It's Orange Not Red

Good Spot

2009-07-21T15:53:00.000-07:00

My dog picked a particularly comedic spot to drop his load today.

Gonna Fly Now!

2009-07-20T01:09:00.000-07:00

I just got done watching Rocky so I'm all pumped up before bed. What a great movie.

I'm talking to my buddy Ray 'Exitonly' Coburn who was explaining how he played everything in sight today and had 18-19 tables going at a time. After I conveyed my sense of awe at this ability, he told me about how he played in the same room with Shaun Deeb today. If there's anyone in the poker world who doesn't know who Shaun Deeb is, and there probably isn't, he is a sensational young online tournament player who has probably (certainly?) played more multi-table tournaments than anyone ever despite only being ~23. Ray said that Shaun had as many as 40 tables going today at his peak!

I can barely hold a candle to the spotlight that is these guys. Still, a meager Sunday where my peak amount of simultaneous tables was just five yielded a little money. I final tabled the Bodog $100k, now a $150+$12 buy-in with 5,000 starting chips, for I believe the fifth time. I had to settle for 5th for $5,500 after pocket Fours lost a race to Ace-King when a King fell on the river. That was an unfortunate way to watch a day in which I believed I might finally win that tournament end, but it's better than a swift kick in the ass.

Beyond that, I don't have much to say. Life always seems a little blase after the WSOP, so it's hard to convey any sense of excitement about anything. I've been burying myself in the game of golf the past few weeks after finally ordering some clubs made to be swung by someone a little on the tall side. I'm no good, but I suppose I appreciate having a new challenge to engage myself with during a time of boredom.

If life is so much more thrilling in Vegas, why don't I move there? Good question!

Friends Bubbling WSOP FTs and Interesting Biz Models

2009-06-16T18:01:00.001-07:00

This entry also appears on my blog at PokerTips.org.

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I haven't made an entry since getting back to Houston because I haven't had much to say. I played online last Sunday and, save for a couple mini-cashes, washed out of everything. That coupled with the Magic failing to win the NBA Finals all but cemented the fact that I won't be returning to Vegas until the Main Event.

I've been following the WSOP action pretty closely since returning home. A couple friends have enjoyed some deep runs that ended in final table bubbles. Leif Force finished 10th in the $2,500 pot-limit Omaha event that had 430 players. He professes to be a very good Omaha player and his live results seem to back that up. I'm hoping he'll let me buy a little of his action in the $10k coming up!

Sebastien Sabic just busted out of the $1,500 H.O.R.S.E. event that drew a field of 770 players in 11th place. I know he had to be disappointed with coming so short of the final table, but he has a lot to be proud of with that result. It's not easy having to make decisions in five different games while navigating through a field of donkeys.

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Today, I raided Costco for about $300 worth of bulk merchandise. They have a really interesting business model. Basically, you have to be a member in order to shop there. How do you become a member? By filling out a registration form and paying an annual due of $50. This is a smart business model in a few ways.

First, it caters to people's vanity. Even though anyone with a Ulysses Grant in their pocket can be a member, there's still some magic vanity overlay that a lot of people find in being able to say they're a member of something. Second, it prices people in to feeling like they have to shop there a lot. If you don't know what Costco is, it's basically WalMart on crack. Everything is packaged in bulk and sold at a nice discount. For example, I got a 52 pound bag of dog food today for the cost of about a 24 pound bag from a "regular" store. I got a three-pack of mouthwash for just 150% of the cost that I usually pay for a single bottle. The whole store basically works like this. Items packaged in bulk and sold at a cheap price.

What makes the $50 membership smart is that it probably wouldn't be worth it if you only shopped there once or twice a year. However, it's definitely worth it if you go there once a month (or more). So by getting people to commit to a $50 membership in order to have access to the discounted bulk merchandise, they feel obligated to recoup that upfront expense by shopping there as much as possible. Pretty smart.

Another good business model I saw recently was at Lucky Brand Jeans. I visited them while in Vegas and was informed you get a $25 gift card for every $100 you spend. At first, I assumed this basically equated to $25 off my purchase for every $100 I spend. It was only when I got to the counter with a little over $200 worth of clothes that I learned the $25 gift cards would not become active until a couple of weeks after my purchase. Touche, Lucky Brand.

I visited a Houston-based Lucky Brand today so I could redeem my two $25 gift cards. Of course, I made it to the register with about $70 in merchandise meaning they got another $20 out of me. I thought this was a very smart promotion on their part. In addition to the extra money they got from me, there was some intangible value of getting me to come to their store on a second occasion. This builds familiarity with their product line and a sense of loyalty. They'll probably make even more money off of me in the future just from having priced me in to visiting them more than once and thinking about them on a semi-regular basis as their gift cards sat on my desk serving as a reminder to redeem their value.

The thing that each of these business models have in common is that they "price in" the consumer to making repeat visits. In other words, they make shopping there on multiple occasions a sensible thing to do. Any promotional model that can do this is smart regardless of the current economic state, but it's especially smart during a severe recession when people are looking out for "sensible" shopping options more than they otherwise might.

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Between now and the Main Event, I have a friends' wedding to attend and a family function in Illinois to attend. The family function, my grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary, actually came at a terrible time. They're having an open house the Wednesday before the Main Event and then the whole family is going to the Ozarks for a weekend on the lake. I told my family that if the lake plans were on literally any other weekend of the year, I'd be there, but I simply can't skip the Main Event just to lay around on a pontoon for three days no matter the occasion. To their credit, most in my family seem to understand this and are appreciative I'm coming up for the open house at the very least.

One Way Ticket to Vegas

2009-05-28T21:19:00.001-07:00

I'm heading to Vegas for the World Series of Poker in twelve hours. It still seems surreal to me that it's already WSOP time again. It feels like not more than a month or two ago I was sitting on a sidewalk outside the Rio taking a moment to honor the inevitable emotions one will feel from going deep in the Main Event and having dreams dashed by a three-outter for an average-and-a-half sized stack. But although it feels like just yesterday, it's been a pretty long year for me. I'm not quite as wealthy after losing a small fortune betting on the Presidential election, but I do feel like I've grown up a lot as a person. I'm much more at peace with my thoughts and life, a peace that I hope to maintain through what can be a very emotionally rattling stretch of six weeks.

I've spent most of tonight making sure my iPhone is loaded with music I can use to 'stay in the zone' (a corny, over-used phrase, but one that seems appropriate right now) for a summer of tournaments. The playlist will mostly alternate between hip-hop and trance. This weekend is the $1k 'Stimulus' event. Beyond that, I'm really not sure what I'll play, but the $1,500 6-Max event on Tuesday looks appealing at the moment.

One aspect of this trip I am excited about is the unknown. I have no return flight. I have no hotel accommodation beyond Monday. And I only have enough money for what I would describe as a slightly larger than meager amount of participation in tournaments. Within a week, I could be completely broke and back home or living in a high-rise condo following through on an outside chance to win WSOP Player of the Year thanks to a fantastic start... or anywhere in between.

For the fourth year in a row, I'll be documenting the ups and downs, but hopefully mostly ups, on my WSOP blog at PokerTips.org.

Thanks for reading and may we both have a good summer!

Memorial Day Update

2009-05-25T15:57:00.001-07:00

I've been in Indianapolis this weekend visiting friends and family before heading to Vegas next weekend for the WSOP. I skipped online poker yesterday to attend the Indianapolis 500 with a friend and his girlfriend and father. It's a pretty fun event to attend if you ever get the chance. It reminds me some of the WSOP. For those drivers, so much of their lives depend on the outcome of that race, and yet, there's quite a great deal of parity in determining the winner. No matter how good of a driver they are, it definitely takes some good fortune to be standing in the winner's circle at the end. You have to avoid being the victim of an accident despite not making any error of your own (bad beat) and also have to catch the right breaks with the timing of caution flags and integrity of your vehicle (run hot, table draw).

Despite growing up in Indiana, this was only the second time I have attended the 500. You'd definitely be hard pressed to find an event that attracts such a huge and yet nearly non-diverse population. I think something like 300,000 people attend the race annually, and it seemed like probably 299,500 of them were white. The irony is, many of the drivers are foreign. I'd say maybe only like 10 of the 33 drivers are American. There are quite a few Brazilian drivers including Helio Castroneves, the very likable guy who yesterday won his third Indy 500. I did not observe his triumph without some disappointment. To pique my interest in the race, I placed bets on a few drivers who seemed to be under appreciated by the betting market. One such driver was Dan Wheldon who finished second.

I leave Friday for Las Vegas. The $1,000 buy-in 'Stimulus Special' is this weekend. I'm pretty pumped for that event and for the series in general. It'd be really nice to snap off a sizable score right from the get-go and therein be positioned for a more extensive degree of participation for the summer. And that's my 'LDO' statement of the day.

I have an Uncle joining me in Vegas this weekend for his first live tournament. He started playing online last year after hearing about my bits of success and has built up a bankroll somewhere in the neighborhood of $10,000 despite never having made a deposit. Sometimes I have pointless, ego-driven thoughts like, "I wonder if I'm the best poker tournament player in Houston?" His results make me wonder if I'm even the best player in my family!

Most Ballin' NBA Jersey

2009-05-22T10:28:00.000-07:00

My buddy Paul and I had a discussion last night regarding what the most ballin' or cool or gangster (or whatever other adjective you care to use) current NBA player's jersey is to wear. We agreed on a few criteria that should be weighed in reaching this conclusion:

Non-Mainstream

You have to immediately rule out wearing jerseys of super-mainstream guys like Kobe or Lebron. As pimp as those guys might be, if you wear a Kobe jersey, you're not a baller, you're just another donk in a Kobe jersey. In order to wear the most ballin' NBA jersey, you have to go with a player that your Mom has definitely never heard of.

At the same time, you don't want to wear the jersey of someone who is too obscure. People who maintain a casual following of the NBA should have heard of your player before. No one has heard of Damien Wilkins and there's nothing ballin' about wearing his jersey. People will probably just think its one of those lame custom jerseys where people get their own last name printed on it.

Not Too Fresh

One suggestion Paul had for most ballin' NBA jersey was Houston Rockets point guard Aaron Brooks. I objected to this however on the grounds that he's too fresh. A month ago, no one knew who Aaron Brooks was. Fast forward through two playoff series of fantastic play and now he's a pimp. However, I feel like the problem with wearing an Aaron Brooks jersey is that he's too fresh. If you saw a guy wearing an Aaron Brooks jersey, you'd almost want to inquire how he had enough time to cut the tags off. There's just a certain 'trying too hard' element to wearing a jersey of Aaron Brooks at the present moment.

The Team They Play For

One consideration you have to make beyond just the player himself is the team he plays for. In a vacuum, I think Kevin Durant is a very interesting choice for most ballin' NBA jersey, but the problem is, he plays for the unnervingly un-baller Oklahoma City Thunder. The fact that they're in Oklahoma City is bad enough, but on top of that, their jerseys are teal colored. Ouch! On the same grounds, I would rule out Pacers stud Danny Granger who is an otherwise fantastic candidate for this honor. There's nothing baller about Indiana.

On the flip side of the same coin, you don't want to wear a jersey of a guy who is on a team known for having tons of donk fanboys. Sorry Lamar Odom.

Not Too Current

At this very moment, I think you have to rule out wearing the jersey of any player who is still in contention for the NBA title. Wearing a Nuggets, Lakers (though you can never wear a Lakers jersey), Cavs, or Magic jersey is just going to send the message that you're trying to be 'in the moment'. Part of what makes a jersey ballin' is a certain timeless element to it. If you aren't sure what the answer to the question "will this jersey still be ballin' in two months?" is, then you shouldn't wear it.

Upside

Lastly, there should be a lot of upside to the player whose jersey you are wearing. You don't really want to go for a proven veteran. It's too much of a risk-averse, lame decision. The player whose jersey you wear should have a good chance of being much, much more well-known 3-5 years from now than he is currently. The idea is that once he finally reaches Kobesque status, people can look back on your clothing choices from years ago and be like, "damn... he saw this coming!"

With all of that criteria in mind, Paul and I decided that the most ballin' NBA player's jersey you can currently wear is: Andre Iguodala (white home jersey, not black road jersey).

A couple of other guys we considered in addition to Iguodala were Brandon Roy, Kevin Martin, and Devin Harris. Any other suggestions?

What Lodden Thinks

2009-05-17T01:00:00.000-07:00

I spent some time with my buddy Dave in Vegas tonight. We played this tournament at Treasure Island called 'Head Hunters'. It's a $125 buy-in: $50 goes to the prize pool, $50 is put on your head as a bounty, and $25 to the house. With only 17 players tonight, it was a pretty friendly and casual game. Since so much of the buy-in consists of a bounty, it basically prices people in to taking thin gambles in hopes of knocking players out of the tournament.

One of Dave's friends in the tournament, a guy known to as 'O.D.', got some 'What Lodden Thinks' action going.

I am not the best source of information on how this game acquired its name. But the gist of it is that some poker players (I want to say Phil Laak was one of the originators) decided to gamble amongst each other on what poker player Johnny Lodden (who was at their table at the time) thinks the answer to a bunch of random questions are. So the game became known as 'What Lodden Thinks' and has retained that title to this day.

Here is an example of how it works:

I suggested to O.D. that we bet on the number of miles per hour that Dave thinks an elephant is capable of running. So Dave thinks of that number in his head and informs us when he has reached a decision. Then O.D. and I set the market in an auction fashion. One person states a number, and the other person can either say "sold" (thus buying the "under") or counter with a higher number.

So with the elephant example, I started the auction at 4 (miles per hour). O.D. countered with something like 10. I countered with 15. He countered with 25 and I said "sold", thereby making it so that if Dave's number is 24 or less, I win, and if it's 26 or more, O.D. wins.

I think in this particular example, Dave's guess was something like 24. Whatever, it doesn't matter. The point was just to explain how the game was played.

Obviously when you get around a bunch of degenerate gamblers, you can start having a lot of fun with this game. O.D. and I kept it friendly and went $5 per prop on a bunch of random stuff. We probably came up with 25 random propositions over the course of the night. Here are some of the memorable ones:

"How much money does [Bystander A] think [Bystander B] has spent in his lifetime on watches?"

"How many trees does Dave think are on Earth?"

"How many miles does Dave think Michael Phelps has swam in his life?"

"On a scale of 0-100, how will our waiter rate Barack Obama's job performance as President?"

"One in how many people will Dave think get struck by lightning in their lifetime?"

"What is the highest number that Dave thinks a human has ever counted to out loud without ever stopping for more than one minute?"

"How many people does Dave think live in Sarasota, Florida?"

"How many WSOP bracelets does Dave think Phil Hellmuth, Doyle Brunson, and Allen Cunningham will have in their lifetimes combined?"

What makes this game so fun is that the potential is limitless. You can bet $1,000 on how many M&M's your cocktail waitress thinks are in a standard sized package. An interesting part is that it never matters what the real answer is, it only matters what someone thinks the real answer is. This forces you to factor in variables like the intelligence of the person who is thinking of the number. Because you might know full-well that there are probably ~50 M&M's in a package, but if your cocktail waitress partied a little too hard in her early 20s, she might think there are 600.

With $5 on the line, we asked our waiter at the Grand Lux in Venetian what the most number of T-Rex's he thinks have been alive simultaneously on this planet. I think we had set the number somewhere around 14,000. The waiter's response was 5, as in "five". His logic was that "there could never be that many of them because they would all just eat each other." Needless to say, this game can teach you quite a bit about someone's intelligence and/or reasoning abilities.

The funniest one of the night was when O.D. and I bet on how much money a young guy at our table thinks Britney Spears would want in order to sleep with O.D. with a condition being that she knows no one will ever find out she slept with him, let alone accepted money to do so.

After O.D. and I ran the auction from $20,000 all the way up to $800,000 before one of us bought it, the young guy at the table goes, "man you guys are way off. My guess is $45, the cost of four shots of Patron."

Bodog Beat Interview

2009-05-16T00:15:00.000-07:00

The people at Bodog interviewed me recently in the wake of my third 2nd place finish in their marque poker tournament, the Sunday $100k Guaranteed. I've interviewed several poker players over the past few years on behalf of PokerTips (see right sidebar). It was enjoyable to be on the other side of the questions for a change.

Bodog Beat Interview

A Happy Mother's Day Indeed

2009-05-10T19:48:00.000-07:00

Today was a pretty good day for me. After waking up and calling my Mom to wish her a Happy Mother's Day, I got after some online poker pretty hard while watching the Lakers vs. Rockets game. I had quite a bit of money on the Rockets +9 (and unloaded some more on +9.5 in the second half) and also stand to win quite a lot if they win the NBA Championship (which admittedly is a longshot, but I got great odds). Anyway, they dominated today in a game where the Lakers never held the lead. Despite losing Yao Ming for the rest of the season, I think this team can still be competitive against L.A. Yes, they're dogs to win the series, but I like their chances of forcing a Game 7, and if they can do that, anything can happen.

Online poker went really well today. I made a couple of deep runs in a few tournaments, all but one of which resulted in mildly-disappointing mini-cashes. In the Bodog $100k, I finished 2nd for $15k. I've historically had a lot of success in that tournament. This is the third time in less than two years I've finished 2nd. I've also bubbled the final table in 10th twice and have a couple other high finishes in that tournament. I think it suits my strengths very well. The field is soft and the structure basically dictates a shove-or-fold strategy towards the end which I think allows me to play pretty close to mistake-free poker.

That score helps lighten my need for a backer at this summer's WSOP which means I'll be able to have a lot more of my own action. Unlike the other two 2nds I took in that tournament, I have no regrets about my heads-up play this time around. 'jjjj' played great and deserved the win and the $25k.

I'm going to Vegas this weekend for no particular reason other than to hang out for a couple of days. If there's a Game 7 next Sunday, it will be awfully tempting to hop over to L.A. and watch it in person...

Hardcore Fail

2009-05-08T14:07:00.000-07:00

With Apologies to Vanessa Rousso

2009-05-04T13:42:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, I made a post insinuating that I think it's a joke for Vanessa Rousso to be running a poker instructional workshop. But it now appears that there might be more to Rousso than just good looks. In a field of 79 of the game's most talented players, Rousso emerged as the champion of the €25,000 buy-in European High Roller Championship. To go along with the €720,000 first-place prize, she now probably has the respect of a lot of people who didn't realize she's got game after all (including the ones like me who fell asleep earlier in the year when she took second at the NBC National Heads-Up Championship).

An Update From the Front Lines of the Continual Struggle for Self-Improvement

2009-05-03T00:32:00.000-07:00

If anyone ever said blogging was easy, they're either delusional or gifted. Anytime I go 7-10 days without an entry, I get this little voice in my head that's like, "you should make an entry." But then I'm like, "but I don't have anything to say!" And then there's just an awkward stand-off within my own mind.

The "you should make an entry" voice won the battle tonight.

I've been laying low recently and trying to drum-up a general sense of order in my life in the weeks leading up to the WSOP (which I am really excited about; it's one of the few things I think I am capable of attaining a childlike sense of excitement about anymore). As of late, I've been taking Bikram Yoga classes very regularly. Bikram Yoga is a 90 minute series of poses done in a room heated to 105 degrees. It's an awesome exercise which is perfect for me in a lot of ways. When it comes to pain and super-intense exercise, I'm too much of a wimp to stay committed to any type of regimen. The beauty of Bikram is that it maintains a very consistent level of moderate intensity for a full 90 minutes. In a way, the class kind of circumnavigates my wimp-radar since it's never intolerable at any one point in time, but the sum total of the class is a very intense exercise.

In addition to yoga, I've also cut out alcohol consumption almost entirely. Not to say that I'm a teetotaler or anything, I've got no problem going out for drinks with the right company, it's just that lately I've lost the appetite for alcohol and its effects. I think the time has come and gone where I'm thrilled about regularly ingesting something that impairs my senses and loosens the control I have over my own thoughts. Additionally, my friend shaniac put it very bluntly to me recently and it has kind of stuck with me: (paraphrasing) "alcohol is just a smelly, disgusting substance that turns people into bumbling idiots."

So my health and fitness is on pace to be at a peak right around the start of the WSOP, which I'm really happy about. I'm hoping to luckbox my way into being able to say the same about my finances. On Wednesday night, I took 3rd in the $10 rebuy on Stars for $6.5k. Today, I final tabled the $10 rebuy again, this time settling for 8th and like $1.6k. I also finished 9th in a $75 6-max on Full Tilt where, like the $10 rebuy, I lost a big flip at the end to dash my hopes of taking it down. Regardless, these scores were nice and hopefully can lead to some larger scores and opportunities. If not, it might be kind of a lean series for me in terms of participation unless my efforts to arrange a conglomeration of investors are successful.

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One enjoyment of mine is armchair quarterbacking various forms of marketing. A couple years ago, I actually switched car insurance providers to Geico solely because of how much their commercials entertained me.

Another business that seems to always have stellar marketing is Jack in the Box. Recently, they've outdone themselves with their 'Mini Sirloin Burgers' campaign. I have the jingle from this commercial stuck in my head constantly, and I love it. Think about how effective that is. They have managed to get me singing over and over again in my head "yippie ay yay, mini sirloin burgers!" I can't go an hour without thinking about their new product line. I love this commercial. Just when you think this commercial couldn't get any better... BAM! There's a midget cowboy playing guitar right in your face!

Good luck getting that unstuck from your head!

You're One in Twenty, Kid

2009-04-19T11:32:00.000-07:00

For more than the past three years, I've been authoring or co-authoring a Sunday column called The Weekly Shuffle at Poker Tips. I'd say about 60% of these Weekly Shuffles have been pretty good, 35% have been "meh", and 5% of them have been hilarious/great. Thanks to our industry knowledge and a recent trip to Israel that proved to be very educational, I think we came up with one this week that I'd put in the hilarious/great column:

Five Steps to Destroying an Online Poker Room

"No... No..."

2009-04-16T15:01:00.001-07:00

I was probably the last person in the poker world to see this video because I'm sheltered like that, but in case there's anyone else out there with their head deeper in the sand than myself, check out the largest pot in televised poker history that came in at $900k. The best part is at about the 4:45 mark when 22 year old sensation Tom Dwan immediately says, "no... no..." in response to Barry Greenstein's offer to each pull a couple hundred thousand out of the pot before flipping. And with that, the "Tom Dwan is a badass" fan club has reached a new high in membership.

Devout Jew: Alex Perelberg

2009-04-07T22:42:00.001-07:00

This should make for some exciting TV.

The Foxwoods Poker Classic drew a paltry 257 players. This was already going to be a very boring TV episode when Amnon Filippi was the most interesting player remaining in the event with seven left. But if that wasn't bad enough, two players were eliminated on the same hand of the final table bubble, meaning the traditional WPT televised final table of six players will be just five players instead.

Oh wait, just kidding, there will only be four players.

Alex Perelberg, the short-stack at the final table, will not be participating in the final table because of family obligations related to Passover.

What. The. Hell?

There are, obviously, a few questions one could raise over this scenario. For one, why on Earth would Perelberg play in this tournament if he knew he wouldn't be able to attend the final table because of Passover? Two, and perhaps a better question, are you kidding me is this guy really going to miss a WPT final table because of fucking Passover?!?! I am at a loss for words. What makes this even more noteworthy is that, in America, Passover is not a one-and-done holiday. Most families have Seders (the traditional Passover meal) on two nights. Certainly his family could see why his absence at the first Seder is understandable. Even if he could have squeaked his way into 4th place, that's an extra $32,000. Let's just ignore the outside chance he has at winning the whole tournament, which would mean another $625,000 on top of the money he has resigned to accepting for fifth place.

How much money is Alex Perelberg paying to attend his family gathering on the first night of Passover? Let's do some basic math.

Here are the final table chip counts:

Vadim Trincher 2,813,000
Amnon Filippi 1,852,000
Matthew Casterella 1,808,000
Lenny Cortellino 1,175,000
Alex Perelberg 202,000

Here are the payouts:

1 $731,079 ($625,000 difference)
2 $409,405 ($303,000 difference)
3 $214,449 ($108,000 difference)
4 $138,905 ($32,000 difference)
5 $106,007

I will grant Perelberg that he is very short-stacked and in all likelihood will just finish fifth whether or not he attends anyway. So let's say that, if he were to play the final table, there is a full 80% chance he will finish fifth.

A 11% chance he gets 4th.
A 5% chance he gets 3rd.
A 3% chance he finishes 2nd.
And a 1% chance he wins the whole thing.

I think those are very reasonable/conservative estimates. Tell me if you think you disagree, but bear in mind that he has 2.5% of the chips in play.

.11(32,000) + .05(108,000) + .03(303,000) + .01(625,000) = Alex Perelberg is paying $23,990 to attend his family's Passover dinner!

Now, I'm not Jewish so perhaps the significance of Passover is lost on me to a degree, but I can tell you that there is nothing family- or religion-related that would get me to miss an event in which I have $23,990 in value short of a death in my immediate family. Then again, keep in mind this is coming from someone who skipped his sister's college graduation to accept an invitation to go on the Party Poker Million cruise (and subsequently finished 3rd for $160,000 right in Grandma's face).

This story is just unbelievable and I think serves as a symbolic nail in the coffin of the days when the WPT was interesting (for any redeemable trait, that is).

Tel Aviv

2009-04-06T11:42:00.000-07:00

I'm enjoying Tel Aviv a lot for a few reasons. In no particular order:

Size of City

I don't really like small areas for the simple reason that it's too easy to get bored. On the contrast, I'm not too wild about large cities either. There's something about the hustle-bustle and magnitude of large, urban areas that overwhelms me. I don't like going to a place for several nights and still feeling like I have no grasp on the size and scope of the city. Houston sits alright with me because it's not endlessly urban; rather, the city is more a bunch of neighborhoods and suburbs that just have no clear delineations between one another. But even after living there for three years (this month), there are still parts of the city I've never been to and some I'm sure I haven't even heard of.

