CARDRUNNERS
What's Your Edge
Taylor Caby: Poker Blog
Hiya,
It's been awhile. I had a horrible case of writers cramp that I'm working out right now. I will make few promises about the rest of the summer in Vegas and this blog, but here goes.
Where to start. I've been grinding some midstakes NLHE out in Vegas. One of my roommates is playing in the games and we've talked a lot about it so I figured instead of wasting time watching TV or doing whatever it is I do I will play some NLHE. My results haven't been great but I was playing like a freaking clown for awhile trying to figure out how to 9-12 table effectively. I've got a grasp on it, although I think playing less tables than that may be the way to go. At any rate, I'm doing this so I can learn how the games play "today" and make a great midstakes NLHE series for you guys. I think I have some good stuff for you so in due time you will see just how over the hill I'm not.
Oh btw, I also recorded a 3-6 deep HU video with E-cart that I think will be good.
So... Vegas. We've been having fun. More fun than I thought I would have and probably should be having, at that. This summer we decided to do a more hands-off approach to the WSOP so we've got a crapload of marketing stuff that requires little to no day-to-day work. Last year Ezra was pulling his hair out managing everything so I think this year is a welcome change for our new Director of Marketing, Lana. She's been pounding the floor at the Rio keeping tabs on all the CR guys though.
.....And I just heard one of my roommates yelling at the monkeys playing 2-4nlhe.
Umm...what else. I've had quite a few people ask me if Full TIlt bought CardRunners. I think it was even printed in a poker magazine too, although I didn't see that myself so I don't know for sure. The answer is if FTP did buy CR nobody told/paid me so I think it's still our company. It's actually pretty cool that CR is owned completely by poker players, most of who play almost exlclusively online. I don't know why I think that's neat but I think that's neat.
I continue to have a love/hate relationship with the Vegas club scene. On one hand, the music they play is typically fantastic, it's usually not all "clubby" like a lot of the places I've been to outside of Vegas. The places are filled with attractive people and everyone is having a fun time. However, it's freaking expensive to get tables there and I don't like the scene enough to commit to four hours of getting trampled in the sweaty mass that is the dance floor. The other thing is that it sort of feels like high school, with a twist, all over again. It's all about who you know, how you look, who you're with, etc. The twist is that if you have a lot of money most of the aforementioned stuff doesn't really matter. I don't like that.
I'd say we go to 1.5 clubs a week on average out here, which means I'll probably go 6-8 times on the summer. I don't ever go to the clubs in Chicago so I guess I'll just get it out of my system out here.
I've played in the 2500 and 1500 six max tourneys plus the 10k HU. I busted by dinner break in the 1500 and made it to dinner break with about an above average stack in the 2500. I worked up to what was likely a top 50 stack with 200 people left (paid 125 or so) and took a pretty brutal cooler (set under set). In the 10k HU I won my first match vs. Charder and then lost my second match vs. the president of the Russian Poker Federation, or so google told me after the match. I really thought I played my top game in both matches but there are some times in poker, particularly heads up, where there was nothing you could do and the cards just don't go your way.
Since this time I've had my girlfriend in town for two weekends and some of my good friends from back home as well. We had an intensely degenerate weekend of gambling, drinking, eating Pizza Hut for 1-2 meals per day, and litle to no sleep. I even developed a mild addiction to UB blackjack over this time period, probably putting over 100k worth of bets into action and coming out ahead like 7k. At the end of the weekend I snap withdrew the whole account because there's no worse addiction than a UB blackjack addiction. In case people (hi mom) can't tell I'm joking about the addiction part but since I was on a huge rush I figured I'd ride it out and make sure to stop before I lost all of my profits.
For the fourth of July we are renting an 85 foot house boat (six bedrooms) and taking it out on Lake Havisu which is a few hours outside of Las Vegas. I'm told it gets really rowdy for Spring Break and Fourth of July, you can look at youtube videos if you are interested in seeing what's going down. I sort of have a fear of boats because I throw up profusely when I go on them, so I actually might not join my roommates for this party.
Well I think this should give you guys a sufficient update of what's going on in my life. I'll try to blog about some interesting stuff here or there the rest of the summer.
Taylor
PS - Stinger, ship me that $200 on FTP, fish.
Jun 27, 09 10:24:26
TY Stinger for reinvesting some of your CR ownership profits back into the business to get Taylor to blog about Vegas. All owners reinvest...lol
Jun 27, 09 17:08:58
Havasu is pretty damn awesome during Spring Break and the 4th for sure. Most of the time you just tie up your boats together and just cruise and hang out. You shouldn't really worry about getting sick because the water is almost always pretty calm.
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Okay so I am going to upload and finish up my Asia blog post this evening, I'm writing this to force myself to do that and also because today at the gym there were a few things I was thinking about that I wanted to say. I guess this is a good place to say those things.
-Did anyone watch the Atlanta Hawks vs. Miami Heat last night? There was a freaking hawk in the stadium flying around. I'm pretty sure they brought it in for the opening introductions or something, but whose idea was it to let the thing roam freely during the game? Talk about one of the most bush league things I've seen at a professional sports event, the hawk was flying around during the game and at one point flew right across the camera. I thought it was some sort of in game advertisement but it was actually a hawk whizzing past the screen. Then the thing decides to just chill on the backboard, it's talons were actually in play on the top front of the backboard. The funniest part was when its trainer was called to come bring it away, the ref looked like he was yelling at the guy as if to say "WTF is your hawk doing here at the game?" As if it was the trainers call to let the hawk roam freely. Anyway, the whole scene was pretty funny.
-I'm looking forward to the documentary about one of my childhood heroes, Mike Tyson. It's called Tyson, and it's coming out pretty soon, I think. I have all of Tyson's fights on DVD and read a few books about him back in high school. I know he's a terrible guy but for some reason I've always had this weird interest in whatever the guy does. It's pretty amazing the stuff he accomplished considering his upbringing and the fact that he didn't really have the best guys handling his career (in and out of the ring). I think I might always regret not saying something to Tyson when I saw him at the Rhino in Vegas a few summers back. I was standing not 3 feet from the guy just staring at him. My friends were like, "dude you have to say something to him, he's your hero." I just froze up though, which in retrospect may have been the right move because let me tell you, Mike Tyson has punched people out for less than saying "Hey, I'm a big fan of yours" to him at a strip club. I'll write up a review of that documentary when I see it.
-Andrew, Jed, and our new Marketing Director, Lana, went to Sunda last night. I'm interested to see if anyone else has checked it out yet, it's owned by the guys who own Rockit, The Underground, etc. and is basically just mega trendy Pan Asian food. It exceeded my expectations actually, although I admit I didn't really know what to expect. There are so many different types of food there that you literally would have to go back four or five times to get a good idea of what's what, but It was definitely good overall. If I am ever in my 40s or 50s and am trying to impress a 20 something girl, this is without question the place I will take her. I would say Sunda has cornered that part of the food market, as there were countless older dudes with hot young girls. Anyway, let me know if you've checked it out.
Taylor
Apr 23, 09 10:42:29
You can watch the Tyson documentary online Taylor, pretty good tbh, ended up feeling sorry for him. Here is the link: http://megavideo.com/?v=9GXYNEDR
Apr 23, 09 11:50:38
is the tyson video at the theatres? i'd rather go watch it there.
thanks.
Apr 23, 09 11:53:50
umm it came out in the UK last month, but I'm pretty sure it's not out until next week in the US.
Apr 23, 09 12:48:06
Why you gotta hate on Atlanta sports?
OK, yeah... it was bush-league. And the redneck crowd down here in GA ate it up.
Apr 23, 09 13:00:46
Redneck crowd? An Atlanta Hawks game consists of like 90% black people. You're thinking of an Atlanta Braves crowd....
At one point the Hawks coach said, “Somebody has to get this bird out of here.” lol, pretty funny
Apr 23, 09 14:23:46
I think "terrible guy" is an understatement. The man is scum of the earth. Hopefully he will die before too long.
Apr 23, 09 18:17:59
the greatest combination of speed and power ever. the mini-white-tyson hatton is looking really cheap at +200 next weekend.
