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That’s probably all I have to say about the World Cup (yes, I’m not a big fan…)

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As you might have noticed, this year did not start with a review of last years goals nor a list of goals for this year. This does not mean I don’t have goals and just want the year to pass. I got lots of goals, ideas and so forth for this year.

For the last many month I have been busy with a few things in my spare time, such as live poker, online poker and development of a iPhone game. The iPhone project was shortly mentioned in July, in what I wanted to be a kick start of the blog (See Kick start of Blog Summer 2009). I’m not going to promise anything about kick starting the blog but will promise that there will be some postings very soon about the iPhone project, if that makes zense!

Regarding poker, this year I only played 3 live tournament so far (With a small profit) but I played a lot of online poker, made it to Silverstar in January, almost won entry to EPT Copenhagen, cashed out in the Sunday Millions and then spend the rest of the bankroll on various satellites.

Anyway, just wanted to mentioned I’m alive and got lots on my mind.

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Now I’m just wondering how much it will cost to cash it out!

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Instant Messages

I have for MANY years been using various instant messenger systems, such as ICQ, MSN, AIM, GoogleTalk and Skype.  Now I’m mainly using MSN and Skype as most of my friends are using those. I do prefer MSN due to the graphics in it (yeah, just call me a teenager…lol).  I have the programs running almost all day, to be in touch with friends and also people I work with. Some people find it disturbing/interrupting that people can get in touch with you so easy but I don’t have an issue with it. They should just know that I might not answer right away and if I’m busy then I will tell them. If you compare to people phoning you then I find instant messengers systems way less interrupting, often you skip all small talk and get direct to business (just ask a question like: Hi Sam, do you know how to setup Unity for iPhone… and I can then answer very quickly either yes or no).

Facebook

I have been using Facebook for quite some time now but not from the very start. I often check my account a few times a day, just to see what people write and such. Sure Facebook can end up wasting a LOT of your time but it all depends on self-discipline. I would not start to take quizzes or play games during work, just a few messages/comments and that’s about it. Actually, I never did one of the billion of quizzes on Facebook and I only play ONE game there :-)

In case you want to get in touch over Facebook then just go to my profile

Twitter

I got a Twitter account in the early days of Twitter but had no idea what to use it for really but I have lately started to use it more and more. Not to write small silly messages (What a nice weather, going for coffee now…); I have so far just written there 21 times in all. I’m just following a few people on Twitter; a few friends and some bloggers and pro poker players (37 in total!). Again, nothing that interrupts my life as I can check whenever I want or if I choose I can get live updates (See TweetDeck). Nice to see how some of the pro poker players still have time to Tweet at the big tournaments :-) I’m FAR from a real Pro with twitter and I just know a bit of what is possible, but it does the trick for me.

In case you want to follow me on Twitter then you are very welcome, just head over to my profile

TweetDeck

There are many clients to Twitter, web based, SMS and a whole bunch of applications. The one I’m using is TweetDeck, very simple program to use with lots of options. I’m just using a few of the features and I should set a bit time off to figure it all out. It is nice to be able to start the program when I feel like it and read through the last tweets from around the world. Check a few searches and so. Oh, and another nice feature of TweetDeck is that it is possible to get Facebook updates here also. Even better, when I do my own Tweets then I always make it so my wall on Facebook gets updated right away also. So while I have TweetDeck running I will get automatic notifications when people Tweet or update their Facebook. Another nice feature is that it support sync between multiple devices (notebooks, work pc, home pc, iPhone..).

TweetDeck also exists for iPhone (iPod touch) but I have not yet tried it there. When I get an iPhone 3GS at some stage then this will probably be the first programs I will be installing.

I’m not saying this is the BEST client but why spend too much time testing the others when this one suits me :-)

Marina from HotForWords is also using TweetDeck, might be an idea to see how she is using it. Just head over here to check out what she got to say about it.

