CARDRUNNERS

What's Your Edge

 
David Benefield : Poker Blog
April 12, 2008

Ok so I want to reply to a few of the comments from my last blog, mainly the guys calling me a stuck up douche or need to lighten up or whatever. Well, you are probably right, but.. this is my blog, in which I am going to say whatever I feel like, and this is also a rant within a blog, in which case I am going to go off on everything. So.. basically what you are doing here is judging me, and sort of by the definition of judging someone, that makes YOU a stuck up douche, at least I think it does, though I’m not 100%. I mean, it could be MY stuck up douchiness coming out in force trying to put it on someone else right?
 
Edited after reading 2p2: (Also, I just read through this 2p2 thread about my blog. I am going to reiterate that I am doing it for me, not for you, but if you enjoy reading it and get something out of it, that’s great! I am not complaining about attention, I like attention, but not in the form that I described. I answer almost every pm or message I get on 2p2, facebook, cardrunners, etc, and love getting ‘fan mail’ and am always happy to reply. I really do like talking to people about poker generally, I guess it’s more that I don’t like talking about poker to people that don’t really understand the game. It is hard to convey truly the nature of it.
 
As far as social circumstances, I am not awkward, I am comfortable being the center of attention, making everyone laugh, whatever. That doesn’t bother me. Personal questions about how much money I make or if I just didn’t have a great day and don’t want to explain how I lost 300k last month over and over do bother me, but I don’t yell at people, I’m not really rude to them, I just get fairly short with them and they probably assume I’m just having a bad day or am quiet or whatever, and I am ok with that as well.
 
Also a few people mention this: "However, this guy is extremely rich and probably a good person to be friendly with, so I put on a happy face and went into a big schpiel about the nuances of winning at poker." It comes across pretty awful, and it was not meant like this. He is one of my dad’s very good friends and is like 50 something, so because of that he deserves my respect, but he is also involved in real estate and will be a very good person for me to be friendly with. People that are coming to me looking for handouts and staking and free coaching or whatever are not worth putting on a happy face for. They are not having my best interests at heart, while this guy does. I’m not going to waste my time trying to be friendly with people that don’t give two shits about me; if that makes me a prick, so be it.
 
As far as people saying that I hate helping people and coaching people and blah blah, if this was the case I wouldn’t have joined cardrunners. I like making videos. I like helping my friends out at poker, as long as they are willing to work at it. I don’t mind when someone links me a HH and says hey post here lemme know your thoughts. I think that’s great and am always happy to do things like that. I like writing a blog to get my thoughts out, if you are offended by it suck it up, you have more problems than I do.
 

A few people mention that I said omg my car is so expensive and my house is so big and better than yours, learn to read a bit better. Sponger hits this one on the nose I think as far as randoms go and mixing them with people that know more about me. I don’t think I did a great job explaining myself, but I guess I don’t really feel a need to do so anymore than I have. Hope this helps.)

One more thing quickly and i will end all of this.. I will add anyone who facebooks me as a facebook friend. I think i was just on tilt the other night saying that, and i dont really care if i have a billion friends, it just gets weird sometimes not knowing who anyone is. I am cool with answering all emails and pms and what not as well, i always have been with that, and usually i have always accepted all the friend requests as well, i juts decided to stop a few days ago. Anyways, ill get back on track with the facebook thing, i do think that was a bit over the line. i dont mind when people add me i think it is flattering, i just mind when they start asking to come over and see my house and stuff like that, that is when i start getting worried and i take that out on everyone i dont know, so i apologize for that)end edit

 
To the people saying I need to lighten up and get on pills, you might be right also, though I am against anti depression type medication because I think it’s just not a healthy long term solution. But I definitely need to lighten up, I do have an amazing life, but that doesn’t mean I can just sit around and be satisfied with it. One of my worst flaws is I can find problems in everything, and it really sucks but I’m working on it.
 
It’s not even that I’m a miserable or unhappy person. I’m pretty sure that everyone that knows me thinks that I have a great personality and am happy most of the time, all of this just goes on inside my brain. However, this blog is a link to my brain, so you guys get to see the best and worst of me. I thought very hard about if I was going to even do a blog, and I strongly considered not doing it, but I think that a lot of people are in similar situations to me and share my thoughts, and I think that by putting them into words for the public to see, I can help people (including myself) face my problems and start to overcome them.
 
This is not going to be your stereotypical poker player’s blog where I post once a week about a tourney I busted in then say I’m going home. I fully intend to break down my mental state as often as possible, as I think it brings me clarity at the end of the day and helps me keep from internalizing all of my thoughts, which can end up in me going slightly crazy at times. If I have any thoughts or I want to hate on someone or something, I’m going to do it. The beauty of this situation is that you can choose to not read it! (I bet you come back anyways you hypocrite naysayers).
 
Let me try to break down my thought process for when people ask to come over to my fu**ing house for poker lessons and ‘hanging out’ when I have never met them before in my life. First of all, not everyone in the world has my best interests at heart. Perhaps they have run very bad and lost a lot of money, and that sucks. Perhaps they are a shady person, who will follow me home. Perhaps once they do this, they will attempt to break in and rob me thinking I have lots of money and cool stuff in my house. (I use banks, but I do have cool shit). Perhaps one of these people will hold a gun to my head and make me transfer all the money in my poker account to theirs. I mean, I can’t just let anyone who sends me a PM hang out with me because how the hell should I know what their intentions are. Sure, 98% of the time they will be honorable and just going out on a limb here hoping to make a good connection and perhaps a little bit of a boost in their poker game, but how the hell am I supposed to figure out who is who. Believe it or not it’s not a safe world, and no, I’m not being paranoid. I have guns too so if you break in you might get shot, that’s why Texas is the best.
 
Another thing on the topic of hey lets hang out and talk about why you should teach me how to play poker.. When you get asked this a few times, it’s very flattering, and I have done this before. I love helping people and watching those that I have helped succeed in the game. However, much more often it turns out that they want me to stake them, or they want to borrow money, or they want to come over to my house and rob me (though this probably happens less often). It is unreal how many people have asked me to come over to my house and watch me play a session. This scares the shit out of me in all honesty. Generally I am a fairly trusting person, but with this kinda stuff where there is a lot of money involved, I think its best to be a little wary. Again, almost every time people will have noble intentions, but occasionally someone will slip through that wants to harm my well being, and I can’t let this happen, so when people ask me things like this, I just get annoyed. I don’t think this makes me a stuck up prick and a loser, but perhaps you still disagree.
 
Gambler2k4 wrote this: ‘the thing I hate hearing most is when I get asked, “if I give you 50 dollars will you turn it into 1000 dollars?” Now, why the hell would I want to make YOU 950 dollars instead of making it for me? People also seem to think that they can’t lose, and they expect a 2000% return on their investment with no risk involved. I feel like if I was like yea sure I can try! Then went and played roulette and lost their 50 bucks, they would be like wtf u owe me 50 bucks u stole my money etc. People in general really are pretty silly, I agree.
 
Markchantler mentioned the thing about when did it become socially acceptable for people to ask how much money you make etc. I think its just that we are all kids for the most part still, and when you are kids socially acceptable doesn’t ever really cross your mind when hanging out with other kids, so they feel its not really crossing some barrier. I am not really a fan of talking about how much I make with most people, though ezra stole my graphs for last year and put them up on CR to toot my horn a bit, and I think that’s fine, though I rather have included this years graph to show how easily it can turn around. In any case, I don’t really like it when people I went to high school with or buddies from college start inquiring about how much I make and what not, and I usually just try to say I do ok enough and change the subject.
 
Another thing that bothers me a bit is when people try to tell me I am throwing my life away and I should go back to school. Then I ask them why I should go back to school, and what they think I would get out of it, and try to hear really good arguments and keep an open mind. So far, I have yet to hear a sane argument. The majority of the time people get angry because they can’t really give you a reason, and they haven’t really thought it through, and are angry that they haven’t thought it through or thought of how little sense it actually makes for me to go back to school right now. Perhaps somewhere down the line when I actually want to get a degree in a topic of interest to me, I will go back, but it will NOT be to appease people that naysay, or to get a job. It will be for enlightenment and expanding my mind.
 
Something this reminded me of was the topic of religion. Any time someone is trying to preach things to me like ‘how can you not go to church? That doesn’t make sense to me.’ I ask why they feel a need to go to church, and why, even more so, they feel a need to press their beliefs onto me. I also ask why it is not ok to not believe in ‘God’ because I am generally interested in what people think about these sort of things, and, just like the school topic, people just get angry and defensive, even though I am asking a very legitimate question in a very conversationally friendly tone. I don’t really understand why people do this, I think its because they don’t really have a reason for it other than that is how they were brought up and what their parents tell them to do/believe in or perhaps its just a societal thing and anything that goes against the norm should be ostracized.
 
Anyways, I have been reading a fair bit about zen and mediation and things like that in an effort to stay more cool and collected in most all situations, and I think it is actually helping. Wire5377 pointed out the quote I have in my profile ‘There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.’ I have been trying to spend a lot of time thinking about this, and read through Lao Tsu’s book Tao te Ching again. I think it’s a great book if you find a good translation, and things like that SHOULD help me put things in perspective a bit better and take the focus off of the negative aspects of my life that I seem to highlight on a daily basis.
 
On to other things.. Sunday afternoon I am leaving for Vegas. The idea is to play the 2 5k events on the 15th and 17th, and the 25k main event on the 19th. Now, my track record in live tournaments is quite a bit less than stellar, so I haven’t been playing them very often as of late. This is going to change though over the next few months with wsop coming up as well, so hopefully I can break out of my slump and be one of the cool live tourney pros for a year or something. I think the general level of play is usually pretty low even in the bigger buyin tourney fields, but there is a LOT of variance involved playing massive field mtts, and I don’t think too many people realize how much luck is really involved in winning one. So with that being said, my plan is to be extremely lucky and do a ton of epic suckouts on my way to winning one (or two) of the next 20 or so tourneys I play in the next 3 months.
 
I probably won’t be updating my blog every day while I’m there as most of the time I’m all over the place and am generally just out of my element staying in hotels all the time, but I will try to keep up as best I can and hopefully get a few good entries in. Another thing I would like to do with this blog is really break down each tournament day I have so I can take a look at interesting hands I played, or cool spots that came up. I have worked a bit on my tourney game, and I think it is pretty solid, so hopefully I will have some success.
 
Thanks for listening.
 
-David

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Entry Tags: the,  and,  this,  that,  have,  not

Apr 12, 08 16:40:11

wow..........that had to have taken at least an hour to write, lol. Good stuff though and well put.

ugobrokenow




Apr 12, 08 17:10:38

Would you mind if I came over and watched you play? Ha Ha, JK, appreciate the time you take to talk about your feeling and I hope you take down a live donkament soon.

gocapitals17




Apr 12, 08 17:39:42

Dude someone as popular in the online poker world as you will definitely have people who grill you. Personally, you seem like one of the nicer high stakes online players. You're much more down to earth and mild-mannered than many other players in the same or similar financial situation. I get people who talk random shit about me all the time on my blog- I just talk shit back. No matter how nice you sound, there will always be some random asshole to try to hurt your reputation or put you down. There's a lot more people that like you than dislike you, so that's good. Keep up the blogging. I'm going to make part of my next blog post about the topic of how retarded others are to the misconceptions of poker (especially online poker).