Apr 23, 09 19:38:05
i saw the hawk fly though the screen as well and couldn't believe what i was seeing. me and my buddy were just in shock as the thing just chilled on the home team backboard. wtf was that?
Apr 23, 09 22:40:04
the tyson documentary will not disappoint. i've been quoting it for the last week.
Apr 24, 09 00:20:55
but how cool would it be to say you got knocked the F out by one of your heroes haha
Apr 24, 09 00:44:16
jjdodd27:
I don't think it is by accident you left out the reasons for this death wish, as an aside I think whatever you accuse him of from your couch you hoping he dies soon beats any of said douchebaggedness by a mile.
Taylor: while you wait for the theatrical release, check out his appearence on Charlie Rose with the Director must see I think you can download it at www.charlierose.com think it was on 4/21
Good stuff, huge tyson fan as well, you should have said hi prolly left out the biggest fan bit though - he wouldn't have minded I am sure.
Apr 24, 09 02:06:48
My childhood idol was Charlie Manson. Not once did he ever rape anyone or beat up his wife therefore hes a better person than Mike Tyson. Do you understand what Im saying, or am i trying to be on level 4 while your on 3? With that said I am glad we dont here about iron Mike, means hes doing ok,what surprises me Tay a man of your intelligence would not of had a better hero as you put it.. Like OJ Simpson
helps business keep some things quiet
Apr 24, 09 06:15:19
i think it was obvious i admire mike's accomplishments in the ring and against the adversity he has faced. the purported rape charges are obviously despicable and something that i have no respect for. all the other petty stuff, fights with tourists, stupid comments at press conferences, etc., is just mike being mike.
Apr 24, 09 12:14:06
Ha that was the first time I've ever laughed out loud while reading a CR blog. Tyson is your hero? What about OJ Simpson and Mike Vick?
Apr 24, 09 16:22:13
love the group-think fascism here, it's not like Mike Tyson represents tyranny, oppression, corruption or anything, he is just a sports icon, if you like sports you possibly might like him it's just a statistical reality.
Ali was treated worse, believe it or not in those days you could rape (not saying Tyson raped Desiree) and that was more socially acceptable, and anti-patriotism was blasphemous. Ask Babe Ruth.
The real world is not on a 24hr news cycle, so honor the Kennedys Regans and the Bushes and crucify the little guys like Tyson and Vick now but that is short sighted
Time turned CHE to an icon as well, Next is Castro give it 50 years and Tyson will just be another hall of fame athlete, too bad you have to wait for the tube to tell you he is not an inhuman monster and has redeemable qualities imo.
Apr 25, 09 03:36:55
i wana be i wana be like MIKe. Mike. I want to be like Mike.:)
Apr 30, 09 13:51:30
pretty sure being punched by Tyson would be a huge brag. Also a huge shiner but that gives you celebrity status with anyone, especially girls. Tell a girl you stood up to Mike Tyson without getting raped (literally) and she'll probably idolize you.
May 28, 09 18:46:45
He recently did an interview on Adam Carolla's podcast which you might find interesting.
Apparently he is a changed man.
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Alternate Title: I think I’m not turning Japanese. Tokyo was a memorable experience, to say the least. The Japanese culture could not be more different than the American culture. It’s funny, because as I’m reflecting on Tokyo, the cultural experience was very similar to what I expected yet that very fact continues to surprise me. I didn’t think it was possible for another culture of a very developed and technologically advanced nation to be so different than ours. Admittedly that statement just confirms my naivety about different cultures in general, but it’s the truth. I’m just going to write a stream of stories and thoughts from my Japanese experience.
Arrival: We took what eventually was close to a 14 hour flight on Saturday, April 4th. We faced some heavy headwinds which slowed us down. I caught up on sleep during that flight, somehow sleeping for close to half of the flight even though I had a good six hours of sleep the night before. Scott (Irock) and Andrew had been out pretty much the whole night before so they were both hurting at the airport.
We landed in Tokyo and immediately realized we should have printed out more information about where we were going and how to get there. Much fewer people than I expected spoke any English at all, but luckily Andrew’s Iphone was working (mine wasn’t) and we got train directions to a stop near our hotel, where we grabbed a cab.
My first thoughts about Japan were “why is every tenth person wearing a mask?” We later dubbed these masks “Sub-Zero masks,” after the Mortal Kombat character, Sub-Zero. That’s what they look like, anyway. Eventually we learned Japanese people wear these masks when they are either sick or around other people that are sick. I think it’s more or less a polite gesture than anything else, as I don’t think that mask can really protect you. The most shocking thing to me is that I saw people pull down their masks to smoke a cigarette or drink a beer. Now let’s be serious here people, if you are sick you 1) shouldn’t be drinking a beer or smoking and 2) pulling that mask down renders it freaking useless in controlling the spread of germs. I wanted to find myself a mask but never saw one.
We got to our hotel at 4pm Tokyo time, roughly 17 hours after getting to the airport in Chicago. After a quick shower and a watching a few innings of the “Fighters” baseball team, Scott and I met Andrew in the lobby to go find some sushi. We walked down to the fish market which was about a 10 minute walk from our hotel, which was the Park Hotel in the Shiodome Media Tower. One cool thing about the Media Tower, and some places in Tokyo in general, is that there are walkways about three floors high. It’s almost like a city on top of a city, you can walk around to certain places faster and with better views than you could on the ground. It’s definitely something I wish they had in Chicago.
We stepped in some dive joint a few hundred feet from the water. It took us about 30 seconds to realize not one person in the place spoke a lick of English. They gave us a menu, which we couldn’t read, and then they gave us a picture menu, of which we really only knew what maybe 5-6 of the types of fish were (tunas, eel, shrimp, etc.). So we just decided to order the chef’s selection, I think it’s called chiriashi although I’ve heard of it called omakase in the States. We ordered some Kirins and the chefs started shouting random Japanese things. Throughout the trip, sushi chefs in Japan shout random things from time to time, particularly when you order beers. It’s actually pretty funny, I typically responded by shouting random things too to try to fit in. I think they found that humorous, but I’ll never really know.
They brought us our food and we started eating. We didn’t really know what a lot of the stuff was so it was time to just eat and see what happened. It was cool to eat fish that literally was just fished out of the water a few miles away, earlier that day or the day before, but it would have been nice to know what we were eating. I’d say about 2/3 of the stuff tasted good, and 1/3 was mediocre or downright bad. The one that sticks out in my mind as being bad was sea urchin. I didn’t want to offend any of the chefs at the bar so I pretty much decided I’d eat everything I put in my mouth, but that one was painful.
After dinner, we headed back to the hotel to wait for Anthony’s flight to come in. By this time it was like 9pm and we were all fighting to stay up as late as we could to try to get adjusted to Japanese time as fast as possible. I played some mindless 2-4 PLO to kill an hour or so until Anthony arrived.
When Anthony arrived, we walked outside and tried to find some bars in Ginza, a posh Japanese district with shopping and restaurants. I don’t know if we were in the wrong district or just the wrong part of it, but everything was basically dead. There were a few bars still open but they were all closing by 11 or 12, so after an hour of walking around we came home about 1130. Exhausted, I immediately fell asleep, hoping that I’d sleep through the night. Unfortunately, I woke up at 330 AM wide awake. I took some over the counter sleeping pills I got at CVS and passed out for the next 4 hours. Great decision to travel with those, I was almost fully acclimated to the time change within 3-4 days thanks to taking one of those anytime I couldn’t sleep and I should be sleeping.
Alright, that’s Day 1. I’ll probably combine some days at some point but I’m tired of writing now so I’ll check back ASAP!
Apr 13, 09 02:27:03
Sounds like an awesome time, keep the TR's coming.... one problem though... pics or gtfo imo.
