The Year 2009

2009

What a year, as the pictures above witness, only a few of the big news stories that touched all of our lives this year.

Iran will redefine itself in the next few years. It will, in my opinion, be the US' biggest concern over the next decade. The people there want freedom, want the right to express themselves and many are making huge sacrifices to get to that end. I fully support their effort and believe that this could have world consequences

Pirating still continues into the 21st century, that is amazing to me. These criminals from Somalia can take over vessels 100 times the size of the little skiffs they are zooming around in and how they can hold countries hostage is epic. And countries/ companies are paying it, encouraging and ensuring that as long as it is profitable for these guys, who obviously have nothing else going on that this activity will continue.

Vladamir Putin taking a horseback ride in the country.

Swine flu panicking the world in huge numbers. There haven't been very many pandemics in our lifetime and this one has already killed thousands of people.

Obama making US history. A great orator, but can he really solve all the things he is looking to tackle. I didn't vote for him, but more power to him, I hope he gets it done.

The death tolls from a war it's difficult to know if we can win. This week, 5 young Muslim AMERICANS were arrested for planning jihad. These were college students very close to graduating into professional careers and somehow, they ended up believing the kooks and signing up. That should scare us all. This group has only one ambition and that is to destroy us and our way of life and I hope and support that we will crush them and help them along with their false, unbelievable beliefs of martyrdom.

The landing on the Hudson kept us all amazed for a few days.

The Dali Lama helping out at a food line in San Francisco

Saturn pictures taken from the cassini orbiter. Wasn't it no more than 6 generations ago for all of us that horseback was the best we could do ? Goes to show, we are just a spec in time on our turn on this big blue marble.

and then there is Michael. Rest in peace, thanks for the music

POKER

Let's face it, I grind out a corporate job for 10 -12 hours a day and get my poker on for a couple hours in the evening and on my days off. I would like it to be the other way around, but obligations and poor life decisions
forbid that at this time. Having said that, and after a 4 month cooler in past quarter, it was overall a pretty successful year.

Sessions played 4230

Win Rate $ 36.75 hour for the year

ROI 10.32%

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October / November

 

Ah, fall is here and in the air....NOT...this is southern cal and fall is about the same as spring...perfect :) What a place to live, ya gotta love it. In fact, I do like the more moderate temperatures, mid 60's to 70's during the day and high 40's to 50's at night. I do like the chill in the evenings. So, what happened in October and November besides me losing my game in poker. We got to get out of town for a few days to Cabo (see previous post), had a fun birthday blowout in late November for yours truly where we went to the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano to party and see Dread Zeplin play. If you have not seen this band, check em out when they come to your town. The music is tight and it is funny to watch as the lead singer is a Elvis impersonator, very funny and good music. Also, joined facebook and I am not sure I am happy I did at this point. The upside is running across old friends I haven't seen in a while, but not sure I like that kind of exposure to everyone. Also, what's with the farmville bullshiiiit and all the other goofy stuff going on, I can do without seeing who's received a heart and crap like that. May disengage :)

POKER RESULTS

I have continued to stick with the my main game, the super turbo 6 man sit n go and was profitable at + $1357, but ventured over to the heads up 300 chip Full Tilt game and although I like the fast pace and games per hour, and ran some strings of wins, was overall down < $633 > for that game and will stop playing those altogether. Slight profit in MTT's of + 317 and had decent rakeback.

835 sessions

ROI + 2.83%

Time played 277 hours

Not great and not where I want to be, but survived the beats for the most part. Traffic has been increasing on Cake and the staff has added many new guaranteed Multi's each day, so that is bringing more people to the site. If you would like to give Cake a try, click on my banner and use FRAZ in the SIGN UP CODE box and you will get 33% rakeback for every game you play, ring and tourneys...If you don't know what rakeback is, shoot me an email and I will be happy to explain it to you, as you should NOT PLAY ANY MORE GAMES until you have it. It is that important to your profit line.

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Miss November

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Miss October

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Cabo baaaaby

So, I definitely had the Aruba blues this October, not getting there for the first time in 3 years, so to drown the sorrow away, donkeyherder, myself, soccerpro77 and herder's wife took a road trip to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. It is called Land's End and for good reason. It ends literally where the Pacific ocean and the Sea of Cortez meet. It is only a two hour flight from So Cal, so we got there and we had bought a time share from a bro of mine and did not know what to expect except the pix looked good and the price was right. We knew we were about 40 minutes from the airport to the hotel and were debating to rent a car or take a cab and see what's up. There were hundreds of 'hawkers' around the airport, offering to give you a ride if you see a timeshare presentation and we're like " ah nah" and hook up an overpriced cab for the trip. It is an okay somewhat scenic drive and the town is a typical small town with the haves and have not's as far as we can see. There are mansions and there are shacks and the people all seem happy regardless of which one they are in. We pull up to this long drive headed for the ocean on the Pacific side to Pueblo Bonito Sunset beach and it is spectacular, a definite 5 star resort. They have some construction going on, building more rooms and a Jack Nicholas golf course and we get to the lobby check in and the check in attendant is cool and gives us a couple options. We had already paid for a 2 bedroom suite and he says, you can have this one or that one, but I also have this other one that has a jacuzzi on the balcony of the 8 floor and we say " hell yeah, that one" and we are off. This place is built on a side of a hill and they have golf carts take you anywhere you want to go...down these winding paths, all decorated with local foliage and it is obviously well kept. We get up to the room and SCORE...nice room, fantastic view, beautifully furnished and we are very happy. As we had not vacationed together before, I was not sure if we would all get along for an entire week together, but it all worked out fantastic and time flew. We partied on the sunset cruise, headed down the coast to snorkel and spent one day fishing the Pacific, just the 4 of us on our own chartered boat. As none of us are avid fisherman, we didn't know what to expect and the girls took some seasick meds but still ended up hurling and sleeping for a lot of the time. We were cruising a 1/2 mile from the shoreline trolling and ended up hooking up 16 Dorado ( mahi mahi ) and kept 12 of them. This is a beautifully colored fish that strikes top water and is shiny all the way in. In many cases, they leap from the water and the 12 we kept were from 10 to 30 pounds. We got back to the marina, had them filleted, and took them back to the suite where we cut them into steaks and bagged and froze them, with the exception of one which we took to the pool and they kindly grilled up for us fresh for fish tacos. What a treat !. Herder and I both brought our laptops and were able to grind some, both making final tables on consecutive days and that was kickass....Overall, a great trip

