–Harvey Dent

When I think about the entry I wrote last night I think it’s important to elaborate on a few things, especially the continuing to unfold Cornell Fiji story.

I failed to mention that Steve had a considerable hand in creating the TJ Cookier comic (though it was addressed in the post.) I originally wrote the script  while relaxing in Macau then sent it off to Steve to get his input, additions, and editing. This was roughly a week before the drama began to unfold. When the thread went up and began exploding with views Steve sent me (as well as his backers) a private message doing his best to explain himself and everything that happened. I agreed not to share the exact contents of that message, though a considerable bit of it was made public with his approval.

The long and short of it was that Steve was up a small amount for his collective of backers after the WSOP. He’d returned the money to all of them but two, whose money he still had on him at the Bellagio. He then took it to the Bellagio poker room and began playing a mix of no limit and limit games for which he was under rolled. Poker led to house games which led to the sports book, which is where the bulk of the money was lost. At some point during the spree (I’m not entirely sure whether it was before, during, or after) Steve requested respected 2+2 poster Admo do a $30,000 transfer with him. Admo agreed to send the $30,000 online in exchange for an equal amount deposited in his bank account. After having lost the money at the Bellagio Steve took the money online and began playing fairly high stakes no limit hold’em online and apparently lost the majority of the money to another 2+2 poster.

After this Steve sent a message to Admo explaining what had happened and that he would begin liquidating assets in order to pay back the debt. Three weeks later and Admo hadn’t received a dime, resulting in his making the whole thing public.

The last time this sort of thing happened I was directly involved and very much the fire starter for the public portion of it. This time around I seem to be the only person close to Steve who isn’t involved. Now being outside looking in and there’s none of the anger but still plenty of disappointment.

I talked to Steve today after he sent me a PM asking to sign on. I asked him if he had anyone left ‘on his side’ so to say, the answer was no. I told him I sincerely hope he makes the whole situation right and does his best to recover everything that’s been lost. The dangerous thing about a thread like the one that’s up about Steve now is that it creates a hole so deep and crippling it becomes difficult to get out of. On top of the stress of everyone who knew you as a good guy now calling you scum, there’s the problem that if Steve attempts to get a while collar job and they run a Google search on him a thread about him stealing $50,000 will be one of the first things that comes up. The thread has totally ruined any drive he had to play poker, and grinding out a $50,000 debt starting from nothing is near impossible.

I don’t mean to write any of this as some method to defend Steve’s actions, or say that he’s getting it worse than he should. I’m not a judge and I wouldn’t pretend for a second to know what the right form of retribution or revenge is in a situation like this. Conversely, I questioned whether I should even write about the situation at all, since I don’t want to just drive more negative attention onto the situation.

A month ago Steve was practically a hero online. He’d done as much as anyone to uncover and pursue the UB scandal, resulting in millions of stolen money being repaid (there’s even been one person who says if he receives his full refund from UB he’ll pay Steve’s debt of $50,000 for him, God knows if it’s true.) When Chief Norton shot back with his lawyers Steve made a retraction statement that made Norton look downright foolish. He’d spent months in small and high stakes MTT forums responding to posters questions with detailed and polite replies.

Today Steve is as notorious and hated as anyone within the community. His months of work are all but forgotten and his name is now the butt of an endless string of jokes. It makes you think about just how careful you need to be with your reputation and actions in poker.

Post from: Poker From The Rail

Bond18 – Around the World in 90 Days: Day 96

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I remember not long ago the topic of Dr. Pauly’s blog came up in the ‘News, Views, and Gossip’ forum on 2+2. A number of people mentioned they didn’t enjoy his writing lately because it seemed he intentionally focused on the seedy side of poker, ranting about the various degenerates that populate the WSOP landscape and how it seems just about everyone is an asshole or an angle shooter. Regardless to their opinions, the posters were more or less right that such items tend to be the favored topics of discussion in his blog. Lately I’ve been thinking that Pauly doesn’t set out to focus on the shit side of things around him, but that the shit is so constant and prevalent he can’t focus on anything else.

Unfortunately for me, the last few months offer too many examples to be able to ignore said shit. It began with my horse and close friend stealing the money I staked him out of the account and running off to Macau with it to lose in pit games. He went underground for three months after doing so, avoiding every form of contact with me. In June he won a major tournament online and my knee jerk reaction was to brashly make a post in MTTc questioning just how much I was entitled to, which can be read here.

