Saturday, March 31, 2012

march review

this month will be noted as my month of accomplishments. poker went extremely well and i learned a lot in this month about pickup, probably the most since ive started practicing it.

poker was pretty interesting to me this month. i ran pretty good for about 3/4 of the month and then had a little turbulance at the end which was pretty much just a week of breaking even. this whole month at the poker tables i have been really confident in my game and i think the results will show. ive also been loosening up a bit mostly from the hijack to the button and really been taking advantage of spots that i havent done before. after this month i think my style has changed a bit i wouldnt really define myself as a tag anymore but im not as loose as a lag so im about inbetween and so far i like how things have been going. unfortunitley this is going to be the last full month that i will be able to play live because i am leaving the state on april 15th. also i will probably on have about 10 more sessions or so inbetween that time because my mom is coming to visit for a couple days and then i have to move out of my apartment and do whatever else so yeah there wont be too much poker left for this winter season. however, when i get settled in alaska i am going to get an account on merge and start playing on there. ill probablly just deposit like 500 and try and grind it up. my main goal with playing online this summer is to basically just keep my mind refreshed so that im ready to play for next winter. it will be cool to see if i can grind 500$ up to like 2k or somthing like that but im more there for the experience than the money. im really really considering moving to florida more and more next winter. the only thing that im really concerned about is my truck has 110k miles on it and a round trip to florida and back is 7k miles so it might be a gamble trying to drive there. my truck is in really good condition but 110k miles is a lot. anyways ill think about that when the time comes. i really cant wait for next winter to start grinding 5/10 and actually building a roll that has some significant value to it. anyways my results for the month are +7234 which is the most ive made from poker in a single month and im super stoked about. curently im making 32$/hr over 610 hours. its not a huge sample but its a decent one for live. if i have a upswing or downswing my hourly rate would probablly flucuate by 4 or 5 dollars an hour but as a general median i think 30-34$/hr is pretty much my winrate. im hapy with my winrate right now and im actually doing better than i expected. ive been playing for 4 months so far and ive made 18k so things are definitely going well. at the begining of the winter i gave an estimation that i would be able to make 20k in 6 months and 25k if i ran pretty good. so im pretty close to being at my goal and its only been 4 months which im also stoked about. although the last week i have made some horrendous calls on the river that costed me a pretty penny and hurt my winrate a bit. in those instances i out leveled myslef pretty badly and pretty much was thinking way too deep for what the situation really was and it costed me. lesson learned. so yeah thats how poker has been going. hopefully i can finish the next couple weeks strong and be able to make my 20k this winter. fingers crossed.

i was also able to get to another milestone in pickup as well. not really anything i can back up with stats but pretty much just my thaughts about how it is going. at the beginning of the month pickup was going ok i guess and than i purchased a training program for daygame and it really taught me so much. i have a different perspective on daygame now and it seems like im more eager to go out and run game than i have before. i dont have any numbers to back this up but im pretty sure this month i have done more apporaches than i have ever done before in a month which is good if i had to guess i would say around 50. i think i was able to get a total of 5 numbers but some flaked and the others i lost interest in or somthing along those lines. the program i got has got a lot of really good information in it and i know its going to step my game up tremendously. that is one thing im looking forward to this summer is running game after i get off work. because from what i remembered last year before i really got into daygame i know i missed a lot of great opportunities especially during tourist season, also ill be living downtown so it should set itself up for some decent results. thats all i really have for pickup. things are progressing for sure but at a slow rate which is fine. takes a bit of practice to master this skill but its worth it.

lastly is the life section. well i already mentioned that my mom is coming for a couple days so i dont really know what were gonna do but we'll find things to do. after she leaves i will probablly pack up my apartment a week later and then on the 15th ill be headed to newyork for a week with 2 friends which is going to be awesome. not a whole lot has really happened this month though, pretty much just poker and pickup which is fine by me. i kinda do feel bad though and these were my thaughts last year when i was in vegas as well. im in these pretty cool cities and i pretty much spend most of my time playing poker and now running pickup. i mean ive done a few things and ive gone out to clubs and stuff but i could have taken advantage of both cities a lot more. the only thing with that is the more time i spend away from the tables or not running pickup than the less im going to succeed. so its a give and take. you can bet for sure though, if i live in florida next winter and im winning at 5/10 than things are going to be more exciting and i will definitely take advantage of miami and for sure the beaches. so thats about all for the month, i feel comftorable in saying that its been my best month since ive been here and im happy with how it has gone. so until next time cosmonauts. stay tuned :)

