Poker Blogs - Online Poker Blogs - Poker Lifestyle

Sorry…

Matt Humphrey — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 10:10:55 +0000

I know, I know… its been waayyyyy too long since I have blogged but to be honest, I haven’t had much to say.

I just started playing again earlier this week and feel so much better about my vacation away from poker. I think 3 weeks is the longest I have went without poker since I first started playing. I still don’t feel like traveling to play much unless its just for the day. Beau Rivage is having a tourney at the end of this month and I must be crazy to not go.. the action there will be really great and it was my favorite city to visit so far. The food is amazing and the people will tell you stories forever about the history of Biloxi. They would be mad if I didn’t mention that they “were the ones who got the storm, new orleans just got the flood”. I can’t tell you how many times I heard that while I was down there and they all have their won reasons why they got 0 help and New Orleans got all of it. Well actually most of them share the same opinions on it but I’m not going to say what they are on here.

As for this week of poker, it has gone really great. Low stress and good money. I put 2k on 3 different sites and have done good on all of them. I think I am up 14k on Cakepoker this week, 4k on UltimateBet and 2k on Fulltilt. For the first time in my life I haven’t had the desire to play in the really big games and just concentrate on making good money every week in the middle stakes. I probably wont have any 50k weeks for a while but I also wont have anymore -100k months…. at least I hope not. I am really enjoying the balance I have found in life recently and even though it takes a little big more discipline, I can still be just as lazy :)

I hope everyone is doing well and congratulations to my brother Adam who just got married and my brother Jason who recently had the first Humphrey girl in 3 generations “Lily”.

Good Luck,

Matt Humphrey

humphreyin @hotmail.com

If you still aren’t getting rakeback email me and I can help you out.

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.

Down in the Dumps…

Matt Humphrey — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 22:57:26 +0000

I haven’t blogged in a while and I am sure it isn’t hard to guess why that is…. I CANT WIN!!!! Or at least that is the way it feels right now. The real reason is probably because I have been playing in games too big and have refused to move down in limits… It seems like in the old days I used to never get punished for making a bad bankroll decision, but now, if I play too high or take a “shot” at a big game then I always end up going off for a big number. I am going to try to get back on the grind and regain my interest in poker again. Just try to grind out 500-1000 a day for a while. I can do that by playing 2/4 PLO everyday for about 3 hours.. so it isn’t too much to ask. It is just hard for me to do that because of how competitive I am…. I see these big games going with bad players and I KNOW I CAN BEAT THEM but that isn’t the point. I am really starting to realize that I care more about the money now than I do about being great. Which is fine but that means I really just need to grind out a living for a few more years and give up on the idea of being a multi-gallizonaire… at least for a while. The good news is that in PLO it usually doesn’t take me much time to get back on my feet. I had alot of stressful things going on in my life while I was out in Vegas, family and friend type stuff, and I know I should have been tougher but it really did effect my poker.

As for my Vegas trip… I played golf a few times, got to see alot of old friends, and proceeded to lose about 100k and to be honest, it couldn’t have been much worse. I lose the 3 biggest pots of my life…. In one pot I was a HUGE FAVORITE.. having the guy draw to a gutshot 3 that wasn’t a spade.. and in the 100k pot i flopped top two and a gutshot and lost it 2 times to aces and the nut flush draw… there was a side pot and I only got 3/4ths of that because the kid made a straight both times…. The thing about it though is that I KNEW the game was too big and that there were alot softer spots around the casino. It wasn’t that the big was tough, because it wasn’t… it is just we were playing 100 dollar straddle on the button and people were re-straddling 200 and 400 and sometimes 800 dollars…. that means we were just GAMBLING.. and with stack sizes around 5000.. that means there is almost NO PLAY…. I guess you live and learn though from the mistakes you make and I think I have finally learned from mine. I am ready to live the good life from poker, not the easy life.. I am going to have to really get motivated again and constantly remind myself of what I want out of poker…..

-200k later I’m ready to grind

Wish me luck,

Matt

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 .

Long Time No Blog

Matt Humphrey — Mon, 19 May 2008 07:19:10 +0000

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

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.

Some Bumps in the Road..

Matt Humphrey — Fri, 02 May 2008 12:37:09 +0000

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

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.

