. I am really happy with my results today since I had KK's sucked out on twice and lost my straight when the board paired on the river. But that is poker and I also got some good action on hands I didn't think I would get much on so overall a good night for me.

***** Hand History for Game 10272719 *****
0.25/.50 TexasHTGameTable (NL) - Thu Sep 21 02:31:50 EDT 2006
Table Card Room Table 3369 (Real Money) -- Seat 8 is the button
Total number of players : 8
Seat 1: HartFlush ($52.85)
Seat 2: KappaKid83 ($50)
Seat 3: hngpoker ($39.30)
Seat 4: bettor ($45.30)
Seat 5: Dmoneycali ($92.95)
Seat 6: PlzDontCall ($16.45)
Seat 8: potgravy ($45.95)
Seat 9: applejuice ($31.25)
applejuice posts small blind (0.25)
HartFlush posts big blind (0.50)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to HartFlush [ Qd, Kc ]
KappaKid83 folds.
hngpoker folds.
bettor folds.
Dmoneycali calls (0.50)
PlzDontCall folds.
potgravy folds.
applejuice calls (0.25)
HartFlush checks.
** Dealing Flop ** : [ 3d, Ks, Qs ]
applejuice bets (1.50)
HartFlush raises (4) to 4
Dmoneycali folds.
applejuice calls (2.50)
** Dealing Turn ** : [ Ad ]
applejuice bets (3)
HartFlush raises (7.50) to 7.50
applejuice calls (4.50)
** Dealing River ** : [ As ]
applejuice bets (19.25)
applejuice is all-In.
HartFlush folds.
** Summary **
Main Pot: $23.30 | Rake: $1.20
Board: [ 3d Ks Qs Ad As ]
HartFlush balance $40.85, lost $12 (folded)
KappaKid83 balance $50, didn't bet (folded)
hngpoker balance $39.30, didn't bet (folded)
bettor balance $45.30, didn't bet (folded)
Dmoneycali balance $92.45, lost $0.50 (folded)
PlzDontCall balance $16.45, didn't bet (folded)
potgravy balance $45.95, didn't bet (folded)
applejuice balance $42.55, bet $12, collected $23.30, net +$11.30

Today's Stats:

NL .25/.50
$80.60

Limit 1/2
$52.25

Total for the day:
$132.85
8.8 Table Hours
5.2 Real Hours

$25.37 an hour

If interested in propping please checkout ONLINEPROPPING.COM refer HartFlush

What is new as of late?

2006-09-17T13:17:00.000-07:00

Well it has been awhile since my last post. What have I been doing I have been playing some but not much. I have findly think I have narrowed down my propping to one site right now. I have decided to stick with the 125% to 155% site which is the best rakeback I have found for all the prop sites out there. They also have a 2k freerol at the end of the week if you play so many raked hands in a week. The freeroll only usually has between 60 to 90 players in it I had tried an experiment of playing at Betholdem where I got 58 percent of my rakeback each day but that didn't go so well. Also I have been playing some at world poker exchange with their 100% rakeback scheme. At world poker exchange I have basically broke even on the cards. I have some bonuses stacked at pokerstars so I might start playing there some. Also I need to do interpoker this month since it is the easiest it has been in some time.

Well things are getting closer here we are less then two weeks away from the wedding. So I basically have this week to play poker and my goal for the rest of this month is to play about 40 hours next week to get some time and just hopefully get a nice prop pay for the week. I would also like to rip it up at the tables to go with that pay. Pokerstars is having a reload right now. So that will give me 360 dollars to clear in stack bonuses. Pokerstars has finally put an expiration date on their bonuses. They are still giving you a generous 6 months to clear. I have been lurking at the site and watching the horse games on that site so I might try clearing some of the bonuses there because it seems that some of the people playing there have no clue on the 7 card stud games and they are 3/5th's of the game.

The countdown to the wedding is 13 days. I will be leaving for vegas on the 27th and we will be there till sunday the 1st of october and then we will be heading to laughlin for a few days. So if I don't talk to you till then the next post will be full of wedding pictures and stuff about the wedding.

September Plans

2006-09-05T18:20:00.000-07:00

Well September is going to be a big month for my personal life so not to sure how much poker I will be getting in. I will be getting married at the end of this month. Well I have almost achieved my goal of paying for my wedding with just poker funds. The balance will be due at the middle of this month. I think I have paid for all the wedding finances with 90 percent of my money with poker funds. So I consider my goal a success knowing that most of my money I earned playing poker has paid for my wedding. Which is special in itself since me and the fiancee met playing online poker.

Well so far this month I have whipped through william hill poker and casino bonuses. What else do I have planned. I will probably do interpoker since they changed their bonus structure. I will continued to prop from time to time. I am in the process of studying my game hard. I just recently went on a bad downswing that we go on from time to time. So I am trying to reevaluate my games. Dust of some old books and try to get back to the grind.

As you can tell I am real excited about being married. We are looking forward to it. We have so many little things that we have to do leading up this wedding and it drives us nuts sometimes and doesn't allow me to play as much poker as I would like to.

Summer is almost over

2006-08-28T15:49:00.000-07:00

Well the summer is almost over and the first 3 months of playing for a living have almost went by. My experiment to play for a living over the summer has been a roller coaster ride but I have enjoyed it to say the least. I have found that I feel at the moment I can deal with the swings of not making money for a few weeks or even longer as long as I have money saved up. This summer has been great. I didn't have a job the whole summer for the first time in 12 years. I played poker all summer paid the bills with my poker money and even made enough money this summer to pay for my wedding that is coming up on Sept. 30.

I am not where I want to be in terms of the level in terms of dollars I want to be at. But I know how much money per se I will make each month. I assume after this wedding is completely over with I will take some shots at higher levels especially if I want to hit my goal of 15k this year. I am not even close to my goal but like I said I have made enough money at poker this year to support myself and pay for a wedding so now that the summer is coming to an end I feel it has been a good trial at playing for a living and I will continue to play for a living. I have learned a lot of the 3 months like I said in my previous post. What I have learned is there are other things in life not just poker. I don't just eat and sleep poker I have found other things to do to keep me busy which has paid dividends over the past few weeks.

The month of august started off real slow for me and has picked up the last few weeks. I was stuck for 275 dollars to start the month and I have pulled myself out of that to make a decent profit considering how long it took me to get out of the whole. This month I tried some new games I dabbled with some Omaha hi low at paradise poker which I really enjoyed. My goals for the month I did ok I cleared almost all the bonuses I set out to clear and did my first ever casino bonus chase this month. I will be doing some more of those in the future. Well that is for now. I hope you all had a great summer and hope all the fishes come back to the tables in the fall. See you all at the tables.

Things I have learned since playing for a living!

2006-08-22T22:19:00.000-07:00

The things I have learned since deciding to play poker for a living not in any particular order:

Set Goals

What do you want out of poker? Do you just want to make some extra money for a vacation? Do you want to play big stakes poker? These are some questions you should ask yourself when you decide to play poker. I would suggest not to make goals that are unattainable but I would not make your goals easy either. When I first started this blog at the begginning I told myself I wanted to make 15k this year and be playing 5/10 limit holdem by the end of the year. I never thought about how I would get there just figured I would play and my bankroll would get bigger and I would move up the levels. So know I set weekly goals and monthly goals to keep me focused. My goal is still to get their but not sure if it will be there by end of this year or not. I am still currently playing 1/2 limit and some 2/4. I would say I am playing 80 percent 1/2 and 20 percent 2/4.

Don't Burnout

This one I just have figured out recently just like any other job you get tired off it and you need to take a vacation. Don't play poker when it becomes a drag to turn on the computer you will thank me on this one later. I know it is so easy because it becomes a part of your daily life but you need to get a more balanced life then just sitting behind the computer and playing poker. Well hold'em get stale learn a new game or find another hobby like playing golf or whatever you like to do just don't play when you start feel like it is a chore. Take some time off the games will always be there.

Downswings will happen

Don't play over your bankroll. Variance will happen no matter how good you are so stay withing your bankroll and you will be fine. I know this because I have gone on some pretty scary downswings but I have survived. I am still playing on my original 150 dollars I made from a freeroll and have never had to deposit any of my own money. We are going on almost two years now.

Have some money saved up

When you have a really big month don't spend it. Put some in savings for the month's that you run bad. You should also have about 3 months of living expenses saved up so that you are not playing at the table with scared money.

Gain the support from your family and friends

It is much easier to play when you know you have the support from others then when people are rooting for you to fail. I have the full support from my fiancee which helps alot and helps me from going on tilt because I want to provide for her so I don't play over my head.

Study the game

Don't ever stop learning. Read books. Find a good forum to discuss hands or find some other buddies that play so that you can discuss hands and strategies with them.

Be nice to bad players

Don't scare the fish away by bad mouthing them in the chat windows. In the long run they will be losing to you when they chase their gut shots and flushes with no pot odds. Please don't scare the fish away be nice to them keep them at the table.

Don't play when tired or stress

Don't play poker when you are tired or have other things on your mind you will lose money. I have done this plenty of times because I felt I had to play and I would say 80 percent of the time I have had losing sessions and it just pisses you off.

Game Selection

This is where I am weak. Try to look for games where there is a lot of limping and not much raising. You want to be the one that is the aggressive player at the table. You want to be the one raising and the players fearing you instead of the other way around. You want to be able to play hands that take down big pots. In an aggressive game you don't get to play those hands as much.

Play with a bonus or rakeback

Well this one is pretty simple it helps with your variance and when you are running bad you are lucky you have it. Bonus or rakeback can mean the difference between a winning week or losing week on those occasions when the deck goes cold on you. So play with a bonus or rakeback on most occasions.

As you can see these are some of things that I have notice over the past few months there are others but these are the ones that stand out the most to me.

First Casino Bonus Chase

2006-08-21T22:02:00.000-07:00

Well today I tried something new. I have been thinking about doing this for some time now and I think I will do some of these each month from now on. I think it will break up the burnout of hold'em as well as chase poker bonuses by playing omaha 8. Well today I did my first ever casino bonus chase. I decided to try a site that I play poker on called william hill. They have a nice little casino bonus that you can do each month. The nice thing about this bonus is that it is basically risk free. When you deposit for the first time you deposit 80 dollars and they give you 80 dollars. So you take 160 dollars to the table so if you get to 80 bucks you just cashout risking none of your own money. The casino bonus differes from a poker bonus based upon the requiremnts to clear it. In casino bonuses they make you clear by doing a wager requirment instead of raked hands like in poker. The wager requirement was 2000 dollars I finished this bonus in a little over an hour and a half playing $5 dollars a hand. Well I must say I was skeptical at first but the bonus went by extremely fast and I took home a nice profit helped as well. I will probably be doing the intercasino bonus this month at the blackjack tables instead of playing it at the interpoker site where it takes longer.

To get you caught up with poker. I put in another 2300 hands at the prop site last week and made more money playing but cleared about the same amount of rake in 7 less table hours. This week I played some 2/4 at the prop site I put in about 500 hands or so. I made up the difference by me playing 2/4 so that is why my pay was the same as the week before or it would of been lower in terms of prop pay.

I am still winding up the paradise poker bonus have about 250 raked hands left there so 30 dollars in bonus would like to clear that this week. I have been clearing that at holdem and omaha8 there.

Things are getting crazy around her as the wedding approaches. My mom is having a shower for my fiancee this weekend so I think me and the boys will have to go to the casino to play some live poker this weekend. Well until nextime happy flops.

Took a day off

2006-08-17T20:55:00.000-07:00

Well I took a day off from playing today. For you that don't know I work as a dealer on the side and I dealt a poker tournament today at UCLA university. I wish I would of been able to play in that game man it was real easy to tell who was going to win the hands every time the card they needed hit the deck they would almost jump out of the chair. That brings me to tells in poker where they are much more noticeable in live play then they are in online that is why I think some people prefer to play live over online because they feel they can't put people on a hand in online play. An online play there are tells like betting patterns and how long they take to act but it is definately not as noticeable as when you play live.

