Scheduled Site Down Time For Upgrade
Date: Mon, Aug 11, 2008 Professional Internet
The site will be down for a few hours starting at 2:00 AM EST on Aug 12th as we make a major upgrade to the back-end software for Stoxpoker.
The changes visually to the site will be minor (those are planned in the near future also). The primary change you will be aware of is that the site performance and speed will be much faster.
Thanks for your patience.
Jim
Understanding My Small Empire + Jujie!
Date: Mon, Aug 11, 2008 Professional Internet
So I've earned a bit over $3M USD (with recent winnings it's very close, well over with rakeback) playing poker, which has been maybe 99% of my income for the last three years. Knock of nearly $1M for taxes, a loss for converting the majority of it to CAD when $1 USD was buying $0.95 CAD, conversion fees (luckily this is only about 1% as I clued into not using a commercial bank for this) and living expenses for those last 3 years and I'm not sitting on nearly as much money as many people tend to think.
Towards the start of July I was beginning to understand that my Windsor building was going to need some capital investment over the next few years, which flipped it from a cash-flow asset to a debt. In the long run it will still treat me quite well (and provides some much-needed diversity), but after sucking some extra funds out of the rest of my portfolio was not necessarily going to be doing anything terribly exciting in terms of growth (I am willing to accept that I have very odd standards about what constitutes exciting growth after poker). So originally I developed a bit of an angst about this, and then, fuck it, I decided that I can make $1k/hr playing 50/100 HU and if I have to invest a couple weeks to earn a peasantly almost-make-no-difference $30k or so I'd rather do it now than regret it later. That sentence may horrify just about everyone but I would like to point out that I am very consciously in the business of not grinding out capital and undertaking projects that aren't improving anyone's quality of life (as opposed to, say, my Dec 20 blog where I'm acting like a douche).
I ended up firing up the laptop in Windsor for a bit and I got quite into it at that point. I hit a sweet spot when I got back where I would get up on days where I didn't have afternoon plans and play for a couple hours and then move onto other stuff. And then I hit the old rut of swing-at-everything-soft never-quit-with-an-edge poker and somehow nearly every day I would wander to the computer with the intention of playing for a couple hours and turn it into an eight hour session. On the plus side I did grind out about $120k, the more notable point being that I had a $40k bankroll to start with. Towards the end of it I wasn't even paying attention, I would just browse through YouTube videos and such on one monitor while absent mindedly grinding on opponents, which is about the antithesis of playing poker well and getting anything meaningful out of it. After the initial genuine interest in the play wore off I found that at a very fundamental level I was still unwilling to put in all-out (admittedly somewhat manic) focus at the poker table. I have hit what felt like physical barriers playing poker at times and when I put that much energy into it it really dulls my personal involvement in the everyday. Unless there's a good reason to I'm not willing to do that anymore.
So I cashed out 2/3 of what I won on that run, leaving enough online this time that I would be able to come straight back to 100/200 when / if I'm ready to take it seriously. I've been bundling everything up (I basically have a 4-pronged business) and projecting income / growth over the next 5 years to attempt to loosely quantify where I'm at, and what, if anything, will be needed. I'm also starting to mull over the idea that I very well might want to do with my business at some point beyond generating personal income, and what the impact of adding additional funds now might be. I'm intending to prepare a proposal for some commercial lenders to try and raise additional funds for my land development arm, and if I am able to borrow substantially the impact of that will be quite large, but should that fail there is the option to basically self-finance through poker, or both, if that's desirable.
[Topic Change]
I was in a restaurant with a couple friends after soccer today watching the Olympics. I knew Jujie was fencing at approximately 10pm my time but I didn't really know if I'd ever get to see her fence since they don't broadcast everything. As it happens we're getting ready to leave the restaurant and Jujie comes on! She ended up winning her first match 13-9 after full time. To recap, Jujie is 50 years old and won the Olympic medal for China in '84 and decided to come out of retirement this year to try and compete in Beijing. This new story here is a good bio. The woman she was fencing was born in '87. Jujie's awesome. I'm actually reading right now that she just lost her second match 15-7, but that's hardly the point. Congratulations Jujie!
A Few Thoughts
Date: Sat, Aug 9, 2008 Professional Internet
The names of the days of the week have lost all meaning to me.
If I had three wishes the first would be that anvils would fall out of the sky and drop on people like in cartoons. The second would be to play a super user with a super super user account. I get to know what cards are coming and can see his hole cards. I would let the stacks get deep and let him run a huge bluff when the stacks are deep. I would allow the time bank run down, type in his hole cards in the chat box, hit and then type BOOM head shot. The third wish would be three more wishes.
I was sitting on a swiss ball the other night going over some PLO hands with my roommate. I hear a noise that sounds remarkably similar to the sound of air rushing out a tiny hole. I look to my roommate and say, "You hear that" He pauses, listens,and says, "Yeah" We both quickly look down. Then BOOOM. The ball bust and I fall flat on my ass. Bad beat.
Poker is about as fun as it ever has been. I am playing really well and getting a lot better. It has been a wild ride lately with some fun swongs, but whatever I am having so much fun I do not care. The other night after a 9 hour session(was stuck but finished up was not playing to get unstuck you bastards games were good.:)), which is very unusual for me because I get restless really quickly. I could not sleep because I was funning a lot of different situations through my head. I fell asleep for like 30 minutes, woke up and just laid there for several hours. I realized that I was not going to sleep and I really wanted to stack someone. So I got up and did just that. After my session the sun was coming up so I just decided to just stay awake and not mess up my sleep schedule worse than I already have. I ended up staying awake for like 30hrs straight and played a decent amount of poker. I booked several good short session throughout the day and went to bed around nine that night. I ended up sleeping for 14 straight hours. Pretty crazy. I think I won around 40K over the time period which was fun.
