The following is an unfinished final blog posting. I worked on this on the plane on the way home, but never finished it.
I am currently 30,000 feet above the ground as I am typing this. The last month has been an incredible experience and I’ve had a blast. Although I have no huge tournament success to write about, I’ve proven to myself I could easily play professional poker live (I crushed the Bellagio limit games,) I wanted out of Vegas more than words could describe after the limit hold em tournament I discussed in my last post. I hated the town, I was tired, I was in bad physical health, I was running bad, and Vegas just seemed like a gilded town (which I truly believe -- everyone in that town is miserable.) Anyways, the last 10-12 days of this trip has been incredible, I’ve made some awesome new friends and had amazing conversations. Somewhere in the hazy, drunken glutton that is Las Vegas I found clarity and a new sense of purpose and enthusiasm for life. As is often the case after a new experience the individual involved romanticizes about the events and tries to find some deeper meaning. That is clearly what I am doing now, but the talks I had with a couple of recreational players at the Bellagio have reinvigorated my ambition and drive for greatness, which has admittedly gone stale in the last year or two.
This is going to be a ridiculously long post as it has to sum up about 12 days worth of shit. First, I am going to cover some cool nights I had, then I am gonna discusss where my live changing epiphany happened J. I am not even going to type up anything about the Main Event other than this blurb. I couldn’t get anything going. The field is incredibly bad, so bad I am considering making this an annual tradition as I am hugely +ev (meaning in the long run I will make money.) You start with 20k in chips, The entire day 1 I was between 13k and 25k in chips. I made it to the dinner break with about 18k in chips. Shortly after dinner I raised AK of hearts, I guy called with position on me. The flop comes AQ5 with 2 hearts. I bet, dude raises it to about 4,000, I stick it all in the middle, he insta-calls (rightfully), and tables AQ for top 2. We are off to the races as I have 12 outs 2 times (essentially a coin flip), no luck for me and I am sent to the rail.
The first cool night that got the ball rolling for my rebound in Vegas was the night of the Bodog Party. We had to go to the Bodog Suite at the Rio to pick up our Bodog Gear and get our passes for the party. The package Bodog gave me was pretty fuckin sweet. I got 3 t-shirts, a polo, a zip up sweatshirt, and 2 hats (1is kind of whack). Also, chapstick, mints, and a water bottle. But the coolest thing they gave me was an 8.3 mega pixel Samsung digital camera, pretty baller especially considering I’ve never had a digital camera before. The best part is it says Bodog right on the camera. Anyways, the party was held at the Palms, in the Hardwood Suite. It’s a 50,000 square foot suite, with a private bar making up one half of the suite, and a basketball court on the other side (The owners of the Palms also own the Sacremento Kings). The party was tight, they had a basketball shoot off with the winner winning 10k (I had no chance), they had hired models to walk around and talk to all the degens online geeks, and they had poker tables set up for those morons that can’t let go for even one night. All in all, I was surprised how normal the majority of the online poker players were. I always envision a group of freaks and weirdos making up the vast population of my opponents, but I guess in reality you need to be relatively bright to be successful at the higher levels, therefore smart people are not generally that weird, or at least better at hiding it. Clearly me, Mahoney, his girlfriend, and crazy Jenna took advantage of the free booze. The highlight of the night had to be when Charles Barkley made an appearance. The funny thing is Bodog had a bet on whether Charlest would be spotted in a casino before 2009. Obviously, he’s been spotted. Ali Nenad the host of Poker after Dark was standing in a group with Charles and John Robert Bellande. JRB asked Nenad for like 3k or something, and Nenad pulled it out of his pocket and gave it to JRB. Charles then jokingly? Asked for a 2k loan. Nenad asked Charles if he needed it. Chuck made some comment about not having any liquid funds at the moment. For those that don’t know, he was recently hti with a lawsuit by the Wynn for owing around 200k, he quickly paid it off after it became public. Anyways, all in all I give this night a 6 out of 10.
A couple nights later Chris Copejand was in town. He’s one of Furgals friends, that was out in Vegas last time I was out here. He seemed like a cool guy when I met him, and mention he ran a handicapping service and counted cards in blackjack, so we had a pretty good gambling conversation. Anyways, he hit me up when he got in town and mentioned he knew 10 girls from MSU and Western that were in town. I met them around 11 at the Palms. Apparently, the girls had met some promoter that could get them into all the different Palms clubs for free. The cool part about this night has pretty much nothing to do with the clubs or the girls. It has to do with a conversation me and Chris had. Our first stop was Moon, and the girls instantly disappeared as is pretty standard for cute girls in clubs. On a side note, it was some girls 21st birthday, and said birthday girls brother had also made the trip for the celebration. Dude graduated from Michigan, but was a total weirdo. Apparently, at whatever club they were at previously some girl slipped him a tab of acid on the dance floor, so this kid was sweating profusely and acting like a total weirdo. Anyways, me and Chris get talking about our shared passions of business and gambling. Since I met him I really had my doubts if he was a successful gambler or not, while he can speak intelligently about card counting, something just kind of struck me as off (more on this later.) Nonetheless, he is a great guy and we have many shared interests. We get talking about entrepreneurship, and he tells me about his handicapping site and how it got started. Apparently he signed up for some contest 2 years ago for College Football, against other handicappers all over the world. This was done on a mediator site that is an independent third party that tracks picks of handicappers, essentially to substantiate their records. Anyways, dude ran like God and hit something like 67% of his picks and one the contest. Pretty cool to have variance on your side! He said today he’s up to 110 clients, and a survey of them shows they have a median income of under $40,000. LOL, got to love making money off of tards. Chris is definitely passionate about starting a business and had a really cool idea that I am interested in investing in (he said he needs start up money). We both agree online gambling is going to be legal in the United States in the next 5 years. He’s looked into these third party monitoring sites, and apparently there are about 7 right now. He says they all look like shit, none advertise on Google or anything, and none are user friendly. His idea is to create a user friendly version. I think this is a great idea. If you make a site that is easier on the handicappers to input data of course they are going to use it. Revenue will come from 2 places. First, you charge the handicappers a small fee for tracking their picks ($50 a month or something like that). The second source is getting sponsored by an online casino. I.E. they put their adds all over your site and you either get paid directly or get money for every client that is referred through your ads. I guarantee when gambling becomes regulated stateside, this is going to be a very profitable venture as every Tom, Dick and Hairy is gonna be looking for a good handicapper. I told Chris I was interested and he said he’d send me a business plan by Christmas time. Cool!
The rest of the night was your run of the mill Vegas shitshow. We went to Ghost bar, where I was macking on some girl from Western. She was very cute and was diggin wat 2tyme was feedin her. Unfornutately, I never run good and bad luck took it’s toll again. We went with the girls to Moon, of course the bouncer was a dick and wouldn’t let us in without paying cover. So the while we went to pay cover the girls headed up. When we got in there we couldn’t find them anywhere. Chris only had 2 of the girls numbers, one had already went home and the other’s phone died. It turns out the Playboy Club and Moon are connected and by the time we figured this out it was too late and they wouldn’t let us into Playboy. Oh well, I’m kind of over random drunken hook ups (kind of……).
Anyways, the funniest part of the night ensued when the degeneracy began. We were trying to go home, but the cab line at the Palms at 4 am on a Friday night is like at least an hour long. So we walked across the street to the Gold Coast Casino to catch a cab. You need to walk through the Casino to get to the cab pick up and of course being blacked out degenerates we take this opportunity to play blackjack. I’ve got $300 on me and Copemoney has his last $180 (apparently he has been getting crushed this weekend). This is right about the time I realize Cope is more of a degenerate then blackjack pro. The next thing that tells me this is when he claims he is going to turn the $180 into $2,000. I tell him I am only playing for 5 minutes and I want to get the fuck out of there. This is the most rinky dink casino ever, and we are playing a 2 deck shoe. I put out $50 on the first hand and Cope puts out $80. I am laughing on the inside because no professional BJ player would ever risk >40% of their bankroll on one hand, especially the first. Anyways, Cope goes on what is the most incredible run I have ever witnessed. He does not lose a hand in the first 4 shoes. If he didn’t start randomly betting $15 a hand in the 2nd shoe, he’d have had his 2k. It was unbelievable. The pit boss was hulking over the dealer to see what was going on. Chris kept dropping casual F bombs and the pitboss started yelling at him. This was some of the best LOL 30 minutes of my life. I also did pretty well winning $500 and coloring up my chips. I told Cope lets get the hell out of here, I know how this story ends as I’ve given it all back many of times. He assures me he is only playing one more hand (he is currently sitting at $1100). He makes a $100 bet and loses, I take his chips from him and push them forward for the dealer to color them up (he’s degenning hard at this point). He pulls them back and says one more hand. He bets $200 and hits blackjack. LOL, he colors up his chips and is sitting on $1300. A booked win. We go to the cage to cash out and the lady asks us what game we were playing and actually needs to call somebody for us to get paid. Very interesting stuff. Anyways, we drunkenly board a cab together and bond over a blacked out winning session. As fun as the drunken blackjack night was, it makes it less likely I’d give him my money for his company. I’ve seen degeneracy like that before, and it’s not a good thing. Overall I give this night a 6 out of 10.
