Holiday Update

What kind of blogger writes a blog once a month? I guess I'll blame it on the busy holiday season but it really boils down to a combination of laziness and a less than glamorous streak of medicore poker. Christmas has passed...New Year's is about here...and life is no less busy.

The Christmas season was great for my family. The three kids (11, 9, and 5) got pretty much everything they asked for except for the laptop for the 11-year old and a cellphone for the 9-year old (We have to draw the line somewhere, don't we?). They got a new puppy ("Rudy") and I surprised the whole gang with a family vacation to Beaches Boscobel (Jamaica) in July. We recently started going to a different church after being at the same one for 35 years so it was a very uplifting and revitalized Christmas season for my wife and I.

As a diehard Chargers fan, it's been quite a last month. Put out to pasture after week 13, somehow..someway...every miracle that could happen did and they were given an opportunity to play for the AFC West title on Sunday. We had purchased ten (10) tickets to this game 2 days after the Hochuli fiasco in week 2 and, at the time, never would have thought the game wouldn't mean anything. As the season progressed, it appeared as if the game would be nothing more than a tune-up for Denver and their playoff hopes. But Dwayne Bowe (KC) fumbled an onside kick and somehow the Bills found it in their souls to fight the Broncos in Denver and there we were on Sunday fighting for the division title. My boss' family and my family went down to San Diego on Saturday and got up early Sunday morning for the tailgating scene. We had a great time tailgating (it was the first game for the kids) and the game, obviously, was incredible. Objectively, I did have an inkling that the Chargers might blow them out. Every single thing pointed towards a big win and I know in the NFL anything can happen but Qualcomm is becoming an increasingly difficult place to play late in the season.

If you refer to one of my September posts, I made a considerable amount of over/under NFL bets with various friends. I ended up taking the worst of it for around $225 which was offset by my 2nd place finish in my Church fantasy league for $275. San Diego and New England screwed me....Dallas and Miami helped me.

Poker has quickly fallen down my list of high priorities over the past month. I don't know if the continued responsibilities of home and work coupled with an overall deterioration of my game have led to my attitude but, as I was telling a friend at work today, for the first time in four years, I haven't played much poker and I really don't care. I understand that a lack of big cashes will often lead to a distaste for the game but for me, it has become really monotonous. I have been unable to put in the time necessary to allow my game to evolve over the past months. I consider myself relative dead money in MTT's now and I have no one to blame but myself. I do think the online scene has become more difficult since the UIGEA but not to the point that I should have the results I've thrown up (<----aptly put) over the past 6 months.

I continue to enjoy the poker "scene" and spend a considerable amount of time on pokerroad.com reading the forums and listening to all of the podcasts. I guess I'll never get over my affinity for the gambling/poker lifestyle. I'm sure I can rekindle my poker candle sometime in the near future but for now, I've got to make sure I don't blow my whole bankroll during my "funk." For Christmas, my boss (and close friend) bought me a book titled Talent is Over-Rated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else. I'm really looking forward to reading it because as I read the cover notes, it talked about a concept called "Deliberate Practice." It is a concept that the author writes is what separates the good from the best. Not god-given talent and not "hard work" but "Deliberate Practice." I'm hoping to gleen some nuggets of wisdom that might crossover to my poker game.

I'm heading to Vegas this weekend for a "Wild-card" party. My buddy and I planned this around 3 months ago and are looking forward to sitting around and watching football all weekend. I would have never in a million years thought the Chargers would be hosting a playoff game but I can't change the plans now. We're staying at Bally's (what can I say...free rooms!) but I'm sure I will slide over to the Bellagio throughout the weekend.

I'll end on a Mixed Martial Arts rant...I can't wait for Brock to kick Frank Mir's ass...I can't wait for Rampage to kick Rashad Evans' ass...I can't wait for BJ to kick GSP's ass...I can't wait for Chuck to kick someone's ass...Why the fuck is the DREAM New Year's card not on American TV?... I don't want Franklin or Henderson to lose their fight...Arlovski v. Fedor is going to be good.

Thanks for reading,

W2D

Poker, Poker, Poker

After one of my most recent posts about 17 Top-50 finishes without a final table, I was finally able to break the streak and finish 9th in the TILT $23K for around $600. Since then (and over the last six days), I have five additional Top-50 finishes including an 11th and 15th in the TILT $11.5K and a 5th place finish in the STARS $5K for around $420 last night. I'm playing as good as I ever have and if I can ever run relatively well at the end of a tournament, I know I'm going to take one or maybe more tournaments down in the near future.

