What I've been up to lately - Bodog, MBA's (Legality of online poker) and life

Long time, no post!  This blog used to be primarily about hand histories, though with US poker going dark, I've been playing less frequently, and far less volume.  It used to be where I'd get into 1-2 sticky situations per night, but now, actions seem far more clear, and with the reduced volume, I'm able to focus on each individual decision.  Poker seems to be a continual treadmill; up & down, up & down...  Move up when the roll gets sizable to support the next buy-in level, and then cash out at the end of the month.

Bodog

I currently 4-table on Bodog, keeping my bankroll to a minimum (8-12 buy-ins @ 25NL), which is a $$$ amount I am comfortable with losing, should the DOJ decide to seize Bodog's assets.  In reality, it is not a truly cost effective use of my time.  I should be playing 50 or 100NL, but I simply don't want to keep an amount online that would be sufficient for those stakes.  Alas, I have to settle for the 25NL donks, which can be both tremendously profitable, and terribly frustrating.  Overall, though, it's profitable.

MBA

I have completed my first two classes of my MBA program: Financial Accounting & Business Communications.  Accounting was ridiculously difficult; just like engineering, there are a set of rules for proper accounting standards.  However, the rules seem counter-intuitive to natural math.  For example, the notion of credits and debits to T-accounts (basically a means of tracking transactions between accounts) are different for assets and liabilities.  There is no notion of +/-; a liability is net positive, just the same as an asset, though a credit to an asset account means the opposite of a credit to a debit account.  Very confusing, and seemingly anti-engineering.  Whatever.

As difficult as accounting was (we went through, chapter-to-chapter, 700 pages, from the aforementioned T-accounts to derivatives and bonds (i.e. present value of future cash flow, etc.) in about 8 weeks), Business Communications was the inverse.  It was ridiculously soft; 3 papers: 2 3-page, and 1 10-pager, a group presentation, and an individual presentation to discuss the 10-page paper's findings.  My topic of choice: Legalization of online poker.  I am going to post my papers and presentation if anyone is interested.

Click this link for the papers.

I started my post-graduate college career with 2 A's.  That's like pulling off a successful check-raise against a nit!  Booyah!  I was also confronted with my first return on the MBA investment: one of my classmates has essentially offered me a job.  Pretty sure I'm not going to take it, but it's very cool nevertheless.

Life

I've been crazy busy with work & school, that life seems to be flying by.  I've had little time to myself, and that which I've had, I've been spending with my family.  It's fun watching my 3 children grow into individuals.  My 8 year old is really getting into reading and becoming quite the bookworm.  He's into Pokemon as well, which annoys me, but it gives him some exposure to games and strategy.  My 6 year old is learning to read, and seems to take to it a bit slower than the 8 year old was at her age, but it's coming along.  She is really into gymnastics and music; perhaps she'll be the artist in the family.  Finally, my 4 year old is learning her letters and numbers.  I think she's going to be very smart.  She does not know how to shut her mouth, ever.  The ongoing joke is how do we know when she's awake?  She's moving her mouth.

I went to Hollywood Casino at Charles Town, WV, last Thursday.  I think I'm done with that place.  It is stupid, but I run absolutely terribly there.  Simply unbelievably bad.  I win *EVERYWHERE* else I play, but I cannot seem to win in my home casino.  It's a shame, too, because CTown is only 45 minutes away.  I'm just frustrated that I sit at a table full of donkeys and cannot hit a single hand - for what was 4 hours on Thursday, added to the prior 10-12 hours worth of sessions that I put in.  Collectively, in those 16+ hours, I've seen KK twice and AK twice.  I may have seen QQ once.  To make matters even worse, I'm folding the trash hands and even decent hands, and none of those hands ever hit regardless.  It's not like I'm hitting hands that I folded, I'm simply not hitting ANYTHING.  It's amazing, too, because when I was out in California a few weeks ago, in the few hours I was there, I hit my hands and got paid MAJORLY.  Why can't I run half-way normal at home, like I do ANYWHERE else?!?!?!?  WTF?

That's all.