Bucket Lists

Bucket Lists are a good way of measuring what you have done and what you have yet to accomplish to make sure you find yourself saying I did everything I could. They have become more popular with movies like The Bucket List and MTVs Buried Life so in an attempt to get mine jotted down I came up with just a few of the highlights of mine. Of course there will be more but for now I just want to get this out of my head and written out in virtual ink.

What Id like to finish/accomplish before I croak:

Stunt Driving Course (Burnouts, donuts fast cars and a lot of e brake usage)
Attend the Final Four and a Super Bowl (preferable one the Browns reach)
Own my own Marketing Firm
Create a website
Brew my own beer (and make sure it tastes great as well)
Attempt a Stand Up routine at a comedy club
Be an extra in a Hollywood movie
Retire at 55 and go on to teach Marketing at a college/university
Visit Europe (Turkey, Slovakia and Ukraine) & New Zealand
Throw out a First Pitch
Be a Commencement Speaker

But the thing I want to accomplish the most is being the absolute best man I can be to my friends family and coworkers.

These are some of the highlights of my bucket list and like I said I'm sure more will be added as I progress through life but for right now this gives you an idea of what I'm looking to do with my life.


What are some of things you'd like to do? Leave a comment below or as always tweet/facebook me.

Thanks for reading!

Weekend Shopping

What started as a trip to pick up some chinos turned out to be a mini splurge weekend. I went up to the mall to discover a new buy sell trade game and movie store. I thought hell I'll look for Season 4 of Rescue Me since I am halfway through season 3 already. What I found shit on everything I possibly could have bought that day. Thats right folks as Im sure you have heard already if you follow me on twitter or facebook I found a copy of:



This purchase brought me back to freshman year of college when we would play this game for hours on end. Singles, doubles or whatever we wasted so much time playing this game. Now Im sure you are all wondering at this point, "Eddie, who do you use as your character?" and the answer to that question is none other than the man (or ape) himself:



Now here is the best part the first game I played I use Mario because I could not remember who I played as and every time I got a point I would do the fist pump bicep flex combo which just so happens to be DKs celebration which cued my memory on to why I used him to begin with. (It also does not hurt the ape has great style with the tie)

So to all my Nintendo 64 junkies if you are looking for a challenge in one of the many classic N64 party games bring it on.

Now my shopping was not done here as I said I was looking for some chinos with the back thought of a new pair of shoes. The shoes ended up coming to fruition as I stopped at Dunham's Sporting Goods and found me a sick pair of Nike's that I absolutely cannot wait to debut this summer. The classic Nike look is really going to set off the 514s this summer



These purchases really got me excited for summer for two reasons. The shoes are fly as hell and Mario Tennis just always brings a good time so I cant wait to debut the shoes and get some challengers in Mario Tennis.

Tweet me or FB me if you want a match and we can arrange something!

Life After Poker

The US being the nice big brother it always has been officially locked out US players from Pokerstars, FTP and AP/UB on Friday. I'm sure many of you have seen my rants on personal freedoms being violated but Ill ignore that situation for now and focus on life after online poker.

I post on a poker forum and the conversation came up about what we will do now that these major players in the business are gone. Are there sites that still accept players from the US still running? Sure. Will I be able to 16 table tournaments in the near future? No. Now don't get me wrong if I found out Ill be able to get my money back and Ill probably put some of it back online and just mess around but for the meanwhile it looks like I will be finding new hobbies.

Ive been working out a lot recently and that takes up a good deal of my time and as always I'm still a big movie/TV guy. When it comes to TV I have to mention Traffic Light. This show is on 930 on Tuesdays and is simply hilarious. I swear Im bursting up laughing double digit times per episode. I have a feeling though that this show isn't going to catch on and will have a 2-3 season run and have a cult like following then its over.

This month has been rough because my Xbox 360 finally crashed after having it for 5 years I just have to find the time to call in and get it fixed so I can begin playing again. I just started to use it again playing NBA 2k11 and MK vs DC. Also with my new TV the HDMI was awesome so I'm missing that.

