I grew up in New Orleans, for a long time it sucked to be both a fan of the Saints and occasionally of LSU. But I always was. Football is just different in the South. For instance, in Minnesota the Vikings are kind of a big deal but it’s not like the city gets pissed if they lose. If LSU loses a football game everyone is miserable. I don’t know if that is bad or good but it is a fact. Watching last nights game against Mississippi State a few things seemed clear:

1. LSU might not allow 50 points all year.

2. I feared for the lives of the Mississippi State players and was actually yelling at my TV “get that damn kid out of there”.

3. If a team can score on LSU (very doubtful)  they can beat them as LSU appears offensively challenged.

4. At least for the next few weeks the under for LSU matchups seems like a decent bet.

I don’t think LSU will go undefeated but I hope they at least win next weeks game as I am flying down with my nephew. It will be his first Tiger Stadium experience, given his options locally (Gophers, yuck) I imagine he will become a lifelong Tiger fan.  I am saying it now college football needs a playoff, every year, including last year the SEC gets screwed (yes I know an SEC team won).  USC will play nobodies all year and hopefully won’t choke against someone like Cal or UCLA.  Meanwhile LSU has land mines every week, that isn’t USC’s fault but it does suck without a playoff to make the situation right.  Don’t even get me started on the Little Ten.  In case you haven’t noticed I am a bit biased.

This weekend I am heading to Wisconsin Dells for a little lazy river and poker action. On Saturday I am hoping to hook up with Mark “Poker Ho” Kroon for a little live poker or at least scam some wifi from him for some online poker. Apparently Phil Hellmuth stops by occasionally and it is not uncommon to have 5 or 6 guys playing online poker at any given time in his bar. Sounds like a great bar.

I’ve had a lot of poker stuff going on in the past week. Last Wednesday night, I played in a good 100-200nl game at Commerce. I lost 20k. I made one really terrible laydown. My mind was off…. I learned just before the game that Bank of America planned to buy a piece of Countywide. I had a massive short bet on Countrywide, so I figured to lose a huge amount on Thurs. The stock was up 25% in the aftermarket Wed.

On Thursday, I had a heads up battle against Tony G at 200-400PLO on FullTilt. I won a pretty good figure. He plays weird. He puts too much money in the pot out of position, IMO, but in fairness I cold-decked him once or twice. I played super passively and just let him string himself on. He fired two barrels as a bluff too often. Thursday night, I went out to dinner in LA with Kenny Tran, Dan Harmetz, and Kenny’s friend Casey. I always find it funny going out after a long online session (in this case, 4.5-5 hours)… basically you have to drink to avoid being totally wired. We did a decent job of that.

On Friday, I went to a charity poker tournament in San Diego that was organized by Donna Baldwin. This was an unbelievably nice event. I can’t recommend the hotel enough…..
http://www.ivyhotel.com/

The tourney structure was fast, as expected, but I had a great time chatting with Chip Reese and Howard Lederer. Phil Ivey busted early and came over to our table a bit drunk. He wanted to bet props. I took him up on it for some reason, at 10k per flop (I got 10k if it came 2/3 or 3/3 red cards, he got 10k if it came 2/3 or 3/3 black cards). I had an edge in the bet b/c I could, for example, limp with a black J-9 or go all-in with a red 2-7 (which makes for an interesting maximization problem, by the way, as you’re playing for nothing but you risk losing the prop bet option). All I can tell you is that this was the day for black. Black black black black, Brando is down 104k. If you want a “What am I doing with my life?” moment, lose 104k in props.

I guess Phil Ivey might be the world’s premier gambler at the moment. And, for the record, I do believe that whoever you’re talking about, you have to add the “add the moment” part. This is a high volatility business with some sickness thrown in. So here’s my evidence for Phil being on top now…. Kenny Tran and I see Phil at the bar (after props) and tell him that a game might go down in one of the rooms. Phil says, “I don’t have any money”. Kenny says, “Surely your credit is good around here”. This conversation continues for a bit, then Phil says, “Wait a minute, I do have money.” He had truly forgotten that he had money, but then, five minutes later, he showed up with a Ziplock bag that had $700k+ in it (mostly cranberries) and said, “You never know when things are going to go down.”

