10NL True Grinder

Well, it has been close to 2 years since I have actually updated this blog and probably close to a year and a half since I have touched poker. A lot has gone on in my life and if you're bored and feel like reading please keep going.

So 2 years ago I was grinding 0.5/.10 NL 6 Max. I just graduated from college with a B.S in Kinesiology / Exercise Science from SUNY Cortland. I had no idea what I wanted to do, my degree basically enables me to become a glorified personal trainer. Other than that, I needed to go to Graduate School for something along the lines of Physical Therapy or Nursing. Not being sure what the hell I wanted to do and going through a hard time after the break up with my girlfriend I wanted to do something out of my comfort zone. I joined a program called Americorps*NCCC, it's basically like the Peace Corps only done in America. I got accepted and in February 2008 I flew out to Denver, Colorado from New York where I would be based.

The first month reminded me a lot of Freshmen year of College living in dorms and meeting new people and constantly partying. My first two months of Americorps I did Wildland Firefighting. It was the one of the best times of my life. I lived with 9 other Corps members in a firehouse 8500 feet up in the mountains in a little village called Nederland about 20 miles from Boulder. The training I absolutely enjoyed and even got called out on a dispatch to fight a fire along with real HotShots. After that I really thought that I wanted to be a HotShot at least for a few summers.

After I came back from those 2 months I got switched to a new Americorps team, I learned that I was going to Little Rock Arkansas to build a camp up. That is where I met my present girlfriend / wife (more to come on this) Jennie. I didn't like her at first actually we hated each other. I was reading a book called "One Bullet Away" about becoming a Marine Officer which I was looking to pursue after Americorps. She was a hippie from Maine and I looked like a stupid jock. Hated each other. But then after we got down to talking while mixing mortar and laying brick together we began to have a lot more in common than we both thought. Unfortunately, she was dating another kid in Americorps and I had a huge crush on this other girl as well. We both kind of thought that there was no point in starting anything at all and ruining what we had. But then one night Sailor Jerry did all the talking. We both got really drunk off Sailor Jerry and made a bonfire, then Jennie almost burned down the whole woods when she found a gas can and it lit on fire and I had to tackle it to put it out. That night, we kissed and then everything changed.

The day after that night we got called out to Parkersburg, Iowa to help with tornado relief. The damage was insane with only the foundation being left on most houses. We worked 12 hours a day 5 days a week mucking out houses and the such. At this point Jennie and I were getting close having sex all the time and getting extremely serious. We would always joke that we would get married in Vegas and made lists of the top 100 things we wanted to accomplish before we died.

When we got back to Denver it was weird. I had all these friends who were just basically meatheads and had that girl that I had a little something with and she had her old boyfriend to deal with. It was a very tough time, and then we learned that we were going to be separated. So, we had 5 days off and I got the idea of taking a road trip and renting a car and just going west. It was awesome, we went to the Moab desert, the Grand Canyon, and then finally Vegas. In Vegas we only had $100 between the both of us, so I sat down at Let It Ride instead of boring her at the 1/2 poker tables. Needless to say I got a fullhouse and won 400 bucks. On that we got really drunk and had a great night in Vegas on the 4th of July. Then the next day we had to go back and as we were leaving she said, " I can't believe we came to Vegas and never got married." Within two seconds I whipped the car around and went right to the courthouse. The whole ordeal took 45 minutes and before we knew it we were married. On the way back home about 30 minutes after we left we stopped at a gas station and both puked our brains up. We were like WTF did we just do??!! we have to get this annulled. Too bad annullments cost $750!!!! we were fucked. 2 weeks later the marriage certificate was sent to my mothers house, and I got a voicemail saying, "Sean this is your Mom, did you get married? call me back".

The next few months were rough I was building houses in Mississippi and she was on another disaster relief in Texas. we fought constantly being away from each other and insecure. When we got back the fighting didn't stop and yet again we were separated for another two months, I went to New Orleans and she went to Texas again. By the end of Americorps we didn't know what to do if I went back to NY and she went to Maine we would break up. So, I decided to move to Bangor, Maine with her and live with her family and get a job. We decided we wanted to backpack through Europe right before summer began for a few months and needed to save up money.

So we both got jobs working at a cell phone company as a customer service rep. It sucked, but we did it for a month or so, and then moved to New York because my Aunt and Uncle said that they were going to FLorida and wanted us to sit the house. FUCKING SWEET RIGHT? Well yes and no. We got a job working as a canvasser for environmental organization knocking on peoples doors and asking for donations. Also, my bum of a friend from college came to live with us who turned out to be a total asshole, who ripped us off. Then we got kicked out of the house because my cousin came to visit and said that we demolished the place, even though it was spotless. And 2 weeks ago I just got a court order for $1500 for damage to their floors because of rain damage. Which, occurred after we were kicked out, good things I took pictures of the place before we left, because I knew they were going to pull some shit.

On April 1st, we left for Barcelona Spain. We hooked up with a program called Helpx.net where we had the opportunity to volunteer working on farms for free room and board. We were on a budget of $3,000 after paying for flights and an 8 day eurail pass. We lived very poor eating bread and cheese constantly, and sleeping in Hostels, trains, and airports. We loved every bit of traveling but I won't go into it too much because this is already so long. But we went to Spain, Portugal, and Italy, and we just got back a couple of weeks ago.

