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Upstate New York and NL poker

Beanie — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 18:44:50 +0000

I am near Syracuse, NY for the weekend. I am posting this with the new wordpress app for iPhone.

Nice to get some rest. I have been playing a lot of NL recently with wildly different results. I started off on UB with the idea that a lot of the good players are gone, which for the most part is true. The one thing about being super aggro at lower limits is that people call you very light. I have lost some pots being too aggressive hoping people were on draws that were not. I ran about $700 into about 10k in 3 days and then hit a dead spot. That is when I moved to Cake to give that a run. Currently I am on an uptick there but I have not been playing there long. My experience on Cake is that people call you real light. If they call the flop they are likely in for the river but when you hit your hand you can stack them. My game is mostly geared to stacking people because they think I am bluffing all the time. This strategy works better below 5-10 but there is a fair amount of fish at those limits too at both sites.

I did have a weird experience the other night when I went out to dinner. Having dinner next to me was a mother and son. As it turns out he plays online poker for a living. I almost did not believe him when he said it, I thought my wife was playing a joke on me. So we had some interesting conversation. Always nice to have another poker friend in the Twin Cities.

Been a while since I have updated

Beanie — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 22:56:42 +0000

Oddly enough it is because I am playing lots of poker.

Competition is a funny thing (40k giveaway)

Beanie — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 06:29:02 +0000

If you are a member of RakeRecovery or UltimatePals you are likely aware of the freeroll and rake races we are putting on. A lot of the wheels were rolling on this before the recent scuttle butt about UB but that really is not the point of this particular article. Well apparently the news has gotten out to our competitors are none too pleased that we are stepping up to the plate so voraciously.

Simply put if you are giving away 15k and we are giving away 40k I would not say there is a lot of room for debate. We win on that account.

I will fully admit that we rested for a long while but I think you can expect big things to continue to come and things will only get better.

Atmosphere on David Letterman

Beanie — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 05:43:19 +0000

Representing Minneapolis

America gets Hinkle’d (WSOP spoiler)

Beanie — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 07:54:39 +0000

One of my buddies playing in the main event was at the table with one of the Hinkle’s and it was hilarious listening to him berate them. In case you missed Tuesday nights airing of the WSOP Grant Hinkle wins, with his mom and brother in tow (his brother later goes on to win a WSOP bracelet). The Hinkle’s are like Care Bears, Canadians or the color violet, you are not supposed to hate them, yet you do! When Chris Moneymaker played the bumbling idiot it was cool because a lot of people saw themselves in him and that brought a lot of people into poker. The Hinkle’s are one of this years big stories, and by all account Blair Hinkle is a prolific pokerer. Grant comes off as a lucksack (whether rightly or wrongly the TV does not lie, wink wink), it does not matter that he stole a lot of blinds or played one or two hands masterfully, in 3 or 4 of the biggest hands he got really lucky. Which used to play well because people thought “hey, I can play like that guy and get lucky and win a million dollars”, forget the fact that you have to be willing to make a silly play with 10 4 which most people are not willing to do. But that was so 2004, this is 2008, even though Chris Moneymaker qualified on a $50 satellite many people have chased that same dream only to be slapped in the face with a big can of variance.

None of this is my reality, poker has treated me well but I do not look at Grant Hinkle and think, “maybe this will be the thing that brings more people from middle America to poker”. If you need proof that packaging a similar idea is a bad move does anyone remember New Coke ?

On a side note, while some of us may indeed like the Hinkle’s (or canadians for that matter) I think we can all agree on 2 points:

1. Theo Tran is a douche

2. Mike Ngo’s antics would only work at about $1-$2 typically, which further points to Theo Tran being a douche since he could not see through that.

3. When celebrity poker players are sweating you they are not your friends. They are owed money. Though I thought everyone knew this at this point. Someone tell Norman Chad.

Michelle Obama needs to step up her game

Beanie — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 16:57:02 +0000

If you have donated money to the Obama Campaign or signed up to his website you get emails from the campaign, sometimes it is the campaign manager, sometimes it is Michelle and occasionally it is Barack (of course I realize it is not Barack). Anyway most of it I do not read, the titles usually are my guide and compared to the other emails I get they really do not grab your eye the same way. So the other day I got an email from Michelle (I call her Mich cause we are cool like that) and the title is “My Backstage story with Barack”. Oh yeah, now this is what I am talking about, good title, not exactly “Cougar attack in MILF park” but it got me to open the email. Most of these emails basically go like this blah, blah, blah, donate more money please. Which is fine, a bit salesy but some of that is required. The story she tells is about him and her backstage before his big speech at the Democratic convention in I think it was 2003, apparently he was a bit nervous and she calmed him down. Then of course they asked me to donate more money. Personally I would like a little more steak and a little less sizzle in these emails if I choose to read them. So here is a sample of a good email that I think would not cross a line but would show that a husband and wife have some interesting moments.

This is Mich (we have to be cool right, I mean she addresses me as Paul in the email) talking:
“In 2003 Barack and I were honored that he would be speaking at such a prestigious event. Sitting backstage was surreal, when you are in politics this is one of those moments that can make you or break you. Barack was understandably nervous, it was a big moment for both of us. We talked for hours up to the speech but nothing seemed to take his mind off of the event. Right before he went on stage I whispered something in his ear that will remain between him and I and it had it’s desired effect. It briefly took his mind off of the pressure of the moment and as you all know he took the house down with his vision.”

Now I realize that it might be a bit spicy but come on, it is the internet, besides it would be very viral which is sort of the point of this kind of stuff. People want to vote for real people and while I am sure my suggestion will go unnoticed that is the type of story that will hit a nerve with a few people.

