+160k Month

I took second in the Sunday Poker Stars Million for 140k (3-way chop at the end leaving 40k on the table) and had a good month in the cash games to boot.

In the tourney, I ran hot when it mattered and played solid poker. Most amusing part of the day for me was that I registered for the tournament in an act of tilt after a seemingly never-ending downswing playing 2/4 and 3/6 PLO. Then, I almost un-registered at the last minute because I had forgotten I needed to pick up my wife--but, I was too late as they were already seating for the event. So, I called her a cab and settled in to see if I could build up a stack.

I was average in chips, picking up medium sized pots and doubling up a number of times, winning a number of coinflips as well as cracking KK with AK all-in preflop, well into the money. I got my money in bad on one other occassion but was saved from being more or less crippled when the board made a straight.

Then, when there was around 70 people left I went on a major heater, going from about 175k in chips to 1.3 million over 20 hands or so. Then I stole blinds like crazy building it up to about 3 million and the chip lead. I was moved to a very tough table on the final table bubble and lost a lot of chips and showed up at the final table 8th in chips. Then, I ran pretty well and got lucky that some of the other players were in a hurry to bust. When it was down to 3 players, we were roughly equal in chips and after some haggling did a 3-way chop leaving 40k on the table. I made it to heads up and then got ran over by the deck and a LAG opponent. It would have been nice to take down that extra 40k but I'd say I am content. Huge score for my family and puts us in a nice position as I prepare to retire from professional poker in May 07.

Thanks to everyone who sweated me, especially Bugstud who provided me with a lot of good tips. I have played very few MTTs and even the most basic end-game problems confuse the fuck out of me.

And now for a public service announcement...

What is best in life? THE MOTHERFUCKING WIRE.

I am a huge media whore. I probably have somewhere around a 1000 books, 3000 comic books and graphic novels, 8 magazine subscriptions, a 60GB Ipod that is all full up, every currently available video game system and I madly download just about every decent television show on a regular basis. I would give up every single one of these cherished items just to watch a single episode of the Wire. Fuck that, a single motherfucking scene.

The Wire has been claimed by many to be the single best television show of our generation. They are not reaching far enough. It is the best fucking anything ever. Better then your first blowjob, your last cigarette, or the first time you scooped a $2000 pot.

What is The Wire? It's a cop/gansgta drama set in current day Baltimore. The viewer, through five seasons, has follow the day to day lives of police, bangers, politicians, junkies and all of the people they cross paths with. The Wire examines the entire American system, from drugs laws to education reform, at a microscopic level.

Plus there's this badass motherfucker named Omar that I would love to be when I grow up, except for the whole gay thing. That's Beset's ambition.

The following is quoted from the very first episode of season 1, and I think it's a pretty good indication of strength of the acting, direction and writing on The Wire:

The episode opens with Detective McNulty questioning a homicide witness in the street, sitting on the curb a few feet away from the body.

McNulty: "So your boy's name is what?"
Banger: "Snot"
McNulty:"You call the guy snot?"
Banger:"Snot Boogie, yeah"
McNulty:"Snot Boogie... he like the name?"
Banger:"what?"
McNulty:"Snot Boogie... this kid, who's momma went to the trouble to christen him Omar Isiah Betts... you know, he forgets his jacket, so his nose starts running, and some fucker, instead of giving him a kleenex, he calls him Snot."
McNulty:"So he's Snot forever. Doesn't seem fair."
Banger:"Life just be that way I guess."

McNulty:"So... who shot Snot?"
Banger:"I ain't going to no court. Mothafucka didn't have to put no cap in him though."
McNulty:"Definitely not."
Banger:"I mean he coulda just whipped his ass like we always whipped his ass."
McNulty:"I agree with you"
Banger:"Gonna kill Snot, Snot bein doin the same shit for I don't know how long... kill a man over some bulllshit"
Banger: "Look, I'm saying... ever friday night, in the alley behind the cutrate, we rollin bones, you know, I mean all them boys from around the way and we roll till late."
McNulty:"Family crap game right?"
Banger: "Like every time, Snot, he fade a few shooters, play it out till the pots deep, then snatch and run."
McNulty:"What, every time?"
Banger:"Couldn't help himself."
McNulty:"Let me understand you... every Friday you and your boys would shoot crap, right? And every Friday night, your pal Snot Boogie, he'd wait until there was cash on the ground, then he would grab the money and run away? You let him do that?"
Banger:"We'd catch him and beat his ass, but ain't nobody never go past that."
McNulty:"I gotta ask you... if every time Snot Boogie would grab the money and run away, why'd you even let him in the game?"
Banger:"What?"
McNulty:"Well if Snot Boogie always stole the money, why'd you let him play?"
Banger: "Got to."
Banger: "This America man."


The series is currently in it's 4th season and I think episode 6 just aired in the US. In one of the greatest piracy coups ever, someone managed to get the entire 4th season online in the last week. I have now watched the entire season well ahead of the actual release dates and I am fucking fiending for more.

Get out there and buy the DVD's. Download the show if you have to but make sure you spend some cash on this show at some point. These people deserve your money. Do not, I repeat, do not, watch the series out of order. It is incredibly densely plotted, with plot points from the first season paying off in subsequent seasons.
If you don't like the first episode, keep watching. What seems simple and possibly boring at first will come to fascinate you as the plot unravels. Pay attention. This is not a show you can watch out the corner of your eye while playing 360 or jerking it to the latest Lohan nipple slips.

MUST... PLAY.... HANDS....

I am too busy playing a gazillion hands in between (barely) taking care of my other responsibilities to post on this Blog. That being said, I am deeply saddened by the recent legislation--I am, however, committed to taking it easy and watching how things pan out. It is clear that for the dedicated player playing online is not going to be impossible once the banking regulations are promulgated. What is more frightening is the effect the changes will have on the games. We shall see. In the mean time, the Party Poker NL and PLO games have gotten a lot softer over the last week as many of the conservative; TAG regulars have done the prudent thing and cashed out. I, however, will be 6-tabling when they turn out the lights. I will post graphs once Bush puts pen to ink and initiate my last Party Poker cash-out. I feel like I have been fired from a very high paying job.