OP has good taste in movies.

Sergio Leone and Clint Eastwood for the win.

ya, but it's not me. not my taste.
all the credit goes to Marc, an old roommate,
and a connoisseur of cheesy movies (he introduced me to 'Street Trash' FE, (for example, not FE, well, you know, wink, wink).

hell, he even gets credit for me even being here. (autobiography>>>)
you see, Marc was a cab driver, and lived in an old San Francisco style apartment dating from before the big one, (1906).
Being not all that far from the Epicenter, it may have been one of the only buildings around left standing at the time?

It's above a bar, and the juke box blared until 2AM, making it hard to sleep)
no prob, we were prolly both out working. (he drove the graveyard shift;
I played poker on the graveyard shift)
I had lived there previously, years earlier, before poker, and Marc had kicked me out.
He is one of the finest individuals i have ever met, and I could'nt even blame him at the time, when i learned that he was having a stripper named Tashi move in to take my place.
This sounded 'all too cozy', and he did'nt find us men 'all that appealing' I reckon? so I had to back him up on his decision.
Hell, I woulda kicked me out too, especially having seen Tashi trapse around the pad in the virtual buff.
Marc would have to do much worse to get me to turn against him.
like I said, everyone who really knew him recognized that he was a quite remarkable (no pun) individual, and almost a saint in a way.
His Dad was a genius, and had invented Sonar during WWII, and also, later, the oscilloscope.
Marc was smart, but what he really had going on was integrity.
(regardless of his weakness for ding-bat strippers).

So, the reason that he was so key in my poker development was that my rent there was $250 a month.

This ^^^ will be the only place ITT that i will have discussed anything resembling my results. like I said, i'm pretty private by nature, and a loner at heart, and I loathe the idea of sharing results in cyberspace.
( I see it all the time on 2+2 and think it's laughable; graphs, haaa!)
my business is just that, my business!

so this is the second piece of advice that I can offer up from the trenches:

>>>keep your expenses low<<<

maybe it's in "the Poker Mindset", i can't recall,
but theres the parable of the fairy that comes along and says,
"You've had a good year, and as a reward, I can wave this magic wand and
either 1] add $20000 to your income for the year, or
2] subtract $20000 from your expenses for the year??"
which would you take?



so by reducing your monthly nut; you are actually increasing your income in a way. (which helps when you are grinder building a roll).

So, I really have to credit having rent so cheap, (thnx Marc) in expensive california for a number of years for giving me a chance to grind my way
through my poker 'tuition', and to get my feet on the ground.

Marc had multiple copies of "A Fistfull of Dollars" on VHS tape in his wonderful collection.
he watched them til they wore out. (and all the Leone films).
Music wasn't listened to on CDs at his place. Vinyl only.
I know I must have seen AFFOD minimum 50 times, just in passing by.
Marc had to have watched it 100s of times.

maybe thats why it has such epic proportion to me?
maybe thats why ive grown to use it as a compass for my life as a poker player? ...as a code of sorts?
maybe i'm way off, but it works for me.

i'm not suggesting that i'm anything remotely like TMWNN in reality,
but I'm dead serious when i say that thats what I strive to be.
I have a lot of the traits of a winning player, but psychological toughness had never been one of those. ( I have too good of a memory, to the point of being a curse.)

TMWWN is as tough as nails, but is still as tough as he has to be.
(which is as tough as nails most of the time).
When you learn of his character you will not find exactly a soft spot,
but you will notice that he spares the innocents.
something has to make him different from the bad guys!
otherwise, our Hero is really just another villian!

thats right, you are a cold-blooded killing machine;
youre technically better with a six shooter, that's who you are.
youre ruthless as hell, and there to do business.

away from the table, youre a nice enough guy. I've had the pleasure of meeting you.

remember, poker IS A GAME.

The poker table is the only place I feel ok with not telling the truth... away from the table my moral conscience takes over. I never did think about the alter ego thing though.

horribad ^^^ from a risk/reward perspective.

the MWNN doesnt discuss his trade in the presence of his quarry.
If he does, then he ceases to be the MWNN, and becomes just another guy with a Colt45.