Life is plugging along as the holidays approach....Soccer is ending but basketball is starting....UFC 91 tomorrow night (Go Randy!!)....The Chargers will be fighting for their season in the next three weeks. Nothing but fun and games Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

I hope to report some huge poker results in the coming days. In the meantime, please check out this thread I started on http://www.pokerroad.com/:

http://www.pokerroad.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2125

Let's just say that I'm a poker savante and I probably have too much time on my hands.

Thanks for reading,

W2D

CLARIFICATION

For the record...I am vehemently opposed to California Proposition 8 but I see that Google Ads has put a "Yes on Prop 8" Ad on my blog. If I had the time to figure out how to get it off of there, I would. I'm kind of pissed that political ads are allowed to be placed via Google Ads. It's bush-league (excuse the pun) IMHO.

Anyways....If you live in California, Vote NO ON PROP. 8. I thought we had cleared every civil rights hurdle but some people want to take us back to the 50's and 60's.

W2D

Mediocrity at its Finest!

On Wednesday, I racked up my 17th Top-50 finish in an MTT with more than 400 entrants since my last final table (6/18/2008). 17!!!!!!!!!!! That is 17 times I've put myself in the position to either play good or get lucky and 17 times that I've failed. My end game is worse than the Chargers.

Please, oh please Poker Gods....just once let me run like Barry Sanders at the end of a tournament. PLEASE!!!!!!

Ask and Ye Shall Receive...

Very nice...On Monday, I blog about the Chargers and how Ted Cottrell should GTFO if he can't think of any new defensive schemes. On Tuesday, they FIRE HIM!!!! Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

What else should I ask for?

Caesar's Poker Classic/WPT Festa Al Lago

I just got home from an eventful weekend in Las Vegas. It started wonderfully by my wife and I losing $1700 in the first 5 hours we were there. That dampered my spirits a tad but I've been there and done that as far as ups and downs in Vegas so I wasn't sweating it too much. We made reservations for YellowTail, the sushi bar at the Bellagio, and I headed over there about 2 hours early (by myself) so I could rail the final two tables of the WPT Festa Al Lago going on in the Fontana Lounge. I've railed many tourneys there and I love it every chance I get. I was especially pumped this time because my favorite pro, Joe "Seebs" Sebok, was still alive and big-stacked. I was able to represent with "PokerRoad" gear (see picture) and got to meet B.J. Nemeth, Ali Nejad, Shronk, and the rest of the PokerRoad gang. I'm 37 years old but still get a little giddy when I see the guys that I follow so closely on the website and the podcasts. Sebok was able to finish strong with 12 players remaining and looked to be in good position for Saturday's run to the TV final table.

On Saturday, my wife and I slept in until around 9:30 which marked the first time I've slept in past 7:00 since my trip to Jamaica. I have refereed soccer games at 8:00 every Saturday morning for the last two months and I go to church at 8:15 every Sunday morning so you have NO idea what it feels like to sleep in just ONE day. :):):) I headed over to Caesar's where I registered for the $550 buy-in Caesar's Poker Classic. I sat down at my table and saw a few different pros in the field such as Bryan "Devo" Devonshire, Barry Shulman, Allen "Chainsaw" Kessler, and Men "The Master" Nguyen. My table seemed relatively weak and I was able to chip up through the first level and a half from $5,000 to approx. $7,500. I got my foot stuck on the gas pedal, though, and a couple of guys either check-raised me or took pots from me in position and over the course of about 20 minutes, I got myself down to around $3,800 when the following hand came up:

With the blinds at $50/$100, a guy that had just come to our table with a huge stack and a "lip ring" (I'm not kidding) raised it up to $275. The previous hand he had said, "Get out of my way boys" so I pretty much gave him no credit for a hand. A guy in middle position called, the button called, and the SB called. I was in the BB and looked down at two black Kings. I felt like my table image was extremely loose and I'm sure they thought I was steaming over a fairly big hand I had just lost with two Queens. It was a great spot to make it look like a squeeze and maybe induce someone to come back over the top (careful what you wish for....). I raised to $1475 leaving me only around $2300 behind. The original raiser folded quickly but the first caller shoved and had me covered. This was the same guy I had lost to with the two queens so I figured he thought I was making a move. I really thought he had something like A-K or maybe two 10's. Ummm.....I was wrong. I obviously called with that much of my stack in there and he showed me two Aces. That was that.....

