The Rest of this year

"Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude."
Thomas Jefferson

My goals are simple for the rest of the year:

1) play 5k games minimum on Stars @25% ROI +
2) lose 100 lbs by Dec 31
3) continue to work hard and improving and learning in attaining all wisdom

I believe that with much continued hard work I can attain my goals. I believe in myself and I believe in the power and grace of my Lord Jesus Christ.

I wish all of you success in the quest to achieve your goals as well.

Heroes

Heroes

It has been said that you cannot know another man until you "walk a mile in his shoes". So I can honestly say that if I were born with out of this world athletic ability, born to grow 6-9" and 250 lbs +, drafted by my hometown team and worshiped by everyone I honestly believe that I would have stayed in Cleveland if I were LeBron James.

In fact I know I would. I once played the game of basketball too yet I was not gifted quite as LeBron was. I also was born and raised in Cleveland Ohio and grew up here seeing how important that heroes are needed in this area.

I just want to send a message to all of you who are like me that are so disappointed and hurt today. Don't allow they LeBrons of the world to destroy your hopes in heroes, there still are heroes out there and even perhaps you could be or are already one to someone else.

My Mom and Dad for instance are true heroes to me. People who were also not quite gifted with abilities like LeBron James yet never ever ever wavered in loyalty to their family no matter what decisions they were faced with or how tough times got.

We all have people like this in our lives and we may need to look to them today for inspiration and hope on a day like today.

Through not only the news of this but some other trying times in my own personal life I have come to learn something about myself. And that is that instead of allowing my disappointment in others to make me angry or bitter, I will use their mistakes to motivate myself and learn.

What I have mostly learned through this is that the this world needs heroes now more than ever. The depressed area of Northeast Ohio needs heroes but they must be the right kind of heroes. We need leaders and businessmen & women who are here for more than just profit and self interest.

I vow to use whatever time I have left to work harder than I have ever worked in my life to do something with myself that will inspire others. We can all be heroes to someone, and unlike LeBron lets make are choices based on something a bit more than what is according to him "Just business".

Have a great day Cleveland, at least Football season is close :)

The Road Not Taken

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost

This poem is well known by many and has true meaning in my recent poker life. I have had a nice start to the year and with that success I was faced with some decisions.

I was given a few opportunities to travel, go to Vegas and a couple other Live poker trips. Yet, instead I decided to take the conservative choice. To save my money, to stay home and continue to grind long and hot hours in my room that has no AC.

For I truly believe that this decision to commit and to work harder than ever will lead to better things. How easy it would be to take some of my personal $5k roll and book a flight or Bus to Vegas and go have a great time meeting my friends and heroes, yet making the harder decision as Frost says I trust "will make all the difference".

Many times in our life we face difficult choices, and it is not always the easy choice that will lead to us reaching our goals. Sometimes we must take the "road less traveled" if we truly hope to achieve our goals and dreams.

ALL Things

"All things are possible to him that believeth" Mark 9:23

That is my life's verse and my favorite verse from the Bible. I just want to give thanks to the Lord and my savior Jesus Christ who said that.

I have been working hard on my game and playing hard and putting in decent volume and I asked the Lord to bless my efforts and last night I had the 2nd best score of my online career in the $33 NL 18k GTD for $3.9k

I believe in my heart that all things are possible to those that have faith and then follow through in their actions by that faith. Thank you again Lord and to all of you who dare to dream please ask that God will bless your effort and then work steadfastly to bring Glory and Honor in all you do to the Lord.

Balance

Eastern Philosophy teaches that seeking a balance in life increases our ability to live in harmony. Lately I have been playing so much volume and putting in 12+ hours per/day I tend to neglect everything else. I am going to get back to sticking to a set schedule which will allow me to do the other things that are important to me as well..

We're more than half way through SCOOPs on Stars and I have a few deep runs but no final tables, let's get some run good deep in the last few days :)

sigh

It has been a whlie since my last blog. I currently am feeling so down that I needed to express myself as I feel I have no one to vent to. Today I was 1/18 in chips out of 5,000 players in the $5/20k on Stars $4k to first. I finished 10th for $150... I honestly feel like Sahundeeb must have felt when he retired from MTTs. I do not know when I will have the stomach to play again.

What does it mean ?

Excerpt from the movie: "The Last Samurai"





"I was surprised to hear that the word Samurai means "to serve". What does it mean to be Samurai, to devote yourself utterly to a set of moral principles. To seek a stillness of mind, and to master the way of the sword.

Spring 1877. There is so much here that I will never understand. I continue to live among these unusual people. Everyone is polite, everyone smiles and bows. But beneath their courtesy I detect a deep reservoir of feeling. They are an intriguing people. From the moment they awake they devote themselves to the perfection of whatever they pursue. I have never seen such discipline."


So you can see where I got my screen name. I would only hope that I could even come near being the poker player in work ethic and discipline that these unique people in history were in their daily lives.

I also believe that I play for more than just myself. I play for my family, I play for my Lord and Savior and I play for the love of the game.

Have a great day :)