foxwoodsfiend.com

While putting in a session (+10k at 5/10 FWIW), I’m watching the new Fox show “moment of truth” for background noise. This is a show where apparently the contestants are polygraphed and then asked very embarrassing or revealing questions with their loved ones/close associates in the room (Would you leave your girlfriend if you ex-wife wanted you back? Have you ever gambled away one of your children’s college funds? etc.). If the person answers truthfully he/she gets to keep playing and gets more money the further he gets. If the contestant lies, it’s game over.

I don’t understand this game. I don’t mean I fail to grasp the appeal of this game: obviously having people’s dirty laundry aired on national t.v. is going to appeal to some people. What I don’t understand is why anybody would ever lie. If you lie the machine says “that answer is false” so everybody knows the right answer to your question anyway (and whatever secret you were trying to hide), so you don’t gain anything by lying anyway and you don’t get to keep playing or win more money. So why would anybody lie?  The only reason to lie is if you think that there are going to be more embarrassing questions in addition to the one you lie on, but I really doubt that this is what’s going on in people’s heads when they lie.

Apparently, today’s episode has a guy who’s apparently a huge gambling addict. He gets to decide whether to keep playing or pocket his winnings thus far and stop playing. His son makes an impassioned plea for the father to take the $100,000 and stop playing saying something like “I’ll always love you, but if you don’t take the money you’re an idiot and I’ll lose respect for you because that will mean the gambling got the best of you. No more gambling, please. This family is done with gambling.” The dad takes the money and everybody celebrates as father and son hug.

Two thoughts: first, the son probably just cost his dad hundreds of thousands of dollars because the dad was admitting some embarrassing stuff with no qualms whatsoever. Second, it probably doesn’t matter at all anyway since the dad’s going to gamble away anyway. Other than that, it was really touching moment

Flipping through the channels, I just saw Ric Flair is still in the WWF (or WWE, whatever).  I used to watch pro wrestling religiously when I was a kid and followed it very closely in middle school (reading message boards, buying classic videos, etc.), but I stopped watching around the time the WCW went under.  Without any competition, I thought the WWF just turned to crap.  Now it’s possible it’s good again these days, but I don’t have the time or inclination to get back into it.

Anyway, back to Ric Flair.  This guy turns 59 years old in a few weeks.  How in the world is he still competing in pro wrestling? I mean, I’m in pretty good shape and am 23 and I tweaked my neck at the gym today: how does this guy not fall apart every time he gets suplexed or body slammed?  Also, I’m psure he’s just not that good a pro wrestler anymore, which is a shame because I don’t think too many fans appreciate just how amazing Flair was in his prime.  He was not only a great technical wrestler (although not on par with the true technical masters like Chris Benoit and Bret Hart), he could sell any match and make any opponent look good.  His matches against Ricky Steamboat were classics and he managed to consistently put on great matches for over 20 years, from his NWA days through the 1990’s.  The thought of him hanging on, just slapping some people and saying whoo, and then falling all over the place and exaggerating everything while still doing his flamboyant “nature boy” semi-dancing motion during interviews is kind of depressing.

Also, apparently Flair has endorsed Mike Huckabee for president.  Wonder why that never got picked up by the mainstream media.  Anti-Huckabee bias I guess.

This is a picture of Machu Picchu from the top of the hiking trail

Another Machu Picchu pic:

My brother and me overlooking Machu Picchu

Random Pic:

Not sure what this was because we didn’t have a guide, but it was cool:

Me on the mountainside:

Makes you realize what you take for granted:

My brother and me at some ruins outside of Lima

A cool church in Lima

Like I said, Lima’s not so nice of a city:

A friend of mine was playing some 100-200 NL and sold me a quarter of his action.  Since this summer when I went on a sick heater buying pieces of people, I’ve lost somewhere around 150k taking pieces of my friends’ action.  I would go on heaters and lose them all back taking pieces, and at one point I was 0-10 since September when taking pieces worth 25/50 or higher.  So I swore to myself I’d stop taking pieces until I’d put in 100k hands on my own, but obviously I was bored today so when my friend wanted to sell me a piece I bought it.  He won a buy in with 99 vs KQ in a reraised pot (he made a straight on the river and KQ check/called him on 67TK8 board when the river also made a flush) and then check/raised JJ on an 792 flush draw board versus an opponent who had KK but timed down because he forgot he didn’t have any time bank left on the table, so that kept me from losing 5k.  Talk about the quiet ways of running well…

The game got bad so he won 32k really quickly and that’s how I won 8k while checking my google reader.

Is losing to a total fish and then getting it back HU. I played this guy today and it was mad frustrating because he went up 5 or 6k or so on me really quickly just as I was about to rap up my session, and I was forced to play him for a while. He was playing ultraaggro (probably the most recklessly aggressive player I’ve played in a while: just a total lunatic). The first hand he won from me went like this:

FullTiltPoker Game #4996925339: Table Ovum (heads up) - $10/$20 - No Limit Hold’em - 22:52:34 ET - 2008/01/25
Seat 1: DaEvils ($2,099.50)
Seat 2: Smiller864 ($2,261.75)
DaEvils posts the small blind of $10
Smiller864 posts the big blind of $20
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to DaEvils [Kd Ac]
DaEvils raises to $60
Smiller864 raises to $100
DaEvils raises to $300
Smiller864 calls $200
*** FLOP *** [Qs Ad 4s]
Smiller864 checks
DaEvils bets $600
Smiller864 raises to $1,961.75, and is all in
DaEvils calls $1,199.50, and is all in
Smiller864 shows [3s Ks]
DaEvils shows [Kd Ac]
Uncalled bet of $162.25 returned to Smiller864
*** TURN *** [Qs Ad 4s] [9c]
*** RIVER *** [Qs Ad 4s 9c] [5s]
Smiller864 shows a flush, King high
DaEvils shows a pair of Aces
Smiller864 wins the pot ($4,198.50) with a flush, King high
DaEvils adds $2,000
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $4,199 | Rake $0.50
Board: [Qs Ad 4s 9c 5s]
Seat 1: DaEvils (small blind) showed [Kd Ac] and lost with a pair of Aces
Seat 2: Smiller864 (big blind) showed [3s Ks] and won ($4,198.50) with a flush, King high

