Going to be setting up plans to go to Thailand soon. Been talking about going with some people for a while, and we're probably going to figure out when we're going in the next couple weeks. Looks like we might go in November. It's supposed to be real cool there; different islands to go to, lots of partying, new culture, etc... It's wayyy cheap too, so we can live like kings and not spend a ridiculous amount of money. A bunch of poker pros have moved there for cheap living, ability to live outside the US(to get on foreign poker sites), party life there, etc... The island where the movie "The Beach" was shot was in Thailand. Have only heard cool things about it, so we're gonna head out there finally.
I've been traveling a decent amount this year. Vegas a few times, east coast a few times, Mexico etc... Traveling definitely helps break up the grind of playing a lot of poker. Rather than being lazy and not playing a lot of poker, I'd rather just play a ton when I'm here, and then take time off to travel and do cool stuff. So far this year I've been to: New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Arizona, Nevada, Oklahoma, California, Mexico and Canada. Thailand in the works, and might hit up some other countries next year. Might be cool to try out a cruise. Sending my parents on one for their anniversary this year to the Bahamas. Gonna see how they like it and maybe go on one myself sometime next year. Also, definitely gonna to hit up Vancouver soon. Probably before the year's out hopefully. Definitely the main benefit in working for yourself. Doing whatever you want, whenever you want. So if you're working a job, don't get trapped, get out while you're young!
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Looking for a coach
I've been looking for a poker coach the past week or so. I've been playing mostly $400nl games for the past few months, and had a lot of success in them. The money is great, but I'm pretty much just grinding, and not improving, which is usually fine for me since I'm trying to make a lot of money, but recently I've had the desire to get a lot better and start playing high stakes online. In order for me to do this the best way possible, I think I'll need to hire a coach. I think there's certain aspects of my game that playing higher stakes a coach who plays high stakes could help me transition a lot faster than doing it on my own. The coaches for higher stakes charge a lot of money though. The guys I've been talking to charge anywhere from $250-$500/hour. Definitely reasonable prices, but it's probably going to take a good ten or more sessions to get what I want to get out of it, so I need to make sure I'm working with the right person.
With all the money I invest in other stuff, I think it'd probably be a great investment to invest in myself for poker, since it's my main source of income. Thinking about it, I'm really surprised I haven't already hired a coach to move to higher stakes. Hiring coaches from time to time is a no-brainer if you're trying to improve your income potential. The ROI is probably bigger than almost any investment out there. The tough part is finding the right coach for you, when you're looking.
So, probably going to try and pick a coach within the next week or two if I can. I'll post updates.
With all the money I invest in other stuff, I think it'd probably be a great investment to invest in myself for poker, since it's my main source of income. Thinking about it, I'm really surprised I haven't already hired a coach to move to higher stakes. Hiring coaches from time to time is a no-brainer if you're trying to improve your income potential. The ROI is probably bigger than almost any investment out there. The tough part is finding the right coach for you, when you're looking.
So, probably going to try and pick a coach within the next week or two if I can. I'll post updates.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Can you click a mouse fast? I might hire you
My wrist has been killing lately. I don't wanna get carpel tunnel so I'm gonna start making some changes to my setup. I play more hands per month than like 99.9% of people who play, and don't want to have to slow down, so I'm going to be getting an ergonomic mouse, maybe two in case I don't like one. Also, I think I might start getting massages a few times a month or something. The person I mentioned who's helping me with the trading stuff, said when he had wrist problems it really helped. Business expense, so it's all good :)
I'm thinking about hiring a cook too. I'm trying to get in sick shape, and it's hard to eat real well eating lots of microwave meals and stuff like that since I don't cook. I'm interviewing someone tomorrow, and she's bringing me some samples to try.
I made a prop bet with my brother that I can get shredded and go from 175 to 160 by the end of the year. He's trying to go from 200 to 180. To make myself definitely make sure I do it, I bet him $800 against his $200. Will post nude pics after the bet obviously.