Well what have I been up to so far this week in propping. Well again I am behind schedule from where I want to be but I have manage to mix in some 2/4 so far with some decent profit. The first day I played it I did really good and then I decided to sit at a couple of tables yesterday of 2/4 and lost most of my profit back that I had build up on Monday. The play does not seem to be that much difference from the 1/2 level I have notice in my limited amount of time at the 2/4 table. So far I have been dealt a little under 1400 hands. Last week I put in 2300 so I would like to put in about 1500 hands or more in the next two days before the pay period ends. I also played some at paradise poker to clear some of the remaining bonus I have there so far I have been breaking even on my play there and just been collecting the bonus money.

Past two weeks of Poker

2006-08-13T19:46:00.000-07:00

Well the past two weeks of poker have been a roller coaster to say the least. I have been going up and down like a roller coaster. I am just beginning to get out of the red for the month. I started off the month in pretty bad shape. I tried an experiment of playing NL and I lost 5 buy ins in one day so that stuck me for a while. So the past week I have been back at limit trying to get myself out of the whole for the month. It seems as when I get close to being even for the month I have a day of second best hands from hell.

Where I have been playing for the last few weeks has varied and I think I have learned that I have been jumping around to much in a panic situation. I have played at goal poker, world poker exchange, paradise poker, william hill and three different prop sites. I did ok at paradise poker I just went there to mess around at the .50/1 dollar games and play some omaha hi low. So far I have made a 25 dollar profit there and have only cleared 10 dollars of bonus there. I still have 70 left to clear so I may do that. I am breaking even basically at world poker exchange on the cards so I am clearing a profit there after you account for the rakeback. The site where I usually win goal poker a skin of absolute poker I took a beating over the past two weeks the bonus money and rake back didn't cover my losses there. Then I did william hill this week and I lost playing on the cards there but left with a modest profit. Then I have been playing at 3 different prop sites. I have only recorded winning at one of the sites there. I made 22 big bets there this week and made another 47.5 BB's in rakeback money there. Which I didn't think was bad because going into sunday I was down 40 BB's there for the week. On Saturday I had a nice 65 BB winning session there which is by far the best session I have had this month. Before that session I was on a 120 BB losing streak. The other two prop sites this week we don't really want to talk about. I dropped 35 BB's at one and dropped another 15 BB's at the other. I am waiting on my rakeback from these two sites to see where I stand at them but I know the rakeback is not going to make up for losses at these two sites.

I feel I am probably going to condensed down to two prop sites. I have just been getting drilled at one of them and have no confidence there at all. The site does not have much traffic at all so there is not much of a game variety. The other two sites have way more game variety. I feel I may be giving some 2/4 a shot this week I have been scouting out some sites to play on and from what I have seen the competition does not seem that tough at the sites I have been looking. At the moment I would have a 500 BB bankroll to play at 2/4.

So far this month has been a real grind. I have just finally pulled myself out of hock and trying to not worry about the results and just play good poker. I played really well yesterday and today I decided to take a day off from poker to refresh the mind and just chill out with the fiancee. The wedding is coming faster then we anticipated. My fiancee has been making the cake toppers for the wedding. The theme of our wedding is around the beach so she has been doing stuff with shells and candles. She likes doing that type of stuff. Her and my mother are starting to work on the centerpieces for the tables at the reception. So we are down to 47 days before the big day. I am starting to get excited and a little stressed. I kind of just want the day to happen so it will relieve a lot of the stress I have been going through and I will be a much more pleasant person to be around.

So until next time. May all your flops be great.
HartFlush

August Goals

2006-08-09T17:02:00.000-07:00

Well here is my monthly rant on what I want to accomplish this month. Do I always get what I want when I do these or follow them to the tee no I do not but it seems to keep me motivated and gives me some guidance on what I want to do. So here is the goals for the month of August.

1. Stop playing extreme shorthand poker. (4 players or less)
2. Work on emotions at table don't let one session affect the whole rest of your day.
3. Take one day off a week
4. Work on table selection and pick good games to play in.
5. Write one note about each player at my table for the session.

Ok so not anything special this month just want to look for good games and start working on note taking since I tend to play against the same players a lot.

Bonuses to Clear this month:

William Hill Poker
William Hill Casino
Interpoker
Paradise Poker
Trident Poker

NL Experiment that goes bad

2006-08-03T23:21:00.000-07:00

Well my experiment of NL didn't go as well as planned let me just put it this way I played well but got kicked in the balls and they are still hurting from it. Well I played Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday and lost 5 buy ins at the NL50 tables so I am stuck 120 at the NL tables. I have learned that propping is a tough business I like it but someday are better then others. I just wish I could get a nice cozy game once in a while to play where I am not butting my head against the sharks all the time. If you are off your A game a little that day you can have a really bad day. The rakeback is nice but I am at a crossroads on what to do I just wanted to play break even poker or slight losing poker and still earn a nice profit each month or do I want to find games that I can beat on a consistent basis and make a little less. I am not sure what is best for my psyche?

Well I have stopped NL for the time being bought a book on the subject to read and will probably give it a go again. I will still chase certain bonuses at NL where it is more profitable to do such as a party poker bonus.

I have also decided not to play extreme shorthanded poker anymore. As of the time of this writing I have decided on one prop site to focus my attention on when I play. I am not going to cashout of that account. I want to let that account grow so that I can play at higher games once the money is available on that site. I will use my bonus chasing sites each month to cash out of for the bills and such. I tend to get killed at games where there are 4 or less players but do quite well at 5 or more at the table.

I have come to the conclusion and it is hard to admit that I let poker affect my moods so I know I have a problem and I realize it and it is not healty. It is something I might try to find help for. I don't have a problem with losing entire bankroll or that but I get extremely mad when I run bad and I tend to let my emotions affect me the rest of the day and I am not a pleasant person to be around. Well just wanted to let you guys now that everyone has bad days of poker and I am no exception. I am a extremely competetive person and I hate to lose this stems from my sports day. I know poker is not a one day event and that it is the long term it just is one of those games that frustrates you.

Here is something to watch when you are running bad I found the other day.

Having a Bad Day

Quest to 15K (7 month Update)

2006-07-31T22:24:00.000-07:00

Well it is officially 7 months old the quest to 15k well am I on pace to get there no not at the moment. I have been pretty much playing limit poker for these past 7 months. I am experimenting with playing NL next month the last few days of July I have been multitabling NL. I have been playing 4 tables of .25/.50 NL at two of my prop sites and have been doing ok so far. It seems for some reason I have a easier time multitabling NL for some reason then I do playing limit at my prop sites. For one reason is there is more NL offered so I can play a lot more tables of it increasing my earn rate in rakeback.

Well this month was a lot better then last month in terms of winning money I made about what I had average over the previous 6 months. This month of July I finished with $901.51. So that brings the grand total of the 15K challenge to $5969.26. So I average around 852.75 a month. So the goal was by the end of this year to make 15K I still believe I can get there. I am going to experiment with this NL thing this month to see if I can make more money. I believe a lot of fish are at the low limit NL games because that is the game that they mainly see playing on t.v.

I feel I want to boost up the bankroll some more then move on to the 2/4 and 3/6 games that grinder and Michael find so juicy all the time. Way to go guys on your awesome BB/100 at the sites you are on maybe I will have to sit at your tables and you can give me some of those chips.

Well it is officially countdown time to the wedding we are now under 60 days to the big day in Vegas. Well good bye July and I hope you all in the flops hard in August.

Bonus Chasing and No Limit Propping

2006-07-30T21:30:00.000-07:00

Well this weekend was a weekend full of bonus chasing and playing NL at the prop site where I said the games were to hard. Well I pulled myself out of the whole this weekend playing NL at that site and now actually made a $5 dollar profit their for the week after being down roughtly $100 playing for the week playing limit hold'em. I am waiting to see how much I make in rakeback at that site. I am contemplating trying to put in 40 hours of No limit at that site next week. My plan is to try to play three days next week of 8 hours broken into two 4 hours sessions and then play they other four days of the week for 4 hours. I have estimated that I can make anywhere from 300-700 depending on how many tables I play just on rakeback a week.

I also played at paradise poker this weekend and chase some of my reload bonus only cleared 20 dollars so far but I have done this bonus at Omaha 8 or better. I have liked doing this because I have always wanted to start playing this game more and the clearance rate on getting the raked hands towards the bonus was in the 85 percent range.

The bonus at trident has not gone so well it is 50 percent complete and have lost playing but am seeing a modest profit so far on that one so hopefully next 100 dollars I have to clear will go better for that one.

Well July has almost come to a close really have not made what I wanted to make this month but did not play as much as I thought I would so I did not get the hands in to make the money that I wanted. Well all in all has been a good month the fiancee is here to stay and I like that becomes it has calm me down. Also I did make enough to pay for the ceremony this month so the payment will be sent to Treasure Island chapel sometime at the end of the week.

When is the game to tough and time to move on?

2006-07-27T22:42:00.000-07:00

Okay I stated in my last post that one of my prop site was doing a rakeback promo for this week for 125% to 165% but what most people did not know was you had two prop companies at the same site competing for table time and the rake so as you can imagine very tough games. What is a tough game? In my opinion is one where there is a lot of preflop raising and not very much limping in to pots and a lot of aggression post flop. In this game I would say 80 percent of the time there was a preflop raise and the hand would play out as either someone reraising or just calling or the blinds calling the raise. So it pretty much had become who is getting the cards to raise with and are they really stealing your blind or do they have a hand this time is how most hands played out. I feel I play pretty well but I have decided to abort this for softer games. I finished of the week down 25 BB's playing at the 2/4 tables but I think my rakeback will cover this or I hope so. I have switch to my other prop site where there is less traffic and made some of this loss back already. The rakeback is not as good but I am able to limp in into pots with odds and the aggressiveness of the game is what we are use to on most low limit tables. The 2/4 tables at the other prop site was just put it this way 9 sharks at the table trying to maybe get the 1 fishes money at the table pretty tough game easier games out there I could make money there but not worth the mental grind I don't believe. I was frustrated I dropped 25 Bb's at that game but realize the game was tough and have moved on to easier targets.
I don't think the game was that tough because when you move up the limits this how the game it pretty much played I just wasn't getting my fair share of cards or if they came I was out of position. I guess you can say I was card dead and a couple of 2 outter bad beats but other then that did not get to many good starting hands. Did not get AA or KK the last two days.

What was fun though this week I played against Tony G the pro player he sat at the 1/2 limit table with 18,000 grand and I was 6 handed game with him and I won two pots off him it was great to be able to play against a pro. He was playing there because he has openened his own site which is a skin of one of the sites I prop at.

I will also be chasing my reload bonus at paradise poker that I had saved up. I started that today at the .50/1 Omaha hi lo table boy did I fun at that nearly 80 percent of the hands reach 5 dollars or higher and it was not uncommon to see pots over 15 bucks. Wow this is a great game to multitable because it is much slower and you practically need the nuts to continue so if you don't have it you can basically fold.

The fiancee has been working on the Trident Poker bonus she is 25 percent done with that. Yes, she plays poker too this is how we met playing online poker and we are using poker funds to play for the wedding. Just to get you updated that quest to pay for a wedding through poker funds the ceremony will be paid for at the end of this month and we are currently working on paying for the reception.

Some 2/4 and new bonus Chase

2006-07-26T12:31:00.000-07:00

Well yesterday I found a new bonus chase to go after that I thought had some decent terms it is on the prima network and the name of the site is Trident Poker. The terms for this bonus is 100% up to $200 clearing at 10x so 2000 raked hands. Well actually I think the fiancee will be doing this one as I will be playing at one of my prop site this week since we are getting 125% to 165% rakeback can't pass that up. So I went to that site last night and plopped down on two 2/4 tables and I am starting to feel very comfortable playing 2/4 so I think I might be making the switch to that level real soon. I will still look for juicy games regardless of what level it is. Well playing at the two tables I made 13 BB's yesterday.

Well if you have not heard Phil Hellmuth Jr. has won his 10th WSOP bracelet tying the other two legends Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan for most bracelets in a career. What most people don't know is Phil is the only play in the history of poker to win 10 bracelets in just Hold'em. It was Phil's second chance at earning his 10th bracelet as he finished in 2nd place in the 5,000 dollar entry event a few weeks back. Phil has moved into first place on the WSOP leaderboard for this year's event and into 4th place for the card player, player of the year award.

