Whoops!

I also found out from a dealer that attended film school today that "The Departed" was actually a re-creation of "Infernal Affairs" so I had it backwards.

I got in 7 solid hours today but was shook beyond belief by this girl who sat at our table. She was no doubt a perfect 10. A lot of beautiful women sit down at the poker table on a regular basis in Vegas, but something was a bit different with this one. We chatted a bit about the old online days. Nice chica that no doubt had me flustered and probably single handedly caused me to stay 3 extra hours. Following the dealer joking with her about taking instagram pictures with her phone while she was gone, I fit in a nice one about me also grabbing her number from it. Unfortunately, no dice. I did, however, learn that while good looking women can indeed cause a substantial distraction while at the tables, they in turn make up for it by being great for the volume!

I finished up my lackluster week on Saturday with a putrid 2.5 hour session. I really need to get better at extending sessions following a bad play, especially during my weekend sessions as these are obviously the most profitable. One good thing, however, is that I don't make mistakes like this too often so I am usually able to avoid the constant mental beat down that they trigger.

Hero: Just moved to the table about half an hour ago. Mid 20's white kid. TAG
V1: Just sat down literally for this hand. Mid 30's white guy. No read.
V2: Mid 20's white kid. Has lost 2 big hands in a row. I believe he is on tilt.

V1 (300): limps UTG
V2 (300): raises to 4 in EP
folds around
Hero (300): reraises to 28 in the SB with AA
both call

Flop (84): J93
Hero leads 67
V1 calls
V2 calls

Turn (285): J
Hero shoves 204
V1 calls
V2 folds

I don't even need to say what Villain had as that card obviously smacked one of them making the turn shove ridiculously stupid. So like I said, yeah, pretty awful spew. I hadn't won a big pot all week and had pretty much been grinding it out so I imagine this had a bit to do with me forcing it here. That being said, card-deadness is part of the profession so there is no excuse that can be made for making a play like this. I decided to pickup and leave following the hand as I was just too mad at myself. It goes without saying that spew plays like this must stop but at the same time it is only one hand and a bit unrealistic to expect myself to never make mistakes. I still expect to never make them though . I recovered from my frustration quickly when I padded my ego with some In N' Out on the way home.

The last couple days have been spent watching football and drinking beer as per the usual routine. The plan is to handle household chores today and prepare some food for the rest of the week so I can continue eating healthy during my poker sessions. Other than that, there is not much to note. Time to get back on the grind and turn the ship back in the right direction before I spend my holiday season snowboarding in Colorado and chilling with family and friends back in Indy. Can't wait!!

I expect to get a good, sizeable update in next weekend because it's much easier to do when you are crushing at the tables. As always, thanks for reading and good luck to all those out there grinding. Let's get it!

A Happy Jocksgiving.

This being my first thanksgiving away from home, I really had no idea what to do with myself. Various ideas came to mind, but in the end it seemed as if going with a traditional thanksgiving meal and watching football was the correct play. Although a bit standard and boring, this is what we do as a family every year. Thus, I convinced myself that staying congruent with these ideals would make me feel a little bit less…far away from home.

I hit my Mom up the night before to get some of her revered recipes, and she instructed me on everything needed. I elected to stay true to my blue-collar roots and hit up Wally World to retrieve my groceries on Wednesday afternoon. Good ole Wal-Mart stayed true to form by being a madhouse full of cheapos like myself with their kids running rampant and screaming everywhere. I truly understand why most people can’t handle this joint, but I actually kind of enjoy it. It’s a bit hilarious in a way and they have all the same name brand goods as you’re local grocery store for ridiculously cheap prices. I exited the fine establishment with the proper ingredients to fashion up a menu including: turkey, ham, corn, green beans, mashed potatoes, stuffing, croissants, deviled eggs, and pumpkin pie. Did I mention I was goin’ in?

I made the deviled eggs Wednesday night so I could munch on them prior to the festivities. These glorious delights have always held a special place in my heart so making a plethora of them had been in the cards all along. My Mom’s recipe is always one of the favorites at our family Thanksgiving, and I believe I came pretty close to replicating it sans the smoked paprika that was accidentally forgotten at the store. I would finish the night grinding some Battlefield on my newly purchased PS4. I awoke early Thursday morning to hit the Rio Sportsbook and place some measly wagers on the sure locks of the day. I was eagerly anticipating the scene at the casino on Thanksgiving and it did not disappoint. Only the true degens could show up on a day like this. The grey hairs had infiltrated the book and were relentlessly betting the ponies. I made my pics and got situated next to some nice elderly gentlemen from North Chicago. We yucked it up about my old stomping grounds while watching the Bears/Lions game and cursing Smokin’ Jay Cutler (If you haven’t seen this website then I highly suggest checking it out for a good laugh: http://smokinjaycutler.tumblr.com/). I watched the first half with these fine fellas but was forced to depart in order to begin the cooking dance.

I could not have been happier with the way everything turned out. My timing was pretty solid as I got everything done at roughly the same time.



I wrapped up the night with some gaming and the baking of the pumpkin pie. It turned out great also.




Poker

Things have been nothing short of uneventful in this sphere. My volume decreased a bit over the last week or so due to buying a PS4, and I honestly don’t think I‘ve played 1 interesting hand since my AA debacle in my last post. A somewhat substantial break-even has set in for most of November so I’m hoping to turn things around over my last 12-15 days here in Vegas before leaving for Colorado. Boarding in the Rockies is going to be awesome so I really want to push the poker hard over these last two weeks.