Norm is Norm.
by definition, he can't be TMWNN!
he has a name, and that name is Norm.

youre ruining your image; killing your own action, and you don't even see it.

you are risking a profitable image, and a good game, for the reward of having convienience
in your egoistic discussion of the nuts and bolts of pokers with a random??

this ^^^ isnt good business.

are you there to make $, or to tickle your cerebral fancy, or to even show off??? ( I see this all the time)

GL

1) Favorite NorCal surf spot? What about it do you like?

2) Favorite overall surfspot? And again, what makes it special?

3) Spot youd most want to surf that u havent yet?



K, Im off to the Napa game to play namelessly.

peas

I will never out my game.
no one here is invited anyways.

I feel like i'm qualified in the tilt department,
because i'm the biggest tilt monkey you have ever seen.
that means i've had to work on it.
ive got some notches on my belt.

i'm an aggressive quitter,
but tomorrow I may be down, and back and on your ass!
(with some more bullets)

TMWWN doesnt run away, he just regroups, and comes back later with a better laid plan.

^ Love me some Stampler... but like bro love, not man love.

1] it's between:Shark Pit (long left).>>> barrels and great whites. and-
Dead mans near the Legion of Honor, SF. (if you could take away the swarms of rich kids, it's cold water Indonesia) (long left)

2] Fullers in Big Sur. (long left). lived in a trailer overlooking it one summer, in a past life.
the natural beauty is overwhelming. It's a deep-water hawaiian style wave with mucho power, and is also dangerous. (as are the locals). there is an insane underwater canyon right there facing south, and it takes south swells only. (summer)

3] G-land, discovered by Gerry Lopez. (long long left)
also, curious about Renunion Island in the Indian Ocean near Africa. (long left)
I understand they have gambling there??

so, i've given away that i'm a Goofy.

GL today.
give 'em hell.
(but be nice at the same time).

You ever put it down in Santa Cruz? It's probably nothing compared to the places you named, but man ... I love me some Santa Cruz/Capitola area. Aint nothing like the beach life man. Breezy, easy, and cheesy. Get up in the morning to the waves crashing, gulls gulling and the salt water air. I think in my past life I was a beach bum.

I prefer the Pacific Ocean to Monterrey Bay. (SC is in M. Bay)
the waves are more powerful, and the water is less polluted in the open ocean.

I feel ya on that. I wont barely step into the ocean man. I was ruined as a kid and now think every piece of seaweed is a shark. I was body surfing the last time I went and got crushed by a wave. Scraped my foot on something and it got a little infected. You are making me miss home a ton!

What does the TMWNN think about the games in his area compared to those in Vegas?

PLO runs over there on wednesdays, that's today (I think).

you degen, lol!

Home, sweet Home...

wait a minute...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odmKx22eILw

"Well, I never found home that great" - TMWNN

^^^ part 2 at 7:15

Correct. There will be blood.

interesting op,what is your preferred game of choice & do you play for a living?

One thing about the MWNN is that we don't really know what he's up to.

all we know is that he lives, breathes, eats, and sleeps gunfighting.
We don't know what he's gonna do with the silver once he's done with San Miguel.
and getting the silver almost seems peripheral to gun-slinging to him, as an afterthought.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfTh-Bhk8sI

^^^at 8:50 ^^^

He makes a dude-like quotation from some earlier dialouge;
"A man's life in these parts often depends on a mere scrap of information."
(ie. pay attention to the heaps of free info at the live table; head out of the ipad.)

Ramone Rojo: "and why are you doing this for us?"

TMWNN: "500 Dollars?"

He might suck at whatever else he does when he's not gunfighting,
and you would'nt be able to tell from watching the movie.
We don't know what he's gonna do with his loot; hookers and blow, or give it to his ailing grannie??


concerning 'talking shop' at the table, which is really the crux of this thread, or more accurately not taking shop,

just try to imagine the MWNN doing it.
You can't.
TMWWN is no fool.
he's the one fooling the other guys.

If your talking shop at the table,
you have given up on owning your opponents IMO.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOUy5xuODPo

I play mostly 2/5 NL because its the sucker game of choice.

I find it pretty boring compared to the other games, and if i had my way, I think I would play split pot games?
then again, if i had my way, I would be in a hammock somewhere not playing poker. LOL.

used to play more 5/10 before i knew better. (LC).

will still jump in a 5/10 if it looks good.