IversonXX3




Apr 12, 08 17:50:05

Screw the haters, it's your blog - you can write whatever you want.

Personally I think it's great.

Xizor




Apr 12, 08 18:51:24

A great man once said, "With great power comes great responsibility."

Do work

AAmucked




Apr 12, 08 18:55:10

Just be yourself man. I'm sure all the personal questions are pretty annoying but most people are simply curious so it's not so bad in the end. Either way, do what makes you happy and your real friends will be there for you. End cheesy comment.

sliprocks




Apr 12, 08 19:16:03

you need to cater more to your ADHD readers, post was tooooooo loooonnnng son. But after reading the first half i will say that its your blog and u can say whatevs the fawk u want, even though i dont see how u could get riled up over ppl asking to hangout on facebook or whatever. Pretty sure its FB and its fairly easy to ignore something, its not like your gett mobbed out in public so i dont really understand how that can be upsettting. But anyways I do like your blog alot and keep it up its nice to read (well the first half anyways) a blog of someone who isnt worried about being polite or what ppl will think, keep it up plz.

MuPpEtMaN




Apr 12, 08 19:31:52

yo I don't think u needed to type response really...... is\f people are too dumb to understand the first rant (mostly micro guys who think having money from poker would be the 'dream life' which is anything but true. my life is thousand times more stressful now that i have money); then they will never be satisfied with any type of response.

gambler2k4




Apr 12, 08 20:25:40

I'm kinda drunk and don't really know what to say, and I am one of them micro donks that think having money by playing poker is the dream life (and if anyone thinks differently then FU teach me how to win big and go get a real job urself and let me play poker for a living lol, only jokin) but seriously, to the people who say bad things about u and shit just ignore them, they are just jealous and have nothing better to do, I have really enjoyed reading your blog so far, its nice to see someone who is honest. Take down the WPT championship bro.

JarvisLa




Apr 12, 08 21:22:36

FTW, man you dont need to justify yourself to people. You are successful in your own right and have become that way through you own hard work. You dont owe anyone else a thing. Just ignore it an do what you do. YOUR LIFE IS YOUR OWN

skippy13




Apr 12, 08 21:38:15

just keep making videos as good as your first one, and you can rant and bitch all day about anything imo

bottomset




Apr 12, 08 23:31:41

It would be exhausting to defend yourself against every negative comment. In his book Tommy Angelo said, regarding defending your play or your actions "that court is only in session once you start to explain or defend yourself". I think you can apply the same concept to personal criticism from strangers. If you don't acknowledge it then it carries no weight. Thank you for your contribution and good luck in your endeavors.

The Maker




Apr 12, 08 23:37:07

I love how you tell it like it is. Really, really good blog.

MNEMIC_UK




Apr 12, 08 23:44:40

The blog is the best out there-don't let morons make you explain yourself. Also, the vid was very good

shipit00




Apr 13, 08 00:22:26

Now you know how it feels like to be a born a billionare. I would suggest you go watch the documentary "Born Rich"created by Jamie Johnson-heir to the Johnson an Johnson forturne. While I dont derive the bulk of my income from poker, I do understand how difficult the money aspect of everything is for you. There is very little that you can do to change people's perception of how "wealth" is used. For most (largely due to MTV Cribs/sweet 16/other rich degenerate stuff) people have a predefined outlook on what wealth should be. In reality, many of the wealthy people live quiet, but comfortable lives without any of the binging on luxury items. My only suggestion to you if indeed you were sick of people asking you about the money and such, is to find a group of peers who are more understanding and possibly wealhty if not wealthier than you.

formypokerstuff




Apr 13, 08 00:42:07

Man , this is the only blog I need to mute my TV to read. Fing intense!

I can't believe people actually ask you if they can come over to your house...lol, sick.

You obviously put a lot of thought and work into your blogs.....I commend you on that.

Just one thing about education and school....I have no idea how old you are or really know anything about you but an education is really the most important thing you can do for yourself, here's why;

It helps you explore yourself....not only mentally but socially with a lot of other kids ur age

It helps mould you in a lot of other ways...you may not know what you want to do but it opens doors that cannot be opened without an education.

It can(but not always) set you up with a future career that can have a positive influence on you and OTHERS



basically poker is fun....we all think it is. But when it becomes a job it is just different. You know this and anyone that has tried to rely on poker for their money knows this as well. Poker does not give you that internal satisfaction that a real job can give(mind you not all real jobs give this). I am a Naturopath, I just finished school and played poker though out and survived off of that. In the meantime I have been keeping afloat with poker until I get my Liscence from the Board. I thought poker made me happy but it really didn't. I still love playing poker and winning money but it just isn't the life people seem to think it is. Ask any long term pro....they will tell you, as I'm sure you know David.(I am not only gearing this for you Dave)

Basically it sounds to me that you are having some internal issue's. That is completely normal. But it also really sounds from the things you put in your blog that poker isn't what you REALLY wanna be doing. You may not know what exactly it is you do wanna do but you may feel slightly trapped or like poker is just too lucrative to not do. the thing is that if you are very good and make a lot of money from poker you should keep playing...but you may need to find something else that TRULY makes you happy.

Answer to yourself one thing. When you think about playing or feel the need to put in a session; do you get this weird feeling in your stomach???

I may be way off but I may hit a spot too. I guess after reading your essay I thought I would chime one in myself.

Just some thoughts on life I guess...take from it what you want or ask any questions if you have them.


jkipfer

jkipfer




Apr 13, 08 02:53:09

raptor, wtf, stop posting replies to what smb wrote to your comments - it's v miserable, when first you write smth along the lines "this is my blog blah blah blah" and then address all the bs smb has thrown at you. it is more like you're trying to justify yourself after posting an entry that was largely inspired by tilt. I say fck it. Forget it - you did the right thing for yourself, let the steam out, it's FINE, it is no one else's business what you are doing. If they don't like it - so be it, you are not a 100-dollar bill to appeal to each and everyone. There are 6 bln people and what's for sure, 99% don't like and envy you, me, him whoever, because of nationality, religion, job, education, food we eat, money, whatever. Get the fck over it. Don't reduce yourself to excuses - if you want to go away from smth that's bugging you, then do it already, why are forcing yourself to stay and "be a nice guy", if you feel like being rude to someone, who has the right to stop you? It's your right to be whoever you want to be, you've earned it, that's it, period. If you start bothering about what other ppl (except for your family and closest friends) want/think of you, you are gonna be a fcken mess, like i was around a year ago, spent 2 years in a pretty deep depression. It is not "things that make the world good or bad", it's what you do, and it has nothing to do with "things". Things are done by other ppl, and unfortunately this is not the type of world where you can rely on them, it is when you do THINGS yourself. Otherwise, you will end up doing only what other ppl say/command, and that's sick and disgusting. And until you say "piss off, will you?" to their faces, they will keep getting at you. YOU make things and gears spin in, not what other people think about it. Do whatever you want to do, if you are angry and just quietly texting on your mobile, and someone doesn't get it - SAY it to him, don't keep it inside, or better just walk away from that party, whatever, ask yourself, do you really need these people who call themselves "friends", if they are only interested in getting money/places to stay/stories/poker advice from you? These are poor beggars, nothing more than that. True friends need you you are doing bad, when you are in a bad mood, they can understand this and even after shouting at them, some time later you can approach them and say "hey buddy, sorry 'bout that, let's go have a drink together?", and that's fine, true friends are people who don't feel offended when you (well, me, actually, just an example) fire his sister, because she wasn't good enough and you made every last thing possible to allow her to stay after 3 months and she still couldn't make it. And they feel okay about it.

Make up your mind already, stop being a rag, put yourself together, man.

I feel strange strengthening out a guy i don't know, but i rly want to help you avoid the kind of shit i used to be in.

playforfoodz




Apr 13, 08 03:16:37

I hope you continue to post your thoughts about the game, its inspiring. Good luck in the tournaments.

Nando71




Apr 13, 08 04:52:00

David,

Most people are retarded. Don't be like most people.

I agree 100% with what you wrote.

ama0330




Apr 13, 08 08:07:46

f the haters

you have 1 of the better blogs

goose58




Apr 13, 08 13:42:44

I never really comment on stuff here on cardrunners but I just felt that you should know that there's a lot of us who really likes what you're doing and I am really happy to take part of your videos and such. Just keep doing what makes you happy and know that there's always people who'll like your videos and if someones doesn't like you wtf does that have to do with anything.

You also sound like a really reasonable guy and as a 21 y/o poker player (who probably drinks to much) I can relate to the "omg come on it'll be fun"-situation which I pretty much hate. I think the "It'll be fun"-comment should be banned. If I thought it'd be fun I'd be all over it already!

Keep it up!

/Dusty

Dustylove




Jun 30, 08 02:19:10

from all who can see the light

i saw your high stakes video and was so impressed with your "thoughts" , lack of emotions (tilt) ,and skills i had to check out your blog.... after reading awhile i had to comment... "WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!"..... BEST OF LUCK TO U!!! AND THANK YOU!

ripbrokeith



172 Views | Comments (22)
April 12, 2008

I would like to preface tonight’s blog entry by saying that I am on tilt because lately I am having trouble dealing with your typical college aged kid. I’m not really sure why really, for no reason lately everyone is just seeming to piss me off with their nonstop harassments trying to make me do things with them. Sometimes I just like to have peace and quiet, hang out with Haley, or perhaps keep it somewhat low key by hanging out with a close friend and his girlfriend. I don’t ever really have the desire to go out to a frat party or bars or clubs anymore, and I think that is ok. Having said that, I am going to be fairly harsh, and it begins now.
 
/beginrant
 
So today was going great. I woke up, played a few games of dota, then went to the driving range to hit some balls with my dad. While we were there, I got introduced to the guy that owns the golf course, and he was really interested in poker and kept talking about how him and his friends got together and played, and how they just went to vegas and blah blah and he asked me a bunch of questions about how do you win and what is my strategy. I really detest situations like this. However, this guy is extremely rich and probably a good person to be friendly with, so I put on a happy face and went into a big schpiel about the nuances of winning at poker. Anyways, he was very impressed, and I felt like a retard the entire time, and was glad none of them had any idea about poker.
 
After that I came home and heard I had to go to Joe T’s again. Generally I’m cool with going out on occasion, but when people try to force me to go out a few nights in a row I start to get slightly annoyed. I guess I’m weird like that in that I don’t really enjoy going out all the time to drink and what not. People seem to think that’s all I like to do so they keep inviting me and if I only come out once a week I’m ‘sketchy’ and ‘never around wtf doood’. Anyways, I met up over at my buddy’s place and we hung out until the group (about 12 people or so) was ready to head out to dinner.
 