Quick Update…

Matt Humphrey — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 21:22:38 +0000

Won 38k!! Had a really good Monday(45k) but lost today (-7k). I played a lot of 25/50 cap and some 50/100 PLO as well. I leave tomorrow for Louisville and I am excited to get back to playing some live poker. The games should be pretty good the next few days because of the Kentucky Derby. I talked to Robert Willaimson who said him and Phil Hellmuth will be in town and want to play some big PLO Saturday night maybe. If so, then I will have to take it easy during the race so I will be ready to play some high stakes PLO that night…. I guess there are going to be a lot of celebs and poker pros in for the derby and they are also hosting a charity poker tourney at the casino. Wish me luck…

Matt Humphrey

Humphreyin @hotmail.com

Busy Week…

Matt Humphrey — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 11:51:02 +0000

First off I wanted to thank everyone for all of their emails… it’s nice to see that so many people read and follow your progress. I really haven’t played much since my end of last week mostly because I hung out with friends all weekend but also because I wanted to start my weeks on Mondays for now on. I probably lost around 8k this weekend playing and ran really really bad in the cap games but it was bound to happen at some point.

I am still playing some of my best poker but it really is hard not to open up my game too much when I feel like I am running good. When things go well you sometimes feel like you can do no wrong.. which is true for poker and life in general. Just as long as I keep starting off my sessions tight and then adjust accordingly the game then I will be fine. I have played about 3 hours today and won a little over 7.5k. There was a really bad player sitting at 50/100 CAP PLO and i played him for a little which is where most of my profit came from (6,700).

I am going to head to Louisville on Wednesday to play some in the PLO game down there (10/25)(50 straddle).. golf with a friend on Thursday.. play Friday down there.. and then Saturday is the Kentucky Derby. I can’t wait to go since it will be my first time and it should be interesting since me and my 2 friends have NO WHERE to stay.. anyone have any ideas? All the hotels seemed to be pretty well booked for up to 40 miles away. So I am guessing our plan will be to go to the race then out to 4th street for the rest of the night. So with all that information it won’t take a genius to realize I won’t have as much time to play online this week as last. Today, Tomorrow, Thursday and some of Sunday. I still think i should be able to win around 20k though which would be great and hopefully another 10k in the live games(however, usually it is either win 30k or lose 15k) …lol.

I am going to try to talk about one hand every post from now on out but today I will just leave you with the biggest pot I’ve ever lost… luckily for me it happened like 6 months ago.. http://www.pokerhand.org/?2513213

Also, if you don’t get rakeback right now then email and I can help you out.

Enjoy Your Week and Good Luck,

Matt Humphrey

Humphreyin@hotmail.com

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.

Week 1 Results…

Matt Humphrey — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 12:41:46 +0000

I ended up losing about 10k last night before I went out but still had a pretty good week… won 10.5k on UB…won 45k on FullTilt… here is a screen shot of my pokertracker…

Good Luck,

Matt

I Think They Call It A Heater?!?!?

Matt Humphrey — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 15:39:54 +0000

Wow, what a rush… It has been a while since I have been on a heater like this and I really needed it for my confidence. I am up 13k on UltimateBet this week and 55k on Fulltilt. A pretty GREAT week and way ahead of my goal of winning 30k for the 3 weeks. I am so excited for my trip to New Orleans and for the upcoming WSOP because I have finally started to remember so many of the little strategic things I have forgotten along the way. The best part of it all is that I don’t feel like I have been running all that great… I am sure I have ran above expectation to some point but I know I have had some pretty sick beats in large pots that could have made the week a whole lot better…. but that is just like a poker player to remember the bad and forget the good. Today is the last day of my “week” since I got here last Tuesday so tomorrow I will post some pictures of my pokertracker and my final results. I can’t figure out how to use it for UB so that stinks and I also played alot of my PLO on a friends computer but at least I will have SOME IDEA at what BB/100 I am running at along with which limits I have won the most.

Tonight we are going out for Emily’s B-day dinner then maybe out after but I am not sure, so that should be a nice break… and then I will finally be back home Thursday. Going out Friday to the Indianapolis Indians game and Saturday me and some friends are going to a bags(cornhole) tourney.. TOP PRIZE……wait for it…wait for it.. 500 smackers!! Hope everyone else is having a great week too!!

Good Luck,

Matt

Redemption…

Matt Humphrey — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 12:36:13 +0000

Well I finally feel like I am back to playing great poker. I realized I was playing too many hands out of position, not re-raising enough, and calling too light on the flop. It feels so good to put in enough time and energy and actually be able to figure out what I was doing wrong- and then apply it. I have been on a pretty good rush on FullTilt.. up about 23k this week and up about 2k on UB. However, I wasn’t just playing 2/4… I have played almost exclusively 5/10 and I have played some short stack 25/50; which was probably a bad idea but every time I have gotten it all in, I AM WAYYY AHEAD.. so I am up pretty good for the short stacking 25/50.

I am really enjoying my time out here in Vegas. I am not sure if I could live out here exclusively or not but I might look into getting a place out here and keep my place downtown as well. One thing I don’t like about being on the road is that the only time I eat is during a meal, that means like NO SNACKING and every meal is like a stomach stuffer, which is fine but its not very good for the diet.

