Part II: Poker & Life (& Wife)

I haven't talked much at all about my lovely, loyal, generous, fun-loving, pure, caring, nurturing, honest, compassionate, trustworthy wife on here.  She's all of that & more....& I love her dearly.

In the poker world, it's very common for poker players to be married 2, 3, or more times.  Like the saying goes, It really is "A tough way to make an easy living".  I stated previously that maybe 1 in 100,000 people could play good enough to make a decent living at poker.  Well, there's maybe 1 in 200,000 people who can be married to a professional poker player and stay married...and stay happy.

The ups & downs... (& I'm not talking about in the bedroom) can be simply overwhelming to most.  There are times where there's so much $ to go around, you honestly don't know what to do with it...but if you're smart, you save it for a rainy day, because you can bet, it's coming...  and then there are the inevitable times where you make sure you have a full tank of gas in the vehicle at the airport, because you want to make sure you'll be able to make it home after you get off the plane.

Money wasn't much of an issue most of the years I played poker.  I did play well enough and did OK that we always had cash when we needed it.  I pride myself on being able to play good all the time.  It is virtually impossible to put me on "tilt".  I have taken some beats for big $$$ that would make some people want to physically get sick.  Within a few hands, I am back to playing good, solid poker.

I remember once when I was on a poker playing trip and I was on the phone with Christine after the day was done and she asked me how the day went.  It hadn't been a good day... :)  I proceeded to tell her that I had lost between $4000 & $5000 that day.  As I recall she got pretty upset. 

Some people who read this are going to say to themselves...  I guess she WOULD be upset...  If that were my husband, he'd probably lose his jewels to the knife, if he came home and told me that. 
Others of you will say, "So, you lost 5 grand...  What's the big deal?  Was she having a bad day?"  Everything is relative....

When she got upset with this news, it kind of ticked me off.  I asked her if she needed money for anything.  I asked her if there ever was a time when she needed money and didn't have it.  There wasn't.  I had always been a good provider for my family and I was annoyed that a single days win or losses would make her that upset.
I then told her that I didn't want her to ever ask me again about dollar amounts.  If there ever came a time when we needed money and I didn't have it, I would get a regular job.
That little rule has probably saved quite a few arguments.  She does occasionally ask me how it went, and sometimes I offer numbers without her asking, but I never feel obligated to do so....

Overall she has been the perfect poker players wife.  She was (and still is) an outstanding mother to our 3 kids and 4 grandchildren and a great spouse to me. 
In the old days, there were many occasions where she'd leave for work (on her summer job) and I would drive into Pipestone later in the day, to let her know I was leaving for Vegas, or somewhere for a couple of weeks.  There often wasn't much notice at all.  If I woke up and felt the urge to hit the green felt, I pretty much did. 
She probably could've done better than me...but I'm glad she didn't....

Now-a-days we do enjoy going places together and I'm glad.  I wish she'd like to ride motorcycle a little bit more, because many of the places I go, I want to go on the bike.  If/when I go to Vegas later this spring, hopefully she'll fly out for a week or two to visit.  She's already said that she won't be leaving here for a month...especially if she has to go 1500 miles one way on a motorcycle.  :)
I seem to miss her company quite a bit more now when I'm gone....than I did when I was younger.
In past years, there has been occasions where I've flown back from Vegas for a few days during the WSOP, so that could be a possibility also.

We are leaving tomorrow to take care of some business and play some poker... (& bingo in her case)  I'm hoping this will be the start of a nice big jump in the bankroll before I hit Vegas in June....  I can guarantee that I'm going to be playing good....  I can't guarantee I'm going to win though....  :)

If I get back to the room early on any given night this weekend....maybe I'll share a few good poker stories with you....

Is the WSOP in my future?

Well, this past week has gone better than the last.

The package that my customer thought had been stolen, showed up.  Turns out the carrier had left a note that said the package was left by his apartment door, when the package actually was left at the apartment complex office. 

We had a relatively busy week with our business and I got a lot of work done in my "studio".

I did take the day off on Friday to hit the local Indian casino card room.  I hadn't been there for about a year or so, so I called a friend of mine to see what time the game usually got going on Friday's.  He informed me that the "big game" (which is 3-30 spread limit) would get going around 5:00 or so, and I'd want to be there on time, because they usually don't have enough dealers and if you're not there when the game starts, you could be sitting around and waiting for hours.

