Scotty took down what many consider to be the true test of poker prowess late last night, the $50k H.O.R.S.E. tournament. He joins Chip Reese (one of the greatest ever R.I.P.) and My Main Man Freddy Deeb as champions of this event and takes home $11k shy of $2 million, a bracelet and the Chip Reese Trophy.
http://www.pokernews.com/live-reporting/2008-world-series-of-poker/event-45-50000-h-o-r-s-e-world-championship/
Monday, June 30, 2008
Friday, June 27, 2008
The Seven Year Itch
Tomorrow, seven years ago, was the first date I had with my fiance Amanda. She remembers much more about the actual date than I do because her mind remembers those details better. Its a female thing and she is good at exercising that skill. I know I picked her up at her grandmother's place, we saw A.I. (worst movie ever) and I dropped her off with no goodbye kiss. The thing about this date was that before I met her, I had rules. No goodnight kiss on the first date, makes a 2nd date harder to come by. If you don't reach over and unlock my door after I let you in, I don't go out with you anymore. Silly things like that. After that date, my rules were gone.
I realized that night...actually before that date...that she was special and would be a big part of my life. There was a connection on my end that she did not catch on with until a few months later. She wanted to take things slow because she had been hurt. I had been hurt too, but I knew this was worth my risk. What's odd is that after that date, we just kinda fell into a rhythm. We started dating and about the 3-4 year mark, I decided to take a position in Knoxville...2 hours away. To be honest, I was being selfish with the outward appearance of "doing it for our future". I wanted to make the move, even though I requested not to. She loved me through it all and even though she hated Knoxville with the same hatred Hitler had for the Jewish people, she visited me twice, sometimes 3 times a month. I drove here, she drove there. It was hard on us and we did disconnect at times. I personally blame my own selfishness for this.
She stood by me until I grew through this situation. We grew together. I moved back to the area a little over a year ago and within a week, I knew the next step had to be taken. I bought a ring and asked her to marry me. In a way it was a reward for standing by me through the entire Knoxville debacle, but it was 3 years late by my mark. She deserved the same connection to her that she had shown me. The only way to give her that connection was to propose, in my mind. I have not regretted that decision even one day. After the shock wore off that fateful night, she said yes. Thus began the next chapter of our 7 year book, thusfar.
The opinion is that couples get what is called "the seven year itch" in their 7th year of marriage. We are not married, but we do see the things that occur when couples fall into a rhythm...or a rut. We know what each other is thinking, we know each other's non-verbal cues. I probably get on her nerves more right now than in the 7 years previous combined. I still fail her daily in not loving her as she deserves, not listening to the things she doesn't say and sometimes just because I am stubborn, but this is not an itch I care to get rid of.
She finally gave me a goodnight kiss a few months after that first date. I got a car with automatic door locks, so she never has to unlock my door for me. I still should be opening her door sometimes, but I just stink at it. Much like those first 2 rules I had have been solved within our relationship, many others have come and gone. She loves me despite my attitude, my failures and the things I do that just bug her completely. She even loves me no matter the music or movies or TV shows I like. Over the years we have discovered everything we don't have in common, but with seven years under our belts, I know more than ever that we have the important things in common now more than ever. We love each other and we love God.
Amanda - I know you don't read my blog, and I don't blame you, but I love you more today than 7 years ago and will continue to grow in that love, in our relationship and in God till eternity ends.
I realized that night...actually before that date...that she was special and would be a big part of my life. There was a connection on my end that she did not catch on with until a few months later. She wanted to take things slow because she had been hurt. I had been hurt too, but I knew this was worth my risk. What's odd is that after that date, we just kinda fell into a rhythm. We started dating and about the 3-4 year mark, I decided to take a position in Knoxville...2 hours away. To be honest, I was being selfish with the outward appearance of "doing it for our future". I wanted to make the move, even though I requested not to. She loved me through it all and even though she hated Knoxville with the same hatred Hitler had for the Jewish people, she visited me twice, sometimes 3 times a month. I drove here, she drove there. It was hard on us and we did disconnect at times. I personally blame my own selfishness for this.
She stood by me until I grew through this situation. We grew together. I moved back to the area a little over a year ago and within a week, I knew the next step had to be taken. I bought a ring and asked her to marry me. In a way it was a reward for standing by me through the entire Knoxville debacle, but it was 3 years late by my mark. She deserved the same connection to her that she had shown me. The only way to give her that connection was to propose, in my mind. I have not regretted that decision even one day. After the shock wore off that fateful night, she said yes. Thus began the next chapter of our 7 year book, thusfar.
The opinion is that couples get what is called "the seven year itch" in their 7th year of marriage. We are not married, but we do see the things that occur when couples fall into a rhythm...or a rut. We know what each other is thinking, we know each other's non-verbal cues. I probably get on her nerves more right now than in the 7 years previous combined. I still fail her daily in not loving her as she deserves, not listening to the things she doesn't say and sometimes just because I am stubborn, but this is not an itch I care to get rid of.
