Welcome mobsters, if you are reading this blog for the very first time, I thank you for your initial interest. I think that if you give it a little time, you will find something that will peak your interest.
I am a semi-pro poker player and an author. I am currently working on several projects for publication, and will be discussing them on occasion in this blog. If you are a fan then I warn you, from time to time there will be spoiler book ideas discussed.
Section 1: Poker Tips & Concepts
Figure out just what the heck you are playing poker for and do it fast.
Do you play poker just for the fun and entertainment of the game? If so then that is great. You need do nothing but play and have as much fun as you can while doing so.
Do you play because you want to become a poker pro and gain fortune and fame?
If so then you need to be prepaired to pay your dues along the way. Nobody is going to just hand you over their hard earned money and say, "hear you are one of the greats, please take my money".
You need to educate yourself about the game. Read books, watch expects play, think about moves that you made and lost money on and figure out why you lost. Learn from your mistakes, take courses if you can. You might hire a poker coach or just watch free youtube videos about learning to play poker well.
The point is if you want to make a living you got to become an expert at the game and it has been said time and again that to become an expert in anything takes about 10 000 hours. Are you willing to put in the time and effort required to achieve greatness? Are you really that devoted?
If you are then good for you mate, go for your dream!
Design a plan for yourself, so you can do all the things needed to become an expert and then work the plan. Remember that today with online poker sites and the massive number of hands which you can play multi-tabling that you can greatly amass alot of poker experience fast and greatly cut down that 10000 hour threshold. Best of luck to us all.
Until next time
Section 2: "Ronin's Bankroll Management Challenge"
Well this section is going to be familiar to the forum regulars as I have been running this section for awhile in the forums, It is about the single most important skill a poker player must have in their arsenal in order to be a successful winning player.
Bankroll Management has been estimated to be the single most neglected poker skill by almost 95% of all players. Countless books have been written on the subject, and yet most players most often just ignore the rules of proper bankroll management.
I too fall into this trap at times. This section is intended to show how proper bankroll management can ensure that and good poker player who approaches his bankroll and poker play from a solid and disciplined position can succeed.
It also is intended to help me to remain focus and discipline in my own bankroll quest to succeed. The 1st part of the year in 2014 will see me discussing heavily the results of a combined staking run between myself and a fellow mobster. (His name will be withheld to keep people from asking him for stakes which he does not need the grief from) The next 60 bankroll challenge will begin Monday January 27th, 2014.
Section 3: The daily rant.
Well today is another hell of a day. I somehow put my back out three days ago and I am still in absolute agony. The pain medication is helping at least. I have been using my time in bed wisely though. I have been doing a great deal of thinking about my life in general and have come up with a list of the top ten goals which I want to work on over the next five years.
I then looked at my list of ten and asked myself a very powerful question. I ask myself if I could achieve any one of these goals by tomorrow morning with 100% guaranteed success which one would I choose to make happen by tomorrow.
That one single goal I then circled on the list, as deemed it to be the single most important goal for me to achieve in my life over the next 5 years. I recommend each and every one of use do this exercise in goal setting for yourself as well, the result just might surprise you. What was my primary goal you ask? It is to get as physically fit and healthy as I possibly can.
In section 5 of today's blog post you will see a new exercise routine which I have devised for myself to help me achieve my fitness goals. Hurrah for me. Well until next time, be cool.
Section 4: The call of the Muse (Wednesday's)
This section will also be familiar to forum regulars. I am resurrecting Ronin's Short Story blog which I ran for a time. Yes mobsters I am going to write more poker based shorts here on BankrollMob.
I have decided to once again start writing in "The Bluff - A Poker Short Story". I will re-post the entire story here in this new blog area along with a new section in the next few hours. I apologize to Steve's fans for the long wait.
I hope you enjoy the new blog area.
The Bluff - A Poker Short Story
Chapter 1, Part #4
He then drove back down to where his Taurus was still patiently idling and pulled the pin on one of the grenades. He tossed it under his car then tramped the accelerator. The Lincoln had traveled almost five car lengths before the explosion behind him erupted, and car alarms and sirens began to sound. He manoeuvred the Lincoln up and onto the street and drove just one block, he turned onto the first left and drove three blocks then pulled into a parking garage and parked the Lincoln trunk first in the rear corner which had the added advantage of placing the driver's side along the wall. Stepping out of the vehicle he surveyed the area the popped the trunk release for the second time tonight. He retrieved his things and placed them on the ground arranging them neatly. He then very quickly searched the car for anything he deemed of value, and of course he took the things the four men had been carrying. He packed them away into his gear bag which was getting both full and heavy.
