The good news is that I got a new job so soon I'll be able to put together a respectable bankroll and start playing in some descent games. I haven't felt the need blog recently because the games I'm playing have been so penny-ante. I probably should mention that I've been free rolling my way up the steps tournaments on Absolute Poker. Now I'm up to like Step 7 I think, which is the $100 step. If I win a Step 10 I'll get the $10,000 seat to the 2011 Main Event, which is pretty much the plan. It would be such an interesting experience to play the biggest game in the world representing a company like Absolute Poker. Having a sponsorship deal is pretty much the best perk a professional poker player can hope to receive. I wouldn't mind being forced to hire an agent. That sounds like one of those good problems. I wonder what Oliver Tse is up to these days?
Honorable mention also goes out to Dawn at the I Had Outs blog for having Anansa and I over for another couple of games. No wins for me, but Anansa took third last time, so there's a small score for the crew. Regardless of results, a good time is perpetually had by all.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
My Poker Resume
When I discover a new poker blog, sometimes it's hard for me to get a handle on what kind of player is doing the writing, and therefore what to expect from his or her reports. So as a new blogger I think that it's only fair to offer up some information about myself to the audience for their entertainment. It feels good to lay out my credentials like this here for you because I've never done it before. Also, the biggest poker tournament in the world is going on right now and somehow this makes me feel associated with that greatness. This is in no particular order..
- I was taught poker when I was about three or four, and you know they say that you've got to be taught a skill at a very young age if you ever hope to master it. I've always known poker as this fun (albeit occasionally frustrating) card game that I enjoy playing. All "the poker boom" did was give me some incentive to get back into the game. It just reminded me about a forgotten opportunity that I used to watch out for.
- The first time I went to Vegas I arrived with a pocket full of Jacksons and left with a pocket full of Benjamins; no ATM and nothing but poker. Fresh off the plane and sleep-deprived I hit the Riviera for an hour or two and made my first $100 playing a short-handed cash game in the early afternoon with locals. Afterwards I passed out in my hotel room that had curtains so heavy they wouldn't allow a single shred of light to pass through... I woke up at sunset. That's my kinda town.
- My lifetime winnings exceed $30,000 from both cash games and tournaments, I like both. I specialize in no limit hold 'em but I'm also good at Omaha Hi, 7-Stud, Razz, and limit hold 'em.
- I spent most of my youth and teenage years poker-less. It was always too hard to get a game together because no one really knew how to play. Therefore I was forced to play spades, which naturally I took to well and quickly mastered.
- Just after I graduated high school I went to Canada for a few months. I was dreadfully broke, but eventually I convinced the people I was staying with to host a poker game. I forced them to make it dealer's choice and I kept picking 5-card draw. They tried to teach me a new game (probably NLHE) but I never got the hang of it. I forget the details of how I won (I was the youngest and poorest player in a friendly home game so maybe they lost to me on purpose) but I made enough money to buy a bunch of new clothes, snow boots, and some mixtapes!
- I turned 2,500 Full Tilt points into $17,500 in two days, then ran that up to $23k within ten days after that by playing the biggest cash games I have ever played in my life (this was obviously before I knew about proper bankroll management)
- I made almost three thousand dollars on Absolute Poker (A.K.A. Ultimate Bet) and successfully cashed it out. For those who don't know, this is a website that has been known to cheat its players time and time again. Long story short, I beat the cheat.
- I'm a stand-up guy and you'll never catch me cheating or even angle shooting. People like that ruin the game for everyone. I love poker too much to ever act like that. I see so much long-term potential in poker, why risk it all on a short-term grift?
- I've read a lot of the "must-read" poker books, but more often than not a lot of those tips contained therein I had already arrived at independently. I feel like I was a pretty good player before I read the books, and now I just have a better understanding of the other players' thought processes. That being said, I'm always trying to improve my game and I will always welcome constructive criticism.
