Playing with a Clear Head

Things have really been crazy around here lately. My wife and I love our new home, but we are still fighting with AT&T about getting high speed internet. I'm currently writing this blog on a wireless network card which honestly works like crap. But back to that later.

The point of this entry is just to stress to any of my readers the importance of playing poker only when you have a clear head. Currently their is a tourney series going on at the Beau Rivage in Biloxi, MS which I have been planning on playing in for the last few months. With all that's going on in my life with the new home, lack of internet, unpacking the house, etc. I have decided to pass on playing this series. I have played a few online sessions, always with a clear head and only when I really am in the mood to play, but I don't feel comfortable playing on the unstable and slow AT&T network card. After 6 years of playing professionally I have learned the importance of having a clear head everytime you sit at the table. If you're thinking about other things like unpacking your house, lack of internet, a fight with your significant other, an upcoming test, or anything of the sort, you're better served studying the game during those times than playing it. If you can't focus at 100% you're just hurting yourself in the long run. Since I'm trying to follow my own advice I have been doing some studying and a lot of coaching in my free time. I find that coaching a few of my friends is both rewarding when I see them "get it" and helpful for me as I can't just say "I do this because I know it's right." I have to explain to them why I'd make certain plays in certain spots and explaining it to them helps refresh my memory and reinforces the basic principles of my game. Email me at bootnteepoker@yahoo.com if you are interested in cash game lessons. I specialize in 6 max no limit but also teach 9 handed no limit as well.

On the home front, I am so disguisted with so many people/companies. First off is AT&T. After saying they could set up high speed DSL for me, they showed up at my home and said that they had no such order and only set up home phone. When I called them back they told me that they could no longer set up DSL at my house. They said that there is only one internet port and it is already at maximum capacity of lines running out of it. In laymans terms, I cant get internet until they come out and build another port. When will this happen? The best answer I got was "Engineering has exhausted its budget for this year, so hopefully sometime early next year." Yeah, next frickin year. You gotta be kidding me. So since I received that terrible news, I have contacted the HOA and the builder to no avail. I even threatened my builder by saying I was going to put a sign in my front yard telling people not to buy any of the new homes because they won't be able to get internet. I was bluffing of course but hoping that the threat of possibly not selling new homes could get him to put pressure on AT&T to come put a port for me. The worst part is I do feel it is the builders responsibility, because when I had the house built I paid $500 extra to get the home pre wired for internet, and they had no problem taking my money to do this. I feel that I should have been informed that I was getting this done for no reason because internet wouldn't be available. Now I'm in a quandry and have no idea what to do next. Please leave any suggestions in the comments area if you have any ideas or a better understanding of the telecommunications business and how it works.

Last, play poker online at FeltStars.com. We are launching a new Mac client sometime in September for those of you Mac users out there. A whole lot of awesome things coming in the new software release slated for September 7th including a new cashier with quicker withdrawals, late registration for tourneys, new interface, bigger guarantees on daily tourneys, better promos for cash game players, and of course the monthly 100k Pro Bounty Challenge. See ya on the tables.

Til Next Time....

Gimme me a break!!!!

Sorry about not updating in 2 weeks but its been really busy. We moved into the new home in Alabama 2 weeks ago and then my wifes parents came visit for 9 days. Her Dad helped out a bunch around the house doing handywork that I'm totally clueless at doing. We are almost all unpacked now except for my wifes sewing room. Since I have no idea where anything goes in there, she'll unpack it whenever she has time. It's great being a homeowner but a lot of work (and many trips to Lowes and Home Depot), especially since it's a new build. I thought new builds would be totally done, but we needed to do things like seal the tile flooring, screen in the weep holes around the house, and other odd jobs. I did purchase my first ever riding lawnmower so that was pretty cool!

Bad news going forward is that we are having trouble getting high speed internet. My wife picked up a network card from AT&T so that we could at least pay bills, and I guess write blogs, LOL. I played poker using it for like 5 minutes but the cards dragged pretty bad and I almost timed out repeatedly. Hopefully they can get our internet hooked up soon. I do have my office all set up and ready to go. It's pretty awesome with my 3 monitor setup like I had in Houston. The coolest part of my new office is the dedicated TV with game systems hooked up for "recreational gaming". I have an original Nintendo, Super Nintendo, and PS2 hooked up to it currently. I have a 75 or so original Nintendo game collection which I love playing when I find free time. I just finished framing and hanging all my posters today which inlcude an original Rounders movie poster, a blown up poster of a 2005 CardPlayer magazine cover with Stu Ungar on the cover, and an original 2003 WSOP event poster that I bought at Binions Horseshoe the first year I attended the WSOP after moving to Las Vegas. This poster is cool because it has a picture of all the "Millionaires Club" on it (people who won $1 Mill or more at the WSOP LIFETIME) and it's only like 30 or so people. I'm guessing half that many join the club each year now at the series.

This Wednesday I'll be a bounty again in the FeltStars 100k Pro Bounty Challenge. Come take a chance at winning 100k by knocking out all 4 Team FeltStars pros for only $5 buy in. Last month one lucky FeltStars player won $1000 by knocking out 2 of the pros! If you don't have an account yet, click on any of the banners on my page and create one. Use bonus code BootnTee for a 300% deposit bonus up to $3000. Email me at bootnteepoker@yahoo.com with questions or for rakeback deals on FeltStars.

Sorry this was so short and lacked poker content, but I promise as soon as I get real internet and start playing thousands of hands a day there will be more. I will even post hands if I can figure out how. I know my buddy JK does it so maybe I can ask him. If you're looking for a good read check out his blog at www.nicolakpoker.blogspot.com for awesome poker content and lessons in the life of a pro poker player and family man.

Til Next Time....