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Just touched down in Blacksburg a couple hours ago, and it’s great to be spending time with my family. My dad bought a camcorder, which obviously means we’ve got extensive meme-laden “stop recording me!” footage. Not only is it awkward being filmed, but the camcorder’s HD so now you get the extra level of self-conscious “I hope I don’t look as bad in HD as most ESPN sideline reporters” reservation.

Anyway, yesterday was a quiet day. I took the day off, read Nixonland for a few hours, and overcame my qualms about going to movie theaters alone and went to go see “Man on Wire.” It was an amazing film. I’m not really into artsy documentaries, so it’s not like I was biased in favor of the movie. But the movie, a story of a man who snuck into the WTC to set up a wire between the twin towers so that he could walk on a tightrope between the tallest buildings in the world (at the time), was really fascinating. You get an interesting story of a guy with a crazy obsession, an intriguing story about the logistics of sneaking into the buildings, and the cool visuals of seeing him tight-rope walk. It was only 90 minutes long and I thought it was pretty awesome, so highly recommended.

I played some 200/400 around 1:00 a.m. when I saw a good game and won 24k. Unfortunately, today when I got home from the airport I saw another good game and lost about 60k, so I’m net down a bit since resuming my poker break.

In other news, I get into Harvard Law today. I got the call from the dean of admissions as I was picking up my pizza at CPK in the airport, so between getting into HLS and getting to eat a Thai Chicken pizza it was definitely one of the better layovers in recent memory.

Now I have to go make a DC video. I hope you DC subscribers realize what a pain it is to make these videos: here I am back home for Thanksgiving, and because I’m too lazy to get my work done ahead of time, I have to go comment on Jay’s play. Rough life, right?

Rugbydan recently totally splayed me with a note in reader. To clarify: I always thought “overhead row” was something. Maybe I meant overhand (palms facing you instead of facing out). Is that a thing?

And yes, you’re right that I meant “superset” and not “power set.” That was a combination of my subconscious tapping into my philosophy background, my general haste when writing posts, and my total noobishness regarding gym terminology.

I am much ashamed and will be more careful with my language next time.

Hey Madhoouse,

You talked a decent amount of trash in the comments.
“It is truly crazy how well you run consistently. I would say you more then any other high stakes player is the most delusional, egotistical POS about your playing ability. Just remember luckbox: pride comes before the fall.”

Pretty bold stuff for somebody who won’t play me. So I’m going to give you a chance to prove that your comments aren’t just the pathetic trash-talk of a jealous loser. PM me some contact info and I’d be happy to set up a match against you at 25/50 or higher sometime.

And for the record, I’m not delusional: I am aware I’m on a sick heater. I’m also aware that you only seem to notice the hot streaks and not the losing stretches of running bad, which everybody has. But heater or not, I’m positive that if you play me long enough I’ll have your bankroll. Assuming that you’re not too busy bumhunting 10-20 NL, feel free to come prove that I’m being delusional.

Happy with my huge heater, I was content to take a break from poker. The games are never good during the week, so I decided to take it easy and take a week off. I’m going home Wednesday-Sunday for Thanksgiving, which is my favorite week of the year every year (pigging out on leftovers with Brother while watching Under Siege 2 and Bloodsport on late-night TV, going to the Va Tech/UVA game, seeing the parents; what else could you ask for?). So I was planning on taking the week off and just enjoy my well-earned vacation after months of grinding (2 hours a day for 2 months can really take a lot out of a guy).

I woke up at 8:30 and grabbed an early lunch with thatgirl, who had just come back from a Europe trip. After that I had an intense workout at 11:00. With an 80-pound barbell, I did six sets of the following power set:
25 pushups onto the bar straight into
12 overhead rows straight into
15 deadlifts (easiest part, but didn’t want to switch in the middle of the set to a heavier weight), followed by:
10 cleans
12 military presses
12 lunges on each side with the bar rested on my back
12 squats with the bar held up in front of me.

After that I did a bunch of lat pulldowns, squat thrusts, and random rotator-cuff exercises.

I was absolutely beat, so after lunch I did some yoga with my yoga instructor. I treated myself to a massage afterwards and followed that by reading atStarbucks a charming non-corporate East Village coffee shop. I’m reading “Nixonland” by Rick Perlstein. I realized I hadn’t read any non-fiction in almost a year and a half so I need to read something informative to keep my brain from turning into mush. Nixonland is really amazing: it’s incredibly engrossing for historical non-fiction and Perlstein conveys the oft-underplayed turbulence and violence of the 60’s very effectively. You really get a feeling that you know exactly what the mood of the nation was and how that enabled Nixon to turn a traditional Democratic stranglehold on government into a Republican takeover.