I'm thinking about hiring a cook too. I'm trying to get in sick shape, and it's hard to eat real well eating lots of microwave meals and stuff like that since I don't cook. I'm interviewing someone tomorrow, and she's bringing me some samples to try.
I made a prop bet with my brother that I can get shredded and go from 175 to 160 by the end of the year. He's trying to go from 200 to 180. To make myself definitely make sure I do it, I bet him $800 against his $200. Will post nude pics after the bet obviously.
Monday, September 24, 2007
Sick scores
Congrats to my boy Lee(aka poker phenom Bill Ivey) who got 5th place the other day out of 6,025 players in WCOOP event #5, taking home $96,701.25. I honestly think we have the sickest collection of poker players in Tucson than other place. myself, bill ivey, mynameishov, gman06, biliards, etc...
One crazy story I forgot to mention from a month or so back. So Brett(mynameishov) and I are chillin in our room our last night at Turning Stone. We decided to go for the 6 max tourney that was goin on. So anyways, we're just hangin out, and I get a text from someone I recently talked to online. He's a good tourney player, and was trying to learn short handed nl cash games. I told him to swing by our room to meet up. So, we chat for a bit, and he asks if I can sweat him. I say sure, and he goes and gets his laptop. He loads up a bunch of tables and I try and teach him some tricks of the trade for 6 max nl. He does pretty well, and seems to have a decent grasp for the most part. Brett(who passed out while we were doing the session) asked me the next morning if I thought he was going to be able to make the transition to 6 max nl, and I said that I thought he definitely could. Fast forward 24 hours. I'm at home at upstate NY, and looking through some online tournies. Turns out, the next night, there had been a huge 6 max nl tournament. He ended up winning the whole thing for $200,000. haha. how sick is that?
One crazy story I forgot to mention from a month or so back. So Brett(mynameishov) and I are chillin in our room our last night at Turning Stone. We decided to go for the 6 max tourney that was goin on. So anyways, we're just hangin out, and I get a text from someone I recently talked to online. He's a good tourney player, and was trying to learn short handed nl cash games. I told him to swing by our room to meet up. So, we chat for a bit, and he asks if I can sweat him. I say sure, and he goes and gets his laptop. He loads up a bunch of tables and I try and teach him some tricks of the trade for 6 max nl. He does pretty well, and seems to have a decent grasp for the most part. Brett(who passed out while we were doing the session) asked me the next morning if I thought he was going to be able to make the transition to 6 max nl, and I said that I thought he definitely could. Fast forward 24 hours. I'm at home at upstate NY, and looking through some online tournies. Turns out, the next night, there had been a huge 6 max nl tournament. He ended up winning the whole thing for $200,000. haha. how sick is that?
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Poker Updates
Haven't updated much poker in a long time. I'm still grinding away at 2/4nl, with a little 3/6nl and 5/10nl once in a while.
The 64 man HU tourney I ended up losing in the 3rd round to the worst player I had played yet, so that kinda sucked. He was gloating after winning hands, etc... He ran hot and played poorly, but winning confuses some people into thinking they are playing well. This is why poker will ALWAYS be profitable no matter what.