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Ah September

Did you know that September was national rice month ? Do you care that September was national rice month ? LOL, okay me either, except I am told it is in our best interest to eat more rice, so load up folks ...........

Poker was rough this month as I ignored my own advice and continued to get involved in ring games. My tournament play also suffered and it just seemed the ridiculous bad beats happened at a higher rate than normal, both on Cake and Full Tilt. I spent some time on UB playing satelittes for Aruba and won a couple of main event entries but never got too close to winning, so a bit frustrated with that and it may have negatively impacted some of my other play. At any rate, here are the results for September...I may be forced to eat more rice soon :)

RakeBack + 1392
Sit n Go's 210 sessions - 1349
Multi table tournaments 35 sessions - 410
Ring games 16 sessions - 532

September totals 267 sessions - $899 -3.37% ROI


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Time for a ROAD trip

Well, it looks like Aruba might not happen for us this year, unfortunately, but what the hell, let's do a road trip. The pic above is of the pool at our hotel as we are heading south to Cabo San Lucas and a little visit to Cabo Wabo perhaps. We are heading down with donkeyherder and nope, no poker there, so it's sunshine, margaritas and sport fishing. I will be taking the laptop and will stay in touch

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August 2009

August has always been a weird month for me. I am not sure why, but it's like, summer is coming to a close soon and it's too hot and I didn't do all the summer things I had planned and blah blah blah...just weird to me. In fact, it was pretty uneventful, as there were no major events or vacations that I took, it was just one of those grind it out months. My game jumped all over and I ventured out from my bread and butter ST sit n go's and played some ring games, and I didn't do well. Had some good sessions, but played too many hands and will lay off those for a while.

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Nah, I'm GRINDING right now

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Aruba (the second time) 08

The first trip to Aruba was so much fun, I had to try for it again and again was successful in winning the trip through Ultimate Bet. Since we had been the previous year, we knew more of what to expect and pack, etc. My buddy Bill (billiam_cdn) from Toronto also won again and we agreed to rent a house this time instead of staying in the hotel. I was able to score a 5 bedroom house with private pool on 5 acres on a hill just 2 miles from the hotel where the tournament was to be held. We had a tropical backyard with hammocks and beautiful foliage and a view of the Caribbean. They also had turtles and I ended up taking it upon myself to feed the turtles each day, which was fun. Each time I would feed the turtles, a bunch of little very colorful lizards would come out as well and help eat the lettuce I was feeding the turtles, very cool. UB also put on an auction for a bunch of cool things, like dinners at very nice restaurants, a private party in Phil Helmuths suite, and other fun stuff. I put in bids on two nice restaurants, Helmuth' party and was watching we got closer to the deadline. I had noticed that Shawn Rice, a UB pro, was also bidding on all the same things. Well, since he has about a million points and works for UB, that didn't seem right, so I asked and was assured he was not eligible. Okay, cool, I ended up not winning the private party but did win two great dinners, one at Texas de Brazil and another at the best restaurant at the hotel. One change UB made to the tourney this year, was that the main event would end at 8 p.m. each night, so that was cool and still gave us time to spend the evening's together. The first day of poker went well for me with the key hand coming when I hook up with A A in an early position and raise and get re raised from the button. I think about it and push all in, opting not to slow play them like I usually do. He goes into the tank and takes about 5 minutes before calling with K K. I win the hand, double up, and he admits he almost laid them down.....hmmm. I get by day one (in fact, I have never NOT gotten into day two in any major event) and in day two, I run good again with a huge hand where I am the button and see 4 4. There is an early raiser to 3,000 and I call and the big blind also calls, so a little over 12,000 in the pot. The flop comes J 4 4...oh boy oh boy oh boy...the original raiser bets 9,000, I call and the big blind mucks. The turn is a 2 and I am hoping his guy either has A A or catches something. He bets 25,000 and I call and he stares me down. This is one of those young hotshots with his poker starter kit, sunglasses and baseball hat (lol, I do the same). The river is a 9 and he goes all in, I call and he turns over pocket 2's for a full house and I instacall and pick up a huge pot. There were 551 players that started the tournament and 54 players would be paid and we got down to the money by the end of the day and I had a nice stack.

