CARDRUNNERS

What's Your Edge

David Benefield : Poker Blog

November 18, 2008

Oh man, what a week. I am finally fully recovered from the frivolities that ensued this past weekend. We got tickets to the UFC fight Couture vs Lesnar, and it was a blast. I had never been to a live fight before, and the atmosphere was really incredible. The prelim fights were great, everyone really fought well, and there weren’t any boring moments. Unfortunately Couture lost halfway through the second round to the ogre, dampening the evening a bit, but that’s ok. Brock really is enormous, and it is super tough to fight someone that weighs like 60 pounds more than you.

After the fight we went for a few drinks at one of the bars in MGM, and then ended up at Tao. It was a pretty long night, and I got pretty drunk, which I do maybe twice a year. Everyone had a good time though, and I don’t think we got in TOO much trouble.

That same day but earlier, I played in a pretty sweet 100-200/400 button ante game at Bellagio. It was a bunch of NY guys that were in town for whatever reason, and a few of the vegas live pros. I managed to run pretty hot and won about 82k in about an hour and a half before having to give up my seat. I was playing over Rick Soloman, and wasn’t super happy to get up, but I agreed that when he showed up I would give up my seat before I sat. I was happy I booked a good win, but it was a pretty great game so it kinda sucked to have to quit it. Anyways, I hung out at Bellagio for an hour or 2 over in the limit area with my old roommate and then went to the fight.

Yesterday I played like 3500 hands of 10-20 NL trying to be extra spewy. I managed to be able to 12 table for like 3-4 hours and got in some pretty goofy hands, but nothing too super exciting. I ran a bit below equity, and got in KK vs AA for 8k, as well as AA vs 66 in rr pot 962 rainbow flop, so that didn’t help losing 16k pots worth of that. I got stuck like.. 12k I think overall, and then there was a good 200-400 nl game so I 1 tabled for 5 minutes with a short stack, ran hot, made 22k and that’s all she wrote.

It actually sort of annoyed me that I spent 4 hours grinding it out playing really well I thought, got stuck 6 buyins, then randomly played 20 times higher for 5 minutes with a short stack, played just as good but ran hot, and made almost twice what I lost. Obviously I am not ‘annoyed’ annoyed, I am super happy that I did a run hot to fix my day, but I am just sort of annoyed at the poker world in general for allowing that to happen. Obviously I cant do anything about it and it is super great that so much money can be made in such a short period of time, it just isn’t real.

I mentioned this in a video I just made with the other CR guys. We really do all live in a fantasy world. This isn’t real life. Nothing any of us will ever do will make us as much money as we are making/have made now. (OK maybe some of us that become successful at biz or RE or whatever). But for the most part, this is it. I wonder what the long term impact of that is? All of us have been EXTREMELY fortunate to be in the situations we are in right now, and to have made so much money at such a young age. I wonder though how it will affect us later in life. Will we ever look at money the same? Will we be able to be frugal, and save money/put it away for retirement or when we really need it? I think I am doing a pretty good job investing my money and not going nuts spending it, but I worry about some people.

I don’t really know what to say about it really, and all the thoughts are sort of jumbled up in my head, but I honestly don’t think it’s all that great from a long term happiness perspective for a lot of people. I mean really.. we didn’t work hard for this. We spent a lot of time studying the game, playing hands, whatever, but it’s just that.. PLAYING. It wasn’t really work when we were coming up. All of us enjoyed doing it, and were playing as much for the fun and competitive aspect as much as for the money. The money was a nice bonus. We would have spent just as much time mastering warcraft or whatever stupid game we could be playing other than poker.

Look at trust fund kids. I don’t really know any, but I feel like a lot of them get caught up in drugs, end up sucking at life, and just sort of stumbling around without any drive to succeed at anything. I worry about some poker players that have had success so early with such little work might turn out like this. Most of my good friends are very solid and stable as far as this aspect, but even some of them are a little bit jaded. To say that I am not jaded would be retarded as well, because obviously money has lost quite a lot of its meaning. I mean, making 100k in an hour doing little else other than clicking buttons is just ridiculous. I don’t really know how to say it any other way. That can NOT have a positive impact on how any of us view money in the long or even short term future. It is too easy to justify stuff like oh who cares I lost a 200k pot yesterday I can spend x amount on this whatever. Getting into those habits early in life can be extremely destructive.

Anyways, on a more fun note, I have been doing jiu jitsu almost every day I have been out here. I think I am actually getting decentish. I bought some grappling mats for both my tx and vegas places, and will hopefully find some people I can roll with randomly. I really like the competitiveness of it, and you cant really blame luck or someone else when you get tapped out. It is completely your fault, and you are the only thing that can hold yourself back from improving. I really like that in that I can’t be like oh I ran bad or oh this guy on my team sucks. It is entirely up to me how good I can get, which is cool.

Over new years I am going on a cruise. I have never been on a cruise before, but everyone seems to love them. Frankly, I get a little seasick when I am on smaller boats, and am not the biggest fan of being at ‘sea’. I like the water, I love swimming, I love laying on the beach, but ‘boating’ isn’t one of my hobbies to be sure. It is a nicer one I think, and I have to get a tuxedo for the New Years Eve party, which is sort of cool and sort of rigged, depending on how you look at it. I enjoy getting dressed up on occasion, but a tux seems like overkill. Everyone will look super sharp though, and I’m sure all the ladies will look gorgeous in formal gowns, so that’s pretty sweet. Haley seemed super excited about it, and we are going with a couple other friends, so I think it will be a fantastic time.

