Commerce Casino LAPC, Events 2, 3, & 4
Whittled myself back to almost even! Event #2 - $300+30 LHE
I was super psyched for this event. The table was super loose early so I wasn't able to implement my prefered strategy, and then all my hands that I expected/needed to get value on were shoved where the sun don't shine, and I was busted out by the 1st break. Headed downstairs, sat in 40-80, won my first hand, and then proceeded to win my next six flops I saw, even making quad fours with 43o. Profit of $1500. Ran into my good friend Jason from Minnesota, and three of us headed to El Cholo, the goodest Mexican restaurant ever.
After dinner I took Jim and Jason to the Hustler casino in Gardena. Going back to this place was like a walk down memory lane for me. This is where I played the most during college, where I won my first two tournaments, where I first played 15-30, and where I pulled my first overnighter at a card room. We ended up in the 25-50 limit hold'em game that is played with $5 chips. Yep. 5-10 chip structure. Every pot is huge. I was very proud of this hand. I raised J J UTG playing seven handed. The player to my left was new and posted $25 (which I love) thought about his hand for a moment. The old guy in middle position called for $25. Then the poster put in another $25, calling my raise. The old guy realized that it was two bets and tossed in five more chips. The big blind called as well, and we saw the flop four handed.
It came A Q 6 . BB checked, and I could tell he was done with the hand. I bet. I could tell the player to my left was done, and the old guy had 5 chips in his hand intending to call my flop bet. Then, as I was looking at the old guy, the new player raised! It was weird. It was like something clicked in his mind and he decided that he was going to win the pot. I mean seriously. He was done, he just hadn't thrown his cards in the muck, and then decided to raise. I found this to be quite wonderful because now the old man folded behind, whatever it is he had - most likely a Q, possibly some sort of gutshot broadway draw. I was thinking of how to get the old guy off his Q when the new player did it for me! Most excellent.
OK, so now what? I have JJ with two overcards and a flush draw on the board and am against an opponent who most likely has nothing . About the only nothing I'm afraid of is Kx, cause then he has 3 outs to win, but I'm pretty sure I'm way good at this point, and decide the best way to get value is to call down. I call. Turn comes a blank and I check call. The river comes K , and I once again check call. Showdown time. He looks at his first card, pushes it to the side, and rolls over his second card. Only. J . I laugh, say, "And??" 2 . Ship it.
Event #3 - $300+30 Omaha 8.
This was another event that I was pretty pumped for. The last Omaha event I played I took third in and was looking to improve on my successes. Again, had a ton of big hands and nothing worked out. Busted out early. Went downstairs, played 40-80, won $500, played 60-120, won $900, and then headed upstairs to sweat my buddy Adam Spiegelberg at the final table from event #2. He ended up making a deal three handed that was a very good deal for him and took home almost $25k for his efforts. He really got unlucky at the final table, but I am proud of the way he played his cards and negotiations. After that we naturally needed to go out and celebrate. Ended up on the Santa Monica Promenade, closed the bar, walked along the beach, got our feet wet, and made it home by 4am. I ended up playing online until almost 6:30am, winning $1100 in the process.
Event #4 - $300+30 NLHE w/Multiple Rebuys
The last time I played this event I never had to rebuy, and had my stack at 9k from 1k within nine minutes. The table I found myself on today was the complete opposite - players were playing like it was a freezeout with just a few chips. This was quite disappointing since I hit some huge hands early, making the nuts three times, flopping two sets, and several top pairs. I got my stack up to 4400 when this hand came up. With blinds at 75-150, it was raised early to 450, three players called behind, and I was in the big blind with the J 8 . I threw in 300 to call, and the flop came A K T . I checked, check, original raiser goes all in for about 6k. 6k! LOL. fold, and new player to the table calls for about 5k! Dear lord. Ok, so I'm getting 2-1 on a call, plus there's another 2325 in the pot, so about 2.5-1 money odds on my call. I have anywhere from 2 outs for a chop to 12 outs for a win. Worst case scenario is up against a set and K Q . Best case is against something like AQ and two pair, and everything else is in between. I figured that 9 outs was a safe number to assume, and I made the call. I was indeed up against the AQ and AT, and had eleven outs to win. I hit both the flush and the straight, scooping a pot worth 14,400.
The blinds are 75-150.
Devo has 14k.
This is gonna be fun.
