CARDRUNNERS
What's Your Edge
I invested in a few startups over the past 12-18 months. One has been sold, and I’ll probably end out seeing a return between +/- 15% after the earn-out is complete. That’s a win in my book, as I definitely learned something about being a passive investor here. I don’t think I saw eye to eye with the person who was making all the decisions for the company. That’s not to say that he did a bad job or that I was right all of the time, I just didn’t really do a good enough job of either getting more involved or less involved. I felt like I was offering advice here and there, but I wasn’t involved enough to really make a difference, and had no voting rights or anything so my opinion was just that, an opinion. From now on, when I invest in a company, I’m either going to be a 100% passive investor and not worry one bit about what happens, or I’m going to make sure the situation is setup properly for me to give my input and more importantly, that I have enough time and desire to give good input. I think this was a good lesson to learn, and even in the worst case scenario, I’ve lost less than I would have lost putting that cash in the stock market.
I don’t even know where to begin here. So many things have happened that it’s hard to even put forth a good summary. In no particular order:
-Lee Jones, a legend from his stint as Poker Room Manager at PokerStars is now one of my co-workers. It’s pretty crazy as I can remember sending the guy emails 3 years ago wondering if he’d even read them.
-I’m now a Red Pro, along with the rest of “Team CardRunners.” I guess I don’t feel any different, but it’s just a cool feeling considering I had $3,000 dollars to my name about 5 years ago, now I’m actually paid to play poker. I’d have never predicted that, not in a million years.
-We’ve added Eric Liu, Isaac Baron, David Benefield, and Ryan Daut as lead pros. There have been WAY too many other additions to the CR Pro roster to list here, but I’ll just say that we wouldn’t be where we are without all of the contributions they make, so thanks to all of the new CR pros.
Poker has been a little bit meh for me this year. For the past year, my graph has been like this: Make X at 25-50 and 50-100, lose X taking a shot at higher stakes or in a live cash game. I’m not going to sit here and blame luck for all of my losses. I haven’t been dedicated towards poker like I was in years past, it just wasn’t a priority for me. That’s not to say I’m not improving as a player. The problem is that winning money playing poker is no longer important to me. That sounds silly, and I don’t want to act like I don’t care, but I’ve found it much harder to consistently play my best when it truly doesn’t matter if I win. I’ll have a stretch of a few months where I put together great results, then I’ll play pretty horribly for a day or two when I’m life-tilted or just too tired out to play my best game. I have one poker related goal for 2009 which I think should solve this problem.
On the plus side, I was invited to play on NBC’s Poker After Dark. My episodes should be airing in February of this year, so we’ll see how I look! I think it went pretty well but only time will tell how it goes. That’s another one of those “wow, really?” type things. Yeah, I guess it happened, but I’ll probably truly believe it when I see it on TV.
Takeaway from 2008:
- Take better care of myself. This includes: vitamins every morning (I need suggestions here, researching this tomorrow), more healthful diet (grocery shopping for more of my meals, no snacking after 10pm), and working out 5 days per week. I do a great job of the working out part when I get on a schedule, I just need to motivate myself. I am also doing a little “detox” over the month of January. I will not drink any alcohol for the entire month as I get back into the swing of things (only exception would be business situations where a drink may be borderline necessary). Finally, I’ve ordered the Herman Miller “Embody” office chair for my office. My posture is noticeably worse than it was a few years ago, so this chair should go a long way towards making sure it doesn’t get any worse.
- Keep a written log of every poker session I play. So many times I just don’t feel accountable for my wins and losses. I don’t really “care” about every single hand, which is something you just have to do. I’m going to write down every session’s results and I think that will help me play my best game more often than not. I may or may not update this blog with results, probably depends on how successful I am J.
- Get involved in one other business. I always see opportunities for side projects, but over the past year I’ve let them all go by. I’d like to take on at least a small role in another company, preferably an internet start-up. I’ll have to make sure I can fit this into an otherwise busy schedule, but I think I’m ready to stomach it.
