Everybody always wants a fresh start. America loves fresh starts. Alcoholic? No problem, just remind people exactly how many days you've been sober for, everyone will love you. Promiscuous? Become a born again virgin (I don't know the logistics of this one). The bottom line is that everyone loves second chances and fresh starts. That's the great thing about life, there are second chances.
I've always been a firm believer that if you want to do it, you can just decide to do it. This is provider that you realistic, obviously. I cannot wake up and decide I want to be an Olympic gymnast; luckily for me, nor would I want to.
But things you can control-- they're in your control. You can choose to read a book or watch TV, you can choose to lift weights or eat cookies, you can choose boxers or briefs. If your decision was bad, most of the time you can just hit the reset button-- whoops, these briefs ride up way too much, what the fuck was I thinking? The decision that you make going forward is going to impact your life. The book might mold brain cells that TV might melt, the weights might mold muscles that the cookies would melt, etc.
You are completely capable of making a decision. People are strong-willed or people are weak-willed. Most of the time that is an excuse for playing badly. Most of the time tilt is an excuse for playing badly. I often am able to recognize tilt and fight its effects. Sometimes I win the fight, sometimes I lose the fight, sometimes it rains.
At every juncture of every poker game, whether it be 6m or heads up, you are going to be faced with a decision. You'll know the right choice much more frequently than you care to admit, but allowing yourself to make the right choice is a more difficult step. If you tilted off a random spewy bluff the previous hand, know that this hand is a new hand. You get ANOTHER chance to make the right decision. Phenomenal, isn't it? I wish all aspects of life were like this-- ahh fuck, I went bungee jumping and the cord broke. oh well, I wouldn't mind doing that one again...
Change starts with a decision. Keep your goals in mind, it will help you make the best decision.
Tonight I'm going to see Zombieland. I kind of wanted to see it on a rainy day, but then I saw that it was showing at 12:01 tonight... wtf? So random, I thought it was some second rate zombie killer movie with a few corny one liners-- and it probably is-- but it's opening at midnight? Kind of weird, but whatever critics were able to see it already gave it high praise on Rotten Tomatoes, so I'm hoping it lives up to at least some of that hype.
I'm working on a new strategy article, hopefully postable by tonight, called Momentum for the strategy forum. I will hopefully debunk the myth!
I haven't actually been playing much poker lately, I've mostly just been trying to figure out the meaning of life. I've also been doing a lot of business stuff for Leggo, in hopes of improving an already great product. I've been lifting and eating well also, and it makes me happier. My sleeping hasn't been so good, I've been just laying around bored sometimes staring at the wall. I think poker has probably finally gotten to my nerves in that regard, but hopefully I'm able to shake it off and slow myself down because I've never had a problem sleeping in the past. I've even toyed with the idea of getting on a more regular schedule-- you know, waking up before noon.
But that probably won't happen.
edit: ZOMBIELAND WAS RIDICULOUSLY GOOD. TIED WITH INGLORIOUS BASTARDS FOR BEST MOVIE OF THE YEAR IMO.
This'll be one of "those" blogs, some of you probably love them and other probably hate them.
1. Related to the above, I've been working on writing a more interesting blog. Something life-related. Something that is interesting, but not really interesting at all. Just something a little more well written instead of a compilation of the random musings that are going on in my life.
2. I finished a book. I started reading The Tipping Point a long time ago, I put it down for some reason-- probably school and poker and whatnot. I have been trying to make it a point to start reading more, so I picked it back up a few weeks ago and I couldn't believe I stopped reading it the first time. It might be a little bit too analytical, but I certainly wouldn't say it's a heavy read. Gladwell has a certain style; I thought this was a much easier read than Blink was, and a lot less repetitive. Finishing a book is one of the best feelings ever, I'm not sure why. Next up is Dan Brown's new book. I liked them a lot a few years ago and have been meaning to get back into reading fictional stuff, so I thought this would be a good time to start. I'll probably open it up this week.
3. Football season is awesome. I can really watch football even if I have very little vested interest in teams, although that is rarely the case with a handful of fantasy football teams. I'm just glad that I've got something to do now on weekend afternoons!