Well, I decided to go early (about 2:00) and play in whatever game they'd have going on.  They had a nice friendly little 4-8 limit hold-em game and they just happened to have a seat open when I got there.  I had a great time, visiting with some old friends that I hadn't seen for quite some time.  We talked about some of the old-timer's I'd played with in my 20's and about how most of them were now pushing up daisies.  I also found out that a good friend of mine had just passed away within the last year from cancer.  That was a little bit of a shocker....  Earlier in the year, I was riding  motorcycle to Kansas City and he had passed me on the interstate.  I saw a large white Lincoln fly by me and I noticed that the license plate said, "FARNEY" and I was about 99% sure it was my old card-playin' buddy.  That was confirmed for me at the card room Friday.

I played about even for 3-4 hours or so, winning a few pots and losing a couple small pots.  The game was pretty tight so there weren't hardly any large pots. 

The 3-30 game started about 6:00 I think and I got involved in a pretty big pot right away.  I had AK offsuit in the small blind.  Everyone folded to the button and he limped in.... I called the $2 and the big blind raised $15
I thought about re-raising before the flop, but I had bad position, so decided I'd play my hand after the flop.  The flop  came with 3 rags, so I checked...  The big blind bet out $30, which kind of surprised me.  I just had the feeling he wanted this hand over right now...  Once I made that assessment, I knew I was going to be raising $30 when it got back to  me.  The button did call, so I raised and both of the players called.
All the sudden, I wasn't as sure of myself as I originally was.  4th Street brought another non-scare card, so I bet out $30.  Both players again called.  The river card also came a blank and I bet out $30 again, thinking that it might be the only way I could win the pot.  Both players did fold and I won a nice pot.

I then pretty much sat there for about 3 or 4 hours until I was involved in another good sized pot.  In that hand I flopped a set of 4's and another guy flopped a set of deuces.  It was a nice pot by the time it was over and I scored a nice little win.  I called it a night around 10:00

I also had a chance to talk to an old friend/player/dealer who now is a commentator for the WSOP bracelet events and I found out the WSOP is scheduled for the end of May, all of June, and part of July.
I kind of decided that I want to go out there in May....and I hope to have my HD motorcycle in good enough condition to make the trip.  That just sounds like an awful lot of fun to me!

In the mean-time, I'm going to have to work hard at home here.  I will need to be completely caught up on orders, and hopefully have quite a few things on the website that are ready to ship if people need them.
We did get about 8 new pipes on the website today...so that's a start.

This coming week (Wednesday) I will be heading to MPLS on a little business and I hope to get about 3 or 4 good sessions of poker in, while I'm up there.  We'll probably stay until Sunday and drive home in the morning.

With a very attainable goal of going to the World Series of Poker in May/June, it's important that I play good every opportunity I get.  I'd like to get that bankroll as big as possible before the big trip to Las Vegas....
If there's anywhere a person can turn a little bit of money into a whole lot of money....  It's at the WSOP
I'll keep you posted as to how this coming weekend turns out... 

Poker & Life

In my last post, I talked a little bit about the fact that there's not very many people who can make a living playing poker.  I do feel that way or I wouldn't have said it, however, poker can be a great recreational game that friends can enjoy together, and if you know how to read people better, and know your statistics & odds better than they do, you'll end up winning their money over the long run.  (and hopefully everybody will have fun, while you do it) You don't have to be a world class player to make money at poker....You simply have to be better than the people that you're playing against.

That being said, I don't remember encouraging more than 2 or 3 people (in the entire time I played poker) to try and really get good at playing cards. Those 2 or 3 people were young people that I thought had a legitimate chance to do well and I thought they'd also be able to handle all the ups & downs involved in playing cards.

I rarely if ever talked about poker in front of my kids (or any kids) when they were little.  I didn't want to do or say anything that would encourage them to take the route I'd decided to take in my life.  I missed out on lots of things when my kids were growing up and there were plenty of parenting decisions that I wasn't there to make, when I should've been, and I think to this day that I (and/or they) continue to pay the price for that.