Anyway, gym, yoga, massage, reading. I entertained the notion of going watch-shopping to make it a truly indulgent day. But something about spending months clawing back from a downswing has got me thinking financially conservatively again. I’m well past peak and normalizing like a motherfucker, but the realization that I only have one more year of making money at poker before going to law school makes me prone to conserve as much money as I can. I don’t know what I’m going to eventually do, but I know it probably won’t be anything particularly high-paying and every dollar I save now will give me more of a financial cushion in the future to keep me from having to take on a job just for money.

So instead of buying a watch I grabbed an early dinner with a friend from high school I hadn’t seen in a while. When I got home, there were a lot of 25/50 and 50/100 tables going. Most of them ended up breaking, and next thing you know I was playing Lars HU at 50/100. I ran insanely well vs him (called a 4bet with 56 and flopped 667 vs 99, my AK vs K9 in a reraised pot Kxx, all in JQ beating his 88, and all in with a double gutty vs a gutty+fd and higher cards than me, I won them all). I won 27k, then while writing this post lost 5k to a hit and runner at 100-200.

So yeah, the heater continues. I really am going to take a week off or so starting tomorrow, hopefully this time it sticks.

I made $182k this weekend.  I sold off some action at 200-400 and won 32k (of which I had half).  I played some 100-200 NL and made 160k, of which I had 75%.  I am on a huge heater and life is good. I have attached a screen shot of every hand I’ve played on my new laptop: in the 110 hours I’ve played of poker since 9/30/2008, I am making $4067/hr. This screen shot is a graphical representation that should help you visualize such an ungodly heater.

I took 85k off this guy Dr Snus on UB and he came back a couple hours later. Next thing I know he’d run up his stack and was up 60k on the rematch. It was weird losing 60k to a guy and not caring because I was still up so much. Right now I’m playing with a ton of confidence, I’m running well, and I’m super focused. I’m seeing things I used to overlook and I’m not taking any hands off when playing HU. Here’s an example:
Hand #58521886-437 at Airdrie5 (No Limit Hold’em)
Started at 23/Nov/08 21:06:49

DR SNUS is at seat 0 with $56768.50.
MikeVickIsGod is at seat 1 with $23385.50.
The button is at seat 0.

DR SNUS posts the small blind of $100.
MikeVickIsGod posts the big blind of $200.

DR SNUS: — –
MikeVickIsGod: 8s Th

Pre-flop:

DR SNUS raises to $600. MikeVickIsGod calls.

Flop (board: 7s 2s 9c):

MikeVickIsGod checks. DR SNUS bets $900.
MikeVickIsGod raises to $2300. DR SNUS calls.

Turn (board: 7s 2s 9c Ac):

MikeVickIsGod bets $4800. DR SNUS calls.

River (board: 7s 2s 9c Ac 7c):

MikeVickIsGod checks. DR SNUS bets $11600.
MikeVickIsGod goes all-in for $15685.50. DR SNUS
calls.

Showdown:

MikeVickIsGod shows 8s Th.
MikeVickIsGod has Th 7s 9c Ac 7c: a pair of sevens.
DR SNUS shows 3s As.
DR SNUS has As 7s 9c Ac 7c: two pair, aces and sevens.

Hand #58521886-437 Summary:

$1 is raked from a pot of $46771.
DR SNUS wins $46770 with two pair, aces and sevens.
—————————————————————-
—————————————————————-

Yes, I lost the hand. But I thought his most likely hands were busted draws and I went for a c/r all-in giving a guy 11:1 on a call. I really thought his line was inconsistent with any hand he was valuebetting and I figured I could get him off TJ or high spade cards. The thought that I would look for such a move is definitely encouraging because it shows me that right now I’ve got every possible move in my arsenal. Although I probably won’t be c/r bluffing the river laying 11:1 for a while.

Anyway, here’s the screenshot, slightly skewed to make it fit on the blog. If you want to see the unskewed version, go to
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w239/FoxwoodsFiend/alllaptophands-1.jpg

So I’m playing Spirit Rock at 50/100, as I am wont to do.  I’m up a buy-in and enjoying my month-long heater when this fish sits down to play me.  Early on in the match he is 3-betting 25% of hands.  He’s giving a ton of action.  I’m going to wait for some good 4bet bluff spots, but for the most part I’m just going to play pretty solid and let him give me his money.

