I'll post more of the Super Bowl week story tonight, but I just signed up for online poker in Delaware. Not many games running in the afternoon. I may end up just using it for tournaments, or something. I still plan on mostly playing live anyway. It's a shame, because being able to at least 6 table cash games at whatever level I wanted online would really open up the potential to go pro. Hopefully NJ/DE/NV merge that player pool sooner rather than later.

Thursday 1/30 – “What choice?”

On Thursday, I got up and headed over to Radio Row. This time our full show was there. Did a lot of networking and met some cool people, including Ricky Watters and Christian Okoye. We had so many ex-players and such coming through that it’s hard to keep it all straight and remember it.

All in all, it was another cool day. The networking was definitely the most impactful part for me, because I know it can help me a lot in the future. At the end of the day, I went to meet my friend/ex for drinks. We dated two months and have been friends for like two years, so it’s not what everyone thinks when I say I met up with my ex.

We had a drink, grabbed some diner food and then walked around catching up, as we hadn’t talked for a couple of months cause we’ve both been so busy. We talked a lot about life and deep stuff and had one of those conversations.

She’s in law school and she mentioned that she felt deeply finally that she was definitely doing the right thing and following the right path. That hit me in a couple of ways – first, it reminded me of the scene in Rounders with Petrovsky – “I felt deeply inside that it was what I was born to do.”

Secondly, I wondered if I felt that way about broadcasting. I believe I’m extremely good at it, I love it, but I’ve also had to deal with a lot of difficult work situations (financially and dealing with coworkers/bosses) over the years which I don’t want to get into here – and it’s been impossible to enjoy it in some of those situations. If it is my true one calling, would that be the case?

On the other hand, I love poker and can cut out a lot of those issues. However, who enjoys a losing session? Can something that doesn’t really help others or society be a “true calling?”

I’d say on that scale, I was leaning way more away from broadcasting and toward poker. We also talked about how badly I want to find a girl to date and get serious – not making much money and living at home in your mid-late 20s definitely cramps your style, so to speak. Of course, I don’t know if poker is the type of career most women want their boyfriend to have. I asked her how much a guy would have to be making at poker for her to feel comfortable dating him, and she said six figures – which is about what I guessed.

We ended up getting s’mores at Cosi and talking more there, then afterward I met up with my buddy from college for more drinks at a quiet little bar on 9th Ave. We were telling stories and joking around until late, then I grabbed a slice of pizza and got back to the hotel.

I contemplated my night and felt like I might be leaning more and more toward making a very tough decision when (not if, when) I get bankrolled – not sure that all of my friends or family will all approve if I do go the poker route. But, I have to do what I am truly going to enjoy the most.

I got my $200 deposit on Delaware Park Online Poker. I get a 100% deposit bonus (up to 200) that looks like it's going to take a while to clear and I'm currently soul crushing .05/.10 and beating .25/.50, while sitting third in a tourney with 12 players left (but only 16 bought in for $8).

The games are super soft, but it's tough to find good stakes and a lot of tables. We'll see how quickly I can run that $200 up into a reasonable online bankroll.

Chip leader, three left - I busted someone on the bubble to take the lead. I have 35K, second has 29K third has 15K... Blinds 500/1K with an ante. First is only like $60 though... Still would be fun to take down my first tourney on the new site.

Subbed. GL

I'm out in third for like $25 or something. AK < AJ on a KQT flop vs. the short stack. Didn't love it, but never folding TPTK for like 8 BB. I battled as the short stack, chipped back up a bit, then back down, then jammed A9 w/ like 9 or 10 BB, got called by 55 and didn't connect.

Just got crushed in the .25/.50. I have AhAd in the SB. A few limps I raise to $2.50. Two calls. Flop 9s8s5c. I bet like 80% of the pot, get a call. Turn Ac, I bet 55% of the pot, 1 call. River 6c. He only has like 1/3 of the pot left, so I don't think I'm folding top set if I check and he jams. Plus I feel like he has an 8 or a 9 and nothing more and I can get value cause these games are so soft. I jam, he snaps, Jc8c is good sir.

