Where in the World is Carmen Santiago?
World Series of Poker Event #5: NLHE 6-Max
Idex doll show in ballroom on your way to World Series area. These are dolls that sell for $2k-15k supposedly.
Phil Ivey is in the LHE Event Day 2 in two hours in good shape, but he's accumulating chips rapidly to start. If he can build a big enough stack, he can get blinded off and survive Day 1 while he's playing the LHE Day 2.
Gus Hansen sighting.
Isabelle's toes. Notice chairs stacked next to her (where her bag is). A bit of a challenge walking around.
Jennifer Jennicide Leigh.
Johnny Chan chatting it up with Dewey Tomko after busting a play early.
After walking around quickly, this is an event that is really intriguing. You can expect some challenging tables immediately if you've bought into this tourney: Mike Caro and Cyndi Violette were all-in early on the river, but both turned over Q-10 for a chopped straight. Dags, The Grinder, and Daniel are at Table 149, Ferguson and Kathy Liebert are together, Amir Vahedi's already gone from Freddy Deeb's table, Matusow and Barry Greenstein. The other challenge is players that don't show up are at big risk. From a CardPlayer update, they tell of one table with only two folks at the table. They were quickly flipping coins to see who would steal the blinds (ouch). I wish you 6-maxer's could be here to take this one in, as I think it will be a pretty special event.
I'll have some new news probably Monday or Tuesday. It is incredible in my opinion, and I'll have more about it later. For now, I'm off to MGM to see some bloggers. Thanks for stopping by, and I'll be back later.
MUST PLAY POKER!
Banner from TripJax you can use to pimp CC here.
More Liz from early action yesterday. I had a chance to meet her yesterday, and she's very nice. Pauly and she are serious buds as well.
MissT74 (Tanya Peck) and Sheiky. Tanya had a nice run through most of the day but wasn't at her seat by the end of the day.
Items up at PokerWorks from yesterday: Event #2 $1.5k NLHE Final Table, Event #3 $1.5k PLHE Day 2, Event #4 $1.5k LHE Day 1. Also my interview with Vince Van Patten is up, and I really think it is pretty good. You let me know.
I accidentally left my camera in my room, which is like leaving the room. Will head back in just a bit. Got a call from MiamiDon, so I'll head to meet him and Carmen at MGM around 2:30 for a meal (maybe it's called lupper?).
This is from yesterday's action, probably around three our four hours into the LHE event. Notice media on the left (with cameras and pads). Upper right you see railbirds watching the final table of Event #2. Early on, you'd see the LHE players watching the large screen over the final table, but that reduced through the days as folks looked more and more at their own stacks.
Oh, and no poker yesterday. Will today be the day, or will it be tomorrow? Who knows. Maybe I've forgotten how to play...(Waffles: "#*!%, that donkey never knew how in the first place!).
Good Night and Good Morning
Three events simultaneously is so much fun. For Brandon Cantu, it sure is sweet as he takes home three quarters of a million bucks and a bracelet. 
Dewey Tomko on right earlier in the day. He was the odd man out when it got down to one table, and the final table of the PLHE Event #3 is packed with some serious studs. Juanda is just a beast to watch up close and personal, with his eyes darting around, constantly studying anyone in the action. Chip leader is a blogger, rizenpoker.
And Mr. eyes darting himself, Phil Ivey. He's in the top ten in chips of the LHE Event #5. Event #6 is the $2.5k NLHE (max 6). I was going to buy willwonka in but couldn't find his phone number. Can't wait to get away from this with MiamiDon and Carmen. Thanks for keeping me going on fumes. Just keep scrolling down, leave lots of comments, or send me emails at csquard@gmail.com.
Storm before the Calm
Joe Sebok, his magic working, has built his stack to significance. He could see the precipice but has clawed back.
In this instance, green isn't that good ($25 chips), so Liz Lieu will need some work to become a force.
I'll be away for a chunk of the near term but will provide a couple more posts today. Juan Carlos Mortensen had A-Q come up against pocket pairs two hands in a span of fifteen minutes, up against T-T and J-J. He doubled up both players and is gone in 9th place. Just a fierce, terrific player, a true marvel to watch up close. I'm better for it, just watching him in action. And the remaining eight players now feel like anyone can win this bracelet.
Final table (Mortensen with his back to us in the 5s). Look at the remarkable image being broadcast above the table, the overhead shot of the table. Does this not look absolutely like a PartyPoker Table? The only difference (which they should have figured out) is that the dealer should be at the top of the image rather than the bottom.
Liz Lieu, Capped Limit Pots, and Sudoku: World Series of Poker Event #4
Jennifer Harman, fresh off of a few hours sleep and an 11th place finish in Event #2, decides to play a little limit. I came to her rescue, grabbing napkins for her as she wanted either napkins or ideally wipes. Maybe this is a theme for me, CC the cleaning boy!
Finally, I meet my virtual buddy, Joe Sebok. Short stacked again (I think he just likes to cut and paste blog posts that say "...I was short stacked, shoved with QQ and ran up against kings..."), but I gave him some magic, so he's ready to take down a bracelet.
Kid Poker and Vanessa Rousso.
I play limit holdem ring games, mainly $15/30 or $10/20 when it's live. I like the excitement and adventure of each hand, folding then watching ESPN or looking around the room. David Williams has a different approach to augmenting the excitement: Sudoku.
This is what it's like to tangle with a World Champion heads-up (Ferguson is sort of multi-tabling, playing Event #4 while waiting for the 2:00 start of the PLHE Day 2). The 1s and Ferguson are involved in this pot capped on the flop and turn (ultimately a $1k pot with limits of $25/50 here in Level 1). The board reads now Ad2h7h7d, and Qc comes on the river. I'll let you guess who holds what and takes this monster down. Answer below in white (that's always really exciting whenever I see someone do that):
1s has capped with two black sevens, while Ferguson had the black aces for set over set that became quad sevens over a boat. NOTE: no one exclaimed DQB!
OK, rate the following folks as to hottest, with 1 being hottest and 4 being least hottest:
Jean Gluck
World Series of Poker Day 3: Losing a Baby
The next poker explosion looming: slot tourneys. Woodpeckers hitting a button as rapidly as they can. At the end each session, there is a number over the slot with a score or something. Pavlov's dog would be dry-mouthed compared to these folks.
Dealers at the ready, thirty minutes before World Series of Poker Event #4 $1.5k LHE.
ESPN's production braintrust. Security dude in top left is my buddy, as we chat it up for five or ten seconds all the time.
The ESPN Final Table gets finishing touches. Can Juan Carlos Mortensen recover his momentum? He'll be the only one there that has the coveted jewelry for his wrist.
I spill my coffee on the set as I peer up at the lights, gazing like the first time I looked up at the Empire State Building. Of course, I wasn't a dork ruining a set and creating an OSHA hazard when I was looking up on Fifth Street. Yellow tape was already there, not caused by me (I did steal a towel and give it to the crew after cleaning up the residue left after a member used napkins).
Sweetie dropped the Big Guy, our eldest son, at Furman Soccer Camp north of G-Vegas. This is the first separation like this (camp, four days) for him, so while it isn't like he's been shipped off to a sugar mill in Cuba it is a bit impactful on her. He's got alot of her in him: a bigtime reader (he reads on his stomach each night for an hour, huddled under a nightlight plugged in an outlet), a quieter guy who has extreme caring for others. He's a puppy, but he also has some of me for sure: a bit of a baby physically (not as in baby fat but easy to feign injury), athletic, decent looking but not a looker (I mean, I'm not hideous or anything, but I'm not whatever you call it now). All-in, our middle son, is the outgoing ladies man. I've used him in advertising campaigns before, and I think he could absolutely get modeling gigs if we were weird parents. The Little Guy is two and has his mother wrapped around her finger, so there's not much to say.
Anyways, I do want to ask you folks a favor, a real favor (not that you ever do anything I say, but what the heck). Write Sweetie at honeycunn@yahoo.com and, well, thank her for letting me come out here. I shouldn't be here, as long time readers would know. I'm not a writer, I have a struggling consulting business, and I have three boys and an incredible wife who needs me. I'm here though. So if you are glad I'm here, then tell her about it. She won't read any of it probably until we get back after the 4th, but I know it would mean alot to her.
The transition of kids through different phases of life is a kind of loss, but it doesn't compare to losing a child. When you wake up in a hotel at a bizarro time of day, you see things on TV that you wouldn't normally see, like Oprah. Okra had Dick Ebersol and Susan Saint James along with their boys. He is the NBC Sports executive, she best known as Rock Hudson's wife in McMillan and Wife. The family was there for an hour, describing the loss of their son Teddy in a private plane crash that seriously injured Dick Ebersol and older son Charles as well as. Charles found the silver mane of his father under 250 pounds of kitchen supplies and wreckage and pulled him to safety while suffering third degree burns on his arms. He returned to the burning jet searching frantically for his little brother Teddy, but he had been ejected from the plane and died instantly under the fuselage. A Today Show interview captured Susan's loss as well.
My prayers go to anyone who lives each day of their life with this sort of loss. Go hug your son or daughter in a special way today. The World Series of Poker is really great, but nothing's better than that hug. Thanks for stopping by.
A Room Without a View
I don't how to do this exactly, but you can use this banner to pimp CC and the coverage.
Stacking chips from David Williams.
The beginning of yesterday's action.
Freddy Deeb; I'd hate to sit at a table with him.
Jennifer Harman coming over the top. Her opponent (with sweater on back of chair) deliberated for five minutes before mucking.
Write-ups are now done for World Series of Poker Event #2 Day 2 (NLHE) and Event #3 Day 1 (PLHE). Check PokerWorks as they add fresh content, and for sure head over to these articles. I've gotten so much good stuff from different people, good feedback. I was talking with Sweetie when I got to my room at 4:00 this morning, and I told her that there is so little in our lives where we have people telling us we do a good job. When it's something that you don't know if you can do well, like the Truckin' story or these articles or this blog, well I have to be honest, it's very appreciated. So keep sucking up or blowing smoke up my skirt or whatever.
Some macro thoughts on all of this heading into today:
- I'm probably so idealistic and naive that I didn't truly understand poker until this trip. There is poker that we play, where we try to win, have fun, lose some, analyze our hands, try to remember odds and what to do when M is 12 and stuff like that. Then there is poker that the pros subscribe to. This poker is all about taking money away from other people, that really is all it is about. These people who we've read about or seen? They crave action from the businessman or the drunk guy or the kid parlaying a win. The rest of it is a grind, which is where the prop bets and the mixed games and the running it twice all come into play.
- The tourney room is littered with those sliding down or at the bottom. Some are noticeable, others are chameleons. They've jumped down in stakes quietly, they're being backed or bought into events. Some are dealing at the WSOP while marketing themselves as real players ready to make a run.
- The room is filled with some clueless folks. I chatted it up with one guy who has his mistress of five years with him. I had shot her photo as a railbird, which she asked me to nuke. He played the PLHE, made the money and into Day 2. Never played pot limit in his life, had no plan, nothing. This is the event that Phil Ivey among others left after a couple hours.
- Chinese poker: incredible to watch Sheiky and Matusow play. I never really understood what the heck was going on as I just wandered by (it's like twelve decks being dealt or something).
I ended up only eating the megalunch yesterday, which is obviously no good. I do have some inventory (meaning some blubber I could live off of for a few weeks), but I'll have to figure out what to do. I'm probably going to shower and head on. I need to transcribe the Mike Sexton interview today to keep the discipline, as well as need to research some of the folks I'll be interviewing. And call them on their cell phones and not be a big fraidy-scared baby. "Hey Sheiky, Craig here. You were busting it last night something good. Wanted to see when a good time would be to interview you, as I know you have alot to say."
Well, I'll at least avoid these calls until I shower. And eat. And haul my fifty pounds of crap back to the Media Room. Thanks for stopping by, and I'll keep pinging away throughout the day. (NOTE: keep repeating I WILL PLAY POKER TODAY, I WILL PLAY POKER TODAY)
Brutal Ending
Jennifer Harman busts out after watching Juan Carlos Mortensen's chip lead evaporate over sixty minutes. Harman fought hard until the very, very end, only to see her A-K run into A-A as she came over the top. Mortensen would pick up aces short stacked, getting into the final table for tomorrow.
Articles completed, and I'm really worn out. No poker but the Mook, and I'm done here again at approaching three in the morning. I wasn't able to figure out how to keep this from happening for the second day in a row, working until the wee hours of the next day. I can only do what I can do the way I can do it, then we'll have to see if we can make it quicker or something. Have to knock out interviews etc. here in the next couple days, but now I need to hit the sack. I'm thinking harder about buying into a tourney, if only to get some rest!
Playing the Mook at the World Series of Poker
Juan Carlos Mortensen maintained a big chip lead and his tower has turn a lovely yellow.
Jen Harman keeps her energy up, compliments of Marco and Starbucks.
Late into the night, the Matador's tower had taken a hit that was now significant. Mortensen had doubled up two players in thirty minutes, and he was now a member of the field rather than the monster stack. He has the heart of a champion, although the break couldn't have come at a better time.
I wanna be a cowboy, so you can be my cowgirl. Playing in the Mook with fellow bloggers while sitting in the World Series of Poker Media Room was a bit surreal (not sure if that word is correct, but it was weird). I could head to the Bellagio and play with Linda, go out and try and qualify for an event or play a juicy cash game, or play with folks who are now buddies. I chose the latter, and it was a great time. I played great but was outlasted by Lucypher. Fought back from the depths, eventually taking out factgirl who played solid as well. Mookie99 has the write-up, so head over. If you're ever looking for a great tourney to donk around with, pick this one. Oh, and Dr. Pauly himself guest played for me (when my bot wasn't playing), knocking out the host when his/our AA flopped a boat. The ole min raise AA, although mook couldn't do anything with his short stack.
Must write much stuff. Have to head, so thanks so much for all the emails and comments and everything. Really, it keeps all of us going, especially me as a newbie.
Buenos Noches, Poquer-Red
A Champion is Knocked Out
A scene most of us only dream of, filling out paperwork to receive a check or cash after a World Series event. For Raymer, he sees it as an outcome based on making the best reads and decisions in the context of each hand and pot. Checking messages while waiting for the next signature, he has to feel good about this year's WSOP. Out in 63rd place.