About eight hands later, I raise 88 UTG+1 to 500 with blinds at 100-200, and the BB calls 300 more, having 2000 left in his stack. The flop comes QT5 rainbow. This hand really shook with my confidence a little bit, because I was conivnced that he missed the flop, and was figuring out what the right number to bet was on the flop when he checked to me. And then he suddenly decided to go all-in! 1100 in the pot, he open shoves for 2k. Too weird. I called, and I was wrong. He had KQ! LOL. It really made me think about how over-bets in specific situations like that against opponents that can read hands can be more profitable than say, check-raising all-in. If he had check-raised all-in I would have gotten off the hand most likely, but his open shove was so bizarre that I had to call.
One orbit later, blinds still 100-200, I'm in the big blind with about 12k. The UTG player, young, asian, and pretty solid thus far opens for 600. Folds to me, and I look down at K K . This hand smells trap all over it. We're the two deepest stacks on the table, he's been playing fast, and I haven't slow played a hand yet... everything has been totally straight forward. I just call. The flop comes Q 9 5 . I check, he bets 1100, and I make it 3k. He thinks forever, and finally calls. 7300 in the pot, I have about 8k behind, he has about 7k behind. The turn is the 8 . Pretty bad card if he has JT, but other than I'm not worried about it. I think for a while about what the best way to play the hand is. I don't want to give him a cheap river, so thus need to bet more than half the pot. But, if he shoves I'm auto calling, and I'm pretty sure I have the best hand, so, "I'm all in." He called. He flopped a set of nines. He played them perfectly. His thinking was genuine, and I wasn't able to put him on a big hand. Oh well. Down to 1200. Doubled up to 2800, re-raised AKo all-in and got called in two spots by 88 and AJ, no help. Had the 88 guy covered, so went to dinner with 800 in chips, blinds 100-200/25. For the love of all the tortillas in the joint, can't I play high card with somebody for my stack before taking an hour break?
Dinner was good though. I ate with Adam S and Maria Ho, and good times were had by all. I returned, folded the first three hands, doubled up the fourth, shoved the fifth and was drawing to 3 outs, no good.
So, wandered downstairs once again, and once again played some cash games. This time I sat in the 10-20 NL game. In the first hand of my session, I ran a great bluff against a player who I later learned was the resident village idiot, but it was tough to bluff the village idiot when he turned the second nut flush. Oops. Stuck $700 already. One orbit later, I'm in the big blind again, and five players limp in, and I check my option with the J T . The flop wasn't bad, coming out K Q 9 . I immediately fired $80 at the pot and was called only by the village idiot. Turn 6 . I bet $200, he made it $500 (nice...). I thought about what the best line was. He had about $1500 left in front of him, and by this point I had established that he was the village idiot, so I went all-in, having him plenty covered.
He hemmed and hawed for a good minute and finally called. JT obv good at this point, but I had no clue what he had really. He said, "One card one time please!" That could mean anything. T on the river, not what I would call a blank, but his reaction told the story - my hand was good, and I raked in the $4600 pot. I played about another hour until that player left, and quit up $2024. Excellent!
So, here we are going into day five. I've completely paid Jim back the cash that he hooked me up with, and I am stuck only $300 on the trip, counting tournaments and the online win. Tomorrow is the $300 stud event. It's about time I cash in one of these dang things, but I suppose I'll save all my run good for the $1k event Friday. Either way though, I'm pretty thrilled to be almost back to even after that horendous day one.
I heard a funny story tonight. My friend Scott was playing in a $40 satellite. Down to three players, one guy had most of the chips, Scott had a few chips, and the other guy had fewer chips. Somehow the other two players got in an arguement, a fistfight broke out, they both got kicked out, and Scott wins the satellite. Well played buddy.
Lastly, quote of the day comes from a comment posted on my private blog. If you ever want to comment on any of these blogs, click on the "Post a comment" link and you will be taken to the appropriate blog on my private page. From there scroll down and click on "comment", and you will be able to write whatever you want.
"I'm not very PC for the sake of it but I do cringe a bit when I see you write often that you are 'retarted'. Are you educated enough to know how to spell that word and are making a funny play on it or are you, yourself intelligently lacking due to factors other than genetics?" - Tobikosan on my "retartation". Unfortunately, it is the latter. I thought I was spelling retarded correctly every time until this morning. Pretty funny word to be misspelling for my entire life, eh?
OK. That's enough. Thanks for reading!