Meh, oh well. Stay grinding.

I don't want to get into hand for hand updates, but this will illustrate the quality of play on Delaware's online poker.

.25/.50 6-Max. UTG raises to $1.75. I call on the button with 77. Villain from the hand above calls in the SB. BB folds.

Flop: 8h 7s 5s ($5.47)

SB donks for $22. PFR folds. I have $77 and SB covers. I jam. He snap calls w/ 88.

Turn: 6c
River: 7h

Ship it!

Day 1 of my Delaware online poker career went well. Deposited $200 and ran it up to $430 playing a mix of $10 NL and $50 NL. I almost played some $100 NL cause a super spewy fish sat, but I couldn't get a seat.

Would've been up more but I took a really sick beat. $50 NL. I've got $70 and cover all villains. MP limps ($20 behind), BTN raises to $1.50 ($50ish behind). SB calls, I 3bet to $7.50 with AhKh. MP calls, SB calls.

Flop: As Jc 3c ($22.80)

SB checks, I bet $14. MP calls all-in for $12.50. SB folds. SB shows 6s7s. Um, what? Thanks, bro.

Turn: 5s

Oh, s***.

River: 4h.

So, could've been up to like $480 in the online roll, but as you can see these games are super freaking soft. They're Charmin soft. I'm going to crush them.

Live Roll: $3450

Online Roll: $430

Old Online Roll on Black Chip I need to withdraw: $500ish (I'll stick 200 back in the bank to account for the deposit)

Total Roll: $4,180

Still to come... The Super Bowl story and pictures. Plus, I might have accidentally aided and abetted the 9/11 truther who crashed Malcolm Smith's Super Bowl MVP press conference. Oops!

Friday 1/31 – “Sleepin every night next to Mona Lisa / The modern day version, with better features.”

Friday on Radio Row was more of the same, with a couple more celebrity run-ins. I met Miss America, Nina Davuluri, and she’s awesome. Beautiful, smart, ambitious. I got a picture with her. For now I cut myself out, since I don’t want broadcasting people to be able to connect the dots to this thread TOO easily. If they wanted to, they probably could, but I’m not going to flat out post a picture of myself.



Anyway, she’s definitely beautiful in an exotic way. I’ve got to find my own Mona Lisa… And she needs the smarts to match. Seeing her and seeing myself in the picture is definitely renewed motivation on the diet & exercise front. I was doing better before I started this poker journey, and ironically I think it’ll really boost my energy and focus at the table to get in better shape.

I also found myself about 10 feet away from Jennifer Garner, but didn’t get to meet her. She’s incredibly beautiful in person – I was actually surprised how much better she looked than I expected.

I interviewed Jesse Jackson and a couple of NFL players, and also met Torry Holt and Brian Westbrook. All in all it was a great experience. I’m not the type to get star-struck since I’ve been fortunate in my career to meet some cool people, so I wasn’t like blown away by it, but it was fun. Again, the networking was more valuable to me. I also saw an old friend I hadn’t seen in like 5 years, who is one of a couple broadcasting AND poker buddies – he actually got me into a game I used to play in up in Syracuse when we were in school together.

After that I headed out of town since my other college buddy was making the terrible decision to meet with his ex (if you’re reading this, YOU KNOW IT!).. Although, that ended up working out pretty nicely for him somehow. He must run good!

I got home late, and spent some time on the road thinking more about the life I want. I want to be able to live wherever I want (NYC is at the top of the list), have a fun social life, do fun things and have awesome life experiences and travel the world. I want to do work I love and set my own schedule. That sounds a lot like poker, to me.

When I got home, I crashed and worked a basketball game Saturday… Then headed up to the Super Bowl on Sunday. I’ll spare you the travel stories, because I’m not going to complain about covering the Super Bowl for the first time – it was AWESOME. Full story tomorrow, I promise. I'm working on writing it now.