Apr 13, 09 08:48:13
awesoem trip report; and yeah pics would be nice. they say sea urchin is an acquired taste and its def a delicacy among sushi. surprised u hadnt had it back in US! i agree tho the one time i had it i didnt like it so i havent ordered it since
Apr 13, 09 09:53:38
lol "sub zero masks" i can just imagine whiteboy wiggins walking down a street there take a picture of that
Apr 14, 09 00:21:18
A+ blog entry! You make me really jealous I'm not in Japan right now. Have fun
Apr 14, 09 02:37:33
Sounds like your trip has been awesome so far! I hope you guys are crushing Thailand now. Tell AT high for me! I cannot wait for more updates! :)
Apr 15, 09 10:56:30
Rapongi has lots of nightlife. it has a seedy reputation but i found it perfectly reasonable. also you HAVE TO have some tradition raman there. my favorite was tongkotsu (thats def not how its spelled, but i think how it sounds). it'll change your life :P
Apr 19, 09 10:13:52
I want to see pictures of you guys with the masks + the hoods of your CR hoodies down.
One of you also needs to be sporting shades.
Apr 21, 09 05:16:35
lol at it being dead at 11pm. The clubs dont start till 1 or 2 am here.
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So for those of you that haven't checked out the video yet today, Gder01 from Youtube (John Voight from 2p2) has signed with CR to do some humor vids. Today was his first one, which was basically a parody of the political video we did 6 months ago which....didn't go so well. Anyway, we can laugh at ourselves, and after all, it's April Fools Day.
I'm reading the Kudos/Rotten Tomatoes forum looking at some feedback. Now, I made it pretty clear in that thread that this video was an april fools joke. One member didn't read the whole thread and made comments about how "this was a terrible decision by the CEO, didn't we learn our lesson with the last political video?" People went on to say he should read the thread and he clearly didn't bother to do that and he replied with:
"the only reason CR wont see a backlash for this poor business decision is due to the unique content they are able to provide that can't be found elsewhere. but tbh if a competitor had clones of Raptor/Stinger/Irock I would cancel my membership immediately.
So better to be lucky then good eh?"
Now DAMN, THATis what I am talking about. We managed to put up a video titled "Barack Obama: Great or Greatest?," a member didn't get the joke, does not like Obama or political commentary from us in general (I get that), and still managed to say that even with our perceived lack of ability to make good business decisions he will stick around as a customer because our content is so damn good. It's at that point I realized that all of our hard work in signing new pros and improving video content and quality from current ones is really starting to pay off.
What sort of made me scratch my head was the "better to be lucky than good" comment. Is it really luck that we continue to sign these guys? I dunno, maybe.
Anyway, this post is all in good fun but I thought it was funny. Nothing like a good April Fool's Joke. I think I'm going to try to convince my girlfriend later today that I am going to stay in Asia for six months (for work) instead of 2 weeks.
Have a nice day.
Apr 1, 09 10:45:47
Yah, I love making my girlfriend think im doing some shit like going away for months or something....
Pretty shitty if she doesnt seem that bummed about it tho! haha
Apr 1, 09 12:43:20
all i have to say is HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! people need to learn to relaxe. I dont like President right but dont care about good or bad things people say. I would tell him to take a chill pill and move onto more impoartint things in life.
Apr 1, 09 19:19:51
best part is the sleeveless mrs. obama.
and i think the whole thing is better when some people don't find it funny and get angry :)
Apr 1, 09 21:45:27
Just tell your girlfriend that you won't be going for anal tonight. Then when you "accidentally" do it, yell "APRIL FOOLS!"
Apr 2, 09 00:50:05
the lucky comment is taken out of context. No, it is not luck to sign these guys, it is hard work and you do a great job.
It is lucky that you sell a product that cannot be found anywhere else. IRL if Coke did something political, customers would flock to Pepsi. If it was Mcdonalds, customers would flock to BurgerKing.
So the luck part is that you will not see any effect from this 'mistake' that a normal company would.
However it is your rodeo do what you want. FWIW, I only said you made A bad decision, I never stated you were a bad decision maker or lacked the ability to make good decisions.
Apr 5, 09 10:20:50
BigBadDevil, you realize the video was posted as a joke, right? It was April Fool's Day. They learned their lesson from the last political video and have enough of a sense of humor to poke fun at themselves. You seem to continually be missing the point that the entire video was posted as a JOKE. Joke = intended to be funny, not serious, in case you're unclear on that.
Apr 5, 09 18:52:59
I have always been a huge fan of gder01. I can hardly believe it's happening!! This is the most excited I have ever been over a new pro.
xoxoxo
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[Insert sorry for not blogging statement here]
I'm just going to list some random stuff. Sorry this just off the top of my head but here goes:
-NCAA Tournament is my favorite sports time of the year. This tournament has lacked major upsets and has had only one memorable finish (Villanova Pitt), but it's been enjoyable nonetheless. The Elite 8 and Sweet 16 were just a bit disappointing because all of the matchups looked pretty decent on paper but most of the games were in fact not very close. I'm still pissed that I had to sit through the Villanova Duke debacle of a game instead of Missouri Memphis. I can't believe more people in Chicago would rather watch that East Coast game than two Midwest powers, but I'll give CBS the benefit of the doubt in knowing what their customers want.
-I entered three brackets into the 2p2 HSNL pool. I'm pissed because i hit 2/4 final 4 (Uconn) and 3/4 final 4 (MSU) and I have zero chance to win. If Pitt had beat Villanova (heartbreaker) I'd win if MSU wins the title, and if Syracuse had beaten Oklahoma I'd have tied for the win if UConn won the title. So close but so far away, meh, I swear I'll win a bracket competition once in my life, I've filled one out every year since 9th grade and never won.
-Thanks for the tips on my last blog about Asia. I need to respond to a few PM's yet but we've got some good input on Thailand for sure. I'm shocked at how many CR members have either lived or traveled in Thailand. Since Tokyo is such a huge place I figure I'll just list the hotel we are staying at and people can recommend some good things to do in that area. We're looking for some cool restaurants and bars/clubs. Basically something that four white kids can do and have fun doing, but preferably is something sort of authentic Japanese. We don't really want to stick to the stuff that the Americans do when they are in Tokyo to remind themselves of home. This is the hotel:(edit: this won't work for some random reason, www.parkhoteltokyo.com).
We were told this was near a good area for bars/clubs/fish market/stuff to do so any help is appreciated. Also, if anyone knows the best way to get to this hotel from the airport that would be awesome as well. I assume there is a train?
Other stuff.. I'm putting the audio together tomorrow to a video I made this weekend. It's going to be a 2 part HU NLHE series which I think should turn out well. I played a CR member and he sent us the HH's. It was sort of cool playing a complete unknown, trying to dissect his game, and then getting to see his hand histories to find out how I did.
Last Friday some friends and I went to onesixtyblue for their $10 fish fry on Friday nights. This place is a pretty nice restaurant where most appetizers are more than $10, so it's a pretty good deal. The food was good but not great, some of my nitty friends complained that you could get fish just as good at the store for half the price. Maybe that's true, but the ambiance was worth $5 in my opinion. They didn't agree. We came home and watched hoops.
Saturday night my friend Craig had his birthday party at Mystic Celt, which is a bar I pretty much despise. I've been there three times or so and never had a good time, although I will say this past visit was the best time I've had there. My biggest pet peeve about nightlife in general are the people that work at bars or clubs that act like they are the most important people alive. If I ever owned a bar I'd hire a bunch of big guys that were actually nice guys to do the door/security type stuff. I'd have one enforcer/asshole type guy to kick people out or to breakup fights, but everyone else would be instructed to treat everyone with respect, even if you are about to call on the enforcer to kick their ass out. It just leaves such a bad taste in my mouth when someone condescendingly tells you when someone at the place treats you like crap, especially if you plan on spending good money at the place. Anyway, it wasn't a bad time, so I'll stop the ranting.
Oh one more funny story. A lot of my friends are doing internet dating. It's very funny and I'm still going to do that blog post about internet dating sometime. So my friend gets a wink or message or whatever they call it on the site he was on from some girl. She seems cute, etc., so he messages her back and also looks her up on facebook. He finds her profile and realizes that she works at a bar that we go to from time to time, including the same night he first messaged her back! He was like, "oh crap, if I run into her at this bar she's totally going to think I looked her up that day and found out she worked at that bar and went out there to see her." At first I tried to tell him that she probably would chalk it up to a coincidence, but then we both agreed there is no way in hell any sane girl would take that chance. So either she's nutso enough to take a chance on a guy who has a high probability of being a psychopath, or she just ignores him, two bad outcomes if we run into her at the bar. He begrudgingly came with us to the bar but she wasn't working that night. Ah, the joys of internet dating.
