CARDRUNNERS

What's Your Edge

 
David Benefield : Poker Blog
May 04, 2008

Yesterday I played 5,062 hands. This is a lot for me. I wanted to 12-16 table for a few hours and see if I could stand it still, plus there were a lot of the new 5-10 deep games running, as well as some rando fish guy playing the 4-8 deep table that is still leftover. I managed to win 4592 on the single 4-8 table while losing 9150 on the 5-10 games. I got absolutely slaughtered every time I tried to do anything, I felt absolutely silly.
 
I definitely need to make some adjustments for 5-10, the main one being 4 bet bluffing less. I had people snap shoving ATo over my 4 bets, and so I think I did the bleed a bit in my 4 bet bluffing. At 25-50 and stuff I can 4 bet bluff a lot more because people aren’t actually shoving ATo on me, so it actually gets some folds! Crazy idea I know. Also, when I 3 bet the button every single hand, it is hard to get respect on 4 bet bluffs, I need to recognize that slightly better and adjust accordingly.
 
It seems as though people wont recognize the fact that I am 4 betting with only the nuts, they will just zero in on the fact that I am 3 betting an epic amount, and will label me as monkey aggressive, and as such never fold to my 4 bets if they have any sort of hand at all. I do think I ran a little bit bad, but I also don’t think I played that great, and I usually can’t say that. I guess I just wasn’t feeling it or something, but I was calling too many reraises, making too many plays, etc, when what I need to do while 12 tabling is just play abc poker and stomp everyone, nothing fancy, just solid. Generally that’s what I am best at, but yesterday I dno, hopefully I never do that again.
 
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2559480 – I had a lot of hands like this that just didn’t go my way, so that certainly didn’t help.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2559726 – I did a major gay bet on flop and paid for my mistake.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2559429 – this hand is pure entertainment value, and actually made me happier.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2559152 – this guy did the post and limp reraise, which I think is pretty awful, but what can ya do.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2558891 – now.. I suppose I could check fold the flop, but that isn’t any fun. My plan was to fire again on any river, but I binked off my flush, then he shoved, and I dno I probably coulda found a fold vs an unknown as not too many will bluff there, but when I am losing I don’t like to fold, so meh.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2558879 – I mean, I do my flop gay bet with everything, and I feel like they must get fed up and shove with 55 here a lot, and so I snapped his shove, just unfortunate he had a ten. I mean, I guess I didn’t really play that bad today, just had a lot of unfortunate hands.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2558722 – here was a fun one vs 6speed who likes to do monkey things vs me. Like I said I ran mega well on the 4-8 table, and I just felt like here he had nothing enough where I could shove and win, though still had a few outs if not. But yea like I said I WAS doing some spewy stuff like this yesterday, but I figure its good to experiment a bit on occasion, so whatever.
 
That about wraps up yesterday, after my sesh Haley came over and we watched a couple movies and hung out. I really wasn’t feeling all that great, I wasn’t SUPER in the mood to play yesterday, but felt it was good to put in some hands, and whenever I do that then lose I feel like a huge waste of life. I guess I feel like that any time I play poker and lose because I think about all of the things I COULD have done if I wasn’t locked to my computer screen (though chances are I wouldn’t have done any of those things anyways, so its just a pretty silly way to think to begin with).
 
Today I wasn’t sure what my plan was, I definitely wanted to wake up and get in a good workout, then possibly go hit some golf balls with my buddy seth, who has been grinding the shit out of .5-1 and been crushing. Hopefully I can work with him a bit and get him to move up, and possibly stick him in a couple of smaller wsop events and hope for the run good.
 
I got in a good workout, then sat down and found a few good 25-50 tables. I haven’t played 25-50 in a while because games haven’t really been that great, and I just haven’t been feeling the need for a lot of variance. I wanted to lock in some wins and just sort of coast a bit before my big move. Anyways, couple hands..
 
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2562339 – I mean, I really have no idea what straate is doing. I have always thought that he was a pretty smart player, and always seemed to do/play pretty well, but I think this is just truly atrocious. There is no way im folding ANYTHING for 750 more when I have button and stacks are 142x deep. I got a great flop and did the standard raptor gay bet, and got him to stick his stack in. I guess its pretty unfortunate that first big pot I play when I move back to higher stakes worked out like this, but whatever, that’s what makes poker fun!! L
 
There were a few full ring tables playing HU and 3 handed with people including Sauce123, who was the big star in my last couple 5-10 videos, so I felt like sitting down to get some vengeance. He started off by doing what he does best, 3 betting me every time I open and just being super agro. After reraising 6 or so of my last 9 button opens, I decided to take a flop with QJs, which normally I’m not a huge fan of and it seems to always get me in trouble, but I was annoyed at his frequency so I called.
 
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2564091 – I mean, im not sure how I feel about my turn raise, obviously im never folding and if I call im calling any river but an A/K, but he sometimes will have hearts or something on the turn here, and I felt like if I do a gay raise he sometimes shoves AJ etc etc, though if I call he will check fold river, or fold if I shove turn, etc. I don’t mind it I guess, but I think overall a call is slightly better. Also unfortunate he had the KK.
 
We played HU for a little while longer and I managed to get the best of him and he quit pretty shortly thereafter. I felt like I played great just didn’t run awesome. After playing Seth came over and we went to the range to hit some balls. He is a great golfer and has been helping me out a lot, and believe it or not im actually making some progress. I am definitely taking the sticks to vegas, and will be hitting the range at least 3x a week, and hopefully playing a few rounds at the amazing courses out there.
 
When I got back I fired up another 25-50 sesh as there were some decent tables, and managed to get myself unstuck and quit up 5kish on day. I didn’t really play a whole heck of a lot of hands, but played well and eventually got my money in on some good spots and held up.
 
For the last couple hours I have been sitting around managing my simdynasty baseball team, which is coming together quite nicely. This isn’t fantasy baseball, but its simulated with all fake made up randomly generated players, and we have a league with 16 people playing like 9 seasons. Every game over .500 you win 5 dollars, every game under you lose 10, and the extra money goes to 1st and 2nd place each season. It is quite a lot of fun, and 5 seasons in I am finally starting to get the hang of it. I suppose it could get expensive if you really don’t put any effort into it, but the money is there more to keep things interesting and keep people from making ridiculous trades.
 
I also spent a little while reading a new ebook on cutting. I have been lurking the forums over at www.bodybuilding.com and heard this ebook was pretty solid, so am reading through it now. If I deem it worthy, I’ll put a link up so you guys can check it out too. So far there isn’t anything I didn’t know, but I am still only about ¼ of the way through so hopefully it will pick up. It is probably great anyways for people that are interested a bit in nutrition and the right way to burn fat/build muscle etc, instead of all these fancy fad diets flying around.
 
It is still relatively early, not sure what I will do tonight, possibly play some GTA4, maybe catch up on lost, or hell I might even sweat the end of the Sunday tournaments if anybody I know went deep. I sort of miss being a tourney donk and the thrill of the final table, but that happens so infrequently that it really isn’t worth it to me. I still haven’t been burned out of live tourneys, and am pretty pumped up about the series this summer. Hopefully I’ll do the run super hot and win like 5 events, but even if I don’t, this summer will be great. Pretty much all of my friends are now 21 and can go play events and go out and stuff, so should be an awesome summer. That’s all I got.
 
-David Benefield

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May 4, 08 22:43:41

go with GTA4, then blog about it

ezduzit23




May 4, 08 22:53:18

what is it that you want to do exactly? build muscle and be ripped or just build some muscle and be strong and in better shape. you cant have both you know, but the experts will never tell you so.

body building.com gave me the foundation of knowledge to get ripped. there was a segment called "how to stay ripped all year long" or something like that.

p.m. me if you want to save yourself a ton of trouble and wasted time.




May 4, 08 22:53:30

I recommend reading the work of John Berardi and Chris Sugart about proper nutrition.

TheConArtist




May 4, 08 22:54:02

lol shnurrrrrrrrrpp you are so completely clueless.

TheConArtist




May 4, 08 23:13:25

oh? if you know so much about my expertise in these particular subjects, then why do you recomend other peoples books? you must be an expert yourself.

please tell me how one can be in better physical condition as far as strength and stamina when you lean down to less than 4-5% bodyfat?

one might look better when they are ripped but it doesnt mean one is in better physical condition.




May 4, 08 23:47:53

i have been watching a lot of ufc fights, and theres a lot of guys that are fighting at 15% bf and higher. obviously these guys are in sick cardio shape, it just seems pretty odd to me. as far as MY goals, i dont want to get huge, i am comfortable with my size, i jsut want to maintain that and burn off excess fat. i have no desire to be 4% bf, but 9ish would be ideal for me. im hovering around 12 right now.

David B




May 5, 08 01:06:30

natural bodyfat percentages are genetic and differ from person to person.

some people are naturally ripped. they can train and eat burger king and look like a million bucks. the so called dupe experts like jenny craig and other money making diet programs will tell you these naturally lean folks have fast metabolisms. it couldnt be farther from the truth.

just like the other people who say they have tried the diet programs and they dont work. they dont work because they are not following the program. its simple, if you consume less calories than your body needs per day, you will lose weight. if there is someone who's body defies this natural law, then every military organization and government on the planet would beat a path to your door to see why your body is basically creating a scientific miracle.

but anyway, ufc fighting would fall under what i call "strength stamina". that 15% bodyfat zone is perfect to have good over all strenght yet still have good endurance. now of course there will be fighters who are less than 5% bf and fighters who are way more than 15% bf but that goes back to the natural genetic disposition of given individuals.

if one is naturally at 16% bodyfat even when training hard and on a good sensible diet program, you WILL get weaker from a strength perspective as you lean down......unless you build more muscle but that is not easy to do. building actual muscle is a very slow process, but i digress.

there is also a gentic characteristic called "bodyfat" displacement. like myself for instance, i can be at 8% bodyfat but not show a good six pack because my fat tends to store on my belly. there are others who can show a six pack at 10% bodyfat because the fat is evenly distributed through out their whole body. its a question of genetics.

another myth is this thing called "cardio" when it comes to getting ripped. cardio is probably the best exercise from a health stand point but its not necessary to get ripped. a good weight training program with correct dieting for getting lean is all one really needs. i have personally experimented with many body building techniques that i read from bodybuilding.com. one technique is doing cardio first thing in the morning on an empty stomach to help get you ripped. the reason for this is because your body is forced to use fat for energy because your blood sugar levels are low upon waking up in the morning. but, i tell you what, go run 1 mile under these conditions. you will feel like warmed over death by the time you get back.

