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I’ve put up a post on the Rap Genius blog which uses an analysis of “Renegade” as a starting point for a general comparison of Jay-Z and Eminem . It’s been getting great reviews from everybody who’s read it (which I think probably stems from the fact that I think only my friends have read it so far), and I think it’s one of my better-written blog posts. Here are the first few paragraphs to give you a little taste:

Jay-Z’s album The Blueprint was a baller achievement; XXL Magazine gave it a perfect XXL rating, The Source gave it 5 mics (also perfect), it sold 426,000 albums in its first week. But…funny thing; the album was released on the same day as this:

Needless to say, people weren’t talking about Jay’s album as much as they would have under normal circumstances. 9/11 changed everything (kind of a big deal). But as if Jay’s shine weren’t already being clouded, the song most people were talking about was “Renegade” and, when people talked about it, all they could talk about was how good Eminem’s rap was. Granted, Jay-Z’s verses were great as well, but the consensus is that – as Nas pointed out on “Ether” – “Eminem killed [Jay] on [his] own shit.”

Poor Jay-Z: he only had one guest featured on the entire album, and, when people weren’t talking about 9/11, they were mainly talking about the two verses on the album that weren’t his.

In 5000 hands, I’m down about 80k. It’s somewhat frustrating because when you’re playing poker all the time, you’re used to the swings and it doesn’t really bother you too much, but when you’ve been out of the game it’s a bit easier to let the swings affect your mood. I’ve been playing a fair amount of 40/80 deep NL and 25/50 HU, so 80k isn’t too much considering how aggressive and big these games play. While I’ve sucked out on people and they’ve sucked out on me so it’s not particularly illuminating to just select random hands and show them, this last hand was particularly tilting: my opponent had been running god mode on me, and had just 2 minutes prior apologized for running so hot. So naturally, this would happen:

Full Tilt Poker $40/$80 No Limit Hold’em - 2 players - View hand 510259
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

Hero (BB): $18953.00
BTN/SB: $23274.00

Pre Flop: ($120.00) Hero is BB with A A
BTN/SB raises to $200, Hero raises to $880, BTN/SB calls $680

Flop: ($1760.00) 9 2 3 (2 players)
Hero bets $1180, BTN/SB raises to $2560, Hero raises to $4840, BTN/SB calls $2280

Turn: ($11440.00) 5 (2 players)
Hero bets $13233 all in, BTN/SB calls $13233

River: ($37906.00) J (2 players - 1 is all in)

River: ($37906.00) 6 (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $37906.00
Hero shows A A (a pair of Aces)
BTN/SB shows A 4 (a straight, Six high)
BTN/SB wins $18952.50
BTN/SB wins $18952.50
(Rake: $1.00)

And with that hand, I decided that losing 60k in half an hour was probably as good a stopping point as any and picked up. I’m really low online right now so I’m going to start getting more money on. In the meantime, I’m going to stick to coaching and playing 10/20, so it’s looking like I won’t be having much new poker content for the next week or so. Just coaching, working on Rap Genius, and maybe getting lunch with friends from time to time.

Oh yeah, and standard “I’m venting about a downswing caveat”: I’m still insanely lucky to be as well off as I am and complaining about a downswing in the middle of a huge recession without being mindful of that would be insane, this happens all the time and I always bounce back it’s just all in the game, I’m just in a bad mood, and I believe in blogging my losses as well as my wins and my bad moods as well as my good ones, etc. etc. yada yada

A friend recently informed me that my blog is the first result when you google “one vile task” (for this post ). Ahead of any references to Deadwood.

I just want to say thank you to all my readers who helped make this possible. I remember one day I told my brother “I’m going to make a Deadwood line more famous on the internet than Deadwood made it” and he said to me “Please, how you goin’ make some line famous when you ain’t even got a blog.” Well, we ain’t gotta dream no more. We did it.

