CardRunners

im leaving tomorrow to fly out to san diego for new years eve.  gonna meet up with steve (xtcbx), clint (beatifulman), jesse (thedegeneral), chris (g28), nick (ahhsnap) + gf, josh (reddog)+gf, schaefer, markus (lurped), and maybe some other people im forgetting.  im actually  not sure what we're doing tomorrow night but it will definitely be fun.  then on new years day we're taking a cruise that stops in a couple ports in mexico and spends a few days at sea.  ive never been on a cruise but i bet its gonna be a blast.

we get back to san diego on the 5th and jesse, steve, markus and i are gonna head up to the commerce for a few days cause its been a while since ive played live cash or live anything for that matter.  after that...im not sure, my plans are pretty up in the air.  i might fly out to nebraska and hang out with nick and joel for a couple weeks.  maybe check out austin, texas cause nick and i talked about getting a place there.  we'll have to see when that comes.

ill take a bunch of pictures on my trip and post something worthwhile when i get back to land.





ok now for the mma spam.  i wrote this up a few days ago and i guess ill post it now cause i wont be around for a few days.  just ignore it if you arent into that whole thing.


before i do, funny video.  cheick kongo and paul kelly are teammates over at wolfs lair in england.  (also rampages team).  they are walking through the mall, and kongo (a kickboxer) unloads a leg kick on paul kelly, who weighs about 60 pounds less lol.  poor bastard

here is a link if the embedding fails:
www.youtube.com/watch




and now....for the random thoughts...


-i liked how wandy looked at points during the fight. he still has that insane focus and drive to murder his opponent. he is a bit slower nowadays and his wildness doesnt work out as much anymore because of his decreased speed. this will hurt him in title contention fights but hes still a very exciting guy who people should love to watch and he could definitely put out good fights still, but im not sure he has potential to be a top 3 fighter nowadays. i think a move to 185 could be fun, as well as some good fights vs some other 205s that arent rampage/shogun/rashad/machida/anderson if he moves up and a couple others.


-rampage looked soooo nervous coming into the fight. im a huge huge wandy fan but coming into this fight i felt like rampage had every advantage. better technical boxer, better cage suited style, has improved, wandy has gotten slower, etc. but as they were doing their cage entrances, something looked really really off in quinton. he was scared to death of wandy, you could tell. in that walk my confidence in wandy was reborn and i was pretty sure wandy would finish off the threepeat and tko him. it took a minute or two but he calmed down, settled into his own and looked good.

this win will give rampage a huge amount of confidence and to me its clear that right now hes the best 205 on the planet (unless shogun comes back 100% and says otherwise). he says he wants to rematch forrest and i still think hes a huge favorite against forrest. he will KILL rashad. this isnt a "forrest has a better reach than rashad so he should be able to pepper and have an advantage", this is a "god poor rashad is going to die if he fights rampage". the only people who have what i think is a decent shot (>30% of winning) vs rampage are shogun (who at 100% is still a favorite) and machida (who gives anyone fits).


-ill take the first tangent and talk about how good rashad looked. hes so quick, so accurate with his punches and extremely composed. forrest was doing a really really good job round 2 but rashad never faltered, stayed really confident and eventually found a spot. now, as stated above i think rampage will obliterate him. but it appears as if his first title defense will be against machida. that should be a pretty fun to mma fans (but might be kinda boring to casual fans). rashad is real fast but doesnt have the reach machida does, and should have some problems hitting machida cause of lyoto's own speed. i suspect it will go to a decision and either machida will win because he peppered a lot more, or rashad will win because machida didnt pepper that much more and rashad controlled the octagon.

besides machida/rampage i think he matches up really well vs a lot of other guys in the division. extremely well vs jardine (who leaves his face open for rashads quick striking), well vs wandy (same thing as jardine), not THAT well vs chuck: lets face it, chuck is a passive outboxer with good reach, good takedown defense and really pinpoint striking. if chuck could come back 100% i think rashad vs chuck is a tossup. in either case though, rashad has earned his #2 spot in the 205 division and has most certainly earned his belt so congrats to him. of course he will be ranked #1, but we know the true #1 is rampage.


-machida is fighting thiago silva next. i dont have much faith in thiago silva's proclamations that he knows how to beat machida and i see machida winning a UD. then he will fight rashad and we get to see an interesting chess match that people will sadly boo. im really excited to see machida vs top competition. he matchs up really well vs wandy/chuck/all wrestlers/all bjj guys/most of the division. i do think machida can beat rampage because rampage still hasnt shown he is going to deal with leg kicks and machida wont get hit very often, but rampage can cut off angles and control the fight. i think machida can beat forrest, but again thats not an easy fight for him. same with shogun. same with rashad. only the fights happening will really tell us what will happen.


-i talked a lot about a 100% shogun in the previous paragraphs and yes its all speculation and praying, but i think shogun will come back very strong. if he doesnt, well, just delete his name from all those paragraphs and hes not who he used to be. if he does come back well.....he is a nightmare to fight against. really aggressive striker like wandy, but also has better wrestling, faster, is still young, and has better reach and slightly more technical punching. every fight fan should pray he comes back 100% because then it adds another element to the 205 division and will make things a lot of fun to watch. if he doesnt....lets just remember him for what he was and how much potential he had.