I really hope none of the people who went to dinner with us read this blog, because I’m probably not going to say very nice things in the next paragraph or two. Actually, it’s not that they did anything wrong or bad; I think it’s just that I can’t really relate to most of them anymore. All the time I get asked questions like ‘oh I heard you bought house in vegas, poker must be treating you well! What is your strategy? I play online sometimes, I’m pretty good I bet I could beat you, we should play heads up man it would be fun!’ Things like this really tilt me, and I just kinda sit there and get quiet because I’m angry on the inside.
 
I told one of my good friends that I got my offer accepted on a Vegas place. He told his gf who told everyone that was there, and everyone was like ‘WHOAH dude that’s so sick I can’t wait to go out there now I can crash at your place! Nice!’ and I’m just like ‘fail’, then everyone kinda thinks I’m an asshole. I’m pretty sure most of the people that were there tonight that I hadn’t met previously got in their cars and started talking about what a cocky prick I am and I’m too cool to talk about what I do with people like them or something. But like, there’s nothing I can really say that doesn’t come across really high and mighty.
 
I mean, what can I say? ‘Oh ya, just bought an 08 e63 AMG. They go for like 95k new, no big deal’. Well, that comes across cocky and stuck up and stuff, so I just try to not talk about anything, but THAT comes across cocky and stuck up sometimes if I just answer their retard questions with short answers then try to change the subject, like I’m too cool to talk about what I do or something. It’s just really hard to explain to people in a way they can understand. These are people that just graduated after working their asses off, and are now working their asses off even harder to make 50k a year and consider it a HIGH PAYING job first couple years out of college.
 
It’s not that I have a ton of money, or that I flaunt my money, I just feel like if I talk about anything that I have or do, it comes across like I am. I don’t like it when people treat me differently because they found out I have done very well in poker. I also hate it when people facebook me that I have never met before, never heard of, or have like 3 mutual friends. I used to just accept everyone until like a month ago. Now I have like 37 backed up ‘friend requests’ because I don’t know who the hell these people are. Maybe they are you! At least give me a description of who the fark you are and why I should accept your friend request so I know you aren’t going to bother me.
 
Something that goes along with this is the MESSAGES that I get on facebook. I had a conversation with stinger tonight about this, and how much it tilts us. All the time I get stuff like ‘hey man we should meet up for drinks sometime and talk about poker! I just worked up my roll to like 40k and I’m really starting to do great, I think I could learn a lot from you! You are great!’ …………… Like.. seriously? Is u be joking? I HAVE NO ***KING IDEA WHO YOU ARE NO I DONT WANT TO WASTE A NIGHT TALKING TO YOU ABOUT POKER AND THEN MAKE YOU MY APPRENTICE! )(*#%()*%()@#% I mean, I get these messages every other day, and I just want to stab them all in the ear. Well, not that, but like, throw rocks at them from a distance, but they can’t see me, so they are just getting hit by rocks tossed by a phantom rock chucker and are really confused and sort of crying because it hurts a little. That would make me very happy I think.
 
Another thing I hate, is when people try to force you to drink when you don’t really want to drink, or when they ask you what is wrong over and over again. If I wanted to drink, I would be drinking. If I wanted to talk about why I hate you (the ‘wrong’ in your what’s wrong question), I would discuss eloquently the ways in which you tilt me. HOWEVER! When I am sitting there quietly sending txt messages on my phone, or just being polite but not really going out of my way to engage in pointless conversation, LEAVE ME THE ***K ALONE AND STOP ASKING ME WHATS WRONG BECAUSE IM NOT POUNDING SHOTS AND LAUGHING LIKE A LOON! It is perfectly acceptable for someone that is 21 to not feel like getting wasted every second of every day! Stop trying to pass the pitcher I don’t want it. I rather dump it on your face and ruin your night, while all of your friends are sitting there with shocked expressions and no one really knows what to say until there is nervous laughter mixed with tears of dread.
 
/endrant
 
Love,
 
David

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Entry Tags: the,  like,  and,  you,  just,  that

Apr 12, 08 02:27:37

lol i love this blog keep it up

ezduzit23




Apr 12, 08 02:41:55

lol very nice. yeah i could see why that tilts you. id say just take it as a compliment but obv it starts to annoy you after awhile and for good reason. but i mean there prolly isnt much u can ever do about it. the fact is you do make a lot of money for someone ur age and you are in a profession that a lotta people have an interest in at the moment (and poker also seems to be on of those things where everyone just thinks they are amazing at, even if they completely suck). if you feel you're going to come across as cocky and arrogant either way, you might as well just in a nice tone explain to them that you dont really like to talk about it. neways gl sir. keep up the blog its a good read.

TheTyman9




Apr 12, 08 02:52:46

I feel the same way to a smaller degree. I am still a fresh in college and if most hear about my "job" they won't shut up about it. And if it does come up, there is no way I can explain that I'm not a degenerate without sounding cocky, so I just try to avoid the topic.

I couldn't imagine how bad it could get if my income was 10x or 100x more. I don't feel your pain, I couldn't imagine how annoying it would be.

Schwallie4




Apr 12, 08 03:11:20

wow, best blog ever! i laughed my ass off :D
when i whispered you for dota yesterday :(!

DarKFoRcE




Apr 12, 08 03:11:49

you didnt answer when i whispered you for dota yesterday :(*

DarKFoRcE




Apr 12, 08 03:41:31

pretty awesome rant

xker17x




Apr 12, 08 03:43:51

I feel it too, mostly with my parents friends who try to give me advice explaining about there friend of a friends brother was a gambling addict and lost all there money online and how when i start getting unlucky i'll lose everything, so i should quit while im ahead blah blah... and then talk to my parents (who're actualyy really supportive and understanding, saying "i cant believe you let him do this" I think theyre getting pretty bored of explaining it too.

ALSO: when did it become socially acceptable for complete strangers to ask exactly how much money you make, it sems like noone ever asks this to a Managing Director or an accouintant or whatever, but they ask me outright and when i say "you know i do ok, not that much..." or something v vague they push real hard for an answer.

ahh that felt good, keep ranting so i can join!

Mark

markchantler




Apr 12, 08 03:53:30

I support your phantom rock chuckings ;) I was gona ask you out for a drink, but I hate having rocks thrown at me ;(

manic




Apr 12, 08 04:16:04

Life sounds very difficult for you...

You should consider killing yourself.

ChaseHigh




Apr 12, 08 04:17:53

sweet blog, but why do you hang out with people you don't like? just get up and leave yo, make up an excuse if need be

StructureK




Apr 12, 08 04:19:28

this has quickly turned into my fave blog, thanks

goatzilla




Apr 12, 08 04:25:07

Favourite blog on the site and I log in specifically for this on a daily basis to have a read. Keep it up!

tehmac




Apr 12, 08 05:02:09

Sounds like you pretty pissed about gettin asked to drink by friends? If these guys are ur friends then they should understand that u dont feel like drinking, most of my buddies leave me alone when I dont feel like gettin drunk and dont push the topic. If they dont understand that sometimes you dont want to drink and start harassin you about it then maybe its time for finding some better ppl to hang with.

doginthefog




Apr 12, 08 07:55:58

you the man.

RichOK




Apr 12, 08 08:01:57

how about chilling the fuck out a bit? I understand/know exactly what you are talking about but you sound so miserable about it.

nechitacc




Apr 12, 08 08:41:22

Does it tilt you when ppl comment on your blog? Do you want us to leave you the fk alone to blog in peace.

ppeters




Apr 12, 08 08:44:53

haha awesome rant

i feel as if it was something i wrote like a month ago and randomly stumbled upon it and recognized every word

awesome

thaddusbly




Apr 12, 08 08:53:32

should prob call ya therapist asap to get the new subscription for the prozac...

Chocolate Soldier




Apr 12, 08 08:58:28

You just need a lesson of perspective of how easy your life really is. Not to be a dick, just think about it man. You get upset at the most menial things.

MGMGRAND




Apr 12, 08 09:12:19

nice blog. You guys should see the facebook message I got a couple days ago.....CREEPY

Stinger885




Apr 12, 08 09:19:03

i understand exactly what you are feeling, and it's totaly natural.
that's also the reason why for example famous people or rich ones, have relationships only with people from their status, because they just feel comfortable with them, because they understand them the best.
but the "regular" people always think it's because they ignorant, but not, it's because mostly they behave arount you like a total childish jerks.

Choopie




Apr 12, 08 10:44:24

chill out, you really sound like quite the stuck up douche. so some up and comers look up at you and have the courage to ask you for advice, man your life is so hard! loser

cheksta




Apr 12, 08 11:39:48

i think it's because you've made so much money from something really unique. it's just weird. i don't even make that much from poker and my friends think i'm some type of god. also i think there's people i graduated with who never really paid much attention to me and now suddenly i'm 'their best friend'? lol..... kinda weird.

the thing I hate hearing most is when I get asked, "if i give you 50 dollars will you turn it into 1000 dollars."

gambler2k4




Apr 12, 08 11:43:15

yep

I figured this out a long time ago, made friends with a few people in Vegas and go out like once a month, simply because I dont enjoy it all that much. Fwiw, dont expect anyone to understand you til they are in your position, which will prob never happen. Good luck figuring out how to deal with it.

FieryJustice




Apr 12, 08 12:12:09

from your cr profile...

..."There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so
-Lao Tsu"

wire5377




Apr 12, 08 12:20:42

lol I can relate to a whole lot of this stuff, really nice blog man

Mayb




Apr 12, 08 13:12:45

zomggggg.. life is so hard bro, man you got some real tough problems to deal with... Print out this blog, put it somewhere safe, and read it in 10-15 years or so, than feel embrassed.

mwasko




Apr 12, 08 13:21:09

HAHAH I get asked this all the time

"if i give you 50 dollars will you turn it into 1000 dollars."

sooo annoying...

miked719




Apr 12, 08 13:57:43

ill blog post.

dont listen to the other chumps

nolan




Apr 12, 08 14:35:40

my new fav blog

juggaknot99




Apr 12, 08 22:51:43

this entry has inspired me to send you a creepy msg on stalkerbook :P

brystmar




Apr 12, 08 23:51:29

I'm sure when you were new at making "big money", you were flattered by the complimenting poker help requests. But after the first 2 or 3 hundred times, it surely gets annoying.

Honestly, minus all the money parts, I am the same. My shit is usually dealing with pointless conversation with people that only talk about the newest reality show on fucking VH1, BET, MTV, etc. I could fucking care less; you're fucking stupid anyway. You won't even understand my analysis of what we're discussing; you'll sit there with a dumbass look on your face because you are, in fact, a dumbass.

Yeah, anyway. I feel you.

knox828




Apr 13, 08 14:28:48

waaaaaa! dude, seriously, get some new friends. There is no rule that says you still have to hang with the same goof balls that you grew up with or went to school with.

