2014: I Ain’t Trying to Survive, I’m Trying to Live it to The (No) Limit
04-20-2016
, 05:22 PM
Quote:
Douchebag in the PRESENT:
Douchebag 10 Months Ago (Posted 06/01/2015 in his PGC entitled, "<''))))>< food - thoughts on pyrrhic poker":
I love how you talk like a baller, but you were playing $10 average buyin donkaments less than a year ago, and you were really depressed about fading a $3000 downswing after degen punting off $15k (aka most of your tiny bankroll) in 1 day.
Whatever you might think of cuserounder, his poker roll is probably 10x your poker roll. What does that say about you?
Douchebag 10 Months Ago (Posted 06/01/2015 in his PGC entitled, "<''))))>< food - thoughts on pyrrhic poker":
I love how you talk like a baller, but you were playing $10 average buyin donkaments less than a year ago, and you were really depressed about fading a $3000 downswing after degen punting off $15k (aka most of your tiny bankroll) in 1 day.
Whatever you might think of cuserounder, his poker roll is probably 10x your poker roll. What does that say about you?
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Quote:
It's simple - He's actually succeeding at the whole 'making a living out of poker,' thing, many others here aren't. Most of those people are also weak in character and prefer to scapegoat instead of looking at themselves objectively and honestly. It's much easier for them to hate on Cuse than admit their own failures and think on how they could improve themselves. So that's what they do.
It's sad on his part, too, because I basically respond positively to everyone who contacts me nicely. While I don't offer free coaching in depth the way I do with my paid students and go over a bunch of hands, I usually answer a couple questions and offer a little advice.
Except de4df1sh who I've been known to accidentally walk right past without seeing him, and even he doesn't hate me!
You're right, I'm probably just on an 12-year heater! Feel free to take my offer later this year and come play some live cash stateside. It was a pretty generous offer, if you're as good as me you easily beat me on those terms.
Quote:
Cuse could well be on a heater at the moment, but I'm pretty sure he has a large enough sample of overall hours played by now to know for sure he is a long term winning player.
That's in the games he plays by the way, you may be right he won't be able to beat 100nl zoom on Stars over a solid sample, but that shouldn't matter to him, as he doesn't play 100nl zoom on Stars.
All he should care about is whether or not he's beating $2/$5 at MDL, and apparently he is.
All you should care about is whether or not you are beating $10 tournaments online, and I can't tell from the little bit I've read or not if you are, but you seem to think/claim you are...so there you go.
This isn't highlander, there is allowed to be more than one winning poker player in the world.
Also even if you were going to challenge another winning player, how did you think to challenge Cuse?
You're European living in Europe.
He is American, living in America.
You play online tournaments.
He plays live cash games.
Literally the stone opposite grinder from you. Where does your dislike for him/desire to challenge him even come from?
Also if you usually play small stakes mtt's, do you really think you stand a good chance to be a winning 100nl zoom player? I think most $10 mtt winners would not be 100nl cash game winners.
I almost feel like your bet might actually favor Cuse, or at the very least it's a lot closer then you think...unless you have a proven record of beating 100nl zoom over a solid clip, but if you have that, why play $10 mtt's when you could be playing $100nl instead?
That's in the games he plays by the way, you may be right he won't be able to beat 100nl zoom on Stars over a solid sample, but that shouldn't matter to him, as he doesn't play 100nl zoom on Stars.
All he should care about is whether or not he's beating $2/$5 at MDL, and apparently he is.
All you should care about is whether or not you are beating $10 tournaments online, and I can't tell from the little bit I've read or not if you are, but you seem to think/claim you are...so there you go.
This isn't highlander, there is allowed to be more than one winning poker player in the world.
Also even if you were going to challenge another winning player, how did you think to challenge Cuse?
You're European living in Europe.
He is American, living in America.
You play online tournaments.
He plays live cash games.
Literally the stone opposite grinder from you. Where does your dislike for him/desire to challenge him even come from?