Now, I am in New York and her in Maine looking for jobs. It has been terrible with this this economy. I have no money and put 25 bucks on today and was trying to grind out 9 man SNG's lol. So, that's where I am right now. If you got this far, I hope you enjoyed it. Hopefully I'll see some of you low stake grinders at the table.

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Comments (9)

card dead.. shot confidence.. don't know what to do.

I tried playing more aggressive post flop. Double barreling more, and betting heavy on scary draws to get a fold. And it has been working, I feel as though that was a leak in my game was check / folding after I raise preflop and I miss.

However, I still feel as though nothing is hitting for me, and everytime I have a big hand I have that thought that I'm going to either be drawn out, or the other guy is on a draw so I have to reraise big, thus taking away my chances of the opponent calling down with a marginal hand.

I just don't know what to do anymore.

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Comments (7)

I suck. the end can't beat 10nl

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Comments (3)

Lastnight I went to the gym at 6:30pm started my leg routine, and quickly got a call from my friend Bobby saying that he's picking up a pool table for his apartment and could use some lifters. So, I finish my up my leg routine at around 7:30 (skip out on calves) and jump in a car with 4 other of my friends. We drive the car + a Uhaul truck to Rockland County about 20 minutes away, over the Tappan Zee Bridge. We get to the ladies house and this pool table is sick. It's regulation size something like 9 feet by 4 1/2 feet and weighs over 1k lbs. We have 5 guys and 2 dolly's, so our plumber friend ratches off the nuts on the legs. We finally get this thing up and into the uhaul truck. Before we leave, the lady was like oh, do you guys want a full keg + a tap? And we were just like hellllllz yeah! so we picked that up as well, now all we need to do is fill the keg whenever we want, and two of our friends who helped move it, work at a bar soo niiiice.

So, we finally got the damn pool table in the house, and used a torpedo level to make the table all even. We called a few more people over and tapped the keg and got more beer, played pool all night and Madden. I finally got home at 2am and wasn't too tired nor too drunk, so decided to play a little poker. After my trips on the flop (allin) got sucked out by top pair + flush draw and another hand where all in on flop my trip 6's got busted by a turned straight i was down 25 bucks. Sweeet end!!! Played a little this morning and made about 30 bucks.. so I'm content.

Anyway, enough about that, here are some pictures of myself.. Speedo pictures only upon request, although iD.Insky you can have them anytime you want sexy


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Picture taken about 3 months ago visiting my old college for a Toga party. p.s Pink Toga is pimp.



Senior Year of College during swim season.. actually in shape



My room in College naked men + alcohol + paint + a white wall = not a good situation.



me sporting a huge pimple + my ex girlfriend (bitch)

That's all for now.. off to the gym late yo.

1 votes

Comments (4)

Hi my name is Sean, and I’ve been lurking Lp.net for about 3 years now. I really enjoy reading the hand histories, and seeing people get flamed on a regular basis. A little about myself; I am 22 years old I recently graduated from SUNY Cortland (upstate NY) with a Bachelors of Science in Kinesiology with a concentration in Exercise Science as of May. After working at a sleep away camp in Maryland all summer I’ve moved back home with my Mom in Eastchester, NY, which is 20 mins from NYC. I am taking 12 credits at a nearby community college to fulfill requirements for Physical Therapy Graduate School.

Home life has been a lot different from College life. In College I lived in a house with 14 other male swimmer teammates. We would throw parties every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. At home its quite different most of my friends from High School stayed home and went to either a community college or got a full time job. Me, being 5 hours upstate and living a different lifestyle lost touch with most of my old buddies. Now I’m home and life has been a lot less entertaining. I recently got accepted into the AmeriCorps, which is like the PeaceCorps except you do projects all around America. I will be stationed in Denver Colorado starting February 4th for 10 months. Since I’ve been home I decided to really hit the weights harder than I do in the off-season of swimming because I signed up to Firefight in Colorado. So, I’ve recently started going twice a day 6 days a week at the gym.

As for poker, I’ve been playing for about 3 years not very much however; I’ve probably made around 2k from playing 25nl. But since I’ve been home and dead broke, since no more money from throwing parties at college I decided to put the little I have ($200) on poker. I’ve been playing .05/.10 9 tabling 6 max since the beginning of October. I’ve played around 20k hands, but today I hit a –6buyin downswing. If you look at my recent hand histories, you’ll see that I put my money in every single time when I was ahead, but was drawn out. Oh well, that’s poker but at least I feel as though I’m playing well even if I end up in the red for the month.

As for today, I played about 2 hours, and now I’m going to the gym for the second time today with a friend then going to see the movie “Dan in Real Life” or something… the one with the 40-year old virgin guy. Then I might go to the bars or back here not too sure yet. But I will try and keep this blog updated if anyone is interested. And I will post some pics of myself shortly since I think it’s nice to have a blogger with a face. So stay tuned for that shortly

1 votes

Comments (3)