In the beginning of the match he was open jamming over my opens, reraising me constantly, jamming over my cbets for 100bb, etc. So this hand comes up a minute after his obviously spewy K3s hand and I decided he was bluffing. I actually think my line’s fine as I’m ahead of his reraising range which really might be any two (with varying frequencies obviously) and I don’t think he ever slows down:

FullTiltPoker Game #4996934749: Table Ovum (heads up) - $10/$20 - No Limit Hold’em - 22:53:21 ET - 2008/01/25
Seat 1: DaEvils ($2,010)
Seat 2: Smiller864 ($4,350.75)
DaEvils posts the small blind of $10
Smiller864 posts the big blind of $20
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to DaEvils [Js 9c]
DaEvils has 15 seconds left to act
DaEvils raises to $60
Smiller864 raises to $180
DaEvils calls $120
*** FLOP *** [8h 3h Ac]
Smiller864 checks
DaEvils checks
*** TURN *** [8h 3h Ac] [9h]
Smiller864 bets $360
DaEvils calls $360
*** RIVER *** [8h 3h Ac 9h] [Kd]
Smiller864 bets $1,080
DaEvils has 15 seconds left to act
DaEvils has requested TIME
DaEvils calls $1,080
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Smiller864 shows [8s 8d] three of a kind, Eights
DaEvils mucks
Smiller864 wins the pot ($3,239.50) with three of a kind, Eights
DaEvils adds $1,610
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $3,240 | Rake $0.50
Board: [8h 3h Ac 9h Kd]
Seat 1: DaEvils (small blind) mucked [Js 9c] - a pair of Nines
Seat 2: Smiller864 (big blind) showed [8s 8d] and won ($3,239.50) with three of a kind, Eights

13 minutes later, I’m not making anything happening and getting very frustrating. I get even more frustrated when this happens:

FullTiltPoker Game #4997089675: Table Ovum (heads up) - $10/$20 - No Limit Hold’em - 23:06:13 ET - 2008/01/25
Seat 1: DaEvils ($2,218.25)
Seat 2: Smiller864 ($6,324)
Smiller864 posts the small blind of $10
DaEvils posts the big blind of $20
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to DaEvils [Ah Ac]
Smiller864 calls $10
DaEvils raises to $80
Smiller864 calls $60
*** FLOP *** [9s 8d Ad]
DaEvils bets $120
Smiller864 calls $120
*** TURN *** [9s 8d Ad] [Jd]
DaEvils bets $300
Smiller864 raises to $6,124, and is all in
DaEvils calls $1,718.25, and is all in
Smiller864 shows [6d 9d]
DaEvils shows [Ah Ac]
Uncalled bet of $4,105.75 returned to Smiller864
*** RIVER *** [9s 8d Ad Jd] [5d]
Smiller864 shows a flush, Ace high
DaEvils shows three of a kind, Aces
Smiller864 wins the pot ($4,436) with a flush, Ace high
DaEvils adds $2,000
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $4,436.50 | Rake $0.50
Board: [9s 8d Ad Jd 5d]
Seat 1: DaEvils (big blind) showed [Ah Ac] and lost with three of a kind, Aces
Seat 2: Smiller864 (small blind) showed [6d 9d] and won ($4,436) with a flush, Ace high

So now this guy’s sitting on an 8500 stack and I’m worried he’s going to pick up: as flawless victory always says, every hand you get after a fish wins a pot from you is a minor miracle. But this lunatic keeps at it. He’s still jamming over my opens and all that madness. I’m wondering if I’ll ever get this money back. Then this beautiful hand happens: notice his minbet on the turn with a set, then he minbets when the flush gets there, min3bets my raise, and calls my jam. This guy honestly might be the biggest fish I’ve ever played HU.

FullTiltPoker Game #4997110616: Table Ovum (heads up) - $10/$20 - No Limit Hold’em - 23:07:59 ET - 2008/01/2Seat 1: DaEvils ($1,929.50)
Seat 2: Smiller864 ($8,611.25)
DaEvils posts the small blind of $10
Smiller864 posts the big blind of $20
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to DaEvils [3c Jc]
DaEvils raises to $60
Smiller864 calls $40
*** FLOP *** [8c Ks Th]
Smiller864 checks
DaEvils has 15 seconds left to act
DaEvils checks
*** TURN *** [8c Ks Th] [5c]
Smiller864 bets $20
DaEvils calls $20
*** RIVER *** [8c Ks Th 5c] [7c]
Smiller864 bets $20
DaEvils raises to $180
Smiller864 raises to $340
DaEvils has 15 seconds left to act
DaEvils raises to $1,849.50, and is all in
Smiller864 calls $1,509.50
*** SHOW DOWN ***
DaEvils shows [3c Jc] a flush, Jack high
Smiller864 mucks
DaEvils wins the pot ($3,858.50) with a flush, Jack high
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $3,859 | Rake $0.50
Board: [8c Ks Th 5c 7c]
Seat 1: DaEvils (small blind) showed [3c Jc] and won ($3,858.50) with a flush, Jack high
Seat 2: Smiller864 (big blind) mucked [5h 5d] - three of a kind, Fives

This hand was funny: a few minutes previously he limped and I made it 800 with AA to see if he’d bite. He didn’t, so when he limped vs my AA I figured I’d try it again. I actually think I should have check/called this turn because he’s so aggro he’d probably take a stab at it, but either way the hand is LOL. He instafolded the turn.