Poker After Dark Cash Game

Beanie — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 15:07:53 +0000

BlackJack and Poker

Beanie — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 21:05:32 +0000

I just spent the last few hours doing what I think a lot of casual gamblers do, though I sometimes am not so casual. Between about 4 sites I played between 10-20 and 50-100. I won every place I played. I was running fairly decent. Funny side affect of the WSOP is that you come home ready to crush souls because you are so pissed that you once again did not achieve your dream (though I am not really sure that winning the WSOP is my dream but that is another story).

Instead of playing against another human beings intelligence I figured I was up about 3k so I played a little BlackJack. I was down about 1k at one point and then got even and left.

That right there folks is how a lot of people gamble, their decisions are not based on that many factors other than where they have the most fun. At no point playing BlackJack did I feel like I was getting a fair shake (even when I was even). People gamble to escape their reality and provide a little excitement on an otherwise uneventful night. If I had lost at either really nothing would be different, because the amount of money I would have lost would not have changed my life.

For the vast majority of poker players (and dare I say online BlackJack players) that is the case.

Resetting, this is going to be very big year

Beanie — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 10:09:42 +0000

Most years at the WSOP everyone but one person walks home unhappy. This year it was 9 people. Unfortunately one of those 9 is not Dean Hamrick. All of you will see how well Dean played and how unlucky he ultimately got.

For myself I left the WSOP feeling like I did the best I possibly could. I might have missed some spots but that is neither here nor there at this point. Almost from the minute I was knocked out I started packing and I was energized in a big way. I got a little sidetracked on a few things but mostly my sleep has been out of whack. Well that is coming together as well.

So right now I am about as motivated as I have been in a long time. I am about a week away from my public Beta (this will change poker completely) for my new software and I am introducing new blogs so customers can better communicate with me. Here is an example of the blog for RakeRecovery.

Most importantly when you finally wake up and realize that at least for this year your dream is dead. It is actually refreshing and liberating.

P.S. My year starts and ends at the WSOP. Sort of a Beanie New Year.

Where do I even start

Beanie — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 03:17:44 +0000

As many people know there is a scandal involving UltimateBet and cheating on their site. Most of the scandal predates the current management and as a consultant for UB at the time I decided to contribute some thoughts. And then wow! So let me start from the beginning and maybe that will help. At no point in this discussion will I ever condone cheating or cheaters. As far as I am concerned I really hope they catch whoever it is behind all of this. I have told this story many times in this blog and elsewhere but just for ease I will retell it.

In the 2nd year of the WSOP I played in the Aruba event after winning 3 aruba seats. I played poker locally for many years but this was the first time I had ever had some success in tournaments. This started my online bankroll and I met many of the people I still call friends today. That next year would see me winning I believe it was 10 Aruba seats, I am not sure the number really matters at this point. Once you had one the rest were given to you in cash so that was 90k. I was also a bit ahead of the curve of the cash games but I was certainly no super baller, at that time I played a lot of 15-30 limit (6 tables and such) on Party and had some really good runs. In the 2004 WSOP I went fairly deep (about 150 or so), when I busted out I was invited to a party where I met Annie Duke. Let me back up a bit. After Aruba I was doing well online, enough to see that something very promising could happen for me in poker. It was also clear that the business side of things would need some people to help manage things. As such I pitched a system to PokerStars first (on the Poker Stars cruise), Full tilt second (in Reno of that year) and ultimately to Annie Duke at this party. Annie was very intrigued about my ideas on how to treat the best customers the best and many of my ideas regarding tournament structures and how the games might be a bit better. It was also obvious that UB would have an overlay in their Aruba tournament that year and so I proposed that I would take a number of seats in exchange for my ideas and because I was playing most of the WPT and WSOP at this time I would become an affiliate of UB, essentially investing all of the proceeds from the seats I would sell to well known players into promotions for this program. The idea was a monster hit, this was the early days of rakeback when no one really even knew what it would be called. I certainly did not invent rakeback but I was on the ground floor on what would be a trend of good value to poker players for the future.

From the time I met Annie to approximately May of the following year it was a series of disasters. The big games on UB were filling up and that was a direct result of a lot of my hard work with my affiliate stuff. Politically though within UB there were a ton of issues that were unrelated to my success, also players did not just want to play UB they wanted to play other sites and wanted to know if I could get them similar deals at those places. When it came time for UB and I to come to another agreement their was not an overlay in the upcoming tournament and I think secretly people did not see a point in paying me as both a consultant and an affiliate any longer. At this point I hardly knew anyone at all other than Annie Duke, I only met Russ Hamilton once in Los Angeles. So for about 9 months to a year I helped out with the tournament schedule and some general promotion ideas. Meanwhile I knew virtually no one and I certainly had no inside access to anything really. I did not need any of that, my players were generating a significant portion of the rake for UB and already that was providing me with a decent income. Adding additional rooms would only help that, they were not crazy that I would not be exclusive to them anymore but without paying me as a consultant I was essentially a free agent.

One thing that has come up is “did Beanie have success at other sites”, the two other sites I have had success at are Party Poker and Bodog, with Bodog being by far the bigger of the two. I also won my 2004 WSOP seat on PokerStars. UB and Bodog were my main sites, Bodog for limit poker and UB for tournaments.

Another thing that people are misunderstanding is when I said that I send multiple transactions a day to people I do not even know. Which of course is a reference to rakeback and the fact that most of these customers are not people that I have met. So I hope that helps on that particular part. I do in fact trade with a lot of players online but likely not much more than any other high stakes player. I think for the average guy my transactions would be wild but to a rakeback affiliate or another high stakes player it would be very normal.