The whole point of the blog was to discuss my hobbies after poker and while I have discussed the ones that have taken up most of my time I have left a couple out. Ill have more time to read now and a couple of my friends have recommended the Song of Fire & Ice series. They cant put the books down so I want to check these out. I still have a couple novels I want to read as well including The Naked and the Dead.

The one thing Ive wanted to learn the last few years has finally seemed like a reality. That thing would be playing the guitar.. How cliche right? But heres the thing I suck at singing so I'm not becoming a musician anytime soon. I would be using it to make jokes Bo Burnham style. It would be just another outlet to get my wisecracking, quick-wittedness and parodies in motion which many of you have come to love/hate about me.

Ill have another blog entry soon on the topic of Bucket Lists and give you a preview of what I got on mine. As always thanks to those of you who read!

Wait.. I blog?

I swear I didn't forget I had this thing but life has a funny way of taking over. These last couple weeks have had me super busy and my workouts are getting longer as I'm isolating muscle groups now instead of total body workouts. When I first moved home I wasn't sure how much of a social life I would have. I was going out drinking 3-4 times a week last semester at school and now not much has changed. Its hard to get drunk now working 50 hours a week but my friends at home and in Cleveland and Mount Union have helped keep me sane these last few months.

A lot has changed since the last entry. For one I am now in a new stake after turning the 340 into roughly 600ish. I took my profit and rolled it into a new stake with 3 backers this time and I have 75 of my 650 for all my action at the $6.50 18s. The 18s have been up and down thus far but I am playing pretty well and have a couple different guys looking over hands for me to make sure I correct in that previous statement.


Ive been looking more and more into getting my own website to start featuring my blog, polls, hilarious stories/pictures/videos and other things that have been happening in my crazy life. Being the totally awesome guy I am free raffle stuff like custom tshirts and the such could be incentive to participate in my site.



With all that said I wanted to bring up something that has struck a tiny nerve with me. What is grinding my gears these days you ask? That's easy the use of the word "love". Now I know what you are thinking Eddie you just do you why would this even bother you? I'll tell ya why because this word has been diluted so far to mean practically nothing. A couple years ago everyone was saying I love me some xxxxx.. Girls practically making sure nowadays to include it in every sentence. Now believe it or not I'm a softy at heart and this word really means something to me. Like my European friends say "We would never use love to describe our feelings towards friends why do you use this word so much? Granted that was a lot better than their broken English but you get my point. Love means something so quit diluting the word and lets get on with our lives.

As always thanks for reading and much love to all who do. (See what I did there?)

Quick Update 2/13

The last time I blogged #thelasttimecavswon was a trending topic on twitter. Since then the Cavs had a great performance to hold on and win against the clippers. JJ Hickson has been on fire the last couple weeks and attribute this to confidence. He has always been a confidence player and now that he knows he is getting minutes he has been delivering. This is what I thought we would see when I said in the beginning of the season that I thought he would be Most Improved Player.

Part of my resolutions included getting to 180 by June. I need to put on about 20 pounds from now. However my body has seen some pretty drastic changes as my workouts have been quick and intense and I already notice the difference. I have not got any reading done this month and it does not bother me to much. I made a trip down to Mount and am making one to Cleveland this weekend to hang out with some friends.

Poker has been going alright so far this month and my poker goals should be attainable this month. I am not to far out of the race for the lead in the home league. The bankroll has been growing pretty steadily in February, combine that with the stake money I have been receiving from my horse I should be able to be playing on my own dime by the end of March.

The bankroll is currently standing at 547.02

February Goals

Poker Goals:

750 games (47 sets)
10% ROI
Purchase the full version of SitNGo Wizard & use it (Trial just expired and its like free sitngo coaching)
Position myself to have my own roll by end of March (Id like to have my cut of the stake be around 150-200 by the end of this month)
End up atop the standings in my family league (Im currently in 4th)

With a little studying and a review session or two with ACBarone I should be able to land all of these goals as I progress in my journey to sitngo mastery.

