investor’s remorse

Went to the bank today and had this conversation with the bank manager .

BANK MGR: “Have you looked into some investment options? Our investment advisor’s in today.”
ME: “Yeah, I opened a Roth IRA and maxed it out to $4,000 for 2005.”
BANK MGR: “Roth IRA? May I ask why you chose a Roth instead of the traditional? Reason I’m asking is because I usually go with the traditional IRA because of the upfront tax savings.”
ME: “Well, I figured a Roth IRA not only can help me save for retirement, but also can serve as an emergency fund.”.
BANK MGR: “I usually advise that emergency funds be in something more liquid, such as a money market, or savings/checkings, or even CDs. And the reason I go with a traditional IRA is that I can deduct that amount from my income, so say I max out my traditional IRA contribution ($4,000), I can deduct this and save about $1,000 dollars ($4,000/4), since in my tax bracket, I have to pay 25% of my income over initial $29,700. ”
ME: . . .

So the moral of the story’s that my decision to go with a Roth IRA instead of a traditional IRA probably cost me around $1,000 dollars this year. One should also keep in mind that most if not all retirement accounts are only eligible for those who make under a certain amount (Roth IRA: $110,000, etc.).

Piano lesson November 7, 2005

Today’s lesson focused on 1.) J.S. Bach’s Fugue XXI (B-flat Major) in Well-Tempered Clavier Part I, and 2.) Chopin’s Nocturne in C-sharp minor.

Started the lesson with playing A-flat Major and F minor (relative) scales. One starts the A-flat Major scale on finger 3 for the right hand. For A-flat Major arpeggio, start
with finger 4 in right hand and 2 for left hand.

J.S. Bach Fugue XXI (B-flat Major) in Well-Tempered Clavier Part I

-Be more consistent in articulation of the subject–which spans 4 measures (most important point).
-Note that the staccato markings are portados.
-countersubject appears in right hand in b.5 (on the C).
-Exposition (b.1-16).
-start to hear 3 voices in b.13 (starting on d in left hand).
-first episode starts on b.17.
-when practicing this piece, think of how you would play this on a harpsichord (little to no sonority) vs. a piano.
-memorize this piece

Chopin Nocturne in C-sharp Minor, Op. 27, No. 1 (1835)

-Use right hand to play upper G sharp in first two measures to create a more consistently soft sound.
-Note the sotto voce. in b.3. (means ‘under breath”).
-Follow the pedaling per Professor N’s recommendations.
-b.6-7: Make sure the circled notes (c-sharp, b) and (b, e) are played louder than the other notes. Chopin modulates between C-sharp minor and E major here.
-b.11 mezzo voce(not in score, but Professor N recommended this). The melody should be more assertive than the one in the sotto voce.
-b.20. Make sure the inner voice is heard in right hand.
-b.21-22. Accentuate the circled notes as in b.6-7.
-Use right hand as indicated (per Prof N’s recommendation) in b.27, 28 (same logic as in b.1-2).
-In Piu mosso (little motion) section, make sure the audience is aware of the left hand’s presence. Accent the first notes of in these measures in left hand. The left hand notes
in this section should be more evocative or “filled with pathos”.
-Apply more rhythmic stability in the agitato section, especially with the left hand. Your left hand seems to get lost with the rhythm.
-Experiment with the con anima section. Make sure it sounds more cheerful than anxious/agitato.
-memorize the piece.

For next week, prepare the same scales as this week and have the Gershwin piece learned. Also, work on memorizing the second and third movements of the Mozart
Sonata in C-Major.

my money’s on 21

***** Hand History for Game (?) *****
$400 NL Texas Hold’em – Tuesday, November 08, 06:04:42 EDT 2005
Table Table 64719 (No DP) (Real Money)
Seat 8 is the button
Total number of players : 9

Seat 3: redmann39 ( $200.10 )

Seat 4: IAmShawshank ( $495.80 )

Seat 1: Hero ( $856.40 )

Seat 8: CaptnCanary ( $495 )

Seat 7: big_red10 ( $420.90 )

Seat 6: kiddrock ( $36.50 )

Seat 2: Cypressman ( $411.50 )

Seat 9: Suited_5_2 ( $377.30 )

Seat 5: gsg2005 ( $420.60 )

Suited_5_2 posts small blind [ $2 ].
Hero posts big blind [ $4 ].

Holecards:
Dealt to Hero [ ]
FOLD Cypressman
FOLD redmann39
FOLD IAmShawshank
FOLD gsg2005

CALL kiddrock, $4
CALL big_red10, $4
FOLD CaptnCanary
CALL Suited_5_2, $2
RAISE Hero , $21
FOLD kiddrock
CALL big_red10, $21

FOLD Suited_5_2

Flop:
[ ]
CHECK Hero
CHECK big_red10

Turn:
[ ]

CHECK Hero
CHECK big_red10

River:
[ ]
BET Hero , $45

RAISE big_red10, $150
RAISE Hero , $480
ALL-IN big_red10 [ $245.90 ]
Hero shows [ ] four of a kind aces .

big_red10 doesn’t show [ ] four of a kind, fives.
Hero wins $129.10 from side pot #1 with four of a kind aces .
Hero wins $846.80 from the main pot with four of a kind aces .