It was all going according to plan until he won every pot we played.  He ends up winning 25k off me, due these hands:

***** Hand History for Game 585093296527 *****
$5000.00 USD NL Texas Hold’em - Friday, November 21, 04:34:48 ET 2008
Table Edessa (Real Money)
Seat 1 is the button
Seat 1: crazytrader ( $6273.50 USD )
Seat 2: MikeVickIsGod ( $8649.50 USD )
crazytrader posts small blind [$25.00 USD].
MikeVickIsGod posts big blind [$50.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to MikeVickIsGod [  3s 4s ]
crazytrader raises [$125.00 USD]
MikeVickIsGod calls [$100.00 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 3d, 4h, 6s ]
MikeVickIsGod checks
crazytrader bets [$200.00 USD]
MikeVickIsGod raises [$900.00 USD]
crazytrader raises [$2200.00 USD]
MikeVickIsGod raises [$6500.00 USD]
crazytrader calls [$3723.50 USD]
MikeVickIsGod wins $1276.50 USD
** Dealing Turn ** [ 6c ]
** Dealing River ** [ Qh ]
MikeVickIsGod shows [3s, 4s ]
crazytrader shows [5c, 5s ]
crazytrader wins $12546.50 USD from main pot

***** Hand History for Game 585093296540 *****
$5000.00 USD NL Texas Hold’em - Friday, November 21, 04:38:19 ET 2008
Table Edessa (Real Money)
Seat 2 is the button
Seat 1: crazytrader ( $12521.00 USD )
Seat 2: MikeVickIsGod ( $5024.50 USD )
MikeVickIsGod posts small blind [$25.00 USD].
crazytrader posts big blind [$50.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to MikeVickIsGod [  Tc Th ]
MikeVickIsGod raises [$125.00 USD]
crazytrader raises [$425.00 USD]
MikeVickIsGod raises [$950.00 USD]
crazytrader raises [$12046.00 USD]
MikeVickIsGod calls [$3924.50 USD]
crazytrader wins $7496.50 USD
** Dealing Flop ** [ Qs, 7s, 8s ]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 8c ]
** Dealing River ** [ Kh ]
crazytrader shows [Kd, As ]
MikeVickIsGod shows [Tc, Th ]
crazytrader wins $10048.50 USD from main pot

***** Hand History for Game 585093296543 *****
$5000.00 USD NL Texas Hold’em - Friday, November 21, 04:39:42 ET 2008
Table Edessa (Real Money)
Seat 1 is the button
Seat 1: crazytrader ( $18369.50 USD )
Seat 2: MikeVickIsGod ( $5000.00 USD )
crazytrader posts small blind [$25.00 USD].
MikeVickIsGod posts big blind [$50.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to MikeVickIsGod [  Jc Jh ]
crazytrader raises [$125.00 USD]
MikeVickIsGod raises [$500.00 USD]
crazytrader raises [$1100.00 USD]
MikeVickIsGod raises [$4450.00 USD]
crazytrader calls [$3750.00 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ Kd, 5h, 7s ]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 4s ]
** Dealing River ** [ 6d ]
MikeVickIsGod shows [Jc, Jh ]
crazytrader shows [Kh, Kc ]
crazytrader wins $9999.50 USD from main pot

***** Hand History for Game 585093296546 *****
$5000.00 USD NL Texas Hold’em - Friday, November 21, 04:40:50 ET 2008
Table Edessa (Real Money)
Seat 2 is the button
Seat 1: crazytrader ( $23269.00 USD )
Seat 2: MikeVickIsGod ( $5099.50 USD )
MikeVickIsGod posts small blind [$25.00 USD].
crazytrader posts big blind [$50.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to MikeVickIsGod [  Ks Ad ]
MikeVickIsGod raises [$125.00 USD]
crazytrader raises [$425.00 USD]
MikeVickIsGod raises [$950.00 USD]
crazytrader raises [$22794.00 USD]
MikeVickIsGod calls [$3999.50 USD]
crazytrader wins $18169.50 USD
** Dealing Flop ** [ 5h, 2h, Td ]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 5s ]
** Dealing River ** [ 5c ]
crazytrader shows [Qc, Qs ]
MikeVickIsGod shows [Ks, Ad ]
crazytrader wins $10198.50 USD from main pot

