The story of "The Home Game" - TL;DR
08-18-2020
, 06:41 AM
hey man, stopped reading a ways back because i accidentally marked it as unread and then finding my spot became a real pain - been meaning to continue reading and will try to find where i left off again today
you seem to know about the realities of youtube content creation already so i won't talk about that
if you do it I'll be sure to check it out either way but I'd far prefer to read than to watch personally but then again i'm 100% not your target audience - if you went for like a Ryan Depaulo/Daniel Negreneau style (you'd have a good advantage as you likely don't have a face as punchable as theirs) that could probably work but I just don't see a talking head telling poker stories working on youtube
i'd ask you how you are doing but don't want any spoilers
you seem to know about the realities of youtube content creation already so i won't talk about that
if you do it I'll be sure to check it out either way but I'd far prefer to read than to watch personally but then again i'm 100% not your target audience - if you went for like a Ryan Depaulo/Daniel Negreneau style (you'd have a good advantage as you likely don't have a face as punchable as theirs) that could probably work but I just don't see a talking head telling poker stories working on youtube
i'd ask you how you are doing but don't want any spoilers
05-04-2021
, 08:15 PM
Quote:
Halfway Crooks, Part 3
July 17th, 2017 - Englewood, Florida
Englewood is a more laid-back, less populated coastal town than the rest of Sarasota County. It also is very low lying so mosquitoes are prolific and can be brutal at times. It was about 10:30 in the morning and I had spent the previous night with Ken at his hotel room nearby discussing the deal that was going to happen today. When Ken travels he likes to go to the nicest restaurants and I took him to the best sushi restaurant in town with Nicole where we ordered copious amounts of rolls that I don't even know the names of, but Ken seemed very familiar. He covered the bill which had to be at least $250 and I didn't bother offering to pay considering I was the point man in this deal. My friend, Michael, who owned the entire plant collection that we were there for was not very fond of Ken, but he did want to make a sale and asked that I was present during the deal. Mr. T was driving up from Miami with his son and we were all sitting around waiting like a bunch of workers for their boss to show up for a meeting. Michael had made it clear that he did not want to sell his collection for less than $500,000 and I told him I would do my best to get to that number. I knew that the plants would not sell for that amount but I would figure out what a real fair market price would be. It was already 90° out and everyone was sweating profusely, swatting mosquitoes in the process.
About 15 minutes later a light blue Bentley Bentayga rolled up behind Ken's modified GTI and Mr. T and his son got out of the vehicle and introduce themselves to Michael and I. Mr. T was a very nice person and considering his financial status, he was very easy to talk to and did not feel like any sort of authoritative figure. He seemed to giggle and laugh a lot and his son was also quite smiley for lack of a better description.
"Please, show me the plants if you could," as he gestured for me to leave the way. I guess I was giving him the tour of Michael's garden so that he could get the scoop on my opinion of the collection. I knew his garden like the back of my hand and explained what each plant was where it was from and its level of rarity. Michael and Ken were sort of trailing behind watching as I informed Mr. T about the entire collection piece by piece. I had gone through the eight or nine pages of plants that Michael had written down and had come up with my own number that I felt was a fair wholesale bulk purchase price. Mr. T seemed as if he knew something about cycads but was not well-informed about where each species was from and its relation to others. I could have bullshitted him from the start and told him the plants were worth much more than they actually were for Michael's sake and no one would have been any the wiser as Michael was one of the other few people in the state that even knew what these plants were. I also knew that being dishonest from the beginning of a business transaction well lead to a lot of dead ends in the future. Michael invited us into his side cottage where he kept his library of plant books and did most of his business. It was a room decorated with pictures and oil paintings of large cats such as lions, tigers, jaguars and pumas as well as statues of naked men. Michael's life long partner was a man much older than himself and sort of ran the financial show for most of his life.
My job was to be a mediator and make sure that both parties were happy with the transaction. Michael new that I knew the value of the plants, but I had to convince him just as anyone has to convince someone that sentimental value does not add to the price of any object. I also had to explain that this man was willing to take everything and do all of the work at no cost to him. He was the variable in the equation that would lead to a big payoff. Ken already told me that Mr. T pays 20 percent on all his commissions. I was the man doing the negotiations and was very excited to get a huge jump start to what have begun as a crappy start to the year. I managed to talk Michael down to $300k by using information he already knew such as the cost of removing all of these plants and bringing them to a new location. Then I turned my attention to Mr. T.
