Friday, September 4, 2009 - Michaelbinger
Hi all!
I’m writing this from 30000 feet! Flying Virgin America from Vegas to NY. Great airline… I decided to splurge for first class since they have wireless onboard and I figured I could pay for the upgrade through online poker winnings. 4 hours into the flight and I’ve shown a nice profit. Success! I played some of the no limit tables on Ultimate Bet with the bonus for winning with 2-7. Quite fun, except when you find yourself bluffing hundreds of dollars chasing that bonus 
.
Oh yes, and I finally can play UB on my MacBook! They have Apple compatible download now.
Anyhow, I am starting off a 5 week trip away from home. Headed to the Hamptons tonight. A friend rented a posh house there for the labor day weekend and invited me. Thanks D!
After that I’m going to Raleigh to see Mom and family and then NY to see friends. Then to Philly for a good friend’s wedding… I’m a groomsman. Then to Atlantic City for Borgata tourney, followed by London for the WSOP Europe. And finally… phew, let me catch my breath… to Aruba the first week of October for the UB Aruba Poker Classic. That is always great fun.
Oh by the way this week I went to Spago in Caesars Palace Forum shops for the first time… one of the best meals I’ve ever had. I was shocked how good it was.
Also, this week I’ve gotten back to working on some poker math projects. Doing some cool stuff with 2-7 triple draw now.
Best of Luck,
Michael Binger
Tags: Aruba, Aruba Poker Classic, Caesars Palace, Poker Poker Poker, ub, UB Mac, Ultimate Bet, Vegas, WSOPE
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Thursday, September 3, 2009 - Bryan Devonshire
So turns out Newton or Galileo or whoever way smarter than I said, “Objects at rest stay at rest, objects in motion stay in motion,” was on to something. Today is day 43 that I’ve been away from home on this Great Ride of a motorcycle trip, and for the last seventeen of them the I’ve remained in Cornelius, NC. A bit lazy I admit. But I’ve finally rustled up the motivation to get going again, I’m headed down to Myrtle Beach, SC today, then around the Florida peninsula to Key West, back along the Gulf Coast all the way to Dallas, north to Colorado, and back to Vegas.
I’ve played a lot of poker in the last couple of weeks. I was super disappointed in my result in LA, yet looking back I really don’t see anything I should have done differently. The rest of the last week has been much the same, I feel like I’m playing really well yet running quite poorly. Last night six of us shot a video for PokerVT. Daniel Negreanu, Jon Ettinger, Jon Turner, Josh Norris, and Jason Summerville and I played a 1-2 NLHE 6max game for 2 hours while all independently filming live while talking our way through the hands. I think that it’s going to end up coming out really well. I lost about $200, only playing one big pot where I got all the money in pre with AA v. Daniel’s QQ and he played the flop way better than I flopping a queen.
Also last night I was playing 10-20 Stud8 on Ultimate Bet for a while and busted this guy with a short stack. He had $38 to start the hand, we were five handed, a 6 brought it in, he was showing an ace and completed to $10, and I was next with (K2)K. Normally a very crappy situation in stud8, cause they either have split aces, three to a low, or are on a steal due to the weak board between him and the bring-in. Anyways, since he only had $38 it wasn’t much of a decision, get it in. I do, he actually has split aces, but I play fifth street good and made kings and deuces, he never improved. That launched the most amazing rant ever against me. I had no respect, ruined the game, ruined online poker, etc, because it was obvious that he had aces. He wanted me to apologize, still not sure what for, and the “sad part” was that I “STILL THINK [I] WON”. He said it like a zillion times. I actually gave him a logical response first, saying that it wasn’t much of a decision since he only had two big bets, then I somewhat sarcastically talked about my two pair beat his one pair, but much like a crazy emotional woman logic was lost this dude, so all I could do was encourage him. Tell me more? Yeah? How so? It was amazing, honestly the best berating I have ever been given. He never did reload sadly.
Because of so much poker this week I haven’t done anything too exciting. Got home on Thursday, lazy on Friday, Lake on Saturday, poker on Sunday, played a couple hours in a worse than expected home game Monday afternoon then played online Monday night, and then Tuesday I played tennis with Court, got beat twenty-four games in a row, but had fun lol. I was about as good as possible with that record, and even made it to advantage me once. Came home, played online, slept, laundry now, and ready to go. People wonder why I don’t like playing online. It sucks the life out of you that’s why. So I’m ready to get back on the road, but since it is the WCOOP coming up and I do still do this for a living I’ll probably be stopping a bit early along the way and playing donkaments.
Less poker, more life imo. I’m off to do just that.