-i think forrest looked excellent the first two rounds. his lack of a spectacular area in fighting is really going to hurt him vs a lot of guys. hes kinda good in every area, but lacks the power, athleticism, speed, and doesnt have amazing wrestling or bjj so its going to be hard for him to beat really really tough guys. however, he is a smart guy who has learned to use his size/reach very well, will outwork anyone, and never gives up so he will continue to compete at a high level in this division for a long time.


-i think nog just looked awful. he looked old, slow, depressed, worn, everything that we knew would eventually happen but didnt think would happen when he was only 32. i hope (and dont hope cause its a morbid thought to want him to have depression so he has a brighter future than we think) that he had some depression or something going on mentally that prevented the old nog from coming out and fighting because he looked really really bad. it made me want to immediately drop him from the top 10 hws because it looks like he just cant cut it anymore, sometimes youre only as good as your last fight. it wasnt like wandy who was still ferocious and focused but a little slower, or chuck who got flash ko'ed by an extremely quick handed fighter in september, he just looked really bad. this is what made me the most sad of anything from ufc 92.

people get old, their bodies break down and they arent the same anymore. its a sad thing that happens in heavy contact sports and fighting sports. it was only a matter of time till the massive amounts of abuse took its toll and i hope this isnt the last we have to see of nog. thankfully a guy like fedor hasnt taken much punishment (because hes just that much better than everyone) and will continue to fight at an extremely high level for a long time to come, allowing us as fans to see some of the fights we've always wanted to see without having to wonder how it would have went 5 years back.

there is a rumor going around that nog was recovering from staph infection so he wasnt near 100%, but until i see him look somewhat like the old nog and prove otherwise im going to assume hes not the fighter he once was.  but ill hope for the best, hope you come back better nog!


-mir looked really good. not "OMG HE WOULD DESTROY AA, BARNETT AND FEDOR", but very good. crisp boxing, decent kicks, obviously improved cardio, very relaxed and composed. i think hes definitely the #4 heavyweight in the world right now and should be a favorite on brock given his size, newfound cardio, good boxing, and his obvious submission advantage over brock. i think mir will give trouble to anyone in the ufc, and hes similar to a gonzaga right now, but a little better mentally and with much better cardio. will be fun to see how the ufc hw division unfolds with gonzaga/kongo hopefully starting to step up to a higher level so we can see some fun fights and matchups.


-i tried to rank the heavyweight division after saturday night and couldnt get past #4. it was so hard for me to rank. my top 4 is fedor, AA, barnett, frank mir. after that it became a blur. lesnar and sylvia have to be in the top 10 in my opinion, and preferably #5 and #6. after that, having to choose 4 fighters out of werdum, gonzaga, kongo, sergei, overeem, crocop, nog, randy, aleksander, and ben rothwell. (imo cain, carwin and junior are not ready). i guess ill just type rankings and not be a copout, but imo theres a top 6 then a pack of guys who are either over the hill, unknown potential, and solid fighters.

my top 20 in order: fedor, AA, barnett, mir, lesnar, sylvia, sergei, overeem, gonzaga, kongo, randy, ben rothwell, crocop, nog, werdum, aleks, junior, carwin, cain. for #20, bleh who even cares, gilbert yvel? i moved nog so low because of my above arguments about how it looked nog was done and not just a fluke fight. if i thought it was just an off fight id have put him #8 and waited to see how he turns out, but i just dont have any faith in his standup/reflexes/speed anymore.


-im really excited for k1 dynamite and you guys should be too. the card is actually in a couple hours live over in japan, but its hard to find a stream for it. anyway, here are some of my breakdowns on fights (who gives a fuck what i think!):

aoki vs alvarez - really cool fight. at first thought eddie would handle aoki because of great striking, good sub defense, good wrestling, but seriously, i thought the same thing about jz vs aoki back in may. what makes this different? really hard to call but im gonna say eddie UD or TKO but would not be surprised if aoki subbed him, or got control of his back or something.

hansen vs JZ - i think JZ wins pretty easily, either by TKO or UD. hes stronger, great wrestling, great bjj, really good sub defense, i just dont see hansen having an edge here. i was surprised to see joachim is 5'10 because he always looked really small to me and i always thought he should fight at 145, but i guess he has a reach advantage? i dunno, i think JZ wins this. lets not forget he was widely considered a top 3 155 before the aoki fights, and his skillset is very diverse and hes great everywhere.

crocop vs hmc - wow, hmc is so indestrucible (only ko or tko was broken rib vs badr), and this is an mma fight. i dont know if crocop can ninja an armbar like fedor did but who knows, he seems pretty confident in his grappling skills; didnt he agree to a sub grappling fight in one of the dreams vs a gracie??? really weird fight, im going out on a limb and say crocop by armbar (hahahaha sick pun amiright)

badr hari vs overeem - k1 rules. sorry alistair, badr is the man. his combos are so incredibly fast and i dont think his chin is THAT bad. does anyone know if there is a weight limit to this? theyre both big guys, badr is about 6'5-6'6 225-230, overeem 6'5 235-240. i just see badr winning by tko or in a decision, hes just too good.