Also: Da Bears (my roomate is a die hard Bears fan, "It's better to be lucky than good.")
4. The White Sox suck. I don't want to talk about it.
5. I have finally been lifting with some regularity. I'm not really sticking with a program of eating perfectly and lifting for mass, or cutting, or whatnot, but I'm out of shape enough so that I can do some in between type lifting and eat decently and do some cardio (pretty much always in the form of playing basketball) and probably make gains + lose weight at the same time. Eventually I will either commit to cutting for a month or something before lifting, or really get into lifting and eat right and then worry about cutting another time. Either way, bottomline is I'm doing something.
6. Poker sucks. I have so much trouble getting action, and lately I've been losing when I do get action. It's not really all that exciting for me, and I don't like the stress it puts on me. It's funny how I can sit back and just say that money doesn't matter to me, that I'm comfortable with the swings by now, but when I lose a bunch I still feel it-- and when I win a bunch I just don't feel it as much. Our psyche is funny like that I guess. I think I need to really learn PLO once and for all! The problem is that no one actually knows how to play it, so how am I going to learn how to play it?! Also, the edges being smaller only lead to even more frustration (which I'm well aware from my limited play). It just seems like such a daunting thing, but I guess when I finally do decide to really get good at it I'll probably find that everyone else is even worse than me!
7. Made a new video today, which included some funny hands. It'll be out very soon I assume, so please let me know how awesome I am and how terrible I am at the same time. Thanks in advance.
I thought I would devote this blog to the greatest to ever play the greatest game in the world.
Michael Jeffery Jordan was inducted into the basketball Hall of Fame the other day. I thought not much of it at the time, but in hindsight it was a pretty awesome day (achievement). I grew up just outside of Chicago and was part of the ruckus that erupted for hundreds of miles around the city every time the Bulls won an NBA title in the '90s. He did so many things that defy logic and gravity. It was such a seemingly "perfect" career-- although something magical is bound to happen when a bunch of hidden random luck things go correctly-- that is really warrants some time to look back on it. If you have a chance to watch old Jordan games: the flu game, the Trailblazers game, the entire Suns series, the Cavs shot, the one where him and Pippen both had 40, etc. you should do it.
I thought his Hall induction speech was perfect. It was just the right amount of emotion and swagger to make it real and entertaining at the same time. A lot of people were critical of the speech and said he came off as arrogant and belittling of his opponents. I know a little bit about belittling opponents, so I thought I would comment on it: He's the fucking Greatest of All-Time. He plays by a different set of rules.
Sam Smith wrote a book called The Jordan Rules back in the day. It chronicled a bunch of stuff; namely, I suppose, Jordan's volatile relationships with teammates and management. Jordan was a head case, no doubt-- someone who needed the adrenaline rush of competition. Those aren't excuses, those are just who he is. I am like that. Not to the extent he was, clearly, and not on the stage he was either. But I am a complete nutjob when it comes to being the best NLHE player that there is. I berate my opponents mid match (it has toned down severely in chat as I've matured because I am now more keenly aware of its effects) and laugh at them while I'm playing them. If my opponent(s) has my respect, I guarantee you he's earned it.
In his speech, Jordan makes a few quips about people in the past who he competed against (and beat). A lot of people called it classless. To the victor go the spoils, I always say. If you are someone complaining about Jordan's lack of respect for the people that he tortured all these years, you are probably not used to being a winner. I expect to win, I am not a loser. Darwinism is the real deal.
I come off as an ass a lot. The people who know me best realize that its mostly a facade. Mostly, is the operative word there. I'm not going to sit around and pretend I know what is going through Jordan's head.
Chewy, Zugwat, my boy Starkey, and myself were guests on the poker reality show 2m2mm this summer. Team Israel invited us to compete with them in a "House Wars" episode where we played them in poker, flag football, and some sort of nightlife challenge. Prior to the episode airing, I was pretty sure I was going to come off like a complete tool on television. I frequently found myself unaware that the cameras were around-- but alas, they did not catch me saying anything ridiculous-- or if they did, they choose not to put it on TV.