One thing I am constantly reminding myself of at the tables right now is to be patient. Over the last month or so I have been watching the whales give money to everyone but me, and it’s hard to remember that this is just a phase of the game that happens to everyone and will eventually fizzle out. This is obviously easier said than done though and has lead to some substantial auto-piloting that needs to be fixed immediately. Hopefully I can remain calm, continue to not force things when they aren’t going my way, and try to focus on paying more attention while at the tables. It’s important to realize that the frustration bred spew monster can rear its ugly head at any time so I am going to continue to work on my mental game.

Miscellaneous

Lately I’ve been spending most of my free time playing the aforementioned Battlefield 4 and watching Netflix. Most of my movie watching has been replaced for the moment by hanging with Mulder and Scully and solving all of the world’s problems regarding supernatural phenomena. Here’s something weird. Prior to this I recently got back into an old baseball habit of mine and started eating a ton of sunflower seeds. It turns out Mulder is also a lover of seeds. Now that’s an X-file.

Ranch and BBQ ftw. I have yet to find the beloved Nacho Cheese out here on the west coast.


That’s really all there is for now. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and is enjoying their time off work. I should also mention that it has been really encouraging to see the number of thread views increasing with each subsequent post. Good luck to those grinding this weekend and thank you all for reading.

Nice job cooking a traditional dinner, looks delicious!

Yep holidays are a litmus test for who the truely dedicated degens are haha.

Thanks a lot man. Felt good being one of the true degens this Thanksgiving . Hope everything went well back in the Bay with the fam.



I suffered a pretty bad beat and got an early Christmas present a couple days ago when I woke up and walked out to get in my car only to find out it was gone. I checked with the towing company the complex uses and also found out that their security system at the gate has been down for quite sometime so no one saw anything. I then filed a police report and talked to my insurance company, however, since all I had was liability there is nothing that can be done. The cop said they recover ~85% of all stolen vehicles, but I'm not holding my breath. If it did happen to pop up I'm still a bit scared that it was a joyride situation and maybe used as a toilet lol...



I was pretty sad about all this and just moped around the past couple days but am ready to get back in the ring. I'm fortunate to live right across from the Rio and can take their free bus to and from the strip for the time being. Only 10 more days until I'm on the slopes in Colorado so I'm trying to stay positive. At least this all happened when the weather was manageable and not in the middle of the summer heat.

tough break

As I write this, I’m currently sitting at a bar across from the DMV enjoying a beer and a cig. I just finished up some wings and fries while hoping to soon be able to close this crazy chapter of my life spanning over the past two weeks. What started with my car getting stolen sometime in the days following Thanksgiving has ended with one of my top 3 weeks in poker and that which was lost being found (Well, most of it at least).



I received a call last night from a blocked number I could only assume was the police. It was indeed, and the officer informed me that my car had been located on the Northwest side of the city. The story was a bit muddled and with no proof of who actually stole the car it appears that nothing can really be done. Regardless, the guy’s house that it was located at claims he bought the car sometime yesterday morning/afternoon off of craigslist and then tried to sell it again when it was then found that the title he had was falsified. So, technically this cat could have actually been the one that stole the car, but that doesn’t make much sense and I guess we will never know for sure. I took a cab ride up to the residence, which was about a half an hour away and cost me a nice $50. After explaining to the cabby that my car had been stolen and telling him my story he promptly attempted to long haul me. LOL Vegas. What a nice guy. I’m normally pretty non-confrontational, but I hit the dude with a Lebowski and let him know that this aggression would not stand. We agreed on a $50 price tag with about 8 miles to go and the meter at 38 and change. I then arrived in a decent middle class neighborhood and got my car back. Thankfully, no one had defecated in it. It was pretty much void of everything I had in there, which was expected. My sound system is unfortunately no more which really pains me, but things could be worse. Damn, that sub/amp combo was a force to be reckoned with though.

All of this is what has landed me back at the DMV registering for new plates. The 4+ hour wait was not welcome so I have decided to spend it writing and chillin. After getting my plates all I need to do next is buy some screws to attach the license plate along with a steering wheel lock and the whole process should finally be over (Why they have to take my screws also? C’mon sen!!).

Poker

After getting the car stolen a couple weeks ago, I handled myself pretty well and decided to just keep plugging along in the poker sphere. I made sure my mentality was proper before returning to the felt. Although I had to make some adjustments to my pregame ritual due to having to take the bus, things couldn’t have turned out better. I started out at the Venetian where I hadn’t been in forever and finally booked a win (my stats there are pretty awful). I would finish out the night at my ole’ watering hole before making it over to the Bellagio the next morning. This was actually my first time ever playing there because I was always turned off of it when hearing that they heavily catered to the regs. Also, the room was jammed with tables so I was happy to discover this was no longer the case. Apparently they removed 2-3 tables opening up the room quite a bit. My first 2 orbits quickly netted me over 250 bbs, and I would remain here for the next 3 or so hours. I also got to see Doyle Brunson playing in Bobby’s Room, which was pretty cool.

In for 300.


Here are some hands that made it happen. The first two were the ones that shot me up so quickly and were just a result of some great flops and turns. I can’t really take a ton of credit as I just pounded every street. The second one was a pretty sick cooler for our Villain.

Hand 1

They had just opened the table for us so there were no reads.
Hero: Mid 20’s white kid
V1: Mid 20’s Mexican kid
V2: Older white lady

1 Limp
V2 (200) limps
Button limps
Hero (300) completes in the SB with 34
V1 (300) checks his BB

Flop (15): 344
Hero leads 10
V1 calls
2 others call

Turn (55): J
Hero leads 42
V1 calls
V2 calls

River (181): 9
Hero leads 140
V1 calls
V2 folds
MHIG against QT

Hand 2

This happened 1 orbit later so still no real reads on anyone.

