What a great weekend! I had a great time at the Bash on Saturday and met a lot of cool people. They’re all legends in the blogging world and it was nice to put faces to blogs. Bad Blood and I made it to the finals of the beerpong championship but ended up as the first losers. I was drunk and pissed so I think I made some disparaging remarks about our opponents but really I played like crap and they played well. Oh well. Wait til next year? This was the 7th Bash but there are rumors that it might be the last. It takes a ton of effort to coordinate everything and I have to give a lot of love to Al and Mike for setting it up. I think they raised a good chunk of money for Michael Davis and cystic fibrosis. Fun, drinking and charity! The three reasons for living! The poker tournament was fun and Gavin is a cool guy. A lot of friends tell me it’s cool that I’m the same lazy, laid back, sloppy SOB even with the poker success that I’ve had. Well Gavin’s made over $3 million, was the WPT player of the year and STILL is the laziest, sloppiest, coolest dude that you’ll ever have the fortune of meeting. He’s donated a ton of money to charity, too, and really seems to love what he does. He’s also a sick degenerate mofo but that’s neither here nor there. Gavin may or may not have had over $100K riding on various College Football games. Luckily the only bet I remember was a smallish one on your Washington Huskies +3.5. More on that later.
A lot of craziness happened Saturday night but I’m not a good enough writer to try to cover it all. I’ll wait until the real writers and bloggers post what they have to say and then I’ll link their stories here. Laziness wins. For now, here are some pictures by F-Train.
While out in Philly I missed another faaaaaaaantastic football weekend in Seattle. The Huskies are 3-1! I didn’t get to watch the game but apparently, according to Davis, it was one of the best games that he’s ever seen .His word is good enough for me and I’m sad that I missed it. My bet with Mike is looking pretty good, especially with Stanford at home on the schedule. GO! HUSKIES! GO! HUSKIES! The Seahawks won a laugher in a game that I thought was going to be pretty difficult. I don’t think we’re quite as good as people are going to make it seem but I’ll take this victory with a smile on my face. I think the real Hawks are somewhere between the team that won 9-6 in Detroit that everyone was trippin’ about and the team today that everyone will be raving about. Next week we’ll get a better idea of how good this team really is. If we can go into Soldier Field, in Prime Time, and beat the Bears I will be very impressed. I can’t wait!
Today I woke up around 1 PM and felt like crap. I logged on to Yahoo!Sports and saw that TJ Houshmandzadeh was playing but still on my bench. Oh well, he was gimpy and playing as the 3rd WR anyway. No biggie. Oh, wait, he scores twice and would have been worth 21 points! His replacement, Jericho Cotchery scored 3 points for that team. Now, throw in the fact that I’m down by 6 going into Monday night and I feel like stabbing myself in the eye. I have Marquez Colston going by he has Algee Crumpler so I think he’s a bit of a fave right now. That’s my $100 league. I’m 0-2 and kinda screwed cant afford to fall too far behind. I’m 3-0 in my $50 league and really like my team. In my $1500 league, I’m 2-0 but have the 4th lowest point total in the league. This week I’m getting my butt kicked by 52 points but I have Vick, Jenkins and Colston going on Monday night. I made a big trade in this league, giving up Corey Dillon, Mike Bell and Philip Rivers for Vick, Jenkins and Ahman Green. I’m not sure that I got the better of this deal but I had serious QB issues and some RB depth so I went with the trade. The best part is that since I had Jenkins I benched Javon Walker and he racked up a tidy 25 points. I’m the best GM ever!
I bet Fantasy Football is one of the most boring things that I could ever write about. You know what’s even more boring? POKER!
I planned on playing the WCOOP $1K event all day today but ran into some bad luck. In other words, I got Nordberged:
Hero (t15060)
SB (t14180)
BB (t14062)
UTG (t3076)
UTG+1 (t17115)
MP1 (t13410)
MP2 (t8426)
MP3 (t10677)
CO (t6015)
Preflop: Hero is Button with Ac, Ah.
1 fold, UTG+1 raises to t900, 4 folds, Hero raises to t2400, 2 folds, UTG+1 raises to t17115, Hero calls t12660 (All-In).
Flop: (t32625) Jd, 8h, 3c (2 players, 1 all-in)
Turn: (t32625) 6d (2 players, 1 all-in)
River: (t32625) Td (2 players, 1 all-in)
Final Pot: t32625
There were still 1100 players left but the 30K would have put me in the top 20 in chips and that’s gotta be worth something, right? First place in this baby is an incredible $442K. Pretty amazing. The WCOOP Main event is next Sunday and has a guaranteed $3 million prize pool which means that first place will be around $520K or so. God bless the Internet.
That’s all I have for now. I fly home at 7:30 AM and get to Seattle at 10:15. If you wanna kick it, come over to the Kangaroo and Kiwi for Monday Night Football, eat wings and watch Vick and Jenkins hook up for 4 TDs. Goooooo Falcons!
Sunday, September 24, 2006
Sunday, September 17, 2006
I Love Football
It's been a lazy Monday after a weekend filled with football. It's a lot of fun when both the Huskies and Seahawks are in town, I get to go to both games, AND both teams win! The Husky victory was probably more important in the grand scheme of things. This is a program that went 1-10 in 2004 and 2-9 last year. Starting off the season 2-1 is nice and I think they'll beat UCLA next week. Stanback looked competent and hopefully will continue to improve. The Huskies are lucky that all their tough games are on the road and the winnable ones are at home. They weren't going to beat Oklahoma, USC, Cal or Oregon anyway so we may as well get them on the road. The Seahawks are 2-0 but still aren't playing their best football. Yesterday's 21-10 win could have easily been much bigger if the Hawks execute like they usually do. It's pretty fun to be able to critique wins as opposed to bitching about losses and I think the Hawks will gel soon. We've got two tough games coming up: The Giants at home and Chicago on the road. The Giants kicked our butts last year and lost because Feely is a choker. Eli looked impressive last year and looks better this year. I think it'll be a huge challenge for our team, especially because the Giants will have extra motivation to avenge last year's loss. I'll be watching this game in Philly, trying to nurse a wicked hangover. The Bash sounds like it'll be a lot of fun and Al's really been working hard. I hope it's a big success since the proceeds are going to some great charities.
Tonight I'm headed to the Kangaroo and Kiwi for 25-cent wings and Monday Night Football. One of my Fantasy league games hangs in the balance: I lead by 30 points and my opponent has Hines Ward, Fred Taylor and Pittsbugh D. I think I'm a small favorite but the line might be pick 'em. We need to hope for Pittsburgh to open up a big lead early, hopefully on Willie Parker runs, then watch Jacksonville throw the ball for most of the game and make a bit of a comeback but not throw any interceptions in the process. I want it to be 35-0 Steelers at the half then end with the Jags winning 42-35. Is that too much to ask?
One house that I like was sold and I'm going to take a second look at another one tomorrow. I think the market may be better in 3 months but I really want to get this shopping over with. It's pretty stressful, even though I don't need a house immediately, and you know I'm not a big fan of stress.
Carl has moved to Barcelona and is being good about providing updates on his blog so go check it out. I also got a comment from an old co-worker, Cale Green, and I like his blog. It's about sports and gambling and he really takes a lot of time writing stuff so you all should read it. That's all for now. Go Jags!
Tonight I'm headed to the Kangaroo and Kiwi for 25-cent wings and Monday Night Football. One of my Fantasy league games hangs in the balance: I lead by 30 points and my opponent has Hines Ward, Fred Taylor and Pittsbugh D. I think I'm a small favorite but the line might be pick 'em. We need to hope for Pittsburgh to open up a big lead early, hopefully on Willie Parker runs, then watch Jacksonville throw the ball for most of the game and make a bit of a comeback but not throw any interceptions in the process. I want it to be 35-0 Steelers at the half then end with the Jags winning 42-35. Is that too much to ask?
One house that I like was sold and I'm going to take a second look at another one tomorrow. I think the market may be better in 3 months but I really want to get this shopping over with. It's pretty stressful, even though I don't need a house immediately, and you know I'm not a big fan of stress.
Carl has moved to Barcelona and is being good about providing updates on his blog so go check it out. I also got a comment from an old co-worker, Cale Green, and I like his blog. It's about sports and gambling and he really takes a lot of time writing stuff so you all should read it. That's all for now. Go Jags!
Saturday, September 09, 2006
Florida Baseball....it's faaaantastic
Sorry for the lack of posts during the vacation. The internet connections were spotty at the Tampa/Miami motels/hotels and I never really had time to crank anything out. Excuses, excuses.
The highlight of the trip was seeing Anibal Sanchez throw a no-hitter. We were thinking about going to the game on Tuesday because Dontrelle Willis was pitching but it rained a lot and we decided to skip it. I'm glad we did because the no-no was one of the most exciting things that I've ever witnessed. I've seen no-hitters through six innings but never anything deeper. As he got each out in the 7th, the place buzzed a little louder and when shortstop Hanley Ramirez made a great play for the third out on a ball up the middle that I thought was going to be a hit, I leapt out of my chair and high-fived the guy behind me. The place was now in full buzz(as loud as 5,000 people could buzz) and the 8th was pretty electric. With a man on first, Sanchez induced a slow grounder to second base where Dan Uggla pulled off a perfect "run the guy back to first, throw to first to get the batter, then throw back to second and tag the runner" 4-3-6 double play. It was beautiful and the crowd roared as loud as 5,000 people could roar. In the ninth, he struck out the first batter with a 95 mph fastball. His fastest pitch before that was 91 mph. I think he was pretty juiced. Luis Gonzalez, Mr. Steroids, pops up quickly and we're one out away. Eric Byrnes hits a hard grounder to Hanley Ramirez who takes too much time but nips Byrnes by half a step and it's pandemonium in South Florida. The coolest part about it was watching the Marlins come sprinting out of the dugout and watching Sanchez cry. The Marlins have a payroll of 15 million! For the whole team! The Mets were going to be my October team since the M's won't be playing any games in October but I might have to root for the Marlins. I can't believe that they have 2 rings already and that really turns me off but how can you not root for a team with a $15 mil roster? I did some research and the following players make more than the entire marlins team: Alex Rodrigues, Derek Jeter, Jason Giambi, Jeff Bagwell, Barry Bonds, Mike Mussina, Manny Ramirez, Todd Helton, Andy Pettite, Magglio Ordonez, Randy Johnson, and Chan Ho Park. Unreal.
Packed House(moments before the first pitch of the no-no)
Marlins cheerleaders
Earlier in the week we went to the Devil Rays-Mariners game. Kenny got us sweet seats right behind home plate so we watched the M's take batting practice and even got a cameo from the man himself, Kenny Barron. The game was entertaining but the way the Mariners lost really got to me. They were up 6-4 in the 8th, Felix was pitching a pretty good game, then he visibly lost it. With a runner on 2nd, he threw a wild pitch to Ty Wigginton, then bounced another ball about a foot in front of home plate. Right then I knew he was done and I told Renee, "they should pull him right now. Don't let him throw a crappy fastball because that's all he can get over". Anyway, he throws the next pitch low and walks Wigginton. I said to Renee, "man, we got lucky there. Now we'll definitely pull him". The pitching coach went to the mound and the whole infied huddled. I figured that the relievers weren't quite ready and they were stalling before yanking Felix. Finally the ump came out to break it up and Felix was still in the game. "What the hell is going on," I verbalized to Renee. Before Felix could get set, Rene Rivera stood up and shouted out some instructions to the infield. OK, I thought, they're still stalling. Hargrove is going to come out of that dugout any second now. Then all of a sudden, Felix got set and I realized he was going to stay in the game. As he started his wind, my exact words to Renee were, "this is terrible," about 1 second before whoever the heck it was hit a 3-run bomb to put the Devil Rays ahead 7-6. I haven't seen very many Mariners games this year but that managerial decision, or non-decision, was one of the worst that I've ever seen in my life. If I were the GM, I would have called downstairs and fired Hargrove on the spot. I've heard that he's a nice guy and gets along with everybody but holy crap I was disgusted.
Renee at the Trop
The best translator in the league
Finally, the baseball trip is complete. I saw 32 games in 30 different stadiums and I had a frikkin blast. I'd really like to do it again someday.