Also if you usually play small stakes mtt's, do you really think you stand a good chance to be a winning 100nl zoom player? I think most $10 mtt winners would not be 100nl cash game winners.
I almost feel like your bet might actually favor Cuse, or at the very least it's a lot closer then you think...unless you have a proven record of beating 100nl zoom over a solid clip, but if you have that, why play $10 mtt's when you could be playing $100nl instead?
If he bets me, I certainly hope he fails, but other than that I couldn't care less whether he crushes his euro donkaments. Hopefully he does and grows up a little bit in the process.
Quote:
Well said itt...
At the very least fishfood has been quite entertaining to listen to this feud brew out of nowhere.
And for the record, the limited amount of interaction ive had with cuse has been positive and he seems like a genuinely good person, which from my live poker experience, isnt nessecarily easy to find. So for this hatred to come from fish towards cuse i find very odd. I look forward to betting cuses side with whatever he ends up doing with this guy(although the odds of anything happening r very slim, since fishes proposition is absurd).
At the very least fishfood has been quite entertaining to listen to this feud brew out of nowhere.
And for the record, the limited amount of interaction ive had with cuse has been positive and he seems like a genuinely good person, which from my live poker experience, isnt nessecarily easy to find. So for this hatred to come from fish towards cuse i find very odd. I look forward to betting cuses side with whatever he ends up doing with this guy(although the odds of anything happening r very slim, since fishes proposition is absurd).
I think I've made him a very generous offer, especially since he's the one challenging me. If he wants to challenge me, he can come to my turf, and I've made it very +EV for him to do so if he truly believes he's better than me.
04-20-2016
, 10:17 PM
you guys are ****ing special. I meant that I am on a heater.
as to being an mtt player, ok:
since you won't accept a bet that is escrowed and play on wpn - which requires you to deposit a few dollars and then play micros for the bet - this is my last post itt, promise!
as to being an mtt player, ok:
since you won't accept a bet that is escrowed and play on wpn - which requires you to deposit a few dollars and then play micros for the bet - this is my last post itt, promise!
04-20-2016
, 11:30 PM
Quote:
you guys are ****ing special. I meant that I am on a heater.
as to being an mtt player, ok:
since you won't accept a bet that is escrowed and play on wpn - which requires you to deposit a few dollars and then play micros for the bet - this is my last post itt, promise!
as to being an mtt player, ok:
since you won't accept a bet that is escrowed and play on wpn - which requires you to deposit a few dollars and then play micros for the bet - this is my last post itt, promise!
But LOL at 716 hands proving you're a cash game player or that any of that is sustainable. That's a massively small sample size. I could throw back a sample sizes five times as big with a higher bb/100 from live play, but what the hell is the point? It'd still be way too small of a sample size to mean anything long-term.
Again, WPN bans players in my home state. I researched two skins independently and third party sources on the overall network:
Quote:
What states are banned at Winning Poker?
Winning Poker Network skins do not accept new players from Delaware, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, Washington State or Washington D.C.
Winning Poker Network skins do not accept new players from Delaware, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, Washington State or Washington D.C.
Quote:
I'm happy to take a bet after the WSOP, you can come over here and play live 2/5 games and attempt to match my winrate my first 1K hours in the game in my location. I'll even give you edge and let you play 1/2 and 1/3 as well and try to beat my 2/5 only bb/hr. How could you pass that up? Smallest live games in American casinos? You should demolish them, champ. If you're remotely good, you'll probably make more per hour in these games you like to laugh at for being sooo easy than you make grinding rakeback, and probably by enough to offset losing the bet, plus I bet a real American hero like Duke would come visit you, too. If you lose, I'll even throw in a free hour of coaching. If the bet is big enough, I'll even negotiate some assistance in finding living arrangements. But, you have to escrow, in case you vastly overestimate your skill edge in live cash games and go busto.
But you won't take it. You'd rather make offers that are unrealistic, that are literally impossible for me to take given where I live, etc, then call me out in ridiculous fashion. Don't make me any more stupid offers before the WSOP, I'm focused on my buildup to the most important time of the year. My perfectly reasonable offer stands for after the WSOP.