Bobbo




Apr 13, 08 18:54:36

[QUOTE] Print out this blog, put it somewhere safe, and read it in 10-15 years or so, than feel embrassed. [/QUOTE]

QF Fucking T

[IMG]http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii173/averageamericanmale/razor2.gif[/IMG]

Poker Pugilist




Apr 15, 08 22:41:51

I just want to stab them all in the ear. Well, not that, but like, throw rocks at them from a distance, but they can’t see me, so they are just getting hit by rocks tossed by a phantom rock chucker and are really confused and sort of crying because it hurts a little. That would make me very happy I think.
(this made me laugh)

HERI



233 Views | Comments (35)
April 11, 2008

Well, I think today’s blog will be severely lacking in comparison to the rest, but I do it for my own soul, not yours, although your soul is very important as well, just not as important as mine, at least in my own mind. In YOUR mind your soul is probably much more important than mine. Ugh wtf am I talking about?
 
Hopefully you guys could follow that better than me, I have gone into things about being a spaz before, and that is a prime example. Anyhoo, today was a sweet day, I got a ton of stuff done. MY NEW CAR arrived in the Las Vegas, and I get out there on the 13th and can’t wait to drive it around and show it off. It is a 2008 Mercedes E63 AMG. SUPER sweet (brag). So basically I started the day off wonderfully knowing that buying a car online actually CAN work out and they didn’t run off with my money. Nice!
 
After the good news, I got a quick workout in, did some HIIT sprints, and convulsed in the grass for about 10 minutes. 20 second sprints really kill me, and, as I discussed with Gordo, it is the absolute worst sort of pain. It is that soul crushing pain that can’t be removed by anything but a few minutes laying on the ground suffocating. Anyways, I heard that’s good for burning fat, and I am trying to get in good shape so I suffer through it. Throughout the day though I just feel so much better about everything knowing I got a great workout in. My mind stays focused, I don’t get distracted as much, and I am sort of on a high knowing that my body isn’t deteriorating.
 
This summer I fully intend to wake up at 10am every morning and get a good workout in, get a great healthy breakfast in me, get a shower, and pack good food to keep me energized throughout the long tournament day. Generally I would just wake up with as little time as possible to spare, get a shower and speed over to Rio usually a few minutes late. This is really NOT the best way to start off a day, which could turn into 12 hours if I could just manage to stay focused and playing well throughout. I think waking up early and working out will greatly increase my concentration and ability to function well during long tournaments this summer.
 
After my workout I sat down and decided to play for an hour and a half or so of 5-10 6max on 4 tables while recording. I didn’t do audio because I knew there would be spots where I got annoyed and would want to pause so I could discuss more in depth. I really like doing it this way because I think it allows me to get my thoughts across better, and I can take all the time I need to explain really cool spots. I decided to put the plo video on the backburner for now because I know a lot of people are itching to see a 6max vid so I got on it and that should be up sometime in the next week. I am really happy with how it turned out, I kept spaz clicking to a minimum, and got a full 105 minutes that will be split up into 2 different parts, hope you guys enjoy it.
 
After I did that, I got a Swedish massage (ya that’s right call me a pussy). It was really amazing, I felt great while I was getting it as well as afterwards. I had a super hot massage therapist as well so that didn’t hurt. I think this summer I will be getting quite a few, and I definitely plan on making it a weekly occurrence here in Texas, it was definitely relaxing and increases LEV a lot imo.
 

Haley’s granddad died today, which sort of ruined my awesome day, but that is selfish to say. They were pretty close so she is pretty choked up about it, so if you are into the prayer thing (I’m not, but to each their own), feel free to say one for her and her family. I’m sure they would appreciate it. Anyways, she was stressed out so she came over and I made her steak and eggs, cracked open a new bottle of Ladera (my current favorite cab), and we watched a couple episodes of Lost.

This show is starting to get really silly, I can’t believe they keep typing in those numbers, it’s tilting me pretty hard that they don’t just stop. I mean, they are on an island in middle of nowhere without much hope of being rescued, and it’s obviously a psychological experiment so wtf. I mean, worst thing that happens is the island blows up, and I mean, who really cares. I guess that would make for boring TV though if they stopped pressing the button and the island blew up. Wouldn’t really be much room for story advancement at that point.

0-60 in 3.9 anyone? ya ill take one.

-David

Read More
Entry Tags: the,  and,  they,  that,  get,  for

Apr 11, 08 05:40:28

first

"Well, I think today’s blog will be severely lacking in comparison to the rest" at limit!

DarKFoRcE




Apr 11, 08 05:41:23

hm, last comment somewhat got fucked up
what i wanted to say is:

first

"Well, I think today’s blog will be severely lacking in comparison to the rest"

DarKFoRcE




Apr 11, 08 05:42:18

ehm, what the fuck, someone delete my comments please, somehow it keeps posting only half of it :X

DarKFoRcE




Apr 11, 08 05:42:27

Pretty sick, very solid brag on the car. Class with speed... like a better M3. Looking forward to seeing your next vid. Your first one was good but I almost couldn't watch it with the clicking lol.

IversonXX3




Apr 11, 08 05:47:20

your the highest volume blogger on cardrunners. thats good tho

HoLLLLLaments




Apr 11, 08 06:53:10

The real question here is: Happy Ending or no?

Schwallie4




Apr 11, 08 11:16:35

lol nice..... i read this whole blog entry thinking I had clicked on Zimba's..... I was like...... 'omg zimba turning into a BALLER!"

gambler2k4




Apr 11, 08 11:29:36

biggest brag in this blog is that you somehow found a hot masseuse (or however the fuck you spell that) but nice car also ;)

gordo16




Apr 11, 08 11:46:07

lol at you thinking you will be able to get up early to workout while doing the poker tourny thing. Since when can poker players get up early??? Gl with that man. You wanna make a bet on that one let me know!!!

jkipfer




Apr 11, 08 14:06:36

Lost

Stick with Lost, it gets better as it goes. There's definitely a lull in spots, but it's still one of the best shows on TV.

Beautiful car, hyuge brag.

Rearden Metal




Apr 11, 08 14:16:14

excellent choice! e63 is beastly my friend took one up to 160mph at the amg challenge last year in cali

pakman370



237 Views | Comments (11)
April 10, 2008

So I just got back from Haley’s house, watching lost, having a glass of wine, and making fun of her mop looking dog. The standard thing I do when I get home from wherever is to get online and pull up ftp and stars and see if there are any games on. The thing is though, even if there were like 8 25-50 6max games going I probably wouldn’t play anyways, so it’s sort of silly for me to even open up the sites.
 
It doesn’t really make sense why I do this. I should be super excited to see that kind of mid high action going, and I should be jumping at the chance to play and make some theoretical money! HOWEVER! I’m not. I just don’t really have the desire to load up a bunch of tables and play. Somehow the drive to get on and grind out some hands has just escaped me. I used to wake up every day and play 14 hours straight till I couldn’t see anymore then take a shower and pass out. This was probably 4 years ago then, and since that time it has been an uphill battle trying to get anywhere near those kinds of hours in.
 
I suppose the problem is that the game just isn’t interesting enough. I suppose a normal response to this would be to find a new game! Perhaps PLO even, which is interesting, but I just don’t think my brain can wrap itself around the sort of swings that are normal in that game. I am a big fan of winning money every day, and I multitable 5-10 or something, I greatly increase my chances of doing that. I’m not really sure why I have this problem. Truly it is a terrible attitude to have, thinking that it’s unacceptable to lose money.
 
I would like to talk about something now that plagues quite a few players I think, including me. Sometimes, if I am playing a few tables, and instantly run hot and get up a few buyins, I really don’t feel like playing anymore, as if I have accomplished my goal for the day of making a few buyins, and I feel like it has been productive. Sometimes, I will keep playing, but then feel awful if I give anything back from peak, as if I have made some terrible error in not stopping while I was ahead, even though the games were still good and I was very +ev. I am very aware of these things in my mind, but my silly emotions seem to ignore things such as EV and long run and what not.
 
Occasionally, I will even do something completely ludicrous that makes no sense in any way. Lets use this example.. Say that I am playing 25-50 against a regular HU on stars, and I stack him 3 times. Then all of a sudden 100 people sit and now these 2 tables are 9 handed. Well, I don’t generally play 9 handed because I think my edge is pretty small compared to other games I could play, so I don’t bother, and quit to go work out or something. Say I come back and this same regular is sitting and I know I have a decent edge on him, and I know he will play me. Well, sometimes I will just pass on it and go 12 table 5-10 or something because I will feel stupid if he stacks me a couple times (giving back money from peak), or sometimes I just wont even play.
 
The problem with this is that it’s usually at like 10pm, when I have absolutely nothing else to do. So my other option other than making money, is to sit here and talk on aim, play random flash games people send me, research pointless things that I am curious about, or play some DOTA, which I don’t even enjoy that much anymore, but I like crushing souls so I continue with the habit. However, I do rather enjoy crushing souls at poker, but I can’t seem to work up the motivation to play in this situation, and I’m not really sure why. Irks me terribly it does.
 
Let’s look at today for a moment. I woke up, with the intention of eating, then lifting, then eating again, then showering, then putting in a nice sesh at whatever stakes were running. Well, there was a nice 40-80 game running with a couple fish, so I sat in and played 2 orbits. I was up a whopping 158 dollars at this point, and decided to sit out because there weren’t any other games and I didn’t want to 1 table. Another thing I think is that I have been playing a lot of 5-10 and 10-20, and if I stacked off for 16k a couple times I would have been angry, and tried to tell myself that playing that game was stupid, and I should have just played smaller, even though I’m ridiculously over-rolled for that game, and it was super soft. This is a truly terrible way to look at poker, and it just cant be healthy.
 
Anyways, since I am so self aware of all of these things that my emotional being seems to beat itself up over, I sat back in, as well as sat in a 50-1 game that was pretty decent where a PLO fish was playing. I proceeded to lose 5k or so in the 40-80 game when I made a marginal call down, and then the game instabroke. In the meantime, I lost another 5k or so in the 50-1 game with another standard spot, and THAT game proceeded to insta break. This bothers me possibly more than anything else in poker, when I get stuck v early and then everyone leaves. I’m not even that good and yet everyone seems to think that they should just quit playing 5 minutes into the session.
 
So, I proceed to sit there and sulk about how it was stupid for me to play ‘high’ stakes because I ‘knew’ this kind of ‘shit’ would happen. But I mean, this is just REALLY silly, because they were both excellent spots, and my EV in those games was a lot, so I should be able to look past all of that and just go with the flow knowing I made a +MEV decision (I am going to say MEV whenever I mean monetary expected value, because LEV is different, LEV is life expected value, and sometimes that’s more important). WHY CANT I????!?!!?? Stupid poker. I have spent so much time and effort trying to figure out why I have this problem, and I just cant seem to fix it, it’s realz bad but I mean, I’m not really sure what I can do about it, I don’t think it effects my play that badly, though I’m sure it does, I’m also sure I’m still a very big winner even with the attitude, it just kills me to think about how much of a difference it would make if I could just separate results from my mind.
 