so anyway, i mentioned some of these things because no matter what book you read, you will always have questions that the book wont answer. for you to go from 12% to 9ish is an easy endeavor. you want to go there with the least amount of torture or wasted time.

i would say knock off any kind of sugar possible and any type of food that contains flour......espeacially enriched flour.

if you cant knock off the bread products, then at least knock off sugars. yes, that means most fruits and dairy products too.......and yes, no alcohol. these are all things that contain sugar. there are fruits that are low on sugar like apples and strawberries and you can have stuff like that once a day, but it doesnt mean you can gorge on it either. also, there is one time that your body can handle something high in sugar and thats imediately after a workout. but it doesnt mean you should drink a soda either. a protein drink with a bannana after a hard workout is good but try to avoid bannanas, watermelon, oranges etc. etc. at any other time. do your research on sugar content of fruits to find out wich ones are low in sugar.

eliminating sugars is one of the techniques i recomend only because its beneficial from a health stand point and allows you to lean down without physically torturing yourself with grueling workouts. it is one technique but there are so many others too. it will be a personal journey for you to see what works best for you as far as what you are comfortable with. but one thing for sure, you are going to have a hard time leaning down if you consume sugars. that is for sure.

i can go on and on with this stuff and i'm probably telling you stuff you already know from your readings. if you have any questions that the books dont seem to give, let me know. i was my own walking laboratory for years. bodybuilding.com is an excellent source of information and personally, everything you need to know is on that site.

but if my expertise is ever in question from you, then go to fitness enterprise online and contact emeric and ask him if "paul" knows what he's talking about when it comes to bodybuilding and sports nutrition and training. i dont want anything in return or trade, i am just a guy who is just as passionate about health as i am about poker. i have helped a ton of people in the past and never profited one dime or took anything in trade.

let me end this lengthy spew with one other very important piece of information. stay away from most whey protein supplements. its total over priced crap.

good luck




May 5, 08 15:25:05

How do you feel about you pre flop play with pocket aces? I see you cold call in a few spots, where surely if you raised they would have folded and you wouldn't have been out drawn?

Otompsett




May 6, 08 14:29:49

bodybuilding.com 's forums are a joke. There's a lot of know-it-alls like shnurrrp (not that I disagree TOTALLY w/ his assesment, just laughing at how bent he's getting) who are in fact skinny twerps trying to give everyone advice.

Before you ask, I've competed nationally in the NPC between 6 times between 02 and 06 before getting injured. Hoping to come back sometime this/next year. So there's my credentials yada yada...

Rearden Metal



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May 02, 2008

Today I woke up feeling kinda gross, probably from eating that delicious burger and fries last night, but god was it amazing. I am on strict diet until I leave for vegas, so no more fun with food :( I stayed up last night until like 8am watching UFC fights. On www.ufc.com you can pay 60 bucks and get access to every single fight there has ever been on UFC. It is pretty much the sickest deal ever. I also spent most of today watching them as well, and it is super awesome.
 
Rob is to blame for getting me into all of this. He randomly asked me a couple days ago if I was interested in going to see the fight on May 24th and getting front row seats. I was like hrmmm I might be intrigued, how much are tix 1k? He laughed in my face and said no they are 4k, and I was like ughhhh. I have never been to any kind of fight ever, but every time I hear people talking about them it seems like they are absolutely electric. Anyways, I decided to start watching some UFC bouts from the past, and I am absolutely psyched about the 24th. I told him to book me a seat and I really can’t wait. It is probably a little spewy, but wtf is the point of having money if I can’t spent it on stuff like this?
 
I was strongly debating making a video today, but really couldn’t work up the motivation. I got in a pretty average workout, then just sort of layed around and watched UFC. I considered playing GTA4, but it seemed as if that would take a lot of effort. Also, my internet is set up sort of weird, and the XBOX won’t recognize and differentiate the IP addresses. I have 2 internets that run together, and somehow something changed recently and it wont even connect to Xbox live, which is pretty annoying, but whatever. I am leaving in a few days anyways so it’s not a huge deal.
 
I hung out with Haley a bit and watched Friday Night Lights (the tv show). I have never seen it, but enjoyed the movie, so figured I’d give it a shot. It isn’t that bad actually, and I am sort of enjoying it. I was sort of feeling useless today for not doing much, I had a piece of Hac vs ivey and he stomped him, so I got to make some fun money sitting doing nothing, but felt like putting some hands in tonight, as there were a ton of 10-20 games running. I also got to try out the 10-20 deep tables on ftp, which is awesome, and I hope that everyone starts sitting those instead of the nasty regular tables with 20x stacks. Rawr.
 
I didn’t really even have that many interesting hands tonight, I played 939 hands and managed to luckbox my way to winning 6,366, so I am pretty happy with that. I was up around 9 until I did a really retarded bad spew here.. http://www.pokerhand.org/?2555572  I have never played with this guy, but it really felt like he had an AK type hand, or a bluff sometimes, but not often enough for me to make a call. I felt like a raise was slightly better than a fold, but he snap shoved and I felt pretty retarded. Not being results oriented but I think it actually is a bad raise, people aren’t ever really folding KJ or better in that spot, so I don’t think its great for anything other than making worse hands fold and making AK fold sometimes. Other than that hand I felt like I played pretty awesome, everyone seems to be just giving me either wayyyy too much respect or none at all, which I think is partially due to the video a couple weeks ago. Some ppl are being wayyy wayyyy too monkeyish vs me, and some are just folding everything in the world, so it made games nice and easy to slice up tonight, as the majority of my winnings were from small pots or in spots where ppl just shoveled me chips.
 
I am reading a book right now called The China Study by T. Colin Campbell, and so far it is pretty great. It is considered by many to be the most comprehensive study on nutrition ever done. It is definitely not what any of you will probably be used to hearing, but I think it is pretty awesome stuff. I am not going to get too much into it, but basically it breaks down a lot of misconceptions about nutrition and health, and explains the history of the studies done. I read Eat to Live by Joel Fuhrman, who highly recommended this book, and figured I would check it out. I really enjoyed Eat to Live, though I am having trouble implementing the ideas in it, but it is really neat to hear a whole different perspective on nutrition that has actually been researched and is accurate, unlike 99% of all of the ‘lose fat gain muscle’ type nutrition books out there.
 
Next book on nutrition I plan on reading is The Food Revolution by John Robbins. I have heard very good things about this as well, and am pretty interested in getting yet another opinion contrary to popular American thinking that is backed up by lots of research and is highly respected in the scientific community. Anyways, looks like it’s time for lost, not sure what my plan is for this week, gotta get everything together since I am headed out very soon, so might not be blogging a ton since I will be pretty busy. Hope you guys enjoyed the second part of the video, and make sure to leave comments or ideas about what I could do or what you want to see in the next one.
 
-David Benefield

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May 3, 08 16:34:35

"am pretty interested in getting yet another opinion contrary to popular American thinking that is backed up by lots of research and is highly respected in the scientific community."

Based on this sentence, you must read Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes.

http://www.amazon.com/Good-Calories-Bad-Gary-Taubes/dp/1400040787

DrToast



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May 01, 2008

 
I was randomly browsing the internet when I came across this article. Inherently I know most of what is said here, but it always helps to read it or have it expressed differently. I know a lot of us poker player types focus on one goal and one goal only: making money. It is hard to maintain balance doing what we do. It is difficult to pull ourselves away from our setups, get into the gym, go for a jog in the park, go hang out with dad and watch golf on tv, etc. These are the things that make us happy though. Maybe not right at the moment, while we are doing it, occasionally we might think damn I bet there are some good games now, and I’m passing on MEV blah blah. I know I used to think like this a lot (still do but to a lesser extent). I am working hard to try to get out of this habit of thinking, which can be very destructive psychologically.
 
Anyways, it isn’t a super great article or something that none of us have ever seen before, but it definitely helps to refresh and read through it. Didn’t really have a lot going on yesterday so didn’t do a blog. Spent a few hours playing GTA4 which is pretty fun, though I just don’t enjoy video games the way I used to when I was younger. I feel like I’m wasting time I could be spending putting in some hands, researching some real estate, or hanging out with people I care about. However, it was still fun driving around stealing cars and smashing shit, so I mindless entertainment here and there is always good especially for relaxation purposes.
 
Last night I went to Simply Fondue, which is one of Haley’s favorite places. It is your typical fondue place I guess where you get breads and veggies to dip in cheese in a big pot to start. After that you get a wide selection of meats to choose from and you cook the food in peanut oil. There are a few batters to choose from if you are into frying everything, but since I am attempting to be semi healthy I opted to pass on that. Now, the dessert course is absolutely amazing, and completely destroyed my semblance of a healthy diet day. They brought us a gigantic pot of ‘Paradise Swirl’ which is milk chocolate swirled with white chocolate, as well as angel food cake, bananas, strawberries, snickers, rice krispies, and marshmallows to dip. We demolished everything. It was sooo delicious.
 
Today I punished myself by doing the first burnout workout I have done since high school. I started with my 8 rep maxes on bench, deadlifts, laying down tri extensions, and curls (because I am vain), then dropped 15% and went to failure, 10 seconds rest drop 15% go to failure etc on down to the 5 pound dumbbells. This was truly an excruciating workout, but I feel absolutely awesome now since I can barely move my arms. Hopefully tomorrow I am in more pain than I have been in years. I think I am going to start doing this once a week or so and just completely burn my muscles out and let them rebuild, because I really do feel awesome right now.
 
Tonight I am supposed to go to a place called Fred’s which is your typical bar and grill college type place for a graduation party. I am not really in the mood to drink or anything, so I might just hang out, POTENTIALLY have a burger (ok I probably will eat a burger, actually fries too, but I’ll feel better about it going in thinking its not 100%), and hang out with a bunch of my buddies who are graduating this semester. It really is amazing to think that if I was still in school, and didn’t do this poker thing, I would be right there with them celebrating the end of the best 4 years of my life, and dreading going out into the ‘real’ world where long hours and a boring desk job awaits. I am glad I took the path I did, and am quite happy with how things turned out. Sure I wish I was back in school sometimes, and I have regrets like anyone else, but overall I am very happy with where I am in life.
 