The rest of the trip was pretty relaxing. Renee wanted to go out and hit the clubs but laziness got the best of us and we stayed in most nights. It was ridiculously humid and rainy and apparently it was the middle of hurricane season. If you want to go to Florida, go between November and March. We didn't have a choice because Renee had to plan around work but I wouldn't recommend going in early September. If you go to Tampa, make sure you go to the Salvador Dali museum in St Petersburg. It's the second-biggest Dali museum in the world and was very well done.
Fishbowl full of alcohol
Asian girl drinking fishbowl of alcohol
Giant Green Apple Cotton Candy
Renee and I got home on Friday night and I got to enjoy two glorious days of football with my friends. On Saturday we got together to watch the UW-Oklahoma game and we were treated to a 13-13 halftime score. I thought the defense played pretty well and I was encouraged by the 37-20 loss. Stanback is terrible and I really hope Willingham benches him sooner rather than later. Sunday was pure vegging out. The Seahawks game was at 10 AM and the Giants-Colts game ended around 9 PM. That's a lot of time spent sitting on Davis' couch. Everyone's freaking out about the fact that the Seahawks only won 9-6 but a road win is nothing to scoff at and I'm glad we're 10. Obviously there are some things to work on but I'm confident that the Hawks will be fine.
This week I've been looking at houses and I'm very close to putting in an offer on one. I can't wait to have a huge mortgage payment. I didn't have any time this week for a poker trip up to Canada so I'll have to go up early and often next week. The mortgage isn't going to pay itself.
That's it for now. Have a great weekend.
The highlight of the trip was seeing Anibal Sanchez throw a no-hitter. We were thinking about going to the game on Tuesday because Dontrelle Willis was pitching but it rained a lot and we decided to skip it. I'm glad we did because the no-no was one of the most exciting things that I've ever witnessed. I've seen no-hitters through six innings but never anything deeper. As he got each out in the 7th, the place buzzed a little louder and when shortstop Hanley Ramirez made a great play for the third out on a ball up the middle that I thought was going to be a hit, I leapt out of my chair and high-fived the guy behind me. The place was now in full buzz(as loud as 5,000 people could buzz) and the 8th was pretty electric. With a man on first, Sanchez induced a slow grounder to second base where Dan Uggla pulled off a perfect "run the guy back to first, throw to first to get the batter, then throw back to second and tag the runner" 4-3-6 double play. It was beautiful and the crowd roared as loud as 5,000 people could roar. In the ninth, he struck out the first batter with a 95 mph fastball. His fastest pitch before that was 91 mph. I think he was pretty juiced. Luis Gonzalez, Mr. Steroids, pops up quickly and we're one out away. Eric Byrnes hits a hard grounder to Hanley Ramirez who takes too much time but nips Byrnes by half a step and it's pandemonium in South Florida. The coolest part about it was watching the Marlins come sprinting out of the dugout and watching Sanchez cry. The Marlins have a payroll of 15 million! For the whole team! The Mets were going to be my October team since the M's won't be playing any games in October but I might have to root for the Marlins. I can't believe that they have 2 rings already and that really turns me off but how can you not root for a team with a $15 mil roster? I did some research and the following players make more than the entire marlins team: Alex Rodrigues, Derek Jeter, Jason Giambi, Jeff Bagwell, Barry Bonds, Mike Mussina, Manny Ramirez, Todd Helton, Andy Pettite, Magglio Ordonez, Randy Johnson, and Chan Ho Park. Unreal.
Packed House(moments before the first pitch of the no-no)
Marlins cheerleaders
Earlier in the week we went to the Devil Rays-Mariners game. Kenny got us sweet seats right behind home plate so we watched the M's take batting practice and even got a cameo from the man himself, Kenny Barron. The game was entertaining but the way the Mariners lost really got to me. They were up 6-4 in the 8th, Felix was pitching a pretty good game, then he visibly lost it. With a runner on 2nd, he threw a wild pitch to Ty Wigginton, then bounced another ball about a foot in front of home plate. Right then I knew he was done and I told Renee, "they should pull him right now. Don't let him throw a crappy fastball because that's all he can get over". Anyway, he throws the next pitch low and walks Wigginton. I said to Renee, "man, we got lucky there. Now we'll definitely pull him". The pitching coach went to the mound and the whole infied huddled. I figured that the relievers weren't quite ready and they were stalling before yanking Felix. Finally the ump came out to break it up and Felix was still in the game. "What the hell is going on," I verbalized to Renee. Before Felix could get set, Rene Rivera stood up and shouted out some instructions to the infield. OK, I thought, they're still stalling. Hargrove is going to come out of that dugout any second now. Then all of a sudden, Felix got set and I realized he was going to stay in the game. As he started his wind, my exact words to Renee were, "this is terrible," about 1 second before whoever the heck it was hit a 3-run bomb to put the Devil Rays ahead 7-6. I haven't seen very many Mariners games this year but that managerial decision, or non-decision, was one of the worst that I've ever seen in my life. If I were the GM, I would have called downstairs and fired Hargrove on the spot. I've heard that he's a nice guy and gets along with everybody but holy crap I was disgusted.
Renee at the Trop
The best translator in the league
Finally, the baseball trip is complete. I saw 32 games in 30 different stadiums and I had a frikkin blast. I'd really like to do it again someday.
The rest of the trip was pretty relaxing. Renee wanted to go out and hit the clubs but laziness got the best of us and we stayed in most nights. It was ridiculously humid and rainy and apparently it was the middle of hurricane season. If you want to go to Florida, go between November and March. We didn't have a choice because Renee had to plan around work but I wouldn't recommend going in early September. If you go to Tampa, make sure you go to the Salvador Dali museum in St Petersburg. It's the second-biggest Dali museum in the world and was very well done.
Fishbowl full of alcohol
Asian girl drinking fishbowl of alcohol
Giant Green Apple Cotton Candy
Renee and I got home on Friday night and I got to enjoy two glorious days of football with my friends. On Saturday we got together to watch the UW-Oklahoma game and we were treated to a 13-13 halftime score. I thought the defense played pretty well and I was encouraged by the 37-20 loss. Stanback is terrible and I really hope Willingham benches him sooner rather than later. Sunday was pure vegging out. The Seahawks game was at 10 AM and the Giants-Colts game ended around 9 PM. That's a lot of time spent sitting on Davis' couch. Everyone's freaking out about the fact that the Seahawks only won 9-6 but a road win is nothing to scoff at and I'm glad we're 10. Obviously there are some things to work on but I'm confident that the Hawks will be fine.
This week I've been looking at houses and I'm very close to putting in an offer on one. I can't wait to have a huge mortgage payment. I didn't have any time this week for a poker trip up to Canada so I'll have to go up early and often next week. The mortgage isn't going to pay itself.
That's it for now. Have a great weekend.
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Florida Bound
Today was a rough day, due to the excessive drinking that went on yesterday for the Seahawks-Raiders preseason game. We drank a lot of beers at Davis' house to prefunk, drank a lot of beers during the game, and drank a lot of Jager-bombs at King Street after the game. It was rather ridiculous. We went home pretty early but I woke up at 3 AM and couldn't go back to bed until 5:30 because of all the Red Bull. Nasty stuff.
I'm always amazed by the audience that my blog has. I was at a bar on Monday Night for trivia and I ran into two guys who I'd drank with maybe 2 or 3 times at a mutual friend's house 3 years ago. I hadn't seen them since and honestly couldn't quite remember their names when I saw them. I'm pretty horrible with names and they were pretty easy: Bob and Ben. Anyway, we were talking a bit then they started dropping all kinds of knowledge on my life. "So, how were the 5 weeks in Vegas?" "How's house shopping?" "How's the 5/10 NL?" I was like how the hell do you guys know all this stuff and of course they found my blog through MySpace and read it semi-regularly. I guess I shouldn't have ever been naive about stuff that I put on the Internet but I always just assumed the only people who read this thing are my super close friends and a few random poker players. Maybe I'm just not very bright. During our conversation I found out that Bob and Ben went to high school with none other than Spirit Rock aka Mahatma aka Prahlad Friedman. He is an alumni of Nathan Hale, class of '96! I had no clue that he was from Seattle. He's one of the top HU and shorthanded NL players in the world and apparently went by "John" Friedman in high school. Anyway, Bob and Ben want to have a drunken home game with him when he comes back for their 10-year reunion. The dude is used to playing six-figure pots so a $20 home game might get a little out of hand.
MySpace is a funny thing. I like it a lot because I've gotten in touch with a ton of old friends that I'd lost track of. However, it's also uber-popular among high-schoolers and that makes it a haven for skeezy weirdos. I was hanging out in Vegas with Pauly and some other people and the topic of MySpace came up. Pauly asked me if I had an account and I said yes and he replied with, "I just lost a lot of respect for you. MySpace is so gay. But will you add me as your friend?" I found it pretty hilarious.
The last two paragraphs might only be interesting to me but, really, I'm the only opinion that matters here.
Poker went reasonably well this week. I played 3,601 hands and won $5,794.79. I was actually up almost $8K before giving some of it back tonight. The games were very good and I think I should play more on Thursday-Saturday nights. Here's my favorite hand of the session:
MP2 ($499.62)
CO ($896.50)
Button ($1326.15)
SB ($1404.82)
BB ($782.02)
UTG ($475.36)
UTG+1 ($1659)
Hero ($1000)
Preflop: Hero is MP1 with 9c, 7c. CO posts a blind of $10. SB posts a blind of $5. UTG posts a blind of $10.
1 fold, Hero raises to $45, 3 folds, SB (poster) raises to $96.03, UTG (poster) calls $91.03, Hero calls $56.03.
Flop: ($313.09) 9h, 6d, 7d (4 players)
SB bets $523.41, UTG calls $374.33 (All-In), Hero calls $898.97 (All-In), SB calls $375.56.
Turn: ($2485.36) 6h (4 players, 2 all-in)
River: ($2485.36) 5c (4 players, 2 all-in)
Final Pot: $2485.36
Results below:
SB has As Ad (two pair, aces and sixes).
UTG has 9s 3s (two pair, nines and sixes).
Hero has 9c 7c (two pair, nines and sevens).
Outcome: SB wins $2485.36.
Expert play, by everyone. Seriously, people were trying really hard to give away their money tonght and I just couldn't get it. I got stacked 2 other times, one on a race where I had a big draw and one where I got half my stack in with AA vs KJ on a Kxx flop and the rest in on a J turn. Wah wah wah. The worst part is that now I have to drive all the way back to Seattle, since I'm obviously in Canada.
I'm probably not going to be playing any poker next week because I'll be on vacation in Florida. Renee and I fly to Tampa tomorrow morning to see the Mariners play the Devil Rays. It should be fun to see Delmon Young and BJ Upton and the rest of the D-Rays prospects. Renee is uber-stoked for this vacation since she works six days a week and never goes anywhere. I'm excited but I was just getting used to being home. Seattle has been beautiful and I've had a great time over the past 10 days. I'm probably going to buy a house when I come home from vacation and that will definitely be exciting. I'll try to take pictures during this trip and get them uploaded for your enjoyment.
The Huskies have their first game tomorrow and hopefuly we can start 1-0 against San Jose State. I bought season tickets this year and I might miss our only victory of the season. I'm actually reasonably optimistic about this year and I have a $100 bet with my friend Mike, taking the over on 3.5 wins. I'm not sure what the real line is but 3.5 seems about right. Anyway, Go Dawgs!
I'm always amazed by the audience that my blog has. I was at a bar on Monday Night for trivia and I ran into two guys who I'd drank with maybe 2 or 3 times at a mutual friend's house 3 years ago. I hadn't seen them since and honestly couldn't quite remember their names when I saw them. I'm pretty horrible with names and they were pretty easy: Bob and Ben. Anyway, we were talking a bit then they started dropping all kinds of knowledge on my life. "So, how were the 5 weeks in Vegas?" "How's house shopping?" "How's the 5/10 NL?" I was like how the hell do you guys know all this stuff and of course they found my blog through MySpace and read it semi-regularly. I guess I shouldn't have ever been naive about stuff that I put on the Internet but I always just assumed the only people who read this thing are my super close friends and a few random poker players. Maybe I'm just not very bright. During our conversation I found out that Bob and Ben went to high school with none other than Spirit Rock aka Mahatma aka Prahlad Friedman. He is an alumni of Nathan Hale, class of '96! I had no clue that he was from Seattle. He's one of the top HU and shorthanded NL players in the world and apparently went by "John" Friedman in high school. Anyway, Bob and Ben want to have a drunken home game with him when he comes back for their 10-year reunion. The dude is used to playing six-figure pots so a $20 home game might get a little out of hand.