sakuraba vs kiyoshi - i think kiyoshi has taken less damage, has better standup and has good enough ground to beat saku.  lets just hope its a good competitive fight

and NOW its time for a small rant about this card. while k1 dynamite does have really great fights and cool matchups to see, it bothers me that the fights dont really mean anything. the only implication to anything on the card is that if alvarez wins he should auto win fighter of the year. besides that....if aoki wins what does it mean? he gets to fight another cool fight in a couple months? ok....if he loses? same shit. i really love that the ufc fights mean something in terms of stepping stones for title shots. everyone's goal is to win the belt and to get there they have to put together a series of wins. when people are fighting over in japan in 2 or 3 different promotions, its just a bunch of fun fights that fans want to see without much meaning besides overall ranking in the division and possible awards for fight of the year, fighter of the year, etc. how to fix this? i dont know. have dream get bigger and have fighters defend belts, have obvious depth charts with who gets next title shot etc.





hmm anything else i can rant about?

-diego at 155.....really excited to see diego vs sherk, diego vs kenny. i think sherk beats diego because of better standup, close ground games. diego vs kenny......kenny might just outfight him on the feet and keep it close enough on the ground to not lose. not easy fights for diego but definitely head asploding ones that icant wait to watch.

-my first thought after the thiago vs kos fight was that thiago matched up perfectly vs gsp and had a good chance to win. well im back to reality and i think gsp will set up his takedowns much better than kos did, and also will come up with a good gameplan to fight him. i still think thiago matches up well....just not as well as i originally thought. i say gsp -160 to win this.

before we get there though, gsp has to get through bj. gsp should win with good legkicks, avoiding boxing, using his wrestling smartly. obviously bj can win if he controls the ground, gains top position, is allowed to box for extended periods of time. really cool fight and should be a really really good one. but i would much rather see gsp win just because of the future matchups in each division (and possible moveups to 185 to fight anderson) are better if bj is at 155 and gsp is champ at 170.


-and finally the 185 division is a wreck. why is leites getting a shot over okami/maia? i understand okami is kinda boring but he beat anderson and has definitely earned his shot. he had a shot and had to pull out because of a hand injury give it to him again . anderson by murder over thales.

and why are rich/hendo fighting to be TUF9 coach for middleweights. rich moves up to 205, fights hendo at 205, then winner comes and coaches tuf and a 185 fight vs....bisping? can we please have maia tuf9 coach, that would be so much better.......


-TITO FIGHT IN AFFLICTION VS BABALU OR LITTLE NOG. TY


-and finally, some awards for the year, mostly stolen from mma live's categories

fight of the year: 1. carlos condit vs miura 2. hansen vs alvarez 3. torres vs maeda

fighter of the year: depends on k1 dynamite..... if alvarez wins hes #1. if alvarez loses, thiago alves is #1.

breakout star: gegard mousasi. nobody knew who he was last year. went 6-0 this year, won dream mw gp, and beat a sick striker and sick bjj guy in same night.

ko of the year: 1. rashad vs chuck 2. kos vs yoshida so many other great ones i cant pick after that

sub of the year: 1. palhares armbar vs salaverry 2. miguel torres vs chase beebe (torres was jockeying for a sub for like 2 or 3 minutes and there was some sick technical shit going on, highly recommend you go back and watch this) 3. asilva vs hendo honorable mention: dustin hazelett reverse armbar, nate diaz triangle, frank mir leglock brock, cb peruvian necktie, the aoki top position gogoplata was cool as well

upset of the year: forrest vs rampage was huge and also had great meaning. mir vs nog i was so sure nog would win but i dont know if it can be considered an upset with how bad nog looked. if i knew how each fighter would look in the fight i dont think this was an upset at all. and huge underdogs winning like junior dos santos, and the guy who beat gomi should also be considered. overall i give it to forrest for 2nd year in a row lol< type="text/javascript" " alt="http://www.youtube.com/v/YZNAyhlaRQ0&hl=en&fs=1"> " title="http://www.youtube.com/v/YZNAyhlaRQ0&hl=en&fs=1"> ">http://www.youtube.com/v/YZNAyhlaRQ0&hl=en&fs=1"> ...