I am up in the air about PCA at the moment. I have gone the last 3 years in a row, and have always had a pretty good time. This year they are having a 25k event as well, which is pretty tempting. I also need to do quite a bit of college visiting, though it looks like I am probably only applying to Reed and St. John’s. Honestly, the only place I really want to go to is St. John’s. The program just seems super interesting to me and I think it is exactly what I am looking for. That’s all I got for today, ttyl.

-David

Entry Tags:

Nov 18, 08 16:37:30

this is gonna sound quite gay but i think i has a mancrush on raptor

edruseli

Nov 18, 08 17:09:42

hes a good kid but we need another word to replace super. hmmm lets think!

rookie

Nov 18, 08 18:40:53

i think about this respect for money issue a lot, and i'm really glad to hear you talk about it.

i've made over 60k playing poker this year, and yeah that might not seem like much compared to the #s you're posting but before that i was making probably 20k/yr as a starving artist/musician/waiter. It's completely changed my life and my relationship with money.

before i definitely wasn't elated about my life, but i liked it well enough and at least i knew i had perspective on things.

now i just sort of get free money for playing this game and i feel like i live in a play land where hundred dollar bills grow on trees.

it does feel a bit diseased and wrong. but one needs money, so it's kind of easy to justify.

but i know what you're getting at, and it's nice to hear someone addressing it.

great blog.

killerbee112

Nov 18, 08 18:55:48

seriously just quite gay?

TCA

Nov 18, 08 21:06:22

Great Blog!
What are you going to study? And why do you go to college when u have so much money?
=)

sunsii

Nov 18, 08 22:20:05

Reed FTW

I don't know St. Johns, but Reed is in my neck of the woods in Portland. Its an intellectual's school and not stereotypical like most colleges. If you come up for a visit, let me know.

-Zimba

Zimba

Nov 19, 08 00:31:36

hey david im not much of a comment guy but just wanted to say i enjoy reading your blog.always cool to hear your perspective about having enough money to never have to work or earn again if u dont want to.being able to do the things in life that u are interested in even if once u start down that road it loses its lustre is awesome.just to satisfy ur curiosity.im very passionate about poker but run my own business so the time i put in is very limited.it amazes me that guys your age,through passion and hard work can become so successful ,so early . ive worked full time since i was 15 am now 32 so to see people so successful so early doing something they love is awesome.i feel like some of the guys think they need to be successful business owners to be fulfilled but FUCK THAT enjoy yourself and only go to school if its bcuz your interested in the courses your taking.WORKING CONVENTIALLY SUCKS BALLS so dont ever feel ur missing out ur just ahead of the game.blah ,blah, ramble( take a shot )ramble ,

deushbagalow

Nov 19, 08 01:18:04

i think you sort of glossed over the most important part of the blog, rick soloman is playing 200/400?

Balbomb

Nov 19, 08 02:51:47

those 12 tables...were they 6 or full ring?

thank you

streetfamep

Nov 19, 08 04:26:06

in regard to your thoughts on the effect of poker:

dont think meat just throw the ball

d2themfi

Nov 19, 08 05:35:46

St. Johns

Hello David,

I had written you previously with a few book recommendations. In light or your interest in St. Johns, I would like to recommend a few more.

I'm sure you are aware that St. Johns is a coeducations college; there are no separate disciplines or departments, only electives. The program is known for is "Great Books Program".

For this reason, I would strongly recommend you pick up 2 books which are extremely popular on campus. They include:

- How to Read a Book by Mortimer J. Adler
- How to Think About the Great Ideas: From the Great Books of Western Civilization by Mortimer J. Adler

From what I have heard, the most valuable part of the college is its ability to produce better thinkers. Being a better thinker will invariably improve your ability in whatever field you should chose to pursue, including poker. These books will help you get the most out of your reading, and if you should attend, there will be plenty.

Please feel free to ask any questions (emboroian@gmail.com)

I wish you the best of luck sir,

Eric

eboro

Nov 19, 08 09:23:21

Do I get anything for picking the school you want to go to?

Seriously, my brother graduated from St. Johns Annapolis campus. It's a great school for a "searcher". Best of luck!

jtphila

P.S. Try to restrain yourself from using the word yummy in any research papers, particularly in anything related to Kant's Critique of Pure Reason

jtphila

Nov 20, 08 17:37:18

Hmm. I think St. John's and Reed are two very different schools. My son looked at both, and I actually visited the Reed campus with him.

My sense of it is a lot of really - REALLY - bright kids who didn't fit in in high school, partially because they were crazy smart, and probably partially because they didn't go in for a lot of the social bullshit that defines the high school experience.

But you would be surrounded by insanely smart people and that's never a bad thing.

They also have the only female certified atomic reactor technicians in the U.S., due to their (I'm not making this up) working atomic reactor on campus.

I also hear very good things about the St. John's program - it will be a totally different crowd of students, and you certainly want to spend a day or two on each campus before deciding.

As regards the issue of losing touch with the value of money, it's definitely a concern for the young online poker ballers. But that you recognize the concern is 80% of the battle, and then it's just a question of maintaining focus on real monetary value as you grow older.

Regards, Lee

Lee Jones

Nov 24, 08 04:06:08

Can we be manfriends and adpot a baby tohether?

Ole P