Sunday, March 25, 2012

turning point

alright fellow companions here comes another edition of whos the baby daddy. in this corner we have nigel. i lovable nit wit with no self control. lol have no idea why i wrote that, but this post is most likely going to be short and sweet so here goes.

poker this week has been kinda like a break even venture. i think im ending the week up like a buyin maybe but im not sure i had a couple bad days and a couple good days and some meh days but i came out ok though. i might be going through i break even stretch at the moment but its a little too early to tell. i did however play drunk for the first time since being here. on friday night i was at a pretty good and fun table where everyone was popping shots so i joined in. before we started taking shots i was down 500 and by time i was drunk and got up to leave i was only down 100 so i guess it worked out, i wasnt able to get into any pots with the crazy table drunk but ill take that evening for what it was. if im able to not lose 1200 before the end of the month than this will be my best month ever so fingers crossed.

life hasnt had to many perks this week outside of pickup, ive been trying to set up a date with this russian chick whos number i got last weeknd but shes being a little challanging but i might be able to lad her before i leave. other than that there wasnt really anything crazy that happened in the life aspect

pickup is a little bit different story. so this last week i bought a product from the leading day game pickup company out there and ive been studying this whole last week and im going to say that it was totally worth the investment. im not even halfway done with the whole program and i really feel like it has made my game go to the next level. so saturday me and my daygame wing met up at the mall we always go to and we started around 2. i dont know the exact count but i would say i did about 8 or 9 approaches on saturday and i got 2 numbers. my wing did 3 or 4 approaches and got his 1st number which was also cool. we stayed untill like 8 so we put in about 6 hours and i felt like i learned so much this past week from studying this product and i felt like this weeknd went really well. today i went back out to the same mall just for 4 hours. i only did one approach, partly cause i was a little tired and sore from the day before and also cause there really was not hardly any girls to approach today but the girl i did approach was probablly the best interaction i had this weeknd and i got her number as well so out of about 10 approaches i got 3 numbers. 1 i think for sure will lead to atleast a conversation but should lead to more. another one will most likely lead to a conversation but i dont know if ill get past that or not and the last number i think might flake so we will see. ive also got the girl ive been seen the past few saturdays on call back and then the russian chick too so im starting to get some momentum to my step.

so i have about 3 weeks left here in washington before i leave to newyork for a week and then back to alaska. newyork should be pretty awesome but alaska might be a little lame but there are a couple upsides to it. im getting a lot better at pickup so when i go back it will be a whole different game for me this time and also i have this really sexy girl up there that cant wait for me to get back to that will be sweet too. only thing that sucks is when i start work for the summer ill be working 12 hours a day lol. i always make time for fun though ;) so thats about it for this week next post i think ill write about an approach i do next weeknd if one end up being hilarious or stands out so untill next time, stay tuned cosmonauts :)

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

future plans

so i have been having some thoughts lately about what im going to be doing in the future as far as life, work,poker and where ill be at or what ill be doing and i decided to just do a midweek post about it.

so the past couple years after i would work my summer season i would move out of alaska and play poker in the winter. that is all fine and everything except this last summer was the last year on the contract for the company that ive been working for and i didnt know if they were gonna get it again this year. so i really had no idea what i would be doing for work this summer. i mean im in a construction union so im on an out of work list so whenever my name comes up on the list i get called out for a job so its not like i was out of a job completely i just didnt know what to expect. with that on my mind a whole lot of things were going through my head this winter. i was contimplating just taking the summer off and traveling europe, move somwhere and just play poker, find a new career path, and a lot more things. in the end i decided wether or not the company gets the contract this season or not i was going to go back up to alaska and see how the summer went and then take it from there but now i have a little better of a direction to head towards.