Today I went to the Jets 16th and final game of the season.  We came into the game 9-6 with an outside chance to make the playoffs.  the jets were playing miami, and first off we needed to win because we were behind both new england and miami in the division, and also the ravens for the wild card.  so if we won we needed either new england or the ravens to lose to make the playoffs.

three friends and i got to giants stadium around 1:45 for the 4:05 kickoff so we tailgated for a few hours.  while in the parking lot we listened to the pats game and were pretty disappointed to hear the pats win.  going into the game we knew the jets had to win and the ravens had to lose to make the playoffs.

we played an extremely sloppy first half and were very disappointed to see the ravens jump out to a huge early lead in their game against jacksonville.  when the score of that game was 27-7 in the 3rd quarter, even though the jets were only down 21-17 we knew it was over.  Not that we deserved to make the playoffs in the first place, only a real shit team can lose to oakland, the seahawks and the 49ers.  at one point we were 8-3 and finished up the season 1-4. 

jets fans are very angry.  angry at the world and also pretty self deprecating.  in the middle of the 3rd quarter after a few bad calls and a few horrendous plays on our part there was mixtures of angry grunts, rants and drunken slurs coming from the crowd.  brett favre was awarded player of the year for the jets and the guy behind me started screaming "FUCKING LEADS THE LEAGUE IN INTERCEPTIONS AND GETS PLAYER OF THE YEAR WHAT THE FUCK, THEY SHOULD GIVE HIM NOTHING MORE THAN A BAG OF DOGSHIT" 

fans were boo'ing everything.  they boo'ed the jets flight crew (cheerleaders).


although they arent exactly the prettiest cheerleaders in the league, why are they getting boo'ed lol.  whatever the actual cheerleaders dont have in attractiveness is made up by jenn sterger.  she's the girl who introduces the flight crew and in order to save the massive amounts of text in this post i will post enough good pictures of her.







 

my favorite picture....



for the more ambitious googlers among you....she posed in playboy..........ill leave the rest of the journey up to you


they boo'ed the tee kid.  THE POOR LITTLE 5 YEAR TEE KID.  i bet the kid went home and cried cause he got boo'ed by 25 thousand drunk assholes.  they even boo'ed the people particpating at the halftime field goal contest (well hell i boo'ed them they sucked)


favre threw some of the worst passes ive ever seen today.  he also had some flashes of old mixed in but for the most part did not look the same.  this combined with last night's ufc card is a sad thing that happens in sports.  our favorite athletes eventually get old, the tough sport wears on their body and they can no longer perform at the exciting levels we once remember.  as a baseball fan this has always been less of a problem because although the seasons are very wearing on a player's body because of the travelling and huge amount of games, the sport is not as physically demanding as something like football or mixed martial arts where 

in football, mma, boxing, hockey, etc, you just get beaten for years upon years.  so in baseball a decline happened at a much slower pace and legends usually crawl into the twilight of their careers and then usually retire before they become unwatchable.  but watching nogueira last night made me really sad because hes only 32 years old but hes taken so much abuse and has taken so many insane shots to the head and body that he has aged at a much faster pace.  a guy like fedor who has not taken that much punishment because he is simply at a much higher level than his opponents hopefully can continue fighting at that level for much longer.

ah well, at least the playoffs will be fun.  and so will one of my favorite days of the year!  BLACK MONDAY BABY.  for those of you that dont know, black monday refers to the day after the football regular season ends when around 20% of the nfl coaches get fired.  here are a few who are about to hit the chopping block:


jets coach eric mangini, was supposed to make it to the playoffs easily because of one of the easiest schedules ever, instead has a disappointing 9-7 season, and only 2 years after winning coach of the year.....will get the axe:



detroit lions coach, rod marinelli went 0-16 this year.  enough said



herm edwards, one of the best press conference coaches in history is probably done for life:



oh sorry wade phillips, cowboys didnt make the playoffs.  buh byeeeeeee





im sure there will be more.  espnews will be very fun to watch tomorrow.

so im massssssssssssssively tilted because i wrote up a really really long entry and it got erased.  oh well ill just rewrite it because im done with poker for the night.


UFC's biggest card of the year is this saturday.  here is the official site with a ton of good interviews, hype stuff on the major fights:   http://www.92.ufc.com/
It's really stacked and if you are at all interested in mixed martial arts it is a must watch.  then on the 31st is another great card in japan called k1 dynamite 2008.  most casual fans wont recognize a lot of the fighters on that card, but the UFC card is really really huge.

anyway, here are my breakdowns of the fights and what i think are good bets etc.


forrest vs rashad:
forrest is 5 inches taller, will come into the fight prob 15 pounds heavier, has better stamina and much longer reach.  rashad has better takedowns, is faster and has more power in his hands and feet.  but i think forrest wins a UD by just keeping rashad at bay with his massive reach advantage.

betting line:  forrest -130 is a really good bet.  i think he should win upwards of 60%



nogueira vs mir:
big nog has better boxing, muay thai, wrestling, judo, bjj, stamina, heart, chin and huggableness.  mir has no advantage in this fight and probably no chance to win.  nog by sub 2nd round.  if mir wins it should be considered one of the biggest upsets ever.

betting line:  nog is currently around -350, which is a good bet cause he should be -1000 with the odds mir has to win. 



wandy vs rampage:
the real main event of the card even though its not for a title.  winner will almost certainly get a title shot vs forrest/rashad winner.  wandy won the first 2 fights with brutal brutal knees.  however the 2nd fight was very very competitive and rampage was probably slightly ahead before wandy started raining punches/knees on him and throwing him out of the ring.  rampage has improved a lot since then and i think he should be considered the favorite.  however my manlove for wandy prevents me from picking rampage, so i say wandy by 2nd round tko.  but this is one of the best fights of the year and i highly recommend watching the card JUST for this fight.  here is a hype video that will help explain the background between these 2 fighters:

here is the link in case the video doesnt embed right:

  www.youtube.com/watch







betting line:  wandy is a slight favorite, is around -130, rampage is around-110.  id say dont bet it its hard to predict. 