***** Hand History for Game 585093296581 *****
$5000.00 USD NL Texas Hold’em - Friday, November 21, 04:49:04 ET 2008
Table Edessa (Real Money)
Seat 1 is the button
Seat 1: crazytrader ( $27466.50 USD )
Seat 2: MikeVickIsGod ( $6472.50 USD )
crazytrader posts small blind [$25.00 USD].
MikeVickIsGod posts big blind [$50.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to MikeVickIsGod [  6h 6s ]
crazytrader raises [$125.00 USD]
MikeVickIsGod calls [$100.00 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 6c, Jc, Ac ]
MikeVickIsGod checks
crazytrader bets [$200.00 USD]
MikeVickIsGod raises [$700.00 USD]
crazytrader calls [$500.00 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ Th ]
MikeVickIsGod bets [$1350.00 USD]
crazytrader calls [$1350.00 USD]
** Dealing River ** [ Td ]
MikeVickIsGod bets [$4272.50 USD]
crazytrader calls [$4272.50 USD]
MikeVickIsGod shows [6h, 6s ]
crazytrader shows [As, Tc ]
crazytrader wins $12944.50 USD from main pot

I know it’s just 5 buy-ins headsup, but when all these hands happen within 10 minutes of each other, it can be pretty tilting.  I had to quit Spirit Rock because I didn’t want to play him while tilting, and I grinded crazytrader down for a meager comeback before he quit me.  Having the poker gods gift 5 buy-ins away to some random guy who then quits you in 10 minutes can be pretty frustrating.

-”American Gangster” gets hated on for no reason (the album, not the movie). I’m confused by the rap blog meme that Jay-Z lost it since the Blueprint and that AG is a great example: I think the album’s actually very good. No Hook, Success, Falling, and Ignorant Shit are all very good songs and the rest of the album, with a couple exceptions, is solid.

-The term “halcyon plane” is played out.

-Lil Wayne built up a lot of buzz and a faithful fan base in the years leading up to the drop of the Carter III. In order to capitalize on his years of building up an image, he dropped the Carter III and started dropping a lot of guest verses. And just about everything he’s dropped has been awful. He’s like the John McCain of rap; in order to take the final step and parlay his hype into success, he’s gone against everything that made him any good.

Carter III had 4 good songs (A Milli, Mr. Carter, 3Peat, Lollipop Remix [which was mainly only good because of Kanye]) and a bunch of shit songs (especially Mrs. Officer is one of the most embarrassingly awful songs any good rapper has ever put out). All of Wayne’s guest verses have been exactly the same: no flow whatsoever, just some self-indulgent “here’s some rambling crap with a couple semi-clever but forced lines” verses that he thinks he can get away with. And now he dropped “Dedication 3″ which is 90% either guest verses or auto-tune sing-songy crap. Lil Wayne, you’re not Kanye: you can’t just ruminate lackadaisically, bust out the auto-tune, drop one punch-line (that you laugh at in the background), and make it work (not that I like Kanye).

On all his mixtapes Wayne would combine a sick flow with great lyricism and an eccentric “i say crazy shit cuz i’m always on syrup” affect. Now he only has that last part.

-Facebook should give you the option of notifying somebody when you defriend him/her. I understand that the default should be “don’t notify” because there’s something to be said for not being a total dick and just wanting somebody off your friends’ page, but what if you want to send a signal to somebody that they suck (say, after getting in a near-fistfight at graduation for instance)? Sometimes you don’t want the person to figure it out months later by realizing “hey, Ariel isn’t on my friends list? wtf?”

-I am starting to worry that my $60,000 bet with Jay and Emil that Garrard will win more rings than Eli Manning from here on out may not be such a good bet. Who knew the Giants would go from “worst NFL champion of my lifetime other than the Roethlisberger Steelers” to “best team in the NFL” in one offseason?

-If Bud Foster leaves Virginia Tech, the program is ruined. VT needs to announce him as Beamer’s successor-in-waiting immediately, give him a huge raise, and start nudging Beamer out the door.

-I’m getting pretty sick of protein shakes

-Teams taking a timeout to see if they should challenge a play is one of the stupidest tactics in sports. What’s the thinking? “If I challenge and lose, I’ll lose a timeout. So let’s lose a timeout to see if I should challenge, because if I shouldn’t I don’t want to do so and lose a timeout. And who knows, maybe I’ll take a timeout, challenge, lose, and lose another timeout!” Must be nice to get paid millions to routinely practice weakly dominated strategies

-I lost my credit card and got a replacement. The first 8 digits are the same as the last card’s, and the next 4 are very similar to the next 4 on my last card. I don’t know why the credit card company would do this, but it basically just insures that I’ll never remember my new number because I’m going to constantly get it confused with my last card.

-It is insane that in New York you get to spend a ton of money to get the worst apartments. I’ve got a nice, spacious apartment in a great neighborhood. And I have no control over the temperature in my apartment, so during the winter the heat is on full blast and my bedroom is like a furnace. I’ve got to get out of this city.