FullTiltPoker Game #4997122507: Table Ovum (heads up) - $10/$20 - No Limit Hold’em - 23:08:59 ET - 2008/01/25
Seat 1: DaEvils ($3,858.50)
Seat 2: Smiller864 ($6,681.75)
Smiller864 has 5 seconds left to act
Smiller864 posts the small blind of $10
DaEvils posts the big blind of $20
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to DaEvils [Ah As]
Smiller864 calls $10
DaEvils raises to $800
Smiller864 calls $780
*** FLOP *** [9h 7s Ts]
DaEvils has 15 seconds left to act
DaEvils bets $1,240
Smiller864 calls $1,240
*** TURN *** [9h 7s Ts] [Qs]
DaEvils bets $1,818.50, and is all in
Smiller864 folds
Uncalled bet of $1,818.50 returned to DaEvils
DaEvils mucks
DaEvils wins the pot ($4,079.50)
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $4,080 | Rake $0.50
Board: [9h 7s Ts Qs]
Seat 1: DaEvils (big blind) collected ($4,079.50), mucked
Seat 2: Smiller864 (small blind) folded on the Turn

This hand was a frustrating one because I decided he didn’t have much of a hand on the turn and raised him figuring I have 12 clean outs even if called then he kind of owned me with the min-donk on the river. I probably shouldn’t have tried bluffing him anyway, but it definitely doesn’t help that he backdoored the flush.

FullTiltPoker Game #4997314609: Table Ovum (heads up) - $10/$20 - No Limit Hold’em - 23:25:19 ET - 2008/01/25
Seat 1: DaEvils ($5,253)
Seat 2: Smiller864 ($5,275.75)
DaEvils posts the small blind of $10
Smiller864 posts the big blind of $20
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to DaEvils [4c 5c]
DaEvils raises to $60
Smiller864 calls $40
*** FLOP *** [Qc 8c Ah]
Smiller864 checks
DaEvils bets $100
Smiller864 calls $100
*** TURN *** [Qc 8c Ah] [6h]
Smiller864 bets $20
DaEvils raises to $260
Smiller864 calls $240
*** RIVER *** [Qc 8c Ah 6h] [Jh]
Smiller864 bets $20
DaEvils raises to $540
Smiller864 calls $520
*** SHOW DOWN ***
DaEvils shows [4c 5c] Ace Queen high
Smiller864 shows [Qh 4h] a flush, Ace high
Smiller864 wins the pot ($1,919.50) with a flush, Ace high
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $1,920 | Rake $0.50
Board: [Qc 8c Ah 6h Jh]
Seat 1: DaEvils (small blind) showed [4c 5c] and lost with Ace Queen high
Seat 2: Smiller864 (big blind) showed [Qh 4h] and won ($1,919.50) with a flush, Ace high

I lose some more medium sized pots and now my hope is quickly fading: I had a few good chances at getting this guy but now I’ll have to play and win a huge pot and then win another 300BB pot to finish this guy off. How would it ever happen? I guess I’d have to flop top two in a limped pot versus his AA and win a 350BB pot first:

FullTiltPoker Game #4997472231: Table Ovum (heads up) - $10/$20 - No Limit Hold’em - 23:38:51 ET - 2008/01/25
Seat 1: DaEvils ($3,588.50)
Seat 2: Smiller864 ($6,929.75)
Smiller864 posts the small blind of $10
DaEvils posts the big blind of $20
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to DaEvils [4h Ks]
Smiller864 calls $10
DaEvils has 15 seconds left to act
DaEvils checks
*** FLOP *** [4d Kc 3s]
DaEvils bets $40
Smiller864 raises to $160
DaEvils raises to $520
Smiller864 raises to $6,909.75, and is all in
DaEvils calls $3,048.50, and is all in
Smiller864 shows [Ad Ah]
DaEvils shows [4h Ks]
Uncalled bet of $3,341.25 returned to Smiller864
*** TURN *** [4d Kc 3s] [Ts]
*** RIVER *** [4d Kc 3s Ts] [Qs]
Smiller864 shows a pair of Aces
DaEvils shows two pair, Kings and Fours
DaEvils wins the pot ($7,176.50) with two pair, Kings and Fours
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $7,177 | Rake $0.50
Board: [4d Kc 3s Ts Qs]
Seat 1: DaEvils (big blind) showed [4h Ks] and won ($7,176.50) with two pair, Kings and Fours
Seat 2: Smiller864 (small blind) showed [Ad Ah] and lost with a pair of Aces

This was the finishing hand. I really wanted to fold the turn because as crazy as he is, it’s still a huge overbet and I had a feeling that he might be able to at least somewhat adjust. There’s no worse feeling than getting owned by some donkey and playing a huge pot with a marginal and obviously transparent hand but I decided I had so many outs if I was behind and this guy could easily have some random crap. I checked the flop because I wanted to give him the chance to bluff at it and I could exercise a bit of pot control: I wasn’t expecting the bluff to turn into an overbet jam on the turn, and all of a sudden pot control just wasn’t an option.

