All Posts Tagged With: "Texas Hold ‘Em"

My “time out” went longer than I originally had planned, but that’s for a very simple reason. I’ve been that busy and that tired. And my blogging will likely remain significantly lighter than in the past, at least for the foreseeable future.

In fact, I only blogged yesterday because the story got under my skin for some reason — perhaps I was a little sensitive about glaring hypocrisy due to the overabundance of it in the last few weeks for this interminable presidential campaign. It was enough to force me to set aside a few minutes to write a quick post, even though I hadn’t intended to start blogging again for at least a few more days. But this overly intrusive election cycle pushed its way into my consciousness even though I’ve been desperately trying to avoid as much of the coverage as possible. It’s just too much crap for me to stomach. (In fact, there’s been so much BS flying around, that I just added the “FactChecking the BS” feature on my sidebar, in case your interested in the facts, i.e. the truth.) I find myself asking daily (and often many times throughout the day), “can’t it just be over already?”

In any case, my blogging for the time being will be less than what I’ve done previously. One of the reasons is that I’m adding another hobby — I’m concentrating on learning Spanish. I invested in Rosetta Stone’s highly acclaimed software to help me achieve my goal of eventually being fluent in Spanish. I even have help from a couple of the native speakers here at work, who seem to be delighted that I’m trying to learn their language. Starting Sunday, I plan to start a daily lesson plan to help me toward this goal. When the software came in a couple of weeks ago, I tried one of the first lessons and it seems pretty darn effective to me in their methodology. After trying it out herself, my daughter Sarah, who has been taking Spanish in school, says that she finds their method very helpful and makes learning easier. She’s been more faithful with it so far than I have been and she’s doing a pretty good job!

As I mentioned previously, I went to Las Vegas last week for the Photoshop World conference. I had a good time, even though I missed Karla and the girls and my “babies” (the pugs). The conference was really good and informative and overwhelming in its scope. This was my second trip to Vegas in as many years. Last year wasn’t as much fun, but I blame myself mostly for that. This year I knew more of what to expect, both with the conference and especially with Vegas. With that knowledge, I was able to plan better and set me expectations appropriately. Consequently, I had more fun.

For one thing, the hotel accommodations were much better this year. Last year I stayed at the Luxor. I didn’t like it and its location, although “next door” to the conference, was far enough to make the constant walking back and forth between the conference and my hotel room not very much fun. This year, I stayed in Mandalay Bay where the conference was held. The much closer distance to the conference was much more convenient and much easier on my feet. Even more, the rooms were much nicer. That, in and of itself, made the trip much, much better.

What also helped was that I had a specific purpose for my off time — playing Texas Hold ‘Em poker. I played each night I was there (Wednesday, Thursday and Friday) at the MGM Grand Casino. A friend from work told me he played there and liked it. After checking out the poker room at Mandalay Bay and not liking the environment or having to wait too long for a $2-$4 Limit game, I decided to go over to MGM to try it out. And I liked it too and will go back there next time I”m in Vegas.

The first two nights, though, weren’t very good for me at the table. I just wasn’t getting good hands to play and there were some very aggressive players — and I’m not very aggressive, but try to play a “tortoise-rather-than-the-hare” style of playing. The first night, I was $62 down. The second night, I was $50 down. The last night, I turned things around, leaving the table early $54 up. The way I was playing that night, I probably could have made more, but I didn’t want to press my luck. I wanted to end my trip on a positive note, so I walked away while I was ahead. And it felt good too. I felt good about my play and I felt good about coming away having a profitable night.

When others asked me how I did in Vegas, I told them I ended the week $58 down. Both Vegas locals and friends here said that was a pretty good week in Vegas. I thought so too. I learned a lot and I enjoyed playing a lot and only being out less than what a single show would have cost!

Since Vegas, I’ve been catching up at work and it’s been a busy week on top of catching up for missing three work days (plus the Labor Day holiday) last week. This weekend, we’re headed to Enid, America to visit my parents and also see my sister, her husband and my baby niece. I hope to have pictures to share by Monday.

Take care and go Thunder!

I fared pretty well in Saturday night’s Poker Night, the first time I’ve played Texas Hold ‘Em at a live table with real money. Being the “greenhorn” (or “fish,” as some called it) player, there were understandably low expectations for my play performance. Heck, I had low expectations.

My first goal was to not be completely embarassed. I succeeded.

My second goal was to not lose my shirt. I succeeded.

My third goal was to try to break even. I succeeded.

In the end, I actually made some money. The buy-in was $20 for the low-stakes (25¢ minimum bet, $3 maximum bet), limit game. I came away with $28 — a 40% return on my investment! That’s better than most of my business ventures! I might have done even better except one particular player had an amazingly hot streak, one that the other veterans were marveling over — he walked away with $110, a 550% return! Four other veteran players completely busted out and two others walked away with considerably less than their buy-in. I tied with one other veteran. So this “fish” did pretty well, tied for second that night.

Now, I know some of my fellow Christians frown upon gambling because they view it as unwise, reckless and poor stewardship. The reality is that I’ve been doing better playing poker than all but one of my business ventures. Of the last five business ventures that I’ve invested in, only one had a positive return (and we just closed that business to go to work for our largest client). I’ve had better luck and results with poker, playing both online and, now, live games. So far, I’m making a profit.

I will agree that gambling can be dangerous and that it can be easy to fall into its trap. I’m not ignorant of the fact that I could lose money playing poker. But I’ve lost much, much more in business investments, which in and of itself is a gamble. I have no illusions that I’ll get rich off playing poker. I’m just enjoying the entertainment and the challenge of coming out ahead — and I can do it with much less capital invested!

Gone fishing playing a little Texas Hold ‘Em Poker with some friends this evening… wish me luck!