Did I handle the situation perfectly? Certainly not, but I was angry and felt betrayed, leading me to shoot from the hip before thinking everything through, as I often do.  The horse sent the money he took back with a little extra for my trouble and we haven’t really talked since.

Not long after that another major cheating scandal broke online. Yet again it was super-users seeing hole cards, but this time the cheating was active as far back as 2005 with involvement running all the way up to the owners of the company. It’s the kind of story professional writers would make up, but in this case it was all real. The cheating was on an enormous scale, yet still nobody knows what form of justice the perpetrators can be brought to, if any.

Compounding my disgust of that situation was watching the sponsorship war for would be poker star Tiffany Michelle end in her outraging everyone who invested in her by her decision to take the sponsorship of the aforementioned cheating site, right during the height of the scandal. The resulting fall out had public statements full of nasty words like ‘sue’, ‘betrayal’, and ‘lawyers’, leaving everyone disgusted and nobody happy.

Leading the charge against the scum of the cheating organization was 2+2 mod and personal friend ‘Cornell Fiji’, aka Steve. Steve made the original post elaborating and explaining every piece of evidence in the scandal, a post that more or less forced that organizations hand into admitting to the scandal. When Chief Joe Norton (who has or had some form of interest in the scandal ridden company) sent Steve a cease and desist letter demanding a retraction of certain statements, Steve responded with a sarcastic retraction statement that cited dozens of pieces of evidence pointing to every assertion he made being true, a hilarious piece of spiteful yet accurate and poignant revenge that can be read here.

So imagine my horror upon logging on today and reading that Steve has been accused of agreeing to a transfer with another 2+2’er but then gambled away the money and failed to pay back. It didn’t take much investigation (seeing as Steve came out and admitted it) to find out the story was true. On top of this Steve had also lost the money of two of his WSOP backers and had attempted to cover up the scandal by deleting posts on the subject, resulting in his being demoded.

I know now that the degenerates of the world around me rarely make their decisions out of any malice or ill will towards the people whose money they steal or lose. I know that when I make jokes about TJ Cloutier or whoever else being a broke degenerate I’m really making fun of a guy with a legitimate problem. I struggle between wanting to see these figures named, shamed, and crucified for their greed and stupidity and wanting to see the quality in them make amends and overcome their weakness. I want to see the people who piss on the world around me suffer and pay the consequences of their actions. Simultaneously, I want to believe people can fuck up hard, genuinely mean that their sorry and do everything they can to right the wrongs and fix the disaster they’ve created.

What I’ve really learned though, is paranoia. When the people closest to you will put a knife in your back for a few thousand how can you not look over your shoulder? When the people with power abuse it for personal gain how can you not view others in similar positions with suspicion? When the people with the most potential decide to fuck integrity and throw it all for a pay check, how can you not be disgusted? When the people you admire make offenses similar to those they fought so hard against, how can you not be disillusioned? How can you not be so fucking angry about it all!?

That’s the kind of shit you can’t see past. That’s the kind of shit that keeps Dr. Pauly up at night, spewing sarcasm and insults into his keyboard.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve still got lots of great people around me I could probably trust with my bankroll. I tried to write that sentence without the word ‘probably’, but I can’t do that anymore. I’m left wondering too much.

In the end I channel my frustration the same way I always do; I write something making fun of everyone and everything involved. That’s where detective Cookier comes in. I won’t explain that outside of this link.

Sure it’s just another shoot from the hip reaction to write a cartoon about a degenerate talking cookie in order to address the things that bug me. Maybe that’s not the most mature way to respond to things. I don’t give a shit, it makes me laugh, and I could use one right about now.

Post from: Poker From The Rail

Bond18 – Around the World in 90 Days: Day 95

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The online tournament scene has changed a bit since I last played heavily. I’m seeing a lot more people aware of +cEV shoves and open shoving a considerably wider range between 11-16 BB’s. I’m also seeing a number of guys who three months ago were unheard of playing quite well and aggressively. People also seem a bit more stack size aware than three months ago, with less blatant mistakes being made at the higher stakes tournaments. However, things are still clearly very profitable for the expert tournament players and there’s a larger variety of tournaments than ever.

I’ve been talking to my friend Luckychewy about learning heads-up cash games in order to improve my deep stack play. I think that there’s only so much you can learn about poker through playing predominately MTT’s, and in order to take your game to the next level you have to force yourself into new and more challenging situations. I think heads-up cash is perfect for improvement since it constantly puts you in difficult situations where hand reading and predicting your opponents thought process becomes integral.

