davidross
08-27-2003, 11:45 AM
Well I’m back from my vacation, if you can really have a vacation when you’re not working in the first place. My family has been going to Ocean Park Maine every year in August since I was born. I missed a few years when I moved to Toronto and was first married, but since my daughter was born in 1987 we’ve gone every year again. We rent a cottage on the beach, and my brother and sister share another one. My mother came for a few days too. This is the first time there without my dad, who died in January. It was a little strange to think he was body surfing with us last year at this time.
The cottage was rented last December and for the first time we rented for two weeks. Of course at that time I had no idea I would be out of work and we’d always wanted to stay 2 weeks. It’s 11 hours of driving for us, and 1 week passes so quickly. Money is a little tight these days so I thought I would try and see if I could play poker in the evenings to defray some of the costs. Unfortunately, when I called the rental agent I was told there was no telephone in the cottage so it was going to be difficult to get an internet connection. When I mentioned it to one of my more technical friends he suggested using my cell phone as a modem. I did some investigating and it seemed to be feasible as long as there was 1X service where I was going. According to the web site Portland Maine has 1X service, and that’s only 10 miles from where we were going so I decided to take a chance. I still had some concerns about the signal. Quite often in these cottages, cell phones wouldn’t work due to interference. Although it has been much better in recent years. I spent $100 cdn, to buy the kit that included the cable and the software necessary to use my cell phone as a modem, and another $100 for unlimited data transfer for the month and no roaming charges from the US. I tried to borrow a laptop, but ended up renting one for $150. So I was $350 in the hole before leaving.
We break up the trip by staying at my Sister in laws house in Montreal on the way there and on the way home, so on Friday we drove to Montreal and spent the night. They have a beautiful home with a pool, and I quickly set up my lap top to try it out. It worked perfectly. It was heaven. I was outside by the pool with a cold beer playing poker. And I won a little bit too. I discovered the only shortcoming of my plan. The phone is poorly designed. The connection is on the bottom of the phone, and while it is being used it won’t fit in the charger, so my connection time is limited to the life of the battery, around 2 hours and 20 minutes I discovered.
On Saturday we continued on to Maine and I kept checking my phone to see if the 1X symbol would appear. As we exited the highway it did. I unpacked the car in record time and hooked everything up to give it a test run and it worked great. I played every night for as long as the battery would last and had a lot of success the first week, winning around $800. The second week was a different story however as I lost for 5 consecutive nights. Small losses, but losses nonetheless. Finally I put 2 nice wins together on the last 2 nights and ended up $1,100 up for the 2 week vacation. Certainly covered the $350 investment.
Each year we are there I rush over to Borders to check out the poker books. Much better selection than I get here at home. Last year I bought, Theory of Poker, Tournament Poker, the Psychology of Poker and Feeney’s book which I have mentioned before as my favorite. This summer I bought 3 more. I got The Amarillo slim bio, which I just loved. I also bought “Telling Lies and getting Paid” a collection of 14 gambling stories. It was entertaining, and the last story is the authors experience at 3 consecutive WSOP finals, and that was worth the price of the book. Finally I bought Phil Hellmuth’s book. The Jury is still out on this one, since I’m reading the hold’em sections again, but my losing streak coincided with reading this one. He recommends play so much more aggressive than I usually am it took me right out of my comfort zone. I think it might be a little like the great ball players who make lousy coaches. They can’t figure out why everyone can’t play like them.
Yesterday was my first full day back and I had a horrible afternoon at Party. I lost over $250 which is my biggest loss ever there. I hope it was just bad cards but I’m not entirely sure. I sense a couple of problems with my game lately. I don’t know if the 2 hour limitation had something to do with it, but I think I’m playing more hands in the wrong places, and I think I’m playing over-aggressive. I seem to be getting out kicked a lot, and not winning many big pots. Maybe just a short term variation but I need to watch it.
I returned to Paradise last night. After my tough afternoon I decided to try something new. I played 2 5/10 games at paradise, and 2 3/6 games at Party. I did this for about 2 hours, then took a break to put kids to bed. When I came back I played 1 5/10 game at paradise and 3 3/6 games at Party. I ended up winning $650 at paradise, but losing another $100 at Party. I played much tighter at Paradise (The game dictated that more than any preference of mine) and I’m sure that had something to do with it. I think I will try that again tonight. The 4 games is quite a challenge, no watching TV while that’s going on.