Life Goals:

Finish For Whom the Bells Toll as well as my book on secret societies & start reading The Naked and the Dead
Add muscle as I continue my workout regiment
Figure out my finances and come up with a budget for my monthly expenditures so I can start saving for a new vehicle

I said at the beginning of this year I wanted to weigh 180 by June. I currently am tipping the scales at 160 and have been adding loads of protein and protein shakes to my diet to help get me there. My reading has fell off this month as I have been training for the new job and studying materials so I can have some knowledge about our products. I'm hoping my car can get me through summer so I can go out and either buy a new car or get a couple year old vehicle which is more dependable than mine.

Interests Are Renewed

That's right to me poker was just becoming a grind while I was six tabling. While that does not seem like much to me in the grand scheme of things I am sitting here telling you I have enjoyed putting in volume again. Did my heater help things out? I would be lying if I said no, however, since I began stacking my tournaments to play 16 at a time I find myself a lot more focused than the six tabling. This can be contributed to quite a few things, the first one being 6 tables was just boring. I had time to play poker and browse Twitter, Facebook, check my fantasy basketball team as well as post on 67suited, my poker forum. Also, there is the fact that I was dwelling on bad beats and tilting. Now I still check back to see what is going on in hands but also I can say it is not affecting my play as much now that I stack as it did when I was tiling. With constant action every second it is hard to dwell on what just happened especially when its buried in a pile of other tables. I believe this has allowed me to make better shoves and use my hud a little more effectively.

Anyways January has been a pretty solid month for me as I have been putting in more volume and again have reached SilverStar on Pokerstars. Playing 16 tables now should make it near impossible to not reach SilverStar for the remainder of my playing sitngos. I only have to play on 22 days of each month to reach this level and thats playing one set a day which is hardly ever the case for me. We left off on my first stacking themed post with a bankroll of 387.42. The bankroll has grown rather steadily over this past week and currently sits at 441.92.

I Am A Poet

I used to joke with my friend back in college, about how we were poets of the English language. No, not the kind of poets who rhyme every sentence or even speak in meters, the kind of poet who could leave you hanging on my every word. Until recently, did I notice that there was some truth to that statement. In my life journey thus far, I have been accused several times of using my words ambiguously. I won't deny that I do, because fact of the matter is I do. I will just let you figure out and listen how I do next time we talk.

As human beings we are always trying to figure out how and why people deliver their words. This is what makes politicians who they are in our world and a big reason why they are in power. The same could be said for CEOs and anyone in power really. They have the ability to captivate us as an audience and make us feel like we are confident in the direction that want to lead us.

I find this topic interesting because of a certain politician who recently promised hope and change, but never really defined what they truly meant. However, his broad ideas kept a lot of people in suspense. His campaign reminded me of my studies in history of JFK. JFK was a young, good looking guy who ran a campaign geared to the younger people in those times. The women, specifically, hung on every word he said because he was ambiguous in his delivery.

Speech is a very powerful tool that we use in everyday life. Some people get it and a majority don't. Those that get it tend to have high profile careers or you see/hear about them in the media or hell, even on your local college campus. The art of speech can bring someone from nothing to riches.

Stacking

So the other day it was brought up the argument of tiling vs cascading vs stacking when it comes to online poker tables. I have always been a proponent of tiling until I tried stacking tonight. The stacking option allows you to keep your tables default size and literally does what it says by stacking them. With TableNinja it can bring the action to the "top" of the pile every time a table needs a move. I felt comfortable playing 16 and this is going to help my volume I put in tremendously. I used to play 6 at a time and now I'm playing 16 what a great day for me to trial run the stack.

BR currently stands at: 387.42

I like the way I have been playing and found out I was missing quite a few spots that I should not have been missing. I attribute this to my recent downswing and it forced me subconsciously to play a little tighter in spots where I should have been opening wider. Now that I have fixed that I have seen some pretty good results over my last 100 games or so. Also now with the stack I should be seeing a nice rise in the bankroll with the extra volume.

