Tuesday, October 20, 2009 - Scott Ian
Usually my blogs will have some sort of narrative thread running through them. Less, bloggy, more story. This week’s entry is going to be a bit all over the place as it reflects where I am at which is all over the place. In the last month I’ve been from Los Angeles to NY to Vegas to Aruba to Japan and back to Los Angeles yesterday. Sitting on my couch I feel like someone pulled the emergency brake in a car going 100mph, spinning into a crash of jet lag and physical exhaustion. So before my brain melts out my ears for a day or two…
Aruba was a blast. What else could it be? UB throws the event of the year in my opinion. Ask anyone that was there and the smile on his or her face is all the answer you need.
This was my third Aruba trip and it was my best so far. What made it better/different? Having a much larger UB & AP pro team there for sure. There was a real sense of camaraderie amongst the pros and we were hanging out all the time. From instigating the chaos at the pool during the opening party (where Phil gave out 10K to basically skinny-dip!) to hand analysis and poker tips for the UB players to closing the casino most nights to once again making the closing party a blast, teams UB & AP were representing!!! I really felt an all for one, one for all spirit and it makes the brand that much stronger.
I also felt that having all of the UB senior mgmt there to oversee everything was important, especially to listen to the players in the focus groups. I expect you’ll see a lot of your opinions reflected on the site very soon. Seeing UB CEO Paul Leggett on a day to day basis, being a part of the event seemingly everywhere at once absorbing it all was a real treat as well. Paul’s hands on approach and attitude really made me feel a part of something strong and the excitement about the future of the brand was tangible.
Regarding poker, I finished 62nd, 17 from the money. Second year in a row I got so close to cashing. I am happy over all with how I played and I probably could’ve grinded my way past the bubble but I was playing to win it, not to just cash.
On day one I had a hand that I was stoked about. I had overheard the chip leader (who was at my table) after losing a few pots and dropping down to around 78K from over 90K say to the guy next to him that he was on a losing streak. I made a mental note and decided if I had the opportunity I was going to try and make a move on him. A few hands later I had A8 suited in the BB. Blinds were 150-300. The chip leader raised to 950 UTG and it folded to me. I popped it to 3100 and he calls. The flop comes QQ6 rainbow. I check, he checks. The turn comes a J to complete the rainbow. I bet 5100, he calls. At this point I commit to the bluff and when an 8 comes on the river I shove my final 12K. He stands up and tanks for three minutes and then he calls the clock on himself. He was really confused by my shove. He hadn’t seen me turn a hand over at all and didn’t know what to do. He asked the floor man if he could show his hand. The floor man said if he shows his hand to try and get a read he’d have to take a one round penalty. I was thinking, “go ahead and show, you’re not going to get a read off of me, I am Mt Rushmore!!” The floor man counts down the final ten seconds and he folds. Jason Gray who was on my left asked me to show the bluff. I showed the 8. Chip leader sighs and turns over pocket 10’s. Whew.
I had a lot of fun in the cash games in the casino. Especially the UB table one night where we were playing 1-2 and the first raise would come in at $35! Then my friend Enigma4U4ME would shove blind and get three callers. Basically your typical 1-2 game with an average pot of $700.
Crazy but fun.
After Aruba I was home in LA for 36 hours and then took off to play a festival with Anthrax in Japan. The show was amazing. Here’s a link to a clip from the show: http://www.twitvid.com/05F93
I’m home now for a couple of weeks and I’m looking forward to getting back on UB and playing. See you all this week at the tables.
Cheers,
Scott
Tags: Anthrax, AP, Aruba, japan, Los Angeles, New York, Paul Legget, Phil Hellmuth, Poker Tips, ub, UB Players, Vegas
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Tuesday, September 1, 2009 - Roothlus
So it’s official I’ve lived in Los Angeles for exactly one month as of today. And so far, I’ve loved it. I’ve been to a bunch of cool spots and it’s very refreshing to be around more lady friends and have the opportunity to do an array of things on a given day. The lifestyle seems way more upbeat and on the go but not in a NYC kinda way where people are on the go but aren’t particularly friendly. Everyone seems way happier and just a tad crazy too which I love. It’s definitely a healthy change from Las Vegas. Don’t get me wrong I love me some Vegas but in weekend doses. As a whole I felt sucked into the whole city. I was extremely lazy and ate horribly. Granted, the food I ate was super top quality but by no means does that make it healthy. Since moving to LA I joined 24-hr Fitness and have been on the workout grind almost day-in day-out. I haven’t lost much weight yet but I feel so much healthier than I did a mere month ago.
