I am back from my trip to Vienna... I liked how it was there, and I came back with an additional goal for my future and hopefully I will start playing poker even more. I am really tired now so I'll be off to bed quickly (after I watch the last episode of the Lost that is) but just to drop a hint.. I invested some money that I withdrew from poker and I plan on making regular monthly purchases of the stock in question...

I'll write more about it all tomorrow..

ps. not many pictures because I feel Vienna is my 2nd home and I don't have to take pictures of a place like that..(monuments, museums, buildings, fountains etc etc..)..

GN

you're obviously the only one who's having already the second beer while the novices are still only half way thru their first
cheers

So, on monday when I was still in Vienna, I went to my banker at Creditanstalt-Bank Austria AG (that's a bank name,lol) and told him that I want to invest some money and that I've looked through the Pionner Investments Austria investment report and that I've found a stock I am willing to get my money in.. I've had 4800€ on that Austrian account and I withdrew 3400€ for my parents (because that was a SWIFT transfer for them from a friend of ours) and I've bought 1000€ worth of initial shares in their "Russia Stock" with an intention to put aprox. 200€ in there every month for the next 6+ years. I am not bound to do so, but that's what I would like. If I will have more money available, I'll invest more then 200€ on some months (200€ is about $300) but my initial plan is to invest 200€ a month.

The reason I am doing this is that I don't spend my entire rakeback every month and I think I am able to put $300 for this in order to try and get some value for that money rather then just let it sit on my moneybookers account or my bank account. I feel that this way, that money is working for me, and given that I am unemployed and with no real perspective right now other then poker, I think I made a right choice. Obv. I should be able to make more money with poker then what the fund will make me, but I feel that I need that way of saving money because of my future and although both are not a definite and risk-free means of saving or making money, I think I am doing something positive for myself.

If anyone is interested in some/any of the details of the stock I bought I would be more then willing to discuss it and listen to your exp. with investing..

As for poker, I haven't played in 5 days, and today I got back to it and got slaughtered.. I am down 5 buyins for the day although I could have been down 10... I played too fancy and too loose and by the time I realized that I was screwed..

However, there's this..
.. I got nailed gooooot..

.. I really dislike the size of my 3bet PF..

.. The guy was a mega donk and I should have known it.. My mistake all the way...

.. Same villain as from hand 1.. He was 3beting me monstrously light... and I picked a wrong spot obv cause I got eager..

.. then a guy turned a 2 outer on me..

.. yihaaaaaa

.. I shouldn't call that river... like, ever..

.. obv he had the nuts with the nutters just for confirmation...

and my play of the day when I was on mild tilt:
.. He's a very very frequent and light 3betor and 4betor.. I guess that it's why I called his smaller 4bet.... he berated me for it for a long time, although that's something he does frequently.. meh..

pacific: $11400

I managed to claw back to -$500 for yesterday and I played a total of 2500 hands which is pretty wow considering that i play 1000 hands on average per day, and that is 4 tabling....

Today I had a better session.. I won back the $500 from yesterday and won additional $350 while I managed to play 2000 hands today... If I keep this up, 2000 hands a day, I'll reach my 30k hands goal for the month. Well, it's not reallly my goal but I think I should play at least 30k hands every month since I am living off of this game..

I will be buying a new computer in the coming days... Additional monitor I will buy when my next rakeback hits the account.. I hope to be able to play 8 tables then.. I still need to decide what will be the other site I will deposit my money on and play...

Anyway, the computer should be something like:
MBO: GIGABYTE P35-DS3R, iP35, DDR2, sound, G-LAN, S-ATA, PCI-E, s. 775
PROCESSOR: E8200 Core2duo, 2.66GHz, 6MB c., FSB 1333MHz
COOLER: Scythe NINJA CU edition SCNJ-CU1000
GRAPHICS: PCI-E Gainward GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3, DVI, HDTV, Silent
RAM: 4GB (2+2)
HDD: 500GB Samsung SATA 16MB, 7200 rpm

It should all cost me around $800 and I've already bought the HDD...