Phil Hellmuth Winner of 10th Bracelet
at WSOP 2006

Photo Courtesy of Card Player Magazine

Do you ever get exhausted playing poker?

2006-07-24T21:03:00.000-07:00

Well I have been thinking lately about my number and I win all during the week but I am losing player on Saturday and Sunday. Can this be because I play so many hours during the week that I am just exhausted on the weekends? Do you guys take long breaks from poker? Do you ever not feel like playing but you do because it is habit or their is nothing better to do?

Well I have noticed lately when I take a few days off I come back refreshed and my reads are steller on players but when I have been grinding for a long time my play starts to be bad. Anyone out here go through any of these things? I never knew how much poker takes out of you. I seem to play better when I am mentally stable not worried about anything or got a good nights rest and have been eating well but when I am not doing this my poker play becomes bad. So my suggestion to all is get your rest and when you are having a bad day or not feeling well don't play trust me it will cost you money the games are always there.

Well I played some poker today and did a bonus I have not done before can't believe I missed this easy bonus at grand bay poker 30 dollars for 100 raked hands. I did that in about an hour. I went over goal poker and donked off 30 bucks or so. Then I deposited into one of my prop sites I have taken a break from and logged 250 hands and left up 25 bucks or so. So it was nothing major today in terms of bankroll.

911 loose change 2nd edition

2006-07-22T12:16:00.000-07:00

A video on September 11. This video will make your head spin so check it out. It talks about a possible U.S. conspiracy.


911 loose change 2nd edition conspiracy theriores

Relaxing and enjoying life with the fiance

2006-07-19T15:28:00.000-07:00

Well its been a while since the last post. The fiance and I are back in california and enjoying each others company. It has been an adjustment period for me and for her since we have lived on our own for quite a while. So we are getting use to each others habits and stuff. For the most part we have just been kicking back and relaxing and preparing for the upcoming wedding in September. She and my mom have been planning the wedding for the most part. I don't envy them that must be really stressful to plan that I am doing the little things I can do to help but not sure if I am helping or hurting the situation.

Well today is my birthday I am 31 years old and I am not sure if I should feel old or if I should believe all this stuff that 30's is the new 20's garb. Well we will be going out to eat tonight with my parents and having a nice meal at one of my favorite restaurants Claim Jumper. Will probably be ordering one of my favorite BBQ ribs.

Poker has been going good for the most part still grinding away a profit from day to day for the most part with the occasional downswing day or two. I chalked that up to when none of your draws hit or none of your big cards pay off. I have been mixing it up lately playing limit and NL hold'em instead of just playing limit. I have played approximately 7,000 hands so far this month which is on pace for my goal of 12,000. I have not been posting any hand discussions on forums I have been really lazy in that department. I have been reviewing my sessions in poker tracker however when I am playing a poker tracker compatible site. I have only read one chapter in SSH by Ed Miller since I wanted to reread that this month. I have begun to play some 2/4 hold'em as well this month. I am beginning to get over my mental hurtle of how much money is in the pot and looking at in terms of bets which is a good thing so I think I am getting use to the swings of that game.

I have a new poll going which change spots it is further down on the left side bar so check it out. It is on what game you prefer of the ones I listed.

At Vegas in the Full Tilt Poker Tent @ Rio

2006-07-09T18:24:00.000-07:00

Well sitting here with btrflykiss at the FTP lounge at the WSOP 2006 at the Rio. Have had a great time gotten pictures of some of the pro players. We have gotten pictures with Scotty Nguyen and Daniel Negreanau. Daniel actually stop playing to take a picture with btrflykiss to take a picture while he was in the middle of playing the 10,000 Pot Limit Omaha event thought that was awesome. We have seen Doyle, Chris Feguson, Greg Raymer, Howard Lederer, Erik Seidel, Mike Sexton, David Williams. We met David Wiliams mom in the bodog hospitality tent. Well we are going to hang out here so more. Might splash around some cash games here later. Well we will be updating this when I get back with pictures and stuff.

Scotty Nguyen and Btrflykiss

Daniel Negreanau and Btrflykiss

This the picture were he stopped playing in the
middle of his 10,000 Pot Limit Omaha8 tourney
to pose for the picture.

Chris "Jesus" Ferguson
Btrflykiss and HartFlush

Doyle Brunson and HartFlush

After spending the day at Rio watching the WSOP we went back down to Downtown Vegas where we are staying had some dinner and I wanted get some poker in after watching it all day I wanted to play. So I went over to the Golden Nugget and decided that I wanted to try the NL game there. I played the 1/2 NL and I bought in for 100 dollars withing 5 hands in the cutoff position I woke up with AA. This is how the hand played out the UTG player raised to 8 dollar had a stack of about 250 and then middle position reraised to 30 dollars, so I look at my cards and find two black Aces and push my remaining 97 dollars in the middle the UTG player calls the 89 dollars and the middle player goes all in for his remaining 25 dollars so I take down a nice pot. Well I am playing there for a little while longer and 15 minutes an actor comes and sits at the table named Richard Kine he is hilarious and he had another actress with him but could not think of her name. After that another famous person came and sat at the table the creator of celebrity poker on the bravo channel they were all seated at my end of the table so we talked for a while and I decided to call it after only an hour and a half and I had a really good time.

Well me and Btrflykiss had a really good time in Vegas and we are planning another trip out before the wedding to probably see the main event and to finalize all the wedding plans out there.

Unexpected Trip to Vegas and Some Stats!

2006-07-07T16:08:00.000-07:00

Well I am headed to Vegas in the morning for unexpected to Vegas. I have to drive out their to pick up my fiance I am just heart broken about it. Well things got screwed and that was the only flight she could make so we are going to make a weekend out of it. I had to scrounge for a room and we are head to beautiful downtown vegas for 76 dollars for two nights what a bargain. We will have a great time we will head over to Treasure Island to check out the chapel and stuff where we will be getting married. We will probably have to stop off at Rio to catch some WSOP action. So if you don't hear from me for a few days I am in Vegas Baby!

Well it has been quite a first 7 days of July in world of online poker. I have found a poker coach and he helped me tremendously in are first session and I have been studying a lot on my game reading some articles on shorthanded play by Jen Harmen and Matthew Hilger that have helped me tremedously. I found some leaks in my game and I am starting to see the improvements in my game and my earn rate.

Well here are my 7 day numbers so far for July:

7/1: +19 BB
7/2: +79 BB
7/3: +8 BB
7/4: +61 BB
7/5: +41 BB
7/6: (-10.5) BB
7/7: +24 BB

BB=2 in this example
Above is with bonuses included
Amount made in bonuses/rakeback: 100.5 BB
Amount Made Playing: 117 BB

Well let me leave you with this hand to look at from this week
Easy Fold on River or No?
Do you raise flop?
Do you check turn?
Do you Call River?

***** Hand History for Game 7724967 *****
1/2 TexasHTGameTable (Limit) - Fri Jul 07 18:48:14 EDT 2006
Table Card Room Table 107 (Real Money) -- Seat 4 is the button
Total number of players : 7
Seat 2: igetdonkedon ($305.83)
Seat 3: whinewhine12 ($117.50)
Seat 4: ONURIS ($26)
Seat 5: flopaset ($50.75)
Seat 7: HartFlush ($103.25)
Seat 8: goldenhawk ($474.66)
Seat 9: 0barracuda0 ($34.25)
flopaset posts small blind (0.50)
HartFlush posts big blind (1)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to HartFlush [ Qd, Qh ]
goldenhawk folds.
0barracuda0 calls (1)
igetdonkedon folds.
whinewhine12 folds.
ONURIS folds.
flopaset calls (0.50)
HartFlush raises (1) to 2
0barracuda0 calls (1)
flopaset calls (1)
** Dealing Flop ** : [ 9c, 4s, Ah ]
flopaset bets (1)
HartFlush raises (2) to 2
0barracuda0 calls (2)
flopaset calls (1)
** Dealing Turn ** : [ 3h ]
flopaset checks.
HartFlush checks.
0barracuda0 checks.
** Dealing River ** : [ 8d ]
flopaset bets (2)
HartFlush calls (2)
0barracuda0 calls (2)
** Summary **
Main Pot: $17.25 | Rake: $0.75
Board: [ 9c 4s Ah 3h 8d ]
igetdonkedon balance $305.83, didn't bet (folded)
whinewhine12 balance $117.50, didn't bet (folded)
ONURIS balance $26, didn't bet (folded)
flopaset balance $62, bet $6, collected $17.25, net +$11.25 [ Ad Tc ] [ a pair of aces ]
HartFlush balance $97.25, lost $6
goldenhawk balance $474.66, didn't bet (folded)
0barracuda0 balance $28.25, lost $6

July Goals

2006-07-05T10:56:00.000-07:00

Well I have been thinking of some my goals for this month since I am big on goal setting because it tends to keep me focused. I don't always have the same goals I like to mix them up to keep some things fresh and to work on things.

1. Clear Goal Poker Bonus ($750)
2. Clear William Hill ($45)
3. Re-read Small Stakes Hold'em by Ed Miller
4. Study my hand histories each day for 20 minutes
5. Post one hand a day in various forums to get analyzed by fellow players.
6. Play 12,000 hands this month.

So I have come with these goals based upon me wanting get a lot of play in this month and really want to study my game to make sure I am playing hands correctly and to get others opinions on how to play certain hands in certain situations. I want to reread SSH because I feel my game is better now and I have better understanding of the game so I want to go back and read it to see if I understand it better now then first time I read it like 6 months ago.

Got To Love Free Money

2006-07-02T21:09:00.000-07:00

Well you got to love when sites give you free money or restricted cash bonuses on their sites to come back and play. I had two of those last week and today I went and decided to see what I could do with that money. The first site was empire poker that game a $15 dollar restricted bonus so I took it to the NL 25 game and worked that 15 dollars up to $53 dollars for a nice little profit there. I also received an email from Bodog earlier in the week telling me that they missed me and gave me a free $20 dollar credit so I fired up some sng's on the today have built that up to $76. I always like to go on mini quests to see what I can do with that free money. It's great when not playing at a site pays off sometimes maybe I will continue to be not loyal to some other sites and then will offer me some free money to comeback to their site.

I decided to check my alternative prop site out for games since I have been messing with some NL lately again and I found a nice little NL game going blinds of .15/.25 cent and I sat down with 25 dollars I double that up in about 15 hands and left because it got to 3 handed. The hands below were my last two. Kind of nice flop the nuts on hand 1 and have the guy do all the betting for you. Second hand had a monster in a 3 handed game or a full ring game for the matter.