This is my single favorite day in the history of Las Vegas (with the possible exception of the LAX night when Floyd was there). Anyways, a quick rundown of the major players involved. Anthony Venturinni (known as the Poker Donkey for some of the ridiculous poker claims he made to me when I met him), a kid I met at MSU this year after I cashed big in the Stars tourney. He reminds me a lot of Joey Baratta, completely full of shit, funny kid, loud, tells outlandish stories, but generally harmless. His best friend from MSU Chad something or another. A cool kid who I’ve hung out a few times with at State. Adam Hourani, the dude that won the $500k in the Omaha tourney, and is all around a super solid guy. Brian Rast, he’s made millions playing online and is a regular in the 200-400 PLO Omaha game on Full Tilt. Adam’s staying at his condo in my complex. Anthony and Chad made a game time decision to fly in for the main event the day before it started (I later found out Adam was staking them). I wasn’t sure if Adam was back in town or not, or if I’d hear from him if he was. The only time I’d really hung out with him was the night he finished 2nd in the tourney and I didn’t know if he remembered me or would call me or whatever. Anyways, he texted me at like 4 to see if I wanted to meet up with the Poker Donkey and Chad at the Palms. I said sure, through on a T-shirt and some jeans and headed down to his room. I fully intended on coming back to change before we went out.
We got to the Palms and everyone was hungry, so we tried to go to this steakhouse called “9”. It didn’t open for an hour so we hit the bar. I think we had 3 drinks each before we took our seats for dinner. The great thign about hanging out with gamblers is we are constantly gambling. We play a game called credit card roulette (CCR) to see who has to pay for stuff. Everyone throws a credit card in and someone shuffles them up behind their back. Then the shuffler takes turns telling people to pick a number between one and however many cards there are. So if I say 3, he counts down to the third card. He then gives that card to whoever it belongs to and they don’t have to pay. You do this until there are only 2 cards left. At this poin the puts one in each hand and hides the card. Whichever card is picked is the one that pays the bill. Luckily, I dodged a bullet and Chad had to pick up the drinks. The funny part about Credit card roulette is the side effects it causes. People order wayyyy more shit than they would if they were paying for their own food. It makes sense though, if you get a free meal 5 out of 6 times you might as well tack on that extra food. You got to get your money’s worth. Anyways, we rack up a huge bill. We each get a 12 oz. Filet minion (sp?), the table gets some $100 bottle of wine, and we get like 4 different appatizers and a couple odd ball drinks. I am scared for my life I am gonna get hit with this bill as we’ve already determined we are playing CCR for it. SHIP IT!! Somehow for the second game in a row my card is the first one selected and I dodge the major bullet. Unfortunately for Chad he got chosen again and this time it was no $100. I think our bill was around $600 after tip. Chad essentially got stuck with buying us all drinks and dinner at a nice restaurant and he’s not exactly rolling in the dough/ The male ego is a funny thing, when you are hanging out with new people and becoming friends. This will be an on going theme for the night. On a side note, Brady Quinn and Paris Hilton were both at 9 while we were there.
After Chad took care of the bill, we met up with Brian who had just lost $330,000 playing online that day (his biggest loss ever) and was justifiably a little on edge and ready to drink. With no real plans on what to do, we do what we do best and created a gambling contest. We decided to play a timed blackjack tournament. We would each buy in for $500 (there were 5 of us) and then we’d each throw $300 into a side pot, whoever had the most money at the end of 30 minutes would get the side pot. Of course the only real winner here was Palms. The major losers were me, Hourani, and our 5 livers. I think between us we donated around $1800 to the Palms in that half an hour, but it sure was fun. Luckily, Chad won so I didn’t feel so bad about him losing in CCR twice. Of course we had 2 shots and a drink during this half an hour. I was thinking to myself during this time, man these guys drink a lot, I wonder if they do this all the time. As I said, the male ego is a powerful thing, I wasn’t about to be the one to suggest slowing down. This was macho, 5 guys mano-e-mano (sp?). After the raping the Palms put on us, we headed over to some standard bar at the casino. This is where the night gets real hazy. We must have sat there for 2 hours. Every 15 minutes or so, someone would bring up that we hadn’t had a shot in 15 minutes, and we’d all agree it was about time for another. In all honesty, we had to 8 shot over the course of 2 hours, while sipping drinks on the side. We played CCR for every tab, miraculously I only got selected once, man do I run good! Anyways, ripping tons of shots and seeing how people react and hold their booze is always fun. I can say for certain after losing $350k and taking >10 shots Brian Rast does not hold his liquor well. He graduated from Stanford with a degree in Mathematics, but clearly is a little off in social situations. Not like really off, but just like a tad bit. Some people get the brains, some get the gift of gab, and some get a good combo of both, he got the brains.
Next, it was off to the Palms for some blacked out poker. The Palms poker room is a complete joke. It consists of 4 tables of NL Hold ‘em, blinds are 1-2. Well only 2 games were running, so we requested
Monday, January 26, 2009
Thursday, July 3, 2008
The Ugly Side of Poker
"The Definition of Insanity is Doing the Same Thing Over and Over Again and Expecting Different Results."
-Albert Einstein
The truth about poker is this. The road to glory is filled with degenerates and burnouts. The reason is this fucking game can drive a normal man insane. The best players in the world can have 2 or 3 losing months in a row. You can’t imagine the emotional toll losing for 2 months straight can take on someone. It’s a constant drag. Everyday you wake up and go to your job and give it everything you have, you play your best and you still leave with less than you came with. Whether it’s $5 or $5,000, losing fucking hurts. I hate it. We all hate it. Poker is also a predatory game. It’s a dog eat dog world. Ego has destroyed countless bankrolls (it hasn’t helped mine either.) Just like losing for 2 months can tear a person up. The opposite is equally as dangerous. When a poker player is on a heater (long winning streak), it is like they are invincible. The problem is they begin to believe they are the best, when the honest truth is they are probably playing good, but more importantly running better (the cards are just breaking their way.) This leads to the player taking shots at higher levels. If they normally play 20-40, but have been winning for 3 months in a row, they might move up to 50-100, or 100-200. In one week it is possible to lose 3 months of hard work. It’s sort of like a little story Doyle Brunson relays about one of his old adversary’s who was always broke. Someone came up to Doyle and said “What the heck, why is Johnnie always broke, I thought he was the 8th best poker player in the world?“ Doyle nodded and agreed, and said, “That’s right he is the 8th best player in the world, but he plays against the 7 best.“ My most recent entry talked about the joy of winning. This will be about the gut churning feeling about losing.
For the first time in my life I have no desire to be a professional card player. Spending the last 3 weeks in Vegas has taken a toll on me physically and mentally. More importantly though, it has given me an idea of what playing as a live (vs. online) professional would be life. It would be miserable. I had been to the Bellagio a few times since I’ve been to Vegas and thought it would be impossible for me to have a big loss there. Well it’s not. Some time last week (don’t remember the day), I went there and spent 9 fucking hours folding, folding, and folding some more. Over the course of 9 hours, I only took 6 hands to showdown. The straw that broke the camel’s back was when I picked up AA in the big blind. Finally, I thought, all this folding is finally gonna pay off. The player under the gun raised (perfect!! I am getting some action and clearing the field) Then something unexpected happens, the old rich fish in the small blind 3 bets, he hasn’t done anything like this all day. I 4 bet, and UTG caps the pot (It’s a 5 bet cap in Vegas.) The flop comes K 10 5, and the old man bets, I raise and the other guy folds. The turn brings a second 5, which essentially makes it impossible for me to lose because I have 2 pair aces and 5’s. Even if the old man pairs his 2nd card, he will only have a lower 2 pair (for example Kings and Queens.) The only card that could fuck me now, is one of the last 2 Kings in the deck. Well of course the king hit’s the river and it’s good game Tommy2tyme. The old man had KJ offsuit and takes down the monster pot. I played for about 10 more minutes then got up and left. Somehow I lost $1,800 playing in a game I should have crushed. This was the beginning of a rough few days.
The type of person cut out for this profession (in addition to having the talent), is one with a lot of self-discipline. The kind of person that has complete control over their actions. While you need talent, having self-discipline is more important. I have very strong will power, but once I’ve been beaten down enough times, I accept it and thrive on it. I am very good at turning a losing streak into a monumental disaster. Whether it’s sports betting, getting tilted up and playing too many hands, or playing while tired, I’ve been good at all 3 at one point or another. My buddy Jared on the other hand has a shitload of self discipline. I can’t even get the kid to play $100 of blackjack with me. He also displays great discipline while playing poker. There are many times in limit hold em where the decision is close, but folding is probably the better option than calling. I (along with 90% of the other players) make this call, while Jared can fold it. There are definitely benefits to calling, if you hit you can tilt up your opponent and make him play worse vs. you in future pots, but in the long run folding is the better option.
