On the NioNio scandal.  It is sort of interesting because I was in Costa Rica not but 2 days ago and met with officials from UB.  It seems odd that they would announce it 2 days later and not mention that to us when we were there.  Oh well, I doubt it will be anything too earth shattering but I bet the games on UB are getting really good with all the good players leaving.

Speaking of that, poker time.

because PPP thinks the guys at Facebook are douchebags.

Andreas looking overly happy.

Bobby and Derek

Pete looking infinitely less scared than he was.

Mostly it was all dudes but there were a few gals on the trip.

Diego

We didn’t really get to see any Lava flow on the trip but the Volcano is pretty impressive in its own right.

Monkeys

Commando ziplining with the guys from PartTimePoker

SpreadEagleZipline .com bitches! I actually am planning on popping up some videos once I am home and have a faster connection.  We have some funny stuff basically we were filming people as they were coming off the zipline and to slow down you have to spread eagle, so it kind of looked silly. 

Guy falling off zipline and guide shitting himself thinking he just lost his job .

I have gotten a lot of emails lately asking why I haven’t been blogging and the only reason is because I just haven’t had much to say….even though I am sure a few of my readers could argue that it has never stopped me before…haha.  I have been on a little break from poker the past few weeks and I am loving it.  On Tuesday of last week I headed to Las Vegas to watch a friend of mine play in the World Series of Golf.  It was only the 2nd year for the event (10k buy-in) but I think it will become really popular next year when they don’t restrict the amount of entries to 80 and I also heard a rumor of bumping up the entry fee to 200k?  He won his first match to get us our money back but then a few things didn’t go our way so we will have to wait until next year for 250k.  It will be aired on CBS in June sometimes.  After that I came back to Indianapolis on Thursday night.  All of my friends are really into golf and I decided I am done being terrible so I joined the country club by my house.  Four of us went golfing Friday and I was brutal as normal but Sunday I improved dramatically so maybe there is a little hope?  One thing is for sure though and that is that I am going to get my moneys worth of golf if I can get decent… I just LOVE being outside.

I am getting excited for the upcoming WSOP.  I always seem to have really good trips when it is going on and I think there should be a 25/50 PLO game just about everyday which will be awesome since lately it is hard to find a game anywhere, above 5/10 at least. 

This week should be another fun one with the Indy 500 coming to town.  Friday is Carb-Day and then we usually camp out Saturday night for the Sunday Race.  The weekend is usually a blur but a fun one :)  Until then I am just going try to enjoy this awesome weather and relax until it is time to work hard for a few weeks straight.  I will probably just play it by ear on how long I stay because I am going to have a few weddings and birthdays that I am going to try to be home for.  However, I really wanna give myself a shot at winning a bracelet too since I know they mean a lot to my family.. not to mention the money

I hope everyone else is doing well!!! 

Matt Humphrey

humphreyin@hotmail.com

I have been very sick over the last few days, so that is why I have not been able to update my blog.  I did start a new facebook page so feel free to look me up using Paul Nobles or beaniepoker@hotmail.com (that is really my spam email, I do not check it often) for email. 

I have spent a lot of time watching the NBA Playoffs, for some reason this year has not been that great.  I am loving the New Orleans series but it looks like the Lakers are ordained this year.  There really needs to be an investigation into that Memphis trade, for them to get Pau Gasol for a couple of balls and an IOU is criminal.  The Hornets have been a lot of fun but it would surprise me if they beat the Spurs, I think it will come down to game 7 and the Spurs just know how to up the intensity, I doubt the Hornets will.  I do not think the Lakers will struggle with either of these teams though. (having Phil Ivey played up on the TNT telecast, he was courtside at the Lakers game,  was kind of cool, really shows how far poker has come and how big of a star Ivey has become.)