Super Bowl Sunday 2/2 – “We poppin’ bottles, like I scored the winning touchdown!”

One of the first things you notice outside the stadium is the big Roman Numerals and as corny as it sounds, it’s cool to see and you start to feel the energy and excitement.



I walked around some more and they had a couple stages around the stadium where bands and cheerleaders were performing. Here are the Jets’ cheerleaders, aka the “Flight Crew.”



Now, I was “auxiliary press.” This means you get a credential, but you aren’t in the press box. There are a few sections of seating that are for aux press – mostly radio folks and people who don’t need a table and are there either to talk about the game the next day or get post-game interviews. In the aux press box you get a box lunch. In the real press box you get a hot meal.

However, the aux press credential gets you INTO the press box… just not into a seat. Thus, I outsmarted the rest of the aux press and went in and got a hot meal.



Esca it aint, but it beats a box lunch – which I could then save for halftime so I didn’t have to leave my seat and miss the show. I also got a piece of cake. Did I mention something before about diet and exercise? Well I did climb about 10 flights of stairs to get to the press box, so I’ve got that going for me.

Opening kickoff…



I kept thinking to myself, “Man, am I really covering the Super Bowl?” A panoramic right before the halftime show, which was awesome.



After the game I had a choice – postgame interview tent where they have a bunch of press boxes, Seahawks locker room or Broncos locker room. Um, easy choice. A lot of guys were still in their jerseys and pads coming right off the field or wearing the Super Bowl champs t-shirts, but Marshawn Lynch… well, I’ll just show you. Sorry, it’s blurry. Beast Mode wasn’t standing still.



A couple of times I got within arms length of the Lombardi Trophy.



But the best part, by far, was being in there for Pete Carroll’s post-game speech/celeration. He told the guys to stay out all night and celebrate, talked about how it would bring them inseparably close and ran through some players accomplishments. My favorite part went something like this.

“Russell! 18/25, 200 yards, 2 touchdowns, no interceptions and a 123 QB RATING! (team cheers)… Malcolm Smith… How bout a pick six and a fumble recovery for the SUPER BOWL MVP! (team cheers)… Percy Harvin… kick return for a touchdown PERCY! (team cheers)… Marshawn Lynch… What, three? Two yards? Whatever, TOUCHDOWN MARSHAWN! (team cheers)”

I got the video on my phone and stuck it on Facebook but I don't know if I can link that in on here - anyone know?

Anyway, Definitely an experience I’ll be remembering fondly for the rest of my life… It also made my future decision that much more complicated.

Oh yeah, and at one point I was in the interview tent briefly and saw a credential on the floor. I picked it up and read the name and looked around and said “Is John Smith here? John Smith?” Some guy ran up and thanked me, but didn’t exactly look like the picture on the tag. I did kind of a double take but he had already grabbed it, and I figured he had to have it to get in so there was no reason for one media guy to steal another’s credential… Maybe he got a haircut or whatever.

Then I saw the video of the 9/11 truther who jumped up to the podium. I’m not 100 percent sure it was him, but there’s definitely a chance…

Alright, that should be as non-poker as it gets for a while. Hopefully you guys enjoy hearing a little bit about my life away from the tables and the way it all gets the wheels turning with my ongoing internal dialogue about poker as a career.

Thanks! I appreciate it. Do you have a thread?

I just got absolutely crushed online tonight. In less than an hour playing about 3.5 tables (mostly 3 tabling then some heads up on a fourth), I dropped almost 4.5 buyins. -$220. I flopped top two, got most of the money in and the guy turned a royal flush. I flopped 236ss w/ 3s4s, made a big check raise and got floated by Ts7s. Turn 7, river spade and all the money went in. I ran top two into a rivered flush. And so forth and so on. Online bankroll is down to $213.

Sure do. It's called From AIDS to Paid.

Cool, I'm subbed. I was worried at first. I'm glad you don't have AIDS and were just playing like AIDS. Here's hoping you stop running like AIDS (I'm right after the jacks full to straight flush). I'm sensing a heater for you...