I played in the WCOOP(world championshop of online poker) event Friday. It was the HU event. I think I played pretty well for the most part. I was happy with my play. Some people ask me to include some strategy in my blog so they can see some of my thought process. Here is one hand people might find interesting:
PokerStars Game #12189581795: Tournament #70000010, $300+$20 Hold'em No Limit - Match Round II, Level II (100/200) - 2007/09/21 - 17:18:42 (ET)
Table '70000010 249' 2-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: snowbank (16054 in chips)
Seat 2: BREAKURFACE (23946 in chips)
BREAKURFACE: posts small blind 100
snowbank: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to snowbank [As 7h]
BREAKURFACE: raises 288 to 488
snowbank: calls 288
*** FLOP *** [Jd 7s 3c]
snowbank: checks
BREAKURFACE: bets 538
snowbank: raises 906 to 1444
BREAKURFACE: calls 906
*** TURN *** [Jd 7s 3c] [Qd]
snowbank: checks
BREAKURFACE: bets 1946
snowbank: raises 3053 to 4999
BREAKURFACE: folds
snowbank collected 7756 from pot
snowbank: doesn't show hand
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 7756 | Rake 0
Board [Jd 7s 3c Qd]
Seat 1: snowbank (big blind) collected (7756)
Seat 2: BREAKURFACE (button) (small blind) folded on the Turn
The player seemed like he knew what he was doing. I have never heard of him before, but seemed solid enough. (he was stalling every hand though, kinda weird. not sure if he wanted blinds to increase so it could turn into a variance fest or what. that kind of made me seem like he might not be that good of a player, but that was my only read on him- had nothing else to go on) Anyways, for the hand: He raises pre-flop, and I call with A7o. I hit 2nd pair on the flop. I check and let him cbet, and then I raise. He calls on a board that isn't extremely draw heavy. The turn is a Q. There are no draws that could have hit. I check, and he bets again. I go for the double check raise, essentially changing my hand from what may have been the best hand, into a bluff. My analysis was that he would not be betting the turn there with many hands better than mine, since he will often want to get to a cheap showdown if he has 88, 99, TT, or a J. It looks to me like he is betting the Q as a scare card to the flop of J high where I show weakness by checking the turn, making him think I might be giving up and a bet will take the pot away from me. By raising him here, I think he will probably only be able to bet this turn, and call a raise with JQ. All other hands fold for the most part. A set is the only other hand that should continue.
A little bit later this hand went down:
PokerStars Game #12190006816: Tournament #70000010, $300+$20 Hold'em No Limit - Match Round II, Level IV (300/600) - 2007/09/21 - 17:42:21 (ET)
Table '70000010 249' 2-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: snowbank (21794 in chips)
Seat 2: BREAKURFACE (18206 in chips)
BREAKURFACE: posts small blind 300
snowbank: posts big blind 600
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to snowbank [8s 5s]
BREAKURFACE: raises 872 to 1472
snowbank: calls 872
*** FLOP *** [5c Qd 8c]
snowbank: checks
BREAKURFACE: bets 2042
snowbank: raises 18280 to 20322 and is all-in
BREAKURFACE: calls 14692 and is all-in
*** TURN *** [5c Qd 8c] [Jc]
*** RIVER *** [5c Qd 8c Jc] [Jd]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
snowbank: shows [8s 5s] (two pair, Jacks and Eights)
BREAKURFACE: shows [Kc Ks] (two pair, Kings and Jacks)
BREAKURFACE collected 36412 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 36412 | Rake 0
Board [5c Qd 8c Jc Jd]
Seat 1: snowbank (big blind) showed [8s 5s] and lost with two pair, Jacks and Eights
Seat 2: BREAKURFACE (button) (small blind) showed [Kc Ks] and won (36412) with two pair, Kings and Jacks
This hand obviously pretty much crippled me, and a few minutes later I was out. Ahh well. Tournaments= life tilt
So, I was out in the 2nd round, in 610th place out of 1,886 people. On the bright side, I did finish higher than new PokerStars posterboy RaiNKhaN. He got 1,886th.
I rarely play tournies, just kind of do it for a change of pace once in a while to have fun. I did have a good result a few weeks ago in one that I played. I ended up getting 3rd in a 6 max tourney and it paid like $4.7k or something like that. Small payout for that high of a finish, but was a pretty small field of only like 350 people or something, so I was happy.
One update that I told one of my students I would do was from this post(last paragraph):
http://snowbank23.blogspot.com/2007/06/move-up-to-big-games.html
I forgot to update how he ended up doing for the month. He ended up making $13,000 for the month, which was impressive, more than doubling his previous best month. He put in a lot of effort and has become a very good player. Congrats again.