MySpace is a funny thing. I like it a lot because I've gotten in touch with a ton of old friends that I'd lost track of. However, it's also uber-popular among high-schoolers and that makes it a haven for skeezy weirdos. I was hanging out in Vegas with Pauly and some other people and the topic of MySpace came up. Pauly asked me if I had an account and I said yes and he replied with, "I just lost a lot of respect for you. MySpace is so gay. But will you add me as your friend?" I found it pretty hilarious.
The last two paragraphs might only be interesting to me but, really, I'm the only opinion that matters here.
Poker went reasonably well this week. I played 3,601 hands and won $5,794.79. I was actually up almost $8K before giving some of it back tonight. The games were very good and I think I should play more on Thursday-Saturday nights. Here's my favorite hand of the session:
MP2 ($499.62)
CO ($896.50)
Button ($1326.15)
SB ($1404.82)
BB ($782.02)
UTG ($475.36)
UTG+1 ($1659)
Hero ($1000)
Preflop: Hero is MP1 with 9c, 7c. CO posts a blind of $10. SB posts a blind of $5. UTG posts a blind of $10.
1 fold, Hero raises to $45, 3 folds, SB (poster) raises to $96.03, UTG (poster) calls $91.03, Hero calls $56.03.
Flop: ($313.09) 9h, 6d, 7d (4 players)
SB bets $523.41, UTG calls $374.33 (All-In), Hero calls $898.97 (All-In), SB calls $375.56.
Turn: ($2485.36) 6h (4 players, 2 all-in)
River: ($2485.36) 5c (4 players, 2 all-in)
Final Pot: $2485.36
Results below:
SB has As Ad (two pair, aces and sixes).
UTG has 9s 3s (two pair, nines and sixes).
Hero has 9c 7c (two pair, nines and sevens).
Outcome: SB wins $2485.36.
Expert play, by everyone. Seriously, people were trying really hard to give away their money tonght and I just couldn't get it. I got stacked 2 other times, one on a race where I had a big draw and one where I got half my stack in with AA vs KJ on a Kxx flop and the rest in on a J turn. Wah wah wah. The worst part is that now I have to drive all the way back to Seattle, since I'm obviously in Canada.
I'm probably not going to be playing any poker next week because I'll be on vacation in Florida. Renee and I fly to Tampa tomorrow morning to see the Mariners play the Devil Rays. It should be fun to see Delmon Young and BJ Upton and the rest of the D-Rays prospects. Renee is uber-stoked for this vacation since she works six days a week and never goes anywhere. I'm excited but I was just getting used to being home. Seattle has been beautiful and I've had a great time over the past 10 days. I'm probably going to buy a house when I come home from vacation and that will definitely be exciting. I'll try to take pictures during this trip and get them uploaded for your enjoyment.
The Huskies have their first game tomorrow and hopefuly we can start 1-0 against San Jose State. I bought season tickets this year and I might miss our only victory of the season. I'm actually reasonably optimistic about this year and I have a $100 bet with my friend Mike, taking the over on 3.5 wins. I'm not sure what the real line is but 3.5 seems about right. Anyway, Go Dawgs!
Monday, August 28, 2006
Week One
Well, week one of poker/health is over and it was so-so. On Tuesday I went to Vashon Island with my mom and cranked out a 20-mile bike ride. On Saturday we rode to Redmond and back, totaling 39 miles. Vashon was hilly and probably a tougher ride than Redmond but I definitely felt like dying during both. My mom is a pretty strong biker and she smoked the crap out of me. It's pretty embarassing, getting crushed by your 51 year old mom, so I'm going to have to keep up the cycling. It's pretty fun and a nice way to enjoy the beautiful Seattle weather. I also did 100 push-ups on Monday, 50 on Wednesday, 59 on Friday and 65 today. I haven't been as sore and I think I can start to do them every day. As far as eating goes, it's really easy to eat healhy when you're active. After the bike ride I was tired as hell and there was no way I wanted to ruin my hard work by pigging out on some crap. I didn't go too crazy but I definitely worked on eating healthier.
In poker news, I played 3,118 hands and won $3100. It's pretty painful to only be up that much when i won $4900 on Tuesday alone. I actually ran pretty good overall but chose my running bad for when I jumped up to 10/20. I won $7528 at 5/10 and lost $4400 at 10/20. I try to pick good spots for jumping up and I'm still an overall winner at 10/20 but I think I'm going to stick with 5/10 for a while. I got stacked in a hand where I got 1/4 of my stack in preflop with AA and once I put in $500, the rest is coming no matter what. I only played 280 hands of 10/20 but I swear it'll be zero next week. I'd really like to play 5,000 hands of 5/10 but I'm heading to Tampa on Saturday and I might not get it done.
Obviously, once I start getting into a routine I go on vacation. I'll be in Tampa for 2 days and Miami for 4. I like to eat and sleep on vacation. Uh oh.
I drafted two fantasy football teams today and I think I learned a few things. I'm going to wait until Wednesday to post my observations because my big money league drafts Wednesday night and I don't want to reveal any strategy. It's probably dumb but there's quite a bit of money on the line.
The Mariners own the AL East. We just took 5 out of 6 from the Yankees and Red Sox but still have a 20-game losing streak to the AL West. The Angels are in town and it would be nice to end that ugly, Major League record, streak. We're playing strictly for pride but it would be nice to have a bit of confidence going into next year.
I guess that's it. Life without travel is booooooring.
In poker news, I played 3,118 hands and won $3100. It's pretty painful to only be up that much when i won $4900 on Tuesday alone. I actually ran pretty good overall but chose my running bad for when I jumped up to 10/20. I won $7528 at 5/10 and lost $4400 at 10/20. I try to pick good spots for jumping up and I'm still an overall winner at 10/20 but I think I'm going to stick with 5/10 for a while. I got stacked in a hand where I got 1/4 of my stack in preflop with AA and once I put in $500, the rest is coming no matter what. I only played 280 hands of 10/20 but I swear it'll be zero next week. I'd really like to play 5,000 hands of 5/10 but I'm heading to Tampa on Saturday and I might not get it done.
Obviously, once I start getting into a routine I go on vacation. I'll be in Tampa for 2 days and Miami for 4. I like to eat and sleep on vacation. Uh oh.
I drafted two fantasy football teams today and I think I learned a few things. I'm going to wait until Wednesday to post my observations because my big money league drafts Wednesday night and I don't want to reveal any strategy. It's probably dumb but there's quite a bit of money on the line.
The Mariners own the AL East. We just took 5 out of 6 from the Yankees and Red Sox but still have a 20-game losing streak to the AL West. The Angels are in town and it would be nice to end that ugly, Major League record, streak. We're playing strictly for pride but it would be nice to have a bit of confidence going into next year.
I guess that's it. Life without travel is booooooring.
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Ouch
I cranked out 100 push-ups yesterday and felt pretty good about myself. Today I don't think I could one. My shoulders hurt and I'm pretty stiff. I'll try to do as many as I can tomorrow. It sucks being so out of shape. I've been eating healthier but that's the easy part. I really don't need fried food or sugary drinks. The only problem is that if I want to kick it with a beer, I'm gonna kick it with a beer. If that weakness forever dooms me to sparetiredom, so be it.
Tomorrow my mom and I are going on a 35-mile bike ride around Vashon Island. It's nice to have her around to motivate me. She's still on sabbatical(16 months and counting) but claims that she's heading back to work soon. I'll believe it when I see it.
Speaking of my mom, living in her basement is cool and all but I really need my own place. I'm a grown ass man. I'd rather buy then rent but stuff is still expensive as hell. I'll probably do some shopping around during the next couple of weeks but if I don't find something by mid-September I'm just going to find an apartment.
My mom doesn't have an Internet connection(well, she has dial-up but that doesn't count) so I'm writing this at a coffee shop near U-Village. It's a big place and there are a lot of college hotties in here. I like. IF online poker were legal I could probably crank out a few hours of play. Damn you, Washington State Gambling Commission.
Madden '07 came out today and I played for a bit at Davis' house. I'm considering buying it myself but I would never get 5,000 hands played if I had that evil, evil game. There was a time in my life where I spent every waking moment playing Madden. I don't want to go there again.
One thing that I've been obsessing over lately is Fantasy Football. I'm playing in four leagues and draft day is coming soon. Two of them draft on Sunday, one on Wednesday and one is an auto-draft. I'm still not sure what my strategy will be but I'm pretty sure that I'm going with running backs as my first two picks. I'll post all my rosters once the drafts are over.
I just realized that tomorrow marks the 1-year anniversary of this blog. I don't feel like I post very often but this is my 175th post. I know there are some posts that are just pictures or whatever but I still averaged about one post every two days. I might start to post more now that I have these goals to attain but I promise nothing.
Tomorrow my mom and I are going on a 35-mile bike ride around Vashon Island. It's nice to have her around to motivate me. She's still on sabbatical(16 months and counting) but claims that she's heading back to work soon. I'll believe it when I see it.
Speaking of my mom, living in her basement is cool and all but I really need my own place. I'm a grown ass man. I'd rather buy then rent but stuff is still expensive as hell. I'll probably do some shopping around during the next couple of weeks but if I don't find something by mid-September I'm just going to find an apartment.
My mom doesn't have an Internet connection(well, she has dial-up but that doesn't count) so I'm writing this at a coffee shop near U-Village. It's a big place and there are a lot of college hotties in here. I like. IF online poker were legal I could probably crank out a few hours of play. Damn you, Washington State Gambling Commission.
Madden '07 came out today and I played for a bit at Davis' house. I'm considering buying it myself but I would never get 5,000 hands played if I had that evil, evil game. There was a time in my life where I spent every waking moment playing Madden. I don't want to go there again.
One thing that I've been obsessing over lately is Fantasy Football. I'm playing in four leagues and draft day is coming soon. Two of them draft on Sunday, one on Wednesday and one is an auto-draft. I'm still not sure what my strategy will be but I'm pretty sure that I'm going with running backs as my first two picks. I'll post all my rosters once the drafts are over.
I just realized that tomorrow marks the 1-year anniversary of this blog. I don't feel like I post very often but this is my 175th post. I know there are some posts that are just pictures or whatever but I still averaged about one post every two days. I might start to post more now that I have these goals to attain but I promise nothing.
Monday, August 21, 2006
Seattle Owns
I really love Seattle. I'm really happy to be home and I can't wait to see everyone. The M's are in town this week(feresh off an 0-11 road trip) and I'm planning on going to a few games. Kenny, Ichiro's interpreter, has a rare day off tomorrow so I'm going to try to hang out with him for a bit. He's been traveling with the team and might be pretty bummed out. It's a good think I'm so witty and charming. I think I may be able to get him to step off the ledge.
I updated the links on the side of my blog. I know most of the people that I've linked to but some of them are just good blogs that I read. Nat and i were driving to Cooperstown this spring and he randomly blurted out, "Why don't you have a link to my blog on your page!" I promised to add him soon but it ended up taking over three months. That's how I roll. Nat has some good pictures of the Vegas house on his blog so go over there and look at his older posts.
I had a fun weekend. I hung out with my friend, Chris, in Portland on Friday night at a sweet bar called Ground Kontrol. It's basically an arcade for adults and they have all the cool old school games. We played some Simpson's and pinball while drinking cans of PBR. The coolest part was when we found out that the PBRs were free because we bought them while one of thir reps was at the bar. The only thing better than PBR is free PBR. On Saturday morning, Chirs went out to get donuts and I ate a maple bar. I know, healthy diet, but I just can't say no to maple bars. I took off around 10:30 and drove across the river to my Grandma's place for lunch. She usually eats at her Retirement Home so it's a treat when she gets to go out for lunch. She always invites some friends and I enjoy hanging out with them. We went to a place called Patrick's Hawaiian Cafe and I had some delicious Huli Huli Chicken. After lunch we went back to her place and I played pool with one of her friends. he was pretty good but I ended up taking 2 out of 3 games. After winning the rubber match I threw down my pool cue and yelled, "I OWN YOU, OLD MAN!" in his face. I'm a good winner.