While Raymer was completing paperwork, Phil Hellmuth was signing anything for anyone and posing for photos, this time with Chris Ferguson. Hellmuth may play the Poker Brat on television, but outside of the rail he is extremely approachable and giving. The lobby outside of the tourney area is like you'd find in any Vegas or big convention-type hotel ballrooms. I have yet to see Hellmuth fail stop in his tracks to greet a fan or grin for a photo.
In the PLHE Event #3, Barry Greenstein busts two players when his A-A takes out K-K and Q-Q.
Barry: "Did you see that brilliant play on my part?"
CC: "Is Joe playing today?"
Barry: "He was..."
CC: "You emailed me for my Relationships and Poker and Children and Poker series."
Barry: "Oh, you're that guy."
Barry Greenstein, author, playing in the biggest games in the world, knows my name. That Guy. How cool is that?
Is it Variance or Randomness?
Event #3 PLHE
Floor, can you ask these two guys to please shut up? All they do is talk, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Clonie in an outfit borrowed from Pauly's FullTilt swag.
Grinder and Howard in the 9s and 10s respectively.
Table 65 4s, 5s, and 6s
Table 65 8s and 9s. You are a poker junkie if you can name all five of these players starting at Table 65. Also, Mook had a good idea, creating a banner that folks can use to pimp CC's coverage. Submit candidates to csquard@gmail.com. Winner will receive a framed photo from my WSOP coverage.
Hanging with Michael Craig
Jennifer Harman and Michael Craig. Michael (I can actually call him that) seems like a terrific guy. I interviewed him last week and met him yesterday. He and Linda Geenen are big buddies, and I'm now at least known by him (maybe fast becoming aquaintances or pals). He set up with me in the media room here this morning, in the back corner away from everything. I'm watching his laptop and bag while he's snuck away to play a single table satellite. He showed me the new Maxim with a sixteen page advertorial section from FullTilt, including a few Clonie shots, as well as profiles of the FullTilt team. It's easy to warm up to him as he's a bundle of chatty nervous energy, not a guy bouncing off the walls like his buddy Matusow but someone always thinking of a dozen things.
Lynette Chan had been cranking along early in the day when I shot this photo of her. It was nice to meet her after interviewing her. I saw in the afternoon when she was moved to Clonie's table, short stacked. No one runs up to me and tells me they've busted out, but the sign is unmistakable. Let me check on Phil Ivey; hey, someone's in his seat. Where did Lynette go? I wonder if Isabelle is going to push through after cashing, hey where did she go? With Lynette, there was a burly fellow in her seat, then after dinner I see her at a cash game trying to play traffic cop between the floor and unruly player.
Let me point you to some great sources for what's going on here. Otis from PokerStars via G-Vegas and BadBlood's game works his tail off keeping track of Stars players as well as general info. We left around the same time this morning, 2:30 or 3:00. He's the salt of the Earth.
Pauly doesn't need my pimpage here, but I would never ever ever ever not check his blog constantly during a tourney. I won't break his aura of degeneracy here; OK, I will. He's basically a medium teddy bear from Build-a-Bear.
Justin at PokerPages works as tirelessly as Otis out here. I gave him the Isabelle hand after I'd approached the CardPlayer neophytes, who looked at me like I was speaking Greek. He's hopping around updating working on PokerPages updates, which I've always read regularly during tourneys.
I'm heading to walk the floor of the Event #3 $1.5k PLHE event. I played pot limit once at the Gutshot in London, but I never exactly understood what I could bet, so I don't know if I would do very well in this tourney. eMail me at cunningham@gmail.com or leave comments if you need anything or having any encouragement, and thanks for stopping by.
Good Morning All
Elvis eventually made the cash but didn't end the day with any more chips.
Steve Danneman accosts strange lady. I mean, a stranger (she said strange lady)
Tuan Le doing that thing he does, putting someone to the test. Never sure if he's looked as his cards.
Minneapolis Jim Meehan: " What am I supposed to do with this hand?" This after taking forever to act, arguing with Bill Gazes, who isn't in the hand, then showing As-2s. Well, they are sooted, but how about mucking?
Clonie Gowen's chips dwindle, a prelude to a late exit.
Sweetie called me this morning, around 9:00 Vegas time (I went to sleep at 3:00). You can check out my reports on Tournament of Champions and Event #2 Day 1. Anyways, it goes like this:
CC: "I'm so tired, I worked all night but I'm not sure what I did."
Sw: (to boys) "I'm not sure why the bank teller didn't give us lollipops! Did you play any poker?"
CC: "I haven't had any time to play poker. I've got to figure out how to make that work."
Sw: "Look, this is your week. You're supposed to be out there enjoying yourself while I'm here with these three boys."
CC: "You need to have a bag of dum-dum's in the car."
I need to prepare for Sexton interview, so I'll check out now and connect back at the event. Thanks for stopping by.
Twenty Four Hours in a Day
Phil Hellmuth provides an explanation for others at the table.
On the bubble, Isabelle Mercier doubles up shoving all-in with K-J, being called by A-Q, then catching her king on the turn. She would cash but wouldn't last much longer.
Chip leader Carlos Mortensen is an amateur architect, building Madrid's answer to the Eiffel Tower.
John Pharo from Scottsdale (in red) held on to his last three chips literally on the bubble, peaking at his pocket aces then mucking then. He made it to the money (the ole laying down aces routine).Players who make it through Day 1 are still there fourteen hours after they started. How do they do it? I'm not sure, as I'm absolutely on fumes after pretty much doing nothing other than walking around. First, let me get all the gripes out of the way. Internet access that Pauly always used to whine about is horrible. Most of the time, I get knocked off midstream. There is still nothing much to eat, and the Media room is fairly spartan. I brought a power cord from the ATL and had to pipe in juice from the hall. If I hadn't done that, Otis and I wouldn't have had any electricity.
It is a fascinating time for poker as it is going through significant growing pains. I'll probably do an article on it, but let me lay out the basics. Harrah's has feverishly negotiated exclusive agreements with a variety of concerns, from the official watch of the World Series of Poker (watch meaning wristwatch, and I must confess that I don't know what it is) to the official beer to the security system (Honeywell). On the media side, exclusive deals have been cut with CardPlayer, FullTilt, and ESPN. With ESPN, you have a strong engine to power televised poker, so this is no concern in my opinion. The significant problem is that CardPlayer doesn't seem mature or robust enough to get their job done. Poker has been winging it, covered by bloggers, European websites, American magazines, and online poker sites. Some are great, some are horrendous, but if you're like me you check out several covering sites simultaneously, hitting reload after reload as you go. Now it funnels through one source, CardPlayer. When you take that on, you better be good, and they have not been good. The data collectors seemed totally green listening to their chatter, lacking an understanding of the context of events happening around them. More later on all this.
I got to meet Vince Van Patten, who I interviewed over the phone Saturday. Very good guy, and he was really positive about the article. Linda joined me for dinner, and folks she introduced me to and I'll be interviewing: Robert Williamson III, Carlos Mortensen, Kristy Gazes, Erik Seidel, Sean Sheikhan, and Mike Sexton, who I interview tomorrow. I rustled up David Benyamine myself, which was nice. I'll probably transition to focusing on interviews over the next couple days, but I need to get on the felt myself to gain some sanity.
Hitting the sack as I have to get up early to prepare for the Sexton interview. Thanks for stopping by.
The Beginning
So what is it really like, the World Series of Poker? I'll be honest, I was a bit skeptical coming into this. I've played at the Bellagio during the WPT Five Diamonds, I've sat two tables from the Big Game, peering over my red chips to see Ivey, Harman, Hansen et al toss chip worth 200-1000x my little nickels. Truly, watching a poker tourney is like watching paint dry. You can't see anything, everyone folds, you crane away trying to figure out what's happening.
This is unique in a few ways. First, you wander around, snaking through tables quietly sneaking a peak at those you recognize and those you don't. The more fascinating thing are the railbirds watching the nameless sea of players. Alma and Wayne Parks flew down from upstate New York to sweat their son, Lucas. A serious knee injury dashed his baseball dreams while playing in Troy, Alabama. He'll graduate soon, probably heading home. He qualified here through Absolute Poker, with a return ticket for 11 July.
Blake Toungate from Austin played in last year's WSOP, cashing in this event at 181. He bought in directly and is back for more. Tamra Slobojan peers into the eyes of her husband Michael, a Stars qualifier, rooting for his survival. Then there is the lady I photographed with the nifty glasses. Mortified, she tells me she's sweating her lover of five years, and please destroy the photos (have done so).
Then there are the folks lucky enough to sit at Table 130, with Phil Ivey in the 3s, John Phan in the 5s, and Ron Rose in the 8s. This on one of 201 tables of 11 players each. I'll try to sniff out who the 4s is.
Thanks for all the emails. I'll keep posting throughout the day.
Arriving at the Rio
Dutch Boyd waiting in line for breakfast. I had ham and cheese omelette with po-ta-toes and toast.
Entrance to the WSOP. You have to remember that the WSOP is in the Rio, comprising ball rooms all pulled together. Although the World Series is the mega-event of poker, for Vegas it is a a drop in the bucket. Las Vegas thinks in increments of 25,000 people, and the WSOP doesn't even hit the radar when compared
Pauly introduced himself to me. He's a dear friend now, it looks like.
Counting tourney chips two hours before Event #2. They've capped the event at 2,750 I believe, and probably could have snuck in an extra 500 or so (I made that part up, but I'm guessing that's right). Satellites and cash games going up until 11:00, with kick-off at high noon.
More preparation.
Shot from the back corner of the room, two hours before liftoff.
Horrible photo of Michael Craig (my bad, Mike). Tried not to act like a tourist, but a tourist shot it is.
The Calm before the Storm
I've been up several hours writing up the Tournament of Champions event for PokerWorks (should be up in a few hours). An epic battle, with Mike Sexton taking Daniel Negreanu after over six hours of heads-up battle. If it's any indication of what is to follow, we're in for some kind of ride. The Bellagio has the best toiletries to take. From left to right: sponge, shower gel, conditioner, shampoo, four bars of soap, hair spray, hand lotion, and bath gel. You might download the following three shots and mae a panorama of the view from the Bellagio, not sure. I'm headed off to breakfast and the Rio, so I'll check in from there. My interview with Michael Craig should be on PokerWorks by the end of the day, so check that out as well.
Vegas
First, congrats go out to Miami Don at the Hoy, defending my title proudly. Don's learning some poker slumming with tourists, it looks like. Gratuitous photo of Shaq with either Carmen or Miss Florida, not sure which.
Changed flights, and lookie who is on the new flight praying for an upgrade, but none other than Otis from G-Vegas and PokerStars blogdom/slave labor. BadBlood calls him while I'm chatting him up (lonely, lonely boy). No upgrade for Otis, and I head to my 36B seat (232 configuration, so it's an aisle). A few noticeable poker guys (one big guy with Stars swag on, another with his shades on the entire flight, working on being able to go long periods of time without being able to see anything). I played one Event #2 simulation on Wilson Turbo, got knocked out in 34th place out of 2442 for $35k or so, so maybe that is a good omen.
Otis and I wait for luggage, he calls prop bet after his bag arrives, sweats me to cab it together, but i send him on his way after fifteen minutes. I call Rio still trying to get a room tonight but no answer at front desk after 11.5 minutes, so off to the Bellagio for a night. Spoke to Linda briefly, who had dinner with Michael Craig as well as got knocked out of Event #1 (casino employee event).
Check into Bellagio, make another bad read waiting behind two couples from Shanghai with complications in their reservations. Just one night here, so left my big bag with the bellman and brought change of clothes up to the room. And what you would call a nice view probably.
I'll head to the Bellagio Poker Room in a bit, hopefully to sneak in some play. I'm fairly tired though and should write up the Tournament of Champions. One major change this year that Otis told me is that live news is only supposed to come from CardPlayer due to an agreement with CardPlayer, FullTilt, and WSOP. Don't know what that means exactly, but we'll find out soon enough. I'll be posting in bunches, so come back often, email me at cunningham@gmail.com, or leave comments. I will try and answer any questions as well as sniff out stuff as I can.
Five Hours til Liftoff
Lovely Famke Janssen, Petra in Rounders.
A bit frantic, more that I have alot of things not done with my company. I'll have Sweetie help with my frantic last hour before I hop in the car and head off. I haven't done a good job of investigating lower cost parking options, so I'll probably just head for the Economy part of Hartsfield. Still have no place to stay tonight (need to cancel the Bellagio), and I don't really have a good carrying bag for my stuff to take with me (a backpack or something to carry to a poker table that could also hold my laptop). Woe is me, I know, but I'm not usually so poorly planned as I feel. Probably the complication is that I just don't know if I should buy into Event #2 or wait. If I don't feel comfortable, then I'll wait for sure. Interviews to submit tomorrow: Vince Van Patten, Michael Craig, and Terrence Chan.
Head to Hoy's tourney tonight. I won't be there to defend my title, but I'll be thinking all about it as I sleep on the plane.
WSOP Preview
I've decided to buy-in to one of the $1.5k events, either the first event (won last year by Allen Cunningham) or one of the later events next week. I've set up PokerAcademy with the data for Event #2 last year (2342 entrants, Texas Tears blind structure). 1500 in chips, blinds start at 25/25, and I'm one for four cashing so far. Wasn't very focused, but it definitely showed me I may not really be ready yet. More work to do tonight and tomorrow.
I'm finishing some great articles: Terrence Chan, Joe Sebok, and Michael Craig will be completed in the next couple days, and I'm also hoping to finish a Matt Matros interview in the next couple days. I'm hoping to transcribe an interview with Vince Van Patten from Saturday. When I interview people live (Vince returned my call Saturday), I tape and then transcribe the tape, which takes about 2x time compared to the interview itself. Vince was just great, a real pleasure.
I'll be working on making contacts for a variety of other interviews. Check here regularly as I'll provide updates including photos throughout each day. I'll be cranking away tomorrow before my flight in the evening, so I'm going ahead and putting this up now. If you didn't this weekend, check out some great shots of my new poker room. I also added the PokerWorks interviews to the right and nuked the text things to the poker table and chip discounts. If anyone's interested, you can always email me or leave a comment.