We played for a couple hours and I have Lee Markholt on my left two seats. He plays very tight but has a lot of respect around the table. He eventually gets knocked out and we start playing 6 handed when we get down to 36 players. I hang on with nothing special happening but picking up spots. I have already bettered my 07 finish as I was 38th there and once we get down to 18, I get tabled with James Mordue, the 07 2nd place finisher and a very solid player. I also have Lynn Samples sitting next to me on my left. I know James "Jimmy" is the guy I have to watch out for but he has a shorter stack and as a result has pushed a couple times. I pick up 10 10 when it is his big blind and I put him all in and tell him " I really don't want you in the tourney anymore" and he responds " No one does" and he is right. He has played many big tournaments and done well for himself. He looks down at his cards and calls with A J. He turns a J and doubles up and that's not a good sign. The very next hand, I get A Q and raise and he pushes all in from the small blind with 9 9 and I call again getting in heads up with "Jimmy" . I flop a Q and knock him out of the tournament and now I am feeling very confident with lots of chips and "Jimmy" out of the tournament. A few hands later, I push all in on Lynn Samples (she is the girlfriend of UB pro Shawn Rice) and knock her out as well. I am chip leader at this point and feeling it. What a feeling it is to be chip leader very late in a major tournament. After this, I go card dead and get whittled down a bit. It comes to my big blind and I pick up A 10 and, like every hand, there is a raise and I call and an A comes in on the flop. He bets, I call....turn is a rag, he bets, I call..river is a rag and I bet and he calls with A J and I lose the pot and a chunk of chips. I also run into Chris Morrison (dashalert) and I had played with him on many occasions online and he is a solid player as well. He bluffs me out of a nice pot and I am now one of the shorter stacks...wtf ? We are down to 10 players and 7 go to the final table which is on TV..I am that close. Dashalert and Matt Brady are the only two guys I think are equal to me at this point but the blinds are big and I am short. I raise from the button with J 6 of diamonds and get called by both blinds. This is going to be a big pot. The flop comes A 10 8 with two diamonds and it checks around to me, and I push all in. The small blind takes about 10 minutes in the tank and makes the call with A 2, the big blind folds and I now need a diamond...ONE TIME PLEASE....not to be, no diamond and I get knocked out 10th for $33,400. Nice run, but only 9 players to a million...I am NOT happy. As has become our tradition, it's celebration dinner time and we head over to Texas de Brazil. I had not been to a place like this before and what a great dinner, I highly recommend this place. We also got some snorkeling in and of course had a great time with our friend Bill once again.....thanks Aruba . The last night UB had their closing party. These parties are off the hook. It was definitely helped my "mood" that I had done well in the tournament, but they have bars everywhere, great food, it's out under the stars around the pool and they set up a stage built over the water of the pool and Scott Ian from Antrax and his girlfriend Pearl ( who is meatloaf's daughter) and their band just rock the night. We are smoking Cuban cigars, and Amanda and a bunch of others are in the pool dancing and the waiters are getting in the pool with their trays of drinks and delivering the drinks in the pool. It was crazy fun.


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Just Because

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Aruba the First Time ( Oct 07)