FullTiltPoker Game #4997559261: Table Ovum (heads up) - $10/$20 - No Limit Hold’em - 23:46:21 ET - 2008/01/25
Seat 1: DaEvils ($7,005.50)
Seat 2: Smiller864 ($3,509.75)
Smiller864 has 5 seconds left to act
Smiller864 posts the small blind of $10
DaEvils posts the big blind of $20
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to DaEvils [Kc Ah]
Smiller864 raises to $40
DaEvils raises to $140
Smiller864 calls $100
*** FLOP *** [Qh Th Ks]
DaEvils checks
Smiller864 bets $280
DaEvils calls $280
*** TURN *** [Qh Th Ks] [2h]
DaEvils checks
Smiller864 bets $3,089.75, and is all in
DaEvils has 15 seconds left to act
DaEvils has requested TIME
DaEvils calls $3,089.75
Smiller864 shows [5c Tc]
DaEvils shows [Kc Ah]
*** RIVER *** [Qh Th Ks 2h] [As]
Smiller864 shows a pair of Tens
DaEvils shows two pair, Aces and Kings
DaEvils wins the pot ($7,019) with two pair, Aces and Kings
Smiller864 is sitting out
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $7,019.50 | Rake $0.50
Board: [Qh Th Ks 2h As]
Seat 1: DaEvils (big blind) showed [Kc Ah] and won ($7,019) with two pair, Aces and Kings
Seat 2: Smiller864 (small blind) showed [5c Tc] and lost with a pair of Tens

Nothing like sitting on a 10k stack after staring up at a fish’s 8k stack and wondering if it will ever be yours…

I figure it’s a good idea to give you guys a sense for what life is like as a poker player.  While it’s true that unlike my friends with jobs I don’t have any set obligations or time constraints, I still try to live with some semblance of a schedule.  I’ve been living in Blacksburg, VA (where I grew up and home of Virginia Tech. Go Hokies!) for the last couple of months.  Lately I’ve been putting a lot of time into studying for the LSAT and in preparation for the test (this coming Saturday) I’m trying to get into a regular sleep schedule.  I wake up around 10 a.m. every day (which is a miracle considering that the whole year I lived in New York after graduating I never woke up before noon unless I needed to catch a flight), get some breakfast, and do some reading for a couple hours.

Books I’ve read lately include Philip Roth’s American Pastoral (amazing), Sabbath’s Theatre (absolutely hysterical), and Operation Shylock (clever, funny, interesting…probably my favorite book I’ve read in a long time).  I don’t know of any non-Jews who have admitted to reading Roth, but I’d recommend his work to even the Waspiest of goyim (except for Plot Against America which I suppose you have to be Jewish to even relate to, and even then it’s kind of boring).  I’ve also read Cormac McCarthy’s The Road(grisly and post-apocalyptic, it’s incredibly well-written), Blood Meridian (super-violent and it’s hard to read so I can only read 20 pages at a time but it’s a masterpiece), and All the Pretty Horses (a bit more sedate, a very well-written cowboy tale).  I just finished Kafka’s The Trial.  Now I’m working on Gabriel Garcia Marquez’ Love in the Time of Cholera.  I have mixed feelings about the book: in the first part of the book, Marquez’ portrayal of the love between a man and his wife through the silly and mundane matters that arise between them is really impressive.  The intensity of the love is clear yet he doesn’t hit you over the head with it.  Then in the second part, we’re supposed to care about a guy who basically sees a girl, falls in love with her on the spot, and spends months stalking her while writing a 70-page letter about how much he loves her.  They eventually correspond for a while, agree to get married, then she cuts it off with no real explanation and he spends the rest of his life obsessed with this girl he loved as a teenager.  This is the main love story of the book, but it’s almost impossible to relate to and the unrealistic nature and superficial foundation of the boy’s love makes it really hard to appreciate the book, despite Marquez’ brilliant writing.

Anyway, I normally read for a couple hours in a coffee shop then in the mid-afternoon I go to the gym.  I do weights for an hour and a half followed by 30 minutes of cardio 3 times a week and 45 minutes of cardio another 3 times a week.  It sounds very intense, but I figure there’s no excuse not to work out since I have so much free time and I’d allowed myself to get pretty overweight (a year ago I weighed 220 pounds and now I’ve gotten myself down to 180) so the need to get into a fitness regimen was pretty pressing.

After the gym I work on the LSAT for an hour or so (mainly playing logic games which I really enjoy, although I did take my 3rd practice test today and got a 174) and after that I play poker.  I try to put in 2 3-hour sessions of HU play a day, normally playing 4 HU tables at a time and normally against 4 different opponents.  It can get pretty intense which is why I don’t play for long stretches unless I have a total fish at one of my tables.  Then at night I normally relax by catching up on my google reader and rewatching episodes of the Wire (the best TV show of all time in case you haven’t seen it yet, and I can’t emphasize enough how much everybody I know enjoys it).

I don’t really socialize much but that’s because for these few weeks before the LSAT I’m trying to take the test very seriously and put in a lot of hands as well since after the LSAT I’ll be going on a month long vacation (visiting friends in Austin, TX and after that spending a few weeks with Flawless, Krantz, and Whitelime in Copenhagen) so I’m just all about grinding right now.

So that’s basically my routine right now.  I’m very bad at ending blog posts, so that’s all for now.

Sometime in December my brother asked me if I wanted to go to Peru with him. I checked my schedule, realized that I never have any obligations, and said “why not?” A month later I was in Peru. Why Peru? My brother’s at Harvard Law School right now and one of his friends in Cambridge lives in Lima (the capital of Peru, but you already knew that right?) and invited a group of people to come down, so my brother went and I tagged along.

