ONLINE POKER REVIEWS

I’ve been struggling mightily with WSOP hangover and haven’t left my couch since. Yesterday was “Day 9″ and I finally feel like I’m turning the corner and getting out of my rut. In 8 days I basically never left the house and I didn’t do anything all that productive either. Well, yesterday was a pretty full day where I was back on track.
I ate well the whole day and felt pretty strong. I decided to head to the golf course for the first time in two months and as predicted, on the range I wasn’t hitting the ball very well at all. I took it to the course and it started to come around a little bit, but nowhere near where I was two months ago. Two months ago I would be targeting 80 as a score, while on this day I targeted 104! I was on pace for that through 7 holes, but then I got a painful blister on my right hand and decided to pack it in. I never really get blisters, but my grip was a bit off and that had to be what caused it.

After golf I headed home and read three more chapters of that book I’m reading. I usually read three chapters and then write a report on what I learned from them. It’s a fun assignment and I’ll be reading even more over the next three weeks.

I was a bit bored and wanted to finally get out of the house so I called Lex to see what he was up to. His sister was in town so they were doing dinner at a steakhouse. I haven’t eaten in any restaurant or consumed any food not prepared by Patty in about 3 months, so a steakhouse didn’t sound appealing to me. Evelyn wasn’t going, though, and said she’d be willing to see Inception again despite just seeing the movie two nights earlier.

I did a 90 minute yoga session as part of my P90X program and then went to pick up Evelyn. I’m on week 8 of P90X and my body looks completely different. Aside from the 10 lbs I’ve lost, I’m also much stronger. I literally could not do a single chin up when I started, and now I can do four comfortably.

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Inception was just incredible and I’d happily see it again. Ever since The Matrix I never thought something like that could be duplicated, but this movie surpassed my expectations, and I went in with very high expectations. I highly recommend seeing this movie, but make sure you don’t go if you are sleepy. There is a lot going on and you need to pay attention to fully get it. I felt like I was able to follow the story quite easily and that made it even more enjoyable for me.

After the movie I hung out with Evy at her place for a bit and we caught up. We haven’t hung out in ages and we used to talk all the time. Then we got a text from Lex telling us to meet him at Surrender, a club at the Encore so we decided to check it out. I’ve never been there before, but the vibe was really cool. By the time we got there they were just closing up. I had one drink and then something happened that had me laughing my butt off.

We had these three women in a booth next to us and they appeared to be drunk and obnoxious as well as extremely rude. They were trying to steal vodka from the bottle we had and when one of our friends asked what she was doing she gave a pouty face and said, “You aren’t going to drink it anyway.” We probably weren’t, but once she said that I’d rather pour the vodka on the floor than let her have it.

I didn’t talk to them at all, but one of Lex’s friends was. They started to get belligerent throwing stuff at us, and ultimately one of them spilled a drink on Lex’s friend. He walked over to her and asked what the heck she thinks she’s doing, and she got all crazy saying, “Do you know who I am? I’m freaking rich and I’m staying in a villa here. I’ll freaking kill you!” Then she kicked him in the chest with her heels on.

Now, normally I’m not a fan of violence or beating on a woman, but what he did makes me laugh even thinking about it now. It was epic. With her heel still by his chest, he pulled on her leg like a lawnmower cord and essentially dragged her on the floor and she skidded on the carpet for about 12 feet! HAHA, you just had to be there I guess, but as I’m typing this my laptop is shaking from my belly laughs. This chick totally deserved it.

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A lot of people seem to be out of town after the WSOP and I just didn’t want to go anywhere. My best friend is on vacation for another three weeks and isn’t reachable by phone which sucks since we normally chat via text all the time.
I got invited to Italy, Cabo, Portland, San Diego, etc. but I swear to you, the idea of traveling just doesn’t interest me. I do enough travel throughout the year that when I have downtime I want to spend it at home, with my boy Mushu.

My “plan” for the next month is to complete P90X and maybe even post the before/after pics and work on my poker game online. I’ve been playing either the $400-$800 8-game mix or the $100-$200 NLH game in Daniel’s Room on PokerStars. With no action in Bobby’s Room and none on the horizon, it looks like I’ll be getting my poker fix online.

Outside of that, I’m just going to use the next couple weeks to unwind before I start shooting The Million Dollar Challenge again, as well as The Big Game. Both will be shot in August, and after that it looks like my schedule will start to get busy again with travel to Europe.