But you won't take it. You'd rather make offers that are unrealistic, that are literally impossible for me to take given where I live, etc, then call me out in ridiculous fashion. Don't make me any more stupid offers before the WSOP, I'm focused on my buildup to the most important time of the year. My perfectly reasonable offer stands for after the WSOP.
04-21-2016
, 01:20 AM
04-25-2016
, 02:49 PM
Final Four Trip to Houston
Sunday, March 27
I stand with my hands raised over my head, as much in shock as in triumphant celebration. My beloved Orange are headed to the Final Four in Houston, and I’ve been proclaiming that I’m going if they make it for months. Now, I have to book my flight.
Saturday, April 2
I land in Houston after a rough trip. I got no sleep due to the incongruence of my broadcasting and travel schedules. I got on the plane, and discovered a service dog in the row behind me (I have allergies), a woman with a toddler in my row, and a woman with a baby two rows back. There was a pretty girl on my right, but she immediately wrapped her entire head in a blanket to try to sleep. Beat. The captain comes over the speakers and announces that we’ll have heavy turbulence.
Yeah, that kind of trip.
My best friend from college picks me up when I finally get to Houston and takes me to an outdoor café, where I avoid coffee due to my upcoming brief nap, and enjoy some orange juice with my omelette in fajitas. At least I think that’s what I ate, I was pretty tired.
I nap for an hour, which is all the time I have, and we head over to the Final Four.
I’m suddenly pretty energized. We meet a friend outside, and head in. I can barely focus on the first game due to excitement… Then the time arrives.
I’ve been asked a lot about what it’s like to go to the Final Four and have your team lose the first game. This was the least devastating post-season loss I’ve had with Syracuse in the NCAAs, maybe ever (I got there in ’04), with the possible exception of '09. First round upsets as a favorite are worse, and getting knocked out as a high seed that's had title hopes is worse. It was weird as a powerhouse program being a 10-seed, though, and really appreciating the run. After the game I went down to the tunnel to applaud the team’s efforts making it that far.
The Final Four is a spectacle, and if you ever have the chance to go – even as a casual fan, I highly recommend it. We paid a decent amount for 100-level seats, but the upper levels are very cheap (bring binoculars, though).
Now, we’re disappointed, but I’m with two of my best friends from college and we rarely get to hang out, so of course, it’s off to the bars… That’s when things really get interesting.
Your Teams is Full of Thugs
So I’m heading up to the bar to buy a round, and a guy at the bar wants trouble. I can tell immediately. This dude had nothing better to do than go out to the bar and heckle people. I order, and he’s sitting there and tells me congratulations. I sigh and say thanks.
A-hole: “But your team is full of thugs, though,”
Me: “OK, buddy.”
A-hole: “Well, maybe half full. You have a couple who aren’t thugs.” (There were two prominent white guys on ‘Cuse this year.)
Me: “Yeah, ok.”
Normally, I’d love to tell this guy off for his racism, but I’m here to have a good time with my friends I never get to see.
A-hole: “Now, you know what I mean when I say thugs, right?”
Me: “Yeah, I get it.”
A-hole: “Cause we’re in Texas. Are you from Texas? No? Then do you know what I mean when I say thugs?”
I bite my tongue and say, “Yes. I know what you mean.” I don’t know if I’m being the bigger man for avoiding the fight or the littler man for not calling him on his racism.
A-hole: “At least you guys won, though.”
Me: “We lost.”
A-hole: “No, you stomped Carolina.”
Me: “Nope, other way around.”
Now, mind you, I’m decked out in Orange.
A-hole: “Don’t tell me who won. I’ve been at the bar all day, I watched the whole game.”
Me: “Yeah? Well I was there. Maybe you should’ve drank a little less.”
