Monday, November 9, 2009 - Tiffany M
I want to give a BIG, HUGE “THANK YOU” to the poker community for all the support you’ve shown Maria and I during The Amazing Race. I’ve really appreciated the tweets, messages and comments that I’ve received from each one of you. Specifically, thanks to all my online UB poker friends for your support. I love UltimateBet for getting behind me on The Amazing Race and bringing YOU tons of tournaments and free money as apart of the “Tiffany Michelle Amazing Freerolls” promotion. There are still two more freerolls for you to play so check it out and meet me at the tables: http://www.ultimatebet.com/poker-promotion/tiffany-michelle-amazing-freerolls
I hope you enjoyed watching this season as much as we did. I think the countries, tasks and the diverse personalities of the cast made for some entertaining TV, fingers crossed for Emmy number EIGHT! Although Sunday night brought the end of Maria’s and my Race I REALLY enjoyed the overall episode and I was in tears by the end. Recounting the terribly hard, freezing and frustrating day that we had in Amsterdam was emotional but ultimately I was touched by Maria’s beautiful words, friendship and how we left every ounce of our hearts & souls on that cow-pie filled field, ha ha 
Just a few “behind the scenes” details regarding Sunday night’s episode that you didn’t get to see and many of you have asked about:
THE QUITTING THING: Technically we didn’t “quit”. If you are unable to complete either side of a Detour you incur a 24hr penalty. After three hours of attempting BOTH sides of the challenge between our physical exhaustion, our drenched clothes and the weather (50mph winds blowing directly towards us in the golf game) we finally realized that we could not complete the Detour and were getting weaker with each attempt. Obviously we knew that by taking the 24hr penalty it was almost certain we’d be eliminated unless it was a non-elimination leg. At that point was when Phil came out to the field to eliminate us. We did not have the option of going to the Pit stop since you have to complete the Detour in order to get your next clue, telling you where the Pit Stop is located.
THE HYPOTHERMIA THING: Between the dinger and golf challenge in Amsterdam we spent over THREE HOURS attempting both side of the Detour, in soaking wet clothing, in stormy, windy, freezing weather giving our best efforts between the two! You couldn’t tell on TV but the hammer for the carnival dinger was over 40lbs! At one point, on our second attempt at the golf, EMT’s had to come out to the field and take me off because they were worried I was getting hypothermia. You’ll notice that towards the end of the episode I’m wearing a gray, long sleeve which they made me wear if I was to continue the golf challenge even though the Detour rules stated that teams could only do it in the provided farmer long johns! The EMT’s assessed my condition and felt that continuing in the given weather conditions could be a hazardous to my health, therefore production had to make a medical exception because I was so soaked to the bone and uncontrollably shaking. CRAZY!
THE GAY THING: Editing might show otherwise but we said from DAY ONE that we thought Sam & Dam were the “token gay team” this season… come on, as a poker player our reads aren’t THAT off! Ha ha. Even though they only came out to the rest of the Racers in the Dubai airport they personally told us early on in Vietnam which confirmed our initial instincts. I think audiences were confused when we talked about “loving” them or how cute we thought they were, thinking we actually had romantic crushes as compared to just platonically loving them for being great guys and good friends to us on the Race… and yes super sexy!
Stay tuned, there are tons of Race stories still to share now that I’m allowed to discuss it so there is plenty more to come! Maria and I have a crazy week of elimination press coming up as well as a trip to New York this weekend to do the CBS Morning Show. Of course we’ll keep you posted so you can follow all the action. Again, thank you for the love and support… it means the world to me.