She finally gave me a goodnight kiss a few months after that first date. I got a car with automatic door locks, so she never has to unlock my door for me. I still should be opening her door sometimes, but I just stink at it. Much like those first 2 rules I had have been solved within our relationship, many others have come and gone. She loves me despite my attitude, my failures and the things I do that just bug her completely. She even loves me no matter the music or movies or TV shows I like. Over the years we have discovered everything we don't have in common, but with seven years under our belts, I know more than ever that we have the important things in common now more than ever. We love each other and we love God.
Amanda - I know you don't read my blog, and I don't blame you, but I love you more today than 7 years ago and will continue to grow in that love, in our relationship and in God till eternity ends.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
So Why Do I Play?
After my "Things I Hate" post, I thought it would be interesting to cover a question that I am asked by my s/o quite often. By the way, s/o is significant other...saying (S.O. or S slash O) or typing it that way is the new thing. It's in my blog, so now you know. I will come home spewing hatred towards the "donkeys" and the "horrible play" I see and she will stop me as I walk around and say something like "Well...if it gets you this upset, why do you play? Isn't it suppose to be stress relief?" She is right...it should be a form of stress relief for me, however I have found that just hanging out with my friends is that stress relief...the poker is something we do while we are hanging out. So the real question should be "Why do you play poker and interupt your weekly night out of stress relief?" Now THAT'S a good question...
The answer is not necessarily simple. What do I do in my life that I would consider hobbies? I play some guitar every now and again. I like to fancy myself an amateur brewer and taster of beers. I enjoy hanging out with friends. None of those activities feed one of the major male desires that I have...the need for competition. Let me go ahead and say outright...I am not a Wagner. I cannot play basketball. I was never good at any sport. I considered tennis for a while in high school until my racket broke and I just never got it fixed. Even then, the few team matches I played I was no better than "okay". I tried online gaming, but let's face it...when you grow up, online gaming just isn't as "cool" as you thought it was. I don't like being holed up in a dark room pretending I am at war. What I finally found after years of trying to feed this competition desire was that I liked poker.
The boom hit right after Chris Moneymaker made his millions. TV had bought into their piece of the poker idea. ESPN seemd to have a game on every 20 minutes. There wasn't even a time where I scorned it...I just flipped by it one day and was hooked. I had to learn to do this. A few web pages later and we were having a free weekly game at my place so we could learn. Then I moved to Knoxville! This was the land of freeroll poker. It was like OZ for someone who didn't have a bankroll to blow. I immediately sunk in and started playing 2-3 nights a week. My first live tournament was at Bullfeathers, a local bar in Knoxville. I signed up...talked to the tournament director and got to know him a little and very soon, I was playing. I sucked. I was out pretty quick if memory serves me. I left and decided I would come right back the next time they played. I started to make some friends around the Knoxville poker scene...Meryl, PJ, Greg...we would play as often as we could together live. I give Meryl a lot of credit for my current state of skill...she really made me play better by challenging me. But what I was seeing was that my competitive fire was being fed at these local freerolls.
Another thing I learned was that my patience with ignorant people was also tried on a nightly basis. We had the "fake pro" yelling at newbies. We had people who had played for years playing like they just walked in the door and thought it was a cribbage game. We had degenerate gamblers just trying to qualify for the money tournaments. It was a nice mix if douchebaggery, if you will. I learned from an early time that I would have to deal with jackassery and learn how to be mad, but not let it ruin my overall time.
The thing is that I don't hate anything about playing poker. The people, the play, the competition? No. I love it all. However, I do vent about situations that arise. I imagine it would be the same if I were to actually get a chance to use the golf clubs I bought last summer. I would come home venting that I didn't get out of the bunker in 2 on hole 9. Perhaps...my venting should be done in a more positive way so that people do not think I absolutely am in a love hate relationship with the game that I honestly feel best suited to play.
With all that said...I guess I play because I need it. I don't hate the donkeys. I don't hate their donkey play. I don't even hate that I have a way of being a complete douchebag to them when they do the donkey things that donkeys do. I love the interaction. I love the bickering. I love the suckouts. Maybe I am a masochist...maybe I just love poker.
The answer is not necessarily simple. What do I do in my life that I would consider hobbies? I play some guitar every now and again. I like to fancy myself an amateur brewer and taster of beers. I enjoy hanging out with friends. None of those activities feed one of the major male desires that I have...the need for competition. Let me go ahead and say outright...I am not a Wagner. I cannot play basketball. I was never good at any sport. I considered tennis for a while in high school until my racket broke and I just never got it fixed. Even then, the few team matches I played I was no better than "okay". I tried online gaming, but let's face it...when you grow up, online gaming just isn't as "cool" as you thought it was. I don't like being holed up in a dark room pretending I am at war. What I finally found after years of trying to feed this competition desire was that I liked poker.