I mean, in all reality, I think the only fix is to just play smaller stakes and grind it out. My hourly rate really won’t even drop that much, since a lot of times if I’m playing 25-50+ there are only a few tables running. I am not a fan of playing 25-50 with 10-20, though I’m ok with 25-50 and 50-1, though 50-1 never really runs anyways. I can mix 10-20 and 5-10, so I might try to spend a lot more time on the 10-20 tables, filling in open spots on my monitor with some 5-10 stuff. I think it’s just a lot easier for me to put in hours and really separate myself from the results if I’m playing a lot of tables at smaller stakes, because it’s a lot easier to win that way and the day to day variance will be less, though perhaps the winrate will suffer. However, if it does, it wont even be by a whole heck of a lot, and I think my quality of life will improve, which is worth quite a bit.
 
I sort of touched on this earlier, but right now I’m sitting here doing absolutely nothing, and I will continue to do absolutely nothing for ~3 hours until I start getting tired and go lay down. Right about.. NOW is a great time for me to load up some 5-10 tables, play a couple hours, and make a couple K in MEV, and yet, I will continue to sit here doing nothing, talking on aim, and watching you tube videos. If I had something productive to do instead, I would like to do that, but another skill I have is to pick something up then when I can’t master it in 5 minutes just give up. This is something else I shall have to work on in the coming months.
 

Sorry for such a long rant tonight guys, the point of my blog though for me is to get a lot of my thoughts into words, it’s something I have always enjoyed doing, but haven’t really given myself the opportunity to in many years. Hopefully some of you struggling with similar issues will feel better about it knowing that you aren’t alone.

I also wanted to include my favorite song as of late, I think everyone should listen to it. I'm generally not a fan of political stuff, but this is really great imo. Rhymefest is the ish, and backed up by Cope its tough to not like. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KBKtIjQCeg

 
Love,
 
-David

Read More
Entry Tags: the,  and,  just,  this,  that,  play

Apr 10, 08 00:49:33

hey love the blog, whered you go to high school?i live in ft worth to.

wizard15




Apr 10, 08 01:01:57

oakridge

David B




Apr 10, 08 01:06:21

sick blog...i like the fact it's so random and unorganized, like you don't plan anything but just write what comes into ur head.

cxbxax




Apr 10, 08 01:43:53

haha cool you play Dota, lets play sometimes! Cant really compete against u in poker but lets see how good u are in DOTA!!! Let me know if u are interested!

Steam4Dreams




Apr 10, 08 02:03:08

im always interested in dota matches, i even play HU! im raptor517 on useast so just add me and /w me if u see me on i usually play a cpl games a day

David B




Apr 10, 08 02:05:28

You are god, you express pretty much everything I think over and over again

AAmucked




Apr 10, 08 02:08:25

o ok,we use to play yall in sports quite a bit,

wizard15




Apr 10, 08 02:10:13

Damn.

Love the blog dude, I am becoming a fan of your stuff. I've only been playing a year and I'm playing 5/10 right now(prob bout where you were at 19) and I really feel like I may feel the same way. I can potentially already see some problems like this coming to the forefront of my mind. I def. hate losing from my peak, and I hate playing longer than I should no matter how +EV(MEV) I am in the game.

If you figure out something to stop the progress of this problem hit me up ;)

Schwallie4




Apr 10, 08 02:51:56

Enjoy reading your blog. You've hit on so many things that I'm having issues with too. Off topic: I like Del Frisco's as well, but I usually go to the one in Dallas off of the tollway and spring valley. No one can beat their steaks. Anyway....keep up the awesome blog!

AK4eva




Apr 10, 08 03:08:06

I could have written this... I feel the excact same way, and it is very annoying!

Drussen




Apr 10, 08 05:09:36

Citzen Cope - Sons gonna rise, sideways and hurricane waters are some other good sonds by him.

sc000t




Apr 10, 08 07:14:38

Love the blog. Keep it up :)

Xizor




Apr 10, 08 08:40:00

Good post.

I agree about once you win the feeling of losing some of it back is terrible.

DOTA? That's so 2006.... Ok I played DOTA a ton for a few years before I started online poker. Now Ii find it hard to try any new or old games when I could either be playing or watching poker.

NoMercyEh




Apr 10, 08 08:41:54

i feel the exact same way, it's nice to hear a high stakes pro struggles with the same sort of thing. my prob lately is, start off the month good then find excuses not to play so i won't lose it all back. stupid.

amarillotg




Apr 10, 08 09:11:47

David - awesome stuff. This idea of LEV vs. MEV is something we've talked about quite a bit. Even though the stakes are lower, the idea of quitting while up a few buy-ins is something we discussed.

Keep up the blogging please!

verneer




Apr 10, 08 09:19:54

Do you listen to The Ticket? If yes, do you listen to the Hardline? I live in CO, but I interned in Dallas and still stream it a few times a week. That show is hilarious although not as good without Greggo. If you don't disregard. Your blog is awesome.

jtfricke




Apr 10, 08 11:14:32

By far the best blog on Cardrunners (maybe the best poker blog on the net) right now. Anyone not reading it is missing out.

Keep up the good work Dave.

LuckyDevil




Apr 10, 08 11:45:22

When I get like that, Stud/8 is the cure. Don't know why. It just has a certain rythm that soothes the racing and unmotivated mind.

Stylite




Apr 10, 08 20:42:08

very sick, ive never really followed any blog but yours is the nuts. (fwf is also wuite a good read at times)

it really does make me feel better to read about people having the same probs as me.

giving up too quickly if something doesnt seem to work (prolly because all my life almost everything "just worked" without putting too much effort into it.
constantly thinking about how to do this or how to improve that but very often justsitting around doing nothing. its so wierd.
and also being aware of all the stuff you mentioned but still not being able to just shake it off.

the fact that you created LEV in your mind is also soso amazing. i have similar thoughts even though i sometimes think that the mere fact that i create something like that and thereby try to quantify something like life quality is absurd in itself. i think that i would be more happy if i didnt do that. yet i cant really stop it.
guess i would like to put a "price" tag on everything in life.

"im not even that good" was pure gold btw.

ExaMeter




Apr 11, 08 05:28:44

I have to say, i really like your blog, many of the topics you talked about, are also a problem for me.

Especially that .. not knowing what to do, and randomly surfing semi crappy sites on the internet.

I also wanna play you DotA HU! i'd even play it for money, if i think i have an edge :>

Are you also playing via ggc (now named garena)? because, for an european, its super shitty to play on an US host on battle.net... :)

Are there other contact possiblities than battle.net? (like irc or so)

DarKFoRcE



199 Views | Comments (20)
April 08, 2008

Well, today was a pretty decent day I suppose. I woke up at the crack of 945am to go with my Dad to the Ranger’s season opener. It took about 2 hours to get from the door at my house to my seat in the stadium; that place was packed! We were planning on getting there 2 hours early to catch BP, but ended up only being there an hour early and grabbed some corn dogs and peanuts and kinda kicked back and shot the breeze for a while. My Dad is a super awesome guy and I wish I spent more time with him. In an effort to do that, I have been trying to pick up golf (I blow right now but it’s a process, and I think its something I can enjoy for my entire life). More on golf for another day..
 
The actual game was pretty abysmal. I don’t really follow MLB much anymore, but the Ranger’s pitching staff is a complete joke (it has been for many years). The final score was 8-1, and the Ranger’s managed to leave like 9 guys on base. The best part about the game though, was the pile of drunk trailer trash that occupied the 6 seats behind us. We had pretty great tickets a few rows up on the 3rd base line, so I was hoping to avoid the drunk idiots that spill crap everywhere.. but alas, I could not.
 
There was this woman, who showed up in the second inning completely obliterated. Here is my favorite quote from her: 'HAAAYY RALEEIGHH YOU LOST YOUR WEDDING RINGG MAN THATS ****EDD UPPP. THE RANGERS SUCKKK MANN LOOK THEY ARE DOWN LIKKE FIVE POINTSSS.’ (She said this in one breath, then gasped for air and yelled for the beer man). Apparently, one of the people she came with lost his wedding ring at the game. He probably took it off and tried to hit on a 16 year old girl near the bathrooms (these people were in their early 40s). Also, I detest when people say ‘points’ when they are talking about baseball. I’m not really sure why, and I think generally I don’t really care, but it’s probably the fact that she was sitting directly in my right ear screaming the entire game.
 
After the 7th inning stretch, I heard a what sounded like a cross between a walrus moan and a dodge ram starting. This woman decided, after coming back from the bathroom, to try to step over the chairs from behind instead of walking in front of 2 people. Now, I think this is generally a very nice thing to do as it doesn’t disrupt the people trying to watch the game.. however, she was holding 3 new beers, and managed to trip, make her body splat on the ground, and splash beer all over me and my Dad. He kinda just sat there, looked at me, then laughed. I told him that I was jealous that he could just shake things like that off. I suppose I have slight anger management issues at times, because if it was just me I would have turned around and said something, or asked security to control these people. Having him there was good so we just kinda shrugged it off, ordered some lemon chills, and finished out the game. All in all it was a great time though. It’s pretty cool how much fun you can have even when everything seems to go wrong, will definitely be repeating an outing like this sometime in the near future.
 
So, in my last blog I mentioned nutrition, and a few people inquired as to what a typical 6 meal course would consist of, so I will pull up the first day of my excel punishment of counting calories, and break it down for ya. Let me preface this by saying that I don’t really know a ton about nutrition, but I have read a few books and done a decent amount of research to at least have a pretty good idea of what I should be doing and what I shouldn’t.
 
Meal 1: Half sandwich. 1 slice double fiber bread, 1 oz turkey, 1 oz ham, 1 slice bacon, handful of romaine, 1 whole egg, 1 whole apple. -- 285 calories, 10.25g fat, 36.2g carbs, 8.3g fiber, 21.7g protein.
Meal 2: (after working out) ½ Protein shake. 1.75 cups skim milk, 2.5 scoops ON choc whey protein, 2oz fat free plain yogurt, 2 tbsp flax seed, half cup rolled oats, 1 whole banana. -- 378.75 calories, 4.125g fat, 44.625g carbs, 4.55g fiber, 43.4g protein.
Meal 3: 14oz slice strawberries, ¼ cup raw almonds. -- 307 calories, 17.2g fat, 36.5g carbs, 12g fiber, 9.7g protein.
Meal 4: 4oz filet, 3oz shrimp (7 medium-large sized with tails cutoff), half cup egg whites, 1 whole apple. -- 346 calories, 5.1g fat, 21.1g carbs, 3.3g fiber, 53.2g protein.
Meal 5: other half of protein shake, 1.75 cups skim milk, 2.5 scoops ON choc whey protein, 2oz fat free plain yogurt, 2 tbsp flax seed, half cup rolled oats, 1 whole banana. -- 378.75 calories, 4.125g fat, 44.625g carbs, 4.55g fiber, 43.4g protein.
Meal 6: 1.75oz (half bag) beef jerkey, 1 whole apple – 212 calories, 1.2g fat, 24.1g carbs, 3.3g fiber, 26.65g protein.
 