I went to bed at 2 or so on Saturday night (I had the tournament on Sunday). A game spontaneously started in one of the rooms at about 3.30am and by all reports it was a very good one. I walked in at 10am and it was down to 3 people…. Antonio Estfandiari, Phil Laak, and Nelly. As I write this, it seems crazier than it did at the time…. I mean, it was Phil, Antonio, and Nelly. Nelly is far smoother than any poker player could ever hope to be, and he’s somehow a master with chips.

I busted the Bike tournament in the second to last level. I was short-stacked and lost a 20,000 chip pot with KK.

Going into the hand I raised 2100 obviously hoping to pick up the pot right there, but in poker there usually is a snag one way or the other and the plan had to change.  Brian raised me 10k so it was discussion time; what did he have and could I out play him post flop or should I just lay it down?  At the time I figured maybe mid pair, ak, or aq so I reraise 27k to eliminate these possibilities.  He just calls so the thought process continues.  Now I think he has AA because any mid pair or AK or aq he mucks and KK I feel he would push.  The flop comes K K 4.  I pretty much ruled out most hands, I was sure I was dealing with AA so he checks and I lead out with 30k just under half the pot.  He thought about the hand for at least 10 minutes before calling (they sped up his discussion in editing) so now I really feel he has AA and he has too much invested not to see if he can hit on the turn.  The turn comes a 10, he checks, and now I fire 50k thinking he cannot call with AA any longer.  He raises me 50k and I think for a minute.  I figure out he only has 30k left and there is nothing else I could do to win the hand so I muck.  Seven deuce is a crazy game.  You must have balls of steel to play it and you cannot run into the stone cold nuts with it if you have to continue a post flop attack.

Just to tell how sick this seven deuce game is, I was at the Bellagio about two weeks later playing seven deuce again and I run in to quad kings.  How sick is that??  I did not loose nearly as much on the hand but really…what are the odds on that?

Next weeks episode there is no more seven deuce hands for me on the show but there is anther 300k still to be bluffed off by other players.  It should make for good TV.

I don’t know why I expected more than Michael Vick to be a giant liar….

- His father, absentee growing up, came back into his life once he became a football star. Star pays the rent on Dad’s condo…and as soon as the money stream dried up and the son needed a father rather than an anchor, Dad throws the son under the bus, in print.
- Mom takes no responsibility in how either of her two athlete/criminal sons grew up.
- Dozens of hangers-on claim to be his friends from way back, but obviously treat him more as a meal ticket than a friend.
- Half of his adopted home city refuses to just let him be an athlete, instead forcing him into being a public face of a centuries-old racial politic.
- The other half will cheer him on Sunday afternoon, but drop n-bombs about him behind closed doors (and in some cases, flat-out in the open).

Michael Vick has every right to be confused. But at some point, he needs to be a man of his word. All a gambler has is his word. The “I put up money for the other boys to gamble, but I didn’t take a cut” is an excuse so laughable as to taint the rest of what seemed to be a reasonable plea in court, and a heartfelt apology outside of it.

If someone could treat Michael Vick as a man, without ulterior motives, maybe he could believe his honor and his word are something worth having.

I know I know….it’s been about a week and a half since my last blog, and I apologize for that. I’ve been quite busy traveling. All of my days so far have been jam-packed. I think this blog is better served as a two-part blog instead of a regular one-part blog. There has been so much to tell, it might get rather long, but eventually I’ll catch it all up. I believe where we last left off was right after my wedding. As per the relationship I have with Anita, becoming married doesn’t really change us any. Our vows obviously bind us to a lifelong commitment, but other than officially doing that, nothing has changed basically besides introducing one another as each other’s husband or wife.

Two days after our wedding, we went to Brooklyn, NYC to get on the Cunard cruise liner: Queen Mary II to cross the Atlantic Ocean to London, England. Lots of people told me how amazing and great the Queen Mary II was once I told them about my plans to travel to Europe and how I was doing everything. I figured traveling on a “Titanicesque” cruise ship would be sort of unique and cool. Both the original Queen Mary and the Queen Mary II have carried many famous and powerful people in its past. I was told the Cunard cruise liners are supposed to be the most prestigious and famous in the world. For the most part, I believe the ship is one of the best in the world. There are a few things that could definitely be better for the price we paid, though. The food was overall “good”. I’d give it about an 8 or 8.5 on a 1-10 scale. I expected at least a 9 rating for this, though, on “one of the best cruise ships in the world”.

