tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-86728458075154605452024-03-13T09:57:58.837-05:00Sleep With the Fishes, Dine on the WhalesThe Grind Year One and BeyondUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger809125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8672845807515460545.post-63967565051260800952020-04-04T17:05:00.000-05:002020-04-04T17:05:27.702-05:00Corona Virus Tips
<br />
I was asked to share this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Some useful tips in here. This is exhaustive.<br />
<br />
Author is an anonymous Gulf Coast Poker Player
who is recovering from a bad virus.<br />
<br />
--------------------------------------------------------------<br />
<br />
You think you have corona virus or you tested positive?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know just how you feel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s pretty scary, but I got you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve piled in a ton of info in here to help
you get it through it. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m coming
through more than two weeks of a terrible virus, I don’t have a positive test
result but multiple doctors told me I had Covid19 . I’m looking into getting an
antibody test to confirm and to possibly donate plasma when they can handle that.<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
<br />
As I dodged a hospital and was able to self quarantine I had
what’s called a mild case.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
-Bad news my
mild case was worse then any illness I’ve ever had.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
-Good news most mild cases are not as bad as
mine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
-Better news 80% or so of all case are
mild cases and don’t require a hospital.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
-Even better news, even if you are most at risk ie you are obese, a smoker,
older, have other medical conditions, you are still more likely to weather this than not.<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
<br />
Let me tell you early on in this, that you will see lots
of stories about young otherwise healthy people not surviving… remember those
are stories only because they are the outliers. They are the exceptions to the
rule—that’s what makes it a compelling story.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Resist the temptation to assume that’s going to be you or to think that's somehow common.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
<br />
So let’s get to some tips.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To start at the beginning, if you are reading
this even before you’ve gotten sick or just starting to get sick here’s what
you should have prepared.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
<br />
<br />
<b><i>PLAN AHEAD AND STAY AWAY:</i></b><br />
<br />
<br />
If you live with someone, you will need a quarantine room.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As you’ll need to clean it after the fact,
minimize as best you can what’s in there. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If possible, have a private adjacent
bathroom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Current CDC guidelines suggest
you not interact them until 72 hours after symptoms and fever have abated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you can add a day or two or more to it
better to be safe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Constantly clean
sanitize the room and really get it clean on those extra days of quarantine when you are
feeling better.<br />
<br />
<br />
You’ll need supplies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I realize some are tough, or even impossible to get now, but maybe you
have them or substitutes.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Lysol.</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I sprayed down
around the door and surfaces constantly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>My roommate brought me food and would leave it at the door.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I’d spray any area I might breathe on.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Mask.</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You are
contagious this helps you to mitigate spewing your viral loads IF you have to
walk/share common areas.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Dishwasher soap</b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
realized the best way to minimize interaction was to for me to keep a few
plates, bowls and cutlery in the room.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Wash dishes in your own bathroom and when possible have the food left at
your door in ziplock bags.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Trash bags</b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I filled up small trash bags and then would drop them into bigger contractor
bags my roommate held at the door so nobody else, including the garbage men, would
have to handle what I touched.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Clorox Wipes</b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I used
these to touch anything when I had to go into the community space.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For example I would get 20 minutes of
sunlight every day for the Vitamin C.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
wore a mask (and held my breath) as I walked through the house, and only
touched things with the wipes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then I’d
use the remainder of the wipe to wipe down areas in the room I used often.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Fresh Sheets</b>. Change Pillow cases and sheets every couple of days.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You don’t want to keep breathing in the virus
you’ve expelled.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My roommate would have the
wash ready and I’d go and deposit the sheets into it before my time outside
making sure nobody touched them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A
couple of times I had to do this with dishes too (hard to put hot soup in<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ziplocs).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>She’d have the sink full of hot water and soap and I’d drop them in.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>A lot of soap or hand sanitizer.</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
usually used soap for my hands but the sanitizer (70% alcohol) is effective too. Constantly clean you hands AND don't touch your face.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><i>WHAT TO TAKE/WHAT TO HAVE</i></b>:<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>DO NOT TAKE ADVIL</b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Studies indicate it may even make things worse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Anecdotally, I’m inclined to agree. Before
knowing this I took a prescription strength Ibuprofen (advil) when I had an
initial headache that preceded the illness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Usually advil takes care of me, but my weird headache didn’t go away and
if anything I felt worse. The night gave me little sleep. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Very odd,
maybe the first indication to me that I had something not ordinary. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A couple of days later still thinking I might
just have allergies I took an advil before going to sleep just to get a full
nights sleep. This was after a day of no symptoms.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Then read the French (?) study that said try not to take Advil like five
minutes later.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I contemplated making
myself throwing up but no way I had the bad virus. That would be silly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> A</span> couple of
hours later that night I got hit hard. It ended up being one of the worst nights
of all my illness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
<br />
<br />
Do take <b>Tylenol</b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fever