OOOOHH also a new development, a couple of my buddies are going to be betting a large amount on a UFC fight BETWEEN THEMSELVES. Neither of them really have any mma training afaik, though one might have some wrestling experience. I think this is going to be extremely awesome to watch. I have been wanting to get back into some sort of martial arts training, and I have been looking around LV area near my house for a good gym to work out at, and found Xtreme Couture, which is about 10 minutes away and seems to be reviewed pretty highly. I was thinking about taking a class at 10am every day before tourneys, and it looks like they have Muay Thai and BJJ classes 6 days a week fitting into that time slot, which would work out well for me. For the record, I don’t have the time nor dedication to put in the hours it takes to compete, I just want to become decent and get a good workout.
 
I am not sure yet if I really want to pursue this, but if I do I will do it full swing and really focus on the workouts and trying to get better. I think it would also give me some motivation for my workouts. Right now I am just sort of going through the motions, lifting and doing some HIIT, without any real goal in sight other than getting in better shape. I feel like if I was around a group of people every day I would push myself harder and experience better gains for the time I spend. I also think I do better when there is a coach/trainer pushing me to get in an extra set, or a few extra reps. I think when I work out by myself I give up sooner than I would if I was being pushed harder by someone else, so that is another benefit.
 
If anyone has any experience in MMA or knows of any good gyms in the SW area of LV, feel free to pm me or post a reply, as I am very interested. I also am considering focusing more of my workout time towards increasing my vertical. I want to start playing more bball, and in high school could dunk a football pretty easily, and two different times dunked a girls basketball, but could never get the grip and height to dunk a real basketball. If anyone knows of any good sites/programs I could start implementing that would be pretty sweet too, as being able to dunk is definitely a fun motivator. That’s all I got, time to go act like a college kid!
 
-David Benefield

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May 1, 08 17:26:49

im sure you realise, but your post suggested maybe not, but you know who Randy Couture is, right ?

scallop




May 1, 08 17:39:21

I have 2 friends that fight MMA (neither one is a star) and from what I've seen/been told I'm not sure you'd want to incorporate anything that hardcore into your schedule while playing high buyin tournaments. However if you're not doing anything competative (sp?) it would probably be a good workout and some great training in general.

ugobrokenow




May 1, 08 18:08:16

Who wins in MMA fight? David Benefield or Jeff Garza ?

TrevRob




May 1, 08 19:51:55

That burn out stuff you did is terribly unproductive in terms of getting you stronger and healthier.

TheConArtist




May 1, 08 20:53:50

My physics TA is a MMA fighter and got his ass whooped the other day. He came to class monday with two black eyes, one being bloodshot, a huge lip, and had surgery on his ear and it was literally triple the thickness it normally is. Pretty funny looking sight when he walked into class with his head down.

chardukian




May 1, 08 21:55:24

dave - theres a few good ways to go about increasing your vertical. the workout program i'm doing right now incorporates olympic lifts (snatchs, hang snatch, clean jerk, cleans), and I think these are the best for increasing explosiveness/ vertical leap. Also, do some research on plyometrics.

One thing to note is that it's very important you practice and learn good form with these lifts before going heavier with them. 95% of people fuck them up and that renders them basically ineffective and puts you at risk for injury.

also, how tall are you? for a white boy, dunking anything is pretty impressive. I played bball for 4 years in highschool and could never get close to that kind of jump (I'm 5'11 or so)

heirapparent




May 1, 08 23:13:26

Basketball Workouts "Jumping"

I play poker full time now but a couple years ago I played college ball for a University and had good trainers/coaches throughout the years and did a lot of good jumping workouts and I feel that I have a ton of info on that kind of stuff...Anyways I will be in vegas staying in a house with 4 other poker pros for June and some of July and would love to get some pick-up games going (would be nice to play and get in shape vs. leaving vegas in terrible physical condition for once..lol) but yeah I can give u some good J-workouts if ur interested my email is (chaseuk21@yahoo.com) or my aim is (chaseuk21)

pokerpimp_5




May 2, 08 02:03:25

nonsense...

Mr. David B.,

If you could dunk a girls ball back in the day, you're simply a few calf raises a week from dunking a men's ball.

Forget weights, plyometrics etc. That stuff is time consuming, and considering that you're just doing it for the hell of it, staircase calf raises will be more than enough.

3 sets of 100 calf raises/3X a week will do the trick to start. You can even pull them off in the shower if you're not too busy snapping off a batch.

That'll give you several inches on your verticle. I can also recommend another device if you're looking for several inches elsewhere.

good chat.

gusssssh




May 2, 08 02:46:36

http://www.sport-fitness-advisor.com/plyometricexercises.html

you can also google for "verticle bible" and download that...it's a program to increase your verticle. i did it a few yrs ago with a friend of mine and it works pretty well. i wouldn't really count on straight calf raises to gain verticle, as i found them to be quite useless...definitely not enough to get you a few inches...

anyways, good luck with the bball stuff...

DrSatisfaction




May 2, 08 08:57:18

If you're going to try to dunk, get started now. It only gets harder as you get older. I was blessed not to be born with "white man'sdisease". I started dunking at 16 when I was 5'10". In college, I was on the wrestling and track teams and the cheerleading team (don't knock it, got a lot of girls that way). I had to do a lot of the olympic type lifts during the workouts, and by my junior year (6'1") I could hit my elbow on the rim. As I got older, the legs started to go, and by 30, the best I could do was a one handed stuff with a running start. Had a total hip replacement at 32, and now can only grab the rim at 35. Getting old sucks. Men hit their physical prime at about 26-27. You may get stronger after that, but lose a lot of explosive power.

Dr_Jeff




May 2, 08 09:05:54

If you want to do MMA and you can take classes at Couture's gym... and it's also just 10 mins away? It's pretty much a no brainer. Bunch of UFC guys train there for fights and what not. Good luck with that.

alpallstar20




May 2, 08 19:16:20

Ok lets get a pick up game going for Vegas, Im in if so. Would be nice to get some exercise between sitting on my ass!

Nando71



131 Views | Comments (12)
April 30, 2008

First I am going to talk about my sesh today, since it is fresh on my mind. I wasn’t sure if I was going to play or not tonight, but figured I would sit down and try to grind out a few hands since there were a good number of 10-20 tables running. I didn’t really feel like playing 25-50 since the games looked fairly tough and I wasn’t in the mood for a variance war.
 
So I started out playing 10-20 and 5-10, and managed to get stuck 15k in 2k hands or so. This seems almost standard for me lately, and I feel like I have juts been running unamazing to start my sessions. I am not sure what it is I feel like I play normal I just lose every time money gets in middle, which is pretty annoying but whatever I run good later. I think its possible I get a bit overagg pf with my 3bet range early in a sesh, but make up for it later when people start paying off and I have nutty type hands. Anyways, I’m going to post a few hands and then discuss them.
 
After playing a while I got some guy ChipUniter to play me. I don’t know who he is and he said he knew me. I am pretty sure he is a decent smaller stakes regular that was taking a shot. He was short stacking the 10-20 games then randomly reloaded full and requested HU, sooooo I obliged, since I don’t get HU action much. He DID call own me a cpl times with mid/bottom pair type stuff, but I was bluffing in v obv bluff spots, and he picked it off so thts why I think he is a decent lower stakes reg taking a shot. Most fish cant call with bottom pair. Also, I am not going to post too many bad beats, cuz theres too many. I’ll just post the fun ones.
 
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2542701  - This hand was kinda early in the match, and I just really felt like he had an AQ AJ AK type hand that would fold to my shove. I actually think it’s a pretty terrible shove, but I wanted to see if I could make him fold in these spots. I considered making a check raise on the turn and shoving the river, which I think is an overall better line, or just folding, but I decided to monkey call and it worked out pretty well.
 
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2542787  - So, aces suck, and I guess this is a cooler. I didn’t really think he had KJ KT JT ever, and so I gues I was really only worried about AQ KK JJ TT, which is a lot, but I think I am pretty much never folding AA for 100x stacks if I just call a reraise pf. I actually think its fun to end sessions down with AA but still up overall. It’s even MORE fun when your biggest losing hand is aces! Imo it means I outplayed everyone, true right? Ship it.
 
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2542826  - He was getting up a little bit on me, but was doing soooo much CR flop check give up turn. Anyways I felt like he had a hand like QJ or JT or something a LOT on the river, and almost never a king, so I felt like it was a great spot to ship it in, and I got lucky again with his fold. These are spots I have been picking up more and more lately, even while 12 tabling, and I think its great.
 
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2542809  - I love leaving a stack on a 15-30 table. When 15-30 first came out I was always sitting and always stomping. Randomly you get complete tardfaces to just sit and donate a stack, and even if it’s a 3k stack its still 100x. I love deep tables soooo much I wish people played them more. Anyways, this was a pretty standard bet bet bet, and when he shoved the river I just found it impossible to put him on a hand, so instacalled. Luckily I was right and he was doing the bruff, against a lot of ppl you can usually fold river (though I never do im a monkey).
 
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2542735  - This was vs mean old SamH. Tbh I think his pf call is pretty incredibly atrocious, I guess he thinks I am just spewing too much pf or something oop to a raise and a call.. but I dno. I cant fault his post flop play much though I would prefer a flop raise in his spot, but once getting to turn like that pretty much has to ship it, unlucky for me I guess but w/e. I actually ended up down like 7k in 25-50. Too bad I didn’t just stick to the plan of playing small, though I guess equity wise I was up so that’s good!
 
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2542882  - This one just for fun, happened right at the end of my sesh on my last table up. It is cool what rr pf every hand does to ppl, I think its just terrible to flat me pf with JTs type hands 120x deep, as you will just get utterly destroyed unless you flop trips or 2 pair or whatever. Anyways, I got lucky and he bricked it off, so I finished the sesh off pretty well.
 
I put in 3143 hands and made 5595, and after being stucko 15k i consider that a victory. I did a graph of just 5-10/10-20 to see the swings I had there without 25-50 since the bigger stuff skews it so much, and in first 1800 hands I was down 9500, and over the last 800 hands I finished up 9500 for a 19k swing. I guess it has a lot to do with how monkey agro I am pf, but ppl just pay me off incessantly when I have hands, so I somehow manage to go on super heaters after a cpl hours of monkeying around. I have been playing this style for 50k hands or so now and have been having great results, so who knows, maybe theres something to it.
 