MySpace, XING, LinkedIn and …

I might have a MySpace account but to be honest, I’m not sure. Just can’t be active on all platforms and why should I be :-)

Two sites where I KNOW I have profiles and where I even update from them from time to time is XING and LinkedIn I do see these two sites as more professional/business social sites but have to check the latest changes before I say too much :-)

Anyway, that’s about it regarding social networks. Hope to see you on some of them…

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Let me do a quick follow up on the last post and then write a bit about what is going to happen now…

Extra work

In March I wrote that I would not be taking any extra work on; well, that’s was true until now :-) I’ll get back to this in an upcoming blog entry. (I’m rather excited about this). It involves iPhone & Unity 3D ;-)

Poker

I have not had much success with poker the last few months; sure I got some payouts but not enough. It also happens that I leave a game been unhappy about how I played. So I sure have enough to work on there. Other Poker opened at a new location, so now both in Basel and Kaiseraugst and I will surely continue to play there when I have the change (and the time). During the last few months I also did a good few games online but again, not with enough positive results but I will continue to play of course. I will be playing less than before, both due to bankroll and the extra work I will be doing.

Fitness

I paid for continuing the training at the fitness studio but never got around to go again. So I finally cancelled my membership. Nothing wrong with the place or the people there but I’m just able to find the time to go there. Hope this will change one day…

So… what comes next?

This kick start is NOT about goals, aims and so forth. Had enough of that :-)

• I will be approving all comments in the queue that is not spam (of course) and do some comments on them; some of the comments are rather old :-(
• Then check if some small tweaks are needed for the blog, updates of plugins and so forth.
• Cleanup in links

Thereafter it will be time to start blogging again, it is SO simple.

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I have decided (Did earlier this year) not to set any specific goals for 2009, nothing specific I want to achieve this year but rather things I want to improve. So nothing about X number of blog entries, X number of poker games and so forth.

Early this year I had a talk with a good friend of min; she also had one thing in mind for 2009, same as I have: More time for ourselves. This does not mean more time we can spend home looking TV but rather time that can be spend on things we like to do (Including to relax).

Extra work

I took on some extra work in 2008 which was great in several ways: Fun, Game, Working with good friends and extra income. At the same time it had some side effects, some worse than expected: Time. I have a long working day, then 2 hours drive and then days where I have my kids at my place; on these days I would be total wasted before I could even think about getting started on the other projects. This did also result in some delays and me been unmotivated and generally not happy.

Right now I would say that I will not be taking on any new projects in my spare time for 2009, exceptions are: Helping out on projects (short term) and projects that are without real deadline (own projects!)

Poker

My great passion is playing poker. I’m not only talking about online poker but also about ‘live’ poker. Here in Switzerland it is legal to have “poker clubs” as long as they get allowance. So on any given day there will be 20-30 (or more) tournaments around the country. I have so far just played at a few places, mainly OtherPoker in Basel. I can feel I’m getting better (and the results also show that) but there is still a long way to go… I’m often planning my spare time based on tournaments but I’m not addicted (yet.. Hmm, some might say otherwise).

I’m going to continue playing poker, might even check tournaments out at some of the casinos and other poker clubs (OtherPoker is starting up a second location, just 5 minutes walk from here). I don’t see my self playing any cash games this year as I’m not experienced in that and I feel that tournaments are right for me.

Fitness

I have total failed with fitness this year; sure I paid for my membership to the fitness studio but what good is it when I’m not going there! I have been considering to cancel my membership but decided against it yesterday evening. If I can just go once a week to the fitness studio then it is an improvement. So the weekends where I don’t have the kids here, then I could go for an hour or 2. The few days where I don’t go to play poker and have time for myself, then why not do some fitness! One of the reasons why I also decided to continue is that a good friend of mine have started a blog where he blogs about his training (for triathlon), been a good inspiration. (Reminds me, I better get my bike fixed)

Social

One very nice side effect of poker and fitness compared to ‘working from home in my spare time’ is that I get out among people. This is something that I really enjoy and probably also why I prefer to play live poker compared to online poker. The social part of it. Of course a lot of the talk at poker is about poker but we do from time to time go beyond that subject.