My goal is to look good for the best stop on the live poker circuit, the Aruba Poker Classic. And while yes, I am a member of Team Ultimate Bet and you’re thinking, well isn’t this a blatant plug?? Well, you’re only half right ‘cause I legitimately love it. Last year, I was a little bit nervous at first. I had just joined UB and was meeting a whole bunch of new people and was a little bit overwhelmed. By the 3rd day or so I found myself just having a total blast. It’s honestly a great week of partying with a little bit of poker on the side. Oh, and the Phil Hellmuth penthouse party is nothing short of awesome! On top of all this, it’s Ultimate Bet’s 10th anniversary this year and they’ll be celebrating it at the Aruba Poker Classic. So if anyone is undecided about going this year, I hope I swayed you into going because it’s going to be EPIC!
As far as what’s on tap for me the rest of the year, I’ll be taking it easy. The WCOOP starts on Thursday and I’ll be pretty focused on that until the end of September at which point I’ll be making my way to said Aruba Poker Classic. After that, I’ll see my parents for a few days in Florida, jaunt back to LA for a week, then spend a week or so in Vegas for Festa Lago. But after that crazy little patch of traveling, my only tourney I’ll be traveling to is the Five-Diamond Classic in December. It’s kind of nice to not be traveling to every tournament under the sun for a change. And when I am traveling it’s only to Vegas, a mere 4-hour drive.
Well, I guess this is actually short for my blogs but before I go I recently had the opportunity to play in Scott Ian’s home game on Ultimate Bet last week. Hate to make a pun, but it was rockin’. I got to play with Vinnie Paul, Kirk Hammett, Layne Stayley, and a bunch of other rockers including Scott Ian himself. I ended up getting 4th as things unraveled. First was an Aruba package but better someone else win it when I’m going regardless. I’d definitely recommend playing in the satellites to this very special tourney.
Ok, now seriously, lastly, check me out on ESPN’s Inside Deal this week. They did a phone interview today so that was pretty cool. Until my next blog peeeeeeace.
Tags: Aruba Poker Classic, espn, Five-Diamond Classic, Inside Deal, Kirk Hammett, Layne Stayley, Los Angeles, Phil Hellmuth, Scott Ian, ub, UB 10th Anniversary, Ultimate Bet, Vegas, Vinnie Paul, WCOOP
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Friday, August 28, 2009 - Bryan Devonshire
Oh man my back is killing me. I never, like, ever get back massages at the table, mostly because if I’m getting a massage it’s to relax and I don’t want to be sitting at a poker table trying to do that. But, my back was still super knotted from the last month of nonsense that for the first time this year I decided to go for my first back massage at the table. Plus, here in LA they’re cheaper than anywhere else. Most places rip you off at $2/minute (another reason I never get them), Bellagio is $15/25 mins, but in LA is $1/min. It turns out that most poker players choose their masseuses for the wrong reasons (’I bet that twenty-three year old blonde with fake boobs who is enough of a slut to be in Vegas with fake boobs but too conservative to be a stripper gives great massages’). Here in Los Angeles many of them have sideburns and/or moustaches, so they only get away with charging $1 per minute.
With the biggest pile of chips I’ve ever had in front of me growing with every orbit deep in day 3 of the Legends WPT main I ordered me up an Asian sideburn lady massage. Turns out they’re way stronger than the experts in Vegas, and by the end of the night, which turned out to be very depressing, my back was sore, like a hurt muscle sore.
All that to say that a full day and another night of sleep has passed since then, and I can barely move. You know when you have that cramp in your neck that keeps you from turning it in one direction, so every time you have to look that way you have to turn your whole body but you usually forget and try to just turn your neck and it hurts? Well my entire left side feels like that. It sucks.