"I will offer him $200k and I think that is fair," he said with no emotion whatsoever. This man was a seasoned businessman and new when to take emotions out of an equation. I felt that there was a good chance to meet somewhere in the middle even if it meant Michael taking half of what he wanted. I went a little further with Michael and explained that he would be getting a quarter million and would still have the house to sell which would likely increase its value as it would open up a lot of the land. It was time for them to sit down and talk.
In the cottage the $200,000 offer was brought to the table with paperwork ready to sign. Michael was very standoffish at first and Ken tried to intervene but both parties seemed to ignore him. He was not a specialist in this field, and he was only bringing a seller and buyer together. He walked outside and I got a message from Nicole that she had arrived. I thought it would be helpful for her to be there showing Mr. T that I was a human being with a family of sorts. After some chatter back and forth, Mr. T summoned me and asked me to walk outside with him as he discussed possibly meeting in the middle.
"I really want that ponytail palm front and center in the yard, do you think he will throw that in?" Mr. T did not realize that Michael will be happy to have that plant gone and had always taken up too much space for his other more valuable collections. He seemed to really want this plant which was relatively common although it was a very large specimen for the species. I tried to make this a talking point and a condition for which Michael might accept $250k. He agreed to pay $250k on the condition that he could also have this plant. He also brought me around the yard and would ask very specific questions about plans such as where each one was collected. I explained that he was buying more than plants but very important stories behind the lifelong collection that Michael had. This was very important for these particular plants just as a service records for a vintage Ferrari would make for a much more desirable car to sell. These were all nature's pieces of art, often unobtainable but this was a unique opportunity. I told him I would go talk to Michael and ask him if he would throw that in as part of the deal.
Convincing Michael to take the plant off of his hands was not difficult, and in the end they shook hands and decided on a timeline for removal. Ken reappeared and shook hands with everyone as if he had been a part of this, almost making for an awkward situation between the two parties. As they had finished formalities, Mr. T offered to hire me as his personal consultant for his collection in Miami, including the removal and transplant of all these recent purchases. It paid very well and with the commissions it was well into a six-figure job. Work was starting next week and with the commission on this job split between Ken and I, it was a huge breath of fresh air.
About an hour later Ken and Mr. T were headed back south and I was left talking with Nicole and Michael. Michael voiced his concerns about Ken also working on the property and I told him I would keep him in check. Ken sort of brushed me off about the timeline on receiving the commission money, I didn't want to get too greedy today, it was already going very well so far. Nicole seemed a little bit disturbed and we rode in her car back to Sarasota. She was very quiet and didn't have much to say, it was on the verge of making me nervous.
"What's up with you today?" I thought she would be happy that things were getting much better in my line of work.
"Ken told me to stay with him in his car and whipped it out while you were in there. I was frozen, I didn't know what to do with the deal going on."
"Are you ****ing kidding me?"
She told me she waited to let me know what happened so I wouldn't lose my mind in front of witnesses. She was probably right.
July 17th, 2017 - Englewood, Florida
Englewood is a more laid-back, less populated coastal town than the rest of Sarasota County. It also is very low lying so mosquitoes are prolific and can be brutal at times. It was about 10:30 in the morning and I had spent the previous night with Ken at his hotel room nearby discussing the deal that was going to happen today. When Ken travels he likes to go to the nicest restaurants and I took him to the best sushi restaurant in town with Nicole where we ordered copious amounts of rolls that I don't even know the names of, but Ken seemed very familiar. He covered the bill which had to be at least $250 and I didn't bother offering to pay considering I was the point man in this deal. My friend, Michael, who owned the entire plant collection that we were there for was not very fond of Ken, but he did want to make a sale and asked that I was present during the deal. Mr. T was driving up from Miami with his son and we were all sitting around waiting like a bunch of workers for their boss to show up for a meeting. Michael had made it clear that he did not want to sell his collection for less than $500,000 and I told him I would do my best to get to that number. I knew that the plants would not sell for that amount but I would figure out what a real fair market price would be. It was already 90° out and everyone was sweating profusely, swatting mosquitoes in the process.
About 15 minutes later a light blue Bentley Bentayga rolled up behind Ken's modified GTI and Mr. T and his son got out of the vehicle and introduce themselves to Michael and I. Mr. T was a very nice person and considering his financial status, he was very easy to talk to and did not feel like any sort of authoritative figure. He seemed to giggle and laugh a lot and his son was also quite smiley for lack of a better description.