Winning Aruba the first time was especially important to me as we had never really taken any big "poker trips" before. Sure, we were at WSOP in Vegas, and that was great, but I have been to Vegas hundreds of times, as it is just 4 hours away, but we had never traveled to go play poker, so this was going to be fun. I don't know why, but we had to fly all the way across county and then south to the tiny island of Aruba, just off the coast of Venezuela. It has always been a vacation retreat for east coast crowd, but I had never paid much attention to it, until Natalie, and then it got all kinds of attention. We arrived and took a cab down to almost the end of the island to the hotel circle area and pulled up at the Raddison. It looked tropical with open air lobbies and it felt great. The rooms ended up being okay, a bit small, but hey, we were in freaking Aruba. We took a walk around the complex and saw the killer pool, right next to the beach, the gym that overlooks the water, some outdoor bars and open aired grill. This was so cool. Ultimate Bet had a welcome party that night around the pool and they did it first class, with many open bars, appetizers everywhere, and Phil Hellmuth and Annie Duke hosting. I was getting hammered on free rum drinks and having a blast. Hellmuth was feeling no pain and like he always does, grabbed the mike and started talking. He introduced an 18 year old girl from
the Netherlands named Annette15 online as she had just won the European WPT event and something like 2 million dollars, poor baby.....lol. Hellmuth was also getting hammered and decided to liven things up a bit and started offering $500 to any girls willing to lose their tops and jump in the pool. :) They lined up to do it... Word the next day was Annie was not too pleased with this stunt. This party is also where we met new friends Bill (billiam_cdn) from Canada and Sasha, a single guy from Australia. We became inseparable from that night on. I was fascinated by Bill's stories of all the events he had won and been to and knew I would try more attempts to do the same after listening to him. He had travelled all over and played all these big events, but had not cashed in any of them yet. I, of course, had only played in one big event so far (the main event) and had cashed, so I had some bragging rights. Bill introduced me to Cuban cigars too, as he is expert on them. They were (and are) both great guys and you will see other posts with Bill in them as well. There was another guy I had been chatting with online and had played many times and his online name was The Black Hat and he was from Wisconsin. Turns out, there is a group from Wisconsin and they glossed themselves the Wisco boys. More about him later...The poker room was a convention center set up and had lots of buzz going on. It was very well run, with about 30 tables of sit n go's and sattelites going on. Amanda was not going to be bored after all...lol. The main event was the next day and Sasha got knocked out but Bill and I survived day one. The tournament had 548 players and would pay 54 spots. We both made it through the 2nd day as well, playing with such notables as Freddy Deeb, Michael Gracz, Jonathan Little, "JJ" Lieu and others. It was on day three when I sat and played with a young guy named Jordan Rich that impressed the hell out of me. I was fascinated watching how focused he was and saw him take a huge pot from Jonathan Little on an absolutely great call. Little was the chip leader and Rich had a good stack too, both in the top 10 and Little put Rich almost all in after the river and Rich thought and thought and made the call with 3rd pair and took the pot. Jordan was also two behind me, making him the button on my big blind and he was punishing my small stack and I knew I could not sit and not play. I look at A 5 off and sure enough he comes around and raises me again and I push, he calls and turns over K Q and I hold on and double up. I hated the way I was playing and learned alot about late round tournament play from watching Jordan Rich. The second day was played down until 54 players, or everyone making the money and Bill and I both made it. We were pumped up, as this was to be Bill's first major cash and I was now 2 for 2. Unfortuately, of the 54 players left, I was 51st in chips, very sad. I was to start day 3 with 33,400 chips and Bill had 135,000 chips, so he was in great shape. I had about 10 big blinds left and knew I had to pick a spot and push. I did that, picking up a few small pots and grew my stack to 57,000 and just was able to hang around while people around me were dropping off, including Bill, who caught a cooler and ended up getting knocked out 47th, but still a respected cash of almost $8,000. I see Gracz get knocked out, then Robert Williamson, then the 'mouth' Matasow in 41st and I am liking my game right about now. But then the cooler...I get Q J suited diamonds in the big blind , JJ Lieu limps from under the gun and we get raised by the most aggresive player at the table to 7500 chips. I have 3500 in already and make the call, as does JJ. The flop comes Q 5 2 rainbow with one diamond. There is 28,000 in the pot. JJ checks and the raiser makes it 15,000 to play, making the pot 43,000. I am hoping he is on a continuation bet, so I push all my chips in and JJ mucks (good) and the raiser says 'call' and turns over Q Q and I finish 39th for $10,630. Poker players know this feeling of disgust and sadness as you are leaving a tourney you have gotten deep in. You just won over $10,000 and you are feeling bad, very ironic but true. Well, I got over it, Bill was more disapointed than me I think, he had so many chips going in, but hey, it's time to celebrate. Amanda and Sasha were great supporters, there for us on every break and helping us discuss strategy for the next rounds, so Bill and I agree to take them to dinner. We hop in a cab and head for the southern end of the island to the (ironically) California Lighthouse where there is supposed to be a great Italian restarant. We pull up and there is a beautiful patio setting outside, with two levels, one covered and the lower one not. It is crowded and so we settle for the upper patio. It is a beautiful Carribean evening, Bill and I had just played 3 grueling days of poker and were rewarded for it and we were in Aruba, what could be better. We are drinking bottle after bottle of good wines, smoking Cuban cigars and have a great memories of the last few days and eating a great meal, when we hear thunder, then lightening, and wow, we have a show in the sky as we are celebrating. It is beautiful, but then a heavy rain starts just pouring down. It wasn't our choice, but we ended up sitting on the top patio, which was covered and all the people on the lower patio were scrambling with their food and getting soaked. We sat there dry and kept drinking our wine and smoking our cigars and ended up closing down the place 5 hours later. It was one of my most memorable dinners ever. The final TV table was to be the next day and remember that Wisco boy I told you about earlier, The Black Hat, well he made it to the final table. This guy is a young guy who was buddies with a pretty large group of players all from Wisconsin who all made the trip. They and I were all rooting for him and he played excellent and came in 3rd place for a cash of $252,000. The bad news was that he had a deal with UB pro "Poker Ho" who was also from Wisconsin who had staked Black Hat for 50% in the $500 sattelite to get to this tournament, so he they had agreed that HO would get 50% of any winnings.....ouch...still a good showing though...good job Brad....


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July 09

So, what were the big stories in July. Well, we launched Operation Strike of the Sword in Afghanistan, the first vaccine for swine flu was revealed in Germany, three dinosaur species were discovered in Australia, Sarah Palin stepped down from being Governor of Alaska, North Korea continues to defy the world and keeps firing missiles, and of course the continuing saga of how Michael Jackson died. I don't know about you, but less MJ news is okay with me, kinda done with it.

POKER

In our free rolls this month, big prop shout outs to yankee27 and pairaduxx for bringing home the cash in our two free rolls. Yankee27 won the NL tourney in just his first effort and pairaduxx also won in his first effort, this time in Limit. We have a great time with these and hope you all can join us for the future games.

For my game, I had a pretty good month, considering just 355 games and ended up on the last day of the month winning the 20K on cake for a nice finish.