One of the difficulties in improving your tournament game is that many of the tournament situations you find yourself in are on stack sizes below 40 BB’s. As a result a vast majority of your decision making comes to down to understanding ranges and equity in pre-flop situations instead of more elaborate post flop and deep stacked situations. Although there is clearly more to tournament play than those factors they’re the two that get exercised the most while making deep runs in tournaments.

It’s no secret that for the most part, guys who spend the majority of their time playing cash end up being ‘better poker players’. That is to say you can normally take a cash player and put him in an equivalent stakes tournament and he’ll be +EV. Meanwhile take a predominately MTT player and stick him in an equivalent stakes cash game and he’ll often be out of his league (unless he’s spent time working on his cash game previously.) The fact is cash forces you into a more difficult and elaborate level of decision making. That’s not to say tournaments aren’t hard or tournament players are bad, simply that tournaments require a somewhat difficult skill set. The major leaks you do see in cash players in tournaments is when the stacks fall below 30 BB’s and they have minimal experience playing them, as well as problems with shoving ranges.

Still, I feel in order to become a complete player learning both are a must. On top of this I also think there’s considerable value to learning mixed games, as PLO seems to be the new high stakes game of choice and all anyone says about PLO is “The games are so sick.” I’ve spent the last two years of my life doing everything I can to improve my tournament game, and at this point I think I’ve hit a plateau. Even though cash games feel more like a job to me, I believe the only way I’ll ever truly take my tournament game to the next level is if I force myself into unchartered waters.

Post from: Poker From The Rail

Bond18 – Around the World in 90 Days: Days 93-94

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Although I honestly enjoy playing tournaments online, staying focused and genuinely interested for the entire session proves difficult. While I refuse to go so far as turn on the TV or watch a movie I’m always listening to music and browsing the internet, as well as occasionally having programs like AIM and MSN up, though I normally close those down when my session gets more hectic.

It’s common knowledge that successful cash players make more money than roughly equal stakes tournament players. However, the money to be made grinding a full tournament schedule is pretty respectable. To get a rough estimate of what a tournament player makes you can work it out using www.officialpokerrankings.comor www.thepokerdb.com. If you take a look a look at a players long term ROI you know what his expected earn is per tournament (though it’s not exact, since you have higher ROI’s in some tournaments than others, not to mention the considerable variance that goes along with big field tournaments.) After that you estimate the total amount of his daily buy-ins, which you can find out from those sites as well. Then you just run the math. Say for example a player has $1,000 in buy ins a day at 100% ROI, then that player expects to earn $1,000 a day, assuming this has been maintained over a very large sample (and in MTT’s, no sample is actually big enough.)

Keep in mind though that very few players are legitimately 100% ROI outside of very soft large field tournaments such as Sunday majors and a few of the bigger daily tournaments, such as the Tilt 50/50. Still if you put in enough volume at stakes you are consistently beating you can see how the money is considerable.

Because the money is so large it always amazes me how few MTT grinders actually have money of their own. Some have the obvious leaks of house edge gambling, cash games spew or very expensive drug habits, but for others the leaks are more hidden. Some only play the biggest buy in and toughest tournaments which even the greatest players have significantly reduced ROI’s in. Others simply don’t put in the volume to accumulate considerable wealth. Many are backed for both their online and live action and end up getting so heavily in make up as a result of live tournaments that they do nothing but dig themselves out of that hole with their online winnings.

For all the guys out there who are considering or looking into a backing deal you should know the standard within the industry is to give up your online action in order to get live backing. For many guys I actually think this is a pretty bad idea, even though it means you’ll get to take shots at big buy in live tournaments and have a shot at getting your one big score or being famous.

Think about this for a moment; if you’re a MTT grinder who can maintain a 50% ROI at mid to high buy ins online (which is entirely reasonable) and able to play around $2000 worth of buy ins a day and be careful with your money, you can easily accumulate a large enough bankroll to start putting yourself in large live tournaments but simply sell off some action in about a year. If you’re willing to just sit at your desk eight hours a day seven days a week for say, 48 weeks of the year and not go fucking nuts with your spending habits you can realistically have a $300,000 bankroll by the end of the year with a work schedule that’s considerably less stressful than most peoples. It takes discipline though, and I’ve found that the reason a person like me (who is of average intelligence and borderline retarded at math) can make so much money in this game is because that’s a trait so few people have.