What I like about Tel Aviv is that it fits in that perfect zone between small and large. To be sure, it's a very large city, but it doesn't seem so large that you couldn't know your way around after just a couple of months.

Girls

The women here are really good looking. I'd guess there are a couple primary reasons for this. First of all, military service is required for all Israelis around the age of 18. That obviously helps promote fitness. However, I'd say what's more important is the diet of the region. This is more of a eat to live, not live to eat culture. There's less wealth per capita here which helps discourage a lifestyle of excess. Additionally, since the weather is so good, people are able to stay active outdoors for most of the year.

Food

The food here has been surprisingly great. Most food in Europe sucks in my opinion. I know that's counter to what most people like to claim, but most people are idiots. The food in Israel is actually pretty solid. The produce is very fresh and most foods are prepared with olive oil. A strong emphasis on spices and seasonings in most entrees make for very flavorful dining.

Misanthropic Inhabitants

People in Tel Aviv keep to themselves. I've hardly noticed anyone who could be classified as loud or obnoxious. They go about their routines and find little need for exhausting chatter. Perhaps this is rooted in some sort of innate distrust for others. After all, many people here are the descendants of Holocaust survivors living in a nation where every neighboring country wants to wipe them off the map. However, this isn't to say that they aren't courteous, which they are.

Climate

At least right now, the weather here is simply fantastic. Aside from a couple brutal summer months (which I'll take any day over a frigid winter), the climate here is great.

Safe Region

Before arriving, my friend Ira told me he felt safer in Tel Aviv than he does in the U.S. I figured that was just his Jewish-bias trying to stick up for an area with a reputation for being dangerous, but he wasn't exaggerating. I feel completely safe here. Even wandering around the streets at night, which is something I would never do in most parts of Europe (thanks to some unsavory experiences in Amsterdam), it doesn't even cross my mind to feel unsafe. The only particularly dangerous parts of Israel are the West Bank and Gaza, both of which are a very safe distance away from Tel Aviv.

I've noticed that in places where all of the people have an easier time feeling like one big family, the area is just a lot safer. Another example of this is Copenhagen. Both there and in Tel Aviv, there are a fairly small amount of people who share their own language and currency that is foreign to the rest of the world. It's like being in a small community where no one would think to bring harm upon one another because they have an easier time adopting a "we're in this together" mentality. Not surprisingly, the people of both areas have chosen a strongly socialist form of government.

Developing Region

To me, there's something that energizes me about areas that are less developed than the U.S. Maybe it's all of the opportunities for growth and adding efficiencies that fosters a certain level of excitement. Tel Aviv is very refreshing in this regard. It's a nice reminder that not all the world is spoiled by a sense of entitlement and destined to stagnation.

It has me thinking that my friends Sam and Justin, who each left the U.S. for South Korea and Thailand, respectively, might be on to something. I would love an excuse to spend a couple months out of the year here. It's possible, though not too likely, that such an excuse could materialize out of a new business relationship that brought us to this lovely city in the first place.

Sunset view from our hotel.

The Holy City

2009-04-03T07:41:00.000-07:00

I went down to the concierge desk at our hotel in Tel Aviv this morning at 7 am to ask about their guided tours of Jerusalem. He informed that one was leaving in thirty minutes. I woke Michael up with that news and was relieved when he sighed and said, "alright, let's do it..."

Our tour guide was this hilarious Israeli dude named Eilon:

Eilon really added to the overall enjoyment of the tour. He was energetic, knowledgeable, and generally did a good job of anticipating everyone's needs (we were in a group with six other people, four Canadians who work for Air Canada and were on a three-day stay over and two guys from Hong Kong). When the day was over, Michael and I each gave Eilon a 100 shekel tip as a small way of showing our gratitude.

The four Canadians had purchased a package for a tour of both Bethlehem and Jerusalem. The Chinese guys and Michael and I only purchased the Jerusalem package. In our case, this was mostly because we were unaware there was a Bethlehem option, but being that it rests in the West Bank, we were fine with letting the Canadians enjoy that part amongst themselves.

Eilon dropped the four of us off on the outskirts of Jerusalem at Yad Vashem, the foremost Holocaust Museum in the world, before taking the Canadians to Bethlehem for two hours.

What to say about Yad Vashem? It's a thoroughly impressive museum. A lot of people and a lot of money have gone towards preserving the history of the Holocaust and memorializing its victims in this museum. At times, it was pretty easy to feel overcome with emotion.

The lesson I took from Yad Vashem is that humanity's worse doesn't materialize overnight. It's a process. There is a saying I like a lot that goes, "if you put a frog in boiling water, it jumps out immediately. If you put it in room temperature water and set it to a boil, the frog will stay in the water until its death." The world was the latter such frog in the Holocaust. It didn't start with Hitler coming to power and promptly declaring that he wishes to exterminate all Jews. It started slowly: first requiring Jewish property owners to register themselves, then for all Jews to identify themselves, then for them to be relocated to ghettos, then for them to be hauled off to work camps... it was a very slippery slope in which the better nature of many people was lulled to sleep in the face of an injustice.

The Chinese guys leaving Yad Vashem. No photography was allowed inside the museum.

Eilon returned to pick us up and we made our way to the Mount of Olives. It is here where Christ made several journeys between Bethany and Jerusalem and also where he is said to have ascended into heaven.

From the vantage point of the Mount of Olives, the entire Old City can be seen. For about an hour, Eilon pointed out several historic sites and routes from religious history dating back 5,000 years while we were occasionally interrupted by a Palestinian guy practicing his drifting in a run down Kia some 50 feet behind us.

The view of the Temple Mount from the Mount of Olives. The land inside the walls where the Dome of the Rock is seen is probably the most highly coveted area of land on Earth. Jews believe it is the site where God created the world in its current form. Muslims believe it is the site where the prophet Muhammad ascended into heaven. In the 9 o'clock direction from the Golden Dome is a grey colored dome. That is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the site of Christ's crucifixion and burial. He was nailed to the cross 200 meters to the right of the Golden Dome (in this picture) and was forced to carry the cross through the streets to the site of his death.

Me looking like a tourist.

Eilon explaining the history of the area.

The building towards the bottom-right of the picture with the multitude of small grey domes rests over the land where it is believed Judas betrayed Jesus. The Temple Mount is just out of site to the upper-left.

At the base of the Temple wall is what appears to be a bunch of rubble. Those are actually grave sites. It is said that when Jesus returns to Earth, he will go through the gates and into the Temple. However, Jewish law states that no person of priestly origin (of which Jesus is) can enter a graveyard. For this reason, Muslims have buried people all around entrances to the Temple in hopes of preventing Jesus from being able to enter.

We left the Mount of Olives and made our way to the Temple's Western Wall (perhaps better known as the Wailing Wall). The Western Wall marks the spot that is as close as Jews can get to the Temple since it is under Muslim control. It is a hugely significant site, quite probably the most significant site in all of Judaism. Eilon said that a crummy apartment in Jerusalem with a view of the Wall goes for multi-millions.

Entering the area of the Western Wall.

The Wailing Wall with the Dome of the Rock barely visible above.

I spent probably five minutes at the Wall. No cameras were allowed within about 100 feet. The Wall is packed with notes and prayers placed by people from all over the world. I was actually a little uncomfortable, or at the very least felt awkward while at the Wall. The gap between what it means to me and what it meant to the pilgrims three feet away made me keep my social awareness dial on it's maximum setting. I wanted to see the Wall and touch the Wall but not for a second if it came at the expense of offending anyone or seeming out of place. I spent a few moments touching it and appreciating the history behind it before removing myself.

Michael and I at the Wall.

The holiness of the Wall was probably lost on this cat.

Several Hasidic Jews praying and talking at the Wall.

Michael explaining why the Wall is overrated.

From the Wall, we made our way through a crowded Muslim corridor with several merchants selling trinkets.

We stopped at a great place for lunch. I had a shawarma sandwich and a falafel sandwich both of which were quite tasty. The food here seems to be really good if you stick close to the vest. The only poor meal I've had was when I took a gamble and ordered a steak. Bad decision.

After lunch, we made our way to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (meaning "tomb of Christ").

At the entrance to the Church. The ladder outside the window above and a little to the left of my head has been there since at least 1850.

Crosses rest against a wall of the Church.

Stairway leading up to the site of Christ's crucifixion.

A mural depicting Jesus on the cross which also marks the spot of where one of the prisoners who died alongside Christ was crucified.

The site of the crucifixion of Christ.

A tablet that commemorates where Christ was placed after being removed from the cross to be cleaned for burial.

Outside of the tomb of Christ.

The entrance to the site commemorating the tomb of Christ.

After leaving the Church, Eilon lightened things up by dragging Michael into a Muslim barber shop and having the guy threaten to shave his head. To me, this picture captures a fact I did not realize before today: relations between Muslims and Jews in this region aren't as hostile as the nightly news might have you think. While the governments may be hostile towards one another, the average people from each group co-exist just fine on an individual level for the most part.

A broad view of the Western Wall as we made our way back to the tour van.

Eilon leading us towards the outside of the Old City walls.

I got the chance to call my Mom from the Mount of Olives and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre which I could tell meant a lot to her. I did not speak with my Dad while he was at work, but I texted him from the site of Christ's crucifixion. I think they're enjoying living vicariously through me on this trip and I hope they can make a visit themselves at some point in the future, perhaps even with my company.

Israel is a very beautiful country rich in history. I plan on squeezing as much juice out of the fruit as possible in my remaining five days here.

"Evacuate the Hotel Immediately"

2009-04-02T04:35:00.000-07:00

This Israel trip has not been without stress so far.

A little while ago at 2 pm, Michael and I were awoken to a PA announcement in our room that kept repeating the phrase, "all guests and staff need to evacuate the hotel immediately." When you're in a country where terrorist attacks are not infrequent, that message served as about the most effective alarm clock I've had in my life.

Thirty seconds later, we were clothed and out the door. The hotel is basically a giant atrium. While rushing towards the elevators, I looked down and noticed not the slightest sense of urgency from anyone who was loitering in the lobby. Once we made our way down there, it was clear that there was no imminent threat to the hotel.

"What was up with that evacuation announcement?" I asked one of the staff. "Oh it's just a drill, we do it every three months." Lovely.

Though to be fair, it's probably good that it happened. There's no telling how long we would have slept. Despite going to sleep at midnight, we were both so horribly sleep deprived that it wouldn't have been absurd to think that we might have slept until 6 pm or so, thereby really screwing over our sleep schedule for this trip.

Last night, we watched the Israeli National soccer team play Greece at a sports bar with a few people we know. Israel kept it interesting for most of the game until letting Greece pull ahead 2-1 on a penalty kick somewhere around the 70 minute mark.

As for today, we're just going to take it easy and do some light shopping and exploring around Tel Aviv. Hopefully by tomorrow we're fully recovered from the travels enough to enjoy a day trip to Jerusalem.

Long Journey to Israel

2009-04-01T09:57:00.000-07:00

Gotta run, so this will be kinda short:

Woke up at 7:30 am in Houston yesterday and flew to NYC to catch a flight to Tel Aviv where I'm staying for a week for business purposes. Long story short: our flight got to Tel Aviv six hours later than it was supposed to. This was thanks to three reasons: 1.) the plane was two hours late getting to the gate on departure, 2.) after we boarded, someone decided they didn't want to go after all, so baggage claim had to unload all the bags to find that person's bag, 3.) once we got over the Mediterranean, one of the passengers started having a heart attack which forced us to make an emergency landing in Athens. That detour only got us to the ground 20 minutes faster than it would have if we had just continued on to Tel Aviv, but I guess 20 minutes is an eternity when it comes to responding to a heart attack.

Two nights ago I only slept for four hours. Last night (on the plane) I didn't sleep at all. So I'm completely exhausted and the obvious thing to do would be to go to sleep.

BUT... a friend of Michael's cousin (both of whom are also in Israel, incidentally) just pointed out that the Israeli national soccer team kicks off against Greece in a World Cup qualifying match in an hour. So I sprinkled some money on Israel +355 (to render myself as much a fan as the locals) and now we're heading out to a sports bar to watch the game.

Pictures later mb.

I'm Calling Poker Instructional Workshop Bubble Right Here

2009-03-19T23:50:00.000-07:00

LOL

Trending Upward

2009-03-17T13:37:00.000-07:00

When I finally got over the 600 hump in a three game bowling series in my league a couple weeks ago, my friend joked that he thinks bowling performance is a leading indicator for life. So far, he's panned out to be right.

Things have been turning around on a couple fronts. There are some promising developments on the business end and on the dating front. Poker has been neither good nor bad as of late; I haven't been playing for a few weeks now. I'm okay with a bit of an extended break. Poker isn't going anywhere. I'll know when its the right time to get back in the game. Historically, I've always felt so good about my game following a break. I think there's a lot to be said for balance and clearing your head from time to time, a practice that, from my observation, isn't too popular among these young-gun stud poker players.

In a way, I can understand their heavily-weighted-towards-poker existences. There's obviously a lot of direct value added to their lives grinding tournaments all day, every day. But it doesn't come without the risk of being left behind in a lot of other areas of life (most notably, socially).

One poker player who seems to place weight on having a balanced life and is apparently enjoying the dividends of such an existence is Mike McDonald.

For anyone with their head in the sand for the past week, Mike came narrowly close to defending his EPT German Open title before busting out in 5th place this year. Quite an impressive back to back showing in fields of 411 and 667. We're doing an interview with Mike for PokerTips, so look for that in a Sunday or two.

Alright that's all I got for now. Happy St. Patrick's day from this increasingly optimistic ginger.

The Bottom

2009-02-23T23:49:00.000-08:00

I just had about the longest five minute walk back to a hotel room in my life.

Played the Venetian $2.5k Main Event today. The five levels leading up to dinner break went pretty great. We'll get back to those in a minute.

After dinner, I was in the tournament for 2.5 hours without winning a single hand. I went from 80 big blinds down to zero while never losing more than 20 on one hand. By "never won a hand" I don't mean that I never won a showdown or never won a hand after seeing a flop. I mean that I never won one single hand whatsoever.

I trust this will seem as inconsequential to me one day as it does to you right now, but when you're in the middle of it, it's hard to keep focus on the bigger picture. And on that note, my bigger picture isn't looking too hot as it pertains to poker. I am in a serious poker recession right now. I'm too broke at the moment to put myself in these events that I know I can be competitive in, and my backer, while not exactly broke, is probably running low on desire to use his limited liquid assets to put me in tournaments. I can't say I blame him. The results haven't been there for me since last year's WSOP Main Event. From an outsider's perspective, it would be easy to think that I "just don't have it anymore".

What makes this situation of the utmost frustration for me is that I feel like I've never "had it" more so than now! I am playing and thinking as well as I ever have. I'm loosening up my game more to disguise ranges better so people have a much tougher time putting me on hands. This adjustment is growing to be imperative in the poker world since the "average player" is always improving. I couldn't be more satisfied at the progress I've made on staying ahead of the curve. Despite how much better everyone is getting, I don't feel like I've sacrificed any relative advantage since last year when I was enjoying a lot of success. If anything, I've increased the advantage. The results just haven't been there.

Certainly everything I've said in this post is much less applicable to online poker where the stacks are small and the hands mostly play themselves. But this Venetian event has a structure that rivals the WSOP Main Event. It essentially played like a high stakes cash game (I say high stakes because the field was pretty loaded with great players) for most of the first handful of levels because of how deep the stacks are. Despite having little experience in that arena of poker, I felt pretty comfortable with assigning ranges to anyone at the table.

I'm in too much of a pensive mood and feeling too bummed out from a general standpoint to dive into all the intricacies of a few interesting hands I played today. Since this post has been a huge Debbie Downer so far, I might as well conclude it in that spirit: this blog could be light on poker-related content, or content altogether for that matter, for the next few months. I can sense I'm pretty much off the shelf for the time being. My hope is that circumstances will have turned around in time for the WSOP; it will be super painful if my upcoming limited participation in the poker world extends through the summer.

Signing out for now.

Tulsa Busto and America Busto

2009-02-15T15:27:00.000-08:00

Michael and I flew up to Tulsa this morning for the $3k Oklahoma State Championships of Poker. I love this tournament. It is so beautifully soft. The only other "good" player I knew of in the tournament was Jordan Morgan. Even the younger unknown guys with headphones who you would label as probably being decent still make horrible plays from my observation (ie: call a raise for effectively 60% of an opponent's stack and then fold when they stick the rest in on the flop OR four-bet all-in with pocket Eights against a tight player). Such a sick tournament. Entries held strong with 100 too. For reasons I cannot figure out, poker is somehow still super juicy despite the economic situation.

Anyway, I couldn't get anything materialized. I felt like I was playing really good though, so I'm happy about that. One thing I've noticed is that poker is starting to "play itself" a little more than it used to. To put it another way, even the "bad" players have gotten to the point where they don't really make thaaaat awful of mistakes. They just kind of play their hands very straightforward and that's that. Basically, I think you have to work a little harder to exploit people now since they don't really exploit themselves for you as much as they used to. One example of how I think you can do this is to 3-bet more preflop with air, especially when you have a tight image. People give you so much credit for this since everyone's ranges are becoming more obvious and standard.

Despite not really making any glaring errors, I found my 10k starting stack to be about 4.5k when 200/400/50 rolled around. I got Ace-Queen in against pocket Jacks and didn't have to wait around much for the final verdict when the flop came Jack-Three-Three.

I tracked down Michael (who had already busted out in level three) and found him in a state of serious tilt. I guess he lost a couple thousand playing blackjack at an average of $100/hand after playing for 90 minutes. Following this, he asked a host if he could get a room and they basically told him that he hadn't played enough. I don't want to turn this blog into story after story of casino incompetence and mismanagement, but long story short, Michael made it clear to Cherokee Casino personnel he's never gambling at their establishment again.

I can see how that might sound kind of like spoiled behavior, but you have to realize these places are just being decimated right now. There is like no room for them to be refusing accommodation (that probably costs them $10 or less to give out) for a player putting that kind of money into play. Hopefully they catch on to this before their assets have more value being sold for scrap metal than used in a gaming operation.

The problem is likely that their automated comp systems have not been updated to reflect the relevancy of the day. Three years ago, it might not have made sense for them to give Michael a room based on that play, but today it most certainly does.

On the plane ride this morning, we had quite a lengthy discussion about how horribly people and businesses are responding to this recession. I'll spare tons of anecdotal examples and just say that the sense of entitlement people are still displaying is really concerning. I have a derivatives-trader friend in London who has been saying "America is f**ked!" for quite a while. Up until recently I kind of thought he was overreacting a little, but now I'm starting to think he might be on to something.

If this topic interests anyone at all, I'd recommend reading up on the lessons we could be learning from Japan's "Lost Decade". The parallels between their 10+ year economic slump and our current situation are alarming.

I think the way to play this is to keep your ear to the grindstone and make the sensible, value-based decisions. This is why Buffet is loaded from investing in brands like Coca-Cola and avoiding these unintelligible financial products put together by some 22 year old trying to win a hedge fund lottery. When the dust settles on this, all the people out there who were "too cheap" to spend their money on bottle service and marque-brand discretionary purchases will be the big winners. The "$30k Millionaire" is all smoke and mirrors; that will only become more and more painfully evident in the coming years once their employers wise-up and start firing them.

Buy McDonalds, buy China, and short steakhouses, Ed Hardy, strip joints, law schools, Vegas, art, high-end retailers, golf, "ultra-lounges", timeshares, Grey Goose, auto manufacturers, sushi, travel agencies, wine bars, high-rise condos, American women, and anything else your neighbor with the popped collar thinks he needs or deserves.

There's still plenty of pork left in the system.

-------------------

Visiting my sister in Phoenix on Friday and then off to Vegas for the Deep Stack Extravaganza Main Event next Monday ($2.5k). "One time" yada yada yada...

When the Yanks Go Marching In

2009-02-13T13:00:00.000-08:00

I just returned from a fun little trip with a few poker players. On Monday, I flew into Philly and was picked up by Ray "Exitonly" Coburn and his friend Cris who live in Jersey. We made the five hour drive to Pittsburgh to spend the night at Luke "IWEARGOGGLES" Staudenmaier's townhouse where Matt "mlagoo" LaGarde was staying for the FTOPS series.

When we arrived, Matt had a laptop full of online poker tables going and Luke was playing a couple of tables himself. Each of these guys have enjoyed quite a lot of success in the poker world. Matt won the Sunday Million once when it was a $1,000 buy-in and Luke finished 3rd in a WPT event last year for nearly half a million.

Ray fired up a bunch of tables himself while Cris showed his truly sick prowess for Jeopardy. You would have almost thought we were watching a re-run listening to him answer probably two-thirds of the questions correctly.

We all got to witness Matt pull off a once-in-a-lifetime online poker accomplishment. He won not one, not two, but three online MTTs that night. First was a PLO rebuy event with 110 players, so not a huge deal. Next was a NLHE freezeout on Full Tilt with 450 players. When he won that, he was pretty much cemented as a god for the night despite being down to the last few tables in a huge $50 freezeout on Stars (1,150 players).

Sure enough, a couple hours later Matt was heads-up in that event. He had to survive a flush draw at one point, but I don't think any of us doubted that the river card would be a diamond given how he was running. In all, he won about $21k on the night, a score we all agreed came nowhere close to providing a feeling of accomplishment that winning three tournaments did.

Due to being really tired and low on funds, I only played one event, a $216 turbo FTOPS event that had over 2,000 players. It was going really awesome until I lost a 40 big-blind all-in preflop pot with Jacks versus some guy's Ace-Five when an Ace hit the river with about 200 players left. That relegated me to the same sour mood Ray was in from washing out of every tournament he played.

----------

The next day, Ray, Cris, and I left Luke's in Pittsburgh for the three hour drive to Columbus to attend the US vs. Mexico World Cup qualifying match. I've developed a casual interest in soccer after becoming addicted to Fifa '09 on PS3. Cris is a huge soccer fanatic. The long car rides gave me a chance to learn a ton about the sport from picking his brain.

At the game, we sat in the Sam's Army section behind goal. Sam's Army is a huge group of US soccer supporters that dress in red, stand for the entire game, and shout/sing chants non-stop (including during halftime while in line to use the restroom). It was without a doubt the most fun I've had at a sporting event. When the US scored its first goal (they went on to win 2-0 in a game where Mexico never looked like they stood a chance) the elation in the Sam's Army section could have been cut with a knife.

At some point, I found myself in possession of a colonial-style American flag with '76 written in the middle of the stars. I'm not really big on nationalism, but it was pretty fun waving that thing in the air as we marched out of the stadium high on beer and pride.

Badass double-rainbow following downpour in parking lot before game

Sam's Army greets the US Team

Sam's Army after victory

The Harrah's Treatment: You Can Check Out Anytime You Like, But You Can Never Leave

2009-02-04T19:07:00.000-08:00

Before going to Tunica, I called some transportation places to arrange a ride from the Memphis airport. The prices I was quoted were in the $110-$130 range roundtrip (for a 30 minute drive), which is actually more than what it would have cost to rent a car. I was sharing the absurdity of this to a friend who lives in the area. He told me, "dude, just call a casino host, I'm sure they'll hook you up."

Good idea, Tim!

So I called Harrah's and spoke with a host. Ride from the airport? No problem. It was free and the driver was waiting for me on time when my flight landed. Gotta love a good recession.

Anyway, since I've been a little light on bankroll lately, I only brought $5,500 with me. After washing out of the $5,150 WSOP Circuit event, I was more or less busto for the trip. I had also recently lost my ATM card, so getting more cash with which to gamble was out of the question.

The day before my flight home, I requested a host so I could arrange a ride back to the airport. A tall, blonde woman in her early 40s named Deborah greeted me. She told me she would need to see my Total Rewards card to check how active I had been at the casino. Knowing from previous experience that they don't really take good care of their WSOP participants, I warned her that the only thing I had done since being at the casino was play the $5k event.

Still, I figured they'd probably take care of me anyway. After all, I was just asking for a ride to the airport. Not exactly demanding food and hotel along with it, since I was fully aware that my presence on this trip wasn't exactly a big money maker for them.

"Sorry, the play is just not there, we can't do transportation," Deborah told me. I politely explained to her that, needless to say, I thought it was a little shitty that they'd be willing to pick me up and then just strand me there after "all" I had done was play a $5,000 buy-in tournament. I mean, you'd think they'd be willing to take some basic steps to keep a person walking into a casino with that kind of money satisfied.

But I'm no stranger to the gaming industry. Harrah's has some notoriety for treating their high-value customers as disposable. I wasn't exactly shocked that something like this would happen, so I mostly kept my cool and didn't make a big deal about it.

Since Deborah had at least been cordial and I was bored anyway waiting for the aforementioned friend to meet me, I decided to sit down with what little money I had and start playing some $25/hand blackjack. High risk of ruin, sure, but I maintain a "no red chips" policy so as not to be confused for some nitty college kid.

Between my friend running extremely late and me running half-decent at blackjack for a while, before I knew it I had been playing $25/hand for three hours. I'll bet they'll give me a ride now, right? I mean, after all, it is a Tuesday in the middle-of-nowhere Mississippi during a recession. The play I just put in made me a relative whale considering the circumstances. So I can have a ride, right?

Wrong.

I talked to a new host this time, a guy named Jim. After looking at my play, he told me they couldn't do transportation for me. Furthermore, he had the audacity to tell me that I was up $100 despite the fact that I had actually dropped $300 to them.

