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
Position is king when playing poker.
How many times have you heard this age old truism?
It is true that position on a poker table is extremely important. Most new players do not even consider the relationship between themselves and the dealer button. Many beginners only see it as a way to keep track of when it is their turn to pay the blinds. Always remember that the blinds are the worst two positions and that it is actually the small blind position which is the absolute worst position there is after the pre flop round has finished. The small blind must always act first on every betting round and everyone has position on you if you are in the small blind. I personally have been told that whenever a person is in a blind position they should only the top 4 starting hands and fold everything else. However, many people make the mistake of opening up their hand ranges whenever they are in the big blind position. Many people think that they must always defend the big blind because their money is already in the middle.
I would say to you, that is NOT the case at all. Once the money goes into the pot it is NOT yours anymore. Players must learn that over time through reading books, and studying the game we all love. It is one of the first things a player must come to understand to move from the fish stage of poker player to somewhat successful or even winning player.
Many players also need to learn that they often should fold before the river. Do NOT get me wrong I like making money of calling stations just as much as the next guy but it can sure be frustration watching complete idiots suck out win after win simply because of miracle rivers, but that is another topic I guess.
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 one hell of a day. I have somehow put my back out and am in absolute agony. The pain medication is doing nothing for me at all that I can tell at least. It is a true ordeal just to get out of bed and go to the washroom. Why is it when you tell people you are spending the day in bed to relax as much as possible they want to come by for a visit. I do not want visitors, I need peace and quiet not annoying company. I am going to need to do a medication purge again to lower my tolerance levels or get stronger pain meds. Do not want to get stronger meds so I must endore the pain and go cold turkey angain for a week to realign my body to them again.
I will also need to eat some pizza or something for food later as I am in no shape today to cook anything with my back out. Not a fun day today to say the least, just had a friend Mike show up totally unannounced to visit he seemed slightly miffed when I told him I was not getting out of my bed because I put my back out, his but I came by to visit remark was meet with a "too damn bad you did not call first, my back is out and I am in agony, you can sit here in a chair and chat if you like, or you can try again later to see if I can get up then." He is going to come back in a few hours. 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 #3
Looking at the lobby he could see that they were down to eleven players. There was five on his table and the first player to act was the Canadian who folded his cards then it was Steve's turn and he made a 160K bet in order to represent strength and hopefully to only get one caller if any. The button and small blind both folded and the big blind went all in for $216324 in chips, which the pocket queens he was holding demanded he snap call with. He listened to the ladies and waited to see the results.
The cards for both himself and his opponent were turned over and Steve was ahead pre-flop, since the big blind had Ace diamonds, 10 Diamonds
The flop came out Five spades, Jack clubs, seven hearts.
The Turn was a King Clubs
The River was a pretty 10 hearts
Steve's ladies were good and held up fine. He was smiling to himself as he watched the chips slid into his stack and the table seen a new player get moved over from the other table. The lobby showed ten players left and he knew he was going to make the final table for sure. His chip stack of $706556 chips put him in 2nd place for chips over all.
Steve's unit beeper sounded and he instantly reached for his phone. Steve's blood ran cold the moment he heard the noise in the background of the communication officer. The unit contact number was as always answered on the first ring, and he gave his standard greeting. The response he received was as follows, "Sandstorm 2nd down and long, I repeat, Sandstorm 2nd down and long"
The immediate click and the phone line going dead told Steve Cole that this was no damned drill. He never ever expected to receive that message when he called the unit command line. He immediately called the line back and an automated operator message told him, "that the line he was dialing was no longer in service." He gently hung up his phone as to not make a sound.
Looking at his computer laptop he folded his new hole cards which was 9 2 off suit. He looked at the lobby display and seeing that the tournament went on break in 6 minutes he just clicked the sit out next hand button. He had to move quickly now, but without making noise and without making any mistakes now. The first thing he did was very carefully walk over to his closet beside the door and grab his go bag and sit it out beside the door, then he turned off the light which plunged his apartment into darkness, with the exception of the light which was coming in from outside sources. He gave his eyes a minute to adjust to the new light levels then he began moving again. He entered his bedroom and turned right stepping into the walk-in closet, he closed the door behind him before turning on the light. The light was only a 20 watt red bulb like you would find in a photographers dark room, but it was enough for him to see for what he had to do.
"Sandstorm 2nd down and long", the voice had told him.
Steve knew want the coded message meant and he tried not to think about it on an emotional level, there would be plenty of time for that later. Now he had to stay alive and to do that he needed to focus on the immediate task at hand. The first attempt to code in his security code into the safe was a failure, because partway through his hand was shaking and he misclicked a number. He took a deep breath and softly spoke to himself. "Steve old buddy just relax. You always knew this could happen someday, and the others knew it too. Take a deep breath and slowly exhale, good now calm your fear. Do not let it control you, use it to hone your skills and help sharpen your senses, the immediate goal is to stay alive. You will have time later to figure out what the fuck went wrong and punish whoever is to blame."
Having taken control of himself he re-entered the safe security code and opened up his wall safe. First he retrieved his sidearm and slid in a full clip of ammo then he inserted its silencer into place. He then took its shoulder harness from its spot off the wall and put the weapon on and secured it properly in place. Turning slightly more to the right he reached up and removed a sports bag from the top shelf. It was the kind of bag that football or hockey players always used to carry their shoulder pads and other gear around in because it had plenty of room and could hold a lot of gear. He turned back around and removed the entire contents from his safe quickly without a sound, after placing them into the gear bag he closed the safe. He stepped to the rear of his closet and unlocked the gun case which ran along the entire rear wall.