Full Tilt Poker $25/$50 No Limit Hold’em - 5 players - View hand 502632
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

CO: $5283.75
BTN: $5000.00
Hero (SB): $10670.00
BB: $5000.00
UTG: $10912.50

Pre Flop: ($75.00) Hero is SB with 2 2
1 fold, CO raises to $150, 1 fold, Hero calls $125, 1 fold

Flop: ($350.00) 2 5 5 (2 players)
Hero checks, CO bets $200, Hero raises to $500, CO raises to $900, Hero raises to $1650, CO raises to $5133.75 all in, Hero calls $3483.75

Turn: ($10617.50) K (2 players - 1 is all in)

River: ($10617.50) T (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $10617.50
CO shows K A (two pair, Kings and Fives)
Hero shows 2 2 (a full house, Twos full of Fives)
Hero wins $10614.50
(Rake: $3.00)

I’ve played maybe 500 hands since coming back to poker. I’m up roughly 15k at 25/50. It’s been pretty whatever: I still have trouble getting action and I’m working on getting money online so I don’t even have money on FTP to play 50/100 against the random regs who do want a match from time to time.

However, I have been keeping busy: I’ve been coaching a few hours a day lately and it’s been good to get back in the swing of things. My students have been having good sessions, although I am always amazed at how much tougher the mid-stakes games are getting. BTW, if you’re interested in receiving coaching, PM me on 2p2 or DeucesCracked (FoxwoodsFiend on both)

So here’s the deal.  Law school was great.  I had a fun time.  Met a lot of smart and interesting people, learned some law, got to repeat my standard “I used to be a poker player but no I don’t count cards and you haven’t seen me on TV” schpiel a million times, and had a lot of fun.  The work was manageable and classes were generally pretty engaging. And then exams started.  Worst 3 weeks of my life.  Given that some of you loyal blog readers know the downswings I’ve been on, that’s saying something.  Before exams, I thought everybody who complains about law school was overstating how bad it is but now I know that they were right.

Still, I was planning on toughing it out.  Really, I was.  I had told myself,  “This is just a few bad weeks, stay strong and it gets way easier next year.”  And then Krantz called me right in the middle of exams and made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.  The offer went something like this: “Drop out of law school and make more videos and coach more!”  I weighed the pros and cons.

Pros: Law school is stressful and draining, money is good, it’s fun to make videos and coach.  I’ll have time to have hobbies and read for pleasure again.

Cons: Everybody who always told me I was an idiot for going to law school and that I’d drop out in in no time would feel all smug and be able to say “I told you so.”

The pros had it.  So I’m taking a leave of absence for a semester, likely for two semesters, and possibly for forever.  I’ve got an apartment in Cambridge and don’t understand the concept of sunk cost, so I’m going to stay in Massachusetts for at least the next few months.  Cambridge may not be New York, but there’s a Starbucks on the corner and I’m only a 15 minute walk in the bitter cold away from the first halfway decent restaurant so I imagine living here without having anything to do all day will be totally awesome.

Will I ever go back to law school? I don’t know, it depends.  The grass is always greener and when I was playing poker I wanted to do something interesting and when I was doing something interesting I wanted to be able to just chill.  I think my involvement with DeucesCracked, combined with my work on http://RapGenius.com (formerly known as RapeXegesis) will keep me sufficiently engaged.  If not, at least I now know what it’s like to work every day so I’ll have a better sense of what I’m getting into when deciding whether or not to re-quit poker.  Right now I’d say my return to law school is about 50/50.   Exams notwithstanding, I really did love my time there but if my new projects give me something to do that I find engaging and lucrative, it’ll be a hard decision.  We’ll see.

And yes, I’ll be blogging more.  I’ve got some CRAZY stories from law school that I’ll be putting up on the blog every once in a while (for example, did you know that some states use a national standard for determining medical malpractice whereas some states use a modified locality rule?) but for the most part it’ll be poker content.  Stay tuned.

My friends and I have embarked upon an ambitious project: we’re trying to explain the meaning of rap lyrics to as many songs as possible.  I think it’s pretty awesome: you can listen to songs as you read the lyrics and if you don’t understand a lyric, if you click on it you’ll get a pop-up explanation.  If you’ve ever wanted to get into rap but been deterred by the difficulty of accessing a seemingly inaccessible world of slang and references, this is the site for you.

Check it out at RapGenius.com.