Last June I took Anita and my grandma on a cruise to Alaska on the Princess cruise line, and their food was just as good, if not, better. The entertainment was also probably about an 8 out of 10. It was good and it was entertainment, but it just wasn’t that, “Wow, that was AMAZING!” kind of entertainment. At least Anita and I didn’t think so. That being said, our standards might be a tad high considering we have been to some of the best shows in the world in Las Vegas. The service was about a 9-9.5/10 so nothing was really lacking. The amenities amongst the ship were a 9/10. The ship had a golf course simulator, daily ping pong tournaments, a top rated Spa (10/10) on board–Yes I obviously got a massage– and 24 hour room service. I wish the internet had been good enough to play poker on, but it wasn’t. I guess because for most of the time you’re in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean where apparently it’s really hard to get high speed internet, unfortunately. Generally speaking, there were far more older folks than I would have preferred, and hardly any young adults our age. For the most part, that is just because only very successful people can afford to spend six days lounging on an expensive intercontinental cruise ship. Overall I was pleased with the cruise. It was just a tad below what my expectations were, but it was worth it.

On the 6th day we arrived in Southampton, England and took a motor coach over to the London Waterloo Station to catch the Eurostar high Speed train to Paris, France. I’d heard that this train goes fast and smooth, but WOW. This thing is super fast and very efficient for traveling between London, Paris, and Brussels. It only took 2 hours and 45 minutes from London to Paris. I believe it was going as fast as 170 mph at some points. I think the regular Amtrak trains in the U.S. top out at around 100 mph. It was a weird feeling going backwards at such high speeds. To our surprise, the seats we were sitting in were faced backwards from the way the train was moving, which was a little awkward at first. We arrived in Paris and found a nice hotel to stay at near the Louvre museum and the Notre Dame Cathedral. On the first night we ate dinner at a fresh outside café, a block away from our hotel in the middle of the city.

The next day we spent at the massive Palace of Versailles. It took a little while to figure out the Metro system, but we eventually found our way. Versailles is about a thirty minute Metro ride from Notre Dame, although the C-Train at the Notre Dame station was under construction as we had already made a mistake getting on the wrong Metro. We had to re-route and make a few switches. Versailles maintains an elegant essence with its ages-old statues lining the paths of the Palace’s majestic garden. Inside the palace just about every ceiling and every wall is coated with amazing paintings, bordered with statuettes hanging in the corners and framed in gold. The floors in every room are uniquely designed marble. From the room with portraits of all the queens to the hallway of mirrors, and where the Treaty of Versailles was signed, the entire Palace is absolutely amazing. Anita says it was her favorite part of our trip so far.

I’m going to stop here with Part I of this particular blog. I think I can have Part II completed by later tonight. As of right now, I am on what I think is the fastest train in the world which is the TGV France Train. I am on my way to Barcelona, Spain. I think this goes about 200 mph or maybe even slightly more. Like the Eurostar, this train is FAST. Along with being extraordinarily fast for land travel, it is extremely smooth. Unlike the Amtrak trains in the U.S., this train has virtually no bumps or jerks whatsoever. Not to get distracted with trying to complete Part I of this blog, but I just wanted to wrap up with just mentioning I’ve been getting killed lately at virtually every NLHE game I play. Fortunately, PLO has been a little nicer to me, but it has hardly mattered. My downswing as of late in NLHE has been moderately depressing, but nothing even remotely close to me having to worry about anything. I’m roughly down $50,000 in the past 3 or 4 days. I’m almost to Barcelona now, where I will be seeing the sights for two days before playing a lot of live, hopefully fast-paced poker. I haven’t decided whether I will play the EPT event in Barcelona yet this week. That decision is almost totally dictated by how the action is in the 25/50 and 50/100 NL cash games. I look forward to posting a couple of exciting high stakes live cash game hands as I will be playing a lot live within the next two months.

I don’t drink a lot of soda or pop any longer so I ask for a cup for water when I am at a fast food restaurant. It never fails that I end up getting handed a plastic shot glass, if I am lucky I will get the kiddy size. Literally how much more could it cost to just give me a decent sized fucking cup so I do not have to go back 14 times to refill my measuring cup. I get it, they want me inconvenienced to the point of frustration, it just seems that is contrary to good customer service and it is not like I did not just buy $8 worth of food that should cost $3.50.