I'll also try and update links to the site, a pain that I just don't get around to doing enough. With that, Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, where we leave this site and see where it takes us. Thanks, and have a good Monday.
- Ramblings of a Madman: SirFWALGman, or Waffles for short. Love him, despise him, whatever--you'll feel something. Great read, great player (for a weiner).
- Miami Don: He's headed to Vegas from the city of Don Johnson. He's fast becoming a regular shark preying on the tourists (I resent that remark!). He has his lady Carmen there, and he seems like one of these guys who is just a genunine, good guy. I look forward to a big hello.
- Katitude: I had a chance to chat away and play with her last week, and she's a real sweetheart. She teaches, which is just one of the greatest things a person can be.
- Smokkee: I've seen him in action, and he definitely has tourney game. Just stay in Cali if I'm in Event 2, OK Smokes? Might be money better spent just to back him.
- Blinders: Congrats on winning a seat in a WSOP event compliments of great play and Full Tilt.
- Lee's Poker Blog: Is this the Bill Ivey? I've heard about him, seen folks talk about him. If this is him, then he's the eighteen year-old wonder.
WSOP Preparation
I don't think Bruce Arena was complaining about this referee yesterday (see more girlfriends of soccer stars, thanks SI). Speaking of SI, my wife threw out my Swimsuit Edition before I got my sweaty palms on it. Would you stand for such a thing?
It isn't very good form to pimp yourself, but yesterday's post on Top Ten Poker Catalysts was solid. Check it out and let me know your thoughts.
I've booked a room at the Bellagio for next week but need to look around for other options. The question is should I stay at the Rio, and a cheap place, or at the Bellagio. Bellagio or Rio will eat up my per diem set aside for expenses, but Bellagio is always great and the Rio would probably be terrific convenience.
I am a legendary packer before travel, taking probably five-ten minutes to pack for a week. This will be a bit more challenging due to what I'll be doing. Things to pack:
- Tape recorder, tapes, batteries
- Transcription machine (old-looking tape recorder with head phones and foot pedals to transcribe tapes; I have to listen then type on my laptop)
- Some company stuff (things like some brochures, etc.)
- Notebook
- Peripheral items (iPod, headphones for my laptop, power strip)
- Things it would be great to go and get: extra battery for my cell phone, for my laptop
I'm thinking hard about just buying into the $1.5k NLHE event that kicks things off. It would make a good story potentially and a nice treat for me. I don't know if I should do it or just play a satellite. A satellite is sort of a mix between smart ROI and a cop-out. The cop-out part is if I win a seat then it was destined; if not, then it wasn't meant to be. I could also just play cash games then invest profits in a seat.
Waffles had a nice perspective last night during his duel with MiamiDon: "Buy-in the $1.5k, cause you're stupid." I probably needed more reasoning behind that, but at least it's input. Waffles titles his post today Bite My Weiner CC, which is a nice shotout. His logic on the hand documented is a classic, with his anger at being sucked out by Iak's nut flush draw to Waffle's overpair is great: close to the money wimpology. I hope I never get that disease for sure. I do think you should focus alot as you get close to the money, but where you are when you're in the money is more important than getting to the money. Shallow cashes aren't nearly as important as getting deep with your cashes.
Poker room is almost finished, so I'll have photos to follow probably this weekend. I'm going to hold off on anything for the walls as I may get some photos from the WSOP ventures that would do the trick. Now I just need to get the games going here.
Any thoughts or ideas that you have for stories or angles at the WSOP, please leave comments or email me at csquard@gmail.com. I'm finishing a great interview with Joe Sebok and have several more in the hopper. I want to continue profiling people like us, aspiring pros, as well as some big names. I think I can bring something to the table for the big names as well, as most of the things I've read are pretty weak ("What is your favorite hand?"). I've done a ton of interviewing in my career (CEO's/executives), so the interviewing part comes fairly easy.
A few shoutouts to some recent visitors that you should definitely check out:
- The Obituarium: Joe Speaker is great, another link missing from my links. He has a story on Truckin' as well about a night in Glasgow.
- You gotta just keep livin man, L-I-V-I-N: Raveen likes winning massive amounts of cash while going to med school in Aggieland. He also has accidental bisexual friends, not that there's anything wrong with that (OK, maybe their is...).
- Adam LaBare: a regular visitor pursuing tourneys, including the WSOP. Good post on my favorite topic, bankroll management.
- Chris Danek: my new best friend, neither Chris nor I can figure out how he showed up in my analytics package, but he's there, he visited, now let's flood with love.
Again, check my story My First Lynching on Truckin'. Friday's recipe is my mom's Baked Beans in honor of upcoming picnics. Take one can of 10 oz Showboat Pork & Beans (none seasoned, just regular), add 1 teaspoon/squirt of mustard, 1/4 cup ketchup, 3 dashes of Tobasco, a handful of brown sugar, and a dozen shakes of Worcestshire sauce. Put in one of those square ceramic pan things, put two strips of bacon on top, then bake at 350 degrees for 45-60 minutes. Check after 30 minutes to make sure they aren't burning. Double the recipe if required, but they are great. Have a great weekend, and thanks for stopping by.
Friday Part I
I've had a dozen hours to recalibrate after the Ghana victory. A few thoughts:
- There will be a big call for Bruce Arena to be out as National coach. I agree for a few reasons. Eight years is enough, and it's time to move onto fresh blood with European experience (read non-US). Arena's preparation was either poor, ill-conceived, or didn't take; regardless, it sucked. His substitutions and ongoing decisions were rotten.
- Matt Matros had a great post today, but let me respond to his 2010 roster thought. The next coach should go to the Top 50 players age 14-22 and tell them to get to Europe, that they will not be on the team unless they're playing regularly for first flight teams. We are overachievers who have no depth and cannot be successful unless we have tremendous workrate from all players and some breaks. We had neither. Matt's alot more knowledgeable about it and bashed my comments on the MLS, but I think our players need to play against the best.
- I love McBride, but he never is successful alone up front (see Fulham). He does his best with service coming to him, as well as a small, fast striker making hay. He is by far my favorite US player.
- Beas was just dreadful the entire time. I know he had the assist today, but he just was weak for most of this tourney. Let's hope he can regain his form back with PSV.
- Matt was all over it with Landon regarding not being able to figure out his position. I've been a Donovan basher ever since he left Leverkusen, and I think he took the easy way out to return to the US and be a big fish in our small pond.
Fundamentally, we didn't go into the tourney like the underdogs we were, and it cost us. I don't have any sympathy for the officiating complaints. We obviously needed marginal calls to go our way, but I don't even have a huge problem with the PK call today. Position, position, position.
I've scheduled a first trip to the WSOP next Monday night through Sunday afternoon. Events going on will include the $1.5k NLHE, PLHE, and LHE events, the Short-handed NLHE $2.5k, the $2.0k NLHE, and the $3.0k LHE. I'll definitely play satellites, the question is should I buy-in directly to the $1.5k event (won last year by Allen Cunningham). Also, anyone interested in buying a piece of me can email me at csquard@gmail.com. I have a room at the Bellagio that is pretty much the same cost as the Rio, so I'm not sure if I'll stay at either or find a cheapie place.
I'd also like any ideas regarding what you'd like me cover while I'm out. If you've ever seen a tourney, it's alot like watching paint dry (it's bad enough to play your own cards). I'll leave hand documentation to others but will work hard on interviews, other stuff.
Pauly's Truckin' online magazine just published a short story I wrote, My First Lynching. I haven't written in forever, but Falstaff actually inspired me to do so through his writing there. At the least, check it out. I'm really not much of a reader, but it's fairly short.
Played in the Whatever It's Called tourney last night and crashed out very early. Waffles and MiamiDon got heads-up then played for I think about 173 hands over nine hours. They may still be playing as we speak. Waffles was extremely rude the entire time, I believe because of some issue with, uh, shortcomings that he may have.
More in the morning. I gotta hit the sack--big telecon in the AM. However, congrats to Waffles for pushing Don around like a grocery cart and taking home a 1st place finish.
Catalysts of the Poker Explosion
The Poker Explosion. Normally, explosions aren't a very good thing: they are destructive, they consumer mass, they generate energy. It is hard to argue that poker hasn't seen a significant increase in almost any metric over the last five years, number of players, amount wagered, television shows, etc. I'll defer the question of where are we on the growth arc and address the question of what are the most important catalysts that started or accelerated this growth in the last ten years from yesterday's post.
Thanks to all the comments from yesterday. Several folks grouped the items I'd listed, but I want to keep them as specific as possible. Catalysts are specific compounds, not broad chemical classes. If the compound isn't exact or their are changes to the chemicals involved in the change, then they don't work. First, let me look at some important things that I don't think are in the Top Ten Catalysts:
- Scandanavian poker players: poker growth has been especially vibrant in pockets like Sweden, Finland, and Norway. Poker is now a global phenomenon and in fact brings the world together. What other activity can you sit with nine other people from Oslo, Gateshead, San Jose, Santiago, Thailand, O'Hare airport, Southaven MS, ZeeJustin (twice)? Let me give you the answer: there is none. Poker is one of the very few global activities around.
- Asian influence: In the US (where literally the majority of poker players live), the Asian influence on poker is significant. In some ways, poker is analagous to boxing or professional sports. It is not only a passion but truly a way for individuals to escape challenging circumstances and build a better life. Especialy in live play, poker is an embracing community where ethnicities mix readily and freely.
- Poker blogs: blogging is a form of social networking. As poker has significant analytical components to it, many successful players are introverts and quant-types. Add the fringe element (read weirdos that you'd let babysit your kids before you'd let them feed your pet Great Dane and prize sheep for the weekend) and you have a group of folks often apart from others. Poker blogs are a bunch of words that make sense or are insightful, but really they are other people to invest in, to be there, to learn about you and be ready for a harsh rebuke or encouragement.
- Poker books: titles have increased significantly in the last five years. They play a part in the poker boom, but I see them more as a result of the boom and less as a catalyst. Obviously, Super System is the single work that brought strategy out in the open. Sklansky, Harrington, Caro, and others have given us more information, but all of that has simply improved play. Success begets success? Sure, but not in the Top Ten.
- China manufacturing: poker chip costs have plummeted due to the flood from Chinese manufacturers. Home games are now the real deal, with dealer buttons, even custom chips like a casino would have.
- RGP and 2+2: their impact on poker cannot be overstated. These havens of strategy, hand analysis, and networking pre-dated blogs and laid the groundwork for many books.
- Mega-rooms: These don't make the top ten as I see them more as a result of the boom vs. causal. They have had an impact, no doubt about, so I may be understating their role too much. Bellagio, Foxwoods, Commerce, Casino Arizona, Bicycle, Taj, Borgata, Mirage, and the Tunica rooms did a few things. First, they brought in large numbers of players. More importantly, they nurtured excellent players with ever escalating stakes. Not in the top ten, though. Several of these have had massive rooms for quite a while (Bellagio, Foxwoods, Casino Arizona as an example), and there has been an absolute rush to add rooms in the last eighteen months literally everywhere. Casinos understand that they really can't ignore this poor use of their real estate, especially as more and more of their revenue is tied to support and services (e.g., lodging, food, entertainment).
- Dutch Boyd and PokerSpot: Up for Anything has a post from January 2004 that speaks more clearly to the events that transpired (along with other links). Dutch hit most of our radar during the 2003 WSOP on ESPN, but in 2000 he launched PokerSpot at quite a young age. The long and short of it is that players lost their funds deposited at the sites. It had the potential of setting online poker back a decade, but we pushed through. One of the Top Five Poker Scandals, but not in our list of catalysts.
- Poker Celebrities: I had this in the Top Ten then pulled it (although if you like, have it as #10). Professional poker player used to be a term that was either an oxymoron or an indication that you were in denial and had a serious problem. Poker players were smoky, shunned, robbed, killed, cheated, people to be avoided. Amarillo Slim was a character and brought poker into the open in the 70's. Doyle Brunson was a legendary figure. Stu Ungar was a flaming comet. Johnny Chan was the first rock star, but the WPT really created celebrities. Lederer, Layne Flack, Gus Hansen, Devilfish, E-Dog all hit our consciousness in Season 1. Negreanu, Ivey, Harmon, Greenstein all would join them later. Most of these players were around, but especially the U-30 crowd could become poker rock stars literally overnight. I remember walking by Negreanu, Hansen, others at the Bellagio in the fall of 2004 with no stalkers or photo hounds. Ask them what's it like to go to the bathroom now.
These didn't make the cut, but here are my Top Ten in decending order
#10 Harrah's buys Binion's Horsehoe and the WSOP: I didn't have this in yesterday's list, but I've added it today. This gets in for two reasons: it's all about the brand and Harrah's owns casinos. Harrah's has brought contemporary management practices into the gaming industry, from portfolio management to customer loyalty/segmentation to brand management. When they bought out the bankrupt Binion's, they really bought the WSOP brand along with the Horseshoe brand. They've done a ton with the WSOP brand, creating a competitor to the WPT that builds excitement and traffic to their casinos all over the US. No offense intended, but how could you get Vinny Vinh to beat Men the Master to even find Elizabeth, Indiana? Have them get heads-up at the final table of a WSOP Circuit event at the Harrah's Casino located there. The second point is Harrah's owns casinos. This means that you have executives of one of the largest gaming companies in the world now stewarding the gem of poker, the WSOP. The interests of their shareholders will ensure that they continue to drive poker and the WSOP.
#9 ZeeJustin Busted: This may seem a bit wrong, especially as it is less than a year old. I firmly believe that this is one of the most important events for the long-term health of online poker. Justin Bonomo was and is a successful online player. Bill Rini has one of many responses to his apology and defense of playing two separate accounts in the same MTT. He was outed by a friend of his then started a firestorm when said friend posted Party's response on 2+2. Online poker is rigged, cheating is rampant, and now here was a bigtime smoking gun. At the time, I was more disturbed that these offshore sites had such obvious holes in their anti-collusion and cheating efforts. ZeeJustin had played two accounts from the same computer with the same IP address. This wasn't even seemingly advanced cheating; this was walking in a bank without a mask or something. ZeeJustin is really a symbol of what is out there. Sites have stepped up their efforts substantially, but long-term it is one of the big challenges confronting the industry.