- At one point, on my best night, I had so many tournament chips in front of me that their real money value was something like $60,000. Everyone else at the table had more, but it was a good feeling anyway. People commented on the internet that they expected me to be nervous but were surprised that I wasn't at all and in fact played pretty well.
- I'm friendly and like to have fun at the table. Despite evidence to the contrary, I am not one of those people who is tortured by poker, always complaining about the brutality of it all while running around with a pissy face. The game has never felt like an obligation to me, and I try to enjoy every minute of it. I don't understand people who hate their job. No one likes to work, but everyone's got to do it; it's not something that you're supposed to enjoy, so you might as well make the best of it! Poker's not my job, but even if it were I know that as a person I am not defined by my profession. What you do for a living has very little to do with who you are... if anything, it's the other way around.
- I was taught poker when I was about three or four, and you know they say that you've got to be taught a skill at a very young age if you ever hope to master it. I've always known poker as this fun (albeit occasionally frustrating) card game that I enjoy playing. All "the poker boom" did was give me some incentive to get back into the game. It just reminded me about a forgotten opportunity that I used to watch out for.
- The first time I went to Vegas I arrived with a pocket full of Jacksons and left with a pocket full of Benjamins; no ATM and nothing but poker. Fresh off the plane and sleep-deprived I hit the Riviera for an hour or two and made my first $100 playing a short-handed cash game in the early afternoon with locals. Afterwards I passed out in my hotel room that had curtains so heavy they wouldn't allow a single shred of light to pass through... I woke up at sunset. That's my kinda town.
- My lifetime winnings exceed $30,000 from both cash games and tournaments, I like both. I specialize in no limit hold 'em but I'm also good at Omaha Hi, 7-Stud, Razz, and limit hold 'em.
- I spent most of my youth and teenage years poker-less. It was always too hard to get a game together because no one really knew how to play. Therefore I was forced to play spades, which naturally I took to well and quickly mastered.
- Just after I graduated high school I went to Canada for a few months. I was dreadfully broke, but eventually I convinced the people I was staying with to host a poker game. I forced them to make it dealer's choice and I kept picking 5-card draw. They tried to teach me a new game (probably NLHE) but I never got the hang of it. I forget the details of how I won (I was the youngest and poorest player in a friendly home game so maybe they lost to me on purpose) but I made enough money to buy a bunch of new clothes, snow boots, and some mixtapes!
- I turned 2,500 Full Tilt points into $17,500 in two days, then ran that up to $23k within ten days after that by playing the biggest cash games I have ever played in my life (this was obviously before I knew about proper bankroll management)
- I made almost three thousand dollars on Absolute Poker (A.K.A. Ultimate Bet) and successfully cashed it out. For those who don't know, this is a website that has been known to cheat its players time and time again. Long story short, I beat the cheat.
- I'm a stand-up guy and you'll never catch me cheating or even angle shooting. People like that ruin the game for everyone. I love poker too much to ever act like that. I see so much long-term potential in poker, why risk it all on a short-term grift?
- I've read a lot of the "must-read" poker books, but more often than not a lot of those tips contained therein I had already arrived at independently. I feel like I was a pretty good player before I read the books, and now I just have a better understanding of the other players' thought processes. That being said, I'm always trying to improve my game and I will always welcome constructive criticism.
- At one point, on my best night, I had so many tournament chips in front of me that their real money value was something like $60,000. Everyone else at the table had more, but it was a good feeling anyway. People commented on the internet that they expected me to be nervous but were surprised that I wasn't at all and in fact played pretty well.
- I'm friendly and like to have fun at the table. Despite evidence to the contrary, I am not one of those people who is tortured by poker, always complaining about the brutality of it all while running around with a pissy face. The game has never felt like an obligation to me, and I try to enjoy every minute of it. I don't understand people who hate their job. No one likes to work, but everyone's got to do it; it's not something that you're supposed to enjoy, so you might as well make the best of it! Poker's not my job, but even if it were I know that as a person I am not defined by my profession. What you do for a living has very little to do with who you are... if anything, it's the other way around.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Happy Birthday To Me
Since today is my thirtieth birthday, I feel overwhelmed with gratitude for everything that I have in life and would like to take this opportunity to express that gratitude. First and foremost, my beautiful assortment of family members, both here and abroad, continues to be the most important thing in my life. I am an only child, but I have about seven hundred cousins, uncles, aunts, and such who've always made me feel loved and without whom any celebration of my life or 30 years thereof would be meaningless.
