LuxuryMaster's Blog Spot

Eclipse in Windows: Cannot run program (CreateProcess error=87), The parameter is incorrect

2011-09-12T15:36:00.000-07:00

You will see this when you exceed the character limits on Windows machine in your Java classpath. The character limit for the Windows is the following:

- Windows XP: 8189 characters
- Windows 7: around 33k characters

You will have to somewhat shorten the classpath. There are potential work arounds to this problem.

1) Use the network drive to shorten the classpath

You can use the network drive to shorten the classpath. Instead of having C:\Program Files\Apache\Maven 3.0\....\\xxx.jar, you can shorten the entire path to (i.g. M:\xxx.jar). Make sure to update your Maven's settings.xml and configure your m2clipse settings accordingly.

2) Use -Djava.ext.dirs JVM parameter and exclude Maven dependencies from your run configuration

It's possible that you might still run into exceeding the class path issue even after setting up the network drive. If this is the case, follow the below steps to resolve the issue.

You can use maven's dependency plugin to export all the transitive dependency jars into the specific location. Look Maven dependency plugin. Configure the Maven dependency plug-in on your pom then execute "mvn dependency:copy-dependencies" to export the jars into the folder (i.e. libs).

Once you have exported all the jars, navigate your Eclipse's runtime configurations. Go to Arguents -> VM arguments and add the -Djava.ext.dirs=libs (if your jar folder is libs). Note that this VM argument is separated by ; so you can enter multiple folders.

Eclipse is running in a JRE, but a JDK is required

2011-05-31T09:59:00.000-07:00

When installing m2eclipse plugin, you might get an error like this in a eclipse console

"Eclipse is running in a JRE, but a JDK is required"

Problem can be solved simply by editing eclipse.ini file from your eclipse installation directory.

The key is that the -vm entry must come before the -vmargs entry. Also, make sure to have a line break between

-vm

and the path.

So in the eclipse.ini file:

THIS WILL NOT WORK:
-vm C:\java\jdk\bin\javaw.exe

BUT THIS WILL:
-vm
C:\java\jdk\bin\javaw.exe

Google Web Toolkit (GWT) CRUD - SmartGWT

2010-07-29T10:58:00.000-07:00

I found this extensive GWT widget developed and licensed under GNU. From the all the GWT frameworks I have seen, this is the best one so far. It has over 260 showcase features and it is open source!. One of the biggest strength of this framework is the support for data integration/binding. GWT is an amazing tool. However, it doesn't have much of built-in framework for form validation/binding. Writing the code for data binding/validation in GWT can consume a lot of time. SmartGWT has amazing API functions to deal these obstacles with just a couple lines of code!

Look at the show case below:
http://www.smartclient.com/smartgwt/showcase/#add_grid_form_category

Pay close attention to Grid-Form-Binding. Writing GWT CRUD screen with SmartGWT sounds like a piece of cake!

For more information:
- Google code: http://code.google.com/p/smartgwt/
- Showcase: http://www.smartclient.com/smartgwt/showcase/

Spring MVC Attachment Upload/Download Handler

2010-04-07T09:05:00.000-07:00

I implemented an attachment upload/download handler using Spring MVC. Uploading was just a piece of cake because all I had to was wiring the multipart resolver into the configuration and have a bean injected to it. Spring documentation was all I needed.

However, downloading was more tricky. I have to get response's output stream, set mime type and write the byte arrays to it. I found out this great mime type list for 2007 office. Even after I set the mime types for the response, .docx was saying that the file was corrupt. Once I click "Yes" on the recovery, it comes back fine but I am not sure why it is getting corrupted as all the other attachments come back just perfect. If anyone has any insights on this issue, please let me know.

Office 2007 Mime Types
.docm, application/vnd.ms-word.document.macroEnabled.12
.docx, application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document
.dotm, application/vnd.ms-word.template.macroEnabled.12
.dotx, application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.template
.potm, application/vnd.ms-powerpoint.template.macroEnabled.12
.potx, application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.template
.ppam, application/vnd.ms-powerpoint.addin.macroEnabled.12
.ppsm, application/vnd.ms-powerpoint.slideshow.macroEnabled.12
.ppsx, application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.slideshow
.pptm, application/vnd.ms-powerpoint.presentation.macroEnabled.12
.pptx, application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.presentation
.xlam, application/vnd.ms-excel.addin.macroEnabled.12
.xlsb, application/vnd.ms-excel.sheet.binary.macroEnabled.12
.xlsm, application/vnd.ms-excel.sheet.macroEnabled.12
.xlsx, application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet
.xltm, application/vnd.ms-excel.template.macroEnabled.12
.xltx, application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.template

DisplayTag feature to expose row numbers

2010-01-27T16:32:00.001-08:00

I was working on Spring MVC and DisplayTag to structure the table. I had a list of objects and needed to refer the index of an item because I had to use <spring:bind>

I discovered a cool DisplayTag feature that exposes the row number of an item. Here is an example:

<display:table name="ticketList" id="ticket"> 
  <display:column title="Row Number"> 
     ${ticket_rowNum}
  </display:column> 
</display:table>

You are basically appending "_rowNum" to the variable to get the row number.

Life Goes On: LuxuryMagic #14 - Sun Certified Java Programmer 6.0!

2009-03-30T12:22:00.001-07:00

I dedicated a past few weeks to study for the exam. I finally received the certification today! Next is Sun Certified Web Component Developer (SCWCD). In the meantime, I submitted my resumes after receiving the certification. I don't know my decision of pursing this certification rather than finding job earlier would turn out. Hopefully, I get to hear some good news but the current economy is fairly tough especially for junior level developer like me.

Life Goes On: LuxuryMagic #13 - Business Card

2008-12-17T18:01:00.000-08:00

This business card is designed by my roommate who owns design company called Broad Sighted. I initially provided him ideas for designing LuxuryMaster.net because I wasn't very proficient on CSS during that time. I received basic lesson from him so I am a bit better now but he is really good.

He provided me excellent quality of work designing 5 different front end main pages with various color schemas depicting various mood with amazing amount of details in all places.

I will now be independently working on back-end infrastructure and I am currently planning on the whole infrastructure although I have my idea fairly solid. I remember spending a whole semester designing the architecture in school when I was working on my senior project.

Although the group of 4 spent whole semester of designing basic architecture, we ran into various issues when writing codes for the actual product. I was the team leader of the group and it was very stressful to change the implementation all the time. I learned my lesson from that and I don't plan on quick rushing on this project =)

Anyways, due to his successful performance on my LuxuryMaster.net's front end UI work, I asked him to design the business card and look how it came! I can't upload the actual version of the card because it contains personal information but if you look at it carefully, you will be able to see transparent color scheme applied in different vertical layers and it is simply amazing!

If any of you are interested getting web hosting and design services for your business, I suggest you to contact him. You may visit his website Broad Sighted for more details.

Life Goes On: LuxuryMagic #12 - It's my turn to protect

2008-12-12T16:57:00.000-08:00

I have decided to stop playing online poker for a while as I have found more joyful and meaningful things to do in my life. I haven't decided how I will spend the money I get from the withdrawal but I am sure I will figure something out =)

I purchased a book called "Real Estate Millionaire: Secret Strategies To Lifetime Wealth Today" by Dean Graziosi. I haven't had a chance to read much about the book it seemed interesting because it seems like anyone can possibly work on trading real estate properties because you don't have to have credit, or investment, or anything.

I also plan to work on my LuxuryMaster.net in the meantime and stay tuned for the updates on the site!

Life Goes On: LuxuryMagic #11 - We are the ONE

2008-12-04T09:50:00.000-08:00

Life Goes On: LuxuryMagic #10 - Key to My Heart

2008-11-20T17:46:00.001-08:00

My roommates designed above picture in the frame and gave it to me for my 24th birthday present. In the picture frame, it says 'carpe shipem'. It is a phrase from Latin meaning "seize the day" and living the moment in your life. I perceived the meaning of the word right when I heard from my roomate. However, I found myself not applying this beautiful message to my life until today.

Looking back and thinking about it, I don't think I have ever slept ever since I got into the college. Yesterday, I had a such a long sleep, when I woke up, my body felt extremely tired and everything seemed empty.

I have recently experienced overwhelming attention in my life that I have never desired for. I was extremely overwhelmed that I had a moment to give up everything in my life. However, I believe Jesus saved my life at my last moment because there are so many options available to you if you have made a decision to fold over yourself.

I have wondered why I have been chosen to go through this hard moment in my life and prayed to Jesus various times why I am going through this challenging flop on my life.

Today, I was working at my job as usual. Recently, I had overwhelming amount of work at my job all the sudden. Ironically, I got my daily tasks done a little early. I went to eat lunch, get some massage on my body, relaxed myself a bit, watched children playing around in the mall, watched beautiful sky, took a deep breath, and came back to work and thought about why I am working in the office at this moment. Everything I was responsible for was finished so why should I be in the office? Why can't I just go outside and whatever the hell I want?

I thought about myself and trying to figure out what I can do to enjoy in the meantime. I first figured out how I can possibly contribute my developers in the team by working extra amount of time which I got done fairly quickly. I honestly felt really good because I feel like I was finally be able to contribute something extra to the development team rather than working 8 hours straight, being lazy about myself, and just get things done like a machine.

I then forgot about work as I have no obligation or given tasks to continue. I then wondered what would be the first step to benefit more people other than people working in the office. Looking back and thinking about it, I had suffered so much in the past living on my own, working towards my future that I had always dreamed - best car, best job, beautiful girl friend, and etc. Those were so important to me and I had amazing amount of passion on various different things I enjoy in my life and I honestly felt it's reaching and I can accomplish that faster than other people. However, I decided to set all these aside and have a moment to think about what would be really is important in my life if I can only live a day.

I finally decided to accept myself that I desire a lot of different things in my life, instead of turning myself in a miserable mode and thinking about future life, I have decided to not to be sad about my life, worrying about tomorrow, or what the hell would happen if I do something. I simply decided to accept everything happening in my life and cope thorough with it regardless of the outcome.

I instantly felt extreme amount of stress going off of my brain and became happy. I am not sure if I will feel happy or sad tomorrow but since I am not a machine, I decided to forgive myself being sad, happy, or whatever but just stay positive on myself and use self discipline and patience not to lose self control.

I believe we all facet different types of challenging moments in our life and the question is how we perceive these different challenging moments in our life. I have decided to use my intuition to figure out what exactly is going on and deal positively instead of being negative and doubtful about myself, other people, or getting frustrated about the situation.

Just being careless about the current circumstance with controlled mind set was a simple key to my happiness. I strongly believe this is the soul that Jesus has given me while coping through my hard time and I will use my best judgment to protect this great freedom in my life so that I can truly 'carpe shipem' in my life with the people I love regardless of the law, money, perception of other people, and future life.

