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 .....

Aussie Millions January 09

The picture is of the twelve apostles in southern Australia a couple hours outside Melbourne. I won a satellite on Cake and Amanda and I were able to take a vacation and visit a place we may not have gone to otherwise. What a great experience it was. We took a red eye from LAX direct to Melbourne hoping for less crowds...WRONG...every seat was booked and this was a 15 hour flight. I usually like an aisle seat but got the window on this one, bad move. I had Scotty Nguyen sitting in the seat directly behind me with his girl/wife (?) and their two kids. One of the kids had to sit in our row next to Amanda and she became a nanny for the flight, although he did great and was a good traveler. We crossed the dateline so we completely skipped a day but arrived safely and took a cab to the Crowne Plaza Hotel. For those of you not familiar with the Crowne, it is a HUGE place, with hotel, casino, mall, movie theatres, dance clubs, and many places to eat. It was THE PLACE TO BE, and literally thousands of people were there every day. It is located right next to the Yara River and there is a very modern urban feel there in Melbourne. Mind you, January is summer there and it was definitely warm, but not too bad. We were lucky because after we left, it got really hot (over 115) and they also had the worst fires in decades soon after we left. We had dinner the first night on the banks of the Yara on a boardwalk restaurant called the Waterfront. This boardwalk is a very wide and cool walking area through the city and next to the river, great for people watching. It was almost sunset (8:45) and we were enjoying our meal and the scenery and then at 9, we heard this whooosh and fire started shooting out of these metal towers along the river. There were about 9 of them and it turned out to be a planned choreographed show. How sweet is that ? A great start to our trip. As far as poker goes, I made it through day one with a short stack and day 2 started at the feature table with Patrik Antonios. My first hand I get A K suited in early position, and I push all in, Amanda is freaking out, but no callers and I chip up a little. I ended my day top pair and a flush draw but got beat out and the Open was over. I did pick up about $1500 in cash games though and that pretty much took care of food and excursions. A couple interesting (to me) notes...you don't tip in Australia, of course i didn't find out till day 3 and was keeping everyone happy there for awhile. Also, when you go to a fast food place, NO one picks up their trash, they just leave it there for the porters, keeps em in a job I guess, just found that interesting. The Australian Tennis Open was in town while we were there and we went over to check that out too at the Rod Laver arena. Very fun. On one of our excursions, I ran into Jim Worth or krazykanuck and his girl and hung out with them and ended up having dinner with them that night. I very much enjoyed his poker stories as he has had many more experiences than I have had. I knew of him because of seeing him in Aruba but had never met him. We ended the day with a great dinner near the river and some wine and topped off our wonderful trip to down under.

June 09

June was an interesting month in many regards. I always look forward to the beginning of summer, as I always think of the many things I will do in the coming months. Unfortunately, summers pass quicker than they used to and there never seems to be enough time to do all the things I want to do (spend time with the kids, play golf till sunset, go shoot hoops at the beach, see a movie and of course, play poker). The news was filled with stories of Iran. These stories brought a new perspective of that country and although the government is wrong and standing firm, the people expressed themselves publicly in the eyes of the world for the first time in a long time and it is clear they want to be part of the world and all it has to offer and I support their efforts and hope. My son plays club soccer and they won the California state championship for boy u-13 and we got to go to Washington. Amanda, Kory and I and all the boys and parents travelled to Pasco WA via Seattle. We rented 6 mini vans and drove the 4 hours outside Seattle. The first 90 minutes is scenic and beautiful and then as you get more east, it becomes more desert like. We had a great time there and beat Oregon 12-1 and Washington 9-1. Our soccer team is now ranked 8th in the nation...one of the other boys on the team is from Iran and his parents and I had some good conversations about the current events there.

POKER

I had won a seat for event 54 at the WSOP with Cake and travelled there in late June. Rooms are crazy cheap there now and I stayed at the Oreleans for $30 a night. I wanted OFF the strip as the events i would be attending (Palms and Rio) are on the other side of the freeway. I got there at 12:15 and wanted to get some poker in right away so I got the room and hustled down to the poker room and got the last seat for the noon tournament. There were 110 players and it paid 10. i grinded it down and got close, 13th but didn't cash. Event 54 was a $1500 buy in NL tournament and Cake had planned a get together for all the winners at the Palms the night before the tournament. My son, Kyle, happened to be in town with his buddy and their girlfriends so I had them meet me over at the Palms and I got them into the party. It was in the Fantasy Suites tower and on the 30th floor. The suite was very nice and actually had a private pool on the balcony outside the room overlooking Vegas from 30 stories up. Cake gave me my buy in and said ' you better get over to the Rio, they are gonna sell out' WHAT ? i hopped in a cab and got over there and they were right, there were about 300 people in line registering for the tournament. I did get in and was relieved. Back to the party, I ran into a new friend and great player, dougblazers, and a couple buddies I met in Ireland, brutus44 and luckyshaun, from Ireland. It was a kick ass party with models running around in bikini's and in the pool and open bar, etc. The next day arrived and I was ready to battle. I chipped up a little in the first couple levels and then after the break, I raised a couple times in late position with A Q and A J and got pushed and decided to lay em down, putting me on a shorter stack. Chris 'Jesus' Ferguson came to the table about this time with a very short stack, about 1600. The blinds were at 75/150 and a 25 ante and he played NO hands until his stack was down to 1100 and he minimum raised to 300 under the gun, leaving him with 800. Two players behind him re reraised and it folded around to him and he mucked. Two hands later, he pushed his last 800 from the button with A J and the big blind called with A A and 'jesus' was done. I hung on for about another hour
and reraised all in with 9 9 to the other short stack and he turned over A K and turned a K, ending my day.....maybe next time