Our first 3 days, my brother and I were on our own in Lima (his friend was finishing up a project). We were surprised by how big it is: it’s got about 8,000,000 people and is woefully lacking in terms of having tall buildings, so it takes up a lot of space (about as big geographically as New York City). The traffic was awful and the cars spew so much exhaust that it’s almost impossible to breathe when you’re getting a taxi ride (you also can barely see anything in the horizon). Anyway, there were a ton of casinos in the neighborhood so eventually I went to one and practiced counting cards in blackjack (betting $3/hand sometimes bumping it up to 10 or so. Super degenerate stuff, really). Then I saw that there was a $25 poker tournament that night (with rebuys) so obviously I decided to swing by and see how bad everybody is.

Everybody was awful. Like, worse than the players in a $25 MTT online awful. And players in $25 MTTs online are super awful. Everyone was either super nitty or super loose and calling-stationy and I was about the only aggressive player at my table besides some old widow who consistently overjammed the flop for 20x pot with top pair (I would describe my aggression as being slightly more careful than hers). There was this one guy at my table who looked astonishingly like Ehud Barak, the former Prime Minister of Israel. He was very garrulous and kept on telling jokes at the table and everybody was laughing except for me. It’s not that I have a bad sense of humor or anything, I just don’t speak Spanish. So anyway, this guy check/raises my turn bet on a 249J 3-diamond board with 47o no diamond and I fold and he shows. He then starts speaking at me very loudly and gesticulating aggressively. I ask him as best as I can to be quiet and he keeps going at it. I’m about to start yelling back at him and am raising my voice, coming dangerously close to causing a scene (as I do all the time in casinos if somebody starts something with me: I’ve always had a short temper when provoked) when the guy sitting next to me grabs me and says “He was saying he thinks you had high cards and wanted to know if he’s right.” I’m wondering why he was being so loud about it, but now everybody’s looking at me as if I”m supposed to say something and I don’t want to tell them what I had so I decided to break the ice by asking the man if anybody’s ever told him he looks like Ehud Barak (my brother was astonished by the resemblance by the way, so I’m not crazy).

Somebody translates for him and he starts yelling at me again but I figure that this is just how he talks so I’m laughing awkwardly because I don’t understand what he’s saying. Then he keeps yelling and yelling and I can’t think of what to say so just keep laughing. He keeps yelling and finally the floor comes over and calms him down. I’m wondering what the big deal is and the guy next to me goes “He’s very upset with you: he’s of Lebanese descent.” Apparently he was going on a long diatribe regarding the injustices Israel has inflicted upon the Palestinians over the years and daring Israel to come and try invading Lebanon again and my laughing just got him more upset. I decided not to mention that I was born in Jerusalem.

Anyway, I busted out and the next day my brother and I went to see some ruins on the outskirts of Lima. It was really amazing to see, and the ruins made you realize how sophisticated the Inca culture was before the Spaniards came and destroyed everything. Our tour guide told us the story of Francisco Pizarro’s abduction of the Inca king at what was supposed to be a diplomatic meeting. Pizarro held the king ransom and made the Inca strip their temples of gold and fill a room with gold in exchange for their king. After they did that, he killed the guy anyway. I think he and Grimstarr would have got along. I turned to my brother and said “You know what I don’t get? Let’s say you fill a room full of gold for Francisco Pizarro. He still kills your king. Doesn’t seem fair.” He got the reference: 10 bucks on FTP to the first person to leave a comment who tells me what movie I’m referencing.

Well, the next few days we spent in Cusco, which is the 2nd biggest city in Peru and is apparently quite nice. I wouldn’t know because I spent the first 2 days afflicted with severe diarrhea (apparently everybody gets it at some point in Peru: a few others in our group did as well) and our last day was spent outside of Cusco looking at ruins. The next day we grabbed lunch and were supposed to catch the last train of the day to Machu Picchu. Our guide came into the restaurant to tell us we had 10 minutes, so 10 minutes later we figure we’re in good shape. At this point, he takes the 18-person passenger van we’re driving and absolutely drives like a lunatic for the next half-hour. He’s speeding down narrow 1-lane roads in small towns (the train wasn’t in Cusco, it was in a nearby city) honking his horn at pedestrians to get out of the way. He almost hit like 10 different people and got in a half-dozen near crashes. He was constantly crossing himself and kissing the hanging picture of the Virgin Mary hanging from his rear-view mirror while muttering in Spanish under his breath. I assume he was praying, and it was absolutely terrifying. Then he starts screaming in Spanish and our friend translates for us that we’re going to need to sprint once he drops us off at the station if we’re going to make the train. After a huge meal, a ridiculous drive, holding all of our luggage, and feeling the effects of the high altitude (Cuzco is about 3200 meters above sea level), we all haul ass and barely made the train. The whole thing was ridiculous and I’m honestly amazed that nobody vomited on the train.

Anyway, the next day we went to Machu Picchu which was absolutely beautiful. We did a 2 hour hike that was the steepest hike I’ve ever done. I’ve been doing a lot of cardio lately and am in pretty good shape, but with the high altitude and steep climbing I was absolutely exhausted. Still, it was worth it because the view of Machu Picchu you get from the top of the trail we went on was amazing. I’ll upload some pictures once my brother emails them to me.

I couldn’t watch the return of American Gladiators without any betting action: the show is just too perfectly suited for gambling. I bet Chuddo/Snagglepuss and Apathy each $110 to win $100 against Molivar, a scrawny 5′8″ Asian kid. This guy seemed so clueless, I laid odds to bet on his opponent, sight unseen. Unfortunately his opponent turned out to be some middle aged guy who was on the original AG 13 years ago, so needless to say he was way too slow and out of shape to win in the eliminator (which I had forgotten was all that matters for victory, it’s not just weighted more than the other games which I had assumed). So I bet Apathy $110 to win $100 on Shanay, a very strong girl with a promo video that involved her doing backflips. Strong and athletic, I figured she had to be a favorite over a stranger.

