Thread was A++ before this turned into a soap opera...

I disagree. I think it's actually important to the entire thread and Matts growth, not only as a poker player but as a person. The title of the thread is "Another KID..." Growing in life experience is a part of the process of maturing.

Matt, it's obvious that you are intelligent, well spoken, and highly motivated. You have a way of making the written word jump off the page and paint a picture for the reader. You have received a lot of praise during the time this has ran and it is well deserved. This "dressing down" from a friend is also well deserved. Just learn from it and keep growing.

FWIW, as someone who has read both MM's and FMK's threads (including FMK's bridge jumping episode) but knows neither of them except for what I read here, I did not take Matt's post about the bet in any negative way towards FMK. My take away was that Matt was pretty non-plussed by the whole thing, realized it wasn't that big a deal and was fine with it happening or not. At no time did I think he accused FMK of being a welcher.

By the way, what he said was consistent with and completed the narrative of the description of the bet from a previous post. He said FMK had a horrible session and went on a bender, all of which is consistent with FMK's story. FMK then disappeared. He closed the loop on that story, and I thought he did so without casting any judgement. As someone who appreciates FMK's struggles and his openness about them, I was relieved to find out he'd been crushing the bridge world.

I think the only gripe FMK can have is that Matt may have left the impression FMK was purposely ducking him. I didn't read that, but I see how others could. When I read FMK's post here I did think, "My god he sounds paranoid, I hope he is doing OK."

FMK - You are doing OK, right?

Matt when will you reply to pm's so we can get payment out before the tourney

I'll echo what dedmau said, basically I took MM's post about the prop bet the same way (meant to put an end to the questions about the prop bet and to give props to FMK), and I think most readers would have taken it that way as well. FMK's response seemed a little over the top, but you guys have it worked out, so hugs all around.

FMK - congrats on the bridge crushing... my parents are super into bridge, but I've just never had the time or inclination to learn it, but I respect how complex the game is and have a ton of respect for what you've done.

MM - keep on crushing, don't get too bluff happy, you're probably not, but seems like a lot of the twitter posts lately have been big bluffs. Hope you bink a bracelet. Update soon???

MM is human and can **** up too!!!! I'd have been pissed if I was FMK and suspect MM would be too if he removed himself from the situation and looked at it from the other perspective. FMK tilt responded, as many others would too in the situation, and it blew up all the more as it's a public popular thread. Lessons for both perhaps - time to move on.

Bromance, itt

"Like"

I exhaled a sigh of relief. I hate it when friends fight. (Also, this felt like an episode of Sally Jessie Raphael with people airing their personal matters in public.)

Feed, I'm not in the gambling world, but I think I understand where you were coming from on the damage to your reputation in that world. Justified. When I read the post in question I was slightly confused. It seemed like to me that Matt threw you a complement on your bridge accomplishments (and was understanding about your priorities lying with your bridge tournaments), but then slammed the snot out of you with the 'bet died' and 'sticking stuff up your nose' finale. I thought maybe Matt just accepts your drug use as a part of who you are, and didn't intend the comment to seem as harsh as it came across. I was trying to give both of you the benefit of the doubt, but there did appear to be an underlying irritation with the post and I was hoping I wasn't reading 'friendship over'. Glad you guys have settled things.

And now is where I get really inappropriate. I wish you would quit doing drugs. I don't know you, but you seem really intelligent and interesting. When I read the Stu Ungar story I was just filled with sadness about how it seemed like he just threw his life away. I don't want that for anybody. You said in one of your posts that it would be stupid to go play poker when you knew it was a -EV proposition. I'm asking you to make the same consideration for your life EV. I wish you the best.

Good luck later today in the 1k! A bracelet would certainly add another amazing chapter to this already amazing story...doesn't hurt I have 5 percent too, lol. Go get em'

Take meeting.

lol AEPoker sucks

Too much drama for your mama!

You two were prolly never BFF in the first place.

The Carnival

"Why you so happy" I asked Sam as I approached him and his ear to ear smile in the Bellagio Sportsbook. "Ain't ya heard Matt, the carnival's in town," he responded, referring to the festivities at the Rio. "Now we just got to find you some tickets so you can get on the rides" I told the old veteran. Almost in cue, an attractive younger brunette approached our group looking like she had something to say. It must be my lucky day I thought as she got closer and her chest got bigger. But she wasn't interested in talking to me. She went right to my old, washed up, overweight counterpart and grazed his left shoulder with a smile, while asking if she could bother him for a picture and an autograph.