- Keep enjoying life. Every time I look back a few years I think, “Man, things were so great back then, if only I could go back and do X again.” Well I’m tired of that attitude; I’m going to start enjoying things while I am actually doing them. I’ve only recently really started to appreciate some of the opportunities I’ve had. In order to do this, I need to: Take more pictures (camera suggestions please), continue to travel (Asia trip this spring and backpacking trip this summer), and spend less time worrying about things I can’t control. I do a pretty good job of this, but I can do better. I’m sorry this part of the post was a little vague, I don’t feel like discussing everything in complete public.
Dec 31, 08 17:06:19
Taylor,
It's been a pleasure getting to know you and the CardRunners crew this year, I'd just like to thank you guys for the opportunity and am glad to have contributed to the success of CR this year. Best of luck with your goals this year.
As for vitamins every day, you might want to read this:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6399773.stm
For reasons unknown to science, the human body doesn't take to synthetic nutrients like they do from natural foods. If you take that a step further and as an aside I think this silently speaks volumes about prescription medications. I know I try my damndest to not be on any long term prescription drugs, I basically don't trust any of them. I was on Prednozone (sp?) for like a month when I was 18 and I think it permanently changed my disposition.
Anyway, I'm sure I will be out to Chicago a bunch this year to visit my son hopefully we can grab lunch again or what not.
Maybe we can discuss a prop bet... I'm 220 right now, in college I was shredded at 190 so I have a long way to go. I sign up for the gym on Monday... weight loss isn't a huge concern for me, but we can work something out if you want.
Dec 31, 08 17:20:27
Awesome blog, kinda motivates me to write a similar one. You forgot to list being the world's best prop bettor as one of your accomplishments though.
Dec 31, 08 18:14:55
Fantastic entry. You seem to be very self-aware and are obv very motivated. I look forward to hearing about your successes (& learning opps) in 2009.
Jan 1, 09 03:19:59
The best vitamin advice I can give is to stay away from quick fix multi-vitamins, they usually are not absorbed very well by your body.
Make sure you get enough iron, vitamin d and vitamin c.
Fish oil (or any other compound that includes omega 3, 6 and 9) will do wonders for your working memory and concentration.
If you are looking to bulk up at all, get some protein shakes, whey variety. Consuming it as a liquid allows your body to absorb the protein faster, which makes it great for right after a workout.
Also consider cutting back on refined sugar. If you can avoid it for even a week (not as hard as it sounds) you will notice a difference. Avoid it for 3 months and you will never feel the same again. I had to almost completely avoid r. sugar for one of my rugby teams, just to make weight, and I never regretted it once I established the habit of reading ingredients.
Hope this info is somewhat helpful. Best of luck in the new year Taylor!
Jan 1, 09 05:25:15
Great entry Taylor. Good luck with your ventures in 2009.
Re vitamins, I agree with LJJones; you can get what vitamins you need in your diet by eating well. The "Vitamin" business is one of the worlds biggest scams....don't give them your money (btw..I am a Physician).
Instead, use your well-earnt money on a Canon 5D Mark II (http://gizmodo.com/5050899/canon-5d-mark-ii-officially-awesome-21mp-dslr-first-to-shoot-full-hd-video).
Cheers
Jan 1, 09 15:36:24
Tay,
I am a natuopathic doctor. If you want some professional advice on the health stuff feel free to e-mail me. I was also a personal trainer before graduating from my med school so I am informed in that area as well.
I know I've said some dumb things on here in past... I am a huge jokster at heart. If you do not feel comfortable asking me you should definately
See an accredited naturopathic doctor as this is right in there wheelhouse.
Email is. Dr_Kipfer@yahoo.ca
All lower case.
Gl
Jan 2, 09 00:14:49
My Uncle owns a Nikon D300 and it takes the most clear pictures I've ever seen on a camera.
