Few Updates

I FINALLY CROSSED THE 1k mark! Technically I did it a little while ago because I forgot $180 for coaching and $100 for table ninja. So I FINALLY HIT THE $1280 mark! WOOHOO! Took forever. Some people did it in the first 2-4weeks within the program and well then there is me who took 3 months, ha. Also for the first time playing on Stars I have achieved silver star status for this month. I am quite pleased with how the $3 45mans have been treating me and hopefully things will continue to allow me to move on up to the $6s shortly. Just really happy that every month has been in the positives and hopefully soon I will be able to go from part time to full time and live off these earnings. Below is how this year has broken down by profits and level of play:

Started 2010 with a $13 bankroll

Profit (ITM) Level of 45mans
Jan - $20 (37/122) $.25
Feb - $42 (45/163) $.25
Mar - $77 (133/594) $.25
Apr - $74 (156/781) $.25
May - $227 (225/1116) $.25 (Rainman Training Began)
Jun - $138 (166/776) $1.10
Jul - $493 (162/781) $3.25 (Month not over so hopefully this is higher)



Almost forgot to say Nick took 106th in the WSOP ME 2010, GG Sir for a score of $57k for a few days of hard work.

Rainey for the WIN

ARE you serious!?? This crazy random talented poker/life coach who tears up online poker and hates pipe dreams entered into the WSOP 2010..HA..This Tourney started with 7319 and just finished DAY 3 with 1205 remaining..I don't think Nick realizes how well hes been doing. He is currently in 33rd place as of this posting but that's not the shocker. Nick has been in the top ten for most of the day with a close call for tournament chip leader! Yes, this goes to show that poker is a game of skill and Nick has the ability to exploit the people who rely on luck. =) Well done sir. Keep up the good work. To keep track I have been following along with pokerlistings

JUNE (Delayd)

WOW, it has been a while since I have typed here and I apologize. I have lots to say because quite a lot has happened this past month. Where do I start? June started off rough.

After my first 500 sngs I was dead even. I was probably up 10 cents, woohoo! What a discouragement that was and I needed a break from the $1 45mans. So I started to dabble in the KO 9mans. These were great! So easy. Loaded ten $1.40 KOs up and won 4 of them, took 3 seconds, and 1 third only busting with a bad beat in one and coolered in another. What’s great about these is the KO part. Why would anyone even sign up for a regular 9man costing $1.20 when you can sign up for a $1.40 KO and win bounties of 25cents. It’s already cheaper stake wise because you should always go in or enter tournament with the mentality of a win. If you take down the tournament you win your own bounty and the guy who went out second. That’s $.50 right there. $1.40-.50= .90 < $1.20. No one should ever play regular 9mans if KO is an option. My record was getting 7 bounties with an average of 3 per tourney. So these are definitely profitable. After I played maybe 100 of these I got an email at the end of the week with Pokerstars telling me that I was a leader in Mercury division and they credited me some monies. I’m not gonna lie, it was definitely a good feeling and I was surprised because I didn’t even know they did this for low stakes. Hopefully I can have a repeat performance soon.

With new found confidence I loaded my regular $1 45mans again but this time variance was on my side and I was tearing it up. So much so that I was able to move up to the $3 45mans a little earlier than I thought. Still not balla status like all Rainman staff but I am steadily moving on up and with patience I will get there. No real moments of tilt this past month except for when the microwave was in use at the house. For some reason it felt like someone in the house was using the microwave every 15mins when I was deep in mtts or had 10 sngs running. Who knew high powered microwaves blocked wireless router signals? I had to look it up to make sure I wasn’t going crazy that I lost internet when I heard the microwave on. There are tons of articles related to kitchen microwaves blocking router frequencies. I timed out so many times or had to run across the house closer to the router so that I wouldn’t disconnect. Definitely not a fun experience being at 3 final tables and timing out before realizing the microwave is in use. HA. Sucks. Funny now, but not at the moment.

I also watched great documentaries on some successful poker players after listening to one of the radio links from the guys at www.pokerstatic.com Anyone who likes poker or even has heard of poker would be interested in viewing them at http://robustothemovie.com/

I have more to add but I think this has been enough info for now. I’ll post in the next couple days with more. Good skill guys.

Good Bye May (Month 1/3)

So much has happened since I last wrote. I have been learning so much while playing and reviewing HHs. Having today off has been great. Hope everyone enjoyed their cookouts and memorial weekend. I must say not having to come home from work to take nap to start the grind was definitely a plus. I could just wake up and boom start getting ready for a session. This month has definitely been a learning experience. Grinding is tough but I am really starting to enjoy it and can easily see myself doing this for a living once I am at the right stakes. It’s easy to start enjoying something when you are getting exponentially better. I ended up going above and beyond my goal of 750-900 games. I hit 1100+ not bad for my first month of putting in that much time and still managing to make a small profit. Most of my games were at the 25 cent level but towards the end of the month it was strictly $1s. Hopefully by the end of June I will have a sufficient bankroll to be moving on up the $3 45mans. I managed to make around $230ish which is extremely weak but I am still proud because at the 25 cent level a first place pays a measly $3.52.