Oh, but the night was only beginning…
Hurricane [Redacted]
So we’re back to just having a good time when things get… weird. There’s a guy who’s a few years younger than us from Syracuse who has networked with me in the past. He’s part of the family in terms of the radio station he worked at, and he’s in Houston with nothing to do, so I invite him over… But he knows he’s meeting up with three old friends who are catching up. We’d eventually start calling him Hurricane Last Name, but I’ve gotta redact his last name for privacy on here… Still, [Redacted] seems to fit him better than anything else I’d make up. We’d love to just redact his portion of the night.
So [Redacted] comes in FIRING. He immediately interrupts the conversation to start talking about HOWEXCITEDHEISTOFINALLYGETTOMEETUSOHMYGOD.
Breathe, dude.
This continues, and pretty soon he’s commandeered me and my good friends are having their own conversation. I’m annoyed, but we really do treat people from our radio station like family, so I’ll tolerate it for now.
So he walks away for a bit and I suggest to my friends that we take turns buying him drinks. He’s a couple years out of school, struggling in the broadcasting industry, and when we were in that spot, alums bought us drinks/meals when we were out with them. I suggest we pay it forward and they agree.
So we go to buy this guy a drink, and ask what he wants. Now, there are a couple of acceptable responses here when someone offers to buy you a drink. This, in our book, was not one of them:
[Redacted]: “Whatever the best craft beer is.”
We literally all look at each other, like did this mfer really just say that?
Acceptable responses: any domestic beer (ie relatively cheap cause you’re getting all your drinks bought, that’s what I usually did), whatever you’re having, or name something by name if you’re getting something expensive. Don’t just blatantly be like, “Yeah, I’m going to try something more expensive while you guys are buying for me.”
Now, it’s like a few bucks, so the money isn’t the big deal here, it’s the etiquette. Hurricane [Redacted] is now strengthening, though, and he’s just getting going. He’s at about a Category 3 level now. He’s going up to random groups of people talking trash even though we lost. When they tell him that, he just yells, “CUUUUUUUUUUSE!” at the top of his lungs.
He’s now at Category 4 level when fate smiles upon the group a bit. I’m talking to my friend, when a girl walks up and proudly announces, “I’m Kazakh! And Syracuse should totally still be in the Big East, the ESPN 30 for 30 on that was amazing!”
Now, this may be the greatest opener of all time. The first part is just, well, it’s unique. The second part is a secret way into the heart of any Syracuse alum, or any other school that misses the old Big East, I’d imagine.
This opener was particularly perfect because I happened to be telling the story to a friend of mine about a part Kazakh, part Vietnamese, part Portuguese girl I dated for awhile. I swear, there’s no way this girl heard.
I size her up, and we approve. She’s not a 10, but she’s in probably 6 range in Houston which is like 8 range anywhere else. I’m from anywhere else, so I’m a fan.
So I tell her what a coincidence and explain that I dated a girl who was part Kazakh, and we start talking. She invites us all back to her group of friends. I glance at my buddies and say, “It’s up to you guys, we were catching up, and I don’t live here, but if you guys want to make moves, I'm in…”
They’re in, so we head over. We’re talking in that group for a few minutes, and I head to the bathroom.
I come back, and my friends look disappointed and [Redacted] is nowhere to be seen.
“[Redacted] blew it!” I’m told.
“HOWWWW?” I drunkenly bellow in reply.
Apparently he came on really strong to the Kazakh girl, and she told him she had a boyfriend and the following ensued:
Girl: “He’s from Louisiana.”
[Redacted]: “Louisiana (now at the top of his lungs) SUUUUUUUCKKKKKKS! HE SUUUUUUCKS!”
She, apparently stunned at this completely ridiculous attempt to continue picking her up, flips him off. He returns the favor, and we’re out.
Hurricane [Redacted], category five, just slamming into Houston with merciless fury.
Still loyal to a fault, I buy the last round and include him. I simply bought us all the same thing. He refuses it, and storms off to try to steal someone else’s Uber… My buddy is like, “Dude, he needs to be careful. This is Texas.”