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Dream Team Poker ( March 09 )

So, if I didn't mention it before, I don't keep up much with all the poker news going on. I just like to get in there and grind, so I had no idea what the heck DTP was until my buddy krazykanuck asked me if I was going to play in the DTP. I told him 'I have no idea what you're talking about' and he gave me the link http://www.dreamteampoker.com/ and there it was. It turns out, there is a new very popular and unique format using a team concept in what has always been an individual activity. After reading it, it sounded like a lot of fun and I knew exactly who I wanted on my team, donkeyherder and billiamcdn. Both are solid poker players and good friends. This was to be the 2nd time they had had one of these and I didn't know what to expect when we got there. The cost was 500 plus 50 per player, so I'm thinking a bunch of tourists and locals play this thing. Turns out, there were a bunch of locals there, Hellmuth, Matusow, Kenna James, Jamie Gold and tons of other well known pros. WTF ? I'm thinking what are these guys doing in a little (for them) buy in tournament like this. Well, as I mentioned before, this thing is taking off, was very well organized and advertised and oh well, let's go beat some pros then. We had to decide on a name and this wasn't easy. DTP was going to give us all jerseys with our name on it and you wear your team jersey when you play, so we wanted something cool and catchy and witty....we didn't get there. We (after a long 3 way call) decided on Chipstackers and it was official. As Bill is from Toronto, we all met and stayed at the Venetian, Casey and I shared a killer suite and Bill had his family there for a few days and then it was just the boys. DTP was hosting a get together at Caesars, where the event was to be held, so we all walked over there and I have to tell you, I was quite impressed. All the team jerseys were hung on the walls at each end of the room and it looked awesome, including the Chipstackers. There was "The Favorites" hanging there, which turned out to be the team of Phil Hellmuth, Mike Matusow and Jerry Buss (?) on one team. There was "team aced" which had Jamie Gold (who ended up winning ) and 146 other teams. The format worked that your top two finishers, would add up their finishing spot and the lowest combination wins. There was also individual prizes as well. No members of the same team could play together until the final two tables. It was really a great event, and once seated, an opening speech from ??? the actual mayor of Beverly Hills. Don't ask me, I have no idea.

I get to my starting table and there he is, the "mouth" Matusow. I also have Paul Darden at the table and both of them are talking to two other players at my table that they obviously know. So, as I am being tortured by the constant blabbering of the mouth about 'his book' I manage to play well and chip up a little. Our table is soon to break however, and I get moved to a table where I find myself with 4 chicks and pocket rockets in the big blind. There is a raise from early position and it folds around to me and I re raise and get called. The flop comes 9 3 2 rainbow and the original raiser pushes all in. My mouth is watering as I eye his stack to see how many chips I will soon be collecting and I call. He turns over 9 9 and I am done. Son of a ..................

Bill is soon to get knocked out too but Casey hangs on for a few hours and lasts to about 100 players. A disappointing run for the Chipstackers, but a great time anyway and fun to hang out with my boys. If you get a chance, I definitely recommend this tournament....

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Jimmy Buffet 09

So, you can't be grinding all the time can ya ? If you have never been to a Jimmy Buffet concert before, you are missing out on one of the all time great tailgate parties. The concert itself pretty much blows and frankly, I don't remember much of it except the best song he sang wasn't even his, but a cover on a Crosby Stills Nash and Young song called Southern Cross that is one of my all time favorites. BUT the party rocks. My buddy Don just bought a killer motor home and was dying to show it off and he is so generous, he was also designated driver. I warned him that our group would not be on our best behavior at this thing and he was totally down and a great host. Anyway, these people are crazy and fun, everyone is drinking, and playing music and it's a blast. It was made all the more fun by the people I went with. Amanda, Brenda, Ed, Don and Shirley..you guys rock....