Hero: Mid 20’s white kid
V1: Old white guy

1 EP limp
Hero (550) raises to 21 with AK in MP
V1 (500) calls in Co
Limper folds

Flop (41): AA3
Hero leads 32
V1 tanks and plays with his cards for a bit then calls

Turn (105): 9
Hero leads 75
V1 thinks a bit and raises to 225
Hero shoves all in
V1 snap calls
River bricks and MHIG against AQ

This boosted me up to around $1050 where I would hover for around for about 2.5 hours or so until the final big hand of the session. I can’t believe I folded this, but I hardly ever get check-raised big light in my games. For whatever reason, it usually seems to hold true.

Hand 3

V1: Same old man I stacked in the previous hand. I’ve now found that he doesn’t seem to get out of line too much. Haven’t seen any big bluffs from him.
Hero: Mid 20’s white kid. TAG.
V2: Older white lady from hand 1. Simply put…not very good

V1 (500) limps in late MP
Hero (1100) raises to 21 in CO with AJ
V2 (100) calls in SB

Flop (62): A94
V1 checks
Hero bets 42
V2 shoves all in for 40 more
V1 Check raises to 250 leaving about 230ish behind
Hero thinks forever and folds.

I didn’t get to see what the lady had, but the old timer rolled over 99 as expected. 99 or 44 seemed most likely as he didn’t seem like the type to limp AK or check raise a high flush draw. I really took my time on this when making sure to calculate the price getting laid with the dead money in there. I don’t go off physical reads too much, however, when honestly asking the guy how many bills he had the way he responded just seemed way too calm and collected for such a big pot. “Just 2,” he said smiling at me. Also, I had literally zero fold equity against this old timer. He was getting it in no matter what so I laid it down. The 4 hit the turn and the river failed to pair the board, which would have slid me the massive pot. I’m obviously not mad about it and think it really just came down to LOL live poker in the end. In all my time playing out here I’ve developed a decent feeling for what types of people make moves like these and what they usually show up with. What is usually a snap jam became a fold in this situation.

The good week would continue with a couple solid winning and small losing sessions. I spent Sunday watching football and just chilled out last night when I was informed about my car. The mental roller coaster I’ve been on along with this insane wait in the DMV are pointing to me not playing tonight also. I’m already out of my daily routine so it just seems like the best idea. Unlike some other jobs I’ve had, a good mental state is paramount every day I show up for work. I hate having a “losing” or “clouded” mentality right when I arrive and it never ceases to amaze me how important it is to be clear headed at the table. With that being said, I’m going to try and put in some solid hours over the next three days before my flight to Denver leaves Saturday morning. Let’s close out 2014 strong! Good luck to all those grinding and thanks for reading.

*Edit*

Didn't get a chance to post this without wifi so I'm gonna add a little. I ended up going with a classic tonight. I hadn’t done a steak in a while so I picked up a choice strip to celebrate the return of the stealth mobile.

Salt and pepper then 45 minute rest. Stuck it in the oven at 200 degrees until the internal temp reached 118ish. 20 minute tent rest under foil. 30-40 second pan sear on each edge and then 1 minute sear per side. I think this is the best one I’ve ever done. Both great sear and interior. Mushroom red wine reduction was the sauce choice for the night. Link to my post in the steak thread: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sh...ostcount=18777. Greatness comes in many forms my friends…

nice work jb

sorry that i had to jack your vehicle, needed place to sleep in vegas

Keep up the good work JB... Staying even tempered and playing well after having your car stolen is an impressive feat.

Still alive and kicking. I'm making my return to the live ring tonight and will be gettin my Swaggy P on in the Tiger red. Also, been working on an update and recap of my holiday season so I will hopefully get that up following weekend domination.

Good luck to those out there grinding. Legggoooooo!

The holiday season has finally come to a close and my return to Vegas is complete. The mountains of Colorado were more than conducive to some great riding and the break from the grind was spent with good friends and family over a large number of excellent meals. I flew back in town the night of the 6th relieved to find my car still in the lot and an unopened front door to my apartment. Everything was in check so it seems I’m running good to start 2015. Since my arrival, the last couple weeks have been spent readjusting by running errands, grinding a bit online, and relaxing. With that being said, a bit of a recap of my last month or so…


Colorado

My family takes a trip out to Keystone every winter to have some fun in the snow. I hadn’t been on one of the trips for a while to it was good to get back on the mountain for some riding. I was a bit worried that I may have lost my touch, but everything fell into place rather quickly. I built up my confidence the first couple days, and then really pushed it on my last day. One of my last runs ended in me eating a pretty nasty wipeout that left me happy to simply not be concussed. I can only imagine what it looked like to the chick not too far behind me. Hopefully she at least got a good laugh. Confidence be damned.

My brother’s fiancé also joined us this year and that was pretty cool. I had not yet had the chance to spend that much time around her, but after this week it was clear to me that he has found a winner. She was really fun and at the very least did a good job of faking having a good time with our family. I choose to think she really likes us though .

Our time away from the mountain was spent feasting at a couple of our family’s favorite local establishments. We frequented Kick-a-Poo Tavern every day in between runs for lunch (http://www.kickapootavern.com/). This place has a sick atmosphere and serves as a great way to chill with friends and decompress. We also made it to quite possibly my favorite pizza place anywhere called Pizza on the Run a couple times (http://pizzaontherunkeystone.com/). I don’t really know how to explain it but something about the crust just puts this place over the top. And this is coming from a guy that spent 4 years in Chicago. Our third go to was Snake River Saloon (http://www.snakeriversaloon.com/). This is a great steakhouse that sits right down the street from where we usually stay. It is run by a nice local family that definitely knows their cuisine. We made it here twice and neither time disappointed.