The boom hit right after Chris Moneymaker made his millions. TV had bought into their piece of the poker idea. ESPN seemd to have a game on every 20 minutes. There wasn't even a time where I scorned it...I just flipped by it one day and was hooked. I had to learn to do this. A few web pages later and we were having a free weekly game at my place so we could learn. Then I moved to Knoxville! This was the land of freeroll poker. It was like OZ for someone who didn't have a bankroll to blow. I immediately sunk in and started playing 2-3 nights a week. My first live tournament was at Bullfeathers, a local bar in Knoxville. I signed up...talked to the tournament director and got to know him a little and very soon, I was playing. I sucked. I was out pretty quick if memory serves me. I left and decided I would come right back the next time they played. I started to make some friends around the Knoxville poker scene...Meryl, PJ, Greg...we would play as often as we could together live. I give Meryl a lot of credit for my current state of skill...she really made me play better by challenging me. But what I was seeing was that my competitive fire was being fed at these local freerolls.
Another thing I learned was that my patience with ignorant people was also tried on a nightly basis. We had the "fake pro" yelling at newbies. We had people who had played for years playing like they just walked in the door and thought it was a cribbage game. We had degenerate gamblers just trying to qualify for the money tournaments. It was a nice mix if douchebaggery, if you will. I learned from an early time that I would have to deal with jackassery and learn how to be mad, but not let it ruin my overall time.
The thing is that I don't hate anything about playing poker. The people, the play, the competition? No. I love it all. However, I do vent about situations that arise. I imagine it would be the same if I were to actually get a chance to use the golf clubs I bought last summer. I would come home venting that I didn't get out of the bunker in 2 on hole 9. Perhaps...my venting should be done in a more positive way so that people do not think I absolutely am in a love hate relationship with the game that I honestly feel best suited to play.
With all that said...I guess I play because I need it. I don't hate the donkeys. I don't hate their donkey play. I don't even hate that I have a way of being a complete douchebag to them when they do the donkey things that donkeys do. I love the interaction. I love the bickering. I love the suckouts. Maybe I am a masochist...maybe I just love poker.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
What I Hate About Poker: 101
It's enough to say that you hate sitting at a poker table with 'donkeys'. It's enough to say that you hate bad beat stories...don't we all, yet we all seem to sneak our's in in some ninja like fashion. I prefer the "Let me tell you a funny story about how karma kicked me..." I know it's a bad beat story, but I am trying to fool my listener.
The other night Rich mentioned that we should write a book. That book, in all its wisdom and glory, will be called "Poker Jackassery". Within the already legen...wait...dary pages of this imaginary book, we have placed our ideas and while it may never come to pass, the fleeting thought of getting those things which we see at the tables on paper is cleansing. We joke about it, but a part of me truly wants to write this book. Who knows...it could happen.
What I do want to do today, and it could be included in such a book, is talk about the things I absolutely tire of when playing in the donkaments that have become my weekly ritual. I will outline them one by one in case anyone from the league who offends my very intelligence actually reads this...
Bad Excuse Syndrome
We all know they are out there and from time to time we use them ourselves. Making statements like "I was pot commited" are our way of making a bad decision seem like a better one in our own minds, but here is the catch. If you call off the last half of your stack with Ace high because you had a feeling, "pot commited" isn't the truth and it's a horrible excuse. My favorite example comes from a couple weeks ago when a player called all in, not pushed himself, called all in with a marginal hand and stated "Well, I was short stacked". I said "You have almost 4000 in front of you and blinds are 200/400...you are only down 1000 from your original stack." He stuck to the "short stack" theory and exited the table. Good riddance. The other good one came from my 3rd person perspective. My good buddy Hoosh was in a hand...at the time he was next to me, Rich was sitting nearby and he was eating, talking and just generally having fun. He raises preflop, continuation bets the flop, checks the turn and ends up having to check the river. He turns over a complete bluff...the other player turns over Ace high. Now...you say she made a good call...and got to check it down. What I say is why did she call post flop? She hit nothing. Does noone believe in "Hit it or quit it" anymore? She states "Well...you weren't trying to read me, so I knew you were bluffing." I have 2 problems with this argument. 1. It sucks. 2. Its BFP...noone makes reads here and if you think you can, you are mistaken. I would feel much better if people would just say "I was a donkey there. I am not sorry I won, but I apologize that you saw me behaving like this." She did admit it was a horrible play, so I give her that one. We agreed with her.
Failure to Fold (FTF)
I have seen different figures, but I believe that the general consensous is that you should fold about 75-80% of your hands to be successful over the long haul. Now, I realize that most of the play I am seeing online and live is not from people who consider the long haul. I shared this with a player a few weeks ago (we will call him PT for Prison Tattoo), but I want to say it out loud here...If you want to improve your game 100%, go home, shuffle some cards. Deal yourself 2. Pretend the much is 6 inches in front of you. Throw the cards there. Deal yourself 2 more. Throw the cards there. Rinse and repeat. It's a simple thing here...over the long haul, your A-4 is a 9 to 1 underdog against a higher ace and you will win 1 out of 10 times with it. It should seem simple anyway. The truth is easy...noone says "Hey, let's go to the casino and fold all day!", but that's what you have to do to win and show a profit. Perhaps my expectations are at fault with this one and that pisses me off even more. The game becomes a situation where you, as the favorite preflop, have to pray that you hit one of your "outs". The favored hand shouldn't need outs, but it does.