Inaugural Poker League - Sulecki Style

Pokerstars now has an option to create a "Home Game" which short and sweet is pretty awesome. You can invite family or friends or both and create tournaments or ring games and get everyone in on the action. This new feature was put to the test tonight in my first league experience as the Suleckis took to the virtual felt to put their poker skills to the test. A lot of laughs were shared and it was cool "hanging out" with the family tonight. It was a good start for myself followed by a rough middle followed by a rise to the top which resulted in a crash to come in 5th out of 11. It was an all ladies cash tonight as two aunts and one cousin made the final 3. When it was all said and done Aunt Vic took the crown defeating Aunt Deb.



The cool thing is you can schedule tournaments for whenever and we have another scheduled for Wednesday. This new feature should allow for friends and family alike to keep in touch over a shared interest of cards. It also keeps track of stats from all the games played so at the end of the year someone is going to have bragging rights as the best player in the Sulecki ring.

WBCOOP

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker! The WBCOOP is a free online Poker tournament open to all Bloggers, so register on WBCOOP to play.

Registration code: XXXXXX 885158

January 2011 Update

Well 2011 is upon us and its been rather exciting for me thus far. I was able to land a job at Intermessage.com selling cell phones, Alltel plans and Dish Network. Its a good jumpstart to my career and am looking forward to the sales experience. If you need Alltel solutions I will be in the Saybrook store for the time being. With the job I now have ample time to grind and go over hands because my schedule is fixed which is a luxury I have not had in awhile.

Which leads me into the poker part of my blog. January has been about as well as I could ask for. Comparing it to December in which I contemplated shipping back the bankroll to my staker and taking a break from poker altogether. Variance is a brutal thing in this game and there were times where I felt I was not playing my best. These two factors combined can be disastrous for a poker player and their bankroll and I think that is what happened in December. In January thus far I feel like I am playing well and reading spots a lot better plus I am motivated to put in volume. Hopefully 2011 will continue the run good and jumpstart my poker bankroll so I can start playing on my own dime.

Another November Entry? I must be crazy

After the long grinding weekend my volume has been tapered off due to school work and spending time with family and friends over break. The rest was welcomed and needed and I am ready to get back at these last couple of weeks of undergrad.

We last left off about 10 days ago with my roll standing at $437.30. I have since put in 54 games with a ROI of 6%. Ive been getting it in ahead but just have not had the holds these last 9 sets. Currently the roll stands at $451.15.


On the personal bankroll front I cashed out a majority of my roll and left $88.51 left on FTP. I am not sure if I will leave this part of my roll in or cash out with the $150 I currently have tied up in a stake. More to come on that front in the next blog. Until then I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving weekend and good luck in your Christmas shopping!

Goals Exceeded!

Well this weekend was very successful for me. I was able to exceed both goals and severely cut down on the amount of play Ill need for the next month and half to reach my $50 Stellar Reward from Pokerstars. Let us take a look at the goals again and the results will be next to it in parenthesis.

120 games (121 games)
10% ROI (12% ROI)

+$48 profit

Overall I was very happy with my play. I did have a few hands come up regarding spots I am unsure but I ironed those out with the coach. The weekend started with a huge upswing and finished Sunday with a nice ole downswing to bring my ROI back to reality.



There are times in our game where we feel like we cant lose and by that graph Ill let you guess how I was feeling until Sunday.

Bankroll: $437.30

Im Challenging Myself This Weekend

That is right I finally have some free time and am looking to put in some volume this weekend. I am looking to put in 120 tournaments with an ROI of 10%. I need to put in some volume so I can get closer to unlocking my first $50 stellar rewards bonus. At this point Im about 12% of the way to the 1000 points I need to achieve to get to my goal. Its going to take some work because my 6 table sets only unlock 13.2 points. At this pace Id have to put in 141 sets. By putting in these 20 sets Im aiming to it can drastically cut down the amount of volume Id have to put in before the New Year. And with final exams and paper I can clear myself of the stress of having to deal with volume and school towards the end of the year.

I will update my progress on this challenge on Sunday night when I finish my last set. Good Luck to me and may I have the run good with me this weekend.

Hiatus from blogging

My hiatus from blogging has been caused by this damn thing called school. In my last semester my 18 hours are keeping me extremely busy and while I still put in some sets its nowhere near the amount I looked to start playing when I first started this stake.