can spike, and comes in weird waves. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
tried to avoid the Tylenol if I didn't feel THAT bad as sometimes fever means your body is fighting the
virus. But during the worst of it at night, so I could get some sleep, I would
take it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Troubling thing is at the fever’s
worst it didn’t exactly do much.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One
night my fever was so bad and I felt so awful literally not even wanting to
move inches I mulled going to the hospital.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Just put an I.V. in me and sedate me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Course, they want you to stay away as much as possible from the hospital,
so I held on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was fortunate in that I
came close to going three times, for three different reasons, but I was able to
weather it and improved just enough just quickly enough to stay home each time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s probably better to not max out on
Tylenol every day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was advised to take
my doses every 8 hours instead of 6.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Those three hours between hour 5 and 8—tough.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Pedialyte</b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I'm going to over share. I had diarrhea
bad.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This unfortunately correlates with worse
cases of Covid19. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The first time it hit
a few days into my illness it was so awful it felt like I emptied an aquarium out
of my insides. I instantly got dehydrated and a little delirious—so out of it,
that for the second time I almost went to the hospital.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Confusion is one of the signs you should go
but that’s because of a lack of oxygen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
knew I was confused but didn’t know why. Chugged the Pedialyte and within an
hour had my head right and figured out it was dehydration that caused my
confusion not a breathing issue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Stay
hydrated. If you have the stomach issues you can usually feel it coming on and chug a Pedialyte in advance.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Vitamin C, D, Zync</b>- See guidelines for taking D and Zync (I
didn’t take Zync but a doctor friend told me I should have).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Vitamin C you can take up to 2000 mg a
day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Though your body can only process
so much at a time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I took 500 mg twice a
day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The side effects if you take too
much include diarrhea, gas and stomach pain (depending on the person too much
can be 1000 to 2000 mg)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had all those…
so slowed down on the vitamin C.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The symptoms
continued so it probably was not the Vitamin C.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Salt.</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I sprinkled
salt into really hot water multiple times a day and then gargled it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It helped with my weird sore throat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A doctor advised also using hydrogen
peroxide.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Again, I’ve seen conflicting reports
of the efficacy of these.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ll say this
it doesn’t make things worse and when you feel as bad as I did, anything you
can do actively that might help—kind of helps.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Zacurate</b>—for $40 on Amazon you can get a little device that
measures your blood pressure and maybe more importantly your blood’s oxygen
levels.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Another night I contemplated
going to the hospital my breathing was labored and my chest was constricted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t have anxiety but you read enough of
these one off stories about normally healthy people dying from this right before
you go to bed it’s pretty easy to ramp up the panic and the anxiety. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When the device arrived it made it easy to
monitor how well my lungs were functioning even when my chest felt its worst.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Water/Fluids</b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Divide you
body weight by two.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Change it from
pounds to ounces and that’s how much you should be drinking a day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a lot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>My kidneys I think hurt from all that fluid.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Gatorade with the electrolytes, and Airborne
tablets help as well.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Tea/Soup/Hot drinks</b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Possibly
kills all that virus lingering in your throat or upper esophagus, or maybe it
doesn’t, and you just enjoy them.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><i>WHAT YOU WILL FACE:</i></b><br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Fever.</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This beast
comes and goes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When it dissipates, you’ll
get slowrolled into thinking you are over a hump only for it to hammer you a day
or two later.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Mental Stress</b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Jeezh.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I got hit four or five
times thinking I was out of the illness only to get knocked down again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now approaching three weeks out I’m still not
totally sure I have it fully licked.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s
like no other illness I’ve had.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Am I
sick?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Am I well?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Every time I tell people I’m well I start to
run down again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Course, you also worry
about exposing other people, roommates, spouses, children etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is half the battle especially the deeper
into it you get.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Multiple Fronts</b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
seems like your body is fighting the virus everywhere.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With the flu, I felt like all the symptoms
(outside the fever which comes and goes too), they kind of progressively got
worse and then progressively got better.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This one the diahrea would be bad and then disappear.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The throat pain, the aches, the headaches
would come and go.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nausea here and then
gone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I might have two good days, and then
two bad ones.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Make headway with my
stomach and then my lungs start hurting and then the diarrhea is back.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All variable it’s like my body couldn’t beat
it on any front.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Throat Constriction</b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This symptom oddly gives you the feeling of a sore throat without hurting
when you swallow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Very odd.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Anorexia</b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The desire
to not eat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I forced the food and water