What Could Have Been
This is one I do as well and I really need to stop it. It can cause bad habits and can give you short sighted memory in which you consistently remember the "if's and but's". I hear it every table, several times a table..."If I hadn't folded I would have 2 pair right now." We fold for a reason. Sometimes online, I try to not even remember my cards after I fold so that I don't do this...I need to apply that to my live game. What happens is that we remember "Well, J-2 flopped a full house one time, maybe I should call this min-raise and see if it does it again." It's the classic case where we remember what the cards do not. It makes us worse as players and wears on you mentally when the cards just do not hit again. I really gotta stop this in my own game.
Apologies Not Accepted
This is one of my pet peeves at the tables...do not under any circumstance apologize for winning a hand. If you make a bad call, admit the call, but rake your chips and shut up. You are not sorry or you should give your chips back to the person. If you were sorry, you shouldn't have entered the hand...actually, if you apologize at any time, you shouldn't be sitting at the table. It is a competition and there are winners and losers. Do not apologize to me for putting a bad beat on me. I will put a beat on you at some point and I WILL NOT apologize. We are suppose to be in it to win it...casualties happen. Just limp away because to be honest, I wanted my one outer to hit and send you to the rail. Have a drink. Watch the TV, just walk away now.
It is enough to put up with the behavior that comes along with playing poker in a public place like a bar. Drunkards, donkeys, helpless players who should freaking get it by now...they all show up and they all want to play. What makes it tiring is when people who know better fall into the things I have mentioned.
Our top players tournament is next weekend and a part of me has a looming dread that is just festering. I know that a huge tournament with money and prizes on the line will not change the play of some of the people. I know that I will have to fend off the things that annoy me most. I pray that before that Saturday dawns, I am able to push all of that into a mental closet and ignore the burgeoning anger that is growing in my heart. I need to focus this energy into a positive force and win this tournament. It's the only way I can look at a former champion and say "That was a horrible play. I won a championship too....and I played better than that. You need to play like you know something and quit being a donkey. Ship my chips!!!"
That'll be the day...
The other night Rich mentioned that we should write a book. That book, in all its wisdom and glory, will be called "Poker Jackassery". Within the already legen...wait...dary pages of this imaginary book, we have placed our ideas and while it may never come to pass, the fleeting thought of getting those things which we see at the tables on paper is cleansing. We joke about it, but a part of me truly wants to write this book. Who knows...it could happen.
What I do want to do today, and it could be included in such a book, is talk about the things I absolutely tire of when playing in the donkaments that have become my weekly ritual. I will outline them one by one in case anyone from the league who offends my very intelligence actually reads this...
Bad Excuse Syndrome
We all know they are out there and from time to time we use them ourselves. Making statements like "I was pot commited" are our way of making a bad decision seem like a better one in our own minds, but here is the catch. If you call off the last half of your stack with Ace high because you had a feeling, "pot commited" isn't the truth and it's a horrible excuse. My favorite example comes from a couple weeks ago when a player called all in, not pushed himself, called all in with a marginal hand and stated "Well, I was short stacked". I said "You have almost 4000 in front of you and blinds are 200/400...you are only down 1000 from your original stack." He stuck to the "short stack" theory and exited the table. Good riddance. The other good one came from my 3rd person perspective. My good buddy Hoosh was in a hand...at the time he was next to me, Rich was sitting nearby and he was eating, talking and just generally having fun. He raises preflop, continuation bets the flop, checks the turn and ends up having to check the river. He turns over a complete bluff...the other player turns over Ace high. Now...you say she made a good call...and got to check it down. What I say is why did she call post flop? She hit nothing. Does noone believe in "Hit it or quit it" anymore? She states "Well...you weren't trying to read me, so I knew you were bluffing." I have 2 problems with this argument. 1. It sucks. 2. Its BFP...noone makes reads here and if you think you can, you are mistaken. I would feel much better if people would just say "I was a donkey there. I am not sorry I won, but I apologize that you saw me behaving like this." She did admit it was a horrible play, so I give her that one. We agreed with her.
Failure to Fold (FTF)
I have seen different figures, but I believe that the general consensous is that you should fold about 75-80% of your hands to be successful over the long haul. Now, I realize that most of the play I am seeing online and live is not from people who consider the long haul. I shared this with a player a few weeks ago (we will call him PT for Prison Tattoo), but I want to say it out loud here...If you want to improve your game 100%, go home, shuffle some cards. Deal yourself 2. Pretend the much is 6 inches in front of you. Throw the cards there. Deal yourself 2 more. Throw the cards there. Rinse and repeat. It's a simple thing here...over the long haul, your A-4 is a 9 to 1 underdog against a higher ace and you will win 1 out of 10 times with it. It should seem simple anyway. The truth is easy...noone says "Hey, let's go to the casino and fold all day!", but that's what you have to do to win and show a profit. Perhaps my expectations are at fault with this one and that pisses me off even more. The game becomes a situation where you, as the favorite preflop, have to pray that you hit one of your "outs". The favored hand shouldn't need outs, but it does.