***** Hand History for Game 7599540 ***** 0.25/0.50 TexasHTGameTable (NL) -
Mon Jul 03 01:36:15 EDT 2006 Table Card Room Table 780 (Real Money) --
Seat 4 is the button
Total number of players : 5
Seat 1: PlzDontCall ($4.75)
Seat 3: HartFlush ($18.55) Seat 4: bettor ($7.35)
Seat 5: toddimus ($4.95) Seat 8: cheetah7 ($27.10)
toddimus posts small blind (0.15) cheetah7 posts big blind (0.25)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to HartFlush [ 5c, Ac ]
PlzDontCall folds.
HartFlush raises (1.25) to 1.25
bettor folds.
toddimus calls (1.10)
cheetah7 folds.
** Dealing Flop ** : [ 3c, Tc, 8c ]
toddimus bets (0.50)
HartFlush calls (0.50)
** Dealing Turn ** : [ Kd ]
toddimus bets (0.75)
HartFlush calls (0.75)
** Dealing River ** : [ Ad ]
toddimus bets (2.45)
toddimus is all-In.
HartFlush calls (2.45)

** Summary ** Main Pot: $9.65 | Rake: $0.50 Board: [ 3c Tc 8c Kd Ad ]

***** Hand History for Game 7599549 *****
0.25/0.50 TexasHTGameTable (NL) -
Mon Jul 03 01:37:20 EDT 2006 Table Card Room Table 780 (Real Money) --
Seat 8 is the button Total number of players : 4
Seat 1: PlzDontCall ($4.75)
Seat 3: HartFlush ($23.25)
Seat 4: bettor ($7.35) Seat 8: cheetah7 ($26.85)
PlzDontCall posts small blind (0.15)
HartFlush posts big blind (0.25)
** Dealing down cards ** Dealt to HartFlush [ Kd, Ks ]
bettor raises (0.50) to 0.50 cheetah7 raises (1.25) to 1.25
PlzDontCall folds. HartFlush raises (4) to 4.25 bettor calls (3.75)
cheetah7 raises (10.50) to 11.75
HartFlush raises (19) to 23.25 HartFlush is all-In.
bettor calls (3.10) bettor is all-In. cheetah7 calls (11.50)
** Dealing Flop ** : [ 5c, 9c, 5d ]
** Dealing Turn ** : [ 2s ]
** Dealing River ** : [ Ts ]
** Summary ** Main Pot: $30.90 | Side Pot 1: $21.10 | Rake: $2 Board: [ 5c 9c 5d 2s Ts ] PlzDontCall balance $4.60, lost $0.15 (folded)
HartFlush balance $52, bet $23.25, collected $52, net +$28.75 [ Kd Ks ]
bettor balance $0, lost $7.35 [ Ad 2d ]
cheetah7 balance $3.60, lost $23.25 [ Qh Qs ]

Well I should have my goals up for the month tomorrow. I am still working out what I want to accomplish this month. I am going out to Pechanga to play in a tournament tommorrow live. I have not played in that in a while not expecting to much just to have a good time. Also will probably splash around in the cash games afterward.

June Stats

2006-07-01T00:24:00.000-07:00

Well this month has come to end with my first month of playing for a living what a experience. I have been up and down with emotions more then I care to let on about. I have learned so much about myself and poker just in the last few days. I thought I knew a lot about poker but I have been reading and studying the game primarily shorthanded poker since that seems to be where you can make a decent amount of money against players because those tend to be the "action tables" I occasionally will still sit and grind out at a full ring game from time to time. I have really fell in love with 6 max poker and the reason being more hands and if you are playing against players that are worst then you more mistakes they make so hence more money per hour.

Well my stats don't back up my claim that is do to myself this month not controlling my emotions that was one of my goals this month. I will give myself a "D" for that I panicked to much this month and I know. It is something that I am working on. I really want to get good at 6 max becasue if you want to play in the big games online most of these games are not played at full ring. That brings me to another goal I wanted to work on that was seat selection you can tend to do this better at a 6 max table especially if the site still has it at a 9 player game it is easier to get on that person correct side. I also have by propping that I don't want to play against certain people and I have for now decided yet again to postpone my propping career at my main site because I have not been playing well there and I am playing against guys that are just as good as me if not better then me. So why wouldn't I go play at a site where I can play my same game and beat up lesser players and chase a bonus and get get rakeback at the site to equates to about the same pay as I get as a prop. I feel I need to rebuild the confidence and the roll up a little more so when I go back to propping I will be playing at 2/4 or higher so I can't make more money then I was propping. I don't call myself a coward I consider that smart don't go to war with people that are as good and lose go to war against lesser opponents so more then not you will come out ahead. If I do prop I will prop at the other site and play the dealer's choice game or some NL to break up the monotomy of just limit hold'em.

One of my other goals this month was to play 500 hands a day that I failed miserably because of the big downswing I took in the middle of the month. I have been trying to pull myself out of that swing since the middle of the month. I feel emotionally I have rallied quite nicely. I managed to bring in a profit this month but it is my lowest since the quest to 15k began. I still feel it was a success not financially but for what I have learned.

I have gone and found a guy to coach me and to help me with my play. I think this will become valuable, I think you can sit their and know what you are doing wrong but when another person sees it or sees it another way it can only help you and it is coming from un bias person.

I ended up eeking out a profit of $571.37 this month. This has happened becasue I have been running pretty good since my last update at 6 max at goal poker. If I decided to just play there instead of my prop site I would of probably made more this week. I made roughly $130 dollars in profit this week.

So hope you all had a good June. Have a good fourth of July! My next post will be my goals for this month. See you all at the table.

When is a break even day a good day?

2006-06-30T00:57:00.000-07:00

When do you guys consider a break even or slight loser a good day at poker? I started the opposite off what I have been doing I started out winning today and then tailed off later in the night. I only played at two sites today don't have any clue how longed I played. Something I have been doing of late was just playing and I will pick one day to put all of the stuff in a program I use on the internet called check your bets to record my bb/hr and everything. I have decided to do it all at the end of the week because the everyday number thing has been putting its toll on me and I rather do it in one large sum like a week's total of work instead of putting it in each day and stressing over -20 BB losses or whatever in a day. I harp on that stuff to much just want to play poker and figure it out later now.

Anyways enough of the rant when do you guys consider a break even day on the cards a succesful day? I consider any day I break even a good day especially when I am propping or playing a bonus because it was a profitable day in the long run. That is what makes internet poker the best you can make money while breaking even. It is certainly nicer to win on the cards and I am in a much better mood when I do. Considering I was beat on the river about 5 times today on 2 outters I considered it a good day. I lost at the prop site today where I played a combination of 1/2 and 2/4 limit hold'em where I lost approximately 19 BB's there. Well I also played and goal poker today 1/2 6 max tables and I won there 18.25BB or so. So I was a net loser today of like .95 cents but I am sure I made .95 cents of rakeback for today's effort. Well I plan to play a lot this weekend.

Well the fiance didn't make it out like planned her grandfather is in the hospital just had surgery so she stayed for a few days so if you could all could keep her and her grandfather in your prayers I would appreciate it.

Live blogging while playing!

2006-06-28T17:15:00.000-07:00

Some hands so far from today! These two hands will ask you what are these guys thinking?

***** Hand History for Game 7508308 *****
1/2 TexasHTGameTable (Limit) -
Wed Jun 28 20:00:31 EDT 2006
Table Card Room Table 107 (Real Money) --
Seat 6 is the button
Total number of players : 9
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to HartFlush [ Kc, Ks ]
fredgil folds.
HartFlush raises (2) to 2
LuDaCrush raises (3) to 3
guklein calls (3)
darthgreen folds.
theunderdog folds. mo folds.
AcesFall1 folds.
Viacheslav folds.
HartFlush calls (1)
** Dealing Flop ** : [ Jh, Jd, 2h ]
HartFlush checks.
LuDaCrush bets
(1) guklein calls (1) HartFlush calls (1)
** Dealing Turn ** : [ Qc ]
HartFlush bets (2) LuDaCrush raises (4) to 4
guklein folds. HartFlush calls (2)
** Dealing River ** : [ 4h ]
HartFlush checks. LuDaCrush bets (2)
HartFlush calls (2)
** Summary ** Main Pot: $24.50 | Rake: $1 Board: [ Jh Jd 2h Qc 4h ]
HartFlush balance $67.50, lost $10
LuDaCrush balance $37, bet $10, collected $24.50, net +$14.50 [ 6h Th ] [ a flush, jack high ]

***** Hand History for Game 7507961 *****
1/2 TexasHTGameTable (Limit) -
Wed Jun 28 19:37:50 EDT 2006 Table Card Room
Table 107 (Real Money) --
Seat 1 is the button
Total number of players : 7
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to HartFlush [ Qd, Qc ]
cbtruck15 folds.
mo calls (1)
AcesFall1 calls (1)
DrSliq folds.
HartFlush raises (2) to 2
LuDaCrush folds.
guklein calls (1)
mo calls (1)
AcesFall1 raises (2) to 3
HartFlush raises (2) to 4
guklein calls (2)
mo calls (2)
AcesFall1 calls (1)
** Dealing Flop ** : [ Th, Kh, 9c ]
guklein checks. mo checks.
AcesFall1 bets (1)
HartFlush raises (2) to 2
guklein calls (2)
mo folds.
AcesFall1 raises (1.75) to 2.75 AcesFall1 is all-In.
HartFlush calls (0.75) guklein calls (0.75)
** Dealing Turn ** : [ Ah ]
guklein checks.
HartFlush bets (2)
guklein calls (2)
** Dealing River ** : [ Js ]
guklein checks. HartFlush bets (2) guklein calls (2)
** Summary **
Main Pot: $8 | Side Pot 1: $23.75 | Rake: $1
Board: [ Th Kh 9c Ah Js ]
HartFlush balance $88, bet $10.75, collected $31.75, net +$21 [ Qd Qc ]
LuDaCrush balance $52.25, lost $0.50 (folded)
guklein balance $109.50, lost $10.75 [ 7c Jh ]
cbtruck15 balance $46.50, didn't bet (folded)
mo balance $91, lost $4 (folded)
AcesFall1 balance $0, lost $6.75 [ 5h 5d ]
DrSliq balance $22, didn't bet (folded)

Just played a $ 5.50 Sng at bodog. Played a pretty good game got into the money when it got to three handed it was push or fold mode. I ended up getting some hands. I had AQ vs. AJ three handed. That hand won and I ended up winning when I flopped two pair and went all in on a board of three clubs on it guy calls with a club and he does not suck out. So take down a 19 dollar profit there.

Well decided to head out tonight to Commerce Casino. I plopped down at the 2/4 limit holdem table. Typical table line at the 2/4 level really passive. I find myself stuck down to 20 dollars pretty fast in the night when I had AA's snapped off twice with crap which is expected at the 2/4 level. Well I played down there for about 3 hours tonight and I worked the stack out and grinded out a 2BB profit.

Tonights Stats

Sng Win: +19.50
1/2: + 24
2/4: -27 (Played 2/4 at prop site too today dropped 8 BB's there)

So had a profit tonight of $16 or so dollars.

Mixing the games up

2006-06-27T22:58:00.000-07:00

Well today I started off pretty much like all days have started off for the last couple weeks stuck for about 20 Big Bets early but I was talking to one of my prop buddies and he told me to relax and not stress and just play poker and not worry about results. So I logged off those tables and I decided to clean around the house. I had to be really pissed to clean because I hate to clean. So I did that for a while and logged back in a played for about an hour at my prop site. I won 25 BB's on one table and lost 4 BB's on the other in about an hour time frame so I was feeling pretty good. So I logged into another prop site where they have this unique game called dealer's choice. It was 1/2 mixed game where when you are the dealer you can choose which game you want to play. I thought it was a great idea, it reminded me of the old days when you played as a kid where you play nickel dime poker and dealer chooses a game. But this was a little more structured the games were Omaha, Omaha H/L, Razz, Stud, Stud H/L, or Hold'em. Most of the players were picking razz but my second favorite game away from hold'em is omaha high low so everytime I picked that game. Well I only sat for a few orbits and won another 6 Big Bets in that one. So then I logged on for a freeroll tonight again and bombed out that one quick when I pushed with JJ and the guy called with AK and hit his king on the river. My strategy in freerolls is just to get as much chips as fast as possible so if you can get to the final table you have chips to do some damage with. After all that I relaxed for a bit and then logged in at Goal Poker fired up 2 6 max tables and cleared 10 dollars of bonus and won 2 BB's playing.

Well finished off the night with some more propping of an hour. I two tabled tonight one 1/2 fullish table of 8 and one 2/4 table of 7. I played fairly well I won 6 BB's at the 1/2 tables and lost 1 BB at the 2/4 table. I wanted to challenge myself a little more and get my butt at the 2/4 table because the earn rate for the rakeback pay is higher at the 2/4 game and wanted to see if the suckouts were less there they seem to be I was on a table where it wasn't real aggresive not to much preflop raising just a typical passive low limit game. The earn rate at the 2/4 game is about 11 an hour in rakeback and 1/2 is about 7 an hour.

So was another good day and I had an early rut with my emotions and I would rate that at about a C now trying to control it at the tables. So if you get bored with hold'em maybe try learning a new game like omaha or stud and maybe it will help you when you are running bad at hold'em.

Also a side note check your empire poker accounts I had a 15 dollar restricted bonus in my account details file think I will use that for a multi-table tourney later in the week.