down even if I was nauseous and when thinking about it made me sick.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Luckily, I held it down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I ended up nauseous most of the time of this
illness.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Headaches/aches</b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Can
be brutal.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Cough.</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was
fortunate to only have a cough a few days throughout this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe that’s why my roomate has seemed not to
catch it.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Fatigue</b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Again, presented
in a very un flu like way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I remember
with flu and other illnesses being able to just pass out and sleep through a
lot of it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Waking up for fluids, feeling
like garbage and then out again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This
virus, you are tired but not able to sleep.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It’s like this persistent jitteriness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>You are going have to weather those symptoms.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
<b></b><br />
<b>Loss of taste/smell</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">. Didn't happen to me but a strong sign you have Covid19.</span><br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span>
<br />
<b>WHAT I DID:</b><br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Talk to Doctors.</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
was fortunate to have a family member kind of walk me through it often. She dug
deep into everything being written and generated on this and helped me decide
to do a lot of these things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m not a
doctor (but she is).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Still, don’t solely
rely on my words as the course of action. This is what worked for me, but this
virus is different in everybody.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I urge
you to communicate with professionals as much as possible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some of these things may help some may not.<br />
<br />
<b>Be informed</b>. When you can handle digesting information about the virus many times you'll be more well read then some of the doctors that are helping... because they are swamped helping people and you have all the time in the world to read the latest. General rule of thumb, ask about an item and include your source. Don't correct the doctor. They will find out more or offer an more informed opinion than the one you might be tempted to make.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Sleep</b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I it was
bedtime I’d sleep.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Usually the nights
were the worst.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Anywhere from 2 to 5pm
my body would feel the pain coming.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some
repressed symptom would flare up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some
days the sore throat would pop. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Other
days, malaise or Nausea.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Chest pain whatever.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Deeper we got into night the worst I’d
feel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then when I’d get to sleep it
would only be for an hour or two… then up for an hour—feel gross and then
alternate hours awake and asleep through the night and the morning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eventually, I’d feel my best of the day, in
the latter morning, after getting as much sleep as possible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I started getting the chest pain, I knew
to…<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Stay Upright.</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If I
wasn’t trying to sleep I was either sitting straight up or doing…<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Breathing Exercises</b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When my chest pain was at its worst my goal was to stave off pneumonia
or a secondary infection.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Two breathing exercises
became religion for me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The first:<br />
<br />
<div style="margin-left: .5in;">
-Put your right hand on your
chest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Your left hand on your stomach.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Inhale through your nose until you fill your
lungs so much even you stomach expands.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Next purse your lips.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Push up
with your left hand literally pushing the air out of your lungs from the bottom
up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pneumonia is when fluid fills the
bottom so my goal was to keep that air flowing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Second exercise my brother learned up when in Asia…</div>
<br />
<div style="margin-left: .5in;">
-Inhale deeply through your nose
then squeeze it shut.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tilt your head
back and for the between shoulders five times.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Then try and force all that air deeper into your lungs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Again, purse your lips as you exhale.</div>
<div style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<b>Keep Moving</b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In Wuhan
they had the little old ladies in the field hospitals dancing when they felt up
to it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Stay upright and keep that air
flowing out your chest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I paced the same
17 steps from my bedroom to the bathroom. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I did my deep breathing while walking too
(careful to stay as far away as possible from the door that connected me to the
house). When I coughed or spit I tried to do it in the bathroom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’d put on a podcast, preferably funny but
definitely nothing to do with Corona Virus, and make myself pace until it ended.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If it was an hour I could make it through by focusing on the audio.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Get Sun</b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I found 20
to 30 minutes a day to be helpful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They
did this with TB and the Flu Pandemic and people who were outside fared better
than those stuck in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I took my shirt off.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ended up with a bit of a tan (dropped 15
pounds too—so right now it looks like I went to a spa somewhere not that I
suffered through an illness). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The first time
I felt the rays it reminded me of skin to skin contact with a baby.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just a warm healing sensation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Very valuable.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Circulate the Air</b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
opened a window in the bathroom and another in the room to get fresh air circulating
and get the stale air out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have bad allergies
(which strangely were mostly absent through most of this—guess the body was
dedicating all resources to the virus) but nonetheless I tried not to keep it
open too long.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Close the lid when flushing</b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In China one of the biggest spreaders was a guy with diarrhea so bad his