What Could Have Been
This is one I do as well and I really need to stop it. It can cause bad habits and can give you short sighted memory in which you consistently remember the "if's and but's". I hear it every table, several times a table..."If I hadn't folded I would have 2 pair right now." We fold for a reason. Sometimes online, I try to not even remember my cards after I fold so that I don't do this...I need to apply that to my live game. What happens is that we remember "Well, J-2 flopped a full house one time, maybe I should call this min-raise and see if it does it again." It's the classic case where we remember what the cards do not. It makes us worse as players and wears on you mentally when the cards just do not hit again. I really gotta stop this in my own game.
Apologies Not Accepted
This is one of my pet peeves at the tables...do not under any circumstance apologize for winning a hand. If you make a bad call, admit the call, but rake your chips and shut up. You are not sorry or you should give your chips back to the person. If you were sorry, you shouldn't have entered the hand...actually, if you apologize at any time, you shouldn't be sitting at the table. It is a competition and there are winners and losers. Do not apologize to me for putting a bad beat on me. I will put a beat on you at some point and I WILL NOT apologize. We are suppose to be in it to win it...casualties happen. Just limp away because to be honest, I wanted my one outer to hit and send you to the rail. Have a drink. Watch the TV, just walk away now.
It is enough to put up with the behavior that comes along with playing poker in a public place like a bar. Drunkards, donkeys, helpless players who should freaking get it by now...they all show up and they all want to play. What makes it tiring is when people who know better fall into the things I have mentioned.
Our top players tournament is next weekend and a part of me has a looming dread that is just festering. I know that a huge tournament with money and prizes on the line will not change the play of some of the people. I know that I will have to fend off the things that annoy me most. I pray that before that Saturday dawns, I am able to push all of that into a mental closet and ignore the burgeoning anger that is growing in my heart. I need to focus this energy into a positive force and win this tournament. It's the only way I can look at a former champion and say "That was a horrible play. I won a championship too....and I played better than that. You need to play like you know something and quit being a donkey. Ship my chips!!!"
That'll be the day...
Friday, June 13, 2008
Negreanu Wins #4
A lot of good pros winning the events this year.
Negreanu Wins $2000 Limit Hold'em
It's been somewhat of a tournament win drought for Daniel, so I am glad to see him knock the dust off and pull in a bracelet this year. Odds are, the $204,874 isn't all he won considering Phil Ivey was offering bracelet bets like free condoms.
There is only one marked final table today in the $5000 No-Limit Hold'em tourney. The table is a group of "unknown to Ernie's" or UTE's. The $3000 HORSE tourney is down to 16, so they may play past the final table and crown a winner tonight. It could be interesting to look at later in the day as Todd Brunson, Jenn Harman, Marcel Luske and Hoyt Corkins (Mr All In) are still left in the 16. I would love to see Todd get a bracelet. He is one of the leading cash game guys in the world and gets very little respect outside of Vegas because noone sees him on TV with a bracelet with Norman Chad saying something like "Well I guess I know who my mother/wife/sister is going to bed with tonight...he he he...I'm a magnificent tool!"
Phil Ivey still has not won a bracelet. With the Lakers going down 3-1 last night and his bracelet quest still empty, this could be a very costly WSOP for Mr Starey Pants.
UPDATE: Pauly actually posted what he has heard Ivey owes on various prop bets and other activities...
$200,000 with Negreanu LOST
$1.1 million shooting dice with Barry Greenstien LOST
$2 million on the Lakers LOOKING BAD
$1 million with Ted Forrest for who will win a bracelet first
up to $2 million in prop bets that he or Allen Cunningham will win a bracelet this year.
Phil Ivey has roughly $6.3 riding around this year at the WSOP in prop bets and random gambling. Wonder how he's doing at the cash games?
Negreanu Wins $2000 Limit Hold'em
It's been somewhat of a tournament win drought for Daniel, so I am glad to see him knock the dust off and pull in a bracelet this year. Odds are, the $204,874 isn't all he won considering Phil Ivey was offering bracelet bets like free condoms.
There is only one marked final table today in the $5000 No-Limit Hold'em tourney. The table is a group of "unknown to Ernie's" or UTE's. The $3000 HORSE tourney is down to 16, so they may play past the final table and crown a winner tonight. It could be interesting to look at later in the day as Todd Brunson, Jenn Harman, Marcel Luske and Hoyt Corkins (Mr All In) are still left in the 16. I would love to see Todd get a bracelet. He is one of the leading cash game guys in the world and gets very little respect outside of Vegas because noone sees him on TV with a bracelet with Norman Chad saying something like "Well I guess I know who my mother/wife/sister is going to bed with tonight...he he he...I'm a magnificent tool!"