I have not been playing a ton of poker but when I have it has been at Absolute Poker. They recently updated their software and have picked up a lot of volume, not to mention that the software is hella cool now. Absolute has always been a good place for soft games on and off, this newest change should not hurt that at all. I have mostly been playing $200 heads up sit and go’s, I do not use Beanie on Absolute so it is quite refreshing to not have that target on my ass. Even being semi known does give your opponent an edge that you do not have on them. Clicking this link will get you the max allowable comps (paid directly into your account) that you can get on Absolute and $650 in bonus.

Every other month my wife and I alternate with my in-laws watching each others kids, we call it date weekend. The last few we went to Vegas and LA. This weekend we decided to just stay home and relax (for once), it usually isn’t my wife’s fault I seem to always want to cram these weekends with the most excitement. This weekend we ended up at the State Fair. When you are from Minnesota the State Fair is a big honkin deal, the night we went Fergie was playing in the Grandstand and as we walked the grounds I just couldn’t get Fergalicious out of my head. It was splurge day so diet be damned, I ate so much I woke up at 6am the next morning half sick which I will likely repeat again next year.

The State Fair is known as “The Great Minnesota Get Together” and if it wasn’t for the State Fair I don’t think I would associate with 99.8% of these people. Here are a couple of things I observed:

1.            I am not sure if it is a chicken or egg thing but it seems like any woman that has a half shirt on that says “I live for beer” shouldn’t be pregnant and should have more teeth. It got me thinking that maybe it was the shirt that started it and one night of drunken bliss after knocking down a few this lady got in a bar fight and lost those teeth and the guy that helped her get off the ground put that bun in the oven. That is the type of stuff my wife and I think of as we judge the masses at the State Fair.

2.            We kept running into a big black dude carrying around a giant Spider Man. I did catch him checking out my wife’s ass as I came out the restroom. It sure is a good thing she isn’t the type that would trade sex for a giant stuffed Spider Man otherwise I could have been in trouble.

3.             I cringe at the thought that I was once a teenager and that I acted like these imbeciles. This week I pulled out of my driveway with a teenage girl coming down the hill driving like a bat out of hell as I pulled up to the stop sign not only did she not stop she passed me. In a residential neighborhood, where there are tons of kids. It was one of those moments that is so baffling you have no idea what to do. Her friend in the passenger seat just gave me a look like “that is how we roll”. All of her friends seemingly were at the State Fair being rude and it took everything I had not to choke a few.

These weekends are good for catching up on current events and apparently Michael Vick is trumping the miners from Utah in anticipation of his admission of guilt on Monday. Why is it that he somehow represents black people, as well as Barry Bonds? But Floyd Landis and Mark McGuire do not represent all white people? You just know there are closed minded people out there that see Michael Vick as the embodiment of all African Americam males and it doesn’t help that the NAACP gets behind him. Note to the NAACP, you are not advancing anyone backing this jerk off. I read that he could lose $100 million dollars for his role in this scandal, he would have been better off sexually assaulting a woman, that is what Kobe did and now he is dunking for USA Basketball. I know he was never convicted of that crime because the woman technically did say “yes” she just didn’t say yes where Kobe wanted her to say yes. Either way the actions of Vick, Kobe or Pac Man reflect three idiots, they don’t reflect all of mankind and they certainly don’t reflect all African Americans. 

Today I went to get a massage and per usual the deep tissue massage on my upper thigh makes me a little “sensitive”.  What I do at moments of sensitivity to correct the problem is think of Nascar and Jeff Gordon if the thought of Nascar doesn’t correct the problem.  Nothing seems to spell “insensitivity” for me the why Jeff Gordon and Nascar do.

On another note, Brandon played Tony G an impromptu heads up match on FTP.  I almost missed it because it didn’t go very long.  Brandon beat him fairly easily but there were some hairy moments.  Hopefully Brandon will pop up a few hands from the match, otherwise there is a thread on 2+2 about it with a few hands.  Brandon wasn’t exactly sure how much he had won but when it was all said and done the score was Brandon Adams $182k and Tony G $0.

As I write this I’m en route from Vegas for a vacation back to where I grew up, the city of Troy in upstate New York. While my parents were educators and were pretty far removed from what was going on in the streets of the city, Troy had, and still has, a well-deserved reputation as a gambling town. (I was at the Gaming Expo at the WSOP this year when a guy introduced himself to me as Gary Stycyznski. He was from Troy also, having gone to my high school. He congratulated my on winning a bracelet, then went on to shock me by saying he had won one also, in Event #6. How about that? Two Troy High boys winning a WSOP bracelet in the same year!)