We shrug. We discuss how there's no way that girl has a boyfriend...
So with him gone, I make my way back over to the Kazakh girl. By not being around when [Redacted] melted down, I’m not entirely tainted. I explain that he's more of an acquaintance and get my friends back in, and one of them ends up getting the number. He says he may not call, and I insist he does on the basis that all I can get out of this is an assist, and after what [Redacted] did, I’m going for wingman of the year here.
From there, we have a 3AM debacle at Whataburger, possibly ride with a drunk Uber driver, and eventually get to bed around 5AM. I’ve gotta leave those stories out to keep this novel of a post from being waaay too long.
Sunday, April 3
We were planning on going to the Shell Houston Open, but overslept it. Technically, I guess we could have made it for the last hole, but it didn’t seem worthwhile. Yeah, we overslept a golf tournament. That’s strong.
Instead we got breakfast at a restaurant with outdoor seating (which seems to be almost every place in Houston, which is awesome), did some day drinking, then split eight pounds of crawfish four ways with a couple of friends of friends. I did suck the head out of a few crawfish, and it's not as disgusting as it sounds by any stretch. I'm an adventurous eater, though.
At this point I’m considering not going to the championship game since ‘Cuse isn’t in it, but my friend talks me into it. I owe him one.
Monday, April 4
We head over to the title game… We only paid about $60 for 300 level seats due to some expert secondary market shopping.
Not a bad view… We also had some friendly neighbors next to us, a married couple, and I think my buddy who lives in Houston got the digits of a friend of the woman, cause apparently that’s just how we roll.
So it’s a close game obviously, and with under a minute left in the National Championship Game, there’s a 30-second time out and a woman a few seats down gets up to go to the bathroom. Seriously? THERE ARE NO BATHROOM BREAKS WITH 30 SECONDS LEFT IN THE TITLE GAME!!!
She missed a possession, but not THE possession. I can’t figure out how to embed Instagram video, so here’s the link:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BD0AXKuL...n-by=ryanpoker
I framed it up before the play started, then watched with my own eyes above the phone. The seats weren't as bad as the video makes it look, since you can actually see the ball and the net and all of that. But you get the idea of the atmosphere and the moment from the video...
And a picture of the celebration…
We head out, and run into Phil Martelli (head coach at St. Joe’s) in the taxi line for a quick chat. I have a mutual friend, which I mentioned to start the conversation, and then we asked him about the game and the last play. After that, we hopped in a cab and you really can’t make this up…
Next, it was a couple of drinks at the bar, and off to sleep. I grabbed lunch with my friend on the way out of town, and it was time to return home.
Quite the trip, and it wouldn’t have been possible without poker. I always try to appreciate the opportunities and experiences I’ve been able to enjoy that I never would have had without poker, and this certainly qualifies.
Sunday, March 27
I stand with my hands raised over my head, as much in shock as in triumphant celebration. My beloved Orange are headed to the Final Four in Houston, and I’ve been proclaiming that I’m going if they make it for months. Now, I have to book my flight.
Saturday, April 2
I land in Houston after a rough trip. I got no sleep due to the incongruence of my broadcasting and travel schedules. I got on the plane, and discovered a service dog in the row behind me (I have allergies), a woman with a toddler in my row, and a woman with a baby two rows back. There was a pretty girl on my right, but she immediately wrapped her entire head in a blanket to try to sleep. Beat. The captain comes over the speakers and announces that we’ll have heavy turbulence.
Yeah, that kind of trip.
My best friend from college picks me up when I finally get to Houston and takes me to an outdoor café, where I avoid coffee due to my upcoming brief nap, and enjoy some orange juice with my omelette in fajitas. At least I think that’s what I ate, I was pretty tired.
I nap for an hour, which is all the time I have, and we head over to the Final Four.
I’m suddenly pretty energized. We meet a friend outside, and head in. I can barely focus on the first game due to excitement… Then the time arrives.