Phil Ivey still has not won a bracelet. With the Lakers going down 3-1 last night and his bracelet quest still empty, this could be a very costly WSOP for Mr Starey Pants.
UPDATE: Pauly actually posted what he has heard Ivey owes on various prop bets and other activities...
$200,000 with Negreanu LOST
$1.1 million shooting dice with Barry Greenstien LOST
$2 million on the Lakers LOOKING BAD
$1 million with Ted Forrest for who will win a bracelet first
up to $2 million in prop bets that he or Allen Cunningham will win a bracelet this year.
Phil Ivey has roughly $6.3 riding around this year at the WSOP in prop bets and random gambling. Wonder how he's doing at the cash games?
Thursday, June 12, 2008
The Panera Situation
Let's go ahead and clear something up here...I love to eat at Panera Bread. Their sandwiches are expensive white people sandwiches and their soup gives me some of the best warm soup belly I can find. I have been a fan for quite some time to be honest. For this, I have taken a mountains worth of crap from the likes of people like Rich and Clint. For many years I was "queer" or "a gash" or "a woman with frilly panties". Okay...I threw the last one in there for laughs...I don't believe I was ever called that to my face. But to say the least, I was for all intents and purposes of my "friends" I was gay because I like soup, sandwiches and bagels.
Fast forward 3 years and several put downs later to church a couple weeks ago. After the service, Clint walks up and says "Hey man...wanna get some lunch with Lisa and I?"
"Yes" I replied.
"Well I know its a drive, but do you want to go to Panera? I love that place." he says.
"We have to go to JC anyway, so yeah, we can eat there."
Clip to the conversation in my head:
Clint: Hi, I am gay now. I would like to eat soup and white people expensive sandwiches.
Ernie: Ah...so you really are gay now!
Clint: But I have all the best reasons in the world to be gay now.
Ernie: I bet you do homo.
Back to reality...
This is the Panera situation. Its the change of the mind that bucks all of your previous cracks on your friends, thereby making all of your previous cracks worthless and thereby making you worthy of taking more crackage than was dished out to the original recipient. Clint has since taken a good share of crap since this day, as he should. The crap will most likely continue for some time because this is an egregious breach of brotiquette, but it happens. Clint will take the crap because he knows what he has done. We all have taken the crap because to be honest, we change our minds and we do things we once deemed "gay" or "horrible". At least it has a name now...
Fast forward 3 years and several put downs later to church a couple weeks ago. After the service, Clint walks up and says "Hey man...wanna get some lunch with Lisa and I?"
"Yes" I replied.
"Well I know its a drive, but do you want to go to Panera? I love that place." he says.
"We have to go to JC anyway, so yeah, we can eat there."
Clip to the conversation in my head:
Clint: Hi, I am gay now. I would like to eat soup and white people expensive sandwiches.
Ernie: Ah...so you really are gay now!
Clint: But I have all the best reasons in the world to be gay now.
Ernie: I bet you do homo.
Back to reality...
This is the Panera situation. Its the change of the mind that bucks all of your previous cracks on your friends, thereby making all of your previous cracks worthless and thereby making you worthy of taking more crackage than was dished out to the original recipient. Clint has since taken a good share of crap since this day, as he should. The crap will most likely continue for some time because this is an egregious breach of brotiquette, but it happens. Clint will take the crap because he knows what he has done. We all have taken the crap because to be honest, we change our minds and we do things we once deemed "gay" or "horrible". At least it has a name now...
Matusow Wins Bracelet #3
Congrats to Mike Matusow!
I hate if I am ruining the next 3 months of ESPN programming for some of you, but the real coverage (as close to hand-to-hand) is at http://www.pokernews.com/live-reporting. PLUS...the bracelet Matusow won won't even be on ESPN. They don't televise such unimportant games as 2-7 Triple Draw even though it is one of the more challenging games out there, IMHO. The final table looked like this:
Mike Matusow
Barry Greenstein
Eric Lindgren
Jeff Lisandro
David Benyamine
Tom Schneider
Tony 'G' Guoga
Thats a tough table for Matusow to come out of. Any of those guys could have easily won this table. My hope was for E-Dawg to get his 2nd bracelet, but Matusow is always a fan favorite and I was happy to see him get it. If you aren't sure what 2-7 Triple Draw is...here is a description:
2-7 (Deuce to Seven) Triple Draw (Pokerstars)
Now to pimp one of my favorite blogs...I may do this more often.
