Random Thoughts from Monte Carlo

by Phil

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Busted on Day One.  Blah.  Since then I have chilled at the pool, gone to the gym and had lovely little meals here and there.

But I would (obv) much prefer to be in the tourney still.  But ho hum, what can you do?

The one thing I love about this event is that the hotel is at the bottom of a huge cliff sort of hill thing, and there is a set of stairs that goes straight up the cliff
for about a half a mile.  Threee nights ago I ran the steps.  Twice!  Wow, I was fully spent.  It was very hard to do, and am stoked. (Am I? Not sure, but without at least saying that I am, then I have no shot at hitting it again, and that is what I plan on doing today.)  (I am a sick one, yes.)

Manana is the High Roller event.  More sickness.  The mega high entry fee's on the events that have been lurking about really put things into perspective.  25,500 Euros ($39,915).  How did I get here?  How the hell can I plunk down 40k on a poker tourney.  And then I realize that I got here by grinding.  I started small 10 years ago and have been running good (more or less) the whole time.  And I see what Stu Unger was talking about when they asked him what he was going to do with his prize money.  And he answered, "Gamble higher."  I get it.  But it is still fairly sick.  But it is my drug and I can't live without it so plunk I will, as plunk I must.

Reminds me of a funny moment about 10 years ago when I took a call from my mom during a poker game.  She asked how it was going.  I replied, "Up $3,000."  She thought it would be a good idea to quit.  Lol.  I said that I loved that idea but first I needed to know when I was to play again.  She replied that I should just quit up a winner.  I asked her that months or years later when my bankroll went to zero and it was time to eat, what should I do?  And then she understood.  (Sort of.) 

It is always funny how to me how poker players understand all this stuff and non-poker players really, in the end, just don't.

Like how it is normal for a 1/2 nlh player to not really be all that amazed by the big numbers that switch hands in the nose bleed games.  But a guy buying and selling houses or cars or something - or a high priced doctor or what have you.  How when they hear about those big games they are just flabberghasted by the whole thing.

All this got me to thinking what makes a successful gambler in the first place.  And then I was happy because I had already done the work here and knew the answer.

The trick is this.  (The answer is two fold.)  (By the way, the obvious postulate here is that you are a winning card player and your bankroll is steadily rising.)  That being said, the two fold way to success as a poker player is....   

1.) To find plus ev places to have your money work for you while you are not playing cards.  I have had some blunders in this dept, but by not giving up I have managed to sort of figure it out.  It is harder to do then playing cards but the benefits are huge and it feels great when things click money wise outside of poker. 

and two...

2) You must take advantage of the fact that you are essentially free to do as you please.  And actually do other stuff then playing cards.  I am good with my time away from the cards.  And continue to look for ways to get even better at it.  

And that makes me happy.  And happiness is good.

Karmic Taxi Moments - Volcanic Ash and a trip to Monte Carlo!

by Phil

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Karmic Taxi Moments:

Last night had dinner with my favorite curmudgeon... Neil Channing.  He took me to a favorite haunt of his called Maguro on 5 Lanark Place.  (I am still in Lodon. Volcanic Ash.. that whole thing.. did I tell you about that?... not sure... can't remember... hmmm... well, if after I write this first bit I will tell you all about it.)

Dinnner.  Maguro.  Great little Japanese food place near where he lives.  Half way into the meal the taxi driver that got us there comes walking into the restaraunt.  I would not have recognized him except for the fact that he was walking straight towards me and had my phone and camera in hand!  Wow, 40 minutes had passed since we got out of that taxi.  How absent minded of me!  How could I just just leave these things behind like that?  (I would have been on uber sick tilt had I lost these things.)  And how could I have been so out of it that I had no idea either was missing? 

I think the answer is that I was just in a happy forgetful state of mind and it all just completely slipped my mind. 

Needless to say I was beyond myself with joy that not only were these things found and returned to me.  Wow, and how lucky to have never known that they were missing?  That is a bonus sliver of lucky that I had not even thought of til just this moment.

I got to skip over the inevitable grief that follows when someone realizes they have left something impt behind in a taxi!  

I would like to give a kind shout out to the cizilized people of England who for centuries before this moment have run their society with kindness and fairness.  Paying special attention to politeness and niceties the UK has emerged as an example that the rest of the world can look up to when it comes to all getting along as a big group (namely a country).  This one random taxi guy moment is just indicative of how all the people in this great country are kind and thoughtful and really go out of their way to do the right thing. 

Thank you England.