My thoughts on the show:
1. First thing is first-- Starkey's first name is NOT Daniel, it is Robert. I cannot believe they just straight up got this wrong! Thankfully it was only on the name plate thing on TV for a few seconds, and some of his family didn't even notice it, but it's still a pretty egregious error. He was super pissed, it was pretty funny watching it with him and him tilting the entire show.
2. It's kind of weird the sample size you see-- they probably filmed us for 6-8 hours for the competitions and they splice it into like 10 minutes of television. I knew it was going to be like that going in, but it was still kind of weird going, "Oh man, I can't believe they cut out the part where we bet 10k on the side on the hu sngs."
3. Speaking of HU sngs, it was really gay to run bad and lose at them on TV. I mean, the general public has no idea that we're playing turbo 5k sngs or whatever and that the structure is terrible. Thus, no one has more than like a 3-5% edge, tops, even if we have very little sng experience (particularly since we're all good HU players). It sucks that my mom tells me, "I wish you could've won one of the poker things." Sigh.
4. I am completely embarrassed about the Flag Football. I blame myself. There is no way we should have lost, but we were unprepared and had planned on playing basketball. I played terribly and started tilting when Dani literally stole the handoff on the goaline.
5. Chewy was very funny on the show, and actually came off the way he is in real life. He was clowning with the girls in the nightlife challenge and there were a bunch of really funny lines in there.
6. Speaking of funny lines, there are a SHITLOAD of good one liners in the episode. You have to watch carefully during the football scene, or the nightlife challenge, or even the scene by our pool table. Man, I was just thinking back on it, and there is some funny shit. I guess it's also possible I'm overrating the hilarity because I know everyone involved.
7. A lot of people are going to think that Dani/Jay/Emil/Brian or Me/Chewy/Steve/Starkey come off as nerdy or dorky. I consider myself a gigantic nerd, and I like to think of it as a compliment. I would say that almost all millionaires are nerds. I realize the connotation of the word is very negative, but I'm okay with that. However, it's important to note that being socially adjusted is not related to being nerdy. We're all pretty socially adjusted-- and when it comes to the general online poker community, I think we're Socially Adjusted All-Stars.
Overall, the episode was very entertaining. I'm unhappy that we lost, but I realize that it made for better TV-- so I guess we were doing the utilitarian thing. Maybe them beating us in House Wars will punch them a ticket for Season 2.
Depressingly, the White Sox had lost 5 of 6 including 2 of 3 to the lowly Orioles and were on the verge of getting swept in Fenway. Thankfully, thank little six-pound-nine-ounce baby jesus, they won the game we went to. I'd trade two earlier in the series for the game we went to last night, but beggers can't be choosers. Sox are a few games back of the Tigers now in the lowly Central. Short of a healthy Jake Peavy, the White Sox seem to be a mediocre team in a mediocre division, but if the starting pitching could live up to the spectacular bill that they're capable of-- that just might be enough in the '09 Central. Seems like no one wants to win it, and when that was the case last year, we came through in the clutch.
Last night was the first time I had ever been to Fenway, and my second or third or fourth or something time in Boston. I did a little touristy stuff this week, but nothing special. Fenway was great though-- to my surprise, I found the people in Boston to be more friendly than Indianapolis or Chicago. Maybe it was because they were drunk, or maybe it is because they are like 20 games over .500. They weren't even that (outwardly) upset that they let us have the fourth game of the series! The Sox won 9-5 behind a few big innings, a terrible pitching performance by Mr. Myagi (my nickname for Asian Red Sox pitcher recently called up from the minors), and a solid outing from Johnny Danks. We had pretty ballin' seats ~13 rows off third base. My uncle took infinite pictures, if you're lucky I'll put one of them up in a few days when he gets them to me.
Right away in the first we are sitting down and a foul ball gets hit toward the left side in the upper deck-- guy in the first row drops it, like guy in the first row usually does, and it falls back down towards the lower level, ~10 feet in front of us and to the left. Guy who is carrying TWO BEERS puts them in one hand (pinching them against his chest) jumps up and bare hands the foul ball no the rebound. The beers spill all over his body (and the concrete concourse), drenching his shirt and pants and everything underneath, I'm sure-- but this guy got the foul ball. He ended up sitting two seats away from us, and gave the foul ball to the kid. This catch was so awesome, and the way the beer went everywhere and he kept the cups in his grasp, that I will forgive the guy for getting a little drunk in the late innings and being a obnoxious about how awesome the Red Sox were and how terrible the White Sox were despite the outcome of this game.