I think I played in my first street game when I was about 12. I remember those games as consisting of a lot of acey-deucey and the like. I also remember the first time I was cheated. One of the older guys had very crudely marked the backs of the cards with a ball-point pen. No one noticed until he bragged about it later, and then the marks became obvious. However, it always stuck with me how little people notice when they have the gambling fever.

My real education came at a place that is still my favorite spot in the world. Babcock Lake is a small lake about 20 miles outside of Troy. It was a popular retreat for NY city people in the early 1900’s, with a lodge and tavern that featured some big name bands of the era. The Olympic swimming team trained there, and Johnny Weismuller practiced his Tarzan dives on the diving tower at the beach. Poker was also a popular pastime for the locals. My Dad bought a camp there in 1960 and that’s where I spent many summers. Naturally I gravitated to the poker games, which popped up in private camps, on picnic tables and on the beach. There was a group of guys who ranged in age from 18 to about 24 who were the mainstays of the games. They played real poker, like 7-stud and draw, and I was enthralled by the game. By age 13 or 14 I was sticking my toe in the water. My mentor was Rock Murphy, who had learned to play in the service and was the best player. Not only did he tutor me the basics of poker, but he whetted my appetite for Las Vegas with his tales of adventures on his many junkets to the city. (Needless to say, my parents had other plans for me and didn’t care much for Rock.)

By age 15 I rarely lost in the games at the lake or in the city. I wasn’t an accomplished player by any means, but I had figured out the key to beating that type of loose game: I simply played patiently and nearly always had the best hand when I entered a pot. It’s a basic strategy that every player should understand before moving on to move advanced ways of beating games. I prove the efficacy of that strategy now when I go back and play in the games, but I do it from the opposite side of the fence—I play strictly for fun, so I play nearly every hand and rarely come out winner. I don’t care who you are, if you play too many hands, especially in limit poker, you have little chance in the long run. I remember in the early ‘80s Eric Drache started a 100-200 mixed game at the Golden Nugget. It was a bit steep for me at that time, but I’ve never been very good at playing within my bankroll, so I took a shot. Stuey Unger was in the game, and he played nearly every hand, no matter whether it was hold’em, eight-or-better, or razz. He needed action and couldn’t stand to sit out a hand. As talented as Stuey was, he had no shot of winning.

Things have changed at Babcock Lake over the years. Rock passed away far too young, there is usually only one card game each summer–at the property owners annual party, which is this weekend–and hold’em, which I tried unsuccessfully for years to introduce into the mix of games, has now taken over. Regardless, it’s still my favorite spot on earth and I can’t wait to get back there.

I have no idea why but watching the main event is just different than watching any other tournament you may have played.  It is statistically very much against you to win but watching it makes you feel as if you missed an opportunity.  Here are a couple of my thoughts:

1.  Man did they go easy on Montel Williams.  I realize that he is a celebrity and he isn’t supposed to win but he had double the chips of everyone else (something like 190k) at one point.

2.  I so enjoy the coverage ESPN puts on, the clips in between really are entertaining.

3.  Does Joe Hachem rub anyone else wrong? We get it dude, your a good player, I dislike him more than Phil Hellmuth because at least Hellmuth knows he shouldn’t act that way towards people.

4.  Can we retire, “this is sick”, him drawing on out Corey Cheresnik’s Kings was sick, the fact that Corey caught up was just probability.

5.  Is there anyone more likable than Scotty Nguyen?

I have been laying off poker for a bit trying to get things in order.  After Alaska I came back home to a few trainwrecks.  I wasn’t losing but my personal life just wasn’t in order.  Tonight was the first time I have played in about a week and it was more or less for fun, I played a couple of heads up sit and go’s and won both.

So Michael Vick is going to plead guilty to various charges in his dogfighting case. His initial charges could have brought up-to-6 years in prison, with a likely sentencing range of 3 to 4. He ended up taking the plea for 1 1/2 to 3 years, in no small part to the threat of additional charges to be levied in accordance with the RICO Act. Vick was going to be charged with running a criminal enterprise for illegal purposes, similar to the charges brought upon many sports betting operations run out of Old World Social Clubs. These charges would have brought the total maximum sentence from 6 years all the way up to 20+.

Here’s what it all boils down to:

You can breed dogs to fight to the death for hours. You can use medieval-English looking items like a pry bar and rape stand to make sure they’re in fighting shape. You can use innocent, defenseless dogs as slaughter fodder to hone the killer instinct of your fighting dogs. If a dog is not competitive, you can murder it using the most torturous, sadistic methods you can think of (drowning, electrocution, hanging).