Sub'd.

Wish you played more because I enjoy the read and your analysis of the game. Hope to see more soon!

Subbed...Great read so far..would like to replicate your success at live action...

Just read your whole thread while at work and it's awesome. Subscribed.

As for your decision, you have a tough one ahead. I'm a huge sports fan and listen to a lot of talk radio at work. It seems like something that would be really awesome and interesting to get into, however, I'm aware there is a lot more work that goes into it than people see. I'm currently working right now and moving over to the poker side of things over the next month so it makes perfect sense when you talk about the office politics part of work being the worst. That is ultimately what is leading me to poker at this time (a bit different than you as I do not work a highly interesting job with a lot of perks). Although I may again pursue getting a job again in the future, the freedom afforded by poker has to be amazing (haven't turned pro yet so I cannot be entirely sure). Working every day and trying to suck up to bosses while also not sacrificing your manhood is a tough line to tow and one that is present in all corporate jobs from what I have gathered through talking to friends, etc. GL in your journey and thanks for posting.

Also, wrt Reasonable Doubt. What a great album. I still listen to it and will always be reminded of some great times I had just driving around at night with one of my buddies bumping it loud. As for the greatest of all time though....in this order of course.





~JB

Found this today and really enjoyed the read. Good stuff and keep the posts coming. Subbed

Thanks! More play is coming in the near future. I tend to go in spurts due to my broadcasting schedule, but now that I can play online I should be able to get even more regular play in. After early April I anticipate my schedule opening up a lot.

Thanks! I appreciate it. Hit me up if you want any thoughts on hands or whatever.

Thanks! Appreciate it!

Thanks man, I appreciate it! Wanted to give this one its own response. Sports talk radio is awesome, and I actually like play-by-play more and think I'm better at it. The problem is that the pay is awful. I'm 5 years out of school and I haven't made over 15K in a year off of broadcasting, and that's BEFORE accounting for expenses... And I've been on the air nationally and held regular jobs for a season with a couple of different teams, and for the last 2 years or so with the same station. As far as the work that goes into talk radio, for me it's about 1 hour of prep to an hour of airtime to fill in... If I'm on every day it might be 2-3 hours of prep for a 4 hour show. Plus you're watching all of the games, which is part of the work - especially if you're not in a market with the teams you're a fan of.

Basically, once you get to a good station in a good sized market (top 25, top 50 if it's the right company owning it), you can make good money and be treated well. At the bottom, they know that way more people want these jobs than can get them and you'll take pennies and not complain. When I rock the cart I'm usually given a lecture about it, and it's for stuff like complaining about making less than minimum wage.

But, it is what it is. I don't want to turn this into a big rant about that industry. I love broadcasting, I love sports and I've been lucky and blessed that I've been able to cover some awesome stuff like a Super Bowl and a Winter Classic over the last few years. I'm passionate about all of that stuff, and that's why so far I've been able to fight through the financial and other burdens from it.

Good luck with your move to poker - if you don't mind me asking, how much of a roll do you have and how many months of living expenses set aside? What are you planning to do about your resume gap if you try to re-enter the work force? I'm lucky in that I won't have a resume gap if I keep doing some p/t and freelance broadcasting - I can cover that up pretty easily.

Never been a big Outkast guy but maybe I should give them a shot. I got into rap around 2001 or 2002.. It started cause my bus driver played rap in high school and I liked it... So my first exposure to Jay-Z was probably Izzo, Girls Girls Girls... I bought The Black Album when it came out, over the objections of my parents... Then sometime in college I started tracing back through his older stuff and realized how awesome Reasonable Doubt was.

Here we go boys! Here. We. Go.

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/17...poker-1408562/

That's my thread so you will have a bit of background on me. I don't really want to share BR on here yet but it is definitely enough for my main game which is still only 1/2. I'm preparing for my own session now but will PM you with BR, amount of living expenses, as well as my overall plan tomorrow. GL on the grind tonight and let's get some of that drunk money!