Emil (whitelime) bet me another $100 that Shanay would lose to Bonnie in the first competition and I won that bet. We doubled or nothing on the next competition and I won that as well and then I ended up doubling or nothing that $200 on Shanay in the Eliminator. Shanay won so I ended up washing with Apathy, -110 to Chuddo (who I believe has made a living prop betting his HSNL friends), and +400 vs Emil. Not bad for watching a TV show.

I’ve also got $1,000 versus Emil on LSU -4 vs OSU in today’s national championship game. LSU’s driving, with 3rd and 1 on the OSU 19 at the moment in a tie game so I’m feeling good about that. Hopefully it’ll make up for the $2300 I lost this weekend betting on the Bucs and Jaguars. The Jaguars missed covering by one point, which is always tilting because Garrard broke a long run to the 12 and they had to settle for a field goal instead of the TD. What’s particularly irritating is that Garrard almost broke the last second tackle that would have won me $1500 and the Steelers player probably should have let Garrard score. If he tackled Garrard, the Jags could run down the clock to basically 45 seconds and kick a field goal to go ahead (and they might even score a TD anyway) whereas by allowing a TD the Steelers would be down 5 with 2:15 left and 2 timeouts. If only football players were all aware of the strategic benefit of surrendering points, I’d be a little richer right now.

As I’m typing this LSU goes up by a touchdown. This is made all the more satisfying by the fact I HATE Ohio State with a passion.

Also, here are two funny hands I played versus the same opponent today. The first one was about 20 hands into the session. I’ve been playing 5/10 NL on FTP to run up my account (I’d cashed out a lot to play on other sites and then had to transfer 50k to get cash in Vegas, so I was down to my last 12k or so on Full Tilt), and fortunately 5/10 swings don’t affect me at all or else totally owning this guy and getting punished for it would have been mad tilting:

FISH posts the small blind of $5
FoxwoodsFiend posts the big blind of $10
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FoxwoodsFiend [7s Ah]
Fish raises to $30
FoxwoodsFiend calls $20
*** FLOP *** [Ks 6c 7d]
FoxwoodsFiend checks
FISH bets $50
FoxwoodsFiend raises to $190
FISH has 15 seconds left to act
FISH raises to $330
FoxwoodsFiend has 15 seconds left to act
FoxwoodsFiend has requested TIME
FoxwoodsFiend raises to $560
FISH has 15 seconds left to act
FISH raises to $938, and is all in
FoxwoodsFiend calls $378
FISH shows [Th Qc]
FoxwoodsFiend shows [7s Ah]
*** TURN *** [Ks 6c 7d] [Qh]
*** RIVER *** [Ks 6c 7d Qh] [5c]
FISH shows a pair of Queens
FoxwoodsFiend shows a pair of Sevens
FISH wins the pot ($1,935.50) with a pair of Queens

Now normally I don’t check/raise 2nd pair ace kicker against most players. And once they 3-bet me I almost always just jam or fold figuring that nobody’s ever bluffing in this spot once so much money goes in if I 4bet. But he’d check/raised each of my 3 cbets after calling so far in the session so I figured that he’s been doing so light and probably doesn’t put too much stock in c/raising as a signal of strength so he’d play back at me. Then once he 3bet me I thought that if he’s as aggro as he’s seemed in this brief session that he’s got nothing a lot of the time so it’s just a matter of getting money out of him. If he’s got a draw he’s stacking off regardless of what I do and if he has air he’s not calling a push but if I call too many scare cards could get him to check or he might think I never float OOP so he can’t get me to fold and would stop bluffing. So the only way to get money out of his air hands is to 3bet and hope he makes some ridiculous bluff.  This might be the first time in my hundreds of thousands of HU hands that I’ve ever induced a 100BB 5-bet bluff on the flop, kind of unfair it didn’t work out

I ended up owning him anyway with this later hand (the 121st hand of the match), at which point he picked up slight loser vs me:

FoxwoodsFiend posts the small blind of $5
FISH posts the big blind of $10
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to FoxwoodsFiend [Ac 3d]
FoxwoodsFiend raises to $30
FISH calls $20
*** FLOP *** [5h 9d Ad]
FISH checks
FoxwoodsFiend bets $40
FISH raises to $140
FoxwoodsFiend has 15 seconds left to act

FoxwoodsFiend calls $100
*** TURN *** [5h 9d Ad] [Ah]
FISH bets $240
FoxwoodsFiend has 15 seconds left to act

FoxwoodsFiend has requested TIME
FoxwoodsFiend calls $240
*** RIVER *** [5h 9d Ad Ah] [5c]
FISH has 15 seconds left to act
FISH bets $820
FoxwoodsFiend calls $734, and is all in
*** SHOW DOWN ***
FISH shows [Td Jc] two pair, Aces and Fives
FoxwoodsFiend shows [Ac 3d] a full house, Aces full of Fives
FoxwoodsFiend wins the pot ($2,287.50) with a full house, Aces full of Fives

Normally I’d jam the turn because of the draws out and in keeping with my metagame approach to this type of situation when I have draws or am floating. But against this guy I thought the chance of him even having a draw was relatively slim and I’d be slowplaying against him a lot (hopefully getting him to slow down later in the match so that I could make marginal calls without having to face too many barrels) because he was so over aggro. Worked out pretty well as I have no idea how he thought he can bluff that card: unless I have the Q-high or K-high flush draw I’m never folding a better hand than his. What’s funny is even though he was overaggro I thought he was somewhat competent until this last hand. The QT was obviously moronic but the rest of the session he didn’t seem awful, but I guess sometimes people just don’t have sufficient opportunity to display their idiocy to you in 120 hands.

