^^^ 46,000 hypers - 4,800 DoNs - 2,400 9mans - and some randoms

Hello everyone!

I thought I'd make a post here to share some of my poker stories and let people ask a few questions. Sorry for the insanely long post, but I've broken it down into a few categories if you just want to skip around. I included a few pics to keep you interested. I know that they aren't thinly veiled brags, but rather thickly exposed boasts. Here ya go...


2011 Goals, Tough Hurdles, and the SNE Record
I guess I'll start off with my 2011 goals. I had everything laid out and was soooo excited to crush the SNE record. I was excited to make a big post like this when I got the record, plus I figured I'd be the first 5xSNE and first to 10M lifetime VPPs. I had done the math and had my life set up to uber-grind and set my goal for Jan 31, 2011, which I firmly still believe I could have achieved. I figured it would be done primarily with hypers. An important stipulation I made to myself was that I had to stay profitable pre-RB and didn't want to cave into playing stakes/games just to get points. Needless to say I was quite shocked when I woke up on Jan 1st to see the hyper changes. Even though I hadn't officially even started my quest for the record, I was crushed and it showed me how important this dream really had been for me.

As poker players we always have to change our game, move where the money goes, and adapt faster than others to be successful. I had done this many times in the past and of course would need to do it again, but I would have to let the SNE record dream go since I knew I couldn't get as many points with my other types of games and refused to play stakes and games I wasn't comfortable with simply to get the record.

I didn't really play for a week, praying that the hypers would be changed with the outcry from the regs. After a week, I realized they weren't coming back and life would have to move on. I decided to study the new hypers and slowly began grinding them, along with some DONs to try to get up to at least 32 tables at all times. Once I got in a routine, I realized that I could at least still get the March 17 record, just not with the jaw-dropping date of Jan 31.

I started playing a minimum of 12 hours/day for the rest of the month, only taking a 1/2 day off in the middle of Jan when my wife and I made our annual move to Mammoth for the ski season. I would even wind down while I started my workouts!


Winding down a set in Mission Beach while starting a workout

Once February started, I realized that the DONs were going to disappear, so I started replacing them with the 9-mans. They generated quite a few more points, but my 9-man skills are weak compared to a few years ago when they were my bread and butter. I'm still profitable at them without really studying much, so I can't complain. February continued the 12+ hours days, including 1 day when I started at 7:30AM and accidentally forgot to unregister from a target tournament. I just shoved a few hands in the early rounds to triple up or get knocked out. I ran super hot and grabbed a ton of chips early. Uh-oh, this could become a long day! I ended up final tabling and wound up with a 6th place finish around 2:30AM, with no breaks for 19 straight hours. That isn't so tough, but having to set the alarm to get back up and grind in 5 hours isn't too fun!

Then on Sunday our 8-year old pup stopped eating, started peeing every hour, and acting strange. We knew it was serious and took him to the vet on Monday morning, whereupon they gave us the grim news that he was in the final stage of liver failure and only had a couple days to couple weeks left. There were a few wonder drugs that could possible save him, so we did everything we could. Of course I was a complete wreck as he was our best friend and companion. I had to let the SNE race go once again, as there was no way I could play in my sobering state. For the next few days as his liver failed, the toxins and ammonia got into his neurological system and he deteriorated quickly, eventually not being able to even stand up. We made sure he wasn't in any pain and he passed away just a couple days later with us.

My wife and I took him on all our many travels. He had been to more countries than most humans I know! He made our life that much more exciting and I shudder to think what it will be like going forward. Thanks Diego for the great memories!


Me and little Diego at our place in Honduras

Sorry for the sidetrack. It took a few more days of grieving and my wife and I concentrating on helping and loving one another. I don't know why, but I logged in and decided to play a short session just to get my mind off of everything. I couldn't believe how refreshing it was to play some poker. It didn't take long before I was back to my grind, which was about a week ago. I did the math again and realized I could still get the record by the end of February.

Then there was Isildur. You sir, are a beast!!! According to my math, he got over 100k VPPs within 24 hours a couple days ago. Knowing that he is going to get the record is what has prompted me to make this post since I think the dream really is over this time!


Previous Poker/Gambling History
When I was 13 my dad and I went on a backpacking trip to the Four Corners region of the US. We had a long layover in Vegas and my dad took me to the strip and put $20 on BJ to show me how it worked. He won that hand, then took $20 to the craps table to show me that game, and won. Then he took $20 and put it on black/roulette and won. We went back to the airport and I was hooked.