Anyways, for 2.5 days I ran as good as I have ever run in a WPT main. I was chip leader in level one, I was chip leader in level 4, I ended day 1 21st/190 or so. Day two was great, had one hiccup where I doubled Daniel going into break but busted Kenna James first hand back to regain my pile. I then ran AA into KK for the 2nd biggest pile in the tournament, went into day 3 5th in chips, 73 remaining. First hand I open AQ, get shoved on by the BB who I snap and lose to AK. He then says, “I was going to shove no matter what I had.”
It didn’t take long though as several hands later I opened UTG with 22 (I mean, it’s hard to make a pair), get called by the BB, flop Q92 two clubs, he donks, I raise, he re-raises, I re-raise, he shoves, I decide to make a loose call, he has A8cc and we hold. Mike Karman in the 9 seat laughs, says, “How the f*** do you get them to put in so much money with a flush draw? It’s like you just melt their minds bro?!” The dealer says, “FLOOR!” Calls out Mike for using the f-bomb. Apparently that’s not cool here in LA, and he’s given a one hand penalty. They gave Steven Begleiter a one hand penalty for agreeing to check it down vs. another player who offered and got no penalty. They can alter the play schedule, play beyond the money on day three, but they can’t choose to not enforce a stupid rule that they admittedly will be removing after the tournament. Anyways, from then I just coolered the hell out of em every chance I could get. I busted Negreanu with 55 on a 775 flop. Checked to him on the button, I raised, he called with 33 cause he didn’t believe me then hit a third trey on the turn. I got it in vs. Kenny Ng with two red aces vs. his two red fives. Mike Karman folded the black fives. Pretty far ahead there lol.
Everything went great until we made the money. I was still chip leader. The first fifteen minutes went just fine, I chipped back up to 700k no problem, and then the wheels on the bus fell off. I open KQo to 13k at 3k-6k/500, get called by David Demanski, flop J73r I bet he calls, turn a 3 check, check, river a Q I bet 47,500 he makes it 100k. He’s never bluffing there ever so I fold. Sigh. Next hand kid to my right with 170k opens, I re-raise AQo, he tanks, makes it obvious that he doesn’t have me crushed, finally elects to shove, and I lose to jacks. I lost all five races I got in this tourney. Then, about an orbit later I open T8dd, get called by the button and Todd Terry in the big blind. I was down to about 420k at this point. Flop Q96ddd, check, I bet 27,500, button folds, Todd makes it 100k, I shove, he snaps with A7dd, and I had the chip lead at 27 players only to bust 26th. Sigh.
The final table starts in 45 minutes, Jon Little and I are going to be there to root on Todd and Sam, good luck kids.
Last night though was a blast. Tony Gurgano and I were looking to cause some trouble, went over to the Bike to find Kim or anybody else who wanted to come out and play, found Jon Little, and we decided that we needed to either start a game of Pan or Mexican Poker. Pan was far too complex and the villains far too old, so we said, “Odelay, vato,” and played some $2-4 Mexican poker. Turns out I’m a Mexican poker fish as I lost $174, but I had a hell of a time. The game is like five card stud, spread limit betting. 2nd street is one down, one up, high card brings it in for either $2 or $4 (which doesn’t make sense since that card is usually the best hand). This should deter action, but according to the self proclaimed best, “Yoo guys, yoo fold mang. Mesikan players tho don’t fold mang.” “So you’re saying Mexican players are bad at Mexican poker?” asks Jon Little. “Si.” Jon tried to become this guy’s backer. He claimed to win 20 tournaments over the last two years, and they only have one a week.
So.. two down, one up, high card brings it in for $2 or $4. The deck is 41 cards. No tens, nines, or eights, one joker (YO-ker). If the yoker comes up, it’s like a Pai-Gow joker, plays for straights, flushes, and as an ace. Flushes beat full houses. If the yoker comes face down, it’s wild, even if you decide to turn it up. Because on third street, you have a choice. You can roll your hole card revealing what you have and get a new down card, or you can choose to keep your hole card concealed and get a 3rd card face up. Tony did this once and got the joker up and they all spoke in Spanish about what a fish he was. Hilarious. You get the same choice on 4th and 5th street, and truly made the game fun as hell.