Alright, I'm outta here. I'm going to do a good job writing during my trip to Asia (leave on Saturday) so this blog will probably stop sucking then*. I'm getting a camera too so I'll take some good pictures. I hope to have some where it's 4 white people in a crowd of over five hundred asian people. I've always thought it would be funny to be in a picture like that.
Taylor
*No guarantees.
Mar 30, 09 21:34:00
I'm so jealous, I haven't been to thailand, but have been to china and taiwan, You are going to have a freaking blast. Enjoy!
Mar 31, 09 01:39:40
I missed out on giving advice on Thailand as I did not read your last blog :oD lol, so I'll put it here...
Thailand is awesome, I backpacked around there for about 8 months. I never went to phuket tho but I hear its cool.
In Bangkok the things you must do are:
1. Ride a 'tuk tuk' tell the driver to go fast, alot of fun!
2. Go to 'KoSan rd'. This is basically where all the backpackers hangout, loads of shops, bars food sellers etc.
3. See the Kings Palace/Reclining Buddha etc.
4. Go to 'Patpong rd'. This is basically the seedy part of bangkok. Have a few beers and go with an open mind lol. Be selective with the bar that you go to there though as there are some real disgusting ones lol! Its not as bad as it sounds, I was traveling with my girlfriend and we felt safe..we had heard about it and it was one of them must do experinces to say you have seen it!
5. Buy some traditional food off the street. Honestly for the best REAL Thai food, the less 'westernised' the place is the better it will be. If the only people that are eating there are Thai's then go there! Have a 'Chicken Massaman'...its sooo good!
6. Boat Market.
Thats all I can think of, off the top of my head. If anymore come to mind I'll let you know.
You are going to have an bsolutely great time, me and my girlfriend are hopefully going back in May and cant wait!
Have a great trip....SwadeeKup & Chokdee!!!
Mar 31, 09 01:45:04
OMG almost forgot....drink as many BeerLao's as possible, as its quite literally the best beer on the planet!
Mar 31, 09 15:30:04
It's kinda funny reading your post because after the 2nd game we got booted from our table because of a party coming in!!!! As a rsult we left and went to Justins. Would have loved to have bought you a drink and a shot for creating CR. Maybe next time!!!
Apr 1, 09 07:46:28
Taylor
For a couple of years, I used to stay in Tokyo once per month, so here are some tips. Keep in mind that I am a about 20 odd years older than you and English (London) so will have a different perspective to you (even if I am young at heart).
The easiest way to get from the Airport (Narita) to you hotel is by something named the “Limousine Bus”. It is a standard bus rather than anything limousine like and does the rounds of all of the major hotels including yours – check the list on the board. Narita is famously far from the centre, so ensure your iPOD is charged up, as the journey takes a couple of hours.
Tokyo during the day is not that interesting. (Remember that it was flattened during the war) One place worth a visit is Akihabra, the electronics district which is just shop after shop of amazing priced goodies – often leading edge – it was the first place I ever saw memory sticks. But if you buy, remember that the instructions might be in Japanese – ask if they have instructions in English.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akihabara
As you are staying on the edge Ginza, “the entertainment district”, there are a lot of good bars and restaurants not too far from your hotel, Behind your hotel is a railway line. Although this might sound weird, the are are loads of good, cheap restaurants and bars under the railway arches. Follow the streets alongside railway line down towards Hibya, keeping the railway line on your right.
It's about a 15 minute walk to Hibya, with loads of great places on the way. If the weather is good, it will be thronged after about 20:00.
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en-GB&geocode=&q=park+hotel&sll=35.668698,139.767938&sspn=0.015445,0.033045&ie=UTF8&ll=35.666885,139.767208&spn=0.015445,0.033045&z=16
Down towards Hibya there are a clutch of open air Yakatori places where, in good weather, they use beer crates and wood to make extra tables. The Japanese businessmen booze and eat here a lot. Don't be put off by the fact that they are right on the street - Japanese hygiene regulations are very strict.
Avoid the Sushi bars with a merry-go-round system – there are plenty of better places that serve plenty of beer with excellent sashima and sushi. There is a fantastic one in Hibya but I have no idea how to direct you there – sorry :-( For lunch try the noodle bars which are great. Good also for a cheap evening meal. Or there are lots of places doing great bento boxes.
Most street level restaurants have plastic plates of food in the windows to show what they sell, so you can just point if there isn't and English menu.
Most young westerners like to head for the clubs and red light district which I am sure you know is Roppongi.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roppongi
Go by train but if you are coming back late get a cab – they are pretty cheap. Cab drivers will not speak English, so take a card from the hotel to show where you need to get to.
If you are still up tafter a long night hen it is well worth visiting the famous fish market – lots of great sushi and sashimi nearby.
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3021.html
It is well worth wandering around the shops in Ginza during the day, to get the buzz of the place. Head for Mitsukoshi and check out the amazing food halls. Mitsukoshi is the Japanese equivalent of Harrods.
http://www.whatsonwhen.com/sisp/index.htm?fx=event&event_id=33108
Opposite your hotel is a park that contains the Imperial Palace which is worth a quick spin.
Hibya Park, opposite the Imperial Hotel, often has events at weekend. There is a bandstand where Japanese kids often just set up and play in punky bands to whoever will listen but it is a bit hit and miss.
Btw Kyto is a completely different story – all ancient temples and elegance versus Tokyo's pretty brutal architecture.
I look forward to your reports of how your trip goes.
If you need any more advice then feel free to contact me.
Apr 1, 09 09:22:36
wow, thanks! for the stuff. have a new blog post coming but i'll check back here for more advice.
-tay
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I'd like to start off by saying what was left of my dignity was lost on Saturday. We had a pretty awesome St. Patty's Day party that I wish I could say I remembered more of. I lost one of my favorite sweatshirts along with said dignity, but all in all it was a good time. I think we had maybe 100 people at peak in our house and backyard which was pretty much what we expected. Our neighbors complained again but I'll never understand why they are living in Lincoln Park if they don't want to put up with parties, bars, etc. I'm moving out in 3 months so I really could care less what they think.
As an aside, we are moving out of our house which is really an awesome place to live for young people. If you are looking for a place in Lincoln Park for 5-6 people PM me and maybe you can look at the place when we tell our landlord we are moving out. The bedrooms are all pretty small, except for the master which is pretty amazing. The rent is very cheap for being in Lincoln Park, I'd expect it to be like $3200 or so next year for a 5 BR house + office. I don't own the place or anything but I do genuinely think it's a great place to live.
Let's see...what else is going on. Two of my roommates are doing stand-up comedy locally in Chicago. I'm going to go see them perform sometime this week. I'm trying to convince myself to write a bit and do some open-mic standup myself, but we'll see if that happens. I sort of just want a hobby and maybe it will be fun to do for a little while.
March Madness starts on Thursday. I'll probably be working more than usual during it because I'm gearing up for a trip to Asia in two weeks. I need to make sure everything I have to do before then is taken care of so I can't really take any more time off to go watch basketball. I'm sure I'll watch my fair share, but will probably be glued to my laptop while watching.
I ate dinner at Alinea on Friday with Melissa. I have to say it exceeded my expecations, both on quality of the meal and experience, and unfortunately, on the price. We did the wine pairing so basically every 20-30 minutes they brought out a new glass of wine. The meal was 20 courses long, although some courses are only a bite or two. It was by far the best meal I'd ever eaten overall. I don't even want to try to do justice to the meal by explaining more about it, but honestly it was just a great experience that I actually think I would do again. There were so many different types of food we sampled and there wasn't one bite that I didn't think was phenomenal. I should say that I am not a very picky eater at all so it's generally not good to follow my food advice, but my girlfriend is extraordinarily picky when it comes to food and she liked everything except for one bite of the chicken. This included steak, foie gras, and other meat that she typically doesn't eat. If you are looking to blow your bailout money I recommend taking a trip to Alinea. The meal takes about three hours so be advised about that.