Jan 2, 09 05:31:17
Keep up the good work in 2009 Taylor. Your blog is always an inspiring and entertaining read mate.
Best of luck for the coming year.
Jan 4, 09 10:24:47
Pretty inspirational read. To go from nothing to what you've achieved in 5 years is incredible. I dream of owning my own business, which I hope to make reality in 2009, even a tiny % of the success you have seen would make me a happy man.
I like how you have utilised the opportunities that you have been given. I really do admire the level of professionalism that comes with the whole CR package and the fact that it's run by people with an absolute passion for the game, with money-making not the ultimate priority.
I wish you even more success and really admire what you've done.
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Hey guys, Happy New Year! As part of my list of goals for 2009, one was to become more involved in the Card Runners community (one that has helped me immenesly since joining end of 2007). I have decided to give this blogging thing a go and get involved on the forums. So far so good! First up an introduction of sorts and background etc. I have been playing poker all my life as a kid for matches in a very competitve household. Used to get beat up by my sister in most card games which sucked. I am Australian, grew up in Canberra, spent the last 4 years living in Melbourne, am very happily married, just turned 30 and have been playing poker seriously since mid way thru 2006. Since leaving school I have travelled A LOT, partied hard and generally had a lot of fun. I really enjoy music (mostly electronic/hip hop/alternative/underground stuff) and cool films. I produce music and used to DJ which fortunately took me to most corners of the globe. In terms of poker - I remember going to the cinemas to see Rounders when it came out not having a clue what it was about. Loved it (naturally) and went home that night, searched online for "Texas Poker" or whatever it was called and found that you could play online... sweet. Signed up a free account at I think Paradise Poker but I cant quite remember and played limit for play chips. Used to stay up late to play the freeroll vs 2000 other fish where you could win like $100! Deposited $10 and lost it so stuck to the freerolls on and off for a few years and playing home games with friends that I used to dominate. I was the expert of course cos I read somewhere you only had 20% chance of hitting a flush on the river! Fast forward a few years and I meet a mate who was playing seriously who lent me Harrington on Holdem. Read them both very quickly and started to think and talk about poker non stop. Deposited money on FT and Stars and lost, re-deposited would run it up and down in the spare time I had to play. Was mostly playing MTT's but was always facinated by the cash games. Fast forward to October 2007, was freakin miserable at work and coping grief from the bosses. I remember one time we finally had nothing to do for the first time in months and I was sitting there having a conversation with a collegue when the boss walked past and said, "Get back to work!" I replied "There is nothing to do at the moment we are on top of it," to my suprise she replied, "Then pretend to work." I quickly shot back without much thought, "Why dont you pretend I'm working?" Naturally this didnt go down to well but hey I was working in corporate travel where you basically bend over for the company your servicing AND cop shit from your own company! No thanks... Anyway my lovely wife suggested quiting to play poker full time (and getting a part time job I enjoyed like a music store or something). I didnt need much encouragement! At the time I was doing average but thought fuck it whats the worse that can happen? So joined up Card Runners, got Rakeback on UB (that was my part time job!) and played 100NL and 200NL 6 max. Did ok in these games and was quickly making more money than my old job. Suckers. After the shit hit the fan with UB, I moved money to PS and then back onto FT where I was lucky enough to get rakeback. In June 08 we sold all our shit and packed our bags to do some travelling. Spent some time with Family and Friends in Sydney and Canberra and then set off for 2 months in Thailand, Tokyo, France, Spain, Switzerland and London. Got to catch up with some old friends on the trip that was awesome and had a great time. We are now in Brazil where we are living (wifes Brazilian). After leaving my big LCD monitor in Oz I found it very difficult to play 6 max so focussed on playing Heads Up. I had played a decent amount of HU and did pretty well in the games. Since June 08 I have played just over 100k hands at 100NL HU and beaten the games for 6.7 PTBB/100. I have taken one shot at moving up to 200NL very recently, however, it didnt go to plan so I will be back to 100NL for a few more months I think. It is a little frustrating still playing the same stakes for over a year, but I have cashed out pretty much all Ive won this past year to pay billls, live well, travel and buy stuff for our new apartment here in Brazil. So I shouldnt complain cos 2008 was an amazing year. Just had my first All In for 2009 and won...good omen!?!?!... Here is the hand: As I mentioned participate more here... Poker wise I wanna clear $50k this year and move up succesfully! Wanna travel more especially around Sth America and have a friends wedding in Europe in May. Wanna get healthier - just hit 30 a week ago so its all on the downslide now. Woke up on my Bday feeling hungover and seriously felt like I was 40! Not cool. We got a puppy in December so taking him out for walks has been great. He is a 3 month old German Shepherd named Shadow and he is awesome. Enjoy myself more than last year. If I can do this life will be great cos 08 was cool.