Daniel and Doyle have had a few back and forths about political issues.  One of the reasons why I like reading Daniel’s blog is that he speaks his mind so freely (so does Doyle apparently).  Occasionally though he comes off like a pompous ass, which of course is the danger of speaking your mind.  Apparently Daniel is a monster supporter of Obama, which I am as well but honestly I would vote for Hillary, I know I am not supposed to say that but really, I could never see myself voting for McCain, maybe the McCain of 2000, but not this guy.  Anyway, Doyle brought up some questions about Obama that a lot of people are expressing and Daniel basically dismissed him as being a silly old man.  Right, because that is the best way to show you are right in an argument.  The most interesting thing about what Daniel is doing is that it is supposed to be antethetical to what Obama is supposed to be about.  He clearly is not taking the high ground when it comes to his support.  To be so vehement about your support only gets you the people on your side, it does not sway anyone to see your point.  Do I wish Hillary would drop out? Yes I do.  But she is not going to do that and some people’s concerns about Obama are legit and will need to be addressed if he is going to win the White House. 

By the way, McCain will not have the same problems Hillary is having in terms of race baiting.  You can best believe it is going to get ugly.  Hillary has stopped just short of using the “N” word but she has definitely played on the fears of the unenlightened.  The same type of people that come out in droves against Flag Burning and Gay Marriage.  Not all of Hillary’s support comes from unenlightened people but a lot of it does.  To cater to the least common denominator of our society is reprehensible and that is exactly what McCain is going to do.  He has to, because it is his only way to win.  If Obama can win taking the high ground that says something about us as a country.  The fact that he has come as far as he has with his message is remarkable and already says a lot about who we are.  Soon though he is going to have to steal the attention of the American public again, McCain is doing a decent job of that right now.  I hope when Obama begins to gain on him and this goes negative that it does not divide us too much.  They are trying to put Obama in a box where only elitists and black people vote for him.  By the way, when they say elite, do they mean smart? When did smart become so bad? Personally I would like my leader to be pretty damn smart.  Any coal miner in a union voting against the “black guy” come November deserves to lose their job because as Ronald Reagan proved unions are enemy #1 of the corporate agenda.  Not to mention Social Security, anyone with an income less than 100k as a family and working class whites.  Anyone who thinks they are a “working class white” needs to realize that your experience is not far different than “working class Latinos” and “working class African Americans”, there is another word for all of you in corporate vernacular, expendable.  So in November you are going to have to decide whether you are going to give the smart black guy a chance, the guy that represents your interests. 

You would have to be pretty foolish to vote yourself out of a job but sadly I think many people will.  The good news is, those people are increasingly the minority.

I know this is big on the political talk but I just needed to get some of this out.  Why does Hillary’s camp keep making a point of saying they are out spending us “3/1″, “5/1″ or whatever.  How dumb are these people? In a sense they are saying our supporters do not support our candidate financially.  That is the sweet spot of the high road by the way, people buy into that type of message and want to support that candidate.  Both my wife and I have contributed to Obama and will continue to do so in the next round.  When Hillary says that she can win how much debt will she need to accomplish that goal? Apparently that is one of the cost of courting the unenlightened.  They are broke.

Trust me, I totally get it, I am involved with a lot of stuff that no one has any interest in except a few people. So when it seems like someone is interested I probably pounce fairly often.

I also think that it is cute that you, your wife and kids all seem to bond over the movie based on your favorite character. Different is cool. Even if it is a little geeky. BTW, geeky is cool but I digress.

But when you start talking in the middle of the movie to thump your chest a bit about the knowledge you have, that crosses a line. It has taken me 40 years to realize this, quiet confidence is the best.

Fact is, we are all there just to watch a movie. We are not going to buy the comic book, we are not going to join a fan club and yes we will likely go see Spiderman 4 even though Spiderman 3 sucked. It is a casual thing for the rest of us so we would like to not be bothered when we have 2 hours alone.