Now if you’ll excuse me I have an eight hour session to put in.

Post from: Poker From The Rail

Bond18 – Around the World in 90 Days: Day 92

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1. Sleeping on planes will never be comfortable, unless you can afford first class, which unless you have roughly $15,000 to spend on every long flight you take you can’t. Instead, you get to sleep in the luxury that is a singular degree of decline in the economy seats, insuring that one day you’ll be spending $15,000 at a chiropractor.
2. Europe is expensive. There’s no joke here, Europe is just expensive as hell.
3. Turkey has a very low divorce rate. This is obviously because of the system of arranged marriage.
4. There is no such thing as a Venetian. Everyone in Venice is a tourist.
5. There is no risk of live poker drying up in the near future.
6. People from other countries don’t really hate normal Americans. They hate idiot Americans and there is an important difference. A normal American speaks politely, doesn’t impose, asks questions, and shuts up about that which they don’t know. Idiot Americans talk at a volume that automatically makes them the center of attention, constantly imposes their expectations from growing up in the US on other countries and their systems, doesn’t bother to get cultured and figure out how things work in new places, and talk like they know everything. If you’re an American reading this, be the former.
7. When it comes to Scandinavians, don’t bluff, don’t fold.
8. Way too many people get way too wound up about the World Series main event. It’s just one tournament people, and if you’re among the best players you stand to win it once every 60 or so life times.
9. The poker community is full of degenerates and scum bags you can’t trust with a quarter. Way too many notable poker players are just complete douchebags who shouldn’t even be allowed in a place as low class as a casino. Then there’s the group that might be ethically clean but feel their D- celebrity status allows them to treat everyone else like total shit after spending the last few years masturbating to their own pictures in poker magazines.
10. A huge percentage of online players are massive pot heads. I’m not quite sure what the cause of this is. Sure marijuana is pleasant and all, but there seems to be a real high correlation between the two. Perhaps everyone is really a massive pot head but their having a normal job prevents them from walking around stoned all the time. I’m not quite sure. This isn’t a complaint or condemnation of any sort, simply an observation.
11. There is a very, very short list of live pros who understand the following three concepts; stack sizes, position, having a plan.
12. Outside Las Vegas Boulevard, Las Vegas is a never ending chain of strip malls and similar looking houses. Nobody seems to have been born there. Only locals sleep.
13. I am my own worst enemy. Both in my relationships with people and my play at the poker table I tend to shoot from the hip and clean up the mess later far too much. This is what happens when your boyhood hero is Brett Favre. Sometimes people appreciate the honesty, other times they tear me down for being inconsiderate. Sometimes the hero call works perfectly, sometimes they table a set and I look like a total retard. I think quite a few poker players are likely guilty of this. My best guess is that it’s a result of years spent without rules, structure, or legitimate responsibility outside the Adam Smith inspired code of “Make the money and do what’s best for you.” Invisible hand baby (go ahead, Wikipedia Adam Smith.)
14. Trying to be clever in your writing will only come off as you looking like you’re trying to be clever in your writing. It needs to just…flow. I guess that’s the word. Oh, and you should edit it too.
15. Getting enough sleep is everything. Few people seem to appreciate this, but the difference in most peoples functionality between sleep deprived and fully rested is enormous.
16. How the hell do the people who work at airports actually show up and do it everyday? Okay, obviously that’s not something I learned, but it’s still a worthwhile thought. I mean, can you really think of a place more depressing that an airport? Cemeteries aren’t even close, their all green and flowery and shit. Airports are grey and bland and everyone there looks like they’re the one in the coffin at the cemetery.
17. You never really know about people. This wasn’t something I specifically learned from going around the world, but I had enough happen to me and heard enough stories from others that it’s made me eternally suspicious of just about everyone around me. If you have a friend you consider truly genuine make sure to appreciate that.
18. Tournament poker is very hard for most people. The vast majority of poker players just can’t stand the variance that comes with tournaments. It took me a year to get out of make up in live poker tournaments, and there were times during that period I legitimately questioned myself. If you’re going to play tournaments for a living you better be educate yourself on just how massive the swings can be and do what you can to prevent them (without reducing your equity of course.)
19. My girlfriend has inhuman patience for dealing with me. I have inhuman patience for dealing with my girlfriend.
20. I don’t want to go around the world in 90 days again any time soon. 