Stamp is this thread about you or a movie? Seriously no offense, but I can read Roger Ebert if I want a film review. I humbly recommend trying to decrease the storytelling and increase the poker content. After all, that's what everyone came to this theater to see, right?

Edit: Sorry if that's kinda harsh. Maybe that's just your style.

Really? You just got through saying how important it is to develop poker friends, and you can't give me the credit for having the discussions for those same good reasons? (obviously not the same way you would do it, but my motives could be the same) You think it has to be about my ego, to tickle my cerebral fancy, or to show off? No, it's about being able to talk strategy with someone because I don't have any friends who are seriously into poker.

If there's something I'm guilty of, it's the convenience of having those discussions at the table. But it's more than convenience. If I didn't talk strategy there, I wouldn't have those discussions with anyone. Plus, I'm not striking up discussions about strategy with randoms. I said it is one particular person when we happen to be at the same end of the same table. So about 1% or 2% of the time that I'm at the table that I talk to this particular person and a random or two might overhear. To me, that isn't hurting my action or image significantly.

I wanted to do a thread about the movie, and how it relates to
being a poker player for my thread #2k.

Venice asked me to do a well.
I have to admit that i wasn't altogether sure about what a well is at the time.
so, if you have some other suggestions, i would appreciate them.
I will try to expand on how Leone relates to poker in real life.

but... does art imitate real life, or is it the other way around?? does real life imitate art?
It's a chicken and the egg thing...

I'm not sure how interesting I am,
and I certainly don't deserve to be lumped together with the
real poker players that have done wells on 2+2.

In any case, it's a Mum Poker thread, which is a great idea, IMO. (and i think it thereforeit contains a lesson that the live poker scene in general needs desperately, considering all the
'game-ruining poker-nerd chatter' at the tables i've been hearing lately.)

Mum poker has everything to do with poker,
because it has to do with discipline.
It has to do with putting pressure on your opponents in the information war.
It's about training them that they are going to be making the tough decisions.
If you havent tried it, and been able to pull it off, then you don't know how strongly it effects how ppl perceive your image, and how powerful it is.

I'm sure some of you aren't even capable of sitting there all night and not mentioning either a suit, a rank, or a street??
so it's a moot point, in that case.

seriously: are you there for a one-on-one poker forum in public, or there to make $??

trust me, by running your mouth about poker (if there are rec players there),
you are costing yourself $
and you are letting the air out of the balloon in your game;
Ruining the game/ taking a dump in your own backyard.

if there are no rec players there, then youre either not playing LLS, or youre playing in the worst game in the world (you and 8-9 other poker nerds), and should look for a different game, IMO.


I saw this dynamic a lot on a recent 9 day trip to Vegas:

several poker nerds sit there talking shop saying ******ed s#@*yt
like "then the good player did X,
and the bad player did Y, and then the good player did Z."
I sit there in shock as the obv rec players have looks of discomfort on their faces (unrecognized by the poker nerds, who are unaware of their surroundings, much less nuances, like the effect that they are having on others.)
...then I watch the velocity of chips decrease as and the rec players tighten up (to avoid embarrasment; or, to not be the 'bad' player that the nerds are derisively referring to.)
and, i start thinking about a table change.

If you think that taking shop, even under your breath, makes rec players want to gamble it up with you, then GL to you.
If you arent getting them to gamble it up with you, then you arent doing a good job, IMO.
they are there to gamble!
thats' why they are rec players!
duh!

I'm not here to twist your arm on the subject, just put in my .02.

Thread delivers, as I expected it would.

One of my favorite stories of the spaghetti western era with Leone is that Leone would regularly turn to Eastwood and ask in broken English, "Clint, this is how they do it in Hollywood, right?" Eastwood had never seen anyone ever film or tell a story like Leone. However, he was so impressed with Leone's ideas that he always responded, "Yes Sergio, this is exactly how they do it in Hollywood" so Leone wouldn't change a thing. It is almost impossible to overestimate the effect Leone had on Eastwood's career as a director.

I realize we live in a Jay Leno era where everything has to go from A to B in the straightest line possible for the masses to understand it. Stampler is encouraging you to look outside of the straight line and draw lessons not directly tied to poker. These clips shows the dynamics of reading an opponent and successful bluffing. Same move, different results.





And yeah, don't ask to see the bluff.

Thinking outside the box in poker?? No way man, just fold pre... Its standard.