Friday, October 23, 2009 - Shawn Rice
This past Trip to Aruba was my 7th straight year, For those of you that have not been and enjoy playing poker this is true paradise. I always look forward to seeing all the many friends, and people I work with and many of the people that I play online with. I decided that this year I really want to play more of the preliminary events this year as I rarely ever play those because I am in paradise and would rather do other non poker related stuff. I know my girlfriend was flying out later in the week for the final few days and the closing partys, So I wanted to play a little more live this year than previous years. I flew in about 10pm met up with a few friends and really wanted to take it easy that night, went and paid my way into the $540 for the following day so I knew I could not get wasted that night. I did play a little sit & go with Ho, Debo, Debo’s wife Erin, Mamma Ho and Susie Q, I think I chopped 2 of them and lost the last one and ended up in a cash game. Ho was ordering drinks and before I knew it I was double fisted drinking double crown and cokes and then Debo is ordering shots, so much for taking it easy in Aruba.
After the sit & go’s Ho jumped into a cash game and let me tell you he can liven up a cash game, ever pot was raised and reraised before the flop, I think I got lucky with AJ and beat AK for about a $900 pot, I was no way folding top pair in that game and I got lucky and hit. I won a little playing the cash game, I think Ho started out losing a few thousand and ended up killing them. He played his image so well and is a master in talking other players into do what he wants them to do.
I get to bed around 6am which is ok because my tourney does not start until 2pm. When I got to my table I could not have asked for a better table, everyone was limping and at early levels I don’t like to punish the limpers til the blinds get higher or the antes kick in, I like to let them know I am totally ok with them limping. within the first 2 rounds I had already doubled my 3k starting stack with no real risk. The players at my table were calling my raises with really wide ranges. I then look up and find that Ho, Jon Green , Debo and Mike “WiscoMurray” are all out in the 1st level. I must say I was really shocked to see that. I was a little pissed at myself because I forgot to ask Ho for the usual $500 last longer bet. I am about a 20 to one favorite when I make this bet, I think I have lost it once or twice in the many years we have made this bet, I always remind him of that time he beat me and he is always ready to try his luck again. I got out of the gate pretty quick and had some chips early but as it got down to the final table I was near last in chips, Only the final table got paid there was 95 players who started, I did make one move with 7s8s when I reraised the botton when I had about 14 times the big blind and he called my reraise all in with A 10 I out flopped him and doubled up to over 30x with a shot to win this thing.
It got down to 3 players, the final 3 deserved to be the final 3 in my opinion as my other two opponents were very skilled players, One of which being Frank “gator93″. Gator has won like well over 400k online in recent months and I know he wanted the win more than the 15k first prize, Frank raised 5x on the button 3 handed, small blind folded and I look down at my all time favorite hand, 2 black aces, I know if I reraise him here I will most likely get a fold on many hands in his range, so I decided like I had a little bit of a tough decision and just called, knowing he was going to continuation bet the flop, the flop come King high and 2 rags and to my shock he check it, the turn was another club making a possible flush draw, I bet into the flop and as I was putting chips in Frank yelled he was all In, I called he had raised with KcQc and had top pair and a flush draw to my to black aces, He bricked the river and I had a monster chip lead heads up, I had close to 200k in chips and my opponent had a little over 100K and we agreed to a chip chop and ended the night. The 13k was a great start for my drinking tab in Aruba. I took the next day off as I know I would play day 1b the following day. I spent lots of the next morning doing photo shoots and video interviews for UB and would be in the UB Icon suite checking up on my friends whom played day 1a, Later that night I went out to eat at a wonderful steak house in Aruba called El Gauchos with Frank. I took it very easy that night as I take a day before a major tourney very serious.
Day 1b seemed to be very stacked with lots of pros. I hated my table I had 2 world class players at my table , Gavin Smith along with Robert Mizrachi (”The Grinders” brother) and I knew if I made any mistake I would be punished. I didn’t forget to make my $500 last longer with Ho this time and that’s always sweet. He lasted til the beginning of the 2nd level. Ho did very well in Aruba last year making the final few tables before he blew up and gave Matt Brady a monster stack which Matt used to win the million dollar first prize.