What seems to have happened is that one of the floor managers forgot to enter me into the system at some point, so they didn't properly track my play. At this point, I was just fed up with the incompetence, so I just let loose.

I'm still shocked that someone walked into their casino with $5,500 on hand, which probably is somewhere in the 97-99 percentile of their customers, lost it all, and couldn't get a simple ride back to the airport. This is all aggravated by the fact that they gave me a ride there in the first place! You just don't do that to a customer. It's bad business.

I let loose on Jim for a while more because it felt good than anything else. The issue wasn't about the $60 I wound up having to pay for a ride the next day, the issue is about Harrah's jaw-dropping incompetence as an organization. Their hosts are like robots programmed to read whatever they see on a computer screen. Jim and Deborah made no effort to add a human element to the proceedings or attempt to understand why, perhaps, it made sense to bend the rules just this once.

These places are just getting killed right now (check stock prices of MGM and LVS). We can't know exactly how bad Harrah's is doing because they're a private company now, but it can't be good.

A crippling recession comes along that wipes out 90% of the value of the casino industry, and these guys can't give a ride to the airport to a young man who comes through their doors with $5,500? Shit, the van and the driver were probably just sitting in the parking lot anyway! It would have cost them like $5 in gas money to keep me happy in this situation, but they chose not to, and now that savings is going to be wiped out a hundred times over.

I'm done with Harrah's completely except for the WSOP. I'll give them credit for doing a decent job operating the WSOP, and it's simply too much a part of my life for me to boycott that too, but as far as hotel, restaurants, blackjack, craps, shopping, etc... screw 'em. I'm done with that organization barring satisfactory compensation from this incident.

I'll try passing this blog post along to their management, but I'm guessing they're probably so incompetent that you can't even get in touch with them to tell them how incompetent they are.

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These are the Harrah's properties in Las Vegas you won't find me at:

Bally's
Caesars
Paris
Flamingo
Imperial Palace
Harrah's
O'Sheas
Bill's Gambling Hall

Drawing Dead in Deep Fried Tunica

2009-02-02T17:16:00.000-08:00

The only guys I recognized at my starting table in Tunica were Justin Truesdell and a guy a few people have probably heard of, Chris Moneymaker. My inner-fanboy has a pretty hard time getting excited about any fellow poker players, but I admit it's pretty cool to play with Moneymaker. As he sat there with a nonchalant demeanor, I couldn't help but think to myself that he was a primary reason I started playing this game nearly six years ago. Certainly the course of direction my life has taken since then is remarkably different than it would have been had ESPN's WSOP telecasts in the summer of 2003 not been so captivating in part thanks to Moneymaker's "normal guy" charm and hyper-marketable last name.

In level six, I flat-called a raise from vinnyb9 of Bodog fame with pocket Kings. I raised his bet of 1.7k on a rainbow flop of Jack-Nine-Three to 4k. When he checked the Eight on the turn to me, I went ahead and "sped up the process" as Timex would say and moved all-in for 11k. It would have taken a photo-finish camera to see whose chips got into the pot faster: mine or vinnyb9 and his Queen-Ten.

After that, I went to the casino buffet. A pretty unremarkable point of pride for me is all of the Harrah's buffets I've been to. Let's just say I've been around. The Tunica version by far wins the Most Fried award. Any food that has ever gotten notoriety for its tastiness after being fried was in this buffet: pickles, green tomatoes, steak, you name it, they have it here. Perfect way to start off my Eat Less Food and Don't Shave resolution for the month of February.

Lastly, I got an idea today that I thought was a pretty good one. Let's just say it involved getting a tad bit political in the poker world. However, I'm not as optimistic about its chances anymore. After farming the opinions of some guys like Shaniac, Bill Edler, Allen "Chainsaw" Kessler, and Nat Arem, I'm not sure the time and energy required to do it in the way I had envisioned is such a good idea. Certainly there are less flamboyant approaches and more influential channels than myself who could attempt to get a four color deck instituted at the WSOP.

Time for Tunica

2009-02-02T08:56:00.001-08:00

The $5k in Tunica is about to start here in a few minutes. I got in last night just in time to watch the Super Bowl in which I lost all four bets I had. There's something very funny about the poker world, from my perspective. You travel around to all these places and see so many of the same faces, but everyone seems so distant from each other. When I was in skydiving, this was not the case. All the familiar faces you'd bump into at conventions on the road seemed like lifelong friends even if you had only met them once or twice. In poker, it's as if everyone is afraid to make eye contact with you. Like as if you're going to check-raise them in the hallway if they glance at you with a smile. There's something awfully sad and lonely about that, I think. But hey, I guess we are all out here after each other's money in the end. Right?

To be sure, it's not like this everywhere with everyone. There are plenty of really nice people out here too. On that note, time to head across the street and see if I remember how to play this game.

Recession = Desperation for Vegas

2009-01-18T22:09:00.000-08:00

You know things are getting bad when you have to turn to a sea of worthless college kids in hopes of scrounging up low-margin business.

Ad I just saw on Facebook:

If only Vegas had hostels...

I received an offer in the mail today for two free nights at the Venetian that I can use while I'm in town for their tournament. When Venetian is giving away rooms in this climate (as they should, it cost them virtually nothing to give away a room on a non-busy night) it makes me think bottom-tier Strip places like Flamingo are just completely screwed. I mean, who is ever going to stay there when there is almost certainly free rooms being given away at a nicer place?

Since these lower-tier places are certainly worth far more continuing to stay open for business, even if hardly generating any revenue at all, than they are being liquidated for scrap metal, they will probably continue to stay open. One thing is for sure, their land is of little value right now (who is buying up Strip property for new developments at a time like this?!). The two big companies who own most of these lower-tier properties (Caesars and MGM) might get to the point where they're desperate enough for cash that they're willing to sell off some of their properties of lesser importance at what will likely be heavily discounted prices. MGM has already done this with T.I.; I forget who bought it.

All of that in mind, prediction: in five years, the Vegas Strip will have a number of it's less-glamorous properties under independent control that were bought up by random people for a steal of a deal. The Casino Royale is another such present-day example. Vegas has started to swing back away from the direction of major corporations controlling all major properties.

I, for one, would love to be in a position to buy one of these places on the cheap. Make a little money (not to mention have a lot of fun!) running it, and then make a killing selling it to some big corporation who wants to bulldoze it and use the land for a mega-resort when another Vegas bubble begins to form in ten years. And then be like, "oh by the way, I'll run that new place for y'all when you're done building it." And then next thing you know you're like Steve Wynn taking less-than-ethical approaches to deciding whether or not the new cocktail waitress applicant gets a job. And I think that's all that needs to be said about that.

Is It February Yet?

2009-01-14T13:02:00.000-08:00

In a previous post, I mentioned that I'd be playing in the WPT event in Mississippi. That event started three hours ago, and I am not in Mississippi. I don't think it's any surprise that I was going to need backing for that event (a $10,000 buy-in). Last week, said backer told me they'd be able to come up with the $10k as long as the stock of a particular Texas-area cafeteria chain didn't plummet the next day. Fair enough.

I woke up the next day and eagerly checked the stock: down 9%. NYET!

It's pretty frustrating to be sitting at home while five hours away one of the softest WPT events is running which several of your friends and acquaintances are participating in. But hey, it's a recession. These things happen, I suppose!

So basically January is the month of staying at home and being poor. The upside to this is that I've been able to give complete attention to running our various websites.

It looks like February will be a much more action-packed month:

February 2nd - WSOP-C Tunica ($5,000 Buy-In)

I expect this Mississippi event to be roughly equivalent to the New Orleans WSOP-C events I've played. In light of that, I'm really looking forward to this one.

February 11th - United States vs. Mexico World Cup Qualifier Match (Columbus, OH)

I was talking to one of my best poker friends, Ray "Exitonly" Coburn about how I wanted to make an effort to become a U.S. Soccer fanboy in time for next year's World Cup. He responded, "dude, you should come up and join Cris and I for the US vs. Mexico qualifier match." I didn't take the idea too seriously until I saw that I could get a roundtrip flight to Philly for $150. Ray lives in Jersey, so he's going to pick me up at the Philly airport on the drive over to Columbus. I'm really looking forward to this trip; we're sitting in the Sam's Army section where I guess everyone dresses in red, stands for the whole game, and sings and chants the whole time. Should be a fun experience as I've never been to a soccer game before! :)

February 15th - Oklahoma State Championships of Poker ($3,000 Buy-In)

Last year, I came close to being able to say that "I'm the Oklahoma State Champion of Poker". That has such a charmingly egotistical ring to it, that there's no way I can't go try again!

February 23rd - Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza Main Event ($2,500 Buy-In)

I'm visiting my sister in Phoenix the weekend before this event starts. It simply makes too much sense to take a detour to Vegas on the way home to play at one of the best venues in poker! :)

February 24th - Caesars Mega Stack Main event ($1,000 Buy-In)

I'll only play this if I wash out of the Venetian event on day one. I'm really looking forward to being back in Vegas. I haven't been to Vegas since... come to think of it, last year's WSOP I think. Wow... has it really been that long? Huh. Well anyway, I'm pretty hungry to spend some time back in Vegas!

Interesting Promotions and a Billionaire-Gone-Busto

2009-01-05T16:25:00.001-08:00

Two quick things:

Interesting Online Poker Promotions

American readers need not bother with this section.

We've worked out some pretty cool deals with online poker rooms through the poker strategy site I run.

1. Lucky Ace is giving away $1,000 to the top 3 players (who created their account through our affiliate link) who earn the most comp points during January and February. This is like easy, easy money for any of you grinders out there since it appears only a small handful of players are vying for this free money.

2. Pacific Poker is holding a $1 buy-in tournament every Saturday for our readers. The top 2 finishers receive a seat to the $140 buy-in Deep Stack event the following day. That's a lot of free high-value seats every month!

3. We're working on some type of tournament-based promotion with Titan Poker. Those interested in this can keep an eye on our online poker promotions page since we always keep that updated with whatever deals we've got brewing with online poker rooms.

Okay that's enough about that. Just wanted to share that with the small handful of non-US readers I have who might be interested in those promotions.

From #3 to the Soup Kitchen

This is a pretty epic downfall. Basically, Sheldon Adelson, owner of the Las Vegas Sands Corporation (who most poker players would know best as the operators of the Venetian), went from being the world's third richest man to having to struggle to make the 2009 Forbes billionaire list.

Ouch!

What makes this epic-funny is that last year he began referring to himself as "Sheldon Adelson the 3rd" to honor his place as the world's third richest man (behind Gates and Buffett). Now that the Las Vegas casino bubble burst, they estimate his net worth at a paltry (yea right!) $1.1 billion, down drastically from the $28 billion of a year ago.

So basically this guy isn't even worth as much as Mark Zuckerberg anymore... lol. And on that note, Mark I'm still waiting to hear back about my idea to monetize Facebook. Let's get you out of those flip-flops!

Mississippi Dreamin'

2009-01-01T22:31:00.000-08:00

Sorry in advance if this entry lacks in spirit. I'm feeling pretty under the weather but felt compelled to write something regardless.

By the next time I finally play poker, which will probably be on Sunday, it will have been the longest I've gone without playing a hand in a very long time. I don't think I've played since the WSOP-C event in New Orleans a few weeks ago. The past few Sundays, I've either been in Wisconsin, Aspen, or Indiana and unable to play online in each case. I'm looking forward to jumping back in the game. Things always seem clearer following an extended break.

Right now I'm enjoying some much needed time back in Houston. For New Year's Eve, I didn't even leave the house or have a drink. Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, I don't think I had more than one or two nights that involved being in Houston and doing nothing but staying in for the night.

I'm sure this low-key routine will get boring pretty quickly, but for now, laying around and playing Fifa '09 is a nice change of pace.

I've got my work cut out for me if 2009 is going to be a better year than 2008. I had just over $500k in gross cashes last year ($290k live, $210k online), which absolutely shattered the expectations I had coming into the year. Topping that will indeed be tough; obviously a lot can change in a few months, but I'd estimate that I'm only going to be able to play around $200k in buy-ins this year.

For starters, I'm (probably) going to the WPT event in Biloxi on January 14th. A few weeks after that it's back to Mississippi for a $5k WSOP-C event. I don't know what travels are in store beyond that. These are pretty lean times, so just going to have to take it event by event. I'm hoping that the EPT German Open is in the picture for March. I've never been to Germany and have a few friends there from PokerTips I wouldn't mind paying a visit.

Thanks for reading and may 2009 exceed your wildest expectations! :)

The "Ignore It and Hope It Goes Away" Game: Success Story #34

2008-12-18T12:15:00.000-08:00

Several weeks ago I was up in Indiana for some reason... I forget why. Probably to plant some corn or talk about basketball or something. Anyway, I had a rental car from Enterprise that I had put nearly 1,000 miles on in a week. On mile #975, I backed into my friend's mailbox and put a foot-long scratch down the side of the car.

When the kid behind the Enterprise counter offered me a chance to buy insurance on the car, my response was a prompt, "nah... screw that. I'mma gamble." So when I hit the mailbox 97% of the way through the trip, I was in disbelief.

I mean... this wasn't some tiny scratch. It like stripped the paint completely off and put a small dent in the door panel. How have I dealt with this problem? The way most problems should be dealt with: the ol' "ignore it and hope it goes away" approach.

After the incident, I called the Enterprise office and the lady told me that she didn't know how much the damage would cost and that she'd get back to me. That was like six weeks ago and I haven't heard a thing from anyone. The fact that I called her in the first place made me very upset with myself. What was I thinking?!

Tip of the Day: It's not your problem until someone makes it your problem.

As of now, the several hundred dollars of damage I inflicted on that rental car might very well wind up not being my problem. I don't know what's going on at Enterprise and why they aren't all over my ass about this, but they're not, and that's good enough for me.

Before dealing with any problem aside from a lump on your testicle, try ignoring it first. You gotta test the problem out; see what it's made of. Make the problem earn your time. You don't walk up to a random girl in a bar and buy her drink straight away and you don't spend your time solving a problem that might not even be worthy of having you solve it.

New Orleans Wrap-Up

2008-12-10T09:33:00.000-08:00

Three New Orleans $5k events, three second-to-final-table finishes. Last night, I technically got a taste of what making a final table there would be like. We combined to one table of 10 players. I was pretty short stacked and moved all-in with Tens. Two guys behind me woke up with Aces and Queens. Not much you can really do there, and I wasn't too disappointed with bubbling the final table; from the time there were 18 players left until I busted, I was really short-stacked. Quite frankly, I had expected to make an exit much sooner than 10th, but everyone flamed out quickly making a final table seem pretty reachable for a few moments.

At the very least, it was a good morale cash. Sometimes when you've been really cold in tournaments for a while, you kinda need a decent finish just to reassure yourself that you haven't "lost it" or anything like that. :)

N'awlins Day One

2008-12-08T23:22:00.000-08:00

Just finished up day one of the $5,000 buy-in "Winter Bayou Poker Classic" in New Orleans. Only 102 players came together for this one. Thirty-three of us made it to tomorrow and I'm sitting really healthy with 92,000 (average is about 60,000). This was all thanks to getting Kings all-in preflop against David Fox's Aces and hitting a King on the turn for an 80 big blind pot. I've been on David's side of that and I know what a sick feeling it is. I felt especially bad that it happened against him since he's a really, really nice guy.

Aside from the Kings vs. Aces cooler-turned-suckout, the day went really well. I was at an incredibly soft table all day. You could look around the room and see a lot of young "regulars" with hoodies on. Typically, those guys are pretty good players. My table was filled with the opposite: 40+ amateurs who like to say stuff like, "boy... can you believe I got dealt big slick twice in a row?!?"

They're paying 18 places, so I've got a pretty decent chance to make it 3-for-3 cashing in New Orleans $5k events tomorrow. Kaelaine from PokerPages is here doing live coverage. If anyone wants to follow the day two action, you can do so here.

Idea for Monetizing Facebook

2008-12-03T19:41:00.001-08:00

Okay if you don't know much about how the business of running a website works, here's a quick crash course:

You make a site that (presumably) gives people something they want. Whether it's information (PokerTips.org), entertainment (YouTube), or a medium through which to connect to their friends (Facebook), the idea is the same in each situation: get a bunch of people to come to your site where you can expose them to advertisements that you make money off of.

This is why almost all successful sites have advertisements (and why this blog doesn't). Now, some sites make more money per visitor than other sites. In some cases, they make wayyyyy more money. It all depends on the quality of traffic.

Take PokerTips for instance. PokerTips' traffic is worth quite a lot compared to most other websites. People find PokerTips by searching for "poker strategy" or "poker advice". They are looking for is something very precise: poker information. And not only is poker information precise, it is also very profitable. I don't think you need to know much about online poker to know that those rooms make a lot of money, and therefore are willing to pay a nice premium to sites who refer them customers. So as you can see, a visitor to PokerTips is pretty valuable since online poker rooms pay affiliates a lot for sending them a player.

Facebook's traffic is basically the antithesis of "high value traffic". Most of their visits are from returning visitors (which are worth a lot less than new visitors). The visitors are there for a very vague reason (and thus hard to convert into buying specific products or services). And most importantly, the visitors are completely worthless and usually poor (teenagers and college kids whose time is worth next to nothing).

So Facebook has a big problem. Sure, they get a ton of traffic... but all of that traffic is virtually worthless!

Since Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, turned down an offer a year or so ago to sell the site for $1B, he clearly thinks that the site is worth a lot. The problem the Facebook team is facing is: how do they monetize their site to make all that traffic actually worth something?

Here is an idea I had that could help their situation:

Force users to watch a 30 second commercial anytime they click on a thumbnail of one of their female friends on the beach.

You might be thinking, "oh wah wah wah, people are going to leave the site if you make them sit through a commercial."

But why shouldn't you be forced to watch commercials on Facebook?

You turn on a TV... you get a batch of content interrupted every few minutes by commericals.

You pick up a magazine... you get pages of content divided by full-page advertisements.

You go see a movie... you're subjected to ten minutes of previews (and depending on the theater, minutes of Coca-Cola and refreshment advertisements too) before your movie begins.

Big, giant advertisements are everywhere you go... so why shouldn't they be on Facebook too?

And what makes my idea great is that you're putting them right before something people are so willing to look at that they'll actually sit through your advertisement rather than flee the site: young girls in bikinis.

What makes this so great for Facebook is also what helped make Joe Francis so rich: the content is complete free! Hoards of college girls post pictures of themselves wearing their bikini at the beach every day! And everytime I become new friends with a cute girl, I immediately go to her photos and scroll through until I inevitably stumble upon her default bikini photo. There has never been an instance where I wanted to see a girl's bikini photo and yet she hadn't uploaded one. They all upload one. Just like getting drunk at a frat party, or majoring in something worthless... it's standard college girl behavior.

And I can tell you that almost all guys look at their female Facebook friends' bikini photos. It's natural male curiosity. "Hmm... I wonder what [dumb blonde college girl] looks like at the beach... let's find out!"

So why shouldn't Facebook subject me to an ad before showing me the bikini photo? I mean... I already spent four minutes scrolling through page after page of pictures of her making a slutty pose with her girlfriends at the club, kissing some random douchebag on the cheek, and standing next to the local monuments around wherever Daddy sent her on study abroad all so I could get to the pictures of her in a bikini! Certainly I'm not about to turn around after making it this far all because of some silly 30 second commercial!

This would be so easy for Facebook to implement too. When girls upload photos to their Facebook, there's a little box they check when it's a "Bikini Photo". Then you pay someone in China twenty cents an hour to go through and verify that it is, indeed, a bikini photo. Pictures that have been tagged as bikini photos are accompanied by a short commercial for anyone who clicks on them.

You can give the girls... I dunno... maybe a little star by their profile if they tag a bikini photo of themselves. Or glitter. College girls definitely like stars and glitter I think. Or maybe that's strippers... I dunno the line gets blurrier every day.

Either way, here's your flow chart on how to get photos tagged as bikini photos:

C'mon Facebook... if you really think your site is worth billions... get your act together and start exposing me to commercials before letting me see the only worthwhile content on your site!

My cut is a very reasonable 10% of revenues made off of commercials shown before bikini photos. Email me and we'll set up a direct deposit.

Getting Back Out There

2008-12-01T13:49:00.001-08:00

I could probably write a nice little book titled "How I Went from Poor to Rich and Back to Poor Again All In Six Months", but I suppose that a.) my ceiling was a pretty meager definition of "rich" and b.) plenty of people could write a book with that title given what's happened to the economy this year.

Instead of a book, I think I'll just maintain a mediocre blog that gets updated about once a week!

Upcoming Travels

This Friday, I'm flying up to Chicago, renting a car, and driving up to my half-sister's in Green Bay. We're having a little early Christmas gathering that some other members of my family, including my parents and my sister that lives in Phoenix, will be attending. On Sunday, a few of us are going to the Packers vs. Texans game. I've never been to Lambeau Field before. Right now, the temperature is calling for a high of 27 that day. Hopefully Grandma bought me a sweater for Christmas.

Directly after the game I'm driving back to O'Hare and catching a late-evening flight to New Orleans. The $5k buy-in "Bayou Winter Classic" starts at noon on Monday. In the only two $5k events I've played in New Orleans, I finished 18th and 15th in fields of ~300. There's something about tournaments in New Orleans where everything just seems to click for me. I'm ready for a final table there.

Conversion to WordPress

I'm in the process of converting this blog to WordPress. If you don't know much about blogging, WordPress is basically a more versatile blogging software than Blogger, which is what I currently use. It's essentially fully customizable whereas you're kind of limited with what you can do with Blogger. Anyway, the conversion kind of hit a bump in the road since I'm having a hard time importing all of the entries in this Blogger blog over to WordPress. But I'm hopeful that by the new year, this blog will be a little better.

Wanna Bet on Me?

My cash flow is better than ever thanks to the sell website and poker businesses I run/work for. However, my liquid assets have taken a huge hit lately (whose haven't, right?!) Anyway, if anyone is interested in backing me for the Sunday online stuff and some $1-$5k buy-in live, regional stuff that pops up from time to time, get in touch with me. My ROI both live and online has been solidly in the black this year, and I can provide you with all the necessary data that supports that claim.

I'll make a little "refer a backer" offer to any of my lesser-wealthy readers. If you're able to put me in contact with the right person, I'll throw you a nice little Christmas present for making the connection happen. Let's just say I know the way to most lazy, unambitious poker players' hearts. ;)

Things I'm a Fanboy Of: Peter Eastgate

2008-11-23T10:51:00.000-08:00

I added Peter Eastgate as a friend on Facebook after he won the Main Event. A few hours later, I got a message from him that said:

"You played incredibly well. Just wanted to say, that you were one my toughest opponents throughout the tournament. Going to any other big tournaments?"

(He, Demidov, and I were at the same table on day four).

Wow... what a nice guy! That message meant a lot to me since it came at a time when my confidence as it pertains to poker wasn't doing too well.

I figured I'd take a stab at asking him if he'd be willing to let me interview him for PokerTips. Worst that can happen is he says no, right? Not only did he agree to do an interview, but he responded with answers to my questions within an hour!

Peter Eastgate Interview

This whole interaction has rendered me a huge Peter Eastgate fan. Over the years, I have attempted to interview several lesser-known American players (you know the type... young "balla" wannabes who usually have their own personal vanity website... not that I should be judging that group obviously) many of whom agreed to do an interview and then never responded to the questions I spent time crafting.

Scandinavians ftw!

Checking In

2008-11-13T10:42:00.000-08:00

I feel bad about not having made an entry since the election. Given the content of the last entry and the outcome of the election, nine days without a post probably makes it look like I fell off the face of the earth. Truthfully, I just really haven't had anything to say. I think the stock market crash and subsequent dive in McCain's chances to win allowed me to gradually "price myself in" from an emotional standpoint for what happened last Tuesday.

Granted, a few swing states I was counting on like Indiana and North Carolina were a kick in the balls... but whatever. I'm not going to vent too much about it on here. I'd rather keep it bottled up for some therapist to deal with in a few years. :)

In the meantime, it's time to get back to work. I'm excited about how things are going with the internet business I'm affiliated with. It's hard not to be optimistic about things when you're in on the ground floor with a few very smart individuals. With the businesses' continued success and little good fortune in poker tournaments, hopefully I'll be back where I was at in no time.

I should post a chart of my gambling winnings from 2008. But I'm a little worried that if my Grandma saw it she would pass out.

Alright, sorry for the boring entry. I'll have more to say in the next one.

Election Day Eve: A Degen Political Bettor Tallies His Positions

2008-11-03T13:49:00.000-08:00

All four of the loyal readers of my blog probably know that I've got a lot of money on the Presidential election. It turns out the contracts on McCain to win the Presidency were highly correlated to the stock market. Unfortunately, I built most of my position on McCain prior to the stock market crash.

In August, I was really looking forward to election day. Now that we're on its eve, I'm just curled up in a ball in the corner hoping the damage isn't too bad. One can't help but wonder how this election would have been different if...

the stock market hadn't crashed.

McCain had gotten Kay Bailey-Hutchinson rather than Sarah Palin to be his running mate.

Obama came under higher scrutiny from the media for his relationship with Jeremiah Wright (amongst other things).

McCain had spent more time emphasizing his loyalty to America while spending five and a half years in a Vietnamese prison camp.

as a response to claims he's the "same as Bush", McCain directed people to his outspoken opposition to the Bush administration's use of torture in the war on terror, a downright admirable defiance to a hot-button emotional issue that would have gotten voters in his corner. (I only learned of this courageous stand of McCain's last night when I rented Taxi to the Dark Side).