Over the course of the next 3-4 years I got to know Russ Hamilton, not so much regarding UB but more poker deals in general. You have to remember that I had little access at this point, I was just a guy from Minnesota. Russ has become a good friend within poker, we have really never had any significant business dealings, I sort of use him as a mentor within the poker business. When I quit consulting with UB that virtually ended my relationship with Annie Duke and we have hardly spoken since then.

Over time UB went from my biggest program to 4th or 5th which was just based on customer demand. I now maintain a relationship with the new management but I have very little access. This was brought up because I mentioned that I visited Costa Rica to see UB in May. So did about 20 other affiliates including Nat Arem. I am not trying to throw Nat Arem under the bus because in my eyes Nat is an online poker superhero for what he did with the AP scandal. I just point it out in an effort to say that I was not on some covert mission or part of some monster cover up because I understand that for most people this whole world of online poker is a bit foreign.

Also I quit posting in the thread on 2+2 because there really is no benefit for me (and also people in the thread asked me to stop, so I did). I will post a link to the thread at the bottom.

Some other tidbits:

I know nothing of the account -Fred- and have no idea who the owner is, at the WSOP I met Fred David but I never recieved a transfer from that account, my understanding is the same as Freddy Deeb’s that it is just a management account. I have no information on that account at all or Fred David’s role at UB at the time, or if he even had one. Whether that is all just big a coincidence or not is not something I have information on but I will be happy to share whatever comes to light.

dont-trust-paul-nobles.com was a site put up by someone that I had a business dispute over. It was covered a bit on p5’s and within days of that site being put up the matter was resolved and the site got taken down. It is sort of a long uninteresting story, I am pretty sure the guy that put up the site regrets dealing in that manor as he has become very successful in other endeavors. I was supposed to get that URL and a few others as part of the agreement we settled on but I have been lazy about transfering them over.

In closing I will still follow the thread on 2+2 and try to address people’s concerns and if anything comes to light maybe I will pass it on to Nat or post it here. There is really no equity for me in coming to the defense of anyone, even people who have treated me well because people want answers and I can not give them. I had very little access back then and even less now. For me to be viewed in any way shape or form as condoning cheating or trying to divert people’s attention from the scandal was never my intent, so to any extent that happened I would like to sincerely apologize. Here is the link to the thread on 2+2.

If I believed in God….

Beanie — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 08:12:58 +0000

I will first tell you what I do not believe, I do not believe in a guy sitting on top of the clouds judging people and throwing lightning. Similarly, I do not believe in a little red guy in the middle of the earth that will be the consequence for a bad life. But I certainly am open to the idea of something bigger than myself and yesterday would be a big example of the possible existence of a force like that. In case you have not followed I have 58k in chips and lost a big pot towards the end of the day that would have had me well over 100k. So I was feeling a bit sorry for myself.

So as I got on the plane to go back home (I play again on Tuesday) I was a little surprised to see a young man already on the plane. I introduced myself and he did as well. It was still a bit strange to have such a young kid in first class so I probed a little bit. It turns out he was going to camp in Minnesota and this was his first time ever on a plane. He is 14 and his sister was already at the camp. The camp is Camp Heartland it is a camp for kids that are HIV positive or have AIDS. Wow, I mean like wow. The way he told me about the camp was in a way that he likely has done often telling people just to see their reaction so he can know whether or not to broom them from his life quickly. Sure put my whole WSOP misadventure in perspective. Certainly either disease is not the death sentence it used to be but as we talked I found out that both he and his sister take incredible amounts of medication. I also found out that he is a running back on his middle school team and wants to become an electrician. Just like any other kid he has dreams and hopes. I could not contain my emotions for most of the plane flight but I tried to not let him notice but at one point I had to put on my sunglasses. All I could think about the whole time was how grateful I should be for my families health and also mine.

I sometimes wonder if my life is just more eventful than other peoples lives. This stuff happens to me all the time, every time I question the presence of God something like this happens and makes me think twice.

Paul Pierce at the Bellagio with no shirt on

Beanie — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 08:03:33 +0000

Now I totally get it that Paul Pierce owns the world at the moment and has every right to gloat. And also there are so many celebrity types at the Bellagio and around Vegas that this would warrant no consideration. Except that when you are walking with no shirt on early in the morning it has a "look at me" factor. Now I am sure Paul is still celebrating and he will get a pass from me but for a lot of people that is exactly the type of stuff that makes them think that athletes do not deserve the adulation they deserve. I do not think I have ever seen anyone walking with no shirt on in a casino before, so when it is someone that is well known it certainly stands out.

There is an air of pithiness around the WSOP that really takes away from the fun you are supposed to be having. I suppose you can argue that poker has always been like that and you see a few old timers that are grumpy and mumbling to themselves and wonder if that is what a lot of poker players are going to end up like in the future. By its nature poker, and especially tournament poker, can be a bit negative whether it is taking a bad beat or just running card dead for a while it wears on you. I doubt that I have the need and want to be exceptional at poker mostly because of the fact that I would have to operate around so much negativity. I am speaking mainly of live poker. With online poker I just close chat. I ran across a couple of young guys that seem excited to be here I just wonder how long that lasts with a collective toll of bad beats, bad beat stories and the ups and downs that wear on you.

It sucks getting close to a final table and whiffing. I came in 49th in the $1500 NL, I was going to play the $1500 today but I do not feel up to it, so I am likely going to just relax by the pool side, meet up with friends and have an overall chill day. It is tough playing live poker only once or twice a year, while the skills are there, I am sure I missed a few spots and I know I was awkward with the chips occasionally. At one point I made a minimum raise because I did not adjust to the blind levels, when someone went all in for 96k I folded my 88 but the result might have been different if I had made a standard raise. Overall though I think I have a lot of good elements to do well in tournaments and I am fairly confident going into the main event. I play on the 3rd.