After walking for a couple of hours on the beach today I do not know if I could ever bring myself to leave the Caribbean. I love it down here and I still have so so so many places to explore.
Statements like the last one usually end up being really silly at some point in your life.
My Dad got 4 tickets to the Alabama Clemson game. Ship it.
I have not worn any thing on my feet but sandals since Las Vegas.
I love reading books about outlaws and degenerate gamblers.
Shooting stars are pretty common here on clear nights.
That is about it.
SlumpBuster!!! What do ya think?
Date: Mon, Aug 4, 2008 Professional Internet
If you don’t mind I’d really appreciate your honest feedback here. Also please click on the link I have provided for a write up/picture of this product I am about to talk about.
http://bostonist.com/2008/01/03/youks_new_energ.php
I have a friend named Brian who I have been buddies with since we were like 14 years old. He has always been extremely smart and at the same time has a cool personality. He’s not a nerdy smart kind of guy, but more like a hilarious, social type first who also happens to be a genius once you get to talking to him. He comes from a family that is extraordinarily successful and just a great bunch of people as well. He fits in that mold as well and I have always predicted since I was a teenager that Brian would do something to create enormous wealth through some sort of entrepreneurial means. He is entrepreneurial at heart and has been successful at virtually anything he has put his mind to. So as you guys can probably see, I have a lot of faith in him.
Over the past year or so, I have spent a pretty good deal of time talking to Brian about a product he and his 3 buddies have created together called Slumpbuster energy drink. The premise of the drink is that you will want to have one when you are looking to “bust out of a slump.” So you may be down on your luck at a casino (or in poker) and order a Slumpbuster to turn things around. Or maybe you haven’t gotten laid in awhile and so you go to a bar and order a Slumpbuster/Vodka…lol. The original concept was for baseball and you might want to have a Slumpbuster to break that hitting slump or if you’re down by a few runs late in the game, rather than putting on your rally cap, you drink a Slumpbuster. That is sort of the concept behind the drink anyway, and to me at least, the possibilities marketing wise seem endless and potential for some serious hilarity to ensue.
The product is currently being sold in a few stores here and there with their biggest customer being the LA Angels’ minor league team called the Quakes. Sales for Slumpbuster in this stadium have significantly outperformed Monster and Redbull who are currently the industry leaders. So to me this seems very encouraging. Granted, this product being in a baseball stadium is the perfect environment for it, but beating Redbull and Monster in any environment is not half bad.
Slumpbuster is currently being represented by Boston Red Sox All Star Kevin Youkilis. He has made quite a name for himself over the last couple of years and is very excited about the product. Thanks, to his help, the company got a big break a few weeks ago when Kevin was playing in the All Star game and passed out a bunch of Slumpbusters to his teammates when they trailed in the game. The cameras panned in on the dugout and noticed that Kevin was passing out all of these drinks and just like that, Slumpbuster was getting some major advertising on a highly rated national broadcast. Several different companies on the east coast of the USA have since inquired about the product and there is currently quite a buzz about it. If you do a search on the product there is a pretty incredible amount of news stories dedicated to it. It is definitely exciting right now to think about where this company might be 2-5 years down the line.
My question to you guys is what do you think about this? I have an opportunity myself to buy equity in this company and get in on the ground floor of what could maybe be a big player in the energy drink industry someday. But, of course, it is clearly a risky investment as is any startup. So the chances of losing 100% of my investment is certainly something to consider. The amount I intend on purchasing is an amount that I can definitely stomach. It is an amount that would be very annoying to lose completely, but not an amount that would really change my life any if I lost. So with that in mind, please tell me your honest opinion. I want to hear as many of them as possible both about what you think the chances are of their success as well as what you think of me personally investing. Thanks so much for your time.
Discuss this blog here:
http://www.stoxpoker.com/forums/showthread.php?p=100901#post100901
House calling
Date: Sun, Aug 3, 2008 Professional Internet
Beat: Five out of seven people bailed on a trip to Foxwoods last week.
Brag: I stayed home and won four buyins anyway.
After a clusterf**k of problems with making the land I recently purchased "buildable", it looks like tree clearing will commence this week. Still a few kinks to work out with official documents, but I can make people get annoyed with me real fast if I want and therefore give me what I need to get me out their hair. Cliffnotes: I need a title company to write one sentence saying that I own to the center of a paper street that doesn't exist so that I can say the land is another 2,000 square feet in area. Figure that out and I owe you a coke.
If anyone is interested, this is what the final product "should" look like once completed.
A few video notes....
Date: Sun, Aug 3, 2008 Professional Internet
Last time I visited with Dusty, we made three videos, 1 of them at 1-2 NL and a two parter at 2-4NL. The first of the two parter was posted earlier today and I think it's interested, so for you NL grinders, check it out!
I think the next video will be fun to watch as well and will be posted in approximately 10 days.
Vacations
Date: Sun, Aug 3, 2008 Professional Internet
I leave in 3 and a half hours for a cruise with my family. When I return from that I am heading straight down to the beach for a week in a beach house with all my best friends. We do this every year and its a blast. After that I have my brother's engagement party. However, I may try to sneak in another trip to Vegas between the beach house and the engagement party. We shall see if I can accomplish that. I will let someone I trust answer any questions on my videos that will come out while I am gone. When I come back I promise to post pics of all my vacations in the past month, along with some good stories. I am also very excited to let my mind take 2 weeks off from poker.
-Reese