When I got home I started researching betting systems and thought I had figured out a bulletproof roulette system. A year later I finally convinced my dad to take me back to Vegas at the tender age of 14. We stayed at the Excalibur and I went to work on the roulette wheel (basically a modified Martingale system). I was doing quite well for a couple hours and then my dad dragged me to dinner and a show. I made it back to the roulette wheel around 11PM and played for about an hour when my dad went back to the room.

This is usually when he takes over the story telling, so in his voice... I was worried to leave Marcus down there, but went to the room and thought I'd just rest my eyes for a bit and then check on him. I wake up around 2:30AM, no Marcus. I figure he's OK, so I go back to sleep. I wake up around 4:30AM, no Marcus. I'm starting to get worried, but I know he's a responsible kid. I wake up again at 7AM and no Marcus. Now I'm extremely worried and figure he must be in jail and his mother is going to kill me. I go downstairs to the casino floor and there he is in the middle of an empty casino. He's got a pit boss and a floorman overlooking the croupier and he's got a mountain of black chips in front of him (probably only had about $200 when I previously left him). I rush over and tell him to give me a few grand to stash away from him. "No, no, no... I've got a system and I need this money. Just leave me alone!" I go to get some breakfast and when I come back, it's all gone.

Freaking Martingale systems!

I started playing live at Ocean's Eleven in San Diego in 1995, mostly 2/4 and 3/6 LHE. I fell in love immediately, but never thought I could make a living from it. I was attending UC San Diego at the time and was doing a lot of programming. I wrote a new counting system program for BJ and started putting it to the test. With some serious success I started flying to Vegas every Tuesday after class and work, leaving my POS truck in the short term parking. I'd play hard until about 3AM, crash out at the Stardust, get up at 6AM for a desert run, catch the 8:00AM flight home, change out of the smoke-filled clothes in the short-term parking lot, and drive straight to class or work. Those were some insanely fun times. (*** just as a note, the book 'Bringing Down the House' is more fiction than reality).

That only lasted about a year before I was booted from 6 different casinos, including South Lake Tahoe and Reno. I was super bummed about the Lake Tahoe one because I was getting comped free lift tickets to Heavenly (skiing is my life), thinking that was the epitome of baller status. I was so frustrated that I had devoted so much time and energy to mastering the game of BJ and that it could be taken away from me so fast. That's when I committed myself to poker since I knew that my poker fate was 100% in my hands. I've been playing ever since, obviously live for the first few years and mostly online the past few. I started online with 9mans for a couple years, then started mixing in 18/45/180 mans, then grinded the Steps hard for about a year, then discovered the hypers for a couple more years, and now it looks like I'm back where I started at the 9mans!

I also did a 2 year stint sportsbetting the NFL with a system I came up with, but I was going to Caliente in Tijuana a lot and it was getting really shady as I was betting about $5k/game.


2010 SNE Quest and Blood Clots
I thought I could get the 3M record in 2010. When Needbeer made his 4M claim right off the bat, I dismissed it like I do nearly everyone that sets their lofty VPP goals in Jan, usually to see them all get shortened as the year grinds along. He was the first person to actually make a claim and then follow through with it. I was unbelievably impressed to see his dedication, especially with his health issues. Needbeer, you truly are an inspiration to not just us poker players, but anyone trying to live life to its fullest and squeeze the most out of it. Thank you.

2010 didn't start off as I had hoped as I just couldn't find my rhythm. I was putting the hours in, but my results (and more importantly my luck-adjusted results) were much less than my historical data. I wrote program after program to sift through my HH's trying to figure out the discrepancies when the answer came out that there was a massive collusion ring. It actually was such a relief as it gave me my confidence back and I started grinding again. Things were cooking for me until August.

I had a bad fall on the slopes that ski season and was pretty sure I tore my knee, but I didn't want surgery and was hoping it would heal up on its own. That summer I realized it wasn't getting better and decided to fly back to the US for surgery (we live in Mexico during the summer). I had a successful operation and the surgeon, along with my dad and bro (both doctors), all agreed that 5 days was the minimum before I could fly back home to Mex. I obeyed, flew back 5 days later, and had the most horrible day of my life. By the time we got to our place, I was in tons of pain and had to knock myself out with pain meds, which I normally refuse to take.