#8 ESPN Expands WSOP Coverage: Every junkie here has watched ESPN Classic and their inventory of early WSOP coverage, with Dick Van Patten guessing that everyone must have flopped either a straight or a set. ESPN in 2003 decided to turn the Main Event into a new series for lack of a better term, complete with player profiles, background music, graphics, and cards. ESPN found something that no one could have predicted: for and event with minimal rights fees and tiny production costs (try saying that NHL or MLB), here was a product that not only people would watch but people would watch again. And again. And again. And again. Re-run ratings are almost the same the second time they are aired vs. the twentieth time. We know how it will turn out, but we keep watching it again anyways. ESPN and Harrah's have an agreement through 2010 now, and final table pay-per-view has been added this year.
#7 Harry Orenstein Invents the Hole Camera (1997): The inventor of Transformers transformed forever the viewing of poker, creating a subtle way of identifying the cards that were held by each player and allowing the viewer to see everything at the table.
#6 Late Night Poker on Channel 4: I've only seen this a few times, but this UK show launched in 1999 demonstrated that poker could build an audience, could create stars and villains, could be sustained. This became more American Idol than Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? as it has continued to thrive and generate knock-off's the world over.
#5 The Travel Channel Launches the WPT: Mike Sexton has an odd country twang. Vince Van Patten was the son of the original WSOP announcer for ESPN, former tennis player, former Bionic Boy. Shana Hiatt had been in Playboy in 1995 but had limited experience. Oh, and no one had ever watched the Travel Channel before. The WPT became the highest rated series in the history of the channel, re-runs initially had greater viewership than their original airings. Poker came front and center into our homes, and we watched for two hours each riveting hand. There is alot wrong with the shows, and the rapidly escalating blind structure at the TV table is a travesty, but WTP belongs in the Top Five.
#4 iGM-Pay and Neteller: Credit card authorization denied. We couldn't deposit money to save our lives, so electronic fund transfer option filled the void. Wives who were responsible for Quicken quickly sniffed out the fact that these line items weren't office supplies, restaurant checks, or gifts. Or at least I was too stupid not to make the deposits for $237.38 instead of nice round numbers. When you're a degenerate, typing the 37.38 just takes too long.
#3 PlanetPoker: This should probably be #2 or #1, but online poker has been the engine that has powered poker growth. PlanetPoker was the first truly successful venture, quickly followed by Paradise Poker. Party truly brought it to the masses and became the powerhouse, but PlanetPoker launched the armada.
#2 A Man Named Moneymaker: Few times are you able to truly witness an event that launches an industry or get to know a person who changes the world. Chris Moneymaker changed the world. A self-described gambling degenerate, he wasn't truly the perfect guy from the casting call to become the poker king. He had the perfect name, sure, but he was folksy without the warmth of Danneman, he lacked the self assurance of Raymer. He wasn't a hottie like Patrik Antonius or Liz Lieu. He didn't have the game of Ted Forrest or Barry Greenstein. The better choice to win? Phil Ivey. The perfect choice to win? Chris Moneymaker. Because if he can win the WSOP, then surely I can play poker.
#1 Rounders: Julia Roberts first movie role (OK second putting aside Satisfaction with Justine Bateman) was in Mystic Pizza. The younger brother of the snotty Porsche driving rich kid in Mystic? Matt Damon. Fresh off of his Oscar for Good Will Hunting and his role as the only surviving Ryan brother in WWII, Damon dove into the world of underground New York poker. He would get knocked out of the 1998 WSOP when his kings ran into Doyle's pocket rockets. The poker play isn't the best, the Johnny Chan scene is fairly ludicrous today (great, I took one pot off of Chan then left), but I think it was the spark, online poker the tinder, and Moneymaker the fuel that launched it all. It was filled with great actors playing great characters. The Knish. Worm. Professor Petrovsky. Petra. Grama. And Teddy KGB. As with any cult flick, the lines only have to be whispered. "I feel like Buckner walking back into Shea." "Check-raising stupid tourists." "...women are the rake..." "Are you satisfied Teddy? Because I can keep busting you up all night if you like."
There you have it, my Top Ten Catalysts for the Poker Explosion. What do you think?
Braves Tickets Fall Through
National anthem
Tim Hudson, Braves ace and professional BB extraordinaire
Oh Canada, #2 on all-time best national anthems (France #1)
Cotton candy has high gross margins ($5/bag)
All-in, CC, and the Big Guy before the Braves game.
We barely made it to the radio station for the tickets when they informed me that I had won two tickets, not the three that the girl had told me (not sure if they believed me) and that the tickets were for a suite with min age of 21 (thanks for nothing). I ended up shelling out an obcene amount for three dugout seats (row 20 behind the 3rd base dugout on the home plate side of the dugout). All-in has a bit of a connection to the Braves as he almost sent John Smoltz back to the operating table. He was in Carly Smoltz pre-K class and was invited to her birthday party. I, of course, had a conflict, so Sweetie took him. They're doing some sort of sissy craft thing, and All-in blows it off to go push Smoltz into the foam mosh pit then proceeds to jump all over him. This with Smoltz on his cell a few months after his reconstructive surgery on his shoulder or elbow (I forget). Sweetie almost got into fisticuffs with Greg Maddux as she tried to pull into a parking space one morning while Maddux was backing out. I picked the boys up once, was on a call waiting for school to let out, and look up then say to the guy on the phone, "There's Greg Maddux." Maddux, of course, is from Vegas.
I have a call in a bit, so I'll post again after the call. Braves weren't horrible, just not good enough to beat the Blue Jays. Both boys really were into it, which I didn't expect. We kept yelling, "Hit it over he-uh (here)," which I learned from folks at the Fenway right field bleachers seats. I was doing work for Digital Equipment in Hudson and snuck into Boston to see a game. Had no directions, and it seems no one can actually give directions in Boston. Toll booth guy was wrong, I thought Boston University was Fenway and parked, jumped on a trolley that needed exact change (tossed me off), cabbed it to Fenway, got out only to not be at the box office, asked a Boston cop inside the fence where the box office was, he tells me to wait (I wait), he comes back and says, "I thought I had a good ticket, but here is one in the right field bleachers." I say OK (not sure if you're supposed to bribe Boston cops, so I don't), enter with my complimentary ticket, head to these insane folks in right field. One lady screams, "Go Mo, ya-hoo!" every time Mo Vaughn comes up to bat, they're all half watching the game but constantly involved, chatting up the right fielder (can't remember who they played). Somehow found my rental car and made it back to the bed and breakfast that I stayed at in Hudson. It had carousel ponies and a field that had two golf holes, so I would hit 8-irons after work each day.
And the Braves lost 6-3, 3-19 in their last twenty-two games.
Seminal Moments
Kristie Fisher as Britney--better than the real thing now? You be the judge. I did fly with Britney once from New Orleans to Newark, I think in 1998 or 1999, returning maybe from Thanksgiving.
So what are the top ten seminal moments or catalysts in the poker boom to date? Here's a list to agree with or disagree with: what would you nuke, what would you add, what are the top five?
- Rounders
- Late Night Poker on Channel 4 (UK, glass poker table shows hole cards)
- Harry Orenstein develop hole card cameras for poker table
- Launch of www.planetpoker.com
- Chris Moneymaker wins seat in WSOP, Everyman can beat pros and win millions
- ESPN expands WSOP coverage
- Travel channel launches WPT; wired pair, race situation, and new stars hit
- RGP and 2+2 create a forum for players to network, explore strategy
- China manufacturing of poker chips
- Mega-rooms: Bellagio, Foxwoods, Commerce, Bicycle
- Neteller
- ZeeJustin busted
- Dutch Boyd and PokerSpot
- Poker celebrities old and new: Doyle, Gus, Phil Ivey, other Phil's, Negreanu, Lederer
- Poker books
- Poker blogs
- Asian influence on poker
- Scandanavian poker
I was going to leave some out, but I ended up just adding more and let you guys decide what the top ten in order are. Defend as you will, and I'll give you my top five and ten tomorrow.
Congrats to Guin on a runner up in the WWdN last night. I got there for his last two hands that ended up crashing him out, so I'm now the reverse luckbox. Bill Rini has his first Carnival posts up from a variety of bloggers (including here). Check it out.
What to say about Michael Owen's devestating injury yesterday? Forget what it does for England, just a tough, tough break for a guy who I admire alot. I don't know tons about him specifically, but from being the glory boy of EPL, England, and Liverpool to warming the bench and toughing it out at Real Madrid, to Newcastle to metatarsal to this.
Oh, and I'll be covering the WSOP for PokerWorks.
I mean, how sweet is that?
I'm assuming there is some sort of rookie hazing, like having to make latte runs for Pauly, back waxing for Mike Paulle, all that sort of thing. I'll be out probably 21 days, so I have to figure out when to be there. Probably two-three trips over 42 days. I'll keep you posted.
Special thanks to all the visitors here, especially the new folks. Have a good day, and talk to you later.
ADDENDUM: Congrats to Miami Don, Carmen, and the rest of the Heat legion for their victory last night. Penny Hardaway must have cried all night thinking of what might have been had he had the humility and maturity of Dwyane Wade. Didn't see that coming, although admittedly I didn't care too much.
Also from the weekend, World Cup was the ratings star of the weekend, with the US-Italy match besting everything but the NBA game Sunday, including NASCAR and the US Open. Czech Republic-Ghana bested US Open Sunday. Ratings pale in comparison to other countries, but it has to be a significantly positive sign for soccer in the US.
Pulling Singles from Her Cleavage
Interviewing Vince Van Patten Saturday afternoon (must remember 3PM interview...). Email me or leave in comments if you have a question; best will get asked. I prefer not to do phone interviews as the logistics are more challenging (have to tape then transcribe the interview, so it takes significantly longer). I have several interviews out plus new one's I have to get done, so I'm going to try and focus on that some today.
Grubby has a slots post that is guaranteed to make your head hurt just trying to follow all the different slots and what the heck they are. I have a sweet spot for slots as one particular slot machine got me started to my road of poker excellence/bankroll crashing. I was in Vegas for a client, and I decided I was going to try this thing called gambling. I found Jackpot Party (the machine before the current Jackpot Party), where you would get a bonus deal if you hit three of the party blowie-things. Man, it was exciting to get the bonus, then you had to hit as many hidden multipliers as you wanted to before you found the bomb which capped your bonus. I won maybe $300 one time, and I was hooked on the Fruit Slots (there were fruit on the machine or something, so I'd make my employee Yong play the fruit machine with me). Jackpot Party begat blackjack, and blackjack led to poker (maybe with a roulette thrown in). Is there anything dumber than roulette? I'm not sure.
Sweated Linda in a $109 Turbo SNG on Party, where she took second while getting bad beat several times. Best was the Spaniard calling her all-in with KTo vs. her TT, then watching the board of 33x33. The ole counterfeit your pair with quads. What is the hiearchy of frustrating ways to lose? I'll give you an order, then you can change it how you like:
- Counterfeiting (pick any way you like)
- Identical hand that four flushes (normally AKo)
- Bluff that you pick off only to see the runner-runner two pair/trips
- Flopped flush losing to turned or rivered bigger flush or straight flush
- Dominated hand catching three outer (like AT vs. QT)
- Monster that gets called by bizarro hand only to luckbox (like AA called by Td9d and catching whatever)
- Gapped connectors giving someone the bigger straight
- The well played flopped set/straight taking you down
- The underpair calling your big slick
- The monster letting you do the betting for her/him (DQB flop)
I know there are more ways, but that's a depressing enough list just to look at.
Pauly's back from Bonnaroo, so head over to see what's what. IGGY's been shoving his groupies over here to see the Argosy trip report. You can tell because they leave Q-tips laying around everywhere for some reason. I'm still waiting for new photos of the poker room to write up an article, so I'll probably call them today.
Speaking of Q-tips, there are few things I enjoy than a good ear cleaning. Two quick ear stories. My mom had some Q-tip like thing that was maybe 200% bigger than Q-tips. An incredibly useful tool (they were for cosmetics, so maybe five times as expensive). Second, our family doctor growing up had this big metal syringe and a couple times flushed my ears out with warm saline water. Horribly disgusting to witness, but I could hear a pin drop from three miles for about a week afterwards. (NOTE: there was always a rumor that this physician was gay as he would always befriend boys and never married. He was very active in our church, and I worked for him for several years in his clinic. He'd also take me on rounds, and he was a major influence on my life. I violently defended him a couple times, only to learn after he'd married, had a child, and divorced that his wife came home one day and found him in bed with another man. This was in the early 80's when homosexuality wasn't really viewed too positively in Mississippi vs. now where homosexuals are simply ostracized in Mississippi.)
I was pre-med and got to do things that may be illegal (at least would have led to lawsuits probably). Once I sat in on a carotidectomy (not sure what it was really called) before I went to work one college summer (was a bank teller). The surgeon had never performed the operation, and I was scrubbed in standing over as he cut off the circulation to the brain, sliced the carotid artery (in the neck), slipped in a piece of IV tubing, took that one out and slipped in another one, then loosened the two little noose tourniquets (sic?) to start the circulation going again. All in 90 seconds. For the first time. From a journal he had read. With me standing there praying not to tip over and fall on the guy who's brain wasn't receiving oxygen. Sat in on a colonectomy of a huge lady, but after watching him cut through fat for an hour, I had to head off to the bank.
As a bank teller, I made it through four summers and Christmas holidays without being out of balance once (not a penny). There was one branch that had an island drive-through (vs. the tubes). I'd have to sit with a tie and short in 100 degree August days alone out there all day. Worst teller experience was when this large lady with humongous breasts came in one day at 1:00 or so, said she had a deposit for her savings account, then pulled a wad of one's from her sweaty cleavage. She said it was $37, I wrote her a receipt, pulled $40 from my wallet, put it in my cash drawer, pulled out three singles, then threw her $37 away. Best money I ever spent. Not sure how she got those singles, but believe me I don't want to know.