Life Goes On: LuxuryMagic #9 - Pursuit of Self Tranquility

2008-11-01T00:44:00.000-07:00

I have been having this awesome art that I bought from the University of Colorado when I visited there for lunch. I hung it on the wall for a while but never paid attention to the message in the art. It says:

"The poor long for riches. The rich long for heaven but the wise desires tranquility"

Life Goes On: LuxuryMagic #8 - CU KSA Soccer and DMV Gorilla

2008-10-29T19:39:00.000-07:00

I think everyone played great and I feel sorry that Jungbin got injured while playing. I promised to buy you guys dinner if you guys win the first game. The game got tied therefore no dinner out of pocket as I promised on our temporary Cyworld website! ㅋㅋㅋ

However, I promised Sung bin that I will treat you guys a dinner for sure if you win the entire tournament so you guys better keep up the good work ^^!

Now, the pictures I promised to post for Korean Students Association in the University of Colorado at Boulder:

- S. Korea vs. Indonesia

- 준모형 - KSA 회장님

- 3명의 유령 - 누가 누군지도 잘 모르겟다는.. -_-;

- 한솔 and ...죄송 이름이(?)알려주시면 고쳐드릴꼐요

- 인경 and 정빈

- 건영 and 성빈 (He went to Google with me!)

Let's have another blast on our upcoming NBA event in Denver Stadium!

I went to DMV in Denver and won this huge gorilla for a bit over 9,000 in a couple of hours of playing. I played the game where you can move the cursor vertically and horizontally and drop the grabber to catch the bottle, If you successfully do so, you get bunch of tickets printed out and I won it when I went there with my friends from the Korean Central Presbyterian Church. Fairly impressively big one with only about 2 hours of playing.

Life Goes On: LuxuryMagic #7 - LuxuryMaster's Life BluePrint: Long Term Positive Effects

2008-10-29T18:01:00.000-07:00

I have been living my life like a mayfly ever since I came to this country. I have recently learned that what pulled my life together to make become what I am today is not because I am born with brain that surpasses others.

I have surely worked harder than other teenagers and went through challenging moments when I was young but I do not think that is exactly the cause of what makes LuxuryMaster today. As cocky as it seems, I feel extremely proud of myself.

I have had a lot of miracle experiences ever since I came to this country on 2000. I have always wondered what actually made LuxuryMaster so lucky in critical stages of my life.

I first thought it was because of people who have been supporting me but after opening my eyes on a lot of things on different things on positive way, I have learned that there is something non-existent entity that has been assisting me - Jesus.

Because of so many miracle happenings in critical stages when I was young, I feel like everyday I live on the continent is blessing to me. I now have no fear of losing anything in my life except people around me.

When I like to make friends or start relationships, I like to view attitude of person's friends to determine if I like to be friend with him/her. I believe it is a lot easier to tell someone's true heart as people can always can fake their true intention. However, looking at his/her friends will tell you a lot of his/her past experience and future life. I can't express how happy I feel once I have no expectation but just do what I love to do.

However, if I lose something in unrighteously, I like to use best of my abilities to fight. This is why I sometimes had to tell my good friends that I can either become your worst enemy or best friend.

I have finally figured out what exactly is "Meaning of Life" is on my heart. I have decided to devote my future brainstorming an idea and turn that into a technology that can potentially benefit millions of lives using technologies just like Google. I have decided to walk through my future career with Translations.com to accomplish this goal.

I think the reason why I applied to Google is because I had gained that envision on my heart by going through certain experiences and perceptions recently. I still feel we shared somewhat vision and I still love Google although they might not like me:)

I perceive my life is simple as this: accomplish something that can positively influence other people while doing something meaningful, technical, and beneficial to others while having fun doing it. This has became very clear to me recently. No anticipation of tomorrow or expectation of result, just live a day like a mayfly while having fun doing it - This is what I call Jesus's blessing and I feel like I have earned it.

I view myself as a mayfly that currently flies in low altitude but I believe some mayfly envisions to fly high altitude with strong determination and positive heart although it is currently flying low. Carpe diem - "seize the day"

Life Goes On: LuxuryMagic #6 - "Engineer Myself"

2008-10-20T13:35:00.000-07:00

I went to one of the Google's luxury office in Boulder, CO (an office filled with rock climbing walls, buffet, guitar hero... and etc) for the full time software engineering position opportunity with Google on last Friday (October 17, 2008).

I solved the problem given and failed to make it more efficient although I received 'A' on the algorithm from Andrzej Ehrenfeucht. I went like “Huh? Binary Search?”. Well, I know what binary tree is and also know a couple of searching algorithms but it wasn't popping up on my head during that time. I wasn't trying to prove my aptitude in this interview so I guess it doesn't really matter as I am fully aware I am not much better than other recent college graduates in that sense.

My teacher on the CU algorithm class was Andrzej Ehrenfeucht from CS department. His lecture didn’t teach me anything much about the CS algorithms and all I did was just doing homework solving some greatest common divisor and some graphs... sign... However, he is one of the distinct professor from CU who doesnt get fired for not walking into the classroom without advanced notice and make all students waiting over 20-30 minutes. I am sure he had his own reasons but I wasn't too happy with it.

I think we are all smart in a lot of different ways and he wasn't extremely smart about his teaching and genius about his research when I was taking his course. I would understand if it was just once but it kept happening and I remember just not going to his class but still got through his course fairly successfully I think =)

I should have studied more about algorithm but my life was too busy to spend extra time into that. I really wish I had John R. Black because he also teaches algorithm and I learned heck a lot from his CS6000 level network security course when I was in CU.

What I have learned in the industry during a couple months is the realization of scalability and performance issues and how to troubleshoot the problems before they even arise and avoid putting myself in a DOO-DOO situation. I am still learning though I ironically had never ran into serious one to research to come up with one on my own =)

Life Goes On: LuxuryMagic #5 - "Engineer (Y)ourself"

2008-10-17T22:01:00.000-07:00

Alpha Version: LuxuryMaster.net is finally up!
Any ideas or comments are welcome and appreciated!

Life Goes On: LuxuryMagic #4 - My Favorite Song Changed

2008-10-14T13:19:00.000-07:00

Dj Encore feat. Engelina - Open Your Eyes

You can't keep me holding on I've giving you some time
I can't make you come along if you don't share your mind
Every time you close your eyes I know you feel the same
Everything you try to fight is drowning in the rain

What does it take to open your eyes
Don't let it fade
You got to let the sunshine through the rain
Open your eyes don't make me wait
You got to let the sunshine through the rain

TEll me why you turn away, whenever I believe
Finally you come to say I'm everything you need
Everytime you close your eyes I know you feel the same
Everything you try to fight is drowning in the rain

What does it take to open your eyes
Don't let it fade
You got to let the sunshine through the rain
Open your eyes don't make me wait
You got to let the sunshine through the rain

I'm not asking of you, to give yourself away
I just want you to hear the words I say
It's only a matter of time
It's only a matter of time
It's only a matter of time
It's only a matter of time
What does it take to open your eyes
Don't let it fade
You got to let the sunshine through the rain
Open your eyes don't make me wait
You got to let the sunshine through the rain

John O'Callaghan - Big Sky (Feat. Audrey Gallagher)

I know this silence - been here before.
I'm walking blinded through your door.
This is a sense of things to come,
This innocence... oh, oh.

Breathe in this moment - it's come and gone
Further and faster through your soul.
Open your eyes and breathe some more,
Open your mouth... oh, oh.

Release yourself - it's a big sky.
Reveal yourself, it's a big sky.
We love, we leave. We take, we give.
Release yourself - it's a big sky.

It's a big sky...

It's a big sky...

I know this silence - been here before.
I'm walking blinded through your door.
This is a sense of things to come,
This innocence... oh, oh.

Breathe in this moment - it's come and gone
Further and faster through your soul.
Open your eyes and breathe some more,
Open your mouth... oh, oh.

Release yourself - it's a big sky.
Reveal yourself, it's a big sky.
We love, we leave. We take, we give.
Release yourself - it's a big sky.

It's a big sky...
It's a big sky...

Breathe in this moment.
Breathe in this moment.
Breathe in this moment.
It's a big sky!

Release yourself - it's a big sky.
Reveal yourself, it's a big sky.
We love, we leave. We take, we give.
Release yourself - it's a big sky.

It's a big sky.
We love, we leave. We take, we give.
Release yourself - it's a big sky.
It's a big sky.

Life Goes On: LuxuryMagic #3

2008-10-12T13:48:00.000-07:00

"I am Feeling Lucky"

Life Goes On: LuxuryMagic #2

2008-09-28T23:38:00.001-07:00

I have defined poker as my secondary job in the previous posts. I believe second job is something that you should always try to have not only because it gains you more money but I think it is doing something meaningful and enjoyful on your spare time. I have confirmed myself today that I have found my new second job and hereby degrading poker as a hobby until I feel like playing again.

I now strongly believe that taking an occasional break and pursue other things to get a broader sighted design on your color helps you shine your own luxury color!

Life Goes On: LuxuryMagic #1

2008-09-28T19:38:00.000-07:00

A box filled with scrap of papers and rocks and two envelops on the very bottom of the box given to my good friend:

1) The Hand I Have Been Overplaying on You
2) Another Over Played Hand

It was initially not my intention to post first envelope to public as I first intended it only to him. However, on the last day, I figured out I can't change someone's color with my luxury magic.

The whole motivivation of how this started was based on read my friend and desire to help. I am sure will take time to find out if my initial read was correct or not but I do not cheat on my read because I have solid set of line on myself which is telling me "All or Nothing".

It is also important to mention that I am very selective and aggressive on my generousity but I wouuldn't feel bad even if my initial read turned out to be a wrong or not because of what I realized by going through this.

I am trying to become a leader who does not necessary dictate or tell the people but filled with luxury color that is strong enough to influence others. I failed to do so on my LuxuryMagic #1.

Therefore, I hope people who visit my blog may pick something from the first envelope by opening it as I have decided to choose myself to be someone who is not telling people to change but have strong and positive magic on the heart to change others.

P.S.: Special Thank to KoreanHacker who helped me to realize this.

Career Potential Challenge: Immediate Impact for Goods vs. Long Term Impact for Goods

2008-09-24T23:58:00.000-07:00

(Immediate Impact for Goods):

* Apply to Google

I have decided to further pursue my computer science career as I feel more successful and more enjoyable than winning a lot of money on poker while sitting on my computer fulltime. I have decided to pursue further opportunies in order to strengthen my primary career

(Long Term Impact for Goods):

* Further Develop Personal Engineering Protfolio Website
* Start a Small IT Business with My Smart and Passionate Roomates

I went to the Google Technical Talk in the University of Colorado at Boulder with my friend Seung Bin, who is currently junior majoring in computer science. I was there not only for my personal intellectual reasons or whatever but it was also to help him see the exposures I wish I had while I was junior in the college.