Also, I heard back from my first law school yesterday. I got into UVA Law, which is great because it’s my first choice right now. Still waiting on everywhere else.

I won 94k today. I was up 97k and wanted to make it 100, so I flipped for 3k with mastrblastr. Somehow I didn’t hit runner-runner with 57 vs A3 on 6628Q. Right now my Hold’em Manager isn’t letting me copy hand histories, so I can’t copy/paste any. My graphs I’m trying to post won’t fit on my new blog interface. In other words, I’m computer-illiterate. Hand histories and graphs coming up as soon as I figure out how to post them

Sorry for clogging everybody’s RSS feeds, but just wanted to let people know I’ve figured out how to take a screen shot. So no need to keep emailing and posting comments explaining, although I do appreciate the thought.

In other news, I’m playing the craziest HU match I’ve played in a while against FantaSizo on UB. 50/100 at one point I was up 36k and now he’s up a few k on me. There’s been tons of action, I’ll post HHs tomorrow hopefully. This guy is crazy!

Stevesbets, he of “omg i hate you so much i’ll never play you again” swung by my 25/50 table on UB and decided to spot me a buy-in very early on:
Hand #58504761-3141 at Ephesus (No Limit Hold’em)
Started at 16/Nov/08 19:41:45

stevesbets is at seat 0 with $5599.50.
MikeVickIsGod is at seat 1 with $6647.50.
The button is at seat 1.

MikeVickIsGod posts the small blind of $25.
stevesbets posts the big blind of $50.

stevesbets: — –
MikeVickIsGod: 9d 9s

Pre-flop:

MikeVickIsGod raises to $150. stevesbets re-raises to
$450. MikeVickIsGod re-raises to $1350. stevesbets
calls.

Flop (board: 3s 5c 9c):

stevesbets bets $2700. MikeVickIsGod goes all-in for
$5297.50. stevesbets goes all-in for $4249.50.
MikeVickIsGod is returned $1048 (uncalled).

Turn (board: 3s 5c 9c Ac):

(no action in this round)

River (board: 3s 5c 9c Ac 5h):

(no action in this round)

Showdown:

MikeVickIsGod shows 9d 9s.
MikeVickIsGod has 9d 9s 5c 9c 5h: full house, nines full of fives.
stevesbets shows 3h 6h.
stevesbets has 3h 3s 5c Ac 5h: two pair, fives and threes.

Hand #58504761-3141 Summary:

$.50 is raked from a pot of $11199.
MikeVickIsGod wins $11198.50 with full house, nines full of fives.
—————————————————————-
Getting Hand History Information…
—————————————————————-

I actually like his postflop play: I’m probably not folding AK once he donks out so since he’s stacking off either way, he might as well occasionally actually get it in good. It’s one of those spots where, because he sucks, he has bottom pair and won’t fold it. But he takes a line that makes his sucky play just a little less awful.

Then I laid a beat on him:
Hand #58504761-3167 at Ephesus (No Limit Hold’em)
Started at 16/Nov/08 19:46:15

stevesbets is at seat 0 with $5248.50.
MikeVickIsGod is at seat 1 with $11995.
The button is at seat 1.

MikeVickIsGod posts the small blind of $25.
stevesbets posts the big blind of $50.

stevesbets: — –
MikeVickIsGod: Kh As

Pre-flop:

MikeVickIsGod raises to $150. stevesbets re-raises to
$450. MikeVickIsGod re-raises to $1350. stevesbets
re-raises to $4050. MikeVickIsGod goes all-in for
$11995. stevesbets goes all-in for $5248.50.
MikeVickIsGod is returned $6746.50 (uncalled).

Flop (board: 6s 9d Qc):

(no action in this round)

Turn (board: 6s 9d Qc Td):

(no action in this round)

River (board: 6s 9d Qc Td Jh):

(no action in this round)

Showdown:

MikeVickIsGod shows Kh As.
MikeVickIsGod has Kh As Qc Td Jh: straight, ace high.
stevesbets shows Ks Kd.
stevesbets has Ks 9d Qc Td Jh: straight, king high.

Hand #58504761-3167 Summary:

$.50 is raked from a pot of $10497.
MikeVickIsGod wins $10496.50 with straight, ace high.
—————————————————————-
Getting Hand History Information…
—————————————————————-

He then sat out, said something like “omg, you pos.” I said “nh,” and he said “I was so happy about that big downswing you had. Can’t wait to meet you, you are such a pos” and then he left. So tack on another 12k and 38 hands to that heater.