Piano lesson Oct 31, 2005

Played the Chopin Polonaise Brilliante Op.3 for Professor N. My performance of the piece was decent (B/B-). Afterwards, she commented that she liked the overall ‘style’ of my playing. The main area for improvement was in the pedaling. There were moments where my pedaling sounded more like ‘hiccups’ that slowed down the overall flow of the piece. I suspect one of the sections she was referring to was b.215-216. She recommended that I spend more some time thinking about the pedaling and how that it can help my performance/interpretation. We spent the first 45 minutes on the Polonaise Brilliante, and last 15 minutes on the Gershwin Prelude.

The Gershwin Prelude I was tricky–at least rhythmically. I learned to count sixteenth notes (“One e and a, Two e and a, etc”). I probably wouldn’t have ever known about this way of counting if I wasn’t taking lessons.

Chopin Polonaise Brilliante Op. 3

• Watch your pedaling! This is a polonaise (think of waltz-rhythm), so be judicious in where you decide to down-pedal and when to lift the pedal. Example: In b. 108-111, down-pedal on the first beat, lift up right before third beat, and leave un-pedaled through the third beat. Repeat this.
• There’s no fermata marking at the end of the first phrase—good to do a quasi-fermata, but don’t overdue it. Make it more subtle.
• In b.3-4, b.7-8, be careful with the rhythm.
• You play tense at times. Loosen up and let the music carry you (own observation).
• Watch rhythm in b.76. Don’t pretend there’s a fermata there.
• Don’t loseWeight Exercise the triplets in b.78-79 (your playing sounds more like duplets).
• Watch dotted rhythms in b.88, b.91-93, etc.
• In the cantabile sections, make sure that the duet is discernible. Right hand melody and left hand notes (circled).
• Pedal according to the motivic structures, especially in b. 223-228.
• Hold down pedal from b.229 (all the way to the last note in the phrase, which is the first note of b.230).
• Pedal again for the last three cords. Hold down the last note and pedal and lift at the same time (after extended fermata).
• Read up on pedaling in Anton Rubenstein and T. Carreno’s pedal book.

Gershwin Prelude No. 1 (1927):

• Write in bar notations.
• To count 16th notes, count “1 e & a, 2 e & a, …”.
• The most challenging aspect of this piece is the rhythm. Write down how you would count for every measure (except for the measures with only triplets).
• Pay attention to the dynamics (accented notes, where ff juxtaposed with f.
• Follow the pedaling. Try to figure out why Gershwin put the pedal markings where they are. In the first two pages, the pedaling seems to help punctuate the accented first beat/note of each measure. By accentuating the first beat, the ear expects a repeat of an equally strong beat in the second beat, but because it’s a rest, creates a type of syncopation. Why do some measures contain no pedaling?
There is more pedaling on the second and third pages.
• In Section A’, there’s an accent on the fourth sixteenth note—adding more syncopation—along with a pedal marking on this offbeat.
• In your Section “C”, understand the structure and pedal marking.
• What to make of the measures that contain triplets? Do these seem out-of-place? What’s the intent?
• What to make of b.36, b.41, etc?

Operation $2,000 NL update

Lost a battalion of chips today (set over set, overplayed my top two pair, etc). Need to come up with a more sensible strategy on how to achieve my goal. I think I’ll first have my troops join forces (i.e., move my bankroll from the other sites over to the main one) and play multi-table $400 NL, $600 NL for first two weeks. Some $400 NL, $600 NL, and 1 $1,000 NL the next three weeks. I’m at least one month away from playing comfortably at $2,000 NL. Realistically, I probably should wait until January 1, 2006 to start playing $2,000 NL. The idea is that by then, I’ll have the bankroll to play at those stakes comfortably.

Part of becoming a good poker player is knowing when you’re beat. It’ll take some time, but I’ll get there.

Operation $2,000 No-Limit

After a hot streak of cards this week at mostly $400 NL (and some spatterings of $600 NL, $1,000 NL), I decided to take a stab at $2,000 NL (this entry should be in my pokerography.com blog, but that site’s not up yet). But what an adrenaline rush! Just the thought of potentially winning or losing $2000 on one hand (or more if you have > $2,000 and so does your opponent(s)) gets my blood pumpin’. After observing the play at the $2000 NL tables with those at the $400 NL, I feel that while the games are a bit tougher at the $2000 NL tables, I should fare well since I like my edge against the types of players. I hope that with the bigger chip ‘balance’, and the wider range of betting, this can help me more closely gauge what cards my opponents are holding.

I need to approach this with caution (as I’m reminded of my playing out of my bankroll back in Feb–jumped from $200 NL to $600 NL–that cost me $3,000 in one weekend! of course, back then, i didn’t really know what the hell I was doing). First on my list of things to do is to consolidate my bankroll at the other poker sites so that I’ll have the bankroll to play at these stakes, and of course, play my A game. Will probably start off single tabling $2000 NL or maybe multi-table $400, $600, and/or $1,000 for a week or so until I can increase my bankroll to give me more of a cushion. So far so good. After one session, I’m up $1,200 (would’ve been over $2,200 had I not lost to quads with Aces full of 3’s).