I was on my way to walk into the room and saw a recruiting coordinator greeting everyone. I said “Hi xx (Privacy reason)” and she goes “Hello Jay”. I saw her 1-2 times during the past career events and asked for resume help once. I have never seen her again face to face. It was really surprising to perceive the passion of the people on their job. Everyone had own character and acted friendly while being very passionate and professional on what they do. I mean let’s face it - she probably sees probably over 100 people and she is telling me she remembers (at least tries) to remember everyone and treat each one of them in professional manner. I asked her why my PHD student friend, who got recently employed at Gooogle did not attend to this tech talk because I was honestly expecting to see him again =)

Out of all the Google tech talk I have ever went, I have to say this one was the most informative and well organized one I have ever attended. It is not just because I have received a special greeting from the recruiting coordinator. Everything was well organized and went very smooth. I am taking my time to say thank you to Google and ACM for organizing this and make it actually happen!

Career Prioritizing: $2/4 -> $1/2

2008-09-24T20:49:00.000-07:00

I have been through a lot of things during the past a few weeks of my life not only one poker and I have to say it has been tough and traumatic but I am writing this blog to appreciate, record, and remind what I have learned and gained from my past experience.

Now I think about it playing $2/4 is the border line where one needs to decide to play poker pro for living or not. I have decided not to take that path and defined playing poker as my secondary job. However, I love to play too much winning consistently beating the $2/4 game almost 4BB/100 during last 3 months. Let's just say that I figured out the better way to live my life aside from money gained from the job or poker by going thorough my tough time.

I had a same type of decision back in the day when I first transfered to CU from CSU while playing Warcraft III professional sponsored by AMD. I was playing with Dayfly, Fov, Showtime, Lucifer, and other korean programers back in the day. I decided to completely quit playing Warcraft III after messing up the finals. I hadn't spent over 5 hours during that semester and my grade was all good (A-B+) then I messed up the final exam and put my GPA on jeoperdy.

I thought about the outcome of this and I convinced myself that I have to choose one or the other and I quitted Warcraft III (As LuxuryMaster quotes: "All or Nothing"). I have never looked back on myself back ever since same way I have never deposited money again on Pokerstars after losing 2-3 times of $50-100 deposits back since 3 years ago and probaly will not happen anytime on future.

Withdrawing over 75% my online bankroll from my online account was overall smart decision as it makes myself almost debtfree on my credit cards which I was forced to accumulate as I barely managed to pay my last tuition bill from CU. This however, is not saying "I am quitting Poker". I feel like I can never be able to quit as I see this game never get boring to me and socializing aspect is just amazing especially on Las Vegas live tables =)

Good Bye to Full Tilt Poker

2008-09-22T22:23:00.000-07:00

I have decided to withdraw entire BR from FT as I don't need that much money sitting on there doing nothing. I still have enough BR left on PS to play $1/2 so it is fine. In the meantime, I will start enjoying more of real life. Plans are:

- Buy Mac Book Pro -> Get compensated with PS concierge service
- Enjoy the freedom of home working engineer -> Work at CU or Starbucks or wherever I want

I have also decided to choose just keep playing on Pokerstars as their support is so great. They have something called concierge service for Supernova player where they offer players to buy anything (no investments tho) and compensate with accumulated FPPs.

I got a MAC BOOK PRO 17'', the best one in the market in order to fully utilize my freedom. It is so nifty and awesome. I hated MAC because it was so hard to use. Now I become industry IT professional and can finally understand why its awesome. Knowledge finally started to empower on myself.

Promoted to: Home Working Software Engineer

2008-09-08T23:28:00.000-07:00

I have been working at Translations.com's Boulder office for over 3 months now. I was actually only software engineer in the office as this office recently opened in the Boulder location and we have engineers working oversea and I recently felt no reason to come to office as we always communicate over the internet and I have been fully tranined by my manager over 3 months.

I asked my boss for the permission to work at home where I can feel more comfortable and be more productive. There were some reviews going back and forth with our senior developers on oversea. Based on my productivity and reliablity that I have shown since the first of my job, they granted my request and I am now working at home. Sweet ship it please!

After I hear back from him, I bought myself a top notch recliner that I can just sit back and relax while I am working. Price was little bit aggressive but I managed to bluff raise myself to buy it anyways. I also have realized that due to this, I now have more freedom in my life and no longer need to stress myself on poker income. I will now play poker as entertainment / supplement income value and I think this is very +EV choice for my overall life satisfaction.

I have been actively going to church over the weekend and there was a really famous pester coming from Chicago giving a speech about the topic called "hope". It was really overall satisfactive and he mentioned various quotations from the people during the speech who became really successful and how one should measure the degree of the success. Obviously the factor was not based on how much money they have made. There were one quotation that got stuck on my head, it was from John Pottter. I tried my best to translate into English =)

"The moment I felt most successful in my life is not when I actually climbed to the top of the Everlast, it was the moment I was walking down from the top of the mountain and envisioned what I further possibly can do with my success that I have archieved"

I decided to review my daily life and figure out if I am living my life successfully and it turns out there were so many leaks. I found myself way too busy during my daily life. For example, I work full time 5 days a week, playing heavy amount of poker over the weekend despite my recent success on the job and poker. Actually my friend Dwain actually first brought this up and I appreciate him tellng me this and provide me a reason to think back on myself. I just feel like I made right, strong and big decision on my poker career overall and confirmed myself that I am walking into the right direction with Jesus. As long as I feel myself walking into right direction, I believe I will be able to enrich further and become more successful.

Win Some Lose Some and Click Timebank Button

2008-09-07T21:37:00.000-07:00

This August has been very interesting month for my poker career not just because I lost a lot of money but due to my new perception. I have had such a terrible run on my $2/4 (400NL) games during the late weeks of August. I am fully aware that I am not playing most opmital style and making some -EV plays. However, I know I am a winning player and had been winning over 10k/month over past 3 months and disciplined enough to grind from my $100 initial deposit for almost 3 years now to result my bankroll to up to where I am. Let's look at the graph of this month. Consider I average out to play about 2000 hands per day and pay very close attention to the spikes and downs. If you are a professional poker, you would say I am doing fine and its nature but to me, I mean its just insane to me =)

August 2008 BB/100: 1.18, NET: +$5,603.75

As shown above and suprisingly, I still did not end up losing at the end of the month and actually generated almost $6,000 profit on August. One thing to note from the graph is that I have had a big winning day/and small consecutive losing days. I particuallly do not think I tilted or played extremely bad on any of the sessions I played but it was great experience for me to realize the extreme swings on the game. It was frustrating due to just run of cards and I was just getting stressed way too much on my game because I put my chips on even when I am ahead and still end up losing. Now, let's look at some of the hands that I ran into.

PokerStars Game #20180670898: Hold'em No Limit ($2/$4) - 2008/08/05 22:58:09 ET
Table 'Perseus II' 6-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 1: gomaspt ($2138.65 in chips)
Seat 2: KingKoopa2 ($571 in chips)
Seat 3: Hyi_Vam ($443 in chips)
Seat 4: uYNamron ($400 in chips)
Seat 5: Jschlach ($489.55 in chips)
Seat 6: LuxuryMaster ($848 in chips)
LuxuryMaster: posts small blind $2
gomaspt: posts big blind $4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to LuxuryMaster [Ac As]
KingKoopa2: folds
Hyi_Vam: folds
uYNamron: folds
Jschlach: folds
LuxuryMaster: raises $12 to $16
gomaspt: calls $12
*** FLOP *** [8h Ah 8d]
LuxuryMaster: checks
gomaspt: checks
*** TURN *** [8h Ah 8d] [Jd]
LuxuryMaster: bets $28
gomaspt: calls $28
*** RIVER *** [8h Ah 8d Jd] [7d]
LuxuryMaster: bets $72
gomaspt: raises $128 to $200
LuxuryMaster: raises $604 to $804 and is all-in
gomaspt: calls $604
*** SHOW DOWN ***
LuxuryMaster: shows [Ac As] (a full house, Aces full of Eights)
gomaspt: shows [Td 9d] (a straight flush, Seven to Jack)
gomaspt collected $1693 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $1696 | Rake $3
Board [8h Ah 8d Jd 7d]
Seat 1: gomaspt (big blind) showed [Td 9d] and won ($1693) with a straight flush, Seven to Jack
Seat 2: KingKoopa2 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: Hyi_Vam folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: uYNamron folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: Jschlach (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: LuxuryMaster (small blind) showed [Ac As] and lost with a full house, Aces full of Eights

PokerStars Game #20184312309: Hold'em No Limit ($2/$4) - 2008/08/05 22:59:04 ET
Table 'Caubeta' 6-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: brizzybreech ($398 in chips)
Seat 2: LuxuryMaster ($358 in chips)
Seat 3: iheartcoco ($386.70 in chips)
Seat 4: oceanbillly ($394 in chips)
Seat 5: Laxalicious ($648.40 in chips)
Seat 6: Greakfreak ($484.35 in chips)
LuxuryMaster: posts small blind $2
iheartcoco: posts big blind $4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to LuxuryMaster [8s 8c]
oceanbillly: folds
Laxalicious: folds
Greakfreak: calls $4
brizzybreech: folds
LuxuryMaster: raises $16 to $20
iheartcoco: folds
Greakfreak: calls $16
*** FLOP *** [Js Ah 3c]
LuxuryMaster: bets $32
Greakfreak: calls $32
*** TURN *** [Js Ah 3c] [8h]
LuxuryMaster: bets $76
Greakfreak: raises $356.35 to $432.35 and is all-in
LuxuryMaster: calls $230 and is all-in
Uncalled bet ($126.35) returned to Greakfreak
*** RIVER *** [Js Ah 3c 8h] [Th]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
LuxuryMaster: shows [8s 8c] (three of a kind, Eights)
Greakfreak: shows [2h Jh] (a flush, Ace high)
Greakfreak collected $717 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $720 | Rake $3
Board [Js Ah 3c 8h Th]
Seat 1: brizzybreech (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: LuxuryMaster (small blind) showed [8s 8c] and lost with three of a kind, Eights
Seat 3: iheartcoco (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 4: oceanbillly folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: Laxalicious folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: Greakfreak showed [2h Jh] and won ($717) with a flush, Ace high

