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Forgetting Sarah Marshall: very funny.  Didn’t think it would be, but it was consistently funny throughout (although lacking in amazing/memorable jokes).

Portnoy’s Complaint: very funny book.  Captures Jewish neuroses brilliantly (yes, I know: “great find Ariel, who’d ever heard of this book?” But yeah, I just finished it and loved it, so it was worth mentioning).

Baby Mama: absolutely awful movie.  I can’t believe anybody likes this film.  It was so bad I was having a mini-panic attack the whole time, just constantly worrying about how much longer I was trapped in the theater.  Finally, with 20 minutes left, I convinced Dan (of www.delinoshields.com fame) to leave.  Think about how horrible a movie has to be that with 20 minutes left, I just can’t take it anymore and don’t give a shit how it ends, I just have to leave.  It was a romantic comedy with no romance and no comedy (oh, how clever am I? hardy har har).  Every scene was insanely boring with a lame joke attempt, some minimal character development of not at all interesting characters, and capped off with a “zinger”-type joke that elicited a slight begrudging chuckle (oh, Amy Poehler spits up water and asks what it is because SHE LIVES SUCH A DIRTY LIFESTYLE, SHE’S SO UNCORPORATE. SO HYSTERICAL. cut to yoga scene and more boringness).  I’m severely tilted right now from having experienced that movie.

Fight Between Two Homeless People in Tompkins Square Park Today: uninspired and routine, this fight seemed lacking in intensity  The drunk guy who was mad at the other guy for stealing his bottle seemed like a caricature of  a drunk bum, and I wasn’t really convinced that he wanted to hurt the other guy.  I mean, once you have a drunk guy with his bottle stolen from him and the dude who stole the bottle also spits at the drunkard, you would imagine a severe beating would ensue.  A few hard blows landed, but no all-out fight occurred and there was a lot of post-”fight” posturing which left the audience wanting a rematch, but it doesn’t look like that’s in the offing.

I got another text from him “Ariel, expect a package. LOL.”  Now I know he reads this blog and might be pulling a second-level joke on me, but I had a feeling that he probably just doesn’t know what lol actually means.  So I called him, and when I asked him what he thinks “LOL” means he goes, as I expected, “LOL is lots of love.”

I laughed and explained to him that “lol” generally means “laughing out loud” and he goes “Ahhhh! I actually knew that because I heard it on the radio once.”  I guess it’s a bit much to expect my 66-year-old Israeli immigrant finance professor to be too aware of online abbreviations and slang, but honestly: not even lol?  Really, dad?

So between my disaster session against Present the other day (where I lost 166k, of which 1/4 was my own money), taking a piece of Emil as he lost another 2 buy-ins, and running like death at 25/50, I’m now down 115k on the last week.  Of my own money I’m running at 80k below expectation on my all-ins.  I haven’t been playing my A-game consistently (a few hands here and there I’ve obviously misplayed) but I’m definitely playing very well and playing in, for the most part, ridiculously good games.

It’s definitely been frustrating losing so much money: when you make money you always think to yourself “oh sweet, now I have enough money to ___” where that blank is always the next thing you wanted to be able to afford on top of all your life goals.  So I was at “Enough money to pay for law school, invest in a retirement fund, and have a cushion to live off of without worrying about money if I go to law school or get a job” and I was looking to add “and buy a house.” Instead, now it’s like “scratch getting a car for now, definitely no house, and maybe you’ll have to actually look at price tags when you enter the real world (rough, right?).”  It’s really annoying because while I”m obviously very financially comfortable, losing 115k and putting it in terms of life goals you have no longer accomplished makes it hurt a lot more than just the mind-bogglingly big number “one hundred and fifteen thousand dollars.”  Then you tell yourself “well just grind 10/20 for a while, keep making ridiculous money coaching, and you’ll make that 100k back in a month max” and now you’re picturing yourself in front of a computer 8 hours a day waiting for fish to come play you at one of your 10 open HU tables for hours on end, and it’s out of the frying pan and into the fire.

Another problem with this downswing is that it’s affecting my mood a lot.  My friends and roommates were shocked to learn I’d lost so much because they claim I wasn’t acting differently than normal, so I guess it’s a testament to my ability to deal with swings that I can lose 6 figures and put on a normal front.  But in actuality I’ve been pretty depressed this last week: not focusing in conversation while I’m hanging out with my people because I’m thinking about having to grind 10/20 for another month, having trouble focusing when I’m reading, having trouble sleeping (not for hours on end, but for a good half hour or so just staying up and steaming the whole time), and downing a small fortune’s worth of Blue Label every night after another big losing session.  Needless to say, it’s been a bit rough.