Post from: Poker From The Rail

Bond18 – Around the World in 90 Days: Day 91

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 I feel like the blog has mostly been a success, although my falling behind by double digit days during some periods in the trip is a disappointment. I think the blog works more successfully on the reporting angle when the information is very recent, but to be honest if I forced myself to write up my day as soon as I busted each tournament I would’ve ended up killing myself. I’ve found trying to find something interesting and clever to blog about every day is actually quite difficult, as many days are kind of ordinary or bland. Also, since tightening up in live poker a little bit I think the hand histories themselves are somewhat less interesting, though I think the adjustments I’ve made are very much for the better in terms of my equity in the tournaments.

Meanwhile I think it’s safe to say that the goal of making money on this trip was a total success. When I wrote my intended plan I wrote “July 16^th, return to Melbourne Australia, kill self.” Instead I return home completely free of make up, having turned a small profit for my backers. Couple that with the $83,000 and change I made from a five percent swap with Sirwatts, plus a shiny gold Bellagio bracelet that symbolizes that once, just that once, I ran better than any other donk in the tournament, and I got my one time.

Now when I play poker I have an endless well of patience for bad beats and idiocy. While I was never tilt prone or especially emotional I’m now totally unaffected by busting out of any live tournament. When I bust out of tournaments I shake the hand with the player who knocked me out with a genuine smile and say “Best of luck” then walk away in a state of total calm. Perhaps some time in the distant future after a long period of running bad and getting deep make up I’ll feel anger towards a tournament again, but for now I feel I’ve got no right to complain.

So what did I learn from all of this? Well, I feel like I’ve considerably improved my live poker game. I’m not sure I learned that much about writing except that when writing about the same thing it can be tough to keep it fresh. I don’t know that my technique or style has changed all that much, but I hope that the writing has become a bit more clean and efficient. I feel like a got the chance to taste Europe, but not quite as fully as a vacation or time spent there without having to play would allow. I’ve learned that part of me will always miss the USA, for as much as I love Australia there is something about being home that just can’t quite be replaced. Perhaps thinking all of this over and doing the next blog entry in a list form on this subject is a better idea. Until then, looking forward to seeing everyone back in Australia again.

Post from: Poker From The Rail

Bond18 – Around the World in 90 Days: Day 90

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We leave the hotel in the evening after grabbing dinner and show up at the airport early. The airport staff has some problem about my passport and some kind of glitch about my not being allowed in the country, likely a left over from my ban two years ago. Celina does her best to translate the issue between us, and after half an hour of waiting around they clear everything up and let us advance.

When we get past the security check there is a massive line at the terminal. Apparently, they are checking the bags of everyone getting on the plane again, despite having just done that in security. This time they want to do a bag by bag search, and they only have a couple of security men assigned to do this.

“Holy Jesus, this is going to take forever. What the fuck are they doing Celina? They JUST DID THIS like five minutes ago over at the normal security check. How are these people so incompetent?”

“I don’t know hun. I guess they need to check for liquids again in case people bought anything from the duty free stores in here.”

“What the fuck. Just…what the fuck. Like what the hell. If people didn’t have potentially dangerous liquid explosives going through security, how the hell would they have gotten them from the perfume store!? HULK SMASH!!!”

For some reason I am extra outraged by the inefficiency of the airport today. I guess I’m just ready to go home. I don’t smash anything though.

After sitting around for over an hour and a half in the terminal as everyone slowly went through the line we finally get on the plane, now on track to arrive late to Sydney, which creates the possibility that we’ll miss the flight from Sydney to Melbourne.

On the flight I play some video games on my computer then start feeling drowsy. I pass out in my very uncomfortable seat but keep waking up throughout the night because my neck hurts. I don’t want to sleep on airplanes anymore.

I wake up as we begin our descent into Sydney. I look at my watch and try and figure out what the time is. I ask the guy next to me what the time zone conversion is and realize we shouldn’t have too much trouble making our next flight.

When we get off the plane we book it to the baggage claim and cram all the bags on one of the carts. We scramble over to the bus transfer to the domestic terminal and make it to the check in counter about 15 minutes before our flight ends check in.

When we get to the terminal we’re told there’s a 30 minute delay. God I’m so tired. Just let me go to bed.

When we get on the plane I pass out almost immediately. When we arrive in Melbourne just an hour later I feel somewhat refreshed and very much ready to go home.

It’s about a half hour cab ride from the airport to the apartment. Melbourne is much colder now, August being the end of its winter, though at least I missed the majority of it. When we get into the apartment its freezing and I immediately turn on the heater. I flick on my computer and it twirls to life for the first time in three months. A few minutes later I’m on AIM and chatting to my friend and horse Joel.