Forgot to mention, the southern rap scene takes a bit of getting used to as it has a more of a twang to it. I love the East Coast also but they are a completely different animal. I'm going to do my best to get you into South music whether you like it or not haha

Somehow there is a UFC fight in AC and a boat show and I have a terrible table. Took a break to eat and then if it hasn't improved I'm going to move. I ran my $300 up to about $435, and I'm back down to like $245 now. A few interesting spots.

There's one limper (total nit) and I am on the button or CO with 67o. I raise to $12 to iso. The BB calls and the limper folds. The BB is a young kid who kind of looks like a cross between Michael Carter-Williams and Phil Ivey. He's been relatively tight, but aggressive.

Flop ($27): 8h6h8x

He jams for $59. I don't snap call, but it's within 5 seconds. He does that with an 8 pretty much never, he does that with like 99+ never. He's got the draw almost every time, maybe 77 or 55 or something. There's a black ace on the turn and a brick on the river. I look at him and he doesn't turn over. Dealer says it's him to show and he says I had the flush draw, so I show my 6. MHIG. About a minute later he says, "You know, your sixes were in a lot of trouble.... I had like half the deck."

I just kind of shrug and smile and say ok... I mean, what's he think I expect him to have? 23o? I know he's got at best a flush draw with an over. I felt like saying no, if you had the 8 my 6's were in a lot of trouble. Oh well, whatever.

A few hands later I raise AsTs up front. A little loose, but my table is terrible and I'm pretty much running it over. I get a call in LP from a kid I can tell is new and seems to be pretty loose passive and just bad.

Flop ($22): T86r

I bet $12 and he calls pretty quickly.

Turn ($46): 4 completing rainbow

I am putting him on a pretty wide range here. It's like T9+, 89+, 86, T8, 79, J9, 57, T4. So I'm trying to extract max value. He has about $80 left and I cover. I bet $25. He waits a few seconds and min-raises to $50. Now I'm in a weird spot. It doesn't feel like a made straight to me... Maybe he flopped two pair, but I could see him playing like T9, JT, QT, KT this way. I feel like he's bad enough to play those that way, so I can't fold. I don't want to flat because I'm not folding for his last $30ish so I just jam it in. He almost turns his cards over, then realizes I have more chips (like dude, I have 400+ and you have $80, wake up). Now he reaches for his chips, pauses again. Then he turns up 68o and throws it forward - over the line but behind his chips. He doesn't say anything, I don't say anything, the dealer asks him what he's doing. I ask the dealer if that's a fold, she says no. He says he's calling, and she deals the river. It's a brick and his hand is good. I pay it off ($29 more) and ask her what constitutes a fold. She says heads up that's not a fold, multi-way it is.

I felt kind of dirty for even trying, but I have heard dealers at Borgata say that the betting line is a folding line too. I briefly considered calling the floor, but I know he wasn't angle shooting he was just a new guy who didn't know what he was doing so I just let it go. Thoughts?

A few hands later, I raise AhJh up front to $10 and a woman calls in LP. She's been relatively weak-tight. She's chased a little and sometimes tries to post oak bluff.

Flop ($23): Qh7x3x

I kind of feel like she hit it from looking at her, nothing in particular just instinct. A Malcolm Gladwell Blink feeling if you will. I check. She checks.

Turn ($23): 5h

OK, it wasn't THAT strong of a gut feeling. I've got the heart draw and she's tight and will fold anything worse than like A7, 88+, and her queens. I bet $12. She raises to $30. What? So weird. I adjust her range to like two pair, sets, QJ+. There's $65 in and it's $18 more, so I call. I'm basically priced to draw to the hearts and I know I'll probably get paid (she has $50ish left). I just don't really want to see an ace on the river, because it puts me in a really tough spot.