I couldn't really live my life or do much during the recovery (I couldn't even get in the ocean), so I dedicated myself to poker and grinded away, figuring I would make even more money to enjoy my life when I was fully recovered. About 3 weeks later I woke up that morning to a large pain in my lower abdomen. Luckily I had been studying my legs everyday to measure the atrophy (that's what we runners do!) and noticed that the bad leg was quite swollen. I had a blood clot years earlier after a long flight for a surf trip to Bali, so I knew this could be the same thing.


Grinding in Mex

I woke up my wife, called my dad, and we agreed I needed to go to the ER. Luckily my wife and I had planned for a medical emergency since we were living in Mexico and had researched out the best facilities. We got to the hospital and it took about 2 seconds with the ultrasound for them to determine that I had a massive clot my abdomen. All clots are serious and possibly deadly, but most are in the leg and this one was only a few inches from my heart in the largest vein in the body. I was immediately admitted, put on bed rest, and given anticoagulant drugs. I spent about a week in the hospital there recovering, constantly being tracked via phone by my dad and bro. Once the meds were working, they told me the grim news that it was even more serious than I had thought and that I needed to be medevaced back to the US for some special surgeries. Within 12 hours I was back in San Diego (quite a scary flight) and had 2 procedures done to remove the clot and spent 3 days in the ICU.

The procedures are risky, but mandatory. While I was in pre-op with my wife and family, the surgeon came in and explained everything very cool and collected. Then at the end he says, "Oh, and just as a formality, I have to tell you that the case studies show there is a tiny chance of sudden death do to the drugs we have to use." Wait, wait, wait, what's a "tiny chance" (you've probably figured out I'm a numbers guy by now). He says 0.8% chance. Are you serious? Of course I didn't say it, but all I could think was, "Do you know how often I've played poker and had a 1-100 occurrence happen to me?" Thankfully, I dodged that bullet. It really puts an annoying poker streak in context now!!!

While on these drugs you can't drink or cut yourself, so my usual partying and skiing was out. Since I have to be on these drugs until March 2011, that is what spurred me to make a run at the 2011 SNE record. I would never pass up this much skiing for the record!

All of those surgeries and blood clot stuff obviously hurt my 2010 SNE chase as well, but I still almost caught Needbeer and finished with around 2.7M VPPs.


Personal Info
I'm addicted to sports and if I'm not actually out there doing it, then I'm either researching out new gear, planning a trip around them, making money to support them, or simply daydreaming about them. My favorites are skiing, surfing, wakeboarding, carveboarding, wavehouse, diving, swimming, cycling, triathlons, and the old faithful, running. I love to hang out and party with friends as well as my huge family. My wife and I have dialed in a nice setup for the past 5 years where we live in Mammoth (USA) for the ski season, then in May move to Roatan (Honduras) for diving and wakeboarding, then in late summer move to Tulum (Mexico) for relaxing, kite-surfing, snorkeling, working out, and basically being professional happy-hour goers, then move to San Diego in the fall to catch up with all our friends and family (and of course get in some surfing and wavehouse visits).


My PStars plug while in Mammoth

I spent 3 years after college as a structural engineer, but poker soon became profitable enough to allow me to leave that existence and begin my real life.

I love to travel and my wife doesn't let me go more than a month without dragging me on some new adventure. I'm excited to play some more live events in the coming years to make some "working" vacations and have an excuse to hit some places I normally wouldn't go to. We usually like to go to more rustic areas. We've been to Africa several times and love SE Asia and Central America. I've been to Europe tons of times, but it's always just in and out. Hitting some of these big tourneys can hopefully get me to appreciate some of the great cities in Europe and slow things down a bit.


HH Reviews!
I don't know if anyone is even interested, but just to give back a bit to the 2+2 community I'd like to offer to review some HH's from some of the younger guys. It should take me about a week to review them, so hopefully once a week I'll make a post here and the first 2 people to respond (min of 50 posts) can send me some HH's. First 2 to post in this thread that want some reviews can just PM me!


Summary
First, thanks to all the guys that challenged me, kept the tables going, and have helped me grow as a poker player; Jorj, acoimbra, azn, DDBeast, sly caveat, Die_Broke, turataika, spacegravy, stevem1267, vgreen22, jzieg, DutchSlugger, and all the others.