I have played alot with Gavin over the last 5 or 6 years and not much with Robert, But I can tell you this , he is no prize to have at your table, He plays super and I totally respect his game. I got lucky in the 2nd level beating Tony from The Best Damn Poker Show season 2 with my AA on and A63 board and Tony holding 66, Those are just sick and Tong is a world class guy and hating to see him have to go out that way. Level 2 I was catching lots of cards and chipping up really well and had about 35k at one point from my 15k starting stack, I did get down below 8k at one point and finished the day around 13k. Day 2 was a bit of a grind as well and I had Eric Baldwin whom is from Madison WI, Who now lives in Las Vegas on my table, but luckily he was 2 seats to my right and he was sure torcher to may of the players he got involved with. I also got the chance to play with Tiffany Michelle who is now starting in this seasons Amazing Race on CBS, I used to work with Tiffany when I did lots of Radio for Bluff radio during the WSOP a couple of years back, It’s so good to see she is doing well in the poker and entertainment world, She is really a sweet lady. I ended day 3 with about 24k in chips and knew I would need to get a good start on day 3 to have a shot at this tourney that had 475 entrys.
On Day 3 I could not of got a worse table draw or seat position, two seats to my left of Robert Mizrachi and two seats to his left was Eric Baldwin, I did chip up to over 60k at one point for every bit of about 2 hands then I was on the button with 88 and Robert ended up with 99 and I was back down to around 30k, I was later in the big blind with about 13 or 14 times the big blind and it was raised from mid position from a guy who the day before called my UTG raise with Qh8h from the big blind when I flopped top set and he flopped a gutter and a flush draw we played a big pot and I doubled when he bricked out. So I am thinking he could have a big range but I know if I push and play for a 60k pot I am at best 50%, So I took in the value of just calling and seeing if I hit the flop and if I do I will give him some rope but checking and let him try and hang himslef. The flop come ace high , I checked it, he bet, I reraised him he called with AQ and GG me.
The following day I played a 1k buyin tourney and never really got ahould of any chips, I lasted til about 8 pm then when I busted I went and played the charity event UB put on for a local business that helps kids and familys in need. While playing the 1k tourney this lady on my left raised UTG with TT and gets called by 99 in late position and the button reraised with JT she and the other guy both call, the flop comes T high, she the the guy with JT get it all in and the board comes running JJ for her to lose her chips and double him up. Now a few minutes go by and she is still steaming and she reraised the guy whom had JT earlier and he calls half off his stack the flop comes JJ9 and she bets the flop and he calls making him all in and she flips over AA and he flips over Jc9c she screams out “God, I wanna kill a baby” I was in total shock hear a lady say this , right then and there I knew I wanted to bet she has never had a child, don’t worry river comes an ace and she busted him. I have heard many times over the years when you need to get lucky players will hollar “Just one time” but never had I heard that, But if it does work, I think poker players will say anything to make themselfs a little luckier.
The following day 10 of us had a shot at a $62,000 Mercedes, I was the second player knocked out when my TT ran into Ryan “papaGEORGIO’s JJ, Poker Ho was still playing and got heads up and ending up doing really well because they agreed to a chop and I had a small % of Ho which added to my drinking fund.
My girlfriend Amy fly in around 10pm that night, I went with my driver for the past 7 years named Henry and we picked her up and headed off to Phil Hellmuths private party ontop of the raddison in his suite. We just missed the Dan Band play, but the party was killer, check out many of the videos on youtube.com
The next night was the closing party and both Eric and Robert make the final table , Eric finishing 4th and ended up leading the Card Player of the Year points leader and Robert ended up in 2nd place , winning this year was Brandon Hall from Pa winning a little over three quarters of a million for his efferts., Thats a nice way to enjoy a trip in paradise.
The Dan Band was awesome as there were in Vegas when they played for our WSOP party a couple of years back, Many people got into the pool and it was really a ton of fun. The opening part rocked as well with tons of people in the pool and lets just say some where wearing less than others thanks to Phil’s bribes. and NO I was not offended in any way.