Anyways we left the last blog post with a BR of 387.55 and in the midst of a downswing. The downswing happened to continue for another month or so. I ended up losing 7 buyins in September and 27 in October. It was ugly nothing I did would work out for me. I am running a little better now and actually luckboxing some hands that I should not be winning. Variance is fun isnt it?

Either way its important to note that November is going extremely well for me right now. It started with me putting in some volume while I was working security for a tour company. I get paid to make sure kids stay safe on DC trips and play poker & facebook all night. Well I was 4 tabling and simply crushing. I feel I have my confidence back and noticed some spots I was missing in the past month and half.

Bankroll for my stake currently stands @: 389.70

Now an update on my personal Bankroll.

After a couple successful stakes being returned I had some money that I could play around with. I don't remember the last time that I updated my personal bankroll and that's probably because its been ~6 months. Having a personal bankroll to mess around with while I grow my stake is rewarding because I can play some games outside of the parameters of my stake. While I am not playing $25 tournaments with 2000 people its nice to fire up a small stakes MTT like the 8.80 180max on FTP. These are perfect because they allow you to play a MTT without wasting 6 hours of your day. Fortunately for me I was able to make a nice cash in this tournament when I finished 2nd out of 118 for $175 and company that with a 2nd in a 45man $11 sitngo for $113 I was able to withdraw some money for the holiday season.

Also while in DC I was able to win a ticket to the SitNGo Madness Freeroll on FTP. It takes place tomorrow night which is a bummer because I'm not sure I can play it at 11:59 since my friends are having a blowout party. The private bankroll currently stands at 156.47 which consists of:

FTP: 89.42
Pokerstars: 67.05

Chips and A Dip

Well lack of chips but a huge dip.. Ive officially hit my first downswing of the stake. Ups and downs of poker happen all the time, when dealing with games of stats variance will always creep in. However, you will never get better if you are content on calling a downswing just variance. One can get so caught up in variance that they ignore spots/plays they usually make and thus further spiraling them into a downswing.



I once was that guy. I now know that minimal effort will get me to be a break even player. But I cannot settle for break even. I want to win and not only win but CRUSH. I have a coaching session tomorrow to go over my play. I am doing what it takes to break over the hump and start CRUSHING.

Back at school.. and Im Feeling Good

Got back on campus for my last semester on Saturday. I proceeded to head out to Canton and visit with some old friends. Besides the guys at the bar wanting to get into a dick measuring contest it was a good night.

Anyways on to the poker update. I had a coaching session today and was generally pretty happy with how I played. I did fudge up a few hands but those mistakes are happening few and far between. Today was a great day as was yestarday. The last two days over 39 games Ive ran my stake up $71.80. Besides those days Ive had one losing day since my last update and it was less than a buyin.

Currently the Bankroll stands at 459.80

The weekend slowed me down

After a weekend of work and a blackout drunk HS 5 year reunion I was able to put in a few sets the last 2 days. Monday I put in 6 tournaments and cashed once in 3rd. Yestarday I put in 6 sets and I cashed in 2 giving me +2 buyins on the day. Today I played 2 sets the first set went great finishing in 1st and pulling in 2 3rds however the 2nd set was downright awful. I was making good shoves and just was being punished. That happens in our game.

Overall the stake is still up and Ive been up in 5/7 days Ive played. Got a HH review with the coach/staker tomorrow and Ill be back with another quick update.

BR: 383.40 (+43.40)

Stake Update

The stake started Monday and Ive put in ~ok volume for my week. I started 6 tabling and bumped it up to 8 but I wasnt happy with my play at the 8 tabling so I lowered it back to six. I really like how Ive been playing and while Ive missed a few spots because Im shaking off the rust I still think my plays are sound. The stake started at 340 and after 44 tournaments this week Ive run it up to 386 and have been beating them with a 22% roi (Im running pretty well) 22% roi is high I think a 12-15% clip is more realistic. Ive had two sessions now with my coach and my game has really been getting back to A Game shape. Lets keep up the br building.