Outside of boarding and gorging we made it out to the backcountry for some snowmobiling also. I had my brother send me some pics and unfortunately these are the only ones I really have from the trip.









Christmas and New Years

Being home for Christmas and New Years was a nice treat as I didn’t make it back for Thanksgiving. Christmas Eve was spent at one of my cousin’s houses and it was nice to see all of my extended family. They actually didn’t ask too much about the pokers, which was a relief. I always find it hard to explain the game to people and certainly don’t mind not talking about it. We were served spaghetti and meatballs as has become customary. A bit of a Mafiosi Christmas if you will. My brother and I always get a laugh out of this as my family has literally zero Italian heritage and this particular cousin is very wealthy, lives in a mansion, and once owned a waste management company. A life derived from Tony Soprano no doubt. I also managed to acquire an egg cooker in the gift exchange which I can’t wait to break out.

Christmas day was spent at home just lounging around. My dad prepared his signature Christmas breakfast including some biscuits and gravy that I’m labeling the GOAT. This is pretty much all I could think about when I woke up and they lived up to their hype once again. My brother ended up going to his fiancé’s family Christmas in Illinois, but didn’t miss much. I played a little online and watched NBA with my pops all day. As I get older Christmas seems like less and less of a holiday. This is obviously due to growing out of getting presents amongst other things, and I assume this will change once again when I have kids of my own.

This New Years was possibly the most uneventful I’ve had. At the very minimum, it’s the least active I’ve been since turning 21. I spent most of the evening grinding online at my friend’s place until they returned home from work when we then did more of the same. I don’t even recall if I had a single drink which is lol worthy compared to some of the shenanigans that have gone on in years past. All in all it was still an enjoyable night and a nice little change of pace.

Miscellaneous

Since being back I’ve kept up with the lifestyle to which I’ve grown accustomed to in Vegas. I finally finished season 6 of the X-files and don’t know if I will continue to grind this or not as they wrote Mulder out of the show. My movie viewing has also been stellar as I’ve watched some great movies lately including "Gone Girl", "Coming to America", and of course "Rounders." I try and hang with Worm and McD at least once every two months to remind myself why I chose this lifestyle. However, the most influential movie I watched over this time period has to be "The Hustler." I’ve seen this movie a number of times but none of these were while being sober. I finally watched the movie sans alcohol for the first time and really took a lot away from it. I got into a deep argument with one of my good friends about how envious I am of Burt and the mentality he has developed throughout his years as a gambler. He has some absolutely classic lines that really hit home with me regarding one’s ability to be a “loser.” It really made me think about some of my leaks wrt poker and gambling and general so hopefully a few of these things will stick and help me out along the bumpy road that accommodates this lifestyle.

Away from the screen, I picked up “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maitenance” on one of my flights and have read a bit over 100 pages so far. I really enjoy it and remember reading about it in ECGrinder’s blog and becoming intrigued. I actually haven’t picked it up since the plane ride though so I want to get back to that along with tackling a stack of books on my end table that have been acquired over past year. It should be mentioned that Zen coupled with a double jack n coke served as some good material to befriend a good looking girl on the plane. She was a cutie, but at some point she informed of her boyfriend that was riding just a few rows up and I lost interest rather quickly. Definitely a bit shallow of me but what can you do. At least there was the confirmation that I was not lied to when they were seen getting fresh upon exiting the bird. She was a cool chick though so that guy deserves a pat on the back. I later found out that they forgot to charge me for my second drink so I've chosen to count this as a wash!

Poker

And we have finally made it. I got my first live hours this weekend and it was a great welcome back present from the Poker Gods. I ran well and won a combined 270+ bbs on Friday and Saturday night. This has left hungry for more so I can’t wait to see what 2015 will bring. I’ve been logging quite a few hours online since being back, however the results have been mediocre so we’ll see which direction I go with that.


Goals for 2015

I haven’t really sat down and mapped out any real goals as of yet. I didn’t reach any of my 2014 ones, but to be fair some of these were related to possibly finding a job out here and that hasn’t crossed my mind yet as I enjoy the poker lifestyle too much. Basically, my 2015 goals are to slim down, stack paper, and get my overall swagger back. The first two combine to form a successful equation thus generating the third. Let's get it!



Thanks for returning it sport!

Thanks my man. Hope you are having a good start to your 2k15 and am looking forward to finally meeting you during WSOP.

are you any closer to shotting 2/5?

Not yet. Realistically I'm the furthest away I've been since arriving. Being home for a month and not playing other than online micro stakes online ate into my roll a bit. I have flirted with the idea of lowering my bankroll requirements for 2/5, but I don't know how intelligent that is since these games have some sick variance due to being some of the tougher ones in the country.

That being said I've returned to the grind and all the sudden have some sick sort of motivation. Cuserounder and Sequel2TheMatrix were in town last weekend and we hung out quite a bit. Those cats got me all inspired. Today will be my 10th day straight on the felt and although I'm in a bit of a breakeven...I'm feeling really good about my game. I've been posting some of the more trivial spots in my chat group and feel like the extended hours are putting me in a lot of different situations and keeping me fresh. The plan for right now is to continue riding this wave of playing 5-8 hrs a day and stack up the volume. Hopefully I'll be able to get a larger update in on Sunday or Monday.

While break evens and downswings can be brutal, it’s important to realize they are simply a part of the lifestyle. All who take a walk down this path will inevitably go through many of both on their way to poker enlightenment. Unfortunately, unlike the young Bodhisattva it doesn’t seem possible for us to ever reach full enlightenment in this career path. Even Phil Ivey will continue to make mistakes every time he sits at the felt. There are always going to be more tough decisions, coolers, and bad beats around the corner waiting to be stacked up and test our various tilt thresholds. The key being to continually learn from each one while extending these very thresholds each and every time they present themselves.