Drunken Layne Flack story

Beanie — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 10:03:11 +0000

Today I will be live blogging the $1500 tournament at the WSOP on twitter at www.twitter.com/beaniepoker. I have 46,500, average is about 35k.

So first let me say that I was the guy that knocked out the bubble guy with 6c7c. He had about 20k and I had about 40k. He raised 5k into the BB that was openly saying that was openly saying he would fold with Aces. Figuring that he heard that and needed to chip up I put him on a steal and hit a straight on him. Do not ever believe the updates, they either write what they are told or reconstruct the action but common sense would tell you that I did not call with 6c7c, which is how pokernews wrote it up.

OK, so to the Layne Flack part. I was at the Bellagio and was cashing some chips when I see a friend (Greg Pierson) in the high limit section. After I get my money from the cage I tell my dad "let me just stop by and say hi for a sec". Greg is having a few drinks with Layne Flack and both seem to be having quite a good time, it looked like Layne was playing 100-200 Limit Holdem and Greg was just sweating him. As I was leaving I acknowledge Layne by giving him a little head nod like "hey, how is it going". Layne looks me dead in the eye and says "fuck you", I smile at him and just walk away. I hear Greg say, do you even know who he is and Layne goes "yeah I know who the fuck he is", kind of loud like. My dad is dumbfounded and says, "man that unabomber guy is a real dick". I then explain to him that he is thinking of Phil Laak, and then also have to explain who Layne Flack is.

Socially I have had a few interactions with Layne, nothing that super stands out, so here is what I have nailed it down to:

[ ] Laynes mom bought a Royal Blue Peanut from me when it was 6k and now it is 2k.
[ ] After Layne won Aruba he played a lot of 25-50 on UB. I was playing a lot at that time and did quite well. My buddy list consisted of three people that I would always play, Layne was one of three.
[ ] Once in chat, he was sober at the time, he got upset at me about something silly and I told him he has lost his sense of humor now that he is no longer drinking.
[x] Layne was 8 o’clock drunk.

It did not really bother me but it has been a while since someone has said "fuck you" to me so it was a bit shocking. Equally as shocking was it happening in front of my dad.

Strip Club update and R.E.M.

Beanie — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 07:40:28 +0000

Well after a few interesting instant messages I figured out that the good majority of people did not know it was a joke. “The Strip Club” is a restaurant in East Saint Paul, as in “New York strip club”. There really is no nudity involved but if you live in the twin cities it is a great spot (though a bit loud).

Vicki and I went to R.E.M. last night. I think all of these bands need to learn a bit more about their audiences. Everyone there was over 30 and likely has kids. So when R.E.M. strolls on stage at 9:45, well, that is not going to work. We left at about 10:45 when it looked like they were going to be going for a while longer. We still had not heard many songs we knew. Which does sort of suck. It was still fun and we enjoyed it. I watched a documentary with Michael Stipe in it a while back and that was the big reason we got the tickets. He just seemed a bit different than I would have imagined.

One of the jokes that came up between my wife and I was the concept of someone “Putting on a good show”. Cirque Du Soliel is a good show. These guys are singing, while their energy is great and the atmosphere is phenomenal with that much energy in a room, can we just retire “they put on a good show”? Or at least can we compare it to Cirque Du Soliel, that should be the bar for a show.

I have been playing a bit more poker getting ready for the WSOP. I am doing well. I am also using the Beta version of the hand history software I have been talking about for 2 years. We are still working out a few kinds but having it usable is literally like the fulfillment of a dream. There is no question that this software will be a welcome addition in the poker world.

My wife takes me to “The Strip Club”, again

Beanie — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 07:09:27 +0000

A couple of weeks ago I blogged about this but it was buried amongst a bunch of other stuff. So this time I am going to give it the proper amount of attention. So a few weeks ago my wife says “you know that new all gals radio station, they have been raving about The Strip Club”, previous to this little tidbit I thought the shows were all about shopping and feminine protection. Of course I had to play it cool, otherwise I would be blowing my golden opportunity. So I said “go on”, meanwhile my heart was racing trying to figure out if she would be getting the lap dances or if I would. She said it was new and on the East Side of Saint Paul, OK, whatever, when do we leave?

The first time we were there we could not get a table, so we sat at the bar and amazingly it was an OK time. I did figure out though that I was being set up, both guys and gals work at “The Strip Club”. Ok, whatever, a little emasculating but I am sort of a freak like that. After a few drinks and a little conversation we decided to dive into the main course, which definitely exceeded my expectations. THERE WERE SO MANY COUPLES OUR AGE IT WAS UNREAL! So we did not feel so out of place. As we left both of us had a devilish grin and we knew we would be back soon.

Which brings me to last night, on the last occasion we went on a Friday and it was packed. Last night was a Wednesday so there were less couples and we got a table easily. Immediately a very attractive gal came over to see if she could serve us in any way. I have to admit, even after the second time my adrenaline was rushing and I could tell that my wife was also a bit excited and freaked out at the same time. It was time for some wine to get this party started (for her not me, but her relaxing helped). Gradually things became a bit less awkward, there were less men this time too, which was a good thing from my standpoint. After about 2 hours of people watching it was time to go home. But we will certainly be back soon. There is more to the story but unfortunately my time is short. Maybe I will give another update tomorrow.

My friend Nick

Beanie — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 08:44:17 +0000

I have written about Nick in the past and I likely will write about him a lot more. He runs cardschat.com which is likely the best run forum online. The classic sniveling and arguments that typically make up a poker forum do not happen at CC. Most online forums begin as a community but then as they become more popular negativity begins to take over as a disconnect happens between users. CardsChat is a reflection of Nick, he is pretty low key and that is how his forums are.

Nick is also 19, he can not even get into a bar and in case you have not figured it out he has been running things since he was about 15. I do not know about you guys but when I was 15 I was thinking about who I was going to take to the homecoming dance.