Just don’t bet on the outcome of the fight, or you’ll be in 4x the trouble. It’s much better if you run the operation purely for the love of watching animals slaughter each other, just for kicks.

When someone can explain how that makes the slightest bit of sense, please let me know.

I’m off to a good start in the $2500 FT tourney…..

Full Tilt Poker Game #3291747957: FTOPS Event #12 (23186107), Table 56 - 25/50 - No Limit Hold’em - 16:52:16 ET - 2007/08/18
Seat 1: Bausi (4,605)
Seat 2: bashpup (6,775)
Seat 3: theusual06 (9,890)
Seat 4: Brandon Adams (3,590)
Seat 5: 1zzz1 (3,629)
Seat 6: boltsva (12,315)
Seat 7: TheComeUp (4,775)
Seat 8: PickyTooth (7,717)
Seat 9: RaidenWins (3,021)
bashpup posts the small blind of 25
theusual06 posts the big blind of 50
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Brandon Adams [Qd Qs]
WhoTheHeIlFartd (Observer): This kicks ass, everyone should go t0 www.instantpokerpromo.com
Brandon Adams has 15 seconds left to act
Brandon Adams calls 50
1zzz1 folds
boltsva folds
TheComeUp folds
PickyTooth folds
RaidenWins calls 50
Bausi raises to 250
bashpup folds
theusual06 folds
Brandon Adams has 15 seconds left to act
Brandon Adams calls 200
RaidenWins calls 200
*** FLOP *** [Jh Qh 4s]
Brandon Adams has 15 seconds left to act
Brandon Adams checks
RaidenWins has 15 seconds left to act
RaidenWins checks
Bausi has 15 seconds left to act
Bausi bets 750
Brandon Adams has 15 seconds left to act
Brandon Adams raises to 3,340, and is all in
RaidenWins calls 2,771, and is all in
Bausi calls 2,590
Brandon Adams shows [Qd Qs]
RaidenWins shows [Th 8h]
Bausi shows [Ad Qc]
*** TURN *** [Jh Qh 4s] [Jd]
*** RIVER *** [Jh Qh 4s Jd] [Kh]
Brandon Adams shows a full house, Queens full of Jacks
Bausi shows two pair, Queens and Jacks
Brandon Adams wins the side pot (1,138) with a full house, Queens full of Jacks
RaidenWins shows a flush, King high
Brandon Adams wins the main pot (9,138) with a full house, Queens full of Jacks
RaidenWins stands up
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 10,276 Main pot 9,138. Side pot 1,138. | Rake 0
Board: [Jh Qh 4s Jd Kh]
Seat 1: Bausi (button) showed [Ad Qc] and lost with two pair, Queens and Jacks
Seat 2: bashpup (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 3: theusual06 (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 4: Brandon Adams showed [Qd Qs] and won (10,276) with a full house, Queens full of Jacks
Seat 5: 1zzz1 didn’t bet (folded)
Seat 6: boltsva didn’t bet (folded)
Seat 7: TheComeUp didn’t bet (folded)
Seat 8: PickyTooth didn’t bet (folded)
Seat 9: RaidenWins showed [Th 8h] and lost with a flush, King high

I took a bad beat in the markets yesterday. I woke up to see that Japan was down >5% for the second day in a row. S+P futures were down about sixteen (despite a strong earning report from HPQ). Customers of Countrywide Bank were lining up to take out money. All told, the signs were very encouraging for someone who was extremely short the market and extremely short Countrywide in particular. Then, an hour before the open, the Fed announced a surprise cut in the discount rate, and, boom, S+P futures were up 40 points in three minutes and I figured to lose some huge amount of money.

I did in fact lose a huge amount of money, but I lost less than I might have b/c I shorted a lot more Countrywide when it hit 24 at around 10.45am. In a recent blog, SBRugby talked about how losses don’t hurt anymore. This has almost always been true for me. I’m calm in the face of losses b/c they just don’t hurt anymore. In markets, this is good because it allows you to make good bets when other people are fearful (in this case, weak shorts in Countrywide), but it’s bad because it makes it more likely that you will lose everything. I need to strike a balance here because for the first time I have a fairly serious amount of money, an amount high enough that I’d have to go to therapy or something if I blew it away.