Also got an email from Bodog today saying they missed me and I had 20 dollars sitting in my account there so I fired up a sit and go there and took down 3rd place

Hand of the Day

Absolute Poker
Limit Holdem Ring game
Limit: $1/$2
6 players

Converter

Pre-flop: (6 players) Hero is UTG with A♥ A♦
Hero raises, UTG+1 calls, CO folds, Button calls, SB folds, BB calls.

Flop: 9♠ 8♣ 7♥ (8.5SB, 4 players)
BB bets, Hero raises, UTG+1 calls, Button 3-bets, BB calls, Hero calls, UTG+1 calls.

Turn: 6♠ (10.25BB, 4 players)
BB bets, Hero folds, UTG+1 calls, Button raises, BB raises all-in $5, UTG+1 calls, Button raises all-in $7.43, UTG+1 calls all-in $0.66.

Uncalled bets: 0.89BB returned to Button.

River: A♣ (18.41BB, 0 player + 3 all-in - Main pot: 17.75BB, Sidepot 1: 0.66BB)

Results:

Final pot: 18.41BB

Did I pay one to many bets should I have folded it on the flop after guy reraised me from the button?

Tonight's Stats

Hours Played:3.5
Amount Won Playing: $41.50
Bonus Earned: $10.00

Back to My Roots!

2006-06-26T21:12:00.000-07:00

After a weekend of reflecting on my play and preparing for my fiance's arrival from Canada. I have been thinking a lot about my play. I had realized I just wasn't having fun playing online poker when I started out playing online poker I loved it I couldn't wait to get home and play it. So what this all lead to was today I played in a couple of freerolls. That is how I began playing poker online by playing a freerolls. I played on strictly a freeroll site that payed you money if you placed in the money and then they would transfer the money to the pay site. So that is what got me hooked on playing for money. So today I entered two freerolls and I cashed in both freerolls. In the first free roll there was 6200 players on the prima network and I came in 46th. I did not win a lot of money but I was starting have fun again. So I decided to enter another freeroll on one of my prop sites and there was 51 players in it and I came in 2nd place. I was laughing again and just having fun pushing my stack when I thought the other player was weak and just having a great time.

Well I gave you a little background on how I got started but really got started the day I entered the freeroll and won my first one it was a $150 dollar win. So I transfered that money into the pay account and built that up on the .25/.50 dollar tables. I believed I cashed that out for like 200 dollars. My next step in my career was I did instant bankroll through poker source online for a free 50 dollars at party poker. I did not do so good on that but I stumble across a site on the internet called bonus whores and in April of 2005 I began bonus chasing with my 200 dollar bankroll that I never deposited any of my own money ever. My first bonus chase was paradise poker where I deposited for 200 dollars for a 100 dollar deposit bonus and when I was done with that I went on to the next site and to the next site. I had worked that up to about 1,000 dollars in the first two months and I could not get away from the poker screen I was really loving it. I was still playing in tournaments during that time but I really had not been playing in as many as I used to. So as the time went on I started getting more greedy and wanted more money so I looked into other ways to make money like propping.

That brings us to where I am today in my career. I presently am doing this for a living,I am a prop player and still chase bonuses on occassion. I have basically stopped playing tournaments all together, I actually considered myself a pretty good tournament player but the need to play hands and clear bonuses really cut down on the time I had to play multi-table tournaments. I looked at it as if I didn't cashed I wasted 2 hours of my time that I could of been making at the cash tables. But what I didn't realize is that I have the most fun in tournaments. It took me today to realize that again when I was in the freeroll's. I had that feeling I had way back when I first started. What I have learned is to do this for a living you have to really love it and have fun. The last 8 weeks or so I have not liked what I was doing. So my words of wisdom are remember to have fun at the tables if your are not go find something else to do or remember back when you had the first passion for this great game.

Ok since this post I decide to play some cash games I play some 6 max at Goal Poker.
I had a nice little rush of cards there for awhile. I played for about 2 hours and at one point I was up 45 BB's or 90 dollars but finished up the session 33BB or 66 dollars I played a steller game tonight pushing at the right time and laying down when I should. So just wanted to let you know I got back on the horse today on the cash games and even had a winning day isn't poker fun. That is great it is always more fun when your are winning.

So today's Cash game stats.

Total Hands: 269
Total Won: $ 68.85
Time Played: 176 minutes

Fantasy Poker League

2006-06-22T17:07:00.000-07:00

First their was fantasy football then baseball. Of course poker has to jump on the bandwagon. Well Full Tilt Poker has come up with a Fantasy Poker League for WSOP you can pick who you think will make the most money in each event and you can win a trip next year's WSOP if you become the winner. So if you are a fantasy fan and want to get in on the action check this out FANTASY POKER LEAGUE .

Well guys I am at a crossroads on what to do. I am currently on the biggest downward spiral I have ever been on. This has been going on off and on for the past 8 weeks or so. Thought I got out of the rut last week but it slapped me in the face. What I have done is decided to cash out of all my accounts and will take the rest of the week off and weekend and see if a few days off from playing will help. I have found some of the problem is I am bored at home so I don't do anything but sit in front of this computer so what else is there to do. Yep you guess it play poker. But I get stuck for 10 BB then that becomes 20 BB and I think I will pull myself out but it does not happen. I know downswings are temporary if you continue to pick good tables and you play good cards then the tide will turn. It just has seem like a roller coaster and anybody that knows me knows I can't stand roller coaster. Oh let me rephrase I don't go on roller coaster's that go upside down. Well hey maybe that explains why I won't move up in limits because I am not much of a risk taker. Well I will be doing some relaxing hopefully and getting ready for the fiance's arrival next wednesday woohoo finally. If I play at all this weekend maybe some .5/.10 Omaha or something.

So until next time, may you all hit your flops hard.

First the Heater now the Cooler

2006-06-21T21:40:00.000-07:00

Well last week was my best week since turning pro playing. I was on such a rush playing where I took down 120 BB last week playing. This week has come the cooler I am on a 90 BB downswing. So hopefully rakeback and bonus money will ease the pain over the few days. I have been thinking about the idea of finally moving up limits but don't think it is a good idea. I need to be on a positive run I think for that to happen right now I am just running bad. So tenative goal is to get back on track and get my game back to my A game. I know 90 BB is nothing in the long run. Am I getting frustrated yes. I am trying to control as best I can, I believe I am getting better at each day. I was for a while today ok I will get through this but 20 BB turns into 40 and at the current state of 90 BB downswing.

I know I am a winning player and have proved over the course of time but when you go on downswings it is trying on your mental psyche. Well chalk it up for another day on the learning curve of getting better and this crazy game we love and sometimes loath.

Well tomorrows plan is to get out on the golf course and hit the ball around and release some of the tension. Then maybe put in a small session playing.

<-------------------For all you that have not seen I have a poll up in the left side bar please vote would like to know what is your guys favorite site. So far paradise poker leads with 2 votes.

Hand of the Day!

Absolute Poker
Limit Holdem Ring game
Limit: $1/$2

5 players

Converter

How do you play this one?

Pre-flop: (5 players) HartFlush is UTG with A♣ A♥

HartFlush raises, CO folds, Button calls, SB folds, BB calls.

Flop: 6♥ 10♥ 3♦ (6.5SB, 3 players)

BB checks, HartFlush bets, Button calls, BB folds.

Turn: 6♠ (4.25BB, 2 players)

HartFlush bets, Button calls.

River: K♥ (6.25BB, 2 players)

HartFlush bets, Button raises, HartFlush 3-bets, Button caps, HartFlush calls.

Results:

Final pot: 14.25BB

June is halfway over

2006-06-18T18:37:00.000-07:00

Well June is officially halfway over and I have had an up and down month this third week of June has been my best week of June. I have established some goals for this month lets take a look at how these goals have worked out.

1. Play 500 hands a day

Well that has been a battle I have not actually played 500 hands a day so far I am little behind the pace averaging 412 a day. I believe this will be accomplished before the end of the month though however.

2. Control my temper at the table

This has been a major improvement and I think this has helped my game tremendously over the last week and a half. I have begun winning again on the cards and I am able to shake off slow starts or bad beats with much more regularity or I am able to take a break and then comeback later with a clear mind if I have taken a few bad beats in a row.

3. Table Selection

I have not really done as well as I would like with this one but it is improving too. Since my main two sites I play on are a prop site and now Goal Poker a skin of Absolute Poker the games there can be a bit rockish at Goal and I am at the mercy of who is at the table on the prop site. My table selection has been ok when I decide to play at party poker.

4. Play in a multi-table a week

I have successfully done this so far and I have played in more then 3 so far I have cashed in two tournaments so far since I have made this a goal.

After 3 weeks of turning pro I feel I am progressing and getting into the swing of things. I am concentrating on just playing and not worry about the results as much anymore and just trying to concentrate on playing good poker.

Hand of the Day!

How do you play it and why?

Absolute Poker
Limit Holdem Ring game
Limit: $1/$2

6 players

Converter

Pre-flop: (6 players) HartFlush is UTG+1 with 9♥ 9♣

UTG folds, HartFlush raises, CO 3-bets, 3 folds, HartFlush calls.

Flop: K♣ 9♦ 3♥ (7.5SB, 2 players)

HartFlush checks, CO bets, HartFlush calls.

Turn: 10♦ (4.75BB, 2 players)

HartFlush checks, CO bets, HartFlush raises, CO calls.

River: 2♣ (8.75BB, 2 players)

HartFlush bets, CO raises, HartFlush 3-bets, CO calls.

Results:

Final pot: 14.75BB

Do you cap out of positon?

Quest to 15k Update

2006-06-15T22:33:00.000-07:00

Well tonight I hit 5,000 dollars earned toward the Quest to 15k. The year is almost half way over and I am 1/3 of the way done with this quest. I firmly believe I will get this accomplised. It is just a matter of putting in the hands and playing solid poker. I have started to play with a better attitude like I said before. I am now able to walk away from the computer to avoid tilt something I have not been able to do in the past. One of the things I have been working on is if I face two bad beats at the table of a 4 outer or worst I will go take a break for a while. In the past after a while those things would drive me nuts now I basically just laughed them off and categorized that player and say that fishes money will eventually be in my stack over the long haul.

I have finally made the decision to narrow down my propping to my original site which I have been propping at since Sept 2005. I have tried a few others but have not liked them for a variety of reasons. Some of these are playing against just prop players and not enough games going on. So my new plan of action is back to propping that site only and chasing bonuses when the games are not good or I am not running good at the prop site which happens from time to time. There enough bonuses out there to keep me busy to make money when I am not propping. Well that is the plan for which sites I am going to play the next site up on the bonus chasing path is probably Goal Poker part of the Absolute Poker network with 28 percent rakeback there so that should be pretty profitable even though that site is full of TAG's.

Attitude is Everything

2006-06-14T16:29:00.000-07:00

Well we are into week 3 of going pro. So far I can't complain the first two weeks were rough basically breaking even and not making any money on the cards but so far the poker gods have come back and I am back to playing winning poker. Is it the cards sometimes but I think a lot of it lately has to do with my attitude at the table. I have really been at ease the last few days playing and it has showed in my results. I have had some pretty big winning sessions and my losing sessions have been minimal.

Where I have been playing well I just finished off the reload bonus at party poker. I did win the cards I lost 6 dollars playing so I made a $94 dollar profit there. Not bad since I did that bonus is 3.5 hours. I will take over 20 dollar an hour profit any day of the week and twice on sunday.

Yes I am back to propping and that is going well have started over at the site with a $600 dollar bankroll at the 1/2 level my goal is to when I get to 2,000 dollars combined between rakeback and winning on the cards. To play 2/4 I feel I need a 500 BB bankroll for the variance of shorthanded play at 2/4. I am a conservative player when it comes to bankroll I have the overall bankroll to play 2/4 right now but I want it on the site. So I can withdraw my money for my monthly nut.

I just recently signed up for rakeback at goal poker which is a skin of absolute poker so anxiously waiting to start that because when I first started playing I didn't know anything about rakeback and it was stupid not to have it absolute with all of their bonuses they have every week. I hope goal poker has the same bonuses so now I can take advantage of that situation.