As far as how I'm doing in my games, I'm still doing well, just pretty much grinding when I can. I'll update more tomorrow.
The 64 man HU tourney I ended up losing in the 3rd round to the worst player I had played yet, so that kinda sucked. He was gloating after winning hands, etc... He ran hot and played poorly, but winning confuses some people into thinking they are playing well. This is why poker will ALWAYS be profitable no matter what.
I played in the WCOOP(world championshop of online poker) event Friday. It was the HU event. I think I played pretty well for the most part. I was happy with my play. Some people ask me to include some strategy in my blog so they can see some of my thought process. Here is one hand people might find interesting:
PokerStars Game #12189581795: Tournament #70000010, $300+$20 Hold'em No Limit - Match Round II, Level II (100/200) - 2007/09/21 - 17:18:42 (ET)
Table '70000010 249' 2-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: snowbank (16054 in chips)
Seat 2: BREAKURFACE (23946 in chips)
BREAKURFACE: posts small blind 100
snowbank: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to snowbank [As 7h]
BREAKURFACE: raises 288 to 488
snowbank: calls 288
*** FLOP *** [Jd 7s 3c]
snowbank: checks
BREAKURFACE: bets 538
snowbank: raises 906 to 1444
BREAKURFACE: calls 906
*** TURN *** [Jd 7s 3c] [Qd]
snowbank: checks
BREAKURFACE: bets 1946
snowbank: raises 3053 to 4999
BREAKURFACE: folds
snowbank collected 7756 from pot
snowbank: doesn't show hand
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 7756 | Rake 0
Board [Jd 7s 3c Qd]
Seat 1: snowbank (big blind) collected (7756)
Seat 2: BREAKURFACE (button) (small blind) folded on the Turn
The player seemed like he knew what he was doing. I have never heard of him before, but seemed solid enough. (he was stalling every hand though, kinda weird. not sure if he wanted blinds to increase so it could turn into a variance fest or what. that kind of made me seem like he might not be that good of a player, but that was my only read on him- had nothing else to go on) Anyways, for the hand: He raises pre-flop, and I call with A7o. I hit 2nd pair on the flop. I check and let him cbet, and then I raise. He calls on a board that isn't extremely draw heavy. The turn is a Q. There are no draws that could have hit. I check, and he bets again. I go for the double check raise, essentially changing my hand from what may have been the best hand, into a bluff. My analysis was that he would not be betting the turn there with many hands better than mine, since he will often want to get to a cheap showdown if he has 88, 99, TT, or a J. It looks to me like he is betting the Q as a scare card to the flop of J high where I show weakness by checking the turn, making him think I might be giving up and a bet will take the pot away from me. By raising him here, I think he will probably only be able to bet this turn, and call a raise with JQ. All other hands fold for the most part. A set is the only other hand that should continue.
A little bit later this hand went down:
PokerStars Game #12190006816: Tournament #70000010, $300+$20 Hold'em No Limit - Match Round II, Level IV (300/600) - 2007/09/21 - 17:42:21 (ET)
Table '70000010 249' 2-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: snowbank (21794 in chips)
Seat 2: BREAKURFACE (18206 in chips)
BREAKURFACE: posts small blind 300
snowbank: posts big blind 600
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to snowbank [8s 5s]
BREAKURFACE: raises 872 to 1472
snowbank: calls 872
*** FLOP *** [5c Qd 8c]
snowbank: checks
BREAKURFACE: bets 2042
snowbank: raises 18280 to 20322 and is all-in
BREAKURFACE: calls 14692 and is all-in
*** TURN *** [5c Qd 8c] [Jc]
*** RIVER *** [5c Qd 8c Jc] [Jd]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
snowbank: shows [8s 5s] (two pair, Jacks and Eights)
BREAKURFACE: shows [Kc Ks] (two pair, Kings and Jacks)
BREAKURFACE collected 36412 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 36412 | Rake 0
Board [5c Qd 8c Jc Jd]
Seat 1: snowbank (big blind) showed [8s 5s] and lost with two pair, Jacks and Eights
Seat 2: BREAKURFACE (button) (small blind) showed [Kc Ks] and won (36412) with two pair, Kings and Jacks
This hand obviously pretty much crippled me, and a few minutes later I was out. Ahh well. Tournaments= life tilt
So, I was out in the 2nd round, in 610th place out of 1,886 people. On the bright side, I did finish higher than new PokerStars posterboy RaiNKhaN. He got 1,886th.