Head to PokerStage for John's Twenty Blogger Commandments--I skirted through thankfully!
Have a great day, and hope to see you tomorrow. Oh, and keep reading below for my big Hoyazo score last night where I almost looked like I could play poker.
CC Wins Hoyazo Classic
Quick gratuitous victory post, as I take down the Hoyazo Classic, besting a field of 22 players to pocket the first prize. Highlights were creating an ATL table, sitting next to katitude (a real hottie), coming up with my own version of the hoy (the CC Hoy), battling back from doubling up drraz when my AKo dominated his A something else, and besting iakaris who's blog I really like alot (it's a bit intimidating for me as it's top notch). Got to tell the story about my Mom milking our cat for three weeks after she prematurely gave away six kittens (look, that cat had six litters, and if you'd found anyone to take six cats at one time, you'd have probably jumped at the chance as well!).
Deep talking post to come in the AM. Thanks for letting me drop by.
LuckBox Poker Classic
I didn't have a chance to play in the World Blogger Championship of Online Poker at Stars (see complete results) due to my inability to cut and paste html as well as being in the mountains of G-Vegas with no internet access, so I did the next best thing and railbirded once I got back home after getting the old bird dog from the boarding place. It was down to three tables with only one recognizable player, glyphic. Was I instrumental in his making the final table? I'm not sure, but with the elegant response after his whining "I've been so card dead" I quickly typed sometimes it's good to be card dead (this after watching KK get whacked by AA). Patience and confidence restored, StudioGlyphic made it to 6th place and a $1.5k buy-in at this year's WSOP. The Main Event seat ended up headed to daleroxxu, who from what I can sniff out Googling is a Brit. He took out ZbjaffeZ and thelivewire to take home the title. Often, the pesky cards would get in the way of all the railbird chatter, and it would screw up my concentration as I tried to figure out humorous little items to type in. It was wonderful to witness so many new poker blogs getting started for those folks who wanted to play in the tourney. Classic lines included what is an avatar, who is wil wheaton, what do you win, where are the prizes, and who is Up4poker and guinness and why do they have bounties? Other great results included Linda and Pauly (Linda got blinded after sitting down five hours after the tourney started, and Pauly I'm assuming was asleep at Bonnaroo possibly), my good friend WillWonka who spectacularly crashed out in 2102nd place (not to rub salt in an open wound, but Baby Wonka could have taken a nap while playing and placed higher), Waffles (2138), BadBlood (1728, still in Orlando detox), AlCantHang (1729), Jaxia (2234) There were 2247 in, so you actually have to have a fast table to get knocked out in 2234. I left out folks who finished in the top 300 who think that they are good and all (TripJax, Up4Poker, surflexus, smokkee, slimeface, sloejack, ) because look, your blogs suck, you are all degenerates, and who wants to hear about your incredible laydown of JJ when you knew they had QQ or your great reads or whatever that got you there. You were better than a bunch of poker bloggers and people pretending to be poker bloggers. That's like being a tall midget, so back off. Victor Enrique 102? Great result, as he's from Chile which is a very skinny country. GRob 108, top finish from G-Vegas (I'm assuming). Link fatigue, so sorry all these aren't linked.
I donked around chatting and playing Hollywood trying to clear my 1000% bonus (I just need 14,000 more hands to do that). I probably need to try and bonus whore the Stars bonus, but we'll see. I'm a probable to go to the WSOP some time to do some blogging, writing, and playing. I'll keep you posted. I chatted this question last night and would be interested in your thoughts: which would you rather have, a $10k seat in the Main Event or a $1.5k, $3k, and $5k seat?
Finally, let's see where we head from the links of those folks who have come to this site for wisdom. Some new folks that you may not have seen before, then we'll do our Monday Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.
- Adam LaBare: Adam is working hard on getting into the Main Event and is a big tourney player.
- Reverends of Poker: Jason is a pastor who has a major poker fetish.
Now Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon
- The Poker Enthusiast: a great dad and coach with a great blog. I think a guy you'd want to have either coaching your kids or living in your cul-de-sac, unless you're a crack whore.
- SNG Machine: has qualified for the Main Event, living the dream. A Marine (I was going to type ex-Marine, but is there such a thing?)and he's also back in school, so this is a guy to root for.
- PokerCash: Just changed the blog's name to LuckOwnage, Kevin lives in New Jersey. Big tourney player headed to the WSOP.
- Mag's Poker Journal: OK, I didn't know about this guy, Josh Stuart from G-Vegas, professional poker player. I'll have to look at archives here, as well as reach out to the G-Vegas crew for more info. Looks like a new blog, so head over and give some love.
- Rizen's Poker Blog: Another tourney player headed to the WSOP for some events as well as the Main Event. Who's not playing in the Main Event raise their hand (uh, me?)
- N 82 50 24's Blog: Trying to get into law school, which seems like a good thing to do if you want to play alot of poker during and after school. Do lawyers actually work at all? Again, with so many lawyers playing poker, I can't imagine why legality is even an issue.
World Cup: I think I'm doing well in Matt Matros' pool, although hopefully he'll send out some sort of where we stand deal. Teams to beat: Argentina (right now the class of the tourney), Ecuador, Spain, Brazil, Holland, Germany. Disappointments: France, Serbia & Montenegro, the continent of Africa, Croatia. The US chances for the following results (which would put them through): beat Ghana (3:1 against), Italy beat Czech Republic (pick em). I don't see the US making it out with the loss of Pablo and Eddie Pope. I don't think we'll see Beasley again nor should we. Arena comes out of this tainted in a big way, I think. How he cannot use his third sub Saturday on Eddie Johnson to replace McBride is beyond me (or somebody else then).
US Open: I only saw Phil's implosion, still driving back from G-Vegas. I wanted Monty to win, but I think all the talking heads have to get off of everyone's back regarding 17 and 18. Geoff Ogilve was the only guy in the Top 5 to par 18, and only Vijay and Ferrie joined him from the Top 12 (Weir birdied it). Johnny Miller needs to get out there and play this course four rounds from the tips then get to 18 and talk about choking. Phil felt like he needed to hit driver then so be it. He's in major trouble but feels he can slice his ball around the tree on the second shot, so be it (I can even do that fairly consistently from 175-200, and Phil's natural shot path is a slice). I'm no scratch golfer, but I've played hard courses from the tips before with scratch golfers. It puts so much pressure on you to hit a great drive every time that it wears on me. Also, forget +5 and all that. This course was obviously a Par 72, which would have meant Ogilve would have won at -3. I would almost guarantee that if it was a Par 72, that the winning score would have been -6 with the Par Paradigm out the window.
Off to make rain. Have a good Monday.
Weekend Post: Marshman's G-Vegas SNG
Made it to my brother in-law's $20 SNG last night with $10 re-buy's (3000 to start in chips, re-buy gets you 1500). I donked off my buy-in a couple times, TPTK against the ultra tight guy my age to my left in the 9s (I'm in 8s) and once to Party Playa in 1s after he min-raised (AA, didn't think this crew had it in them). My brother in-law Marshman was in the 3s, Kojak was in the 2s, Twinkletoes cutie-pie in the 4s, her husband Rock was in the 5s, somebody else in the 6s, Will the Thrill in the 7s (Marshman's main buddy and a good guy but major donator), and I'm in the 8s. Will lays down 66 early on to a aise by Somebody Else only to see me come over the top with AQ. I'm called and flop comes Q66, and we make fun of Will the rest of the night but happily accept his two more re-buy's. I want to lay out what is one of the better hands I've played in a while and see what you guys think. Blinds are 100/200, and I have some amount that I'll have to figure out. Two limpers to me with KhJd, and I call from the sb. BB Tighty raises to 600, Rock calls and I decide to call. Flop comes AhTs8h. I check my gutshot and Tighty asks how much Rock has (he has 900 more). He bets 900 and the Rock thinks for a bit and calls. Pot I think is now 3800 for me to call my gutshot and backdoor nut flush draw, so I call. 9h comes on the turn, giving me now an open ended straight draw and my nut flush draw. I check, and Tighty makes it 1500 more. I have 4000 I'm pretty sure, so I think for about five seconds and call 1500 into the existing 6200 pot. The Qc comes on the river, giving me the nuts, and I instashove my last 2500 and am instacalled by AA. I never, ever chase but felt I was getting priced in every time. I haven't taken the time to look at odds to see if I would have had to call the turn if he had shoved, but I think I would have had to. I ended up knocking out Rock, Tighty, and Twinkletoes (her beat was particularly bad, as I called her all-in after a Q high flop then spiked the 10 with my pocket tens on the turn to her QJ). Got Party pretty short stacked, then he got even when his Ks7s all-in beat my Kc9c pre-flop (he made his flush). I proposed a deal to split $90 each and play for the last $50, and he agreed. I ended up shoving with Ac5c to his A9o, and he took the last $50.
Just a quickie for the weekend on the way to see my boys and my Sweetie. Have a great weekend, and let's hope for a result vs. Italy.
Argosy Casino Trip Report
Trip report, then a few other things. Linda Johnson, WPT tourney announcer, presided when the the poker room opened at Argosy three weeks ago. The Argosy is on the Ohio River, about twenty minutes from the Cincinnati airpot and an hour from Dayton. Louisville's Caesar's is a bigger room, but this will turn into a no-brainer for the greater Cincy area. Non-smoking king room with about a 30" plasma TV: $69/night at the hotel. This is a riverboat casino in a very small town, so you have to go to the bottom floor to get to the poker room. Just be certain to keep walking past the blackjack tables (-EV). I stopped by at 11:30 on my way to my lunch appointment, and they were about to start their daily noon tourney. I got back around 5:30, and there were eleven tables running. I had interviewed the Poker Room Manager for an article (formerly World Poker Open tourney director in Tunica), so I put my name on several lists: $4/8, 6/12, 1/3NLHE, and interest list for the $10/20. Even though the room was only three weeks old, it was already filled with regulars. 5% college kids, 10% college age kids who didn't seem to go to college, 20% middle-aged old farts, 50% retirees, and 5% ladies (NOTE: percentages may not add up). They had only one real annoyance: cash doesn't play, you can't buy chips from the dealer, you have to run your own chips. I asked a dealer, and this is due to some sort of paperwork problem that caused this policy to be implemented for some period (it means no one in the poker room handles money, is what I can gather).
I got the $4/8 game first. There was a rapper/new Vanilla Ice looking guy in the 2s (I'm in the 4s), and a horrific donkey guy my age to my left with his lady behind him. He was horrible, played sooted stuff, caught runner-runner two pairs, a great guy to follow around. He heard someone say $10/20 table, and I knew that this is a guy I wanted to befriend, fly around the country whenever I travelled. I don't think he ever hurt me, but there were some brutal beats. I was up $70 or so when I got moved to the $6/12 and they said the $10/20 seat was about to open. I sat down at the $6/12 table and played a couple orbits, treading water until I got called for the $10/20. I had just folded my blinds and had the button, decided to look down at one more hand, where I saw two black aces. Limpers, and I raise the button with three or four callers. Long story short, everyone stays until the end when a 8 hits, making the board 67398. Of course I come in about seventh place vs a T6, a 57, and a 98 that all stayed to the end of my betting.
$10/20 was something else. No hand histories but a few big pots: older African-American lady capped it out of the sb with Th7h, caught her trip 7 on the river (six players saw the capped flop, and I'm not sure if anyone got out). Raises were gladly called or re-raised by eight or nine players (the tenth would be yours truly, mucking my 93o regularly). One of my better lines that I like to use, which was true: "I wish I could get better cards, then I could start playing tight." I started jumping in, calling three bets with Tc8c and catching two pair on the flop to crack aces (six callers). I mainly folded and watched all the elder statesmen, as at 41 I'm pretty sure I was the youngster at the table. This one guy older than my grandfather would play baby aces and catch them on the river every time. Crazy, crazy stuff for these guys. It would have been stereortypically normal if I was surrounded by WPT wannabes, but all these middle aged to old farts pounding bets indiscrimantly at the pot was just something else. I ended up +$270 for the session and ended around midnight or so.
ADDENDUM: For a review of the Argosy, go to this article I did for PokerWorks.
I'm planning to use the letter to your Congressman at Poker Players Alliance. Poker would take a huge step backwards if H.R. 4777 passed, and this may also be a precursor to broader changes with the web that would not help us at all. Jump in as well.
Played a Party MTT last night, 1300+ signing up. I made it to the 500 mark or something, then got crippled with ATs and top pair getting called by KTs, who then caught the king on the turn. Had a bout of shoulda's where I layed down 99 to a raise and an all-in which was around my stack (AJ vs. AQ, and the 9 hit on the river), as well as didn't call to an all-in when my M was about 5 (Qh9h; eventually, two people did call his all-in, and the baby pairs and AJ would have lost to my flopped Q with a runner-runner flush). Played some NLHE and $5/10 afterwards, playing much too loose in the limit and hitting some good hands with gapped suited connectors vs. set over set, again vs. TPTK).
No Friday's recipe today. I'm headed to the mountains of G-Vegas this afternoon/evening, then will sneak back here some time. I'll probably get some golf in and not sure about poker, we'll see. Have a good weekend, and I'll catch up Monday.
ADDENDUM: A few things regarding the World Cup. I'm pulling for England as my sentimental favorite, so yesterday's result was great on so many fronts. To see Rooney running on the pitch was pretty special. He looked 80% or so, not necessarily ready for his all-out runs consistently (but a heck of a lot better than Ronaldo). Gerrard and Lampard were brilliant; a bit more finishing and they would have been up 6-0. I'm not a huge Crouch fan, but he's a tireless worker, which I am a fan of. People knock Beckham, and I've always just loved him. I love him as captain and I love him as a player. Is he the best midfielder around? Hardly. Is he great at what he does? Absolutely. He is the John Stockton or John Elway of soccer, able to put a ball wherever he wants from thirty yards away. I am hoping that England and Germany avoid one another for the next round.