Another highlight of the game was Red Sox "relief pitching." Nick Green came in in the 8th, to loud cheers from the Red Sox Nation. I was a little confused to the ovation a reliever was getting coming in in a 9-2 ballgame, until the guy behind us told us that he was a position player. Backup shortstop/utility guy Nick Green threw two innings of scoreless, hitless ball (with three walks though). It was a pretty cool thing to see the faithful stay (Fenway was prob 87% full in the 7th when it was still 9-2). I have never left a game early, but I think Comiskey would've probably had ~63% of the fans that were there at the start of the game in the 8th of a 9-2 ballgame. In general, it was a great atmosphere and I'll probably end up there again someday. This trip also made me realize how much I like being in places that are foreign to me, like going on vacation in general, and even like going to new ballparks. There are certainly more I have to hit in the years to come.
Hope you guys aren't playing poker like me, it's the way to be.
Nothing exciting today, I'd call this one a 'small' blog.
I have hit a small snag playing the high stakes games with one small losing session. It won't discourage me though, and I'm playing right now as I write this blog. That is another problem that I have-- two tables of 500-1k aren't exciting enough to keep my attention! I've also lost a little playing 25-50 and 40-80, so I'm just going to take a small break from a pretty big August upswing.
I'm going to Boston this week to see a Sox/Sawx game, go Sox.
I've also made an offer on a house.
I did an interview with Poker Curious that is up on their website. It was a pretty good interview you might want to check it out.
I won a bunch of money today in the rebirth of the 500-1k NLHE games on FTP. I'm not sure what prompted me to want to play in those games because even though they were good games I am usually too much of a chicken shit to go near them. I didn't have a large piece of myself, but I think it's safe to say I made some people involved with Leggo pretty happy as well.
Honestly, there was nothing all that interesting-- I coolered people more than they coolered me, had the good part of my range at times, etc. and combined that with playing really well. I don't think I made a mistake all session, and certainly not in a pot >50 bbs. It's too bad I wasn't actually rolled for these games, because I feel like I would do well in them whenever they ran.
I will keep this short and sweet and get down to what you want to see:
The big winners:
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $1000.00 BB (3 handed) - Full-Tilt Hand Converter from HandHistoryConverter.com
Button ($291494)
SB ($136625.35)
Hero (BB) ($130497)
Preflop: Hero is BB with K, K
Button bets $3000, SB raises to $10000, Hero raises to $24500, 1 fold, SB calls $14500
This blog is broken up into two parts, and there is no poker content:
I went to the White Sox game on Tuesday. I usually go to 5-10 a year but since I was in Vegas this summer and missed the opener because of snow (forreal), this was actually my first game. They beat the Angels on a ninth inning Scott Podsednik single. Was a really close game throughout and a particularly important victory because of how poor of a start they got from Contreras.
A few notes:
Buehrle got honored before the game for his perfect game, and Dewayne Wise threw out the first pitch
Was a good group of fans around us to clown with
Matty's dad got kicked out of some empty seats right next to us, then some little kids sat there and never got checked for their tickets and Matt was staring down the Guest Services lady
Gordon Beckham hit a home run-- he might be the illest in a couple of years, you heard it hear first (okay, not even close to the first person to prophecize that)
Cheese won the pizza race. Cheese almost never wins.
A few nights ago I went to the movies to see some chick flick called "The Ugly Truth" with the girl from Knocked Up. I've told this story to 3 or 4 people and for some reason people say, "Who did you go with?" Who the fuck do you think I went with? I would clearly never go to a movie like this unless I was sleeping with the person that I went with. Absurd that people have to ask.