I rarely play tournies, just kind of do it for a change of pace once in a while to have fun. I did have a good result a few weeks ago in one that I played. I ended up getting 3rd in a 6 max tourney and it paid like $4.7k or something like that. Small payout for that high of a finish, but was a pretty small field of only like 350 people or something, so I was happy.
One update that I told one of my students I would do was from this post(last paragraph):
http://snowbank23.blogspot.com/2007/06/move-up-to-big-games.html
I forgot to update how he ended up doing for the month. He ended up making $13,000 for the month, which was impressive, more than doubling his previous best month. He put in a lot of effort and has become a very good player. Congrats again.
As far as how I'm doing in my games, I'm still doing well, just pretty much grinding when I can. I'll update more tomorrow.
Friday, September 21, 2007
Tay Zonday is the man
my favorite song:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=9mSKBgvHdoE
here's the one that made him famous:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=EwTZ2xpQwpA&mode=related&search=
Nothin like a lil' Tay Zonday to get me ready for a poker session
http://youtube.com/watch?v=9mSKBgvHdoE
here's the one that made him famous:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=EwTZ2xpQwpA&mode=related&search=
Nothin like a lil' Tay Zonday to get me ready for a poker session
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Trading > Poker? We'll see
Been a couple weeks since I updated cause I've been crazy busy. Been playing a lot of poker. Also been looking at ways to make more money. I've been doing a bunch of research into trading. I've talked to a lot of different people in the last couple weeks about it. A few weeks ago I was a total newb at trading, I literally knew almost nothing. Now, I still know pretty much nothing, but I know which area I'm going to focus on learning. I basically spent a couple weeks reading things in my spare time and talking to people who traded to find out what I should look into trading if I was going to try and learn it.
A lot of people when they hear "trading", they assume throwing money in the stock market and trying to make 10% or whatever. That's definitely not what I'm doing. I'm trying to make MONEY. What I'll be doing is daytrading, where the profits can be pretty insane. Probably the first thing that comes to people's minds is that I'm going to go broke, because most people do who attempt to daytrade. That's because they don't learn how to play the game. It has a lot of similarities to poker, in that only about 5% win, and a lot of people lose their shirts. The big difference in trading, in comparison to poker is that in poker your earning potential is essentially capped out at some point. I mean, you can always make a bit more in poker with a little more work, but very few people are making 7 figures/year at poker, where a lot of good traders are making that type of money. In poker, as you move up in stakes, you play against tougher competition, so although you are wagering more money, your EV(expected value) per buy in is lower since the game is harder. In trading, your competition doesn't change. The game doesn't get harder, so your EV stays the same, you just wager more money and return more profits at the same rate you were when wagering less.
Many people also think poker players make good traders, because psychologically they aren't effected by the money on the line, and they are used to making split second decisions under pressure. To us I think it would just be a game we're trying to win, and we wouldn't sweat the money involved, because we also have bankroll management skills from poker.
I'm not even going to actually trade for money for at least a few months. I plan on studying for at least a month or so, and then simtrading for another month or so to see how I'm doing, and evaluate what I'm doing right and wrong. Then when I feel I have a definite edge I'll throw some money in an account and start trading.