At the time, I'd justify it by letting people know that I could do things with my kids that other parents couldn't, because when I was home....I was there for 2-3 weeks at a time....  night and day....
That WAS true, but looking back, it's virtually impossible to do a good job of parenting, when a person's gone from home as much as I was.

I love all of my kids dearly, but it does make my gut hurt sometimes, when I see my kids making choices and decisions that I think are not good ones.  I often think that if I were able to do the kid-raising/parenting thing over again, it would go quite a bit different than the first time.

I hope when it's all said and done, that each one of my kids will be able to say that I did a good job as a dad.... and if they can't honestly say that, I hope they WILL be able to say, with all sincerity, that I did a good job as a grand-parent for their kids.  I do try to make up for some of my parenting mistakes with the way I interact with my grandkids and nieces & nephews.

It has been kind of a difficult week this past week.  We've had several things go wrong with our business that we have no control over.  For ex: we had one customer who had his $300 package stolen off from his doorstep.  The package was left by the good ol' US Postal Service when it should've been taken back to the post office for the gentleman to pick up.  It wasn't our fault it got stolen, but the USPS won't admit to any fault, so we'll work with this guy to make sure he's ultimately happy with the interaction he's had with us. 

We also had an expensive pipe break when it was very near completion.  I was able to fix it good so that the break was virtually unnoticeable, so the customer still took it, but we cut the price by $100.

The business stuff is relatively easy for me to deal with....but I've also had the opportunity to reflect on family stuff....  One of my kids seems intent on self-destruction in my opinion.  I see this adult child making decisions that seem to defy sanity.  I've seen this same child come within inches of his life in a car crash, due to alcohol abuse....and live to talk about it......only to start drinking again within a matter of weeks after recovering from injuries.  One of my prayers continues to be that this child outlives me....   Sometimes I think the odds are stacked against it.

I have a brother and sister-in-law who are currently separated.  A divorce seems imminent from what I understand.  I haven't talked to either one for at least 2-3 weeks so I don't know for sure.  This might not seem like that big of a deal to lots of people, but it's a big deal to me....   I watch or hear about how my nieces and nephew hurt inside...  I know my parents hurt inside more than they ever should have to at this point in their life. I also know that my sister-in-law's family is hurting a lot....

I ponder in my mind how my big brother, who I always thought had lots of character and lots of integrity, seems to no longer have any of either....  It seems unfathomable to me that I had him read completely wrong over all these years.  My gut hurts when I think about how our relationship will probably never be the same again, simply because I'll be looking at him in a different light...  

Just seems like the week could've gone better....and I'm hopeful that this coming week will go better....

The weather has definitively started to turn...which is nice.  I actually had a window open in the "studio" a couple of times this past week.  It's really just a shop....but I kind of like the way that "studio" thing rolls off my tongue...   Makes me sound like I'm better at what I do....than what I really am...  :)

Spring is probably my favorite season.  I'm looking forward to having a big garden again, cutting and splitting lots of wood for next winter, lots of good motorcycle riding, and spending lots of time with kids....and grandkids.  Our daughter from Kansas City is coming to our place tomorrow, for a visit, and that's sure to be fun...  It's our sons birthday on the 27th & our daughters birthday on 4/2 so we'll be having a little birthday dinner for both of them in a couple of days.  We'll do Indian taco's & soup...and it'll be fun..

Hopefully the next time I write on here, I'll be able to share more good things with you....  I know that's more fun for everyone!

To play or not to play?

In SW Minnesota, it's finally starting to warm up.  It might've hit 40 degrees today...and it's supposed to continue to get warmer as the week goes on.
Last week, I got the Harley going for the first time this year.  My wife, Christine, was gone with the pickup and I had to bring some packages to the post office, so that was my mode of transportation.
It felt good to feel the wind in my hair, even though it was only about 34 degrees out.  I only had to go about 1 mile maybe.  Good thing because I'd probably have gotten cold fast on the bike.