Ok…Ok…I’m being a bit dramatic, as I technically did not even break even over February and actually ended up a small amount. I would be lying, however, if I said I haven’t been tested emotionally while at the tables this past month. It’s been a steady streak of uneventful sessions with some nasty hands sprinkled in. Most of the bigger ones have not been going my way. I’ve handled the beats really well, but those aforementioned thresholds have been getting tested due to them all happening so closely together. To be honest, this feels nothing other than necessary as I ran really well last year in my honest opinion.

Overall, I would say that my learning with each cold streak is accumulating quite well up to this point. I’ve discovered that the best way to combat the emotional roller coaster is to hang with some cool people and eat good food while always keeping your movie and music game proper. I’ve been doing well in most of these facets recently.

Cuserounder and Sequel2TheMatrix made their way out to the desert recently and some good times were had. Pure_Aggression and I hung out with them most of the weekend and we ate some solid meals at Grand Lux consisting of some great poker conversation. It helps me so much to be reminded that we are all going through the same ups and downs each and every day. This alone usually quells entitlement tilt whenever it decides to rear its nasty head. We all sprinkled in some sessions and I became really inspired to get my volume up. The weekend was finished with a nice dinner at Lemongrass where Duke decided to join us. It was my first time eating here despite logging a decent amount of hours at Aria and I’m not really sure how to rate the place due to my selection. I went with the Duck Panang Curry, which usually provides a good barometer for evaluating Thai restaurants. They failed by leaving the tendon part of the bird in. To be fair the only place that hasn’t done this to me is Chada, which is pretty much regarded as the GOAT Thai restaurant in town by the foodies. Thus, I’ve decided to not judge the establishment based on this one trip.

I continued my food conquest by meeting Pure at Bellagio Café last Sunday. This is Bellagio’s main casual dining restaurant and it was incredible. It was my first time eating here and I immediately knew my order within a couple minutes of browsing the menu. I present the Short Rib “Philly Cheesestake.” Provolone, Caramelized onions. All the goods. In before “that’s not a true Philly” but screw cheese whiz!



The rest of my feasting time has been spent getting my Iggy Woods on with the cold cuts. Earl of Sandwich and Lee’s Sandwiches have been steady selections over the past couple weeks. When stuffing my face with sandwiches after my sessions I feel like a depressed woman eating chocolates late night to bury her relationship sorrows LOL. I’ve decided to get back on the healthy eating tip when the results are a bit more positive.

While the great results haven’t been there on the felt, I’m very happy with how my work ethic has improved this month. At one point I had played 12 straight days, and today is the first time I’ve taken 2 days off in a row. My table and seat selection have been good as this is something I really pride myself on. I consider this one of the real “work” parts of the job. It seems like it would be so easy to always get in the best game in the room, but it’s amazing how comfortable you can get with your current seat. That being said the whales just aren’t giving their money to me right now. Some of this is due to getting a bit unlucky and not getting into spots with them. If I’m being real with myself, a bit is also due to me making mistakes when I finally do get in hands. All you can do is show up every day and play your best.

With regards to specific hands I don’t really have too many. This is probably due to the fact that I like posting hands that are actually won instead of ones where I get punted in the nuts and ship my stack across the table. Here is one that kind of played itself out and I wouldn’t mind thoughts on. I posted it in my chat group and think I played it fine, but the river play is probably where the debate comes in.

Hand 1:

1/3

Villain 1: (320) Young 20’s active grinder. He has been involved in several pots but hasn’t gotten out of line. He did inform me that he was planning to 3bet ATdd preflop in the SB in an UTG raised and called pot that was a terrible spot to do so fwiw.

Villain 2: (280) Older Asian gentleman who is playing straightforward.

Hero: (300) Mid 20’s white kid. TAG.

Hero is dealt KQ in the CO
V2 limps UTG+1
MP limp
Hero raises to 21
V1 calls in BB
V2 calls

Flop (63): J94

V1 checks
V2 checks
Hero checks

Turn (63): T

V1 leads 40
V2 calls 40
Hero reraises to 120
V1 folds
V2 calls

River (343): 3

V2 checks
Hero shoves
Villain calls for his last 140



I can check that river against the nittiest of Villains, but that seems really weak since I think the shove can get value from a lot of hands with it being only a little more than a 1/3 PSB. After thinking about it for some time it seems fine, but I’m always interested in other peoples thoughts.

This second hand was a fun one. It’s so out of the ordinary because it was with a whale who I’ve played with quite a bit. I immediately table changed when he sat down which prompted a “How many people are on the list to change to my table?” from him. I chuckled and decided to try and keep him entertained. Within my first orbit at the table it was already time to get involved.


Hand 2:

1/2


Villain 1: (167) Whale
Villain 2: (233) Mid 40’s white guy. No reads
Hero: (300) Mid 20’s white kid. TAG

Hero is dealt AQ UTG

I look up to see our friend has blind raised to 45 UTG+1. Now I have a decision. I can call and make his raise stand or raise myself thus nullifying his action. So this isn’t really a decision. I obviously just call the 2. Villain 1 raises to 45 and it folds around to Villain 2 who thinks forever while continuing to make sure that Villain 1 did indeed not look at his cards. He ends up calling the 45 and this is where I make a mistake. I should have just shoved, but was a little tripped up by the situation and only re-raised to 155. Villain 1 shoves for 167. Villain 2 then thinks for a bit and shoves for 233. I call and we are off.