I’ve been asked a lot about what it’s like to go to the Final Four and have your team lose the first game. This was the least devastating post-season loss I’ve had with Syracuse in the NCAAs, maybe ever (I got there in ’04), with the possible exception of '09. First round upsets as a favorite are worse, and getting knocked out as a high seed that's had title hopes is worse. It was weird as a powerhouse program being a 10-seed, though, and really appreciating the run. After the game I went down to the tunnel to applaud the team’s efforts making it that far.
The Final Four is a spectacle, and if you ever have the chance to go – even as a casual fan, I highly recommend it. We paid a decent amount for 100-level seats, but the upper levels are very cheap (bring binoculars, though).
Now, we’re disappointed, but I’m with two of my best friends from college and we rarely get to hang out, so of course, it’s off to the bars… That’s when things really get interesting.
Your Teams is Full of Thugs
So I’m heading up to the bar to buy a round, and a guy at the bar wants trouble. I can tell immediately. This dude had nothing better to do than go out to the bar and heckle people. I order, and he’s sitting there and tells me congratulations. I sigh and say thanks.
A-hole: “But your team is full of thugs, though,”
Me: “OK, buddy.”
A-hole: “Well, maybe half full. You have a couple who aren’t thugs.” (There were two prominent white guys on ‘Cuse this year.)
Me: “Yeah, ok.”
Normally, I’d love to tell this guy off for his racism, but I’m here to have a good time with my friends I never get to see.
A-hole: “Now, you know what I mean when I say thugs, right?”
Me: “Yeah, I get it.”
A-hole: “Cause we’re in Texas. Are you from Texas? No? Then do you know what I mean when I say thugs?”
I bite my tongue and say, “Yes. I know what you mean.” I don’t know if I’m being the bigger man for avoiding the fight or the littler man for not calling him on his racism.
A-hole: “At least you guys won, though.”
Me: “We lost.”
A-hole: “No, you stomped Carolina.”
Me: “Nope, other way around.”
Now, mind you, I’m decked out in Orange.
A-hole: “Don’t tell me who won. I’ve been at the bar all day, I watched the whole game.”
Me: “Yeah? Well I was there. Maybe you should’ve drank a little less.”
Oh, but the night was only beginning…
Hurricane [Redacted]
So we’re back to just having a good time when things get… weird. There’s a guy who’s a few years younger than us from Syracuse who has networked with me in the past. He’s part of the family in terms of the radio station he worked at, and he’s in Houston with nothing to do, so I invite him over… But he knows he’s meeting up with three old friends who are catching up. We’d eventually start calling him Hurricane Last Name, but I’ve gotta redact his last name for privacy on here… Still, [Redacted] seems to fit him better than anything else I’d make up. We’d love to just redact his portion of the night.
So [Redacted] comes in FIRING. He immediately interrupts the conversation to start talking about HOWEXCITEDHEISTOFINALLYGETTOMEETUSOHMYGOD.
Breathe, dude.
This continues, and pretty soon he’s commandeered me and my good friends are having their own conversation. I’m annoyed, but we really do treat people from our radio station like family, so I’ll tolerate it for now.
So he walks away for a bit and I suggest to my friends that we take turns buying him drinks. He’s a couple years out of school, struggling in the broadcasting industry, and when we were in that spot, alums bought us drinks/meals when we were out with them. I suggest we pay it forward and they agree.
So we go to buy this guy a drink, and ask what he wants. Now, there are a couple of acceptable responses here when someone offers to buy you a drink. This, in our book, was not one of them:
[Redacted]: “Whatever the best craft beer is.”
We literally all look at each other, like did this mfer really just say that?
Acceptable responses: any domestic beer (ie relatively cheap cause you’re getting all your drinks bought, that’s what I usually did), whatever you’re having, or name something by name if you’re getting something expensive. Don’t just blatantly be like, “Yeah, I’m going to try something more expensive while you guys are buying for me.”