My goals that I have been setting myself each week have helped out a lot. It has helped to keep a level head and to fill like I have accomplished something for each week.

Well here are this week's goals.

Play 5,000 dealt hands.
Play in a multi-table tourney
Play some more omaha hi/lo. (Trying to learn that crazy game)

Two weeks as a pro so far and counting.....

2006-06-11T18:28:00.000-07:00

You can lead a horse to water.........but a donkey will follow you to the river. Credit goes to a fellow player named Vegas Vixen. I thought that was a great quote and love it.

Anyways it has been 11 days since turning pro. I have adjusted to lifestyle. They where right when they said it is different to play poker when you have other income coming in. Its a different type of pressure to know that you don't have any other income coming in to pay the bills. I have learned to realize some days I will win others I will lose but in the end it doesn't matter because it is all one long session. So running bad does feel bad but you got to know if you play your cards right you will eventually get out of the funk. Well to let you know I am a little ahead for the month playing. I am not making lots of money but I am enjoying the freedom to play when I want and to decide if I do not want to play. Another thing people were right about is that you will not play as much as you think. I am starting to treat it like a job, so that is a good thing that I am able to turn the computer off and walk away and not play anymore. I am still working on schedules to see which times I am going to play at. I have decided I would like to get in between 25 to 40 hours a week of poker.

Let's see how I did with my goals for this week?

1. Play 2500 Dealt Hands

I have played 3500 dealt hands this week so I surpass my goal of playing dealt hands.
I have realize that 2500 dealt hands in a week is nothing I am going to try to up that by playing 1,000 dealt a day.

2. Control my emotions

Well I had a couple days were I let my frustrations get the better of me at the table but I would say a major improvement from week 1 as a pro.

3. Play in a multitable tourney

I did play in a multitable tourney did not cashed but played in one. This is something I am looking into doing more of I have thought about playing cash games during the day except on those days where I know the fishies are swimming and playing some tournies at night. I have been eyeballing the 11 dollar rebuy pokerstars tourney for some time becuase of the huge payoffs. I am also going to playing some more sit and go's since I feel I can beat those games as well.

Well things are going well. Btrflykiss my fiance will be moving out here for good in a couple weeks so we will soon start enjoy are lives together.

What I have learned after 8 days

2006-06-06T00:15:00.000-07:00

What I learned after 8 days of playing for a living is variance is a pain in the butt. Well I also have decided based upon what I need for myself and for the upcoming wedding I need to play at sites or games with less variance (NOT PLAYING HEADS UP OR REAL SHORTHANDED). I have been winning at non prop sites of late and losing at my prop sites. So I will take a few days off from the prop sites. I ended up playing 89.8 real hours of 1/2 SH winning at a rate of 2.4BB hr but that dropped because I had been beating the game for almost 4 BB/hr. What I have decided to do is move back to playing full ring and bonus chasing playing tight and hopefully doing bonuses will little or no risk. I have been messing around a little at the 6 max .50/1 games at party poker to work on some things on the game. Also I have realized how much I have missed Poker-Tracker and PAhud to help my game and my prop site they do not support poker tracker.

So I have been chasing a bonus at Poker Loco and playing at Party Poker looking for good game selection. . When I play at my prop site the games are limited and some of the players are tough so why not play where the games are a little softer. I have a pending bonus at Doyle's Room I have never finished with 25 percent rakeback might look at playing there again. I can also work of some of my pending bonus at Absolute Poker. But I am searching for bonuses again since I have really not been chasing them much lately other then William Hill or the occassional Party Poker bonus. I have never chase at the B2B network wonder what that is like I have read some contrasting reports like it is a rock garden, can't be any worse then Absolute Poker? I am not disappointed with what I have made so far this month. It has dropped but it is on par for what I have made the previous month's so nothing to alarming and the month is still early with only 5 days gone so far.

I have updated the blog with categories on the right side bar with another quest show you can see how it is going to pay for the wedding.

I will begin probably putting up weekly stats instead of daily stats so that it will be easier on my psyche if I have a bad day lol. I will break down my Poker Tracker hands and stuff like in the future.

Poker Update: Weekend In review!

2006-06-04T22:38:00.000-07:00

I played some poker this weekend I played friday and sunday. I took the day off saturday since I worked that night dealing cards. I deal cards on the side and it gives me a chance to get out and make some extra cash.

Friday, June 2

Well Friday I put in 4.6 Table hours at the tables. I played 1/2 limit poker at Poker Loco, and one of my prop sites. I played really well I was playing basically raise or fold poker not playing too many draws and just pushing when I thought I had the best hand. I think when I was on my downswing I was playing too passive and not pushing enough so I had a good day on friday.

Stats:

Amount Won: $89.60
Hours Played: 3.1
Hands Played: 402

Sunday, June 4

Well after my day off saturday I played a lot of poker today. I played about and hour at my prop site making .10 cents so actually turned a profit there after we figure in rakeback. Well in the morning I decided to hit up one of the easiest bonuses out there at William Hill where they pay you 25 pounds for 5 hours of play. So I fired up three tables and everything was going find until the last 30 minutes of the bonus where I was dealt pocket 10's twice and lost 30 dollar pots twice with these two hands to I lost 30 dollars playing on the cards but left up $15 dollars on my deposit.

Well then I decided to try a multi-table tournament at Party Poker. I entered one because one of my goals for the month is to play in a multi-table tourney once a week and sundays are usually the best days for tournaments on sites. I entered the 22 dollar buy-in tournament with a 40K guaranteed. I ended up cashing in this tournament I made $10.49 it was a good experience my chip stack never got more then 12,000 and we started with 3,000 I think I will be returning to this tournament. There was 2,321 people in the tournament so there was no overlay. I also have been looking at Bodog's tournaments since they usually have some of the best overlays out there.

After the tourney took a break went to some forums and checked out 2+2 site and found a couple nice strategy articles on 6 max play with a starting hand chart and what your stats should be for poker tracker while playing 6 max. So I fired up a .50/1 6 max over at the fish pond also know at Party Poker. Only played 15 minutes and 28 hands but came away with a nice profit of $16.25. So that made me a marginal loser today at the tables.

Today's Stats:
Amount Loss Playing: -$4.66
Amount Earned in Bonus: $45.00
Rakeback Earned at Prop Site for Last Week: $105

Goals for upcoming week:

1. 2500 dealt hands
2. Play 1 multi-table tournament
3. Play solid aggressive poker.

You notice I am not putting in financial goals because I can't control financial I can only control how I play. Why put a number on it and get disappointed and seem like a failure if I don't reach that amount. I usually have a figure in mind I would like to get to but I will not put that pressure on myself to make that number just want to play solid poker and if I do that I figure I will make what I want to make.

See you at the tables and good luck this week!

Took a day off now recharged!

2006-06-03T01:22:00.000-07:00

Well I took a day off from poker and have been recharged the last two playing really well and making nice reads and playing with a lot of confidence.

I played well the last two days playing a few sites. I did play at my prop sites and have done really well there the last few days. I also have started another bonus chase which I have not chased a bonus in a while, I am doing Poker Loco which is on the pokerroom network. I have found the going decent so far I am multitabling 1/2 full ring and half not played full ring in a while. It has been a nice change of pace. Over the last couple days I have put in a little over 600 hands not my 500 a day that I wanted but I am pleased with my results so far this month and I have been real calm playing. I have found that is best for me to just play two tables at a time while propping because I need to play the cards and players and when I am chasing a bonus and play 3 to 4 tables it is a lot harder to do that. When you play 3 to 4 tables you can really pay attention well enough to play the players so you play tight and play position and good cards to make your money. While propping I am playing shorthanded so I have to play the players as much I play the cards. You still have to play good hands but you can read the players better so you need to know when Ace high is good. In a full ring game seldom is ace high good.

I just fired up a sit and go a little while ago on party poker and thought I was playing a NL one but it turned out to a be a Limit one and I came in first. It was a great battle I was the short stack heading into headsup I was all in with middle pair and sucked out the river. Then I overcame that and took him out. The key hand was the one below.

Click here to view a larger version.

May in Review / June Goals

2006-06-01T15:16:00.000-07:00

Well May is officially over and I ended it on a downer but overall I still made about the same as I have for the previous 4 months. It was the first month I did not win on the cards this year,but as I stated in a previous posts that is why online poker is more valuable then live poker because even when you are on a downswing you can still make money online through rakeback and bonus promotions. I win on a tailspin the last week of May to drop my profits to around 900 dollars for the month. Not bad considering I lost almost 100BB playing this month. I did not lose that much playing 1/2 it was do to trying to take shots at higher levels and not doing so well. I will rebuild the bankroll up a little and take another shot when I fill I am ready. I withdrew 1,000 of my bankroll to pay for deposits for the wedding ceremony and reception. Don't be alarmed instead of having a 7,000 dollar bankroll it is now 6,000. So I still have plenty of money to play 1/2 lol. Yes I am a little conservative with my money. I don't like to move up limits on the merits of bonus money and rakeback. I have been playing shorthanded 1/2 limit hold'em and half had great success but I like to feel entirely comfortable with my game before moving up. I usually feel comfortable with this at about 25,000 hands at a given level. Well out with May thank god lets get on to June and may the cards be better and I play better poker and don't go on tilt.

Well here are my goals for June:

1. Play 500 hands a day (12,500 hands)
2. 5 days a week or 30 hours
3. Control my emotions
4. Work on table selection (look for good games just don't jump into the first open seat)
5. Play one multitable tournament a week

So much for my first two days playing for a living

2006-05-30T22:03:00.000-07:00

I am in the biggest downswing off my online career. I am putting to much pressure on myself to succeed that I am not playing good poker. I am so stressed about making money for the wedding since me and my fiance are paying for it practically ourselves. I have some of my money in the past 7 days. I am tilting really bad. My losing sessions are enorumous. I have had my share of bad beats but my play has been sub par at best. I am laying down winners and I am not letting go hands that I should. I can't seem to catch a break. I don't know what to do I need to bring in a steady income but I am trying to play so much and get rakeback or bonus money I am losing the point that if I dont' play winning poker the rakeback and bonuses are for not. I have tried higher limits to tighten me up or make me concentrate more but the players there are calling raises with garbage as well so I am just running really bad. I don't know what to do I am in a panic situation and feel like I am never going to get out of this hole of playing poorly.

I know I need to step away and do something else but I feel I don't have the time with the wedding 4 months from today. I need to try to make the money online. I don't want it coming out of my bank account. I have tried a lot of things I am calling on you guys that have hit a huge downswing to help me out of this I don't know what to do. First thing I know I need to get my mind right to play good poker and don't let one hand destroy my concentration becasue a guy calls a raise with 8 2 suited and flops two pair on you with AA I know you want those guys at your table but it drives you nuts when they win 60 dollars in like an hour. Well that is my rant and rave I will be back at tommorrow you know me. I blow up at the tables and I jump back on the horse the next day for some more needles to the eye. Well hope you are all doing better and when the hell is June because May has been hell at the tables.

Outta here.

Why rakeback and bonuses are important?

2006-05-28T23:25:00.000-07:00

Well if you have been following my quest to 15k since I started it January I have not had a losing month on the cards. As it stands at the moment I have only made $29.10 on the cards this month and if the trend of downswing continues I will end up in the negative on cards for only the second time in the past 14 months of playing online. The only other time was last December. What is funny though is that I have made more money this month then any other month this year I profitted over 1,000 so far this month. So as you can see when you have a bad month on cards you can still win playing online because of rakebacks and bonuses.

This month I have made over 1,000 in bonuses and rakebacks. Most of the money I have earned this month is from rakeback from my primary prop site. I have a couple of things on my plate right now that will get me motivated to hopefully get out of this downswing and finally take a shot at a higher limit. My current game is 1/2 SH limit poker. As you know I have been recently engaged and we finally set a date for September 30, 2006 and we are going to be getting married at Treasure Island in Las Vegas.