Since being here I have seen everything. So many of the famous poker players are broke, and playing the tournaments on a stake from another player. On the same token, I have met other online poker kids who I thought would have a shit load in the bank, and they are playing with their last $10,000 while out here. It’s really been sad. On the flip side of the coin, my roommate Jared, and Greg (Wild Duck) have tons of money in the bank and have real success. What separates these 2 groups? The busto players are equally as talented as the robusto players, but they have leaks. What are these leaks? I’ve talked about a lot of them already. They are sports betting, blackjacks, strippers, hookers, drugs, clubbing, video poker, using bad bank roll management, spending big on frivolous items. In moderation, any of these things are fine. The problem is, most poker players have degenerate tendencies. It’s what allows them to play poker for thousands, and not feel weird about it. The same skill that allows them to make money, is ultimately their demise. Poker players with discipline are few and far between, but at the end of the day only 3 types of poker players have a lot of money in the bank. First, the best players in the world, if you work hard enough and are blessed enough to literally be the best at what you do, you will have a lot of money in the bank (While I consider myself to be a world class limit hold em player, I am certainly not the best.) The second type, are the people that get lucky and win a huge tournament (I hope for this to be me and have had some success in the past.) The third are the one’s with discipline. This is the group I strive to be in. The one’s that realize the stakes they can beat and the one’s they can’t. The people that don’t bet thousands of dollars on sporting events, who don’t play thousand dollar hands of blackjack. These are all easy things to do when you are motivated to do them. It’s when the motivation slips and you get mentally weak that these things come into play.
Alright, one more paragraph of this grief and no more for the remainder of the blog. But I think it’s cool to give people a true look at what a poker player goes through both good and bad. I’ve made and lost shitloads playing this game. More money than I could have ever imagined 4 years ago. So I’ll tell you about the shittiest poker experience I have ever had in my life. This isn’t the most money I have lost in a day, but easily the most depressing day.
I got home Saturday night (Sunday morning) at 6 am. It was Tony’s last night in town, so we ended it at the place every Vegas weekend seems to end ;-). Anyway, Sunday at noon was the $1,500 limit shootout, the last event before the main event. Limit hold em is my expertise and the shootout format definitely plays into my hands. The shootout format means, each table plays from 10 players down to 1, with the winner advancing to a 2nd table. If you win the second table you are at the final table. I have an advantage because most players have no experience in shorthanded limit hold em, while I play it everyday of my life. I rolled out of bed at 11 am, on 5 drunken hours of sleep. I hopped in the shower, mumbled something to Tony about having a good time, grabbed an unopened box of Cheerios, and headed to the lobby to get a cab. Unfortunately, the cab took 20 minutes to arrive and I was 15 minutes late to the tournament. I sat at my table and looked around. Everyone was 40+ (a great sign) and I recognized no one. 2 hours into play I had doubled my chips from 3,000 to 6,000 and it was clear that there was only one other competent player at the table. By 4 o’clock Vegas time, I knew I was going to win this table. The table had 4 players remaining and I had about 50% of the chips in play at the table. My only concern was that the competent player still remained and was in 2nd place. Another player was eliminated, and we headed to a 20 minute break. At this point there is 3 players. Hero (me) with approx. 16,500, Competent villain with about 9,000, and Nitty Villain with 4,000. The 20 minute break is an awkward thing. Too short to get a real meal or something, but too long to just run to the bathroom, I end up standing around bored. Anyways, I took a piss, called my Dad, texted Bobby, B Corn, and Sox Nation and then awkwardly walked around the Amazon room waiting for the break to end. I was already having visions of myself at the final table. When I win the first table the prize is $5,100, and if I can just win one more table I will be at the final table playing for a bracelet. Finally, the match starts back up. Nitty Villain says something along the lines of “I’m not even going to take my sandals off and get comfortable,” a reference to the fact that he has $4,000 chips left and little to no chance. Well we all know what happens next. Nitty Villain goes on the rush of his life, and eliminates Competent Villain. This is great for me, because now it Shorthanded Limit Hold em professionaly Tom Solomon with $19,000 in chips vs. Nitty Villain who has honestly probably never played a hand of heads up limit hold em in his life with $9,000. If we play this match 100 times with those stack sizes, I win 85 to 90 times.
This guy is limping the button when I have the big blind (literally the best thing ever for me.) He is clueless, but of course the deck couldn’t hit him any harder. When we got to heads up, we were one of only 4 or 5 tables at that point. When we finished only 5 of the 80 tables were still going. The heads up match lasted over 4 hours. Twice this card rack had me all in, I fought all the way back to the chip lead before another 20 minute break killed my momentum. Long story short, Nitty Villain had Aces 3 times, flopping a set once. He flopped the nuts on 3 other hands where I had second pair or better. He cracked my kings both times I had them, once with trips and once with an A high flop. And worst of all, he cracked my flopped nuts with 77, on a 732 board, by going runner runner flush with J5 of diamonds. He finally eliminated me when my 22 was no match for his 95. I have never been so sick in my life. I honestly wanted to cry. It felt like getting punched in the gut. Here I am, about to get my first cash in a WSOP event, in my best game, with the best format for me and some old man who has no clue what he is doing literally rips my dreams our from right under my chair. I literally played perfect the entire time heads up. I never tilted and stole tons of pots. This guy could not miss though, and at the end of the day the cards talked and Nitty Villain would advance. Gross! I literally felt sick leaving. I think at this moment I knew I was burnt out. What happened next hurt a lot more financially but not nearly as bad emotionally. I went back to our Condo and lost $7,000 playing on Bodog. It was brutal, the games were good, but like I said, at the end of the day the cards talk. Things broke against me, I started tilting, it sucked. All in all, it was like losing $12,000, the $5,000 I should have won (with the possibility of more) + $7,000 I actually lost. It was not easy sleeping that night!!!!
Random Thoughts
-I have some fun stories coming soon. I will probably post tomorrow, I was gonna put it at the end of this one, but it got too long.
-I met a girl from Michigan out here and got her number, she’ll probably come out with us tonight.
-Jared’s girlfriend Lindsay is here, but his girl friend Jenna is also here. A solid 8 to 9, she’s also a fire cracker. Think Jackie Dombrowski (personality not looks) on uppers. She just got here last night. Things might get interesting.
-I want to give a shout out to Andrew Tymrak at his request
-I have never been in such bad physical health in my life. I need to stop going out, and start sleeping more. Unfortunately, the Bodog party is tonight. It is being held at some 50,000 square foot penthouse suite at the Palms. Apparently this place has a full size B-ball court, and countless stripper poles.
-The day after I lost this money I went to the Rio to play a $325 satellite, it was still too soon. I bluffed off all of my chips on the 5th hand of play. I was not ready to play this fucking game again and should have never tried.
-I picked up my gear from Bodog! It is sweet. I have 3 t-shirts, a sweatshirt, 2 hats, a water bottle, a chip protector, and an 8.1 mega pixel Samsung digital camera!! All in a Bodog duffel bag. I am psyched.
-Albert Einstein
The truth about poker is this. The road to glory is filled with degenerates and burnouts. The reason is this fucking game can drive a normal man insane. The best players in the world can have 2 or 3 losing months in a row. You can’t imagine the emotional toll losing for 2 months straight can take on someone. It’s a constant drag. Everyday you wake up and go to your job and give it everything you have, you play your best and you still leave with less than you came with. Whether it’s $5 or $5,000, losing fucking hurts. I hate it. We all hate it. Poker is also a predatory game. It’s a dog eat dog world. Ego has destroyed countless bankrolls (it hasn’t helped mine either.) Just like losing for 2 months can tear a person up. The opposite is equally as dangerous. When a poker player is on a heater (long winning streak), it is like they are invincible. The problem is they begin to believe they are the best, when the honest truth is they are probably playing good, but more importantly running better (the cards are just breaking their way.) This leads to the player taking shots at higher levels. If they normally play 20-40, but have been winning for 3 months in a row, they might move up to 50-100, or 100-200. In one week it is possible to lose 3 months of hard work. It’s sort of like a little story Doyle Brunson relays about one of his old adversary’s who was always broke. Someone came up to Doyle and said “What the heck, why is Johnnie always broke, I thought he was the 8th best poker player in the world?“ Doyle nodded and agreed, and said, “That’s right he is the 8th best player in the world, but he plays against the 7 best.“ My most recent entry talked about the joy of winning. This will be about the gut churning feeling about losing.
For the first time in my life I have no desire to be a professional card player. Spending the last 3 weeks in Vegas has taken a toll on me physically and mentally. More importantly though, it has given me an idea of what playing as a live (vs. online) professional would be life. It would be miserable. I had been to the Bellagio a few times since I’ve been to Vegas and thought it would be impossible for me to have a big loss there. Well it’s not. Some time last week (don’t remember the day), I went there and spent 9 fucking hours folding, folding, and folding some more. Over the course of 9 hours, I only took 6 hands to showdown. The straw that broke the camel’s back was when I picked up AA in the big blind. Finally, I thought, all this folding is finally gonna pay off. The player under the gun raised (perfect!! I am getting some action and clearing the field) Then something unexpected happens, the old rich fish in the small blind 3 bets, he hasn’t done anything like this all day. I 4 bet, and UTG caps the pot (It’s a 5 bet cap in Vegas.) The flop comes K 10 5, and the old man bets, I raise and the other guy folds. The turn brings a second 5, which essentially makes it impossible for me to lose because I have 2 pair aces and 5’s. Even if the old man pairs his 2nd card, he will only have a lower 2 pair (for example Kings and Queens.) The only card that could fuck me now, is one of the last 2 Kings in the deck. Well of course the king hit’s the river and it’s good game Tommy2tyme. The old man had KJ offsuit and takes down the monster pot. I played for about 10 more minutes then got up and left. Somehow I lost $1,800 playing in a game I should have crushed. This was the beginning of a rough few days.