Now, it’s like a few bucks, so the money isn’t the big deal here, it’s the etiquette. Hurricane [Redacted] is now strengthening, though, and he’s just getting going. He’s at about a Category 3 level now. He’s going up to random groups of people talking trash even though we lost. When they tell him that, he just yells, “CUUUUUUUUUUSE!” at the top of his lungs.
He’s now at Category 4 level when fate smiles upon the group a bit. I’m talking to my friend, when a girl walks up and proudly announces, “I’m Kazakh! And Syracuse should totally still be in the Big East, the ESPN 30 for 30 on that was amazing!”
Now, this may be the greatest opener of all time. The first part is just, well, it’s unique. The second part is a secret way into the heart of any Syracuse alum, or any other school that misses the old Big East, I’d imagine.
This opener was particularly perfect because I happened to be telling the story to a friend of mine about a part Kazakh, part Vietnamese, part Portuguese girl I dated for awhile. I swear, there’s no way this girl heard.
I size her up, and we approve. She’s not a 10, but she’s in probably 6 range in Houston which is like 8 range anywhere else. I’m from anywhere else, so I’m a fan.
So I tell her what a coincidence and explain that I dated a girl who was part Kazakh, and we start talking. She invites us all back to her group of friends. I glance at my buddies and say, “It’s up to you guys, we were catching up, and I don’t live here, but if you guys want to make moves, I'm in…”
They’re in, so we head over. We’re talking in that group for a few minutes, and I head to the bathroom.
I come back, and my friends look disappointed and [Redacted] is nowhere to be seen.
“[Redacted] blew it!” I’m told.
“HOWWWW?” I drunkenly bellow in reply.
Apparently he came on really strong to the Kazakh girl, and she told him she had a boyfriend and the following ensued:
Girl: “He’s from Louisiana.”
[Redacted]: “Louisiana (now at the top of his lungs) SUUUUUUUCKKKKKKS! HE SUUUUUUCKS!”
She, apparently stunned at this completely ridiculous attempt to continue picking her up, flips him off. He returns the favor, and we’re out.
Hurricane [Redacted], category five, just slamming into Houston with merciless fury.
Still loyal to a fault, I buy the last round and include him. I simply bought us all the same thing. He refuses it, and storms off to try to steal someone else’s Uber… My buddy is like, “Dude, he needs to be careful. This is Texas.”
We shrug. We discuss how there's no way that girl has a boyfriend...
So with him gone, I make my way back over to the Kazakh girl. By not being around when [Redacted] melted down, I’m not entirely tainted. I explain that he's more of an acquaintance and get my friends back in, and one of them ends up getting the number. He says he may not call, and I insist he does on the basis that all I can get out of this is an assist, and after what [Redacted] did, I’m going for wingman of the year here.
From there, we have a 3AM debacle at Whataburger, possibly ride with a drunk Uber driver, and eventually get to bed around 5AM. I’ve gotta leave those stories out to keep this novel of a post from being waaay too long.
Sunday, April 3
We were planning on going to the Shell Houston Open, but overslept it. Technically, I guess we could have made it for the last hole, but it didn’t seem worthwhile. Yeah, we overslept a golf tournament. That’s strong.
Instead we got breakfast at a restaurant with outdoor seating (which seems to be almost every place in Houston, which is awesome), did some day drinking, then split eight pounds of crawfish four ways with a couple of friends of friends. I did suck the head out of a few crawfish, and it's not as disgusting as it sounds by any stretch. I'm an adventurous eater, though.
At this point I’m considering not going to the championship game since ‘Cuse isn’t in it, but my friend talks me into it. I owe him one.
Monday, April 4
We head over to the title game… We only paid about $60 for 300 level seats due to some expert secondary market shopping.
Not a bad view… We also had some friendly neighbors next to us, a married couple, and I think my buddy who lives in Houston got the digits of a friend of the woman, cause apparently that’s just how we roll.
So it’s a close game obviously, and with under a minute left in the National Championship Game, there’s a 30-second time out and a woman a few seats down gets up to go to the bathroom. Seriously? THERE ARE NO BATHROOM BREAKS WITH 30 SECONDS LEFT IN THE TITLE GAME!!!