PokerStars Game #20185370330: Hold'em No Limit ($2/$4) - 2008/08/05 22:58:44 ET
Table 'Hubei' 6-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: Bouge_Todd ($430.10 in chips)
Seat 2: great1974 ($246 in chips)
Seat 3: LuxuryMaster ($350.55 in chips)
Seat 4: miraculix06 ($473.60 in chips)
Seat 5: DaHellRaiser ($569.50 in chips)
Seat 6: sancaetano ($252.80 in chips)
miraculix06: posts small blind $2
DaHellRaiser: posts big blind $4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to LuxuryMaster [Ad Ks]
sancaetano: folds
Bouge_Todd: folds
great1974: raises $16 to $20
LuxuryMaster: raises $44 to $64
miraculix06: folds
DaHellRaiser: folds
great1974: calls $44
*** FLOP *** [9s 3c 2s]
great1974: bets $182 and is all-in
LuxuryMaster: calls $182
*** TURN *** [9s 3c 2s] [5s]
*** RIVER *** [9s 3c 2s 5s] [3d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
great1974: shows [5c Ac] (two pair, Fives and Threes)
LuxuryMaster: mucks hand
great1974 collected $495 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $498 | Rake $3
Board [9s 3c 2s 5s 3d]
Seat 1: Bouge_Todd folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: great1974 showed [5s Ac] and won ($495) with two pair, Fives and Threes
Seat 3: LuxuryMaster (button) mucked [Ad Ks]
Seat 4: miraculix06 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 5: DaHellRaiser (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 6: sancaetano folded before Flop (didn't bet)

PokerStars Game #20185337793: Hold'em No Limit ($2/$4) - 2008/08/12 4:02:11 ET
Table 'Fornax' 6-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 2: dave798111 ($1139 in chips)
Seat 3: Itz_ ($644.35 in chips)
Seat 4: LuxuryMaster ($370 in chips)
Seat 5: topgun1026 ($406 in chips)
Seat 6: babyhoss555 ($371.60 in chips)
Itz_: posts small blind $2
LuxuryMaster: posts big blind $4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to LuxuryMaster [Qd Qh]
topgun1026: calls $4
yymee has returned
babyhoss555: raises $12 to $16
dave798111: calls $16
Itz_: calls $14
LuxuryMaster: raises $52 to $68
topgun1026: folds
babyhoss555: folds
dave798111: folds
Itz_: calls $52
*** FLOP *** [Ks 5h 7c]
Itz_: checks
LuxuryMaster: checks
*** TURN *** [Ks 5h 7c] [Th]
Itz_: bets $101
LuxuryMaster: calls $101
*** RIVER *** [Ks 5h 7c Th] [8s]
Itz_: bets $272
LuxuryMaster: calls $201 and is all-in
Uncalled bet ($71) returned to Itz_
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Itz_: shows [8d 8c] (three of a kind, Eights)
LuxuryMaster: mucks hand
Itz_ collected $774 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $776 | Rake $2
Board [Ks 5h 7c Th 8s]
Seat 2: dave798111 (button) folded before Flop
Seat 3: Itz_ (small blind) showed [8d 8c] and won ($774) with three of a kind, Eights
Seat 4: LuxuryMaster (big blind) mucked [Qd Qh]
Seat 5: topgun1026 folded before Flop
Seat 6: babyhoss555 folded before Flop

PokerStars Game #20187440625: Hold'em No Limit ($2/$4) - 2008/08/12 4:07:21 ET
Table 'Caubeta' 6-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: DarDaugiau ($384 in chips)
Seat 2: daaaaaaan ($90.85 in chips)
Seat 3: G-De-Gus ($330 in chips)
Seat 4: donkydynamit ($540.65 in chips)
Seat 5: Ck1ko ($461.10 in chips)
Seat 6: LuxuryMaster ($775.30 in chips)
DarDaugiau: posts small blind $2
daaaaaaan: posts big blind $4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to LuxuryMaster [Tc Td]
G-De-Gus: folds
donkydynamit: folds
Ck1ko: folds
LuxuryMaster: raises $8 to $12
DarDaugiau: raises $32 to $44
daaaaaaan: folds
LuxuryMaster: calls $32
*** FLOP *** [9d 8h 7d]
DarDaugiau: checks
LuxuryMaster: bets $68
DarDaugiau: raises $272 to $340 and is all-in
LuxuryMaster: calls $272
*** TURN *** [9d 8h 7d] [5d]
*** RIVER *** [9d 8h 7d 5d] [As]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
DarDaugiau: shows [Th Ah] (a pair of Aces)
LuxuryMaster: mucks hand
DarDaugiau collected $769 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $772 | Rake $3
Board [9d 8h 7d 5d As]
Seat 1: DarDaugiau (small blind) showed [Th Ah] and won ($769) with a pair of Aces
Seat 2: daaaaaaan (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 3: G-De-Gus folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: donkydynamit folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: Ck1ko folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: LuxuryMaster (button) mucked [Tc Td]

PokerStars Game #20186865314: Hold'em No Limit ($2/$4) - 2008/08/12 4:12:38 ET
Table 'Havnia' 6-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 1: donkydynamit ($267.15 in chips)
Seat 2: dmbush ($400 in chips)
Seat 3: LuxuryMaster ($386.75 in chips)
Seat 4: LovEva ($595.80 in chips)
Seat 5: Sunking25 ($285.30 in chips)
Seat 6: Noahnick72 ($188.10 in chips)
Sunking25: posts small blind $2
Noahnick72: posts big blind $4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to LuxuryMaster [Kc Ks]
donkydynamit: folds
dmbush: raises $8 to $12
LuxuryMaster: raises $32 to $44
LovEva: folds
Sunking25: folds
Noahnick72: folds
dmbush: calls $32
*** FLOP *** [9h Jd 4c]
dmbush: checks
LuxuryMaster: bets $64
dmbush: calls $64
*** TURN *** [9h Jd 4c] [6h]
dmbush: checks
LuxuryMaster: bets $136
dmbush: raises $156 to $292 and is all-in
LuxuryMaster: calls $142.75 and is all-in
Uncalled bet ($13.25) returned to dmbush
*** RIVER *** [9h Jd 4c 6h] [5s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
dmbush: shows [4h 4d] (three of a kind, Fours)
LuxuryMaster: mucks hand
dmbush collected $776.50 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $779.50 | Rake $3
Board [9h Jd 4c 6h 5s]
Seat 1: donkydynamit folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: dmbush showed [4h 4d] and won ($776.50) with three of a kind, Fours
Seat 3: LuxuryMaster mucked [Kc Ks]
Seat 4: LovEva (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: Sunking25 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 6: Noahnick72 (big blind) folded before Flop

PokerStars Game #20185487411: Hold'em No Limit ($2/$4) - 2008/08/26 4:17:41 ET
Table 'Malautra' 6-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 1: gaIad ($544 in chips)
Seat 2: lavidaloca11 ($684.40 in chips)
Seat 3: LuxuryMaster ($783.40 in chips)
Seat 4: Bouge_Todd ($400 in chips)
Seat 5: Duckslayer2k ($400 in chips)
Seat 6: Mentosan ($619.40 in chips)
Mentosan: posts small blind $2
gaIad: posts big blind $4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to LuxuryMaster [Ks Kc]
lavidaloca11: folds
LuxuryMaster: raises $8 to $12
Bouge_Todd: calls $12
Duckslayer2k: folds
Mentosan: folds
gaIad: folds
*** FLOP *** [5c 2d 4h]
LuxuryMaster: bets $20
Bouge_Todd: calls $20
*** TURN *** [5c 2d 4h] [4s]
LuxuryMaster: checks
Bouge_Todd: bets $48
LuxuryMaster: calls $48
*** RIVER *** [5c 2d 4h 4s] [3d]
LuxuryMaster: checks
Bouge_Todd: bets $120
LuxuryMaster: calls $120
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Bouge_Todd: shows [9h Ah] (a straight, Ace to Five)
LuxuryMaster: mucks hand
Bouge_Todd collected $403 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $406 | Rake $3
Board [5c 2d 4h 4s 3d]
Seat 1: gaIad (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 2: lavidaloca11 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: LuxuryMaster mucked [Ks Kc]
Seat 4: Bouge_Todd showed [9h Ah] and won ($403) with a straight, Ace to Five
Seat 5: Duckslayer2k (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: Mentosan (small blind) folded before Flop

Imagine this type of situation happens almost simultaneously on 2-3 on my games during the last week of august and I was just getting frustrated on this and the swings are just overwhelming for me to handle. It's like losing my biweekly pay check within 10 minutes of the game and I am just getting way too stressed over this type of situation. I am fully aware it doesn't always happen but I just feel like I need some time off for now. Especially the first hand, it is actually bad beat jack pot if this hand was played on Full Tilt to rakehouse's bad beat insurance!

I have decided to cash out a lot of money from Pokerstars and decide to move down to $1/2 where I can feel confortable and beat the easy games after -$2k swing today. I always thought that bankroll management is the most important thing. However, I perceived that your emotion and managing your comfort zone is as important as bankroll management. I mean, I had this type of situations occuring during last 3 months of play but I always won it back at the end and thats why graph is just spiking if you see on my last post but just losing losing losing doesn't really cut it. I have patience and disciplines on my game but it became just for beyond the control. I actually take this circumstance positively due to this perception of swing on $2/4 and this is probably a very thin and tough border line that I have to across and cope if I were to manage myself to become part time poker professional which is what I am pursuing as my secondary job.

Recent Poker Thoughts

2008-08-10T23:25:00.000-07:00

I was playing $1/2 until the end of April then I had to make a big cashout to pay my last tuition bill which resulted me to move down to $.50/1. After I get my job settled, I no longer had to cash out my winnings from my account because I now have full time job secured kicking pay check to my bank every month. This resulted me to play no more of scared money poker tight uh huh rock style anymore and in addition to good run of cards, I moved from $.50/1 to $2/4 within 1 month and half with only 2 hrs of day playing everyday =) Click here to download if you wish to see larger version of the graph.

June 2008 BB/100: 4.49, NET: +$13,992.45

July 2008 BB/100: 2.54, NET: +$11,193.00

Today, I was playing very good session with good run of cards and this one hand came across my mind which caused me to start thinking about my leak some more. The opponent is 15/11 TAG and I have him over 5,000 hands and my notes are saying that he never gets out of the line. Lets look at the hand.