What I would like to do in accordance with my quest for 15K is to pay for my wedding with my poker earnings over the next 3 months. I believe I can do this. If I go back to my normal winrate of 1.5 BB/hr then I should be able to do this since I will be playing more since I am done for the summer working. So I will be able to play a little more and I really wanted to be able to prop 3 tables at a time 1/2 so that I can eventually move up to 3 tabling 2/4 propping. The earning potential for me as a prop is way more then bonus chasing. The downside is I am losing more as a player so that goes hand in hand. So I need to evaluate as I go if it is better for me to chase a bonus and play well mentally or just to put hands in and collect rake.

This months earnings will pay for the deposit of the wedding package and wedding reception. It would be really satisfying knowing that I paid for my wedding on poker earnings. I am not worried about destroying my bankroll because I am a whimp and I am playing way below my bankroll can support. At my 1/2 game I have over a 3500 BB bankroll so if the wedding cost 5,000 which we expect I will still have a 2,000 dollar bankroll which is plenty to play 1/2.

Well all your support through this quest will be greatly appreciated since I am in a fog with this downsing of late but I got the motivation to get out of it. I hope the cards turn in my favor soon because I want to go all in with my fiance on a good note not a bluff. Just a little poker humor there.

I will try to keep you update on the quest to pay for a wedding and 15K on a more regular basis. That is all for know. I thank all of you for your support and so does the soon to be Mrs. HF.

See you at the felt!

PokerStars World Blogger Championship

2006-05-25T12:33:00.000-07:00

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This Online Poker Tournament is a No Limit Texas Holdem event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 7330476

PokerStars is having a freeroll for bloggers only much like last year but you win a seat for free this year to the 2006 WSOP Main Event. Great Promotion by PokerStars yet again.

Big Downswing Last Week

2006-05-23T11:36:00.000-07:00

Well as you can see I have not posted much about my play because I was frustrated with my play last week I took what I consider a big downswing for me. I lost more then what is normal for me but that was do to the fact that I tried some higher limits and a promotion where I was receiving 165 percent rakeback on my play so I tried playing some 2/4, 3/6 and 5/10 with not much luck. I lost around 200 dollars for those few days which is nothing in terms of what my bankroll is but it shot my confidence for a while. I since have gone back to my 1/2 shorthand game and recouped all of the 200 and shown a profit since the downswing.

The jury is still out for me which is more profitable propping or bonus chasing. I believe it is propping because I have made more money this month propping then bonus chasing and I have played less time and less multitabling. My calculation equal playing 1/2 limit on one table I am averaging 7 dollars an hour in rakeback alone. There is not to many bonuses out there that you can get that the only one that comes to mind is William Hill. For all you veteran bonus chasers do you want to dispute this with me or giving some good sites with good clearance rates at 1/2 I doubt you will find much better then 7 dollars an hour where I am beating the game for 3 BB/hr.

Get Paid to Play Poker!

2006-05-22T18:14:00.000-07:00

You can get paid to play poker if you become a prop player rather then being a bonus chaser or traditional rakeback offers.

How?
Cardrooms use prop players to help start new tables and build shorthanded games so that when customers show up they have games to jump into. Most customers don't like playing heads up or shorthanded.

Where you prop?
The only places that use prop place are smaller to medium size online sites. How to find the places you can prop at you can do this by clicking on the link below and sending an email to the prop manager.

Pay?
Some sites pay you in form of rakeback, usually around 100%, and some sites pay on a per hand basis. The chart on the home page of the site will tell you how much you can estimate making. Click the link below.

Testimonial

I have been working with these guys since Sept. 2005 and they have never once not paid me or if the company did not pay me for the week I was paid by them personally. Great guys to work for not many rules or hassles no checking in or checking out. Check them out you will not be disappointed.

So if you are interested click on the link here or in the side bar. ONLINE PROPPING REFER HartFlush

Vegas Weekend

2006-05-16T10:09:00.000-07:00

Well I got back on Sunday but have needed a few days to get back into the flow since I have been tired. We stayed in downtown vegas at the plaza home of the ultimate poker show on t.v. Well I played quite a bit of poker but did not do any good until I pulled a all nighter on saturday. I didn't not go to sleep and got in the car and headed home after that session

Friday

Well we left at 8:40 AM and hit the road which is a 3 1/2 hour drive from where I live we made one stop at lovely Baker the home of the world's talles therometer. We stopped at one of my favorite establishments Arby's. After that we went to check into are hotel. After spending a couple of hours at the hotel we headed down to Paris so they other guys could check in for the clinic. After they checked in it was time for dinner so we ate at Sbarro's an itallian fastfood place in the food court area at Bally's great pizza. After we ate we went over to Ceasar's Palce to play some poker and check out there poker room. I believe it is one of the better one's on the strip. The lowest limit game they spread is 4-8 so I sat down and in 2 hours lost 60 bucks never could really catch a hand when I had something flop was bad. We headed back to the Plaza and played some more poker and I sat at the 2-4 limit game which was full of drunks and donks and I made 20 bucks so down 40 for the weekend.

Saturday

Roll out of bed around 10 and we head back to Bally's so they can see what is going on and I play at Paris at the 2-4 limit table messing around and having some cocktails and I have another winning session of 20 dollars so now down 20 for the weekend playing cards. We get some lunch and catch up with some other coaches in the sports book over a few beers and talk shop about the upcoming season and who is coaching where and who is not. Well then we head over to Hooter's to check out the new hotel and we walk into the poker room and Phil Gordan is playing there I think he is there ambassador or somehting. Well we were not impress with the place so we left and as we were leaving we hit a sewer cover and it blew off and popped the back tire thank god he had a full size spare in the back or that would of been a long ride home. So we changed our tire and headed back downtown where we had the buffet at Binions. Then we roamed the fremont street experience even going to the old El Cortez hotel where I played some black jack. They had single deck for 5 bucks so I played and made a whopping 10 dollars for an hour worth of play. Well we headed back down to binions where I started my 8 hour session. I started at midnight and played NL and for the time I spent I made 140 dollars playing I played the NL 1/2 blinds which was a ridiculous game. The minimum buy in is 40 dollars and there is no maximum. Which I think is wiered I am use to the No limit 1/2 game with a 100 dollar or 200 dollar maximum buy in. Well there was only one hand where I got all my money in the pot after the flop I had 77 in cut off but raises my raise I call. The flop was a beautiful A 7 2 so I checked he looked at me and said how much you got left I said "I think you got me covered!" He had over a grand at the time so he put me all in and I called faster then Phil Hellmuth does when he gets excited. So I doulbed up there was no real other pots of any importance was just making raises preflop and making continuation bets on the flop and taking down small pots. Well that was the weekend in vegas.

Vegas Baby!

2006-05-11T23:03:00.000-07:00

Well the last two days have been a roller coaster to say the least in the world of shorthand poker. I love the game but the swings can provide some rolaids moments. I love the aspect of out playing your opponent and just not who catches the best cards.

Wednesday

I played 8.1 table hours the longest I have played in a long time. I was up early
that day like $27 dollars then went down $24 and went on heater before bed where I had a 71 dollar heater. First hand I played I was watching the table and this guy and the other guy were in a pissing contest with each other so I knew he was on tilt. I had K 8 in the big blind so I called the raise. We went to the flop 3 handed in a 5 handed game. The flop was a beautiful K K 8. So I was first to bet I checked original raiser bet, other player called, I called the turn was a K so I had the nuts. I already had the nuts but got better so I played the check game the original raiser bet and other player folded. The river brought a Q and this time I decided to bet and he raised and I reraised and he capped it. I took down a nice pot and it was one of those sessions where everything hit. I even hit a straight flush on that hand.

Thursday

Tonight I played in an ITH event and finished on the bubble where I was short stacked and push with AK and big blind had pocket 10's and didn't improve finished in 4th place out of 23 players

Today was a losing sessions on the cards I got drilled at 1/2 SH tables but made a little comeback later in the day playing NL at one of the prop sites

***EDIT***

Early Friday morning at 1:35 AM

I couldn't sleep so I decided to fire up some tables and I lied I did play at a bonus site but that was for only one reason wanted to get over 50 bucks in that account so I could cash out I am consolidating my accounts had to many I don't play with money in them. So I worked of 10 dollars in bonus at AP and won 4.74 playing 6 max 1/2 hold'em and then put up two tables at primary prop site and two tabled that and won on one table and lost on the other table won 22.50 on won and lost 2.40 on other. So I am updated and can't wait to see how much rake I made this week so I crunch the numbers compared to bonus chasing. Think this will be the most I have made in rakeback and to date the most I made in a week was $105.

Updated Stats for Wed and Thursday and Early Friday Morning

Wednesday:
Profit: $53.74
Hours Played: 6.8 Real Hours

Thursday
Loss: -$29.70
Hours Played: 4.6 Real Hours

Friday
Won:$26.47
Hours Played 1.5 Real Hours

Total
Profit: $50.51
HOurs Played: 12.9
Hourly Rate: $3.91

I am estimating around $ 100 dollars so far this week in rakeback I will know monday or tuesday for sure of next week.

Well I am off to Vegas for the weekend for a basketball clinic. Which I was supposed to attend but it will be mainly about playing poker. Will be entering in a couple tournies more then likely and playing some live ring game action at either the limit or no limit tables have not decided. We are staying in dowtown vegas. So will be playing some at the horshoe and maybe stopping by the mirage to see some of the action at the mirage poker showdown. I will be taking the laptop so if we get internet access I will blog the trip each day.

I am out.

Viva Las Vegas.

Propping or Bonus Chasing?

2006-05-09T22:57:00.000-07:00

Well as you guys know I have been propping a lot lately but I am not quite positive to which one makes more money. I think in the long run propping does especially when you are getting 100 percent rake share back that is when you just fold preflop and you get a piece of the rake divided by number of players dealt cards. If you are on they other type of rake where you only get rake paid when you put money in the pot it is not quite as good except when you are heads-up or tables is real short and you are playing a lot looser. I am not going to play any sites this week that are for bonus money and I am just going to play all my play this week to my 3 propping sites with a 4th possibly added next week. The only negative I see to propping is game selection. There are usually very few players and the games die out and you play against the same people everyday so somedays you have to adjust your strategy. I have been playing a lot more cash games of late instead of tournaments to try to build up my bankroll and generate as much rake as possible and winning at the cards is always nice too. I have found sites that do not support poker tracker I win more money on. I think there is a reason most players don't like not playing there because they don't get reads on players and are too lazy too take notes on people and when you multi-table you don't have PA-hud or game time plus to help you out. I am interested in hearing from other players to if they have propped and what they think if they made more propping or bonus chasing?

Well I have been giving this a great deal of thought lately and I think I may be playing full-time online here soon. So I am going to try to put in a goal of playing at least 500 dealt hands a day. I know I will be at least be playing online for summer work to see if my mentality can handle the swings and not having a good month or so forth. I have not been happy with my present job and I resigned last week as basketball coach.

Stats for tonight:

7.2 Table Hours
5.3 Real Hours
$48.46 Won
$8.72 an hour
Levels Played: 1/2 LHE, 2/4 LHE, .25/.50 NL

I was the biggest winner tonight at NL something I enjoy to play from time to time and the new site I started propping at mainly has NL games going.

Grinding away at the Prop Sites

2006-05-08T23:43:00.000-07:00

Well tonight I played quite a bit of poker and it was up and down all night. I tried another new site we will call prop site # 3 it hardly has any traffic right now but if I play 500 raked hands I get 110 percent of my rakeback and the more hands I play the higher the percentage goes up to 120 percent rakeback and they award cash prizes if you get to that level which is 4,000 raked hands in a month. Well at this site I was down to 6 BB left of my orginal buy in which was 25 BB I was playing shorthanded 1/2 limit hold'em. I eventually grinded that back to a $1.74 winner on that table.

I played a little bit at my second prop site and I won a little bit their tonight as well. The site that I am struggling at is my primary prop site the players no me so I think I have to adjust my game. The rake structure on that site is the best because every hand accumulates rake which is good for a prop but bad for the everyday player. The take rake when the pot reaches $2.00 at the take out .10 cents for every increment of 2 dollars up to a max rate of $ 1 dollar at the 1/2 tables.

Well I did turn a profit tonight but not what I have been doing but anyday where your bankroll goes up is a good day and you sure do sleep easier on a winning day.