Peace and Good Luck,
Devo
Commerce Casino LA Poker Classic, Day One - $300+30 NLHE
ugh... a rant. What a piss poor start to my sojurn to Los Angeles.
Worst part is that it all started Wednesday.
I headed into the Bellagio at noon. Sat in a 60-120 game, lost $1700 in two hours in a poor game, and decided to warm up for these tourneys by playing in the $500+40 daily.
I played bad.
I didn't win, raise, or even really play a hand for the first 20 minutes. I was down to 2550 of my original 3k starting stack with blinds at 25-50 and 30 minute levels. I was UTG+1 and looked down at A A . The table had been playing pretty fast and this felt like the time to limp with those aces. I cannot remember the last time I did that. Anyways, one player called behind and both blinds called. 200 in the pot, flop comes 5 6 8 . SB checks, BB (over-aggressive asian player) bets 250. I make it 700. Player behind thinks forever and folds. SB instantly moves all in for 2100ish total. BB folds. So, it's about 1400 more to me and there's 1850 in the pot. More fuel - the SB was a tightish player. But, I thought to myself, my hand's really undefined so he could think that his pair is good here and is just trying to protect his hand. I called.
Donkey.
He flopped the nuts and I did not improve. Such a bad post flop play. Gotta lay it down there.
From there I had 375 left and actually built it all the way up to 2875. In the 100-200 level I had 2575 left. Two players limped, the SB completed, and I knuckled in the big blind holding the 9 6 . The flop came beautifully, Q 9 9 . SB checked, I checked, first limper (young kid who liked to see a lot of flops) checked, and the villian from the AA hand bet 600 into the 800 pot. SB folded. I really thought he was weak here and wanted him to catch a pair or *something*, so just called. Then the kid made it 1800. The AA villian folded. I had 1775 remaining, blinds 100-200, and it was 1200 to me. I knew I was beat. I put him on (in this order) A9, T9, J9, or K9. But, I was short, and I did flop trips, so I called cause I'm retarted. So freakin what if I was short! I knew I was crushed. Sure enough he rolled over A 9 and gg me.
So. I sure played that bad. Jim Shipley and I left Vegas that night at midnight arriving in LA at 3:30 AM. Crashing at mom's pad. Woke up today fired up to play at the Commerce and headed to work.
I should of gotten the flu Wednesday morning and been bed ridden.
I was totally in the zone during the tournament. I had absolutely nothing to work with cards wise, but my reads were spot on and I was able to manufacture chips out of nothing. By the first break I had doubled my stack without making better than one pair in three levels of play. The two biggest pots I won were on pure bluffs. One with four high. That was fun. My favorite one was when I check raised the turn with ten high knowing that he'd muck his middle pair. Came back from the break, lost a race TT v. KQ, and re-built some more. Lost another race, re-built, and went into dinner somewhat short at 4075.
I had dinner with Jim and Shannon Elizabeth. First time I had met her. Nice gal. Came back from dinner and the wheels completely fell off. Raise, missed, folded. Raised, missed, folded. Opened with 33, got shoved on by the short stack, had to call (getting 3-1), he had 77. Down to 575, blinds 100-200 w/25. Next hand, two off the BB, all in w/A8, called by same guy with AK, gg me.
Oh well. Lets go play some of the crazy ass LA cash games.
I sat in a 60-120 game and proceeded to win three, count em, three pots in four hours. Oh yeah, I stole the blinds once too. I missed every draw, including pair draws. I got 2 or 3 outed five times on the river. It was just sick. Blew $5425. AYA!!!
I'm not terribly disappointed about the losses today, since LA is just nuts like that and I'm plenty used to it. I suppose that I have some residual bitterness from December considering that I went up $15k quick this month and have lost $10k in my last four live sessions. What is most frustrating is that my cash situation sucks now. I came to LA with just $8400 hoping that would be plenty, but here I am after day one down to $2300 after buying in for tomorrow's $300+30 LHE event. With all the recent internet stuff most of my bankroll is in limbo in virtual benjamins. I have big check in the mail from WPX. I have a check for my whole Poker Stars balance in the mail. I have a big withdrawl from NETELLER that has been pending for over ten days. I have money on Full Tilt that I can't do anything with (anybody want to buy some Full Tilt dollars?). I have money sitting in a box at the Wynn, but that doesn't do me any good right now. And, all the people that I can borrow from are having the same problems and thus short on cash as well. Fortunately Jim's going to pull through for me in the meantime, and hopefully things will turn around quick here. The plan is to stay through the $1000+60 LHE event on Friday the 2nd, but at this rate I'll be cash broke by Saturday :-).