xx
Tags: amazing race, Amsterdam, CBS Morning Show, New York, Poker Poker Poker, Tiffany "Tiffany M" Michelle, ub, ultimatebet
Comments (2)
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
Comments (5)
Monday, October 19, 2009 - Joe Sebok
Man, how time does fly. Seems like just yesterday I was in LA and then today I’m in…well, LA. That’s after hitting New York City, London, and Aruba, of course. Love my job! I’m a lucky dude, for sure. I was a little bummed about the Aruba trip though…
I managed to last almost to the first break, so that’s something I suppose. Haha. I picked up KK after a Layne Flack under-the-gun raise, and an Eric ‘basebaldy’ Baldwin reraise. Now, I know Eric’s got a hand in the first level there, but y’know, I’ve got two Kings! I four-bet it and Layne decides to get out of the way at that point. Eric flat-calls and I really didn’t like it at all. To make matters worse the flop comes down, Q108(two clubs), which basically means I am in serious trouble against every single hand he would have called with except two Jacks. Ugh, no good. I actually caught a break here though as he decided to bet out, thus allowing me to keep the pot small by not raising. I just called and we saw a turn of the 4 of clubs, which I thoughts was a great card as I had the King of clubs in my hand. Eric checked over and I didn’t see much point in betting here. If he had me beat, let’s keep it small. If I’ve got him, I’m not giving too many outs by checking, so I did so. Then a great thing happened, or so I thought, the 9 of clubs hit the river, giving me the second nuts. That’s the funny thing about the second nuts though, someone can have the actual NUTS! Aya…
Eric bet out and I made a crying call. “Aces with Ace of clubs?”, I asked him. He nodded and showed them to me. Ouch. In actuality though I was pretty lucky that I only lost about half of my stack on this hand. Sadly for me though, I managed to pick up two Kings again (!) about 15 hands later. I ended up losing the rest of my stack on that hand when my opponent made quads on me. Bingo bango bongo. Out.
I was pretty bummed for a little while. First big UB event after joining the team and I managed the make the least amount of noise possible, which sucks. The truth is though that busting in Aruba just isn’t as bad as busting anywhere else. There’s way too much to do to stay down for long, and that was the case as I hit the beach pretty quickly.
The rest of the week was a blast, as it always is in Aruba. Beach, cocktails, sun, partying, and some poker made the week excellent. Life ain’t too bad…it really ain’t. One night we actually engaged in the old standby from my radio show days: cocktails and $1-$2 no limit. This game is always unbelievably sick and always brings a ridiculous cast of characters. In this game we had myself, Joe Stapleton, Amanda Leatherman, Gavin Smith, Shawn Rice, Alex Schoenberg, and a few other assorted characters. We all have a penchant for just shoving it in the middle during those games, and this one was no exception. I was the lucky one that night though, as my hands were continually better (which was strange) and they always held up (which was even stranger), so I made out of the night with…wait for it… a $4,000 win (!!!). That’s just an absurd win at that level of stakes, so I was pretty stoked. Sorry, big Gavin! He shipped quite a bit over to me throughout the night.
Lots of work to do now that I’m back home in LA, but no rest for the wicked as we head to Vegas for the Bellagio WPT event next week. Send me some positive vibeage and let’s make something good happen, ya’ll…talk soon!
peace,
J
Tags: Alex Schoenberg, Amanda Leatherman, Aruba, Bellagio, Gavin Smith, Joe Stapleton, London, New York, Poker Poker Poker, ShawnRice, ub, Veghas, WPT
Comments (1)
Saturday, September 5, 2009 - Brandon Cantu
I touched on my recent online play in my previous blog. The last week, I was able to fit in some play online at UltimateBet.com. However, I spent the majority of my week by going back home and catching up with old friends. This week marks my 10 Year high school class reunion. It is also the weekend of my annual high school 3-on-3 basketball tournament. Although I do make it a point to go back home and hangout with my good friends who still live there, this week will be filled with many old friends who have moved to other states, other countries and rarely get a chance to hangout and go out with.
Monday: I headed from Las Vegas to Oregon, catching a flight and anxious to get back and see everyone. I will be staying with my good friend, Tony Eggertson throughout the week. Tony and I have been friends forever and we stay at each other’s place whenever we come in and out of town.
Tuesday: I got up decently early and went shopping most of the day, had lunch as Tony and I met up with our friend, Jake. At around 7:00 pm, we all headed out to dinner at Ruth’s Chris Steak House. After dining and chatting about who was going to be coming to town over some drinks, we headed to a local home game and played some friendly poker. 5 AM came fast, us guys headed to a breakfast spot and then headed home.
Wednesday: With the previous last night/early morning, we ended up sleeping till about 2 PM. I wanted to make sure I spent some quality time with my grandparents, so I headed over to meet with my Grandpa and met him at his local hangout, Jolly’s. My Grandfather introduced me to cards and instilled a bit of gamble in me at an early age. I have discussed this in past interviews and/or articles – Grandpa introduced poker to me and we continue to play games and gamble a little bit when we get together. At Jolly’s, I proceeded to drop about a $500.00 dollar loss in pull-tabs. I just could not hit anything. Grandpa couldn’t either. It was fun though spending time with him. After, I went back to Tony’s and played online for a while on UltimateBet.com. Later that evening, we headed over to Chevy’s for a light dinner and some margaritas. Since the guys and I had a pretty late night the previous day, we decided to get back early, stay in, hit the couch, watch Braveheart and sip on a few drinks.
