Well in the last month I've been playing the 20k and 40k guar't a lot on party, and while I've placed deep several times, the cards just don't comply in the more crucial spots.

I've tuned my aggression down to where it probably should be, in the past i've been a bit maniacal in spots that made me lose my ass, and now i'm placing much deeper in some pretty large field mtts with less aggression. Getting to the last 3-4 tables consistently is a good feeling, and I'm positive not getting further is mostly due to a few beats or just not getting the cards/action.

Getting a bigstack from dead money players, then dealing with random guys like gank or other high level players, is something I have to work on. But anyways, i'm running pretty well right now, even for MTTs, and hope to see some bigger results in the near future.

Not much poker in this entry, but you're welcome to keep on reading. I feel like getting a few things off my chest, since this is one of the best places for me to do it. I don't know how many people actually read this, but that doesn't matter anyway.

Society trips me out, and so do the people in the military. We're all supposed to be "comrades" and "shipmates" and all that, but the truth is 99% of the people I meet are in it for themselves, in everything they do. Now this isn't necessarily news I know, but it's something that bothers me every day when I see someone do something I don't like.

Here's an example, think of people you know, who ONLY talk to you when THEY need something? Or the people who avoid you simply because they don't need to use you for something. I have absolutely no respect for those people, and sadly there are a lot of shitbags like that in the Coast Guard, and in the civilian world as well.

My advice to those who don't know how to choose friends or lovers wisely, there are 2 definite things you need to look for. Honor and respect. Honor is integrity with humility, and respect is the willingness to show consideration. Without these, you can not expect to have any kind of real relationship with that person, or one that is worthwhile anyways. Sure, you can work with them at the office and put up with their shit, but at the end of the day, you go your seperate ways.

Anyway though, poker's been good lately, and i've been crushing short handed games. If anyone is looking to improve their limit game, King Yao's book "Weighing the Odds" is the best book i've read. It goes indepth on positional play, analyzes hands like AQo, ATo, and gets very specific in areas alot of authors can't or won't discuss.

So that's about all I have, take it as you may.

Yep, i'm *finally* getting time to play poker. I made a promise to myself to keep honing my poker skills, and finally got to play some $2-4 and $3-6 tonight. My plan is to play 2-4,3-6, and 5-10 until I have a big enough roll for $15-30. Unfortunately, I can't play 40 hours a week and get thousands of hands in, but I will be multi tabling when I can. I really spent alot of time thinking about poker away from the tables, and figured out some key things to truly beat it, and the guy from http://zbasic.com/pokerblog.html kind of reinforced how I've always felt. Game texture is probably the biggest thing to determine if you walk away winner or loser,... I truly believe that. How good you are is relative, what really matters is how bad *they* are.

I play less often now, but I'm definitely more serious about it. Some new "disciplines" i've applied to my game are.

1. Always play in great games, not "ok" games, or tight games.
2. Learn to make better folds where it's kind of obvious i'm beat. Barry Greenstein makes a point in his book that people call too often in spots when it's blatant as day obvious you have a worse hand.

There's a few more I might add later, but for now I have to sleep, my roommates probably don't want to hear my keyboard.

What's up folks, January was a BUSY month for me. Get a drink or something because this is quite a read:

It's been a while, but I'm totally settled in Petaluma CA now at "A" school for the Coast Guard. The move from Texas included me stopping in Vegas for 4 days, and I had a great 1st time. I played in various games, I got my feet wet at the Golden Nugget, then over the course of 4 days, I played $4-8 limit at Sahara and Bellagio, $200 NL at Stardust, and a $6-12 game at the Mirage. The best ones were $4-8 at Bellagio and $200 NL at Stardust. Of the 6 "sessions" i played, 4 were winners, and 2 were losers for me. The $6-12 mirage game was the tightest shit i've ever seen, but I was taking advantage of the players to my left. If I raised in LP, I could auto-bet the flop and take it down pretty much every time from a few of them.

One guy had probably the best poker face i've seen in a live game, he'd bluff me on the turn/river alot and had me convinced until I decided to call based on decent odds. The vegas rounders blend in very well, and you'll even forget they are at your table, the true chameleons do anyhow.