Stats for tonight:

Hours Played: 5.3
Amount Won: $19.33
Level Played: 1/2 limit SH
Won per hour: $3.63

Still Propping and having fun!

2006-05-07T22:29:00.000-07:00

I think I have decided to dedicate more time to propping. I have started propping at a second site which I use to for a while. The pay is not as good as my primary rakeback site but sometimes you need a change of scenary. The pay at that site is 70% percent rakeback. Also the only other place I have played lately are William Hill for their bonus, A few hands at Doyle's room because I still have a pending bonus with 25 percent rakeback there that they don't deduct of the bonuses. I figure propping at 1/2 is good for at least 2 BB/hr in rakeback pay on top of it I win so if I can win at 2 BB/hr I would increase my winrate to 4 BB/hr. At the moment I am winning at 3.5 BB/hr at 1/2 SH so that puts me at a 5.5 BB/hr winning and an estimate of making $11 dollars an hour single tabling $1/2 limit hold'em.

I have found that I like the game of shorthanded poker and propping a lot for a couple of reasons.

1. You have to read players, making it funner not grinding and playing boring ABC poker.

2. I am playing on sites that is not poker track compatible and most people do not like to play at those sites producing more fish and hence making more money.

My stats for the weekend are:

Saturday
Amount Lost: -$11.80

Sunday
Amount Won: $50.78

Overall Time Played: 5.8 Real Hours

Prop Pay received for last week 5/1-5/7: $ 78.00

One year of bonus chasing!

2006-05-04T23:58:00.000-07:00

Well I have just finish my first year of bonus chasing and propping. I learned a lot about poker over the past year. I still have a big thirst and desire to get better at this crazy game. I have tried different games of hold'em throughout this journey. I started out as a full ring player and over the last month or so I have been playing 6 max or shorthanded limit poker.

Some of the things poker has bought for me!

1. Engagement Ring
2. Bed
3. New Computer
4. Trips to Canada

So as you can see it has been very lucrative for me. What I hope to paid for this year with my bonus chasing/proping is my wedding which looks like will be in Las Vegas. Who knows maybe will do it during the WSOP and I win the main event and never have to worry about money again a man can dream right.

Tonight I played for 2 hours at my prop site. I had a nice little rush of cards. I hit a set and took down a 34 dollar pot in 1/2 limit game. I am needing some of your guys advice I am trying to learn this game of 6 max more and am thinking of playing 100 real hours before moving to 2/4. When you guys play 6 max how much bankroll do you guys like to use to feel comfortable?

Stats for tonight:
1/2 SH Prop Site
Tables Played: 1
Hours Played: 2
Amt Won: $54.60

Aproximate amount of rakeback made tonight: $10

April Review-May off to a good start

2006-05-03T22:46:00.000-07:00

Well did not play as many hands as I would of like to this month but had a big month. I am getting married for one which is +EV. I had one of of my better month in terms of just winning on the cards I accomplished my goal of beating 6max 1/2 for 2BB/100 I actually beat it for 3.5 this month. I did not bonus chase much and did not play as much as I usually do I only put in 86.9 real hours I usually play anywhere between 100 and 120 hours a month. I won at a $4.63 an hour clip. I made $401.97 on the cards. I made $364.30 in bonuses and rakeback.

Well May kicked off to a good start I went to Will Hill tonight and made a total of $119 including bonus in 2.5 hours playing 1/2 full ring. I have not played 1/2 full in a while and the cryptos were suprisingly loose tonight and my new found game of 1/2 6 max helped me out a lot I was raising more then calling and not being so passive as much as I used too. Flopping quads and hitting sets like crazy also helped.

My goals for May are as follows:

1. Make 1,500
2. Move to 2/4 Full or 6max

My bonus chasing plan:

1. Will Hill (Done)
2. Interpoker
3. AP
4. Doyle's Room

I will be propping again this month since I have been fairly succesful at it and they have a promo going to possible win a seat to the main event so might be worth a shot to go after it for details on propping check out Online Propping. Refer Hartflush.

My fiancee has a question on other blog that some of you could possibly help out with where to say our I do's is the title. You can find the blog here Btrflykiss and Hartflush.

See you at the felt!

To get you updated!

2006-04-28T10:20:00.000-07:00

Well it has been crazy as of late. I have just recently been engaged and my new finance went home on wednesday. She lives in Canada and we are planning anxiously for her return visit and potentially for her to live her permanently well at least that is the plan.

I have been playing some poker of late predominately at my prop site, Absolute Poker, and Doyle's Room. I played a couple of orbits they other day at poker syndicate. The jury is still out on that place for me. I have taken a break from the bonus chasing as of late do to the lack of reload bonuses out there. I have been playing shorthanded 1/2 limit holdem and been winning at a pretty good clip this month. I have been winning at 4.2 BB/100. The reason I am propping more is I get 100 percent rakeback on a hand divided by number of players dealt cards. So for example 4 handed a dollar raked from the pot I make .25 cents on this hand. If you are interested in proppin g check out this site Online Propping. These guys are 100 percent legit I have been working with them since Sept. of 2005. They have no time clock you have to push no one you have to check into or check out from play as much or as little as you want. They also have typical rakeback deals set up so check them out. All I ask if you sign up is tell them HartFlush sent you.

I have not played as much poker as I normally have in the past few months do to the finance being out her for two weeks but my profit is higher do to do winning more on just the cards. I have not cleared to many bonuses but am planning on hitting up the new party poker reload. I can never past up a good party poker reload.

The finance and I had a good couple of weeks. We looked for places to live spent a lot of quality time together. We did hollywood and I took a picture of the walk of fame of the best NBA announcer of all time Chick Hearn "the lights are out the butter is getting hard baby." We all miss you Chick the Laker games are never the same. That brings me to another announcer that retired this week the best in college football "OH Nelly" Keith Jackson also thanks for the memories. What will the world come to when Vin Scully retires baseball will never be the same in L.A. I know that. We went and played poker a few times I mean you meet playing poker so of course we are going go play. Well we are really excited and we have started another blog to detail are engagement process the link for that is Btrflykiss and Hartflush. Well that is all for now I am hoping to do more posts on my poker blog to keep you all updated on my progress toward the 15k quest. I know I am behind but have the feeling I will get there. I have a little more motivation now need the money for the wedding lol.

What is New?

2006-04-22T23:52:00.000-07:00

Well I am finally off the market on April 15, 2006 I got engaged and I am no longer an eligible bachelor. Well I am pretty excited about it and I am looking forward to it. She is the girl I have always been looking for. We met playing poker. So my poker playing will not be hindered but I can't use her to whore more bonuses because she chases bonuses as well so that is the only negative I can think off. Also there could be some arguments over who gets the computer. So there is going to be Mrs. HartFlush in a year or so.

Well I have not posted in a while because she has been out here with me. We have been looking for places to live and going out and having a good time. She will be out here till wednesday. I have played some poker. We went and played live last night and she won over 100 dollars playing 2/4 and I only won 3 dollars playing NL 40 dollar buy in. That is not my usual game but I wanted to try it.

I have put in 10.7 hours over the last 7 days and have won $182.31.

I hoped to elaborate more later with pictures and stuff from the trip of her out her but that is all for now.

Royal Flush Thursday Night

2006-04-14T17:59:00.000-07:00

Here is my royal flush on thursday night Royal Flush at Absolute Poker.

I also won 101 dollars playing at Doyle's Room on Wednesday before I picked up the girlfriend from the airport.

She is here and we are having fun but the weather at the moment sucks. It has been raining all day. I whooped her today at miniature golf. We are heading to San Clemente for easter with the peeps. Next week we will probably be going down to San Diego for some R and R. Well that is is for now

Good Night at 1/2 6 max

2006-04-11T22:46:00.000-07:00

Well tonight I played in another league event at ITH finished in 8th place for another final table appearance but no cash. I am keeping my grasp on my top 27th position I am currently in 22nd place. So right now I am in good shape too make it to the finals for that freeroll at the end of the year.

Well tonight I played it seems my regular game for the last two weeks of 1/2 6 max. I put in 4 hours of total play tonight between the tourney and cash games. It seems though when I am playing 6 max that the tables break up faster and I am putting in a lot of 30 minute sessions and the tables break up. Well tonight I did what I consider I a good night. First of all a good night is always a winning night. I seemed to play really well my reads on hands is getting a lot better playing shorthanded I am playing more aggressive and my reads are right more then they are wrong. Well that is is for tonight. The girlfriend comes in tommorrow night so I don't how much poker I will be playing in the next week and a half or so. Hopefully I will get to play live. So I will try to post on occassions to let you know what is going on.

Tonights Stats:

MTT: -$10.10
1/2 6 Max: $69.11
Total Profit: $59.01
Hours Played: 4

Another ITH Final Table

2006-04-10T23:30:00.000-07:00

Well it was Monday Madness league and I once again made a final table earning 111 points for the league events at ITH WSOP league. Well it wasn't easy this time after level 2 I only had 300 in chips as I donked them off to a guy's flush. Well I grinded my way to the first break where I had 890 in chips. Still way behind where I wanted to be but through the next hour of play I made some progress getting my chips to over 6,000 winning some coin flip battle such as JJ vs. KQ suited. My KQ suited pulled through and also had to suckout on someone too with AA if that is a suckout but the guy hit a set on the flop and I turned in A for top set. Well I manage to finish in 5th place tonight and moved into 22nd place overall for the league.

I also put in some cash game action. I played tonight at AP and my prop site. I put Interpoker on the back burner. I played primarily 6 max with a few orbits of 3/6 full ring tonight.

I came across a new site last night that grinder has been talking about poker syndicate and I played a few orbits last night of 2/4 full ring I was down a quick 34 bucks but ended up winning 4 bucks when I flopped a king high straigh against 6 opponents and got paid off. He was right this site is really fishy and you will get sucked out. Negatives are no note taking and no stats. I don't need poker tracker stats but would like to see they other stuff like flop percentage seen for my self and won at showdown. I don't really care about the player stats because I can do that by observation much like when you play live.

There is one site I need to check out that is giving 100 percent rakeback world sports exchange I wonder how they are making any money at this maybe I will check this out and report back what I find.

Tonight's Stats:

1/2 6 max: $11.50
2/4 6 max: $15.00
3/6 Full: $13.00
MTT freeroll: $6.00

Total Profit: 44.50
Hours Played: 4.0

Quest to 15k has been updated!

First Week of April Over

2006-04-09T19:11:00.000-07:00

Well we are done with the first week of April and I have made so far this month $142.97. It's been a while since my last post I have played some poker over the last 4 days with a little success. I have come in 2nd in a tourney on thursday night and have been a marginal winner at the tables over the last 4 days. So my bankroll is still beginning to grow. I tried another brief session at 5/10 limit they other night playing roughtly 20 hands for a 1 dollar profit. I have been playing more and more 6 max or shorthanded poker since I have been winning at it. So therefore I have been putting in a little bit more propping this week. I am waiting for my prop pay for this week which I anticipate between 60-70 dollars for last week's play. I got my first rakeback from Doyle's room this week nothing major but glad to see that is . I have completeted Will hill and I made a profit of $ 2 dollars playing and cleared the bonus of $43.50. The girlfriend comes in on Wednesday night so I won't be playing much poker online but hoped to get out with her to play some live poker.

My stats over the past 4 days:

Thursday: $42.02 in 3.1 hours
Friday: $1.15 in 2.5 hours
Saturday: $8.11 in 3.8 hours
Sunday: $15.25 in 3.0 hours

Bonus Money Cleared: $87.50

Plans for this week:

Monday: Interpoker
Tuesday: Interpoker
Wednesday: Pick up Girlfriend

Basically have fun and chill with girlfriend for rest of this week and the following week.

What U.S. friendly site will you play on? Can answer more then one
	Absolute Poker
	Full Tilt Poker
	PokerStars
	Ultimate Bet
	Poker.com
	World Poker Exchange
	Full Contact Poker
	Bodog
	Prima Network
	Doyle's Room
	True Poker
	Planet Poker
	Cake Poker
	Bugsy's Club
	Planet Poker
	Jungle Poker

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