OSU is now up 14 going into the half. Ship ship (hopefully)

Hey all,

I think it’s fitting to start a new blog with a post of how I celebrated my New Year’s so even though it took me a week or so to get around to it, here it goes.

For New Year’s Eve I decided to go to Las Vegas. A friend of mine, Nate, has a place there and was throwing a little party so I decided it had been too long since I’ve been in Vegas (at least 2 months). I called my casino host at Bellagio last Thursday and she told me she could hook me up with a comped suite for 4 nights so I booked my flight for the next day and I was on my way. A little disclosure as to how I have attained such mega-baller status is in order. While I have given Bellagio a good amount of blackjack action in my day, my betting that sent me into “probably comped for life” status involved playing blackjack with somebody else’s money.

You see, over the summer at the World Series of Poker a bunch of poker players threw a monster 21st birthday party for high-stakes poker superstar Mjorgenson (or WestMenloAA). Everybody was having a good old time getting wasted at the Palms’ $10,000 a night suite when all of a sudden, Cole (cts/muckemsayuhhhh…but if I had to explain that you’re probably reading the wrong blog) drunkenly announced to the room, “I WANT TO BET A HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS ON A HAND OF BLACKJACK.” Even in a room filled with some of poker’s most reckless gamblers, this comment managed to stun everybody within earshot. The party immediately stopped and everybody went down to the Palms’ casino floor to witness this ridiculous event. However, Cole ran into some trouble because apparently the Palms won’t let you bet 100k on a hand of blackjack: their limit is 10k. After attempting to get them to raise their limit to no avail, Cole decided he’ll try his luck at the Bellagio instead. As we’re getting into a cab together I tell Cole, “I don’t know that this is such a good idea…you’re not 21 and your ID’s good enough to get into the floor but if they check it when you sit down with 100k you’re out of luck.” He just replies, “Oh, I know. That’s why you’re going to bet for me,” and gives me a paper bag with $100,000 in cash. When I tell my non-poker friends this story they find the fact that anybody would just nonchalantly trust a friend with a hundred thousand dollars to be way more surprising than the actual betting 100k, but I guess they just don’t realize how seamlessly large amounts of money change hands between friends in the poker community.

Long story short, we get to the Bellagio and the floor there won’t let me bet 100k on one hand either so I just play 10k a hand in 3 spots for a while before losing the 100k and now I’m comped with free room service, access to the VIP lounge, and limo rides to and from the airport.

Anyway, I got into Bellagio at around 9:00 PM my time, got to my room, showered, and went to play poker. But then I realized one slight problem: I forgot to bring cash with me. Yeah, I know that this is a huge oversight considering I was going to Las Vegas, but I guess I was destined to forget something given that I’d booked my flight the night before the trip. So I went to the poker room and bumped into Keith, a friend of mine and high stakes regular at the Bellagio. I ask him if I can borrow 20k, he says “sure” and hands me 20k and tells me to ship to him online. So with the 20k in hand, I go to play some 10/20 NL. Only two hands from the session really come to mind: one some loose donkey raised the CO to 100 with 1300 behind and I reraised him in the small blind with 27 offsuit to 400. He called. I figured I had a lot of fold equity because I was obviously threatening his stack with any flop bet I make so he wouldn’t peel too light, and even if he does he’ll just fold if he doesn’t flop something. The flop comes down TJ4 I put him in and he calls with 8To. Guess I picked the wrong guy to resteal on. I just wanted to show 27o and get a good image, but I guess it backfired. Wasn’t counting on the guy flopping 2nd pair 8 kicker. The other hand was one of the funnier hands I’ve played in a while: some clueless looking 60-year-old with his wife watching limps in EP and I raise him next to act with 7hTh. He calls. The flop comes down 764 with two diamonds. He checks, I bet 130 into 200 and he calls. The turn was the 3 of spades so obviously I’m worried he made a straight but he checked so I figured I could bet to protect my hand against a flush draw or 89 or overs and fold to a raise. I bet 280 into 460 and he calls without much thought. The river came an offsuit 2. This guy takes a flag (a Bellagio 5k chip) and slides it into the pot, flinching halfway through the motion but continuing anyway and announces “2 thousand dollars.” He bet twice the pot. He’s representing a hand that he really likes but that somehow didn’t check/raise the turn when there’s a flush draw out. It’s not making sense. I call him after about 5 seconds of thinking and he flips over Ah8h. Don’t bother looking back at the flop: those were diamonds. He had just a draw to the non-concealed gutty and check/called twice and 2x potted the river. I ended up booking a little win, playing Chinese at $25 a point (I know, small stakes: but it’s all they were spreading) and ended up playing 6 hours. The game’s too damn addicting so I ended up going to bed at 7 a.m. PST, which was approximately 25 hours after I had departed for Vegas.

Needles to say, I was exhausted. But I woke up 5 hours later and couldn’t fall asleep so I decided to go down to the poker room. There was a 25/50 game going and this game was truly amazing: besides Traheho, I was the only person playing under 50 years old. Everybody played loose but whenever bets were made that were more than $1,000 everybody was terrified. People were betting 2k into 6k pots just because they didn’t have the nuts and didn’t want to bet too big. My first hand I played I raised A6o on the button and the small blind called. The flop came down KQ5 with a flush draw and the SB donked into me. I called and the turn came a 9 completing the flush. He checked and I bet 700 into a 1k pot. He called. At this point there’s 2400 in the pot and the river comes a 3. He checks and most people would give up here but I think to myself “this poor guy’s probably never seen an overbet bluff from anybody who looks remotely sane before” so I bet 5k. He does a double take when I announce 5k and looks at me and says “5 thousand?!?” I just nod nonchalantly and say “yep, 5 thousand.” He folds KQ face up. Now keep in mind that the difference between this hand and the donkey overbet in the last paragraph is that it’s at least theoretically possible for me to have a hand whereas that guy was repping nothing.