Last thing, we're hiring some more. This job is tech related and would be someone that would supplement the IT firm that we use. You can read more about it here: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/120/cardrunners-stoxpoker/cardrunners-llc-job-posting-433602/
-Taylor
Edit: ONE MORE THING: Please help me out here. I am traveling to Tokyo, Phuket, Bangkok, and Hong Kong in 2 weeks. I need advice on what to do/not to do/where to stay, anything like that. If you can post whatever advice you might have that would really help.
Mar 16, 09 14:33:00
Hey Taylor, How long are you going to be in Thailand for? My advise for Bangkok is you only need a couple nights there i would then spend a bit longer @ Phuket, If you get a chance go out to an island called koh Phi Phi , from there you can do a day trip round Phi Phi lei where they filmed the movie the Beach. I would stay on Phi Phi for a few nights, its nice and chilled out and plenty of activites. In Phuket if you wanna stay in the real busy/party place stay in Patong beach.
Mar 16, 09 15:00:05
phuket - patong beach is where the nightlife is (seduction nightclub on bangla road is gonna be your best bet), and kata beach (2 beaches south of patong) is definitely the most beautiful of the large public beaches on the island.
my advice for phuket is rent some motorbikes (be careful) and explore the island's western beaches. like the other guy said, you shouldn't miss phi phi for at least a night or two (rent a longboat for the day and explore islands, or do some sea kayaking out there).
for bangkok, just do the touristy stuff (grand palace and other temples, etc.), and forget about nice restaurants for at least a few meals. bangkok is about street food.
PM if you want some more thailand tips. you're gonna dig it for sure.
Mar 16, 09 15:25:47
Just a fyi since i'm japanese it is disrespectul and many people take TIPPING as very dishonorable. So when in Japan do not tip while eating or at the hotel and this includes taxi rides. This may seem weird but it's custom in Japan. Have a great trip.
Mar 16, 09 16:17:36
I had a friend who spent a few weeks in Japan, he said Tokyo was kinda what he expected but Kyoto was far and away the best place he went and he wished he had planned to spend more time there. Also, if there are deer, and there is a sign that looks like an angry deer next to them, it means don't feed the deer. One of my friends was raped by deer.
Mar 16, 09 16:52:32
I lived in Japan for 7 years and did it all. also spent a lot of time in hong kong both before and after china took over. Would be happy to help you out and set you up with some really cool people if you want. email me at kawaldron1985@yahoo.com and let me know what your looking for, where you will be, how much free time.
Mar 16, 09 16:56:09
one more thing dont go to any beach in Japan. NO MATTER WHAT!!! worst beachs every. nothing but garbage, dead fish, and dead jeallie fish. big big wast of time. and there right u dont tip unless u didnt like the food.
Mar 16, 09 17:36:37
Taylor - just went to Bangkok 1 month ago. Do your self a favor go onto 2+2 -> Off Topic -> Travel. There are two long threads that can answer any of your questions and there are plenty of 2+2ers living over there (BKK and PHuket) that you can meet up with.
Ryu is an excellent guide. Also I recommend going out to one of the islands for a few days.
Mar 16, 09 21:35:54
i have been here heaps pretty much some site seeing and shopping. Taxi are heaps cheap plus the MTR is very easy to navigate around. you must get a octopus card which is pretty much your transport card plus you can use it at some shops like 7 eleven. i would recommend staying in Langham in Mongkok plus everything is in Mongkok and cheaper. tsim sha tsui is pretty much where all the tourist go and a lot of five star hotels around but everything is more expensive. ill have to ask my friend where to go for drinks n night out. you will see corner stores that sell food like fish balls for like \$5-6HK try some. Visit Causeway Bay best way to get there is MTR. You will see these corner drink n fruit stores get the one with sago, coconut and mango. thats all i can remember for now but i will message more about HK later
Mar 17, 09 02:43:48
my wife went far east last year...now she is off red meat!!!
I remember asking her how the food was back then...
she told me that they ate dogs!!!!
lol
anyway, dont want to be so negative...im sure ull have a good time
peace
Mar 17, 09 03:32:27
I was born in Hong Kong and Daz978 is pretty right on. I would add these:
Don't just stay in the touristy areas and eat at just the big resturants. Try some hole in the wall places, the food are usually much better. If you like sea food, venture out to an area call 'Sai Kung' for some sea food hot pot.
Big resturants are usually pretty clean, but examine the places/forks/chopsticks you are using. Usually they just auto give you boiling hot water to rinse the bowls/plates/forks, but if they don't then ask. Its normal procedure lol. I think this applies at the other places as well xcept for Tokyo.
Sea World and Disney Land are normal attractions. They have 2 pandas there now that are kinda cute.
Try the fish balls!!! The street side vendors are gone, but you can still find them by walking about. I kill for some right now.
They also got these pastries shops everywhere. Gotta try it, so good. Makes you wonder how places like Starbucks stay open serving the shit they serve.
Most taxi guys don't speak a lick of english except for the name of places like Hotel/land marks/airport. They are use to tourist so if you get the name of the place close enough, they can get you there.
MTR & KCR are the two different types of trains which are your best bet to get anywhere. They serve different areas, but they meet up at 'Kow Loon Tong' < important if you venture beyond touristy areas. They will have maps everywhere at every station and in the trains itself, so any none idiot can find there way around.
Get the speed pass right away since most transportation things run on them. Its a credit card size micro chip thingy that you wave in front of MTR/KCR gate, Bus, Taxi, Small Green Van, soda machines, etc. You can get it at any MTR/KCR station. There is like a deposite for the card like \$60HKD or something like that, and go ahead and stick like another \$500HKD as I'm sure you will burn thru it going everywhere. You can't really share the speed pass, so get multiple. One per head.
If you decide to shop, the 'window' stores you really can negotiate. What the price tag is usually is what you are stuck with. If you buy stuff from street side vendors though, whatever price they say, you could prolly get way with offering 25% of asking price. If they don't like it, just walk away, because there is always someone selling the exact same thing around the corner.
Mar 17, 09 07:41:32
Bangkok:
This was by far the most fun trip i ever had
Plsz take the super saturday special http://www.realasia.net/
Mar 17, 09 10:30:17
For sure don't stay in Bangkok more than a few days, it's a cool cultural experience and all but you'll wanna get out of there after a few days. When you are in Bangkok try to make it on the weekend so you can hit up the big market, Chatukah I think is the name.
Phuket is paradise. If you stay in Patong I highly recommend the Novotel Phuket, I stayed there for a week and it was affordable and classy and right by everything, yet above ground level (safe from tsunamis). Avoid tuk tuks and make sure taxi drivers start their meters.
Mar 17, 09 15:37:37
Tay, this question is actually regarding your March 5th post. It would only let me post a comment here, but.....I was wondering approximately how much I would pay for a steak at "Botero". I am going to be in Vegas this weekend and was going to set up a reservation as long as I wouldn' t be paying \$150 a plate since I'll be paying for a whole party of people. Is \$50-\$75 a plate realistic or am I way off base???
Mar 17, 09 16:49:15
you can find botero's menu online at encore's website.
steaks, if i recall, were between 35-50 or so, plus sides (10), appetizers (12-25), and drinks. if you are just doing a few sides and steaks for everyone, you can certainly do 50-60 per plate before taxes and tip.
it gets expensive with drinks, sides, all that stuff, but check out their menu online first and get an idea of if it's in your price range.
another good option that is less expensive is fix at bellagio. it's a similar menu and i'd say 15-20% cheaper or so. definitely check out both menus online and make your decision there.
Mar 18, 09 04:07:06
hey taylor
was going to post but it got kind of long so i pm'd you instead.
Mar 18, 09 04:31:29
Just wanted to agree with the Alinea praise. I've been to most of the nicer restaurants in Chicago and Alinea is by far the best.
Mar 19, 09 00:23:52
Not to do: Arranging your own fire show and swallowing gas because you're so drunk you think it's a drink.
To do: If you're visiting Phuket town go to a "restaurant"(small bamboo hut thingy) on Phang-nga road, order nam took muu and say hi from KooPee aka naa maa. http://www.thaiwaysmagazine.com/phuket_map/phuket_map_town.html
(F3 just over the text.)