so the company i work for did end up getting the contract and its either for 2 or 3 years every summer so i will be set for a couple years at least. now being that im in a construction union i make damn good money and i really got lucky to be in the position that i am and i know that and try not to take things for granted. in the summers i work usually 6-7 days a week for 12 hours a day, this year it will most likely be 7 days a week. it is definitely a grind and by the end of the season everyone is burned out and bitter but after you recover it was totally worth it. i would make more money than the average house hold a year and do it in 5 months. i actually like working that schedule. although it doesnt leave much time to enjoy the summer at all i do get the whole winter off which i have been moving out of alaska and enjoying other spots anyways.

with all that being said new thoughts creeped into my head. this last winter has been going pretty decent poker wise. although at the moment i only have like 750 hours at 3/5 nl here i feel really confident in saying im a winning player at these games. im comftorable with everything im doing at poker and im sustaining a pretty decent winrate and with me actually knowing what ill be doing in the summers for the next few years my thoughts for new winter destinations have been swirling in my head. at the moment my bankroll is right around 27k. i only have a few weeks left to play so i doubt i will gain or lose a lot more than that. i was hoping i would have a little more time to play than that but its ok. i really wanted to build my bankroll to 40k which is where i will start playing 5/10 nl. i want to have 30 buyins for 5/10 and 20 buy ins for 2/5 nl before i move up so thats the plans. the thing is poker in washington isnt the best. i mean they have soft games and you can make good money but its hard to find steady 5/10 games and theres better places to spend the winters.

so ive been thinking but ill rethink everything before i actually commit to any ideas but this next winter im really considering moving to florida. every one i talk to says there games are super soft and the action is always good with plenty of 5/10 games. the weather is hot and the girls are sexy oh and they also have beaches. that is just one thaught ive had my options are really kinda open and arent that limited. i thaught about going to vegas again and it seems like a decent thaught. i could move near jersey and play at atlantic city which that one i probablly wouldnt do but im just saying i have the chance to move somwhere this winter and i plan on doing it unless somthing else comes up. the problem i know im going to have is that if i start playing 5/10 regularly and im able to have a decent winrate than i should be making 40-50$hr and after doing that for a whole winter it might be hard to get away from but ill deal with that when the time comes.

after saying that, another choice is going to arise in my future. after this contract is up in alaska in the next 2 or 3 years ill be put in this situation again in not knowing what ill be doing unless they get the contract again. if however, ive been playing 5/10 every winter and showing steady results than i might have a new career laid in front of me. playing poker professionally is hard and not somthing for the weak hearted and i know this. i do have a lot of personal traights that can handle playing poker as a profession but that doesnt mean it would be easy. everyone has heard the term "its a hard way to make an easy living" and some might not grasp that concept to what it truly means. poker is a brutal game to where you can be at your lowest lows and your highest highs all within the same month theres also not that many professions that you have to put in the dedication that you have to with poker. after leaving vegas last winter i told myself i dont think i would want to go pro unless i was able to win consistantly atleast at 5/10. well that time will be coming around and ill have a decision to make when it does. that decision is quite a bit aways in the future so i dont need to think about it right now but thaught i would share the ideas i was having.

so those are a lot of the thaughts going through my mind right now. i realize this post was pretty damn long and not really too informational but i decided to just share my thaughts anyways. so if you read it all or a little bit thanks for reading and ill post this sunday again. so untill next time, stayed tuned cosmonauts :)

Monday, March 19, 2012

cutting it short

ok so i got new information that is going to dictate how much longer i will be in washington for and essentially how much longer i will be playing poker for. so since thats the big news ill talk about life first and then pickup and poker

so yeah i got a call from my boss man from my summer job a couple days ago. he told me that the company got the contract again in alaska which is good. after last summer i really didnt know what i was gonna do this summer especially if they didnt get the contract again. also its either a 2 year or 3 year contract so if things stay good i should have summers figured out for the next few years. the only thing is that he said they are most likely going to start up may 1st which means i am going to have to be up there before that to get everything setup for the summer there. which also means that ill be cutting my poker season a little short. on top of that i have a vacation plan right in the middle of all that. so heres the plan. a couple of my friends from alaska wanted to go to newyork and we told each other we would make a trip. they really want to do it this year because after that it might not happen. so the only time i can go is in the middle of april. so hopefully in the next couple days we will make the plans. so the idea is for me to pack my apartment up and put everything in storage before the 15th of april, fly to newyork and stay there for a week. then fly straight to alaska and get a summer vehicle and an apartment within a week. sounds a little hectic but ehh totally possible. ive got some future plans and thaughts mostly about poker and my life but i think ill do a mid week post and talk about them instead of making this extra long.