The first weapon he grabbed was an MP-5 which was already loaded and silenced, he placed it on a small table immediately to his right for easy access. The second weapon was an M16A2 which he also loaded before placing it into the bag, then it was the pump action shot gun which could hold 14 rounds which he loaded with high impact shedder rounds. You open up on a room with this bad boy and you could clear it very fast indeed. Two colt .45 pythons were loaded and packed next and then he took out the spare clips which were always loaded for each of his weapons and placed them into his bag. then making sure the bag was properly positioned and completely open, he used his arm to make a long sweeping motion to just knock all the boxes of ammunition into his bag. He then stuffed three pairs of black pants and three black shirts into the bag along with two sweaters and six pairs of clean socks. The bag packed he closed it and placed it beside the table as well. He then put on his entire unit assault gear and over top put on his long black leather looking Kevlar trench coat.
He was suited up and armed to fight a small scale war and he knew exactly how he looked, it was almost 03:00 hours and he should not encounter anyone on his way to the underground garage where he kept his car. It was now time to get the hell out of here and find a safe place to hold up for a few days, he knew exactly what he was going to do in order to improve his odds of survival over the next three days. Retrieving his bags and weapons he turned off the light and with the MP-5 ready for use he listened before opening his closet door then reentered his darkened apartment. He crossed over to the laptop and seen the tournament was on break for 3 minutes and it looked like it was the final table. He closed the cover and then placed it into its laptop carrying bag along with the rest of its gear. He crossed over to his door and added his primary go bag to his collection of equipment, he was now prepared to leave into the night never to return.
Softly he spoke to no one in particular, "Sandstorm 2nd down and long"
Slipping out into the hallway with all his senses alert for any sign of trouble he briskly moved down the hallway until he reached the stairwell door across from the elevators. The moment he slid inside he swung out the MP-5 and flicked off its safety, the round indicator switch was set to semi-auto so he would only fire one bullet with each pull of the trigger. Quickly and quietly he began descending the stairs downward. He was heading for the underground garage where on sub level two he kept his 2011 Ford Taurus which was Kodiak Brown in color and fully loaded. He paused at the entrance door of the garage level and looked and listened, something felt wrong and he was not about to make a stupid mistake now. Deciding to trust his instincts he went back up one level, he slipped out into garage level one and he immediately broke hard to the left and took up a defensive crouch between the concrete wall and a SUV which was parked in a handicap slot. He was prepared for an assault. The moment he heard the engine of an idling vehicle within the garage he knew his instincts had been right. The sound was coming from his right, and it was echoing gently which told him it was on the level below him.
The vehicle was parked on Sublevel two which is where his car was parked, and from his current location his car was also to his right. This meant whoever was parked down below most likely was waiting for him to approach his car. Steve slid quietly along the front of the SUV moving left away from the direction of both his car and the vehicle with the engine running. He moved four vehicles down and then slid in between a mini-van and another SUV, He carefully put his bags down on the ground and slipped them under the SUV because it had the higher ground clearance.
Steve was now completely unencumbered and very quickly crossed over to the other side of the parking garage. Once there he rapidly moved right until his ears told him the running vehicle was directly in front of his current position one level down. There were still six more vehicles along this wall and so he moved past his location down three more positions, he then slipped in between the two parked cars. Steve did this so that he would be able to cross back across the garage at a diagonal while using a Dodge Caravan as cover to shield him from the view of anyone within the car who's engine was running. He was certain now that it was a car. He silently slid over to the edge of the garage parking level and confirmed his position in relation to the car which he could now see was a black 2012 Lincoln Town Car.
Steve silently dropped down over the edge and landed on the lower level without a sound, and was moving instantly towards the Lincoln which was parked with its trunk facing inward. Positioning himself at the rear of the vehicle next to the Lincoln he reached into his pocket and hit the button for his automatic car starter to start his vehicles engine. The Taurus started without hesitation and as soon as it did he moved from his position very rapidly to stand behind the Lincoln, he switched the selector switch to full auto and raised up his MP-5. Steve seeing the four men were all looking at his car and one of them was holding a pistol he opened fire and the rear window exploded as he swept his weapon from left to right and then back again. Ejecting his clip and slamming another into its place he once again flicked the selector switch back to semi-auto.
Stepping to the rear window on the driver's side he fired another round into the heads of each of the four men, from his current position he was now able to see that both men in the rear seat had Uzi sub-machine guns and that the passenger appeared to have an AK-47 with a barrel drum clip in place. The targets without a doubt had been there to kill him. Steve reached into the rear passenger window and opened door and hauled the man outside onto the ground, he then stripped the man of all weapons, jewelry, and cash, the man carried no identification. The same procedure was quickly repeated for the other three men as well. Steve was amused to find two grenades among the four assassins possessions.
Steve thought quickly and then smiled, he just had an idea which might buy him a little time. He slid behind the wheel of the Lincoln and eased it into drive. He pulled out and drove up one level to where he had left his equipment and gear bags. He slid out of the passengers side door after flicking the trunk release, quickly retrieving his things he placed them into the Lincoln's rear trunk.
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.