building got Covid19 via the sewage system.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When I’d go, after finishing I’d close the lid and flush so it did not
get airborne.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then I’d flush again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If I was done I’d then spray the bowl with
Lysol.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span>
<br />
<b>Hot Showers</b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Breathe
in that steam and let the warmth hit you on your chest and your back.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hot shower and fresh sheets feels just as
good when you are sick as when you are healthy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It’s easy to not take a shower when you just want to lie down but make
yourself do it.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Get rest</b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On days my
chest pain was minimal, I’d allow myself to lay in bed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even if I wasn’t sleeping it’s important to
fight that virus on many fronts with as much energy as you can spare.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On days the chest hurt the most I’d make
myself throughout the day do the exercises.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>A balancing act but staving off pneumonia and not needing a ventilator
is a big deal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Takes quite a lot of will
power when you fill like shit to get up and do something BUT equally important
to not push too hard..<br />
<br />
Stop Reading News and Social Media before going to sleep.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As mentioned, I can’t tell you how many
nights the last thing I’d see pop up is some story about a young otherwise healthy
person passing from this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Again, they are
outliers but when you are really sick it’s hard to be rational and say that’s
atypical.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For your mental health limit
your bad news intake to the morning when you feel good.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No market updates, no press conferences, no death
updates etc.<br />
<b></b><br />
<br />
<b>Resist engaging on social media</b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are people still taking this lightly
and don’t really grasp the severity of it all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When you are at your lowest and somebody is comparing this to the flu or
suggesting only the really old or sick are affected by this, it’s hard not to
give them a piece of your mind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Does no
good.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unfortunately, throughout the timeline
of this virus, those who dismiss it most seem to be many of those most effected
later.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"></span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">I don’t wish the worst of this virus on
anybody but you can</span> pray for them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span>
<br />
On that note if you are religious <b>ignore the atheists</b> trying
to drive home their point of view.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pray
for them lol. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The expression goes, I
think coined in the First World War, they are no atheists in fox holes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If God or prayers gives you solace don’t
quibble with the zealots of atheism seeking to exploit a pandemic to basically
say Nyah, Nyah.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> *</span>Whether they intend to
do that or not—when you are sick it feels that way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span>
<br />
I had some strange and deeply personal moments when I was in
that foxhole the first week.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oddly, I
found solace and comfort in ways maybe I didn’t pay enough attention to before.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you aren’t religious… fine, but maybe wait
a couple of months before you pound your points when there are a lot people suffering
and while you might think it all trifling and illusory they don’t.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rather then trying to open somebody’s mind logically
or objectively you are actually in a small way compounding suffering which I'm sure nobody wants to do.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Do be social</b>. Facetime your family.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Talk to your friends.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At my lowest moments I got some inspiration
from friends in private messages or phone calls.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve learned how valuable those moments are
and I appreciate all that reached out to me or shared support. It meant far
more to me than I would have thought it would before this.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>STAY POSITIVE:</b><br />
<br />
<br />
Now that I scared the heck out of you, remember what I led
with.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Those of you that get sick almost
every one of you will recover.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Stay in contact
with your doctor and make responsible choices.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Seek help when you need it but stay strong, stay positive, and even at
your bleakest or lowest moments know that there is another side.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The same is true for the virus vs. the country
in general.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We will all suffer and it’ll
ramp up and get much worse long before it gets better but it will get better.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can’t tell you how many times I thought I
should be over this by now, only to get smacked again, and that’s the way we
will feel in the coming months.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
<br />
The
isolation in a one room quarantine sucks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The isolation in your house will suck almost as bad.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, there are folks that absolutely can’t
get this, so we need to do everything we can do for them not to get it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thanks to all those people who helped me
through it as I am coming out of it and good luck to all those people who will
have to deal with this in the coming weeks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We will beat this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
<br />
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<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><div class="blogger-post-footer">www.gulfcoastpoker.net</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8672845807515460545.post-15842529395608867652019-11-08T08:41:00.001-06:002019-11-08T08:59:11.482-06:00Thank You!A solid month of poker with Gulf Coast Poker tournaments continues at Poker Gras right now. As always this is only thanks to the hard work, belief in poker, and contributions of others. So let's say the much needed Thank Yous!<br />