...etc

However, to the delight of Obama and the people filling my contracts on InTrade and Matchbook, none of those things happened. As a result, those of us with money on McCain desperately need Pennsylvania to turn red in order for our investment to turn black. It's hard to muster much more than a flicker of hope for that to happen at this late hour, but hey, McCain has came back from worse.

Here are my final positions on McCain for the election. As you can see, tomorrow is going to be a huge sweat!

General Election Winner

Risk $21,866 to win $39,411

Individual State Bets

California: $1,451 to win $12,898
Colorado: $406 to win $444
Connecticut: $216 to win $2,503
Florida: $805 to win $984
Indiana: $7,704 to win $4,815
Iowa: $3,285 to win $8,959
Michigan: $1,373 to win $2,566
Minnesota: $1,122 to win $3,118
Missouri: $4,558 to win $2,942
Montana: $2,258 to win $612
Nevada: $1,514 to win $2,133
New Mexico: $1,894 to win $3,405
North Carolina: $11,556 to win $10,923
Oregon: $177 to win $1,033
Pennsylvania: $1,421 to win $3,569
Texas: $100 to win $5
Virginia: $6,489 to win $6,970
Wisconsin: $2,061 to win $5,693

The only way I can possibly turn a profit on this is if McCain wins the election. And the only plausible scenario in which he does that is: drops Bush states Iowa, Colorado, New Mexico and Nevada to Obama, but pulls a shocker by flipping Pennsylvania red and manages to squeak out wins in Virginia, Ohio, and Florida.

Hey... it could happen! :)

Vote Obama: Bite the Hand That Feeds You

2008-10-27T20:04:00.000-07:00

My roommate and employer, Michael (the "M" in WM Media), came home today from an uncharacteristically long walk. He must have had an epiphany or something, because he immediately launched into a rant about America's corporate income tax rate and how the future of said rate is highly dependent on the result of next week's Presidential election. Currently, the U.S. corporate income tax rate is the second highest among developed nations of the world. Relatively speaking, it hasn't always been "high". In fact, a significant (if not the significant) reason for America's summit to the position of "world's superpower" is because during its development, it had one of the lowest corporate tax structures in the world. That is no longer the case.

Realizing an opportunity to lure wealth back into their nations, European countries have been slashing their corporate income tax rates. As the above link shows, this decade, in particular, has seen most European nations decrease their corporate tax rates. One of John McCain's platforms is to cut the corporate tax rate to 25%, which would roughly mirror the European average. Such a reduction would largely silence "exit strategy" discussions among U.S. companies, like the one Michael had with me regarding WM Media, about relocating to a place like Ireland where the tax rate is only 12%.

Businesses relocating out of the U.S. will become more and more common under an Obama administration. While he hasn't explicitly stated an intent to increase the corporate tax rate, we have no reason to hope for a decrease. What will likely happen under Obama is surreptitious changes to tax policy aimed at increasing government revenues at the expense of companies. One way this can be done is by closing loopholes that allow companies to defer paying taxes on their overseas profits. This will send billions of dollars from outfits like Pfizer and Exxon-Mobil (both of whom have over $50 billion parked overseas) into the pockets of the government. Since an extrapolation of this will be plummeting share prices of such companies (both members of the S&P 500), Obama can't risk enacting his socialist policies in this current economic climate. Expect him to bide his time waiting for the economy to turn around. When it does, he'll have the momentum of a bull market and (presumably) a Democratic congress at his back to implement crippling economic policies to this country that could take decades to undo - if they're ever able to be undone at all.

Right now, WM Media is too small to seriously contemplate a move to Ireland. The savings from doing so would be wiped out by an increase in the cost of living, not the mention the hassle that moving overseas entails. However, it's not out of the question that the business will be making, say, $150,000 a month by 2011. With $1.8 million a year in revenues, our options are a.) pay $225,000 annually in taxes to Ireland or b.) pay $648,000 to America (calculated at 35% corporate tax rate + 1% state tax rate in Texas... state average is 4%). That's a savings of $423,000 in just one year! If you don't know much about the value of money compounded over time, spend five minutes playing with this calculator. The value of WM Media circa 2025 could literally be influenced by tens of millions of dollars depending on whether or not we relocate to Ireland. And the likelihood of whether or not we relocate to Ireland is very much hanging in the balance of this Presidential election.

Of course, to justify why we should be paying taxes to Ireland and not the IRS, we'll need to fully set up shop to a degree that includes hiring Irish workers. In other words, not only will the U.S. be missing out on the revenues generated from our business, its citizens will be missing out on job opportunities as well. If you think you work in a field that won't be impacted by this, think again. First, you might be surprised how easy it is for a company to pick up and move (nothing motivates like money!). Second, if all of the other companies are moving, the price of labor (read: American workers) will go down, meaning the energy you spend hoping for a raise will need to be replaced with hopes that your job isn't given to someone more qualified. A recent lay-off from an IT firm or a medical research company will certainly be eye-balling jobs that were previously "below them".

At the thought of American companies packing up and heading to lands of better opportunity, my friend Katy inquired, "ugh... well how will the U.S. government get money then?!" That's the whole point! They won't!

When you bite the hand that feeds you, it stops feeding you, and you starve.

Online Poker Tournaments

2008-10-20T11:25:00.000-07:00

Online poker tournaments have become increasingly popular over the past few years in large part because of high-profile, high stakes poker games broadcast on television. Poker tournaments are competitions played by up to 1500+ players all playing the same game at the same time. Poker tournaments provide inexpensive and fun ways for beginning poker players to gain experience playing poker. Tournaments are a lot of fun to play in and offer large prizes to the winners. This article will explain the different types of tournaments to get you going.

Games Played

Although many different types of poker games are available at casinos, poker tournaments usually stick to the basic variations of poker. Tournament poker games are usually limited to: Texas Hold'em, Omaha, 7-card Stud and 5-card Stud.

How to Play in a Poker Tournament

While each tournament is slightly different, some components are consistent. In every poker tournament that you could play:

Players are all given the same number of tournament chips to play with.

All players start tournament play at the same time.

Tournament levels increase at regular intervals (sometimes a fixed time is given for each level of play and sometimes the playing level is increased after 10 rounds) and for every increase the ante and blinds double.

Players play until they run out of chips. The last player remaining ends up with all the chips and is declared the winner of the tournament.

After the winner is determined prize money is distributed according to the rules of the game. The very top players win the bulk of the prize money. Usually 1st place winners get about 40%, 2nd place winners get about 20% and 3rd place winners about 10%. The number of winners that share the prize depend on how many players entered as well as the game played. The amount of the prize money is set by: the number of players registered, the buy-in fee and any additional money raised selling re-buys and add-ons.

If You Missed It

2008-10-20T09:53:00.000-07:00

I had a couple of brief appearances on ESPN's World Series of Poker last Tuesday. The most significant of these is at the beginning of this YouTube video. Overall, I'm really happy with how the episode turned out. Prior to its airing, I figured there was as much as a 35% chance that I wouldn't appear whatsoever, so the fact that I was in 3-4 different spots was more than I could have hoped for.

Even though I've mostly gotten over it, I appreciated the degree to which ESPN portrayed the unjustifiable arrogance and lack of humility of Michael Carroll on the heels of a life-changing three-outter. It gives viewers a small taste of the soul-crushing I endured sans-confidant last July. They could have experienced a much larger taste if the cameras had kept rolling through Carroll's rant about what a great player he is while he organized the 100 big blind pot.

Next time I make a deep run in a major televised tournament, I'll request a large patch for my back from the agents at Poker Royalty. No sense in failing to capitalize on the sponsorship value of the "walks away in disgust" shot. ;)

Disregard Title of Previous Entry

2008-10-12T21:51:00.000-07:00

Complete small blind with A4dd. Flop 532, two diamonds. I check, kid bets 1,600, guy raises to 4,000, I shove 9,000 total, kid folds, guy calls and turns over 88. Turn 3. River 3.

Can't win every 97%/3%, I suppose. At least I got those buy one get one free Pepsi's... that the housekeeping threw out in the trash while I was losing runner-runner in a $5k. ;)

At least the market is doing well.

Err..

At least my McCain bets have a lot of equity.

Err...

Nyet!

I Knew I'd Run Hot on This Trip!

2008-10-11T23:21:00.000-07:00

Catching up on some Office and South Park episodes in my hotel room on the eve of WSOP Circuit Indiana. Run down to the gift store and buy two 20 oz. Diet Pepsi's. It says on the label to look under the cap because "1 in 8 wins a Buy 1 Get 1 Free 20 oz.". Open up Pepsi #1... ship it! Open up Pepsi #2...

Wait for it... wait for it... wait... for... it...

SHIP IT AGAIN!!

FIST PUMP ONE IN SIXTY-FOUR FTW!!!!

Foiled By PokerPages!

2008-10-10T20:32:00.000-07:00

I drove 45 minutes to the Houston airport, took a three hour flight to Indianapolis, rented a car, and drove two and a half hours to the Indiana side of the Ohio river across from Louisville for the WSOP Circuit event that starts tomorrow. At least I thought it started tomorrow because that's what PokerPages reported.

"Hi, where can I register for the tournament?"

"What tournament?"

"Uhh... the $5k one I guess."

"Why do you want to register for that right now?"

"Uhh... 'cause it starts in like 12 hours?"

"No it doesn't, it starts Sunday!"

Nice.

The real kicker is that I drove away from Indianapolis after turning down an invitation to join my closest friends from college at a karaoke dive bar that I really like called Nippers. "Sorry guys... can't go out tonight... gotta get down to the river for tomorrow's tournament!"

Ouch.

If anyone from PokerPages is reading this, I was going to say you could make it up to me by uploading a picture of me to my damn profile page since repeated attempts to do so myself had failed... but I guess we're on the wrong page again, because I see you've already beat me to it! ;)

One Thing I'll Give Poker Players

2008-10-09T01:23:00.000-07:00

I met Michael tonight at a bar called the Wild West, a large country-dancing bar in Houston. I've always found the patrons of the Wild West to be very interesting to observe. Since the focal point of the bar is a dance floor, the emphasis is on dancing. The stereotypical "Alpha Male" (or "top dog" or "stud" or however you wish to state it) of the Wild West is a strapped, square-jawed Texan with a cowboy hat, an award winning smile, and superior country dancing moves. The eye-catching women, like the highly sought-after females in almost any social setting, are curvy, blond, sexy, and complete with fabulous dance moves.

Michael and I, our lack of country-dancing skills rendering us both helplessly beta-male, lingered on the rail of the dance floor observing the action. We initiated one of countless similar conversations we've had in the past that focus on evaluating the modern-day dating scene. It's a conversation I think most women in our society would find discouraging if not downright revolting while men would likely find it either humorous or profound.

In our evaluation of the dating scene, it seems reasonable to label women as "stocks" and men as "potential investors". The long-term goal for most women is to find a husband while most of men don't have a long-term goal; they're just trying to get laid. This is the consummate conundrum in social interactions between single men and single women. As I stated to Michael tonight, "women are like tech companies trying to IPO for an obscene price in 1999, and the hoards of men lining up to buy are in for a letdown... unless they manage to sell right away [read: not get married]"

But talking about why marriage is generally an overpriced proposition for men and a sweet deal for women is (not only obvious, but) another entry for another day. What I wanted to say in this entry is that one of the things I like about poker players (the winning ones, anyway) is that based on my interactions with them, they seem more capable of putting emotions to the side in order to see things for their face value. In other words, they probably wouldn't object to the above quote that concluded the last paragraph.

I don't think people are usually quick to understand that in the same way stocks, houses, and cars can be evaluated both too high and too low, so too can romantic partners. However, I presume that many poker players I know (Mike McDonald, Ray Coburn, Shane Schleger, and Thayer Rasmussen, just to name a few) are capable of realizing this. And what enables them to do so is what makes them great poker players: the ability to evaluate their current reality in a calculative manner mostly free from the distraction of socially-programmed emotions. I believe it is these emotions that lead people to think a marriage contract will increase their value as an individual. It is no wonder unhappiness is a common byproduct of such an agreement.

Kudos to poker players for staying ahead of the curve. I suppose a relatively easy lifestyle is their reward.

Sundayyy!

2008-10-05T10:00:00.001-07:00

Nothing special here. Just decided to bury all those WSOP Europe entries.

It's Sunday and my Bodog account is robusto from fading the Cubs. You know what that means... sportsbetting and poker!!

Here are the bets I've got going for 1pm ET games:

2 dimes on:

Texans +4
Dolphins +7

1 dime on:

Redskins +7
Chiefs +10

Nickel on:

Brewers -100

The poker should be fun today. Bodog has a $500 buy-in $300k guarantee that starts you with 10,000 chips and 20 minute levels (I wonder if the first level will be 5/10? lol). I'm a little broke on my poker accounts, so I might skip some of the $100 rebuys and just stick with all the $215 freezeouts.

Here's to being rich by bedtime!

-----------

Well that first slate of games was going pretty well until the Texans blew a 17 point lead with less than 5 minutes left to lose by 4 (pushed on the bet).

4pm ET games:

3 dimes on:

Bengals +17

1 dime on:

49ers +3

So long as I'm doing real-time updates of the day so far: getting close to ITM in the Sunday Warm-Up... but kinda shortish, so bubbling still totally possible.

WSOP Europe

2008-09-28T18:57:00.000-07:00

Forgive me if this entry isn't top notch. I only got four hours of sleep last night, so I'm bordering on delirious.

I played Day 1b of WSOP Europe today. The day called for 5 two-hour levels. I busted with 9 minutes to go in the last level:

Raise to 1050 UTG with Ace-King suited, Nenad Medic calls, Barry Greenstein calls, and (I kid you not!) FOUR others call before it gets to the big blind who (to my elation) shoved all-in for 4,500. I shoved all-in for 15,500. It folded back to a middle aged British guy who, to my surprise, called. He had Jacks, the short stack had King-Queen... no luck this time around.

Anyway, I started feeling kind of sick towards the end of the day (sore throat, achy, etc), so I changed my flight. I was supposed to fly home on Wednesday, but now I'm flying home tomorrow. In fact, my flight is at 11:15 am, and right now it's 3 am. Normally I'd feel kind of guilty for flying all the way to London only to fly right back home after 3 nights... but (no offense to Europeans - I have no problem with the people) Europe just sucks. Everything in London is 2-3x what it would cost in the U.S., I don't feel well, and I don't really know anyone here.

Screw it, why not go home?

I'll close by saying that the tournament was really sharky. Initially, I had planned on buying in directly. I'm glad I wound up winning a seat for $500, because I think I would have been pretty disappointed to drop $20,000 on a tournament that I might only have a 10-20% ROI in.

Hurricane Ike and WSOP Europe

2008-09-25T10:47:00.000-07:00

Hurricane Ike messed up Houston pretty bad. I took these pictures a few hours after the storm. All of them were taken within a quarter radial mile from where I live, so this is by no means a handpicked photojournal of the worst damage throughout the city. Michael and I did things kind of backwards: stayed here for the storm and then left shortly thereafter. We stayed in Louisiana casinos for six nights playing craps and online poker while waiting for Houston to be repaired. That trip was nearly as damaging to my bankroll as Ike was to Houston... but I guess that's fitting.

If you look way in the background of those last two pictures, you can see the Wachovia from which those sign panels were carried by the wind. I tried lifting one of them up... it had to weigh 35-50 pounds. I wouldn't have wanted to be in the middle of that thing's flight to the other side of the street.

-------------

Later today, I'm flying to London for WSOP Europe. I've been a little distracted from poker lately due to the financial crisis and my exposure to the Presidential election. Since I can't really control the stock market or the election, I decided to ignore that stuff for the next few days and pour all of my focus into this tournament. It looks like I'll have 100% of my action and first place should be somewhere in the $2,000,000 range. I'm ready to do what an abrupt 3-outter stopped me from doing in the American version of this tournament... crack the top 158, obv. ;)

ESPN Appearance

2008-09-16T11:50:00.000-07:00

I got another call from ESPN today. The bad news is that I will not be in the September 30th episode. This doesn't come as much of a surprise to me though, being that I knew I was only at that feature table for a very short time.

The good news is that I'll probably be in the episode airing October 14th! That episode will cover Day 5 action when I lost a 1.1M pot to Michael Carrol's King-Jack with my Ace-Jack all-in on a Jack-Six-Two flop. That hand will likely haunt me for years to come, but being that I'm a self-absorbed poker player, it would be a pretty significant consolation prize to wind up with an ESPN appearance because of it. Especially if it's a significant enough appearance to ship the $10k bonus from Full Tilt for wearing their logo.

Based on what I could gauge from the guy on the phone, I'd say it's anywhere from a 70-90% chance you'll see me in that episode!

Welcome Home, John

2008-09-09T15:24:00.000-07:00

WSOP-Europe On The Cheap

2008-09-07T16:09:00.000-07:00

I mentioned before intention to go London later this month for WSOP Europe and EPT London. Although I've already purchased airfare, lately I had been considering canceling the trip since the $30k worth of buy-ins seemed steep in light of the opportunity cost to bet that money on John McCain. Thanks to a stroke of good luck, it appears I'll be able to have my cake and eat it too.

Bodog held a $500+$40 satellite with two $24k WSOP-E packages guaranteed. There was a huge overlay; just 53 players participated. Despite running Ace-Queen into pocket Kings in a blind-vs-blind battle with five players left, I ran well enough to finish in the top 2. For the sake of my sanity, it was a good thing too; 3rd paid $0.

The package is pretty tight. In addition to the £10,000 seat, it comes with airfare, hotel, a limo ride to and from the airport, and £500 in spending money.

Not bad for a $540 buy-in! :)

Bill O'Rielly Interviews Obama

2008-09-05T17:42:00.000-07:00

This is the first segment in a four-part Bill O'Rielly interview with Barack Obama. Quite frankly, it's pretty uncomfortable to watch, so I can't say I'm eagerly awaiting the next three segments (which air Monday through Wednesday).

Basically, O'Rielly alpha-males Obama to death. No doubt, O'Rielly comes off like a jerk, but I think the way Obama handles it could have been much better. Watch the video to see what I mean:

Notice how Obama is leaning forward throughout most of the interview. That's a classic body language characteristic of someone who is seeking the other person's approval. He also gets caught up in the pettiness of O'Rielly's style by elaborating too much on certain points. Obama is well known for his lengthy, academic responses to reporters' questions, but Bill O'Rielly isn't exactly your average Obama-friendly journalist. He was totally unprepared for this interview.

In my opinion, Obama could have looked much better in this interview by outdoing O'Rielly on the alpha-male front by:

Leaning back comfortably in his chair.

Keeping his answers short and sweet (which would make O'Rielly uncomfortable for having to keep fighting to get Obama talking).

Subtly poke fun at O'Rielly in a playful, but dominant way, by saying stuff like, "well I had a long list of important interviews to do before this one," or, "c'mon Bill, Iran could be watching, I can't give away tactical secrets!"

People don't elect beta-males for President. Which is part of the reason why I'm all-in on war-hero alpha-male John McCain!

Wake Up Call

2008-09-04T10:29:00.000-07:00

My phone started ringing at 11:45 a.m. today. Of course, since my life is awesome, I was still asleep. I barely got to the phone in time to let off a sleepy, "hello?!"

"Hi, this is Steve from ESPN, we're calling to get some biographical information from Cory Albertson for an upcoming World Series of Poker show..."

DING DING DING DING DING!!!

Anyway, from what I could gauge, it looks like there's about a 70-90% chance I'll appear for at least one hand in the September 30th episode. Any substantial appearance also means I get $10k shipped to me from Full Tilt for wearing their logos.

The pieces are in place for Letdown of the Century!!

------

Update: Through email correspondence, ESPN told me today's phone call was concerning a Day 3 Secondary Table appearance in which Victor Ramdin was at our table. The odd part is that I was only at that table for 4 or 5 hands before they broke the table. We barely even had enough time to be hooked up with microphones before they were taking them off again. It was pretty ridiculous.

Anyway, I find it peculiar that a TV appearance could result out of that short stint at a TV table. I recall there being exactly zero TV worthy hands played before the table dispersed.

I'm hopeful that the producers are making these calls in in the order that the show will be produced. If it's "quite likely" that I'll make it on TV as a result of some meaningless Day 3 appearance, I'd have to think that the Day 5 action of my AJ < Michael Carroll's KJ all in on J62 flop or Tiffany Michelle's AA > Alex Outhred's 55 all in on 865 flop would almost certainly make the TV cut.

Time will tell...

100 Oreos in an Hour?!

2008-08-31T10:57:00.001-07:00

I went out to a club in Houston called Rich's with my buddy Justin last night. He told me about this prop bet in which someone thinks they can eat 100 Oreos in one hour and keep it down (don't vomit) for one hour following. My initial reaction was like no way anyone could do that.

Justin got an idea for a way to approach girls by saying something like, "so my friend and I have a bet that he can't eat 100 Oreos in one hour and hold it down for an hour following. Do you think it can be done?"

I approached probably 4-7 girls last night with that line, and all of them said, "yea, I think it could be done."

WTF?!?! Am I just horrible at handicapping binge-eating prop bets or something?!?

After researching Oreo nutrition facts, I hearby have lost all respect for the average female Houstonian club-goer's handicapping abilities.

My gut-reaction that this 100 Oreo Challenge is nearly impossible to complete seems correct. There are 5,300 calories in 100 Oreos. That's about two days worth of food for most people. I'll fade anyone who thinks they can do it in a single hour anytime, anywhere!

Obama is Getting Sloppy

2008-08-23T14:20:00.000-07:00

New Living Room Decoration

2008-08-22T14:43:00.000-07:00

Ever stumble upon something for sale on the internet and think, "zomg I want that!!" I just had one of those moments when I saw this Lifesize Cardboard John McCain Standup.

While trying to figure out where this would look best, I figured I'd better order two of them just to keep my options open.

...And Proud Of It!

2008-08-16T12:59:00.000-07:00

While Googling my name (hey... who doesn't?), I found this pretty funny blog entry from the WSOP Main Event. Apparently, Wicked Chops Poker who was blogging to see who would be the Longest Lasting Ginger at the WSOP.

I take great pride in that my ginger hair, sunglasses, and track jacket were good enough for me to be dubbed the "Super Ginger" of the WSOP. Hey... it's better than nothing!

The Leach List

2008-08-02T23:53:00.000-07:00

Rich Muny, a poker player and member of the Poker Players Alliance board of directors, created a handy little gift for the poker world: a list of Congressmen and Senators up for re-election in 2008 who have a record of voting against the interests of poker players.

Muny named the list after former Congressman Jim Leach who lost his re-election bid for the House in 2006, quite possibly as a result of his outspoken support for the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act.

If you're an American poker player, check to see if any Congressmen from your district or Senators from your State made their way onto the Leach List. If they're worth two shits in a diarrhea storm at their job as a legislator, I'm sure they'll spend a couple of seconds scanning an email from you that states why you'll be voting against them in November.

Upcoming Poker Schedule and a Big McCain Bet

2008-07-30T13:26:00.000-07:00

A few months ago, I posted a schedule of the poker tournaments I was going to play into the forseeable future.

The trips on that schedule were:

Vegas WSOP Circuit at Caesars (wound up cashing in a $1k prelim)
Party Poker Million Cruise (3rd for $160k)
New Orleans WSOP Circuit (15th in the Main Event)
WSOP (18th in a $2,500 prelim and 159th in the Main Event)

The only other three poker related trips I've taken this year were:

Oklahoma State Championships of Poker (5th for $22k)
Venetian Deep Stack in February (4th in a $300 for $11k)

and

Irish Poker Open (washout)

So 7 trips and cashed in a tournament on 6 of them. Classical conditioning says go to more tournaments.

With that in mind, here's the trips I plan on taking into the forseeable future:

August 17th-23rd: The River Poker Tournament in Thackersville, Oklahoma

Five hour drive from Houston with a $2,000 buy-in. A tournament in Oklahoma with a sizable buy-in that will attract virtually zero professionals? Yum, yum!!

September 4th-6th: Gulf Coast Poker Championship in Biloxi, Mississippi

Six hour drive from Houston with a buy-in of $5,000. Plus, hanging out in po-dunk towns in the deep South is always an adventure in and of itself.

September 27th - October 5th: WSOP Europe and EPT London in London, England

This is a trip I'm really looking forward to. The European Poker Tour officials were savvy enough to schedule their EPT London event literally right after WSOP Europe concludes. Flying all the way to Europe and getting to play two big events rather than just one is definitely nice. (Note: The buy-ins for these events are £10,000 and £5,000 (roughly $20,000 and $10,000). Good chance I'll be interested in selling off a little of myself for these events, so get in touch if that interests you).

October 12th-14th: WSOP Circuit Indiana in Elizabeth, Indiana

$5,000 buy-in.

November 15th-18th: Scotty Nguyen Poker Challenge in Tulsa, Oklahoma

$5,000 buy-in.

Beyond that, it's hard to plan anything out. One trip that I think sounds fun is the Aussie Millions in the early part of next year. Whether or not Australia is in the picture depends on how well I run in the aforementioned events and whether or not John McCain wins the election.

I'm building what will hopefully be a pretty large position on McCain through online sportsbooks. So far, I've wagered about $5k to win $12k on a Repubican to win the Presidency. The odds these idiots are laying on Matchbook and InTrade is unreal. It's absurd to think that Barack Obama has a 70% chance to win the election. It's like... he's trailing in the polls to McCain amongst likely voters. At the end of the day, nobody likes arrogant liberal elitists who tell people that they need to learn Spanish and complain about the prices of arugula at Whole Foods. Especially when that person has a middle name Hussein and donated $27,000 to a church whose pastor says things like, "God damn America!"