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As promised, after the WSOP I said I’d be playing more NLH online and working on improving. Over a small sample size I’ve been up, down, up, down, and back to even again. Most of the people who critique my play mostly say that you need to have at least a 50,000 hand sample size before being able to assert any meaning to it. So my goal is to get to 50,000 hands played by December 31st, 2010 and hopefully show some sort of profit.

Most people flatly say that I don’t stand a chance at those stakes. Most everyone is convinced it cannot be done. I love a challenge! I’m not saying I will succeed, but there is something poetic about looking into the eye of the storm and tackling it head on to see what you are made of. I’m taking it pretty seriously and when I do that I always feel like I have a chance.

Poker is still my job and I want to be good at it. Not just good, I want to be the best I can be at it. It’s been a learning curve, but I’ve made great strides both online and live with my 6max NLH game. I came 15th in the $2500 NLH 6 max at the WSOP and also came in 11th in the $25,000 NLH 6 max event. I had a shot in both of those.

I also fared well on The PokerStars.net The Big Game show and I’m looking forward to the next taping this August. There are still three weeks of shows that have yet to air and I’ll appear on two of the three.

My online play took a nose dive before the WSOP and then when I first started again I proceeded to donk off about $84,000. Since then it’s been a hot streak and overall I’m up about $80,000 since my return.

For the year I’ve played 10,009 hands and I’m -$751.50. An important stat that gauges pure luck in All in situations actually shows that I rated to be +$10,693.20. I like that stat because it’s a far more accurate barometer of skill then the actual result. Early on when I was winning, I was on the other side of the All in EV calculator. At one point I think I was +1$80,000 in actual money, but my all in EV was closer to +$80,000. Essentially what that means was that I was running far better than average in terms of luck when all in and no further decisions could be made.

So I’m just excited as can be and very proud of myself for putting in the work. I don’t really “have to” in terms of financial security, but it’s important to me. I wouldn’t play this game if I didn’t want to be a winner.

While the WSOP was a grind, I’m ready to go back to the grind both online, on The Big Game show, and then hitting the road to LA for the Bike followed by WSOP Europe and EPT London. I plan on immersing myself into poker both online and occasionally in Bobby’s Room if there is a game.

Poker gives me “wings” if you will. I’ve been a bit blah/bored lately, but the grind makes me hungry and I plan on continuing.

While this hasn’t been my best year results wise, I’m very proud of myself for “hanging in” there despite going through a lot over the past year. Tomorrow is my 36th birthday and it will be the first time I don’t hear the words “I love you, happy birthday” from my mother. I miss her more now than I did when she passed away.

I’ve had my fair share of personal issues to deal on top of that, stuff I simply won’t talk about in my blog, but even with all that I’ve been able to do the best I can at the tables and I’m very happy about that. 10 years ago there is just no chance I would have been able to handle it. I would have done what I always did when I was young and had problems: have a few drinks and spread my bankroll around the table for all to share!

Not anymore. I’m much stronger now in every way. I’m a better player, more mature, and am much more aware of the pitfalls stress can have on your poker game. I’ve truly done the best I could this year and I am satisfied with that. In the end, all that really matters is that I’m content, since I am my own worst critic. No poker forum can hold a candle to the kind of pressure I put on myself to succeed. In fact, that stuff just fuels the fire for me.

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On a separate note:

Congrats to Eddy Sabat, you did it kid! His ugly mug made it’s way onto the lobby of PokerStars this week for leading the TLB. He told me he was going to grind his butt off to try and accomplish that goal this week, and I just got the news that he’s done it. Awesome man, good job.

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As I mentioned previously, my birthday is tomorrow and I don’t think I’ll do anything different than I have been. Veg on the couch, do my P90X workout, and maybe play some more online poker. There is nothing really going on in Vegas at the moment and most of my friends are all out of town so I’ll likely be hanging with Mushu. I’ve always hated birthdays anyway to be honest.

I had a bit of an epiphany that’s been escaping me these last two weeks and it occurred to me late last night before I went to bed . Call it WSOP hangover, or what you will, but it just came to me that “I’ve done the best I could. I’ve given it my all and I have to be satisfied with that regardless of the results.”

Not a bad way to live life in general. If you always do the best you possibly can- then that really is enough. I’ve done that, and it’s important to come to terms with the fact that the results (in both life and in poker) are often out of your hands. If your best isn’t good enough for some people, then so be it. You can’t let that affect how you view yourself or you are doomed!

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I’ll try to keep this relatively short otherwise it will turn into a book. I’ve been reading an interesting book recently and I haven’t put it down. It made me reflect on family, and how much your childhood shapes you into the person you become.