This breaks down to 1792.5 calories, 42g of fat, 191.75g carbs, 36g fiber, 212.75g protein. This is a pretty decent breakdown afaik, and should be pretty good for cutting out fat. I don’t really believe in the no carb diet stuff, I think it’s just very unhealthy. Lots of fiber carbs can do wonders for burning fat, so I try to eat plenty of fruit and vegetables (though I rely more heavily on fruit because I just don’t really like eating veggies. I’m trying very hard to work on this though). The key seems to be to just not eat anything processed. Try rolled oats, not instant, or whole grain wheat bread with extra fiber not white bread, etc. This is just one day of things I would eat, but other things I mix in occasionally are a can of navy beans, asparagus, salmon, tuna mixed with some egg yolk put in a hardboiled egg (my version of deviled eggs), boneless skinless chicken breast, etc.
 
I do a pretty good job adhering to a schedule like this when I’m at home, but it seems like every couple weeks I leave for a week and just ruin all the progress I’ve made. I think having a house out there in Vegas will help me a ton, as 85-90% of the travel I do is there, so I will be able to focus on keeping up with my workouts and nutrition. By no means is it necessary to stay this strict, and I occasionally eat pizza with Haley or go out to Del Friscos and eat some delicious white bread and butter, and some buttery Chateau potatoes with my steak and crabcake. Also, another thing I started to do was drink 2-3 cups of green tea per day. I’m not really sure what this does, but everything I have read says it’s good and has lots of healthy antioxidants and what not in it, so I figure it cant hurt. I also cut out almost all soda intake, and try to drink water as much as possible, which is a huge fix, as it saves prob 600 calories a day that would normally be spent on high fructose corn syrup from cherry coke. Yummmm I love cherry coke.
 
So, on the poker side of things, I created the first part of my next video. It’s a HU plo 3 tabling session vs Pokerface McGee, who agreed to help me make a vid. He is a good friend that has been around the poker world for a very long time playing high stakes, and has always been successful. He has played quite a bit in the 200-400 plo games on ftp, and afaik has done fairly well, though nothing incredible. Recently he has been playing more and more HU plo, so I figured he could help me put a decent video together. There was much on the line more than money, so I think we both played our best games.
 
I was originally recording with audio, but there were a few spots where I didn’t have enough time to discuss certain situations in depth enough, so I will go back and rerecord the audio section with some pauses to explain things. I am much more skilled with the software, and was very conscious of my spaz clicking, so I think I should be able to produce a vastly improved video to my last one, at least on the presentation front. I think doing it this way (with the pauses) helps to make a much better video as its easier for me to get my thoughts out as I don’t feel rushed. It takes more than twice as long, so if a lot of you disagree and rather me make videos without pauses and just add commentary while I’m playing, please don’t hesitate to mention it as it will save me time.
 
Not a whole lot going on tonight, probably going to just relax, maybe start season 2 of Lost, and try to get some sleep earlier than usual tonight; I’m still a bit tired from only getting 4 hours of sleep last night. Everyone and their mother seems to love talking about lost, and I have no idea wtf is going on so I started watching it a few weeks ago and just recently finished the first season. So far I enjoy it, and am looking forward to seeing what happens in the next couple seasons.
 
As for my next video, fear not, I will make a 6max nl video at 10-20 or something after I produce the 1-2 HUPLO vid. I have just been on a plo fix for the last couple of days really trying to improve and work on my game, and i think that doing this vid has helped me a lot. I will send the video out to a few people before releasing it to make sure that I don’t suck and give bad advice, but I think it will be very good and am looking forward to getting some feedback on it from you guys. Feel free to pm me or leave comments about things you would like to hear discussed in either HU plo play or in 6max NL.
 
-David

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Entry Tags: the,  was,  and,  this,  that,  for

Apr 9, 08 09:02:56

vn blog sir.. I admire the consistency of being able to keep up with it every day.. sick meal plan; I feel like I couldn't do it for more than about a week...seems pretty intense

dunno a/b the nature of the vid you just made, but talk about what sorts of hands you feel comfortable calling 4bets with HU and what flops you think are okay to push; it's probably a leak for almost everyone just starting out

gordo16




Apr 9, 08 10:56:28

This is awesome.

Sup Dave. This is by far, by farrr the coolest/best blog I've read on CR.

ilvdnfl




Apr 9, 08 12:25:04

After the 7th inning stretch, I heard a what sounded like a cross between a walrus moan and a dodge ram starting.

Water came out of my nose, i'm choking and laughing at the same time in my cube at work.. hahahahahaahahah

Nickw1979




Apr 9, 08 12:55:44

Agree with ilvdnfl - this is by far the best blog on CR as far as I'm concerned... good poker content mixed with life content too. I assume that is the diet you're on to cut weight? Macros look pretty good, though I'd assume for a guy your size you could get away with eating more and still losing weight.... if you want some interesting reads on nutrition, check out www.scivationbooks.com, all of their stuff are free e-books and pretty well put together.

DonkE




Apr 9, 08 13:28:01

Thanks

Raptor, thanks for the content you've been providing. First video was very good, only had one stroke from the spazzing and learned a bit, too. Looking forward to your contributions, definitely top stuff.

Rearden Metal




Apr 9, 08 15:11:44

Hey man, just letting you know that you're absolutely right about the low carb diets being unhealthy in the long run, especially if you're physically active. Not only are carbs the primary source of glucose and glycogen for your organs and brain to function, but it's also the best source of ATP needed by your muscles.

travis_032




Apr 9, 08 19:18:43

good stuff! will be cool to hear some in depth analysis in your upcoming vids, its a great idea to make pauses and talk about the current hand if you dont think u have enough time.
Really nice blog man!

Mayb




Apr 11, 08 08:24:40

I also drink a lot of green tea each day. And like you, im not really sure wtf it does, but if u ever find out id be interested to know. Lost goes wayyyy downhill after season 2 imo.

mattgoody



170 Views | Comments (8)
April 08, 2008

So i have this terrible habit that i have broken many times, though it still needs some work. A year ago, i used to eat probably half a pound of candy  a day, which works out to around probably 800 calories from sugar. My main fixes were sour patch kids, rips, and trolli gummi worms. I have always been in good shape, i have a good metabolism so i never really got fat or anything, i just lost a lot of my definition. In high school i worked out a ton, and was a pretty good all around athlete, so I decided it was time for a change prob exactly a year ago.

I started working out 4x a week and eating better, but still nothing great. I still ate candy every time i went to see a movie, or had a bad day and wanted to just lay down read a book and eat some candy. I have no idea why i was addicted so much, but i find it quite odd. Anyways, I have gotten in pretty good shape over the last year, and am fairly happy with my physical condition, but i would like to take it to the next level. About 2 months ago i changed my diet almost completely, and started figuring out exactly what kind of nutrients i was taking in.

Over my spring break trip to the Virgin Islands, I ate a hamburger and fries every single day, as well as 6 strawberry daiquiris (i love them so much [insert gay kid jokes]). After i got back i decided to punish myself by counting all calories for an entire week, breaking it down on a protein/fat/carb/fiber/calorie basis. The goal was to maintain around 1900 calories, 200g of protein, 200g of carbs, 50g of fat and 40g of fiber. I set up meal plans that would fit nicely into this, and while i was doing it felt great, as well as made excellent gains in my physique.

However.. i have a big problem. I travel a lot, and when im out of town, its really hard for me to structure 6 meals throughout the day, all of which healthyish and keeping my numbers close to where they should be. Its so easy to wake up and order room service or go to nobu with friends and load up on creamy spicy crab and rock shrimp (kobe is goodish for you, so dont try to talk me out of eating that). Its also tough for me to get myself into a good lifting routine staying in different hotels all the time. Almost none of them are 24 hours, and being a poker player makes it tough to stick to normal schedules generally, and so I usually end up doing absolutely nothing but eating like crap and not working out, so I get home and feel like crap, and start the cycle over again.

I recently bought a house in Vegas (well not really bought yet, but got my offer accepted and close May 16th whoop). Here I can set up a home gym, and really focus on maintaining a healthy diet. I feel like when I do these things, my poker game drastically improves, and my level of concentration is at its peak. I am able to play longer, focus better, and win more money while living longer! Quite the bargain if you ask me.

Ok so after all of that, I haven’t even covered the main point. My good friend Phil (Jman28! omgnamedrop) and I have made a wager in an effort to stay focused at least on the nutrition part. It’s not even a big deal, and its not a huge amount of food we are cutting out, but I think it will help. I can’t eat burgers, fries, milkshakes, chips/queso, regular soda (unless im going out with friends and its like a crown and coke), or candy. This bet will run until June 1st, and he will be following the same regime, except he loves burgers too much and will get to eat one a week. I wont get to eat any burgers, but will get to substitute pizza once a week because my gf loves ordering pizza and watching a movie, so I figure its ok every now and then.

Anyways, this is just a very simple thing that will help us stay fairly motivated, and it doesn’t even really cut out tons of terrible food, though I don’t really eat much other than the items listed that can be deemed ‘unhealthy’. I’m usually pretty good at sticking to a program if I really want to do it, but a little competition can’t hurt either. I think the main thing is that you have to really want to make a change, that’s really the only way you can make yourself stick to it. I really want to be in excellent shape, and live a longer, healthier life, so I think that makes it easier to stick to it.

I will get more into my program and what I am doing for nutrition/workouts in another blog post if people are interested, but for now I’ll leave it at that. On the poker side of things, I played a whopping 49 hands today and made 1900 at 10-20. When I look at it, it seems like its really not that much money, but 1900 a day is really almost 700k a year, which is a ton of money, so I cant really be upset with the day, and I just didn’t feel like playing. I got on lists and was waiting for like 20 minutes while 2 tabling and I’m not the most patient of people while trying to get in games, so I gave up. There really haven’t been many 25-50 games running at all in the last few days, which is slightly scary, though I don’t mind grinding out smaller stakes.

My buddy Joe has been in town for the last week or so, and we have been doing a fair bit of non poker activities, which is good. I am sort of ‘coaching’ him I guess, and we played a 2 hour session tonight, but got smoked for a couple buyins so it wasn’t the greatest success. I feel really bad when I’m ‘coaching’ someone and we lose, it makes me feel like a failure, even if we played fine. I’m not really big into losing, but when you assist a friend that you are trying to help at losing money, it really just doesn’t feel good. He is leaving in like an hour to go to the airport, and it kinda sucks that he has to leave here on a negative note, but I guess that’s poker. He is a great guy and a lot of fun, and will be one of the people living with me in vegas. (I am going to throw this part in here.. currently I don’t do any coaching, and probably never will. I help out people I’m friends with for free, take half their action, and discuss hands with them, but I don’t do any formal coaching currently, so don’t pm me ;)

Tonight was a great night, went to Del Friscos (by far my favorite restaurant in Fort Worth) with Haley (my gf who I will refer to as Haley from now on because I hate typing ‘my gf’), Craig (a msnl fish), and Joe. We had some great crabcakes, wine, and some amazing steaks. After dinner came back and hung out with everyone for a couple hours then tried to do the poker thing. I ran good, Joe ran bad, but I still made money overall so cant complain too much I guess. Any winning day is a good day in my book.

Tomorrow is the Texas Rangers (yes I am aware they blow) opening day at the Ballpark, so I got some sweet tickets 4 rows up on the third base line and am taking my Dad. He is a super awesome guy that adores sporting events, so I figure it will be a good afternoon to spend some time together, so I am looking forward to that. What I am NOT looking forward to is waking up at 9am so we can get there for BP and grab some food. I haven’t woken up that early in a while, and I think I might struggle with the idea a bit while my alarm is going off.