I hope you are all planning on next years Aruba trip, they just seem to get better and better, I missed seeing a few of you and hope this next year can be the best ever!
I am off to go help teach the November Nine Final Table Academy in Las vegas on Nov 6th, 7th and 8th Featuring poker instructors Phil Hellmuth, Greg Raymer, Bernard Lee, Mark Seif, Mark Kroon, Erica Schoenberg. Special Presentation by WSOP Commissioner, Jeffrey Pollack. Hope to see you there as well.
Proud UB Team Member
Shawn Rice
Tags: Aruba, Bernard Lee, best damn poker show 2, Bluff Radio, Debo, Eric Baldwin, Erica Schoenberg, Gavin Smith, greg raymer, jeffrey pollack, Jon Green, mark kroon, Mark Seif, matt brady, Mercedes, P0ker H0, Phil Hellmuth, Poker Poker Poker, Robert Mizrachi, ShawnRice, The Amazing Race, The Dan Band, Tiffany "Tiffany M" Michelle, ub, UB Team, Vegas, wiscomurray, WSOP
Comments (0)
Saturday, September 19, 2009 - Debo34
and football season is upon us. Of course for me this means Oregon ducks home games. Last Saturday was the home opener in Eugene. The Ducks first game was on the road against Boise State in which not only did Oregon play terrible, but managed to embarrass themselves as well. If you follow football in the slightest then I’m sure you saw what happened after the Ducks 19-8 loss when starting running back Legarrette Blount punched a Boise player after the game and got kicked off the team. Not a great start for the team. So last Saturday was game #2, their home opener in Eugene against Purdue.
Luckily for me the game was a 7:15 start since I had a commitment to do a charity walk in my hometown at noon. The walk was a benefit for ALS also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. Twice in a 2 year span I have had a good friend lose their father to this horrible disease, so supporting this cause and raising money for the fight was a no brainer. The turnout was great, the weather was beautiful and a lot of money was raised. There were many teams walking in memory of someone, and I was on “Chucks Crew” walking in the memory of Chuck Bergelin. Here is a photo of myself , my wife Erin, and my good friend Steve, son in law of Chuck Begelin.
After the walk a group of us headed up to see how our beloved Ducks would respond against Purdue. It was an entertaining game with lots of scoring, in which Oregon came out on top 38-36. As in years past the Ducks defense was the same, giving up huge chunks of yardage and big plays. They also did what they normally do in making big plays and scored 2 defensive touchdowns. This is no secret and was expected. What was surprising is how bad the offense looked at times. The offensive line really seemed unable to run block or protect the quarterback which is a huge problem. They seemed out of sync for most of the game besides a few plays. I hope they can turn this around before the next 2 weeks in which they host #18 ranked Utah and # 8 Cal. I can’t wait for these games. Here are a few photos from last week’s game. As you can see were are very close to the action, and from time to time get the visiting players to react, which is always fun. The one to give us the most attention was #5 linebacker Antwon Higgs. We had a good time talking trash back and forth, but of course we kept it clean 
.
Debo
Tags: Debo, Football
Comments (1)
Tuesday, September 8, 2009 - Scott Ian
It’s September and summer is “officially” over, the kids (if I had kids) are back at school and we’re on a fast train to Xmas, with one really nice stop on the way…Aruba.
I can’t believe it’s that time of year already. Twenty-five days until I’m in Aruba for UB’s tourney of tourneys. This is the big one my friends and it’s not to be missed.
This is going to be my third time in Aruba and I am looking forward to this trip even more than the previous two. It definitely doesn’t get old. It’s the one place I can play poker and relax at the same time. The poker environment in Aruba is as intense as anywhere but it’s much more kickback at the same time. I can only guess it’s the sea, the sun, the air, and the DRINKS! Can I get a bucket of Balashi’s over here right now?? If this is going to be your first time to Aruba, Balashi is the local beer and it’s good. There’s my tip of the week.