PokerStars Game #19527214670: Hold'em No Limit ($2/$4) - 2008/08/11 - 01:21:26 (ET)
Table 'Frigga II' 6-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: gandi9 ($451.95 in chips)
Seat 2: zawaaa ($240 in chips)
Seat 3: LuxuryMaster ($395.60 in chips)
Seat 4: Marius2910 ($306.85 in chips)
Seat 5: DCal Zone ($425 in chips)
Seat 6: jnpn ($731.30 in chips)
gandi9: posts small blind $2
zawaaa: posts big blind $4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to LuxuryMaster [K A]
LuxuryMaster: raises $8 to $12
Marius2910: folds
DCal Zone: folds
jnpn: calls $12
gandi9: folds
zawaaa: folds
*** FLOP *** [9 9 A]
LuxuryMaster: bets $24
jnpn: raises $56 to $80
LuxuryMaster: raises $108 to $188
jnpn: raises $224 to $412
LuxuryMaster: calls $195.60 and is all-in
Uncalled bet ($28.40) returned to jnpn
*** TURN *** [9 9 A Q]
*** RIVER *** [9 9 A Q 3]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
LuxuryMaster: shows [K A] (two pair, Aces and Nines)
jnpn: shows [7 9] (three of a kind, Nines)
jnpn collected $794.20 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $797.20 | Rake $3
Board [9 9 A Q 3]
Seat 1: gandi9 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 2: zawaaa (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 3: LuxuryMaster showed [K A] and lost with two pair, Aces and Nines
Seat 4: Marius2910 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: DCal Zone folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: jnpn (button) showed [7 9] and won ($794.20) with three of a kind, Nines

I read the book of TJ Courtier and he said: "Making a good fold is same as winning because by not losing the money in the situation where you would have if you had called". I completely agree with his line. He also talks about how good player extracts the most value out of the hand and I felt that the challenge is to find a border line between folding and call/raise.

With this in mind, thinking about this hand back, I think I could have played in two different ways, 3 bet with intention of shoving all in or fold to his raise. Now, considering how tight this opponent is, I should have leaned towards fold. I really don't think 3 bet shove is a bad idea but I felt like I am playing cards this way. You are pretty much committing money into the pot despite opponent's tendency and I didn't feel much of science and skill this way.

In same situation if the opponent is 26/20 LAG, I will more easily put the money into the pot as his range includes any ace, FD. I really think 3 bet + with intension of shove is better in this situation.

Poker is game of intellectual guessing. The reason I belive for my shove was incorrect against TAG was based on the observation of opponent's tendency. I felt like I just talked out of myself on this hand and put the money into the pot. Something to think about. Any comments on this would be great.

First Full Time Job - Transperfect | Translations.com

2008-08-09T23:33:00.000-07:00

During the middle of May, I had to make a tough decision among my pending offers and pick a company to work for after I graduate from the college. I was invited by Microsoft to fly to Seattle, Washington for the full time job and I guess I wasn't good enough just yet. Damn working for Microsoft or Google was my dream as a software engineer but too bad I didn't make it. I still feel proud of myself because they sent about 2~3 people from the University of Colorado and I was among those top candidates that Microsoft had chosen. They had open eyes to see my potential!

Anyways, after careful consideration among my offers, I decided to work for this company called Translations.com. We provide software translations, localization, and any other translation service you can imagine. This company is the best IT translation company in the world and we work with Google, Microsoft, Cysco, Wellsfargo, and etc. I work as Java/JSP developer in the Boulder office. They offered me such a good salary and I saw a lot of learning challenging aspect that I can also gain while I am working.

The challenging aspect is I am the only Software developer in this office as other developers work remotely in the other locations of the office spread around the world. This is tough in the beginning. However, I have been picking up and getting myself used to the development process while gaining a lot of good experience. I will try to grasp and be more professional on what I do and hopefully I will be able to work from home soon enough.

River Runners (Buena Vista, CO)

2008-08-09T00:44:00.001-07:00

I went to RiverRunners for rafting at Buena Vista, CO after partying all night on friday. Everyone was fairly tired and all but we all managed to go and have fun. There were some photographers in the middle side of the river and they took a lot of pictures while we were coming down through the river. I was agile enough to the photographers in the middle of the river and waved my hand although I almost fell off from the boat while doing so lol!

It was absoulutely becautiful and it was my first rafting experience and I loved it very much! Up and Down! sPlashing the water!!! b00M! It was so fun to irritate the other team's coach by splashing the water to them while we were going down. They will punish you with huge water splash with their huge row!

I would like to thank you for Sun and my other friends who actually managed to organize this and prepare food and etc. Too bad I couldnt stay up a night in the beatiful mountain with fresh air but I was just way too exhausted.

Pictures were really rip off. Check this out. Price was like single for $25, double picture was $40, group picture (like 6 pictures) was $50, and $90 for all 3 groups. I was like lol and guess what LuxuryMaster have done :) I decided to buy it anyways as it came out so well in such high quality. I lost the cd and had to ask for mail replacement which costed me another $15 but it is all good! For those of you who wish to see all the picture from all of our group, please click here to download! and gimme some hollas on this post after you get the pictures.

Good Bye CU

2008-06-12T14:03:00.000-07:00

I finally graduated from University of Colorado at Boulder and received a BS degree on computer science and mathematics on May 09, 2008. When I was in my commencement ceremony, I had a flashback of memory when I first came to the United States on Feb, 2000. It has been a long journey for me as it has been very challenging financially, technically, and emotionally. When I first came to the United States, I spoke no English and was fortunate enough to meet a professional 30-years of experienced English teacher, Mrs. Sargent. I also remembered a moment where I had no money to buy the dinner and all I had left on my apartment was a piece of egg, a bowl of rice, and some soy sauce.

However, I have never gave up on myself and my future. I worked diligently and invested my time and effort in both my poker career and my education during last 3 years. Now I have a list of pending offers to choose from and will use those offers to negotiate the best possible salary once I decide the company that I will be working for. I feel very proud of myself. However, this is just another turning point of life for me. I will keep working my way up on both poker career and IT experience. My next goal is to play $2/4 and become a consistently winner and become a Google employee =)

I feel a little outdated on my posts but pictures are coming up pretty soon as soon as I get my camera cable from Ebay =)

Negreanu Explodes

2008-05-04T23:59:00.000-07:00

What an art! check out the above interview with Daniel Negreanu conducted by Sik Tilt in Monte Carlo. Is this made up or 4real? What do you think? I laughed hardcore on this one.

Las Vegas Trip (March, 2008) and Recent Poker Success

2008-04-17T14:54:00.001-07:00

I was unable to cash-out as I recently made transition to 200NL from 100NL and there has been an unlucky swing and obviously due to new level challenges. Due to this, I was suffering a bit of financial trouble as I have been cashing out at least 3k a month to cover my college expense and tuition. Having such cash flow stop for a few month struck me bad :)

Despite this difficulty, I decided to fly to Las Vegas again to play some poker with my buddy Justin, Ersan, Brandon, Duskslayer (Sorry, I forgot to contact you!), and Kevin :). The last time I was Brandon was at CPL for professional warcraft III gaming tournament. He now made translation to poker and showing a great success! Anyways, we played Wynn $2/5 NL together. As many of you already know, Wynn poker room has no buyin cap so the amount of money on the table is a lot more and you get to see more actions. I would say it is equivalent to playing $5/10 as you need about 1k to play this game stably at Wynn. Anyways, I became fascinated by Brandon's tight crazy aggressive style. He also taught me the conceptual ideas behind it and I appreciate it very much!

I have been doing overall fine but a lot of unlucky hands. I now realize that I tried bluffing a small pot where I didn't really need to and lost a lot of money. Errr..... I have must have left my discipline and patience somewhere?

I was overall even until the last day. I got dealt AA from UTG. I made x6 BB raise to $30. This tight passive player who limp calls with AKo, AQo late pos calls me from late pos. BB for some reason calls my raise - Pot $92 going to the flop.

Flop was 3 3 6

I lead out with a bet of $85 which is pretty much a pot-sized bet. Tight passive passively calls from the button and BB folds - Pot $262 going to the turn.

Turn was 3
Now board looks 3 3 6 3

I lead out again with a bet of $240 as I get called from 99-JJ pretty easily and he passively calls. I have about $500 behind - Pot $742, I put him on 99-JJ.

Turn was 6
Now board looks 3 3 6 3 6

I obviously went all in as I will have to call the river bet if he bets and I lose EV by checking. He said "Bad river card" and pondered a call for like 5 seconds. I was like "Yes, I must have him beat" and he said "I call" and turns over 6 9 for 6-full house which beats my nut 3-full house. Sick.....!

Bamn! Everyone at the table was a bit intimidated by his behavior to me and told me how unlucky I got on this hand. I quit playing for a bit and came back to Colorado with about 1k downswing.

Back on Colorado, I started playing a lot more poker and been really successful due to my realization on a few important concepts from my trip. I can't reveal how much bankroll is but I made about 7k within 2.5 weeks by playing 8 tables of 200NL :) I showed a lot of aggression and mixed it with my tricky play in certain spot and people had hard time putting me on the hand :)

I hope my good luck continues :)

Insane Poker Session + Interview Results

2008-03-04T18:54:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was one of the astonishing turning point of my life as I stayed all night since sunday to play $1/2 poker where I played $18 preflop table in $1/2 with deep stacks. I was deep as $400~$500 had AK from SB. There were these 2 players going crazy each other over $1,000 deep stack and I tried avoiding the action in between as much as can but I can't fold AK :) UTG raised to $18, CO called $18, I made it $92 to go. UTG mucked, CO called. Flop was AK7. I perceptively checked to him and he makes the half size of the bet about $130 and I paused and well all-in for another $350 and he instant called with 89. Turn blank and River completes his flush :)

I further tilted a bit on that table and ended up losting about $1k :)
I had other beats on the other tables where I flop a set the big stack fish bets into me and I make pot-size bet and he keeps completing river flush. At the end of the session, I found myself down a bit over $2.5k during 18 hours session and was under big frustration and went to school at 4pm.

I am doing this web project for the amateur skating company (http://icehound.cs.colorado.edu) as my senior project which is the graduation requirement in the University of Colorado at Boulder. It is written in LAMP environment (Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP) and it is not fancy but currently somewhat functional :)

When we are done with the meeting whereas the projector was setup and my group members are present. I had to send an email so I logged onto my email account. I found an email titled "Microsoft Interview Result" and my group members screamed to open it and I declined it because I didn't think I did well enough on the interview to get selected. I took care of the business on the email and I scrolled back up to log myself out and realized the email was actually around 800k which means that it contains some sort of attachment. I was kinda spaced out for a momement and opened it.

Surprisingly, it was their congraturation letter with applications for the flight to Raymond, WA where the final interview will be held ^^ (obviously all the costs covered). I checked out the following images from the Google Image and it seems like a sweet place to work for as it is known to be the best software engineering company in the world. Google is probably best right now but hey MS has bigger avenue so :)

I also heard back from the National Instruments and they sent me an invitation to fly to Austin, TX for the final onsite interview. This is my 2nd best preference of my job choice and I better prepare and do well for this in case Microsoft final onsite interview doesn't work out well for me.

They sponsored my stay at the Embassy Suite and offered me to rent a car also but I chose the shuttle method because I don't really need a rental car. Look at the picture below :)

A lot of prestigious company actually invites you to fly to their onsite as their final recruiting evaluation process and I am very pleasured to visit Austin, TX as I will be visiting Hejin again. The last time we saw each other was when I was in Ausin, TX for the CPL Cyber Programming League with my friend Justin and Rob.