Flop (627): 568

Turn (627): A

River (627): 9

It appears I have won the pot when I turn my hand over. Our whale has 62o. Villain 2 checks the board and flips Q7 not realizing it’s a straight. He is dumbfounded and shipped the pot. He naturally racks up after another orbit. So that’s kind of how its been going lately. A high variance spot but one I’m taking every time.

This hand led to a little disappointment, but I quickly decided to get back to work. McD is in my head telling me ”A game like this doesn’t come together often.” The whale is starting to get restless as a high percentage of the table is heavily immersed in their headphones. He is inquiring about table changes while continuing along with his normal routine of getting hammered. Time to do my job. I continue to chat him up while ordering one drink after another. We get one of his buddies over from another table and pretty soon we are life of the party. I decide that no matter what I’m staying until he leaves. We continued to play for a couple more hours and it was honestly one of the more fun sessions I’ve played since being out here. After all was said and done I was left with a nice buzz and finished up over 160 bbs even after losing the $600+ pot. It was indeed a successful night that left me proud of my ability to stay and grind it out in a good game. I can only hope the whale will look me up next time and try to get to my table.

Off the felt has been business as usual. This has consisted of a plethora of movie watching including the old Travolta classics Saturday Night Fever and Urban Cowboy. Saturday Night Fever probably cracked my top 20. It’s hilarious and the Bee Gees laden soundtrack kills it. A couple nights later I watched Nightcrawler with Jake Gyllenhall and this is honestly the best movie I’ve seen in the last 5-6 months. It’s so dark and twisted that it had me on the edge of my seat. I’ll say no more as I don’t want to spoil it. A couple other honorable mentions include Chinatown and Birdman. I had seen Chinatown once before and it’s a classic Nicholson piece where he stars as a private eye and is funny as usual. Birdman just won the Oscar for best picture the other night and was a really well done movie all around. It was completely void of all the Hollywood garbage that infiltrates movies these days and was different and refreshing. Edward Norton, or Worm as he is known around these parts, had a really good role in it also.

I’ve filled my other Netflix hours watching animal documentaries and Sons Of Anarchy. After hearing several people at the poker table saying it was excellent I decided to give it a shot. It’s very entertaining but nowhere near the level of the greats. I’ll give it a 7/10.


I think that’s pretty much it for now. I’m gearing up for another weekend in Sin City and hoping this will be the one that breaks me out of my funk. Good luck to those out there grinding and thanks for reading.

Although I have been out here over a year, the touristy strip activities have been a constant avoidance for me. This is due partly to the fact that saving money has been high on the priority list for quite sometime since my arrival. Also, it allows me to exercise my inner Las Vegas tourist mentality when friends or family come in to town. Well, I had some good buddies from high school in town this weekend and it’s safe to say there were some shenanigans. My last 4 days were about as booze filled as is possible. Sipping mojitos poolside during the day was followed by excellent meals, basketball, and gambling at night. A true recipe for success.

I met up with everyone in the Cosmo lobby on Thursday afternoon and it was time to begin. We quickly secured some beers and Secret Pizza before placing our bets for the night games. It was apparent that the upgrade they ended up getting would not disappoint when we walked out on the balcony to this view.



We spent some time in the room pre-gaming and getting ready as we joyfully watched our picks come to fruition. It always amazes me how much fun it is to win measly 50 dollar sports bets. The profits would be taken downstairs and spent on an outstanding dinner at Holstein’s (http://www.holsteinslv.com/). I have heard countless praise for this establishment throughout the last year but had yet to try it out. After perusing the menu for a bit, I locked in a trade on the Gold Standard. An hour prior I would have said there is no such thing as a burger worth 20 bucks. As the last bite was devoured it was clear that I was mistaken. Let’s just say a big thumbs up is given for this joint.

Following dinner we made our way to the strip for some gambling. I’m not much of a pit gamer, however, it’s still always fun to just hang around the table and yell degenerately when others win. This coupled with the ever present, scantily clad and beautiful scenery that continually graces the casino floor allowed for a pleasant night. Everyone was tired from traveling and being up all day so we decided to head in sometime around midnight. I retired to my pad to watch a couple movies and try to adjust my sleep schedule a bit in order to be more in tune with theirs.

I linked up with them again in the afternoon on Friday and snapped this pic on the way over for a good laugh. Shout out to Breaking Bad.



We locked in some more winners and returned to the room for the normal afternoon/early evening routine of pre-gaming and watching basketball. I ravaged a Sicilian slice from Secret Pizza that was nothing short of a monstrosity as I watched the Coach K’s and Sparty eek out thin victories against the spread. More gambling would follow and it was hilarious to watch one of our buddies God mode the roulette wheel. He wasn’t betting huge but seemed to hit nearly every bet for well over an hour. A few of the crew even rode his coattails on the way to some nice victories.

Saturday afternoon was spent poolside at the Cosmo. This is the first time I’d been here and it had a really cool vibe. The music was really chill, and beautiful babies strutted all around as we enjoyed Modelos and mojitos. This was the first time I’d seen the sun all year so I inevitably got nice and crispy. We got back up to the room around 3 to catch the night’s roundball games and rest up. I’ve honestly never seen a collective group of people sun run like we did in the sports betting this weekend as we all cashed in once again on Wisconsin and Notre Dame. With our wallets now properly in order we made our way to Todd English Pub (http://www.toddenglishpub.com/index.html) in Aria for what would turn out to be an awesome dinner. I filled myself on oysters, chicken wings, sliders, and an out of this world French Dip. It was all washed down with an Anchor Steam draft and I left in a near food coma. This nights recipe would be the same as the past two and was spent on the casino floor. The roulette hot streak continued and I rewarded myself for staying out of the pits the first two nights by finally getting my feet wet. We hit Caesars and O’Sheas as had become our custom and stumbled back to the room at who knows what time.