When the weather warms up, the question for me becomes.... To play or not to play poker?  I've always enjoyed being outdoors ever since I was a kid, so that points me towards the answer to the question usually being, 'not to play'.  I can probably come up with just as many reasons to not play....as I can to play.  It always depends somewhat on how busy we are with our website too.  It also depends on the games available and how far I have to travel to get to them.  This year I hope to get to a few tournaments, etc... on the bike.  I just got a flyer in the mail today from a Deadwood casino that's having a tournament the first part of April with a guaranteed $40,000 payout.  Not sure if I'll make that one though...  I'd also like to ride motorcycle out to Vegas sometime soon.  I've been through those CO mountains many times, but never on a bike.

I did play poker twice when we were vacationing in AZ in February and enjoyed it.  Nobody knew me at the little casino I played it, and I relish those little sessions.  If you walk into a place and anyone knows you, it doesn't take long at all for people to find out you know what you're doing.  In Arizona, I played for at least 2 hours and stacked up quite a few chips before anyone figured out I really knew how to play. 
Whenever I play cards, I ALMOST never show my cards after the hand's over unless if I have to, to win the pot.  I know lots of people who love to show their bluffs, and to make other people feel kind of 'small' by showing them that they outwitted them, and I also know lots of people who just can't stand it to drag the pot after everyone's folded and just quietly muck their great hand without showing anyone.
People also can't bear to throw their hand away without showing people if they've just taken a really bad beat!  They want the other person who got really super lucky, to know that they are an inferior player, or an idiot...  To do this of course, they have to show their hole cards to illustrate to the idiot (and everyone else at the table) how lucky they got.
I simply believe this is all counter-productive.  Pro's can figure out so much about a player by the cards they show, and how they act after losing a big pot....or winning a big pot.  I have decided to never give information for free, unless I am forced to.

For the most part over the last few years, I've been traveling to MPLS for long weekends, whenever it works.  My wife goes with me and she'll play a little bingo at one of the large Indian casino's.  We get a place close to the card room and she'll pick me up when I call her, and she will also drop me off before she leaves for the afternoon. 

There is a new place opening this summer, pretty close to where we live, and I think I saw on their website that they plan on having an 8 table cardroom.  I'm hoping they'll have some decent games...and decent limits.  If so, I hope to play there frequently.

I know I mentioned in the last post that I would share some little 'rules' that I have for myself when I play cards.  I've already shared one with you.  Before I share any others, I want to let you know that unless you have the talents, skills, and gifts required to win at poker, in the long run.... you WON'T win.  You can use all the little money management tricks and bankroll requirements in the world, but if you don't have what it takes, eventually you'll go broke or lose your bankroll.  You may have some huge wins, but you'll also have some bigger losses.  You may be stuck a lot of money and get it all back after putting in a 30-40 hour session, but more often than not, you'll just keep losing more money.
If I were forced to give an estimate on how many people actually play good enough to make a comfortable living, solely on poker, I would give an educated guess that about 1 in 100,000 people would meet those requirements. 

One of the things I've implemented since coming out of 'retirement' is this:  If I'm playing limit poker, I will not lose more than 40 x's the big bet in any one session.  All this does is stop the huge losses.  So, for ex:  if I'm playing 15-30 hold-em I will not lose more than $1200 in one session.  I do not have any limits on how much I can win in one session.

Another thing I've done is put some arbitrary bankroll requirements before I move up in limits.  This just helps build my discipline and also insures I won't have any huge losses in relation to the size of my bankroll.  Just as an example, I had set a dollar amount of $10,000 on my bankroll before I would start playing 30-60.
Before I play 50-100 limit, I will have at least $20,000 in my bankroll.
Again, these limits are not really based on anything.  They're simply numbers I've come up with.
If/when I drop below these dollar amounts, then I'll also drop down in limits.
I learned a long time ago that you can't care much about what other people think about you.  There is an unspoken pressure on many people to play the 'highest game in the room'.  I do not feel that pressure at all, but I have in the past, so I know it's there.  I'm not embarassed to play 3-6 limit and I'm not ever going to belittle those that do play it.  (or .25 to .50 limit for that matter)  In fact, every once in awhile, I like to join those players, because they know how to fun when they play at those limits.... 