Anyways, this was really long so I won’t say anything else. I really do enjoy doing a blog, it’s cool that some people enjoy reading it too, and I do it to get my thoughts out at the end of the day. I have always wanted to do a blog, but have just never really had a good motivating reason to do it. It brings some minor form of inner peace at the end of the day putting my thoughts into words, which I am always a fan of, so hopefully I can keep it up.

-David

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

Apr 8, 08 03:01:48

give this man a blog and he will WRITE! haha keep it up man, enjoy reading it.

nittany31




Apr 8, 08 04:11:27

Dude... really enjoy your blogs. Good mixture of poker and life. Hope you keep up the pace.

Efizzle




Apr 8, 08 06:46:42

For sure, this blog is definately one of the best. Also it would be great if you could do a brief outline as to the 6 meals you eat per day. I am interested in the nutritional guidelines you set yourself

j4mbo




Apr 8, 08 08:43:36

I'd be interested in what you normally eat for 6 meals. I'm in the same boat and am looking for new meals as mine are getting pretty routine-ish.

allreds26




Apr 8, 08 08:52:11

May I recommend a book.

7 Pillars of Health by Don Colbert.

Enjoy.

Nickw1979




Apr 8, 08 09:14:24

awsome blog raptor....one of favs on this site already

x6tence




Apr 8, 08 09:20:04

I have the same problem with working out. It seems like as soon as I get into a good routine at home, I travel for a week and eat like shit/don't work out. It's brutal and I haven't really come up with a good solution for it yet...I guess maybe I gotta buy a house, because that's the only good solution I've heard.

Andrew




Apr 8, 08 10:33:07

Hire a chef who can prepare healthy food and bring it along. For the times you want to celebrate and eat out there is a book "eat this not that" i think it is a mens health book
you also should cut out alcohol if you want to lose weight.

The Aryeh




Apr 8, 08 12:26:50

dude i love this blog (and you)

Taylor




Apr 8, 08 15:13:56

I love that you emphasize the effect that your physical condition has on your play. If you (or anybody) needs any help with anything fitness/nutrition related, shoot me a PM.

travis_032




Apr 8, 08 21:11:38

om daut got ownt!

barnsito



143 Views | Comments (11)
April 07, 2008

HRMMMMM PLO YOU SAY?? ok im going to let my secret out. I really dont know wtf im doing most of the time in plo. Ya, i have made quite a bit, but i think its all luck mostly. It's so easy to win or lose 50 buyins in that game, even at small stakes. Maybe i do something wrong, but it seems like an unreal amount of time im just shovelling money in and crossing my fingers hoping to run good. I do think that i play well post flop, maybe a little spewy pf, but i still cant quite figure out whats optimal there. It seems like your hand doesnt really matter most of the time, and you can either bluff nits or try to bink off 2 pair or a sweet pair draw combo when u get 4 bet against aces.

Anyways, a lot of this could be that i just dont have the experience playing deep stacked plo as many others do. I did pretty well in the 200-400 game, but i only bought in for short stacks because i didnt know what i was doing. It just seemed like a good idea to sit there and let ziig and gustav raise every hand and if i had a decent one click repot, then get in on any flop. Sometimes i sat deeper, and put myself in some pretty good spots, but i never really played the 2-4 game with more than a 40k stack, except when i was stuck a lot and noa was playing, i figured it was worth it then. (epic fail)

SO! That being said, I would like to work on my plo game. I am really bored with poker as of late, and just dont have a huge desire to grind out hands. The 25-50 games the last few weeks have been really abysmal, mostly consisting of a group of 8-10 regs and 3 diff short stacks there to shit in everyone's cheerios. (ofc i sound like a hypocrite since i just talked about ME shorting plo, but hey, its PLO so its diff right? right.) I saw cts short stack so i figured it was ok for me to do it too.

Ok i keep getting off track, my brain is v scattered and random, so bear with me. Today i played 5-10 plo because well, if i play higher ill prob lose a ton and be sad because i dont really know what im doing. I talk down a lot about my plo game, but i actually think im pretty decent, and i see lots of ppl making epic mistakes. I feel like i can read hands pretty well post flop, but i think i just spew too much money pf generally. This could be a habit picked up from playing a lot with ziig/gus/whoeverelsethatsamonkey in the bigger games, but im still not sure if its even that bad.

I got in 1474 hands and managed to win 827 whole dollars. IM RICH! There were a lot of hands that i got all in with. I was 3 betting a pretty wide amount pf in position, especially when stacks got deeper. In plo position is sooo sooo important, like, way more important than in any other form of poker i think. A lot of times i would 3 bet to 120 or whatever, and they would 4 bet to around 400. This allowed me to call lots knowing exactly where they were at, and was able to get it in on good flops while folding sometimes. They were sort of forced to shove any flop, i mean, what can ya do with 3/4 of a psb left? Silly game.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2395146 - This hand was really cool i think. I mean, its really hard for me to rep anything credible, and i think a good smart player would read my soul here sometimes, but at 5-10 i think i can get away with it. He is often blocking the river with a hand like KK AA and its just sooo hard for him to call a shove in this spot. Now, you might wonder why i cant just call since i have the best hand a lot, but i do think i can get him to fold out QJ or smaller flushes, or even a bigger flush from time to time, so i felt like shoving, and it worked out. Who says 'value bluffing' is bad??

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2395141 - Soooooo here, i thought was a pretty cool spot. I am not really sure what to make of the min raise, but i do think its a straight a lot, while occasionally its something like T9 that wants to see a cheap river without being forced to call a bet, or maybe even some kinda flush draw. I elected to call having a pretty good hand myself, and i figured i could bet some rivers as a bluff. The 4s was pretty much perfect for my hand. My hand looks a LOT like a set, and so i went ahead and fired out on the river. I guess i would look pretty silly if he called, but i think i like the play a lotttt.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2395170 - Sick cooler for smaugs, money is getting in i think on the river either way, but i felt a lot cooler check shoving.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2396219 - I want to talk about this hand a bit, because i REALLY hate his flop play. He is getting in 150x to a single raise pf with the nuts.. but he doesnt have any redraws. If he had maybe like KQT9 or even a backdoor flush draw it wouldnt be as bad, not having any extra outs is v v bad i think in that spot. I think a better play for him is to check call, and maybe get more money in on the turn. This is one of those things i was talking earlier about position. Its sooo much easier for him to have this hand in position and he can just click the middle button more instead of going monkey aggro getting in money bad with the nuts.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2396232 - i had probably 10 hands that looked almost exactly like this. I was trying out being more aggro pf, and got into this situation more than i expected. I think with the limper i should just be calling the raise so i dont build a gigantic pot here. Just a kinda unfortunate spot that he had the spades to go with the aces, really killing my hand. im still like 36%ish or so so i mean its a fairly +ev call faceup. anyyyways..

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2396247 - Again, i think my agression was a bit over the top here. I think i could have just called the initial raise pf. I dno though it WAS 4 handed and i had the button, so how bad can it really be? Anyways, with the cold caller in there, i figured i could shove him out of the pot easily and get some equity vs the aces. i think im usually 40-45% depending on how good they are, so that 120 dead helps out considerably. I could be just blowing steam out of my ass since im still fairly new to plo, but i think its ok.

So, heres a graph from today. I think the green line above everything is good, as it means im making the nits fold a bit, but i would like to be getting in slightly better spots i think. Defs going to do some research, study, and a bit of practice and try to get a bit better at this game, its pretty interesting. I AM convinced though that the swings are like 5x higher than in nlh, at least playing the style i did today. I was just getting money in sooo often and in sooo many 60/40 esque spots on either side that i just find it hard to believe that you can manage the swings while maximizing EV.

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Entry Tags: the,  like,  was,  and,  just,  but

Apr 7, 08 04:26:59

"i just find it hard to believe that you can manage the swings while maximizing EV."

I couldn't agree more with this comment.

dirtychum




Apr 7, 08 10:06:28

zomg your blog is sick

abreathofair




Apr 7, 08 11:08:11

Great blog, quickly becoming one of the best on Cardrunners!

MrZeke




Apr 7, 08 14:45:00

fwiw you have a great blog and it's good to see that your updating often

also lolz for the line about short stacking being okay because you saw cts do it

juggaknot99




Apr 7, 08 18:53:34

Maybe the rest or cardrunners can blog more than 1 a month. Thx for your help..

rookie




Apr 9, 08 08:50:30

great blog!

eric




Dec 13, 08 22:33:20

goodFlow.

up20



250 Views | Comments (7)
April 06, 2008

So, today i woke up fairly hungover from a good night out, and decided to play some poker. However, like 300 hands in i started shaking so i had to stop. Im not really sure what it was i guess just hungoverness, i dont drink very often anymore at least so maybe it effects me worse than normal. I used to never really get hungover but meh. Anyways, i sat down and instantly stacked a rando fish with a pretty cool hand.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2388053 - We had played maybe 6 hands or so and he was varying his open size every hand, which usually sets off alarm bells for 'fish' in my brain. I couldnt really figure out what he was trying to rep, and this early in a match i just felt like if he had a QJ/Q8 or even like KQ AQ type hand he would try to bet like 650ish and get some value, so i went ahead and made the call. Lucky guess!

So.. i took a nice long break, watched Raging Bull (which was awesome, i had never seen it) then decided to hit the tables again. No 25-50 or higher was running, and to be honest im glad im really wasnt in the mood to lose money today. I have so much more fun playing poker when its at 5-10 and 10-20 because the swings dont really effect me that much, and i can just play relaxed and put in lots of hands without worrying about results.

So.. the session was a little crazy today, i started off up a bit from my play earlier, then as soon as i started playing my second sesh i insta lost like 20k at 5-10 and 10-20. It was really ridiculous. I have been implementing my new strategies of being retarded monkey aggro, and it completely exploded in my face for the first few hours. Im pretty sure everyone at the table was like haha wtf is bebop doing im so glad hes playing 5-10 and 10-20 today cuz hes monkey tilting all his money off. Well, i really did try to play well, and make good plays and reads, but i got soul ownd for the first part. Luckily i kept playing (my buddy Joe who was sweating a lot of the sesh was like wtf dude quit u suck), and went on a tear. Its amazing how light people start getting in pf vs you if you 3 bet them a lot pf. Was fun. Heres some hands..