We didn't do too well but it was a lot of fun to meet all the people from the world and hang out. I still remember the poker game we had at Gaylord Texan hotel where I had AA and Pillage had KK and we both slow played preflop by not raising and fireworked on the flop :)

Software Engineering Position Offers and Intervews

2008-02-17T16:19:00.000-08:00

As many of you already know, I have been pretty diligent about my study on computer science and mathematics. I am graduating this may and have been job hunting :) This semester, in additional to my intership & parttime software engineering experience, I decided to some research assistant work for the professor who I admire in the university. He specializes his area of research in the wireless sensor node network and his paper is awarded and published in Sensys 2007 as 1st place. (http://mantis.cs.colorado.edu)

Therefore, he is receiving funding from the prestigious corporations for his ongoing research. I help him to integrate the operating system for the sensor node network. This was a nice addition on my resume and I applied to a few companies that I was interested at the career fair.

Surprisingly, I have received an interview offer right at the career fair from 2 companies and all the companies I handed my resume to got back to me for the further interview except Motolora ;) (There are probably looking for electrical engineer oh well). I did an interview with National Instruments and got an invitation to Ausin, Texas for the final interview where they cover all the flight and hotel cost for me.

I did an interview with TCS (Tata Consultant Services) (http://www.tcs.com) and they offered me a position in Los Angeles, CA for fulltime. However, they offered me such a sniff salary so I had to decline their offer.

I have also received a nice offer from my current job (http://www.verbalworld.com) and they want me to stay but hey, lets see if I can find anything better first okay?

About an week later, Microsoft informed our engineering department that they will be coming to our campus to recruit interns and fulltime position employees for 2 days. I obviously applied and I am sure most of the students from the engineering department did. I had been chosen to interview with them on this upcoming friday. I went to the website for the time slot selection for the interview and there about 10 slots over 2 days. I was proud of myself for being chosen as one of the candiate which proves that the hard work I have been doing over 4 years during the college wasn't for nothing. I am going to go Allin(...? lol poker) for the interview and get a few days off from my work to prepare for this. It has been one of my dream to work for the prestigous company for my software engineering career. Please wish me good luck!

Recent Poker Improvements

2008-02-17T16:05:00.000-08:00

I have been playing $.50/$1 until the end of January of 2008. Although I have been winning a lot of money in that limit, I was unable to move up the limits because I had to spend a lot of money for life essencials :) However, I decided to risk myself a bit to play higher limits as I gradually preceive my improvments on my play. I still make a lot of mistakes on certain types of sitations but hey, who can really play perfect? I am still an amateur :) I felt so bored about my limit and decided to play 12 tables of $1/2 (200NL) 6 handed.

When I first started playing, I didn't do too well, overplaying and misplaying a lot of hands. I was also got little nervous due to drastic change on my bankroll in a short period of the time - Swing. I finally start realizing how people in this limit plays differently from lower limits. People tend to play a lot more aggressively and being able to analyze the pf raising range of the player's hand and consistent 3 betting have started showing some success. I have been playing on $1/2 for about 2 weeks and already being successful.

I think the key to success in higher limit is aggression and 3 betting preflop is definately key - Thanks to Shock from WC3 who advised me to start doing this :) I hope I can make a strong enough bankroll before next week so that I can go to the vegas during the spring break :)

Biggest Pot ever on High Stakes Poker

2008-01-02T16:43:00.001-08:00

What a pot! would you really let it run it twice when you are holding top 2 against the nut flush draw? He raised you all in and you made an amazing call! What a nice guy he is. Actually maybe its just too much money in the pot that made them nervous like that.

Las Vegas Trip - December, 2007

2008-01-02T14:47:00.000-08:00

I flew to Las Vegas again during the last week of 2007 to play some serious poker for an week. I booked the flight to Las Vegas on the last day of my school. Therefore, when I arrived in Vegas, I was somewhat tired but decided to play some poker and went to Wynn. As always, a very nice poker room and well managed.

I sat down on $2/5 NL table with $500 and started playing. One interesting thing about this poker roon is that there is no buy-in limit in the poker tables at Wynn which means you can even sit down at a table with any amount of cash you desire. I observed how people play for about a half hour and figured out that people are playing tight and timid. I made some nifty moves to steal the bets from the SB/BB with marginal hand. I have had a strong intuition about the players but these consecutive stealing made me to think about my table image on the poker table. I felt that people on the tables are sometimes often too tight/timid that I can steal/bluff the pot from them every time.

Apparently, I also understood that if I keep stealing these bets from them too often, they will get suspicious on my play and try to play back against me. I decided to use reverse psychology and mix up my play by talking to the opponents and making them believe that I have the nutz everytime. I pulled this off by sometime posturing emotion that I got disappointed that people folded when I had a really strong hand or if I steal too often, I tell them what I have but I avoided showing them my hand as much as possible.

I was also often confronted with a player who brings in a lot of cash to the table. One really interesting I realized is that if you show them an image that you are a tight player, these players will try to bully you with cash. I didn't want that to happen and wanted to win a big pot against these players. I decided to loosen myself a bit show them that I gamble and play loose. I often bluffed small pots and showed my card to the table in order to gain further profit when I am holding a big hand.

To make the long story short, I didn't have a single losing day during my 8 day playing session when I was cashing out at the cage. I was convinced that I can play higher limit than $2/5 NL and decided to play some $5/10 NL on the last day. I sat down with a lot of good players and observed how they play. As expected, players in this limit are obviously better players than $2/5 NL. There was a guy who is really good player in the table who often pulled out river check raise all in move. I had this ego on my heart to outplay him. I made $60 to go with AKs in late pos, this guy called. The flop was AQT rainbow, he checks, I lead out with $120 and he check raises me to $300. I thought about it for a while and folded.

I figured out that people will see me playing tight and decided to change my gear a bit. I raised to $80 with 67o after one limper and this same guy from SB called again. The flop was A68, he checks and I made a continuation bet of $140 and he calls very fast, the turn was T, he checks again and I saw how he folds to strong turn bet on certain occastions and decided to bet $300. He folds and I showed everyone that I had 67o to erase my tight image on the table.

The high stakes floor at Wynn poker does something interesting for the rake. They charge $6 per 30 minutes from each player and the dealer rotates every 30 minutes. You also can't change the table and the house assigns you to where to go to balance out the players in the multiple tables. Anyways, after a few hours later, I raised to $80 w AQo because this loose-aggressive player limped in early pos. This dude I was playing with called me late pos. 3 players to the flop. The flop was J96, I made a continuation bet $150 and this guy called me behind and loose player mucks. Turn was T, I get OESD but I maybe well behind and decided to check, this guy bets $260 behind. I thought about it for a while and called. I put him on AJ, KJ, JQ or set. The river was 7, the pot was already over $1,000 and I had about $750 left. I don't even remember what I was thinking at the moment but I just instantly pushed all in without much of a hesitation. It just came right from my heart LOL. He instantly fold and I scoop the pot worth over $1,000! That was the biggest bluff I have ever pulled out in the live cash table :)

That was pretty much end of my run and I walked away home with a sweet amount of cash on my pocket which is more than enough to cover my college tuition bill for the rest of my school career!

P.S. special thanks to my good friend Kevin who helped my stay!

Poker Style Transition to 6 Max Tables

2007-08-15T11:55:00.000-07:00

If you have followed my post, I made a transition to 6 handed tables and stopped multi-tabling in 9 handed full ring games. My overall impression is that I just started enjoying more and more about playing Poker since I made this transition. It is not just simply because I keep winning and profit myself a lot, I get to see a lot more action on the table and also find myself to start picking on certain players' tendency and take advantage of that. Whereas 9 handed full ring game was completely boring to wait for a hand and most people play ABC poker although I play 12 tables at the same time - kind of slow too. There is not much of excitement of bluffing and picking on other players as 6 handed Holdem tables. Players make a lot of move, I make a lot of move, and the excitement you gain while bluffing and enjoyment when you catch a bluff is astonishing! plus its very fast and suitable for my 300 APM poker style!

My hour rate is literally doubled since I started playing 12 tables of 6 handed holdem tables. I am no longer best preflop player but a thinking post-flop player. I found it to be just another step for amateur to become a professional poker player. If anyone of you find an interesting article about 6 handed-max NL holdem, please comment in this post!

Wish you all good luck at your tables!

Is Playing Poker Gambling?

2007-08-06T13:42:00.001-07:00

Click here to view Original post from 2+2 forum

Many people have perception that gambling is bad for you. Well, I agree in a sense. Image gambling 1/10 of your bankroll with a dice. If you roll 1-4 you double your money, if you roll 5-6, you lose your money. You are getting 2/3 (~67%) odd on your money. Now, imagine gambling your whole bankroll with a dice. If you roll 1-3 you double your money, if you roll 4-6, you lose your money. Would you call both cases a gamble?

Wikipedia defines gambling as

"wagering money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods"

Based on the definition, both of the activities described above are gambling. It is true that you are betting your money on uncertain outcome. However, what if you have a better chance of winning even slightly? Imagine having a favor over 1,000,000 dice rolls. Can you imagine how many times you can double your backroll?

Poker is a game of intellectual guessing - You can never see what the other players are holding. However, there are certain factors to be observed - Odd, amount to bet, tendency of player, betting pattern, the amount of time an opponent take on certain hand, facial expression, shoulder level, eyes movement, the way they talk, and much more! Skilled players make these critical observations and use it on their favor in order to generate the maximum amount of profits. Can you understand the advantages you gain from perceiving these factors? I take these factors as an additional add to win my games. Just like the dice example above, if you have an extra winning number, your profit will enhance significantly in long-term. It is also true that you can lose the money even with these perfect observation skills. However, in a long term, professional players will generate tremendous income from these edge.

This is exactly why I call Poker a skill game and can be a profession. I really get disgusted from people saying Poker is gamble so you should quit. How can one really lecture others without knowing what they are talking about. We see people working on Mcdonald's drive through and make $5 hr vs people working on a law firm making over $200/hr. What do you think is their difference?
Education is my prior investment in my life at this moment. It is just not the schools but becoming an sophiscated and intellecture individual takes a lot of dedication and work. This is exactly why I still go to the school and work as a software enginner although I can afford to live my way just by playing Poker 3-4 hours a day.

Some people just don't say it and just look Poker players with their sunglasses on. This is exactly why I don't share my poker stories with an unintellectual inmates in real life. For the people who heard my deep Poker story in person, you deserve to be an intellectual individual, at least on my own perspective!

If anyone ever visits my blog and have thoughts about this, please comment on this post and it will be greatly appreciated.

LuxuryMaster Decides to go 300APM in Poker!