I should have a good trip report from LA. There are some big cash games planned and the tournament should be huge.

Brandon

Phil and I are still in Miami shooting season two of our TV show I BET YOU. Today, just like most days of shooting, was quite interesting. The show works like this: there are 3 different types of bets; A, B, and C bets. The A bet is the big one where we each get trained in some art form. It could range from surfing to bartending to firefighting, but whatever the A bet is someone else teaches us something and then it is up to us to whale on each other. So every episode has one A bet, and all the B and C bets are done while preparing for the A bet.

B bets are kind of an in between the A and the C bets. A B bet would be a bet that would take a bit of time but not nearly as much time as an A bet. For example, one bet was finding random poker players on the street and pinning them against each other. We each had to find a person to play and we each spent 15 minutes teaching them. Then they would play heads up while Phil and I bet on our guys.

A C bet is quick and to the point. It’s a “can you get her phone number?”, or “I bet you can’t rub that guy’s head for 30 seconds” kind of thing.

Our director, Thom Hinkle, ex-producer of the Daily show, usually comes up with the A bets and Phil and I have no choice really. We just show up and Thom tells us if we are fighting fires, shooting sperm into a cup, dancing, runway modeling, surfing, boxing, you name it! It’s like Phil and I are his human guinea pigs.

Today our A bet involved runway modeling. We had to see who was better at walking down the runway, strutting their stuff. Thom provided us with two VERY cute models to teach us this art form. I can’t tell you the results for this bet, but I will tell you it was rather embarrassing. After the contest we took the girls down to the beach for a little fun in the sun…you never know what kind of bets can pop off on the beach. Somehow we ended up in the water and we each had our model on our shoulders and I got the brilliant idea of a catfight. There we were, each having our own model on our shoulders, betting on whose girl would take down the other guy’s girl first! It was definitely one of the highlights of my career.

More to come…tomorrow we get to go to the Miami Fire Department and get trained on being a firefighter!!

I BET YOU is on the MOJO HD Network. You can also view some clips of the show at MOJOhd.com or on youtube.com.

One of the great things about this site is that I get to talk to a lot of high level thinkers about poker.  Sometimes it feels a bit weird saying “so I was three tabling 20-40”, then someone like Brandon says hold on “I am in a pot for 90k, brb”.  Sort of puts things in perspective.  The other day we were having a conversation on what it takes to be a winning poker player and I thought the conversation was interesting so I am going to share a bit of it.

On handling winning we both agreed that this was the easy part but we both share the thought that when you are winning you should play more because there are a lot of things going in your favor, your confidence is up, your decisions are crisp and overall life is quite good.  Unfortunately this likely only represents maybe 5% of your play.

Losing ironically is not as important but the consequences involved with handling losing incorrectly obviously can make the difference between being a loser and a winner long term.  I like to take time off whereas Brandon starts to look for softer spots and play through a slump.  Both approaches are likely correct and we both likely do a little bit of each.  Obviously when you lose you want to keep them low and when you win you want that to be high but one thing that isn’t as obvious is you should never lose more than you can get back in one session.  That is my rule of thumb.  My biggest wins have been bigger than my biggest losses and I am proud of that.

This is the part we didn’t necessarily agree on.  I thought that the way a player handles “breaking even” for long stretches is the difference between winners and losers.  By breaking even I mean a win or a loss that isn’t significant.  Brandon didn’t necessarily agree but I think the reason why is because the winning and losing in the games that he plays in are more of a factor.

If I were to break down my sessions they would likely look something like winning 30% of the time, losing 10% of the time and being near break even around 60% of the time.  For instance anything under $1000 playing $30-$60 would fit in this category.

For Brandon I would assume the numbers to be more like 50-25-25, the 50 being the win category.  Still, even in that scenario a 10% change for either of us only makes us slightly profitable.

To be honest with you I can handle the losing and winning, it is the breaking even I have a problem with.  You could also call it the grind.  I don’t know if over time I have become too addicted to action or simply I have lost some discipline.  To be completely honest I default to action and discipline was learned it’s just the process of beating my head against the brick wall that annoys me at times and makes me wonder if I am cut out for being a poker player.  Make no mistake about it, my game has holes in it you can drive a truck through but I have been able to develop a style that works for the most part.  It’s the day to day stuff that makes me wonder if I have what it takes long term.

The markets have been almost more fun than poker this week. How did the S+P end the day up? That’s very puzzling to me. In a turnaround from this summer, I’ve been losing in poker (on FT) and winning in the market.