Sunday morning would prove to be a rough one and was once again spent at the pool watching ball. Their flight left at 5 so they packed up and I gave them a ride to the airport. I would arrive home perfectly in time for the Duke second half which saw Coach K and Justice Winslow do it again thus finishing off my mini degen weekend with yet another win. Last night was spent recovering and watching movies over a nice home cooked steak dinner. (Full steak thread post here >>> http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sh...ostcount=19710 )



Following this weekend it would be an understatement to say I’m ready to return to the tables. The last month has been more of the same for me consisting of mostly small wins and losses that are getting me nowhere. Each decent winning day seems to be followed by a sizable losing one. This has made it hard to stay on my A game and properly pay attention to the action during a high percentage of my hours as of late. At times I can even feel myself slipping into a mentality of wondering if I’m ever going to win again. It helps that I’m a math based thinker as this affords me the opportunity of knowing that if I put in the hours this too shall pass. Getting out and having some fun this past weekend seems to have put grind back on the mind and has brought with it the desire to crush. With only 11 days until the return to Indy for my brothers wedding this is exactly what I plan to do. There would simply be nothing better right now than making my return while riding a hot streak. Leggggooooo!

Good luck to all those grinding it out this week and thanks for reading.

I've been back in Vegas for just over a week following my return trip home for the wedding. Everything went smoothly and as planned. I must say that I can't imagine anyone better for my brother than the girl he married. She seems to be a true angel and I'm really happy for him.

Most of my time at home was spent watching the start of the MLB season along with the NBA playoffs. I've continued to do more of the same over the past week here as I'm trying to get back in the groove. There has been no poker playing as I brought back a pretty nasty sore throat along with some chest congestion from the midwest with me. The symptoms are finally starting to fade and this has me hoping for a return to the felt tomorrow. The WSOP is right around the corner so my focus over the next 2-3 weeks will be the general tuning of my game. I also want to increase my hours threshold as the plan is to obviously grind an increased volume while the tourney is town.

Sorry for the lack of updates. I'm hoping to have a good one at the end of this week as I finally start playing again. Good luck to all those out there grinding!

Glad to have you back JockBay ,
hope you get to feeling better

Definitely enjoy reading through and following your thread

As I woke up on Memorial Day, excellent memories of spending the afternoon with my Dad and brother while watching whatever war films graced the tube greeted me. Titles with the likes of “The Dirty Dozen”, “The Green Berets”, and “The Big Red One” always seemed to be in heavy rotation. Several years later and it doesn’t seem that much has changed. Other than the fact that most of the films I watch now possess names similar to “Sin-ui Hanso” (sick movie, check it out) and are directed by the likes of the Woo’s, Kitano’s, and Miike’s of the world. Although many of the movies I watch hail from the Orient, I’ve still found some time for Hollywood. Coppola’s “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” highlights these and was excellent as expected. Naturally, I’ve also been watching and anticipating each Game of Thrones episode with the rest of the world. Unfortunately, my movie watching is going to take a hit over the next two or so months. Fortunately, I’m fairly confident that after all this I’ll be back on track to crush.

It’s now Tuesday and the eve of the WSOP is upon us. I couldn’t be more excited. I got some early prep in this past weekend with some welcome run good. My big hands have been holding up in the large pots and getting sucked out on in the small ones. Just the way we like it. Well, let’s be real. I’d like to win them all, but eating beats allows one to feel human. Saturday included this nice little session. In for 300.



Sequel, Cuse, and Duke also got into town and we met up with Pure over at Society Café in Encore for dinner on Sunday night. I had the prime rib sliders and they were good but nothing special. It seemed rather clear that we all have grind on the mind. Channeling my inner King Niche will be key as laziness has definitely been my biggest obstacle up to this point in my career. I don’t think there is any need to set a volume goal as that failed miserably last year. The plan is simple. Begin my “morning” with a workout, eat healthy, and grind my face off. My sleep schedule is all set as I’m consistently waking up between 2-3 PM and it’s time to go out there and take it.

With that all being said there are couple miscellaneous nuggets that make the cut.

Nug 1

So from everything I’ve heard and read, Vegas has been getting routinely pounded with earthquakes. I had been fortunate and yet to feel one up until one day last week. My bed started shaking while I was sleeping and that was uhhh…interesting.

Nug 2

This past Sunday would mark the running of the 99th Indy 500 and was sadly the second in a row that I have missed. The 2013 installment saw a bit younger Jock with 2 fully stuffed coolers slung over his shoulder getting his redneck on. I consumed no less than 25 Keystone Lights during the race and set a pace that was rather incredible if I do say so myself.

Nug 3

Hip-hop holds a special place in my heart, but this year's offerings have been a bit pathetic. So far Drake’s album “If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late” and Young Thug’s “Barter 6” have been the frequent records getting spins. Drake is obviously some Charmin, but is so smooth and has always been one of my favorites. There hasn’t been a project of his that I didn’t like. Thug’s album is heavily ratchet, but I can’t shake it. Whether it’s blaring out of my speakers while I’m doing the cooking dance, or booming in my headphones as I lay down to sleep I just can’t stop listening to it. Perhaps my tastes are becoming watered down. Other honorable mentions go out to Kendrick’s album “To Pimp a Butterfly” and the A.S.A.P. Rocky album that just dropped entitled “At. Long. Last. A$AP.” I actually wasn’t really feeling the Kendrick joint in the beginning, but it’s starting to grow on me. I literally just listened to the first half of the A$AP album while I was writing this and it seems pretty on point.