My first trip to Aruba was in 2007. I won my seat after winning the VH1 Rock & Roll Poker Tourney. I had just started playing poker seriously at the time and I have to admit I was really intimidated about Aruba. I had no idea what it was going to be like. It was also going to be my first big live tourney!! I was going there without knowing anyone except Phil Hellmuth Jr who I had met for five minutes. My fiancé Pearl and I got there and were immediately welcomed by Jo Priam and all of the UB pro’s, management and staff into the family. It’s that kind of atmosphere. UB really goes out of its way to make everyone feel like a part of the team in Aruba. You’ll see. There’s a reason for such strong brand loyalty and it all stems from how cool everyone that works for UB is. This may sound kiss-assy but it’s true. The hospitality provided for all is five-star.
We became fast friends with Phil and Debo and Poker Ho and Shawn Rice and Annie and her man Joe and Hollywood Dave and Wisco and Jim “Krazy Kanuck” Worth and Robert Williamson III etc etc. I got to play a lot of poker and even got some lessons from these masters while having a blast every night. It was a great way to go to poker school.
My first big tourney started OK and about half way through level three I ended up getting all my money in post flop with a set of J’s on a Q high board. Poker Ho was standing across the table from me and saw me shove and gave me a “You got the nuts?” kind of look. I raised my brows back at him thinking I was about to double up when the caller turned over his pair of Q’s and I was done. Oops. My first tourney and I’m out set over set. I wasn’t bummed at all; at that point in my poker career there was no way I could’ve folded. These days my Spider-Sense would’ve been going off like a fire alarm and I’d make an amazing lay down. At least in my dreams that’s what happens.
So I bust out on day one and I’ve got a week in paradise. That’s what’s great about Aruba. And, there’s so much poker going on non-stop that you’ll never be looking for a game. Last year I was heading to Aruba a different poker player. UB had signed me and I’d had a year of lessons and tourneys and thousands of hands played. I also knew everyone going in so it was basically going to be a poker vacation with my friends. Once again the whole operation was first class. I have to mention Matt Savage and his crew as well because he is a huge part of making this a great event. Matt’s tournament philosophy is to give the players great value for their money and this structure provides that.
I made it to day three last year and was grinding towards the bubble. I was short stacked about twenty-five from the money when I shoved UTG with KK. The BB talked and talked for three minutes and he finally calls with AJ. I was hoping to take the blinds and antes and keep grinding but a double up would’ve gotten me past the bubble for sure.
He flops and A and the turn and river show me no love at all and I am out. I couldn’t believe it. I had never made it to a day three before and I just couldn’t accept that I was done after all that work. I was going to win it; I couldn’t be out. I got up quickly and headed out of the room. I dimly remember Debo saying something to me from his table as I descended into a darkness that I was not familiar with. The walk back to my room took five minutes and by the time I got there I didn’t know what to do with myself. Pearl was in the room and she asked me what happened and I couldn’t even speak. I was sitting there with my head in my hands in disbelief that someone pulled the emergency brake and my tourney was over. Pearl told me she’d be down by the pool and to come meet her and the rest of our friends down there when I was ready. She’d also never seen me like this and decided it was probably best to get out of the way. It was the weirdest feeling, my sane brain was saying “dude, calm down it’s just a game and you’ll get’em next time” and my insane poker brain was saying “SCOTT SMASH AJ, SCOTT DESTROY YOU AAAARRRRRRRGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!” Interesting conversation my brain was having with itself. After a half an hour of trying to calm down crazy Scott-Hulk I got off my sorry ass and found Pearl at the pool. I grabbed a lounge chair, set it down in the shallow end of the pool, was handed a GIANT Pina Colada by Victor Bigio and I let Aruba wash the insanity away. And it did! Twenty minutes later my anger had melted away and it was all fun the rest of the trip. That’s Aruba.
Year three coming up, see you there my friends.
Cheers,
Scott
Tags: Annie Duke, Aruba, Debo, Hollywood Dave, Jo Priam, Krazy Kanuck, Matt Savage, P0ker H0, Phil Hellmuth, Play Poker, Robert Williamson III, ShawnRice, ub, Wisco
Comments (1)
Saturday, July 11, 2009 - ZMEN
It’s that time of the year where fantasy football and poker will soon collide. I’m both happy and scared. Obviously, it’s great that the NFL season is nearing because every Sunday I’ll be able to sit back, relax, have a few brewskies, and enjoy Sunday NFL ticket rooting for my FF players. That’s the happy part.