I hate legislating morality. I hope everybody votes Libertarian next election.
I met a couple of readers today, Scott and Tim. It was very nice to meet you both! If any of y'all are also out here at the LAPC and see me running around, please say hi. I love meeting good people!
Peace and good luck,
Devo
Bellagio with Orel Hershiser
Look out for 55... I wandered into the Bellagio around ten am this morning little aware of the unique day that I was about to have. I started in 15-30, moved to a new 30-60 game, and then moved to the 30-60 main game and sat down next to my new friend Orel Hershiser. Now, this is a big deal to me. Orel was my childhood hero growing up. I had met him two times previously, once as a ten year old in a doctor's office, and once during college at a church. I had met him shortly before sitting down next to him through Mark Gregorich. I walked up to Mark who was chatting with Orel and said, "So is this the new recruit for our softball team?"
I cannot say enough about Orel. He is quite the amazing man. His personality is captaviting. His heart is warm and kind. His sense of humor: hilarious. We played together several hours when this hand came up. He limped early, I raised in mid position with AQo, and five of us saw a flop that came AQ2. I bet and four of us saw the turn of a 5. I bet, it folded to Orel and I said, "Nice laydown." He raised. I re-raised, he called. River was a blank, he check-called and beat me with 55. For those of you who aren't baseball fans, that was his number his entire career. We had quite the laugh as he drug the monster pot. The funny part about it is that earlier in the day I texted Danny to tell him who I was playing with, and he responded with, "Sweet! Watch out for pocket fives."
Some other fun news, Lara was hanging with me all day at work. Orel and I got on the topic of the World Series of Blackjack and Orel said he was interested. Long story short: Lara got him on the show. NICE. I personally still haven't heard yes or no. They say that my name is "still in the mix." Better find out quick because filming starts Thursday!
I was able today to pull off my all time favorite move in the game of limit hold'em. I was on the button and everybody folded to the hijack who raised. I looked down and realized that I only had one card. I looked at it, saw the 5 , and re-raised. I then said, "Can I have my second card now please?" Both blinds folded, and the initial raiser four bet. I looked down at my second card and saw the 6 . I just called. Now, before you tell me how retarted this play is, think about what is going through his mind for a second. Got it? You can't do this play if you actually have an ace. When you do make this play, your opponent automatically assumes that you have an ace. Since he is opening from late position, he does not have to have a strong hand and will often not have an ace himself. So, you get to play three cards basically. Your two pocket cards plus a phantom ace.
The flop came gin for my hand. A 9 7 . He bet and I insta-raised. I could tell he was disgusted. Clearly he had some pair between TT and KK and was thinking to himself, "This is sick. I know he has an ace. What a lucky bum." He was about to fold, and then decided to call hoping to spike a set. The turn came the 8 , but this didn't matter. I knew he was check-folding any card that did not make his set. He check-folded, and I rolled over my cards and said, "I had a feeling!" So sweet. I've been waiting months to make that play.
I ended up putting in an eight hour day, netting $123. I was up about a thousand before the 55 hand, lost almost three racks straight, and then came back strong in the final hour, winning my final three hands to quit up.
Lara has officially moved to town as of Saturday this weekend. I'm super excited to have her near rather than 1k miles away and excited to see what daily, normal life will look like together!
Peace and good luck,
Devo
Cover of the Star Tribune
"You were on the frontpage of the star tribune today man..."
Instant quote of the day, and it's only 8:50am, and I woke up about thirty minutes ago. I knew this story was going to be released today, but I had no clue that it would involve cover time! I'm curious to see it. The online article appears here.
I've already spoken with my friend Lindsey from MN about the article. At one point in our conversation she asked me, "Did you know she was going to say your life sucks?" Thinking to myself, uhhh, no.... Lindsey said that she herself had not read the article, but her parents had and called her and relayed that little piece of information. I knew that the writer was going to mention some tough stuff about me, but really did not think that "my life sucks" was going to be communicated. Here is the section in question:
Some veteran gamblers are wary about what a life built around poker might do to the young guys long-term. "They end up being gamblers with no family, no life, no nothing," said Dick Hoffman, who was also playing in the Canterbury tournament. Hoffman has been gambling for 30 years, though not as a profession. "Poker will be their life. Maybe that's OK, I don't know. But I wonder."