I ended up leaving around 2 PM and got to Seattle at 4:45. I picked up Renee from her mom's Panini shop and we headed to Cle Elum. Her friend Stephanie's dad lives out there and she's living there for a month. Steph just graduated from pharmacy school and has to travel do different places each month and intern. She's currently interning in Ellensburg. Anyway, her dad's place is sweet. They have a lot of land and it's really nice to get out in the countryside. They have a bunch of 4-wheelers that we drove around in the mountains and they went pretty damn fast. Saturday night we drank beer and ate smores. I'm really livin the good life. Today we went to the swimming hole and splashed around for a bit. We ended up leaving at 6 PM and traffic was horrible. I guess we weren't the only ones that went out to the countryside for the weekend. I realized that I didn't have keys to my mom's house so I called my friend Davis and asked if I could spend the night. My mom is camping this weekend and isn't coming home until sometime tomorrow. I left a message on her phone but she might read this first. If so, MOM! I can't get into your house! Call me when you get this and LET ME IN! It's not a big deal since Davis let me stay over but he might get pissed if I stay on his couch for a week or more.
Tomorrow I start my push-up/exercise challenge AND my 5K poker hands challenge. It might be tough since I have to drive up to Canada for every session but i think I can do it. I'll definitely post updates on each bet in the hopes that I'll stick with my plans to avoid public embarassment. I think I'm going to stop with the bankroll updates, maybe just posting as I clear milestones or as I go busto. Let's hope it's the former.
I updated the links on the side of my blog. I know most of the people that I've linked to but some of them are just good blogs that I read. Nat and i were driving to Cooperstown this spring and he randomly blurted out, "Why don't you have a link to my blog on your page!" I promised to add him soon but it ended up taking over three months. That's how I roll. Nat has some good pictures of the Vegas house on his blog so go over there and look at his older posts.
I had a fun weekend. I hung out with my friend, Chris, in Portland on Friday night at a sweet bar called Ground Kontrol. It's basically an arcade for adults and they have all the cool old school games. We played some Simpson's and pinball while drinking cans of PBR. The coolest part was when we found out that the PBRs were free because we bought them while one of thir reps was at the bar. The only thing better than PBR is free PBR. On Saturday morning, Chirs went out to get donuts and I ate a maple bar. I know, healthy diet, but I just can't say no to maple bars. I took off around 10:30 and drove across the river to my Grandma's place for lunch. She usually eats at her Retirement Home so it's a treat when she gets to go out for lunch. She always invites some friends and I enjoy hanging out with them. We went to a place called Patrick's Hawaiian Cafe and I had some delicious Huli Huli Chicken. After lunch we went back to her place and I played pool with one of her friends. he was pretty good but I ended up taking 2 out of 3 games. After winning the rubber match I threw down my pool cue and yelled, "I OWN YOU, OLD MAN!" in his face. I'm a good winner.
I ended up leaving around 2 PM and got to Seattle at 4:45. I picked up Renee from her mom's Panini shop and we headed to Cle Elum. Her friend Stephanie's dad lives out there and she's living there for a month. Steph just graduated from pharmacy school and has to travel do different places each month and intern. She's currently interning in Ellensburg. Anyway, her dad's place is sweet. They have a lot of land and it's really nice to get out in the countryside. They have a bunch of 4-wheelers that we drove around in the mountains and they went pretty damn fast. Saturday night we drank beer and ate smores. I'm really livin the good life. Today we went to the swimming hole and splashed around for a bit. We ended up leaving at 6 PM and traffic was horrible. I guess we weren't the only ones that went out to the countryside for the weekend. I realized that I didn't have keys to my mom's house so I called my friend Davis and asked if I could spend the night. My mom is camping this weekend and isn't coming home until sometime tomorrow. I left a message on her phone but she might read this first. If so, MOM! I can't get into your house! Call me when you get this and LET ME IN! It's not a big deal since Davis let me stay over but he might get pissed if I stay on his couch for a week or more.
Tomorrow I start my push-up/exercise challenge AND my 5K poker hands challenge. It might be tough since I have to drive up to Canada for every session but i think I can do it. I'll definitely post updates on each bet in the hopes that I'll stick with my plans to avoid public embarassment. I think I'm going to stop with the bankroll updates, maybe just posting as I clear milestones or as I go busto. Let's hope it's the former.
Friday, August 18, 2006
Unhealthy
First of, I want to say WHAT UP TITO!!!! We never met for that beer, hombre! No offense Tito but I've been to Detroit twice this year and I think it'll be a while before I plan a trip back there. I escaped twice without getting my car stolen and without getting shot. I really don't want to push my luck.
Tito was always pushing me to eat healthier. One thing I forgot to talk about in yesterday's ramblefest is the fact that I'm in horrible shape. I haven't been in good shape for, oh, 5 years, but spending 5 weeks sitting on my ass eating Carl's Jr., In N Out, and SuperMex really brought me to a new level of unhealthy. Guacamole Bacon Burgers, waffle fries ALL DAY. SuperMex Burrito with green sauce ALL DAY. Now that I'm going to be in Seattle more I'd really like to get in better shape. I'm going to make a pledge to eat NO fried foods(other than wings on Monday nights), drink NO pop or juice(other than real juice, no Sobe or Snapple) and do something active for at least an hour 5 days a week. The something active could be walking around Greenlake, playing basketball or riding my bike to the grocery store for porno mags. Just something that makes my heart pump a little and makes sweat come out of my pores. I'd also like to do at least 100 push ups every day if I can. Sounds easy but you people have no clue how sorry I am right now. Hopefully that push up number will increase with time but I need to start doing something if that's going to happen. I'm not going to make any weight loss goals or even weigh myself at all. I'm just looking for a better level of fitness and a healthier lifestyle.
I've made silly pledges like this before and I've always bailed on them. I don't really know what to do to keep myself motivated but the extra flab has me feeling pretty gung ho at the moment. I'm twenty freaking six and it's not going to get any easier. In the past I've always been able to get in shape pretty quickly after going on a diet or starting a workout regimen but I don't think it'll be that way forever. If anyone can think of a way to motivate me, please chime in. I'll be starting this "get the heart pumping again" plan on Monday but I'm going stop eating crap immediately.
Poker went pretty well today. I played about $1K worth of tournies and didn't cash in a single one. I made the final table of a WPT Choice tournament but busted in 9th with KK on a T-high flop vs a set of 4s. I hate folding, bleh. However, cash games went really well and I ended the day with a $1500 boost in my bankroll. Hooray Beer! I ran pretty good but I also felt a lot better. I've been reviewing hands after each session and I'm becoming more familiar with recurring situations. One day I'm going to run really bad and swear off of cash games forever but right now I'm having fun.
I should set some poker related goals for each week and try to play a certain number of hands. I'll think about it more and let you know what I come up with. I think that I'd like to play about 5000 hands per week but I'm not sure if that's too high or too low. I'm don't think monetary goals are very productive and I'm a firm believer that if you play enough, the money will come. I'll only be playing when I'm out of the state, obviously, so I'm probably going to be heading up to Canada pretty frequently.
There are a few things that I need/want to buy that I can use as carrots for my bankroll building. Number one is a new laptop for when I multitable in Canada. My current laptop has crappy reolution, blue-screens all the time and makes a strange grinding noise when I turn it on. I bought it about 20 months ago but it was pretty cheap and is probably more dated than that. I'm considering getting a PowerBook but it depends how much it costs to run Windows programs on it. I think Full Tilt is the only site that is Mac compatible and Party is where all the money is. If I don't get a PowerBook I'll probably get a Dell 9300 or whatever it is that all the cool kids have. I'd like the new laptop soon so I'll get it when the bankroll reaches $25K(It's at $24,184.80 at the moment).
I've already talked about the Breitling watch and I think I'll go for that once the bankroll gets to $50K. That could be a long ways off but if I put in 5,000 hands per week I think I can get there reasonably soon. I'll be pulling from the bankroll to pay bills, eat food and travel but I don't anticipate any huge expenses.
Cliff Notes so far:
Eat Healthier, Get Heart Pumping
Play 5,000 hands per week
Buy a new laptop when the bankroll reaches $25K
Buy a new watch when the bankroll reaches $50K
The ultimate goal is to get the roll up to $100K and start playing 25/50 regularly. I can't think of a good reward once I reach that milestone and I might not buy anything at all. It seems so far out there but all I need to focus on are 5,000 hands per week.
Tomorrow I'm going to drive most of the way home. I'm going to stop at my Grandma's and probably stay through lunch on Saturday. I've done this drive up and down I-5 a million times and it bores the crap out of me. I really despise driving through Oregon and the happiest moment of the drive(other than driving past SouthCenter and seeing the Seattle skyline) is crossing the Columbia and entering the State of Washington. God Bless Washington and its online poker ban. Anyway, if you're bored tomorrow and want to help a brotha stay alert and stay alive, give me a call. Peace. Love. Happiness.
P.S. I have no clue why anyone reads this crap. Blogging feels like one of the most narcissistic things ever and I feel like a jackass every time I write. Why the hell do you care about my physical and poker goals. Please don't put a bunch of comments saying we care because you're our friend blah blah blah. Just let me bitch in peace. Goodnight.
Tito was always pushing me to eat healthier. One thing I forgot to talk about in yesterday's ramblefest is the fact that I'm in horrible shape. I haven't been in good shape for, oh, 5 years, but spending 5 weeks sitting on my ass eating Carl's Jr., In N Out, and SuperMex really brought me to a new level of unhealthy. Guacamole Bacon Burgers, waffle fries ALL DAY. SuperMex Burrito with green sauce ALL DAY. Now that I'm going to be in Seattle more I'd really like to get in better shape. I'm going to make a pledge to eat NO fried foods(other than wings on Monday nights), drink NO pop or juice(other than real juice, no Sobe or Snapple) and do something active for at least an hour 5 days a week. The something active could be walking around Greenlake, playing basketball or riding my bike to the grocery store for porno mags. Just something that makes my heart pump a little and makes sweat come out of my pores. I'd also like to do at least 100 push ups every day if I can. Sounds easy but you people have no clue how sorry I am right now. Hopefully that push up number will increase with time but I need to start doing something if that's going to happen. I'm not going to make any weight loss goals or even weigh myself at all. I'm just looking for a better level of fitness and a healthier lifestyle.
I've made silly pledges like this before and I've always bailed on them. I don't really know what to do to keep myself motivated but the extra flab has me feeling pretty gung ho at the moment. I'm twenty freaking six and it's not going to get any easier. In the past I've always been able to get in shape pretty quickly after going on a diet or starting a workout regimen but I don't think it'll be that way forever. If anyone can think of a way to motivate me, please chime in. I'll be starting this "get the heart pumping again" plan on Monday but I'm going stop eating crap immediately.
Poker went pretty well today. I played about $1K worth of tournies and didn't cash in a single one. I made the final table of a WPT Choice tournament but busted in 9th with KK on a T-high flop vs a set of 4s. I hate folding, bleh. However, cash games went really well and I ended the day with a $1500 boost in my bankroll. Hooray Beer! I ran pretty good but I also felt a lot better. I've been reviewing hands after each session and I'm becoming more familiar with recurring situations. One day I'm going to run really bad and swear off of cash games forever but right now I'm having fun.
I should set some poker related goals for each week and try to play a certain number of hands. I'll think about it more and let you know what I come up with. I think that I'd like to play about 5000 hands per week but I'm not sure if that's too high or too low. I'm don't think monetary goals are very productive and I'm a firm believer that if you play enough, the money will come. I'll only be playing when I'm out of the state, obviously, so I'm probably going to be heading up to Canada pretty frequently.