Huge Online Score

2008-07-28T01:26:00.001-07:00

I woke up this morning about 45 minutes before the Sunday Warm-Up so I could take my dog for a walk. At one point during the walk, I just kinda thought to myself, "I have a good feeling about today. Maybe I'll win something big." (Humor me and pretend for a second that I don't think that nearly every single Sunday!)

For a while, it was looking like the Sunday Warm-Up might pan out to something big. It started with over 4,000 players and I had a nice stack with about 300 left. Unfortunately, I made a bonehead shove in a spot where I would have folded if I had seen that someone had already entered the pot. A couple people Michael knows were at the apartment, and I kinda lost focus making small talk with them. You can't exactly say, "LEAVE ME ALONE DAMNIT I'VE GOT SIX TABLES GOING!" to someone who knows nothing about online poker.

As the day progressed, it looked like nothing was going to materialize for me. With about 200 players left in the monthly Stars $530 buy-in $250k guaranteed, I made a pretty marginal shove with pocket Jacks and got decimated by Aces. I was literally left with about 5 big blinds. Since 180 spots were paying, I decided to nit it up and drain my timebank so I could at least cash. Bottom cash was like $800, so hey... might as well try to cash, right?

By the time we were in the money (180 players left), I had no timebank and only 3 big blinds.

By the time 110 players were left, I was the chipleader.

From that point until the end of the tournament, I was never worse than 4th in chips on the leaderboard. I just kept cruising right along thanks to people spewing off in extremely light spots against me when I had big pocket pairs.

Yada yada yada (I'm tired, so I won't bore you with tiny details)... next thing I know, I'm heads-up with half the chips in play.

The heads-up match didn't last too long. The other guy, "Benba", was unknown to me and had generally seemed a little spewy. I got him all-in with my Ace-Nine suited against his Ace-Ten offsuit. I flopped a flush draw and was really begging for a suckout to ship the $105k my way. No dice. To his credit, he deserved to win the hand and the tournament. Later, I got 2.3M and KTdd all-in against his 9.5M and A2o. No dice there, either. I don't think I made any glaring mistakes heads-up or anything, but I sure as hell didn't outplay him either.

I'm glad Stars fixed their payout structures so that first isn't like twice the size of second in their big tournaments. I came up short on the win, but took a staggering $76k for second! Not bad for sitting on a couch and clicking some buttons! :)

To put that into perspective a little:

* My previous record for largest online cash was $14,000.
* In over 1,300 previous MTTs on Stars, my combined gross winnings were a mere $50,000
* After toiling with a lowly -30% ROI on Stars for years and years, my lifetime ROI on Stars is now 67%!!

Tournaments are so crazy!

WEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!

NFL's Worst Owners

2008-07-22T17:38:00.000-07:00

Yahoo sports columnist, Michael Silver, wrote a pretty interesting article ranking NFL owners from worst to best. Here's what he had to say about some of the worst NFL owners:

32. Jacksonville Jaguars - Wayne Weaver

“He’s a sick puppy,” one owner says of Weaver. “He’s totally and completely out for his bottom line, and the league’s best interest is not in his mind at all.”

31. Oakland Raiders - Al Davis

The Raiders, since their Super Bowl XXXVII defeat to the Bucs, are 19-61 over the past five seasons, the NFL’s worst record during that span. But in Davis’s distorted world, it’s always somebody else’s fault.

30. Cincinnati Bengals - Mike Brown

Recalls one owner: “Mike said, ‘We should each be able to manage our own organization without the league getting involved. If we can’t manage it ourselves, we shouldn’t be running our businesses.’ And we were all laughing to ourselves, because Mike is the one whose organization had more players getting in trouble than anyone else’s.

28. Arizona Cardinals - Bill Bidwill

Two years after opening University of Phoenix Stadium, five months after hosting Super Bowl XLII, the Cardinals are having trouble selling out the joint. That’s tough to do, but when you’re so cheap as an organization that you refuse to fly in draft prospects for visits.

27. Buffalo Bills - Ralph Wilson

Back when he co-founded the AFL, Wilson was considered an innovator. Now he comes off as selfish and stodgy and looking for handouts.

2008 WSOP Trip #3

2008-07-01T17:08:00.000-07:00

I just arrived back in Vegas for my third and final stay during the WSOP. I'm staying at Treasure Island for the first few nights. Staying at this hotel is really good value. I'm paying a rate of $100/night, which is like significantly less than half the cost of the more "high end" hotels in the city. Yet, comparitively, this hotel really doesn't lack that much compared to places like the Venetian or Bellagio. Sure, the room might be a little smaller, but it's not like I'm looking to run laps around the bed or anything! I think the douchebag-factor is the only way those other places can get away with charging what they do.

Anyway... for the remainder of this trip, I'll be keeping a blog through PokerTips.org's Live from the WSOP section.

Why Liberalism is So Popular and Why I Don't Like It

2008-06-26T17:33:00.000-07:00

The tenets of the Democratic party are to increase the size of government by increasing taxes. Their ideology is that money spent on government is money well spent. Some Democratic politicians, as was the case with Bill Clinton, are actually economic conservatives. In the case of Clinton, he created NAFTA and decreased welfare spending, both of which were fantastic for the economy.

Barack Obama is an economic leftist. He has already been outspoken about his wishes to increase capital gains tax, income tax rates for those in the highest bracket, and has also hinted at altogether removing the cap on social security taxes. At its core, what Obama is asking the country to do is not too different than the following:

Imagine a farmer is approached by a government official. The government official tells the farmer, “see all those people sitting on the road over there ?” The farmer looks and sees several dozen people sitting on the road just looking around. “After your fields have been harvested, I’m going to come back and take enough of your crops and I’m going to give it to those people sitting on the road.”

The farmer is flabbergasted. “You’re going to feed all those people with my crops? How am I supposed to have any left to sell? How can I pay my workers?” The government official doesn’t seem to think those questions are relevant. He walks away with the promise to come back and collect the crops come harvest season.

Angered, the farmer sits there wondering why he should have to work long, hard days to feed people who are doing nothing in return for him. Then the farmer reaches a realization, “screw ‘em.” He pulls his workers around and tells them that he’s sorry, but he’s going to have to let some of them go. Because of the government official, running the farm is no longer economically viable. Instead, the farmer is going to maintain just enough crops to feed him and his family. After all, no sense in spending time and energy growing the other crops when they’re just going to be taken away from him, right?

Business owners are the farmer in this story and Barack Obama is the government official. What he wants to do, on a much more grander scale than what the government official in the story did, is to take the output of peoples’ production and use it to give to people who are doing nothing.

Not to imply that there aren’t several reasons why Obama (and liberalism altogether, for that matter) are very popular right now, but the reason why Obama appears so popular is by the sheer numbers of people who are "sitting on the road", so to speak. Right now, Barack Obama is a superstar who is benefiting from huge groups of people who love what he is telling them. His message of “Hope” and “Change” is so great that it sounds too good to be true. And guess what? It is!

If this country is foolish enough to elect him President, be prepared for one of the worst economic periods in America’s history. Just like the farmer in the story, there will be many, many hard working capitalists who realize that they have been priced out of being productive. Barack Obama gives people incentive not to work. After all, why bust my butt for another dollar when $.50 of it is going to be taken away from me, right?

The reason why stupid college kids like Obama is because he speaks to their worldview. He makes them feel good and makes them think that it’s okay to be spending their time doing nothing.

Basically what’s happening right now is that the people sitting on the side of the road in the story are growing in number and getting whinier and more complacent. What they don’t realize is that they’re fixing to screw themselves and everyone else over. As soon as they elect an official to go tell the farmer to give them his crops for free, that farmer is going to shut down his production and everyone is going to get what they worked for. Nothing.

A vote for Barack Obama is a vote for a giant kick in the balls to the wealth of this nation.

2008 WSOP: Trip #2

2008-06-12T12:46:00.000-07:00

I'm heading back to Vegas tomorrow morning for another ten days of poker tournaments. Tomorrow, I'll be in the $2,500 Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza. It should be a really good tournament. They give you 20,000 starting chips and the first level is 25/50. I've had a lot of luck at the Venetian in the past so hopefully I can start this trip off with a bang and reverse the downswing I'm in.

For the duration of this trip, my blog will be hosted at the PokerTips.org Live from the WSOP section.

That Didn't Take Long

2008-06-04T14:33:00.001-07:00

I haven't even left Vegas yet, and I'm already itching to come back. I bought airfare and will be returning Friday the 13th and staying until Monday the 23rd. Some tournaments at a glance that I'll almost certainly play:

Friday 13: $2,500 Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza
Monday 16: $2,500 WSOP 6-Max
Thursday 19: $1,500 WSOP NLHE
Friday 20: $1,000 Venetian

I'll be coming out on this trip by myself. I literally plan on doing nothing each day but waking up, going to the tournament, playing until I bust, coming back to the hotel to get some work done, going to bed, rinsing and repeating. Being a machine can be fun in ten day stints.

I'll keep a blog on this trip, but it will almost certainly be maintained through the PokerTips Live from the WSOP section. And for you PokerTippers reading, we have some exciting new content developments that will be launching soon, so stay tuned.

Terrence Chan = Classy Guy

2008-06-04T11:18:00.000-07:00

From the PokerNews Live WSOP Updates:

There's a serious situation occurring at the moment. A player in a cash game has collapsed and is lying on the floor. A player in today's event is a doctor and has left the table to try to assist him, and Terrance Chan is trying to get the floor to allow everyone at the table to give that player a walk in his big blind so he won't be penalized for leaving the table to provide medical assistance. We'll try to keep you posted.

It's nice to see poker players not getting too caught up in the greed and ego of the WSOP so much that they forget how to be compassionate.

Terrence Chan's blog.

2008 WSOP: Trip #1

2008-05-30T12:34:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, June 3rd: Event #5: $1,000 NLHE with Rebuys

My passport arrived in time for the $1,000 rebuy. In hindsight, I wish it hadn't.

I was at Joe Sebok and Victor Ramdin's table during the rebuy period. I won a bunch of chips off of Sebok TT > A8 and gave them all away to Ramdin a few hands later AQ < AA. I wound up spending $5,000, which was just $1,000 more than the minimum I knew I'd spend, so can't complain there.

After being shuffled around to a couple different tables, I finally landed in one seat for a while. The table was brutally sick (working from my immediate left): Nam Le, Bill Elder, John Phan, Cory Carroll, and a Russian named "Alexander" who apparently won some huge tournament recently and was playing hyper-aggressive. John Phan busted not too long after I got there. Who came to replace his seat? Erick Lindgren. Told ya it was a sick table draw. FWIW, Lindgren was multi-tabling in the $5,000 mixed hold'em event that was on day two, so he was only at our table probably 25% of the time.

I had 8k during 100/200 when the following hand came up: donkey UTG player limps, I make it 750 UTG+1 with KK, Bill Elder calls, John Phan calls, Cory Carroll calls, the small blind calls, and the UTG limper calls. Note: raise more next time. The flop came 887. It checked to John Phan who bet 2k. Cory Carroll called that. The UTG limper shoved 3k total. I shoved 8k total. Phan and Carroll mucked. Donkey UTG limper's hand? 87, of course.

That dropped me down to 4k. I won a race and doubled up again in a KK vs QQ situation to get up to 15k. Over the next two hours, I literally didn't play a hand. Like... that's not an exaggeration whatsoever. Thanks to the Russian, almost every pot was raised or 3-bet by the time it got to me.

I had 11k when the following hand came up during 200/400/50: Cory Carroll opened to 1,100 (he had been opening a lot), Donkey from before called on the button. I looked down at KQo in the small blind and made it 3,800. Carroll pondered for a while, re-raised enough to put me all-in. I of course called and lost to AQhh.

I was a little surprised he decided to play that hand. All he knew of me was that I had been super tight. The only other time I re-raised preflop, I showed Kings. It had to seem pretty thin to him to make that play for ~33% of his chips, especially given that another player had called his raise and was yet to act. Anyway... thin or not, it worked for him, and I busted.

Not sure when the next trip to Vegas will be. From a financial standpoint, this trip couldn't possibly have gone any worse, so I'll have to look at the schedule and assess what exactly I want to do for the rest of the series. Tentatively, I plan on coming back sometime in the next 7-10 days and staying for about 7-10 days, going back home, and then returning for the Main Event.

That's all for this trip. Thanks for reading.

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Monday, June 2nd

Today has been a long day.

I contacted Continental Airlines to see what I needed to do with regards to flying home without a driver's license. They told me to go to a local police station, file a lost identification report, and bring that report with me to the airport (and to also be prepared for extra security scrutiny). Fair enough.

While waiting for my number to be called at the police station, I called the Rio to ask them how I can play in tomorrow's $1k rebuy WSOP event without an identification. Put plainly, they told me I couldn't. Shit.

I began to consider an idea that Dave Irish texted me: figure out a way to get my passport sent to me. While it sounded nice in theory, it was already 2:00 pm Vegas time at this point. How exactly do you get a passport to go from being in Houston at 4:00 pm to Vegas by 11:00 am local time the next day?

So I called FedEx in Houston and asked them if it was possible to mail something from there and have it arrive in Vegas by tomorrow morning. Totally braced for disappointment, the guy on the phone just said non-chalantly, "yea no problem, as long as we have the item by 7:30 pm." ORLY? This is doable.

There are two people in Houston who I knew had a key to our place: Michael's parents and our landlord. After trying to get ahold of Michael's dad (his Mom is in Europe) for about an hour, I bit the bullet and just called our landlord. He seemed more than willing to help, so I asked him if he could meet Lisa there in a half hour or so. No problem, he said.

So I called Lisa and was like, "you know how Seinfeld has that joke where when people need a small favor, they'll just go right into it like, 'I need a favor, can you pass the sugar?' where when they have a huge favor they'll be like 'I need a favor...' and then kind of wince while they wait for your response?... well... I need a favor..." She laughed and had no problem helping me out. An hour later, the thing was in FedEx's hands. One tiiiiiiiimeeeeee please show up by the 10:30 am guaranteed arrival tomorrow morning.

At least now I'll have an interesting story for the ESPN producers if I final table this thing.

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Sunday, June 1st: Online tournaments at Ray's castle

Well I ran absolutely stone ice cold today.

Aside from a baby cash in the Sunday Million, I washed out of everything online. It didn't take me long to wash out either. I busted from stuff so often and so quickly that I would just enter another tournament which I would otherwise normally not play. Today was quite possibly the biggest loss I've had from online poker tournaments ever.

In addition to that, I lost a few thousand more on some sportsbetting rogue lines that I made on baseball games. I mean, there's not much to say on this topic. I found some juicy lines, bet them, and ran like crap.

However, none of this amounts to how I ran tonight: after screwing around Downtown with Michael and his cousin (and her husband, whom were fine dinner company at my favorite restaurant in Vegas, Nobu), we came back to the Stratosphere (which is where I'm staying on this trip). Anyway, after having some late night food, I went to grab my wallet to get some cash out of an ATM. No wallet. Long story short, I have been unable to locate it. It's possible that it fell out of my pocket on the cab ride back to the Strip. I find this theory reasonably unlikely though since my cell phone (and a few other things which in my estimation would have been much more likely to fall out of my pocket than my wallet) were still in my possession.

One undeniable possibility is that I was pickpocketed. I would like to think better of humanity than that, but the truth is: Downtown Vegas is seedy, I was throwing around a lot of cash, and a lot of people who looked like they had a lot of time on their hands were standing around watching.

The silver lining in this storm cloud is that I didn't have a single dollar in my wallet. Literally not one dollar. Even though I've got quite a bit of cash with me on this trip, I left almost all of it in the hotel room before going out tonight.

Currently my main two problems are: how do I board my flight home without an ID and how do I play in the $1k rebuy on Tuesday without an ID? Being the degenerate that I am, I'm much more worried about the latter.

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Saturday, May 31st: Event #2: $1,500 NLHE

This was Day 1A of the largest non-Main Event WSOP Event in history. Even though there are like 3,000+ entrants, my starting table had two pros: Jean-Robert Bellande and David Williams (ironically, both of whom are members of Team Bodog). David was there for two, maybe three hands before spewing off his stack with top pair against an overpair. When I first sat down, my knee jerk reaction was, "oh great... two easily recognizable pros." In reality, having someone like David Williams at your starting table is probably +EV. It was worth it to him to take -cEV spots in exchange for building up a real stack or not wasting his time on a $1,500 buy-in.

Jean-Robert played more solid (solidly?). I didn't play any pots with him, but I did ask him a few questions about his time on Survivor: China. I always sorta assumed that once the cameras are off that the producers probably give them water and maybe even a little food and shelter. He said that not only is that not the case, but that he thinks the show makes it look easier than it really is. For one four day stretch, he went without a single bite of food. I mean... think about that: four days of no food! It might sound easy on paper, but I'm guessing it'd be hard as hell to actually go through.

Uhh... bustout hand: 100/200, folds to kid in gold Full Tilt jersey (it said "Bleu" on the back) on the button who raises to 600. I re-raise to 2,200 from the big blind with Ace-King (leaving myself just 3,500 behind). He calls (weird). I shove on the 994, two diamond flop. He calls with Ten-Eight of diamonds. Fishy. The weird part is, I think you can only get a gold Full Tilt jersey for winning an FTOPS event.

I'm going to spend the rest of the day catching up on some work. Thanks for reading.

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So I'll probably be making three or four trips to Vegas this summer for the WSOP. A lot of people I know are going for the full six weeks. There are a few reasons I'm not doing that.

First, Vegas is kind of sensory overload for me. It can be pretty easy to fall into a lull of only sleeping a couple of hours per night, drinking too much, never exercising, eating too much, etc. For me, that kind of a lifestyle doesn't lend itself to good decision making at the poker tables. I think some refreshing downtime in Houston will be beneficial throughout the series.

There are also some logistical concerns with my dog that make it hard to go for six straight weeks. If I was capable of planning ahead more than, say, one week, I might have been able to deal with this problem. My friend Austin volunteered to watch Scout for the summer, but he lives in Indiana, so it would be difficult to get Scout up there. I still haven't entirely ruled out the possibility of somehow transporting him up to Indiana for the summer so that I might be able to spend more time in Vegas. If something crazy happens like I win a bracelet on this first trip and therefore want to play many more events than I otherwise thought I would, the dog will probably be going up north even if I have to send him UPS Ground.

For this first trip, I will be leaving tonight and returning on Wednesday, June 4th. Here's what I anticipate doing:

Saturday, May 31st: Event #2: $1,500 NLHE

This should be a pretty cool tournament since they're breaking it down into two different starting days. The starting days are Saturday and Sunday. Hopefully Saturday won't be sold out. I guess I should be hoping that the whole tournament isn't sold out. Ray told me last night that he was hearing rumors of this thing selling out.

Sunday, June 1st: Online tournaments at Ray's castle

Ray "Exitonly" Coburn and a bunch of his friends secured a twelve-bedroom mansion (I'm calling it a castle) for the summer. I saw some pictures of it online and it looks truly sick. I'm hoping it works out that I can roll over there on Sunday morning to play all the online MTTs with those guys.

Monday, June 2nd: $500+$40 at the Venetian

If I'm going through poker burnout, I'll probably take Monday off. If not, there's really not much that interests me except for the Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza. There's a $2,000 PLHE WSOP Event, but I don't want to play it because making day two would mean I don't get to play the event I'm most excited for on this trip (see below). In fact, for that very reason, skipping the Venetian tournament and just taking Monday off sounds like a pretty good idea since I'm pretty sure the Venetian holds their final tables the next day and my lifetime FT% in their tournaments is like 50% or something absurd like that.

Tuesday, June 3rd: Event #5: $1,000 NLHE with Rebuys

I'm stoked for this tournament. Shane Schleger calls it the "actual beginning of the WSOP". But he's biased 'cause he final tables this tournament like every year. Anyway... the "$1,000" label in its title is a little misleading. This tournament isn't cheap. With a double rebuy and a double add-on, it will cost at least $4,000. Hopefully I don't go broke during the rebuy period, through it would be fun to wind up at Negreanu (or anyone else who will be playing maniacally)'s starting table.

Unlike the Irish Open Blog and the Party Poker Million Blog, I'm going to edit this entry with the newest additions on the top, not the bottom.

WSOP Circuit N'awlins

2008-05-15T13:45:00.000-07:00

I'm driving to New Orleans (which is informal for its real name, N'awlins) tomorrow for the WSOP Circuit. Saturday is a $1k prelim. On Sunday I'll either play day two of the prelim or online tournaments. The $5k Main Event starts on Monday.

Some people have asked what I intend to do with the winnings from the Party Poker Million. Certainly, I'll wind up investing a good chunk of it. But truthfully, I don't have a clear plan. I am definitely going to be taking a shot this summer at the WSOP. For this, I'll want a good $30-$40k available with which to risk on more live tournaments. Once the dust settles on that, I think I'll have a clearer idea of where I want to go with things.

I'll update this entry from the lovely city of N'awlins letting y'all know how it's going over there.

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Washed out of the $1k prelim despite turning the 2,500 starting stack into 18,000 by 100/200 (I was tilted for a solid four hours after washing out). Washed out of most everything online yesterday. Up $4.5k on sportsbetting since arriving in N'awlins though (wtg Cavs and Spurs covering).

Made it to day two of the $5k Main Event. 250 players started. 71 remain. I have 29k. Average is something like 35k. 27 places pay. Blinds will be 600/1200/200 tomorrow.

Nothing terribly notable to mention from today. I was only all-in one time and that was in a spot where all the chips went in on the turn and with only five outs for me to fade.

Michael got smacked upside the head by the deck and was as high as 80k during 200/400/50. He spewed some in the last level, but still bagged up a solid 49k. I have a chunk of his action, so hopefully the deck starts smacking him in the head again. :)

Tomorrow plays all the way down to 9 players, so I'll either be elated or out of the tournament in 24 hours. More at that time. Thanks for reading.

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So Michael and I both wound up cashing and both wound up busting out before the final table. He went out in 25th when Kings ran into Aces.

I managed a bit of a deeper run amassing a stack that was probably among the five largest at the time of Michael's departure. I really don't feel like writing about hands that aren't that interesting, and I can assure you that I didn't play many interesting hands, but basically I wound up shoving 10 big blinds with 15 players left from the hijack with Ace-Five and being called by Tim Miles (who will win the tournament tomorrow 'cause that's just how he's running)'s Ace-King.

Of course I'm pretty disappointed to have made the final two tables of this tournament two years in a row only to not have cracked the top 14, but I feel like I'm playing really well at a time of the year when that sort of thing can be worth a lot of money (the eve of the WSOP).

Signing off.

$160,000!!!!!

2008-05-08T09:11:00.000-07:00

Too jubilent and excited to write much of a "real" entry about the final table today, but: I finished 3rd for $160,000!!!

Things went so great for me. I mean... I told Michael before the final table started that, "I feel like 7th place should be the most emotionless finish for me." So the fact that I got 3rd is like super sweet.

No fantastic suckouts or anything, but two hands I definitely needed to win to finish this well:

9 left. Only guy who I cover shoves MP. I have 99 in small blind and call. I win versus A9. That loses, I'm left with like 3 bbs.

6 left (6th was $67k), I shove KQs for 14 bbs. Only guy I cover (who had like 10 bbs) says, "I guess I have to call." KQx on the flop... never bitching about losing a race again.

Bustout hand with three left. I had 15 bbs. Two German guys each had 50+ bbs. Clearly, 3rd was in my future. Button folds. I have Ace-Three suited in small blind. Raise to 4x. Just before he looked at his cards he says, "that's a big raise... you must be playing for all your chips here." After looking, he said, "all-in." I smiled, said, "nice hand... I have to call," and lost to his Ace-Jack.

Overall... couldn't be happier with how things went.

Sweeeeet!!!!

Party Poker Million VI Blog

2008-05-04T23:39:00.000-07:00

So I’m on the Party Poker Million cruise. The tournament hasn’t started yet, so I don’t really have anything to say. I mean… it’s cute and all that you came to this site hoping to find something to read… but I’ve got nothing for you.

Right now we’re at port in Bari, Italy (wherever the hell that is). The tournament starts shortly after we leave port. I’m pretty happy about the structure, I think it’s going to be sick. To characterize it, there’s a 250/500 level between 200/400 and 300/600. That’s pretty hot.

What’s not hot is that I think the field might wind up being better than I figured it would be. I sorta pictured a bunch of fish from Party Poker (“oooooooooh! Party Pokah!!”), but it seems that most of the people here are younger guys who one might assume have a reasonable set of poker skills. The good news, at least, is that there aren’t many “pros” here. In fact, there aren’t really any at all. I heard someone say that J.J. Liu and Dan Alspaugh are the two biggest “pros” on board. Supposedly, Michael “timex” McDonald was supposed to play, but I haven’t seen him, and I probably would have by now if he’s on board. Maybe he’ll roll in big pimpin’ style on a helicopter fifteen minutes before the tournament starts with a harem of fine bitches. God that’d be so pimp. Seriously… if that kid charters a helicopter to take him to this boat just for the tournament, that’ll pretty much be the most ballin’ thing I’ve ever seen. And that’s saying something, too. One time I saw some Indian guys at Bollywood (a Houston-area club that serves as India’s answer to strip clubs) throwing money handful after handful at belly dancers. But those guys might have been props to try to get us drunk, jackass white boys to do the same. I think it almost worked on Michael. Also, the bills were just ones, so it really wasn’t that balla at all.

Told ya’ I had nothing.

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Day One Recap

Today was day one of the Party Poker Million. I bagged up 7,775 chips (started with 10k, blinds are 150/300/25 tomorrow). I’m pretty disappointed with how things turned out today. My table was pretty weak. The best players at the table were just “not bad”. The worst were fairly awful. It was kind of painful watching these nitty old guys bag up 15-25k.