Devonshire, 25, has already seen some effect.
He grew up in California and came to Minnesota to get married, but he says late-night poker playing helped kill his marriage in less than a year. He now lives just outside Las Vegas; a recent text message he sent at 7 p.m. said, "Just woke up today :-)."
He went broke playing stakes that were too high for him, he said. He worked his way back when a casino hired him to play poker to entice customers.
A former Christian youth minister, he struggles with how some in the church might view what he does.
"I'm curious," Devonshire conceded to Hoffman, standing in the card club at midnight on a Thursday. "In 20 years, what am I going to think about this period of my life?" - Pam Louwagie, Star Tribune.
Ok... where to start. This is my first personal experience with the media in the context of a story is done and this is the final product. This entire story is about 10% of the material she put together. Pam, the writer, was limited by spacial constraits of the newspaper, and this I understand. This blurb is the product of about ninety minutes of phone interviews. I really wish that the tone of poker killing the marriage was changed, and she did to some extent, but it really can be taken the wrong way here.
My marriage was doomed for many reasons, poker being one of them. In fact poker was kinda the last straw that ended everything. But, poker was by no means responsible for killing my marriage. Take poker completely out of the equasion and I'm still not married right now. The simple clash of personality differences was enough to do it in eventually.
The rest of it: all true. I do wonder what I'm going to think about this period of my life in 20 years. I do struggle with my relationship with God and the church, and poker is a big reason for that. I did go bust playing too high too soon.
I just wish that she contrasted the negatives with the positives. But, I see the story, and I understand. I had a good story about some of the negatives. The rest of the story is the positives, and my little blurb is used to contrast those positives. I understand. It's just going to get annoying if people keep calling me and telling me that the paper said my life sucks :-).
Still, sweet to be on the cover of a major metropolitan newspaper. Never done that before!
Peace and good luck,
Devo
Recent Roundup and Online Poker News
Don't panic just yet! "Cooler! Cooler!!!" - Jared on what to look out for as I ran toward the 3rd base line yesterday trying to catch a pop-up. Instant quote of the day.
Jared, Danny, Ships, and myself spend four hours of daylight yesterday playing some softball, trying to get our lazy ass bodies in shape for the start of our softball season early March. It felt really good to get out and be active. Jim said something funny yesterday at how ironic our lifestyles have become. "I'm in the worst shape of my life, and I've had the most free time I've ever had in my life." Stupid poker player diet.
I've been crushing the online game the past several days. I made a little over $5k mon-wed. Unfortunately a major blow was dealt to online poker yesterday. Neteller pulled out of the US market, immediately ceasing any transactions to and from any online gaming sites. Pinnacle has also withdrawn. Aparrently ACH systems on US soil have been blocked. Bodog checks are not being honored. The games are still going and as good as ever, but I'm concerned about the future. If people cannot get money online then they cannot lose money online.
But, the good news is that this is a billion dollar a year industry and is not going to die easily. Before anything we mailed checks in, played, won, and received a check in the mail. Then paypal came along, that was a piece of cake, and more people played online. eBay bought Paypal, ceased gaming transactions, and neteller came along. Worst case scenario, we're back to paper checks. But I find it hard to believe that something else will not come along - it may just take a little time for the dust to settle and all of us to figure out what is going on.
In the meantime, I've pulled about 2/3 of my online bankroll off. I'm pretty sure that it'll take a while for these transactions to go through, as I'm sure many people have done the same in the past 24 hours. This isn't necessairly a scare issue for me since I was planning on pulling some money off since I think $17k online is a bit much for the games I play, but I do prefer having cash in hand generating interest for me than in some online poker account. In my humble opinion, I think the best play is to clean out your neteller accounts since they're useless now for online poker and let the dust settle before figuring out the next best play. Our money is safe in the major sites, and I'm not worried about that one bit.
Meanwhile, I've gotten on an unusual poker players schedule. I went to bed last night at 9pm and woke up this morning at 7am. I had no clue what to do! So, I made coffee. Researched a little on what was going on online. Then headed to the bellagio to play some cards. Whadya know, they had a 30 game going with an open seat! Sweet! I made $2100 in two hours, and then I heard them calling down a new 60-120 hold'em game. Really? Sweet!!! I've been pushing for a 60 game for quite a while, and aparrently during my vacation they got it going and it's been going pretty strong for the past month. I'm stoked on that. That's exactly the limit I want to be playing on a daily basis right now.
Devo out.