Money wise I think it'd be great if I ended up doing well trading. It'll take a lot of work to get there, but if I do get there, it will have been well worth it. There's obviously a lot more money in trading than poker. Don't get me wrong, the money is great in poker, and I love to play, but I also like a challenge and I like $5 better than $1, so I'm going to give it a try.
I'm currently studying the trading method I'll be using with someone here in Arizona who is seriously a genius with this stuff. He's the one who introduced me to this method and thinks it's the most similar trading type to poker. He even put me in touch with a guy who is pretty well known using this method and making ridiculous amounts of money doing it, so I gave him a call last week and got a chance to pick his brain a bit. Let's just say there is MONEY to be made. I'll talk more about it when I learn more, and get some practice.
A lot of people when they hear "trading", they assume throwing money in the stock market and trying to make 10% or whatever. That's definitely not what I'm doing. I'm trying to make MONEY. What I'll be doing is daytrading, where the profits can be pretty insane. Probably the first thing that comes to people's minds is that I'm going to go broke, because most people do who attempt to daytrade. That's because they don't learn how to play the game. It has a lot of similarities to poker, in that only about 5% win, and a lot of people lose their shirts. The big difference in trading, in comparison to poker is that in poker your earning potential is essentially capped out at some point. I mean, you can always make a bit more in poker with a little more work, but very few people are making 7 figures/year at poker, where a lot of good traders are making that type of money. In poker, as you move up in stakes, you play against tougher competition, so although you are wagering more money, your EV(expected value) per buy in is lower since the game is harder. In trading, your competition doesn't change. The game doesn't get harder, so your EV stays the same, you just wager more money and return more profits at the same rate you were when wagering less.
Many people also think poker players make good traders, because psychologically they aren't effected by the money on the line, and they are used to making split second decisions under pressure. To us I think it would just be a game we're trying to win, and we wouldn't sweat the money involved, because we also have bankroll management skills from poker.
I'm not even going to actually trade for money for at least a few months. I plan on studying for at least a month or so, and then simtrading for another month or so to see how I'm doing, and evaluate what I'm doing right and wrong. Then when I feel I have a definite edge I'll throw some money in an account and start trading.
Money wise I think it'd be great if I ended up doing well trading. It'll take a lot of work to get there, but if I do get there, it will have been well worth it. There's obviously a lot more money in trading than poker. Don't get me wrong, the money is great in poker, and I love to play, but I also like a challenge and I like $5 better than $1, so I'm going to give it a try.
I'm currently studying the trading method I'll be using with someone here in Arizona who is seriously a genius with this stuff. He's the one who introduced me to this method and thinks it's the most similar trading type to poker. He even put me in touch with a guy who is pretty well known using this method and making ridiculous amounts of money doing it, so I gave him a call last week and got a chance to pick his brain a bit. Let's just say there is MONEY to be made. I'll talk more about it when I learn more, and get some practice.
Friday, September 7, 2007
LA Trip
The trip to Los Angeles was good. Got a direct flight from NJ; sooooooooo much better than saving a few bucks and having to stop/take longer for the trip. Time is money, so from now on I'll be doing that every time that I can. Real life money is so much different than poker money( mindsets with them), and always trying to save money, but when you break it down to save $100 or less to spend another few hours flying/waiting in airports, etc... is not worth it at all.
My flight got in Thursday evening and 2 guys from the casino picked me up in a Lincoln Town Car. So comfortable/relaxing taking a ride in that after a long flight, rather than a smelly small cab. When I'm rich, if I ever don't want to drive as much I may hire a driver and buy one of those for them to drive me around in.