now for pickup. so this last weeknd was pretty fun. mostly because of that huge rave i went to which was on friday. i actaully didnt play poker on friday casue the party started at 730 and parking in downtown seattle sucks so i wanted to get there early to find a spot. anyway there was supposibly 10,000 people that went and it was pretty awesome. they had 2 different stages on each side of the arena that had sick dj's spinning a lot of cool music. i actually decided to try and run game there although my night game is horrible and the fact that it was a rave was going to be difficult. i probablly approached like 10 girls. most of them didnt really go anywhere, i talked to a couple for like 10-15 minutes but didnt care for them after that but one girl i ended up hanging out with for a while. she lost her friends and i kept her company. we danced for a bit and kissed a bunch of times but that was it. she was from oregon and came with like 10 firends so it would have been hard to pull her. besides that i just had a pretty awesome time and would definitely go again. saturday i didnt go out and run daygame partly cause i was sore from dancing for like 6 hours the night before and i just didnt feel in the mood to do anything. the girl i have been talking to the last few weeks ended up coming over late on saturday but all we did was just cuddle and sleep which was fine. sunday i decided i wanted to get out there and run game so i headed to the mall and stayed for about 4 hours. it wasnt as packed as normal and i only did 3 approaches but i whimped out and could have done probablly 5 more. 2 didnt go anywhere and one of them went ok but the girl was really challanging and when i went for the number she wouldnt give it and insisted on facebook which ehh im not gonna add her she wasnt that hot anyway. than i came back around my place and went to a mall around here for an hour and did 1 approach on a pretty cute russian chick that worked at victoria secret. the interaction went well and i got her number but we were cut for time and i wasnt able to build that much comfort so ill give the number a 50/50 that she'll flake. so pickup this weeknd was kinda up and down. i got some new daygame training material from like the top instructors in the industry so ill be studying that this week and see how it goes next time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWBJodQtbRY&feature=g-u-u&context=G2692575FUAAAAAAAHAA

so this is a daygame pickup video that recently came out. i found it interesting because the guy doing the pickup is a professional online poker player living in london, so im pretty sure he plays on poker stars. on the surface nothing really stands out and i think he says that but if you know whats happening a lot actually took place in the interaction.

lastly poker. so poker went pretty well this last week. i was still running good and playing good and just felt like i was in the groove. i had some decent sessions and things were going smooth. the last couple sessions i ended up losing though nothing huge but it ruined my groove. so im about due for another variance swing so this might be the start of it. hopefully if it is its not anything major and i can get over it and get positive from it before april 15th when i leave so thats about it for poker i got about 10 more sessions this month and im pushing for a big month unless variance says other wise. so until next time cosmonauts stay tuned :)

Sunday, March 11, 2012

keeping it going

alright so this week is a bit like last week and things have ended pretty well. i guess ill talk about some poker and then life and pickup

so poker this week has gone pretty well i had a lot of winning sessions and a couple pretty big scores so i definitely feel like im running good at the moment and also playing well. one thing that i really realized this last week about poker is how much i pay attention to players playing patterns. ive just noticed how often ill make a fold or call (specifically preflop) based on how a player plays. pretty standard of course its just ive noticed it a lot i guess. online your able to go off of your hud and use specific stats to decide how to react to a situation, but with live its a lot more limited so being able to make reads live based on how much you pay attention to player habits is a pretty good skill to gain. thats pretty much it for poker. keeping it simple and just win. wish it was always that easy.