Peace and good luck,
Devo
Tags: Daniel Negreanu, Jason Summerville, Jon Ettinger, Jon Turner, Josh Norris, Online Poker, Play Poker, Poker Poker Poker, Poker VT, Ultimate Bet, WCOOP
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Wednesday, September 2, 2009 - Billy Kopp
Recently, I have been talking and meeting with different financial advisors to decide who to basically trust my life with. This is a very important yet exciting step in someone’s life. Fortunately for me, the time came sooner than I had ever planned. At just 23, I have been fortunate in many aspects of life. I received a great upbringing with instilled values and beliefs. The years of private schooling and years of college education that I was privileged to receive are now helping me to make the life decisions that I am being confronted with today.
The reason I am sharing this with you is because I firmly believe to make poker a profession, you are ultimately trying to better yourself and your lifestyle. This is made a reality through educated decisions and carefully planned investments. I am now seeing how poker and investing are so closely related.
In Poker, one WILL encounter times of downward variance in the short term. It is inevitable and unavoidable that this WILL occur at least once if not many times. This is the time in which you rely on your trusty bankroll management skills to help you through the tough times. This is exactly the same in investing. You trust the “professional advisors” to make educated decisions to get you the best return on your money (ROI). There are times of upward and downward swings in this field as well. By having capital to invest, being diversified, accessing and adapting to situations (as in poker), readjusting your position in companies, etc., you will see great profits in the long run as well.
When I began playing poker very seriously online I got a “backer”. This person invests in the player and is also a mentor to the player. They help the player to advance their game, analytical skills, and strategies as well as passing along other valuable tools and information. In return, you give them half of the profits for their services. Any skilled poker player can communicate to others the amount of short term luck that is present in the game. However, by making the proper strategic decisions all the time, in the long run you will eliminate most of the luck factor, resulting in great profits due to countless hours of experience and profitable play. Once this is complete and you are able to sustain a bankroll to play on your own and no longer need a backer, you have completed the first half of achieving the number one reason we play poker seriously or professionally to begin with: To better yourself as a person and your lifestyle.
By having great success and thus profits, you are able to set yourself up for the second half of the goal to experience and sustain an elevated style of life. In the second part of achieving the goal, you have to rely on help yet again. The backer is now gone, and you have to rely on a new mentor, the advisor.
Now the tables have turned: You are now the backer and the advisor is now the player. You put your money into their hands and invest in them to enable you to get the best return on your money. They take a small fee for their services and again, both parties (hopefully) profit from the relationship. Once you have established a well diversified portfolio that renders great returns, you will be well on your way to fulfilling the idea of bettering yourself as a person and your lifestyle. This is achieved through financial security, or satisfied states of mind that allow you to feel safe and secure for the future to come.
As you can see, there is an extremely close relationship between poker and investing. To play this game professionally, you must take part in both and in two strides. You must once be the player and once the investor. I hope these thoughts find you well and I look forward to the long road ahead of making part two a reality.
-Billy Kopp
Tags: advisor, backer, bankroll, bankroll management, Billy Kopp, Investments, Poker Poker Poker
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Sunday, August 30, 2009 - Matt Graham
Hey guys. Writing from Cabo, Mexico. I have been here since Friday so almost no poker from me lately. I did play once while I have been here for the TLB HU freeroll. And I won! It was quite a tease though. After winning a box popped up and said $1,000 was credited to my account, since it was a $1K freeroll, but then they took it away from me:(. I guess its not a freeroll for me but I just play to try and save the company $1,000 
I have been chilling out by the pool all week since apparently the ocean outside of the resort is too dangerous with the undertow and massive waves. Those waves sure look like fun though. The highlight of the trip has definitely been swimming with the dolphins. I have always wanted to, but just never got around to it. It is a little pricy but way worth it. Dolphins have got to be the coolest animals on planet. They are super smart and have a dog-like love for humans. I just have a couple more days here which I will probably spend about 30 minutes from here on some beaches that are safer. Kind of a pain to have to drive to get to the beach when I am staying on a beach resort but i guess its not too big of a deal. Later guys, I am off to a sunset beach walk with Kim
Pic with dolphin:
Tags: Cabo, dolphin, Matt Graham, Mexico, Poker Poker Poker, TLB HU
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Friday, August 28, 2009 - Michaelbinger
Hi all,
I am in, of all places, Thackerville Oklahoma. Obviously to play poker The Winstar Casino here has a $2100 buy-in tourney with a 3 million guarantee! They have had 4 day ones… Today is the last… Looks like they will end up with 1100-1200 players, meaning there will be an overlay of $600k-800k. That is great value, especially given relatively weak field here. Actually I am very surprised they are able to get such a large turnout for a 2k in the middle of Oklahoma…
Apparently they have been running satelites for months and to a lot of players in the region this is the biggest event of the year.