I checked into the hotel, and went up to the room. The hotel was real nice. The hotel at the casino was all sold out when I went to book the week before so we got a place a couple blocks away. Brett's plane didn't get in for a few hours, and I was beat so I just chilled in the room and watched a movie until he got in. When he got there we walked around looking for something to eat since the places in the hotel were closed by then. We tried walking thru a Carl's Jr. but they wouldn't take our order, so I walked up to a guy's car about to drive through and asked if he'd order for us. He said he would. We stood next to his car and waited for him to finish his order before telling him ours. Dude was a beast so he ordered like 8 things. Me and Brett ordered, and we walked up to the window next to his car. The guy started talking to us and Brett didn't understand what he was saying.(he was Mexican so talked with a bit of an accent.) Brett says, "no comprende senor. no hablo espanol." haha. I told Brett he was speaking english. Luckily the guy was cool and didn't kill us on the spot.
We pretty much just ate and crashed that night since we were both tired. Friday and Saturday we grinded the 10/20nl games. One hand that I remember, I was on Brett's left. He had the button, and raised to $60. I made it $220 from the sb with KQ. He calls. Flop is Q-9-T, 2 clubs. I bet $350. Brett makes it $1,000. He has about $2,000 behind, and I cover. Such a crappy spot since I know his range is huge here, and he will be semi-bluffing a HUGE portion of the time. However, the rest of the time he will have me crushed here and to guess where I'm at for $3,000 didn't seem like a great idea. I fold, and he shows me 9-7. :( That was really the only hand with Brett that anything much happened. No sense messing with eachother a ton when we can wait for home games. Like they say in Rounders, "We're not playing together, but we're not playing against each other, either. It's like the Nature Channel. You don't see piranhas eating each other, do you?"
Brett left Saturday night to go see a friend who lived near there before his flight in the morning. I stuck around and grinded. A lot of actors/professional athletes were out. James Woods plays like every minute it seems. Every time I walked in it seemed like he was playing, and every time I left he was still playing. He plays a TON of poker. He's like 60 years old, and had a good looking model type girlfriend he made out with lots who was maybe 25.(note to self: get rich and famous) I was sitting next to former NBA player Jack Haley, and another former NBA player, Chris Mills was sitting behind me. Other NFL/NHL guys were there as well. Bunch of well known poker pros there- Chad Brown, Vanessa Russo, Men the Master, Cindy Violette, Tuan Le, Barry Greenstein, Mimi Tran and a few others. Eskimo Clark was walking/sitting around all weekend, looking for a stake or something.
Funny story I just found out about Tuan Le: He went to Foxwoods Casino and played the main event of a big tournament there in 2004. He won the tournament for $1.55 million. He didn't have a bank account at the time, so he took his winnings in cash, bought a duffle bag at the gift shop and caught the next flight out.
When Jack Haley was sitting next to me, the guy next to him was an NHL player, so they were exchanging some stories. One cool story Jack mentioned was that when he started playing poker about 2 and a half years ago he was there during a tournament and wanted to rent a room out. The rooms were all sold out, but they did have one room, a presidential suite available. Jack said he'd take it.(I dunno what that costs, but I'm sure it's ridiculously high.) Anyways, he liked it so much he never checked out, and is still checked in over 2 1/2 years later, using it as his poker pad.
Sunday I played for a few hours before my flight. I forgot to set up a ride to the airport. I called the floorman over to the table I was playing at. I asked if he could arrange a ride for me. He said he'd see what he could do and went and made a call. A few minutes later he came back over to the table and said I'd have a limo waiting outside for me at 5. Beautiful!
We had to drop off two ladies in Beverly Hills on the way to the airport. The limo driver was telling me that the one lady basically owned Santa Monica. She was ridiculously wealthy. We dropped her and her friend off in a sick neighborhood that you could tell costs crazy money to live there. Makes me want to get filthy rich. She asked what I did and I told her I played poker for a living. She told me no one can win at gambling and I should quit before my luck runs out. :)
My flight got in Thursday evening and 2 guys from the casino picked me up in a Lincoln Town Car. So comfortable/relaxing taking a ride in that after a long flight, rather than a smelly small cab. When I'm rich, if I ever don't want to drive as much I may hire a driver and buy one of those for them to drive me around in.