I hate if I am ruining the next 3 months of ESPN programming for some of you, but the real coverage (as close to hand-to-hand) is at http://www.pokernews.com/live-reporting. PLUS...the bracelet Matusow won won't even be on ESPN. They don't televise such unimportant games as 2-7 Triple Draw even though it is one of the more challenging games out there, IMHO. The final table looked like this:
Mike Matusow
Barry Greenstein
Eric Lindgren
Jeff Lisandro
David Benyamine
Tom Schneider
Tony 'G' Guoga
Thats a tough table for Matusow to come out of. Any of those guys could have easily won this table. My hope was for E-Dawg to get his 2nd bracelet, but Matusow is always a fan favorite and I was happy to see him get it. If you aren't sure what 2-7 Triple Draw is...here is a description:
2-7 (Deuce to Seven) Triple Draw (Pokerstars)
Now to pimp one of my favorite blogs...I may do this more often.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
The Stuff You Don't See on ESPN 3 Months After The Fact
I realize that I have been poker heavy, but its what has been interesting me more than anything lately. Plus...Rich is about the only reader here regularly and he talks about politics more than I talk about poker, so this is not a Panera situation (more on this in a later post).
With the World Series of Poker going on right now, there is a crap ton of coverage and its great to follow it all because you can see what is going on that Norman Chad and Lon McEachern don't talk about. Plus, they are tools. Here are a few links I have enjoyed:
All In on Chan and a Draw Go Energy Drinks! - This is insane. If our society were judged on the types of energy drinks and water that people carried around and devoured, we would all rot in hell with chocolate, coffee, fruit breath.
2008 WSOP Day 12: A Day in the Life of Phil Ivey - Disposable income is so fun to fool around with. $2 million is an amazing bit of pocket change for some people. And we all know the Celtics are winning in 6 because the refs are fixing the games. :)
BREAKING: Daniel Negreanu and Patrik Antonius Playing High Stakes Heads-Up Golf Match - Apparently, this happens most years with the pros heading to the golf course. Negreanu has been golf heavy on his blog and apparently plays every day in a simulator. Another case of disposable income.
2008 WSOP Day 10 - The Archie Karas Comeback and Vinny Vinh's Final Table - Lastly, a great post on the underbelly that we all know exists.
With the World Series of Poker going on right now, there is a crap ton of coverage and its great to follow it all because you can see what is going on that Norman Chad and Lon McEachern don't talk about. Plus, they are tools. Here are a few links I have enjoyed:
All In on Chan and a Draw Go Energy Drinks! - This is insane. If our society were judged on the types of energy drinks and water that people carried around and devoured, we would all rot in hell with chocolate, coffee, fruit breath.
2008 WSOP Day 12: A Day in the Life of Phil Ivey - Disposable income is so fun to fool around with. $2 million is an amazing bit of pocket change for some people. And we all know the Celtics are winning in 6 because the refs are fixing the games. :)
BREAKING: Daniel Negreanu and Patrik Antonius Playing High Stakes Heads-Up Golf Match - Apparently, this happens most years with the pros heading to the golf course. Negreanu has been golf heavy on his blog and apparently plays every day in a simulator. Another case of disposable income.
2008 WSOP Day 10 - The Archie Karas Comeback and Vinny Vinh's Final Table - Lastly, a great post on the underbelly that we all know exists.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Congrats to E Dawg
One of my favorite guys finally got his bracelet.
Congratulations to Erick Lindgren, Champion of Event No. 4
Congratulations to Erick Lindgren, Champion of Event No. 4
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Yes...More Poker Talk: Where I Am
"I used to like poker because I thought I had control over my future. Now I realize we are all just buffeted by destiny. We are cannon fodder. Remember that shot in Saving Private Ruan where everybody is charging the shore? The ones who survived were lucky, that's all. They were not better soldiers. They just didn't run into any bullets." - Jennifer Tilly (Bluff Magazine May 2008)
Rarely do I read Jenn Tilly's monthly article and feel truly enlightened. Typically, I consider it a prolonged bad beat story from someone who is just "getting" how things work in poker and who is being trained by someone who is one of my favorite poker players Phil Laak. I typically read her article near the end of my trip through the magazine. This time I sat down and for some reason read her article about 3rd and feel it was a good thing.
I realize that I play small stakes. I give $6 to play in a tournament for points or I play micro-stakes online, so it's not that comparable to what Jenn Tilly goes through playing in big tournaments or in cash games, but I am in the same place she is. I play well...I make very few bad decisions and I still take the bullets. I have been taken down in a hail of gunfire. I have had my K's and Q's crushed by A-whatever. I have had A-4 call huge preflop raises only to hit 2 pair against my A-Q. I have been a catalog of bad beat stories recently. I am not whining or complaining or being one of those guys, but you, as my reader, need to understand why I am typing this out.
So what do I think about myself? It's easy to say "well, maybe you gotta fold those Q's when you know certain people are behind you". But can I? Can you fold a huge pocket pair just because you fear A-whatever? Shouldn't you get your money in when you KNOW you are ahead?
So what's the problem?
There are a couple things that are uncontrollable with poker, no matter the skill level.
1. The skill level of those around you. Now...I am not going to go off on people who play 7-2o when they think this is a good hand or because it's "sooted!". That is merely a derivative of playing with people who do not understand the game. I use to think that these people wouldn't play the same trash if money was on the line or if it were more serious, however, I am not so sure. Watching amateur after amateur win the big televised tournaments making horrible money decisions the whole way, I think it comes down to a rash of uneducated and ignorant poker players. This is uncontrollable.