cb dolloway vs mike massenzio:
massenzio has pretty good wrestling and subs from top position, but cb is a better wrestler so massenzio will probably be on his back during the fight.  cb by UD or TKO. 

betting line:  cb -150, i like it.



cheick kongo vs mustapha al-turk:
kongo is the favorite as his striking is light years ahead of al-turks, but al turks grappling is way better so if he gets it to the ground he prob subs kongo fairly fast.  i think the most likely outcome of this fight is kongo by tko.  however, if the betting looks right (+275 or better on al-turk) id probably take a chance on the upset.



on the undercard...

okami vs lister:
lister is a very very good submission grappler and is a former ADCC champion.  however, okami is bigger, stronger, has great gnp, great wrestling and very good sub defense as he lost in ADCC to demian maia by points.  i think okami wins UD or by TKO


other fights.....

hamill > reese.  reese is a smalller, worse wrestler with no power or subs.  terrible chance of winning.
hardonk > wessel.  dont know wessel and dont care, hardonk wins, really good striker
chonan vs blackburn....dont know, i like chonan but people seem to like blackburn so i wont go out on a limb here and say anything.
evenson vs barry....i honestly dont care lol


so thats my picks for this ufc.




Today BJJ was really good.  i really enjoy the tuesday and thursday afternoon classes when there are more blue/purple/brown belts and only a couple of us white belts and there are only like 10 people in the class.  On these days i usually train with Jimmy, a 40 year old cop from jersey city.  hes about my size, a little stronger and a little more experienced.  We did a lot of judo early on in the class and had a good takedown sparring session.  almost all of my takedowns were not judo throws or sweeps but single legs after jimmy messed up and left his leg out after a missed sweep attempt.  im sure my judo and sweeps will improve the more i do it.

after that we worked from the ground.  we started with a position where one person starts standing and the other starts on the ground with his left leg wrapped around standing up persons right leg, the grounded persons right leg is pushing back the standing persons left leg, and hes on his back.  there were a lot of moves to attempt to get to guard or sweep to top position and the standing persons goal is to pass to side control.  we worked a lot of stuff with the position then rolled a bit starting from there.  it was a good lesson and i didnt have much experience with this because most people dont try to pull guard and end up here.

after class ended i wanted to stay after and roll a bit but everyone about my level was rolling already, so one of the black belts who is the assistant instructor, jason tabor wanted to stay warm and rolled with me.  i wouldnt really call it rolling, more like how many times can i sub daut in 6 minutes.  jason is about 5'11 145 pounds, but obviously very very highly skilled.  he got 3rd in the world championships for his weight class when he was a brownt belt a few years ago and obv has only improved since.  im pretty sure he tapped me 15 times in 6 minutes.  there were a ton of different chokes, id say 3-4 gi chokes, a couple guillotines, an anaconda, some ezekials, an armbar, a triangle, a kimura and an omaplata.  all within a 6 minute span.  was really interesting to see what a really really high level person can do to someone who has a vague idea but is not close to his level.  its going to be a ton of fun when im at that level someday (well close to it, i doubt ill ever be quite as good as jason) and can mess around with my friends and do that to them.

after that i stayed and watched the blue belts, a purple belt, a brown belt and jason take turns rolling with each other.  was really interesting to see jason destroy the blue belts just as effortlessly as he did to me.  the purple and brown belt put up a bit of a better fighter and jason wasnt able to capitalize on their mistakes as much but obviously it was only a matter of time til he reached a dominant position.


Tomorrow is xmas eve and we are going to my mom's brothers house.  he has a pretty big family.  hes 13 years older than my mom so he has grandkids already.  he has 4 kids and each of those 4 kids has 2 or 3 kids.  there will also be some other cousins, uncles and people who joined the family through marriage there as well.  after that ill probably come back home around 9:00 pm and play a few hours tomorrow night to make christmas day get here faster.  i havent really bought too many xmas presents this year, only my parents and a few close friends.  for xmas/my moms birthday i got them a new fridge and im going to get the basement finished for them.  and if my dad wants ill get him a snowblower in case im not around to shovel the driveway.  really excited to see what i am getting.

thats it for today. 

So before i get to poker i have a slightly humorous but really kinda awful story that is certainly going to make me look like the biggest asshole of all time.