2007-08-05T22:59:00.000-07:00

I have been playing 9-handed full ring game as my main game up to this point. I have been losing a lot of buyin's due to very cold decked cards. I was completely frustrated about this and was looking for a better approach to pursue my poker games further. I just tried fast 6-handed games (~8 tables to start). I was able to manage up to 12 games at one point! There are some delays but the players in $.5/$1 don't need much of thinking to adjust my play. I just tried to remember the tendency of each player and act according. If you have played online poker before, you will understand how crazy it is to manage 12 tables of 6 handed. I first didn't think its possible but it turns out that I really can.

There are other tendency I found out to be interesting on my play. I realized that I recently have been playing much aggressively and became very strong post-flop player. I take this as an improvement and switching to 6 handed play will enhance this efficiency further! Be turned for the results on my games within an week or so.

Pokerstars Supernova Party at Moon Club, Palms

2007-07-17T14:58:00.000-07:00

This party was open to members of Team PokerStars and PokerStars VIP Club Supernovas. I've attended various parties (not only including poker company sponsored ones) and this had to be one of the best I've seen. From ice sculptures to signature drinks to a plane circling overhead welcoming PokerStars players, this event was one no Supernova should've missed.

I actually was planning on going to the hellicoper tour package that Pokerstars offered to the players. They not only offered the hellicopter tour and parties but other events such as free entrace to the prestigious shows in the Las Vegas for free! The staffs were really nice although I forgot to bring my registeration ticket before I go to the office. They still did the job for me and offered me a paper to sign. Thank you again Pokerstars!

I first met Umberto Brenes, sitting in a big sofa. I introduced myself and we chatted for a while. Little later, he decided to introduce me to the players on the other table where Greg Raymer, Chris Moneymaker, Joe Hachem, and Daniel Neaguraneu. Joe asked me whether I have a hundred dollar bill or not, I had a lot of cash on my pocket from winning consistently for past few days at $2/5 no limit @ Wynn. I agreed to play and gave him the bill. He then announced the intructions of his game. The rule is simply to read the series of digits on the bill and whoever has the lowest wins it all. After a few minutes, players started shouting their numbers, "40", "35", "29", I had "26" so I shouted out but Moneymaker had "23" so he won the game. I gave him the money and decided to chat with Joe for a while. We had been talking and talking. The 2006 WPT champion guy (Sorry, I forgot his name) handed cash got corrected from everyone ~$800 and said "YOU WIN!". I was like wtf? and responded back to him "No, Chris had 23 so he wins it all". Without further explanation he kept handing me the money and everyone nodes their head. I declined it first but eventually accepted and thanked everyone.

Later than, I started drinking a lot of different shots, cocktails, and even champaign - for free! I got immediately drunk and was wandering around to take picture with champions and received a lot of autographs - Thanks!. Everyone there was really nice and warm, especially Greg Raymer and Daniel Neugraneu. They were very friendly and caring. Greg Raymer now is trying to run a champain to elect himself as a 2008 vice president of the United States - GOOD LUCK!. Funny thing is there were some hot chicks kept attempting to run over Daniel, literally every 30 minutes lol!

For more pictures, either visit my Cyworld or visit Pokerstars Blog (My picture is there too!)

http://www.pokerstarsblog.com/2007/07/2007-world-series-supernova-party.html

http://www.cyworld.co.kr/dlawogus844

Pokerstars $50,000 Weekly Supernova+ Freeroll

2007-07-16T10:41:00.000-07:00

Well, its saturday morning again. I had to run errands for my father in his business at 8a so I woke up very early. I have been working as an intern @ Verbal World from 8a-5p which means I have been waking up myself at 6a since I had to drive from Aurora to Denver. My sleeping pattern had been changed and I was very tired during the saturday afternoon but decide dot play some poker since I haven't played all week long.

I played $109R, $20NL, $3R, $20,000 FREE roll and $50,000 FREE roll. I cashed in $20NL and $3R but not significant amount :). However, I played very good poker on $50,000 tournament and managed to make 2nd appearance to the final table. A Pokerstars commentator joined the table, congraturating players. I responded back to him by thanking him for hosting a such a great party in moon club at Palms where the drinks and foods were free and all WSOP champions showed up. I had a such a great time at the party, meeting and talking to players like Greg Raymer, Joseph Hachem, Daniel Neagureanu, Chris Moneymaker, Umberto Brenes and more!! I was fortunate enough to get their autographs on the T-shirts I bought and took pictures with them. I also received advices from the world poker champions on how to play WSOP main event!

One critical hand I would like to share is, I had about x5 BB in UTG+2 and dealt KK. The blinds were big relative to the player's remaining chips so I figured if I raise here, I wouldn't get much actions. I decided to limp and everyone else folded except small blind and big blind. The flop was Q 8 2 and small blind immediately bet 1/2 of the pot. I decided to push and got called. He had Q and managed to double myself there which was enough to maintain myself down to final5. People requested to have a deal and I accepted it 1st prize was $10,500 and 5th prize was somewhere $2,500. I was 5th during that point and accepted the deal which leaves me around $4,500 . We all accepted the deal and I ended up finishing 1st at the end :)

WSOP 2007 Event #46 $2,000 Buy-in NO-LIMIT Texas Holdem Prelimenary Event

2007-07-16T10:18:00.000-07:00

I was sponsored to play from Pokerstars at WSOP 2007 Event #46 $2,000 Buy-in NO-LIMI Texas Holdem Prelimenary Event hosted at RIO on June 29, 2007. I actually purchased to the ticket using my rake back - its called (FPP: Frequent Player Points) through http://www.pokerstar.com and wore their gears during the event. In return, they made a deposit of 75% entry fee to my account immediately and later deposited remaining 25% buy in after few days.

It was my first WSOP experience. There were 2,169 entrances to this event creating approximately $4,000,000 total prize pool. My buddy Justin Moskowitz and Kevin Choi actually came to the event during the first day of the event wishing me good luck - Thanks!. Every player started with 4,000 in chips. The first pot I was involed in was pretty nasty. I had 9d 6h on the big blind. There were 2 limpers creating a pot size of $200. The flop was 9 6 3. 2 hearts. I would usually check raise in this position but since this is only the beginning of the tournament, I decided to bet out and lead because I didn't want to jeopordize many chips during the early stage of the tournament. Surprisingly, the guy who limped from early position raised me. I called. The turn and was river was blank and I ended up calling him all the way. He showed 6 6 and took a half of my stack during my first hand.

I was under big frustration after that hand since I lost a half of my stack in first few hands. To summarize, I had been entirely short stack during the entire tournament and went all-in at least 7 times before I actually manage to get to top 198, where the bubble is. Before the bubble, I happen to play right next to Barry Greinstein. Someone called my cell while the hand is going on. I couldn't pick up obviously. However, after the hand is finished, I just looked at my cellphone on my left pocket without even pulling that out from my pocket. Dealer noticed this and thought I am text messaging someone. LOL. The floor had been called and the dealer requested to muck my hand for doing such a suspicious activity. Everyone in the table remained silent except Barry Greinstein! He talked to the floor guy and explained the situation throughly so that they are convinced I didn't do anything illegal. Things worked out fine and I didn't have to fold my hand. I appreciate it Barry! although it was marginal hand and I ended up throwing it away anyways.

So, I got through the bubble and played my 2nd day with a very short stack of around 17k while the average stack is around 30k. I went all in and got called again about 3 additional times and survived all. Next time, I got dealt KQo when I was having about $34,000 and the blinds were $2000/$4000 with an ante of $500. I was in the middle position and decided to push. Everyone except the big blind with a stack size of approximately 70k called my all-in with AJs. I flopped good. JT7 and he caught the jack and nothing came on the turn and river. This all-in ended my run and I ended walking home with $5,386 in 94th place. I thought about my last all-in attempt and if it was a mistake. However, my intention on 2nd day was to win enough stack to play to the final table or get busto because I didn't have much chips to play with. I mean, if I were to just earn extra $1000 or $2000, I could have folded QKo and finished higher but I was playing to win. If anyone has comments about my last all-in, please comment it here so that I learn :)

Pokerstars entry to Sunday Million

2007-05-23T23:48:00.001-07:00

PokerStars Tournament #50508220, No Limit Hold'em
Super Satellite
Buy-In: $20.00/$2.00
27 players
Total Prize Pool: $2060.00
Target Tournament #50506312 Buy-In: $530.00
3 tickets to the target tournament

Tournament started - 2007/05/24 - 01:05:00 (ET)

Dear LuxuryMaster,

You finished the tournament in 1st place.
You qualified to play in Tournament #50506312 and are automatically registered for it.
See Tournament #50506312 Lobby for further details.

If you choose to unregister from this tournament your account will be credited
with $530.00 Tournament dollars. Tournament dollars can be used to buy into
any tournament.
Visit our web site at http://www.pokerstars.com/tournaments.html for more details.

Congratulations!
Thank you for participating.

Oh well, I am running like superstar on tournaments. However, running like junk on my cash tables. I can't reveal how much I have lost on cash tables but significant amount during short interval of the time. I now had to move down back to $.5/$1 again to rebuild my bankroll. This has been happening for a while now. I am glad I can still keep up living myself by winning tournaments. I feel like I am professional poker player who makes living off by winning tourmanets which is not yet who I am but trying to become one :)

2007 WSOP Main Event $12,000 Package Satellite - AGAIN!

2007-05-19T23:50:00.000-07:00

I once again played this tournament over 10 hours again. I played very good poker overall and managed myself to stay top 10 during the last stage of the tournament. The competition level was a lot higher than the last one I played. jon_ja and khug both are really strong player and I congratuate them for getting qualified for WSOP. However, It is still ironic that I strived myself to reach this far again within 2 weeks. I already have received $11,000 for my winning for the last tournament which I alerady qualified. When the table got down to final 3, I decided and promised myself that I will pay for the main event if I get to win this one also. However, things didn't work out for me but I still think both jon_ja and khug deserve for the win. I learned what is the proper way to manage deep and big stack. Both of them had way too many chips over me and It became impossible to win the tournament with such a short stack.

However, I will be using conceirge service offered from Pokerstars and buy $3,000 circuit seat. It will be held on July 2007 and I will do my best to accomplish as much as I can. I will study about my poker games more deeply and start working out myself to further discipline myself and get prepared for the event. I am interested hearing how professional poker players manage themselves to get ready for such a big event.

2007 WSOP Main Event $12,000 Package Satellite

2007-05-07T15:15:00.000-07:00

The buy in of this tournament was only 4000 FPPs (Frequent Player Points). It is the point you get from the rake on cash ring game tables.