At this point, some loud obnoxious 28-year-old trust fund kid sits down with 100k in front of him. He’s talking non-stop basically imitating Tucker Max, telling all these frat stories of his in an obnoxious self-absorbed manner for over an hour. I’m picking up no cards and left my IPod in the room so he’s really getting on my nerves and then he randomly tells me I have no gamble and how much better he is than me at poker. Needless to say this doesn’t go over well and we are talking trash to each other heatedly for about 20 minutes until I say “if you’re so much better than me, play me HU.” Next thing you know, we’re making plans for a 50k freezeout at 25/50. He gives me his number and tells me to call him the next day to set something up. I’m salivating at the thought, because this guy was splashing around a lot and has so much money he just honestly does no give a damn about 50k. Now he strikes me as being capable of playing well, but even if he were playing his A game I’m a huge favorite over him and I doubt he can play his A game consistently. But I only have 20k on me, so I have to borrow another 30k from my friend Mike, a twoplustwoer who had gotten into the game. I tell him if I lose I’ll ship to him online.

Unfortunately, we never got to play: I called him the next day and he said he couldn’t play until really late but I was still so tired from my erratic sleeping that I knew I couldn’t play him from midnight to 5 a.m. It ended up being a moot point anyway because I lost all 50k I had in a 25/50 game that day anyway. This game was juiced but I wasn’t picking up hands. I ended up losing 7k with A4 on an AQ749 board after I donked from the small blind in a limped pot, bet the turn and called a raise from the BB (Hazards21, a very good player who plays mainly live now) and c/called the river. I thought about check/raising the river for value but figured I don’t have enough history with this guy to make the move, and I’m glad I didn’t because he had AQ.

I also got it all in preflop for 5k with AA vs KK and lost to a rivered K. I had one questionable hand where Hazards limped UTG, it got folded to the SB who raised to 300, and I called with Ac4c and Hazards overcalled. The flop came down 778 with two clubs and the SB checked. I bet out 700 and Hazards raised me to 2100. I thought his range for doing this was any straight+flush draw (gutty or open ended) and maybe some high bare flush draws (not sure about this) and obviously any 7. I discounted 88 because I thought he’d raise with it preflop so I called. The turn was the ace of diamonds and I checked. Hazards bet 4400 and if I knew more about his game I’d have folded but I thought the ace is a good card to barrel for him so I check/raised him all in for 7k more. He called with 57o, we ran it 3 times, and I bricked my 10 outer all 3 times.

At this point I’m stuck about 35k, I’m exhausted, and this guy on my right won’t stop telling me stories about what Virginia Tech was like back in the 1960’s (I let it slip to him that I was raised in Blacksburg, VA, the home of Virginia Tech) and I’m kicking myself for not bringing my IPod again. He’s sitting next to me telling me boring stories about some card game he played in behind the Cook’s Cleaning Center, what the football program was like in the 70’s (it was awful), and what he studied. He’s a nice guy so I don’t want to tell him to leave me alone but I’m very close to having no choice. Fortunately he put me out of my misery by limp reraising me from 250 to 1250 with AA versus my KK, betting 2200 on a Jxx flop, and betting 5k on a 9 turn and calling my shove for 7k more. Maybe I could have gotten away from it, but my read on him was actually that he was pretty weak: he was breathing very heavily and I normally interpret that as nervousness. Who knows, maybe he was afraid of JJ because it’s live or maybe I just misread him but either way it would have been very tough to fold given his absurd-sized preflop reraise which screams to me “I want to take it down now” and not “I have the best hand possible.”

So on the 31st I decided to forgo playing poker and just go chill with my friend before his party. It ended up being very tame: just him and 10 friends of his from college, but given that I’d just lost 50k and wasn’t in the mood for a big party anyway that was fine by me. His friends were all very cool and we ended up just chilling and drinking for a long time at my friend’s baller pad. Not the most thrilling evening, but I had a good time which is really more important than trying to live up to some artificial and idealized notion of New Year’s as the craziest night of all time.

The next day, I woke up hungover and without any cash. Now being in Vegas without any cash is just about the most boring experience possible because there’s just nothing to do, but this was made worse by the fact that I left my laptop charger at home so couldn’t even play online. I went down to the poker room and borrowed 10k from a friend to play some $200 a point Chinese and promptly lost it in an hour when everybody but me was getting royalties. Fortunately, I ran into Vanessa (fslexcduck) who owed me some money (we’d gone partners on some $100/200 NL action a few weeks back and lost), so I took the 5k she gave me and ran it up to 10k at 5/10 NL and paid back my friend. After cashing out, I went to sushi dinner with Vanessa and some MSNLers she was sharing a house with for New Year’s. We went back to their place, played some pool, and I went out drinking with DJ Sensei, goofyballer, and CaTerp until 5 a.m., at which point I crashed and woke up 3 hours later still drunk and ready to fly cross country. Obviously that didn’t go well because I ended up losing my cell somewhere along the way (probably the 5th time I’ve lost my phone in as many months). Oh well.

Sorry for this ridiculously long blog post: I’m going to keep them shorter in the future but trip reports are hard to do briefly. Obviously the trip ended up being a bit disappointing: I lost 60 grand, my cell phone, and I was exhausted for most of the trip, but whatever. Life’s got highs and lows and I’ll try keeping you guys posted in the future with whatever interesting is going on in my life, even if it involves me losing a ridiculous amount of money. Thanks for reading this far.