Anyway, things have started off nicely… I have triple the average stack early on. But still along way to go and the structure is fast.
Last week I was in LA for the WPT Legends at the Bike… Busted at the end of day 1 with aces versus kings preflop. I then spent a few days at the Commerce playing cash games… Wish I could say it went well, but I ended up taking one of the biggest losses in my life playing 400-800 mix games. I haven’t played that big in a while so it was painful to run as bad as I did.
After OK I am headed home to vegas for a few weeks before a heavy travel schedule in September. NC to see Mom, Philly for a wedding, AC for Borgata, London for WSOP Europe, then Aruba for the UB classic!
Best of luck!
Michael Binger
Tags: Aruba, aruba classic, Michael Binger, Poker Poker Poker, ub, WPT, WSOPE
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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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Thursday, August 27, 2009 - Liv Boeree
So Macau’s been going rather well all in all! I’ve just got back from playing the 7-handed event at the APPT where I finished 5th for $35,600 Hong Kong dollars, which equals about $4500 which was rather nice. The day before that I played a super satellite for a seat to the Main event and I won that too, so even better. Then two days before that, I came second in the $300 6-max event at the APT and got about $3700 for that, so it’s been a nice payday so far!! Due to all this I’m feeling pretty confident going into the main event which I play tomorrow as I’m not only running well but actually playing some of the best poker I’ve played in a while. Between those two things I should be able to take down the whole thing I reckon…
Aside from poker, I’ve been doing the usual touristy things like shopping and beach going. The beach was gorgeous with the warmest seawater I’ve ever felt. It’s like a bath, no jokes. The clothing here is criminally cheap and I love it. However, in between every clothing shop there’s a foul smelling stand selling fouler smelling foodstuffs that are impossible to figure out. I think they are dried/pickled mussels but my understanding of sea food is that it should be kept on ice and eaten fresh, and certainly not left in the damp, crotch-hot heat that is Macau for a few days. I can see a prop bet coming on here…
Tags: APPT, APT, Liv Boeree, Macau, Poker Poker Poker
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Thursday, August 27, 2009 - Matt Graham
Hey guys. I am writing from New Orleans on my trip visiting my family. It is really great to be home. I should really visit more but it is just really hard to find time. I have been doing so much traveling for poker this year that when I have down time the last thing I want to do is get on an airplane.
My brother and I went to see the midnight premier of District 9 last night. Going into the movie I had seen the previews but really couldnt tell what to expect the movie to be like. Well, first of all, it was just awesome. It had great action that didnt overdo it, but also a great story and look into human nature. Basically the message is that humans are intolerant and cruel. Some of the scenes were quite disturbing, and when you walk out of that theatre you will definitely have a lot on your mind. I dont want to ruin the movie so I wont go into any detail, but I suggest everyone take the time to go see it. Be warned though, it is pretty gory so if you cant handle that you may not enjoy the movie.
Tonight, me, my brother, and my best friend from childhood are headed out downtown. May even take a stroll up and down Bourbon Street for ald times sake. Most locals almost never go to Bourbon, but hey, I am a tourist this time around!
I am on a pretty good run in the cash games on UB. I havent been a cash player in a very long time so I had to make some adjustments. I dont think being in blue and trying to bluff is a very good idea. Nobody ever seems to want to fold and they play back at me a ton. Some of the regs have even commented on how tight I have been playing, but hey, I am winning at a pretty solid rate so I am not going to change that until the players in the game adjust and start folding to me.
Alright I am going to watch Lion King with my Mom’s foster children now. Pretty much my favorite movie of all time….
Tags: family, Matt Graham, New Orleans, Poker Poker Poker, ub
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Wednesday, August 26, 2009 - HollywoodDave
That’s right, rockstars — after months in the Vegas desert, I’m back in the land of milk and honey… Hollywood, baby. Unfortunately this trip is just a quick 4-5 days, after which its back to Sin City for another few weeks. So naturally I’ve been packing in as much LA action as I can handle!
Started off with a long-delayed trip to the beach, Santa Monica pier style. Hung out with my dad for his birthday, my 2 bros, and of course my hottie gf MB (hey, any excuse to get her in a bikini…yum). After spending the day there we had dinner on the pier and then back to Hollywood for late nite drinks at my fave hangout, Birds, with some other friends. Good times.
Then yesterday I had lunch with my manager Glen and caught up on all the bizness in my life, and all the exciting things coming up soon. Top of the list is the fact that as of yesterday, I finally received the 100% completed copy of the pilot I’ve been working on all summer: Grifting w/ Hollywood Dave Stann! I watched it like 3x and man is it awesome, exactly how I pictured it all those years ago when I started to dream up the idea in my head. For those of you tuning in late, ‘Grifting’ is my new tv show, in which every week I set out to a new destination around the globe to track down the heart of a particular game, spend time learning it from the masters, then go out into the field to see if I can beat it. Plenty of gameplay, but what I really love about this show is the cultural component — seeing all the ways in which people who are obsessed about the strangest games around the globe eat, sleep, and party!