He then popped open the gas tank cover latch and opened the cover, he placed the grenade into the opening and using a piece of duct tape from his go bag secured it into place. He then used some fishing line from a spoil he also had in the bag to tie around the pin which he would now be able to spring from a distance. Steve simply picked up his things and calmly walked away from the vehicle allowing the line to quietly spoil out until he was one hundred feet away and stepping out onto the sidewalk, he then turn the spoil around which stopped it from allowing more line to roll off, It did not take long before he felt the line go very tight and then release as he continued to walk calmly away.
There was an explosion from inside the parking structure and a car alarm sounded from behind him as he simply turned the corner. Three blocks down on the right he found a restaurant which stayed open all night, he entered and took a set in the rear corner with his back to the wall and a view of the entrance. He placed his bags on the inside between him and the side wall with his laptop case on the table to his left. He opened the case and then got out his laptop computer.
The waitress brought him a menu and he ordered a coffee to start along with a steak (well done), with a baked potatoes and carrots on the side, he also added a side of fried onions for his steak. The meal ordered he opened the laptop and placed his personal internet wireless connect card into its USB port then logged online. The entire ordeal which he just went through only took him 25 minutes and there was a five minute break in there so he could very easily still be in the tournament. He logged into his poker account and the tournament table immediately opened up with just 5 players left, his chip stack had been blinded down to $283578 chips. He smiled however because he was back in the game.
Steve was the big blind and looking at his two new hole cards. He had a suited King and Queen of spades. There was only five players left and he wanted to make a move at rebuilding some lost chips. The first player to act made a 3bet of 240K the next player folded and the small blind shoved all in for $1 325 214 in chips. The blinds of 40k/80k with 10k antes it would require him to push his last $203578 chips into the pot and hope for the best. His suited King and Queen in a three way pot would not be so bad, but he decided to fold. He hoped the two were going to fight each other, and if they did he wanted the chip leader to win.
Steve liked that the difference between 5th place and 4th place was an increase of almost $500 US. The Canadian player did call the chip leader and their cards were shown. The chip leader in the small blind position showed an Ace of hearts, 10 clubs. The Canadian in the UTG position showed pocket 9's a spade and diamond, the hand played itself out as follows.
The flop was 7 diamond, 3 clubs, Jack of diamonds
The Turn was a Ace of spades
The River popped a 9 of clubs
The Canadian just took a huge chunk out of the chip leader and as Steve watched the 967K in chips slid across his screen he was pleased that he avoided that freight train, as it would have just cost him the tournament, if had he tried to protect his big blind. The small blind was dealt out and he was looking at 8c, 2s which he folded just as his steak arrived and he asked the waitress for another coffee. He had less then 200K in chips now, he decided that he was going to shove all in with his next legitimate hand.
Exploding window glass scared the hell out of the four officers working in the outer office of Gen. Craig Mathews, The coffee cup which just shattered against the wall opposite the generals door was the least of their concerns. The general was heard slamming down the telephone receiver and was bellowing for his personal aide Maj. Anderson. The major jumped up and rushed into the lion's den prepared to weather a real shit storm, the moment Gen. Mathews laid eyes on his subordinate he started in on the man and giving orders.
He spoke, "Clear that fucking room out Major our conversation is nobody else's damned business!"
Maj. Anderson stepped into the room and could see the other three officers were already evacuating the area and wasting no time at all.
The door closed behind the third man and the Major turned back around and stood at attention and saluted to Gen. Mathews who immediately restarted speaking, "Grenades Major, Who the fuck told them God damned morons that they could use grenades while trying to eliminate the fucking target. Holy shit do you have any idea the position this puts us in now. The God damned press is all over this now claiming it is everything from a terrorist attack, to a full blown drug war taking place in our streets. The stupid sons of bitches did not even kill their target. Do you have any idea how bad this makes us look?
Well Major don't just stand there like a damn idiot answer me."The Major Cleared his throat before speaking softly,
"General might I presume sir, that, I have your permission to speak freely?"
Anderson did not continue until Gen. Mathews nodded his affirmative response and returned his salute. The general also ordered him to stand at ease. The Major continued softly speaking, "Sir, might I suggest that we keep our voices down when discussing this matter. I am certain you would not want unknown soldiers who are not trustworthy to overhear something they might misunderstand. The four dead men can't be traced back to us sir. They were company boys before they got themselves killed. In their defense they did terminate three of the four targets before everything went wrong."General Mathews held up a hand and then began to speak in a calm but angry voice.
"James we need to get this situation under control fast. There are already powerful people asking questions, and they are the kinds of questions that we do not want to need answer. I thought this was going to be a simple operation to take out some assets which were deemed too dangerous to be allowed to continue onward. You told me killing them was going to be a simple matter easily explained away as random acts of gang violence or accidents. Now we got all hell breaking loose, and the press is all over the terrorism story like it is Christmas in July."Major Anderson nodded understandingly then spoke again.
"Well general. We could leek the story that all four men were part of a drug cartel. We could say they attempted to muscle in on local criminal elements and got more than they bargained for from the locals. This might buy us some time to find Lt. Cole and get him dealt with permanently."