I’ve been running so so bad in poker and so so good in markets. How good? On Monday, Countrywide puts looked cheap to me. I bought at-the-money puts, expiring Fri, for $1 (27.5 strike, 400 contracts). It was a gamble but I thought I was ahead of the market in knowledge of CFC’s troubles. As the stock slid, I grew more confident in the position and increased the size. Today was somewhat frustrating b/c Schwab was completely frozen…. there was no way to trade after 12.30pm Eastern by phone or email. It’s hard to say what this cost me. I can’t say that I would have exited the position but I think it would have.

I think I’m down 180k on the week in poker. I feel like I’ve been playing good and running bad but it’s hard to say. I thought I had a good spot today against IDreamofJenna (200-400nl) but he killed me. Our biggest pot was jack-high flush vs ace-high flush. I flopped a pair plus flush draw on the flop, then turned the flush.

Brandon

Well, I didn’t write this the day after my blog about the Bachelor Party Part 1, but that’s okay. Anita and seven of her other friends went out in a limo to a restaurant on Thursday night. I went out with five of my friends in a limo to Del Frisco’s Steak and Lobster House. I can’t speak for Anita’s party, but Del Frisco’s was excellent as always. Del Frisco’s is definitely one of my favorite restaurants in the United States. After both of our groups had finished dinner, we met up at the entrance of Club Roxy in Orlando. We actually got there about thirty minutes or so before the place really started getting slammed. We went through the V.I.P. line and hung out at the downstairs bar for that period of time until the V.I.P. Manager showed us the way upstairs to our couches and table in the V.I.P. Lounge. We ordered the regular Magnum Bottle of Don Perignon and another bottle of Grey Goose, along with various other shots. After about an hour or so, the place was really getting crazy and most of us headed to the dance floor to bust some grooves. I think the D.J. was the best I had ever heard. He was keeping the party alive and kicking switching and spinning the songs every minute and a half or so. After the club, we took both of our limos back to the hotel where my wedding was taking place.

Friday afternoon, my best man Neutrality arrived to the hotel. I called up jcmoussa/thegrumpyone (on stars) and the three of us had a nice lunch pool-side. That night, we had the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. Both of those went pretty smoothly and Anita and I called it an early night to bed.

Saturday was the big day. Myself and the groomsmen changed into our tuxedos in one of the “holding rooms” near the ballroom. Anita and her bridesmaids went to their holding room and did their hair and make-up and changed into their dresses. We did a lot of pictures right before the ceremony with the

photographer we hired. He’s straight from Italy and is one of the most artistic people I’ve ever met. He does the most amazing shots and poses and I am really looking forward to seeing the finished product. The ceremony room was beautiful as the altar was heavily decorated with flowers. We did the standard

Marriage thing and said “I Do” and there we were: Mr. and Mrs. Smith. We hired a saxophonist for the cocktail hour in between the ceremony and the grand reception. He was as good as anybody could possibly be. He played the perfect type of music, and he played it well. We had lots of appetizers along with the open bar. Everybody went inside the reception ball room and we did the first dances. Anita and I had some dancing lessons and did a choreographed first dance that went perfect even though we only had 7 lessons in 1 week to prepare when I returned from my Connecticut and NYC trip. Next, the prime rib and salmon was served. We also had a chocolate fountain. People could dip strawberries and pound cake into the fountain. We cut the cake and danced the night away after that! What happened in our honeymoon suite is obviously nobody’s business

Sunday night, Tom (durrrr), Tom’s Cousin Jimmy, Dave (Raptor), Dave’s girlfriend Haley, and I went to Capital Grille on International Drive. I took my Dad there for Father’s day and it was even better this time. We made good conversation and then parted. This morning Anita and I did a lot of work packing and jumped on the train to New York City to catch the Queen Mary II Cunard Cruise ship. I’m on the train now and just put in a very short 25/50 NL session in which I won about $2k after being stuck $5k in the first round. Anita and I have never been on a train before and that’s why we decided to do something different to start off our Europe Trip. In ten minutes, I’ll be playing my first FTOPS event of this series, which is the $1k 6 max event which is right up my alley. As most of you know, I chopped the Main event of FTOPS III 1’st and 2′nd prize money evenly with traheho and I final tabled the O8 limit event that series too. Therefore, the FTOPS always has a special place in my heart and gives me some good hope, haha.