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2389997 - Im really not sure what this guy was doing here, i guess he thought i was bluffing, but even if i had some kinda bluff, it would usually include clubs, and hes kinda stomped. so this was a nice little gift that helped the recovery.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2390334 - This I think was really bad on my part.. I really cant expect to ever get called with worse, hes a smart player and the worst hand hes prob calling with is AT, and he might even fold that. Anyways, i should have just called the river, its def worth a call but i dont think a raise has too much value.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2390337 - I REALLY suck at folding aces after the flop. I really cant beat a damned thing here, but decided to monkey in anyways. I have been trying to get better at making folds, but i think i was stuck quite a bit at this point, and i tend to get into less of a folding mood when i have been losing. I have been trying to Tommy Angelo my brain into being more focused on the current hand, and i think if i was playing my best, i would have folded the turn.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2390014 - I think this hand is actually kinda cool, though i wish i bet something more like 470 on the turn to make a river shove seem a BIT more value townish. My hand looks so gigantic here and i really think he is folding AQ and stuff here, though i could be wrong, i went with it and decided to shove, and got lucky again.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2390161 - THIS hand i thought was really weird, i was truly lost. Im not sure which part of my line i dislike the most, it could be none of it could be all of it. I ended up making them all fold, which i was v happy with, as i didnt want to get stacks in with dippey. Having the 6c I think hurts me a bit as theres less combos of str flush draws for them to have, but i dno i didnt want to call cuz that felt silly, so i did the monkey and got them to fold. Still not happy with how i played the hand though, but tbh if i was in same spot id do same thing, not really sure what i could do diff, calling seems so meh.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2390194 - This is one of those spots where i just CANT ever be ahead. Its a spot where i almost always pay off because zomg i have 2 pair, but i think its just really really bad. At this point i was only stuck like 10k and I think i was playing v well, and i think i made a v good fold. I tried to talk myself into it saying he could be shoving A8s as a bluff, but i dno thats just my silly justification method.

Im sure i had more hands that i could talk about, but i was 10-14 tabling the whole time and could only pokerhand some stuff that stuck out and seemed really itneresting at the time. Anyways, i suppose i can call today a success, I really like when i keep my composure when im stuck a ton, and i feel like my personal version of tilt is very mild, and consists mainly of me yelling randomly at the screen. I dont think it effects my play too much, except it makes me slightly easier to run over as i think when im running bad people take more shots at me. But again, im trying to ignore the 'running bad/running good' aspect of poker and focus on the present hands. I will paraphrase Tommy Angelo again and say streaks only exist in my mind.

That being said, i finished up 7500ish at 10-20 and down 2kish at 5-10 today, so I guess i gotta be happy with that. Here's a graph!

http://img107.imageshack.us/my.php?image=46seshpc6.jpg

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

Apr 6, 08 04:21:40

Damn, you're blog has been excellent so far david

lastmansitting




Apr 6, 08 09:58:20

nice blog raptor, this is very helpful, keep up the good work.

tylor_dii




Apr 6, 08 15:00:06

the shakes is probably from low blood sugar due to alcohol intake.. happens to me. eat some protein when it happens!

Fulzgold




Apr 6, 08 20:06:56

nice post... id definitely have quit down 20k and hating life. ur good.

Taylor




Apr 6, 08 22:57:31

Raptor
I don't think people who call 4bets preflop OOP ever fold AQ when ace comes =) Might lay down JJ though

Enzyme



256 Views | Comments (5)
April 05, 2008

ok so, everyone has been asking for a pic of me and my girlfriend, i spent a lot of time with her and cts and his girlfriend over the pca trip to bahamas, but somehow i feel like throwing myself out on a limb and including these 2 pics because im wastey faced and this is only way you will ever get them..

http://img85.imageshack.us/img85/7089/meandhaley1vw9.jpg  -  this was during pca at gilligans island at pca!

http://img85.imageshack.us/img85/6274/haleyanddavidyaysrd5.jpg  -  im really drunk so this is last chance you guys will ever get to see my girlfriend. i cant believe im doing this i should be shot. that is all, enjoy.

Entry Tags: and,  you,  this,  girlfriend,  img85,  pca

Apr 5, 08 01:24:41

pics

1,2

1,2

tehllas




Apr 5, 08 04:05:29

i demand a blog entry about your epic tree battle

brystmar




Apr 5, 08 09:10:19

wow PCA looks nice.

Disrespect




Apr 5, 08 09:23:38

Probably because of your 2+2 avatar I had always imagined that were a funny looking little creep, you know, like EM2.

Pingviini




Apr 5, 08 11:04:51

Very nice!

GIMMEtheGOLD




Apr 5, 08 13:51:53

A pro who updates his blog, lol

Your spirit hasn't been killed yet =D

RodeoBlue




Apr 9, 08 10:54:00

awww ur so cute rap

:P

peteysmooth



242 Views | Comments (7)
April 04, 2008

Ok so since my last entry, i played almost 6k hands, which is kind of a lot for me because im fairly lazy and dont play an epic amount of tables anymore. Anyways, i tried to 12 table some 5-10 and 10-20, ran pretty good at 5-10 but got smoked at 10-20 and was down 6500ish over the course. I have been experimenting with a new style thats extra agressive and gets in more money pf, as im usually just pretty nitty abc at 6max. I really like playing this way, as I think it makes my opponents really start to tilt, unless they win, in which case they dont tilt, because then I tilt, and thats kinda the reverse of what i want to happen! Crazy i know.

To everyone that mentioned my spaz clicking.. ya, im kind of a spaz when i play. I will get a trackball and try to be very calm for the next video, i didnt realize it was such a problem, but it made MY head hurt watching the vid again. I know how to operate the software and everything better now so i dont think i will have any problems.

To the doctor, who recommended exercise.. well, i work out 5x a week and do HIIT, sometimes on bike sometimes hoofin it 2x a week. i started doing this probably 6 months ago and I definitely think it helps maintain focus, and I certainly feel better in general. I was pretty big into sports in high school, with plans to play up into college for baseball, but an injury slowed me down which led to me picking up poker. In any case, im back to being fairly focused on getting and staying in shape, and when im at home at least, eating a very solid diet. (I slack off when im out of town, especially in vegas where its easy to get caught up in going out every night to super nice restaraunts).

Just so everyone knows, this is NOT going to be a dedicated poker blog. I do lots of other things rather than poker and fully intend to include those things in this blog. I am trying to expand my 'horizons' and try to get out of the habit of just waking up and getting on the computer for 14 hours a day. I know a lot of people struggle with this as well, so maybe this can help us both. Anyways, on to some cool hands i had in the last 2 days..

Last night, there werent any good 25-50 games, so i decided to 12 table 10-20 and 5-10, so heres some hands from last night..

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2380708  -  This was moer of a timing tell thing i suppose.. he all but SNAP bet the river for 400. if he had a hand like QJ KQ or something i feel like he would think longer about it, or possbly raise the flop, and when ppl do weird things i click the middle button a lot. So, if you are playing against me, just do really silly lines that make no sense with the nuts and I will pay you off every time!

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2380746  -  Ok so.. this was on a broken table and we had only been playing HU a few hands. His river bet made absolutely no sense to me, and it really just felt like he had a hand like 98 or 87 or something similar that he was turning into a bluff, so i did a snap shove without really thinking it through. I think its a very very cool spot, and it was just kind of a feel thing i guess but after analyzing the hand it really does make sense, its just so hard for him to have a hand here that i think a shove is fairly massively +ev.

Ok so that was it from last night that i thought was cool, everything else was pretty standard.. today i started off the sesh doing this hand probably second orbit..

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2383928  -  I have been experimenting with what i will call the 'gay' bet. I dont use gay in the homosexual way, just in the ahhh thats so gay and annoying way. So, that being said, if you are gay i apologize and dont mean the term to be offensive, so no hate plx. ANYWAYS i have been experimenting with this more and more, and against some people i think i like it, and in certain spots its good. Here Hugo makes a pretty sick call down. I definitely understand his logic behind it, and dont think its that bad at all, i don't have any experience playing againts him really and figured he had a 99 type hand that would fold the river. I was right, but oh so wrong.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2383714  -  This hand was actually pretty interesting. imthesky has been taking a gigantic dump on my face the entire day, and has been doing lots of weird limp reraising stuff pf in position and blah blah and owning me. That being said, this probably wasnt the greatest spot. In any case, he NEVER has a flush here, and its pretty easy for me to rep a flush in this spot, and i think i can get hands like AJ A9 45 etc to fold if i shove. It might be a little thin and spewy, and its possible i have the best hand to begin with, but I have been experimenting with plays like this as well, and am trying to incorporate more creative play into my game.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2383288  -  This hand is just kinda funny and i felt like including it. I never really know how to play KK on AAx flops, so i felt like doing a super gay bet here and just kinda seeing what happened. Hugo decided to min raise me here, so i went for the call. After turn goes check check im slightly worried he can have an ace, but i still think i can get value from 88-JJ type hands by firing out on the river, so i went ahead and bet about 2/3 pot. I was definitely folding to a shove here as i don't think too many ppl are capable of bluffing this river, plus my hand is an ace so often that it cant really be good anyways. So ya i wanted to throw that one in for funz.

Something about the gay bet seems to make people spaz out lots more than they should. Its not really a GREAT thing a lot, but i think overall it should be profitable, though im not sure if its better than just playing standard, as it puts you in a lot of tough spots. 3-4 days ago i played a 25-50 sesh and made like 40k in 1100 hands just reraising a ton in position and making really small bets, tourney donk style, and had fun with it, though my experiments today and yesterday at lower stakes werent as successful. I think i did run slightly bad, got setup a few times, and 6k hands isnt really that much. But ya i would like to experiment a lot more with my poker game and try to look for spots where i can do things differently possibly to my advantage.

I have been trying to think of things that absolutely tilt me when im playing, like when someone min raises my cont bet after a RR oop pf. Those tilt me a lot, a whole whole lot, i never know what to do so i spew off money to them i think. All kinds of min raises in general tilt me, im not sure why they just have that magical effect, so i might try to implement those on occasion. Also, really small 1/4 pot bets tilt me too, (gay bets), so i will try to work those into my experiments as well. It's entirely possible that i am just throwing money away, but afaik not many people i have talked to have really tried experimenting with silly strategies, and have just kinda stuck to pretty lagtag games. HOW BORING AMIRITE? So, i will try to play like 50k hands or something of 6max at 5-10 10-20 levels and try to mess around a lot and see how it works. Hopefully i dont go busto trying.

Tonight it's my girlfriends roomate's birthday, so I get to go hang out with a bunch of people i don't really know at a giant mexican restaraunt called Joe T Garcia's, which is actually pretty popular spot in Ft Worth for big groups to go hang out, get some dece food, and have some solid margaritas. Yes, i love margaritas, and nothing any of you say will change that. Ok thats all i really got, feel free to let me know how much you love/hate/dontreallycareabout my blog so far. 

-David

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Entry Tags: the,  and,  just,  this,  that,  have

Apr 4, 08 18:46:52

[B]Love it![/B]
thanks

flowee




Apr 4, 08 19:39:16

Good stuff!

Hopefully you'll be able to blog somewhat regularly..

andrewlim87




Apr 4, 08 19:44:30

nice blog

gj so far, rap

RodeoBlue




Apr 4, 08 20:29:30

JT Garcias, best mexican restaurant around. I'm from Keller, have been there many times.

Bahuny




Apr 5, 08 00:14:01

Pics of girlfriend or she didn't happen.

Schwallie4




Apr 5, 08 04:07:42

haha, great post.

Dustylove




Apr 6, 08 05:04:57

Nice blog David!

LuckyJoe



337 Views | Comments (7)
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