Free hand converter brought to you by CardRunners
Seat 1: DestroyerChris ($38) - 
Seat 2: mr ladrao ($102) - 
- 
PRE-FLOP:
mr ladrao posts small blind $0.50
DestroyerChris posts BIG blind $1
Dealt To: mr ladrao
RAISE mr ladrao ($3)
RAISE DestroyerChris ($5)
RAISE mr ladrao ($15)
CALL DestroyerChris ($10)
FLOP:
Pot: $30
BET DestroyerChris ($23)
CALL mr ladrao ($23)
TURN:
Pot: $76 
RIVER:
Pot: $76 
SHOWDOWN:
DestroyerChris:
mr ladrao:
mr ladrao collected $75.5 from main pot with two pair, Kings and Sixes
SUMMARY:
Total pot: $76 Rake: $0.50
Final Board:
Seat 1: DestroyerChris big blind showed [Ac Js] and lost with a pair of Sixes - Net Gain/Loss: ($-38)
Seat 2: mr ladrao small blind showed [Ks Ad] and won 75.50 with two pair, Kings and Sixes - Net Gain/Loss: ($37)
Free hand converter brought to you by CardRunners
So goals for 2009:
Here is my favourite hand from 2008 - read below for explanation (justification ;P)
Free hand converter brought to you by CardRunners
Seat 1: mr ladrao ($201.50) - -
Seat 2: mrpots7 ($66.50) -
PRE-FLOP:
mr ladrao posts small blind $0.50
mrpots7 posts BIG blind $1
Dealt To: mr ladrao
RAISE mr ladrao ($3)
RAISE mrpots7 ($9)
RAISE mr ladrao ($22)
CALL mrpots7 ($13)
FLOP:
Pot: $44
CHECK mrpots7
BET mr ladrao ($45)
CALL mrpots7 ($44.50)
UNCALLED mr ladrao ($0.50)
TURN:
Pot: $133 
RIVER:
Pot: $133 
SHOWDOWN:
mr ladrao:
mrpots7:
mr ladrao collected $132.5 from main pot with a straight, Nine high
SUMMARY:
Total pot: $133 Rake: $0.50
Final Board:
Seat 1: mr ladrao small blind showed [7c 2s] and won 132.50 with a straight, Nine high - Net Gain/Loss: ($65.5)
Seat 2: mrpots7 big blind showed [Ah Th] and lost with Ace King high - Net Gain/Loss: ($-66.5)
Free hand converter brought to you by CardRunners
Happened only a few days ago after getting beaten up at 1/2.
Villain had bluffed me a few times and shown his cards. On my 4 bet I was CTRL M'ing to turn auto muck off so I could show him my bluff to tilt him back. He calls so i shove the flop cos I've got AK right? He insta-awesome calls me with his A hi and I laugh my ass off at how much I suck. I then suck out awesome of course - send him on monkey tilt and go on to take him for 2.5 buy-ins...