I woke up this morning and had a call with Tommy Angelo. I am very excited and have decided to do his program. I think I will benefit a lot from it and I think he will be a great teacher for me to work on my mental game. Some things I struggle with are playing for super long times, like in live tourneys, and playing like 1-2 tables online. My pf HU game goes to crap if I am 1 tabling someone, and this is something I would like to fix. I don’t do any of my cool button limping or min raising or anything cool, I just start 3x opening like 75% of my hands, and I think that just messes me up. It might work for some, but not me.
 
After the call I got in a quick workout, tried a diff kind of protein shake, and then went to the driving range to meet up with my pops. We did a putting competition to see who would pay for hot dogs and peanuts at the ball game (he won obv I suck) and then he worked with me a bit on hitting short shots. I am absolutely atrocious at hitting a driver or any of the clubs that make the ball go far, but my short to medium game is getting better, and I can hit good shots with the 7 iron like half the time, which is huge for me.
 
Anyways I had a lot of fun and felt like I made some improvements, so after hitting balls for a couple hours we headed to TCU to watch them play aTm. aTm is ranked 5th in the country I think, and they have won 20 of their last 21 games. TCU is kinda meh, and cant ever seem to get their bats together. It was an absolutely incredible game, and came down to the wire for sure.
 
It was 2 to 2 going into the top of the 9th, and they brought the closers in, who could reallllly pitch. I was highly impressed with both of the closers from the two teams. Anyways, aTm scored on a passed ball with 2 outs in the top of the 9th to put the score 3 to 2. TCU’s closer struck out aTm’s number one guy who hits like .415 on the year to end the inning, and he slammed his helmet into the ground which made me happy.
 
TCU put a guy on second with no outs, and got him over to third with 2 outs. There was 40 mph wind tonight pushing in from left field, so nothing was going out of the park, but damn did the last batter try. He drilled the shit out of the ball and hit it back to the track in left center, but it ended up being a pretty easy play and the ball slowed down a lot at the end. It was definitely a good time, I really like spending time with my dad, and he loves his athletic events, so it worked out nicely. I am also happy that it was a close game and wasn’t just a complete blowout which tbh is what I expected.
 
Tomorrow I have my networking specialist coming out to help me figure out all the internet stuffs at the new house. I have pretty much the nut setup in tx, with 2 internets tethered together to share tasks and pick up one of the other slows down, as well as like 5 hotspots throughout the house so I get full bars on wireless. He is going to fly down to vegas on his own dime to setup the new place, and so I am super happy about that. It was one of my biggest fears, not having awesome internet. It is unreal how inexpensive it costs to have the best setup in comparison to how much an untimely disconnect can cost.
 
For some reason I am just super excited about getting out to vegas. I don’t even like the city all that much, generally im more laid back and like peace and quiet, but the house is in an awesome location, and has tons of cool stuff going on around it. I have also been talking with a few people about getting together frequent pickup basketball games. There’s a sweet indoor court at the clubhouse in my development, so if ppl come over we can go there, and there is also a v nice 24 hr fitness off trop and Decatur, so will be very easy to meet people there as it’s only about 10 minutes from my house. I got nothing else, time for some lost.
 
-David Benefield

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Apr 30, 08 10:07:31

Love the blog man. Oh and Lost was terrific last week. The shit is going down now.

vampa




Apr 30, 08 11:27:14

Hey Dave did you watch Peachy's latest 6max vid? He goes through a period of maniac spaz clicking on 5 tables that puts you to shame LOL.

Rearden Metal




Apr 30, 08 13:04:29

Great Blog, I really enjoy reading it. I feel that it has a good mix of life and poker. I hope the Ags keep playing well and make it to Omaha.

agpoker




May 1, 08 00:30:09

More unsolicited advice!

When you learn about managing people in a heirarchical environment, you learn one of the keys is to set realistic achievable goals for people. They also have to be something of a challenge to achieve, otherwise there is little satisfaction in reaching those goals.

Then you ensure you have a reward that suits the individual at the end of it. For some people it's money, but not all. Some crave respect. Some security. You can look up Maslow's Heirarchy Of Needs (sp?) and you will learn more about what different people work toward at different stages of their lives and careers. Basically motivational factors evolve as you satisfy your more base needs...

I mention all this because you seem to be currently without goals, and also without motivation. And you're a little disappointed with yourself at times as a result.

If I may be so bold, I'd suggest looking into what you want your goal to be (number of hands played or hours put in or \$\$\$ earned within - say - a 2 week period) and put some effort into determining a suitable reward for yourself. That reward doesn't necessarily have to have anything to do with spending the money you have made, either.

Make the target something you will be satisfied with achieving and make the timeframe short enough that it won't become a huge weight on you. And then treat yourself with something that is genuinely a treat. See where that gets you.

May help with the issues of not feeling good about yourself because you feel you should be playing more, and also in times where you want to quit but know it's very +ev to keep playing for a little longer.

That's my many, many cents! Good luck - enjoy your blog and insights.

RZ_Smokey



116 Views | Comments (4)
April 29, 2008

I am getting super excited about my new house in LV. Today I picked out just about all of the furniture that I want and am in the process of trying to get delivery setup for my move in date. It will be very nice if I can just have everything show up on the same day and don’t have to waste too much time being available from 9-5 for a delivery every single day.
 
I just saw this thread on 2p2 where costanza_g or something is going to attempt to make 200 buyins in a month at 1-2 nl. There is TONS of prop bet action against him, which tbh I think is fairly silly. I really doubt anyone would make this kind of prop bet putting (what I presume is) a large portion of their roll on the line in escrow if they didn’t know they could do it. I mean, 200 buyins SOUNDS like a lot, but the real challenge is just putting in the hours. I don’t have nearly the drive to play 10 hour days for a whole month. I wish I did, and maybe one month I will try or something, but it wont be any time soon. I definitely applaud constanza for working out a prop bet that I think weighs heavily in his favor, and I will be following the updates to see how he does.
 
In the last few weeks, I have really had no desire whatsoever to play poker. I am not really sure why, I mean I don’t normally get all amped up and want to put in hands, but its usually much less of a struggle for me to do so. I played like 250 hands today, won a little bit, and got bored and quit to play some dota. I don’t know where my work ethic went, and it really bothers me that I don’t chug out hands like I feel I should.
 
Something else I have struggled with for a long time is locking in wins. When I was playing a lot of 2-4 plo, id get up 40k or something relatively quickly, and then call it a day, even if games were AMAZING. I just didn’t want to play again at a later time and lose it all back. Anything below peak seems to be unacceptable in my mind, which is just a really silly mindset to have playing this game, especially plo.
 
Even now, if I am playing 10-20 or something and get up like 4-5 buyins really quick, sometimes I will just quit, even if games are great and I have an awesome image set up. I don’t have any reason to quit at all, just that I think I might lose it back and then I’ll be angry later because of it. It prevents me from putting in a lot of hands and really maximizing my earn, so instead I waste time sitting around reading 2p2 or whatever and just wasting time in general.
 
Perhaps it is the stakes I am playing, and I am still not comfortable with the money being thrown around. Honestly though I’m not sure if that’s the case, because I am doing the same thing at 10-20 as I did at 200-400, and it just doesn’t make any sense. I understand that it is stupid, and makes no sense, and yet I can’t force myself to recognize it for what it is, and still can’t seem to get past it. I am actually talking with Tommy Angelo tomorrow and perhaps I can get him to coach me on some of the mental aspects of the game. Hopefully if he can’t help he can give me some good ideas on things I can do to try to get better at this aspect.
 
Kinda randomly throwing this out, but I am talking with my good friend. who I will call ‘John’, right now who has been doing the real life work thing for 6-8 months now. He is the first person I ever really hung out with through poker. When I was playing 55 dollar sngs he was calling 3x river shoves vs mahatma on ub for 20k pots. He was ALSO the first person I watched flush his entire roll down the toilet in a tilted night playing high stakes limit. I don’t think he was ever the same after that. He has always been a great player, and was definitely +ev in most games he played in, but something just changed after that day I think. I staked him a bit online and in some live events with little success, and he eventually gave up the misery and started working.

Now, the thing that I found very interesting talking with him tonight is that he said he ENJOYS the job. He wakes up at the asscrack of dawn, goes in and does stuff that someone tells him to do for 8 hours. He ALSO said that he stays late sometimes because he doesn’t really mind it. I asked him how it compares to poker and he said non poker life is just way better. He used to be one of the angriest players I have ever seen when actually playing online, even worse than me, which seems nearly impossible (though live he is the nicest soft spoken kid at the table). He would curse loudly, break mouses (mice?) and kick walls. Now he seems happy, and is really enjoying life. I think that is super great, and I am glad that he has found something that makes him happy because poker truly makes him miserable.
 
I guess what I am saying is that poker isn’t for everyone. Believe it or not it’s not all glamour and parties and wild nights and printing epic amounts of money clicking buttons. There is a ton of stress that goes into it, and honestly I am not sure if I am cut out for it too much longer. I think it shortens life, turns generally really nice kids into cocky assholes, and in general just has a negative impact on life. Don’t get me wrong, I am super happy that I took the path I did and have managed to put myself in a great financial situation for life, but I often wonder how things would be different if I just stuck with baseball, played in college, graduated, and went from there. Grass is greener etc etc I know, but I still sit up at night a lot thinking about it.
 
I don’t really have a life plan as of now, but to be honest I don’t think I really need one. I will probably keep playing poker online for another 2 years or so, perhaps even longer, I can’t really say for sure. I think losing (what is to me) such a large amount at the beginning of the year really discouraged me. I have been lucky enough never to have a giant downswing like that, with most capped off around 150k or so. Hopefully I can find something that I am really interested in and devote the majority of my time and energy to it.
 
Growing up through high school I had baseball, for the last 4 years I have had poker. I have been dabbling in real estate, but I’m not sure it’s interesting enough to devote my full time and energy to it. I think it is a fantastic thing to spend 8-10 hours a week on, researching properties, talking to others that know the area, or reading some books trying to learn all the tax advantages and what not, but to spend the majority of my time.. I don’t think I can.
 
Lately I have been spending more time focusing on working out frequently and eating better, and definitely plan on keeping that up. I have really been wanting to join a basketball league or something, but it’s just hard to be a reliable teammate travelling for poker stuff and what not so often. I considered doing it this summer, but so often I will have a tourney conflicting with a game time that it just wouldn’t be fair to the people on my team and I don’t think I can make that kind of commitment. Hopefully I can at least find a good group of 6-8 that really like playing pickup games and we can play for a couple hours a few times week. I used to love playing pickup games in high school, and though I was always decent and could hold my own, I was never great. However I really did enjoy playing, and it is definitely a good workout. If you are interested in this, and know a sweet gym we can play at somewhere close to where I live, I am definitely in for evening pickup games, and also afternoon games assuming I am not in a tourney this summer.
 