Friends and kids/family

I have the last few month not seen much to my very good friends in Basel but that will be changing, need to meet up for dinner/movies soon again. This was something I did a lot early this year and last year, something I enjoyed a lot. Been able to combine that with the time I have with my kids is perfect. I will here in 2009 also do something I didn’t do for awhile, visit my family in Denmark. First time will be next weekend where I will be going to visit my sister, then again in May and if all goes well then also a summer holiday. The summer holiday will be with the kids so that will be very special and something we all look forward to.

So?

So will this result in more time and better time for myself? Yes, I’m sure about it. Not getting stressed with work, spending time on what I do, get more quality time with the kids. Sounds about right I would say. Now, if I could just get my hands on a warp/beam machine, so I didn’t have to spend up to 2.5 hours pr day on the highway… Winning the lottery would also help of course.

Edit 23rd of March: Added link to Better late than never in the fitness section.

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Goodbye to 2008 and Happy New Year to everybody out there.

Oh dear, yet another year passed. At the start of 2008 I made a post here on the blog about my goals for 2008 (click here to read it), still makes me smile that I called it 2007 and the link does say 2007, but it was for 2008, really.

Do I plan to set new goals for 2009? Of course but before I write about those it might be an idea to review the goals for 2008, so here goes.

2008 – Living

The goals I sent for 2008 where to get more out of life and attend courses. The years before 2008 I spend most of my time here in the home office; I do still spend a lot of time here but a lot have changed here, mainly due to new friends, new work and poker. I had less time the last few month for friends and poker due to extra work I took on but I hope that early this year that I then will have time for more cinema sessions here in Basel.

I didn’t attend a single course 2008 and will probably not attend any in 2009 either. Lack of time is the main reason.

2008 – Health

Goals where to get back to fitness training and loose some weight (15kg), get more active with walking and cycling. This total failed, sure I did go to fitness a few times but it was not more than a few times. Weight did drop a bit and went back up, so no real change. Rather disappointing I have to say :-(

I did buy Wii Fit and I did renew my membership at the fitness studio but since I’m not using Wii Fit and not going to the studio, then it does not help much. Saying I’m a member of a fitness studio might sound good but you sure can’t tell by looking at me that I’m a member.

2008 – Work

The year resulted in some big changes in my work, I went from been self employed to be an employee. I wrote about what happened here and here. It turned out to be a larger change that I expected. Suddenly I was away from home a LOT more than earlier, around 9 hours at work and 1.5 to 2 hours driving each day. At the start the driving back and forth didn’t bother me, I was actually enjoying it. I still don’t have an issue with the driving but what annoys me a bit is that I do spend 1.5 to 2 hours on the road and that every day. The prices for petrol also went up a lot during the year but have now dropped to less than when I started.

The social part of work is great; we have 1 to 2 coffee breaks where most of us go over to the local ‘bistro’ for a coffee and we also go together for lunch. Sure this does cost (no free lunch here!) but it is very enjoyable.

At work I’m almost only talking German, just a few people I speak English with and of course sometimes when I can’t find the words in German. So my German have improved a good bit I would say (I still make a lot of mistakes).

I have also been involved with a few other projects together with a good friend of mine; so I didn’t leave the games business yet ;-) The side effect of this have been that I had less time for going to the cinema with my friends and also less time for poker.

2008 – Holidays & visiting friends

I had hoped to visit family and friends in Denmark as well as friends in various European countries and of course to see more of Switzerland. Only the last part happened and to be honest, not a lot. My sister came to visit me together with her two kids. So we went on a 2 day trip to Luzern which we all enjoyed VERY much, definitely a place I want to go and visit again.

