kerpowski

09:54 pm: play good run good
Things are going awesome this month so far. Brief summary: I've been hanging out with Gem and Kristy which has been a blast. Work has been pretty laid back during the days. Natalie's party Saturday night was so much fun. The few hours I've put in at the tables I've been killing them. All in all running good in all parts of my life.

I just had a quick ~1K hand session, ended the day +$15K. Favorite hand of the night:

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $50 BB (10 handed)
MP3 ($3530.36)
Hero ($7913)
Button ($2466)
SB ($1375)
BB ($23243.20)
UTG ($5000)
UTG+1 ($6543.35)
UTG+2 ($3448)
MP1 ($11015.65)
MP2 ($13268)

Preflop: Hero is CO with Js, Ts. SB posts a blind of $25.
4 folds, MP2 raises to $175, 1 fold, Hero calls $175, 2 folds, BB calls $125.

Flop: ($550) Th, Jd, 2h (3 players)
BB checks, MP2 bets $400, Hero raises to $1200, BB folds, MP2 raises to $3600, Hero calls $2400.

Turn: ($7750) 7s (2 players)
ALL-IN MP2 [ $9493 ]
ALL-IN Hero [ $4138 ]

River: ($21381) 7d (2 players)

Final Pot: $21381
MP2 has Ah Jh (two pair, jacks and sevens).
Hero has Js Ts (two pair, jacks and tens).
Outcome:
MP2 wins $5355 from side pot #1 with two pairs jacks and sevens .
Hero wins $16023 from the main pot with two pairs jacks and tens .

12:30 am: A/C 1 - Kerp 0


So I finally broke down and bought an A/C for my TV room. The damn thing bit me! I had the last laugh though, it went the way of the printer in Office Space. Like a mad dog the thing just had to be put down.

As a side note the bachelor party this weekend was awesome. The WPI crew was back together for an entire weekend of partying. We had all the typical events, people getting kicked out of the bar, getting lost on the way back to the hotel, others blacking out and ending up by the pool. I even met an awesome girl at the bar Saturday night: funny, cute and wicked smart (total prereq for me). As usual my luck with these things kicks in... she's leaving to go back to school in Cali in less than a month. Doh.

I've decided I'm totally the kiss of death for all my friend's long term relationships. Natalie's b/f just broke up with her this week. Sample size of 3 says I'm the only common factor for this... looks like I'll only be visiting my single friends from now on.

Poker has been on hiatus for a bit. I've been a bit caught up with making my apartment over. I'm sure I'll make up for it with some overtime in the next couple of weeks. Goal for August is to put in <100 hours, +$50K. Work/life balance!

01:41 pm: Lumiere


So I took my friend Gemma out to lumiere last night (a good french restaurant in Newton). Overall the food was great but we were meeting up a bit late so I made the mistake of having a bite to eat before we went out.

I had the seared sea scallops and the berkshire pork tenderloin and Gem had a corn soup and the flat iron steak then we split a souffle for dessert. The scallops were incredible and the steak was great. The rest of the meal was decent; Gem liked the soup, I wasn't a big fan and the souffle was a bit too rich for both of us. The atmosphere at the place was great, not at all stuffy like I was afraid it might be. Great place to take a date or meet up with a friend.

I'm really happy she's back in Boston again. It makes me realize how much I've missed having female friends around. Hanging out with the guys is nice but not quite the same.

Poker had been going great the past two weeks after that flat spot the first week and a half. I've stalled a bit the past couple days (lost with a couple sets in a row at the 25/50 game, that always hurts). I have an all weekend bachelor party this weekend so last night will pretty much be the end of the month unless I get some free hours Sunday or Monday night. Not a record breaking month but a very respectable +74K.

Time for coffee... late dinner then a couple hour session makes for a long night. Hopefully tonight will be an easy night out before tomorrow night's party.

01:55 am: great weekend
This weekend was one of those where everything just kinda fell into place. Saturday was a big family picnic. My mom's side of the family is usually spread out over Christmas so instead of having a holiday party then we have a "Christmas in July" picnic. It works out much better that way, the holiday season really hasn't been the same since my Grandma Mac died a few years ago. This is a nice change, makes the event seem different...

It was the first time all four of the grandchildren were at the same place in 7 years. It's funny to think of all of us as adults. My younger cousin Kim is getting married this fall (her fiance Alex is top notch). My even younger cousin Kevin is out of his stint overseas in the Army. He still seems and acts a little like a kid but he's been through more shit than a 23 year old, or anyone, should have to go through. I've been a bit of a bad older cousin to the two of them lately. I tend not to keep in touch with people as well as I should. Having us all together again for the first time in ages felt really good. I need to remember that and make more of an effort with them.

Poker went great this weekend. My buddy morello have a bit of a running contest for monthly results, I don't think he's beaten me yet this year but he's giving me a run for my money this month. He's been on fire for July though while I've been a little bit above breakeven. Thanks to the last four days I've almost caught up to him with two weeks left in the race. The only bad thing about these great poker weeks is that the only people who understand how tough it is to do as well as I do are other poker players. To a certain extent that makes me feel more isolated from my family and non-poker friends. I'm not sure I could keep pushing myself as hard as I do without guys like muzungu, morello and others in 2p2 who are in the same boat.

12:15 am: ding!
Finally ran decent in one of my NL5K shots. Highlight of my night:

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $50 BB (10 handed)
SB ($10321)
BB ($5976)
UTG ($5184)
Hero ($4950)
UTG+2 ($5000)
MP1 ($8685)
MP2 ($8005.58)
MP3 ($5222)
CO ($5951)
Button ($29437)

Preflop: Hero is UTG+1 with Qd, Qs. SB posts a blind of $25.
UTG raises to $200, Hero calls $200, 1 fold, MP1 calls $200, 5 folds, BB calls $150.

Flop: ($825) 9h, 9s, Qh (4 players)
BB checks, UTG bets $500, Hero calls $500, MP1 folds, BB raises to $2000, UTG raises to $4984, Hero calls $4250, BB calls $2984

Turn: ($15072) Ks (3 players)

River: ($15072) Jc (3 players)

Final Pot: $15072

BB has 9c 3h (three of a kind, nines).
UTG has As Ac (two pair, aces and nines).
Hero has Qd Qs (full house, queens full of nines).

Outcome: Hero wins $15072.

01:15 am: finally signed up
I've been meaning to sign up for a livejournal account for a while. For the past year, I've been trying to figure out what I want to do with my life. Right now I'm a software engineer for a huge company, but not so happy with that as a career choice. On top of that I have a second job as a very successful high stakes online poker player. This has given me the rare opportunity to do pretty much what I want in life without worrying about making ends meet.

Unfortunately, it also means I've been burning the candle at both ends trying to keep up with work and poker and maintain some semblance of a social life. Something has to give and odds are it is going to be the day job. This journal is my way of keeping my thoughts on what I want to do with the freedom I have and my muddling through finding a career I'm genuinely happy with.

That's the theory at least, odds are it'll turn into random, intermittent updates on my life and a place to bitch about work/poker.