so here goes my pickup stats. i went to the mall saturday and ran daygame for about 4 hours. i wasnt really feeling it so much but i still went through with it and was able to do 4 approaches. this week i was trying to work on a technique to be able to create a good reaction when first approaching females. i only did 4 approaches but i got a little bit of results. anyway the first 2 approaches were rejections, the second one i was able to create a conversation but i dont think she was interested and she also said she had a boyfriend. the last girl i talked to i ended up talking to for like 20 minutes and was able to get her to get a smoothie with me and we talked a bit. she was a solid 7 but after the interaction i didnt really feel super attracted to her. i was able to get her number, i texted her a couple times but no response so no biggie. today i went out for like an hour and really felt out of state and just said fuck it and headed to the casino

and the last bit is for life. so the girl that i went on a date with last week ended up coming over to my place on saturday and stayed the night with me so that was pretty cool. if i can keep up the good vibe with her i might have a full time fuck buddy but we'll just see how long it lasts. also this friday is the big rave/party where theres like 10,000 people going so that should be pretty sick im pretty excited about it and it should be a lot of fun. so thats about all the excitment for the week things are definitely on an upswing at the moment so im gonna ride it all out as long as i can. so until next time cosmonauts, stay tuned :)

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

redemption!

alrighty guys and gals i have a little story for you so gather round. todays story will be about my date on monday and the events that took place.

so if anyone hasnt read the past couple of posts ill recap a little bit. i was out on saturday running daygame and this girl was just another approach i did. i only talked to her for about 5 minutes before she had to go but got her number any ways. usually a number close in 5 minutes isnt really solid and flakes a lot but i still pursue it anyway. so i text the girl and run pretty good text game on her and was able to set up a day for this last monday. we texted the whole week and i was pretty confident she wasnt going to flake

long story short she flaked and i just got drunk instead, the end. hahah no this is what happend. so i pitched her the idea of going to the indoor skydiving place and she was totally onboard for that. we showed up at one and it started with a hug. we signed in and went upstairs to get taught how to fly. there was a little chit chat inbetween as well as me teasing her and playfully flirting with her. after we got briefed on how to fly we took our turns in the wind tunnel and did the whole skydiving thing which was actually pretty sweet but it was short. afterwards we decided to grab smoothies and talk more. i had her drive us across the street to where the mall was and we went inside to get smoothies.

after getting the smoothies we sat down and did the whole getting to know each other type thing. i still had the whole teasing fun flirty vibe going on and just tried to make the experience enjoyable. we decided to walk around the mall a little bit and go into a couple stores. now at some point in the interaction you have to express that you are interested in the girl and man up or you get smacked into the friendzone. so when we left a store i leaned up against the wall and told her to come close. i grabbed her arms and tried to put them over my shoulders. at that point i was going to tell her i liked her. although she quickly pulled away and laughed it off. in these spots you have to not act offended or be phased by it or they can sense it so i played it off. i kept on playing around with her and just getting her comftorable with me holding her arms or hands or whatever. after a little while we decided to head back to her car.

when we go into her car we started to listen to music and talk a little bit more. at this point i decided to take another shot. i turned down the music and she looked at me and i slowly leaned in for a kiss. again she pulled away saying- nope no kissing on the first date. i played it off once again and told her she needs to work on her rejections and teased her about it. we went back to talking and listening to music. probablly 5 minutes pass and i look into her eyes. i slow my speech down and tell her that her lips are driving me crazy and i look down at her lips, back to her eyes and then i lick my lips. i dont say anything after that and i let the sexual tension build. than i slowly start to lean in and she cooperates this time. we kiss for about 3 seconds and i pull away first and look into her eyes. than i sit back into my seat like nothing happend. a couple seconds later she grabs me and pulls me towards her and starts to kiss me more. this time i make it really sensual and put a lot of details into the kiss.

after that we decide to drive back to where my truck was and we sit and talk there a bit more. i pretty much keep the playful vibe going and have fun with her telling her things like she should leave the singing to the people on the radio and calling her a nerd and stuff like that. we both ended having to take a piss and i went into the skydive place to use the bathroom. when i came back she ended up going in too. after she came back i was leaning against her car and when she got close to me i pulled her in and held her. i asked her if she felt comftorable and she said yes. she looked at me and said do you want to go back to your place and watch a movie or somthing. ZING! i said yes and told her to follow me. there was a bit of traffic and it took a little while to get back to my place but we made it.