How IT came to BE

I had been playing 'cards' since about 6 when I remember going to my grandfathers home and playing with him and my brother. At 16, my buddies Rick and Jeff would come over and we would play all kinds of card games. There was no Texas Holdem then and we would play home games like Acey Ducey, Follow the Queen, Black Mariah and our favorite, Guts. Not long after that, Jeff and I, both underage, would venture out to a real card club, like the Bicycle club and we were scared as could be, but would finally muster up enough nerve to sit at a low ball game (now called Razz) or a stud game (why I like to play horse) and we got good at them pretty quick, making a little money and thinking we were big shots. We would have many homes games or if we couldn't get a game going, we would just play heads up. In those days, we were gamblers and if we tired of cards, we would go out in the driveway and shoot free throws for a dollar a shot, or head down to the golf course and finish the day on the putting green, putting for a dollar a shot. We didn't care, we were kids and had freedom and life was good. After we started working part time it took some of that freedom away, but we would get a group of about 5 or 6 buddies and head to Vegas after work (leaving about midnight) and all getting one room at the Westward Hotel next to Circus Circus. We'd play all night, usually losing, and then just crash on the floor or where ever you could find a spot in a small room with 6 guys in it. I discovered online poker in 2004 when I joined Party Poker. I guess I was one of those millions influenced by Chris Moneymaker and started playing without much success. I would jump around from cash to tournaments and all over, not really knowing what my game was. I didn't have good bankroll judgement and would have to reload more than I would like to ( you could say I was a donkey) . I took some time off and then had the time to just think about poker without many other distractions. I entered a $30 multi tournament at Party Poker and I grinded out a 2nd place finish for about $7000 and I was hooked. I now had a bankroll and was determined to keep it. I started playing higher limit ring games and had success there too. In 2006, I decided to play some satellites for the WSOP, as I was feeling confident that I was a real player now and won a seat for the main event in 2006. About this same time, I ran into a guy at work, Casey (donkeyherder) and it turned out he was a poker player too and we would talk about our experiences. I found out he was a sit n go guy, playing $30 single tables and having great success. Our discussions fueled both of our interest in poker even more and when I told him about me winning the main event, I encouraged him to try for it also, and he won one too. This was GREAT. It was to be our first major tournament, one with any real meaning and we were totally excited to just be having the experience. Party was a first class operation and put us up at the MGM Grand in very nice rooms and when we got to our rooms, there was a welcome package of Samsonite luggage, Tommy Bahama shirts, a palm pilot and a bunch of other stuff. Very nice.....they also had a note that they would be having a private party at studio 54 that night...sweet. The party was off the hook, with food, drinks, shows, dancers and it was officially ON. The main event turned out to be (and still is) the largest live poker tournament ever played, so not only our first, but we were part of history too. As far as we were concerned, we were already winners, having all this fun and hadn't even played yet. There were just under 9,000 players and it started over 4 days, and we both started together, I think on day 3. The Rio was absolutely nuts with people, and every online site had a VIP room for their players to get away from the crowds and have a little sanity for a few minutes. I think this helped greatly, looking back. Donkeyherder and I had discussed 'crewing' it up, meaning we agreed to split anything we won. We had actually agreed on doing this a few months earlier and he had won money in a couple of smaller events and to this point in our 'crew' he had only paid me and was probably thinking he had made a mistake partnering with me. So, prior to day one, we were taking in the experience, everywhere you looked you saw a name pro that was easily recognizable. We just told ourselves, let's get to the first break and and we did. We then said, let's get to dinner break and we did. Our girls, Amanda and Ceci, were there for us every minute and would get us tables early so we wouldn't have to wait. They were great. Our next goal was to stay alive for day one, and what do you know, we did that too. We had started at noon and it was now 2:30 a.m. and we were putting our chips in the bag, I can't even describe what a feeling that was.
When day two arrived, we set the same goals, let's both get to dinner break and we did, then let's get to day 3 and we did that too. OMG, we were real poker players after all, having played over 25 grueling hours with the top players in the world. We got through day 3 as well and now we were talking about making the money...WHAT....man, we just wanted to brag about playing in the WSOP and making history in the largest tournament ever and here we were, talking about making the money. The money started at $14,000 and since we had both qualified in $200 sattys, that was a serious payday. The money started at around 765 players and when it was down to the bubble, the excitement and tension in the room was like nothing I have ever felt before or since. When the bubble burst, there was complete celebration in the room and with the one exception of the poor guy walking out with nothing after all this time, we were high fiving and ordering rounds and both Casey and I had done it, what seemed impossible to us before. Casey made it to another pay hike and finished in the low 700's, cashing over $17,000 and I stuck around and made it through another day. It was at this table that well known pro David Chiu came and took a seat with one of the tournaments largest stacks. I was a short stack with about 20 k and I told the guy next to me, Chiu is going to try and run us over. I had terrible position as he was two to my left, so he would be the big blind when I was button. Not too long after, I got K Q on the button and it folded around to me and I limped, small blind folded and instantly, Chiu says 'all in'. I looked knowingly at the guy next to me and said 'call' He turns over A 4 off and I nail a Q and double up. The table broke soon after and I was moved to the table of another monster, Humberto Brenes. I had played pretty tight and the stack was shrinking and I get A J from early position, make a raise and Humberto, with his little toy shark, starts his shenanigans and says, 'be careful my friend' and pushes all in, snapping his little play shark into the pot as well. You see him do that stuff on TV and think 'what an assclown' but you know realize these guys love the publicity . I fold the hand and he shows me the Q Q. Nice hand Humberto ! One orbit more and again in early position, the guy to my right limps under the gun (always a red flag) and I have 7 7. I think about it and decide to take my chances with my short stack and move all in. It folds around to the limper and he calls with K K and I am out in the low 300's for $33,000. What a great run and although I am not happy, I am proud of the feat. It is at that point, Casey starts believing in the 'crew' as well.

WHY play ONLINE poker ?

So I get asked all the time, why should I play online ? Ok, fair question why should you play online. Well, it's 4 a.m. here and I just woke up. If I want a 'live' game, I would have to get dressed, drive 45 minutes, park, walk only to find out there is 1 game going and it's a game I didn't really want to play but will because it's the only one going. WHY would I do that ? I can find 1000 games I could play in, in less than 5 minutes. Here are some other reasons

1. you DON'T tip (this can save you hundreds/thousands over the long term)
2. you save gas / valet money (also a major expense)
3. Switch tables at the click of a mouse (no board)
4. you get RAKE BACK (this is huge)
5. you can go to exotic places you have never been (read my blogs on Aruba and Ireland and Australia)

By clicking on the Cake banner and opening account, you will automatically be getting 33% rakeback on every game you play, including all tournaments. Everytime you sit a game, live or online, you pay a fee (or rake). You never get it back, UNLESS you have rakeback.

RAKEBACK INCREASES YOUR POKER WIN RATE

It is in MY best interest to make YOU a profitable player. I will take the time to discuss your game and help you find your niche (you need a niche) .