It is not uncommon in poker for young people to do well because the game requires a fresh mind. Looking at the results from every major tournament you can see what I mean. In the poker industry however young people have not historically done well. Part of the reason is that there are a lot of negotiations that need to happen. In Nick’s case though he has a thriving community that is loyal to his cause, card rooms see that and want to be a part of it. Nick does not need to yell, he let’s his actions do the talking.

As you can obviously tell I am impressed. Nick is a tireless worker and his blogs and poker strategy sections are some of the best on the internet. Unlike a lot of things in this industry where people pay each other to recommend them, this is unsolicited. Virtually everyone in my family and everyone I know has heard about Nick. If you are looking for a great poker site that is refreshingly low key in a world of flash banners and stupid prop bets check out www.cardschat.com.

It looks like an announcement is coming from UB

Beanie — Wed, 28 May 2008 22:14:18 +0000

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.

More pics and vids from Costa Rica

Beanie — Tue, 27 May 2008 19:31:36 +0000

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

Very short update from Costa Rica

Beanie — Sat, 24 May 2008 10:06:03 +0000

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 .

NBA Playoffs and Political Rants

Beanie — Thu, 15 May 2008 09:56:25 +0000

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.

If you are a comic book fan, listen up

Beanie — Tue, 06 May 2008 04:44:58 +0000

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.

Is your hustle better than it used to be?

Beanie — Sat, 03 May 2008 02:28:35 +0000

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.

Shocked

Beanie — Thu, 01 May 2008 12:12:53 +0000

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.

Poker on Cake and new HH tool

Beanie — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 13:27:22 +0000

I have been playing a little more poker lately. At this point I am so far out of the poker loop that it is almost scary. I have been playing a lot of Limit Poker lately which is my strongest game. It has been interesting one of the guys that I did not think was very good and that I have a significant edge over has been playing 200-400. There are times where I play Heads Up well but I think I am actually a lot better 3 and 4 handed. The person I am thinking of is a friend so I have stayed away from playing him. The funny part is he likely thinks the same thing about me so I highly doubt he would mind the action. Lately though I just can not muster the desire to play anything more than games that are basically just killing time. I will say this though, Limit Poker on Cake has to be about the easiest games on the internet. While I am about break even I do not think that is indicative of my win rate there over time. The only problem is I am playing 20-40 and the games I would want to beat are 50-100 and higher. I am sure some of the players are similar but usually that changes the lineup significantly.

It is interesting that the sites have started this nuclear war of high stakes poker, essentially causing a lot of players to go bust. Personally I do not think there should be any game higher than say 10-20 NL online and 50-100 for Limit Poker. The reason is simple, it will keep more money in the poker economy. Sure a few players will miss the nose bleed stakes but what is happening now is people on tilt are essentially just blowing out. I doubt any card room will make that change but it would be smart if they did and likely better for the long term health of poker.

This probably should not be the third item in a rambling blog but here it goes. In the next month my hand replayer/stats analyzer should show its face. It has been a long time coming but I think we finally got this right and if we did it should change poker in a major way allowing people to share hand histories easier and even allowing them some robust stats analysis. We are still trying to nail down how we can make money off of it but I am pretty sure if we do it right that will not be an issue.

No, you are just broke

Beanie — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 07:59:06 +0000

This is a summary of a typical conversation that I have often, it is not verbatim but it is close. Yesterday a friend Instant Messaged me and said “I am done with XYZ poker”. Now I knew that this guy used to play fairly small but once they won a tournament everything changed. All of a sudden $20 sit and go’s did not cut it. He was up over 10k after the tournament win. So my next question was never really asked because I knew the answer. He did not cash out and now he was done. He went broke.

That really showed them.

Buying hours can help your poker game

Beanie — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 08:07:01 +0000

By its essence this is not a poker story. So keep that in mind.

I have the utmost respect for people that work with their hands. It is something that is very hard for me to do and every time I attempt it I end up breaking something. I have talked about this in the past but let me bring it up again, I am a big fan of buying “life hours”. I have an assistant that works 8 hours a day, 40 hours a week. I have someone who cuts my grass, which normally took me an hour a week. Just right there I have something like a 27 hour day. Trust me, it is more like 32, if you factor in business contacts I have to think I am already at 48 hours. But I digress. One thing I have never had is someone that can do all the stuff around my house that baffles me, well yesterday that guy showed up and he changed my life a little bit and I hope I changed his a little bit too.

Part of this story is that if you want to be good at poker you need to practice and learn, that requires time and effort. Time and effort are tough when you are occupied with a lot of silly things that you are not good at. Pay people to do those things, even if it just buys you vacation time or a weekly massage.

When he was done painting we looked around the house to see what else might need some fixing. This was about the time price came up, he and my wife had agreed on a price but he decided now that we were talking about it that he did not do as much work as she originally requested. When the subject of price came up he dropped his pants and gave me “a deal”. I paid him $20 more an hour than the deal he gave me. A $220 tip so to speak. Well not really because I think he charged me too little. I told him why I did it, the reason was simple, what made his service remarkable to me is that it allowed me to not do it. If he was a cracker jack box, that was his free prize to me, not “the deal”. In fact, “the deal” actually works against our future relationship. Let’s say I have a 2 hour job, to call him up at $25 an hour or so would be just embarassing; I would not do it, but if he charged me $75 I would call him all the time. His “deal” was actually costing him business.

So I told him that I would make some calls on his behalf to my friends that also “buy time” and that he should charge them at a similar rate. I do business with people I trust and I tell everyone about them, in a lot of cases because they did business with me in the past. Socio-economically we are all similar because we are all using the same formula.