There weren’t too many interesting hands, but I’ll mention one. Basically, I had between 12-14k almost the entire day. With ten minutes left in the last level, I raised to 550 with Queen-Jack offsuit in middle position. One of the nitty old guys called in the cutoff. A younger German guy shoved 3.5k total from the small blind. This would have been a pretty easy fold against almost anyone at the table except him.

A little background: He busted a shortstack a few hands before by re-raising and calling an all-in with King-Four. I mean, he was pot committed to call the all-in, but three betting was pretty reckless. The shorty was pretty tight. There’s not much he was raise-folding with. So after that hand, I noted that the German guy, while generally competent, also had some spew tendencies.

Given that a.) it was a squeeze play which younger balla’ (or wannabe ballas) like to do a lot, b.) the old guy didn’t re-raise me (which he absolutely would have done if he had something strong enough to shove after I call the German’s shove), and c.) I only needed around 37% equity against the German’s range for it to be a good call, I went ahead and called. His hand was disgusting for me: King-Queen.

So basically I get to go to bed on tilt for turning a totally decent stack into a totally mediocre stack at the very end of the night after playing all day. Oh well… I’m anything but desperate.

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Day Two Update (Dinner Break)

We’ve played four levels so far today. I managed to squeak up to 13,000 (without ever being all-in) despite being at the toughest table I’ve probably ever played at. To give you an idea of how tough it is, four of us are direct buy-ins (Mike “timex” McDonald, Tony “Bond18” Dunst, this German guy who plays HSNL online and said he lived with yellow sub (amongst others) during the WSOP in Vegas last year, and myself). Before the tournament started, I asked how many of the 171 entrants bought in directly. I was told there were a total of 12. Now, four of us are at the same table with just 55 players left.

Well, it’s 400/800/50 after dinner. We’ll see how it goes. I intended to write about this interesting hand that timex was involved in, but that will have to wait. Dinner calls.

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Day Two Recap

I made it to day three with a stack of 41,100. The first level tomorrow is 800/1600/200. There are 34 players left, 24 pay. So far I’ve been all-in once in this tournament, that was with Ace-Nine against pocket threes for a 24k pot during 500/1000. Aside from that, I’ve just been building chips without any showdowns. This will probably be a fairly long entry because I think there are a couple of interesting things to talk about. I’d recommend skipping the rest of this entry unless you care to read meticulous details from two hands I want to write about: the timex hand I mentioned earlier and a hand in which I did something I virtually never do.

Timex Hand

I can’t promise to get each and every exact detail of this hand correct. It happened like six hours ago, and my memory might be a little foggy. Hopefully I can get the main point across.

Timex raises under the gun (during 250/500/50) to 1,400. He had about 30k chips to start the hand. An extremely tight player immediately after him called the raise. This player started with about 20k. An aggressive German guy in the big blind also called.

The flop was Queen-Jack-Five rainbow. Timex checked, the super tight player bet 3k, and the German guy called in the blind. Observing this action, I put the tight player on a very strong hand. Ace-Queen at the absolute weakest. The German guy could have had something like King-Queen or perhaps a straight draw.

When the action was on Timex, he raised fairly substantially. I think his raise was to 10,500. The tight player almost immediately shoved all-in. The German folded. Timex called (he had to) and turned over Ace-King. I was very surprised that he thought he could buy this pot. The tight player had pocket Jacks and dodged a ten.

I’m not sure what his thought process was there. Clearly he had to think he had a significant amount of folding equity in order to justify making that play. But I don’t know how he could have thought he had much folding equity. Like I said, I think the worst hand the tight player has there is Ace-Queen. So basically, Timex is having to hope a.) that’s exactly what he has and b.) he’s capable enough to realize that Timex is representing an overpair and fold.

I don’t think I’m crossing any lines in saying that he played that hand bad. Mike’s clearly a sick poker player and I’m guessing he probably agreed that he could have played it better. Anyway… I thought that ws an interesting hand.

Side note about Timex and Bond18, both of whom I played with almost all day: very, very cool guys. They were enjoyable to be around. I honestly enjoyed being at that table even though it was brutal to my expectation. Timex, in particular, displays an admirable disparity between the degree to which he could justifiably act as if he is "better than everyone" or choose to be totally down to earth. For an 18 year old, he is exceedingly humble amidst every right not to be. It's hard not to root for him, [so I was genuinely disappointed for him when he approached me on the morning of Day Three to share with me the details of his bustout hand from the last level of the previous night (note: he had recovered from the aforementioned hand to amass a stack that had me thinking, "shit... this kid's actually going to win another one.")]

Fold I Never Make

During 500/1000, I had around 22k chips. An aggressive German player who had been opening a ton raised to 3000 in early position. Another guy who had recently been moved to the table (but generally seemed aggressive) called his raise from the cutoff. I looked down at King-Queen suited and new I had to squeeze here. I raised to 8,500 total which I hoped would look strong enough to get them to fold. The German didn’t waste much time to say, “all-in” (he started the hand with somewhere around 55k). When he said that, I knew I had to snap call when the action got to me. Then, much to my surprise, the other player said “call”.

I was like “holy shit… do I actually fold here?!?!” I mean… I can’t think of a single instance where I’ve put in 35% of my chips preflop only to fold. I shrugged and said, “I guess I’ll live to play another hand,” and folded face-up. I was pretty pumped when I saw their hands: Kings and Queens. Of course, the one outter queen came on the river to give the German guy a swelteringly large stack.

Anyway, that hand was clearly uncharted territory. I asked Timex what he thought about the play, and the impression I got from his answer was something like: “well it sucks pretty hard to put in a third of your stack and fold, but I think you played it correctly.” At the very least, that made me feel good.

What made me feel even better was rallying back from that to end the day at 41,100.

--------------

Port Update: Izmir, Turkey

I suppose it’s pretty common in life to under expect or over expect things. But usually the target will miss its expectation by a somewhat marginal degree. Like, maybe something you’re dreading turns out to be mostly bearable or something you’re really excited for turns out to be “just okay”. However, it’s kind of rare to have a scenario where expectation and reality are on entirely different ends of the spectrum. Today, Izmir, Turkey was just such a scenario.

Michael and I woke up around 9:00 am right about the time the ship was docking in Izmir. This cruise is making stops in Italy, Greece, Croatia, and Turkey. Of all these countries, I entirely expected Turkey to be the “most interesting”, but not for any particularly positive reasons. My expectation for this Turkish port was something of an uber-religious culture where the people are generally in a “take first, give second (if at all)” type of mentality. I mean, I guess my expectations for Turkey probably weren’t that much different than what I would expect out of, say, Saudi Arabia: generally kind of a backwards culture where you never feel quite comfortable or safe until you get the hell out of there.

I turned out to be entirely wrong.

Izmir, Turkey wasn’t just “okay”, it was absolutely fantastic! Like, aesthetically, I think I probably enjoyed Copenhagen more, but that city aside, there’s not one place on this side of the globe I have been to that I enjoyed more thoroughly. Granted, my image of Izmir might benefit from the fact that we were only here for four hours, but I’m confident that was long enough to get a pretty good grasp on things. The country is absolutely gorgeous, the women are gorgeous, the people were hospitable, friendly, quick to smile, and the goods were cheap! When Americans go to Europe, they usually cringe at the increase in day to day expenses. Turkey was the exact opposite. As one shop owner managed to convey in broken English “to you, one Euro is nothing, to me, it is a fortune!”
I bought more clothes in this city in four hours than I buy in America in four months.

After today, I am a huge fan of the country of Turkey. I mean, I didn’t see this coming whatsoever. What a pleasant surprise. I hope our time in Istanbul tomorrow doesn’t reverse this bullishness. Assuming it doesn’t, I’ll probably sprinkle a little money in a Turkish ETF when I get home, if for no other reason than to show support for truly underrated nation.

--------------

Day Three Update (Dinner Break)

We’ve played two levels so far today. They’ve been good to me: we’re in the money and I’ve chipped up to 66k with little resistance. There are 23 players left with blinds of 1,200/2,400/400 (note the huge ante!) The money bubble turned out to be entirely painless because a.) I was fortunate enough to hit the ground running which meant my stack was never precariously thin and b.) players busted out faster than I thought they would. Before today began, Tony “Bond18” Dunst surmised that it would take 2.5-3 levels before we were in the money. It wound up only taking 1.5. Unfortunately for Tony, I believe he was among those who helped expedite the bubble process. Another player who fits that description was a man named Ralph from California. The two of us came into the day as the only remaining Americans. (Note: I realize Tony Dunst is American, but he was billed as representing Australia in this tournament which is where he now calls home).

I sense (perhaps incorrectly) that much of the staff is sort of pulling for me. While all remaining contestants aside from myself are European, the staff is composed almost entirely of Americans. Not the least of these is Matt Savage who deserves the utmost compliments for his capacity as a tournament director. This is undoubtedly the most well-ran live tournament in which I have participated. In a sense, this should be expected. As Tony Dunst pointed out yesterday, they have the benefit of a.) a small field and b.) working a light schedule since a tournament that might otherwise take three days has been stretched into five to accommodate the port schedule.

I have a less than ideal table draw right now. To my immediate left is a middle-aged Swedish guy whose presence as a relatively unspectacular poker player is made up for by a chip stack capable of funding fearlessness. Two to my left is Johannes Strassman. I have mentioned him several times in this blog, he was the player who spiked the one outter Queen in the “Fold I Never Make”. He is the tournament chip leader and is very, very aggressive. On the very first hand of this table draw, he raised to 3x under the gun and had to call a small all-in. His hand? Seven-Five suited. To characterize how things are going for him: he handily won a race versus pocket twos.

It’s really not too bad having these players to my left with just 25 big blinds. If I possessed a bigger stack, it would kind of suffocate me into playing tighter than I would otherwise care to. But my current stack is small enough that I’m going to be playing tight anyway. Plus, my reputation in their minds seems solid enough that they won’t play back at me light.

Today will finish after four more levels or when eight players remain. My chances of reaching this checkpoint are uncertain enough that of all readers, I’m probably the one most excited to learn of what the next entry contains. ;)

--------------

Day Three Recap

I want to preface by saying that I am exhausted beyond belief, so there’s a good chance this entry will lack grace.

Well I survived day three and made it to the final table. I have 90,000 chips with the next blind level set at 3,000/6,000/1,000. While I don’t have a particularly large stack, fifteen big blinds is certainly familiar territory. I mean… I haven’t had more than 25 big blinds since the early levels of day one. One player has 44,000. I’m second to last. From there, someone has 123,000. Beyond that, everyone has at least 150,000. Payouts go something like: 9th - 21k, 8th - 40k, 5th - 92k, 1st-353k.

I wish I could say that I was never all-in since I made the last entry. That’s true with the exception of one hand. I don’t even remember what level or how big my stack was, but basically it folded to my small blind where I had 12 big blinds and looked down at Queen-Five. I’m not entirely polished on the mathematical ins-and-outs of this hand, but I figured at the absolute worst, a shove was just marginally bad. It’s worth noting that the ante was like enormous. Whatever… that’s enough defending a shove that’s probably totally standard. Anyway, the big blind (the Swiss guy with quite a few chips who played pretty well all day) called with Ace-Eight. I mean… I’m like… what?… at worst like a 38% dog there? The fact that I won the hand was particularly thrilling since the board came: Nine-Nine-Ten…. Four…. FIVE!!!!!!! A rough calculation of my equity on the spot said that river card was worth about $65,000 to me. Ship it!

We played two tables of five handed for literally close to three hours. I mean, it was awful. The Swede and German to my left were super aggressive. Still, I managed to increase my stack (admittedly not by much at all) over the course of our five-handed play without showing a single hand. Like… that‘s not an exaggeration: three hours of five handed play and I managed not to show one single card the entire time. It was a particularly brutal stretch of being cold decked. I feel there’s one hand worth mentioning from this stretch:

During 2,500/5,000, it folded to the button who raised to 15,000. I had 75k in the small blind and Ace-Jack suited. The standard play here would be to shove, but there were two things that made me think otherwise: a.) this player folded to such re-raises constantly… (for example: he laid down Ace-Queen face-up in two separate instances after raise-folding from the button in a scenario where I would have snap called in his spot) and b.) I figured he was bad enough to be oblivious of stack sizes such that I could re-raise, get him to call instead of fold or shove, and then get him to fold when I shove the flop. I mean… I know that all sounds pretty extravagant… but it turns out I knew what I was doing because it worked to absolute perfection. I re-raised him to 33,000. Right after he called he said to me, “do you have aces?” (read: he thought I was hella strong). I shoved the flop (which incidentally was Jack-Five-Four… but that hardly mattered) and he folded. I felt like a pimp after that play since I increased my stack by 40% without turning over a card.

The five handed play was notably frustrating since it lasted way longer than it should have. At the other table, short stacks survived Threes all-in against Nines (three on river), Ace-Queen all-in against King-Queen (after a tease of a Jack-Ten-x flop), and Queen-Nine all-in against Tens when the board ran a five-high straight.

Well I’ll close this update by saying that the final table actually isn‘t until Thursday. There’s no poker tomorrow. A part of me is happy about that since Istanbul will be easier to enjoy when there’s not a final table looming in the immediately future. But a larger part of me hates the thought of having to wait like 36 hours to play the final table. I guess I’ll just remind myself that WSOP Main Event final tablists will have to wait 2,808 hours.

This entry was needlessly long. Cliff Notes: I made the final table… SHIP IT! (FWIW: not accounting for skill whatsoever, just chips, I’m worth about $60,000 right now).

Caesars $1k Circuit Event and a Failed Escape

2008-04-22T11:50:00.001-07:00

I played a $1k prelim event for the WSOP Circuit at Caesars yesterday. I was really happy with how I played. There aren't more than one or two hands that I regret a decision on - and those are pretty mild regrets. The tournament had something like 240 players. I finished 13th for like $2.5k. My bustout hand was a bit of a heartbreaker. A guy with a large stack limped (which he hadn't done much). A young, aggressive guy raised to like 3.5x in LP. My read on this was that the young guy didn't need much of a hand here since he was exploiting the weak limp. I shoved 15 bbs from the small blind with ATo and the young guy snap called me with Queens. Before that hand, there were only two times in the whole day where I was all-in, called, and covered. In both of those instances, were we were already in the money. One was a race and one was Aces versus King-Jack. So in that regard, I have to be happy with how things went, but it was pretty disappointing to miss the final table by such a slim margin.

This morning I woke up with an overwhelming "I gotta get out of this city" feeling. I tried rescheduling my flight two days earlier to today, but the cost to do so wound up exceeding my urge to flee Vegas. I just ordered some room service. Between a bunch of work to catch up on, NBA games, and online poker all at my fingertips, it's possible I won't leave the room today.

I had planned on playing the $500 prelim event today, but I'm pretty drained after playing all day yesterday. Tomorrow is a $1,500 event. It's hard to know how I'll be feeling at the time, but I'd say there's a pretty good chance I'll skip that too. I'm just not "feeling it", and I know I won't play patiently if that's the case.

Finally, good luck to Ray "Exitonly" Coburn, who has 35 bbs going into day three of the WPT Championship. I think there are around 180 players left with $3,000,000 to first. It's a good thing I didn't wind up leaving today. I'll want to be around when Ray is at the final table in a couple of days.

Confidence, Isaac Baron, and Vegas (Baby!)

2008-04-17T01:29:00.000-07:00

One (on a long list of) leaks in my poker game is that my confidence goes up and down with the predicability of a yo-yo. I'm not sure if this is a common struggle among other players, but I regularly find myself unsure of how to play situations that, in other times, seem quite simple to me. I think this problem has to do with my confidence. It's absolutely ridiculous, I know, but I'll find myself actually thinking less of myself as a player after a bad beat. Like, I can lose a race in a tournament and immediately afterward, I'll feel like crap. Likewise, when I win the race, I feel like a huge pimp. These aren't productive thought processes. I imagine most players have similar struggles, but I'd have to guess that the top players don't.

And speaking of top players, I want to wish Isaac Baron luck in the EPT Monte Carlo. They're down to ten players, and Isaac is second in chips. First place is $3,000,000 and he's 20 years old. Figures like that aren't supposed to be in the same sentence. But jealousy aside, I had a chance to meet Isaac in Dublin and I was really impressed with how he handled himself. It would be easy, given his age and accomplishments, to think that he'd probably be pretty cocky or arrogant. Quite the opposite, he was the most down to earth individual you could hope to meet. A part of me always cringes a little to see the rich get richer in tournament poker, but if it must happen, Isaac certainly seems deserving... so... good luck to him.

Finally, I'm leaving for Vegas on Saturday 'cause some of Michael's cousins and what not from Israel are invading the townhouse for a week. Oh poor me. Someone's taking over my bedroom so I have to go have fun in Vegas for a week. What an awful life I lead.

There are some prelim tournaments for the Caesars Palace WSOP-C event that I'll probably play. On Sunday, I'm going to pass on the live stuff and play online. The monthly Full Tilt $535 $1M Guarantee is this week, which is probably my favorite online tournament. It has an absolutely sick structure, an incredibly soft field, and a huge prize pool. What's not to love?

Monday is a $1,060 and Tuesday is a $550 at Caesars. I think the Venetian is trying to cash-in on the "second chance" dollar by spreading $330s every night at 6:00 pm, so I'm sure I'll play those too if I busto the early stuff.

My next entry will be from Vegas telling everyone about how rich and awesome I am. Probably.

If You've Ever Said "I've Seen It All", Watch This!

2008-04-02T23:07:00.000-07:00

Regarding this video, someone commented on Digg by simply saying, "God". I believe that sums it up pretty well. And for the first time in my life, I've actually looked at a piece of art and said, "wow... I'd pay a ton of money for that."

Another Sick Month (March Recap)

2008-04-02T00:08:00.000-07:00

I posted at the end of February that I was going to donate 5% of my net winnings in March to charity. Good news for charities: I had another great month. When I tallied up how much 5% of my winnings was, I was like, "wait... I'm giving all of that to charity?!" I mean... we're not talking that much... barely four figures... I've just never donated much more than old clothes before! :-D

Up until writing this post, I had no clue where or what I was going to donate to, but I just remembered an interesting dinner I had last Saturday. I'm not sure the parties involved would want me to name names, so I'll keep it anonymous by saying that I met up with a few friends, one of whom brought one of their friends. Anyway, that friend-of-a-friend, if you will, is currently undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer. I hadn't met her before, but within minutes I couldn't help but feel heartbroken for her. She's still quite young and is clearly a beautiful, energetic individual. However, you can also tell her disease has taken a lot out of her. She said she struggles to take her dog out for regular walks. We even had to cut the after dinner conversation short because she was too exhausted from the evening (which wasn't much more than meeting for dinner at 7:30 and leaving by 8:45). Anyway, her courage and positive attitude amidst awful circumstances was a big inspiration to me that night. I'm happy to be able to make a small donation to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation in her honor.

I want to continue donating a portion of my net winnings to charity, but it occured to me that I should probably stretch out the duration longer than a month at a time so as not to further expose myself to the perils of variance. Being that it's a new quarter, I'll keep the donation schedule quarterly. Five-percent of my net winnings from this new quarter will be donated to charity.

Hopefully that donation can be pretty sizable. The way poker has been going for me lately, I'm hopeful it will be. I've been playing a ton of online tournaments the past couple of days and feel great about how things are going. Just since Sunday, I've played 65 online tournaments, easily the most I've ever played in a three day stretch. Fifteen of those went for cashes, including five final tables. The biggest of these was a 6th place finish in the Sunday Mulligan for $9,000. Unfortunately, I had tens lose to ace-king for a really huge pot with seven players left. Had that held, I would have been in good position to make a run at the $45,000 first place prize, but a score that huge will have to wait another day.

Thanks for reading, and all the best to you in the new quarter! :)
(Can you tell my roommate watches CNBC five hours a day?)

Upcoming Tournaments

2008-03-29T10:23:00.000-07:00

So I realized that I'll probably be doing a good bit of poker related traveling in the next few months. Here's a rough schedule:

April 19th-22nd: Caesars Las Vegas WSOP Circuit Prelim Events

I'll probably just play a $1,000+$60 and a $500+$50. My flight is currently scheduled to return before the Main Event. I'm only going to vacate my room in the townhouse for some of Michael's relatives from Israel who are going to stay in our place for a week.

May 3rd-10th: Party Poker Million VI

Stops in Italy, Greece, Croatia, and Turkey... should be a really fun experience. I'm not 100% sure that I'm playing in the $8,200 Main Event, but I'd say there's a good chance it'll wind up happening.

May 17th-20th: Harrah's New Orleans WSOP Circuit

A year ago, this was my first major tournament. It's definitely a soft field with a sick structure.

June and July: WSOP

I'm not sure how much time I'll spend in Vegas for the WSOP or how many events I'll play. The answers to those questions really depend on how well poker treats me between now and then. If I come down with a case of the po', I might not be able to play a ton of prelim events all willy-nilly. I'd say it's pretty likely that I'll at least play the Main Event.

I gots to watch out for the po'! It's always going around, and the only cure is to stop gambling (yea right).

****

When Ciaran O'Leary busted me out of the Irish Open, he voiced a resounding "YESSS!!!" as his flush got there on the turn. That sound had almost stopped ringing in my ears. Thanks to the power of YouTube, it's back!

1:18 mark:

Irish Open Blog

2008-03-18T10:01:00.000-07:00

I'm leaving for Dublin in a few hours. Nothing has been packed. I always do this; browse around reading boring stuff on the internet thinking about how I should pack, and only doing so once the imminent fear of missing my flight sets in.

Since I'll probably write about the tournament (and the trip in general) fairly frequently, I think I'll do it all in one entry, this entry. I'm playing on Thursday, Day 1A. If I am fortunate enough to make it to Day 2, I'll have Friday off to do some site seeing. If I don't make it to Day 2, I'll have the rest of my trip to do some site seeing. One time limited time for site seeing!

I don't really know much about Dublin, but I talked to a friend who said it's small enough that you can get around on foot. Sounds good to me. Ciao!

****

Wednesday March 19th

So I finally made it to Dublin. It was a pretty long day of traveling. After a four hour layover in London, I crashed in my hotel room for a couple of hours. Thankfully, my alarm went off. If it hadn't, I might have slept all the way until 1:00 am which would have totally screwed up my sleep schedule for the tournament.

I met up with (sort of accidentally) the other guy who won a seat in the Bodog Satellite I played. The two of us hit on some Irish girls working a booth for Paddy Power before going to grab some dinner.

It's about 10:30 pm here and I'm pretty damn tired. It worked out perfectly though. I'll be able to get a long night of rest before the 2:00 pm start time for the tournament tomorrow.

The venue here is a mad house. Poker players (coupled with a few tour buses of some Florida high school band) are everywhere you look. I was really impressed with the room where the tournament will be held. For some reason, I pictured the tournament being held throughout a bunch of cramped banquet rooms in an old hotel. In reality, the set-up here bears a resemblance to the Amazon Room where the WSOP is held.

Well, I'm going to stop rambling since I really don't have anything to say. Hopefully tomorrow's entry will be a little more interesting.

****

Thursday March 20th

We're on dinner break. I had a $10.50 piece of chocolate cake for dinner that tasted like a $3 piece of chocolate cake. It's amazing how overpriced food is in Europe.

I have 7,600 chips. We start 150/300 (no ante; the level after is 150/300/25) after break. Things went fairly monotonously with the exception of one hand. During 50/100, two players limped. I made it 550 with QTo from the CO. The button called (much to my angst) and one of the limpers called. The flop came T32 rainbow. Limper checked, I bet 850, button called (much to my angst), and limper called. The turn was another 2. Limper checked, I checked, button bet 2,500. Limper folded, I thought for a few seconds before calling. The river was a blank. Check, check, he shows pocket jacks.

That might seem like a fairly standard hand, but I think I made a pretty significant mistake by calling the turn. I was fortunate that he didn't value bet the river (which he probably should have). He had been playing tight. After the hand was over, the more I thought about it, the more I realized there's virtually nothing I beat on the turn that he's firing 2,500 with. The best I can hope for there is something like 88 or 99, but I don't think he was aggressive enough to make that play.

So that hand knocked me down to 6,000 or so. I won a bunch of small pots here and there in the next few levels to build back up a little to my current stack.

I played at Sorel Mizzi's table, but only for about 5 minutes. The table I'm at now is something of a mixed bag. No one strikes me as particularly good, but there are certainly two or three competent players. I'll need things to go my way in order to make it to Day 2. We're playing four more levels today (the last of which is 300/600/50).

****

Quick update on a break. I've got about 11k as we're set to start 200/400/25. I had an interesting double-up hand. During 150/300 (no ante), I raised to 800 in the CO with KQspades. It folded to the button who shoved all-in for 6,300 total. Background: two orbits before, I raised in the cutoff (probably with air), and the same player shoved all-in. One orbit before, the button raised his bb, he shoved all-in, and the button folded.

I started talking to try to get some information, "ace-king or ace-queen?" Thankfully this guy was more than willing to share. "I told you, I'm sick of my blind being stolen. It's re-raise all-in everytime now.... I don't care what you do." I thought about it for a while and calculated I needed about 40% pot equity to make the call. The range I put him on was something like: any pair, most aces, quite a few broadways, and a little bit of air. I wasn't exactly sure how I fare against that range (they don't let you open up a laptop and use PokerStove at the table), but I had to figure it was at least 40%. I went ahead and made the call and won a race against his pocket tens. It was a good thing, too. I would have been left with about 1,200 chips if I had lost that race.

We have two more levels tonight. Hopefully I can make it to Day 2 to have something to look forward to.

PS: Against the range I put him on, I was about 50%... so I'm happy with the call. We could debate if the range I put him on was too loose... but I think given the information I had, it wasn't.