The biggest hand I can remember was in the $6-12 game, it went like this.

CO was a weak tight girl, low on chips
LP was a retired guy, maniac though
EP was tight passive

tight EP limped, I limp 77, loose maniac limped LP, CO raised, blinds fold, all call

flop J72 rainbow
EP checks, I bet, LP raised, CO 3-bet, I call, EP folds, LP calls
turn: J (still rainbow, awesome card)
I bet, LP raised, CO 3-bet, I cap, LP calls, CO (was all-in here i think, no more chips)
river 3
I bet, LP raised, I 3-bet, LP caps, I call

LP shows KJ for 3 jacks, CO shows AA, I show 77 for 7s full of Js and take the pot. I think that was the only set I flopped the entire time I was in vegas.

The $200 NL Stardust game was a damn turkey shoot. The table was a group of college kids just bsing and getting drunk (they were decent players), 2 old guys, a maniac gambler, and a stat and odds spewing "professor" (i got him to shut up though). I didn't win any massive all-ins but I overbet most of my hands and took down some good pots.

It looked like the group of "friends" had been there a while because most were deep stacked ($500-$700), but I couldn't extract any money out of them other than what they bluffed, I did from the retired guys though. That game only lasted 2 hours and the action dried up, so I went to bed around 3am.

The craziest game I saw was a $2-5 NL game with a guy who had bought in for $5000 or so, and he was making huge preflop all-ins. A guy finally doubled through and snapped $1k off him by limping aces, then the gambler guy got up and left the table (he was pissed)

Anyway, I packed up, left Vegas, and headed out to Petaluma. With all this Vegas talk you wouldn't really think I'm in the Coast Guard, but I am. Monday thru Friday I'm pretty much busy all day with class, so I can't post a lot, but I will keep you guys updated if I play any poker After spending 2 months in bootcamp, 4 days of poker in Vegas was such a relief, I enjoyed every minute.

Where to begin... i've been home for 3 days, and it feels good. I'll probably stay here until the 12th or so, then start my road trip to Petaluma California (Vegas is on the way, so i'm stopping there for a few days). My "A" school is 6 months long in Petaluma, and i'll have my car out there so it should be pretty nice.

I can't wait to start playing some poker again, Vegas is going to be a blast. Live games have always been better for me. Before I went to bootcamp, I was beating my local games pretty badly, so they were probably glad to see me go.

As far as a New years Resolution goes, it'd have to be that I give 110% effort in "A" school, as class rank determines who picks their stations first (16 person class, 20+ choices or so). Another would have to be to keep working on my game, even with me being busy in the military. Petaluma is going to give me a lot of free time, and I'm not going to waste it.

Anyways, if anyone happens to be in Vegas around the 14th-17th or so, let me know.

We all get to a point in our lives where a different road must be taken, and I'm definitely there. I hope you have something to drink, because this is a somewhat long post.

As of Sunday I'll be an official Coast Guard recruit, and i'll be on my way to Cape May, New Jersey for 8 weeks of bootcamp. I'm on top of the physical training requirements, but I know the sleep deprevation is going to hurt for the first week, and that'll be my main weakness. Boot camp initially starts out stressful and exhausting, but it gets progressively easier towards graduation, to where it's hardly stressful at all.

Today will be my last day as a civillian, and I'm anxious. Some might ask, what makes a person join the military? It really comes down to future expectations, "the long run" if you want to call it that. The work I put into the next 4 years is going to pave a solid future for myself, including basically free college when finished.

When I get out of boot in early January, I'll have some time off before I report to Petaluma, CA. My "A" school is located there where they train electrical technicians (ETs), which is my job of choice for the Coast Guard. It'll include 5 months of intensive training for electrical theory and repair.

I'd also like to thank all you guys at FTR for improving my poker game, because i've definitely seen the results since I joined. Even though I'm in the military, poker isn't going to disappear from my life. I'll have less time to play, but the intensity will still be there, and probably even more of it when I'm at the tables.

To anyone else who has serious goals or dreams, don't delay pursuing them, knuckle up and get to it. I'll still post from time to time, but you won't see me on for a while.

Good luck everyone, this is James signing off.