General Mathews held up a hand again, "James I want to see this man's dossier. I want to know everything about him possible. We need to know exactly what he can and or might be able to do. I want to know just how badly he can hurt us.
"Steve Cole finished off his forth cup of coffee and then ordered a piece of triple layer chocolate cake with a scoop of vanilla ice crème on top as desert for his meal. He knew that he had to go to ground and hide someplace for a few days, but his training told him that, the best thing he could do right now, was wait until things calmed down over the next few hours. The members of his unit where trained to be ghosts. He was taught about escape and evasion from the best the company had to offer. His military training before that had also prepared him well. He know that the natural instinct to run had to be suppressed. The police and intelligence agency's would be looking for anyone trying to flee the area, and by doing nothing at all, and looking seeming uninterested in anything around him, he was staying off their radar.
Sitting in this restaurant like a he did not have a care in the world was the safest thing for him until mornings first light. He would be polite and soft spoken and completely undemanding, the perfect late night customer, and when the sun came up he was going to pay his bill and leave a good tip. He would politely request the staff call him a taxi to take him to the airport, but until then he would just trust his training and stay calm.
Steve Cole looked at his new hole cards which was a pair of queens. This had certainly been his tournament for getting pocket queens and right now they looked damn nice to him. There was still five players left and he was the short stack at the table and since he was first to act he just shoved the chips all-in. He felt confident that he would get at least one caller but everyone at the table called him. The other four players all had his chip stack covered and to Steve's surprise they all just check all the way to the river, They where all trying to get him eliminated to increase their own payouts and being gentlemen about their attempt.
The long and the short of it was simple his queens died a horrid little death to two pair and he was out of the tournament in 5th place for a nice little cash payout of $1834.60 USD. All things considered, he just could not see how to be anything but pleased with the result, especially since he almost did not even make the money. The amount of everything else that went wrong during this tournament made the result even more amazing.
So until later mates.
Section 5: The Escape
Welcome to what for me might very well be the most difficult section of the blog to write on a daily bases. In this section, I will attempt to keep a detailed food intake log, as well as an honest accounting of a daily exercise routine, which hopefully will move me steadily towards the goal of getting physically healthy.
In May 2013 I was admitted into hospital and they weight me at that time at the weight of 602 lbs. I spent 64 days in the hospital and during that time they had me on an 1800 calorie a day diabetic diet. On the day I was released from the hospital I was weighted at 542 lbs.
During the 1st month my weight climbed back upward to 158 lbs again.
I became very depressed about this and honestly just wanted to die. I could not see my life getting better and was constantly in extreme pain which required me to take a lot of pain medications just to stay somewhat functional.
I decided to lose weight even if it killed me. In October I began, and in November I was weighted at 536 lbs. I have not been weight since.
In December I completely went off the rails and I am convinced that I regained some weight back. I plan to get weight very soon in order to have a truer starting number to once again begin working from. I believe that I am right around 550 lbs again, I have a 74" waist and ware an 8X T-Shirt.
It is humiliating to admit these facts but I fell I must be honest with you all of why even bother with this section, my hope is that by making myself accountable to my fellow BankrollMob members that it will motivate me to succeed this time unlike past failures.
The exercise levels for the day will not be great, as I was in a lot of pain, my back is out and can barely move at all. Looking at the day ahead, I think I probably will take in more calories then I exercise away. Will do better tomorrow, I really need to work on my diet and exercise routine. I am at least being honest about what I have done, and realize I MUST do better. It all comes in baby steps and at least I am trying.
I am going to develop a better way of keeping the daily food intake log. I need to have a much better record of the calories which I am truly eating.
I have been working on this issue since the 1st of January, 2014 but I have not really been having as much success as I would like. I am thinking about counselling from a dietitian to get me food choices improved, going to do some investigation on YouTube about healthy eating.
The journey continues... I have stated above that I have thrown my back out somehow but that I have been using my time being mostly bed ridden well. I am morbidly obese as you all know. Most exercises are currently beyond my ability to do safely, so I have give it much careful thought and come up with the following exercise routine for myself. The plan is to do them every day if I can. I do believe I can do everything on the list everyday.
My Starting Exercise Routine to get Healthy
By
Leonard E. Spencer
Upper Body Routine
1. Front Arm lifts - knees, chest, up to the sky, chest, knees
2. Side Arm lifts - hips, shoulders, up to sky cross over, shoulder, hips
3. Front Hand over palm circles - forwards and back
4. Front Punches -
5. Seated jumping jacks -
6. Alternating Shoulder shuffle -
7. Shoulder twist -
8. Upper Body free Weight routine -
Lower Body Routine
1. Front Leg extension lifts -
2. Seated Calf raises -
3. Ankle turns, both directions -
4. Short walks from the bed to the apartment door and back again -
5. Side leg lifts while in bed, both legs -