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First off... Thank you to the players reading this and traveling to our events and making suggestions to improve our product or tweak an event--we thank each and every one of you. Not to mention all of you liking, sharing, tweeting and retweeting.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWfaV3GeMgcqfiI-tIgDJBnnmET_t3uAT52DniDC8_Xs5RE1A7BAAkRSRifMqs_zE6twAYDdFcJ1KOYsiAVMl6UDG_aeuSpD9gXOs7PyvF-hIHhRO4ug78RNOM6J6NDL1sN7V_6iLMxGAC/s1600/Hiep+PRF19.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; clear: right; color: #0066cc; float: right; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-decoration: underline; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWfaV3GeMgcqfiI-tIgDJBnnmET_t3uAT52DniDC8_Xs5RE1A7BAAkRSRifMqs_zE6twAYDdFcJ1KOYsiAVMl6UDG_aeuSpD9gXOs7PyvF-hIHhRO4ug78RNOM6J6NDL1sN7V_6iLMxGAC/s1600/Hiep+PRF19.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; clear: left; color: #0066cc; float: left; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-decoration: underline; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"></a> We are lucky to have so many great and supportive believers across our footprint. Most important part of getting people to tournament is word of mouth. And we appreciate all the nice things you've said about us and our partners. Not to mention, first time, we've ever been at an event and the players in it were rooting for the guarantee to be met... not missed. Very touching. There are way too many of you to name, but you know who you are. Even better so many of you kick butt in poker too. Three of the winners at Pearl River were wearing Gulf Coast Poker gear. How cool is that! Great to see good people in the winner's circle.<br />
<br />
Harrahs NOLA: Wow, we are just getting started on the second annual Poker Gr<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQm8GghW6EA41Pt9FJu32ueebHKChaiZP5njjmkCmuNLKXN2ceUG-wzwHjT1f1sU6478mTsHtYCBA-6ySAux8lPhzGOvgxoU-Q1AV7XBO4fr62ElG_vklPUZGruiZDREh_8Fw3yx2bjJ-R/s1600/Maker%2527s+Mark+Bag+the+Schwag.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; clear: right; color: #0066cc; float: right; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-decoration: underline; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1440" data-original-width="1080" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQm8GghW6EA41Pt9FJu32ueebHKChaiZP5njjmkCmuNLKXN2ceUG-wzwHjT1f1sU6478mTsHtYCBA-6ySAux8lPhzGOvgxoU-Q1AV7XBO4fr62ElG_vklPUZGruiZDREh_8Fw3yx2bjJ-R/s200/Maker%2527s+Mark+Bag+the+Schwag.jpg" width="150" /></a>as and already some great improvements. Thank you Chase Haydel for being the first to give us a shot and working with us to make an even better product this year. We are grateful for your friendship and your leadership on this event. Robbie Gertsner and Jo Ella Mcintosh, thanks for putting up with our constant requests, listening to us and enabling us to pull this off. None of this would happened without ya'll.<br />
<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Joe Meteye and Makers Mark: Partners in the poker business are hard to come by, but Maker's Mark has gone above and beyond the call of duty this year. The Bustout lounge, the AirPods for the Poker Gras winner, and these custom made beauties right here... Wow! <span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">If you are playing the Poker Gras Main you'll probably want to play the Bag the Schwag flight and have shot at winning some Maker's Mark works of art. Also great signage for this event. Thanks to all of you </span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin8XPrqyACv4aUQmpelcpx8MqA_n0g9DjAv0FmfV14PiEb3Iq82p9Iok63h7gINrDtK0Ing2qdnHZWzntyYiAlq4d9lznGCU5PuFoiRHWKqup5Ka6lVslZx-mJzV4MzTVBP-YDGTMmq6QP/s1600/AirPods.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; clear: left; color: #0066cc; float: left; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-decoration: underline; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"></a><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">behind Joe for your hard work and the quick turnaround on everything. I'm going to drink some Maker's Mark tonight and have many more for sure in my future.</span></span>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin8XPrqyACv4aUQmpelcpx8MqA_n0g9DjAv0FmfV14PiEb3Iq82p9Iok63h7gINrDtK0Ing2qdnHZWzntyYiAlq4d9lznGCU5PuFoiRHWKqup5Ka6lVslZx-mJzV4MzTVBP-YDGTMmq6QP/s1600/AirPods.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; clear: left; color: #0066cc; float: left; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-decoration: underline; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1440" data-original-width="1080" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin8XPrqyACv4aUQmpelcpx8MqA_n0g9DjAv0FmfV14PiEb3Iq82p9Iok63h7gINrDtK0Ing2qdnHZWzntyYiAlq4d9lznGCU5PuFoiRHWKqup5Ka6lVslZx-mJzV4MzTVBP-YDGTMmq6QP/s200/AirPods.jpg" width="150" /></a></div>
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Pearl River Resorts: We just wrapped up a couple of days ago, but these thank yous feel long overdue. Thank you to Neal Atkinson for his belief in our product and in poker in general as an attraction and a boost to a casino. The trophies he and Pearl River made... amazing. Allowing us to share some of the things we do at Pearl River at our other stops like Poker Gras so generous too.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7hrmgBk2euVlgPWdNC22y9gNar_dIQmR43YnFG2OrW0DI7__sPH7uREZg8hHTwPdaCuWIbWOlb_lNHUqsIpO_cFaZBpc1rcnE1IekzIGwwyUWbh0v-XoXraZN9MxeKJmhovZ-H49-Dju0/s1600/Trophy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; clear: right; color: #0066cc; float: right; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: underline; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><img border="0" data-original-height="899" data-original-width="1600" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7hrmgBk2euVlgPWdNC22y9gNar_dIQmR43YnFG2OrW0DI7__sPH7uREZg8hHTwPdaCuWIbWOlb_lNHUqsIpO_cFaZBpc1rcnE1IekzIGwwyUWbh0v-XoXraZN9MxeKJmhovZ-H49-Dju0/s320/Trophy.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a> To tell you how big a supporter of this game Neal is, after we missed the guarantee in our 150k Main Event, he quickly doubled down and said let's go for it again in the Spring (ya'll better come... I mean is this really an OVERLAY ALERT four months out?). He's dedicated to providing all the amenities to making this one of the bigger events in the South twice a year and we are incredibly grateful to have him as partner.<br />
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Thanks to Paul Dutsch and his team of floors and dealers. They make things happen whether it's comps for food, comps for rooms, discounts on rooms, what have you. They are tireless and always willing to put in the extra work to make an event better or find a fair floor decision. We are fortunate to work with Paul and players are lucky to have him floor any event. Some great people on the staff: Chris, Reid, Mark, Heather, George, John mucho gracias. Thanks for keeping us laughing and for making the events as seamless as they are. All 17 dealers! Thank you. Saw the long hours and hard work. Seen so many of you spread the word about our events too. Thanks to Chris Read... we did it! The first Ladies event at Pearl River. Thank you to you and the WPA. It'll only grow from here.<br />
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Now some Congrats! Gavin Munroe is one of a handful of players who made that last minute drive up to help us try to meet the guarantee and maybe get a piece of the overlay. Richly rewarded with his first GCP title in the Pearl River Open Main Event that he earned with a relentless agressive style! Also, earning trohies: Jerry Giroir, Derek Ridley, and Hiep Doan who got lucky GCP gear and wore it while shipping an event. (Hoodies $45 or $50 if larger than XXL, T-Shirts $15). That's 30% of the winners. Wow! Did we mention you can buy some of the lucky gear (shipping an event not guaranteed) and thanks to Amber Douglas and Extreme for taking care of the hoodies for us.<div class="blogger-post-footer">www.gulfcoastpoker.net</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8672845807515460545.post-74499713262766079662019-05-27T12:19:00.001-05:002019-05-27T12:34:30.820-05:00Nice Little Score<div>
Before I get into a recap of my recent run of cards, I want to offer my condolences to my friend CC who lost his mother recently after a short time in hospice. It's been a rough year for him and I know he's been battling in life and in poker with a lot to bare on his shoulders. I'd be remiss to say my thoughts haven't been with him and still are. <br />
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WSOPC NOLA RECAP:<br />
"I didn't know you went by Billy, saw you in the updates."<br />
"Thanks, I didn't know I went by Billy either."<br />