Sam rolled his eyes as she walked away, back towards the casino. "Oh don't even lie," I accused him "You love the attention." "Yea right" he fired back. "I love signing trees for these people that think I'm worth millions. Would you believe that some of these maw ****ers come up to me asking for a stake?" He said with a laugh. I joined him in laughter as he finished the story. " I just tell 'em 'listen, I wish I could, but I work on the same side of the street as ya'll'".

Money is always a sensitive issue. But in the poker world it's amplified. It's how we stay in action. It's the way we keep score; Though oftentimes it doesn't tell the whole story. Good players can run bad and good people can suffer lapses in judgement. It's easy to become uncharacteristically jealous of friends while they ride the upswing of the "luck curve", while you're on the way down. As a result, I've been trying to stay away from "numbers", especially while I go through the biggest run-good of my life. I know the envy and jealousy that I've felt watching friends of mine do big things and the unjust feeling of inadequacy that it's caused. So when people like Sam ask how I've been doing up in the "big game" I try and tell them there's good days and there's bad ones. A week ago Saturday, was a good one.

That friday night I was out for drinks at the Cosmopolitan with Joe Bartholdi and Alan Keating. It was my first night off the wagon in sometime, so only a couple whiskey and cokes had me feeling confident and ambitious. As Joe headed to the bathroom Alan and I dove into deep conversation about our own expectations with life and poker. Mid chat we were interrupted. "Hey guys look who I found on the way back" Joe said standing next to a guy with the fastest moving mouth and whitest teeth I'd ever seen. It was Layne Flack. Eight years ago when my poker fixes were cured by the Tuesday night running of WSOP episodes, Layne was my idol. His fearlessness and aggression paved the way for the style that I would soon develop as my own. And now he was here next to me, buying me shots of a foreign liquor that came with a flower as a chaser, yapping in my ear about the absence of an afterlife, while challenging my rebuttal with "have you ever encountered your soul?" He was everything that I hoped Layne Flack would be.

That next morning I woke up at 730 with the taste of sunflower in my mouth and distorted vision in my eyes. But motivated by my encounter the night before, I did my best Layne Flack impression and regrouped in time to make it into the 10/20/40 game. I was tired, but luckily my decisions were very basic. I turned Queens full when an opponent shoved into me, and my AK held up against an overaggressive player's AQ. Before I knew it I was up 10k for the day and sitting at my juiciest ever 10/20/40 table.

The final hand of the day came when an online player opened UTG to 140. 4 players called before me, and I joined in the Sb with QJ. The Mb, a recreational player with a ton of chips, called as well, as we saw a flop of QJ7. I led out for 820 and was called only by the Mb. The river was the 5 completing the flush that I was nearly certain my opponent held. I checked, knowing I'd be forced to fold to his turn aggression. However, he chose to only bet $500, giving me an insane price to hit my 4 outer. And wouldn't you know it the J popped out on the river. I paused for a moment, deciding between leading or check raising. Against an experienced played I'd have to lead to catch any value, but against this guy, I was not only confident he would bet, but also call off my raise. So I checked. This time he took out a lot of chips. 1700 of them. I contemplated my raise before reaching for my blacks and placing all 56 of them in the pot. "What's that" the older gentleman asked while he fumbled through his own chips. The dealer began counting. "Oh it doesn't matter," I call he said looking me in the eye. My boat had his nut flush trumped and I was now approaching my biggest day ever.

By the time I made it to the cage I was 19.7K richer than when I'd entered the Bellagio, in deed my biggest day. I was excited, but it's hard to be satisfied in a game with such big swings, where the very money you win, can disappear the next day.

A few days later, I was at the same table, but this time it was perhaps the toughest lineup I've ever played in. Phil Laak was two to my left, Bryn Kenney and Luke "FullFlush" Schwartz were to my right and another name pro was across the table. That final "pro" is a particular player that's rubbed me the wrong way; Subtly taking shots at me since the first big pot I won off him. That particularly day, he put me over the edge.