once we got to my place i did a short tour of my apartment on got her comftorable with the surroundings i popped in a movie and we sat on the couch.we got a little touchy feely and it ended with us laying down holding each other. things started to heat up and i told her to go to my room and ill be there in a minute. i put on some music and i slowly start to give her a massage.

the rest i will leave for the imagination. all i will say is shes got some energy

Sunday, March 4, 2012

febuary review

i know its a few days late but i decided to just wait and do the month review along with my week review cause i be lazy. so ill start with poker and then end with life and pickup
at the very end of january i hit some variance and started to get into a downswing, it carried over into febuary and lasted until the 16th. it was my first major downswing since getting back to the felt this winter and it was a total of 6k or 12 buyins. the last 10 sessions of the month had quite the opposite effect and i went on a heater booking several big scores and ultimately turning what would have been my first losing month in a year into a profitable month. im pretty estatic that i was able to come back from that big of a live downswing in just 10 days and was even more happy that i ended the month positive. as for this week i had a couple small losses and wins so pretty much just broke even for this week. i usually play today but im feeling a little tuckered out today and just decided to take it easy today. so for the the month of febuary i was able to put in 22 sessions which came out to 130 hours. for live thats somwhere close to 4500 hands. crazy volume in know... anyway being that this was a short month i would have put in a couple more sessions but didnt.

febuary results: +2691

pickup seemed to follow the same schedule as poker did. whenever i was running bad in poker i was running bad in pickup. i dont think my mentality was effected in either case because i had high spirits going through out the whole downswing but it was kinda wierd at the same time. so to keep it short every time i went out this month i didnt really get anywhere and was only able to get a few numbers which flaked. it wasnt untill last week that i had a couple break throughs. one was just a observation and the other was physical. so the observation was about how much i like day game compared to night game. last weeknd i met up with a guy from the pickup forums that was just starting out and after kinda showing him the ropes of daygame it dawned on me how much i liked it compared to night game. i still go out on the weeknds but i hardly do much game unless i see a good oportunity. the next breakthrough was last weeknd as well on saturday i was able to get a girls number and ive been texting her this whole week. things have been going good and we have a date tomorow at a indoor skydiving place which is going to be pretty cool shes super cute and shes actually a pretty genuine girl so we'll see where that leads ill post a pic of her if i get one with my camera. the next thing was when i went out that same night with another guy i met from the pickup forums when i first got here. we had been out a few times before and usually go to the same club as we did this night as well. anyway a chick came on to me and the night ended in a unique way if you havnt read my last post the story is in there. its a pretty entertaining read. now that leads to this week. friday night i went out for a drink at a dive bar and didnt stay long. saturday i met up with the guy from last weeknd and we ran daygame for about 6 hours, he did about 5 approaches and i did about 10 i only got 1 number which i could tell was pretty flakey and it was. there was one approach i did with a girl on saturday that i was leading her to a smoothie place to grab smoothies but once we were in line i realized i didnt really care for her personality so i excused myself haha. and most of the other ones were "i had a bf" i did persist in most them but still didnt get anywhere. today i went out to a new mall to check out but when i got there i was pretty tired and out of "state" and couldnt motivate myself to do any approaches so i kinda bitched out on that one. this weeknd was pretty good though and i was able to do some things saturday that i learned from so things are going pretty decent and ill be looking forward to next weeknd.

the last little bit will be for life. so i have a couple highlights coming up. one is the date with the hot girl tomorrow. if somthing really interesting happens i might do a mid week post and talk about it, if not ill just save it for next sunday. the next thing is that my daygame wingman was telling me about this huge rave thats happening friday where like 20,000 people show up and its this huge thing. so i might go to that, he wasnt sure if he was going because it cost 100$ but i might go anyway. so yeah thats about how last month and this week have gone. hopefully i can keep the run good going in both aspects of life and have a little fun with it. so untill next time cosmonauts, stay tuned :)