Thursday: We woke up and relaxed throughout the day. We got the social bug around late afternoon and we decided we needed to head out. Tony and I met up with some friends from High School at a restaurant called Oba’s, which is one of the better restaurants in Portland. We ordered their staple entree – Prime Rib. After a solid dinner, we moved along to a bar/lounge called Departure. It was a perfect night and elected to go outside and drink, relax and tell stories about the old days. We were starting to get text messages about more and more people starting to get into town for the reunion.
Friday: One of the biggest days of the year for me and one of the best as well – the annual 3-on-3 basketball tournament. My team consisted of my friends Sean, Kevin and myself. I felt we had one of the best chances to win this tournament. 6 teams, 18 total players. Last year, and as we continue to get older and older, we had some injuries (broken arm in one instance) and I hoped our team would withstand all adversity, go without the need of a substitute or be forced to play shorthanded. Format is to play to 30 points each game with 6 total games to the finals. Due to some weather issues, we were forced to consider some potential changes but everything worked out fine. After battling through the field, my team came away with the championship and the trophy. This next year, I will be able to let everyone know who the champion is and rub it in their faces. I love this tournament! Looking back over the tournament field, it is truly amazing to see everyone who was able to make it. We had friends fly in from New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Virginia, Wyoming to name a few states as well as from as far as Columbia and Taiwan. Great group of friends, so nice to see them. That night we hit the town hard with all the boys. We made the rounds throughout the bars and ended up at one of the larger clubs. The night couldn’t be finished without crushing some Taco Bell at 4 am.
Saturday: I tried to sleep in as late as I possibly could as today is the official 10 Year High School Reunion. Before everyone met up over at Tony’s to have a drink or two and wait for our entire group, I moved in slow-motion, recovery mode. Once we had our collective group of Tony, Jake, Will, Dave and the rest, we headed over to Edgefield where our reunion was taking place at a resort (old workers camp reconstructed into a resort) – hotel, conference rooms, bars, restaurants, etc. Seeing everyone from high school is an experience, which I am sure many can relate to. It was a great time and after getting all the guys to fly in from around the world for the basketball tournament and then this, I knew the night could get out of hand. I was having an amazing week. Typical of our group of guys, we had decided to throw an after party at the resort. We rented out an entire floor with about 10 rooms, bought beer, wine, liquor, had some food brought it and partied until the early morning.
Sunday: On very little sleep, some of the guys and I met up for breakfast. It would be some time before I see a few of them again, so we chatted about the week and nights and replayed the stories and laughed and laughed. After some goodbyes, the remaining headed back over to Tony’s, where we watched some movies and just had a lazy day.
Looking back over the last week and taking in the events, I can say it was an amazing week. I am fortunate to have a great group of friends, some of which I get to see quite frequently. Others, not so much. Therefore, continuing the tradition of our 3-on-3 tournament is a great event for us. The reunion was interesting, of course, but it was essentially a continuation of the basketball tournament and the party continued to go day and night. Also, I was able to fit in a few playing sessions online on UltimateBet.com, jump into a home game for fun and try to get some work in between all the dinners, drinks and catching up with old friends. I am now back in Vegas gearing up for a few weeks on the road. I have London, Amsterdam, UltimateBet’s Aruba tournament all coming up in September and October.
Good luck to everyone who is playing on the road. I hope to see you in Aruba. Travel safe.
Brandon Cantu
Tags: Amsterdam, Aruba, las vegas, London, New York, Online Poker, Play Poker, San Francisco, Seattle, Ultimabet, Virginia, Wyoming
Comments (0)
Thursday, June 18, 2009 - Shawn Rice
I know the WSOP is well underway and I had to do a little business before heading out and I will be out there this weekend off and on til the main event. If at all possible please try and come by on June 29th , UB will be having a monster party at Studio 54 at the MGM. Let me tell you if you have not been before the UB party’s ROCK! Its great to see old friends and meet many of the players you play online with often. I just got a call from Gary “Debo34″ Debernardi and he invited me to a Stone Temple Pilots concert at the Palms on July 2nd, we seen them there last year with Scott Ian and Pearl Aday and a few other friends, It was a killer show and we all hung out at the bar after the show and tons of people wanted pics and autographs from Scott… he handles that stuff so well. I have seen my share of jerk who hate to be bothered when in public, Scott was way more than happy to take the pics and all. He is a very down to earth type of person who has a strong passion for the game we all love and has been kicking ass online. In fact he won the Sunday 200k a couple of months back. I won it in December and he had to go and show me up! I am super happy for him. If you go and read his blog he writes about being really sick that weekend and having to miss a family reunion.. It’s no fluke I know Scott well and his game is really solid. I can honestly say he is the most improved player I know over the past year or year and a half.
