First day of spring training and a quick poker update...

So I'm at the hilton in Worcester where the team has put up the 30 or so players that are here for spring training. There are about 17 pitchers and I'm guessing that about 13-14 will sign with the team and 11 will probably make the opening day roster.

Today was a miserable day weather-wise, so practice wasn't too fun. We arrived at the stadium at around 7:30am and spent an hour and a half getting equipment squared away and waiting for the rest of the guys to arrive. Then we took some PFP (pitchers fielding position) which went well considering it was the first time I had done it in over 2 years (no mistakes from my part and I made a few nice plays in the process).

After that they had some live hitting with pitchers throwing and full squad in the field. Most of the returning starters pitched two 25 pitch innings and then wrapped it up. Originally the other 10 guys or so (myself included) were going to throw and inning, but the coaches decided that after standing in 40 degree weather with 40 mph winds (yeah it was freaking cold) that we wouldn't look to solid on the mound. So instead we threw pens on the side. To be honest I thought I threw lousy in my pen. My fastball was mediocre, and my splitty would not get down. I left it up probably 90% of the time. But the coach was only about half watching, and afterwards he told me he honestly didn't care how we threw today just how we performed when facing batters tomorrow. So tomorrow is another day and hopefully I'll get stuff straightened out.

Between the number and quality of other players here I feel like I probably have a 33% chance or so of making the squad. And I think a lot of it is going to depend on how my stuff is. One thing that frustrates me a little is that I definitely feel like I throw a lot better after getting really hot in the bullpen and really working hard on my stuff. I know sometimes during pens it will take me 20-30 pitches just to get in a groove. I'm hoping I don't end up in a situation where I have little time to warm up and end up going in the game without my best stuff. But I'll do what I have to do to get ready to go. I think they are probably going to make the first cut on friday, so if I get cut I guess I'll head back to Boston and see if there are any other teams in the league looking to pick guys up.

As for poker, I had my best month ever at the tables last month after spending about 95% of my hands +8 tabling NL400. I finally had my first 5 figure month from the tables alone, so when I combined my rakeback I really had a nice haul for the month. It certainly made the tax checks a little easier to swallow (ugh just thinking about those checks still sucks). Unfortunately towards the end of the month through this weekend I went on a pretty bad losing streak that then became a long break-even stretch after I started to grind my way out of it. I was running about $4k under expectation during the time period, and I also made some really bad and tilty plays. Overall I was not happy with my play, but I also had a lot of AK all-in pf against AK losing to a 4-flush type stuff. So there were definitely some sessions that had me wanting to puke afterwards.

Finally in the past 4 days or so I've really started to turn things around, and I'm back solidly in the black for this month. Combined with the healthy rakeback and bonuses I've earned so far and my month really hasn't been too bad. I've pretty much made 6max NL 400 my full time game since my hourly is so much better, but I'll probably mix in some limit later this month just to have fun.

One thing that isn't going well is Full Tilt's ability to get my cash to me. I requested bank transfers that should have hit my account about two weeks ago. Twice since then Full Tilt has assured me that there was a problem and the money is on its way, but I really need the cash (hello bills) and I think its absurd that I've been waiting almost a month for it. The most frustrating thing is that people who requested checks (at a later date than I requested my bank transfer) have already gotten their checks. If I had just gone with my standard method of requesting checks I would already have my cash and be financially comfortable right now. But after my tax day and to a small part my trip to costa rica, I needed those cash outs and I'm a little strapped for cash at the moment (which is hilarious because I have more money than ever online I just can't get to it).

Thats all for now. Hope everyone is running well and having a good spring. I'll be updating fairly regularly this week from spring training. Tomorrow I'll try and find some interesting hands to post if I have time.

later

themightyjim