I only left Denmark Switzerland once in 2008 and that was on a business trip to Graz, Austria, we had a chance to see the town and that is also a place I would like to go for a long weekend at some stage, very beautiful city.

2008 – Finance

Got a few goals sorted here, got my old notebook paid off, VISA card and MasterCard was also paid almost off. Sad thing was that all this was done with a new loan, which I took to gather all credits up in one place. I’m still convinced that this was the right thing to do, but I still have more to pay off. It also hurt to be without job for some month. My savings and pension stayed very close to zero; except the pension that is paid automatic now with my new work.

Sure I’m earning a steady income now (Not been paid in USD any more) but at the same time I have new expenses due to work (car & food), but I still manage but it would be nice to put more money aside for taxes, holidays and savings.

2008 – Poker

My poker time in 2008 changed a lot; I had some month where I played regular online but never enough to become SilverStar (PokerStars). My online bankroll didn’t improve as much as I planned but still I would say my poker improved a great deal. This is probably mainly due to that I now play live poker as often as I have time. I have so far only played at one place (OtherPoker) but have thought about visiting a few other poker clubs here in Switzerland. My only time in the casino in 2008 was for a freeroll tournament, I didn’t get beyond the first round but I still had a great time. I played 29 live tournaments (SNG and planned tournaments) and reached ITM 5 times, this is not giving me any profit yet. If I consider how many hours I spend playing poker and how much (little) it cost me, then I’m very happy (way cheaper than going out for dinner and cinema).

Some people said I should be careful and not play all my money away (This most be the people who have no or little clue about poker), I track every game I play in Excel files, so I know exactly what I spend and what I won. I’m also staying away from live cash games so with just playing tournaments it is very easy to control. Oh, one thing that was very positive for me in connection with poker was that my mother approved it; she actually said I had an eye for it and should do something about it. How often do you hear about mothers that support their sons in playing poker? :-)

2008 – Blogging

In 2007 I had 66 posts which I wanted to triple with this blog and two new blogs. Well, first of all I didn’t start the two other blogs (Still considering it) and I total failed in blogging regularly. So in 2008 I only blogged 19 times. To be honest, I really don’t know why this was the case. I often had good subjects to blog about, often got started on blog entries but just never got around to finish them.

2009 ????

So what is going to happen with goals for 2009? Let me write about that another day; A promise: I will do that.

I mentioned one book when I wrote the goals for 2008, Time Management from the Inside Out guess what, I didn’t get around to read it yet, just no time (Or I spend the time on other subjects). Maybe in 2009…

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Anyway, let me recap how it went with the rules and goals set early August and also have a look at October and the month to come.

Looking back

No more sweets

Summary: Eat fewer sweets, not buying snacks at work or for the time driving back and forth to work

Fact: This worked out very well for August but I failed a bit in September. In August I stayed almost ‘clean’ of sweets for the whole month; I did eat more fruits and felt pretty good about it. September was a bit more like ‘normal’, so some M&Ms and some chocolate and small snacks at work when I felt tired. But even September was better than the month before this rule. Funny thing I noticed was that I actually felt bad about eating sweets, thinking “I should not be eating this really”.

Future: I definitely want to get back to follow this rule. I also lost a bit weight in August which was a great motivation factor. So back to “No sweets”

Fitness

Summary: Do more fitness in the studio but also at home. Do push-ups and sit-ups every evening.

Fact: One word: FAIL. I did go to the fitness studio a few times but it was just a few times. For home fitness I total failed, just the first few days and that was it.

Future: I NEED to get in better shape. I received the next bill for the fitness studio and yes, I will pay it. So for once more: More fitness training, both at the studio and also at home.

Mindless time wasting

Summary: Don’t spend time with mindless TV watching. Not stopping watching TV but don’t sit down at the TV without knowing ‘why’ and then just spend hours looking for something interesting.