I am not sure if I changed his life or not but I sure hope I did because he is a good guy and deserves to charge more. His services are better than the people he competes with.

And that is why I do not bet sports

Beanie — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 21:26:54 +0000

I loved Memphis coming into the final four. I never really bet sports because I enjoy the games so much without having to do that. If I was going to bet though I wanted Memphis winning both games. Once I procrastinated that I felt like I missed an opportunity when Memphis won the first game. Then tonight they had the game locked up with under 2 minutes to go only to spit the bit at the free throw line.

Boy was Kansas impressive though, from 1 to 8 or 9 they had to be the best team in the country.

“21″ movie, the online poker player version

Beanie — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 09:20:50 +0000

First off I thought the movie was a joke. Did not even come close to Rounders. I walked out, not sure how it ended but I fairly certain I could come up with 2-3 plausible endings likely better than whatever they came up with.

We are coming up on the WSOP and I am telling you, what happens at the WSOP blows that movie away. Mostly because of the online poker players that descend on the area. It is not a secret any longer that the online poker players are better than the live poker players by the only criteria that matters. They have more money.

Last year the ShipitHollaBallas rented the Playboy Suite and the number of prop bets and stories of people winning or losing fortunes so out shines a couple of MIT guys.

Why we do not want poker regulated

Beanie — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 07:39:18 +0000

The typical arguments are silly. If you win playing poker pay taxes on that money and you will sleep easy. But poker players are not the people making all the money in poker, obvious to almost everyone it is the poker sites themselves. These poker sites offer all kinds of promotions from deposit bonuses to World Series seats. In fact, their business model is dependent on them being able to give these benefits.

I do not mind the idea of a tax on deposits (the poker rooms will likely reimburse you), the payment processors would work similar to what we have now. But if the UIEGA has proven anything it is that you will not need a processor if you do not want to use one. Processors would just make it easier.

Personally I would like to see all television ads related to poker companies banned, similar to the way Google does it for alcohol. Or television does it for cigarettes. This does not get brought up a lot in discussions because card rooms hate this idea. They figure they need that to bring in new customers. Television is a marketing solution for lazy marketers. It makes sense that the only people to find online poker should be people looking for it.

Of course less poker advertisements on television will cause less poker on television. Which, believe it or not, is a good thing. Our opponents hate poker on television. In fact, most of us do, when was the last time you saw something interesting in a broadcast. The WSOP main event is good and High Stakes Poker is good, if all the other die a slow death no one will care.

And that is sort of the point. The UIEGA was really about sports betting, seeing Bodog ads on ESPN and BetOnSports parking outside of stadiums was just too much, especially when legislators knew they were not getting their cut. That was the final straw.

We do not need to be regulated, we just need to quit pissing on the wrong boots.

Not the American way

Beanie — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 06:08:52 +0000

I grew up with my dad working a lot. When he came home he seemed under appreciated and he was not passionate about his job. That motivated me as an adult (and even as a kid). I knew I did not want that for myself. So I learned things, I immersed myself into business concepts and I worked my ass off.

I am an Obama supporter but I would vote for Hillary, all the Democrats saying they will not is baffling me but whatever I am too disillusioned at this point to continue to care about things out of my control.

It saddens me that the Clinton’s tax return is being made into a bad thing (and Obama supporters should know this was all politics, so our guy is a little evil), that somehow being for poverty means that you should live in poverty. I was under the impression this was America where you can boot strap it. Where a black guy and a chick could become president. Obama knew that working class people would be bothered that the political establishment was doing so well in the private sector. I have to admit it was shocking for me.

In the words of Hillary Clinton “shame on you Barack Obama”.

Making money is the American way it is those incentives that wake me up at 6:30 in the morning to watch poker training videos while my opponents are in bed asleep.

I have a belief that jealousy is a product of emotion that comes from not being able to do something. There is almost nothing with money that I am jealous of because I know how to get it, if you do not know how to get it, well it makes sense that you would be jealous of people that do. An easy question would be “Why don’t you have more?”, that is also simple, I do not need any more than I have and it is hard work. Being brilliant comes with a cost of time and freedom, it costs your family, it costs the communities you support. Money buys you things it does not make you who you are.

But Jealousy of money can make you who you are and sadly many Americans feel left out. If you feel left out you are and you are missing the point. It is the person in your mirror that controls your destiny. Bill and Hillary did not start with 109 million, they earned that money because people think they are interesting. All of the nits will argue that money came with strings or other such nonsense. Money is what moves people in a free market economy.

It was a dirty savvy political trick. I am not sure if I should be happy or sad.

New features coming to RakeRecovery

Beanie — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 10:31:16 +0000

People who read this site know I have my hands in a lot of projects. Here is one example I am working on.

RakeRecovery.com, this site is on a software platform that I helped develop. It was mostly born from UltimatePals.com but let’s face it, that name sucks. Neither of which any of you have likely heard of unless you know me. It evolved into a really exclusive club. Because a lot of the players we dealt with in the beginning were successful players, who of course knew other successful players. At those points we spent most of our day helping friends of friends. The thought of seeking out new customers that would have been more than we could have handled and maintain the level of service we want to provide.

We are about to introduce a Beta Points system and an added money tournament series. We are aiming for May to introduce both. We will also be spending a lot of the time in the next month reaching out to everyone again to let them know of their new benefits.

MicroBlogging on Twitter

Beanie — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 11:20:35 +0000

Here is my new twitter page beaniepoker. Unlike Myspace or Facebook which I genuinely don’t have time to update twitter makes it easy because you can update through text message, instant message or on the site. I often find myself having thoughts that would be interesting with no place to share them. Hopefully this can help. From what I can tell the service is fairly active, though I would imagine Jennicide’s page will be slightly more popular than mine. Her’s is jennicide.