What makes it rougher is that I’m aware that my life’s really good, I’m grateful for everything I have (friends, family, money, freedom, etc.) and I’m still in a bad mood, which basically means that instead of being able to do anything to talk myself out of this funk I just have to wait for my brain chemistry to change and ride out this emotional swing. I’ve found in the past that taking a couple days off of poker where I’m not constantly thinking about the swings of my money and just appreciating what I have normally gets me out of these bad moods pretty quickly.  I’m going to go to the park and play gin rummy with some of my homeless friends, read a bit, and take today, tomorrow, and Friday off from poker before I play in an invite-only superjuiced 100/200 NL game in Vegas.  Hopefully between a Vegas weekend with my boys and crushing a bunch of live donks, next week I’ll be blogging about the time I went to Vegas with 250k and left with a cool million.

Ran 190k below expectation on the 6 all-ins. To say Present ran well is an understatement. Going to try playing him again later today. Thank god I took a bigger piece than normal this time.

 FullTiltPoker Game #6210573490: Table Vasari (heads up) - $200/$400 - No Limit Hold’em - 13:35:05 ET - 2008/04/28
Seat 1: DaEvils ($119,645)
Seat 2: present ($52,197.50)
DaEvils posts the small blind of $200
present posts the big blind of $400
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to DaEvils [Kc Kd]
DaEvils raises to $1,200
present raises to $4,000
DaEvils has 15 seconds left to act
DaEvils raises to $10,800
present has 15 seconds left to act
present raises to $52,197.50, and is all in
DaEvils calls $41,397.50
present shows [Jd Js]
DaEvils shows [Kc Kd]
*** FLOP *** [5h 8c Jc]
*** TURN *** [5h 8c Jc] [6c]
*** RIVER *** [5h 8c Jc 6c] [6h]
present shows a full house, Jacks full of Sixes
DaEvils shows two pair, Kings and Sixes
present wins the pot ($104,394.50) with a full house, Jacks full of Sixes
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $104,395 | Rake $0.50

FullTiltPoker Game #6210586156: Table Pimento (heads up) - $200/$400 - No Limit Hold’em - 13:36:25 ET - 2008/04/28
Seat 1: DaEvils ($72,732.25)
Seat 2: present ($40,200)
present posts the small blind of $200
DaEvils posts the big blind of $400
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to DaEvils [Jd 7d]
present raises to $1,200
DaEvils raises to $3,600
present calls $2,400
*** FLOP *** [7h Jh Qh]
DaEvils bets $5,200
present has 15 seconds left to act
present raises to $36,600, and is all in
DaEvils calls $31,400
present shows [9h Tc]
DaEvils shows [Jd 7d]
*** TURN *** [7h Jh Qh] [4h]
*** RIVER *** [7h Jh Qh 4h] [3d]
present shows a flush, Queen high
DaEvils shows two pair, Jacks and Sevens
present wins the pot ($80,399.50) with a flush, Queen high
DaEvils adds $7,467.75
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $80,400 | Rake $0.50
Board: [7h Jh Qh 4h 3d]
Seat 1: DaEvils (big blind) showed [Jd 7d] and lost with two pair, Jacks and Sevens
Seat 2: present (small blind) showed [9h Tc] and won ($80,399.50) with a flush, Queen high
Board: [5h 8c Jc 6c 6h]
Seat 1: DaEvils (small blind) showed [Kc Kd] and lost with two pair, Kings and Sixes
Seat 2: present (big blind) showed [Jd Js] and won ($104,394.50) with a full house, Jacks full of Sixe

Im currently playing present at 2 tables of 200/400 HU.  He started up around 80k on me but it’s comeback time baby.  Cool hand histories later (hopefully).