Fact: Very close to a success. I do still watch TV but less than before but I still catch myself from time to time. A good example was the other day, sat down at the TV as the PC was doing a quick backup. Checked the channels and saw they showed “Blade: Trinity“. My thought was: Great movie, seen it a few times, so who cares that I missed the start. Watched 15 minutes and then just turned off with the thought: This is crazy, seen it many times, so no need to see it again when I got other important things to do.

Future: 100% sure I will continue with this rule, I will even be stricter with it. Sure I will still watch a movie or two, might even take some hours from time to time and just relax (recreation) with some talk show. I did find one interesting article the other day by Steve Pavlina (8 Changes I Experienced After Giving Up TV) where he describes the changes in his life after he said goodbye to TV. This is a very good motivation for keeping up with this rule.

New rules for October and month to come

Reduce drinking

This can of course be total misunderstood but nope, I’m not having issues with drinking alcohol at all. I do have a beer or glass of wine from time to time with my dinner or when I watch a good movie. I’m going to continue doing so but just not often. If I think back on my time in Ireland I have to say that I have a lot fewer pints pr week.

This rule has been in place just before August but I just forgot to mention it when I wrote my old rules. So less beer but also less energy drinks (Red Bull and the clones). I had times where I had at least one energy drink every day, sometimes more than one. I August I had a total of 1 or 2, a few more in September but so far none in October.

Update: I total forgot this part, thanks to Thomas and his comments. Soft drinks such as Coca Cola (and clones) have already been reduced a lot. Since my daughter used to love cola we decided very early only to buy Caffeine Free Diet Pepsi, so no calories and no caffeine. I got into a habit of drinking that also (does taste okay) but it does happen that I buy a real coke. So I don’t consider soft drinks to be something to cut down on, just keep an eye on. Regarding kids and drinking Coca Cola (or Pepsi), just wanted to add that my daughter and her brother don’t drink cola any more, they prefer water. She does drink a bit Fanta from time to time, but my son often wants milk (How often do you hear a kid ask for milk for their Happy Meal at McDonald).

That’s about it for October, just one more rule to follow and of course keeping the old rules in mind. The only one I will have issues with is fitness but let’s see in a month time how that went.

Edit: I update the “Reduce drinking” part to include soft drinks.

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Anyway, in the game I’m able to craft things and I have selected tailoring as my main profession. So I can make lots of fancy cloth, armour and so forth. Due to me been tailor I’m not able to create metal armour so just leather armour. This suits me fine as thats the only kind of armour I can use in the game.

My sister is also playing the game and I often help her with armour but she (One of her characters only) can actually use metal armour. So there I’m no help.

So my sister has to shop for the items and guess what, she just bought THE pair of gloves. Do check the picture.

(click image for large image in better quality)

Yes, I’m NOT kidding, she bought those. The gloves are 30 by 18 cm, weight 2 times 1.5 kg. THAT IS MADNESS :-)

So some women buy makeup and some buys armour. Guess people will not mess with my sister.

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Play more
Fail. Sure I had days/weeks where I played a good number of games but I also had weeks/month almost without any game.

Qualify for tournaments
Fail. I didn’t really try nor do I have the bankroll to play the satellites.

Become SilverStar on PokerStars.
Total fail also. To become SilverStar I would have to play a lot more than I did and at higher amounts than I feel comfortable with.

So this leaves us with just ONE goal left in the poker section

Play some live poker
I have not completed this goal yet but that should be an easy one. I didn’t play any live poker until a week ago but this is all changing now.

I have from time to time been checking some Swiss poker sites and looked at different live possibilities. So possibilities was at the casinos and it was tempting but the buy-in for their sit’n'go tournaments are beyond what I feel comfortable with now. Also keep in mind that I never played poker with cards before, only online. So I wanted to start out in a more relaxed way. So I did some searches for “Poker Basel” and to my big surprised I found a place not far from me. Let me do a quick introduction.