The type of person cut out for this profession (in addition to having the talent), is one with a lot of self-discipline. The kind of person that has complete control over their actions. While you need talent, having self-discipline is more important. I have very strong will power, but once I’ve been beaten down enough times, I accept it and thrive on it. I am very good at turning a losing streak into a monumental disaster. Whether it’s sports betting, getting tilted up and playing too many hands, or playing while tired, I’ve been good at all 3 at one point or another. My buddy Jared on the other hand has a shitload of self discipline. I can’t even get the kid to play $100 of blackjack with me. He also displays great discipline while playing poker. There are many times in limit hold em where the decision is close, but folding is probably the better option than calling. I (along with 90% of the other players) make this call, while Jared can fold it. There are definitely benefits to calling, if you hit you can tilt up your opponent and make him play worse vs. you in future pots, but in the long run folding is the better option.
Since being here I have seen everything. So many of the famous poker players are broke, and playing the tournaments on a stake from another player. On the same token, I have met other online poker kids who I thought would have a shit load in the bank, and they are playing with their last $10,000 while out here. It’s really been sad. On the flip side of the coin, my roommate Jared, and Greg (Wild Duck) have tons of money in the bank and have real success. What separates these 2 groups? The busto players are equally as talented as the robusto players, but they have leaks. What are these leaks? I’ve talked about a lot of them already. They are sports betting, blackjacks, strippers, hookers, drugs, clubbing, video poker, using bad bank roll management, spending big on frivolous items. In moderation, any of these things are fine. The problem is, most poker players have degenerate tendencies. It’s what allows them to play poker for thousands, and not feel weird about it. The same skill that allows them to make money, is ultimately their demise. Poker players with discipline are few and far between, but at the end of the day only 3 types of poker players have a lot of money in the bank. First, the best players in the world, if you work hard enough and are blessed enough to literally be the best at what you do, you will have a lot of money in the bank (While I consider myself to be a world class limit hold em player, I am certainly not the best.) The second type, are the people that get lucky and win a huge tournament (I hope for this to be me and have had some success in the past.) The third are the one’s with discipline. This is the group I strive to be in. The one’s that realize the stakes they can beat and the one’s they can’t. The people that don’t bet thousands of dollars on sporting events, who don’t play thousand dollar hands of blackjack. These are all easy things to do when you are motivated to do them. It’s when the motivation slips and you get mentally weak that these things come into play.
Alright, one more paragraph of this grief and no more for the remainder of the blog. But I think it’s cool to give people a true look at what a poker player goes through both good and bad. I’ve made and lost shitloads playing this game. More money than I could have ever imagined 4 years ago. So I’ll tell you about the shittiest poker experience I have ever had in my life. This isn’t the most money I have lost in a day, but easily the most depressing day.
I got home Saturday night (Sunday morning) at 6 am. It was Tony’s last night in town, so we ended it at the place every Vegas weekend seems to end ;-). Anyway, Sunday at noon was the $1,500 limit shootout, the last event before the main event. Limit hold em is my expertise and the shootout format definitely plays into my hands. The shootout format means, each table plays from 10 players down to 1, with the winner advancing to a 2nd table. If you win the second table you are at the final table. I have an advantage because most players have no experience in shorthanded limit hold em, while I play it everyday of my life. I rolled out of bed at 11 am, on 5 drunken hours of sleep. I hopped in the shower, mumbled something to Tony about having a good time, grabbed an unopened box of Cheerios, and headed to the lobby to get a cab. Unfortunately, the cab took 20 minutes to arrive and I was 15 minutes late to the tournament. I sat at my table and looked around. Everyone was 40+ (a great sign) and I recognized no one. 2 hours into play I had doubled my chips from 3,000 to 6,000 and it was clear that there was only one other competent player at the table. By 4 o’clock Vegas time, I knew I was going to win this table. The table had 4 players remaining and I had about 50% of the chips in play at the table. My only concern was that the competent player still remained and was in 2nd place. Another player was eliminated, and we headed to a 20 minute break. At this point there is 3 players. Hero (me) with approx. 16,500, Competent villain with about 9,000, and Nitty Villain with 4,000. The 20 minute break is an awkward thing. Too short to get a real meal or something, but too long to just run to the bathroom, I end up standing around bored. Anyways, I took a piss, called my Dad, texted Bobby, B Corn, and Sox Nation and then awkwardly walked around the Amazon room waiting for the break to end. I was already having visions of myself at the final table. When I win the first table the prize is $5,100, and if I can just win one more table I will be at the final table playing for a bracelet. Finally, the match starts back up. Nitty Villain says something along the lines of “I’m not even going to take my sandals off and get comfortable,” a reference to the fact that he has $4,000 chips left and little to no chance. Well we all know what happens next. Nitty Villain goes on the rush of his life, and eliminates Competent Villain. This is great for me, because now it Shorthanded Limit Hold em professionaly Tom Solomon with $19,000 in chips vs. Nitty Villain who has honestly probably never played a hand of heads up limit hold em in his life with $9,000. If we play this match 100 times with those stack sizes, I win 85 to 90 times.
This guy is limping the button when I have the big blind (literally the best thing ever for me.) He is clueless, but of course the deck couldn’t hit him any harder. When we got to heads up, we were one of only 4 or 5 tables at that point. When we finished only 5 of the 80 tables were still going. The heads up match lasted over 4 hours. Twice this card rack had me all in, I fought all the way back to the chip lead before another 20 minute break killed my momentum. Long story short, Nitty Villain had Aces 3 times, flopping a set once. He flopped the nuts on 3 other hands where I had second pair or better. He cracked my kings both times I had them, once with trips and once with an A high flop. And worst of all, he cracked my flopped nuts with 77, on a 732 board, by going runner runner flush with J5 of diamonds. He finally eliminated me when my 22 was no match for his 95. I have never been so sick in my life. I honestly wanted to cry. It felt like getting punched in the gut. Here I am, about to get my first cash in a WSOP event, in my best game, with the best format for me and some old man who has no clue what he is doing literally rips my dreams our from right under my chair. I literally played perfect the entire time heads up. I never tilted and stole tons of pots. This guy could not miss though, and at the end of the day the cards talked and Nitty Villain would advance. Gross! I literally felt sick leaving. I think at this moment I knew I was burnt out. What happened next hurt a lot more financially but not nearly as bad emotionally. I went back to our Condo and lost $7,000 playing on Bodog. It was brutal, the games were good, but like I said, at the end of the day the cards talk. Things broke against me, I started tilting, it sucked. All in all, it was like losing $12,000, the $5,000 I should have won (with the possibility of more) + $7,000 I actually lost. It was not easy sleeping that night!!!!
Random Thoughts
-I have some fun stories coming soon. I will probably post tomorrow, I was gonna put it at the end of this one, but it got too long.
-I met a girl from Michigan out here and got her number, she’ll probably come out with us tonight.
-Jared’s girlfriend Lindsay is here, but his girl friend Jenna is also here. A solid 8 to 9, she’s also a fire cracker. Think Jackie Dombrowski (personality not looks) on uppers. She just got here last night. Things might get interesting.
-I want to give a shout out to Andrew Tymrak at his request
-I have never been in such bad physical health in my life. I need to stop going out, and start sleeping more. Unfortunately, the Bodog party is tonight. It is being held at some 50,000 square foot penthouse suite at the Palms. Apparently this place has a full size B-ball court, and countless stripper poles.
-The day after I lost this money I went to the Rio to play a $325 satellite, it was still too soon. I bluffed off all of my chips on the 5th hand of play. I was not ready to play this fucking game again and should have never tried.
-I picked up my gear from Bodog! It is sweet. I have 3 t-shirts, a sweatshirt, 2 hats, a water bottle, a chip protector, and an 8.1 mega pixel Samsung digital camera!! All in a Bodog duffel bag. I am psyched.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Truth
It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.
-- Teddy Roosevelt
-- Teddy Roosevelt
Truth
It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.