Sign up TODAY and shoot me an email...with screen name

London (second leg of Ireland trip)

We had never been to Europe before and only had 4 days to do "something" so we decided on London. We took the 90 minute flight from Dublin to London and all went smoothly. Kara Scott, who was the runner up at the Irish Open was in the seat in front of us. She won 312,000 euros or about $400,000 US, so just a guess, but think she was in a pretty good mood. I had not seen the final hand and she told us it was pair over pair, tough break. We had overpacked AGAIN ( I will not make this mistake again) and gathered all our luggage and had to decide whether to take a cab or the underground train. The airport is a pretty good distance to where we were going and I remember someone telling me, we have to take the underground because it's cool, so we did. I knew the hotel was somewhere near Green Park, so we jumped on the Picadilly underground going towards Cocksford. It was well organized, busy and worked out pretty good. We had no idea exactly how far from Green Park it would be and I wasn't thrilled to be having 4 suitcases between the two of us..talk about tourists. So, we get off at Green Park, which was underground and haul our luggage up the stairs to the street and BAM, London is alive. It's hard to describe but I my first impression was VERY COOL. Traffic, with those big red doubledeck buses and those funky looking cabs and people walking everywhere. It worked out perfect as there were cabs right there so I grabbed one and we drove the exactly ONE block to our hotel...nice. I tried to pay in euros, cuz that's what I have and the driver politely said "pounds only please" . Crap, money is different here too, so had to get a temporary loan from the concierge. We stayed at the Mayfair hotel, which is located in the financial part of London. The hotel was modern, clean and busy. Our room was small but overlooked the street and across the street was a small supermarket and business's above it, kinda different but we thought it was cool. Once settled, we were trying to decide what to do for the evening. We had booked a couple day trips (more later) and it was about 6:45 p.m. and Amanda say's that there is an event at the Royal Albert Hall is 40 minutes. Okay, so where is the Royal Albert Hall. We jump in a cab and drive over there not knowing what to expect and pull up to this wonderful circular building and there are lots of people there. The evening is beautiful and comfortable and we need tickets to this thing so we get in a long line and it's about 5 mintues to show time and we score these second level box seats in a private box....YES. The Hall is 6 or 7 stories tall, circular, and amazing looking. It has hosted major events over the years, like Presidents speeches, etc and our event was to be a viewing of The Lord of the Rings first in the triology Fellowship of the Ring. There was a huge IMAX type screen just to our left but the kicker was that the entire musical score was going to be played live by the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Seriously, I am getting goosebumps right now, remembering how amazing that was. The entire LPO playing all the music of the movie and two separate choirs, one a boys choir and the other had over 40 singers. Nothing extra, just part of the movie and it was spectacular and of all the other sites and things we did in Ireland and London, this was my favorite. I don't get starstruck or too excited about very many things, but this I was in awe of. If something like this comes to your area, YOU HAVE TO GO. So, we get out after the show, thinking it shold be just as easy to catch a cab as it was getting here, but all of a sudden it is pouring rain, not that paltry small drop drizzle we get in Cali, but big heavy drop rain and everyone is looking for the few cabs there are. I think I am smarter than the rest, so we walk up the street a little and just get pummeled with rain and no cab...nice ya donkey ! After 45 minutes, we finally get one and get back to our hotel. It was worth every minute for that experience. When we get back, we decide to go find a casino (just like us I know) and walk a few blocks to a little private upscale club. We get a temporary membership and ask about poker and they tell us they have a cash game going, but I decline and they say they have a tournament each night at 8, okay cool. The next day, we head out on a day trip to Leeds Castle, Cantaberry and the white cliffs of Dover. There is so much history here dating so far back, it's hard to comprehend. Henry the VIII lived in freaking Leeds and your standing here where he lived and played and killed people, etc. It was a great day overall and when we get back, we find out our hotel has an entrance to the very club casino we went to last night, so we go over there for the 8 o'clock tournament and what the hell, there's no one there. They say, yeah, it's slow tonight, guess we won't have one, so we left very disappointed. The next day we head off for more adventure and go to Windsor Castle, the Roman baths at Bath and Stonehenge. We see the changing of the guard at Windsor which was very cool, Bath was a vibrant and cool little city and the baths were totally interesting and then we get to Stonehenge. It is one of those mystery legends like Lockness and others. We drive up to the farmland, rolling green pasture kind of area and there they are. These huge stones in patterns and you think, how in the heck did someone get these things here. It looks like someones joke or message, but let me tell you, to get these things where they were would have to have taken thousands of men to do it. There are many stories and theories about how and why, it just looks amazing I can tell you. So we get back to the hotel and try again to the casino and they have a few people, maybe we can get this going. Ends up being a 330 euro entry and we have 10 players, including Amanda and I. There are business men in expensive suits from around the world, one woman and two local guys. I am guessing these locals come to 'pick off the tourists' at poker. Well, let's see what they got. In the first 10 minutes I can tell most of em are total donkeys and were just looking for something to do. I lay low and wait for some hands and chip up gradually. They are going to pay 3 places, with first getting about $2000, not bad for this sit n go. We play down till there are two of us left, me and one of the locals. I suggest a chop and he says 60/40 and I decline, let's play. I catch top pair with K J and move in on him and he calls and rivers a straight, so I get 2nd for about $800. Worked out well, as that paid for our day trips and some food. I can tell you that London is definitely a place I would go back to.