There are a few things that I need/want to buy that I can use as carrots for my bankroll building. Number one is a new laptop for when I multitable in Canada. My current laptop has crappy reolution, blue-screens all the time and makes a strange grinding noise when I turn it on. I bought it about 20 months ago but it was pretty cheap and is probably more dated than that. I'm considering getting a PowerBook but it depends how much it costs to run Windows programs on it. I think Full Tilt is the only site that is Mac compatible and Party is where all the money is. If I don't get a PowerBook I'll probably get a Dell 9300 or whatever it is that all the cool kids have. I'd like the new laptop soon so I'll get it when the bankroll reaches $25K(It's at $24,184.80 at the moment).
I've already talked about the Breitling watch and I think I'll go for that once the bankroll gets to $50K. That could be a long ways off but if I put in 5,000 hands per week I think I can get there reasonably soon. I'll be pulling from the bankroll to pay bills, eat food and travel but I don't anticipate any huge expenses.
Cliff Notes so far:
Eat Healthier, Get Heart Pumping
Play 5,000 hands per week
Buy a new laptop when the bankroll reaches $25K
Buy a new watch when the bankroll reaches $50K
The ultimate goal is to get the roll up to $100K and start playing 25/50 regularly. I can't think of a good reward once I reach that milestone and I might not buy anything at all. It seems so far out there but all I need to focus on are 5,000 hands per week.
Tomorrow I'm going to drive most of the way home. I'm going to stop at my Grandma's and probably stay through lunch on Saturday. I've done this drive up and down I-5 a million times and it bores the crap out of me. I really despise driving through Oregon and the happiest moment of the drive(other than driving past SouthCenter and seeing the Seattle skyline) is crossing the Columbia and entering the State of Washington. God Bless Washington and its online poker ban. Anyway, if you're bored tomorrow and want to help a brotha stay alert and stay alive, give me a call. Peace. Love. Happiness.
P.S. I have no clue why anyone reads this crap. Blogging feels like one of the most narcissistic things ever and I feel like a jackass every time I write. Why the hell do you care about my physical and poker goals. Please don't put a bunch of comments saying we care because you're our friend blah blah blah. Just let me bitch in peace. Goodnight.
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
What's up, Broseph?
Wow, it's been 2 weeks since my last entry. I'm not sure why I just quit blogging but I think Vegas took its toll on me and I just felt lethargic every day. I finally left Vegas on Sunday, spent two nights in LA, and drove up to the Bay Area last night. I'll be here at my dad's house until Friday when I start the drive back to Seattle. I'll probably stay at my Grandma's in Vancouver, WA on Friday night and get back to Seattle on Saturday afternoon. Hallelujah. I've been thinking about a lot of things so be prepared for a bit of a braindump.
The Mariners are officially done. They were as close as 3.5 games out of first as recently as 2 weeks ago. Then we ran into our eternal nemesis, the Oakland A's. Tonight's loss marks the 15th consecutive time that the A's have finished a game with more runs than the M's, tying a major league record for consecutive wins against a division rival. Throw in a 4-game sweep by the Rangers over the weekend and the M's are now 12 games out of first place. TWELVE! Doce! Gross. I'll still be attending a lot of games once I come home but I'll probably be drinking a lot of beer and razzing a lot of visiting centerfielders from the beer garden. I never expected the M's to be 3.5 games out of first place at any point this season but it was nice while it lasted. Wait 'til next year.
Football season is officially here and I'm ridiculously amped. I think the Hawks look better on paper than they did last year and I think their defense is going to be nasty. Julian Peterson is no small upgrade. Obviously losing Hutch hurts but I'll take the tradeoff. I don't think we'll go 13-3 because the schedule is pretty dang tough but I think we can get 11 wins and take down the division. Everyone is on the Cardinals' nuts but they were supposed to be a sleeper team last year too. Screw the Cardinals and the rest of the NFC West. We own it. My friend and fellow Superfan, Curtis, wrote a great analysis of the Seahawks' draft that I meant to post earlier but here it is anyway:
----------
What I keep hearing about the hawks '06 draft is "TOO SMALL!" To those who
would criticize our selections based on the players physical size I would
offer 3 words, or names actually...
1. Chuck Darby
2. Leroy Hill
3. LOFAAAAAAAAAAA
Pick # 1 -
So Kelly Jennings only weighs 178lbs! Are we forgetting about his 40 time &
40 inch vertical leap?! Jennings is a true cover corner who may not be the
flashest pick but he has shown that he can bring his A-game EVERYGAME in a
solid football program. No disrespect to Matty Hass or Pat Ross (Seahawks
new 3rd string center) but playing for Boston College is not the same as
succeeding with the Canes. I know that everbody would have loved Hali or
Lawson but it didn't go down like that. Beside, the Mount Nittnay Lions of
Penn State are a soft program these days. Lawson would have been legit
though. Same unit as Super Mario. Bottom line solid pick if not flashy and
someone who can come in and play NOW. Adjusting to the speed of the
Hawks/NFL game won't be as hard for a guy out of Randy Shannon & Tim
Walton's Miami's defense. BTW- The Canes have had a 1st round pick for 12
years running
Pick # 2 - Darryl Tapp, Virginia Tech.
It's a little tougher to be undersized on the line but he's getting a little
shortchanged. He's keeps getting listed as 6'1 but he's closer to 6'2. One
inch isn't was got him selected @ pick 63 though. Sure he can rotate
through w/ Wistrom & Fisher but you don't use a Round 2 pick on a
releaver!...or do you. **See also the rotation of Darby, Bernard and
another early pick Mr. Tubboat** Seemed to work out pretty good didn't it
and EVERYBODY knows that Darby is WAY TOO SMALL. Now we could have 6 SOLID
guys to play 4 defensive line positions. Crazy?...or draft day genius? I'm
also thinking immediate impact on special teams. Tapp had a blocked kick
both his Junior & Senior year. Rotating him through will leave him with
enough gas to pick up a couple more blocked kicks for the Hawks.
When asking Holmgren what any Draft Day plan is he usually identifies a few
areas of need but says that the Hawks will take the best player available.
I'm not entirely convinced that is what happened this weekend ESPECIALLY
with Sunday's picks but let's think of the near dynasty of the recent New
England Patriots. Not very many of those Pats were stars prior to the first
couple of superbowl but New England put together a work ethic/winning
culture that I believe is what Seattle is building too. Sure we'd all love
to have Mario Williams but I am defiinitely happy with our #1 & #2 cuz they
really are career guys.
Pick # 3 - 4th Round Rob Sims, Ohio State.
Obviously he's no Hutch but Guard isn't the most demanding position either.
He's played some Tackle as well. I would hope for him to develop his
versitility into a Pork Chop sort of player. Animal in the weightroom but I
won't expect him to compete w/ Spen-dogg for Tobeck's position as some
speculate. This is the last year of Tobeck's contract and similar to the
Mili/Stephen scenario, the job is Robby's to lose. If we could ever get two
blocking backs & Chris Spencer at center, maybe Matt could finally go to the
Shotgun from time-to-time to find Warrick downfield. Holmgren's probably
not interested in that scenario.
Pick # 4 - 5th Round David Kirtman, USC.
This was a favor! Did the Hawks forgetting about Mack's contract and that
he's just getting better? No need to draft for the future because of the
Carson-Newman rising star that is Leonard Weaver. So now people critisize
the difference in pedigre between Carson-Newman & USC but Weaver is WAY TO
MONEY to have somebody trash his small town program. If we can remember the
2005 preseason, Matt was shaking Mack's hand on the sidelines while they
both watched Leonard run like he was 50lbs lighter. Matt told Mack, "it's
been nice workin' with ya."
I think this was a reach and I still haven't called out who I think this was
a favor to. Has anyone noticed where Kirtman's parents address is???
That's right folks, David's parents are Holmgren's neighbors. Shakey Pick +
Friends Nextdoor = impared 5th round judgement!
That's it for now. I should probably get some work done. GO
HAWKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
----------
If you didn't think that was awesome then you aren't my friend. Thanks, Curtis!
Check out the Seahawks' road schedule: @Detroit, @Chicago, @St Louis, @Kansas City, @San Francisco, @Denver, @Arizona, @Tampa Bay. The three division games are automatic ally assigned, obv, but the others are pretty sick. Soldier Field is never easy, The Chiefs don't lose at home, The Broncos have a sick home field advantage and Tampa won't be a cakewalk. The only soft spot is opening day at the Lions but we looked like crap the last time we played at Ford Field. *cry*
The UW MBA program emailed me about two weeks ago and basically said, "write back if you still want to come because we don't want to admit waitlist people who already have plans." I wrote back and they told me that they can tell me their final decision as late as September 15th. I'd really like to get this damn MBA and I'd like to do it sooner rather than later.
If I don't get in this year I have a pretty sweet backup plan. First I'm going to take some undergrad business classes this Fall to strengthen my application for next year. After Fall quarter I'm going to resubmit an application and take off for a while. My friend Ivan got a job in India and is living there now. Two other friends, Scott and Matt, are going to visit him from December 26th until January 6th and I'm going to tag along. On January 6th I'm going to fly from Mumbai(formerly Bombay) to Melbourne. There's a big poker tournament in Australia that ends on the 19th of January. I'll probably stay in Australia for a while longer then fly to Vietnam around February 1st. I'll stay in SE Asia for a month or so and fly back to Seattle around March 1st. Sounds fun, huh? Seriously, I'd rather just get my damn MBA and work from there but travel could be fun too.
As far as poker is concerned, I'm playing a lot of 5/10 and 10/20 NL cash games and I'm really enjoying them. I still suck and make a lot of dumb mistakes but luckilly they suck worse and make more mistakes. My bankroll has grown from around $7K at the end of the Main Event to its current value of $22,679.87. I think I've run pretty good but I also think that my resluts will get even better as I learn to stop making ridiculous payoffs and hopeless bluffs. I've probably given up about $5K making terrible calls and terrbile bluff attempts. $5K in obvious mistakes that I look at in retrospect and shake my head at in disgust. There are probably a lot of smaller mistakes that I'm making too. Gross. Anyway, I think NL cash games are a great way to make money and I'm going to continue to build my bankroll through them(only when I'm outside of the State of Washington of course). I'd like to get the roll up to $100K so that I can take shots at the 25/50 NL regularly. I'll keep throwing random bankroll updates on the blog and hopefully I'll stay motivated and play as much as I have been over the past two weeks.
There were a few things that happened that got me into cash cames: (1) Spending a lot of poker money on travel and expenses, (2) Dropping most of the rest of my poker money on the WSOP, (3) Living with some of the best NL cash game players in the world. I really believe that a few of the guys I was living with in Vegas are the some of the best players out there. One of them is 20 and the other is 18. Years old. Ridiculous. Anyway, they don't give a crap about money because they make so damn much playing cash games. One day, on our way to dinner, Smokey, the 20 year-old, gave one of the best one-liners ever: "I'd kill myself if I only made $100K a year". I'm pretty sure he didn't literally mean "kill himself" but to hear that kind of stuff from a 20 year-old is unreal. I'd like to make that kind of money and I think getting really good at NL cash is one of the best ways to acheive it. I'm fairly certain that I wouldn't ever treat money the way that they do but I'd like to have the funds available to abuse if I so chose.
Here's an article that my man ADB sent me via email. It's about the online poker laws in Washington. I think it encourages people to play, especially quotes like this:
----In Washington, other than a handful of cease-and-desist orders issued to billboard and radio advertisers that promote illegal gambling sites, the state has not busted a single person for illegal Internet gambling.
"Our enforcement does not focus on individuals," Arland said. "We respond to complaints."-----
Arland works for the Washington Gaming Commission. Not focusing on individuals is good news. I'm still not going to play unless I'm out of the state. Obviously.
I've bought almost nothing of real value since the big tournaments that I won. I bought some Bose headphones for $300, my Treo phone for about $550 and I can't think of much else. While at the house in Vegas, three guys bought watches and the cheapest one was a $9K Jacobs. I think I'm going to buy a nice watch as my first major purchase. The watches that the guys bought were really amazing but I'm probably going to go with a "cheap" Breitling for about $3K. Cliff is my official fashion consultant and he loves the Breitlings. I don't know why I included this paragraph but it's my braindump and I can write what I want.
Speaking of Cliff, he moved to Germany on Monday. I'd really like to go see him soon but I'm not sure when I can do it. Maybe for a few days on the way to India?