She missed a possession, but not THE possession. I can’t figure out how to embed Instagram video, so here’s the link:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BD0AXKuL...n-by=ryanpoker
I framed it up before the play started, then watched with my own eyes above the phone. The seats weren't as bad as the video makes it look, since you can actually see the ball and the net and all of that. But you get the idea of the atmosphere and the moment from the video...
And a picture of the celebration…
We head out, and run into Phil Martelli (head coach at St. Joe’s) in the taxi line for a quick chat. I have a mutual friend, which I mentioned to start the conversation, and then we asked him about the game and the last play. After that, we hopped in a cab and you really can’t make this up…
Next, it was a couple of drinks at the bar, and off to sleep. I grabbed lunch with my friend on the way out of town, and it was time to return home.
Quite the trip, and it wouldn’t have been possible without poker. I always try to appreciate the opportunities and experiences I’ve been able to enjoy that I never would have had without poker, and this certainly qualifies.
05-01-2016
, 06:48 PM
05-01-2016
, 09:50 PM
05-02-2016
, 12:20 AM
I almost folded QQ today on AQTT. Almost. I was beat. 
I did fold QQ to KK preflop yesterday after only putting 4bb in and facing a single 3bet, so at least there's that.
Being able to say I'd hero folded queens full on AQTT and hero called T high once would be a pretty sick combination, though. I'm going to beat myself up on this one for a while. I've never been so sure I was beat before with a full house. If not for the bad beat overlay (I was going to have to put in 700 on turn/river and the bad beat for queens full is 400), I think I'd have found the fold.
It's just basically impossible to fold a BBJ hand given what it does to the math. I had to be more than 88% sure QQ was no good.
I did fold QQ to KK preflop yesterday after only putting 4bb in and facing a single 3bet, so at least there's that.
Being able to say I'd hero folded queens full on AQTT and hero called T high once would be a pretty sick combination, though. I'm going to beat myself up on this one for a while. I've never been so sure I was beat before with a full house. If not for the bad beat overlay (I was going to have to put in 700 on turn/river and the bad beat for queens full is 400), I think I'd have found the fold.
It's just basically impossible to fold a BBJ hand given what it does to the math. I had to be more than 88% sure QQ was no good.
05-09-2016
, 02:43 PM
2016 Week 18 Results: May 1 - May 7
[27/70] Play 70 Hours of Live Cash
Had some runbad that caused me to leave early, which is rare for me, but it was the right choice at the time. I took Mother's Day off to spend with the family, which was also the right choice. Still would've come up 15-20 hours short, though.
[5/5] Study Poker for Five Hours
I worked very hard on my game off the felt.
[3/7] Lift Seven Times
Oh man, was it painful getting back into it. Hopefully the soreness is reduced this week.
Pictures
Broke the game, but I got unstuck on the last hand, so I guess not the worst thing...
Took my mom to the National Aquarium for Mother's Day...
Saw the fam... Made the same bad joke on IG.
Had a nice view for dinner...
[27/70] Play 70 Hours of Live Cash
Had some runbad that caused me to leave early, which is rare for me, but it was the right choice at the time. I took Mother's Day off to spend with the family, which was also the right choice. Still would've come up 15-20 hours short, though.
[5/5] Study Poker for Five Hours
I worked very hard on my game off the felt.
[3/7] Lift Seven Times
Oh man, was it painful getting back into it. Hopefully the soreness is reduced this week.
Pictures
Broke the game, but I got unstuck on the last hand, so I guess not the worst thing...
Took my mom to the National Aquarium for Mother's Day...
Saw the fam... Made the same bad joke on IG.
Had a nice view for dinner...
05-10-2016
, 09:08 AM
05-10-2016
, 08:03 PM
05-11-2016
, 08:58 PM
05-11-2016
, 09:12 PM
05-11-2016
, 09:13 PM
05-11-2016
, 10:30 PM