Anyways, there are only like 10 people in the theater and this thin black guy walks in with a girl with a big ol' booty. He's not too tall but I recognize him immediately. I lean over to Steph and I'm like "Oh man I know who that guy is, I played basketball with him at one time I feel like, but I can't put a name with a face..." Now, I've played basketball with a lot of people in my day, and there are a lot of teams that I watched with some interest. I figured I've seen this guy multiple times, so I must've played with or against him in high school, or watched him play in college or played pick up with him or something. I kept searching the depths of my mind for the answer... but got nothing. The entire movie I keep leaning over to Steph and telling her how much it's bothering me, how I know this guy played for St. Joes (where my friend Matty played) or Butler or IUPUI or Bishop Noll or any one of the high schools in my area (but since I'm in Indy now and didn't grow up here, it seems infinitely more likely that I know him from college or pick up basketball and not high school).
About halfway through the movie, I literally can only concentrate on where the fuck I know this kid from. I was planning on saying something to him after the movie just to find out where I knew him from. Then sometime towards the end of the movie I figure that I know him from television somehow. I'm not sure why, but I could picture him handling the ball and playing basketball on TV. This does not narrow it down TOO much, could be any kid that has played in March Madness for the last 10 years. So I am racking my brain to think of who this is, and when the movie gets out I look to see what kind of car he gets in, and sure enough it's a blacked out Benz. So I'm going through the list of Pacers point guards and I just can't come up with anything that puts a name to the face.
On the way home I have a "Eureka!" moment-- it's Rajon Rondo, Boston Celtics point guard. I followed the Cs a decent amount over the last few seasons and have been cheering for them since they got Ray Allen. I don't watch the NBA too intensely, but I'm still pretty surprised I didn't recognize Rondo earlier-- I didn't really think he was from the Indianapolis area though (I know only that he spent his final high school season at Oak Hill).
Anyways, would've been hilarious if I walked up to him after the show and asked him where we'd played basketball before.
A few days ago I dropped a hundred playing pretty marginally and getting coolered and sucked out on. I'd guesstimate that my losses were 50% poor play, 30% coolers and 20% tilt. The tilt wasn't really tilt, it was more or less tilt like this: I open K7 on button, I c-bet A K 7, turn A, check-check, river 4 he bets I call. Calls that might not be terribad, but are at least pretty bad. Since then I've played really well and won about half of it back. Today I played some really cool hands and the last few days in general I've played some of my best poker probably of the last few months. My goal will be to win 250 in August + September at NLHE, and then work on limit games and PLO more than likely. It is about time I start becoming a professional poker player and not a crappy student with an expensive hobby.
I've been pretty indecisive lately about a number of things and it's a little troubling for someone like me who is usually very keen on taking control and being in charge. I'm hoping that I'll be able to do more contemplation about life and my goals in the very near future. So far it looks like I'm going to not go back to school this fall, but plan on picking it back up for sure in the Spring or Fall '10. I like school and what goes along with it, but I always half ass it and I just feel like there are too many other things I want to do right now. My decision could still change but it seems like I'm going to take some time off.
I'm watching the Wire for the second time straight through. It's phenomenal, better than everyone says. It's one of those things that can be hyped up forever and constantly exceed expectations. As far as television goes, it is grade A for sure if you're looking for something that takes a little bit of focus.
Mark Buehrle, star of my last blog, will get another mention here. He was perfect through 5 in his first start after the 17th perfect game in MLB history. He retired a total of 45 batters, a Major League record. I don't really have anything deep to say about this. It's hard as fuck to do, it's about time Mark got some national pub. As far as sports goes, that's some cool shit right there.
Leggo is crushing it lately. From the WSOP success (and the party) to the latest videos, I think there's nothing but good shit going on lately. I appreciate it every time someone recognizes it on 2+2 or in a PM to me or in a recommendation to a friend. Speaking of which, I'm starting to work on my next article for the Private Strategy Forum. I'm not precisely sure what direction it will take but I've got some things written down that I want to say.
I am at my parents house tonight, and going on vacation tomorrow with the family to my aunt's house on a lake in Michigan. I get the feeling the weather won't be quite as nice as we're used to but I'm sure we'll be fine. I will more than likely not take my computer along for the ride. Instead, I'm going to try to do some reading that I never do, and in general just be less of a bum. I will more than likely crack and bring my computer anyways, who am I kidding.
, K
(2 players)
(2 players, 2 all-in)