It's 3 AM and things are going down the tube. Who knows how much longer I'll ramble. On September 23rd I'm flying to Philadelphia for a charity poker tournament/boozefest called Bash at the Boat. This is the seventh annual Bash at the Boat and I think it started as a crazy party then evolved into a charitable crazy party. Obviously it's something put together by AlCantHang and I'm excited to be a part of it. He's promised to hold the 1st Annual Brandon Schaefer Beer Pong Championship so I better get some practice in while I'm at home. We played a lot of beerpong at the house in Vegas and I got pretty deadly by the end. We played 10-cup with teams and in one game I went 7 for 7 and our team won with 8 cups left. Smokey and Bushman may be great poker players but I own them at beerpong. I've never gone 7 for 7 before and I'm pretty sure I'll never do it again. It was just one of those Jordan vs the Blazers moments when you shrug your shoulders at the commentators and the cups look as big as peach baskets. Carl actually ruined me a few times during the trip but he flew home early and missed me when I was in my groove. He's going to enter the WSOBP and I can't wait to hear stories about how good other people are. Supposedly the great players use a fingerroll technique that I tested for a while. It seems like the fingerroll gives a better arc but I was having a hard time controlling distance and accuracy. Anyway....
I'll Florida from September 2-8. Renee and I are flying into Tampa on the 2nd and watching the Devil Rays play the Mariners on the 2nd and 3rd. Then we're renting a car and driving down to Miami for a few days. We're going to stay on the beach and hopefully it'll be a nice vacation for her. She's very excited about the trip because she has a real J-O-B and doesn't get to do crazy things like yours truly. I'm not saying that I'm not excited to finish the stadium tour and take a vacation with a pretty lady but I've been around the world ya-ya-ya, I've been playa hated, I don't know and I don't know why, why the want us faded. I feel like the travel schedule has jaded me a bit and I can't really get too fired up for any domestic travel. "I don't need my passport? Pssssh." Anyway, if any of you loyal readers know anything about Tampa or Miami or parts inbetween please leave a comment.
I wonder if I still have any loyal readers. 2 weeks is a long ass time to go without updates.
I'll be in Seattle on Saturday afternoon but I'm heading to Cle Elum with Renee on Saturday night. I think my first time kickin' it will be at Kangaroo & Kiwi on Monday night. Darts? Wings? Mongoose IPA? Holy crap I can't wait to get home. Seattle, the greatest place on earth. Except I can't play poker while in Seattle. Only when out-of-state. Obviously.
The Mariners are officially done. They were as close as 3.5 games out of first as recently as 2 weeks ago. Then we ran into our eternal nemesis, the Oakland A's. Tonight's loss marks the 15th consecutive time that the A's have finished a game with more runs than the M's, tying a major league record for consecutive wins against a division rival. Throw in a 4-game sweep by the Rangers over the weekend and the M's are now 12 games out of first place. TWELVE! Doce! Gross. I'll still be attending a lot of games once I come home but I'll probably be drinking a lot of beer and razzing a lot of visiting centerfielders from the beer garden. I never expected the M's to be 3.5 games out of first place at any point this season but it was nice while it lasted. Wait 'til next year.
Football season is officially here and I'm ridiculously amped. I think the Hawks look better on paper than they did last year and I think their defense is going to be nasty. Julian Peterson is no small upgrade. Obviously losing Hutch hurts but I'll take the tradeoff. I don't think we'll go 13-3 because the schedule is pretty dang tough but I think we can get 11 wins and take down the division. Everyone is on the Cardinals' nuts but they were supposed to be a sleeper team last year too. Screw the Cardinals and the rest of the NFC West. We own it. My friend and fellow Superfan, Curtis, wrote a great analysis of the Seahawks' draft that I meant to post earlier but here it is anyway:
----------
What I keep hearing about the hawks '06 draft is "TOO SMALL!" To those who
would criticize our selections based on the players physical size I would
offer 3 words, or names actually...
1. Chuck Darby
2. Leroy Hill
3. LOFAAAAAAAAAAA
Pick # 1 -
So Kelly Jennings only weighs 178lbs! Are we forgetting about his 40 time &
40 inch vertical leap?! Jennings is a true cover corner who may not be the
flashest pick but he has shown that he can bring his A-game EVERYGAME in a
solid football program. No disrespect to Matty Hass or Pat Ross (Seahawks
new 3rd string center) but playing for Boston College is not the same as
succeeding with the Canes. I know that everbody would have loved Hali or
Lawson but it didn't go down like that. Beside, the Mount Nittnay Lions of
Penn State are a soft program these days. Lawson would have been legit
though. Same unit as Super Mario. Bottom line solid pick if not flashy and
someone who can come in and play NOW. Adjusting to the speed of the
Hawks/NFL game won't be as hard for a guy out of Randy Shannon & Tim
Walton's Miami's defense. BTW- The Canes have had a 1st round pick for 12
years running
Pick # 2 - Darryl Tapp, Virginia Tech.
It's a little tougher to be undersized on the line but he's getting a little
shortchanged. He's keeps getting listed as 6'1 but he's closer to 6'2. One
inch isn't was got him selected @ pick 63 though. Sure he can rotate
through w/ Wistrom & Fisher but you don't use a Round 2 pick on a
releaver!...or do you. **See also the rotation of Darby, Bernard and
another early pick Mr. Tubboat** Seemed to work out pretty good didn't it
and EVERYBODY knows that Darby is WAY TOO SMALL. Now we could have 6 SOLID
guys to play 4 defensive line positions. Crazy?...or draft day genius? I'm
also thinking immediate impact on special teams. Tapp had a blocked kick
both his Junior & Senior year. Rotating him through will leave him with
enough gas to pick up a couple more blocked kicks for the Hawks.
When asking Holmgren what any Draft Day plan is he usually identifies a few
areas of need but says that the Hawks will take the best player available.
I'm not entirely convinced that is what happened this weekend ESPECIALLY
with Sunday's picks but let's think of the near dynasty of the recent New
England Patriots. Not very many of those Pats were stars prior to the first
couple of superbowl but New England put together a work ethic/winning
culture that I believe is what Seattle is building too. Sure we'd all love
to have Mario Williams but I am defiinitely happy with our #1 & #2 cuz they
really are career guys.
Pick # 3 - 4th Round Rob Sims, Ohio State.
Obviously he's no Hutch but Guard isn't the most demanding position either.
He's played some Tackle as well. I would hope for him to develop his
versitility into a Pork Chop sort of player. Animal in the weightroom but I
won't expect him to compete w/ Spen-dogg for Tobeck's position as some
speculate. This is the last year of Tobeck's contract and similar to the
Mili/Stephen scenario, the job is Robby's to lose. If we could ever get two
blocking backs & Chris Spencer at center, maybe Matt could finally go to the
Shotgun from time-to-time to find Warrick downfield. Holmgren's probably
not interested in that scenario.
Pick # 4 - 5th Round David Kirtman, USC.
This was a favor! Did the Hawks forgetting about Mack's contract and that
he's just getting better? No need to draft for the future because of the
Carson-Newman rising star that is Leonard Weaver. So now people critisize
the difference in pedigre between Carson-Newman & USC but Weaver is WAY TO
MONEY to have somebody trash his small town program. If we can remember the
2005 preseason, Matt was shaking Mack's hand on the sidelines while they
both watched Leonard run like he was 50lbs lighter. Matt told Mack, "it's
been nice workin' with ya."
I think this was a reach and I still haven't called out who I think this was
a favor to. Has anyone noticed where Kirtman's parents address is???
That's right folks, David's parents are Holmgren's neighbors. Shakey Pick +
Friends Nextdoor = impared 5th round judgement!
That's it for now. I should probably get some work done. GO
HAWKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
----------
If you didn't think that was awesome then you aren't my friend. Thanks, Curtis!
Check out the Seahawks' road schedule: @Detroit, @Chicago, @St Louis, @Kansas City, @San Francisco, @Denver, @Arizona, @Tampa Bay. The three division games are automatic ally assigned, obv, but the others are pretty sick. Soldier Field is never easy, The Chiefs don't lose at home, The Broncos have a sick home field advantage and Tampa won't be a cakewalk. The only soft spot is opening day at the Lions but we looked like crap the last time we played at Ford Field. *cry*
The UW MBA program emailed me about two weeks ago and basically said, "write back if you still want to come because we don't want to admit waitlist people who already have plans." I wrote back and they told me that they can tell me their final decision as late as September 15th. I'd really like to get this damn MBA and I'd like to do it sooner rather than later.
If I don't get in this year I have a pretty sweet backup plan. First I'm going to take some undergrad business classes this Fall to strengthen my application for next year. After Fall quarter I'm going to resubmit an application and take off for a while. My friend Ivan got a job in India and is living there now. Two other friends, Scott and Matt, are going to visit him from December 26th until January 6th and I'm going to tag along. On January 6th I'm going to fly from Mumbai(formerly Bombay) to Melbourne. There's a big poker tournament in Australia that ends on the 19th of January. I'll probably stay in Australia for a while longer then fly to Vietnam around February 1st. I'll stay in SE Asia for a month or so and fly back to Seattle around March 1st. Sounds fun, huh? Seriously, I'd rather just get my damn MBA and work from there but travel could be fun too.
As far as poker is concerned, I'm playing a lot of 5/10 and 10/20 NL cash games and I'm really enjoying them. I still suck and make a lot of dumb mistakes but luckilly they suck worse and make more mistakes. My bankroll has grown from around $7K at the end of the Main Event to its current value of $22,679.87. I think I've run pretty good but I also think that my resluts will get even better as I learn to stop making ridiculous payoffs and hopeless bluffs. I've probably given up about $5K making terrible calls and terrbile bluff attempts. $5K in obvious mistakes that I look at in retrospect and shake my head at in disgust. There are probably a lot of smaller mistakes that I'm making too. Gross. Anyway, I think NL cash games are a great way to make money and I'm going to continue to build my bankroll through them(only when I'm outside of the State of Washington of course). I'd like to get the roll up to $100K so that I can take shots at the 25/50 NL regularly. I'll keep throwing random bankroll updates on the blog and hopefully I'll stay motivated and play as much as I have been over the past two weeks.
There were a few things that happened that got me into cash cames: (1) Spending a lot of poker money on travel and expenses, (2) Dropping most of the rest of my poker money on the WSOP, (3) Living with some of the best NL cash game players in the world. I really believe that a few of the guys I was living with in Vegas are the some of the best players out there. One of them is 20 and the other is 18. Years old. Ridiculous. Anyway, they don't give a crap about money because they make so damn much playing cash games. One day, on our way to dinner, Smokey, the 20 year-old, gave one of the best one-liners ever: "I'd kill myself if I only made $100K a year". I'm pretty sure he didn't literally mean "kill himself" but to hear that kind of stuff from a 20 year-old is unreal. I'd like to make that kind of money and I think getting really good at NL cash is one of the best ways to acheive it. I'm fairly certain that I wouldn't ever treat money the way that they do but I'd like to have the funds available to abuse if I so chose.
Here's an article that my man ADB sent me via email. It's about the online poker laws in Washington. I think it encourages people to play, especially quotes like this:
----In Washington, other than a handful of cease-and-desist orders issued to billboard and radio advertisers that promote illegal gambling sites, the state has not busted a single person for illegal Internet gambling.
"Our enforcement does not focus on individuals," Arland said. "We respond to complaints."-----
Arland works for the Washington Gaming Commission. Not focusing on individuals is good news. I'm still not going to play unless I'm out of the state. Obviously.
I've bought almost nothing of real value since the big tournaments that I won. I bought some Bose headphones for $300, my Treo phone for about $550 and I can't think of much else. While at the house in Vegas, three guys bought watches and the cheapest one was a $9K Jacobs. I think I'm going to buy a nice watch as my first major purchase. The watches that the guys bought were really amazing but I'm probably going to go with a "cheap" Breitling for about $3K. Cliff is my official fashion consultant and he loves the Breitlings. I don't know why I included this paragraph but it's my braindump and I can write what I want.
Speaking of Cliff, he moved to Germany on Monday. I'd really like to go see him soon but I'm not sure when I can do it. Maybe for a few days on the way to India?