“Horseman, wanna swing by? I badly need my Xbox.”

Post from: Poker From The Rail

Bond18 – Around the World in 90 Days: Days 88-89

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Spending all day in the spa is the kind of activity you can get used to, if not addicted to. I almost feel bad sitting here while people wait on me and give me massages, but then I remember how awesome it is. After three months of non stop travel spending a few days doing nothing but relaxing is exactly what the doctor ordered.

The upcoming Victorian Poker Championships looks very promising. It’s a surprisingly high stakes series of tournaments, with two 10k tournaments, a 5k PLO, an $1,100 six max event, and the $3,000 main event. The best part about the series though, is for all the high stakes action it doesn’t really attract any international talent. A few online players will be there, as well as the best of the live poker players in Australia, but no major names either live or online will be there to my knowledge. I’m not so sure about the $5,200 PLO since I’m fairly bad and nity in the game, but I’ll play everything else.

When I get back I’ll be hitting the online scene for a few days leading up to the tournament series. I feel like going back I’m probably going to be very rusty and unsure of the moves I’m making and unfamiliar with what to expect from peoples ranges. A major factor in poker comes down to your understanding of ranges and ability to expect opponents tendencies and patterns, and when you spend a lot of time either online or live when you switch to the other it can be a awkward transition.

That said, having spent about an equal amount of time this year playing both I can say I honestly prefer online to live. The most difficult part about online poker is the social isolation that comes from being at home behind your computer all day. Live is considerably more draining though, and sometimes the social factor becomes a burden when you miss details at the table or become distracted with the various drama that goes on around a tournament and with other players. It sounds like a strange statement, but I honestly believe that online poker is the more ‘pure’ form of poker. The stacks sizes are always available to you, the blinds and antes are taken in for you, you don’t have to deal with idiots stalling or wasting time, the game gets focused and concentrated down to its technical roots. Live there is so much shit going on, and so many complications, that although it’s how everything started, and what most people think when they hear the word ‘poker’, I think it’s clearly the inferior form. Too bad the online games are so much tougher.

Post from: Poker From The Rail

Bond18 – Around the World in 90 Days: Day 87

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I go down to the poker room and play the event but wind up busting out early after being mostly card dead and cramming an open-ended straight flush draw on the turn which gets called by a made straight and misses.

For the afternoon I naturally hit the spa and find the Internet inside almost unworkably slow. I kill some time watching TV and taking foot and head massages. The later is heavily underrated.

In the evening I show up back to the poker room for the Red Dragon event. The event starts us with 5,000 chips at 25/50 blinds and 40 minute levels. It winds up being a pretty small field of 31, though that seems to be roughly what Jeffrey Haas was expecting.

The first level passes uneventfully as I drain slightly in chips. The Macau and Chinese players are not quite like anything you get in the United States or Australia. In the US poker has advanced to the point of a skill game that most people play very poorly, but they have a concept of strategy and are for the most part very risk averse. Meanwhile, many of the new players in Macau seem to treat the game as a more traditional form of gambling, with little fear of going broke and sudden massive spews of chips based on whether they “feel it.” Nobody even seems particularly upset when they bust out, though they do get excited when a lot of chips are in the middle. Perhaps I’m just running into a small sample size, but from everything I’ve heard from people who have been around the room a bit more my observations are more or less accurate.

My first interesting hand of the night comes up at the 50/100 level. The button is a guy named JP who I played last night during the charity event. At one point he spoke up and said “Hey, I know you don’t I? You’re Tony right?”

“Huh, uh yea I am. Do you read 2+2 or something?”

“No man, we used to play at Park Street Poker way back in Madison when we were teenagers.”

Suddenly I remembered. When I was 18 I was closer to the movie ‘Rounders’ type of a poker player, going around to various home games and trying to grind a living when not in school. JP and I used to play all the time. JP was a regular in a lot of the games and I hadn’t seen him in five or six years until last night.

My stack: ~4,100, JP ~9,000, blinds 50/100, I hold 93o in the BB.

Pre-flop: Folds to JP on the button, JP limps, SB completes, I check.

Flop: A A K rainbow

SB checks, I check, JP bets 150, SB folds. The way JP is playing I highly doubt he’s limping anything with an A or even a K on the button so I check-raise to 400. JP quickly calls. Shows what I know.