In Bangkok ping pong show is a must. The funniest thing I've ever seen.
Tokyo - Karaoke.
Mar 19, 09 11:10:36
the octopus card and the speed pass thing that Daz and Pakman were talking about is the same thing. just ask for it at any subway and it`s super convenient.
remember in hk they drive on the wrong side of the street...don`t get hit looking the wrong way when you`re crossing. it`s the weirdest thing i swear.
go to lan kwai fong it`s the main bar/club area...a ton of foreigners there. also as long as you stay in the central hk area, there will be tons of foreigners and you can get around fine with english. once you leave that little hub tho you might be in trouble.
if you want to shop you can go to kowloon and there's like a gazillion high end shops as well as a huge market where you can get ALL SORTS of fake stuff. the electronics and high end luxury goods are all pretty good there...
and if you guys are in hk you should def take a quick trip over to macau...it's only a few hrs on the ferry...
Mar 21, 09 03:13:46
Banyan Tree in Phuket & Bangkok are amazing hotels.
Intercontinental on Kowloon side in HK is nice; however, there are also amazing hotels on the HK side
Mar 24, 09 08:53:22
Pakman and DrSatisfaction you guys remind me so much about HK its been like 3 years and i feel outdated.
this is what my friend had to say:
mong kok and causeway bays gd for shopping and HK style entertainment ie karaoke
lan kwai fongs the main spot for a more mixed scene, bars clubs sheesha
wan chai for red light and white boy bars
sai kung for hiking, beaches, junk trips
Mar 24, 09 10:57:03
Hey, Taylor if your going to Japan you should stop in Okinawa if you've the chance. Itt is a subtropical island prefecture of Japan which is similar to what Hawaii is for the U.S. I think because of the nearby American military bases they may be more used to tipping but ask an American G.I. there are quite a few living there.
Mar 28, 09 15:49:45
Don't go to Phuket, NEVER! If u want to enjoy amazing beaches u should go to Koh Tao. In Bangkok the BED supperclub is a must!
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I've been in Vegas with Melissa since Sunday afternoon. I don't know what it is about Vegas but I've had the worst luck over the past year about being sick out here. I started to get nasty sinus congestion and a sore throat the night before we left. I pretty much have felt decent during the day but then once dinner time rolls around I start to feel horrible. I won't rant too much but basically I've been asleep by 9 or 10pm every night which is ridiculous in Las Vegas.
I got the chance to play some poker yesterday, 5-10nl at the Wynn. There was a 10-20 game going but there was a long list. 5-10 live was fine though, the game was filled with a few solid pros, a few mediocre but competent amateurs, and some very mediocre live pros. I played for maybe 2 hours before having to leave to get ready for dinner. I'm starting to get a lot better at live play though. You just have to play a different style -- lots more calling preflop, lots more playing off your image and reacting to how you think other people will play off theirs. People always say "table presence" is really important live. I would agree with that, I'm trying to improve mine. Guys like David Benefield and Gaucho are two examples of online players that I think have a very good table presence.
Another interesting thing about live play is that people don't have "stats" on you. It's extremely easy to accurately put a player on a range of hands when he's 6 tabling and running at some reasonable preflop numbers it's quite easily to know what he can and can't have in certain situations. For example, let's say a multitabling reg who is 22/19 pf raises UTG+1. You call in position with 57s and the flop comes 842r. This is a mediocre flop for you but it typically isn't a great one for him either. There's obviously a few viable plays you can make here, but the bottom line is there are a few factors that make this situation just not that interesting and leave little room for play.
-The guy is never raising any hand that hit this flop hard besides 88,44, and 22. You can put him on a range of hands from his stats and know that since he's a multitabling reg he's pretty much never getting too much out of line 100bb's deep to have other random 2p type hands. Obviously, he's not going to have a set very often at all, either.
-As the guy on the button, you're never getting him to fold big pairs, unless you are a huge nit and he knows it.
-You can obviously raise or float, but you're max winning 100bb's here and you are mostly just doing this to stay balanced so you can get paid when you are doing this with a set or slowplayed big pair. Yeah, it helps that you'll push him off a lot of his broadway hands that whiffed, but it's not a situation that is largely +EV vs a good opener.
These factors just make optimal online strategy much more straightforward and frankly more boring to play than a live game. As soon as everyone in a particular hand knows reasonable preflop strategy and is aware how their opponents are playing, the edges become quite small (relatively speaking). Now, I know this sounds crazy from someone who has always said that online poker is much more fun and interesting than live poker, but hear me out. Online poker IS more fun, mostly because you can play a ton of tables and get more action per hour than you can live. The problem is that with the capped buyins and the abiltiy to quickly and easily deduce what hands your opponents are playing, 6max NLHE just isn't too terribly hard to play well. Obviously that is an oversimplication, it's much more difficult than most other poker games, but it's infinitely harder if you are deeper stacked or even didn't have access to vast amounts of statistics on your opponents.
I should be upfront when I say I am not against stats/HUDs being used for online play. There is no good way to get rid of these programs and cheaters would use them if they were actually banned from play. If there were games with a max buy-in of 200+ bb's that actually ran consistently, online 6m nlhe would be a much better game. That being said, I don't expect the sites to push for that because it's obviously bad for them to have huge buy-ins in relation to the blinds.
Anyway, it was definitely fun to play some live poker yesterday. There were a few live pros that I think were quite seasoned at playing deep stacked and for the most part did a really good job of exploiting the fish and exploiting the mediocre regs, two very different skills. In the end I made one big hand, 66 on AA6 against Ax and stacked a guy for probably a 2700 pot. I won about 1700 on the day and headed up to shower for dinner.
As an aside, definitely eat at Botero at the Wynn. It's basically just a modern American Steakhouse. I've eaten there twice and both times it was awesome. It's really just really fancy comfort food, with things like tater tots, mac and cheese, sweet potatoes with marshmellows, to go along with good steak and seafood. I'm definitely not doing this place enough justice with this review, but hey, I'm no food critic. I will say this: I predict this place will join Shintaro (deceased), Fix, Naked Fish, et al, as chic poker player dinner hangouts. Seriously, if you are in Las Vegas, eat there. I would go as far as to say Botero is my new favorite restaurant.
Good luck,
Taylor
Mar 5, 09 12:55:42
Taylor,
Was there a live pro playing named Jackie? I play at the Wynn alll the time when I am in Vegas and am pretty cool with him. He is a younger looking asian kid who speaks bad english, sits very deep at 5-10 and 10-20 and plays very, very, aggro. He plays off his image very well and he is someone I think that knows how to play off his image to perfection.
Mar 5, 09 20:42:49
yeah - he was there. he was pretty good although i thought he was playing too many hands. he's definitely an experienced live player -- also he's the type of guy that really gets the games splashing around. even if he's a tough player i like a guy like that in the game so the rest of the table loosens up.
Mar 9, 09 05:14:43
Interesting post. I like to play both live and online and its really interesting how different the games are. I really hate the fact that pple can have stats on you online, I think it takes something away from the game. Not much you can do about that though. I like the psychological aspect in live poker, you can sense peoples moods a lot better and I feel that people react a lot more to what you are doing and how they perceive your game. I feel that people take many things a bit more personally when you are face to face, they start playing more against you if you push them around a bit or manage to win some of their money or put a beat on them, even more so than online. I also really love all the banter at the tables :)
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I haven’t blogged in about ten days. Honestly it’s just been because I’ve been doing stuff and my normal blogging times are at the office when there’s nothing going on or at night when I’m hanging out on my computer. For whatever reason, be it traveling or just having stuff to do, I’ve had no spare time during either of those activities. I guess it’s fine, because when I’m not busy I get extremely bored. It hasn’t been like I’ve been gallivanting about town though, there’s just a lot of crap going on that has been weighing down on me. The funny thing is, there’s been a lot of really good stuff happening, too. Bittersweet times, I suppose.
To start, I suppose I’ll talk about Poker After Dark. First, before I forget, Pokerlistings did an interview with me about Poker After Dark and stuff in general. Clearly Daniel (the writer) knows the online poker industry pretty well, it’s cool to do an interview that isn’t “so, you really did turn $35 into a lot of money?” You can read it here.