Now to the US. I've written a bunch of stuff in the comments section of Matt Matros' soccer blog, and he hasn't deleted it which is nice. The mass sports media, who don't really know soccer, jumped too high with expectations coming into this World Cup. Having to play the Czech Republic and Italy is a tall order for anyone, no question. The US coach, Bruce Arena, coached at Chapel Hill for many years, and he would regularly listen to Dean Smith, Coach K, and other great coaches who made their way through. Somewhere in the midst of SI covers, a top five FIFA ranking, and press conferences, we believed that we had arrived in soccer. Our hope lies in always knowing that we haven't arrived but that through effort and cohesion we can play with anyone on any given day. We have no depth when it comes to US Soccer, and our US Team, realistically, is a group of aspiring players. We've had strong keepers in recent years, but beyond that we haven't had world class or great players. I posed this question in Matt's comments so I'll put it here as well? Who on our team would start for one of the top ten teams in the World Cup? I'll pick England as it is the easiest for me. Maybe Keller, and that would be it. Would anyone else make the team? I can't imagine it. How many of England's castaway's would be starting for against vs. Italy? Sol Campbell? Check. Wright Phillips, Dafoe, on and on you could plug our holes. Does that mean McBride isn't great? I love Brian McBride, because he had a comfortable existence in the MLS but went to Fulham at a not so young age, fought and clawed to get in the lineup, fought and clawed every minute he played at Craven Cottage (Fulham never actually plays away from home, but that is another matter). I hope Beasely works through this tough time as I applaud him for doing the same at PSV. Landon Donovan, our poser boy, I have no time for. He gets pulled back to Leverkusen, the team that he was under contract to, he can't adjust and doesn't play, then he runs back to the MLS where he can be a star. Ask Michael Owen if he isn't a better player or person for his stay at Real Madrid, and I can guarantee his answer would be yes.
Do we have a chance against Italy? I think we have a chance, but I don't think we'll get a result. I hope I'm wrong. Our guys don't need to step up, they don't need to play above themselves, but they do need to work relentless, run until they drop, focus on defense first and foremost for the first third of the game, then service McBride if he's in the lineup.
Again, if you aren't watching any of the World Cup and you are a sports junkie, go out this weekend to your nearest bar and take in at least one game. France-Korea on Sunday will be absolutely entertaining, and Brazil-Australia right after church will be great as well. And there is Italy-US Saturday. For country and glory.
ADDENDUM2: This just in--Argentina is the team to beat. This is an absolute clinical, beautiful team to watch, and there is no way I'm doing anything on 21 June at 3PM other than watching Argentina-Holland.
Where did CC Go?
Sorry for the delay in my normally daily post. I had a 8:00AM flight Wednesday to Dayton, which meant I left the house at 5:15 or so. Never had internet access through the whole trip, not at the hotel and not at the airport this morning. Flight was delayed, so I landed around 12:30 this afternoon, got some Buffalo shrimp for lunch while watching England score their two goals (excellent), then just got here to headquarters.
I didn't fire my client. I did have the clandestine lunch with the VP/GM, and it was a wise move on my part. Met with my contact after the lunch, and I have a bunch of quotes to do for new business. Overall, I'm still disappointed that I can't have as much impact on their business, but they are pleased. The VP/GM also understands my situation with my contact and his poor ability to plan and execute, so I think that positions me stronger as well.
Well, when one of our big dogs suggests something, should you not take them up on it? If Pauly points me to a source of wisdom, do I not go immediately to partake? If Felicia tells us to consider Stud, do I not head to the lowest stake available in spite of my lack of short-term memory? If Linda advises me on proper decorum on the felt, do I not listen and make certain I follow her lead? IGGY left a comment Tuesday with some simple words: check out the Argosy Casino Lawrenceburg, just west of Cincinnati in Indiana. Look, who am I to stand in the face of such advice? The verdict: a great new room. Less than a month old, it has the potential of being the pride of the Midwest in the poker world. Full trip report tomorrow.
Creepy experience at the Dayton airport this morning. I'm playing Poker Academy NLHE, work my $200 up to $1400 then take some double throughs/bad play and end up busting then busting out of two more buy-in's (much cheaper than if I would have had an internet connection). Flight is delayed, and I decide I have to poop. Now, Sweetie has never pooped anywhere except for our home, her parents home, our parents home, and hotels since we've been married. Me, I'm a guy, so wherever and whatever if fine by me. I have my light bag (rectangular soft bag--I always thought it was gay to have a roller bag, so I've never obtained one; I do realize I may need to adjust that thinking as I am now in the <2% href="http://pokerworks.com/article-504.html">college MTT expert, and a second on a topic I have particular expertise in: bankroll management. If you've read this blog, you're probably guffawing a bit at the bankroll management expertise, but you have to admit I at least know something about how not to do it! Have a great day, and trip report for tomorrow.
The family is gone to the mountains north of G-Vegas, so I'm alone tonight. I'll probably play some, so hope to bump into some folks.
Aerial Bombardment
Well, that was great. It is still less than twenty-four hours since the Czech Republic gave us a painful dose of bad medicine. I won't list all of the places you can go, but Matt Matros is one guy who feels the pain for sure. Not only was the first five minutes dreadful and the game was horrible, but the aftermath was an abomination. The US coach, Bruce Arena, prides himself on being soccer's answer to Dean Smith, Coach K, and Larry Brown, but the team forgot to read the handbook regarding what to do when your coach publicly chastises star players. You are supposed to take responsibility and say that the buck stops here, not spat back. There was truly nothing good that came from that game. "We didn't think we'd be down by a goal in the first five minutes." Why not? You thought you were one of the best teams in the world instead of a collection that couldn't start for a top ten club or country? I've got so much to say on this but I'm not going to put it out there. I would hope that our game with Italy includes eleven guys that can think of the game in this way: we've qualified for the World Cup, we're so excited to be here, I get to play against the best in the world today, I'm going to leave everything I have out on the pitch.
A few pimpages:
- High on Poker: Jordan's been doing alot of really good stuff lately. I can't imagine that you're not all over it, but if not get there.
- Pokerstage: John's been working really hard at some topical items, as well as writing for PokerWorks. He's inspired me to take more risks, even to write a short story for the first time in over a decade (to be published in Truckin' in a couple weeks I might add)
- Guinness and Poker: IGGY mega-post new today
- Pauly: great recap of last year's WSOP
Sweetie and I had a troubling conversation yesterday. I had a great work day, really cranked all day long, and I was giving her a recap of a few other things (writing for PokerWorks, some email's I've gotten about relationships, etc.). As I've mentioned here before, I've really struggled connecting with our mega-church that we go to. We had talked about that Sunday evening. So anyways, she said, "I think your blog and those people are your church." I was taken aback, but I tried to hear what she was saying and figure out if there was truth there. I don't see this as my church for sure, but it is a community, a fellowship of people that I enjoy, that I'm able to invest in and share with. I have to consider this a bit more.
I'm flying to Dayton tomorrow morning then driving to just south of Cincinnati. Any thoughts on poker between the two places would be appreciated. I have to spend the night somewhere. Thought about hitting Belterra, but my flight Thursday AM is 8:55, which would make a big hike. Caesar's Indiana looks too far as well.
The series I had planned looks like it will head into next week instead. Too busy, which is fine and a good thing for sure. Thanks for stopping by. Yesterday's post had a bunch of me in it, so feel free to scroll down if you didn't catch it yesterday.
History: An Ethical Dilemma
Played only a bit on Hollywood trying to take on the bonus, but it will be a long road to clear all the bonus. I played a bit of low stakes NLHE which was enjoyable, and I'm OK with just having fun a bit with poker right now. My businss situation is complicated for me right now. On the one hand, I have the opportunity to really redefine my business and what I do on a regular basis, the opportunity to create a life most people would kill for: work a bit, financially do well, spend chunks of time doing other things as well. On the flip side, I struggle mightily with acquiring new clients. I don't enjoy networking much, don't have any clients locally, don't have a regular demand process of speaking engagements or other lead generation methods. I'm also going to my only ongoing marketing client for a confidential meeting with the VP/GM. I have to decide whether to fire them or get fired by them.
I want to share a significant event in my life, really to share a situation that I hope reflects more about who I am. As always, I try to approach this site with candor first about myself. While at a Dow Jones 30 company, I was what was called a high-pot, meaning a high potential employee. I was very young and moving up rapidly, but I had what are termed staff jobs, meaning I was responsible for some broad topics or processes and not core parts of a business. I left the company to take what was a big step forward for me, Vice President of Marketing for a $1B company, very global firm. I was an officer in this joint venture and was part of the leadership team. Things were going along well there in my first year when the parent company put the business up for auction. I won't go into the details of this, but it was a surprise to everyone. I was an outsider, not from the industry nor from the company. The CEO was a former executive at the company I had worked at, but I wasn't too connected to him prior to joining. The staff was in two camps, one with the CEO was very small and included some outside consultants who seemed to work almost as a shadow staff. The long-time executives of the company were in the other camp, passive-aggressive, with their own code language, constantly doubting the CEO.
Early in the divestiture period, I was approached by the CEO with an offer that he had obtained from the parent company, an offer of a retention bonus. You've heard of these things I'm sure, where a company pays executives of either a bankrupt company or one being divested. It is meant to keep executives in place during a tough time. The bonus was sizable, more than three years salary, close to half a million dollars. To obtain this bonus, I would have to stay until the company was divested. I signed up.
I was in charge of the management presentations, meaning a big part of my job was preparing the presentations for prospective buyers. Soon after this had happened, a long-term president from the other camp was exited out. The CEO was paranoid that he would undermine the presentations, and I questioned this during an executive meeting. Soon after this, I was shuttled aside from my responsibilities during the divestiture. My questioning of the CEO's decision had put me on the outs with him. I was also responsible for market forecast data, which was used to paint the picture of the health of the company and where it was headed. I had a team of folks that worked this but I was intimately involved. I began receiving questions about some of the numbers I was presenting, asked basically to increase the forecast for numbers that would paint a more promising aftermarket growth story, which would create a more profitable long-term scenario. My conclusion during this time was that the CEO was trying to steer the company toward a certain type of buyer, one who would leave the management team intact vs. a competitor who would certain take the CEO out as he had no industry experience.
My situation was as follows: I had been pushed to the side, no longer part of management. I felt I had no opportunity to show my value to potential buyers. Worse yet, I felt I was being asked to fudge numbers, to fabricate them. I knew no one in the parent company as joint ventures are often off the radar of parent companies. So there is the hand history, and what is your play? I made what I felt was the right decision, I resigned from the company. I walked away from what at the time was a great deal of money (what today is a great deal of money). I'd like to say that then the results went well, that a better path was cleared and that everything turned out great. That would not be correct. Financially, we are significantly worse off than we were then and than we would have been certainly had we stayed and fought on. Who knows what would have happened from a career perspective. I haven't been black-balled or anything like this, and the employees at the company (some of which I've seen in the six+years since) have all been positive about me and my behavior at the time.
As Greg Raymer says, his goal is only to make the best decisions possible given the data that he had at the time. I wish I fully had his discipline, but I can honestly say that this decision still is there, still haunts me a bit. As many of you know, I have a strong faith that is a big part of my life as well. Several writers and ministers have created a success theology, that if you believe in God and take certain actions, then everything turns out great. You also may have heard about folks saying if a door closes, God opens another that is better. I think it's more complicated. I do believe when a door closes, God opens other doors. Better is a subjective term, and I think it is about a different path. I am hardly suffering in my life, still able to earn a comparitively good living, have healthy children and a wonderful wife. My journey since that decision to walk away from that retention bonus didn't turn out better, just different. I felt for me personally, I was being asked to compromise my values. Was it illegal? I don't know, possibly in today's corporate governance world. It was unethical in my opinion. Was it my responsibiltiy to find someone to talk to at the parent? Probably. Did I take the easy way out? It sure as heck didn't seem easy at that time, but maybe I did, I don't know.
Why do I write this publicly? We've talked about what this blog is, what it is for. I've looked into ways of generating money through this blog as it would be nice if I could augment at least my bankroll for writing this. Fundamentally, this is really for me, but it is also an investment in regular visitors as well as those who happen by. It is an investment in regular visitors as I benefit from complete strangers getting to know me under the broad flag of poker. I'm not the greatest strategist about how to play A7o in middle position, so I tend to give more about topics that I struggle with or give of myself as others seem to resonate with it. I share this most personal story as it definitely continues to shape my career and business challenges, as well as gives more insight into who I am. It is what it is, and nothing more.
Couple of final notes. Nice weekend of soccer, and go US today. Saw Poseidon last night with Sweetie, and it had what must be the worst poker scene in history. I have no short-term memory, but I think it went something like this: NLHE, the table is short-handed (five or six players), we see the river being dealt, there is definitely an ace on the board but I don't think any facecards, Josh Lucas is the designated high-stakes gambler and bets $5k, Kevin Dillon picks his cards up in a drunken stupor and mucks after some sort of wise crack (four players have card in front of them), Kurt Russell makes some comment about that pot having more than his dad made in a year, then raises to $15k, muck and Lucas then re-raises I think to $25k, then Russell's daughter and her boyfriend (who he surprised on the sofa of their suite, fully clothed but intimate) come up, and Russell chats it up with them, then tells her to button her shirt right after he re-re-re-raises to $40k, then Russell picks his cards up, his daughter then says that's great dad, a pair of fives, then the boyfriend reprimands her, then Lucas says he's all-in. Oh, and the dealer announces after each bet what the next bet is required to be. Oh, and there are only about ten string bets during this one hand with a speech before each action. Now what am I doing at Poseidon? I don't know exactly. I thought it was a poker movie. I kept laughing throughout the movie, although I don't think it was a comedy if Sweetie's elbows were any indicator.
Mark from the weekend: you left a post regarding wanting to chat about poker and faith, but there was no info on how to get back to you. Leave me another comment or email me at csquard@gmail.com. Lastly, Monday's Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, where we jump from this site to see where it takes us. Thanks again for being here, and have a good day.
- DublinPoker: This was a first time visitor from the weekend (thanks analytics package). He's trying to win a seat to the WSOP, so good luck Rory Cartwright.
- rounders123: I've hit the motherload of the big Irish poker scene. Rounders is also trying to get into the WSOP, but he's a sick puppy betting on everything from Formula One to baseball (Arizona over Atlanta)! I mean, you have to be sick to bet on baseball. Sorry, I didn't mean to offend all you sick degenerates out there...