****

Well, I'm out.

During 200/400/25, I started the hand with 11k. Two players limped. I joined them with KsTd on the button. The blinds completed. Flop was T53, two spades. Blinds check, first limper bets 2k, second limper calls, I shove, folds to second limper, he calls with A8ss. Six of spades on turn. Ship the average-and-a-half stack to the flush draw.

That stings pretty bad anywhere, but it stings a little worse when you flew across the damn ocean for it.

Time to make good on the second reason I came here: Irish pubs.

****

Friday March 21st

I hung out with some poker players last night. It was surprisingly fun.

So after I busted, I got in a cab and took the €30 ride into Dublin. The hotel where the tournament is being played is sorta out in the country a little bit. When I got to town, tons of drunk people were out on the streets. For good reason too; all the bars had just closed at midnight since no alcohol is served on Good Friday. After wandering around town, sober, for an hour, still mad from the tournament, I finally got a cab. Another €30 later, I was back at the hotel. Bad beat.

Things turned around for me when I realized that the bar in the hotel was still open. "What time do y'all close?" Wait for it... wait for it... "4 am." !!!!!!!!! Good beat. Time to start drinking.

Beers 1-2:

I talked to Ram Vaswani for a while. What a nice guy. I only approached him because beer had lowered my inhibitions enough to inquire about what happened between he and Phil Ivey in that huge prop bet debacle last year. "No comment," was his response. He was super friendly though, even going out of his way to ask me small talk questions like "is this your first time to Ireland?" and "did you win your seat online?" and "are you still in the tournament?" Top notch guy.

Beers 3

I find myself standing next to someone who I think is Issac "westmenlo" Baron. "Are you Issac Baron?" Clearly drunk, but having a good time, "oh yea man!" I doubled him up in last week's Full Tilt $500, so I asked him how that wound up going for him, as if there was any way he'd remember if he hadn't final tabled.

He told me how he busted out of the tournament. It sounded pretty spewy, so he kept saying, "I'm so bad at poker man... I'm seriously soooo bad." So I was like, "right... right... I'm sure... what were you? Like #1 or #2 in the world last year?"

I asked him if chicks dig westmenlo, he was like, "man, no one even knows who I am." I replied, "surely you've got a nice following of hoes." He said something to the effect of, "man... the only people who follow me around are 18 year old boys." LOL.

"Was last year like six-figurish for you, or more like seven?" Him: "More like seven." (tilt). "What do you drive?" Him: "I've got a Maserati." (more tilt). "Where do you live?" Him: "I just bought a $2M house in Los Gatos." (life punt).

Keep in mind this kid is only 20. TWENTY!!!

Beers 4-5:

I walk by Roland de Wolfe who just finished playing paper-rock-scissors, or "ro-sham-bo" for you purists, with some kid. After they were done, I noticed the kid bent over and picked up €50 off the ground. Stop everything.

"Wanna go €50?!" as I pull one out of my wallet. I barely even had time to get into his soul before his fist was in his palm. First to five wins. I was immediately up 4-0. There was a little crowd gathered around, so I pulled out the needle and told everyone how I was inside his soul. Of course, after saying that, I enjoyed a good little sweat before winning 5-3.

I notice Todd Brunson sort of observing everything while mostly standing alone, so I talk to him for a while about why he and his father flew all the way to Ireland for a $6,750 buy-in. "Well, some place paid for us to come out here." LDO, dumb question, Cory. He, too, was super friendly and talked all about his fall from 50k down to 10k before the day ended.

While we were talking, a few feet away Issac Baron and (I think) de Wolfe were about to flip a coin for €5,000. Well, after he lost, Baron insisted it was for $5,000, but we all agreed that simply saying "five-thousand" to a European while in Europe pretty much implies Euros.

The funny part was how much of a hustler de Wolfe is. He was trying to get Issac to give him odds on the coin flip, LOL!

Beer 6:

de Wolfe and Baron start doing first-to-ten ro-sham-bo for €5,000. They're such huge degens that they couldn't even bother to slow down enough to keep their own score, so there was like a team of Baron's internet groupies (oh... who am I kidding... I was doing it too) collectively keeping score for them. I mean, these guys literally did not slow down between throws. Only when someone reached nine would they pause long enough to appreciate what was going on.

I'm pretty sure de Wolfe got the best of him in this. After only getting to three or four in their first few matches, Baron started talking about how awful he is at gambling and how he's such a failure at everything. Fucking twenty year old with a Maserati. Still on tilt, btw.

Beers 7 and beyond:

A cute Israeli girl looked at me and just said, "Cory Albertson." "Uhh... how do you know me?" Motioning towards her friends, "we're all reporters, I was following you today, we all jokingly referred to you as McEnroe." Reason behing was because I was wearing a headband McEnroe style.

There was actually a really funny entry from the live updates blog this chick was writing: "Next up Mcenroe Cory Albertson raises from late position, only to find Waterford Winter Festival winner Michael Trimby shoving for 6k or so yet again!

"You com after me big bloind, Oi'll set ya in!" warns Michael to the former tennis star.

Cory creates a bit of a racket as he interrogates Michael further and ultimately nets enough information to let him make the call with King Queen. Michael flips over Ten Ten. [The flop was Queen Queen Eight, the turn was a Nine]. I'm semi-rooting for a Jack or a Ten just to see if Cory comes out with, "you cannot be serious!"

LOL, I probably would have said it too!

Now:

I just woke up at 3:00 p.m. here. I have no idea what I'm doing today. I'm not sure I want to do the whole €60 roundtrip into the city again when all of the pubs will be closed.

Tomorrow is a €1,500 two-day event. I'll probably play it since I'm generally getting a bit bored. All for now.

****

Saturday March 22nd

NYET! Bad beat.

I took a cab to this mall about five miles away from the hotel. While there, I found this store called Heatons that generally seemed to market itself towards a lower clientele group, but a store needn't have an aura of pretentiousness to get my business. I actually found some pretty cool clothes there that were priced well, by European standards, anyway. But none of this is here or there.

After getting dropped back off at the hotel, I checked my left pocket while walking back to the room... NO CELL PHONE! Sprint back to the drop-off point and hope the cabbie hasn't left with a new fare. One time? Nope! He gone!

Now I have to hope he both connects the dots as to who the phone belongs to and additionally has the heart of an angel to drive it all the way back out here to me. There's €20 in my pocket with his name on it if he does, but I'm not holding my breath.

The real bastard of it was that I've been waiting to get a new phone until the 3G iPhone is released this June. Maybe I'll just score some POS off of eBay to use in the interim. Ideas and suggestions appreciated. Also, phone numbers appreciated too.

It's funny, last time I was in Europe, I went back home without my wallet (because some god damned gypsie picked it from me while I was on a subway in Barcelona). This time I'm probably going back without a cell phone. I'm good at keeping stuff in my pockets like that.

Well enough about that. I registered for the €1,500+€150 which starts in about two and a half hours. Last night, I walked up to a display booth manned by three gorgeous girls like a bug towards a lamp. They were there to raise money for some specific charity that helps out kids who live under communist rule in Belarus, some 100 miles from site of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Since these kids and their families are prevented by their government from fleeing the area, they all live fairly short lives due to the high radiation levels (one of the girls quoted a life expectancy in the neighborhood of 50 years). Anyway, I guess this charity sponsors these kids and brings them to Dublin for three weeks out of the year. That mere three weeks is enough to add three full years to their life expectancy due to the recovery their immune systems are able to achieve. It's incredible all of the awful things that are happening in the world. I mean, here's this horrible tale of these kids forced to live in areas of high radiation and I hadn't even heard of it before yesterday. I gave them €20 and pledged to give them 5% of my net winnings in today's tournament. They all told me in their own little Irish way that they think I'm hot shit. It'd be kinda mega-balla to take down this tournament and flip them a few grand as I walk out of the poker room.

Oh by the way, if you're interested in reading more about that charity, it's the Chernobyl Children's Project International.

The tournament is two days. I'll most certainly be playing poker tomorrow in one way or another. I had been plagued with guilt about how I wanted to play all the Sunday stuff online, but that I'd feel like a bag of ass sitting in a hotel all day playing poker when I could be out seeing Dublin (which I have seen very little of). Then my cab driver (the same one who drives the car that my phone is riding around in right now) reminded me that tomorrow is Easter. Everything's closed! Sweet! An excuse to play poker all day and not feel like a bag of ass while doing so. Things are really coming together for me like that!

****

Update on dinner break.

Good news:

I walked by the concierge and he stopped me to tell me that the driver of the taxi I lost my phone in was able to track down where I was staying. Apparently, he texted "Dad Cell" on my phone. I guess my Dad was able to tell him I'm in Dublin for a poker tournament, which is really all the driver needed to hear. Of course, there's good reason he wanted me to call him before he dropped the phone off at the hotel. To squeeze me for a little.

Before I called him, I asked the concierge guys if €20 seemed reasonable, they said it did. However, while I was talking to the driver on the phone, he mentioned that he lived in [Such and Such] County, which I repeated outloud to guage the concierge's reaction. He winced. "How's €40 then?"

Well played, cab driver.

I threw the concierge €10 for taking care of things for me. Oh wallet... my how you hemorrhage in this continent.

Neutral news:

At dinner break, I have 6,900 in chips (we started with 7,000). We're about to play 150/300, followed by 150/300/25. We've only played four levels, and they said we're playing ten (or down to 27, which won't happen) before the night is over. There's something like 250 runners with €130,000 to first.

The first four levels were largely monotonous save for two hands I'll share:

In the first one, a 30-something guy from London wearing a Jacob watch that he said cost $95k (I would have guessed more looking at the thing) completed his small blind to 200, I checked with J9o. The flop was T97, rainbow. He checked, I bet 300, and he raised to 800. He had been making goofy bets like this all day against me, and I had been owning him all day. He had about 3,000 left after he made that raise, so I moved all-in, he called with KTo... well played, sir.

Same level, I start the hand with about 4,800 in chips. Some middle-aged donkey raised to 700. I looked down at Jacks in the small blind. I figured I'm a little too deep to shove here, so I re-raise to 2,200 with (ldo) the plan to shove any flop. He calls the raise (lol), and folds to my shove on the Ace-King-Ten flop (bigger lol). The only other good player at the table (I think he said his online sn is "brainwashed" or something to that effect) and I shared a chuckle.

Still a long way to go, thanks for reading.

****

Well I made it to Day 2 in the €1,500.

Relevant details:

267 started. 81 left. 27 pay. Average is ~21k. I have 18.5k. Blinds will be 500/1,000/75. There are quite a few bad players left, but a couple of really good ones too (timex being one of them, I believe).

Going to bed.

****

Sunday March 23rd

Ugh.

I didn't last long today. During 500/1,000 (with a stack of 18k), I opened to 2,600 in MP with AQo. It folded to the big blind who shoved for 17k total. Online, I probably snap call that, but this had a different dynamic. He was this middle-aged Irish guy (read: donk) who started blabbering about how he's "smart enough to know better than to make that play against a good player with a decent stack". Blah blah blah. He really ran his mouth a lot, but everything he was saying was trying to get me to fold. Anyway, I thought about it for about 90 seconds. I was getting about 3:2 to make the call. I mean, I have no idea how tight his range is to make that play. It was the second hand of the day. If his range is just TT+, AQs+, and AKo, then I have to fold. But if there's even the slightest chance that his range is big there 'cause he's "defending his country" against some "young punk kid from America", then it's an insta-call. And if we say it's 88+ and AJ+, then it's also a call.

Well, there was sorta some additional value I had to factor in. If I call and lose, I can play all of the Sunday tournaments, whereas if it takes me another couple of hours to washout, I'll miss out on most of the stuff. As soon as that realization hit me, I called and promptly lost to Ace King.

That left me with 1,075 chips, from which I almost mounted a comeback. The next hand, after posting an ante of 50, I made the big raise all-in for an additional 25 chips with J5o (a nitty player might argue for me to pick a better hand... but c'mon, I've got 20 antes, I'm pissed about the last hand, and I just want to go back to my room in time for the Sunday Warm-Up). In total, three players called me. I told the table I wasn't going to watch the board, and turned my back. Someone bet the flop and two players folded. I heard, "can you beat a pair of fours?" as I turned around to see the Queen-Ten-Five flop. Lol sweet, yes I can!

That got me back up to 4,500. A couple hands later I moved in with King-Queen and lost a race to pocket tens. Had I won that, I would have been back to ten big blinds. God knows I've went deep in more than one touranment that I had only ten big blinds in at one point or another. That would have been super sick. Oh well. Time to play online.

****

Holy shit, I actually won a tournament!

Nothing major... in fact I'm not even up that much on the day. But I took down a $20 rebuy on Full Tilt with 220 players for $3.4k. It feels much better from a "took one down" standpoint than it does from a financial standpoint.

I feel compelled to confess that I started ordering beers about 3 hours before I took it down. Up until then, I had washed out of everything. Even after just half a beer, I said to the guy sitting next to me, "I'm like significantly confident that I play better while buzzed." Three hours later, won my first scheduled MTT in two years (which I know is pathetic).

Yea yea... "drunken luck" you're thinking. But I truly think I'm onto something. The last time I've played buzzed was like a year ago when I finished 2nd out of 600-some in a $20 freezeout on Stars. Incidentally, I hadn't bested that finish before now. (Okay, okay... I finished 2nd in the Bodog $100k for $14,000 twice last summer while sober... but w/e... it's Bodog! Doesn't count!)

I might do some trial where I pick up a sixer the afternoon before I'm planning on playing all the online shit. It'll be kinda hilarious (and also quite disturbing) if this turns me into a top online MTTer in the next couple of months. :)

I would end this by saying, "I'm going to go celebrate now", but a.) I'm still down a ton on this trip and b.) I'm already teetering on the edge of drunkeness.

Again, thanks for reading. :)

****

Tuesday March 25th

Just to put some finality on this entry, I got into London yesterday and didn't really do anything but relax in the hotel room. My flight to Houston leaves in a couple of hours. This has been a fun entry to author; I hope those of you who kept up with it found it at least a little enjoyable.

I'm hoping the McDonald's in the airport here has sausage and egg biscuits. It sounds so good right now, the 8 sterlings or whatever god foresaken ridiculous price they're probably charging for it sounds like a bargain!

Peace.

End of The Wire

2008-03-09T04:22:00.000-07:00

After being told about The Wire a couple of months ago, I've seen every episode in the series except for one: the finale which airs tonight. I just crammed in a few episodes to get fully caught up barely more than 12 hours before the show's end. Something about the series finale being the first episode I ever see on the night of its premier struck me as poetic. Only a small handful of the show's 60 episodes have premiered since I booted up S1.E1 several weeks ago to figure out what all my friends' fuss was about.

I'm sad that the show is over. It's the same pit I had in my stomach when Seinfeld went off the air or when Jordan finally retired. Nothing lasts forever.

Going to grab a couple hours sleep before the Warm-Up and everything else.

Going To Dublin Anyway!

2008-03-05T14:53:00.000-08:00

In my last entry, I mentioned that I finished 3rd in a satellite to the Irish Open where the top two finishers won a package. Anyway, without getting into specifics, let's just say I got a call from Bodog today and that I'm really glad I finished 3rd and not 4th.

I got a direct roundtrip flight from Houston to London for really cheap (like $525). From London, I can just take some valuefare to Dublin for next to nothing. I leave Tuesday the 18th and get back a week later.

The Irish Open is guaranteeing €800,000 to first place ($1.2M). LDO, it would be disgusting to make a decent run at that. But frankly, I can bust out in the first level and still be pretty happy with how this turned out. It's always fun to check out a new part of the world.

Biggest Score of My Life

2008-03-02T02:34:00.000-08:00

I just had the biggest gambling score of my life tonight. It had nothing to do with poker.

Michael and I drove to Louisiana to play craps. I bought in for $4,000. After playing for about eight hours, I left with $35,000!!

If I believed in karma, it'd be easy to say that this probably happened since I pledged to donate 5% of my March gambling winnings to charity. :)

Such a sick night...

Going to sleep for a couple hours before playing the Sunday tournaments. I'll update this post later with the results from that. (Maybe).

******

I'll have to keep reminding myself I won $31,000 playing craps last night, because today was a pretty heartbreaking day of poker.

* I played a $215 satellite to the Irish Open on Bodog. Forty-five entrants, top two win a $9k package. With three left, I had KQ lose to Q2 all-in preflop. No doubt the sickest hand of my life. That holds, I'm in Dublin in two weeks.

* I had twice the average stack in the Bodog $100k with 175 left. Kings ran into Aces by the only guy at the table who could cover me.

* Other stuff no one cares to read...

* Oh... also, I finished 28th in the Sunday Warm-Up. I had some pretty sick hands deep in that (like set < flush draw to be chipleader with 50 left, AK < colson's K2 when the turn and river come 2 and 2). Like a couple weeks ago, I managed to build up to a million chips and promptly get dealt nothing while the blinds ate my ass up.

I'm not sure I recall a more frustrating day of poker that ended in a win ($500 to be precise) in my life. Then again, I have shit for a memory, so I'm sure there's been worse. Okay... no there hasn't.

WOOHOO!

A Sick Month, Now What?

2008-02-29T09:44:00.000-08:00

I laid in bed this morning listening to the birds chirping on the patio adjacent to my room. While they chirped, I reflected on the month of February. It's been a sick month for me. I made roughly $35,000 from gambling alone. Of course, "sick" is a relative term here. There are those who could read that and think to themselves how cute and tiny I seem for thinking that a $35k month is "sick". But I'm guessing there are plenty more people who could read that with their jaw on the floor thinking about how much better their life could be if they had that money.

So I laid here feeling all content with myself. Good job, Cory, you really kicked ass this month. But then I thought of an interesting question: what is the point of it?

That question disturbed me. It still does. I don't know the answer.

Like most gamblers, much of my mentality is focused on building towards a huge payoff. But one thing I've spent little time focusing on is: what exactly do I intend to do with a huge payoff? If I can't answer that, why exactly am I chasing one?

That huge payoff may never come. Or maybe it already has. But regardless, I don't think it's the huge payoff that any of us are chasing. In fact, I don't think we're really "chasing" anything. We like to fool ourselves into thinking we are, but in reality, we're just along for the ride. Why? Because it's damned fun, that's why.

At this point in the ride, when I'm on a proverbial upswing, I feel a certain sense of vision. This could be likened to reaching the high point on a roller coaster; you can see further. And this morning, while I paused to look around, I saw things that I didn't like.

I let my mind face harsh realities that it generally avoids. People are starving. Animals are being mistreated. We've forgotten how to love. Yea yea, "liberal, hippie bullshit," you're saying to yourself. A part of me is saying that too. I suspect it's the part that seeks to protect me from the reality of what we've created for ourselves.

This same part of me will trick me into thinking that I actually matter. That me and my damned $35,000 actually matter. But I don't. People will keep starving. Animals will continue being mistreated. Fear will win many-a-battle over love.

And I can't change that. At least not entirely. Actually, I'm not sure I'd even want to. But I can have a small impact. Or at least I can dupe myself into thinking I can.

So for now, I don't want to be on this ride alone. This month has taught me that, no matter how generous the ride is, there's still a certain sense of emptiness waiting on you if you're riding alone. I want to ride with others and for others. I'll at least try it out for a month to see if it's more satisfying.

For March, 5% of my net earnings will be donated to charity. I could make an entirely different blog entry solely on the topic of "what charity should I donate to?" I don't pretend to know the answer to that question. But then again, I'm not trying to change everything. I'm just trying to change something. Maybe I'll donate it to a place that subsidizes the cost of having your dog spayed or neutered. Or maybe I'll donate it to a charity that feeds people who are hungry. If you've made it this far, don't hesitate to take it one step further and suggest a charity or two for me. I'm pretty clueless about this stuff.

Something Shane Schleger once said on the 2+2 forums that has stuck with me and comes to mind right now seems very appropriate [paraphrasing]: "I don't know about you guys, but I hope to spend or give away all my money before I die."

This is a start.

Final Table

2008-02-25T00:03:00.000-08:00

So I made the final table of the Oklahoma State Championships of Poker. Nine of us resume tomorrow at 1:00 pm Central. Unfortunately, I only have 41,000 chips. Blinds will be 2,500/5,000/500. The good news is that the field is absolutely awful. I mean... I feel bad saying that... 'cause what if some of them somehow find this blog and I come off like a huge jackass for saying they suck at poker... but the truth is the truth.

To give you an illustration. I played with Scotty Nguyen for probably four hours at the end of the day. He was short-stacked all day. During 2k/4k, he raised to 11k on the button and folded, leaving himself just 14k, when the big blind shoved.

In another instance during the same level, a short-stack shoved for 13k. The small blind called. I, with a stack of 40k to start the hand, looked down at Ace-Queen in the big blind, so I shoved all-in. The small blind folded. I knocked out the shorty, but not without being berated by the table, Scotty included!!, for not "smooth calling and checking it down to knock out the short stack". Scotty himself flat out told me that the way I played it was a mistake.

It was a truly shocking day of poker. I had no idea that players are so bad.

I mean... one of these two things is true: a.) Scotty Nguyen is flat-out bad at poker or b.) he was chip dumping to his friends for four hours under my nose without me having the slightest clue.

And it's not personal. He was a nice guy who was very friendly with everyone. So if he ever reads this (which I hope he doesn't)... I want to reiterate that he was a pleasure to play with... I was just surprised at all the bonehead plays he made.

Anyway... I'm not done yet.

More illustration about how bad everyone is: We combined to one ten-handed table on the bubble (just nine pay). During 2.5k/5k, Scotty posted his big blind which left him with just 3k behind. I was under the gun, so was pretty helpless in the situation. The rest of the table though? They walked him!!

Thankfully he busted an orbit later.

Ninth pays like $9,500, so even if I bust out first thing tomorrow, I can't be too upset, but hopefully I can get lucky and accumulate a real stack. I like my chances of winning the whole thing if that happens. First is something like $113k. That would be sweeeet.

****

Results: 5th for $22k

I came into the day tied for the shortest stack in the tournament. We went from 9 players to 5 players in only 30 hands. I managed to keep my head above water during that time by making a couple shoves that were never called. An old guy named Fred busted out the 7th place finisher on one hand, and the 6th place finisher on the very next hand. He had over half the chips in play when I shoved 8 bbs with A6o from the cutoff. When he looked at his hand in the big blind and didn't immediately call, I knew I was ahead, so I started trying to persuade him to call. "Think about it, if you make this call and knock me out, you'll be a legend: 'Three-in-a-Row Fred!'"

He smiled a little and eventually got around to calling.

I lost to K9.

To be fair, I was expecting him to turn over something much worse.

A New Base To Leave From

2008-02-22T15:51:00.000-08:00

Michael and I just spent all week moving into a townhouse about two miles away from our previous address. For you Houstonions, it's just east of Kirby and just north of Bissonnet on South Boulevard. I had forgotten how overwhelming and exhausting it is to move. I haven't even begun to unpack yet, and I'm not about to have the time either. Tomorrow, we're flying up to Tulsa for the Oklahoma State Championships of Poker. The Main Event ($3,000+$150 buy-in) is on Sunday with the final table scheduled for Monday.

I'm particularly excited for this tournament simply because of its name. I think I'd really enjoy regularly reminding people that I'm the Oklahoma State Champion of Poker for the next year. ;)

I Haven't Seen A Movie In Over Two Months

2008-02-20T00:15:00.000-08:00

All two of the avid readers of my blog know that I watch a lot of movies. I believe the last one I saw was Flags of our Fathers, sometime around last Christmas. That was certainly a good movie. Since then, I haven't been able to justify spending the time to go see a movie.

If this were the summer when nothing but Spiderman and Shrek were onscreen, that might be understandable. But December through February are the crème de la crème of blockbuster movies, as studios release their prestigious works in hopes of Oscar consideration. Yet, the hype surrounding Charlie Wilson's War and There Will Be Blood, which would normally be more the sufficient hype to get me to the theatre, has simply not been enough.

Lately, when I'm faced with the chance to see a movie, I evaluate it as too high of an opportunity cost of my time that could otherwise be spent watching The Wire.

Ever since being introduced to it last December, I can't stop watching it. I'm currently halfway through the fifth and final season. I've spent 55 hours wonderful hours of my life watching the show and am nearly current; it first aired in the summer of 2002. In two more episodes, I will have watched what aired for the first time this past Sunday. From there, just three episodes remain. The series finale airs on March 9th.

There is a disparity between my desire to publicize reasons to watch The Wire and my natural persuasive ability. Frankly, I don't particularly gain anything tangible by causing others to watch this show, other than perhaps a "thank you" or two. I suppose I simply feel a need to give back what was given to me: a credible (shit... I hope, anyway) source which says The Wire is the greatest achievement in the history of filmmaking.

To me, The Godfather seems like amatuer hour when compared with The Wire. In a way, I regret the day I started watching this show. It reminds me of the character Professor Lambeau from Good Will Hunting when he tells Matt Damon's character, a math prodigy, that he wishes he had never met him, because at least then he, "could go to sleep at night not knowing there was some[thing] like you out there."

I'm not sure I'll ever be able to truly appreciate movies again. Not unless David Simon gets in the business, anyway.

Hello, Future Self

2008-02-10T02:51:00.000-08:00

Before I ever started this blog, I remember Ray Coburn mentioning to me that one of his favorite reasons for keeping a blog is so that someday you can go back and read your old entries. Fittingly, a quote on his blog which I believe is from Donnie Darko says, "If the sky were to suddenly open up, there would be no law, there would be no rule. There would only be you and your memories."

With the spirit of that in mind, here's an entry that probably no one will ever give two shits about other than myself in a year or so.