Jason: np
3:26 PM me: here’s a hand for you
other day we’re playing 40/80
background
3:27 PM earlier kingsofcards deep donked out KT8cc board, villain raised in position, KOC called
turn offsuit 9 KOC c/r from 1100 to 4200, villainc alled
river paired the K and KOC checked, villain overbet jammed for 12k, KOC tanked
they start getting into beef b/c villain is like “i 3barrel you so much, so easy to play again, etc” after KOC said he was lucky
3:28 PM villain claims to have had busted flushd raw
so onto my hand
16k deep
i defend KcJc in sb vs villain’s btn raise
355cc i donk out, he raises
i assume call?
3:32 PM Jason: yah
call
me: okay, turn offsuit 9
3:33 PM i check he bets like 2k into 2400
15k behind
and he’s been playing tightish/reasonable for most part all session other than talking trash after that hand
your play?
3:34 PM Jason: c/r to whatever PSB will be on the river
jam any river
hmmm
maybe i always get called here
haha
me: yeah that was the plan but then my professor called on me
Jason: when i bluff like that
hahaha
too bad youre not blogging anymore thats hilarious
3:35 PM me: just didn’t feel like sweating a 16k bluff while trying to figure out what my professor was asking for
3:36 PM and figured it’s close enough either way

Might return to occasional blogging given how boring law school is, no promises though

For a while I’ve been conflicted about whether or not to keep blogging: on the one hand, I no longer enjoy it and the original purpose of my blog (directing traffic to Deucescracked) is no longer particularly relevant as DC has blown up.  On the other hand, I felt obligated to keep blogging because I know how much it means to all my readers to be able to know where I happen to be at any point in time or whether I’ve been having lunch with friends lately.  But then I read this touching, brilliant piece by Sports Guy and it was like a sign.  It’s time to walk away from the blogging game.

I’m going to law school in a month and once I’m there I don’t anticipate I’ll have too much interesting stuff to say, I’ll be too busy doing the typical law school routine.  I’m also going to cash out my $ from Stars and FTP so I won’t be distracted from my studies, which means I won’t have too much value added as a blogger.  All the trip reports, sick screenshots, and hand histories are a thing of the past, and I don’t want to just be blogging about what it’s like to be in law school.

My only real involvement with poker is I’m going to continue to coach and make videos for Deucescracked.  It’s possible that my next deal with DC will involve some sort of blogging for their main site, in which case I’ll return to the blogosphere (and I guess I’ll bump this blog to announce any such return).  But for now, I’m done.  Thanks to all my readers, all my Google Reader sharers (mainly just Tom and Ilan I guess), and, to a lesser extent, all the people who commented on the Reader shares of my posts.

I’m burnt out.  I haven’t played poker this long straight in a couple years now.  I had an opponent on UB who was 2-tabling me for at least 8 hours.  He’s a grind to play but not very good, and I was clawing back to even when I fake misclicked to 5600 instead of 600 with QQ 13k deep and he jammed AQ and hit an ace on the river.  The next 6 hours consisted of us playing 400BB deep poker on two tables and me finally getting up on him. Just as I started to think “wow, I’m up on the day!” some random player showed up at Stars 25/50 and took 28k off me in like 200 hands.  Next thing I know, I’m playing a 100/200 Stars table HU, a 25/50 Stars table HU, 2 UB tables super deep, and playing a shortstack on FTP at 50/100.  5 tables of heads-up against 3 different opponents, it reminded me of my grinding 5/10 days (two Februaries ago where I played 60k hands of HU NL).   I’m totally burnt out and all my games are done.  I was supposed to go to a Q-Tip concert and a friend’s birthday party (a so-so friend so not like I’m being a degen missing his party), but instead I got wrapped up in this shit.  I’m on a huge heater so I normally don’t care about winning 10k, but I’d say this is the most rewarding 10k I’ve won in a while.  Enjoy this crazy swingy graph, which is too big of a file and I’m too lazy to resize right now:

http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w239/FoxwoodsFiend/crazydeay.jpg

No, I didn’t buy any property (too illiquid an investment, not sure where I’m settling down, all the Green Plastic arguments, etc.).  But I did sublet an apartment for the next month and moved in today.  I know this isn’t that big a deal, but it’s a huge relief for me because it has been over 4 months since I’ve had my own place to stay.  I was getting pretty tired of living out of a suitcase (or 2 or 3), and just having some order in my life again should be pretty sweet.  I got a studio in Greenwich Village right around the corner from an Equinox, so the location is pretty much ideal (when I paid for my month’s membership and personal trainer sessions by pulling out a bundle of cash and peeling off some hundreds, the guy told me “You’re a brave man.” Which is probably the first time anybody’s ever said something along those lines, normally they just try not to stare).