My dad's sister and her husband came to visit.  my dad is into his 60s, his sister is older than him cause she was the oldest of the 4 siblings, and her husband is about 15-20 years older than her, so hes in his early 90s, which seems weird cause hes my uncle through marriage, and thats older than most grandparents. 

we went to this restaurant Pierre's that is closing down within the next 2 weeks and it has really good food for a reasonable price for a buffet.  anyway it generally draws a much older crowd, most of the people there are into their 70s.  so when we get to the restaurant, we had to help uncle bernie out a bit cause it was pretty icy outside.  we got inside and found our table. 

i sit down and this couple is sitting across the aisle.  now its more packed that usual because its closing down soon, and the guy is coughing uncontrollably.  i mean for like 90 seconds straight the guy is coughing really loudly and violently.  i am sitting there thinking to myself "jesus christ what kind of retard would go out to eat when they are that sick.  stay home and take care of yourself, dont get the entire restaurant infected with whatever disease you have".  after a while he finally stops coughing and i hear "SORRY HONEY" in a really loud and distinct voice.  i look up and its a mentally challenged couple having lunch.  i immediately felt like the biggest dick ever for what i was thinking, but its still kinda lol.


so ive been doing really well playing 2/4 and today there were 6 or 7 really really good 5/10 full ring games going.  it took every bit of my might to not sit.  i decided its better to be disciplined and follow through with making 30-50k at 2/4 before i go back because if i lost 4 buyins in 1000 hands and it took 10 hours to get it back id be pretty meh.

anyway here are my stats pver the last 7 days:



for new years im heading to san diego with clint (beatiful man), josh (reddog), nick (ahh snap), steve (xtcbx), brandon schaefer, jesse chinni (thedegeneral), some of their girlfriends and some of clints friends.  we are probably going to nobu for dinner then either a club or lounge on new years eve, then taking a carnaval cruise that departs from san diego and goes to mexico.  We stop in cabo san lucas, another port, and spend a few days out at sea.  Theres a pretty long list of stuff to do once we get off the boat but im sure ill end up winging it.  should be a lot of fun. 

after the cruise i am not sure whether ill attend PCA or not.  i think we get back into san diego on january 5th and pca starts on the 5th, so im not sure id be able to play.  maybe ill go down and play a side event/hang out, im not really sure yet. 

i dont really have any plans for next year yet.  id like to do a good amount of travelling, play maybe 2 or 3 tourney series where i play a lot of live and dont play much the rest of the year and hopefully play a lot online.  as for goals, id like to learn a new language (either cement the spanish i took in high school and become proficient at it, or learn a lot of italian), get my blue belt in jiu jitsu, make a lot of money and visit at least 1 new continent i havent yet, whether it be africa, australia, south america or asia.  id also like to buy some real estate as i dont have a house yet.  im thinking about getting a place in vegas and maybe a place with ahhh snap in texas or somewhere warm in the midwest.  we'll see.

So I decided to grind out 30k profit before jumping back into the 5/10 full ring games on ftp.  this is probably excessively nitty but ive been making exactly $385 an hour including rakeback in the 2/4 games over the past 68k hands/117 hours so i dont feel any pressure to play much higher.  i know that im not improving my game as fast as i could be if i were playing against better opponents all the time but its hard to move away from somewhere i do so well and will never have a 10k downswing.

anyway i started monday and after 5 days im a little over 1/4 the way there.  here are the stats after 5 days:


And here are my stats over the last 68k hands at 2/4, since i got back from hawaii at end of september:


Overall im doing really well, playing for the most part very well, with some minor mistakes in there that im slowly fixing.  3/6 full ring doesnt run very often so once in a while ill mix in 1 table of it with 2/4 but for the most part ive just been playing all 2/4 cause i dont even bother looking at the 3/6 games.  With rakeback included ive had an 11k run at 2/4 in 5 days when i'm not running that much above expectation.  things like this really make it hard for me to move up to higher stakes cause theres just so much money to be made lower but after a certain point i really should start to try and improve as much as i can so i can play higher before games get even harder.  But for now when i dont have a ton online i think it would be way more prudent to just grind out another 300 hours at 2/4 which should yield me around 100k profit and shouldnt take more than 2-3 months, and play the better weekly tourneys on the side and hopefully hit something nice.


This week I decided to finally invest in 30 inch monitors.  I used 24 inch ones forever but there is overlap when i play 12 tables since I use a HUD and the stats run together too much if i make the tables smaller.  Now i can have 12 tables across 2 monitors with 0 overlap at all and the stats fit perfectly on each table.  I can also put 9 tables on each monitor and the stats are a little jumbled but still useable, roughly the same as they were with 4 tables on a 24" monitor, so if i want i can play 18 tables without any overlap semi comfortably.  I do this once in a while when i get into a nice groove with pandora playing.  Anyway, these monitors are all the more incentive to keep grinding a lot of tables at lower stakes.  Heres my setup, i should have gotten in closer to give you a better view of the megan fox picture but whatever just wanted to showoff the monitors and the 9 tables without overlap.




BJJ this week was pretty good.  I went on monday and thursday and went to the gym on wednesday.  Thursday was a particularly good class because i got to train with a blue belt for the 90 minute class, then stayed after and rolled a few rounds with a more advanced white belt vinny.  I feel like i learned a lot this week about some positions i was having trouble with like defending some guard passes, passing to mount/side control from half guard, and some new judo takedowns.  unfortunately i wont be able to go this weekend because some family is coming in tomorrow, and i generally stay the night in hoboken on saturday and dont get back til around 4-5 on sunday, but im looking forward to the monday class and hopefully getting my 2nd stripe pretty soon.