Race in my life

Beanie — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 13:55:11 +0000

I have probably written this particular blog 10 times when topics come up about poverty in the mainstream news or something. I have dumped most of them for fear I might end up sounding like Vanilla Ice. I lived with my father and we were definitely middle class and lived in the suburbs. But my mother is married to a black man who was a gift to our family. So here is a little of that story and how it happened.

My parents divorced when I was 4, initially my mother was given custody but through a crazy series of events that my mother could not control I ended up living with my dad. My mother struggled after that and ended up going through job after job and relationship after relationship. At one point she dated a man named Harold (who was African American), my mother didn’t make the best life choices back in those days and Harold was a scumbag, he died of Aids because of drug use and sharing of needles. My mom got caught up in that lifestyle, eventually I would as well.

I didn’t see my mother a lot at this time but occasionally we would have visits that I couldn’t tell my dad about. She took me places no kid should go. I saw a lot at a very tender age. I also got my ass kicked a lot being the only white kid in a predominantly black area. I remember being dropped off at people’s house that I didn’t know. A lot!! It always seemed to be some grandmother who held down the fort for her family, she was normally overweight, cooked great and by nights end I was in her lap and she was my new best friend. After getting my ass kicked a few times people started to realize I wasn’t a punk and I made a few friends. Most of this scene happened around a grocery store that my uncle owned. My uncle was disowned from our family when he married a black woman, this was like in the 50’s. He ran card games in the back of the grocery store were they played boo-ray and tonk. Most of the people playing were playing with their net worth, so occasionally fights would break out, I shouldn’t have been there but I often was. Looking back the games likely weren’t on the up and up. Occasionally my uncle would take me to K&B for some ice cream, he was like the kind of old guy everyone was scared of but for some reason he liked me. In fact, everyone liked me, of course there was the whole ass kicking thing, but I was polite and I knew my place, what wasn’t there to like?

My mother and I grew a bit closer when she started living with my grandmother (who I visited weekly) she worked at a grocery warehouse 1/2 block away from my grandmother’s house, I was between 16-17 at the time. I eventually started working in the warehouse. I was horrible at everything. It also didn’t help that I was once again one of the only white people other than a guy named Maurice. The characters there were so colorful I could write blogs about all of them. There was Joe, who was the meanest person I have ever met and still is, Arthur, who was the supervisor and eventually he was murdered by his wife for cheating on her. This was some real raw stuff. Most of my time then was spent going to work and doing drugs and getting caught up in a lifestyle that was anything but glamorous.

That grocery warehouse is where my mom met James. James is African American and he is now my stepfather. James was god’s gift to my mother. In fact, he was god’s gift to my whole family, from the way he treated my grandmother on her death bed to the way he makes my daughters feel every time we visit. He also puts up with my mom which is no easy task. My kids have a black grandfather and I kid you not when I say this to you, they have no idea he is black. It literally never comes up and never has. They have gradually started to figure things out but it all seems normal because it is normal for our family.

All if this is fresh in my head after Barack’s speech yesterday. He captured that moment so well and for people who have straddled the divisive lines that race often creates it was a welcome dialogue.

What would you do if you lost 200k and that was all you had?

Beanie — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 10:27:10 +0000

I will change some of the info and names to make it not so obvious as to who the people are but this is one of the funnier stories (I am not sure if funny is the right word really) I have heard in a while.

Two guys had basically been playing one account on Full Tilt and agreed that they would not take any out except for living and traveling expenses. They also decided that they would travel the circuit playing tournaments and then playing online, which brought them to the Borgata. Both of them had run well and their account was at 200k. I am not going to bore you with the details because everyone knows what is coming. They thought they found a soft spot in the 300-600 game playing limit poker. Within 24 hours their account was dead bust.

This is where the story gets interesting maybe ironic (ok, funny really is a bad choice), the way the scene is described is almost like the end of a good war scene. Fog everywhere, people walking around muttering wondering what just happened, that type of scene. It was pretty clear that was all these kids had to the world. At one point the bigger kid starts getting real angry and upset, his face turned a color of red (this is what I was told) faces shouldn’t turn. At that point there was no reason in his mind. If you have never been to the Borgata it is all glass, in his rage he ran at the glass as hard as he could trying to jump out (OK, now I feel like a bit of an ass for thinking it was funny). As he hit the glass his head hit first and since he was not the first destitute gambler to think of this particular way to die he bounced off of the glass knocking himself out cold.

The Decomposing Warthog Story

Beanie — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 19:03:31 +0000

I may edit this a bit more later, I was talking on Instant Message with a friend when I realized it would make a good blog entry. I love my wife dearly but sometimes she goes a bit overboard in her quest for adventure. The weird format is a result of the Instant Message format which would have taken a long time to edit. So here it is in the raw.

so my wife wants to go to a trip on the other side of the island

we have 2 days left

the other side is the rainy side

so I am not crazy about it but it is a rainforest

ultimately I know that not going would put me in the doghouse

so I go

we agree to a compromise and the first place we go sucked bigtime

and one of my kids gets physically sick

my wife is trying to put a smile on everything but the reality is that no one is having a good time and besides we could be boogie boarding

she agrees it is best to head back

but on the way there is a spot a lot of cars are at, she wants me to turn back but I resist

she is persistent in a way that I know is not good for me

so I turn back

we get out the car and a windshield was broken recently and there is a sign that says ” do not leave valuable in your car”, she actually has to warn my oldest to not step in the vandalized grass.