I was making a run to get the 2011 SNE record, but realized I just can't compete with some of these guys. I finally might be getting too old to play enough tables and take on that high-stakes risk! I'll still hopefully be the first 5xSNE and first to 10M lifetime VPPs.

Even though I've been a "gambler" all of my adult life, I'm probably the most risk-averse person you'll ever meet. I treat poker as a job and use it to live the exact life I want. It was only until this past year with my medical problems and my pup passing that I realized it's much more than a job and I need it as an outlet to channel some of my excess energy and emotions.

If you're reading this, then you must know something about online poker and be thinking about taking a shot. You can have complete freedom, live where you want, take on any challenge, conquer all your goals, and pursue all your dreams.

If there's one thing I'd like to pass on to the younger poker generation, it's lifetime BR management. Poker oftentimes is the easy part. Health insurance, IRAs, taxes, mortgages, passive income streams, investing, and many others are necessary for an up-and-coming pro to have in their tool belt in order to have a successful and secure financial future.

If you guys want to ask me questions about this stuff or anything else for that matter, feel free. I love talking poker, sports, traveling, and most everything else. If you haven't noticed yet, I love telling stories!

Finally, whenever life gets me down, whenever I'm running bad at the tables, whenever I do bad in a competition, whenever I want to just sit and pout, I focus on a quote my Mom gave me when I was a teenager;

"Things cannot always go your way. Learn to accept in silence the minor aggravations, cultivate the gift of taciturnity and consume your own smoke with an extra draught of hard work, so that those about you may not be annoyed with the dust and soot of your complaints."

-William Osler

Amazing read. You're a beast!

nice life...

congrats on all your success we've played together a few times. no questions yet but i would love a hh review

nice post

What kind of dog was Diego?

you've posted some pretty sick variance (from an EV standpoint) graphs. did those ever turn around, or are you still in a seemingly endless state of runbad?

sorry to hear about your pup. i recently had my cat put down due to kidney failure. i'd had her since i was 5 or so, so i know how much losing a pet can effect a mental state.

Nice write up, very impressive feat over the years.

sick read. I guess im too late for HH reviews, sigh fml

My gf is a traveling Occupational therapist working in Bishop, and we are in Mammoth for the winter. I just got back to Snowcreek now from some fresh powder runs this morning. What are some of your favorite runs/trails here? Favorite restaurant?

thanks for doing this

Nomar

Awesome! How many tables do you play at a time? Sorry to hear about your dog. I was a wreck when mine died.

Nice to put face to the name. I don't remember you ever chatting so you have been bit of a mystery. Please drop few tables though, you take 2x more time than others

Nice read

I see lots of 9mans go off with 7 or 8 regs. What do you think about that? Do you gameselect or just get the volume in?

haagel

pretty awesome stuff....sick life. Do you own investment places of your own in all these places that you live during the year such as mexico, san diego, honduras, mammoth and rent them out when you aren't there?? Sounds like a kind of plan I would be interested in doing in the future incorporating where you live by the weather/sports activities there are to do. Also.....That random $104 transfer I had from you last year when I was going through tough health issues was pretty awesome on your part and I def. don't forget it. It really lifted my spirit in a tough time. thanks!!

Do you multitable Tiled, Cascade, Stacked, or some other variant, and do you use any scripts/software to aid your play?

nice read. gl

Wow, I'm amazed. Great stories and what a nice lifestyle. How do you go about your whole living arrangement? It sounds absolutely faboulus, this is close to what I dream about every day. Do you have local friends when you're in Mexico or Thailand? If not, don't you get lonely at times being so far removed from everything that's happening, family, friends etc?

Just tell me more about how that moving thing started out and what you estimates this costs you compared to just living in the US all year long. Do you take along all your stuff everytime?

And despite not having made your list (:P) I have played with you so much that I feel like I'm also obliged to tell you to play a few less tables because you're taking sooo long. And I notice while having 20+ up ^^ But that's not gonna change anyway

Impressive stuff man, glad to have read it.

Awesome read, thanks for sharing!

He was from a whole litter that was given to the pound. Mom was a spaniel / pomeranian mix and from what we've seen online, that must've been what he was. He had a huge and thick coat for our winters, and we would shave him down for the summers and everyone always thought he was a puppy. Thanks so much for asking about him.