It made me think of my family. I was so insanely lucky it’s hard to put into words. I really had it good. My father was my hero, a superman, and a best friend. He was always the life of the party and people loved being around him. My mother, who many of you have likely seen on a show here and there before she passed, was that super sweet caring woman who basically just wanted to feed the world!

My mother and father were very different, but they had their similarities too. They both were very good hosts when it came to parties. My mom kept bringing food and didn’t take no for an answer, and my dad could spot an empty glass from across the room and would fill it before someone asked. They were a great team. I never questioned their love for me, they always showed me love… without fail.

I think that team attitude helped them when it came to raising me and my brother. It was different times, and they had clearly defined roles. My father brought home the money, and my mother took care of the cooking and cleaning. My mother wanted it that way, and so did he. It worked for them since they both felt appreciated.

My mother didn’t feel like it was a “chore” to take care of the house and the kids, she made it her life’s work. I know my father appreciated what she did, but most importantly, she knew. That’s where a lot of people go wrong I think. It’s not shameful to have a role, but it feels that way if you are treated like garbage and don’t feel appreciated. I think that’s true in all facets of life whether it’s work related or just among friends. No one wants to feel taken advantage of.

People rarely commit selfless acts. Even giving is usually a selfish act, because giving makes you feel GOOD. That’s usually the motivation for giving, to make you feel good about yourself and to help someone in need. Usually when you give to someone, you expect some kind of response in return. I’m not talking about giving money either, it relates to everything. When you make sacrifices for other people, how they respond to that sacrifice will dictate whether you’d ever do something like that again.

My parents were pretty good with stuff like that. They had a mutual respect for each other that shaped my view of how to treat people. They were very similar in one way, and I absolutely carry this trait to a T. My parents were extremely good to people they liked and cared about, but they could also be pretty nasty to people they either didn’t respect, or felt were disrespectful towards them.

Obviously, I live my life very similarly. I don’t feel the need to get along with everyone. Personally, I’m just not all that interested in phony relationships with people I don’t want to associate with. For some people, conflict is scary and they try to avoid it as much as possible. I’m obviously not that guy! There are plenty of examples where I’ve been outspoken about things or people I don’t like, and that’s not a part of my personality I ever plan on changing. I like being that way because it helps me sleep at night. If I don’t like you, you’ll know. I generally make that very obvious, but sometimes people don’t get the hint.

I feel good about that because you know when I actually do like you, it’s genuine and not fake. You don’t have to wonder if I’m your friend, because you know that if I wasn’t, I wouldn’t waste my time with you. I don’t expect everyone to think like I do, but it’s the way I was raised and I have no desire to change that. That’s how my parents were and as is normally the case, that’s how I’m going to see things.

Brings back some funny memories… my mother, the sweet, sweet, woman most of you would know, could be a real tyrant! When she didn’t like someone, MAN did she let them know! I used to think it was cute how she’d curse in Romanian calling them every name in the book, then moments later when she’d see someone she did love she’d give them that big grin and likely offer them something to eat. Dude, it didn’t matter the situation, my mother always had some kind of food/snacks available to feed you. You could be in line at the bank and my mother would pop out a bagel with cream cheese or some pretzels for you! She was the best…

So I’m digging this book. It really clarifies a lot of thing for me and helps make me understand how lucky I am, while at the same time being empathetic to people who grew up in broken homes with sometimes alcoholic or drug addicted parents. Since your parents are such a major influence in who you become as a man/woman, I guess it feels a little unfair to those people with deadbeat dads or absentee mothers.

Whether you like it or not, the friends you choose and the relationships you develop are directly linked to what you saw as a child. If your parents were abusive towards each other, it’s likely that you’ll grow up thinking that’s normal behavior. Ultimately, most people end up following in the footsteps of their parents. Not always, but more often then not, you’ll end up with what you know.

I miss my parents very much. I wish my father could have seen Vegas, man, he would have loved it. He really loved life, he loved people (most of them anyway), and he definitely loved me, my brother, and my mother.

My mother lived 13 years alone after my father died, and naturally she clinged to both me and my brother. She lived with me when I first moved to Vegas, but after I’d had some success I told her she could buy a house… not surprisingly, she found a spot just 5 minutes from my place. She was a constant presence in my life and I never went more than a day without at least talking to her on the phone.

I’m very thankful that I was raised the way I was, and while missing them is hard, it’s a part of life and I accept it. They have done their job and prepared me for “life” and that’s all you could really ask for. It’s not their fault they are gone.

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