Why am I scared?
Well, most NFL games are on Sunday and that’s generally the best day of the week to play poker. So what’s a guy to do? In past years I tried mixing the two but, since I rely on BOTH for income, mixing has taught me a tough, expensive lesson. While I know how to be a winner at both games that’s only when I concentrate on one or the other, exclusively. The past four years I have NOT been able to do better than break-even in poker during the fantasy football season. To me FF and poker are like drinking and driving – don’t mix the two at the same time! So you may find ‘zmen’ absent from the UB tables on Sundays in the months ahead even though Sunday is one of my fav days to play online. No worries. I make that time up by playing more on Saturdays and the rest of the week! The key for me will be to pay attention to FF on certain days and Poker on other days, don’t mix the two, and hope for the best.
As Debo and P0kerH0 certainly know from hanging with me each of the past five years at the Aruba Poker Classic and also at the WSOP, my life for the past decade has been lots of fantasy football. I’ve been on the cover of Fantasy Pro Forecast magazine. I was a regular on a fantasy football show on FoxSportsNet. And I should mention I have two fantasy football books published, Drafting to Win and, most recently, Fantasy Football’s BIG SIX. (BTW, I gave Annie Duke a copy of DTW and Phil Hellmuth a copy of FF’s Big Six. And did you know? Phil/Debo/H0 are all very into fantasy football!)
So you can see my commitment to FF. So much so that in 2004 thru 2008 I’ve ranked as the #1 fantasy football player in the world after consistently winning at high stakes fantasy football (wcoff/nffc) where live drafts are held in Vegas each September. But after a rough 2008 season I enter 2009 as #5. So I will be putting in extra efforts in the upcoming draft preparation to get to the top again, and that probably means a little less poker. OK, just a smidgen less. 
Since poker is my equal passion and bigger supply of income I must move forward and prepare somehow, someway, for FF this Summer and Fall, and hope to continue to still play poker at a high level. It won’t be easy! -z-
Tags: Annie Duke, aruba classic, Debo, NFL, P0ker H0, Phil Hellmuth, Poker Poker Poker, ub, Vegas, WSOP
Comments (0)
Monday, June 29, 2009 - Gene Bromberg
It’s a full house today at the Rio–actually it’s a too-full house. Because of the $1,500 No-Limit Hold-Em event that drew over 2,800 players there weren’t enough empty tables to re-start the $3,000 Triple Chance or $1,500 Stud/8 events on time. And those delays snowballed to the point where the Deuce-to-Seven event starting at 5pm was delayed about twenty minutes.
But better too many players than too few, yes? Among those at play today are Annie Duke, who’s had a slow start on Day 2 of the $1,500 Stud/8, and Phil Hellmuth and Liv Boeree, who are playing in the $1,500 NLHE tournament. Liv seems to be off to a blistering start–PokerNews has her sitting with 17,100, while Phil arrived late, chipped up to 7,000, and apparently left again. I saw him walking through the Amazon Room after break and it looked like he was returning to his seat, but now PokerNews is reporting that they lost him again, though whether he was just swallowed up by the crowd (hard to believe, knowing Phil) or eliminated from the event is still a mystery.
If Phil WAS eliminated, there’s at least one small consolation waiting at the end of the day–the UltimateBet party at Studio 54 at the MGM Grand. It starts at 9pm, ends around ???, and chances are the whole UB team (and lots of the folks who play at UB) will be there to enjoy the start of the WSOP party season. I wasn’t able to go to last year’s UltimateBet party as I had an (expletive deleted) final table to cover that lasted well past midnight, but I visited the UB suite the next day and, uh, it seemed like everyone there was feeling a little rough. Hopefully Annie and Liv will be very late arrivals to the party (because that means they played deep into the night), but I plan on arriving at a fashionable hour and enjoying a cocktail or two. Or three. Wonder if the bartenders will be briefed on the procedure for making a Debo…that’s my drink of choice when I’m in Aruba (those of you who’ve attended the Aruba Poker Classic know what I’m talking about) and it seems like it was translate well to Vegas. And of course with Phil there chances are there will be quite a bit of Dom Perignon on ice. But I think I’ll stick with a couple of Debos and some witty conversation. Maybe three Debos.