In other news, it snowed a lot today.  It started around 11 am and lasted til probably 7 pm.  I didnt wake up til 130 and by then the gym was already closed early so i couldnt get a workout in.  I pretty much played all day and lounged around doing nothing and decided to get my workout in by shoveling the 3 inches of snow and ice on the driveway at around 9 pm.  My mom was at a friends for most of the day and drove back kinda late, so when she came up the driveway she really compacted a lot of the snow which made it harder to shovel.  After about half an hour i got half the top area done, which is all i really needed to do so we can get the cars out easily. 

right as i started making my way towards the bottom (which is the hardest part because the snow plows come by and it really pushes the snow up against the entrance to the driveway so its like 3 times higher and really iced over by that point), a guy with a snowplow on his truck drives up and asks if i want the driveway plowed.  i decided to turn him down cause shoveling snow is a pretty good workout and it felt good to finally get outside today.  45 minutes of hacking away at the bottom of the driveway made me wish i had said different.  but i pressed on and got most of the driveway shoveled in about 90 minutes.  i still have to shovel the walkway up to the frontdoor and maybe have another half hour of shoveling to do on the driveway but for the most part im done. 

im pretty happy i decided to do it all myself and not pay someone to plow it.  its pretty easy to justify paying $50 to get the driveway plowed in 5 minutes and use the 90 minutes id spend shoveling snow playing poker to make even more money but the exercise is important and i dont want to just avoid doing things that take some time by using the "well i make X amount more playing poker so im just going to pay someone else to do this".  This could very well lead down a road where i just literally void myself of all responsibilty and become a worthless bum in constant couch mode, paying people to do everything for me.  I get a lot of joy by mixing up my routine and doing some things that are a little mundane sometimes cause theres nothing worse than falling into the rut of a monotonous daily schedule that never changes. 

ill take some pictures tomorrow of the snow and what my street looks like when its light out.

Has been kind of disappointing.  I have been doing really well at 2/4 and 3/6, and pretty awful at 5/10 +.



Kind of hilarious, but some breakdowns:
in 52k hands at 2/4, im up 62 buyins, which is about 6ptbb
in 20k hands of 3/6, im up 29 buyins, which is about 7ptbb
in 19k hands of 5/10, im down 5 buyins, and down another 1.5 buyins at 10/20.

so the result is im not up all that much but my ptbb is really good.  oh well.  i had a pretty frustrating day at 5/10 the other day where i didnt play my best and lost some fairly ridiculous all ins.  i stacked off semi light in a few spots, way too light a few times, and just got coolered/ran bad a bunch.  Here's the best one for fun:


Full Tilt Poker Game #9465472077: Table Petya (deep) - $5/$10 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:59:56 ET - 2008/12/12
Seat 1: br4keaga4n ($1,232)
Seat 2: Ryan Daut ($1,898)
Seat 3: IH8SHORTSTAKS ($2,487)
Seat 4: QuintBogey ($2,127)
Seat 5: kAAto KKatelyn ($2,917)
Seat 6: Storstekarn ($1,531.75)
Seat 7: novel20 ($2,409)
Seat 8: mektin ($1,000)
Seat 9: Rask88 ($1,388)
QuintBogey posts the small blind of $5
kAAto KKatelyn posts the big blind of $10
The button is in seat #3

Holecards
Dealt to Ryan Daut
Storstekarn folds
novel20 folds
mektin folds
Rask88 folds
br4keaga4n has 15 seconds left to act
br4keaga4n raises to $35
Ryan Daut raises to $120
IH8SHORTSTAKS folds
QuintBogey folds
kAAto KKatelyn folds
br4keaga4n has 15 seconds left to act
br4keaga4n calls $85

Flop  (Pot : $255.00)

   
br4keaga4n has 15 seconds left to act
br4keaga4n checks
Ryan Daut has 15 seconds left to act
Ryan Daut bets $180
br4keaga4n calls $180

Turn (Pot : $615.00)

   
br4keaga4n has 15 seconds left to act
br4keaga4n checks
Ryan Daut has 15 seconds left to act
Ryan Daut bets $520
br4keaga4n raises to $932, and is all in
Ryan Daut calls $412
br4keaga4n shows
Ryan Daut shows

River (Pot : $2,479.00)

   
br4keaga4n shows a flush, Queen high
Ryan Daut shows Queen Nine high
br4keaga4n wins the pot ($2,476) with a flush, Queen high
Ryan Daut adds $334

Summary
Total pot $2,479 | Rake $3
Board:
Seat 1: br4keaga4n showed and won ($2,476) with a flush, Queen high
Seat 2: Ryan Daut showed and lost with Queen Nine high
Seat 3: IH8SHORTSTAKS (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: QuintBogey (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 5: kAAto KKatelyn (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 6: Storstekarn didn't bet (folded)
Seat 7: novel20 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 8: mektin didn't bet (folded)
Seat 9: Rask88 didn't bet (folded)


the games at 5/10 arent quite as good but still beatable.  i just hate losing like 15k hands worth of profit with a standard downswing whenever i move back up.  i cashed about 100k offline since september so i dont have a lot online and would prefer having more before i settle into the 5/10 games more.  so im going to grind out 30k more profit at 2/4 and 3/6 before moving back into the 5/10 games.  when the rakeback gets included with that ill probably have another 45k or so online by then and ill feel good with 90-100 buyins.