At this point our production company has done a real bang-up job creating this amazing pilot, and from here we start walking in to networks both domestic and foreign, in order to find a home for the show. I would LOVE to put a link up to the pilot here for you guys to check out, but until we finish the meeting process with it, I have to keep it under wraps. But believe me when I say this show totally rocks!
Other than that, one of the best things about coming back to LA is being able to take some continuing poker lessons with Annie Duke, which is where I’m headed tonite. Years ago I traded blackjack and poker lessons with her, and she gave me the tools I needed to do so well in no limit holdem events… but over the past year or so I’ve been specializing more and more in the HORSE games, and so always look forward to anything more she can teach me in that regard as well. I keep pretty detailed records of my play, both live and online, and feel that although certain areas of my game are pretty solid, I’ve got a few leaks that need special help to correct! And no I won’t tell you guys where the leaks are — until the’re fixed, that is!! lol
In the meantime, I will be putting up some new vidz on my youtube page very soon so chekkit out: www.youtube.com/HollyDeezy
Oh yeah and ps, I booked an audition for the tv show ‘House’ tomorrow so lookout! Also, just over a month til Aruba and I am set!!! See you guys there!
-hd.
Tags: Annie Duke, Aruba, Hollywood, Hollywood Dave, Poker Poker Poker, Vegas
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Wednesday, August 26, 2009 - P0ker H0
It’s great to be home after a long 5-day weekend getaway with the “boys”. It started last Thursday when John Orr, Jon Green, Wisco, and I flew from Madison, WI, out to Portland, OR, to meet up with Phil Hellmuth and a couple of other buddies, for a golf extravaganza. We got to golf at some of the nicest courses in the United States…..Pumpkin Ridge and Riverside. Two beautiful courses in Portland and some of the most unbelievable scenery there is! Mt. Hood, Mt. St. Helens, and the Columbia River were some of the sites we saw. There were many excellent restaurants, too. The food was unforgettable! Now I understand why Debo has been trying to get me out there for all these past years. Lots to see and do.
After arriving Thursday evening and a 4-hour poker session, we called it a night so we’d be in good shape for golfing in the morning. We headed out for Pumpkin Ridge on Friday, and wow, what a place! They treated us like kings (Not sure if that was because we were with Phil or not! ). I teamed up with Wisco and John Orr against Phil, Jon Green, and Jon’s brother-in-law Steve (an obvious ringer!). We sure took a thumping! Between Steve’s 300 yard drives, Jon’s irons, and Phil’s one-handed putting, we lost too much $$$$ to say in a blog. My wife might read this! That night I tried to get even by playing poker. I lost too much $$$$ to say in a blog. My wife might read this!
Saturday, same teams at Riverside this time. The course was a lot tougher and Phil wasn’t making his one-handed putts, so we broke about even for the day! So, I really felt more like a winner! We went to one of the nicest restaurants in Portland, El Gauchos, for dinner. After running up a bill of about $2400 between seven of us, Phil rented their cigar and wine room for a night of poker. The game was really wild. We played five-handed in a 5-10 game. Near the end of the night, I got into a big hand with Phil. Phil opened the pot for 25 and everybody called, as did I in the big blind with 5-8. The flop came 4-6-7 with two diamonds. The fact that I had the nuts made me feel good until Phil led out for 200. I reraised him 500 more, and he called. Phil was playing really loose all night, so I put him on either a diamond draw, a set, or who the heck knows with him! The next card off was the ten of diamonds. Now I’m in a tough spot. I have about $2700 in front of me, as does Phil. There is about $1500 in the pot. I don’t want to check raise here because knowing Phil he could have just about anything or just a diamond which I don’t want to let him see for free, or a free card for his set, two pair, or whatever. So I shove the $2700, like an idiot! Phil snap calls with the nuts and rakes about a 7K pot. GG me!
Sunday, Steve and Wisco were done playing golf. So, the new teams were John Orr paired up with Phil, and Jon Green with me. Jon and I golfed out of our minds and had Phil crying like a little baby, especially at the end when I won almost every dime back that I had lost the previous two days! (I called my wife. We took the house off the market!
Weekends like this I’ll remember the rest of my life. But the one week I guarantee you’ll always remember is coming up in October….Aruba, Baby! See you on the beach! H0
Tags: Aruba, Debo34, Golf, John Orr, Jon Green, P0ker H0, Phil Hellmuth, Poker Poker Poker, Wisco
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