After the WSOP I plan on playing lots online and getting ready for Aruba. That’s always the best trip of the year, I am the type of guy who never really gets sick and when I do it’s really bad. I was really sick last year there for too many of the days there. I even missed Phil’s party in bed with the cold sweats and running a very high temperature. I can’t wait to make it all up and bring your camera as this will be filled with a lifetime full of memories. Last year Annie had to leave a lil early and head to New York to film the Celebrity Apprentice. I must admit I was addicted to the show, I loved them in years past and this last season was the best ever. I so hated the ending as it was given to one of Donald’s pals. Annie was so deserving and I am so sick about the results I know I can’t stomach to watch another season after feeling punked.
I have been pretty busy doing some private poker lessons and let me tell you. You better be on your toes with the questions I get. They are very very deep type questions. I think it’s a really smart thing to do to try and better your game. I’ve been playing lots of Pot Limit Omaha 8 or better live in Amarillo and I have learned a lot from the local guys here. Mostly from a player named Nathan Wiesner who sometimes comes over to the house to play online tourneys and lets me watch him and ask tons of questions. Last time I seen Annie I asked her a few questions that helped me tons in that game. I feel like my PLO game is very solid and has been for years as that’s the game I was first taught how to play about 20 years ago. It would seem that it’s not hard to adjust from one game to the other but on a higher level it’s played very different. I took forward to learning it as that’s where the money is at around here in the local games. West Texas has been famous for having good players over the years and let me tell you there are still many here. I just know it’s a matter of time before you will hear of them, they just need a little volume to get these great results, They are already kicking butt online and play live really well.
I have also been playing a lil golf on the par 3 course that was formally owned my Amarillo Slim with a lot of the guys I regularly play cards with. It’s great exercise and I even hit a hole in one about 6 weeks back, let me tell you it was all 100% luck. I know many good players who have never hit one including my dad who used to play 6 days a week and was close to a scratch golfer. I know better than play the bigger course as the last time I was out there I lose a lil over $10,000 to some guys from a surounding town. I played in a scramble and I was never any help to my partner. I am hoping to match up again so I have lots of incentive to better my golf game.
Come by and say hello at the WSOP and hope you can make the party in Vegas, If not win your seat to Aruba, It’s the time of your life. Hope to see many of you soon and if you have any poker questions, please write into to “Ask a pro” and we will try our best to get your game back on a winning course.
Proud UB Team Member
Shawn Rice
Tags: Annie Duke, Aruba, Celebrity Apprentice, Debo34, MGM, New York, Palms, Pearl Aday, Phil Hellmuth, Scott Ian, Stone Temple Pilots, Studio 54, ub, Vegas, WSOP
Comments (0)
Wednesday, March 11, 2009 - Josh
New York is a thrilling rush and no one is better at handling adrenaline than a poker player. That’s why Annie Duke is taking her psychological abilities from the poker tables onto Celebrity Apprentice’s boardrooms.
If her participation on NBC’s show is analyzed, it is easy to understand why she is the queen of poker. Definitely, this woman knows what she wants and she goes to any extent to get it. She’s an achiever, with a clear goal in mind: the journey’s distractions don’t derail her from the path she has set for her.
Even when some other contestants don’t have second thoughts whenever they have a chance to jump all over her, Annie remains calm and focused. She clearly knows about strategy and, even though this is a game where no chips at are stake, she holds her cards tight. Although she’s not speaking about poker on Celebrity Apprentice, her actions speak louder than any words could…
If scrutinized, the tactics she uses on the boardroom can be smoothly translated onto the tables. What better lesson than wearing comfy shoes when you know you’ll have to run NY streets to accomplish a task? While others wear Manolo Blahniks even for hiking, Annie knows when to leave her Pradas at home… Just like that, a good player studies the opponent’s trademarks before the games begin. A poker icon knows the grounds where the battle will take place and will practice the moves in advance. Poker is as intricate as real life, we might as well learn from Duke since she is definitely making the best out of hers.
Tags: ANNIE, Annie Duke, Celebrity Apprentice, Duke, NBC, New York, poker psychology, Poker Strategy
Comments (0)