Turn: A

Well, that’s just about the worst bluff card ever. I check intending to give up, he checks back.

River: 4

I check and he checks back.

“Yea you got it, I’ve got 9 high.”

He tables 45o for a boat and we both start laughing.

I fold out the rest of the level as my stack dwindles and the play around me remains surprisingly aggressive. I don’t get involved again until 100/200:

My stack: ~3,000, SB: ~6,000, blinds 100/200. I hold AsAd UTG+1.

Pre-flop: UTG limps, I raise to 600, it folds to the SB, SB calls, BB folds, UTG folds.

Flop: 6h 6s Th

SB checks, I bet 700, UTG shoves, I call. SB tables 2h2d and I’m way out in front.

Turn: 3h

River: Ks

Yea, these guys aren’t afraid to gamble a little. The very next hand I get involved again:

My stack: ~6,500, both other players: ~2,000, blinds 100/200. I hold AhKd UTG.

Pre-flop: I raise to 600, three folds, MP2 shoves, HJ shoves, folds back to me, I call. MP2 shows AcQc and the HJ AsJc.

Flop: Kh 8c 4s

Turn: 6h

River: 9d

“Wow, what a skillful nit I am.” Man, I can’t imagine a live player in the US or Australia ever showing up with AJ on the HJ. Just an orbit later I’m involved again:

My stack: ~10,000, HJ: ~12,000, blinds 100/200. I hold KsQh UTG at a 7-handed table.

Pre-flop: I raise to 600, MP2 folds, JP on the HJ calls, everyone else folds.

Flop: Kc 2d 4d

I bet 800, JP calls.

Turn: 5s

I check, figuring JP likely won’t call down two barrels and might bluff a bit after our 45o hand.

River: Ad

Wow does that card suck. I check, JP checks back and tables Ac8c. I muck my hand in disgust of myself.

Not long after the antes come into play and I get involved yet again:

My stack: ~9,500, CO: ~2,100, blinds 100/200 with 25. I hold 7s7c in the SB.

Pre-flop: Folds to the CO, CO shoves for 2100, button folds, I reshove, BB folds. CO shows AKo.

Flop: 9 2 3 rainbow

Turn: A

River: K

I slide him over the 2100 and lose my ability to stack anyone on the table.

I spend the remainder of 100/200 25 mostly maintaining my stack without any significant change. It’s not until 150/300 25 I get involved again:

My stack: 7,400, HJ: ~9,000, blinds 150/300 with 25 ante. I hold 7s7d on the CO.

Pre-flop: Folds to the HJ, HJ raises to 800, I shove, folds back to HJ, HJ goes into the tank then calls with JJ.

Flop: A K 4 rainbow

Turn: 9

I start to stand up.

River: 7

The HJ reacts in much more disgust than I do in shock. I just kind of stare at the card and chuckle a little bit. Even though I’ve been running outstanding over the last couple of months I can’t remember the last time I two-outed someone on the river after getting it in so behind pre-flop.

The tournament begins losing quite a few players and the remaining tables are reduced to short handed play. Our table is five-handed and my large chip stack is allowing me to open raise a ton of hands. Most, but not all, of the others are quite weak and I have a highly aggressive image when the next hand comes up:

My stack: ~18,000, BB: ~8,300, blinds 200/400 with 50 ante. I hold AsJs on the CO.

Pre-flop: HJ limps (HJ always limps), I raise to 1,600, button folds, SB folds, BB shoves, HJ folds. BB is a guy named Ivan who got second in last years APPT Macau main event and I decide given my image he could certainly be re-stealing here and make the call. He tables QQ and it’s about then I start internally berating myself for calling a shove from a player as tight as Ivan.

Flop: Kh 7d 4d

Turn: 5c

River: 9d

I slide him over what ends up being 8,325 total and fall back into the middle of the pack. I grind my stack up a little then get involved in a hand against a player who seems a little crazy and played a previous hand where he tiny re-raised pre-flop, then bet the flop and shoved the turn and tables AQ high (though he picked up a flush draw on the turn.)

My stack: ~11,000, CO: ~8,000, blinds 200/400 with 50 ante. I hold A4o on the CO.

Pre-flop: HJ folds, I raise to 1025, button re-raises to 2,050 (he never does anything pre but min raise or re-raise), both blinds fold, I call (a pretty horrible call despite his craziness.)

Flop: K 4 2 rainbow

I check, button shoves. What in the hell? From the way he’s playing it seems like he’s only shoving when he’s bluffing so I call.