The seat to my left was open when Amy, the morning Floor, came and locked it up with a post-it note bearing the name of the loose-passive player who would soon be joining us. "Hey Kid" the pro called referring to me. "If you're gonna change seats you should probably do it before he gets here…looks bad, you know?." I hadn't made any mention in moving seats, nor did I have the intention of moving to this player's left. I wanted to needle him back. To make mention to his big ears and receding hairline. To ask him if he used to dress up as the dude from Star Trek for Halloween. But when you got super sized listening lobes yourself and a hairline on the brink of extinction, there isn't much to say. Instead, I just nodded and smiled, daydreaming of busting his bankroll. Not every pro is as awesome as you imagine.

I'd been playing snug and had a 7k stack when this interesting spot came up. I raised UTG with AQ and got called by FullFlush in the Sb and a drunk rec player in the BB. The flop came J J 7 and the Bb led into me for 200 after FF checked. I called as did FF. On a A turn FF led for 700. The Sb folded and I called. The River was a Q and this time he led into me for 1560. I no longer felt like my hand was any good. In fact, I was pretty certain he had a 7. The story was about to end with a fold, when all of a sudden I imagined an ending that also made perfect sense. What if I go all in? I can rep 3 credible full houses I thought to myself. FF is a good enough player whose capable of folding a 7. **** it, lets do it. "Im all in" I announced as FF let out an utter of annoyance while slapping the table. "How much is it?" He asked me. "Do you want to chop?" I didn't respond to either question. Instead I sat and stared at the corner of the A. I saw Tom Dwan do it once with 9 high, getting Phil Ivey to fold the best hand. If it worked against Ivey, it can work against Luke. So I sat and stared as he took his time with the decision. A couple minutes went by. My concentration was so intense that my brain had begun playing tricks on me. Suddenly, the green felt had changed to purple and the cards were beginning to shake. Like something straight out of a movie, I didn't know how much longer I could stare. Finally, with my eyes watering I heard "Alright I guess you got the boat," and saw my opponents cards tossed at the dealer. My biggest bluff ever, and I couldn't resist showing my opponent. His neighbor and friend, Bryn Kenney, took note.

My stack had risen to 11k when I got my shot at the 2nd half of the duo. Bryn opened UTG to 160. He'd been playing solid and tight, but I couldn't fold given that the drunk kid with the big stack had called to his left. So I joined with TJ, as did a few others. The flop came down the perfect JT3 and Bryn Cbet a curiously small 340. The drunk called, next to act, and it was up to me. I counted out a big raise, wanting to put pressure on both the big hands and the draws. "1620" I announced. I expected Bryn to fold just about everything, but I was wrong. He took his time, scheming out his next move. "3500 total" he fired right back. This woke me up, never did I expect him to raise, especially that small. I thought about my options; None of them seemed good. I opted to call, hoping to disguise my hand while also dodging a plethora of bad turn cards. The turn was the 2 and this time the tournament pro checked after some thought. Internally I let out a sigh of relief as I now was certain my hand was best. With only one option I shoved in for 6400. Bryn was noticeably upset. After some thought, imaginably about the bluff I'd shown his friend, he called my bet. "Ten ball" I called for as the dealer prepared the most important card of the hand. It was another 2. The Deuce of Spades. "****" I said loud enough for Bryn to hear as I flipped over my hand. The flush got there, and the 2 counterfeited my very own two pair. "Top two is good," he said surprising me greatly while looking at his cards, praying they would change into an overpair.

I was shocked but stayed calm not wanting to offend my opponent after such a big pot. I stacked my chips as I listened to the two pro's arguing over the correct way to play the hand against me. I took it as a compliment and a huge boost to the confidence as I loaded up another 12k day. The upswing has been in full effect for the past few weeks. Still I must stay aware and focused or the money can disappear just as fast as it got here.

MM

sick read as usual

Great read - the flop in the hand vs Luke I understand (from your Twitter) was J77 though, not JJ7 as you wrote above.

All the best for the series.

Great read as always. Good luck this month.

Very good read. I can't wait to hear your World Series posts.

Also, I pm'd you a couple of days ago about buying some % of your entries. If you could get back to me about that, that would be great unless they are all sold out.

MM, what did the guy in the last hand end up having? OESD?

Who is the pro?

WP Matt and thanks for the updates!

doesn't it hafta be AJ (or possibly QJ, KJ), not sure he can call w KQ there for an almost pot sized shove, and surely 89 is folding.

You shoved on a JJ7AQ board thinking FF had a 7 and that you could get him to fold?? Did you mean a J?

He means a 7, the board was J77 obv typed it wrong