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Am really going to try to reduce my tilt and just take poker for what it is and not worry too much about winning and losing which I really have no control over, but I do have control over playing bad and tilt which happens after a few beats which really needs to stop. Not really going to set a financial goal for myself as I've just started out in online poker, so not going to put too much pressure on myself to win money which will make me more results orientated which I'm trying get rid of, as I should only think about making good decisions instead of just thinking about making money. Although I do have a side goal with a friend which I will not disclose but this is mainly to motivate myself to put in the needed hours and the hard work to make it happen.
Anyways happy new year guys, and hope you all prosper in 2009.
Kinson
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EDIT: So lame the pictures weren't working. After putting all the pictures up someone removed all the files in my folder off the CR server. I don't get it. They should work now
First I wanted to say that I finished today +23k today after a decent place in a tourney (I "deserved" more but lost 2 flips back to back, like OMG can't I just keep running good forever one time). That just tops off the last 12 days of my life which have been quite rememberable, and yet quite not rememberable at the same time. Good thing I took pictures!
As I review some of these pictures, I realize we look far too drunk in most of them for me to put them up, so they have been censored for your protection.
Us Chilling outside Mesa before we get a table. (Me, Shana, Nick)
img171.imageshack.us/img171/7564/pca059py1.jpg
That's Clay (MezmerizePLZ) and his sister Mo
img171.imageshack.us/img171/4097/pca061uw5.jpg
half of Alex (Sillynice), Tommy (tcblade), and Bob (bigbobmalou sp?)
img530.imageshack.us/img530/443/pca065rp5.jpg
A bunch of us chillin' (Echo, Bob, Shana's back there, Alex, Me, Nick)
img530.imageshack.us/img530/6400/pca067oh1.jpg
Someone plz photoshop the Corono into the sand next to us.
img266.imageshack.us/img266/4846/pca092in4.jpg
Told you there are some huge fish at PCA
img179.imageshack.us/img179/1364/pca098bt8.jpg
Us in front of the Bacardi store getting ready for another night
img179.imageshack.us/img179/2223/pca107js1.jpg
Us getting ready for the nightclub. liquid meat, owner of liquidpoker.net I believe, aka Joy, is the guy on the far left
img179.imageshack.us/img179/96/pca114qy9.jpg
Poppin Bottles all night long
img254.imageshack.us/img254/4772/pca117jf2.jpg
img254.imageshack.us/img254/1955/pca127bp9.jpg
This is what the nightclub looks like when your drunk
img175.imageshack.us/img175/7387/pca141un1.jpg
So needless to say PCA was alot of fun. I got a bunch more pics I will put up another day. Im off to make some full ring videos.
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AL East w l Rays 95 67 Yankees 93 69 Red Sox 93 69 Toronto 77 85 Orioles 65 97 AL Central Twins 90 72 White Sox 85 77 Kansas City 83 79 Detroit 79 83 Cleveland 79 83 AL West Angels 88 74 Oakland 81 81 Texas 74 88 Seattle 64 98 NL East Phillies 91 71 Mets 89 73 Braves 85 77 Marlins 81 81 Nationals 73 89 NL Central Cubs 95 67 Cardinals 90 72 Brewers 81 81 Reds 80 82 Astros 73 89 Pirates 63 99 AL West Dodgers 89 73 Arizona 85 77 Giants 79 83 Rockies 65 97 Padres 65 97
NL Champ:
Cubs
AL Champ:
Rays
World Series:
Rays
Bounce Back years:
Chris Carpenter
Konkerko
liriano
J. Vazquez
K. Johjima
Jimmy Rollins
Mike Jacobs(average wise)
David Ortiz
Adrian Beltre(average wise)
Ianetta
Verlander
Beckett
Back to reality:
Volquez
Cliff Lee
Chipper Jones
G. Soto
Sin Choo
Doumit
Milton Bradley
Matuzaka
Gavin Floyd
Amando Galarraga
J. Saunders
Scott Olsen
Lannan
bets to make:
Orioles under 73
Cubs over 92
White sox over 78
Indians under 85.5
Rockies under 77.5
Royals over 75.5
Cards over 82
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