Tags: 2009 world series of poker, 2009 wsop, Annie Duke, Debo, Liv Boeree, Phil Hellmuth, Studio 54, UB Party, ultimatebet party, world series of poker, WSOP
Comments (0)
Monday, April 20, 2009 - Scott Ian
I flew to Vegas today to play in Doyle Brunson’s Beer Pong tourney. The event was being held at Hogs And Heifers in downtown Vegas. If you’ve never been to Hogs And Heifers, I highly recommend it. It’s a real dive bar with the right attitude. It’s definitely worth the cab ride from the strip. It’s only a couple of miles but it feels like a universe away from the bullshit fancy pants places in the casinos that charge way too much and everyone looks like a Rock Of Love or Tool Academy cast member. I paired up with UB’s own Debo and we figured we’d have a good shot at winning the thing. My hand-eye coordination is really good and even though I’d never played beer pong before, I have had drinks on stage before and still played my guitar perfectly!
Guitar playing has got to be harder than throwing a ping pong ball into a cup right?? In the first round we drew last years champs who also happen to work at H&H. Debo and I weren’t scared. We beat them and then we’re the team to beat. Send a message! The match started off ugly for us as one of the players on the other team named Mitch hit like 6 in a row. Jeez!!! We started to come back and I made 5 or 6 shots and we closed the gap from being down like 7 to 2 to 4 to 2. They hit again and we had 1 cup left. We got them down to 2 cups but then they hit and we couldn’t tie it. Oh well, there’s always next year. I had a blast any way. The shit talking was epic and the bar was crazy with 4 tables of beer pong going at the same time. A whole group of us, me, Debo, Poker Ho, WiscoMurray, Tracy “Fatcats” Scala and a few others made a $100 a man last longer bet but we made the mistake of inviting the ringers as well so nobody collected. Everyone was having a blast. The Binger brothers lost a tough match. Michael Binger was on fire, hitting 6 in a row at one point. Liv Boeree also kicked ass in her first match. I was out but stayed to cheer on my pals and drink a lot of PBR. Debo came and found me and told me that a bunch of guys were heading over to Caeser’s to play a $200 tourney and I decided to roll with them because if I stayed at H&H I would get REALLY drunk and not be very happy on my 7:25AM flight to NY the next morning.
So we phantomed to Caesers. Myself, Debo, Ho, Wisco and Tracy all bought in. Wisco and I were at the same table. There were only about 100 people in the tourney and I felt good about my chances with 5000 in chips and 40 minute levels. I played so patient, winning pots, playing my image, chipping up to around 15K. At that point the blinds were 2-400 with a 50 ante and I woke up with AA on the button. There was a raise in front of me to 2K, I call. The flop comes Q,6,2. He shoves, I call. He’s got 10’s. The turn is a blank and then he spikes his 10 on the river. I felt the air go out of me a bit and now my 5:30AM wake up call started to loom large. I really didn’t tilt, what can you do? I got my money in good. That shuffle is an asshole. That’s all it is. That beat took me down to a little over 5K in chips and now the blinds were 3-600 with a 75 ante and I shove the next hand with A3c. The BB calls with 89c. My A high wins it. I was still a bit loopy from the KO blow of the rivered 10 but at least I had around 13K. A few hands later I steal the blinds open raising to 1800 and then the next hand I have 99 and I open raise to 1800. Wisco shoves, I call. He’s got AJ and he hits an A on the flop and that leaves me with 1200. I’m all in a few hands later with Q8 vs AK and I’m off to bed for my
7:25 AM flight to NY.
All in all a blast of an day/night and I can’t wait to hang with Team UB again soon.
Cheers,
Scott
Tags: Beer Pong, Caesars, Debo, doyle brunson, Michael Binger, Vegas
Comments (0)