-- Teddy Roosevelt
-- Teddy Roosevelt
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Why I Play This Game
"Whether you think you can, or you think you can't, you are usually right"
-Henry Ford
Yo peeps. It ain’t easy, but it sure is fun. Life is good. I freakin remember why I play this game now. I spent the last 8 hours ripping up the Bellagio 30-60 game. Poker is a humbling game, after losing the last 2 days you start thinking you aren’t quite as good as you thought. Then you start to wonder why you waste your time playing this game. Well, today answered all these questions for me. The day completely 180’d for me. I bought in for 1400 and immediately lost 600. I literally had lost all confidence. I even mucked 77 preflop in an un-raised pot. Then it all turned, I picked up aces and they freaking held!!! It was turning. I grinded up about $500, then went and grabbed a quick Caesar salad from the “Snacks” restaurant. I came back and hit a rush. First pocket aces, then AK, then KK, then a huge pot with KJ of clubs. I was crushing. Suddenly I was up 2 dimes. Then some retarded 40 year old in his backwards hate and cool sunglasses started talking shit about me. Loud enough for me to hear, “there is no substitute for luck,” “Must be nice to get Pocket Aces and have them hold.” What a fuckin tool, has he never hit a run of cards? The guy was obviously the biggest fish in the game. As I was stacking my chips, he was bluffing his off raising 75 offsuit and betting to the river. Then my favorite hand of the night. I raise AJ of spades, someone calls, said jackass 3 bets on the button, and both blinds call. I just call. The flop comes 10 8 3 with 2 spades. The blinds check, I check, said monkey bets on the button, both blinds call and I come in with the Check raise. The turn is a second 10, the blinds check, I bet, monkey calls and both blinds call. The river comes the 8 of clubs. I am stuck with Ace high. Both blinds check, I bet (I can’t win if I don’t bet), monkey on the button gives some huge speech about how it must be nice to hit Ace 10 the way I did, then mucks, both blinds muck and I scoop the $800 pot and table Ace high. The guy looks like a dear in headlights, I quietly say “there is no substitute for luck” and stack his chips. Fucking Awesome! Loved every minute of it. I went on to win a total of $3,815. My second favorite part of the night was leaving. I had a few observers behind me commenting on my stack. The 30-60 game uses $10 chips. It’s standard to keep your chips in stacks of 20 ($200). I had a monster 5x5 square built out in front of me (5*5*200). At one point I almost had 6k in front of me. Anyways, the monkey soon lost all of his money and had to leave the game (I am sure it was more than he could afford to lose). As he got up, I began racking my chips (how you carry them to the cashier) and saying goodbye to the friendly people around me. This is basically a big slap in his face, because without saying it, I am making it clear he was the reason I was still playing, i.e. He’s a fucking donkey.
Random Thoughts
My boy J-Money (Jared Mahoney) also won 3k tonight, so we were both pretty happy.
The big game was running inside Bobby's Room at the Bellagio. Notable players include, Eli Elezra, Gus Hansen, Jen Harmen, Johnny Chan, Sammy Farha, and Todd Brunson.
I was sitting at the 30-60 game and some dude sits down in jeans, a t-shirt, a blazer, a backwards Detroit hat, and some huge aviators. He notices the D logo on my Titleist hat and asks me if I from Detroit. I say ya, Grosse Pointe. It turns out to be McClean, Trevor Mallon's roommate. It's a small world.
I think we will be back to the grind tomorrow.
Sorry for the lack of paragraphs, I was really fired up typing this out.
Cheers
2tyme
-Henry Ford
Yo peeps. It ain’t easy, but it sure is fun. Life is good. I freakin remember why I play this game now. I spent the last 8 hours ripping up the Bellagio 30-60 game. Poker is a humbling game, after losing the last 2 days you start thinking you aren’t quite as good as you thought. Then you start to wonder why you waste your time playing this game. Well, today answered all these questions for me. The day completely 180’d for me. I bought in for 1400 and immediately lost 600. I literally had lost all confidence. I even mucked 77 preflop in an un-raised pot. Then it all turned, I picked up aces and they freaking held!!! It was turning. I grinded up about $500, then went and grabbed a quick Caesar salad from the “Snacks” restaurant. I came back and hit a rush. First pocket aces, then AK, then KK, then a huge pot with KJ of clubs. I was crushing. Suddenly I was up 2 dimes. Then some retarded 40 year old in his backwards hate and cool sunglasses started talking shit about me. Loud enough for me to hear, “there is no substitute for luck,” “Must be nice to get Pocket Aces and have them hold.” What a fuckin tool, has he never hit a run of cards? The guy was obviously the biggest fish in the game. As I was stacking my chips, he was bluffing his off raising 75 offsuit and betting to the river. Then my favorite hand of the night. I raise AJ of spades, someone calls, said jackass 3 bets on the button, and both blinds call. I just call. The flop comes 10 8 3 with 2 spades. The blinds check, I check, said monkey bets on the button, both blinds call and I come in with the Check raise. The turn is a second 10, the blinds check, I bet, monkey calls and both blinds call. The river comes the 8 of clubs. I am stuck with Ace high. Both blinds check, I bet (I can’t win if I don’t bet), monkey on the button gives some huge speech about how it must be nice to hit Ace 10 the way I did, then mucks, both blinds muck and I scoop the $800 pot and table Ace high. The guy looks like a dear in headlights, I quietly say “there is no substitute for luck” and stack his chips. Fucking Awesome! Loved every minute of it. I went on to win a total of $3,815. My second favorite part of the night was leaving. I had a few observers behind me commenting on my stack. The 30-60 game uses $10 chips. It’s standard to keep your chips in stacks of 20 ($200). I had a monster 5x5 square built out in front of me (5*5*200). At one point I almost had 6k in front of me. Anyways, the monkey soon lost all of his money and had to leave the game (I am sure it was more than he could afford to lose). As he got up, I began racking my chips (how you carry them to the cashier) and saying goodbye to the friendly people around me. This is basically a big slap in his face, because without saying it, I am making it clear he was the reason I was still playing, i.e. He’s a fucking donkey.
Random Thoughts
My boy J-Money (Jared Mahoney) also won 3k tonight, so we were both pretty happy.
The big game was running inside Bobby's Room at the Bellagio. Notable players include, Eli Elezra, Gus Hansen, Jen Harmen, Johnny Chan, Sammy Farha, and Todd Brunson.
I was sitting at the 30-60 game and some dude sits down in jeans, a t-shirt, a blazer, a backwards Detroit hat, and some huge aviators. He notices the D logo on my Titleist hat and asks me if I from Detroit. I say ya, Grosse Pointe. It turns out to be McClean, Trevor Mallon's roommate. It's a small world.
I think we will be back to the grind tomorrow.
Sorry for the lack of paragraphs, I was really fired up typing this out.
Cheers
2tyme
Monday, June 23, 2008
A little burn out, and a couple nights out.
"The true measure of a man, is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good"
Sorry, I haven’t updated this in a while. Vegas has been kicking my ass the last few days. I have learned an important lesson about burning myself out. I have been spending my time playing single table sit n go’s at the Rio. They are sattelites to the WSOP events. It is a winner take all format, but the final 2 or 3 people usually come to some sort of deal so no one leaves empty handed. Somehow I’ve played 5 of these in a row, and haven’t won one even though I’ve finished in the top 3, 4 times. It’s really been sick. I haven’t won a coin flip deep in a while. Also, I took the sickest beat I can remember. With 4 people left in a $500 sit n go ($5k first prize), I was chip leader and the blinds were 400 and 800, I had around 5500 in chips. The button pushed all in for 3,000, or another 2,200 to me. I made the call with Q T of spades, which is a pretty ballsy call. Sure enough I was right and he flips 34 of clubs. The flop comes KQ2, and the guy gets out of his chair and steps away from the table. He has exactly 0 clean outs. The turn was the Ace, and before I know it the river 5 hits giving him the ol’ runner runner straight. I ended up busting with AQ, when the same guy shoved all in on the button and the Small blind called. They had QQ and JJ, they Ace hit on the flop and I thought I was in the clear, but sure enough the case Q peels and I am eliminated empty handed.
I have lost about $2,500 in the last 3 days. It isn’t terrible, and is just the result of running bad, which happens to everyone from time to time. I am still up a decent amount on the trip. I decided to take today off and just recharge my batteries for a tough week of grinding.
A recap of some of the carousing we have been doing. My cousin Will was in town to visit this weekend, and anyone who’s met him know that leads to some rowdiness. His first night here Will, Dave, Jared and myself went out. Dave and Jared got a huge kick out of Will. They couldn’t believe the way he walks right up to girls and just starts talking or dancing. They are the nicest 2 dudes in the world, but I don’t think they get out quite as much as the GP people. They are like kids in a candy store looking at all the girls dolled up and everything else.
Anyway, the night started out at my favorite bar in Vegas, the piano bar in NY NY. Unfortunately, it was a Tuesday night so it was a bit of an older crowd. We caught a cab over to the Ghost bar. You can get in for free with Palms room keys, but obviously we didn’t have any. We went to the check in desk and Will reached over the desk and stole 3 room keys when the lady’s head was turned. Thank God for his cat like speed and reflexes. Anyways, this had Dave and Jared rolling (That’s negro speak for laughing.) It saved us $120, and let us buy the Grey Goose instead of the house vodka. We were a bit under dressed having not planned on going there and stayed about an hour. We spent the next few hours walking the strip and playing some $5 blackjack and craps. Of course, I could bet $5 a hand for about 15 minutes before betting whatever I had in front of me on one hand. I ended up winning $115 in tables games. Ship it! Our next stop was Carnival Court, which is an outdoor bar at Harrah’s with no cover. I quickly learned a lesson on paying cover. While it may suck, you get what you pay for. This place was called Carnival Court for a reason, it was full of freaks and geeks. Anyways, we do what I usually do in a situation like this involving alcohol, made assholes out of ourselves. Will and I were twirling anyone who would take a turn on the dance floor. Then Jared bet me I wouldn’t dance with some 300 pound 50 year old beast of a woman who at this bar alone, dancing in a corner with no one. So I spent the next 15 minutes, bumpin and grinding with her. She was missing like half of her teeth. It was sort of gross. Anyways, by the time we left Carnival Court we were all a little tipsy. Of course on our way out, we bumped into the limo that offers to take you to any strip club for free. How could 4 drunken fools pass up such an offer.