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In the lead up to the NOLA circuit event I was able to take advantage of the Thursday satellites which Harrahs was adding seats to and running rake free. For example, a $170 buy-in to a 10 person sit n go provided a $1700 Main Event seat. Harrahs then threw in a $400 seat to second place. Just about every one that ran also had a $40 last longer for third place ($400 cash or another seat). I ran very good in these and got heads up 4 times and made some sort of deal in all but one after I had a $1700 seat in my back pocket. We also did a three way chop a couple of other times. Not counting the seats that I stockpiled I also ran at a profit just from the cash won (you take the $1700 seat and give me the $400 seat and $650 cash etc).</div>
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Those that played a lot of these also reaped the benefits. Steve Bierman won a ton of seats and went deep in the Main. Piyush Mittal (one of the heads up deals I made) parlayed his Main Event seat, won at a discount, into a deep run. Joel Doney played a bunch of them and chopped the reentry tournament for a big score. Bruce Little won a bunch (I got heads up with him twice) and ran deep during the week in multiple events. Ron Held played some and won a ring. I watched one player Jaron Bailey just get it in good over and over in the satties only for his opponents to suck out. Then I saw him deep in the Main. Nice, his runbad was over? Kind of but not really as I heard he took one of the worst possible beats (mentioned on www.gulfcoastpoker.net) especially for those stakes and with his large chip stack... credit to him as he took them all in stride. I'm guessing he still ran at a profit with his Main Event cash.</div>
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So my week started with a decent run in the re-entry. </div>
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I had a few fun hands on day one. Ari Engel was on my right. I had three bet him a few times when I picked up QQ. After the last raise I had the sense he was ready to fight back. He opened. I raised. Chris Bourgeois called from behind. Ari pushed. I repushed and Bourgeois almost beat me to the pot his trap with KK working perfectly. Ari had JJ. Flop came out in this order J... Q... A. Ari took the lead, then I did. 10 on the turn gave it back to the kings. Queen ball on the river gave me quads in one of the most exciting runouts I've ever played. Later after rebuying Ari took the same seat. </div>
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I found QQ UTG and opened. Folded to him in Big Blind and he completed. Flop came 557 (I think). At this point he had been shoving a lot with 2/3rds starting stack and that being somewhat short at this stage of the tournament. He checked I bet and he called. Alarm bells went off in my head. I think he shoves 68. I can't remember if board was two toned but if so he probably shoves flush draw. I suspect he shoves if he had a 7. Really the only hand that would go check call? Exactly a five.</div>
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Turn was a brick he checked and I trusted my read and checked. River... a queen lol. He measured up his bet and went for most of his stack. I shipped it for the rest and as he called I said Queens and he stepped away beaten by a queen on the river again.</div>
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I wasn't done coolering people. I also opened the button with Kings. The small blind called. Flop came three diamonds Xd2d3d. I had the King of diamonds. Checked to me I cbet and get the call. Hmm. Turn is a king. Okay. Same action. River is a 2 or 3. Checked to me I bet and then he went all in. Huh? Okay I have second nuts I call. He had 23. What a run out.</div>
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Later in the night I still had a decent stack and the following happened. For some reason on the last break our dealer 10 seconds into it started to deal. I said "No way you started shuffling in time we are 15 seconds into the break now," he asserted that he did. Normally, I'm all about getting that last hand out every level but here we were way past it. Whatever. I think I run horrible in these spots lifetime. I had to really pee and of course I catch a hand.</div>
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AK in ep. I open and a player to my left perks up after seeing his hand and I can tell he's considering a raise. He calls. Hmmm.</div>
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Flop comes A high three diamonds (J8). Yep, I have the King of diamonds. For some reason despite crushing this flop I have an ush-ka-ush-ka feeling looking at my opponent. I check and he bets small. Call. Turn is another Ace. I check again. He bets small again. I'm not sure what I'm up against but it feels like he's betting for value. Jacks, Eights, at least another Ace. I can't put him on a flush with the King in my hand and the Ace on the board and pegging him for a solid hand preflop. Ace Jack? Ace Queen?</div>
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The river is a Queen I check again fairly confident should he bet again I have to be beat. It seems a terrible spot to bluff and AceQueen is now a full house. AceQueenD made a lot of sense. Ace Jack less likely but that was already a boat. As said hard to give him a flush.</div>
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He bet a fair sized bet. And despite the fact, I legitimately can not conceive a hand that I can beat there (maybe Kings to which I'm blocking maybe 10s with the 10d--maybe) I couldn't let it go and pay him off. I think even KKs have enough showdown value they check behind and 1010s probably don't play it that way. He shows pocket 8s. We discussed the hand later and think we concluded he should have checked river as that's a bad, bad, card for him. Only perhaps AK can call him that he can beat. Yet that is exactly what happened. Although, my opponent was generous to me in the discussion of my I play I really got to fold that river if I'm playing well.</div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">That hand meant I'd be short stacked in the re-entry returning for Day two already in the money. I picked my spots and felt somewhat comfortable until a table change and running through a dire stretch of cards with no hands to shove. Then, I got the other side of the "shuffling" before break. I'm about to be the big blind and short and we finish a hand a full 20 seconds before the break. I have my ante and blinds up but players are trying to stand and want to leave. The dealer purposefully tarries even though I'm urging to get the hand out. He literally just wanted a longer break and lets it go. After what happened the night before I was doubly upset. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"> Oh well, I make it to the redraw (I think) cashed for whatever having made some pay jumps when Joel Doney busted me. Since I was freerolling it was all profit. </span> </div>
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I started to have an odd situation arise as the week went on. I had so many $400 seats it looked more and more likely I might not be able to play them all. Especially as I had to jet up to Brooklyn Thursday for my friend's Friday night wedding. Yes, for those paying attention that meant an early Saturday am flight to jump into the Main.</div>
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This timing also meant I couldn't play the Wednesday deep stack one of my favorite events. Oh well.</div>
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Many people told me I should skip the wedding especially when I told them my friend is a poker player... he'd understand they said. As this was such a great opportunity to fire in a lot tournaments I can't lie and say I didn't think about it. However, last year during the Main Event in Vegas (where I had won a seat in advance) another one of my best friends was getting married. I missed it, and he understood but I still feel guilty. Though only meeting his bride briefly I really like her and wanted to show up for both of them. </div>
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Retrospectively, could I have somehow jetted out from Vegas put in an appearance at the Wedding and returned for the main? Maybe. I don't remember the dates specifically and taking place on Cape Cod made travel a lot harder than it was to get in out of New York so it might well have been unfeasible. I also had to buy in the winners of my satellites so probably it was impossible but nonetheless still bothers me. So I decided this time the right thing to do was to go to the wedding. If I didn't play all my seats oh well. Surely some of my other friends were making sacrifices to be there too.</div>