2. The cards. No matter how long you play, you cannot know what cards are coming and how whichever hand you are holding will hold out. I was told after my K's were busted by A-rag a couple weeks ago that "I knew that was going to hit, so I played it." I just walked away from the conversation. Reading "The Secret" 100 times will not improve your game. Going to Magic Molly the hand reader to get tips on reading the future will not help your game. You can make guesses, but you cannot control or know what cards are coming. This is a simple fact that changes the game of the amateur when they get past the misconception that they "feel" a card coming or "know" their hand is going to hit. Once an amateur realizes the best way to maximize profit in a game is to play the best hands possible, their game begins a transformation.
3. Jackassery. This one requires absolutely no explanation, but I will. For some reason, I have become a magnet for jackasses at the poker table. People critquing the way I play after playing 3 hands with me. Telling me "I know how you play." after 2 tables with me. I would like to think I am somewhat readable in the sense that I play premium hands and will fold crap almost every time. My response "No...you know how I play with bad hands." left him agreeing with me. There is always a drunk around. There is always someone who thinks they can call every hand. There is always a jackass in every crowd I play in.
So how do I manage these uncontrollable circumstances? I am not sure to some extent to be honest because the jackassery tends to push me to the edge. I hate to be "that" guy, but I think I need to use the iPod. I think I need to shut people out and become less friendly at the table. Perhaps I don't have the temperment required to be like Daniel Negreanu. Perhaps I need to focus on my game and stop worrying about the crap others are playing.
Maybe, just maybe I need to walk away for a while and get out of the war for a bit.
Rarely do I read Jenn Tilly's monthly article and feel truly enlightened. Typically, I consider it a prolonged bad beat story from someone who is just "getting" how things work in poker and who is being trained by someone who is one of my favorite poker players Phil Laak. I typically read her article near the end of my trip through the magazine. This time I sat down and for some reason read her article about 3rd and feel it was a good thing.
I realize that I play small stakes. I give $6 to play in a tournament for points or I play micro-stakes online, so it's not that comparable to what Jenn Tilly goes through playing in big tournaments or in cash games, but I am in the same place she is. I play well...I make very few bad decisions and I still take the bullets. I have been taken down in a hail of gunfire. I have had my K's and Q's crushed by A-whatever. I have had A-4 call huge preflop raises only to hit 2 pair against my A-Q. I have been a catalog of bad beat stories recently. I am not whining or complaining or being one of those guys, but you, as my reader, need to understand why I am typing this out.
So what do I think about myself? It's easy to say "well, maybe you gotta fold those Q's when you know certain people are behind you". But can I? Can you fold a huge pocket pair just because you fear A-whatever? Shouldn't you get your money in when you KNOW you are ahead?
So what's the problem?
There are a couple things that are uncontrollable with poker, no matter the skill level.
1. The skill level of those around you. Now...I am not going to go off on people who play 7-2o when they think this is a good hand or because it's "sooted!". That is merely a derivative of playing with people who do not understand the game. I use to think that these people wouldn't play the same trash if money was on the line or if it were more serious, however, I am not so sure. Watching amateur after amateur win the big televised tournaments making horrible money decisions the whole way, I think it comes down to a rash of uneducated and ignorant poker players. This is uncontrollable.
2. The cards. No matter how long you play, you cannot know what cards are coming and how whichever hand you are holding will hold out. I was told after my K's were busted by A-rag a couple weeks ago that "I knew that was going to hit, so I played it." I just walked away from the conversation. Reading "The Secret" 100 times will not improve your game. Going to Magic Molly the hand reader to get tips on reading the future will not help your game. You can make guesses, but you cannot control or know what cards are coming. This is a simple fact that changes the game of the amateur when they get past the misconception that they "feel" a card coming or "know" their hand is going to hit. Once an amateur realizes the best way to maximize profit in a game is to play the best hands possible, their game begins a transformation.
3. Jackassery. This one requires absolutely no explanation, but I will. For some reason, I have become a magnet for jackasses at the poker table. People critquing the way I play after playing 3 hands with me. Telling me "I know how you play." after 2 tables with me. I would like to think I am somewhat readable in the sense that I play premium hands and will fold crap almost every time. My response "No...you know how I play with bad hands." left him agreeing with me. There is always a drunk around. There is always someone who thinks they can call every hand. There is always a jackass in every crowd I play in.
So how do I manage these uncontrollable circumstances? I am not sure to some extent to be honest because the jackassery tends to push me to the edge. I hate to be "that" guy, but I think I need to use the iPod. I think I need to shut people out and become less friendly at the table. Perhaps I don't have the temperment required to be like Daniel Negreanu. Perhaps I need to focus on my game and stop worrying about the crap others are playing.
Maybe, just maybe I need to walk away for a while and get out of the war for a bit.
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