Due to the absence of the eights, nines, and tens, Mexican broadway is A, K, Q, J, 7. Lol. In one hand Tony found himself on 4th street with A, K, Q, 7, vs. 3, 3, yoker, brick. I’m like, he’s drawing dead. “No, no, no, no, mang, he has un straight draw.” Ding, jack for Mexican broadway, “Aye yai yai!” He made that hand twice and won like a rack. Amazing.
On top of the card shuffler it said, “English only.” We made fun of it in Spanish, especially when the Asian dealer said “Ocho!” after I re-raised on 2nd street.
Peace and good luck,
Devo
Tags: Bellagio, Legends WPT, Los Angeles, Massage, Mexican Poker, Poker Poker Poker, Vegas
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Wednesday, January 28, 2009 - HollywoodDave
So after months of playing primarily online at UB…ever since Aruba, really…. I’ve officially been thrust back into the live poker scene and man oh man what a joy its been! The Commerce Casino LA Poker Classic started a few days ago and HD has been down there in the trenches, playing some tourneys and kickin ass at the cash tables! The first event was INSANE — slated to start at 1 pm, a $300 NLH event with a $200k prizepool that ended up with a 600k prizepool instead!! Needless to say, I was alternate # 606 (!!! no shit !!!!) and, after waiting in line for over an hour and a half to register (read: showed up at the last minute like a douchebag), didn’t get my number called & seated til 4 pm!! 3 hours in, my 3k starting stack ended up only being 15 big blinds. Oh well, time to look for a hand to shove with! I found it when an UTG player raised to 500…and i looked down at QQ and insta-shoved. Action folded around to the original raiser (who’s sitting on like a 14k stack) who begins to hem and haw and stall…he asks me what i have…and then laughs, calls, and flips up the slowplayed KK!! Dick!! Well, you guys know what hit on the river….instant karma in the form of a beautiful fucking Queen! As i raked in the pot, i made sure to ask him if he knew why the queen hit….because that’s what happens when you slowplay, baby!! Unfortunately, that was as exciting as my first LAPC event got…i lasted a few hours but finally ran into back-to-back flushes and found myself in a stud cash game instead. Made some $$$ for my trouble and took off once traffic died down. That’s LA for you — live and die by the freeway traffic patterns! Monday i came back for the first Stud event, and after the first few levels i found myself shortish on chips. I took some quiet time on the first break and realized that i was playing too loose, not only for that early in a tournament, but just peeling off too many cards once i was involved in a pot. We all need to check ourselves sometimes, and I took the time to do just that. Came back from break, played right, and found myself going deeper…and deeper…til i emerged as one of the chip leaders by the dinner break. Had a chance to grab a bite and catch up with friends Frankie O’Dell (also a 2-time WSOP bracelt winner) and Jean Gaspard (who goes by ‘Prince’) who I had the good fortune to not be seated with them the entire tournament — since they’re both pretty good players. The streak couldn’t last, however, as a few missed opportunites after dinner had me treading water til I was finally taken out by Prince hours later in 20th place when my straight ran into his flush. Of course only 2 tables got paid, so close but no cigar, but both Prince and Frankie would go on to make it deep on the final table, so I was glad they both got a nice cash out of it. Most recently, I played Tuesday’s Omaha 8/b event, which due to Annie’s intense training and countless hours in cash games online, I consider it to be one of my best events. And lo and behold, I had what had to be one of the SOFTEST table draws ever for an O8 event — 2-3 complete ATM’s on the table with basically no clue how to play the game just shipping away their money. But unfortunately, after picking up 1000 chips (in the 25/25 blind level!!), they ended up drawing out on me a few times to leave me short as the blinds increased. Eventually the ATM’s busted without me being able to take enough chips from them, and I found myself on the rail a few hours later. No dinner break for me this time! But hey, traffic was bad so I sat in a very juicy stud cash game and picked up a couple thousand, so I guess I’m freerolling in the next few LAPC events! Hopefully I can do more damage as we get into the larger and larger events. In particular i’m looking forward to the HORSE events this time around. I’ve been doing so well in the individual mixed games but so far no major cash in a HORSE event, no matter how deep I go. Rock on, guys — -hd.
Tags: Annie Duke, Commerce Casino, Frankie O'Dell, h.o.r.s.e., Jean Gaspard, LAPC, Los Angeles, Online Poker, Poker Strategy
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