It’s good to be home. Still no job prospects, so I’ll be grinding it out for a little while longer. Cya at the tables.
The cottage was rented last December and for the first time we rented for two weeks. Of course at that time I had no idea I would be out of work and we’d always wanted to stay 2 weeks. It’s 11 hours of driving for us, and 1 week passes so quickly. Money is a little tight these days so I thought I would try and see if I could play poker in the evenings to defray some of the costs. Unfortunately, when I called the rental agent I was told there was no telephone in the cottage so it was going to be difficult to get an internet connection. When I mentioned it to one of my more technical friends he suggested using my cell phone as a modem. I did some investigating and it seemed to be feasible as long as there was 1X service where I was going. According to the web site Portland Maine has 1X service, and that’s only 10 miles from where we were going so I decided to take a chance. I still had some concerns about the signal. Quite often in these cottages, cell phones wouldn’t work due to interference. Although it has been much better in recent years. I spent $100 cdn, to buy the kit that included the cable and the software necessary to use my cell phone as a modem, and another $100 for unlimited data transfer for the month and no roaming charges from the US. I tried to borrow a laptop, but ended up renting one for $150. So I was $350 in the hole before leaving.
We break up the trip by staying at my Sister in laws house in Montreal on the way there and on the way home, so on Friday we drove to Montreal and spent the night. They have a beautiful home with a pool, and I quickly set up my lap top to try it out. It worked perfectly. It was heaven. I was outside by the pool with a cold beer playing poker. And I won a little bit too. I discovered the only shortcoming of my plan. The phone is poorly designed. The connection is on the bottom of the phone, and while it is being used it won’t fit in the charger, so my connection time is limited to the life of the battery, around 2 hours and 20 minutes I discovered.
On Saturday we continued on to Maine and I kept checking my phone to see if the 1X symbol would appear. As we exited the highway it did. I unpacked the car in record time and hooked everything up to give it a test run and it worked great. I played every night for as long as the battery would last and had a lot of success the first week, winning around $800. The second week was a different story however as I lost for 5 consecutive nights. Small losses, but losses nonetheless. Finally I put 2 nice wins together on the last 2 nights and ended up $1,100 up for the 2 week vacation. Certainly covered the $350 investment.
Each year we are there I rush over to Borders to check out the poker books. Much better selection than I get here at home. Last year I bought, Theory of Poker, Tournament Poker, the Psychology of Poker and Feeney’s book which I have mentioned before as my favorite. This summer I bought 3 more. I got The Amarillo slim bio, which I just loved. I also bought “Telling Lies and getting Paid” a collection of 14 gambling stories. It was entertaining, and the last story is the authors experience at 3 consecutive WSOP finals, and that was worth the price of the book. Finally I bought Phil Hellmuth’s book. The Jury is still out on this one, since I’m reading the hold’em sections again, but my losing streak coincided with reading this one. He recommends play so much more aggressive than I usually am it took me right out of my comfort zone. I think it might be a little like the great ball players who make lousy coaches. They can’t figure out why everyone can’t play like them.
Yesterday was my first full day back and I had a horrible afternoon at Party. I lost over $250 which is my biggest loss ever there. I hope it was just bad cards but I’m not entirely sure. I sense a couple of problems with my game lately. I don’t know if the 2 hour limitation had something to do with it, but I think I’m playing more hands in the wrong places, and I think I’m playing over-aggressive. I seem to be getting out kicked a lot, and not winning many big pots. Maybe just a short term variation but I need to watch it.
I returned to Paradise last night. After my tough afternoon I decided to try something new. I played 2 5/10 games at paradise, and 2 3/6 games at Party. I did this for about 2 hours, then took a break to put kids to bed. When I came back I played 1 5/10 game at paradise and 3 3/6 games at Party. I ended up winning $650 at paradise, but losing another $100 at Party. I played much tighter at Paradise (The game dictated that more than any preference of mine) and I’m sure that had something to do with it. I think I will try that again tonight. The 4 games is quite a challenge, no watching TV while that’s going on.
It’s good to be home. Still no job prospects, so I’ll be grinding it out for a little while longer. Cya at the tables.