I moved to Minnesota when I was 18 by 19 I met the woman I would eventually marry and I took her on a roller coaster ride that is still going on today. My first business was simple, there was no fresh shrimp in Minnesota and I thought I would be the man to deliver it. So off I went devising a scheme that involved ice chests and overnight delivery from Northwest Airlines (with a little help from some friends in La. where I am originally from). The idea was good enough, I went to the farmers market and I always sold all of the shrimp but often it was at cost to the farmers at the end of the day. Now that took some hustle but it did not take me away from having to work for someone else.

I am going to skip a few minor hustles but they are all similar to the shrimp idea. Low cost, easy to decide whether or not there was a market. Which brought me to sportscards. I was never really into sportscards as a collector, I was a speculator and I seemed to have a knack for micromarkets that not everyone has. For instance, I was into the business about 3 weeks before I figured out that promo cards were a big thing and they were cheap. All you really needed to do was be in the location they were being given out. So when I went to Chicago (3 weeks into this particular adventure) I saw people selling promo cards for $30 that people got for free when they came into the door. That was a bingo moment. I would go to the next big show and become one of these guys buying cards for $5 and selling them for $30. Then I got a little lucky, fact is, my idea was not spectacular, so I needed a little luck. On a hunch I drove to San Francisco to reap all of these promo cards that I was going to make a killing on. I had maybe $1000 on me, at the most $2000. As I went through the door they were handing out a hockey card, which greatly disappointed me, there was no way I was getting rich off of this thing, and that is when it occurred to me that this was not all that would be given out that day. Randomly they inserted Chris Webber limited edition autographs, I figured that out on instinct and nothing more. Now if I was an idiot I would have seen the hockey cards, got disappointed and went back to working for someone else. I turned about 50 of those cards Chris Webber cards into about $30,000 and that started me off on a journey that eventually saw me in debt over $100,000. A magnificent failure that has made me millions of dollars over the years. The lessons you learn in failure stick with you.

My next business was Beanie Babies as you have imagined by now (given the name). All of these examples have great and colorful stories of a time where I was willing to do anything or go anywhere to make a few dollars. I did not have a real good concept of a time/value equation, I just figured I was making good money and it was not like I had anything else to do with my time. My business partner and I came up with the idea to establish stores to buy Beanie Babies considering that the market was so hot that wholesale and retail were blurred, blah blah blah. While Beanie Babies was a great success I was still in a hole when it started so I did not break the bank, but I did well.

If you are still reading this you might be wondering what the hell this has to do with poker, after all this is a poker blog, right? Stick with me and I think I can make the connection.

Right around Beanie Babies was when I read Advanced Texas Holdem by David Sklansky. So as I was traveling the country opening up Beanie Baby stores I was also playing decent stakes even back then. Pretty much every card room I visited I was playing the highest games available, which usually maxed out at about 30-60 Limit Holdem. There really was not a lot of No Limit Holdem when I started and there were very few tournaments. I mostly was treading water paying for vacations and televisions and such, poker was a hobby but I wanted it to be more, there just were not enough games, not enough suckers and I was not good enough to quit what I was doing daily.

That took me into mortgages during the last mortgage boom, with the money I made from Beanie Babies I was buying a house and needed a small mortgage. I eventually began working with the company I got my mortgage from. I peaked at about 30-40 mortgages a month and it was really the first legitimate thing that I could talk about without feeling awkward. Though it was infinitely uninteresting it was based around markets and numbers and really worked to my strengths. I loved it. In fact, there really is not one thing that I can look back on and say I disliked because almost all of it had me dealing with people and that is what I like to do most.

They say that fortune favors the bold, well it sometimes helps to go broke too. When mortgages began to get slow I started playing more poker. Poker was on television now and I became obsessed with tournament strategy, if anyone can recall there was virtually nothing written on the subject at the time. Since I was a little ahead of the curve on new poker players I took to it well. So well that I quit my job. Folks I am going to tell you right now that is a tough conversation to have with your wife no matter how much money you are winning. Not to mention I had to let go of staff and have other mortgage guys wonder why the hell I would quit when I was doing so well.