To the Key West kids who accepted this fat, odd, Irish suburbanite without judgment when I first moved there, and to all my friends from Baltimore who still remember me even though I vanished without a trace: I have always, and will always, value your friendship. To everyone from NYU and all the people that I've worked with over the years: may the wind be always at your back, and may the sun shine warm upon your face.
To the woman that I've been with for nearly a decade... well... I never miss an opportunity to tell her that I love her, so I'm sure she knows how I feel about her, but thank you for being thoughtful, beautiful, motivated, intelligent, funny, etc. You are what's known as "a good woman" and I'm lucky to "have" you. I know you're always trying to improve yourself, but please don't ever change.
And, of course, I can't update this blog without mentioning poker. Oddly enough, it happens to be another thing that I am truly thankful for. As goofy as it may seem to some of you, I am grateful every time that I step up to the table. There are a lot of reasons for this, but the following two quotes pretty much sum up why...
"As long as you can ante up, life is good."
- Howard Lederer, talking about his younger days living as a broke rounder playing at the underground card clubs in NYC
"Remember: if you're gambling for fun, then you've already won."
- some gambling addiction PSA I saw on television
Every time that I play poker I feel like a winner who is having fun. Even when I lose I know that life is good because at least I had a shot. Last year a poker buddy of mine made his way into the World Series Of Poker Main Event. He didn't win any money that time, but I am grateful that he had the opportunity to win millions and aspire to one day reach that same level of skill and accomplishment.
Playing the game is reward enough for me, but I am also thankful for the money when it comes. Thank you to the field of dopes I played with in that tournament last time I was out in Vegas. Also a huge thank you goes out to a couple of the internet poker sites that boomswitched my accounts long enough for me to score a couple of decent cashes in some big tournaments. I think they could tell that I take the game seriously, and deserved to be thrown a bone. Thank you poker gods for turning a game I used to play with my father for fun into an endless source of amusement, and an occasional source of income. Here's to thirty more years of love, life, liberty, and the pursuit of poker.
To the Key West kids who accepted this fat, odd, Irish suburbanite without judgment when I first moved there, and to all my friends from Baltimore who still remember me even though I vanished without a trace: I have always, and will always, value your friendship. To everyone from NYU and all the people that I've worked with over the years: may the wind be always at your back, and may the sun shine warm upon your face.
To the woman that I've been with for nearly a decade... well... I never miss an opportunity to tell her that I love her, so I'm sure she knows how I feel about her, but thank you for being thoughtful, beautiful, motivated, intelligent, funny, etc. You are what's known as "a good woman" and I'm lucky to "have" you. I know you're always trying to improve yourself, but please don't ever change.
And, of course, I can't update this blog without mentioning poker. Oddly enough, it happens to be another thing that I am truly thankful for. As goofy as it may seem to some of you, I am grateful every time that I step up to the table. There are a lot of reasons for this, but the following two quotes pretty much sum up why...
"As long as you can ante up, life is good."
- Howard Lederer, talking about his younger days living as a broke rounder playing at the underground card clubs in NYC
"Remember: if you're gambling for fun, then you've already won."
- some gambling addiction PSA I saw on television
Every time that I play poker I feel like a winner who is having fun. Even when I lose I know that life is good because at least I had a shot. Last year a poker buddy of mine made his way into the World Series Of Poker Main Event. He didn't win any money that time, but I am grateful that he had the opportunity to win millions and aspire to one day reach that same level of skill and accomplishment.