Pacific: $11800

EDIT: I forgot to add that I got NLH Theory and Practice and Professional NLH from Stoxpoker today and I went to teh post to pick it up..I should start reading then once I am finished with Erevis Cale Trilogy

wheeeeeeeeeeee... I've played shitload of hands in the last couple of days since I came back from Vienna...this is all I have to show for it...disgusting...

Hmmm, I'm really not familiar with what's going on in Russia TBH or what is projected happening there. It is listed as a very high risk fund, although you're young and can likely withstand volitility. But the overall performance since it's inception looks pretty good.

Other than that I really can't be much help here. BUT one thing I will say that you should keep in mind (even though it's a line from the move Wall Street) it's very true.... Never get emotional about stocks or any investing. You have to look at the information as objectively as possible and make decisions. To relate it to poker it's like someone saying "75s is my favorite (or lucky) hand and I always play it no matter what". They're not making their decision based off of anything other than their emotional attachemnt to that hand, regardless of the action going on around them.

Just something to keep in mind ,since I noticed you mentioned your half Russian and feel strongly about it's growth. If you do or have done research that can back that up then you're on the right track. Also if something should come up in the future that micht change that forecast then you need to re-adjust and make a decision based on the new information and decide if it's correct to stay on course.... Kind of like having 2 red aces PF only to see 3 spades hit the flop and another on the turn facing a big bet .

Keep in mind with funds you usually don't need to worry much about day to day, month to month fluctuations. You're investing for the long term so treat it as such but again if something happens where Russia has an economic meltdown that will have a major impact over several years you might consider bailing and getting into a different fund... Speaking of which that's always another option as well, there's nothing saying in the future you can't look at other funds to invest in as well so you're more diversified.

I hear you Pok7... I didn't start investing in this purely on my love or connection to Russia. I also can't really say that I dug down really deep into all the options and thinked about it for a couple of weeks deciding where and why.. It was a quicker process for me, but I think it was so because I felt that I had more available information and I kinda "thin sliced" it.

I realized some time ago (when I read that Motley Fool book) that investments are long-term and that I shouldn't even bother checking on them on a daily/weekly or even monthly basis unless something important is happening in the market I am investing in.

In other news... with the graph and setometer (which I hate, but do notice the optimum number of sets vs. coolers) and since last couple of days were really swingy I present to you:

Dire Straits: Sultans of swing







Pacific: closing on the $13k for the last couple of days

WELCOME TO MY FUCKING SOMETHING DAMN BITCH ASS CRAP WIDE SHIT MOFO POKER LIFE RITE NOW

$1/$2 No Limit Holdem
6 players
Converted at

Profiles and Stacks:
UTG ($470.74) 20.3/13.8/2.3 (232)
UTG+1 ($132.65) 30.8/4.6/2.8 (65)
CO ($276.55) 100.0/0.0/0.0 (1)
BTN ($403.25) 28.1/12.5/4.0 (32)
Hero ($201.05) 100.0/100.0/2.0 (1)
BB ($182.70) 0.0/0.0/0.0 (1)

Pre-flop: ($3, 6 players) Hero is SB [Ks]
UTG raises to $9, 1 fold, CO calls $9, 1 fold, Hero raises to $38, 1 fold, UTG folds, CO calls $29

Flop: [8s][Jd] ($87, 2 players)
Hero bets $50, CO calls $50

Turn: ($187, 2 players)
Hero bets $113.05, CO calls $113.05

River: ($413.1, 2 players)

Final Pot: $413.1
Hero shows: [Ks]
CO shows: [5h]

CO wins $409.1 ( won +$208.05 )
Hero lost -$201.05
UTG lost -$9.00

More bad news for you (and me) - Dudu's just been stretchered off and taken to hospital with what looks like a potentially career-threatening injury to his left ankle.

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