OtherPoker

The poker club OtherPoker is located in Basel, just about 15 to 20 minutes drive, so rather perfect for me. I spend a good bit of time on their site (That was noted by the people running the site when I showed up at their club). I checked their rules, terms and so on and had a good feeling about it all. The club is a 100% legal club with license for doing SNG and tournaments but they do not offer cash games, which suits me fine.

So I decided last Saturday to give them a visit; I even signed up for a small tournament before leaving. I wasn’t sure what to expect really, sure I had an idea about how it looked from the pictures from their web site (Some in rather bad quality). All was a positive experience. I got signed up as member and then let loose.

The main game room is rather big, got 8 tables (with space for 11 people), good space between the tables and they also have a bar. They serve a bit of everything at the bar, soft drinks, beer and food/snacks. Maybe not the cheapest but somehow they have to get some money in, so fine with me. They also have two VIP rooms (It is possible to rent these for private SNGs) and also a room for the smokers. YES, the main room is SMOKE FREE :-)

The main room also got 3 projectors showing the progress of the games been played, this included: Blind level, time before next blind level, players left, time for pause and payout structure. I was unlucky to sit with the bag to the nearest screen so lots of turning around to check the blinds.

Since I had 20 minutes before the game was starting I spend the time checking the other tournament that already was running. The age of the players there rang from younger than me and a few older but all in all, younger than me. All people there seemed to be in a good mood (okay, later there where a few cases of unhappy people but that didn’t last long) and very friendly; lots of talking at the tables.

The small tournaments and SNG’s are without a dealer (The more expensive tournaments are with dealer) so all self-dealing, this was something new for me and of course I was seated at table 1 position 1, meaning I was the first dealer. I wasn’t nervous (due to the relaxed people) and of course I made some mistakes and had to re-deal but no one said anything negative about it, I was also not the only new one there, so not the only one that did mistakes. Anyway, 15 too late the game started…

The Game

The game I took part in was a 33 player tournament, with a buy-in of CHF 20+5. There were payouts for 5 people, ranging from 55 CHF up to 264 CHF. The game was played at 3 tables and it was a bit crowded with 11 people at each table. I took it easy and played the cards pretty well (I think), sure I had some very lucky hands (JJJJ as the best) and a few small bluffs also worked (Not giving any details here, never know who is reading this). Maybe I didn’t play aggressive enough, maybe it was too tight but I had decided that I didn’t want to be one of the first to leave the tournament.

Every hour we had a short break, so time for a small snack and a soft drink. Some had a beer but I avoid that when playing poker but I’m VERY fine with the others drinking :-)

People got played out of our table and later new joined from the other tables and suddenly we had the final table with 10 players. Well, that took around 3 hours to get to that point. On my left side I had the chip leader; who at that stage had more than half of all chips in the game. Just a bit after he got 3 players out of the tournament and then he had more the 2/3 of all chips.

When the game started I didn’t know what to expect, how far I would come, how well the players where. So I was a bit surprised to find myself between the 5 who got paid. Actually, I ended as number 2, cashing out CHF 154, not bad for my first real game I have to say. Some might say beginners luck and who knows, maybe they are right!!

What’s next

I know that just because the first game went very well that it does not mean that it will be like that next time, it might be that I don’t get any payouts for the next 10 games but I feel positive about it. Since the whole evening was a good experience I have to say that: I will be back.

And I will be back on Wednesday, as I just signed up for another 33 player tournament with a buy-in of CHF 20+5. They also have a multi day tournament the weekend after they have a multi day tournament. 3 days with first rounds where they played to a specific blinds level and then the final on Sunday. This is a CHF 40+7 tournament, so lets see how it goes on Wednesday, if I still feel good about it and if I got time then I will join this one also. I do think I will wait awhile with the 100+15 tournaments (They do count as Swiss Ranking Event); they have a special event where Rino Mathis (Swiss Pro Player) is joining but all 80 places are already taken.

So expect more posts in the future regarding Real Life Poker.

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