Overall I was pretty surprised how many people watched the show or got in touch with me about it. There were quite a few people that I hadn’t talked to in years that told me they watched it and I don’t even know how they knew it was on. Well, maybe because Ezra spammed the whole world about us being on, but that’s neither here nor there. One of the people that got in touch with me was De’mar Hamilton, the drummer of the Plain White T’s. De’mar and I went to high school together and we both played one year of drums in the high school band. I hadn’t seen him much since high school graduation parties but obviously his band is doing really well. He said he came home late one night this week and turned on the TV and saw us on the show. I thought that was pretty cool, De’mar is one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet so I’m really happy that the whole music thing is working out well for him and his band. You can read his blog here.
All in all, I’m pretty happy with how Poker After Dark went. After watching the hands play out there really wasn’t much I would have done differently. It stinks that we got to play like 100 hands and you are sort of limited to what you can do by the cards and situations you get in. That being said, I think losing 53k given what was dealt my way was actually pretty good. I didn’t see Eli say this because I didn’t watch all of the episodes with sound on, but people told me he said I was the only person playing straightforwardly and the other guys were the only ones he had to worry about (something like that). I thought that was a little funny because he hadn’t yet seen my cards and if you watched the show, every time I made a move someone had a huge hand and every time I had a big hand someone made a bigger hand. It’s easy to say someone is playing straightforwardly when you flop huge in the only significant hand you play with the guy. He did make a nice limp-reraise with 72o and is definitely tough to play against, so I’ll give him that.
Let’s see, what else. CardRunners is undergoing lots of changes these days. As many of you know, Ezra is leaving in 1.5 months and Kevin’s last day was yesterday. I’m really sad to see these guys go. We did a little CR company outing on Thursday that was pretty fun. Ezra is keeping kosher now so we decided to try to go to the nicest kosher restaurant we could find. It was in the suburbs of Chicago so we got a limo, some beers, and headed out there for some dinner and drinks. It was a really nice time to hang out with the guys outside of the office, but a lot of the time I found myself thinking about how it really sucked that Ezra and Kevin were leaving. To me, this is the toughest part about having your own business. If you are hiring the right people, you genuinely grow to enjoy their company and enjoy coming in to the office to work with them. If you have to let them go or if they decide to move on to something else, it’s really tough because it’s almost like a breakup of sorts. Even if you hire the wrong people, it sucks because when you let them go you feel bad because your decision puts quite a bit of a burden on them to find another job. I guess I’ve just been a little stressed out about some of this stuff lately, because it’s proving to be a giant task to replace these guys that are leaving.
I’m going back out to Vegas tomorrow until Friday. I spent a few days there a week ago for work stuff, now I’m going back there because Melissa is on spring break and we wanted to get away somewhere fun. The only thing Vegas doesn’t really have is a beach, but it’s a great place to travel for me because you can get hotel rooms so cheap right now and there’s lots of stuff to do. I’m planning on playing some poker out there, and Melissa is planning on playing some as well. We’ll see how that goes, but I’m anxious to see what she thinks of the grind. If anyone has any tips on how a girl can capitalize on her “image” then leave ‘em here, I need the extra income these sessions could provide.
Poker has been going god awful for me this month. I’ve played hardly any of it at all and it’s almost all PLO when I do play. I seriously am not sure if I’ve booked a winning PLO session all month. I’m playing mostly 5-10 and some 10-20 so I’m not even down more than 15-20k or so, but it’s just depressing to log on and lose session after session. Because it’s PLO, I’m due for a big heater though so hopefully when I move up I’ll run hot and all will be well.
I guess I’ll stop for now. I’ve been sort of down about stuff lately but to be honest I think it’s just because Kevin and Ezra are leaving. Yeah, sure, I wish I could have won on PAD but that’s not a big deal. Thanks for reading, have a nice weekend.
Feb 28, 09 13:00:01
When I see a girl at the table, I usually begin to think, tight, straightforward player incapable of bluffing.
Feb 28, 09 16:12:03
My girlfriend is addicted to live poker. She is the main reason I drive an hour to Foxwwods 3-4 times a week. She is a winning 1-2NL player and a great "horse" for me. People make a lot of moves on her, don't give her credit for buffing and generally don't give her credit for being a competent player. I don't know how much experience your girlfriend has but initially I had my girl buy in for 50 bbs until she got some experience under her belt. Anyways, good luck.
Feb 28, 09 17:08:34
Taylor - Any updates on hiring process for Director of Marketing? I'm still interested :)
Feb 28, 09 19:26:44
Hey Taylor... I'm sure you don't need me to confirm this, but for what it's worth, CR was represented well by all 3 of you. Though I could pretty much tell from your blogs that there are decent heads on those shoulders, I figured there was a chance the "young guys" might come off "punky" ... Not the case though; glad to see you guys aren't tools.
Mar 2, 09 13:18:28
Sorry I missed ya today, I am sure you deserve a vacation! Really enjoyed meeting everyone at the office, hopefully we will have a chance to meet soon.
- Chris
Mar 3, 09 16:45:18
I think that live players play terribly against mixed messages, and a young girl playing tight and acting cheerfully but 3 betting really frequently will induce a load of mistakes. I think that many men would be embarrassed to lightly 4 bet pre-flop or play the flop aggressively, so if she can pick those out she could have free-reign.
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I'll talk about Day 1 a little bit at the end so if you haven't seen it and don't want any spoilers then don't read on.
Last night Ezra and I had a "snack" at Red 8 at the Wynn at 5 oclock. My roommates make fun of me because I order Kung Pao Chicken in Chicago from this place that costs $11. They are very nitty and $11 for take-out just doesn't sit right around our house, I guess I can't say I disagree but that's not the point. I sats down at this place to find that the Kung Pao Chicken is $18 and the Kung Pao Shrimp is $24. Obviously I had to take a picture of the menu with my phone, email it to my roommates, and mention that I'm ordering the shrimp just because it's $24 and it will probably piss them off.
We ate, then I came back to the room with Ezra to get some work done. I ate a bunch of crap candy while sitting around answering gobs of emails. I did the 2p2 pokercast at night which was actually the third time I've done it which seems crazy because I play poker less than most in the industry. It was nice to go on the pokercast and actually have some poker to talk about, the last few times I was just talking about the poker industry, CR, and stuff, this time I talked about PAD and felt like a real poker player when I was talking.
After this Ezra and I went out to Wazuzzu at Encore which had pretty great food but mediocre service. It was a riot watching all the mooks head over the XS (the new club at Encore). We headed over to the poker room to play some poker. I played some 10-20nl like 6k deep and walked away up about 5k so that was nice. The game was mediocre but I made 1 big hand and picked up a few k in uncontestted pots otherwise.
We came back upstairs and watched the show at 2am. Here are my thoughts:
1. It's harder than you think to be on TV. I'll admit, for the first hour or two of play I don't think I played my best. I'm not going to say I played horribly and I certainly got zero workable spots, but it's sort of a unique feeling to know that everything you do or say will be on national TV and you just have to get used to drowning it all out.
2. The 88 v ATs hand I'm not exactly sure what Gabe is doing but I don't necessarily like my lead (or hate it, really). I think I played it fine post-lead.
3. They cut down some of the "tanking." I thought longer about calling Gabe's river bet in the previous hand than they showed, even though I think I made the right fold (even though I had the best hand). I also thought for quite a bit more about coming over the top of Eli when he limp reraised 72o. I had K8o but I just really didn't think he had anything. Again, I wasn't completely comfortable being in a live setting and under the "spotlight" of TV. You'd be shocked how much easier it is online to click it back and make it 26kish after Eli makes it 12k than it is to do it on TV. I really wish I had done this because it would have made me look good. I guess you'll just have to believe me when I say I almost did :)
4. I had 72o on the first hand, not 78o. Obv we didn't start playing the bounty until after that but it sort of sucked. I thikn I lost 4kish just on the 72 bounty on Day 1!
Anyway, hope you like the rest of the days. I think that Day 3, 4, and 5 are by far the best days but I hope Day 2 goes well. People seem to like the episode and I suggest if you do like it and do want to see us on PAD again you should voice your opinion in the forums!