Overall, the competition level in this tournament wasn't that high during the early stage of the tournmanet. I was able to maintain average stack until this following hand occured when I was 3rd out of 27 players. I was dealt K J. 2 players limped. The flop was KJ2. I checked to the limpers with the intension of check raising. UTG small bet and UTG+1 cold called. I immediately check raised both of them. Both of them called. Turn was 7. . I bet and UTG+1 suddenly pushed all in for another bet. I reluctantly called. The river was blank. UTG+1 showed 22 and won with set vs my 2 pairs. I was then moved down to 27th place out of 27 people.

At this point of the tournament, I didn't have much motivation to continue. I was looking for a hand to push and it didn't come. I only had about 6x BB and was dealt TJ. Small blind, who has been playing very tight overall, raised x2.5 BB. I would usually fold here but I immediately pushed all in. He wasn't big stack so it would hurt him to call another 3-4 BB. He thought about it for a while then folded. From there, I used my momentum to still the blinds and antes. I was about to put myself back to the average stack.

Finally, we went down to final 3. The chip leader was pretty much dominating both of us with very deep stack (approximately x3 chips of 2 of us combined). Suddenly, the other guy I was playing with mentioned about the deal. It was to split the package in between me and him. He promised to deposit me $5,500 to my account while the hand is going on where I got dealt 66. He limped from SB then I raised him x5 BB, surprising he cold called. The flop was J J 3. He kept telling me to min raise so that the deal can be complete and I leave the table so that he can win the seat. However, he never gave me the money and I just pushed all in after 3 bets he called. I put him on the flush draw. The turn and river were both blanks. He showed AQ. I was like wtf? he didnt even raise preflop. I ended up winning the huge pot leaving him to 100k while I was having 500k. The observers and he were suddenly very pissed off because I won the pot. I was like wtf? he never sent me the money. Apparently, he emailed the support. Pokerstars support came into the room and asked us whats going on. We explained him the situation and got disapproval because he checked the money on his account, and he didn't have 5.5k to send me. LOL? Observers and he suddenly became very quite.

Back to the real game, I kept folding because I was getting dealt really horribly. Suddenly, chip leader raised x3 BB with JJ and this *poser* makes it 2 bet, chip leader obviously pushes allin and he immediately called. He showed Q Q. I was expecting myself to put in very terrible position after this hand. Flop blank, turn blank, and guess what? river came out to be J. BINGO! Chip leader knocked him out and I ended up winning a seat just by being honest and consistent. Truth always beats lies.

See you all in ESPN2 during July 6th - July 16th!

Pokerstars $50,000 Freeroll Tournament

2007-03-31T16:16:00.001-07:00

PokerStars Tournament #44117984, No Limit Hold'em
Freeroll
736 players
$50000.00 added to the prize pool by PokerStars.com
Total Prize Pool: $50000.00
Tournament started - 2007/03/31 - 14:00:00 (ET)

Dear LuxuryMaster,

You finished the tournament in 7th place.
A $1,600.00 award has been credited to your Real Money account.

Congratulations!
Thank you for participating.

Pokerstars $50,000 Freeroll Tournament

2007-03-31T16:11:00.000-07:00

Cyworld.

2007-03-28T13:37:00.000-07:00

I opened my Cyworld, please come and visit me for PICS/etc!
Visit me!

WSOP 2007 Circuit Event

2007-03-20T21:33:00.000-07:00

I will be attending one of the televised circuit event of WSOP 2007 by using my FPPs (Frequent player points) in my Pokerstars account. I am playing as Supernova so I get x3.5 FPP per base FPP gained. I am thinking about attending $1500 circuit event in Las Vegas in May during my summer vacation. See you all in ESPN!!

Little thoughts about pro gaming career

2007-01-30T00:06:00.000-08:00

I recently got in tough with some of my former semi or pro gamer friends and talked about what they have been doing other than pro-gaming. Serveral of them are still doing successful pro graming and getting salary from sponsors. However, most of them made transition into different careers such as online poker, stocks, or school even. One thing I realized is that there are only few pros (even top world class wc3 players) who make enough money to support their living independently. Ironically, most of them lost either motivation or found more important things to do other than playing video games for living despite their success on their gaming career. Even if you can make a living off of playing video games, is it really something you can do during your entire life? I do not think so. What if the game loses its trend from the people and all you can do is play your video game in world class? then what will you do?

My point is, It is obviously fun to make enough money and have fun on what you are doing at the same time. I truely enjoyed my time when I was giving lessons and winning tournmanet in war3 and startcraft. However, I realized that earning good money doesnt necessary make you happy. I therefore now believe how you spend your money to enjoy your life is essential skill for a successful human being. Lets enjoy whatever you are doing and be wise!

University of Colorado at Boulder

2007-01-19T01:08:00.001-08:00

Well, a new semester has begun for me and I hope I can ace my classes again but it looks almost impossible in this term. Look at the courses I am taking this semester (SP07). In 3 out of 5 classes, I was assigned homework assignments due on next class during their first lecture -_-. It might seems like 15 credits for the semester doesnt look much but its all upper division and 2 of them are graduate level courses. Well, double major is tough but I hope I can handle this :)
(I am thinking about taking another upper div math.... which seems pretty loose... what do you think?)

CSCI-4113 - 001 UNIX SYSTEM ADMIN 3 Credit

CSCI-5273 - 001 NETWORK SYSTEMS 3 Credit

CSCI-6448 - 001 OO ANALYSIS & DESIGN 3 Credit

MATH-4430 - 001 ORDINARY DIFF EQUATIONS 3 Credit

WRTG-3030 - 801 WRITING/SCIENCE-SOCIETY 3 Credit

Big... I mean Big Swing..

2007-01-11T23:07:00.000-08:00

As usual, I opened my 12 $1/2 200NL tables and started playing approximately at 10p. Check out these hands. I lost about 200BB within 10 minutes, which is the biggest NL table swing I experienced ever. First hand was I got dealt 77 and flop was J7J. I pushed and guy with AA and AJ both called Turn was Q, River was Q. Second hand was I got dealt J8 and flopped 2 pair, the guy with J9 on Js8s3h made it 2 bet, i made 3 bets and lost to his runner runner flush. I happen to give almost 200BB to same fish within 10 minutes. Someone also cracked my AA with J8o on
JJ6 board lol.

After losing those 3 big pots within 10 minutes in multi tables, I got frustrated. I had pending bonus of $1500 almost complete and I was seriously wondering what the hell is going on here. I played super aggressive after this beats and won about 150 BBs back but was still down about 50BB at the end of the session but I guess its okay :). I realized handling big swing is also another challenging aspect for a succeessful NL holdem player especially if its due to bad beats from runner runner cards.

After ARKS.

2007-01-07T23:04:00.000-08:00

I went to Winter Park, CO for the Christian event called ARKS(Arise Reborn Korean Students) during Jan.4 - Jan.7. I had been going to church regularly because one of my friend who influenced me in good way asked me to come. I had been continue going to church for about an year now and not really one of the active member because I didnt really understand Jesus christ and why I need to believe in Jesus. I also recently experienced some depression despite my success in poker career and school (got straight A's this semester). I have been wondering why and this was also one of the reason why I went to ARKS in order to find my resolve.

To summarize briefly, I just feel like my identity in this world has became more clear and realized I have been camouflaging myself in order to satisfy my self-desire. I studied deeply about my character and realized how I can become a better human being. God Bless me. Amen. For those of you who wonder what happened in ARKS or interested coming to our next year camp, Please visit Korean ARKS website at http://club.cyworld.com/arkscolorado

Lets Begin 2007!

2007-01-01T01:38:00.000-08:00

Hello ladies and gentlemen, this is now 2007! I went to church in the morning and hung out with my friends. At night? Yes, you guessed it right - I went to downtown and enjoyed firework (totally gorgeous). It was freezing but once I get myself used to the weather, I felt fine (it was difficult because I was wearing a cracked jeans). I set following goals myself for upcoming 2007!

Keep making solid profit on $1/2 10 handed tables and gradually move on to $1/2 and eventually to $2/$4 6 handed 8 tables.
Solidify my poker displine, patience and as well as my reads about opponent's hands.
Date beautiful women!
Court
Buy Nissan 350Z
Get a Java S2JE Certification
Get an internship @ Sun Microsystems at Broomfield, CO
Maintaining and managing daily routines such as sleep/wake up time and work-out schedule.

I always get enthusiastic at the end of the year and set pretty outstanding and challenging goals. However, this way I know exactly what I need to do throughout the new year and plan myself ahead. What are your goals for 2007?

Bad Beat..... !

2006-12-29T20:45:00.000-08:00

One of the worst beat I've ever gotten so far. I guess some people just don't learn :)

PokerStars Game #7653748154: Hold'em No Limit ($1/$2) - 2006/12/28 - 21:47:50 (ET)Table 'Seraphina' 9-max Seat #3 is the button

*** HOLE CARDS ***

Dealt to LuxuryMaster [Qc Qh]

ehowashere: calls $2

PDJ3777: folds plokio: folds

LuxuryMaster: raises $6 to $8

mario17: folds

ohnblaze27: calls $8

KarlSpakler: calls $8

aragon: folds

BodyMan D: folds

ehowashere: folds

*** FLOP *** [8s Qs 6d]

LuxuryMaster: bets $22

johnblaze27: calls $22

KarlSpakler: folds

*** TURN *** [8s Qs 6d] [7c]

LuxuryMaster: bets $60

johnblaze27: calls $60

*** RIVER *** [8s Qs 6d 7c] [Tc]

LuxuryMaster: bets $100 and is all-in

johnblaze27: calls $100

*** SHOW DOWN ***

LuxuryMaster: shows [Qc Qh] (three of a kind, Queens)

johnblaze27: shows [9h 6c] (a straight, Six to Ten)

johnblaze27 collected $390 from pot

*** SUMMARY ***

Total pot $393 Rake $3 Board [8s Qs 6d 7c Tc]

johnblaze27 showed [9h 6c] and won ($390) with a straight, Six to

Seat 9: LuxuryMaster showed [Qc Qh] and lost with three of a kind, Queens

CRAZY HUH?

Heavy Snow Again... ?

2006-12-28T16:12:00.000-08:00

I am again stuck on the home because of snow. I decided to go and buy some chipotle for my dinner before my car is fully covered by snow. I also got triplehead2to to setup 3824x1020 resolution. It's too bad that it doesn's support the resolution to be higher width because I really wanted 3824x1200 to have my 12 Pokerstars table in full size. I still need to adjust the size of the tables in order to fit into 3 different screens. Therefore, I've now gotten 3 monitors set up with an addition of Samsung SyncMaster 244T 24''. I tried it out yesterday it worked out fine but still need one more LCD screen in order to replace my huge LRT monitor.

Still playing 9 handed 12 tables of $1/$2 200NL in Pokerstars. I tried playing some of the 6 handed 200NL there but didnt succeed much. I guess I have to practice in lower limit (probably $.5/$1) in order to gain some solid experience and confidence.

[censored] SNOW !