And wowww I just read leatherass’ blog again, and he’s up half a mil so far this year being the ultimate grinder, playing over 500k hands. I have played like 70k hands this year, IF that. I also am pretty excited about my FTP deal, and I think I will have an easier time grinding out lower stakes if I am locking in sick bonuses. That used to be a lot of my motivator earlier in my online career, and I knew that I could make 50 bucks an hour or whatever in rakeback and could basically break even and still do decently, so I put in tons and tons of hands.
 
Anyways, I am done ranting. Tomorrow I am going to wake up pretty early, get a haircut, get a workout in, then play golf with my dad. After that we are going to the TCU vs A&M baseball game, and I am definitely looking forward to that, TCU is a definite underdog but they have done pretty well vs some of the bigger name schools in the past. Not going to play any poker tomorrow, and will just try to enjoy a nice long day of doing fun activities. Perhaps I can focus more on days like this in the future! 
 
-David Benefield

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Apr 29, 08 01:32:52

I used to have a problem locking in wins also. It felt like every time I played I would get up immediately but then slowly lose it back, so I started quitting after playing a short while. Its just a bad habit, what worked for me was just making myself keep playing even if I felt like quitting (I would still quit if I felt like tilting though). The urge to quit didn't stop right away, it is something you have to gradually get rid of by playing through.

MrAnderson




Apr 29, 08 01:54:07

I know it seems like a stupid answer. What you like most about poker is the money. Play for another year or two, and then go into something else. You seem to be the type that wants steady, day-in day-out returns. So somehting like real estate investing would suit you. Moreover, you can play live(where its much easier) and an occasional donkament. Once you stop treating poker as a job, and more as a hobby, your love for poker may possibly come back

formypokerstuff




Apr 29, 08 07:24:47

lol @ anyone making 200 buyins in one month at basically any level. my best month ever was +30k at 400NL and I ran very well and played a ton... that's 75 buyins. not possible.... [I]maybe[/I] if he plays heads up.

gambler2k4




Apr 29, 08 07:30:35

did you get recruited by TCU for baseball? i know you went there for awhile..

gambler2k4




Apr 29, 08 08:54:49

I guess that quitting 4 BI up with a great image may be -EV cash wise but depending on how frustrated you would get if the fears you have about losing some of it back were realised then maybe it's a +EV decision for your mindset! It's certainly no bad thing to quit 4 BI up at 10/20.

lioncub




Apr 29, 08 10:26:13

David, You bring up a very interesting issue on quitting after getting up a couple of buy ins, You hear alot of people say when you are running good and playing good that you should never quit, so i'd really like to hear more about this from you after you speak to that guy tommy you mention. Have you considered that what your doing is correct and that your not doing anything wrong?

Meh... I think real estate would bore you over the long haul, being a landlord, dealing with contractors and things like that just become taxing over time. Personally i think you should take a look at trading, something like forex seems that would fit your personality alot better,

FYI your blog has become my morning news paper, more enjoyable than the wall. st. journal, keep it up, it is great

zakw619




Apr 29, 08 11:23:07

david, when u say u think poker shortens life, do u mean literally, as in u die younger than u otherwise would. or do u mean it takes so much time away from ur life that u could be spending on other things?

jcl




Apr 29, 08 11:54:52

I've been playing with random people I met through a craigslist posting regarding a weekly pickup bball game. Every Tues/Thurs it costs \$5.00/night or \$60 for 10 weeks (20 nights of bball). It's pretty awesome, surf Craigslist, maybe you'll get as lucky as I was to stumble upon a good game.

GL, this way you wont disappoint anyone if you can't show up one night.

Dubois1212




Apr 29, 08 13:43:18

Even if you played 16 hrs a day, you still wouldn't make 200 BIs. Just a ridiculously silly bet.

Unemo Anger




Apr 29, 08 15:11:09

lol at saying in 496 hours you couldnt make 200 buyins.

David B




Apr 29, 08 15:17:48

david, it comes down to the law of marginal diminishing return. basically if a person (who isn't a robot) plays way way too much (496 hours) they will start playing like complete shit. you are thinking in terms that this guy will play his A game the entire month. just not possible.

gambler2k4




Apr 29, 08 15:18:23

blahblahblah i dont feel like playing poker anymore blahblahblah, i didnt make it thru first paragraph. I actually do like your blog though,keep itup!

MuPpEtMaN




Apr 29, 08 15:34:24

It's possible but obviously very hard at 400NL. I made 110BI's at 100NL last month with only a PTmultitable ratio of 5. I played 100 hours last month.

dymakel




Apr 29, 08 20:32:47

basketball.

Check your PM's about playing basketball in Vegas.

thakilla




Apr 29, 08 21:35:17

Hey David, I am a small stakes break-even / losing player with full time job in Vegas and big aspirations. I love reading your blog, I don't miss any entries. I hope maybe I can meet you one day and become friends with you. Basically, I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoy reading your blog and your thoughts on poker and life.

fcostello




Apr 29, 08 23:47:58

i will definitely play bball this summer, we should get together a group of ppl to play.

Taylor




Apr 30, 08 00:58:59

David-

Double the number of hours you look at properties this year in Vegas when it gets close to the holidays if you really want to do a favor for your longterm future. (Yes, i'm an investor, i've read every book, done just about every form of smaller residential investing, and the advice doesn't come from me but from the head of the REO association here in town to me during a conversation we had in Feb). You're welcome to email me and i'll answer any questions you have or point you in the right direction. No there is no cost. No, I don't want to be staked. Just payin' it forward.

PPC4




Apr 30, 08 01:43:58

I remember a guy getting crushed by Neverwin on UB at high stakes limit a few years ago. I also remember someone getting upset that Neverwin continued to play them after the match was over. I wonder if this could have been your friend.

dirtychum




Apr 30, 08 02:31:52

Def agree with the Peak theory, if I make 72 BB/100 for 1 hr, its time to call it a day cuz it isn't getting any better. Locking in a win just keeps me so stable, its long term +EV, even if it means giving up on another hour of play.

SixPeppers




May 1, 08 13:05:56

if your friend that quit playing poker was a good player that enjoyed playing (in between laboring about the game and tilting), i think he will make a comeback at some point. hard to imagine a someone that was great at a sport for example, quitting for good. i have heard of people taking long breaks though - taking time off, like a couple years or so, and then coming back with a fresh perspective and as a result, never laboring too much about the game or tilting.

checkorbet50




May 1, 08 13:16:46

btw david, if you are bored and looking to get more out of life, then why not start a charity, foundation, or some other public work? maybe volunteer with one of the presidential campaigns or something or start a grassroots effort yourself. maybe doing something like this at some point or maybe down the road is a way to make life feel more rewarding.

checkorbet50



138 Views | Comments (21)
April 27, 2008

I wasn’t really sure what I was going to do today. I was really sore from that excruciating 15 minute workout and run I did yesterday (kinda joking but not really, it was actually v good), and it rained last night pretty good so didn’t feel like getting a workout in. I made a good sammich and sat down to see what was going on with games. I decided that I was going to play some tourneys today, so regged for just about everything.
 
I started at noon and just got down, and its like 1130 or so now. Normally my sessions last like 2 hours until I get bored and decide to do something else, but tournaments force you to sit there forever and just keep playing. I am NOT a fan of this. I like frequent breaks as my mind likes to wander and I also like the freedom to make plans spur of the moment. Tournaments force you to be a hermit and sit in your house staring at a computer screen all day. This is not healthy imo.
 
I played the 5k winner takes all thing and bustoed that pretty early. I played I think every tourney on ftp and stars with a 100 buyin or bigger starting up until like 7pm because I didn’t want to play all night. I passed on the 215r, which I sort of regret, but I didn’t have very many tourneys left and didn’t feel like going forever. I cashed in 2, one on ftp for like 250 smackeroos, and the 109r for like 1200 or something. I felt like I played pretty good today, just didn’t win any of the epic hands when there were lots of chips on the line. Oh well its not like tourneys are very expensive.
 
I played some nl cash as well as some plo on the side. I managed to run like a god vs Paul Wasicka, and made a skeptical turn play but binked 2 pair on the river and got him to shove into me with his lower 2 pair, so that helped a bit. I also had a cool hand vs random guy that played me at 25-50.
 
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2532047 Kinda standard I think except for pf, maybe not though. It was literally first hand of match and I didn’t think rando guy sitting for first time would play an Ax type hand like that, so it was either a boat or nothing so I made the call and got lucky.
 
I have been experimenting more and more with min raising pf against ppl I haven’t played before, as it allows you to do some interesting things. Generally I am not a fan of playing people that min raise as it just seems like pulling teeth getting money out of most of them, so I figured id give it a go. Against players that I don’t really know I think I like it because it allows me to be my monkey self more, but against good players it might make too many weirdo situations im not used to dealing with and cause me to make more mistakes than usual, but I plan on experimenting more with it.
 
Also, the Mavericks suck giant donkey balls. I have no idea why they choke so much in the playoffs, but it seems like they just throw it away every single year. I was hoping to get to see a Dallas/Houston matchup and would have definitely gone to a few games, but that is steadily slipping away.
 
Hopefully the weather gets a bit nicer and I can play some golf this week, I was going to hit some balls today but ya, nasty weather. Oh by the way, if you are a tourney pro, I seriously recommend learning cash games, because I forgot how miserable it is 90% of the time. I had a great overall day, booked a solid win, but feel completely awful that I played for 11 hours and didn’t final table or anything. Even if I did, I probably wouldn’t have won, and would have just felt worse. I dno why u guys do it to yourselves.
 