Irish Open April 09

The 5 of clubs, that's all it took for this young Cake player to make his way to Ireland this past April. You know those gold cards you get when you play ring games at cake, well Brad had the 5 of clubs and won a FREE tournament and won the Ireland trip (by the way, this was to be his FIRST ever live tournament) and not only did he win the trip to a great destination, but he ended up coming in 7th at the tournament for a total almost 75,000 euros ($100K). Yours truly also won the trip and Amanda and I were off on our 3rd international trip in less than 6 months (Aruba with Ultimate Bet in Oct 08, Australia with Cake Jan 09 and now Ireland ) . We flew to Dubin via Amsterdam and upon arrival to Dublin, was a bit unimpressed, as there was construction and traffic and looked like any other city. We took a cab out of the city about 20 minutes to a resort called Citywest. It was a hotel/ golf resort/ convention center/ and pub. It was definitely upscale with a private helicopter sitting out front. After getting unpacked, and resting a bit, we headed down to the pub, where all the cake players were going to get together for some drinks.....did I say some drinks, I meant a whole lot of drinks, these Canadians and euros can put them away. I also met new friend Jim, scrpionkng, and his beautiful girl Chantal where we immediately hit it off. Scrpionking, it seems had just recently been to the Bahamas for big tournament and made final table taking home over 150 K. I am soooo jealous..nice job Jim. Anyway, back to the drinking, we have a lot of characters in this group including a 6'2" Irish lad that maybe weighs 110 with long hair and is a metal head and loves poker. He can drink too, we also have a Asian gangster with a screen name of raginghardon...nice, Cake was very proud of that one. We also had some Germans, some from Finland, Canada and the states. Oh, did I mention freaking Mel Judah shows up and has some drinks with us, yes, that's him in the picture above. This pub ends our day every night after this, and there are all kinds of things going on..they have oldies playing in the bar (like Neil diamond) and everyone in the bar is singing along...we are at the bar about 3 in the morning and some dude (the dude with the guitar in the picture above) and I'm thinking he's hitting on Amanda and says in his Irish accent, " you Americans like Garth Brooks " and we're like, yeah I guess and he grabs his guitar and starts banging our Garth Brooks songs but has an Irish accent, I'm cracking up. We did have one down day and I had set up a private tour of the Guinness storehouse in Dublin through a connection I have back home, so we hop in a cab and head for Guinness. I really did not know what to expect, hadn't studied it and we pull up in this industrial looking area of warehouses, etc. and I'm thinking, blahhh. We get to this little street with a little door and there are hundreds of people waiting to get in, wow. We go inside and it's amazing in there. It's 7 stories high and as you stand in the middle of the room, you look up and see all 7 stories through the middle of a pint glass. This brewery was celebrating it's 250 year anniversary while we were there and I had no idea what a national treasure this company was and how vital it had been through hundreds of years to the Dublin economy. We got taught how to properly pour a draft Guinness and I'm not really a Guinness guy, but it tasted really good after seeing the literally thousands of people there celebrating this company and all it's history. Amanda got chosen to make a batch, and so there is an Amanda batch of 19,000 pints out there somewhere.

POKER

The main event started and I doubled up in the first hour with 10 10 with a board of K 10 10 rag rag against an opponent with K K...ouch....I made it through day 1 with no other notable hands that day and started off day 2 with about chip average (Brad, that kid I told you about playing his first live tourney, was chip leader) . We play about 5 hours into day 2 and have lost a few chips and am sitting with about 26k and a young player to my right with about the same amount of chips pushes all in with 6 6. Now, we are at 103 players left and 70 get paid, so he pushes his 6 6 for 26k all in and I look down and woop woop, there they are ,

A A and I Hollywood a bit (wanting another caller behind me to participate) and I call. No one else does call and it's heads up with me having a huge advantage, right ? Flop comes a 6 and I am done, so sad. Oh well, nice trip at least, right.

I moped around for a bit and then wanted more so I jumped into a 180 euro 10 man satellite and easily won it for about $2000 so not all was lost. I just kept the money, instead of playing the higher costing tournament, to pay for all the other stuff we had going on. Jim, scrpionkng, Chantal, Amanda and I decided to go see some real Irish countryside and a very famous pub up the hill about 20 miles. The Irish countryside was green, plush and fun to watch. We got to this really little old pub (over 100 years old) and it was crowded, quaint and full of atmosphere. We had a nice dinner (starting with frog legs) and then this Irish band came on and sang Irish folk songs, and was a blast, an adventure I won't forget. I had signed Amanda up for a ladies only event the next day and off she went. She didn't last long though (unusual for her) and came back REALLY pissed. She had flopped a set of Q's and lost runner runner to a straight, but the hand that really got to her was when she was mid position and had 9 9. There is limp ahead of her and she has a somewhat short stack because of the set that lost and so she raises 3 times the big blind. There is a caller behind her and it folds around to the big blind and that 'player' says raise and throws a chip in (not clear what the chip was), but the limper folds and Amanda thinks about it for a long time, decides she is beat and mucks. Well the caller behind her says 'call the floor' and the floor comes over and agrees it was a bad raise, and takes it back. Well Amanda had mucked even though she had the right amount of chips in. The flop has a 9 of course, the raiser wins the pot with K K and Amanda never recovers .....