We arrived at the Rhino around 4 am, it’s pretty much the greatest gentleman’s club on earth. Before I went out, I took the vast majority of my money out of my pockets, just in case a situation such as this was to arise. As a disclaimer, I normally have a strong dislike for strip clubs. I think it is gross, the women are usually hideous, and I’d like to think I don’t need to pay to see boobies. But this isn’t a strip club, it’s the Spearmint Rhino. I’ll do my best to describe the scene for anyone who has never been there. The place is stocked full of over 100 beautiful ladies. They have all makes and models. There are young girls, old girls, tall girls, short girls, black, white, asian, big ol’ take fitties, small natural perky taters, it’s basically covers every color in the spectrum. This isn’t the minor leagues, it’s like having a roster full of Lebron’s, Kobe’s, and Duncan’s. There are usually 2 or 3 girls dancing and the rest of the girls are walking around trying to sell their services. A half hour with one of these girls costs $200. They aren’t prostitutes, and don’t do anything but dance with you, but like I said they are good at their job. I was committed not to spend a single dollar on the girls, it is clearly a waste of money. Somehow my cousin Will got a strippers number (and even met up with her for a drink on another occasion) without giving her a dime. We left around 6:30 a.m., when we walked out it was bright as day. I had $300 less in my pockets :-( .
A brief run down of Saturday night on the town. We got wasted. We went to the Toby Keith bar at Harrah’s and were breakin it down on the dance floor. This night made me realize that everyone is in Vegas to have a good time. I was breaking it down with a wide variety of ladies. From Cougars, to the 21 year old birthday girl, it was a lot of fun. Somehow Will got kicked out for being drunk. I asked the guy what’s up with kicking him out and he said “Come on man, look at him, don’t BS with me, you can see how drunk he is,” I gave Will a good, hard once over, he honestly looked fine to me, which made me aware just how drunk I must be. I figured the bouncer was right, so to save face, I just smiled, nodded and said “Ya, you’re right.” We ended up going to some piano bar at Harrah’s. Some older ladies I was chatting it up with introduced me to their niece who had just turned 21. They were all from Arizona. I ran some drunken game, and outtalked some Marine who was trying to pick her up. I wasn’t really interested in brining her home or anything, just more the thrill of knowing I had her hooked. In the meantime Will, David, and I (Jared took off) hopped on stage and requested The Piano Man (the same song I request every time I am drunk). Obviously we belted every word. I was spent, I am pretty sure the dude on the piano was actually making fun of us over his microphone to the entire bar. It was time to go. One of the aunt got my number for her niece, and we stumbled out of that place. I think we hit one more bar before we came back, but I honestly don’t really remember.
Randome Thoughts
As a poker player, Vegas will kick the shit out of you if you aren’t careful. The first day I was here and came to play cards, I was fresh and mentally sharp. The problem is live poker is slow and boring, and as a player you need to stay mentally tough to stay sharp and not play too many hands. Also, the place burns you out, walking through the casino enough times will drive anyone crazy. Also, there is a shitload of temptations. Staying away from the sports book, the table games, and the strip club which are more than happy to destroy your bankroll quickly.
Right now is Monday morning and I feel refreshed. My goal is to make $5,000 this week. I know I can do it, I just need to put in the hours and play well.
I need to get to the pool more often, I’ve been here for 2 weeks and have been to the pool once. A little variety is good for the soul.
Sorry, I haven’t updated this in a while. Vegas has been kicking my ass the last few days. I have learned an important lesson about burning myself out. I have been spending my time playing single table sit n go’s at the Rio. They are sattelites to the WSOP events. It is a winner take all format, but the final 2 or 3 people usually come to some sort of deal so no one leaves empty handed. Somehow I’ve played 5 of these in a row, and haven’t won one even though I’ve finished in the top 3, 4 times. It’s really been sick. I haven’t won a coin flip deep in a while. Also, I took the sickest beat I can remember. With 4 people left in a $500 sit n go ($5k first prize), I was chip leader and the blinds were 400 and 800, I had around 5500 in chips. The button pushed all in for 3,000, or another 2,200 to me. I made the call with Q T of spades, which is a pretty ballsy call. Sure enough I was right and he flips 34 of clubs. The flop comes KQ2, and the guy gets out of his chair and steps away from the table. He has exactly 0 clean outs. The turn was the Ace, and before I know it the river 5 hits giving him the ol’ runner runner straight. I ended up busting with AQ, when the same guy shoved all in on the button and the Small blind called. They had QQ and JJ, they Ace hit on the flop and I thought I was in the clear, but sure enough the case Q peels and I am eliminated empty handed.
I have lost about $2,500 in the last 3 days. It isn’t terrible, and is just the result of running bad, which happens to everyone from time to time. I am still up a decent amount on the trip. I decided to take today off and just recharge my batteries for a tough week of grinding.
A recap of some of the carousing we have been doing. My cousin Will was in town to visit this weekend, and anyone who’s met him know that leads to some rowdiness. His first night here Will, Dave, Jared and myself went out. Dave and Jared got a huge kick out of Will. They couldn’t believe the way he walks right up to girls and just starts talking or dancing. They are the nicest 2 dudes in the world, but I don’t think they get out quite as much as the GP people. They are like kids in a candy store looking at all the girls dolled up and everything else.
Anyway, the night started out at my favorite bar in Vegas, the piano bar in NY NY. Unfortunately, it was a Tuesday night so it was a bit of an older crowd. We caught a cab over to the Ghost bar. You can get in for free with Palms room keys, but obviously we didn’t have any. We went to the check in desk and Will reached over the desk and stole 3 room keys when the lady’s head was turned. Thank God for his cat like speed and reflexes. Anyways, this had Dave and Jared rolling (That’s negro speak for laughing.) It saved us $120, and let us buy the Grey Goose instead of the house vodka. We were a bit under dressed having not planned on going there and stayed about an hour. We spent the next few hours walking the strip and playing some $5 blackjack and craps. Of course, I could bet $5 a hand for about 15 minutes before betting whatever I had in front of me on one hand. I ended up winning $115 in tables games. Ship it! Our next stop was Carnival Court, which is an outdoor bar at Harrah’s with no cover. I quickly learned a lesson on paying cover. While it may suck, you get what you pay for. This place was called Carnival Court for a reason, it was full of freaks and geeks. Anyways, we do what I usually do in a situation like this involving alcohol, made assholes out of ourselves. Will and I were twirling anyone who would take a turn on the dance floor. Then Jared bet me I wouldn’t dance with some 300 pound 50 year old beast of a woman who at this bar alone, dancing in a corner with no one. So I spent the next 15 minutes, bumpin and grinding with her. She was missing like half of her teeth. It was sort of gross. Anyways, by the time we left Carnival Court we were all a little tipsy. Of course on our way out, we bumped into the limo that offers to take you to any strip club for free. How could 4 drunken fools pass up such an offer.
We arrived at the Rhino around 4 am, it’s pretty much the greatest gentleman’s club on earth. Before I went out, I took the vast majority of my money out of my pockets, just in case a situation such as this was to arise. As a disclaimer, I normally have a strong dislike for strip clubs. I think it is gross, the women are usually hideous, and I’d like to think I don’t need to pay to see boobies. But this isn’t a strip club, it’s the Spearmint Rhino. I’ll do my best to describe the scene for anyone who has never been there. The place is stocked full of over 100 beautiful ladies. They have all makes and models. There are young girls, old girls, tall girls, short girls, black, white, asian, big ol’ take fitties, small natural perky taters, it’s basically covers every color in the spectrum. This isn’t the minor leagues, it’s like having a roster full of Lebron’s, Kobe’s, and Duncan’s. There are usually 2 or 3 girls dancing and the rest of the girls are walking around trying to sell their services. A half hour with one of these girls costs $200. They aren’t prostitutes, and don’t do anything but dance with you, but like I said they are good at their job. I was committed not to spend a single dollar on the girls, it is clearly a waste of money. Somehow my cousin Will got a strippers number (and even met up with her for a drink on another occasion) without giving her a dime. We left around 6:30 a.m., when we walked out it was bright as day. I had $300 less in my pockets :-( .
A brief run down of Saturday night on the town. We got wasted. We went to the Toby Keith bar at Harrah’s and were breakin it down on the dance floor. This night made me realize that everyone is in Vegas to have a good time. I was breaking it down with a wide variety of ladies. From Cougars, to the 21 year old birthday girl, it was a lot of fun. Somehow Will got kicked out for being drunk. I asked the guy what’s up with kicking him out and he said “Come on man, look at him, don’t BS with me, you can see how drunk he is,” I gave Will a good, hard once over, he honestly looked fine to me, which made me aware just how drunk I must be. I figured the bouncer was right, so to save face, I just smiled, nodded and said “Ya, you’re right.” We ended up going to some piano bar at Harrah’s. Some older ladies I was chatting it up with introduced me to their niece who had just turned 21. They were all from Arizona. I ran some drunken game, and outtalked some Marine who was trying to pick her up. I wasn’t really interested in brining her home or anything, just more the thrill of knowing I had her hooked. In the meantime Will, David, and I (Jared took off) hopped on stage and requested The Piano Man (the same song I request every time I am drunk). Obviously we belted every word. I was spent, I am pretty sure the dude on the piano was actually making fun of us over his microphone to the entire bar. It was time to go. One of the aunt got my number for her niece, and we stumbled out of that place. I think we hit one more bar before we came back, but I honestly don’t really remember.