- Nuts On The Flop: ionapaul plays tourneys a good bit it seems. There will be a big Irish contingent at the Stars blogger tourney next weekend it looks like.
- PokerOK: olly plays with this same crew, alot of local tourneys it looks like.
- MilkyBarKid: Ben Grundy's site takes us away from Ireland, but this Londoner must have some serious game. Playing a bunch of WSOP tourneys, cashing at tourneys throughout Europe over the last couple years. See his Hendon results for the last couple years.
- !Red Square Poker!: Razboynik is a Moscow player. I've been to one other Russian poker blog, and Raz seems pretty interesting. You'll have to check it out.
I Might Be a Tourney Reporter
Just sent the WPT Mandalay Bay final table tourney article to PokerWorks. It's not horrible, but it's no Hemingway for that matter. Anyone with feedback overall would be greatly appreciated.
Not a very good day Thursday in the productivity department. I called the VP/GM of one of my clients that we're doing marketing for. They are pretty abysmal overall, never execute very well, don't pay for a retainer which really means I'm limited in my involvement. I'm going around my day-to-day contact to the VP/GM and asked for a private meeting next week with him. I may go around him as well and request the same from the CEO the next day, I'm not sure. I'm really torn on whether to fire them or try and get fired by them. The revenue model is great with these sorts of relationships, alot of free money when you print things. It is a constant distraction, and I don't like doing things poorly.
Back to the productivity front, it just hasn't been that great a week in getting things done. I have one solid new lead that I've worked that could turn into something, and I'm reviving another lead with a phone call in a few weeks. The lead time on finding and closing business is fairly long, so I need a big funnel of lots of leads that turn into good at bats that turn into business. My plans for the day just haven't been executed yet, wasting lots of time noodling about poker or reading blogs. Too much self pity and general malaise (if that's the right word). I need to have a better week next week.
I'd like to see if I can turn my talents to the poker world, and my exploration of the questions is a first step toward that. There is so much bad marketing, customer service, and general management in both the online and b&m worlds. As a reminder, the questions I'll be looking at are as follows:
- What is the state of poker on a ten point scale, with 10 being thriving and 1 being in decay?
- What are the greatest unmet needs of the poker playing community?
- What are the greatest challenges confronting poker businesses in the next three years?
- What are the keys to long-term growth and sustainability in the poker economy?
Thanks to FJ Delgado and pokerpeaker for your initial thoughts, as well as wes, sloejack, floppyjt, and mook for your thoughts on table hopping. Would be interested in other folks thoughts as well.
The World Cup is upon us. I picked my teams for Matt Matros' pool (you had to pick one team in each group which reflected two #1 seeds, two #2's, etc.). I ended up with Brazil and Germany as the #1's, The Netherlands and Ukraine as #2's, USA and South Korea as #3's, and Angola and Trinidad and Tobago (two countries, not three) as my #4's. I am confident that I don't know what I was doing as I had to basically move away from my stronger picks to deal with risk mitigation. I won't try and convert anyone to the fervor, but I would suggest this to anyone who is a sports nut but just doesn't get soccer: find a place on one of these weekend mornings, get some grub and brews in front of you, then sit back and watch the big screens with a bunch of fanatical Mexicans or Brits or Dutch or Germans or Argentines. Money-back guarantee that you'll at least appreciate it more.
Yahoo is toast, so my new email is csquard@gmail.com. I'm spam free on day 1 with only two emails from Google and two from Stars. Ping me with shoutouts and stuff to stuff into my poker folder.
Bankroll is at $6430. Not treading water per se, just not playing very much. I really miss playing live and need to figure out how to get out to Vegas soon. Will work a plan in the next week to do that. Sweetie is eating up weekends: The Little Guy is getting infant baptized this weekend (normally they're three or four months old, so hopefully this two-year old doesn't say any new words like DIE-DIE-DIE that his brothers are teaching him), to the mountains of G-Vegas for Father's Day (maybe sneaking in a game one night?), back there for the weekend before and after the 4th. I'm fine with them staying up there, and it would be great to work from there, but there is no cell coverage and no wi-fi, so I have to drive to Travelers Rest north of G-Vegas or go to Furman to get a signal. Not a healthy environment.
I'll leave you with Friday's Recipe, this one is a classic from my childhood, Bear Soup. You make Bear Soup whenever you get sick, as it was the soup that Goldilocks stole in the forest when the Three Bears were out and about. Peel three-four potatoes and slice them into small cubes. Slice an onion the same (OK, do the onion first), boil the onions in water, then add the potatoes. After fifteen minutes, drain some of the water then add two cans of tomato sauce and a bit of bacon grease (optional). Pepper as liberally as you like and you can add a third can of tomato sauce if you like. Simmer and stir for fifteen-twenty minutes (basically make sure the potatoes are good and soft). Keep adding pepper if you like, and you can add some salt somewhere in there although I don't put salt in anything. When you serve this piping hot, there is a three-step process to eating it: first, dip a saltine in and eat the cracker (too hot), then put a spoonful on a cracker and eat that (ALERT: risk of burning the roof of your mouth, so be careful there), once it's good and just warm then eat away. You can crumble saltines in at that point if you like. I make Sweetie make this whenever I'm sick.
Have a good weekend at the tables. I'll try and get some play in somewhere in the midst of watching World Cup and getting the Little Guy's head sprinkled.
ADDENDUM: Really funny video from a Brit series Extras with Patrick Stewart, courtesy of Wil Wheaton. Really, really funny.
Table Hopping
Almost got to play in the Mookie last night, but didn't get permission until it was too late to register (had to deposit and all that stuff). Congrats to Waffles for going out in second place, as well as all the gang for letting me railbird a bit (Mook: no Googling here by the way; Pauly, TripJax, mowenemdown, miamidon, gcox, smokee, jjok, hoyazo, drizz, highonpoker, et al). I should really play if I can clear it. I ended up writing the wrap-up for Day4 at the Mandalay Bay WPT tourney, so Linda will have that when she gets in from the Bellagio.
I had a nice upturn late while Sweetie was at a church meeting and I watched the boys (?). Up $234 playing $5/10 on Party, so it was nice to get that done. I did something I rarely do; table hopped. Here's what it looked like:
- 36 hands +$42
- 24 hands, +$122
- 8 hands, +$13
- 5 hands, +$47
- 16 hands, +$10
The cause of the moves was sharks in the water. It didn't take more than two known villains to show up for me to run and hide. I was stuck early at the first table until I limped with 9d7d in the CO with another limper in front of me. Four of us saw a flop of A56d with one diamond; it was checked around to me, so I made a bold play and checked as well. 8d came on the turn. I've seen people make gutshots, but I'm not sure if I've actually caught one myself. I've chased about a hundred of them, but I figured my straight with a straight flush draw was good, so I raised it up and took the pot vs. A8. I switched tables, caught 9h7h in the big blind, there was a raise and the button three-bet it, so I called (heck, this was my lucky hand I figured). Flop comes Th5h7d, so I was never going anywhere, button raises my bet and I call. Jc and I check/call, then an Ad comes on the river. He checks as well and shows 66, then proceeds to blast me for about ten hands of rhetoric. Caught a boat with AT then flopped Broadway with the same hand. The spewer got QQ cracked by another guy's 7 on the river by 77, so he went crazy again, got knocked out, then brought more sharks, so I split again. I posted and caught 8s4s at the next table, checked for five of us to see the flop, then had a board of K4984, with KJo paying me off.
I never, ever, ever table hop. Should I hang with the sharks when they come? Maybe not so much, but I'd be interested in your thoughts.
Matt Matros agreed to be interviewed, so I'm looking forward to that. He's also suckered me into donating twenty bucks for a World Cup pool. After reading the scoring, I think I'd rather just give him $20, but I'll probably do it. The Braves are sucking wind, which is actually good. The ATL is an absolutely horrible sports town, I'm sorry. It is really a Braves (read not baseball) town, as well as an SEC football town (read UGA or school you went to/lived near). Having lived in New Jersey (baseball and NFL country), Detroit (Pistons), Phoenix and New Orleans (OK, bad analogy with those two), the ATL just is not much for fandom. It's great for sports as you can see anything except soccer, it's just not a very intelligent sports crowd.
One of the problems with staying up until 2:00 and not playing in the Mookie nor playing any poker is that I have in essence consumed poker hands during these last four hours. Sweetie is going to be OK with me playing x hours/hands. Telling her I railbirded these knuckleheads and typed fart in the chat box a few times won't really resonate with her. It cost me probably 300 poker hands this week to work on the tourney article and railbird. That either saved me $600 or would have scored $800 for me.
I'm planning to address the following questions next week, and I'd be interested in any initial thoughts folks might have:
- What is the state of poker on a ten point scale, with 10 being thriving and 1 being in decay?
- What are the greatest unmet needs of the poker playing community?
- What are the greatest challenges confronting poker businesses in the next three years?
- What are the keys to long-term growth and sustainability in the poker economy?
A bit of work, but I hope to get some good stuff out. Have a good day today. PS, I must confess I am a comments junkie. I just hated the Blogger derail where no comments could work; just horrible stuff.
Hmmm, and Another Quickie
Gratuitous photo of Michelle Pfeiffer. Hot in Scarface, always gorgeous.
Was up $90 or so on Party, trying to sneak it over $100 before calling it quits, so I ended the session down $160 playing $5/10. One of my sneaky plays during the losing period was just calling from the bb with AsKs to one raiser, flop coming QQ7 rainbow, I bet and he calls. 3s comes on the turn, so I check/raise him and he calls (remember, I'm sneaky). River is a beautiful Ah, I bet and he raises me. I sit there and call to see him flip over two more queens. How many queens do they have in these virtual decks? I also got check-raised on the river by AK vs. my AQ with an A on the flop and a paired board. Started another table (when you have 15 waiting list), squeaked out one pot by cracking AA with my TJo and flopping the T (rivered one too). Got some nice rhetoric from the aces, but get in line you know. TJ looked like two jokers there, so just back off!
My transition to home officing has changed my poker play as I leave my laptop in the basement. That means no playing while watching TV with Sweetie, as well as she surprises me while playing in the later afternoon, which then is like continually catching me with one of the babysitters and her mom (or at least I assume it's like that). So, I've got to figure out some boundaries here.
A quick factoid: never ever ever short-buy in limit unless you're literally down to your last dollars available. First, I think there is a psychological component to this. You'll get called down more when you're short-stacked, so you better have the goods. Big stacks seem to be able to bully more, although I don't know if that's fully true. Biggest thing is you want to get maximum payoff for your hands, and you can't if you're out of chips. I used to underbuy, but I've started overbuying or chipping up on occasion.
Couple of videos: Celebrity Mugshot Poker, Doc Holliday poker scene from Tombstone, The Poker Game from some high school kids I think (pretty funny), FullTilt Poker videos (Phil Ivey's is pretty rude and side splitting).
The World Cup is now less than 50 hours away, and I'll be working hard to balance World Cup, poker, business, and family. Not necessarily in that order?
I don't need to pimp Pauly, but he's been on a tear with his Born to Gamble history posts. For anyone interested in the World Cup, Matt Matros will keep you up to date and give great analysis. GCox is hosting the Okie-Vegas gathering (sorry I can't make it guys and ladies). TripJax is headed out there for the festivities.
Later.
The Poker Valve
What do you get when your dog eats a raw chicken breast and a Huggies diaper wipe? Well, you end up with three inches of wipe hanging out of her butt that you then have to pull out. I haven't researched the health implications fully. It seems that it would definitely clean you out, but you better keep track with how many wipes you swallow (can you say blockage?).
My play has declined in amount since we moved the office downstairs. I'm leaving my laptop in the basement and have been pretty busy, so the table time has just declined. I'm fairly experienced at playing infrequently and irregularly, although I don't like it much. Poker is like riding a bike, except that it's not and you can't lose lots of your bankroll on a bike. Can you switch the poker valve on and off at will? Some thoughts:
- Bow patience: The boys used to be in karate (which is really a suburbian cash extraction venture designed to have parents part with their money--see ballet class for girls). One of the things that you do before you start is bow and say patience. Patience is one of the greatest things to suffer when you aren't playing regularly. It may rear its head in table and game selection, it most certainly is exhibited in starting hand selection.
- Start tight, then fight fraidy-scared-syndrome: Tighten up your starting hand criteria in the first orbit or two, just to get back to the feel of what you're doing. After you've made it through that, the next risk is that you overcompensate and just are gunshy. This is especially true with value betting. A portion of your ROI depends on value betting and getting paid off, so there is risk that rust will sap those bets. Have five river value bets as your goal starting the session.
- Drop down a notch or two: There is no need to play at your typical stakes when your rusty. You're either playing for the enjoyment or trying to get started again, so put less of your bankroll at risk than normal.
- Take a break: Decide to take a walk after an hour or so, whether you're live or online. It's a good way to clear your head and get your swing thoughts together.
- Analyze more diligently: Look deep at the session after your done. Was your play typical? Did you make some blatant errors? Were you successful due to a run of cards or weak players? One of the greatest dangers of playing intermittently, I believe, is lulling yourself into thinking that everything's great. This can happen when you have a nice result after a layoff. Clouds could be over the horizon.
- SNG: Sit-n-go's are a great way to play infrequently. Small risk, lots of play, gets your head engaged.
I don't know if I'm an expert at infrequent play success, but at the least I'm experienced. Would be interested in additional thoughts as well.
You can head over to PokerWorks to see a new article on Wild Bill Franceschine, an interesting guy who moved to Thailand to play online because he wanted to live in paradise. He focuses on SNG's and tourneys, and just took down his biggest score in the Mandalay Bay tourneys. You can head to his blog as well. Have a good day, and hope you get to play a good bit.
Identity Theft?
It was a pretty exhausting weekend of work, trying to get through all of the home office move. Sweetie's friend from Hilton Head was here helping this weekend and was a motivating force the whole time. We had done a decent job getting rid of stuff before it got here, but there was so much to do with boxes. We have fifteen office chairs (ten for the poker room), nine Haworth conference tables. We had boxes and boxes of office supplies. I had an office manager at one time who just loved buying office supplies. How much? Well, we had five moving boxes full of hanging folders and file folders.