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Oddly though once I committed to that decision I had this strange sense of impending success. Coupled with my buddy telling me in advance of this "I have a good feeling about us this week," it started to feel more and more right.</div>
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Once at the wedding the groom told me he too had this feeling I was going to do really well in the main. I'm pretty much a numbers guy and do not really get worked up about "feelings" but had this odd sense that things were going to go well.</div>
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In preparation for my trip inspired by a short conversation with a friend who saw his ranges were way off in the 6max, I decided to print out some poker materials including hand ranges. Recently, I've felt like something has been a bit amiss with the hands that I'm playing so I felt review was in order. Prior to leaving I got the chance to play with two very good players: Michael Lech and Dan Lowery. Anytime you play with players better than you... you should be focused on learning from them. </div>
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I watched Lech make these huge value bets--correctly--on rivers with just top pair and sometimes with a mediocre kicker. He knew to bet, and knew he'd get called with worse. He had the button against me in the six handed event and pretty relentlessly raised my big. I defended a fair amount but never had a hand I was comfortable three betting with although maybe I should. I also saw Dan open maybe 1 or 2 more times per orbits than anybody else and win a lot of those opens many times after building a pot. He used those extra chips to take chances with hands on short stack shoves others maybe wouldn't call. It became apparent to me (obviously moreso with Lowery) that my ranges in position haven't been wide enough so back to the charts. Which hands am I incorrectly folding?</div>
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On my flight to New York I discovered some interesting things. I had gotten sloppy in my ranges. Not only am I too tight in some spots, I'm too loose in others. How did this happen? I suspect my play in the weekly tournaments where I play an exploitative style has infected my overall play. Not only that I played a fair amount of bar tournaments the last couple of years and that's had to have had an negative impact on my ranges. Wow, it was pretty eye-opening how skewed I allowed my ranges to get. I reviewed and reviewed those ranges and adding some notes to my memo on my phone. I thought I knew these pretty cold but... no.</div>
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I had a blast at the wedding. Seeing how much Brooklyn has transformed since I was last there was eye opening. Sometimes we may not see it in New Orleans, but man America is thriving in a lot of places that once looked bleak. I've had the same feelings returning to spots in Philadelphia and Washington, DC it's incredible how improved, clean and sleek some of these places are... <br />
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Before meeting up with a bud at a Biergarten I had some time on my own and roamed the streets. A totally different place. I must have some sort of subconscious GPS that took me to the exact pizza shop my friend took me too almost 20 years ago for one of my favorite slices of pie anywhere (um... keto diet takes a weekend off for weddings and real New York pizza). </div>
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I mean I googled pizza shops but passed on two until I found that exact one by chance. Did I remember it when I saw it? No, but my taste buds did. It was confirmed later when that night my friend took us all out for pizza to the same place. </div>
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I went a little hard on Thursday night, about three for four times at the Biergarten we'd say it was our last one--it wasn't. Nice to connect with a long time digital friend (we've traded group emails for decades) but never officially met for more than few moments if we have. So I planned to scale it back Friday. I even plotted an Irish goodbye and left just before the reception ended to get a good night (midnight to 6am) sleep. I didn't want the temptation of an after hours place or... lengthy heart felt goodbyes to all the friends I hadn't seen in forever. So my apologies for sneaking out but I did warn you if you were listening. Of course, I got so worried that I'd miss my ride to the airport, I got zero decent sleep waking up almost hourly. I did catch my ride.</div>
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TSA and the flight went smoothly and after my wife picked me at the airport I tried to nap a bit at home. That didn't exactly work so I headed to Harrahs a little late. </div>
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DAY ONE:<br />
"He's a soul reader." <br />
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I see Michael Lech on my table again in late position on my blinds. I think what makes me such a good target in these spots is I don't want to play a lot of pots out of position against good players and I don't want to bloat the pot either--so I'm more hesitant in making 3bets. Nonetheless, we play an interesting hand where I had Ah2h. The flop came two hearts and a paired board (maybe 8s) in a multi-way pot and it got checked around. Lech the original bettor led a 2 turn for a very small amount.</div>
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I called with the intention of thinking hard about the river should he make a play for it. I didn't have to worry about folding as it came a heart. He then led a sizable amount. I quickly called and he showed a whiffed AK (maybe King of hearts?). Bailey the dealer misread my hand and said Deuces and 8s. Lech said "He's got a flush, he's not calling with a deuce."</div>
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To which Bailey who has dealt me a lot and seen a lot of my correct hero calls said, "He's a soul reader."</div>
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So would I have called if I didn't make the flush? Maybe because on the turn I felt good. Maybe there are some rivers I fold idk. I also would have had to have considered the fact I had the heart blockers so he's not bluffing as many missed flush draws. Still with turn and river sizing even if I got skittish, I think at that deep a stack, I would have called just to see what the line meant.</div>
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Later, I proved Bailey's point when on the river an opponent with just 10 high and a busted open ended straight draw fired at me. I had pocket 5s (fourth pair) and tanked forever. The board was Jack high and the line he took didn't seem to make sense to me. He bet pre. Checked Jack high flop. Bet turn and Bet river. The sizing seemed inconsistent with him having a hand too and I had made a physical read so had a lot of good info to call. Nice to hear Jerry Monroe (the guy who beat me heads up years ago in the IP Main) give me some dap for my play.</div>
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The day stretched for what seemed like an eternity and again I found myself at Dan Lowery's table (we played in the re-entry). He had a mountain of chips and was on my right beating me into pots. Again, I took careful note of how well he utilized that stack to add to it. I actually ran pretty good against him in battles of the blinds and otherwise. Not any significant pots but enough to keep me treading water. From the midpoint of day two after losing some pots I hovered between 10 and 20 bbs. Sometimes ebbing to as low as 7 and maybe peaking at 30. At one point I found Aces and got a double that I desperately needed.</div>
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Toward the end of the night with maybe four hands left I shoved AcQc and got a call from bracelet winner Foster Hayes who had Ace Jack. I got the double and it gave me a little breathing room. I was near exhausted at this point but enjoyed the surge of adrenaline.</div>