Randome Thoughts
As a poker player, Vegas will kick the shit out of you if you aren’t careful. The first day I was here and came to play cards, I was fresh and mentally sharp. The problem is live poker is slow and boring, and as a player you need to stay mentally tough to stay sharp and not play too many hands. Also, the place burns you out, walking through the casino enough times will drive anyone crazy. Also, there is a shitload of temptations. Staying away from the sports book, the table games, and the strip club which are more than happy to destroy your bankroll quickly.
Right now is Monday morning and I feel refreshed. My goal is to make $5,000 this week. I know I can do it, I just need to put in the hours and play well.
I need to get to the pool more often, I’ve been here for 2 weeks and have been to the pool once. A little variety is good for the soul.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
A Cool Half a Million
"In a battle of power and patience, take patience everytime."
Monday was probably the coolest poker experience of my life. I was looking on cardplayer.com on Sunday night and seeing if any big names had made final tables. I noticed the name Adam Hourani in the final 27 of the Omaha $5,000 buy in with Rebuys event. This is one of the biggest events of the series. Back at the end of May, I was introduced to a guy named Adam at the bar, whose poker screen name was Houdini (close to Hourani), and played high stakes Omaha for a living. He also told me he was staying at Panorama while he was out here. I decided there was a chance this was him, and looked him up on facebook. Sure enough, Adam Hourani was the same kid I was taking shots with at the Post on a random Thursday night. I face booked him Sunday night, and woke up Monday to see he had made the final table and accepted my facebook friendship (YESSS!!!) I sent him a quick note on facebook, telling him who I was, congratulating him on making the final table, and telling him to give me a shout if he wanted to go out. He told me they were gonna go out that night to celebrate the final table and call him and if I wanted to go.
Anyways, back to what was so cool poker wise about the entire day. Cardplayer.com described this as “possibly the best final table in World Series history.” Johnny Chan, Phil Hellmuth, Daniel Negreanu, John Juanda, and David Bennaymine were the big name TV pros. The other 3 are all big name online professionals who have made millions. Phil Galfond (OMG Clay Aiken) and Brian Rast (T Sarrast) being 2 of the biggest online winners of all time. Everything I read going into the final table, gave my buddy Adam 0 chance. He entered 8th place in chips out of 9 and was expected to exit quickly.
The final table started at 2, and I walked up to Adam before and wished him good luck. I figured I’d watch for an hour or so before he busted. Little did I know I would be there until 2:30 am. About an hour in Adam doubled up through Daniel Negreanu, giving him 400,000 chips and a fighting chance (the chip leader had 1.5 million.) The action was very slow and 2 hours in no one had been eliminated. I introduced myself to Adam’s brother (Pollo), and ended up sitting with him. At about 4:15, the bodies began to drop. First out was Tsarrart, then Phil Helmuth, Daniel Negreanu, and John Juanda. Suddenly, the table was down to 5 players, and Adam had made $100,000 more since the final table began ($170,000 total). Every hour or so the players would have a quick break, and Adam would come over to his brother and myself and shoot the shit with us. It was pretty cool for it to be the biggest poker moment in this kids life, and he was talking to me like I was his good buddy, and not some random kid who was in it for the after party. Anyways, it is hard to convey the tension and excitement in the room, and the fact that live poker is generally boring makes it hard to write about. Johnny Chan went out in 5th blowing a huge chip stack at the final table through horrendous plays. Adam’s biggest pot to this point came when he raised under the gun 4 handed. Serge, another online pro reraised to 220,000, if Adam called he would have 400,000 chips left and it was still possible for him to fold on the flop. Serge on the other hand was essentially committing himself to this pot by re-raising. The flop came KK5 and Serge went all in. Adam almost instants called revealing KT97 double suited (a strong, but not great starting hand) and Serge flipped AA22. Adam had him crushed. Adam’s hand held and he was suddenly in contention for a bracelet, not bad for a kid from East Lansing.
My favorite part of the day was our dinner break. Essentially, Phil Galfond had 3 million chips, and Adam and David Benyamine both had 1.6 million. On our way to dinner David Bennyamine’s publicist caught up to our group. She told Adam she had just talked to David and he descried Adam as “an unbelievable Omaha player.” Not bad coming from the guy who is widely regarded as the best Omaha player in the world. We stopped so Brian Rast (the 9th place finisher) could take a piss and David Bennaymine, along with his famous (in the poker world) girlfriend Erica Schoenberg (hot), approached. I don’t want to publish (even on my blog read by 5 people) what they discussed, but it was very cool to be privy to that discussion. Just ask me if you want to know. Anyways, we went to the American Grille for dinner. This is a casual steakhouse, with a menu full of steaks and seafood. I really wanted chicken fingers or a burger, but figured these high rolling online poker players I was with would certainly order steaks. Adam’s brother went first and ordered the chicken fingers, next was Tsarrant (online poker millionare) who also ordered the chicken fingers, followed by Adam who needed a nutritious meal before returning to play for just under a million dollars (first was $820,000.) Of course, nothing could be more nutritious then deep fried chicken and French fries so he got the same thing. This left me no choice, I would also have to get the chicken fingers.
So here we are over dinner, listening to Brian’s stories of winning and losing a million dollars in a month and discussions of his matches vs. Durr (regarded along with OMG Clay Aiken as the best 2 online players in the world) and we are all enjoying meals off of the kiddie menu. This is when I knew I was in the right profession. I am guessing if I was sitting with 2 of the top lawyers in the world, I would not be able to order the chicken fingers without looking like a fool.
I am gonna describe in a quick paragraph what took over 4 hours to happen. When the players returned from dinner, Bennyamine was in the mood to gamble and was quickly eliminated in 3rd place. This left Phil Galfond and Adam playing heads up for the gold bracelet and $820,000 first prize. Adam was well behind in chips when the match started and and never got it closer than a 3.8 to 2.6 million chip disadvantage. Pollo and myself were getting pretty drunk in the crowd and doing our best to cheer loudly every time Adam won a pot. Phil definitely had the crowd on his side, as it was essentially a who’s who of online poker cheering him on. The match finally ended around 2:15 am and we waited around while Adam was interviewed and Phil was presented with the bracelet. We then ran off to the poker cage, where Adam sat up a wire transfer for close to half a million dollars. What a sicko. Pollo, Adam, myself, and Dave drove back to Panorama to change our shirts then head to Jet where another player had already got table.
I was already pretty drunk by this point and don’t really know what happened during the hour we spent at Jet. All I know is the bass was loud, we had a table on the club floor and Adam got a bottle of Goose while someone else got a bottle of Crown. Pollo was only in town for 1 night and wanted to gamble, so the 4 of us left the club and hit the Mirage casino. We plopped down at Judith’s blackjack table who proceeded to take every dime I had brought (I had smartly left the majority of my money back at the condo when we changed.) All in all this was about an $800 hit. We then ventured to the $1-2 no limit hold em tables to donk around in some cash games after I hit the ATM. For some reason when you are drunk and playing way below the limits you normally play, it is a huge thrill to just act arrogant and shove all your chips in with any 2 cards. This is universally done by all successful poker players I have ever met. So this is what we did. Before I could blink I was down $400. Adam had dropped a few hundred, David was up a bit having called my open shove of AQ with nine deuce offsuit and spiking the deuce. Pollo had just lost his stack and everyone was ready to go. I had around $300 in front of me and told them to give me one more hand. I picked up 6 4 offsuit in the big blind. Someone raised to $10, and the Small Blind who had seen this act before just called the $10 out of the Small blind. I quickly shoved all in. The original raiser called and the SB shoved all in for $500 more. As the original raiser was determining whether or not to call the additional raise, the asshole in the small blind reveals he has AA. A huge breach of poker etiquette. The original raiser knowing the SB has AA, still makes the call. The pot was about $800. The flop came 37Q, the turn was a 10. My only chance at winning the pot was for the river to be a 5. Boooooom!!!! Sure enough the river peeled a 5, and I scooped in an $800 pot. The dickhead in the small blind was visibly upset that this drunk ass just cracked his aces. I quickly stacked my chips and that was that, we were headed home. It was bright as day by the time we got home (around 7 am.) All in all this was my favorite day in Vegas. I met some of the best online players in the world and went to the after party of a friend who had just made half a mill. I can’t even describe how much respect I have for Adam. The kid had met me once before, but treated me like I had been one of his best friends. I am sure he was happy to have someone else cheering for him, but he introduced me to a lot of cool people and played ridiculously well in the tournament shipping the cool half a mill.
Random Thoughts
While watching the tournament from the second row in the early stages, Mike Matusow, Joe Hachem, and Eli Elezra were sitting directly in front of us. Phil Hellmuth was consistently coming over talking about how bad he runs, but how good he plays. The man is no different whether the cameras or on or not. Also, Matusow is the same in real life regardless of the cameras. Mike has also lost about 150 pounds.
The highlight of my poker career was probably buying Durrr a water. We had drinks over dinner, so when we returned for the final 3 I wanted to offer to buy a round. I asked Brian (who was sitting next to Durrrr) if he wanted and thing and then asked Durrr. Durr wanted a water so obviously I obliged.