Hopefully that doesn’t discourage anyone, I just think tournaments are silly. It is entirely possible I just plain suck, but it really is a drag to play all day and get nothing out of it really. I am not even complaining about it, I just think everyone should start making steps over to cash games. I was a tourney pro for 2.5 years or so, I played every big nightly mtt and grinded sngs the rest of the time. It is just sooooo limiting. I can’t imagine going back to that. Anyways, I got nothing else, I finished lost season 2 last night so am gonna go lay down and start 3. wheeeeeeee
 
-David Benefield

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Apr 27, 08 23:38:09

put your money on detroit until the finals sir. =)

ugobrokenow




Apr 27, 08 23:55:57

that would be a great money to lose money definately, considering detriot has looked horrific against the all mighty 76ers lol. lakers, celtics book it.

dtat0529




Apr 27, 08 23:58:48

great way*

dtat0529



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April 27, 2008

Well, yesterday I didn’t really do a blog since I didn’t have an eventful day. I pretty much woke up, got on an airplane, and came to TX. I got in and Haley picked me up from airport with a couple of her friends and we grabbed some PF Changs downtown, which is always a plus. I ran into like 6 people I knew while at dinner, which is always fun. Didn’t really feel like going out so chilled with Haley and started watching Band of Brothers. Only got thru first episode, but so far seems pretty sweet, and everyone I have talked to about it liked it, so looking forward to getting into it a bit more.
 
Woke up this morning and sat around on the computer catching up on emails and what not, and started looking at furniture and electronics for the new house. I spent a billion fpps on stars and got 8k worth of OneCall gift certificates, which as of now don’t seem to work. I am planning on buying a 65” plasma and a 1080p projector so I can lay on the couch, plug in laptop with wireless keyboard/mouse, and 12 table on 120 inches of goodness. I think it is a genius plan, though we will have to see how it works out.
 
I am getting bored with my workouts and my back has been really sore lately, not sure why though perhaps I am using bad form in deadlifts or something like that, so I felt like mixing it up today. I got my new issue of Men’s Health and they usually have these 15 minute workout things that consist if 4 exercises and you are supposed to do them in a circuit 3 times. Well, it took 18 minutes, but I was exhausted when I got done. I suppose its because I worked muscles that I don’t normally hit doing my regular routine, but it was refreshing and I’m still feeling it now 6 hours later.
 
I have been researching the other ’15 minute workout’ type things and I’m considering doing 5 a week and some HIIT running stuff as well. I don’t really care about getting huge or anything, I am pretty happy with my size right now I would just like to shed off a bit of fat, and try to get slightly more definition. I think a workout focused more on fat burning and less on getting big would be better for me, especially with my diet as I am not really eating a ton of calories like I should be if I was focused on lots of muscle growth.
 
After working out I played a few hands of 25-50 cap plo and made like 3k in 27 hands and didn’t feel like playing anymore, so quit. Then I played a couple games of dota, which is getting less and less fun by the day. I am going to have to start playing TDAs or just give up altogether because soooo many games have quitters and idiots, that it just sort of takes the fun away winning 9 in 10 games. I did lose a game today though, so that’s good.
 
After dota I felt like playing a quick sesh, there were a bunch of 10-20 tables as well as a 3 handed 15-30 game so I felt like I should get some hands in. I played a whopping 877 hands but managed to win ~15k. I didn’t have too many super interesting hands, I just did my standard spazzy button raise stuff and managed to run good. I got it in AJ vs AQ aipf when I had been 3 betting a lot so I 5bet shoved over a quick 4 bet, but I binked trip Js on the flop so that helped. Rest of the stuff I got in good and managed to hold up with just about everything, so that always helps.
 
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2527133  - This hand was kinda interesting I guess, I was trying to figure out how much I could get a K to pay off for, but managed to get looked up by Q high, so that was good.
 
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2527273  - I was playing this guy HU and he seemed somewhat angry and was doing weird stuff. I have been experimenting with the min raise PF, as well as the light 4 bet that’s small but lets me play position. I made a pretty big river call but just from flow of match I didn’t think he’d ever shove a 9 here on river, and I just didn’t feel like he had a gigando hand with his timing. Anyways, I guess I got lucky and he quit me soon after.
 
I felt kinda lazy quitting after only 900 hands today, but I just didn’t really feel like playing anymore after I got quit on the HU table. I figured I could call it a day and be content with a super solid first day back from out of town. I am not sure what my plan is for the next 2 weeks, I have a lot of shopping to do. I am getting one of those sweet 120” 1080p HD projectors, and gonna get something like this.. http://www.cinemashop.com/pop/wi-8327.htm  for the tv room. I think that would be pretty sweet, but I am going to get some thoughts on it, I am not sure how good projectors actually work in home theatre systems.
 
I also need to figure out a way to coordinate all the arrival times so I don’t have crap coming in over a 6 week period. Hopefully these companies can work with me on setting up delivery dates so I can get everything set up relatively early and wont have to waste time while trying to focus on tourneys.
 
Something else I was planning on doing was making one of the bedrooms a gym, putting in the rubberized floor, making the walls all mirrors, sticking a tv in there, etc, but like 2 blocks away is the clubhouse and it has a gigantic workout room, so I think I might buy a golf cart and I can use that for driving back and forth as well as when I golf I wont have to rent one every time. I guess I could walk.. that would make sense, but isn’t nearly as much fun.
 
http://sprott.physics.wisc.edu/pickover/pc/brain-universe.html  this link was also pretty interesting. Craigfish sent it to me and is def some food for thought. Not sure what I think yet, but it is def cool and worth looking at. Ok so that’s all I got for today, I think I’m going to try to go to bed early, but I doubt it will work since I got used to going to bed at 6am vegas time. Maybe ill even wake up and play the 5k freezeout and the Sunday mil! (not very likely)

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Entry Tags: the,  like,  and,  that,  but,  have

Apr 27, 08 00:30:36

projector..

in re: projector: downside is having to change out the bulbs after X hours usually good for a year but if your using it for PC input etc, ull prob only get 4-6 months per bulb which run ~\$300; the other drawback is the complicated remote system you have to program..logitech sells a bunch of monster universal systems ~300-500 for hand held touchscreen or you can get a sick ~17-19" touch screen; if you really want to get nasty for ur entertainment system..bang and olufson has a 120k setup that is dirty..

muckyuraces




Apr 27, 08 06:23:46

I'm not sure if 120inch would be the best size for what you want. It will all depend on the distance you are willing to sit, and of course if you don't mind having to be looking around to see both ends of the screen.
What I did with mine was testing out the different sizes before buying the screen which of course is custom made. I also recommend this site http://www.projectorpeople.com/ there you can find lots of good deals and reviews.
About the lamplife thats completely true, specially if you are planning to use it for playing, I use mine as a movie theater and only for sports/movies and big events, still running on the first lamp after 2years and still have another one that I got as part of the package.
Mine is a optoma, and I'm extremely happy with it. Good luck and put out some pics!

Lex




Apr 27, 08 08:47:15

Just wondering where in texas you are?

Marc

Godukecolts




Apr 27, 08 11:04:25

haha 120k setup....thatd be sick. i need to get on a good routine out in vegas....it's just so hard, but last summer i put on like 10 lbs due to being so lazy.

Taylor




Apr 27, 08 13:07:02

lol taylor..... he said 120 inch projector screen...... not that the setup would cost 120k lmao

gambler2k4




Apr 27, 08 13:16:05

check ebay for golf carts.......my friend in florida bought a sick one off of ebay w/ rims and subs in the back lol but it is really nice and he got a great deal...

ugobrokenow




Apr 28, 08 13:32:18

If you are trying to punch in the coupon code online it wont work. You have to call the number tell them what you want and then give them the coupon number.

Wraths Unanimous




Apr 28, 08 13:59:47

re: working out.

checkout [URL=http://www.crossfit.com]crossfit[/URL]. They post a different workout everyday for free on their website. Here are 3 different workout I just grabbed to give you an idea of what they are like. These might not look that bad but I you try them I guarantee they will kick your ass.

Looks like they have an affiliate in houston [URL=http://www.crossfithouston.com/]here[/URL] if you want to take a group class or get some 1-on-1 training to work on deadlift form or something.

#1
Five rounds for time of:
400 meter run
95 pound Overhead squat, 15 reps

#2
21-15-9 reps of:
Clean 135 pounds
Ring dips

#3
Three rounds for time of:
Run 800 meters
50 Back Extensions
50 Sit-ups

PM me w/ any questions.

sondring



112 Views | Comments (8)
April 25, 2008

Ooook so today was actually pretty sweet barring a few hiccups. I woke up at like 1230 and got in a sick workout. I haven’t done straight leg dead lifts since high school, and I am REALLY feeling it right now, and will probably be in agony tomorrow when I wake up, but it’s good agony so I like it. After that I went down to sweat tom, he ran up to 3.6 mil with like 12 left, so I was super excited about the prospects of him doing well.

 

Anyways, he lost a few pots, a few coinflips, then 9 handed shoved KK for ~1.9 mil over a 350k open from Cory who ended up calling with AJ. Pretty standard on both sides except for the A binking the turn. I had a piece so I felt the suckout too, and was very unhappy because I had high hopes of unstuckoness on the trip if Tom made a big score, and it would obv also be sick for him to top off an already awesome month.

 

People I had pieces of in the 3-6 games that were running got murdered, so that didn’t really help boost my end of trip totals, and I got beat down pretty good in the big games I played in, though won a small bit back at the 1-2/5 game. Overall I think the trip cost me ~100k, but I DID break my tourney streak, and got to hang out with all of my friends and have an all around pretty good week as far as enjoyment.


Something else I am proud of is I stuck with my workouts pretty well, and also ate pretty decently for a vegas trip. I didn’t eat TOO much junk, and I didn’t really go out and get wasted once, so that is definitely a plus on the health side of things. I also got to become friendlier with some of the live players as well as the people that work the floor in bobby’s room, so hopefully I shouldn’t have trouble getting into games this summer.

 

As far as activities, after Tom bustoed we went to fast lap again, which is quickly becoming one of my favorite time wasters. I dominated again of course, and put up my personal best lap time of 28.53, which I was pretty happy with and was best lap of the day! So yes, I am still taking prop bet action for fast lap, and would love to get some sicko races going down with a bunch of people. It’s really great sending a good friend into the wall to have them waving their hands like a lunatic to get an employee over to get them unstuck. It is satisfying unlike almost anything else.

 

After that we went to Yard House in the new town square shopping center near Fry’s off LVB. I really love that place as it’s a great bar atmosphere and also has pretty awesome food. I got to hang out with Brian (tsarrast) a bit this trip and tonight, and he’s a super cool guy and a lot of fun. Z and his lil girl person were also there, as was Tom, Mikey, and Phil.