Fact was the potential for poker just offered me more and I knew it was something I was passionate about so I would be able to give it my all. I wrote on a piece of paper that I would become a professional poker player before I was 50 and gave it my wife, who was then my fiancee just so she really understood what she was getting into. I have been doing this for about 5 years now. In that time I have moved from micro stakes to the highest limits available and then back to the middle. I have won a lot of tournaments at all levels. I am no huge baller but I am no sucker either. Along the way some people noticed that I had a bit of understanding of how business works and that has afforded me some consulting opportunities, which have been nice. It is a way to not be forced to play poker and as many of you know that is what I spend most of my time doing these days.

All along the way I tried to keep with a forward moving motion. My hustles now have respect for my time and family. I can not for instance just drive to San Francisco for 2 weeks on a hunch. I would challenge everyone playing poker today to consider whether their hustle is dramatically better than it was when you started. Have you plateaued? Or are you maintaining a forward moving motion?

No matter who you are or what you do, you should be getting better. Better does not have to mean you are making more money but it should factor into the equation. Most importantly any hustle is easier when you are passionate about it, if you have lost that passion try and regain it by doing what you like most. Trial and mostly error come easy to me, I am very forgiving to myself. For everyone that is not the case so try and see what works best for you. Your poker game should evolve in a way that has you waking up early because you are so excited about the opportunities that the day presents for you.

One last thing, taking extended breaks can do wonders when it comes to poker. Poker players have not figured out what a lot of people have that burn out is real and that time off from something can help you remember why you enjoyed it so much in the beginning.

There have definitely been some bumps along the way but I am having a good week so far heading into the weekend.. I was up 38k at my last post and then went on a pretty big downswing.  I ran good at 50/100 but ran so bad at 25/50 cap it was unbelievable.  As of right now here is where I’m at for the week: +44k on UltimateBet.. +15k on Fulltilt.  I am happy with my week for sure  I really should have done better on FT.. When I was running bad I added to it by tilting when I should have just quit.. dropped stakes.. and regrouped.. instead I blamed it on bad luck and allowed it to give me an excuse to gamble too much.  One day I will solve that problem and be a MUCH better player because of it..

I still have Saturday and Sunday to close out my week but I doubt I play that much.  It is 3:30 right now on Friday and I still haven’t decided if I am going to go back down to Louisville with my friends for the derby or not.  I feel worn down and might end up just staying here in Indy for the weekend.  If that is what I end up doing then I will probably get some extra time to “work”.  Sunday blog coming soon…

Good Luck,

Matt Humphrey

humphreyin@hotmail.com 

By in large the news about the WSOP delaying the final table until November has been received poorly, which shocks me on multiple levels.

1. I realize people are averse to change but it should not take a brain surgeon to realize that ESPN has some clue of what they are doing.
2. Start of football and end of baseball, or WSOP. Pass the potato chips I will be watching football and the real World Series.
3. One of the biggest complaints I am hearing is the coaching factor “some idiot could make the final table and suddenly get better”. Guess what that idiot could have also gotten lucky and won, you do not need me to give you examples I would assume.
4. The sponsorship money could be huge for these final 9, I believe Jerry Yang was 8th in chips when he won last year. The deals these people will be able to negotiate will be unreal and it does not stop there. If I were a betting man (and I am) I will bet that card rooms will be jockeying for position, if you make the top 50 you may just find yourself sponsored on the off chance you hit the final table.
5. If ESPN is making this dramatic of a change you can best believe they are working on the brand. Which likely also means that they are going to be able to market it differently. Different does not always mean better but once again I am going to give them the benefit of the doubt.

I often talk about the fact that I think there should be less poker on television. The simple fact is most of it is bad. Taking some time to raise the quality of the broadcast is going to be a good thing.

Now if it has not occurred to you already it should have, you are going to see more slice of life segments about Johnny’s dad dying or whatever but guess what casual poker players like those. If they did not ESPN would not make them. So expect more chip tricks, more fruit cut with the dealer button but most importantly more viewers excited about poker.

And that my friends is a good thing.