The tournamnet was a rebuy tournament, which means in the first 2 hours you can rebuy for another $5,000. Most players rebought 4-5 times. It is a sound strategy to play super aggressive and rebuy a lot of times early. This gets a lot of chips at your table after the rebuy period, making it easier to build a big stack. Daniel Negreanu rebought 17 times ($85,000) and Durrrr rebought 21 times ($105,000), what a couple of sickos. Miraculously enough Adam Hourani, rebought 0 times!!!! A bigger sicko.
Monday was probably the coolest poker experience of my life. I was looking on cardplayer.com on Sunday night and seeing if any big names had made final tables. I noticed the name Adam Hourani in the final 27 of the Omaha $5,000 buy in with Rebuys event. This is one of the biggest events of the series. Back at the end of May, I was introduced to a guy named Adam at the bar, whose poker screen name was Houdini (close to Hourani), and played high stakes Omaha for a living. He also told me he was staying at Panorama while he was out here. I decided there was a chance this was him, and looked him up on facebook. Sure enough, Adam Hourani was the same kid I was taking shots with at the Post on a random Thursday night. I face booked him Sunday night, and woke up Monday to see he had made the final table and accepted my facebook friendship (YESSS!!!) I sent him a quick note on facebook, telling him who I was, congratulating him on making the final table, and telling him to give me a shout if he wanted to go out. He told me they were gonna go out that night to celebrate the final table and call him and if I wanted to go.
Anyways, back to what was so cool poker wise about the entire day. Cardplayer.com described this as “possibly the best final table in World Series history.” Johnny Chan, Phil Hellmuth, Daniel Negreanu, John Juanda, and David Bennaymine were the big name TV pros. The other 3 are all big name online professionals who have made millions. Phil Galfond (OMG Clay Aiken) and Brian Rast (T Sarrast) being 2 of the biggest online winners of all time. Everything I read going into the final table, gave my buddy Adam 0 chance. He entered 8th place in chips out of 9 and was expected to exit quickly.
The final table started at 2, and I walked up to Adam before and wished him good luck. I figured I’d watch for an hour or so before he busted. Little did I know I would be there until 2:30 am. About an hour in Adam doubled up through Daniel Negreanu, giving him 400,000 chips and a fighting chance (the chip leader had 1.5 million.) The action was very slow and 2 hours in no one had been eliminated. I introduced myself to Adam’s brother (Pollo), and ended up sitting with him. At about 4:15, the bodies began to drop. First out was Tsarrart, then Phil Helmuth, Daniel Negreanu, and John Juanda. Suddenly, the table was down to 5 players, and Adam had made $100,000 more since the final table began ($170,000 total). Every hour or so the players would have a quick break, and Adam would come over to his brother and myself and shoot the shit with us. It was pretty cool for it to be the biggest poker moment in this kids life, and he was talking to me like I was his good buddy, and not some random kid who was in it for the after party. Anyways, it is hard to convey the tension and excitement in the room, and the fact that live poker is generally boring makes it hard to write about. Johnny Chan went out in 5th blowing a huge chip stack at the final table through horrendous plays. Adam’s biggest pot to this point came when he raised under the gun 4 handed. Serge, another online pro reraised to 220,000, if Adam called he would have 400,000 chips left and it was still possible for him to fold on the flop. Serge on the other hand was essentially committing himself to this pot by re-raising. The flop came KK5 and Serge went all in. Adam almost instants called revealing KT97 double suited (a strong, but not great starting hand) and Serge flipped AA22. Adam had him crushed. Adam’s hand held and he was suddenly in contention for a bracelet, not bad for a kid from East Lansing.
My favorite part of the day was our dinner break. Essentially, Phil Galfond had 3 million chips, and Adam and David Benyamine both had 1.6 million. On our way to dinner David Bennyamine’s publicist caught up to our group. She told Adam she had just talked to David and he descried Adam as “an unbelievable Omaha player.” Not bad coming from the guy who is widely regarded as the best Omaha player in the world. We stopped so Brian Rast (the 9th place finisher) could take a piss and David Bennaymine, along with his famous (in the poker world) girlfriend Erica Schoenberg (hot), approached. I don’t want to publish (even on my blog read by 5 people) what they discussed, but it was very cool to be privy to that discussion. Just ask me if you want to know. Anyways, we went to the American Grille for dinner. This is a casual steakhouse, with a menu full of steaks and seafood. I really wanted chicken fingers or a burger, but figured these high rolling online poker players I was with would certainly order steaks. Adam’s brother went first and ordered the chicken fingers, next was Tsarrant (online poker millionare) who also ordered the chicken fingers, followed by Adam who needed a nutritious meal before returning to play for just under a million dollars (first was $820,000.) Of course, nothing could be more nutritious then deep fried chicken and French fries so he got the same thing. This left me no choice, I would also have to get the chicken fingers.
So here we are over dinner, listening to Brian’s stories of winning and losing a million dollars in a month and discussions of his matches vs. Durr (regarded along with OMG Clay Aiken as the best 2 online players in the world) and we are all enjoying meals off of the kiddie menu. This is when I knew I was in the right profession. I am guessing if I was sitting with 2 of the top lawyers in the world, I would not be able to order the chicken fingers without looking like a fool.
I am gonna describe in a quick paragraph what took over 4 hours to happen. When the players returned from dinner, Bennyamine was in the mood to gamble and was quickly eliminated in 3rd place. This left Phil Galfond and Adam playing heads up for the gold bracelet and $820,000 first prize. Adam was well behind in chips when the match started and and never got it closer than a 3.8 to 2.6 million chip disadvantage. Pollo and myself were getting pretty drunk in the crowd and doing our best to cheer loudly every time Adam won a pot. Phil definitely had the crowd on his side, as it was essentially a who’s who of online poker cheering him on. The match finally ended around 2:15 am and we waited around while Adam was interviewed and Phil was presented with the bracelet. We then ran off to the poker cage, where Adam sat up a wire transfer for close to half a million dollars. What a sicko. Pollo, Adam, myself, and Dave drove back to Panorama to change our shirts then head to Jet where another player had already got table.
I was already pretty drunk by this point and don’t really know what happened during the hour we spent at Jet. All I know is the bass was loud, we had a table on the club floor and Adam got a bottle of Goose while someone else got a bottle of Crown. Pollo was only in town for 1 night and wanted to gamble, so the 4 of us left the club and hit the Mirage casino. We plopped down at Judith’s blackjack table who proceeded to take every dime I had brought (I had smartly left the majority of my money back at the condo when we changed.) All in all this was about an $800 hit. We then ventured to the $1-2 no limit hold em tables to donk around in some cash games after I hit the ATM. For some reason when you are drunk and playing way below the limits you normally play, it is a huge thrill to just act arrogant and shove all your chips in with any 2 cards. This is universally done by all successful poker players I have ever met. So this is what we did. Before I could blink I was down $400. Adam had dropped a few hundred, David was up a bit having called my open shove of AQ with nine deuce offsuit and spiking the deuce. Pollo had just lost his stack and everyone was ready to go. I had around $300 in front of me and told them to give me one more hand. I picked up 6 4 offsuit in the big blind. Someone raised to $10, and the Small Blind who had seen this act before just called the $10 out of the Small blind. I quickly shoved all in. The original raiser called and the SB shoved all in for $500 more. As the original raiser was determining whether or not to call the additional raise, the asshole in the small blind reveals he has AA. A huge breach of poker etiquette. The original raiser knowing the SB has AA, still makes the call. The pot was about $800. The flop came 37Q, the turn was a 10. My only chance at winning the pot was for the river to be a 5. Boooooom!!!! Sure enough the river peeled a 5, and I scooped in an $800 pot. The dickhead in the small blind was visibly upset that this drunk ass just cracked his aces. I quickly stacked my chips and that was that, we were headed home. It was bright as day by the time we got home (around 7 am.) All in all this was my favorite day in Vegas. I met some of the best online players in the world and went to the after party of a friend who had just made half a mill. I can’t even describe how much respect I have for Adam. The kid had met me once before, but treated me like I had been one of his best friends. I am sure he was happy to have someone else cheering for him, but he introduced me to a lot of cool people and played ridiculously well in the tournament shipping the cool half a mill.
Random Thoughts
While watching the tournament from the second row in the early stages, Mike Matusow, Joe Hachem, and Eli Elezra were sitting directly in front of us. Phil Hellmuth was consistently coming over talking about how bad he runs, but how good he plays. The man is no different whether the cameras or on or not. Also, Matusow is the same in real life regardless of the cameras. Mike has also lost about 150 pounds.
The highlight of my poker career was probably buying Durrr a water. We had drinks over dinner, so when we returned for the final 3 I wanted to offer to buy a round. I asked Brian (who was sitting next to Durrrr) if he wanted and thing and then asked Durrr. Durr wanted a water so obviously I obliged.
The tournamnet was a rebuy tournament, which means in the first 2 hours you can rebuy for another $5,000. Most players rebought 4-5 times. It is a sound strategy to play super aggressive and rebuy a lot of times early. This gets a lot of chips at your table after the rebuy period, making it easier to build a big stack. Daniel Negreanu rebought 17 times ($85,000) and Durrrr rebought 21 times ($105,000), what a couple of sickos. Miraculously enough Adam Hourani, rebought 0 times!!!! A bigger sicko.
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