Life is good.

You ever wonder what makes a person happy? I can't answer that question for you but I could tell you what makes me happy. No, it's not money nor a philosophical thing like enjoy every moment for what it is, or look on the bright side of things. Sometimes there isn't a bright side and I believe it's okay to wallow in misery. What makes me happy is being able to do what I want and achieving it. Remember in the movie Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, the scene where Harold sees Goldstein and Rosenberg enjoying their hot dogs at "Hot Dog Heaven" and he said, "I want that. I want that feeling of being able to get what I want". Of course, I'm paraphrasing... I'm not one to remember movie quotes. Then he decides no matter what happens, he is going to get those White Castle burgers. Great movie. It's gotta be one of my favorites.

So why am I happy? Well, I've been winning recently in poker and I'm living in Toronto. It is so cool not having to work in an office and mind your own actions. It's not like I would do anything crazy anyhow but I'm always on the edge at work. And sometimes the day at the office just drags on and on. On top of that, I was working in Harrisburg, PA. It's not a bad city but it's not Toronto. My family and friends are here, and I love the cultural diversity and the multitude of all different ethnic restaurants, cultural shows and events, and good looking women. As long as you have a little money, Toronto is a great place to be.

Now for a little poker stats for those of you who wants to know whether I'm starving at my new job :).
Poker stats:
Limit hold'em: $1763.55, 33.5 hours, $52.70/hr
NL cash game: -$200.65, 2.5 hours, -$87/hr
Multitable tourneys: -$203, 13 hours, -$16/hr
------------------------------------------------
Overall: $1359.90, 49 hours, $28/hr

Notice that I haven't played much in May. With just poker, I could put in a solid 30 hours a week. However, I've been pretty busy with the new house. We finally moved in on Victoria Day long weekend. There are still a lot to unpack. I just love this new house. I think my mom and brother were right in deciding to get this new house. Everything is better. More space, better lighting, cleaner air, quieter neighbourhood, and my ensuite bathroom is just amazing :).

I can't wait to see my friend from Saskatoon next week. A lot of catching up to do...

Sweet sweet freedom! (Unbound from the golden handcuffs of Harrisburg!).

Tracking all poker statistics

Last week I proudly told my friend JC how I created an excel spreadsheet, tallying all the wins and losses plus time dedicated to my hobby. The spreadsheet consisted of four categories: Limit Hold'em, No Limit Hold'em, Sit n Go Tourneys (SNG), and Multitable Tourneys (MTT). In each category I have three columns of data for Money (gained or lost), Time, and Rate. One special note... I put the qualifiers under the MTT category. Up until last week, I had a problem with how to quantify the qualifiers because in the long run the qualifiers add up to a lot of time and money spent. Since in these qualifiers one qualify for a chance to play in the MTTs, it just makes sense to put qualifiers under the MTT category.

I have good news to report. I won some money since I started tracking a week ago.

Here are the overall stats:
Total earned: $663.75
Hours played: 19.1 hours
Rate: $34.70/hr

My stats consisted of mixed games, playing 2/4, 3/6, 5/10 limit, and 2 qualifiers (one of which I actually qualified but finished 350th out of 1100 in the MTT).

People are funny ;)

I played poker today after a week and a half hiatus. Played 2/4 limit hold'em. It is a much smaller game than I usually play at 10/20 limit. But I need to play at that level to regain my confidence and get some practice. My name at partypoker is Brains4Cash (yeah kind of cocky.. I know.. I'm going to change it as soon as partypoker lets me). So here goes the convo at my table and I haven't said a thing:

JCVanDammage: brains im gonna play to the full time limit cause i hate you so much and i want you to leave the table so you play at a table where you rely on skill
JCVanDammage: which u have none
JCVanDammage: i wish i could play any crap hand and win like brains4ass
JCVanDammage: and i hate you cause you think ur good
irishchin: i think hes good
mJmRulesMe: van damm you suck

You seldom hear these things at the 10/20 limit. That's why I love playing the lower limit sometimes because people go on tilt so easily.

JCVanDammage, if you happen to bump into this blog through googling your name or something like that, no hard feelings okay? :) It just happens partypoker gives me the flush card on the river. I didn't get runner runner on you. Two spades came on the flop and I had AsTs. There's no way I'm going to fold this hand. Just unfortunate that you had AA when this happens.

Poker stats: 2 hours, up $162 @ 2/4 limit hold'em.

Poker gun-shy?

Recently I haven't been doing well in my favorite hobby: poker. I don't know what's going on. Being home in Toronto, relaxed and well-fed, I thought I would be making a decent fortune. I haven't been losing much but also haven't won anything. This frustrates the heck out of me. Imagine Tiger Woods couldn't drive the golf ball onto the fairway. Something that is routinely done and now I can't do it. I can't win. That is one of many reasons why I didn't play any poker last week. It feels good not to play. Sounds like an oxymoron because I love playing poker. Other reasons why I didn't play is that I had to get all the mortgage papers, fire insurance, PDI, and other things in order for the new house.

I'm still contemplating whether I did the right thing to leave my job in Harrisburg. For those of you who don't know, I had worked and lived in Harrisburg, PA for the past five plus years. The first three and a half years went great. I didn't care to be away from Toronto and I really liked the money (my job paid well). But the last one and a half years were really tough. Three reasons compelled me to leave. First of all, I was going out with a girl from Toronto and she wasn't just any girl. She was beautiful on the inside and outside. My situation in Harrisburg and her living in Toronto was very difficult. We went on a few dates for a few months and almost every weekend I came back to see her. Things didn't work out and I think it's mostly because I lived so far away. Secondly, in 2004, I had tracked my poker hobby to see what's my hourly rate and see whether it's possible for the hobby to support my living. I was making an average of $85/hr and got a total of $37,500 in 2004. All of this came from playing at night, a couple of hours a day. It gave me ideas that I could do it. My hobby could make me some money. Thirdly and most importantly, I had the feeling that all the good stuff in life were just passing me by. I lived a very mundane, boring, and lonely life in Harrisburg. I had friends and I played ice hockey but life was still boring. I was there when I was 25 years old, and five years later, I was still there and I am 30! Someone whom I deemed to be a friend, whom I deemed to be very intelligent, quoted this and it struck a chord with how I felt: "Know what's weird? Day by day, nothing seems to change. But pretty soon, everything's different." (Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson) I don't want life to pass me by.