It's 3 AM and things are going down the tube. Who knows how much longer I'll ramble. On September 23rd I'm flying to Philadelphia for a charity poker tournament/boozefest called Bash at the Boat. This is the seventh annual Bash at the Boat and I think it started as a crazy party then evolved into a charitable crazy party. Obviously it's something put together by AlCantHang and I'm excited to be a part of it. He's promised to hold the 1st Annual Brandon Schaefer Beer Pong Championship so I better get some practice in while I'm at home. We played a lot of beerpong at the house in Vegas and I got pretty deadly by the end. We played 10-cup with teams and in one game I went 7 for 7 and our team won with 8 cups left. Smokey and Bushman may be great poker players but I own them at beerpong. I've never gone 7 for 7 before and I'm pretty sure I'll never do it again. It was just one of those Jordan vs the Blazers moments when you shrug your shoulders at the commentators and the cups look as big as peach baskets. Carl actually ruined me a few times during the trip but he flew home early and missed me when I was in my groove. He's going to enter the WSOBP and I can't wait to hear stories about how good other people are. Supposedly the great players use a fingerroll technique that I tested for a while. It seems like the fingerroll gives a better arc but I was having a hard time controlling distance and accuracy. Anyway....
I'll Florida from September 2-8. Renee and I are flying into Tampa on the 2nd and watching the Devil Rays play the Mariners on the 2nd and 3rd. Then we're renting a car and driving down to Miami for a few days. We're going to stay on the beach and hopefully it'll be a nice vacation for her. She's very excited about the trip because she has a real J-O-B and doesn't get to do crazy things like yours truly. I'm not saying that I'm not excited to finish the stadium tour and take a vacation with a pretty lady but I've been around the world ya-ya-ya, I've been playa hated, I don't know and I don't know why, why the want us faded. I feel like the travel schedule has jaded me a bit and I can't really get too fired up for any domestic travel. "I don't need my passport? Pssssh." Anyway, if any of you loyal readers know anything about Tampa or Miami or parts inbetween please leave a comment.
I wonder if I still have any loyal readers. 2 weeks is a long ass time to go without updates.
I'll be in Seattle on Saturday afternoon but I'm heading to Cle Elum with Renee on Saturday night. I think my first time kickin' it will be at Kangaroo & Kiwi on Monday night. Darts? Wings? Mongoose IPA? Holy crap I can't wait to get home. Seattle, the greatest place on earth. Except I can't play poker while in Seattle. Only when out-of-state. Obviously.
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
Busto
I busted 5 minutes before the dinner break. I played a tough pot early on against a good player and for the last 5 hours I nursed a shortstack between 9 and 15 blinds before finally busting with QJ against 22. It was definitely a frustrating day and a frustrating World Series overall. I really feel like I was playing a lot better with each successive tournament and my results kept getting worse and worse. Oh well.
Just about everyone from the house is out of the main event and they're all heading home. I have some friends coming down from August 9-13 so I'm going to have to stay down here until then. I'll probably be indulging in some hookers and blow during my free time so if that's your bag, feel free to come visit sometime over the next 2 weeks.
Just about everyone from the house is out of the main event and they're all heading home. I have some friends coming down from August 9-13 so I'm going to have to stay down here until then. I'll probably be indulging in some hookers and blow during my free time so if that's your bag, feel free to come visit sometime over the next 2 weeks.
Saturday, July 29, 2006
The Main Event
Tomorrow is my Day 1 of the $10K Main Event. I'm getting pretty excited and it would be really nice to catch some cards and run good. I haven't blogged in a while because poker has been pretty brutal over the past few weeks and every time I started to write a post it would come out extremely negative and I'd scrap it. Who needs negativity? Tomorrow, I start with a clean slate and I think it could be a lot of fun. I feel really calm and confident. One time, poker gods, one time.
Here is the Shaniac post about the poker scene and why it sucks. I'm really lucky that I have a great group of friends within the poker community who also have a lot of interests outside of poker. Together we can escape the weird world of poker for games of beer pong, pool and darts. I can't wait to get back to Seattle and start the next chapter of my life: heading back to school and trying to figure out another source of easy money. It sounds like a lot of fun.
Cliff is in town for a few days and, like always, it's really great to see him. He's moving to Germany in 2 weeks and will be stationed there for 3 years. I'm going to try to visit him in mid-December when it's cold as hell and he can't make me go running. He's driving back to Seattle on Sunday morning and I kinda feel like going with him if I get knocked out of the tournament tomorrow. Since they knock out 2/3 of the field on each day, I think each individual might be a dog to make it past Day 1. I guess if you're twice as god as the average player then you're a favorite to be in but it's still kind of a toss-up. Whatever, no negativity. I'm going to be playing poker for two more weeks and once I win, my life will become just like Entourage but waaaay cooler. Vinny Chase ain't got nothin' on me.
Bedtime. Everyone pray to whomever you pray to for me to run good. I'll pay you back once I'm living the Entourage lifestyle.
Here is the Shaniac post about the poker scene and why it sucks. I'm really lucky that I have a great group of friends within the poker community who also have a lot of interests outside of poker. Together we can escape the weird world of poker for games of beer pong, pool and darts. I can't wait to get back to Seattle and start the next chapter of my life: heading back to school and trying to figure out another source of easy money. It sounds like a lot of fun.
Cliff is in town for a few days and, like always, it's really great to see him. He's moving to Germany in 2 weeks and will be stationed there for 3 years. I'm going to try to visit him in mid-December when it's cold as hell and he can't make me go running. He's driving back to Seattle on Sunday morning and I kinda feel like going with him if I get knocked out of the tournament tomorrow. Since they knock out 2/3 of the field on each day, I think each individual might be a dog to make it past Day 1. I guess if you're twice as god as the average player then you're a favorite to be in but it's still kind of a toss-up. Whatever, no negativity. I'm going to be playing poker for two more weeks and once I win, my life will become just like Entourage but waaaay cooler. Vinny Chase ain't got nothin' on me.
Bedtime. Everyone pray to whomever you pray to for me to run good. I'll pay you back once I'm living the Entourage lifestyle.
Sunday, July 23, 2006
Gooooooo Carl!!!!!
Carl made his first WSOP final table in the $2000 No Limit event. He's 5th in chips out of the 9 players remaining and 1st place is around $840,000. I'll be courtside for this one and hopefully can vibe some good cards his way. Gooooooooo Carl!!!!!!
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Yuck
Got in to Vegas at 2 AM, supposed to arrive at 11 PM. The weather in Vegas was bad to we flew to Ontario, CA, refueled, then flew back here. I'm tired and I'd skip tomorrow's $1500 NL event if I wasn't already registered for it. Wish me luck.
Today, from 5 PM to 6 PM Pacific, ESPN will be airing the New Orleans Circuit Event won by my friend Peter Feldman for $500K and change. Be sure to catch all the action. If I bust tomorrow, I hope it's before 5 PM.
Tired. Soooooo tired.
Oh yeah, my phone works. Sweet!
Today, from 5 PM to 6 PM Pacific, ESPN will be airing the New Orleans Circuit Event won by my friend Peter Feldman for $500K and change. Be sure to catch all the action. If I bust tomorrow, I hope it's before 5 PM.
Tired. Soooooo tired.
Oh yeah, my phone works. Sweet!
Sunday, July 16, 2006
Going Going Back Back to Vegas Vegas
It's been a fun little vacation but I'm heading back to Vegas tomorrow night and I'll be playing in the $1500 NL tourney on Tuesday. Tuesday is my birthday so hopefully the poker gods smile on me and let me go really deep.
Getting out here was quite the debacle. I had a short layover in Chicago and we boarded the plane on time, ready for the short flight to Boston. We stop mid-taxi and the pilot informs us that there will be a 2 hour delay because of the weather in Boston. Apparently, there was a lot of fog in the morning and all flights throughout the day were pushed back. It would have been nice to know about before boarding the plane. We end up waiting for about two-and-a-half hours and I wasn't a very happy camper.
Once I finally got to Logan I rented a car for the weekend and drove to Cambridge to pick up my mom. A tunnel on I-90 collapsed a few days before and traffic was horrid. I had to take a wicked detour and would have never found my way without my trusty GPS. Greatest purchase evar. My mom and I ate a late dinner at Legal Seafoods then went to the top of the Prudential Tower. There was a line for tables so we snuck a quick peek at the view then went back to Justin's place for the night. Thanks a million to Justin and Caitlin for letting us stay at their place. I didn't know where they were registered but they had a ton of Crate and Barrel boxes in their house so my mom went online and we bought them some champagne glasses. I figure they can think about their alkie friend Brandon every time they drink champagne.
In the morning I went to a laundromat to wash all my clothes. I refuse to pay the prices at the Rio($5 to wash a t-shirt!) so I flew to Boston with all my dirty laundry. I wanted to get a haircut but the dryer at the laundromat was horrible so I didn't have time.
THe drive up to Vermont was pretty nice. I really like the lush green hills of New Hampshire and Vermont. We stopped in Concord, NH for lunch and saw the domed capial building. We got a bit lost on the way to Killington, VT, where the wedding took place, and drove about an hour north to Montpelier. It was cool to see our second capital of the trip and we pretended like the detour was intentional. Did you know that Montpelier is the only state capital without a McDonald's? Now ya do!
The resort in Killington was pretty nice. It's a skiers destination but they have weddings there in the summertime. It was hot and humid as crap and I was sweating non-stop. The wedding was short and sweet and the reception was long and awesome. Open bar from 4-10 PM, does it get any better than that? Ramsey brought a pint of Goldschlager to the table since they didn't serve shots at the bar and we had a grand ol' time. At the end of the night I was so sweaty that my clothes were literally sopping wet. I went to the room to chang and then headed to the pool for more beers. I ended up getting pushed into the pool and my phone may be dead forever. I'm still holding out hope that it'll work once it dries but I'm not very optimistic about things.
Today my mom and I woke up at 6 AM to go hiking. I birched and moaned the whole time and ended up turning around after about a mile. I had a wicked hangover and there were a ton of bugs and I was sweating like a stuck pig. Not fun. I slept in the car as my mom finished the hike and we got out of there around 11. I tried to get to Boston in time to register for Pokerstars' big WSOP giveaway but I missed it by about 15 minutes. We headed to the airport to return the car but all the hotels out there were too expensive to we drove back to Boston. The whole debacle took a ton of time because of the collapsed tunnel and the traffic was as bad as I've ever seen anywhere. What a horrible time to be in Boston.
We're staying in a hotel a few miles north of the city and we're going to do some touristy stuff tomorrow before I fly out at 8 PM. We have a car but I might just park it in Cambridge and use public transportation to get downtown.
I can't wait to get back to Vegas. I feel like I've been playing better and better with each tournament that I play and I think I want to make a final table someday soon. I've been working on a new strategy: getting it in with the best of it. It hasn't worked so far but I think things are bound to turn around. I'll give it another few tournaments then I'll go back to my old strategy of getting it in bad and sucking out.
Tomorrow I finally get to move into our sweet house. I'll take some pictures there and finally post some. If you're in Vegas, I'll see you soon. If you're in Seattle, COME TO VEGAS!
Getting out here was quite the debacle. I had a short layover in Chicago and we boarded the plane on time, ready for the short flight to Boston. We stop mid-taxi and the pilot informs us that there will be a 2 hour delay because of the weather in Boston. Apparently, there was a lot of fog in the morning and all flights throughout the day were pushed back. It would have been nice to know about before boarding the plane. We end up waiting for about two-and-a-half hours and I wasn't a very happy camper.
Once I finally got to Logan I rented a car for the weekend and drove to Cambridge to pick up my mom. A tunnel on I-90 collapsed a few days before and traffic was horrid. I had to take a wicked detour and would have never found my way without my trusty GPS. Greatest purchase evar. My mom and I ate a late dinner at Legal Seafoods then went to the top of the Prudential Tower. There was a line for tables so we snuck a quick peek at the view then went back to Justin's place for the night. Thanks a million to Justin and Caitlin for letting us stay at their place. I didn't know where they were registered but they had a ton of Crate and Barrel boxes in their house so my mom went online and we bought them some champagne glasses. I figure they can think about their alkie friend Brandon every time they drink champagne.