 

We played a game called Mafia or whatever for probably 6 hours tonight. It involves ‘townspeople’ and ‘night time’ where everyone tries to figure out who the mafia person is using live tells and listening to arguments and what not. After voting on a certain person, that person is dead, and if it’s not the Mafia guy, it becomes night again and the Mafia guy ‘kills’ someone else, and the cycle is repeated until you catch the mafia guy or the mafia guy wins 3 handed and gets someone to agree with him. It is actually a super sweet game, and Mikey was definitely the dominating force tonight. I pulled off some pretty sick reads, but also got COMPLETELY ownd more than a few times. Overall I wouldn’t really call my performance in the game a success.

 

I just booked a flight to head home for a couple weeks before I make the move out here for the summer, so it will be nice to hang out with Haley and some college friends for a little while before I am running around like crazy trying to get my house setup before the series starts. I close on my vegas place May 9th, and plan on getting out here on the 10th to start getting everything set up. Hopefully I can be all moved in and settled in time for the first event so I can go into the series relaxed and confident. For now, I’m going to get some sleep.

 

-David Benefield

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Entry Tags: the,  and,  that,  out,  for,  with

Apr 25, 08 09:28:54

I love your posts

David,
I can’t thank you enough for how often you post a blog. You make each day at work a little easier. So, thank you! I absolutely love reading about your sicko lifestyle, and all the happenings around Vegas. I hope you continue to keep us entertained.

-300000

300000




Apr 25, 08 10:33:45

Z and his lil girl thing

post pics of z's lil girl thing plz

overaction




Apr 25, 08 12:06:19

Best "Featured" Blogger on cardrunners period

Topshelf21




Apr 25, 08 12:17:33

mafia is some sick shit...many of its elements are similar to poker, although you can get drunk and still own face...

don caballero




Apr 25, 08 12:18:35

Don't forget to post pictures of your crib, either. Thanks, man.

knox828




Apr 26, 08 19:40:19

Come to join us Kiwis have you?

Hey David i just read your thinking bout coming down to New Zealand. I live in Auckland and am just playing poker at the moment. Would be keen to show you round the country. I feel the need for a break myself. Drop an email if you're interesting.

simwallace@yahoo.co.nz

cheers
Simon

plyboy_binny




Apr 26, 08 20:40:24

Mafia(Werewolf) is such a sick game. I'd love to hear more of your thoughts about it.

AmazingErvin



141 Views | Comments (7)
April 24, 2008

I woke up pretty late this morning and checked to see how tom was doing, and he was up to like 1.8 mil in chips, so that set the day off great. Me, Brian, Peter, and Mikey met up at PF Changs over at Planet Hollywood to get some delicious lunch, and I skipped my workout for the day. I went to go check on tom and ended up sweating him for a while, while Phil played in the 3-6 game. He didn’t do so great so my piece in that kinda went to shit, but Z is playing now and hopefully he runs a little bit better. Most of the hands were completely sick coolers that just really really suck to deal with.

 

Tom finished up the day with 2.8 mil in chips, and I think that’s good for 3rd place at the moment with 18 left, so if he binks it off I can be up on the trip! Yay! That sort of sucks to look at that way, but poker is kinda rough lately on me it seems. I am sort of unhappy I didn’t go to the pool OR get in a workout, the 2 things that I decided I was going to do this trip, but hopefully I can get some motivation together for tomorrow.

 

Dinner tonight was certainly interesting, we went with a gigantic group of 15 to eat at Bartolotta over at Wynn. It was definitely good, but not quite what I was expecting. We had the 05 Cakebread again, so that definitely boosted my mood, and the delicious assortment of fish certainly didn’t hurt either. There was some kind of amazing banana chocolate custard thing with ice cream that I ate for dessert to make myself feel even better about not working out today, but it was certainly amazing.

 

This blog post today kind of sucks, and I am not happy with it and considering deleting it. I really want to take a trip somewhere, probably the beach, and just sort of lay around, work out and get massages every day, and read a lot. I think I need some sort of break, I just haven’t been extremely motivated as of late and feel like I need a break or something to get me ready for this summer. Games online really haven’t been that great either, so I am not really sure what I will do about that.


Every few weeks when I have a terrible day or have pieces out and lose a lot or something, I always come back to my ‘genius’ plan. That plan is basically 12 tabling 5-10 and 10-20 until my eyes bleed. Even 12 tabling my lifetime ptbb is pretty high, and I should be able to maintain over 1k an hour, so.. with very little downswings it just makes very little sense why I wouldn’t do this. I think a lot of it has to do with ego, and all of my friends playing nosebleeds, and I would feel like a pussy if I just kind of gave up trying to stomp those games and just started grinding again.

 

I have always sort of grinded, and only about 6 months ago started taking more shots at the 200-400 type stuff. I ran pretty decent at first at the plo game then obv started getting killed this year, but I think I just can’t really emotionally handle the swings associated with that. Maybe it’s time for me to acknowledge that I just am not cut out for the nosebleed stuff, and just be content raking in tons at msnl games. There really is absolutely nothing wrong with that and hopefully I can really spend some time thinking about what my plan will be for the near future. I think once my ftp deal goes thru and I get all the benefits associated with that I will be more inclined to start up with it, but we will see.

 

Something that I will continue to do is play nosebleed live games. They are extremely soft, and assuming I can get a spot in them, I think I am VERY +ev. I don’t have a problem selling off action either, because most of the ppl I give a % to will reciprocate, so it will sort of make itself up. It also makes it a lot easier to deal with losing, and it keeps me playing at the top of my game knowing I have other people’s money on the line not just mine.

 

The live games are completely different than any of the online games we are all used to, and take a different skill set I think. A lot of it seems to be making people like you so that you can even get into the games. Sooo often a game will start up and fill with people that all know each other and by the time YOU hear about it the list is 15 people long and you have no hope of getting in the action. It is kinda cool though I guess if you are in the know and manage to get in the games when they start, as even 300-600 live seems softer than some 5-10 games online.

 

I will perhaps get into more live stuff at another time, I’m sort of tired and not in the greatest mood right now, so I think I’m going to watch juno and go to sleep. For some reason I am really attracted to Ellen Page, I’m not really sure what it is about her, possibly it’s her overall attitude I find interesting, at least the attitude she puts forth in her Juno efforts. Anyways, I am going to go enjoy the goofy humor while every normal guy goes to the strip club. I guess I’m not as cool as every normal guy. Laters.

 

-David Benefield

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Entry Tags: the,  and,  that,  get,  for,  with

Apr 24, 08 04:45:29

Reading this, it seems crystal clear that you need to go back to the grind... We seem to be sharing several personnality traits, and I know I'd much prefer making good money hating poker and enjoying life, rather than the other way arround... You don't sound like someone who needs to constantly be showing off, so don't let your ego stand in the way in the one spot that curretly influences your life the most.

Also, if for some weird reason you want to learn French one day (instead of a much more useful and widespread language such as, say, Spanish), I'll gladly point you to some quality, enjoyable learning material such as lesser-known movies, comics, novels, etc...

Anyways, gl in your future endeavours, whatever they may be.

Santosvella




Apr 24, 08 08:10:23

I woke up pretty late this morning and checked to see how tom was doing, and he was up to like 1.8 mil in chips, so that set the day off great. Me, Brian, Peter, and Mikey met up at PF Changs over at Planet Hollywood to get some delicious lunch, and I skipped my workout for the day. I went to go check on tom and ended up sweating him for a while, while Phil played in the 3-6 game. He didn’t do so great so my piece in that kinda went to shit, but Z is playing now and hopefully he runs a little bit better. Most of the hands were completely sick coolers that just really really suck to deal with.



Tom finished up the day with 2.8 mil in chips, and I think that’s good for 3rd place at the moment with 18 left, so if he binks it off I can be up on the trip! Yay! That sort of sucks to look at that way, but poker is kinda rough lately on me it seems. I am sort of unhappy I didn’t go to the pool OR get in a workout, the 2 things that I decided I was going to do this trip, but hopefully I can get some motivation together for tomorrow.



Dinner tonight was certainly interesting, we went with a gigantic group of 15 to eat at Bartolotta over at Wynn. It was definitely good, but not quite what I was expecting. We had the 05 Cakebread again, so that definitely boosted my mood, and the delicious assortment of fish certainly didn’t hurt either. There was some kind of amazing banana chocolate custard thing with ice cream that I ate for dessert to make myself feel even better about not working out today, but it was certainly amazing.



This blog post today kind of sucks, and I am not happy with it and considering deleting it. I really want to take a trip somewhere, probably the beach, and just sort of lay around, work out and get massages every day, and read a lot. I think I need some sort of break, I just haven’t been extremely motivated as of late and feel like I need a break or something to get me ready for this summer. Games online really haven’t been that great either, so I am not really sure what I will do about that.


Every few weeks when I have a terrible day or have pieces out and lose a lot or something, I always come back to my ‘genius’ plan. That plan is basically 12 tabling 5-10 and 10-20 until my eyes bleed. Even 12 tabling my lifetime ptbb is pretty high, and I should be able to maintain over 1k an hour, so.. with very little downswings it just makes very little sense why I wouldn’t do this. I think a lot of it has to do with ego, and all of my friends playing nosebleeds, and I would feel like a pussy if I just kind of gave up trying to stomp those games and just started grinding again.



I have always sort of grinded, and only about 6 months ago started taking more shots at the 200-400 type stuff. I ran pretty decent at first at the plo game then obv started getting killed this year, but I think I just can’t really emotionally handle the swings associated with that. Maybe it’s time for me to acknowledge that I just am not cut out for the nosebleed stuff, and just be content raking in tons at msnl games. There really is absolutely nothing wrong with that and hopefully I can really spend some time thinking about what my plan will be for the near future. I think once my ftp deal goes thru and I get all the benefits associated with that I will be more inclined to start up with it, but we will see.



Something that I will continue to do is play nosebleed live games. They are extremely soft, and assuming I can get a spot in them, I think I am VERY +ev. I don’t have a problem selling off action either, because most of the ppl I give a % to will reciprocate, so it will sort of make itself up. It also makes it a lot easier to deal with losing, and it keeps me playing at the top of my game knowing I have other people’s money on the line not just mine.



The live games are completely different than any of the online games we are all used to, and take a different skill set I think. A lot of it seems to be making people like you so that you can even get into the games. Sooo often a game will start up and fill with people that all know each other and by the time YOU hear about it the list is 15 people long and you have no hope of getting in the action. It is kinda cool though I guess if you are in the know and manage to get in the games when they start, as even 300-600 live seems softer than some 5-10 games online.