I enjoyed being able to represent PokerRoad with the hoodie and hat (see picture) but I was especially proud to wear a fallenheroesla.org patch for everyone to see. I recently met LASD Deputy Scott Diamond on the PokerRoad forums and have talked with him a lot about the Charity he started for the families of police officers killed in the line of duty. This is obviously a cause that I hold dear to my heart and it was a pleasure to represent his noble cause in the Caesar's poker room. (http://www.fallenheroesla.org/)

After busting out so quickly, I headed back over to the Bellagio to find the final 12 of the Festa Al Lago playing in the Bellagio Poker Room. It was a horrible place to hold such a big tournament (the noise from the Sportsbook was ridiculous) but it provided me a great spot to stand literally 4 feet from Joe Sebok and Michael DiMichelle. I was able to sweat both of them for around two hours and got to talk to Seebs at one of the breaks. He appreciated my support and liked the fact that I was wearing the PokerRoad stuff. He looked to be in real control of his game and I ended up leaving when they broke it down to one 10-handed final table. At one point, Seebs was the chip leader at that table but, alas, he lost a big coinflip A-K v. 7-7 and eventually was eliminated in 9th place. I've been spending a lot of time on the PokerRoad forums and he had quite a support base there. We were all pretty heartbroken that he didn't make the TV final table.

I eventually left the Bellagio, went back to NYNY, and played Pai Gow and drank myself under the table for around 5 hours straight. My wife and I continued our horrific run of cards and added to the weekend deficit. We had a great dinner at Gallagher's Steak House before calling it an early evening due to excessive alcohol consumption.

As we got ready to drive home today, my wife wanted to play one more hour of Pai Gow while our friends got ready to leave. I was against it but eventually obliged and we went and grabbed a couple of seats. What a DAMN good decision that was....we ran like two Jamaican sprinters for around an hour and literally couldn't lose a hand. We made around $700 in that final session which definitely dampered the pain of the other weekend losses. We eventually got on the road just in time to listen to the Chargers game....yeah, you heard me....THE F$%&KING CHARGERS GAME!!!

To quote Dennis Miller..."I don't want to go on a rant, here". This has been the most frustrating season I've ever experienced as a fan of any team. The Chargers lost their fourth heartbreak game of the year (and fifth overall) today and it was mind-numbing to listen to. Vincent Jackson has long been touted as having tons of potential but I can tell you that I don't think Jerry Rice or Marvin Harrison have ever dropped a ball like he did today. 14 PENALTIES???? Give me a break....I put that squarely on Norv Turner's shoulders. And let's not even start with the defense. They had ZERO SACKS IN OCTOBER. Are you kidding me? Ted Cottrell-What the hell are you doing? GTFO if you can't come up with a scheme in the NFL that puts some pressure on the quarterback. OIU h'oihd'aosifc ha'iodc hfa'oihdg'aviohgf'ihgf'knv'c ..........

Okay...I'm done. Needless to say, I'm very frustrated with their season.

Overall, it was another great weekend in Vegas. I forget sometimes the charge I get from playing live, big buy-in tournament poker. It really is fun and you have to make sure you remind yourself that while you're playing because if you only have fun when you do well, more often than not, you're going to hate it.

I've played 12,600 hands of $.50/$1 NL the last 45 days and have won at a clip of 6.42BB/100. I don't know for sure but I think that's somewhere between okay and average. Anyways, I should be putting in a lot of hours the next two weeks so maybe I can report back with a big score (or two).

Thanks for reading,

W2D

Ship the First Prop Bet!

On July 23rd, Rubba and I made a series of prop bets that were discussed in detail on this blog as well as his. We had said the contest would last until the end of November. Shortly after making those bets, we both had busy times in our personal lives that severely cut into our time at the tables. I honestly haven't been thinking too much about them because several of them involve heavy volume which I haven't been able to commit to lately but last night...I continued a huge run I've had at $.50/$1 NL the past ten days. I've been 4-tabling at this level for about three weeks. I have played approx. 11,000 hands at a win rate of only 6.9/100BB but with rakeback, it's helped me add over $1K to my roll the last few weeks.

At one table last night (see picture), I was finally able to WIN A PROP BET!! I went on a sick heater which included a $280 pot with 10-9 on a 10-9-3 flop (vs. 3-3 and A-A). River.....obv 9. :):):) I was able to win Prop Bet #4 of the Willing2Die division "Be up at least five (5) buy-in's at a cash table (min. stakes $.50/$1 NL)."

I've been a tourney donk for over four years but I'm having so much fun playing cash tables that I've foregone a lot of tournaments lately. I'm going to make a huge push towards some of the other prop bets we have so I can close this deal :):):). I also won a $216 seat to the FTP $750K guar. so if I could somehow win four more seats by Sunday, I could ship another of the prop bets. We'll see....

Can the Chargers please beat the damn PATRIOTS one time??!!??!!

Thanks for reading,

W2D