As for poker, I’ve had a good couple of days.  I think I’m up like 50k in my last few hours playing 25/50 HU.  I’ve been running well, playing some fishy opponents, and playing well.  I played a late session last night (until about 3 a.m., and I rarely play past midnight these days) and then the sun hit my eyes at 6 a.m. and I couldn’t get back to sleep.  With no idea what to do in the morning (yoga’s not until 11, that left me 5 hours to kill!), I decided to try getting some work done.  First, I paid my 1st semester’s tuition for Harvard.  Twenty-two thousand, eight hundred and seventy dollars.  Uggggh.  Fortunately I played some 25/50 and before 8:00, I’d made practically that same amount, due to such genius hands as these:

Full Tilt Poker $25/$50 No Limit Hold’em - 2 players - View hand 184704

The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

BB: $8543.00

Hero (BTN/SB): $13913.50

Pre Flop: ($75.00) Hero is BTN/SB with K Q

Hero raises to $150, BB raises to $500, Hero calls $350

Flop: ($1000.00) 5 4 T (2 players)

BB bets $650, Hero calls $650

Turn: ($2300.00) Q (2 players)

BB checks, Hero bets $1350, BB calls $1350

River: ($5000.00) 9 (2 players)

BB checks, Hero bets $11413.50 all in, BB requests TIME, BB calls $6043 all in

Final Pot: $17086.00

BB mucks J J

Hero shows K Q (a pair of Queens)

Hero wins $17085.50

(Rake: $0.50)

Full Tilt Poker $25/$50 No Limit Hold’em - 2 players - View hand 184707

The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

BTN/SB: $5948.50

Hero (BB): $10071.50

Pre Flop: ($75.00) Hero is BB with K J

BTN/SB raises to $100, Hero raises to $400, BTN/SB calls $300

Flop: ($800.00) Q 4 T (2 players)

Hero bets $550, BTN/SB calls $550

Turn: ($1900.00) 8 (2 players)

Hero checks, BTN/SB checks

River: ($1900.00) 9 (2 players)

Hero checks, BTN/SB bets $1700, Hero raises to $9121.50 all in, BTN/SB requests TIME, BTN/SB calls $3298.50 all in

Final Pot: $11897.00

BTN/SB mucks J T

Hero shows K J (a straight, King high)

Hero wins $11896.50

(Rake: $0.50)

Absolute Poker $25/$50 No Limit Hold’em - 2 players - View hand 184708

The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

BTN/SB: $7986.00

Hero (BB): $10373.00

Pre Flop: ($75.00) Hero is BB with T A

BTN/SB raises to $150, Hero raises to $550, BTN/SB calls $400

Flop: ($1100.00) 9 7 9 (2 players)

Hero bets $600, BTN/SB raises to $1200, Hero calls $600

Turn: ($3500.00) K (2 players)

Hero checks, BTN/SB bets $3500, Hero raises to $8623 all in, BTN/SB folds

Final Pot: $10500.00

Hero shows T A (One pair, nines)

Hero wins $10499.00

(Rake: $1.00)

Absolute Poker $25/$50 No Limit Hold’em - 2 players - View hand 184710

The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

BB: $7081.66

Hero (BTN/SB): $18127.00

Pre Flop: ($75.00) Hero is BTN/SB with 6 6

Hero raises to $100, BB raises to $350, Hero calls $250

Flop: ($700.00) 4 J 9 (2 players)

BB bets $450, Hero raises to $1000, BB calls $550

Turn: ($2700.00) 3 (2 players)

BB checks, Hero checks

River: ($2700.00) J (2 players)

BB bets $1700, Hero calls $1700

Final Pot: $6100.00

BB shows Q T (One pair, jacks)

Hero shows 6 6 (Two Pair, jacks and sixes)

Hero wins $6099.00

(Rake: $1.00)

All told, I won 25796 in 190 hands today, so even after paying for law school I’m up for the day!