Peace and good luck!
A Crazy Weekend, TV time, and Maybe the WSOBlackjack?!?
Good times... Oh my goodness what a weekend. Thursday my friends Lars Rood and Doug Lawrence came into town. Lars was meeting two of his old friends from college for their annual Vegas trip and had asked me to show them around a bit. Sweet!
Shortly before I left to pick them up from the airport I received an e-mail from my agent that I was being considered for the World Series of Blackjack season IV, basically a freeroll for a bunch of money and some TV time. Filming is at the end of this month so I had to get my application and audition tape in immediately. Hah. Good luck getting a poker player to do that in a hurry. So, Lara was kind enough to put my application packet together for me and I decided to shoot some video on my digital camera throughout the evening. I finally finished the final product Friday but wasn't able to get it uploaded until today. Content wise it kinda sucks, but I'm pretty sure it's original. If they're looking for a young, single, "Vegas high roller" type it'll work well. The quality is pretty poor though due to lack of footage and time, but it's a fun video.
Fortunately though I finally got my hands on the first episode of "Boston Rob and Amber: Against All Odds". It premiered this week and if you've seen it, yours truly is the guy who busts him ten minutes into his first session. You may remember reading about it this past fall. The show was not very reality except for the brief poker part as it seems pretty scripted, but I'm going to watch a few more episodes.
Basically what happened was I got a call from a floorperson at the Venetian telling me that I needed to be in this game. 2-5 NL, $1k max buy, full game, with Boston Rob for this TV series. Rob and I were the only ones who bought in for the full $1k. About ten minutes into the session, Rob limped UTG, I raised to $20, two players and the BB called and we saw a flop 5 ways. I held KTo. The flop came KTx with two diamonds. Rob opened to $30 (they said he checked on the episode). I knew he would want to play a big hand so I popped it to $120. Folded to Rob, and he went all-in with this goofy jedi mind trick wave of the hand and an "I'm all in." It was a huge overbet... $30 to $120 to... $1k?!? It made me stop and think for a moment, but I finally called. He showed the A 6 , the board bricked off, I gave them an interview (which they showed many pieces of), and the rest is history. My only complaint is that they didn't mention my name or occupation at all, and they definately knew who I was. Oh well. They really could have edited the interview to make me look bad and they did not.
So, I edited the episode down to that two minute scene and also sent that into the WSOB people. I'll probably find out the results pretty soon, and you'll be sure to know shortly after I do! That'd be so sweet...
Ok. Off to the airport. Spent some time hanging with the guys, went to dinner at Capo's, met up with Jim Shipley, went to the Venetian to hit up Tao, that failed, and ended up at Voodoo. From there I played some dice, won, went to the Venetian, played 1-2 NL $200 max with the boys, won $1100, and finally got to sleep at 11am.
Friday. Woke up late and hungover. Met up with the boys. What'd they want to do? Party some more. Aya! Ok... So, called AJ at the Wynn and he hooked us up with a walk through the line and free cover. Long story short, stayed up late some more, got home late (ie after sunrise), and slept some more.
Fortunately they wanted to keep it mellow Saturday night and they headed home by 1am. Jim, Doug and I went to the Wynn to play some cards. Everybody ran bad. Except Jim. He just played bad ;-). I played 30-60 and lost about $1200. Pretty disappointing considering the game I was in, but can't win em all, eh?
It was a fun weekend, a little crazy at times, but overall a good time. It was nice to be able to treat some good friends to something they couldn't have done on their own. I spent a bunch of money, won a bunch of money, and ended up coming out $600 ahead on the weekend.
This week: not going to Tunica. Thought it was going to be running later than it is. So I'll be playing the live games here in town and getting back on the grind. Next tourney is the LAPC. Hopefully I'll get picked for the WSOB! If you want to see either of those videos, I've uploaded them online and can send you the link.
Until next time, peace and good luck!
Devo
PS - Lara and I are still together very much. The "single" comment is in the legal marital terms, not anything else. Sorry for the confusion.
Why is Your Hand White?
Well, it all started when Danny and I cracked a beer... Yesterday was quite the day. I flew back from Montana and returned to weather forecasts that contain "coat required today" only twelve times a year. Danny picked me up from the airport and I immediately plopped down on the couch to play online. Played one hour, won $1300. Good times. Went to dinner with Danny and John, and from there went to pick up a mouse for Irwin on the way home.