I am going to try to play one of the NL events at Caesars before I leave but I’m not sure if I will have enough time since Emily is getting into town today and I don’t wanna leave her hanging. My friend Jeanine Deeb is a half Lebanese and I guess we are all going to a Lebanese restaurant Tuesday for Emily’s birthday which should be interesting… I really have no idea what I will find there to eat.

I’ll be home on the 24th and probably stay there until I head to New Orleans for the WSOP circuit event. Hope everyone is having as good of a week as I am…

Good Luck,

Matt

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.

Good Start.

Matt Humphrey — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 19:44:56 +0000

Just a quick update. I ended up playing some online poker today once I arrived since there wasn’t much else to do …..and I am glad I did. I started off playing 2/4 PLO on FullTilt but the games weren’t very good and it was a MAJOR grind, I ended up losing around 300-400. Then I got onto UB and played some 5-10 PLO and played for about 3 hours and won close to 10k. I will give exact numbers at the end of the challenge. I will probably keep playing on UB since it is going so well on there and the games seem to have A TON more action. Anyway, me and my friends Pat and Josh are about to head to Bellagio to eat at Noodles then maybe some poker. I hear they have a pretty juicy 25/50 PLO game thats been going.

Good Luck,

Matt

Vegas Bound

Matt Humphrey — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 19:17:36 +0000

I fly out tomorrow(the 14th) to Las Veags and will be staying for about 10 days (home on the 24th). I actually feel pretty energized about getting out there and being in some warm weather. I probably won’t play that much live poker which may sound weird, but I just feel like I play better online when I am around a few other people playing online poker at the same time, which is one of the reasons for the trip. Somehow it keeps me from going on tilt as easily when I know other people are judging me. Another one of my vain qualities….lol. I post-poned my 2/4 PLO challenge because I still wasn’t ready to play all that much but I am going to start grinding it out again Wednesday once I am settled in at my buddies house. My goal is still to try to win 30k in 21 days but I have realized I will have to put in more time then I thought because the games seem to be playing a little tougher. I am excited to get back my confidence though and it kind of feels like a fresh start.

It should be a pretty fun trip this go around. I get to see my friend Jeanine Deeb on Friday who will be there until Sunday. She is always a fun time and likes to go to the pool and bars which is a nice break from playing poker 24-7. Then my friend Emily is coming out Sunday for her very first Vegas-experience. She is coming because of her job but I am sure she will still enjoy it. She will only be there for like 3 days, but one of those days is her birthday!! Anyone know any good spots to eat for a veagen? LOL

I am pretty excited about this trip and the warm weather!! After this I will be off to New Orleans to defend my WSOP PLO title…lol. Golf, Gambling, Poker, Warm Weather, The Pool…. someone needs to smack me next I start complaining..

Wish me luck

Matt

PS I wanna get 20-1 that I can win a bracelet this year at the WSOP. I never play tourneys and I am only going to to play 5 events. Email me at HumphreyIN@hotmail.com if you are interested. Good Luck.

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.

First AlwaysBluff.com Blog

Matt Humphrey — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 18:41:44 +0000

First off, how about a little bit of an introduction for those who don’t know me….. Matt Humphrey, 24, Indianapolis, Indiana… I started playing poker when most other people my age started playing, around 2002, however, I never really played much online until just a few years ago and I have never been that big on any kind of tourney. I play almost exclusively Pot-Limit Omaha but I also like mixed games and NL tourneys as of late. I have went from playing some of the smallest games online(.5/1 dollar PLO) to playing the biggest(200/400 PLO) in a short amount of time and right now I have been focusing mostly on the middle limits because I have different goals for myself than I used to, which I will talk about in a future blog. I play under the name HumphreyIN …say hi if you see me sitting. If you ever have any questions or just want to discuss a PLO hand then you can email me at Humphreyin@hotmail.com.

I hope to use this blog to post about hands and talk about “poker life”. I used to write a blog but it was mostly for friends and family to let them know how I was doing and where I was traveling to next but in this blog I hope to talk about a few hands that I played and also post some results from my poker tracker every week. I also might look into posting a video or two on this site with Beanie’s approval of course

Starting Sunday I am going to play 2/4 PLO and NOTHING ELSE!!! I am going to try to win 30k for the month which may seem high because of the small limits but based on my past results I think it will be obtainable. I also usually only play 2 screens but I think I will try to get back to 4-tabling instead. I am going on a hiatis for a week and will be back grinding it out starting Sunday(the 13th). I haven’t been very focused as of late and now that I have some goals to make I think I will be better off now.

“This one step — choosing a goal and sticking to it — changes everything.”
Good Luck This Week,

Matt

“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.