River ($83): Ac

Hmm. Sh*t? Yes? I don't know. I ponder what to do. If she has me beat, she's definitely firing, but can I fold for $40 to $50 more? On the other hand, if she has just the Q she is going to check behind. However, if I just jam for her last $40 or $50 she may think it's a busted flush and look me up. I decide I can't really fold so the money is going in when I'm beat and I might as well try to get it in when I'm ahead and I move in. She snaps with a set of 3's.

Thoughts on the bet on the river? I feel like maybe in hindight, I could have folded for $52, which is what she ended up having.

That knocked me down to $245ish, so I'm down like $55. Just finishing up my dinner. Going to head back up and play a couple of orbits. If the tables better I will stay if not, I'm going to try to get a table change.

I'll check it out tonight/tomorrow. No worries - I'm more interested in your living expenses, and not even like a dollar amount necessarily - just 3 months or 6 months or a year or whatever it is. Would love to hear as much detail as you're comfortable giving via PM, no pressure if you don't want to share the $$ amount though.

Not enough drunk people here at the Borg just yet. Hopefully that changes soon!

I like some southern rap, and some East and West coast. I love Jay-Z as I've mentioned, also Kendrick Lamar or old school West coast - like Dre, or even Snoop back when he would have beat the s*** out of himself for changing from Snoop Dogg to Snoop Lion. I like old Kanye (like his first album or two, before he got all conceited and crazy), I like some Drake but not all of his stuff... Southern rap wise I'll listen to some Lil Wayne or Rick Ross, so that's more commercialized southern rap. In the past I've enjoyed some TI, Young Jeezy and Ludacris. Also some one or two hit wonders. Definitely not as much as I like East and West coast styles.

I cut my session short - I just wasn't feeling it. I am a little tired and I hate making table changes when tired because I don't focus well enough to pick up my new reads. So instead I played a few more orbits and then left. Ended up -179. Ran poorly, played poorly. I wasn't awful - like I still think I was playing better than anyone at the table, but I wasn't quite sharp enough to make a couple good laydowns and even though I was playing very aggressive, I probably could have been more aggressive. But I just got killed at showdown, I kept making second best hands - not necessarily with strong holdings, but in spots where it was like, "Well, okay, you only have X left I can't fold."

Example... A few limpers, MP raises to $12. I call in the HJ with AcTc. Three other callers, including the button.

Flop ($60): QcTx4x

It checks to me. I think for a bit. At this point, 2PTK is looking pretty good. I don't want to let four people see a turn, so I bet $35. The button jams for like $18 more. I call, he has Q9. Turn a club, brick the river.

The kicker for me to leave the table rather than keep playing or get a table change... There's an LP raise from a weak-tight player. I have like 45 or 78 or something in the CO. I decide to call and try to steal the pot on a wide range of flops. Based on the way the table is playing I think this is easily the right decision. As I'm taking the chips off my stack and counting out the $12 but before I push forward with it, the woman to my left moves forward with chips. I think she's just calling, so I push out my call. She actually had $36 and raised and I didn't see it. I lit $12 on fire. Doh! Normally I'm all over that stuff. Played til the BB came around and left.

On the one hand, my losing sessions have been small.. Through 11 sessions I haven't lost more than a buyin. My last four losing sessions have been $179 or less. On the other hand I've lost four of my last five sessions and five of seven. Weird results so far:

1/6 +931 (10.75 hrs)
1/7 +23 (10 hrs)
1/10 -300 (7.33 hrs)
1/11 +1,082 (13.5 hrs)
1/15 -300 (5.67 hrs)
1/16 +1,017 (15.8 hrs)
1/18 -176 (12.5 hrs)
1/20 -125 (10.67 hrs)
1/21 +1,370 (13 hrs)
1/22 -161 (5.8 hrs)
2/7 -179 (3 hrs)

So I've lost four of five sessions, but I'm up over 700 in that stretch. I do play more speculative hands than most good players and can be pretty LAGGY sometimes. Something to keep an eye on though.

Live Roll: Just under $3,300
Total Profit/Loss: +$3,182
Hours: 103.33
Hourly Rate: $30.79