And by the way, I think it’s LarzLuzak in case you’re wondering.  This one was fun, nothing like being 90% to win $92000 and losing:

FullTiltPoker Game #6210377712: Table Vasari (heads up) - $200/$400 - No Limit Hold’em - 13:14:14 ET - 2008/04/28
Seat 1: DaEvils ($46,198.50)
Seat 2: present ($50,394)
present posts the small blind of $200
DaEvils posts the big blind of $400
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to DaEvils [Qc Qd]
present raises to $1,200
DaEvils raises to $4,000
present has 15 seconds left to act
present calls $2,800
*** FLOP *** [Js Th 3s]
DaEvils has 15 seconds left to act
DaEvils bets $5,000
present has 15 seconds left to act
present calls $5,000
*** TURN *** [Js Th 3s] [6c]
DaEvils has 15 seconds left to act
DaEvils bets $12,400
present has 15 seconds left to act
present raises to $41,394, and is all in
DaEvils calls $24,798.50, and is all in
present shows [4c Jc]
DaEvils shows [Qc Qd]
Uncalled bet of $4,195.50 returned to present
*** RIVER *** [Js Th 3s 6c] [4d]
present shows two pair, Jacks and Fours
DaEvils shows a pair of Queens
present wins the pot ($92,396.50) with two pair, Jacks and Fours
DaEvils is sitting out
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $92,397 | Rake $0.50
Board: [Js Th 3s 6c 4d]
Seat 1: DaEvils (big blind) showed [Qc Qd] and lost with a pair of Queens
Seat 2: present (small blind) showed [4c Jc] and won ($92,396.50) with two pair, Jacks and Fours

Every few months I get a text message from my father (who’s not exactly tech-savvy on account of being older than 45 years old).  The other day, I get this one:

“I found some IPod Cables.  Do you want me to ship them?  LOL”

lol?

Just booked my flight for next Thursday.  My roommates wanted to come along, so I’m flying them out Entourage-style (except I’m only covering half the flight).  I figure 3 days in Vegas with only poker players is something to be avoided, and having my people there is worth the $500 I’m dropping.

As an aside, it turns out that when you book flights more than 2 days ahead of time they’re mad cheap.  $500 round trip?  They’re practically giving the seats away.
I’m also proud of myself for setting a new personal record for days ahead of time booking a flight (previous record: 2).

So yeah, to any friends who might be reading this: if you’re in or near Vegas and wants to hang out next weekend, get in touch with me.

40k buy-in game versus Phil Ivey (OMG, why would I play him? QUICK, SALAZAR, SEND ME A PM!!) and Brian Hastings (now he’s pretty sick)

up a piddling 16k so far, but hopefully a big score’s a coming.

Deucescracked is having a “state of the union” series of meetings where we’re being informed how the company’s doing (super fucking awesome apparently), what direction we’re taking the company, and all that jazz.  We’ve also been making tons of videos (finally finished the last episode of Moving On Up, working on my season 3 series where I look at submitted hand histories, and working with Krantz on a Season 4 series that I can’t say much about but will basically be the biggest thing ever in terms of instructional videos).

So last night we had dinner at Inoteca, which was pretty sweet.  WiltOnTilt, TheWorstPlayer, Whitelime, Krantz, Messiah, Tubasteve, and I grabbed dinner.

During diner I was talking trash about how bad Eli Manning is and Krantz, a slobbering Giants fanboy, was talking about how awesome he is.  Somehow we engineered a bet where I make a list of QBs and Krantz picks one.  The bet is then even money, my QB vs Eli, who wins more championships from here on out. The bet is settled when both players retire. I wanted to only list 6 QBs, Krantz wanted me to list 7.  So we rock paper scissored for it.  But since Krantz loses to me at every prop bet (and I crush him at RPS), he wanted to do best of 5 and I wanted to do best of 11.  Somehow we ended up rock-paper-scissoring (best of 5, which was decided by a 1-time rock-paper scissor) to see if it would be best of 9 or best 0f 7.  Anyway, I lost all the series so I had to list 7 players.

My list was: Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Phillip Rivers, Ben Roethlisberger, David Garrad, Drew Brees, and Tony Romo.  Krantz hasn’t picked yet, but he’s choosing between Brees and Garrard.  We made the bet for 60k each (by the time these players retire that’ll be chump change I figure), but Krantz is a pussy so he sold half his action to Whitelime.  I’m trying to lay 90 to win 60 and I get Romo instead of Brees/Garrard, which Jay and Emil might actually take because they hate Romo so much.   I figure I’m freerolling with this bet because a piece of garbage QB like Eli Manning (he of the whopping 77:64 career TD:INT ratio) is never going to luckbox another championship anyway.

Anyway, after dinner we all went out to drinks and met some DC members.  It was a good time, and it was nice meeting the people who watch our videos.  Their stories range everywhere from “curious hedge fund owner who is trying to figure out small stakes” to “semi-retired baller who loves poker” to “small-stakes grinder trying to move up.”  It was cool seeing the types of people we’re trying to help through our videos.

Anyway, tonight is Krantz’s birthday and he’s throwing a big party in some nice bar in Soho, so that should be super sweet.