That being said, these rules of mine are not 'set in stone'.  If I'm in a great game and go over my loss limit, and I'm playing good, but just have been unlucky, I'll throw some more money in the game and see if I can make a comeback.  I won't do this very often though.  It's relatively simple to come back from a $1200 loss if you're playing 15-30 limit, but if you get 2-3 grand in the game and have to walk away, it can take awhile to get that back... plus your roll of $100 bills is a lot smaller than when you came.  It just isn't much fun going back to the room with a lot smaller bankroll.

If there's a bigger game where a guy's really throwing money around, just giving it away, then I'll jump up to that limit.  The exceptions to my rules though are few and far between....

I don't have any poker trips planned right now....but I'm gettin' a bit antsy, so I hope I get a chance to play soon.  I know we do have to go to MPLS for other business around the end of the month, so maybe that will turn into a long weekend.  I'll keep you posted.....

Takin' a Break From the Game

After we moved back to Minnesota from Las Vegas in 2000 (which is another story in and of itself) I started traveling again on a very regular basis chasing good poker games around.  About 10 days to 2 weeks out of every month I would travel to Las Vegas, Kansas City, Reno, Tunica, or anywhere I thought I could find good poker action.  Often this meant going to major poker tournaments because that's where you could find a great number of players and the cash games were usually exceptionally good.  There were people with plenty of dough and many of them were true gamblers.  Over time, this is where most of the $$$ would come from for regular pro's like me.

After about a year ot two of traveling like that on a regular basis, things changed for me.
Instead of leaving on a trip like I normally would, I just decided to stay home for an extra week or two.
Thankfully, I'd been running pretty well when I had been playing poker, so there wasn't a financial need for me to get out there and put in the hours.
That 2 weeks extra that I stayed home turned into 2 months.  That 2 months turned into a year and before you know it, I had been away from the game completely for 5 or 6 years.

I had never made a conscious decision to "retire" from playing poker for a living.  It just kind of happened.  I was enjoying time with my wife and kids and extended family.  I had a little niece that was born in 2000 that I grew exceptionally close to and she kind of becvame my little buckaroo.  We'd spend time together whenever we could and to this day she still will come over as often as possible and loves to spend the night at our house.  I've got some little 'chores' for her that she loves to do, like weigh up sage, red willow bark, etc...
These are items that we now sell on our website.

After being home for a year or two, we started looking into setting up a website to sell some of the different Native American items that we make.  I do some sculpture work and I really enjoy tackling new and different projects relating to that.  Since I was spending a lot of time at home now, we were making quite a few items.  We had no problem selling them wholesale, but I knew if I could find the retail market myself, we'd very quickly more than double what we were making on our artwork.

We were lucky enough to be referred to a guy who had written some software specifically geared to artists who wanted to have their own website.  The two of us came to an agreement and within 3-6 months we had items for sale on our new website.  (Check out the link at the top of the page)

I still remember getting our first paid online order.  I couldn't believe that people actually could find our website and they were willing to dish out their hard-earned money for things that we had made.  (My wife & I work on most all of the items together...which is why I say, "we")  I do the rough cutting and most all of the sculpture work and she takes over from there, sanding and polishing the different types of stone we work with.

It didn't take long at all for us to get exceptionally busy with our website....and we're having the time of our lives.  We meet great people on a very regular basis and we have lots and lots of freedom, since we get to work at our own house.  We get to work the hours we want, the time of the day (or night) we want, and if we want to take 3 days (or 3 weeks) off, we do!  We get to travel regularly and almost anywhere we go, there are people that we've become friends with that we can visit.  It often feels like we don't even work....because we're doing exactly what we want to be doing.

I have kind of a 'rule' that I try to follow and it is this:  If I have a grandchild, a niece or nephew, or any child that wants to do something with me, whether that be walk down to the creek and throw rocks, play frisbee, go squeenie hunting, go fishing...or whatever, I will set aside whatever I'm working on and spend time with that child... and thanks to our "job", I can do exactly that!  It's awesome!

I ended up staying uninvolved in the poker world completely for at least 5 or 6 years.  By this time, it was on many different TV channels on a very regular basis.  I got out of it about the time Chris Moneymaker won the World Series of Poker main event. (WSOP)  That was the last year that I was at the event...and this was about the time it really exploded in the US.

I wasn't interested in watching it on TV.  I wasn't interested in playing.  I basically had just completely lost interest in it.