I will perhaps get into more live stuff at another time, I’m sort of tired and not in the greatest mood right now, so I think I’m going to watch juno and go to sleep. For some reason I am really attracted to Ellen Page, I’m not really sure what it is about her, possibly it’s her overall attitude I find interesting, at least the attitude she puts forth in her Juno efforts. Anyways, I am going to go enjoy the goofy humor while every normal guy goes to the strip club. I guess I’m not as cool as every normal guy. Laters.



-David Benefield

gambler2k4




Apr 24, 08 09:01:12

cheer up you lazy f**cker you've got the easiest life doing nothing and your moaning about eating at all these nice restaurants and how you want to get some more massages and just lay around, try doing a proper job and see how that compares you ignorant f**k.

conormills




Apr 24, 08 10:29:13

Keep writing these long blog posts David - they're really interesting. And don't censor them in any way - we want to read about your honest and open thoughts.

The last paragraph is great!

DODGYKEN




Apr 24, 08 12:29:46

conormills is a hater. Forget him. Keep your posts coming...just as raw as the one that invoked so much controversy. (...which was ridiculous, btw.) I would guess that there are a large percentage of people that read your blog who, like me, get increasingly annoyed and impatient with incompetence and table small talk with those you could give two shits about. Damn...I go through this all too much.

Lastly, I'm going to check out the '05 Cakebread. Definitely expect the demeaning comments from me if it's not good. (Ha ha.)

Peace.

knox828




Apr 24, 08 12:32:09

conor, you seem pretty damn jealous. and you should realize that if david didn't get rich from poker, he would have surely gotten rich from ANY other endeavour he chose to do. some people like yourself have the brains to work at a factory or mcdonalds their whole life and making minimum wage living paycheck to paycheck, others like David have the brains to become doctors, hedge fund managers, entrepreneurs, or investment bankers just to name a few.

gambler2k4




Apr 24, 08 12:51:07

Ellen Page is f'ing hot.

Irvin The Great




Apr 24, 08 14:22:54

wow you guys really lick his balls, and for your information i'm an investment banker not a mcdonalds bum so got that bit nice and wrong. And what makes you all think if he wasn't good at poker he'd be a successful banker or hedge fund manager you need a degree for all those jobs and doubt he has one of them. ;-]

conormills




Apr 24, 08 16:33:32

oh yes, a "degree", it shows about smartness, right ?
usually people who aren't succeeding are very jealous at others success, they always will tell how easy it is/was to someone else to succeed, and how lucky he was.
but the truth is, every person who succeed at something in his life, and became rich by his own, might has abilities and brain.
and i don't think the issue here is david, i'm sure it's your general thinking (especially about poker players).

Choopie




Apr 24, 08 18:34:21

when i was in banking i didn't have enough time to sleep, eat... but conner seems to have enough time to read a poker blog and comment twice during the working day... IMO snap call.

jfu




Apr 24, 08 19:43:18

i laugh at people like conor, who think getting a degree while playing poker is hard. he is def the type of person who calls ppl virgins the second he loses his, and makes fun of people who dont drive once he gets his license etc..

mmfb



131 Views | Comments (11)
April 23, 2008

Lately I have been contemplating a few interesting ‘life’ thoughts. The main one being the answer to the question: What would you do if you had 10 million in the bank? Normally people would say they would be seeing the world, laying on a beach sipping pina coladas, or getting in amazing shape, learning another language, whatever. Well, I don’t really know the answer to this question, which kind of sucks, so I have been trying to figure it out. I am fortunate enough to be in a position where I can do pretty much whatever I want, and I feel like I should be taking advantage of it, and yet I don’t, so ya, this is what has been on my mind.

 

This winter I am most definitely doing a trip to New Zealand for 6 weeks, doing the whole bus thing where you go around and stay in hostels or whatever, do tons of activities, get to experience the whole island, and meet a ton of new interesting people that have the same mindset as you in wanting to explore a fascinating new land. I have heard only amazing things about this sort of trip, and feel like it will be very good for me. I wont take a laptop either, just a backpack and some good books.

 

So.. I have also been thinking about what my plans are for the rest of the year. I plan on playing all of the 5k+ nl events at the series, as well as the plo events. After that.. I am really not sure where I will be or what I’ll be doing. I have all these ideas of learning a foreign language, traveling to all of these cool places, and just trying to live it up while I’m young, but who knows if I will actually get myself out of my comfort zone and do all of these things.

 

I mean, there really isn’t any reason I shouldn’t be doing all of this all the time. I waste a lot of time just sitting here talking to people on aim, browsing 2p2 threads I don’t give half a shit about, or playing games of dota. I mean, if I played poker half as much as I did other crap, I would have lots and lots more money. It sort of sucks to look at things from that point of view, but its unreal how much time I waste just sitting here doing absolutely nothing. I am considering getting rid of aim, as that is a big time waster for me, but I really do enjoy talking to people and keeping up with everyone’s life and knowing what’s going on at all times with all of my buddies.

 

I think what I really need to do is get more balance in my life. I have a great girlfriend which helps keep me stable a bit, I have been working out 5x a week, eating better, ATTEMPTING (failing) to learn another language, and trying to travel a bit more and make plans to take some big trips and really get to see the world. I would like to increase the time I spend doing these things, and decrease it on things like 2p2, dota, and sitting around with my thumb up my ass thinking about how I should be grinding out some hands.

 

Ok now that I am done with that small rant, today was pretty sweet. The one goal for today was to go to fast lap. We rounded up a great group of 8 people and headed up there around 4 and all got memberships. We did 3 races each, each having 15-18 laps (depending upon how awesome/terrible you were), and everyone had a great time. I was the obv winner of all 3 races with the lowest avg lap time, and Chud came in a very close second with Peter not far behind him. Chud actually put up some amazing lap times (better than mine) but couldn’t manage to be consistent. I think I ran pretty good in getting good draws and getting lucky in traffic, but I felt like I raced really well today, and will definitely accept small prop bet action if anyone wants to head back over there in the next couple days or this summer.

 

After that I chilled in my room for a bit to find out that Durr was down to 60k in chips in the 25k, but they just hit the money. On the way down to meet up with people for dinner however, I hear he has 805k, so I am super excited and hope he smashes so I can buy a new house or something. I have run retardedly good in having pieces of him in tournaments, mainly because he has cashed a lot and I suck a lot. Hopefully he can pull through and ship the gigantic first prize.

 

I made reservations at Del Friscos for 8 people, but 5 flaked out at the last minute (which is v annoying btw) and ended up going with Peter and Chud. We had a delicious meal (I ate wayyy too much bread), and complemented it with a great bottle of an 05 Cakebread cab (possibly my favorite). There is a 3-6 plo/nl game running downstairs and I think Phil and Z are going to play, so gl to them and I hope they dominate. For me, I am boring and am probably going to watch some lost and pass out early. Tomorrow I intend to spend the entire day at the pool after getting in a good early morning workout. I cant wait.

 

-David Benefield

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Entry Tags: the,  and,  have,  for,  with,  all

Apr 23, 08 02:15:17

who is this Z that you speak of? certainly not steve zolotow...

AnUndoneHalo




Apr 23, 08 03:24:34

Z is URINDANGER on FTP.

Congrats David the bost blog on this site!

DiRom




Apr 23, 08 04:22:45

great blog -- keep it up

rojo




Apr 23, 08 04:31:46

AIM,forums,msn,ICQ etc

I think you are on the right path about quiting AIM etc, I think you really can loose youre touch wih people in real life if you spend alot of time in front of the computer. I feel that when you are hanging out with friends, and you almost have a life built on the internet you can't relax as when you don't spend a lot of time infront of the CPU, because when you spend a lot of time there you always have it back in your mind and wondering what's going on, asking yourselfe questions like "am I missing something" bu the answer is that you don't miss anything important really.

bopbopimacop




Apr 23, 08 04:47:05

Travelling, learning a new language is a lot of fun. I mean I guess it comes down to what kind of person you are. I am far less baller than you, yet I've found time to travel around Spain and learn Spanish a bit and still get other things done.
New Zealand sounds like a really cool place to go to in the winter (despite the fact that it will be cold).
Phil is Galfond right?

cntgetmedown




Apr 23, 08 05:03:04

Make sure you follow through on that NZ trip I had a mate that went there last year and it is absolutely amazing the stuff he saw/did.

Disrespect




Apr 23, 08 05:05:16

Not sure if you mean our winter our yours, but if you are planning on coming to NZ during the NZ winter you better start planning, because its starting to get cold here already!
If I was you I would come in the NZ summer around Nov-Mar, unless of course you want to go skiing then you have to come in winter.

cypher




Apr 23, 08 09:18:18

How about some pics? pics of house/you and other random shit would be awsome.

pmilanov




Apr 23, 08 12:17:13

i really like reading your blog daily; i think you might need thearpy though dude. i did an around-the-world trip last yr., hence my screen name, dont stop at NZ, keep going, defintely check out south-east Asia, probably my fav region of the world to travel and experience.

what is Z's full name im curious?

atw2007




Apr 23, 08 12:48:08

Hey David, I was lucky enough to study abroad in NZ for six months. I would suggest visiting Milford Sound on the South Island more than anything, and also a four-dayish hike on the north tip of the South Island which I forget the name of off the top of my head but everyone would know if you mentioned it to them down there.

AAmucked




Apr 23, 08 12:48:45

btw also the North Island isn't especially great, but if you're there you might as will cruise through.

AAmucked




Apr 23, 08 12:58:05

If I had 10 million bucks, I would probably be dead. I hope I never have that much.

tashosj




Apr 23, 08 14:38:52

Cakebread Wine

Hi David my name is Hal Taylor. I was reading your blog and saw that you had some Cakebread Wine. I actually went to school with their daughter Mia and my parents are friends with the Cakebreads. If you have any questions about it or other wines i might be able to help you. If you are interested you can im me at nerve5j. Hope to talk to u soon. See ya
P.S. woulda loved to race u at FastLap haha.

PiercE




Apr 23, 08 16:32:32

Thanks for updating the blog so much :) I hate coming here and seeing BT's blog from 1999 :P

manic




Apr 23, 08 17:23:04

I honestly dont know how you can watch LOST in your Hotel room when youre in Vegas

BluffMcGraw




Apr 23, 08 20:03:52

Hey David , Great blog has been a real good read thus far. I currently live in New Zealand. Great decision to come as there is so much to do. If you have any questions ect.. dont hesitate to ask

Nath

pronath




Apr 23, 08 21:01:45

Just wanted to say I really appreciate you taking the time to write this blog. Best blog around by far.

Xizor



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