One of my favorite stories was when we were staying on Holbox Island in the Gulf of Mex for a couple weeks. Since it's a golf cart only island, we would just let him run free. He would make his daily rounds, visit the chicken lady, etc. One day we hadn't seen him all day and were a little worried. We walked into town for happy hour and "bumped" into him. He gave us a nod, like "what's up?" and then just continued down the road. We met up with him after happy hour as he was waiting at our bungalow.


Diego at Holbox Island


Diego with his winter coat kicking it on our deck.


Diego sporting his sleeker summer look.

WTF are you doing inside right now?--you just got a foot!!

How is the snow there? I live in Colorado and I'm not sure I could give up my 14ers, but 33' a season looks pretty appetizing

edit: sorry about your dog..looks like an excellent pup ;(

Great inspirational post poker_in_pb. Sorry to hear about little Diego, GL in your future endeavors!

Awesome!!! So you're living at Snowcreek? My wife went out today and said it was super light. Arrrgghhh! It sucks sitting here watching it snow! Send me a PM if you ever want to meet up.

Favorite run is Dragon's Tail on a powder day or West Bowl off of Chair 3 for some spring bumps. Favorite restaurant has to be Gomez, but you can't beat Whiskey Creek for happy hour.


Thanks for the condolences, it really helps.

Whenever I'm playing I almost always try to maximize my time, so I play as many as possible, which usually is 22-32 depending on game types and other stuff. Once in awhile if there's a good show on TV or something, I'll just play around 8 so I can concentrate on the show, game, or whatever else I'm doing.


I really apologize as I know a few other people that have complained about my slowness at the tables. If I have extra time, then I add another table. I just always thought maximizing my hourly was of utmost importance. Now that I'm going to slow down and relax a little more, I'll try to ease up on the # of tables, which should help me make faster moves. Sorry man!

Since I've restarted playing 9mans I haven't game selected at all, just trying to get points to win the race. I will definitely game select now. I wrote a killer program a few years back when I was playing 9mans/steps exclusively. It brings up the lobbies and layers them in the corner of my screen, then highlights in red or green the good regs or bad/unknowns and will reg me when there are 7-8 players if it looks good. There is an argument to be made to not game select since that extra time takes away from playing and making more $, but in this day and age with the tough competition out there I think it's super +EV to game select these things.

great post, gl this year

I was wondering who poker in pb was, now it makes alot of sense


more stories plz


where did/do you live at in mb?

I own in Mex and San Diego and rent in the other two, although there is a sick condo for sale in Honduras that I think I'm going to get this summer. It works out so well for us. We definitely rent them out when we're not there. My view is I could make a guaranteed 2% > inflation with CDs or I could average 3-4% > inflation with equities and their high variance. If you buy a place and assume that it will appreciate at the same rate as inflation, then your principle will always grow with inflation and whatever you rent if for is the extra %. So for me, my places net about 4-6%, which means 4-6% > inflation, plus I get the enjoyment of owning and using them. Even if they return worse than CDs/equities/bonds, I'd prefer to own just because it improves your lifestyle so much.

The Mex pad is the best since we're there in the off-season (summer/fall) when it's crazy hot and hurricanes can roll through. Most people that vacation down there are from Canada, NE US, and Europe and like to get away from the cold winters and therefore the high rental season is right now when we're not there.

It's nice to have a place in SD, but after living in remote places and just relaxing, SD is starting to seem like a rat race to us. Plus, I can't rent my house out by the night so we have to do at least a 1-month lease, which means when we just blow through town we've got to rent a different place or stay with friends/fam.

Mammoth is a horrible investment option for me because it only rents during ski season, which is when we're here. If we bought here I wouldn't make a dime in rentals, other than the rent I would pay myself. Also, most of our stuff is in our 3rd garage in SD, so we can drive up to Mammoth for the ski season and bring tons of gear/clothes/electronics/etc. On the other hand when we travel to Honduras, we're basically living out of a suitcase, so buying there would allow us to aquire a few more items to make our life more comfortable. For all these reasons, Mammoth will for sure be the last place I purchase, not to mention places are quite pricey here!

I was really moved to here about your health problems as I followed all your posts. Funny that I sent you that transfer before I even knew all that stuff. Just goes to show that good things happen to good people!