I think that’s about it for now. I lead a somewhat unglamorous life so it always takes me a while to build up enough interesting tidbits. By the time of my next post one thing remains certain. Here’s to the hope of being able to confidently utter, “B****. I’m doin Numbers!”



Thanks for the kind words man. Hope your grind is going well.

Good luck to all those in Vegas for the festivities and thanks for reading.

I love nugs

Enjoying the journey, really well done PGC. Gl man keep it up!

The Series That Was Not To Be.







It would be definitely not be a stretch to say that my World Series came nowhere close to being as successful as I would have liked. In fact, it could easily be argued that there was nothing remotely resembling success to be found over this past month and a half. I’ve continued to try and trudge my way through the mud. A mud that was created by the ever-revolving cycle of running atrocious leading to a lack of both desire and will to put in volume. With that all being said it’s time for a little recap.

The poker community began to arrive in town towards the end of May. I was fortunate enough to meet up with Sequel and Cuserounder at their summer pad the night they rolled into town to deal a rather epic home game where they were playing for bedrooms. An overall good time was had with some beers and general poker chatter about our plans for the upcoming series.

I would meet up with them again a few days later for Cuse’s birthday at Mandarin Bar in the Mandarin Oriental hotel. I’ve heard much about this establishment but never actually been inside. Simply put, it was incredible. Easily up there with the Wynn in terms of the classiest joints on the strip. The actual bar was situated about halfway up the tower and had a perfect view. I washed down a couple mojitos while enjoying the scenery and chatting with everyone. After chilling for a bit we made our way up to Rock Bar in Venetian where more drinks were consumed. I got the chance to meet EC_Grinder and tmckendry and chat with them for a bit over some beers. Our night would eventually lead to O’Sheas as per usual. Sequel and I drunkenly made our way to the closest pizza spot open at the early hour for a couple slices before I retired for the night.

I would close out my pre-WSOP social gatherings with a friend from high school stopping in as he headed back home from L.A. We had some fun bouncing from casino to casino on the strip and also enjoyed some good food. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this before, but even after being out here for over a year I am still trying to find a good hole in the wall Mexican spot. We hit up the fairly highly rated Yelp establishment Bonito Michoacan (http://www.bonitomichoacan.com/). The food was solid overall, but I’ve continually had one gripe at each Mexican spot I’ve been to out here. The chips are too damn thick! I guess it’s just a different style from what is the usual back home, however, my search for the proper chips and salsa will continue. The next night we hit one of my favorite AYCE sushi joints JJanga. I’ve mentioned and linked it here before, and it continues to not disappoint. I washed it all down with an ample amount of sake.

Kiss of Fire Roll



Uni and Scallop Nigiri



Mango Mochi for dessert




After my buddy left I began to focus on poker for a couple weeks where the results would continue to be very subpar. I worked in a couple nights of social activity hoping they would help ease my mind and get me back on the right track. Some good times were had as I got to hang out with the Las Vegas Lifestyle legends Amused_Lol, Tipdrill, Katana, and more. We all met up at Cosmo and smashed some mojitos while I chatted and watched them do a bit of gambling. Amused was kind enough to buy a round of Verbenas (Cosmo’s signature drink) for our massive group and this being my first time having one I can confidently say the taste was very…interesting. The Cosmopolitan continues to be one of my favorite properties on the strip. The young, hip crowd that frequents this place just provides a great overall energy and atmosphere.

A week or so later I got the chance to meet up with another legendary LVLer CvD. He has some pretty epic trip report threads and it was great to meet and talk to a guy who has made his success outside of poker. I picked his brain and listened to his stories for what seemed like forever and just had a really enjoyable time overall. Unfortunately, this was my last real social interaction of the series. While I hoped it would leave me refreshed and rejuvenated, the results were just not to be.

As much I hope to one day be able to separate my poker results from my general everyday life, I have yet to do so. Happiness follows when I’m running solid while depression and doubt begin to creep in when I’m not. I suspect most of this is due to my increasingly smaller and smaller bankroll. Life can be difficult when no money is coming in but the bills are still showing up. As a poker player, the only answer is hard work. A quality, which I have yet to exemplify during my time in Vegas and one that that will no doubt need to be found if I want to turn this dream into a reality.

With that all being said, I hope to turn it around starting tomorrow. No better time to return to the ring than Friday night. The plan is to increase the good vibes and chi by focusing on some errands and chores. As I finish typing this, my sheets and comforters are about to finally be finished at the Laundromat. This will be followed by more laundry at home and some spotless apartment cleaning to make sure I stay So Fresh, So Clean (Do yourself a favor…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JfEJq56IwI). Then the plan is to prepare my food for the next couple days and finish out my night while watching the second round of the British Open. The ups and downs of poker are real. More real than I ever thought possible. But through all this, it continues to echo through my head, “Keep Ya Head Up.”

As always, thanks for reading.


Thanks a lot man. Really appreciate it.

Head up son you got this... I been busto many times, failure is a path to success , just don't give up, move on with firm determination.

Still alive and kicking!


Appreciate it man. Your work ethic and mind on the grind mentality inspire me greatly. Glad to see you are crushing the live mtts and good luck ring hunting!

I've played a bit more than usual recently, and the results have been positive. That being said I really want to see Incubus on either Saturday or Sunday at one of my favorite venues in Vegas, The Joint at Hard Rock. If I can reach an hours goal of 50 hours between now and next Saturday night with positive results then I'm going for sure. 75 bones is rather steep, but they are one of my favorite bands of all time and I've never got the chance to see them live. Can't think of a better time. Go us!

I also plan on getting a bigger update here soon. Stay tuned!