Around 2008 or so, I was flippin' channels and I happened to come across a major poker tournament and they were showing the final table.  I immediately recognized a young kid that I used to play poker with, on a regular basis.  His name is Joe Bartholdi.  He was a fun kid to play cards with and in my opinion, we were both good players, so we liked to butt heads, but we also liked to visit/talk cards, etc....
He also dealt cards when he was down on his luck, so we saw plenty of each other at the old Binion's Horseshoe in Las Vegas. 
I ended up watching the rest of the tournament and he ended up winning it and pocketing 3.7 or 3.8 million dollars.
This peaked my interest again.

I started watching more tournaments and saw all kinds of players that I had played with....(and some I'd borrowed money to) making some real good money.  Players like Joe Bartholdi, Jennifer Harmon, Todd Brunson, Mike Matosow, Dave Sklansky, and the list went on and on....

So....I decided to forage back into the poker world.  I decided to set aside $1000 to use specifically for poker and to not take any money out of my winnings.  I decided to do it the hard way and work my way up from the bottom, just like I'd done when I first started playing.  (Although this time I thought it'd be easier, because I didn't intend to take anything out of my winnings)
I played twice, in the space of a week or two, at a local Indian casino, and ended up making about $1500 over the 2 plays.
I then decided to remove the initial $1000 and play completely off my winnings.
That brings us to today....  I've basically turned nothing into a low 5 digit number over the last couple of years, playing on a very irregular basis.  There will be periods of time where I won't play for 6 months or so.... It just depends on what we have going on.

After going to the local casino, I realized how many people I hadn't seen in a long time.  In the old days, I could walk into any casino, anywhere in the country, and somebody there would recognize me as someone he or she had played with in the past.  I'd often run into friends.  I was sure there were people in Las Vegas who were convinced that I'd died, simply because I hadn't been there in so long.

In my next entry, I'll talk a little about where I've been playing, (when I have been playing) and some of the little rules I've set for myself to insure I don't have to worry about losing my bankroll.  I'm also going to delve into some other areas of our life...that I hope will be....at least a little interesting.

What a guy like me doing here?

I have no idea where this blog is going to take me and you.  I'll just let you know what finally got me here.
 I wanted to make a comment on my niece's blog and I was forced to create some sort of profile before I was allowed to do that.  I've been dickering around with this page since last night when I made my comment on my niece's blog.
I've been thinking about starting a blog anyway from time to time and now seems like it's as good a time as any.  When I first started thinking about writing and knowing other people would be viewing it, my thoughts were to write a blog strictly about poker. (Thus the name, "Aces Full") Ever since I first started playing regularly in the 80's all types of people I come into contact with have been very intrigued by how I was making a living.  Many people, (especially back then) simply didn't believe you could make a living "gambling".  They thought I was selling drugs or something. I would go through my spiel about how playing poker isn't like other forms of casino gambling and I'd try to explain to them that if a person has been blessed with the right gifts and talents, a comfortable living could be made.  It seemed that people always wanted to know and hear more about it.
For a couple of reasons, I've changed my mind about limiting this blog to poker.
The first reason is that I simply haven't been playing enough poker to keep people entertained with a blog.  I would however like to keep that a focal point of the blog.  I'll stray from that topic on a regular basis, but my plan as of right now is to always come back to it, as long as there's something to write about that people might find interesting.
The second reason is that to limit myself to writing about poker would minimize all the other things in my life that are really important to me, like.... my family, my work or artwork/sculptures, my motorcycle riding adventures including an annual trip to Sturgis for the bike rally, my trips to Native American pow-wow's, Sundance's, and other ceremonies, my love for music, (I used to be an avid guitar player, but haven't picked it up in awhile and I find myself wanting to get back into that a little), talking about all of the interesting people I meet and have met both in the poker world as well as people we've come into contact with through our business:  Lakota Creations
My plan right now is to try and write something a couple of times a week.
That may change, depending on how busy we are, or if we're traveling, or if I'm on a trip playing poker or buying raw material for me to do sculpture work on, etc...
The next time I write, I'll be talking about my 5 or 6 year hiatus from the poker world and why I left it in the first place....and how & why I got back into it.
I hope you'll come along for the ride!