staking has been going really well this year.  we've had some really good wins, here are the highlights:

-martine cashed for 835k after chop when he won ept london in september
-ajkhoosier chopped wcoop main event for 750k ish
-martine cashed for 650k in monte carlo back in march
-blair won wsop event for 510k in june
-bushman won 5k prelim at bellagio back in april for roughly 350k
-mattg won 5k prelim at 5 diamond a few days ago for about 310k after chop
-roothlus cashed for 260k finishing 5th in festa al lago wpt event, and finishing top 50 in the main event for 140k
-bodogari my hero forever cashed for 190k in a borgata deepstack event in may
-sumeet batera chopped an atlantic city tourney with sheets for over 200k
-blake mr trampoline cahail, the only man who has ever RNC'ed me cashed for 180k in the wynn classic in march
-jimmy crushing 5k bellagio prelims gobboboy fricke got 3rd in a bellagio event last week for 80k
-and randal "who needs to be 21 to have multiple sick scores live" flowers had a few nice live scores in ept events, 75k in san remo and another 40k in barcelona.  also the only man besides blake cahail who grinds off his online makeup live


our staking group still hasnt seen a 1 million score but thats ok, we had a good year, and the 15k in vegas is still going on so maybe one of our guys will do well out there.  there were obviously a lot of other tourney entries/buyins and guys still in makeup and stuff, but there were some other pieces of players i took, and lots of other nice 50k+ scores online and live that balanced out the tourney buyins. 

live poker was a disappointment for me playing as i only had 2 small cashes in a little over 100k in buyins.  thats ok, i plan on playing in a bunch of series next year but taking most of the year off from live poker with the exceptions of a few epts, maybe LAPC events+cash games, wsop and maybe one or two of the bellagio series.

so between backing, my live tourneys and my online play, overall it was a pretty good year.  i didnt make the 1 million i was hoping to this year, but i still did very well overall and have nothing to be disappointed about. 

i guess thats it for now, ill post in a week or two with how the 30k townsendlike quest at 2/4 and 3/6 is going.  id like to finish up those hands before the year is over so i can move back into 5/10 games going into 2009.

I havent played poker in a few weeks but i've been going to bjj 3-4 times a week and staying up to 4 hours while im there so ill just blog about that.

Things are going pretty well.  I had been going once or twice a week and just going to the beginners class but i've turned it up a lot recently.  I went to a tournament a week ago, and i went in knowing i would be way less experienced than most of the people there.  I was really surprised at the level of the white belts being as high as it was.  I fought in the 160-169.5 pound division and there were 6 guys in the group.  2 others were from my school, and 3 from other schools.  One was a russian kid named nick who had been doing BJJ around 10 months and really really should have been a blue belt, another was a kid named dave who had been doing it for 12-18 months but wasnt all that active with it, only went once or twice a week, so although he had more experience and had been doing it longer than most white belts he wasnt the toughest and the third was a black kid named denard who you could tell was a good athlete, but hadnt been taking BJJ all that long, maybe 3-4 months.

The first match was my friend mickey vs nick the russian kid.  Mickey is 16, he weighs 185 (no idea why they put him in our division) and hes a good athlete, plays football and used to box in silvergloves before he started BJJ.  He has only been doing it a few months but put up a decent fight vs the russian kid.  But nick was just too much, he was really an animal and i guess since it was the major RGDA invitational (royler gracie and david adivs school) his coaches wanted to keep him a white belt until after the tourney.  Mickey managed to get side control for a few seconds, got the points, then got swept into nick having side control.  nick eventually mounted and armbarred mickey.

second fight was me vs denard.  started out with us clinching a bit, i tried to get underhooks but he switched his outside arm back inside.  as he put his arm under mine he left his front leg out a bit and i went for a single leg takedown but he pulled his leg back quick and took me down and ended up in my half guard.  he was a little off balance at first so i tried to sit up and take his back but he spread his arms out and pushed me back down.  i tried to "oopah" him off so i could create a little room to get back to guard but he kept me in half guard.  I kept trying to sweep or regain guard but he did a good job of keeping me there.  After a few minutes of this stagnant fight he passed my knee and got to mount, and it wasnt long before i got armbarred.  I was pretty disappointed at first cause my takedown attempt was garbage, which led to him getting me in half guard, and i couldnt regain my full guard or sweep him.  But as the competition went on i felt a little better about what happened.

As it played out, denard ended up going 3-0, winning all 3 matches by armbar and winning our division.  i was really surprised to see him beat the russian kid, especially by submission, but i think nick was a bit gassed from the first fight.  I didnt feel so bad after that but I felt like i had a lot to work on back at the gym.  Up until a few weeks ago i still felt kinda clueless in a lot of areas but everything is sort of coming together. 

I've trained about 5 nights since the competition and im improving really fast.