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Volcanic Ash:

After the televised cash game that Jennifer and I came over for we were scheduled to fly back to Vegas on the 15th (of this month).  But we had to miss that flight as a volcano errupted over Iceland and 40,000 Americans were trapped over night in London.  Jennifer and I were two of those people.  Our flight home was rescheduled for the 21st (wow... a 6 day delay, incredible).  Luckily Jennifer and I love London, but this meant that we would be missing the 25k Bellagio event.

With such a long delay, we actually got near to the start time for the Monte Carlo EPT.  I played it last year and it was a great event. (Lots of soft spots and well run.)  It was maybe the 3rd or 4th easiest field over the past year - world wide - 10k events and higher.  So it was sort of a no brainer.  And in 4 hrs we fly to Monte Land to battle it out with the others that are there.  Stoked.

John Taba will be there too and this is good.  I managed to get only about 20 mins of quality time with him on this 2 week trip to London.  And that is way under par for what I would hope for.  I will catch up in Monte Land for sure.

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Monte Carlo:

Going there in 4 hrs.  So stoked.  Wow!  Because of the Volcanic Ash situation many players wont be able to show.  This meant some room cancellations.  The turny is at the Monte Carlo Bay Hotel.  I got very lucky (again!) and snatched up one of those rooms (hopefully sea side view) and that makes me happy.  Being in the same hotel as the event makes taking breaks and the like that much easier.  The option of shooting up to your room real fast is especially great for those one hour dinner breaks.  I love having that option.  

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Life is good...

Catch ya later.

Phil 

The Big Short

by Phil

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Oh my ... if you are a bit of a finance buff... u have to see this video...

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6298082n&tag=related;photovideo

Michael Lewis (author of Liar's Poker and other cool books) has a new book about the collapse of fiscal stuff in the US (The Big Short) and this link is
his interview with 60 minutes about it.

So sick.  So uber sick. 


Michael Lewis is a king.  (The guy w one glass eye is the mega king of all kings.)  I love smart people.  I just love them.

The 2010 WSOP and an Evening with Jose Conseco

by Chad Holloway

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Jose Conseco may or may not get into a brawl at the 2010 WSOP. 

I’m pretty excited.  It looks like I will be at this year’s World Series of Poker for its entirety.  Although I wish I was playing tournaments that entire time, I’m afraid I’ve been relegated to reporting on the tournaments only.  That’s because I’ll be working for Poker News over the summer as a field reporter and blogger.  This means I’ll be keeping track of poker’s biggest names, chips counts, and the action throughout the series.  I’m really looking forward to being a part of the WSOP and being there during the Player’s Championship, the Tournament of Champions, and of course the Main Event.

Since my schedule won’t allow me to play in any events (maybe one or two if I’m lucky), I’m planning on focusing on the cash game action.  When I was out there last year, the $2-$5 No Limit Hold’em tables were action packed and provided a great opportunity to pad the bankroll.  One night last year, I was playing after a 13 hour shift and the table decided to play the 2-7 game, meaning if any player won with a 2-7 then each player at the table would pay him or her $20.  The action was really heating up when a new player sat down immediately to my left.  I told him about our game and asked if he was in.  He gave an enthusiastic “of course,” and we had a good time.  It wasn’t until about two hours later that I realized this guy sitting next to me was Jose Conseco.  

I was surprised at how social and friendly he was.  That’s when an interesting situation came up.  After we had been playing a few hours, a beverage server brought Canseco an alcoholic drink saying it was from someone at a nearby table.  Canseco said, “Thanks but no thank, I don’t drink.”  The waitress promptly removed the drink and went on her way.  Well this must not have sat too well with the people at the other table who had order the drink.  How do I know this?  Well, Canseco’s girlfriend (who was quite good-looking) happened to be playing at the other table and informed Canseco when they start badmouthing him behind his back.  Too make a long story short, Canseco started to lose his temper and began arguing with the guys at the other table.  Pretty soon the situation escalated and swears and “Let’s take this outside” were being shouted by Conseco.  The other players tauntingly urged him on and it became a disruptive shouting match.  Keep in mind, this was approximately three in the morning, so there weren’t a lot of people in the Amazon Room.  As the scene was unfolding, I nonchalantly reached into my bag and got my camera ready.  Hell, if a brawl was going to go down at the WSOP between Jose Canseco and some drunken poker players, you’d better believe I was going to get that on camera.  Fortunately, of unfortunately, security showed up and managed to escort Conseco out of the room.  

That was just one of my many memories of the WSOP and I can’t wait to add to them this year.  If you make a trip to Vegas this summer and attend the WSOP, maybe I’ll see you at the Rio.  Just look for the Poker News guy who is sporting some UnabomberPoker.net gear.  With a little luck, I might be reporting on you.