$541 later we walked out of Petco with a 75 gallon aquarium (to encourage small snake to grow large) with furniture quality oak stand, new snake tank stuff, all the stuff necessary to turn the old snake terrarium into a new fish aquarium, and one brown mouse. This tank is so big that we had to go to Lowe's to buy materials to build a lid to keep said snake in cage. An hour later we're heading to the register and walk past the PVC piping, at which moment I was struck with inspiration to fulfill an adult dream: build a spud gun. If you don't know what a spud gun is, it's basically a device to propel a potato 300 yards using hairspray and a barbucue ignitor. Hehehe...
So, we spent the next several hours drinking beer, assembling aquariums and terrariums and spud guns, and finally we decided that the 24 hours required to solidify the PVC cement was fulfilled three hours after application. Into the middle of the street we go and I test a dry fire.
Long story short, I could see neighbors heads in windows.
Next, insert potato. Apply fuel. Push ignitor. Push ignitor again. Open chamber, look inside, smell aerosol fumes, push ignitor again (smart). Reach into chamber and screw with potato for some reason. Remove hand and wonder why it is white.
The only fuel we could come up with was white primer paint. So my right hand is covered in white paint right now for reaching inside a spud gun.
That was the answer I gave several times throughout the rest of the night while Danny, Jim Shipley and myself went to BDubs and the Fiesta.
I don't think that I'll be heading to Tunica. I was planning on driving out there sometime in the next week, but I just looked at the schedule and realized that it ends a lot sooner than I expected. Next stop: commerce for the LA Poker Classic!
Today I've played a ton of hands online and actually went on quite a heater. I blew $1600 in the first fifteen minutes of the day but sit right now at up $2k. I bought three fish to put in the tank and learned a ton about all the reasons that I shouldn't put too many fish in the tank yet because they'll die from ammonia and nitrates and whatever, but I like my fish.
This blog officially got boring.
The official report came back on Lara's medical status, and all is good. Basically we had a cancer scare and it has been determined that the cells are non-malignant. Thank you all for your prayers and support.
Peace and good luck,
Devo
Early Morning Ramblings after a Good Online Session
blah blah blah...
I played a lot longer tonight than I wanted to, but here's why:
won't lay down QQ on AK flop with max heat
capable of river raise bluff w/nothing
4 bet A9s BB
cap OOP light
3 bet J7s
weird turn 3 bets
Those are my notes on this opponent on two of my 15/30 6max tables. For those of you who know the HUD, he was a 53.6/48.5/2.67 (thats voluntarily put $ in pot, pre-flop raise %, and total aggression factor). I got into one of those moods that happens every once in a while where I'm stuck in a game that so good that I just say, "I'm not moving until I'm up x amount." Anyways, this amount was over 1k, and I just quit at 6:30am Montana time up $1500 for the day. Nice. This is the first four digit win that I've had since that day way back in the first week of the five diamond last month. Wow... that's a long time.
Due to popular demand I am bringing back the quote of the day. Today's: "Why'd you quit doing the quote of the day?!?" - Nick Reget on the quote of the day laziness. OK... that was lame, I know. Unfortunately the real one involved fellatio and cunnlingus and isn't appropriate for the general forum. Hehe...
Played an interesting hand yesterday. Battle of the blinds with a guy that I have a LONG history with, going back to my propping on True Poker days last winter. 15/30 6max, he opens SB, I 3 bet K K from the BB. He calls. It comes 9 7 4 . He bets, I raise, he 3 bets, I call. Turn a blank. He bets, I raise, he calls. River comes A , he bets. Now, on the flop I put him on the A9 and had it further confirmed with the turn action. He doesn't pound draws too hard heads-up, and never like that. Also i've never caught him bluffing a busted draw in this spot, but he is a good player and is capable of realizing my range (TT-AA, 99, 77, 44) and how scary that river card is to most of the likely hands. So, there's 11 big bets in the pot and it costs me one to look him up, but I am almost certain he has A9, but is online. Easy call, marginal call, or marginal fold? Post thoughts in the comments.
Heading back to Vegas on Tuesday. Until then I'll enjoy Montana.
Peace and good luck y'all.
Devo
6 days down, 359 and $199,643 to go...
A little off track for my annual goals thus far. What's happened the last few days... Greetings from the frozen, windy, and just plain cold tundra of Montana. Lara and I left Las Vegas shortly after USC finished beating the snot out of the University of Michigan (thats right!) and drove straight through to Helena, Montana. I was quite grumpy as I was mildly hungover from the night before. We spent New Years Eve on the strip and quite frankly I have never experienced anything like it in all my life. I have never seen so many people in a place where there usually aren't any people!