Phil the IT guy also came Saturday to try and finish but didn't get everything done. We now have the following in our house: Dell server, two G5 Mac's, two operational laptops and one not working, three PC desktops, a Lanier L138 printer/copier (a big, high volume beast), Gestetner black and white copier (not hooked up, need to sell), another Lanier printer/regular desktop laser printer (very nice), and a Canon photo printer. We still have some odds and ends that Phil needs to finish.
I'm pretty sure I've decided on the poker room finishes. Leo Coax pendant from LBL Lighting (similar to Tech Lighting), a darker brown color for the wall, a concrete looking tile for the floors. It adds some cost to the room, about a third more I think, but it looks really great and will complete it nicely. Should be finished in a couple weeks, I think. The contractor is putting duct work in the new offices here, so today should be a bit dicey.
OK, a horrible, horrible thing happened yesterday. I checked my yahoo email before church and the blog comments to see if anyone had left anything over the weekend (thanks Donkey Hunter, scurvydog, Felicia, and Fat Dan). Went to church, ate at JR's (three scrambled eggs with cheese, side of country ham, biscuit, hash browns off the big guy's plate). Came back, went to check email--and it says the password won't work. Now I haven't changed my yahoo email password in over a decade, but nothing. Tried everything, tried going to all the help pages, asked me for zip code where I started out (nothing--I couldn't remember when and where I lived to start my yahoo account). Absolutely bizarre, and my only guess was that someone somehow had gotten the password, logged in, then changed it. I can't imagine it, but it freaked me out nonetheless. Oh, and of course Yahoo has no phone number to call. None. Current status: no personal email, still freaked out. Just received email from Yahoo asking more questions I don't know (alternate email account, zip code). I have no idea what alternate email account I opened up, and I've tried every possible zip code I think when I opened it, but nothing. I may end up having to lose my yahoo email forever, which will be a big bummer.
And poker? Played a little more on Hollywood, finally figuring out how to get PokerTracker to work (thanks Dave and Dan). Had an up session a bit playing 3/6, but I can't imagine how I could possibly clear the 1000% bonus (need roughly 10-12k hands in two months). Several very irritating things with Hollywood: no players, does not prompt you when it's your time to play (almost mucked aces, took me twenty minutes to get started playing as I missed blinds to post or whatever). Slow action as well. I'll keep plugging, but I don't know if it's worth it or not.
I jumped in on the luck and poker thing (probably irritated scurv--sorry). You can read Saturday's post if you'd like my two bits. I was purposefully extreme to make a point: poker is about luck in so many ways in the short term. It is 100% chance regarding how the cards are dealt, it is some chance as to what players will do based on your best decisions. For example in limit, what % of opponents fold an underpair when you have AK on a board that doesn't have an A or a K? What % when they hit bottom pair? When they hit top pair?
I also did something late last week that I'd thought about during my run: I changed my Party screen name. I decided doing so should be a standard play as frequently as is possible as it seems like a no-brainer to become invisible again to PokerTracker players out there (and everyone has PokerTracker if they're playing for real). Not enough data on this, but there you go.
Finally, Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, where we see where we end up each week from this site. Have a good day, and I'll talk to you later.
- Guinness and Poker: IGGY is one of the best out there, and thanks for last week's pimpage.
- My Totally Gay Online Diary: Bobby Bracelet's back!
- Elizabeth: looks like a cutie pie.
- Von Krankipantzen: Canadian lady cat lover (like we need more of those...). Good photos of baby pigs dressed as tigers feeding from a mother tiger (you can't make that up)
- Dooce: Heather (great flick by the way), looks like a nice place to visit, very sharp look and feel.
- Leah Peah: Another lady's blog. Ladies seem so different than us. What to do when you've tattooed a tribute to your husband then get divorced.
By the way: Heat? One of my five favorite movies of all time. And the first movie where Pacino and De Niro share the screen together. And the best shootout/bank robbery scene ever.
Luck and Poker
A rare weekend post. First, thanks to IGGY for the nice words this week ("...I'm a big fan..."); pretty flattering, so thanks.
I deposited $300 in Hollywood Poker to see if their 1000% bonus is doable. Sat in on one 3/6 table, promptly lost $120 I think never winning a pot. Very slow game, hardly any tables, couldn't figure out how to use PokerTracker with Hollywood (either the hands are on my hard drive or something). I think I would need to play something like 15,000 hands in two months to clear the bonus, so I don't know if it's doable. I'm just not sure.
Traffic drops substantially on weekends (probably down 75% or so), but I'd like to address my thoughts on poker and luck vs. skill. As many great topics start, it started with Jordan's initial post then alot of folks chimed in. I probably have a bit of a different take on the topic of luck vs. skill in poker: Poker is 100% luck.
100% luck--a bit stupid right? Well, first what is luck? dictionary.com defines it as the chance happening of fortunate or unfortunate events. I'd like to focus on the first word, chance. Let's start first with the universal first truth in a poker hand: you receive x number of random cards after a dealer has shuffled. If you're playing holdem, then we're talking two cards. I'll let the statisticians give you the odds of getting any two specific cards, but suffice it to say that for most players we won't have a decision to make probably 50-67% of the time. What I mean by this is a majority of the time, we look at our cards, and we have hands that everyone would deem poor, so we muck. Next, there are 5-10% of the hands that are universal that we will be playing them, so the decision then becomes what to do based on other factors like position, other players actions, chip counts, table image, etc. That leaves 23-45% of the hands where we have to decide if we'll play or not. I understand that this isn't exactly right (e.g., raising in the cutoff with rags), but hopefully you follow.
If luck is chance, then poker starts with 100% chance, meaning 100% luck. It then becomes what we're going to do with that combination of our chance vs. our opponents' chance that determines both our actions, our opponents' actions, and the results. I'll give you a couple of examples of what I mean:
- December, 15/30 at the Bellagio. I'm in the 1s and have 9To (it's folded to me in the CO and I fold), 2s has 77 and raises preflop on the button, 3s calls with 22 in the sb, bb calls with 88. Flop comes 872, turn is 8, river is 7. Independent of the other players, was I lucky? I had a marginal hand that becomes playable in late position with no one entering in front of me. Was I lucky or unlucky to be dealt these cards? Was there skill involved to muck these cards? Independent of everything else, was the 3s lucky to be dealt the smallest pocket pair? Was she lucky to catch bottom set? Was she lucky to catch a full house on the turn? Was the 4s lucky to be dealt the best hand pre-flop? Was he lucky that the board hit everyone so powerfully? Was he unlucky that the 2s had lost the previous hand, thus getting all-in on the capped turn?
- Last night, in a SNG. I'm down to 1245 in chips with the blinds 30/60 (I'm in sb with 99). It's chance that I get a medium pocket pair. UTG, who is horrible, calls, then UTG+1 raises to 150. I reraise to 675, as I decide to take a stand, UTG folds, and the raiser calls. Flop comes Kd9dTc. I go all-in with my last 570 and am called, with an 8c and 3d completing the board. The raiser has KhJh. Was I lucky that the raiser raised out of position with a marginal hand? Was I lucky that he called pre-flop? Was I lucky that he hits top pair? Was I lucky that he calls?
- Later in the SNG, I have 2552, blinds are 100/200. I'm dealt QJo, and a solid player with 3352 in middle position limps, I raise to 875, blinds fold, he shoves, and I muck. Was I lucky to be dealt this marginal hand? Was I lucky that he jams?
- $5/10 LHE on Party, I'm in bb with AhKh, UTG raises, CO calls, sb calls, and I call. Flop comes JcTh2h, sb checks, I bet, UTG raises, CO folds, sb calls, and I call. Kc on turn, sb bets, I call, UTG raises, sb re-raises, I call, UTG caps, sb calls, I call. 3d comes on the river, sb checks, I check, UTG checks. sb has KdJd, UTG has TT for the set. Was I lucky to catch big slick in the bb? Was I lucky to see a flop like this?
- Later at the same table, I'm dealt AhKh again in the CO, it's folded to me, I raise, and the rest fold to me. Was I lucky?
Poker is 100% luck. The skill comes with how we take in all available data possible to bring our quick decision making honed through experience, analytical capability, and further chance. The other major part of skill is our ability to deal with the outcomes that result from chance, either the string of positive outcomes or negative outcomes. When we're riding high, many of us (at least let me start with me) alter our decision making. The luck of who is at the table and their tendency to fold or call you down impacts those outcomes during both the winning and losing streaks. AKs gets called down by underpairs when we're running bad but gets mucked vs. second pair bad kicker when we're running good.
I think in the macro sense, our ability to manage ourselves, our mental outlook, and the consistency of our approach during the extremes of chance is a major key to overall improvement and growth. Our no-nonsense ability to stay within our bankroll allows us to work through the negative extremes of chance.
None of this was thought out too well, so my apologies if it isn't too coherent. The down and dirty version: poker is 100% luck, and our long-term success is tied to the skill we have to deal with this luck, this chance.
Hope everyone is having a good weekend, and I'll see you Monday.
Do Poker Bloggers Matter?
Day One back in the home office is in the books. It was a busy day to be sure trying to get things up and running. Today will be an additional test as we'll have one of our graphic designers here working as well as our IT guy getting the network back up and running. The contractor is also working on the poker room as well. Any further ideas on the room are welcomed. I'm headed down a track suggested by Falstaff and Dr. Chako for neat lighting, probably something like Tech Lighting above the table.
There was an article in Sunday's NY Times on the Yearly Kos Convention. This is the first gathering of leading liberal bloggers including the Daily Kos which was started by Markos Moulitsas Zuniga and is now the fifth most popular blog around. It attracts roughly 600,000 visitors each day. Admittedly, my head is in the sand as I don't know anything about liberal or conservative media. I don't watch the news, and I don't scavenge the web at any of these sites they mentioned. I didn't even know the Huffington Post or any of these others hugely popular sites. I knew the world revolved around me, but I thought it also loosely revolved around us, the poker blogger galactic. I figured Pauly had to wear a disguise in airports to escape the paparazzi. So maybe that bubble is burst. But do we matter?
One thing I told Sweetie is that blogs have to have significantly increased the number of readers and writers out there. Maybe it's had a detrimental macro-effect on book sales (eating up available time to read), I don't know. But so many folks I consider good and really good writers wouldn't be writing without a blog. It's right in my sweet spot of reading, bite size chunks.
But do we matter to anyone but ourselves? We seem to be quite a diverse crew, maybe we lean in certain directions. Maybe we're more left than right. Maybe we're more degenerate than not. We're a subset of subsets, poker bloggers in the world of bloggers and poker players. In our daily life for many of us, we are a hidden niche in the larger, normal world. Poker players and poker bloggers in the bigger world of our church. In the bigger world of parents and coaches of the youth baseball league. In the bigger world of school teachers. For some of us, it's no big deal; for others, it's pariah (if that's the right use of that word).
Does it matter if we matter? It obviously does with the pending legislation to take away our deadly nectar, online poker. Beyond that, does it matter if we matter? Does anyone else care, and should we care? Our we the Borg of the poker world, or are we bench monkeys?
Do we matter to poker? Well, PokerStars would say yes, as would all the other sites (see banner ads). The poker world has its information providers like CardPlayer and PokerPages. They have their thought leadership in 2+2. We're not a PAC, an association, or an organization. We're not organized with any common beliefs or anything. We document our thoughts, our frustrations, our big wins, our wipeouts, our rants. We are big sharks and big fish, grizzled veterans and neophytes. We have no initiation process, just get stumbled upon after someone leaves a comment.
Do poker bloggers matter?
A couple of final things heading into the weekend. I'm fairly certain I'll be missing out on Okie-Vegas due to China falling through (sorry guys). I am looking at hitting Vegas in the near future, either during WPBT or WSOP. I also may host an area game to celebrate the poker room being finished. I'll provide more details later. Also, anyone who knows where to find some good poker photos, I'd like to get some for the Poker Room.
Also, what's with Word Verification? They've added the requirement now to post each time (did this a couple weeks ago). Look, these aren't words, you know? Change it to Scrambled Letter Verification for crying out loud...
Finally, Friday's recipe, Salsa. Again, very easy to make but oh so great. My brother-in-law requested it over the weekend, so I'm putting it up here. Very straightforward: three or four cans of diced tomatoes, chop an onion (more or less depending on how much onion you want), a few green onions (you can put a couple whole ones to stick out of the bowl as it looks pretty cool), garlic (again the little jar already crushed), oregano, black pepper, pour juice from a jar of jalapenos plus half a jar of jalapenos (you can cut them up if you want-more or less to alter heat), two cans of those little green peppers that are already sliced (in the Mexican food section), cilantro (fresh is ideal although I've even used some weird gel last time), cut a lime in half and sqeeze the juice, then put the two halves in the salsa. Heck, toss anything else you want in there. We've switched from Tostitos to Santitas as the chip of choice. Hope to squeeze some poker in this weekend as well. I'm at -$0.00 for June, down from -$1,999 in May, so it's a big improvement so far. Have a great weekend.
ADDENDUM: In case you needed more info that the end of the world is near, here is the video of the lady who auctioned off the birth of her first born daughter, with the winning bid going to Golden Palace Casino (thanks to Casino Expat for the video).
Doyle's table in the NLHE 6-max is located immediately to your right when you enter the tournament area. He's cranking away and holding his own today.
Raymer being Raymer, as gracious a champion as you'll ever find.
Daniel Negreanu getting a little work done. He needs to be sure his back is ready as he's built a monster chip stack, on a sick run knocking out any and everyone who sits at the table.
MiamiDon and Carmen. I headed over to the MGM Grand for a nice relaxing lunch. Really great to meet them, very genuine folks. Don has really been working away at 1/2 NLHE, and we talked about how much better different parts of his game have gotten since he's been playing regularly. Carmen is just a cutie pie all the way around, and she told me about her fantasies with different poker players (I wasn't mentioned oddly enough). They're going to try and come down here tomorrow to railbird, maybe sweat me if I jump in the tourney, we'll see.