I checked into the hotel, and went up to the room. The hotel was real nice. The hotel at the casino was all sold out when I went to book the week before so we got a place a couple blocks away. Brett's plane didn't get in for a few hours, and I was beat so I just chilled in the room and watched a movie until he got in. When he got there we walked around looking for something to eat since the places in the hotel were closed by then. We tried walking thru a Carl's Jr. but they wouldn't take our order, so I walked up to a guy's car about to drive through and asked if he'd order for us. He said he would. We stood next to his car and waited for him to finish his order before telling him ours. Dude was a beast so he ordered like 8 things. Me and Brett ordered, and we walked up to the window next to his car. The guy started talking to us and Brett didn't understand what he was saying.(he was Mexican so talked with a bit of an accent.) Brett says, "no comprende senor. no hablo espanol." haha. I told Brett he was speaking english. Luckily the guy was cool and didn't kill us on the spot.
We pretty much just ate and crashed that night since we were both tired. Friday and Saturday we grinded the 10/20nl games. One hand that I remember, I was on Brett's left. He had the button, and raised to $60. I made it $220 from the sb with KQ. He calls. Flop is Q-9-T, 2 clubs. I bet $350. Brett makes it $1,000. He has about $2,000 behind, and I cover. Such a crappy spot since I know his range is huge here, and he will be semi-bluffing a HUGE portion of the time. However, the rest of the time he will have me crushed here and to guess where I'm at for $3,000 didn't seem like a great idea. I fold, and he shows me 9-7. :( That was really the only hand with Brett that anything much happened. No sense messing with eachother a ton when we can wait for home games. Like they say in Rounders, "We're not playing together, but we're not playing against each other, either. It's like the Nature Channel. You don't see piranhas eating each other, do you?"
Brett left Saturday night to go see a friend who lived near there before his flight in the morning. I stuck around and grinded. A lot of actors/professional athletes were out. James Woods plays like every minute it seems. Every time I walked in it seemed like he was playing, and every time I left he was still playing. He plays a TON of poker. He's like 60 years old, and had a good looking model type girlfriend he made out with lots who was maybe 25.(note to self: get rich and famous) I was sitting next to former NBA player Jack Haley, and another former NBA player, Chris Mills was sitting behind me. Other NFL/NHL guys were there as well. Bunch of well known poker pros there- Chad Brown, Vanessa Russo, Men the Master, Cindy Violette, Tuan Le, Barry Greenstein, Mimi Tran and a few others. Eskimo Clark was walking/sitting around all weekend, looking for a stake or something.
Funny story I just found out about Tuan Le: He went to Foxwoods Casino and played the main event of a big tournament there in 2004. He won the tournament for $1.55 million. He didn't have a bank account at the time, so he took his winnings in cash, bought a duffle bag at the gift shop and caught the next flight out.
When Jack Haley was sitting next to me, the guy next to him was an NHL player, so they were exchanging some stories. One cool story Jack mentioned was that when he started playing poker about 2 and a half years ago he was there during a tournament and wanted to rent a room out. The rooms were all sold out, but they did have one room, a presidential suite available. Jack said he'd take it.(I dunno what that costs, but I'm sure it's ridiculously high.) Anyways, he liked it so much he never checked out, and is still checked in over 2 1/2 years later, using it as his poker pad.
Sunday I played for a few hours before my flight. I forgot to set up a ride to the airport. I called the floorman over to the table I was playing at. I asked if he could arrange a ride for me. He said he'd see what he could do and went and made a call. A few minutes later he came back over to the table and said I'd have a limo waiting outside for me at 5. Beautiful!
We had to drop off two ladies in Beverly Hills on the way to the airport. The limo driver was telling me that the one lady basically owned Santa Monica. She was ridiculously wealthy. We dropped her and her friend off in a sick neighborhood that you could tell costs crazy money to live there. Makes me want to get filthy rich. She asked what I did and I told her I played poker for a living. She told me no one can win at gambling and I should quit before my luck runs out. :)
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