“You got it.” He says. I table my A4o and his eyes light up then he turns over his 55. Fuck, I just got value bluffed.

Turn: A

The button gasps at the card while I bury my head in my hands and repeat “Oh my God I’m the worst. I’m just the worst ever.”

River: 2

I shake the buttons hand and apologize for playing like a total donk.

With that we bring the two tables together for the final table of 10, with the top 5 paying. Celina has also made the final table, but she’s coming in a fair bit shorter than I am. It turns out I’ve gotten the absolute golden seat because the player on my right is somewhat aggressive and the one on his right is totally psycho aggressive and never stops open raising and rarely folds to re-raises.

For the first half hour or so of the final table I just watch the guy two on my right accumulate a massive stack playing nearly every pot and crushing people in just about every hand. Right when we come back from break I finally find a spot against him:

My stack: ~16,000, UTG: ~60,000, blinds 300/600 with 75 ante. I hold TsTc UTG+2 at an 8-handed table.

Pre-flop: UTG raises to 2,000, UTG+1 folds, I re-raise to 6,500, folds back to UTG, UTG thinks it over and shoves, I instantly call. UTG tables JhJd and I realize I have the most ridiculous % of getting it in behind rate for this tournament.

Flop: 4h 7h 5h

“Yea, so, I’ve got one out.”

Turn: 2h

River: 2h

I wish everyone good luck and stand up.

I spend most of the night hanging out with staff members Dom and Fred and watching Celina make a run at the final table. At one point she gets down to a single 1,000 chip and manages to come all the way back to go into heads up with about a 4 to 1 deficit. She gets in a pretty massive coin flip but unfortunately loses and finishes in second place, but still gets her first five figure cash of just over $10,000.

Why play good when your girlfriend can just do it for you?

Post from: Poker From The Rail

Bond18 – Around the World in 90 Days: Day 86

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1. Bond18 – Around the World in 90 Days: Day 34
2. Bond18 – Around the World in 90 Days: Day 34 (Cont.)
3. Bond18 – Around the World in 90 Days: Day 39

We get up to the room and I find it’s currently 10am. I don’t quite feel like sleeping anymore so I go down to get some lunch then try and find the poker room. We’re in the same hotel as last November and while the poker tables on the main casino floor are all still there with posters of various players, there is no actual poker in sight. I go back to the room and tell Celina I’ll be hitting the spa with the laptop to do some writing.

Easily my favorite part about a visit to Macau is the time spent in the spa. The entire thing is set up to relax you and put you in a total state of rest slash apathy. Going in for multiple massages, food, and time spent hanging in the lounge room with a recliner that has TV and computer access for several hours will end up costing something like $60 US. Despite being a city similar to Vegas in the sense that it’s full of casinos and little else, Macau is mostly lacking in the distractions and lifestyle of Vegas, with a much higher focus on the actual gambling. As a result, when you spend day after day hanging in the spa you never really feel like you’re missing out.

Today I waste away for around six hours in the spa before I make my way back to the room to find Celina and afterwards, the poker room. It turns out it’s a floor up in a sort of side room, and that the main room will be used for tournaments later. I run into Australian tournament director Danny McDonough and ask him how many they’re expecting for the $10,000 HK (about $1300 USD.) He tells me it should be about 30, not quite the number I expected but I guess it’s a smaller event being used in build up for the upcoming APPT Macau main.

During the evening is the charity event, which only starts us with 2,000 in chips at 25/50 blinds with 20 minute levels and loses all semblance of the structure so fast it becomes push or fold within 90 minutes. They’re paying a huge 60% of the field (as it actually got an overlay) and I wind up cashing but not for anything substantial.

During the evening APPT director Jeffrey Haas invites us out to dinner and drinks with some of his friends and employees. It’s clear just from hanging around today that they’re interested in making Celina a pretty major name in Chinese poker, and seeing as there’s not much in alternatives for attractive female Chinese speaking poker players she’s become a bit of a priority. While she does interviews and publicity type stuff I mostly stay in the background and let her do her thing.

By the end of the night we wind up half drunk in a karaoke joint in the city at 2:30am bellowing the few songs in English any of us actually know. Somehow despite the travel and the poker and the booze and the absurd jet lag I’m holding up fairly well, but I know I’ll be paying for this tomorrow.

Post from: Poker From The Rail

Bond18 – Around the World in 90 Days: Day 85

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3. Bond18 – Around the World in 90 Days: Days 55-56