------------------

I've got about six hours before the first of these kick off. But if you read the last entry, apparently pokering on little sleep isn't exactly my Achilles' heel.

I'm probably going to play something like:

11:45 am: Sunday Warm-Up ($215)
12:00 pm: FTP $75 6-Max
12:00 pm: Bodog $30k ($109)
1:00 pm: FTOPS VII Event #8 - $120 6-Max Knockout
2:30 pm: Stars Hundred Grand ($11)
3:00 pm: Stars $10 Rebuy
3:00 pm: Bodog $100k ($109)
3:30 pm: Sunday Million ($215)
5:00 pm: FTOPS VII Event #9 - $322 $1M Guaranteed
6:00 pm: Cake $100k ($162)

Ideally I'll have 3-4 tables open most of the day, so I might throw in some smallish rebuy events here or there to keep my attention on the monitor. If I decide I still care about catering to my narcissistic tastes in reading, I'll update this post with the day's results when it's over.

------------------

I didn't play exactly what I mentioned, but pretty close.

I finished 530th out of 6,000 in the FTOPS 6-Max Bounty (AQs < T9s ...puke), yet somehow that wasn't an in-the-money finish. They only paid 492.

The only two cashes I had were in the Sunday Warm-Up and the Sunday Million. In the Million, I barely finished ITM and just won pocket change. But in the Warm-Up, I took it pretty deep and finished 23rd (~$2,500). I was chipleader, or close to it for much of the time from 700 players left down to 150ish players left.

With about 30 players left, I think I made a pretty significant mistake. A regular MTTer shoved 9 bbs from the hijack and I folded A9o from the big blind. Truthfully, I had just finished going to the bathroom and was walking back to the couch with the laptop in my hand. I did some quick math that said it was close, but a fold. Afterwards, I realized the shoving range I put him on was way too tight. In actuality, A9o was 50% against the range I should have put him on. The range I did put him on had A9o at 41%. I needed about 42.5% to make the call.

After that fold, I ran completely card and situation dead until finally sticking in five big blinds with a baby ace and losing to pocket fives.

It's hard to complain about finishing that deep in a major online tournament. Hopefully someday I take it a little deeper.

Thanks for reading.

Final Table

2008-02-05T03:23:00.000-08:00

Somehow I managed to sleep for just two hours and promptly play the best poker of my life for 14 hours today. The 571 player field is down to 10. I'm second or third in chips with 503,000. Play resumes tomorrow at 4:00 pm Pacific. $47,000 to first. One time!?

I'm too tired to post any significant details, but I can say that there was only one instance the entire day where I was all-in, called, and covered. That was when I had aces up against someone's king-four offsuit, all-in preflop. Aside from that, my tournament life was never on the line. It was a pretty sick day of poker like that.

**********

Results:

4th for $11.5k.

I started the day with 503,000 chips. Never was I above 600,000 or below 400,000 (until I busted obv). To go from 10 players to 4 players, I probably only saw about 30 hands. It was a really quick final table. I only won maybe 3 or 4 hands, all of which I took down preflop by stealing or restealing.

When it was four handed, a good, young player I sat next to a lot throughout the tournament (I believe his name was Josh Woolsey - congrats to him if he took it down - he was heads-up when I left) made it 80k during 15k/30k. With 400k on the button, I looked down at 33. I think you can make a good case for folding that, but I shoved. My thinking was that he had been opening a lot, his image of me was probably that I'm somewhat tightish, and he'd be losing about half his chips to make this call. I figured there are a lot of hands he was raise/folding with (JTo, A8-, 55-, K9... you get the idea). And of the hands he's calling with, there's only 9 of them I dread seeing (66+). Getting in a race for 30 big blinds didn't exactly sound dreadful to me at the time. Whatever... I mailed it in, he wasted little time calling with 66. GG.

I might have folded in that spot if either of the blinds were super short. But they both had me covered. W/e... w/e... w/e.

I'm not complaining.

Can I Take It Down On No Sleep?

2008-02-04T07:24:00.000-08:00

I've had one hell of a night.

After watching a favorable outcome in a football game that was not only the best game I've ever seen, but also the most emotionally invested I've ever been in a sporting event in my life, I went out and did some light gambling with Michael and later Dave. By the way, condolences, but props to Dave for having the stones to throw down big time on the Patriots.

Whatever... this is incoherent. I started this post to say that it's now 7:30 am Vegas time, I haven't slept, and I'm playing a $350 tournament at the Venetian which starts at noon.

After I pretend to sleep, I'm going to take that fucker down.

Sunday Pokah

2008-01-27T13:26:00.000-08:00

Last year, for the Sunday before the Super Bowl, Bodog increased the guarantee in their $100k up to $200k. I think I finished pretty deep in that. Unfortunately they're not doing that again this year. I'm really not sure why. I don't think they had much of an overlay last year.

A fairly light schedule today:

Cake $20 Rebuy
Bodog $100k
FTP $750k
Cake $50k

I'm skipping the Stars end-of-the-month $530. January's been a pretty rough month on the bankroll.

There's a chance for that to turn around next weekend. Before the NFL playoffs began, I put a hundo on the Giants to win it all at 70:1. I had just kind of assumed I would hedge that position if they made the Super Bowl, but I can only lock up around $1,300 in profit. I'll be out in Vegas next weekend to watch the game. I'm pretty sure I'm just going to let it ride.

Bustoville will be my next destination after Vegas if I washout of everything today and the Pats win next weekend. Sounds like I should book my ticket!

-----------------

Results:

Three washouts and a "who cares?" cash in the $20 rebuy.

C'mon Giants!!!

The Wire/Gambling Update

2008-01-14T01:12:00.000-08:00

I haven't checked my Analytics account in a while, but I'd set the over/under at about an average of 4.5 visitors per day to this blog over the past month. I started this blog not even a year ago. At the time, I had all the intention to build a blog awesome enough that if, it wasn't even authored by me, I'd still visit it at least a few times a week. Well... the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

I don't really know what that means... but it felt appropriate to say.

I'm in a rare state of mind (well... not that rare... I'm buzzed) where actually putting my fingers to the keyboard and writing a blog entry sounds enjoyable. I've got two subjects to talk about.

***************

A few days ago I was playin' beer pong at someone's apartment. I'm friends with some smart guys. Like... I might have been able to fool myself into thinking I was "smart" while I was at Ball State, but I am truly humbled by some of the guys my roommate Michael is friends with from high school.

Anyway, a couple of these guys starting touting this show called "The Wire". I had never heard of it... but that was partially to be expected since I hardly ever watch TV. So these guys start talking about this show, saying things like "it's the best show I've ever seen on TV," and things like that. Now... the guys saying this stuff aren't clowns. I believe my buddy Aaron was the first to mention this show. He's finishing up his last semester at Harvard Law before he moves out to Silicon Valley to start working for [insert well-known law firm that isn't well-known to me here]. Another guy, Vinh, fresh back in his hometown after working for Teach For America in Brooklyn (where he was once mugged... a go-get-'em motherfucker Vinh is to take a job like that) said that, not only is it the best show he's ever seen, but that it's possibly the "best work of art" he's ever seen. I mean... these guys are all the devil's advocate type (perhaps as a result of their time in high school debate) who are reluctant as hell to stake their reputation on something as trivial as a TV show. And that's exactly what I told Vinh, "wow... you're really staking your reputation on this show, huh?" He said, "absolutely... check it out, and you'll understand why."

So I checked it out.

I just finished the first season tonight. You might think having a guy (who you previously had no reason not to trust 100%) tell you that "it's not only the best show I've ever seen, but the best work of art I've ever seen," is a perfect recipe for a grade-A letdown. I wasn't let down in the slightest. In fact... after watching the first season... I have absolutely no hesitation in saying that it's the best TV drama I've ever seen. I would say it's the best TV show I've ever seen, but I don't think it's fair to start comparing The Wire to comedies like Seinfeld and South Park.

But what you can compare it to are shows like Law and Order, Cold Case, CSI, [insert giant "etc" here], and Dexter, which is another show that I'm a huge fan of, but now seems suddenly mediocre relative to HBO's The Wire.

So what's The Wire about? The war on drugs from the perspective of the Baltimore Police and that city's respective drug traffickers.

Something I repeatedly thought about while watching the first season was that the show is more like a 13-hour long movie (there are 13 one-hour long episodes in season one) than it is a start-fresh-each-episode TV drama. More to the point, I can't imagine sitting down to watch some random episode in the middle of the season while having the slightest fucking clue what's going on. Shows such as CSI are meant so that viewers can come and go as they please. The Wire would be like going to a 13-hour long movie and only walking into the theatre for the middle hour of it. My point? If this blog at all motivates you to watch the show, start from beginning to end. Not only will you understand it better, but you'll also (ldo) appreciate it more.

Alright, if anyone who reads this actually decides to watch the show, you can come back to this entry after watching season one to see if you agree with my list of favorite characters from that season. Realize that this show has something like thirty characters that appear in most every episode, which alone makes it unlike any other TV show:

1. Jimmy McNulty - I don't really think this show has a "main character" at all, but if you had to finger someone as such, I think you'd have to go with McNulty. Played by British actor Dominic West, McNulty is that square-jawed action-hero type that every guy (at least secretly) wishes he could be. In at least half the episodes, he has a line that goes, "what the fuck did I do?," which stems from taking the heat on a lot of things that he's probably not responsible for, but gets shit for anyway 'cause he's generally a bit of an asshole. I'll gladly be an "asshole" too as long as it means being as cool and true to one's self as McNulty.

2. Omar Little - The creators of this show really took a risk in making Omar's character openly gay. As a black man who robs others at gunpoint for a living, you wouldn't think that being openly gay would be acceptable as a lifestyle choice. But I think that's what makes Omar's character so awesome. As Aaron put it to me on IM while I was struggling to "believe" this character (if you will), "the fact that he can be openly gay in the hood just shows what a badass he is." Omar is almost too badass.

3. Bubbles - The actor who plays Bubbles portrays a heroin addict so well you wonder if he's attending N.A. meetings in his personal time. Bubbles is generally used for a little humor relief or break in the action from the more dramatic scenes. He has a good heart. You can tell his reoccurring bids to clean up are both genuine and futile.

4. Maury Levy - Every thugged-out drug kingpin needs a good Jewish lawyer to keep their shit clean behind the scenes, right? I completely fell in love with the character of Maury Levy 32 minutes into episode two. He shows up to a police interrogation where one of the kingpin's ken was saying too many words to the police while waiting for representation to arrive. Maury (a short, middle-aged white guy, clearly pissed that his client has been speaking with police), slaps a young, athletic black man in the back of the head and says "how many times do I have to tell you people the same fucking thing?"

5. Stringer Bell - The right-hand man of the show's top drug kingpin is a valuable character. He's a bit of a liberal's fantasy; he attends community college while pursuing a degree in economics when not assigning soldiers to off snitches. Regardless, Stringer is cool, calm, and trustworthy; exactly the type of guy you'd want as your #2 if you were involved in drug trafficking.

The Wire's fifth and final season is currently airing on HBO. I can hardly wait for season two to finish downloading... err... I mean... arrive in the mail.

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Generally speaking, it's hard for me to justify writing a blog entry if all I have to talk about is gambling. The fact that I've been updating this blog so infrequently is largely a product of the fact that all I've really done in the past several weeks is gamble.

Last Wednesday, Michael and I went to L'Auberge du Lac, a casino just across the border of Louisiana. They're really good about comps and promotions, so it's actually +EV to go there (provided you're like us, hardly giving them a thing by making low house-edge bets). Anyway, I decided to run bad playing craps and dropped a good deal of my bankroll that night. I've won quite a bit of it back through online tournaments the past couple of days.

On Friday, I final tabled the PokerStars nightly $10 rebuy for the first time. Unfortunately, Ace-King decided to lose all-in preflop to Ace-Seven for a third of the chips in play with seven left. First was $15,000. I got $1,800 for 7th.

Today I played most of the Sunday majors. I had a few decent (but frustrating) results. In the Sunday Million, I had Ace-Queen lose, all-in preflop, to Ace-Jack for a pot that would have made me 200/2,000. Granted that was pretty early in the tournament, but I certainly would have been peering down the barrel of a second straight week of cashing in that tournament if a Jack didn't hit on the river.

In Cake Poker's $100k guarantee, I sat on a stack of less than 10 bbs from when we were in the money (90 players), all the way down to 40 players, while probably not seeing more than 20 hands in between. The field was so nitty that everyone was using their 120-second time banks to try to squeak up another pay level. Eventually, I started to think a final table appearance was in my future, but then my 9 bb cutoff shove with Queen-Ten woke up against the big blind's King-King, ldo.

Most of my frustration came in the Bodog $100k, which I have five final two-table finishes (including two $14k second place finishes) in just the past 12 months. With 20 players left during 3k/6k, I was the chipleader with 200k. During 4k/8k, I doubled a short stack up in an unavoidable Eights versus Nines situation. The structure in that tournament moves very fast. Before I knew it, I had ten big blinds during 6k/12k while we were playing five handed on the FT bubble. Five-handed with an M (for the record, I'm not one of those "M-groupies") of 4, you kinda need to be dealt some cards. I wasn't dealt cards. I finished 10th for the second time in less than three months in that tournament. $1,000. First was $25,000. Ugh.

I feel really good about how I've been playing though. Looking back to 2007, when I had three five-figure cashes, I can easily say that I'm significantly better now than I was then. 2008 is young. I feel like the pieces are in place for this to be, by far, the best year of my poker playing career.

Thanks for reading.

What's Sad Is That This Works

2008-01-05T16:36:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2iFhGtKO-Q&v3

Before seeing that video, I was, at best, disgruntled at the possibility he could be our next President. Now I'm frightened.

Movie Grades - 4Q 2007

2008-01-02T13:09:00.000-08:00

I watched fewer movies than normal last quarter, but still saw some pretty good ones:

A
American Gangster - 2 hours 40 minutes, and not one second of it was boring.

A-
Michael Clayton - Awesome movie, but Clooney should get a lot of credit. Swap out him for some b-list actor, and this might have been entirely mediocre.

Into the Wild - This didn't grip me emotionally as much as I was hoping it might, but still a fantastic film. Emilie Hirsch deserves an Oscar.

Gone Baby Gone - This could have had more depth. I found myself more interested in the next cheap plot twist than I did the characters' dilemmas.

Flags of Our Fathers - Maybe the most honest war movie I've ever seen.

B+
Zodiac - A little dense and lengthy, but worth the viewing.

Hollywoodland - Didn't insist on resolving itself, which made it intriguing. Could have been shorter, though.

Breach - Kinda boring, but that can be partially forgiven by the fact that this is based on a true story.

B
Lars and the Real Girl - Ryan Gosling is clearly a great actor, but this was a little dull. It reminded me of Napoleon Dynamite, just without all the funny.

No Country for Old Men - I'm bothered by movies that leave you with tons of "what do you think happened?" type of questions. In a work of fiction, if the story doesn't tell you what happened, than nothing happened!

Bobby - The all-star cast was distracting but I think this movie accomplished what it (probably) set out to: paying tribute to one of our country's most hopeful politicians who was taken away much too soon and much too needlessly.

B-
Owning Mahowny - Not only was this set in the 80s, but it was filmed to appear as if it was made in the 80s as well (it was made in 2003). I thought that was a neat piece of moviemaking, but the film itself was pretty mediocre.

Bugsy - Long and often boring, but at least it was a gangster movie.

C-
Deja Vu - I'm okay with having to take a small leap of faith with regard to a movie's premise, but this was asking for an Olympic-caliber triple jump.

F
Saw IV - Movies, especially mainstream blockbusters, shouldn't require thirty minutes of reading IMDB message boards to figure out wtf happened.

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Top 10 Movies I Saw in 2007:

1. 3:10 To Yuma
2. In The Shadow of the Moon
3. Sunshine
4. American Gangster
5. Into the Wild
6. Once
7. Michael Clayton
8. The Prestige
9. Alpha Dog
10. Babel

Go New Jersey!

2007-12-17T12:35:00.000-08:00

Hopefully other states follow in their footsteps.

First 10k Hands

2007-12-14T22:37:00.000-08:00

It took me two weeks to log 10,000 hands at $.50/$1 no-limit. I'm impressed both with the speed in which I played that many hands as well as my results.

My actual results are as follows (click all images to enlarge):

Obviously I'm less than impressed with that outcome. However, some nifty software called PokerEV has me more at peace.

Here is a graph of my "all-in luck" during these 10k hands:

This is how much I would have won if I was "running even":

If my actual results were an actual representation of my expectation at these games, I would be throwing in the towel right now, but seeing that I'd be winning 11bbs/100 hands in a luck-free vacuum is quite comforting. Hopefully things even out over the course of the next 10k hands.

I played all of these hands at PokerStars and FullTilt. I'm going to branch off into some other sites where I can get rakeback soon. I've been extremely surprised with how soft PokerStars has been. I only started playing there to clear a reload bonus, but it's actually been a better site for me.

Adjusting for all-in luck, I've been winning nearly 14bbs/100 through 3,500 hands on Stars and just 9bb/100 through 6,500 hands on FullTilt. I was definitely not expecting that to be the case. I realize that is an extremely small sample size, though.

Balla Condo in Vegas

2007-12-09T10:00:00.000-08:00

I'm in Vegas for a couple days to visit some friends. Today I'm playing some of the Sunday majors from the 26th story of a sweet, sweet condo that my friend Exitonly and a bunch of his friends (Thay3r, and a bunch of other young MTT ballas that I don't really know) are renting while they're in town for the Bellagio 5 Diamond WPT series.

The condo is right across the highway from the Bellagio. It has windows all around and a balcony on both sides of the building. North is the only direction that doesn't have window representation. It's easily the sweetest dwelling I've ever seen in my life. Being 6'4", I'm a little uneasy by the height of the railing on the balconies, which only come up to my waist.

Thanks to the housing crisis, these guys were able to rent this place for something like $80/night/person. It's definitely the sweetest dwelling I've ever hung out in. Winning the Sunday Million with my feet propped up on the balcony and the Vegas Strip in front of me... okay stfu Cory it's not happening.

Back To Poker

2007-12-01T12:21:00.000-08:00

I haven't played much poker at all in the past two months. A lot of the time I might otherwise devote to poker has been spent on fantasy football, exercising, and who knows what else. Now that the NFL season is winding down, I'm getting back into the mood to play poker.

Instead of focusing solely on MTTs, I'm going to start playing cash games. Frankly I'm a little nervous about the whole thing. It's entirely possible that I'm a "fish" for all intents and purposes in online cash games these days. To start, I'm going to just play some $.50/$1 6-max no-limit. After a few thousand hands of that, if things seem to be going smoothly, I'll probably move up. Historically I've had horrible discipline when it comes to online cash games, which is probably part of the reason why I like MTTs so much. Hopefully this time around I'm mature enough to handle it.

If worse comes to worse, I can always just drop the cash games and focus solely on MTTs. I'm hoping not to come to such a bridge without putting a significant effort towards beating small stakes no-limit on the internet. We shall see...

I'll post some stats on how I'm doing after ~10k hands provided the results aren't too embarrassing.

Choosing Not To Work

2007-11-26T00:06:00.000-08:00

I was just talking with my girlfriend about how she has encountered varying instances of judgment since she decided, at the age of 27, to stop working. She is a very intelligent, freethinking individual with a Masters in Social Work. However, when presented with the means to stop working (read: producing), she began to question why she should. Six years after choosing not to work, criticisms that she’s “wasting her potential” or “not doing her fair share” have not subsided. Not coincidentally, she is the happiest person I know.

Her story makes me curious about something. Why do people feel such a strong need to produce and consume? Those who choose not to participate in the production/consumption process, or at least refrain from participating in it to some degree, frequently deal with having negative labels assigned to them. If you don’t work, you’re not “lucky,” you’re “lazy.” If you don’t spend, you’re not “discerning,” you’re “cheap.” But where do these labels come from?

I think the most logical answer to that question is to say that these labels have been passed down through the generations. They have survived because so few people have paused to ask if they’re still necessary. Human evolution depends on teamwork for survival. The earliest humans had to “do their fair share” to ensure that they, and the rest of their tribe would survive. Wealth was so limited that no one was afforded the luxury of choosing not to participate in the process of production, which really is nothing other than the creation of wealth.

But today, that’s not the case. Some are wealthy enough that, from a survival standpoint, they have nothing to directly gain by producing. Many people in this situation still choose to produce. Just think of all the athletes, movie stars, and CEOs who make enough money, some of them in just a few weeks, to ensure that they would never have to “work” again. I put “work” in quotes for a reason. Most athletes and movie stars probably enjoy what they do. And as long as you enjoy what you do, then you’re not really working.

Others, however, do not enjoy what they do. But rather than save and invest every dime they earn, they sabotage themselves by creating children and making frivolous purchases that ensure they will need to keep “producing” for much of their life in order to survive.

Could it be possible that the negative connotations surrounding a young person’s decision not to produce is merely a byproduct of bitterness from those who have cornered themselves into needing to produce in order to survive? When you’re neck-deep in debt with mouths to feed, you do have to work!

If you ever choose not to participate in this process, just know that you have my utmost respect and deepest apologies for whatever judgment you encounter. It takes a lot of guts to stare the world in the face and ask “why?” Thanks to my girlfriend for teaching me that lesson by example.

Risk-Free Short

2007-11-23T14:34:00.001-08:00

Here's one of the more cut-and-dry examples of how to make money off of others' poor decisions. Apparently, a couple years ago, there was a market to sell Arnold Schwarzenegger's chances of becoming the Republican Presidential Nominee at rates as high as 4%. I'd love to hear some rationalizations on that purchase.

"If someone gives you 25:1 on the Terminator... you take it."

Macsnobs

2007-11-22T14:27:00.000-08:00

Maybe it's just the people I'm exposed to, but this notion that Apple is god and everything else is crap seems to be at an epic high. I suspect the hype surrounding the release of the iPhone, and now the iTouch (which is basically just an iPhone without the phone part - what's the big fuss?), have infected the population with this propensity to be "Macsnobs".

Everyone seems to say, "Apple is the only way to go." I can't help but ask, "is it? ...and if so, why?" It's as if these Macsnobs are incapable of holding Apple to the same high standard they hold most other products. Anecdotally, iPhones seem to be full of problems (freezing screens, poor phonecall quality), overpriced (though maybe not anymore), and way too prone to damage. The same can be said for the iPod. Personally, I have not had one of them remain functional for more than a year. Macbook users are also restricted from enjoying many things PC users take for granted (for me, anyway, not the least of these is Bodog Poker, see: $35k+ database of gross cashes).

I recently purchased a Toshiba laptop with Windows Vista. So far I'm quite impressed. It cost me $700. An Apple laptop, provided you're not willing to settle for a ridiculously ineffcient 13-inch screen, starts at $2,000, but can get as high as $3,000. And the Macsnob would say of my decision, "have fun when yours breaks down in a year!" Even if I expect the Toshiba to break down within a year (which, admittedly, given how much I'll be using it, I do), I still stand by my purchase.

For the same price as a Macbook, I can replace my current computer once a year for 3-4 years (and that's if I just keep my computer-buying money under my mattress). That means I'll be using less outdated technology four years from now, provided our "Macsnobs" are hypothetically restricted from buying anything new while I spend years working towards reaching their spending level.

But I'm not knocking on Apple. They are clearly an incredibly smart company. But that's just it. They're smart... not necessarily great. And although I don't have much extensive use with their products, they would have to be, across the board, significantly better than their competitors to justify the significantly higher prices. The basic structure of logic behind the phrase, "exceptional claims require exceptional evidence," isn't just useful in arguing against religion.

Apple has succeded in turning their brand into a fashion. People flock to fashions, because they fear they might be judged if they don't. But all fashions eventually die. If Apple is unable to stay one step ahead of these changes, their company's image could go the way of bellbottoms [1].

Amidst all those who think that "Mac is the only way to go," I'll continue quietly making a yearly 15 minute trip to Best Buy to pick up the latest shitty (but affordable) PC.

From my vantage point, these people relentlessly touting Apple seem like nothing more than victims of some incredibly brilliant marketing. I'm way more impressed with how they've built their brand than I am with their products.

[1] I should state for the record that I think Apple is smart enough to successfully market their products in a way that they will continue to be wildly consumed well into the distant future.

Lackluster Update

2007-11-14T16:31:00.000-08:00

To the six of you who actually visit this blog with any regularity, I feel compelled to write a "real" entry (if you can call this one).

This blog hasn't been too interesting lately. (That's not to suggest it ever was.) It's easier to maintain an interesting blog when your life is interesting. This summer I was gambling constantly, traveling constantly, and somehow actually doing stuff that, at the time, seemed generally interesting enough for good blogging material. Lately, life's been a little less interesting. I suppose that's not a bad thing. It's given me more time to exercise, read, play with my dog, and work on my beer pong skills (6-0 last weekend with an 18 year old first-timer girl as my partner, HOLLAAA!!); but those activities don't exactly make for interesting blog material.

It reminds me of Barack Obama's memoir, Dreams from My Father, where he writes 465 compelling pages about the first 24 years of his life, then closes by saying "...and oh yea, after that I went to Harvard Law. The end." Only I'm not at Harvard Law. I'm trying to throw ping pong balls into plastic cups.

I don't really know where this entry is going, so I'll close by saying that my friend Ray took down the Super Tuesday on Stars last night for a cool $77,000. Nice job, Ray!

I'm Mature

2007-11-06T14:03:00.000-08:00

While stopped at a red light, I couldn't help but notice a kid changing a business sign and giving himself some jollies in the process. I probably only got honked at twice while I scurred to take a picture with my camera phone after the light turned green.