I am once again resisting

then I see that we have to climb over barbed wire to get where we are going

and on the other side of the barbed wire is a BIG dead decomposing animal

Flabbergasted Instant Message Friend: lolwtf

me: as we cover up our mouth as to not inhale the dead decomposing stench we are sliding down a muddy path

on the path is a bamboo jungle, so that is cool

you can hear a waterfall in the background

as we go to where the waterfall is there is a steep embankment

we all have sandals on and my wife wants to go down, I have finally had enough and I protest appealing to here motherly instincts, she is not deterred

I don’t feel my sandals are safe so I throw them down the hill and climb down barefoot, which was the only protest I could think of at the time, so I can catch my falling children

my wife won’t look me in the eye because she knows I am judging her

we come upon a ditch

with slippery rocks, all of the people coming up to the ditch have hiking boots on (and they are occasionally slipping), we have on sandals

I threaten to call child protection and that makes an impression on her

we won’t be risking life and limb for a waterfall

Flabbergasted Instant Message Friend: haha

me: but we still need to head back up and luckily as we past the decomposing warthog or whatever the hell it was

Bobby: the girls want to turn back?

me: we see that our car was left alone by the vandals

the girls did not want to go back

one of the funnier parts of the story

is that my girls were cheering on their mom for being a bad parent

concluding that bad parents are the best because they let you do stuff good parents won’t

Flabbergasted Instant Message Friend: lol

me: do you mind if I post this verbatim in my blog?

too much writing and too good of a story to not do that

Flabbergasted Instant Message Friend: Hi Mom

me: ha

i can probably edit this

Flabbergasted Instant Message Friend: oh I see how it is

just change my name to Patrick.Antonius@gmail.com or something

that’ll get em excited

Hawaii is as advertised

Beanie — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 17:29:02 +0000

I like homeruns as much as anyone but I’ll always take a triple. Hawaii is a triple, we are on Maui and the traffic is pretty bad so we try not to leave the resort very much. The Four Seasons is as close to a homerun as you can get when you have kids so leaving here is somewhat silly. One of the funny things about being at a place like this is there mention of celebrities that stay here. I have had the good fortune of staying at a few places that celebrities would go and usually the type of celebrities that you see are not the type of people you think of when you think of a celebrity. Like today I saw Steve Young, which is kind of cool but everyone was whispering to their wives and such “I think that is Steve Young”, I mean give me a damn break, the guy is an announcer leave him alone so he can spend time with his family.

Also, to about half of the women here I could care less if you were the 5th runner up from New Hampshire 22 years ago, get the hell out of my sun.

There is a thread on two plus two about busto celebrity poker players and the people that have been mentioned have not even come close to the names I am sure David Sklansky is thinking of, David throws out these posts so people can actually out the people that are actually broke. Saying Daniel or Gus is busto is sort of old news, though in Daniel’s case I don’t think anyone has it 100% correct, my understanding is that he gets 3 million a year from Poker Stars, now he might be down a good bit from a number of things but nothing that 3 million a year won’t cure.

From what I know the names that are busto are new on the busto front. I don’t really see any benefit to me in outing anyone that is bust but people are aiming a bit low in their speculation.

I am reading a book by Milton Friedman which is really interesting. He refers to himself as a liberal with the meaning of liberal being that centralized government is inherently bad. I am only halfway through the book but I agree with a lot of theory’s, the book is not light reading but I am glad I picked it up.

Hitting the tables, AMEX Black Card and missing Antonio

Beanie — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 00:01:22 +0000

This week has seen me hitting the tables again after a long hiatus, I tend to play mostly when I feel it and I had not felt it until just the other day. Since coming back I have won, not a lot but things are encouraging. When I stopped I was definitely losing but I would not say it was a major concern, I just did not think I was playing my best. It is amazing how clear things become when you just have a little clarity.

This morning I called American Express, I travel quite a bit and a friend of mine has a Centurion card (check out the link Neil does a great job explaining the benefits, also known as the Black Card) so I figured I would find out the requirements, it comes with a lot of perks that would be helpful worldwide. If you are not invited (meaning that you play point guard for some NBA team), yes it is that exclusive, the best way to get one is to spend 250k in one year and then request one. I am not sure if I will ultimately request one (I have only been an AMEX member for 6 months) but I am going to push all my spending and bills through AMEX. Currently I have a Blue Card that pays 5 cents for certain purchases but 1.5 for everything else. To date I have earned almost $1000, which is not chump change considering I pay off my balances so I do not get charged interest. Mostly though it is convenient to not always have to carry money around and I think AMEX does a great job.

You may have noticed some changes to the site lately; we are really looking to clean up the site so it is easy for everyone to get at the content. So far so good. Our next step will be adding more contributors and more additions to the video and podcasts section. Overall you guys seem to be enjoying the changes.

As you may have noticed Antonio is not blogging any longer, I am pretty sure he plans to explain why soon. I run MagicAntonio for him so we have not parted ways, he just got one of those opportunities you just can not pass up and I wish him nothing but the best. He is a great guy and a great friend.

Did strippers kill hip hop?

Beanie — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 23:50:34 +0000

Anyone who has ever met me or even seen a picture of me is going to think this is an odd topic. I just am not crazy about writing yet another blog about how I won or lost a couple of thousand playing some random guy heads up. That gets boring. So I figured I would take on the main reason I think hip hop is on the decline.

Strippers!

Every hip hop song is about shorties on a pole. At first it was mildly funny the thought of rap artists flaunting their new found riches at the local strip joint but when those songs start getting sung by 7 year olds that hear them on the top 40 stations the writing was on the wall.

Strippers were just a short cut. Great beats need good lyrics not short cuts and so few artists are doing that well and that is why hip hop is on the decline.

Want proof, check this out it is Run DMC’s Rock Box, which I think is still the best hip hop record ever (though the video is lacking a bit).

By the way, if I could meet one guy in business that guy would be Russell Simmons. I watch Run’s House just for his cameos. He is so brazen and uncut it is refreshing.