Playing the game is reward enough for me, but I am also thankful for the money when it comes. Thank you to the field of dopes I played with in that tournament last time I was out in Vegas. Also a huge thank you goes out to a couple of the internet poker sites that boomswitched my accounts long enough for me to score a couple of decent cashes in some big tournaments. I think they could tell that I take the game seriously, and deserved to be thrown a bone. Thank you poker gods for turning a game I used to play with my father for fun into an endless source of amusement, and an occasional source of income. Here's to thirty more years of love, life, liberty, and the pursuit of poker.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Welcome to the Love Fest
Ladies and Gentlemen. Friends and family members. Please join me now as we follow my meteoric rise from NYC rounder to the top of the poker world. This journey isn't starting now, rather, it's been in progress for years and blogspot is just catching up to me. Now, let us begin. Onward and upward.
Step one: The I Had Outs monthly tournament.
After years of being a fan of The Real Dawn Summers and her poker blog, I Had Outs, I finally invited myself to her home game. The field was stacked with names I'd heard of before like Vinnay, Ugarles, and KJ A.K.A. Kearns. Participants traveled for many hours from all over the state to battle over chips in this prestigious event. The play was fast and furious, and the game went late into the night, but as with all poker tournaments there can only be one winner. In true King O' Clubs fashion, that winner was not me. Kearns actually earned the W by steamrollering over the table like a real man should. Folding my way into second place was pretty much the best I could do considering the steamroller was directly to my left. Shutting down turned out to be the best strategy because every time I folded my small blind (giving him a walk) he would flash an ace. Dawn was right, he always has it!
When we got down to head's up I was heavily out-chipped (approximately 10-to-1?) but I've come back from worse before so I was all ready for a real battle. It wouldn't have been easy though because (A) his aggressive style is perfect for heads-up, and (B) I had shown him a lot of cards at that point so he probably had a good idea of how I played. About three hands in he shoved with QJ and outran my 55. I would have needed a few more double-ups to get back into contention, so I guess I'm satisfied with second place.
All-in-all the night was a lot of fun. A good time was had by all despite THREE spilled beverages and a bag of rather questionable potato chips. Much appreciation to Ugarles for hosting this loud and messy collection of poker enthusiasts. Everyone laughed at my suggestion to tip the house, but I think he deserved it. Also thanks to Dawn for being a lighthouse on the murky shores of the NYC poker scene, keep up the good work. HAPPY PANDA FACE!!
Step one: The I Had Outs monthly tournament.
After years of being a fan of The Real Dawn Summers and her poker blog, I Had Outs, I finally invited myself to her home game. The field was stacked with names I'd heard of before like Vinnay, Ugarles, and KJ A.K.A. Kearns. Participants traveled for many hours from all over the state to battle over chips in this prestigious event. The play was fast and furious, and the game went late into the night, but as with all poker tournaments there can only be one winner. In true King O' Clubs fashion, that winner was not me. Kearns actually earned the W by steamrollering over the table like a real man should. Folding my way into second place was pretty much the best I could do considering the steamroller was directly to my left. Shutting down turned out to be the best strategy because every time I folded my small blind (giving him a walk) he would flash an ace. Dawn was right, he always has it!
When we got down to head's up I was heavily out-chipped (approximately 10-to-1?) but I've come back from worse before so I was all ready for a real battle. It wouldn't have been easy though because (A) his aggressive style is perfect for heads-up, and (B) I had shown him a lot of cards at that point so he probably had a good idea of how I played. About three hands in he shoved with QJ and outran my 55. I would have needed a few more double-ups to get back into contention, so I guess I'm satisfied with second place.
All-in-all the night was a lot of fun. A good time was had by all despite THREE spilled beverages and a bag of rather questionable potato chips. Much appreciation to Ugarles for hosting this loud and messy collection of poker enthusiasts. Everyone laughed at my suggestion to tip the house, but I think he deserved it. Also thanks to Dawn for being a lighthouse on the murky shores of the NYC poker scene, keep up the good work. HAPPY PANDA FACE!!
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