"Please, show me the plants if you could," as he gestured for me to leave the way. I guess I was giving him the tour of Michael's garden so that he could get the scoop on my opinion of the collection. I knew his garden like the back of my hand and explained what each plant was where it was from and its level of rarity. Michael and Ken were sort of trailing behind watching as I informed Mr. T about the entire collection piece by piece. I had gone through the eight or nine pages of plants that Michael had written down and had come up with my own number that I felt was a fair wholesale bulk purchase price. Mr. T seemed as if he knew something about cycads but was not well-informed about where each species was from and its relation to others. I could have bullshitted him from the start and told him the plants were worth much more than they actually were for Michael's sake and no one would have been any the wiser as Michael was one of the other few people in the state that even knew what these plants were. I also knew that being dishonest from the beginning of a business transaction well lead to a lot of dead ends in the future. Michael invited us into his side cottage where he kept his library of plant books and did most of his business. It was a room decorated with pictures and oil paintings of large cats such as lions, tigers, jaguars and pumas as well as statues of naked men. Michael's life long partner was a man much older than himself and sort of ran the financial show for most of his life.
My job was to be a mediator and make sure that both parties were happy with the transaction. Michael new that I knew the value of the plants, but I had to convince him just as anyone has to convince someone that sentimental value does not add to the price of any object. I also had to explain that this man was willing to take everything and do all of the work at no cost to him. He was the variable in the equation that would lead to a big payoff. Ken already told me that Mr. T pays 20 percent on all his commissions. I was the man doing the negotiations and was very excited to get a huge jump start to what have begun as a crappy start to the year. I managed to talk Michael down to $300k by using information he already knew such as the cost of removing all of these plants and bringing them to a new location. Then I turned my attention to Mr. T.
"I will offer him $200k and I think that is fair," he said with no emotion whatsoever. This man was a seasoned businessman and new when to take emotions out of an equation. I felt that there was a good chance to meet somewhere in the middle even if it meant Michael taking half of what he wanted. I went a little further with Michael and explained that he would be getting a quarter million and would still have the house to sell which would likely increase its value as it would open up a lot of the land. It was time for them to sit down and talk.
In the cottage the $200,000 offer was brought to the table with paperwork ready to sign. Michael was very standoffish at first and Ken tried to intervene but both parties seemed to ignore him. He was not a specialist in this field, and he was only bringing a seller and buyer together. He walked outside and I got a message from Nicole that she had arrived. I thought it would be helpful for her to be there showing Mr. T that I was a human being with a family of sorts. After some chatter back and forth, Mr. T summoned me and asked me to walk outside with him as he discussed possibly meeting in the middle.
"I really want that ponytail palm front and center in the yard, do you think he will throw that in?" Mr. T did not realize that Michael will be happy to have that plant gone and had always taken up too much space for his other more valuable collections. He seemed to really want this plant which was relatively common although it was a very large specimen for the species. I tried to make this a talking point and a condition for which Michael might accept $250k. He agreed to pay $250k on the condition that he could also have this plant. He also brought me around the yard and would ask very specific questions about plans such as where each one was collected. I explained that he was buying more than plants but very important stories behind the lifelong collection that Michael had. This was very important for these particular plants just as a service records for a vintage Ferrari would make for a much more desirable car to sell. These were all nature's pieces of art, often unobtainable but this was a unique opportunity. I told him I would go talk to Michael and ask him if he would throw that in as part of the deal.
Convincing Michael to take the plant off of his hands was not difficult, and in the end they shook hands and decided on a timeline for removal. Ken reappeared and shook hands with everyone as if he had been a part of this, almost making for an awkward situation between the two parties. As they had finished formalities, Mr. T offered to hire me as his personal consultant for his collection in Miami, including the removal and transplant of all these recent purchases. It paid very well and with the commissions it was well into a six-figure job. Work was starting next week and with the commission on this job split between Ken and I, it was a huge breath of fresh air.
About an hour later Ken and Mr. T were headed back south and I was left talking with Nicole and Michael. Michael voiced his concerns about Ken also working on the property and I told him I would keep him in check. Ken sort of brushed me off about the timeline on receiving the commission money, I didn't want to get too greedy today, it was already going very well so far. Nicole seemed a little bit disturbed and we rode in her car back to Sarasota. She was very quiet and didn't have much to say, it was on the verge of making me nervous.
"What's up with you today?" I thought she would be happy that things were getting much better in my line of work.
"Ken told me to stay with him in his car and whipped it out while you were in there. I was frozen, I didn't know what to do with the deal going on."
"Are you ****ing kidding me?"
She told me she waited to let me know what happened so I wouldn't lose my mind in front of witnesses. She was probably right.
What a dickhanger, I mean Cliffhanger
Welcome back TST, great chapter as always!!!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
05-06-2021
, 08:11 PM