In the morning I went to a laundromat to wash all my clothes. I refuse to pay the prices at the Rio($5 to wash a t-shirt!) so I flew to Boston with all my dirty laundry. I wanted to get a haircut but the dryer at the laundromat was horrible so I didn't have time.
THe drive up to Vermont was pretty nice. I really like the lush green hills of New Hampshire and Vermont. We stopped in Concord, NH for lunch and saw the domed capial building. We got a bit lost on the way to Killington, VT, where the wedding took place, and drove about an hour north to Montpelier. It was cool to see our second capital of the trip and we pretended like the detour was intentional. Did you know that Montpelier is the only state capital without a McDonald's? Now ya do!
The resort in Killington was pretty nice. It's a skiers destination but they have weddings there in the summertime. It was hot and humid as crap and I was sweating non-stop. The wedding was short and sweet and the reception was long and awesome. Open bar from 4-10 PM, does it get any better than that? Ramsey brought a pint of Goldschlager to the table since they didn't serve shots at the bar and we had a grand ol' time. At the end of the night I was so sweaty that my clothes were literally sopping wet. I went to the room to chang and then headed to the pool for more beers. I ended up getting pushed into the pool and my phone may be dead forever. I'm still holding out hope that it'll work once it dries but I'm not very optimistic about things.
Today my mom and I woke up at 6 AM to go hiking. I birched and moaned the whole time and ended up turning around after about a mile. I had a wicked hangover and there were a ton of bugs and I was sweating like a stuck pig. Not fun. I slept in the car as my mom finished the hike and we got out of there around 11. I tried to get to Boston in time to register for Pokerstars' big WSOP giveaway but I missed it by about 15 minutes. We headed to the airport to return the car but all the hotels out there were too expensive to we drove back to Boston. The whole debacle took a ton of time because of the collapsed tunnel and the traffic was as bad as I've ever seen anywhere. What a horrible time to be in Boston.
We're staying in a hotel a few miles north of the city and we're going to do some touristy stuff tomorrow before I fly out at 8 PM. We have a car but I might just park it in Cambridge and use public transportation to get downtown.
I can't wait to get back to Vegas. I feel like I've been playing better and better with each tournament that I play and I think I want to make a final table someday soon. I've been working on a new strategy: getting it in with the best of it. It hasn't worked so far but I think things are bound to turn around. I'll give it another few tournaments then I'll go back to my old strategy of getting it in bad and sucking out.
Tomorrow I finally get to move into our sweet house. I'll take some pictures there and finally post some. If you're in Vegas, I'll see you soon. If you're in Seattle, COME TO VEGAS!
Thursday, July 13, 2006
All-Nighter
I'm staying up all night to make sure I make it to the airport on time for my 6:30 AM flight. I just lost almost $2K playing 5/10 NL on Party and it wasn't much fun. Here are some random links:
Zidane game
Seal Dribble
Jean Carlos Chera
Thank Allen Barron for the Zidane game. I think it's hilarious. That Chera kid is 5 years old in some of those clips. He's pretty insane.
This is a well written blog entry by Shaniac that does a good job explaining why I could never travel the poker circuit full time. Shane's a great writer and his blog is awesome when he has the motivation to write.
Well, it's 4 AM so I better finish packing. I'm going to try to play a bit online this weekend but I have a feeling that I'll drink too much. Ramsey and Damon had better watch out. There I go, talking about drinking again. Carl told me that people who know me obviously know I'm not an alcoholic but from reading the blog people might think differently. Well, I'm also going hiking this weekend with my mom. Hiking is good. I will drink water.
The 2003 WSOP was on TV tonight and it was pretty funny watching Moneymaker suck out on Humberto. It's the worst feeling, having the maniac at your table, patiently waiting to get your money in with the best of it, then watching him suck out.
OK, seriously, time to pack.
Zidane game
Seal Dribble
Jean Carlos Chera
Thank Allen Barron for the Zidane game. I think it's hilarious. That Chera kid is 5 years old in some of those clips. He's pretty insane.
This is a well written blog entry by Shaniac that does a good job explaining why I could never travel the poker circuit full time. Shane's a great writer and his blog is awesome when he has the motivation to write.
Well, it's 4 AM so I better finish packing. I'm going to try to play a bit online this weekend but I have a feeling that I'll drink too much. Ramsey and Damon had better watch out. There I go, talking about drinking again. Carl told me that people who know me obviously know I'm not an alcoholic but from reading the blog people might think differently. Well, I'm also going hiking this weekend with my mom. Hiking is good. I will drink water.
The 2003 WSOP was on TV tonight and it was pretty funny watching Moneymaker suck out on Humberto. It's the worst feeling, having the maniac at your table, patiently waiting to get your money in with the best of it, then watching him suck out.
OK, seriously, time to pack.
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Poker is Stupid
I went pretty deep in the $2K Pot Limit event yesterday but I took a rough beat and couldn't win an important coinflip near the bubble and I busted around 63rd place with 54 people making the money. I could care less about finishing 63rd compared to 54th but I really want to go deep in one of these suckers. I tilt very rarely but I've never lost in a live tourney with KK to KQ all-in preflop and it stung quite a bit.
After the tourney I was really disappointed because of the bad beat so Carl and I went to Treasure Island to play a drunken 2/4 mixed game. The mix was 2-7 triple draw, A-5 triple draw, Badugi and Stud/8. The play was loose and the drinks were flowing and I soon forgot all about the stupid WSOP. We stumbled out of there around 5 AM and crashed hard back at the Rio.
Today we did absolutely nothing and it felt great. The only time we left the room was to eat lunch at the Rio's mediocre Carnival World Buffet. We watched a few episodes of Arrested Development and I took a nap around 6ish. Laziness rules.
Tomorrow I fly to Boston at 6:30 AM. I'm meeting my mom at 7 PM EST and we're driving up to Vermont for Justin's wedding on Friday afternoon. By the time I return on Monday, everyone will have moved into our house and we won't have to put up with life at the Rio anymore. Casinos are pretty depressing.
After the tourney I was really disappointed because of the bad beat so Carl and I went to Treasure Island to play a drunken 2/4 mixed game. The mix was 2-7 triple draw, A-5 triple draw, Badugi and Stud/8. The play was loose and the drinks were flowing and I soon forgot all about the stupid WSOP. We stumbled out of there around 5 AM and crashed hard back at the Rio.
Today we did absolutely nothing and it felt great. The only time we left the room was to eat lunch at the Rio's mediocre Carnival World Buffet. We watched a few episodes of Arrested Development and I took a nap around 6ish. Laziness rules.
Tomorrow I fly to Boston at 6:30 AM. I'm meeting my mom at 7 PM EST and we're driving up to Vermont for Justin's wedding on Friday afternoon. By the time I return on Monday, everyone will have moved into our house and we won't have to put up with life at the Rio anymore. Casinos are pretty depressing.
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Cruel
The $1K tourney went OK and I actually got my chips in with way the best of it for a change. I just need to work on making my good hands hold up.
Today is the $2000 Pot Limit event. The $1500 PL event was the first ever live Pot Limit tournament that I've ever played and I really enjoyed the additional mental challenge of counting the pot and figuring out how much to raise. It's cruel and unusual that the Rio starts all these tournaments at the ungodly hour of noon. I need my sleep!
I fly out of here on Thursday morning, headed for Boston to attend my friend Justin's wedding. I've stayed with Justin and Caitlin in Boston on 3 different occasions and I'm really happy for them. I don't know how a loser like Justin pulled a girl like Caitlin but she's definitely out of his league. I credit Justin for turning me into a wining poker player so I'll refrain from calling him a "loser" in the future. Congrats, you crazy kids.
Time to shower and get my butt downstairs. This is the last tourney that I'm playing before leaving and I'd like to get ahold of some chips. Sayonara.
Today is the $2000 Pot Limit event. The $1500 PL event was the first ever live Pot Limit tournament that I've ever played and I really enjoyed the additional mental challenge of counting the pot and figuring out how much to raise. It's cruel and unusual that the Rio starts all these tournaments at the ungodly hour of noon. I need my sleep!
I fly out of here on Thursday morning, headed for Boston to attend my friend Justin's wedding. I've stayed with Justin and Caitlin in Boston on 3 different occasions and I'm really happy for them. I don't know how a loser like Justin pulled a girl like Caitlin but she's definitely out of his league. I credit Justin for turning me into a wining poker player so I'll refrain from calling him a "loser" in the future. Congrats, you crazy kids.
Time to shower and get my butt downstairs. This is the last tourney that I'm playing before leaving and I'd like to get ahold of some chips. Sayonara.
Sunday, July 09, 2006
Wait 'til Next Tourney
The first time I made it to day 2 in a WSOP event I lasted 4 hands and finished in 64th place. This time I lasted 3 hands and finished in 65th place. The first hand UTG pushed for 13,500 chips, exactly the same amount that I had. I looked down at K5o and decided that it wasn't big enough to look him up. The next hand it's folded to me in the cut-off and J3o is plenty big enough to stick in my chips. Everyone folds and I'm up to 17,000 after posting the 200 chip ante and I look down at 77 in the hijack, again plaenty big enough to jam. Sadly, the button had AA and IGUTPON. I've cahsed in 2 out of 3 tournies and actually lost about $2000. Like they used to say in Brooklyn, Wait 'til next tourney. Monday is the $1000 freezeout so I won't find myself making it into the money and actually losing money. It would be really nice to go deep in one of these things but I need to stop bluffing off all my chips. Bleh.
I'm still shocked over the Zidane head-butt. I don't know what to say. He's one of the last athletes that I'd ever expect to do something like that in such a huge spot. Now Italy get 4 stars on their jerseys, boooooo.
The MLB All-Star break is upon us. The Mariners sit at 43-46, better than expected. They're in last place in the West but only 2.5 games out of first. Don't count the boys out just yet. Gilbertino Meche is pitching really well and we finally got rid of Everyday Eddie. If the bats can be more consistent I like our chances. I wrote this team off during the first week of the season but they've been a pleasant surprise.
I fly to Boston on the 13th and back to Vegas on the 17th. It'll be nice to get out of here again but once I'm back, I'll be here for the long haul. We'll have the house at that point and I'll be able to stock up on grapefruit and cereal. Carl and I were sitting in our hotel room this morning, wistfully yearning for a simple bowl of cereal. One day, Carl, we WILL get our cereal. One day.
I'm still shocked over the Zidane head-butt. I don't know what to say. He's one of the last athletes that I'd ever expect to do something like that in such a huge spot. Now Italy get 4 stars on their jerseys, boooooo.
The MLB All-Star break is upon us. The Mariners sit at 43-46, better than expected. They're in last place in the West but only 2.5 games out of first. Don't count the boys out just yet. Gilbertino Meche is pitching really well and we finally got rid of Everyday Eddie. If the bats can be more consistent I like our chances. I wrote this team off during the first week of the season but they've been a pleasant surprise.
I fly to Boston on the 13th and back to Vegas on the 17th. It'll be nice to get out of here again but once I'm back, I'll be here for the long haul. We'll have the house at that point and I'll be able to stock up on grapefruit and cereal. Carl and I were sitting in our hotel room this morning, wistfully yearning for a simple bowl of cereal. One day, Carl, we WILL get our cereal. One day.
Bleh
I got my chips up to 42,000 then ran a big bluff on the bubble that got called and now I'm down to 13,700 going into tomorrow. There are 66 people left and the blinds will start at 800/1600 200a and I'll be moving my chips pretty early. I tried to find a spot tonight but just couldn't do anything. I have the button to start the day tomorrow so I guess there's one thing to be happy about. If I bust first out tomorrow I get $4Kish and I spent $5K on this event. I actually need to get all the way to 54th place before I turn a profit. Oh well. I'm tired and my bed is calling. The World Cup final is tomorrow at 11 and I'll be rooting for France. Allez le Bleus!
Saturday, July 08, 2006
Treo Update
4th break in the $1000 rebuy, I have 23,500 chips and the average is 21,245. 114 left, 72 get paid. We're playing 2 more levels before breaking for the night. Blinds moving up to 400/800 100a. I'm at a tough, aggressive table. Let's pick up a hand. One time.
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