Gl,
tay
Feb 17, 09 18:09:59
Oh Taylor, call that 88 hand all day long. Even if he doesnt have complete junk, which these live pros probably do, then he's got a high club a huge % of the time to justify calling a half pot bet. He's betting a Q on the turn and isn't capable of value betting a J. IMO
Feb 17, 09 18:53:14
I really think there is a high chance Eli ships is 72o if you repopped with your K8.
Definitely the best 72o bounty ever though!
Feb 17, 09 23:30:40
Day one was nice... I hope one of you (cr) guys re pop or re steal BIG at some point.
The 72 bounty is awsome.
I wish there was diffrent players vs u guys..say a benamine, ivey and throw in the mouth or helmuth
Mr kotter and doyle dont make for great poker drama.. I think elezra is ballzy and fun to watch...
Anyway...I cant wait for day 2..
peace
Feb 18, 09 00:11:47
lol yea all those fags goin to XS drinkin and dancing then goin home and fuckin hot ass girls.. o wait a second..
were u always such a hater or did it start once u started havin all these online guys on your dick?
Feb 18, 09 01:14:00
Grog is right.. live guys are more likely to check to you if they had a marginal hand than do a light value bet... live guys are more polarized.
Feb 18, 09 02:50:11
I think you should have called Kaplan's bet in 88 hand because he had AT.
LOL1!
Feb 18, 09 13:23:02
Were you three choppin. That fold of AQ to Cole's raise looked awful shaky. Even you said it would look bad. To me it looks real suspicious.... three associates at the same table. Am I alone in thinking this...BTW...My question mark key is broken.
Feb 18, 09 15:01:28
I think the fold of AQ just proves that they are not choppin lol what kind of bad reasoning is that.
Feb 18, 09 16:40:53
You can watch the episodes online at nbcsports.com/poker
I think it must be USA only though.
Feb 18, 09 16:40:59
You can watch the episodes online at nbcsports.com/poker
I think it must be USA only though.
Feb 18, 09 22:53:47
nah we weren't chopping any action that would be shady as hell. i'll blog about day 2 when its all said and done but i gotta head out.
craig - not a hater, just tellin it like it is. ive got a gf anyway so meh clubs aren't the best way for me to spend \$
Feb 20, 09 07:10:44
damn you're getting shat on left and right, not really much else you can do in the spots you've been in so far.
sucks to run bad in a sick soft 200/400 live game on national TV
Feb 20, 09 11:04:28
You could have easily called that half bet with the eights or reraised if you thought you were beat, since it was unlikely he had an ace high flush. You were playing "there's a high card on the board, I guess I have to fold" type poker. There were several spots where it was obvious that they couldn't take the heat with a river reraise or checkraise. But, you WERE playing with 100K, and ONLY one buyin, and playing on live TV, and Eli, Doyle, & Kaplan are all unpredictable, so I guess it's not that big a deal. Still, if you played poker, regularly, I'm sure you'd see that you weren't just running bad. You were playing soft.
Feb 20, 09 11:04:32
You could have easily called that half bet with the eights or reraised if you thought you were beat, since it was unlikely he had an ace high flush. You were playing "there's a high card on the board, I guess I have to fold" type poker. There were several spots where it was obvious that they couldn't take the heat with a river reraise or checkraise. But, you WERE playing with 100K, and ONLY one buyin, and playing on live TV, and Eli, Doyle, & Kaplan are all unpredictable, so I guess it's not that big a deal. Still, if you played poker, regularly, I'm sure you'd see that you weren't just running bad. You were playing soft.
Feb 20, 09 16:57:39
so i guess it then comes down to how u define mooks= guys that are better looking, better dressed, and fuckin girls that are hotter then ur girl? also ill venture to guess u cant dance.
yea i guess i'd hate on me too. sry just not a fan of the tuff guy attitude u give off sometimes.
Feb 21, 09 03:11:32
gotta say i thought it was a great show all around but by far most hilarious part so far was when you reraise the t8 and make a standard c bet and get cr'd by doyle and have to lay it down on a 664 board but the convo in the back with david and cole was histaricle they wouldnt stop talkin about food the whole time completely unaware what was goin on in the hand then they zoom in on u with a disgusted look on your face as you lay the hand down......thought u guys all made a great entertaining show though man
Feb 21, 09 07:25:03
I was really busy this week and didn't remember to Tivo this... the little bit that I saw was awesome. Can't wait to catch up on it, I love the way PAD does the cash games, and the line up for this one definitely qualifies as a very wet dream come true ;)
Feb 21, 09 11:26:07
I must say that this did not disappoint in any way, shape or form. No time now, but I can't wait to catch up on the other episodes... you don't have another entry cooking up anywhere do you?!? :)
My favorite part was watching Eli steaming after making some questionable loose plays, and then like 3 or 4 hands later he is smiling and completely cool again. Watching this action I kind of miss Sammy Farha.
Feb 22, 09 11:57:01
I would not worry about the 88 hand at all. Someone looked like a clown in that hand, and it was not you.
Feb 23, 09 17:42:20
"It was a riot watching all the mooks head over the XS (the new club at Encore)." Ah yes, there's the arrogance that comes with all that money. It's always there. For Brian especially.
Feb 26, 09 03:30:27
Just wanted to say hi, again.
I loved the director's cut, I think your ideas should be expressed more often.
Feb 27, 09 11:21:16
I had a couple of questions after watching PAD:
1) Why are the bet amounts so random? Someone would bet 11,400. Why not just 10k, 11k?
2) It seems like a lot of people sit with their left hand in their lap and only stack/bet with one hand. Is there anything to that? Seems like it takes forever to stack chips with one hand.
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Hi. I'll keep this short because I'm heading to the airport (going to Vegas) in a few minutes. I just wanted to say that if you love/hate me you can watch Poker After Dark tonight on NBC and I'll be on it. Obviously my debut TV experience will be during what I like to call "prime time," but most refer to it as 2am CST. But hey, it can only go up from here right? I'm just kidding, I've never been on TV before and who knows if I ever will be again so I will take what I can get. I've had a lot of family friends asking about it and they have all seemed pretty excited to set their DVR's and watch the show. I won't even get to watch it until Friday most likely because I'm going to be in Vegas and AFAIK hotels don't have DVR. I'll be sweating the forums so if you say stuff like "Taylor sucks" or "less Taylor more Doyle" or "i <3 Taylor" it will help me reset my expecations of the show.
I think you guys will like the show though. To be honest I can't even remember that much about it except for some big hands and also talking to LeAnn Tweeden (very hot) at the PAD "bar." You can check out a sample clip at www.cardrunners.net (damn regulations, can't host it here) where I try to coax Doyle into drinking a Red Bull with me. That clip is from Day 4 of the show I think, so you won't see it tonight on TV. One interesting side note is that I think that was my second or third Red Bull that night and I went on to drink 5 more after the show at a club and let's just say it took about 3 days for my heart to beat normally. I am hopeful that Ezra can get me a lifetime supply of Red Bull free for me shamelessly drinking and promoting it on national TV.
Anyway, gotta run, later.
Feb 16, 09 11:37:33
Hevad Khan already tapped the "Poker pros drink Red Bull" market. I'm looking forward to PAD tonight!
Feb 16, 09 16:03:11
i drank 8 once at an open bar where my employer paid for everything lol, my heart did nto feel good for a good 12 hours
Feb 16, 09 17:11:36
you need slingbox so you can check the show from anywhere.
really looking forward to PAD tonite!
Feb 16, 09 18:41:11
The PAD cash games are some of my favorite tv shows and add CR guys, cant wait
Feb 25, 09 16:45:00
I've just started watching the series on the poker tube. Great stuff guys and it's great to see you up there. Makes me feel better about my annual membership investment with CR ;_).
Feb 25, 09 16:45:11
I've just started watching the series on the poker tube. Great stuff guys and it's great to see you up there. Makes me feel better about my annual membership investment with CR ;_).
Feb 25, 09 16:45:15
I've just started watching the series on the poker tube. Great stuff guys and it's great to see you up there. Makes me feel better about my annual membership investment with CR ;_).
Mar 15, 10 06:28:04
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Taylor
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