Learned how to comfortably use table ninja to help me 12-18table. Poker Tracker I am still not completely confident with it but I still learning how to use it. I also have a lot more I want to say but I am having a rough time formulating my thoughts into words. The only thing that’s been really giving me a rough time is my mental side. Handling bad beats and suck outs is no longer a problem; for that I created a bad beat folder and I just throw the text history in there and just smile and move on. It’s odd but it works for me, I don’t even think about it after it has been copied and pasted. The problem is I want this to work so badly and I am afraid of failure. I know that if you‘re not failing, you’re not trying hard enough and that inactivity always guarantees failure which is why Nick wants us to put in volume. I have no problem with putting in the time and incorporating what is being taught in this program it’s just what if I don’t get the results that are expected? I know I am just psyching myself out and I need to get over this crap but it bothers me. Maybe I will write about it later to get it out of my system. Till next time, Good skill.

I have been told that OPR isn’t accurate because they round numbers but for my purposes they are almost spot on with the difference of a dollar or two. So here it is.



Don't know much about Top Shark but seeing this made me smile.

Set up

Not too long ago Rainman himself was showing us pretty extraordinary setups. For example: Dual monitors , stand up/sit down desk, aeron chairs that kept posture and feel as if you’re on a cloud, game pads/mice for hot keying during multi tabling, gunnar rocket glasses to protect from headaches from long sessions, etc. All these things can add up to quite a sum, however it’s worth the investment on yourself because it will allow you to go longer without burn out. I am quite impressed that Nick takes proactive measures for his health when it comes to poker and also takes time to educate his students on the subject. Being in the PT field it is a shame to see how badly people mess themselves up for something as stupid as wearing a wallet in their back pocket.

I wanted to post my set up so when I look back in a couple years I can laugh about where I had to start from. The only quiet place in my house is my bed room with my headphones on so my set up is a bedroom end table as pictured below. HA, got to start somewhere. So sad =/. On a lighter note I finally crossed the $300 mark and Nick said to now incorporate the $2 180s so I will be testing the waters today. Good luck and most importantly good skill.

Roller Coaster!

First couple days of really trying to succeed within this program I immediately go up 70 buy-ins at the 1.10 level. I thought great! At this rate I will be moving on up soon. HA..Then this wonderful thing called variance poked her ugly little head out. So many 80/20s and 70/30s were losing and I was slipping downward over the next 4-6 days. So much so that even after taking a couple tourneys down I was still slipping. Finally got to almost break even and was completely discouraged. What a wonderful roller coaster of emotions and bank roll. So I decided to move down to the lowest limits Poker Stars has and build my confidence back up. Over the last 3 days I was able to take $5 to $50 playing these limits. Ha, now that I’m 200 buy-ins up at this level I think I have gained my confidence again to try and put my foot back in the $1s. Hopefully I wont have to visit the grinders at the $.25 45mans again anytime soon but it definitely allowed me to become comfortable multi-tabling and shrugging off bad beats. I almost have my emotions completely in gear now. No more tilting for this guy while using bank roll discipline.

Volume is crazy, I have never played this many games in a week and a half. Approx. 560ish. I will definitely get my goal of 700 I had sent Nick , HA. I forgot to add that during my grind at the 25 cent level I asked Nick for his table image so that I could change mine and maybe my raises would start getting some respect. I inverted the colors and it looks great! Only problem is I couldn’t shrink it to have it all fit in the circle provided by PS and I don’t know how to manipulate pics. Other than that I am quite pleased with it. I don’t want to believe in superstition but I have definitely been destroying the games since I changed it.

Congrats to Nick on taking down a Step 6 and gaining a seat into WSOP in Vegas through steps. Amazing how you can turn a $7.50 Step 1 to a $10k seat in one of the biggest games in the world. I will hopefully be able to do that next year. Good Skill to all.

New table image.

Trimming the Fat

Nick has mentioned on numerous occasions whether on mental Mondays or mixed Saturdays that we should all get in the habit of routine. Starting this Monday I plan on starting mine. From the moment I wake, I will brush teeth, snack on something, and start the workout plan called Insanity. This will ensure that I don’t become a bigger fatty than I already am and will help keep my mind focused on playing poker when its time. I will have to make rules such as no poker until I work out and if you know me you know I enjoy poker (even though I still suck) and hate working out (even though people think I already do) so this will definitely be quite interesting. I probably will post before pics just so I am held accountable. I will also be trimming the fat on the poker tables’ as well. I told Nick I wanted to be one of the best turbo 45men out there so in order to do that I will cut out the random 9mans, mtts, and anything I used to just happen to sign up for and strictly stick to welllll the 45mans.

Today was a great 4 hour review. As always learned a ton and left feeling satisfied with the lesson as I do during the week with Daniel and Aarons lesson. Now if they can teach me how to run better and win my flips. More exciting news is the new rainman website will be up and running soon and Nick said whoever attended the lesson today would get a piece of his action in steps. WOW to that one because he won 7 step ones at the end of the lesson today. GOOD SKILL NICK.



OH, Happy Mothers Day!