I learned something that night also. After midnight, casinos actually tell you that you can't come in. Really? Wow. You must be a guest of the hotel to get in. Well, screw that, out came the diamond card and we wandered into Bally's for bathroom and beer. Around 1am we all started a new 1-2 NL game with the intention of relaxing for a minute and getting free drinks quickly. Around 1:30am I took AA pre-flop all-in against KK, QQ, and JJ and properly lost to the Jacks. This one however, is my favorite. Around 3am, Devo's good and hammed, and he looks down at the T8o in the cutoff and limps. Him and three other players see the flop of J77. They all check, and Devo decides to be smart and check, looking for the nine-ball. Turn: nine. Check, bet $10, raise to $20, Devo makes it $60, fold, fold, dealer squares the pot, player owes $40, player pushes in $55.
"What's that?"
"Thats just a call," says the dealer.
Oh. That guy's a little drunk too. But Devo knows he has him by the balls now. That guy is slow playing a seven. The river bricks out, The guy bets $20 into this huge pot, Devo goes all in for $270, guy calls instantly and rolls over the A7. Nice! Straight good! Devo then looks at the board again and sees that the Jack on the flop wasn't a Jack. It was a King. Oops. Devo just shoved all-in on the river with ten high knowing that he was going to get called. LOL. So far it's the best "I'm an idiot" story of the year.
Anyways, back to New Years Day night, she was driving, I was hungover playing online. Win $2k quickly, stoked about the start of a new year, blow it all back, quit up $180. Next day: Win $1500 quickly, lose $1k. Day three, Get stuck $1k, win 2k, lose 800. Well, three winning days in a row. Day four: play a TON, grind my year to up $2600, then find myself up $150 within thirty minutes. Now, I don't mind losing, but when the wheels fall off the turnip truck and I get tortured on eight hands straight, that's annoying, especially when it happens eight times a night. Lost yesterday, same story, stuck $1150 online this year in 4k hands thus far.
Now, the good news: Up $650 in Lara's room playing, $215 in prop betting including: $100 in coin flips with Terry, $100 in sports betting with Terry, $10 in red/black with Bob, $5 in rock-paper-scissors with Pete, and $5 on the nickel keno machines. I'm getting $510 in rakeback from site A so far this week, $150 from site B, so put that all together and I'm in the black this year baby!
For those of you who know about Lara's medical stuff, things went well this week, but we're still not out of the woods. If you didn't know, now you do, and keep praying.
I'm up here until Tuesday and then I take a one way flight back to Vegas. I really want to head to Tunica, but it kinda sounds like a pain in the butt with nothing to do except poker. Meh... not really interested in being stuck in a casino town in the middle of nowhere with no escape. If you have any Tunica expereince or recommendations, please shoot me an e-mail.
Ok, Peace Out! Good Luck...
Devo
Idiocy in Online Poker Management
Heads up about PokerRoom
My friend Rick Fuller recently wrote this blog. I found it interesting and thought I would pass it along to y'all.
Quoting Rick Ruller:
According to some recent threads on a poker forum, the online poker site PokerRoom recently reneged on a guaranteed tournament and removed the money from player's accounts. Apparently players were not notified the money was going to be removed from their accounts after they played in and won a $19,000 guarantee tournament on PokerRoom. They logged into their account the next day and the money was gone. It wasn't until after they emailed customer support that they were told PokerRoom had decided not to honor the guarantee which had a big overlay.
PokerRoom had recently banned all US customers, falling in line with sites like Party Poker, after the legislation making financial transactions with gambling sites illegal. They re-opened their doors to those US customers a short time ago, but with this action, I have a feeling most of those customers will be gone. This kind of idiocy, failing to honor a promise to try to save about $10,000, is going to cost PokerRoom many mulitples of that in bad publicity and lost revenue. It is just astounding to me that someone would make a decision like that.
I played on PokerRoom for a short time a couple of years ago but didn't like them much and haven't played on them since. I also don't much trust smaller online sites like that and this is justification for that mistrust. The only sites that I truly trust are Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars with Full Tilt being my clear favorite. I have never had any problems with either of them like I have had with many of the other sites.
Just a heads up for any of my friends that may play on PokerRoom.
Peace and Good Luck,
Devo
|
