Sorry for the lack of updates in the last couple of weeks dear readers, but the reality t.v. show was an all-consuming experience. Whenever I’m in Vegas with TI I’m occupied 24/7 anyway, always doing something whether it’s playing poker, sweating poker, going to nice meals, or going out to party. It seems like I never have much time to just catch up with random odds and ends: my Google Reader unread items goes past 1,000, I don’t blog, and I don’t really get much of a chance to read. Being on a reality show with a bunch of time-consuming obligations (no spoilers allowed, but basically going to a bunch of different places to get some shots) doesn’t exactly help.
Anyway, shooting ended a few days ago and I spent a couple extra days in Vegas to see some people I hadn’t seen yet. I flew to Virginia two nights ago to get some rest and relaxation before taking the LSAT on October 4th. I’m actually kind of sick right now: the Vegas trip taxed my system and I’ve got a sinus infection that I just didn’t do anything about for a couple of weeks, so now I’m suffering. Between the jet-lag and the infection I’m not feeling 100%, but hopefully I’ll be better in time for the LSAT. Despite not feeling 100% I managed to get in some hands yesterday and made about 20k yesterday, so my downswing since leaving for Vegas is now only about 80k. Winning back about 130k, mainly at 25/50 and 50/100, in the last week and a half has definitely helped get me off life tilt.
All in all, I’d say I had mixed feelings about the reality t.v. show. The people I worked with were all great and I got along with the crew very well. The last week was very fun once friends started rolling in (Neon and Riverboatking crashed with us for the second week and a bunch of friends came over for a house party we threw this past Saturday). If the show were just the 2nd week, I would say it was an amazing time but this has to be mitigated by the fact that I was constantly miserable and we were constantly losing the 1st week. As it turned out, I think we provided for a lot of interesting television and everybody seems to agree that the pilot will be more than good enough to get the series picked up.
I’m trying to think of things that came up over the last couple of weeks that might interest you guys, but I’m not sure I can really say anything without spoiling the pilot. I played a decent amount of live no-limit and it was kind of weird that whenever I played I would get random people recognizing me. I guess I realize I’m a prominent online poker player at this point, but it’s still hard to wrap my mind around it because I’m normally just chilling in NYC completely insulated from the rest of the poker world. I played 5/10 a couple times to kill some time and each time I would get at least one person saying something like “whoa, what are you doing playing here?” I also played some 10/20 my last night in town so I could stay up for my 6 a.m. flight and heard somebody say “You sound familiar…” before the person realized he recognized me from my DC vids. He told me about how he quit his job to play poker professionally and how much my videos helped him and it was really cool to see that I’m helping people get better at poker to the point that they can live off of the game.
I also read Gilead, a book by Marilynne Robinson. I managed to finish it while in Vegas, which I consider a small miracle. The book is a letter written by an old, dying preacher named John Ames to his 7-year-old son. It’s set in Iowa in 1956 and it’s one of the more emotionally evocative books I’ve read in a while (which I guess isn’t saying much since I’ve been mainly reading Philip Roth comedies or gruesome Cormac McCarthy novels). I’m trying to think of a concise way to explain what it is about the book that makes it so appealing. I think the way the narrator’s subtle and understated voice turns seemingly simple observations into profound insights is a testament to Robinson’s sophistication as a writer and her insight into the human condition (a trite term, I’m aware, but one that’s only fitting given Ames’ discussions of faith, love, family, friendship, forgiveness, humility, and all the various attitudes that comprise one’s overall life philosophy). Robinson manages to avoid the trap of taking an overly emotional route given the nature of the book and there is very little sappy “oh the tragedy that I’m dying and won’t see my son”-type writing. Instead, I think, Robinson sticks to the script: John Ames is dying, he knows his son will barely remember him, and he sets about the difficult task of condensing his life’s history, his views on his faith, and the events of his dying days to his son so that his son will not feel so estranged from his father. I’m going to stop now because I feel I’ve managed to convey how much I liked the book but also feel that the more I try to write about it the more I realize how woefully bad I am at reviewing books (philosophy, not literature, has always been more my strength).