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As we were bagging the player to my left who I recognized but couldn't quite place filled out his name card. He has a very specific and kind of a rare name. The exact same first and last name as one of my good friends I had just seen at the wedding (and also a poker enthusiast). I wouldn't quite call it a sign but I felt very comfortable going into day two.</div>
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DAY TWO:<br />
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"Clock"</div>
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I had an early scare right before my table broke as we neared the money bubble a new player sat down for less than an orbit. I had been up and down chipwise. Again, vacillating between 10 to 20 bigs. At this point, I was down. He limped from the small blind and I shoved Ace Jack from the big. I thought he snapped folded but rather he had snap called and then I saw his hand face up. QQ. Weird but I went through the motions of getting my stuff to leave but I had that same sense of calm, I had all tournament. Sure enough Ace on the flop for the double.</div>
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I made the money and got put at a very tough table with Caufman Talley and Dustin Stewart. Dustin was on my right with all the chips. A couple of years ago Caufman busted me not far from the money in the same event. I learned a valuable lesson that day from that hand, and I decided if I busted there I would make sure I'd learn more lessons.</div>
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We played for a while, and I kept tiptoeing through. From behind me I heard Kevin Eyster get called for clock and saw we were on a payjump. He need points for the global championship and clearly had a hand he was prepared to go broke with but was holding out hoping he'd hear payout before he got it in. BJ McBrayer told the floor to stick around.</div>
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We finish a hand and then I get Ace King after Caufman had opened under the gun. Though the payjump was not that big at that point, I wasn't just going to give Kevin that money so I stalled, too. People starting to fidget in their chairs. Then, I heard Eyster had put it in and lost. I don't know if he made the payjump but I knew with his elimination I did.</div>
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In instantly said all in. It folded to Caufman and he called. I don't remember what he had or how I won. I think I flipped with him and spiked a King although it's possible I had him dominated with the bigger ace and hit my kicker. Regardless, that was a nice double.</div>
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Caufman at one point started driving the action opening maybe six or seven times in two or slightly more orbits. I saw AcQc and pushed. Oddly, I wasn't watching when it got to him and again, I thought three was snap mucked, I didn't expect a hand there, but no just like the queens earlier Caufman had snap called and opened his hand to reveal Kings. Speaking of "feelings" this time I really felt I was going to win the hand and made no movement to leave.</div>
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Ace came on the flop. My improved hand held and Caufman was gracious as always in losing. I really like Caufman so I hated that my doubles were at his expense but as a competitor I really liked that my doubles were at the best player's expense. Lots of conflicting emotions in poker.</div>
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I limp to dinner break and I'm running on 7 to 15 bigs. Stealing some blinds and just hanging on really. I'm fortunate that I run pretty good in the battles of the blinds against Dustin which is helping me stay afloat. The payjumps started coming in 3 person increments and I started to pay attention to those. Just outlast three people. Don't be rash. Again, and again I exhibited patience and kept making more money.</div>
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Though at some point, I thought to myself, I'm nearly two full days into this tournament and I haven't gotten anything close to a run good stretch of cards. I need some momentum some cards back to back.</div>
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After a later redraw I end up at Steve Bierman's table. He opens and is called. I pick up aces and ship it and get it through. That's nice. I joke that I'm just waiting for aces. A couple of hands later I open Jacks and two medium stacks get it in that both cover me. I didn't love my spot but felt like I had to get it in there. Pocket 9s and maybe A10. I hold for a triple.</div>
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Then I get Aces and call Chad Chisolms 4bet shove when he has queens. Just like that I went from one of the short stacks to probably top three in chips. A triple up and then a double up of that will do it. I finally had my run-good and it couldn't have come at a better time.</div>
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We redraw at 18 and I have Dustin (second in chips?) on my right again with Jon Guidry in between us and Stephen Song (the massive chip leader) on my left. I look at the field and I decide I can't just coast. The final table could be very good and if I'm going to win it, I got to start acquiring more chips. </div>
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At the same time exhaustion was kind of kicking in. I hadn't slept well after Day 1 and as Day 2 stretched on it became rather difficult to focus my week was catching up with me. I probably had too many chips as I became I little bit passive and stationy. Song and Dustin were divvying up my chips.</div>
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Dustin would open the button, Jon Guidry would call from the small and price me in from the big. I'd whiff and have to give it up. As short handed continued my chips started to dwindle a bit. We weren't any closer to the final table.</div>
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In one of those button opens by Dustin, Jon called and I followed suit with A6 and the flop came Ace high. It went check, check, check. Okay, I'm good here. A blank on the turn and Jon ships it for most of my stack. W...T... F....</div>
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I tank and tank. Another player later told me he thought Jon was bluffing. I folded and he would say he had a set and hoped one of us checked a weak ace. Hmmm... story has holes, but mutual friends that have played with him since say they think he has it.</div>
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Two other hands I'm not thrilled with...</div>
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My buddy John Cressend in search of his second NOLA WSOP-C Main Event final table in three years shoved from early position when I was in the small blind. I felt he was not that strong there and at that point I had chips to spare. I saw QJ o/s and remembered Lowery in similar spots calling with those kind of broadway hands. My inclination was to call. Then I thought about Song in the big and really didn't want to get blasted out the pot. I guess I could have raised but I had a lot of chips and Song could hurt me. I folded. </div>
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Song called with an ace and John's 55 faded the outs. Of course I made top two. Something that lingered with me when I made the choice to fold the last thought I had as I released the cards was I'd hate to bust John with QJ. Hope I folded for the right reasons. Especially that late in a tournament you have to go for the jugular. Pretty sure John has that mindset. He quickly went on a tear and propelled by those chips ended up fourth for the tournament. Happy for him, but what might have been...</div>
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Another hand, I hated was Dustin opened again, this time me in the small and Song in the big. I had Jacks! Nice time to 3bet and see what's up. As I contemplated my raise I see that Song might have peeked at his cards and was accumulating chips probably to call but definitely not to fold. I also learned Song doesn't like to fold, wouldn't say Dustin does either, but I felt like if I raised here I was getting called by at least one of them, if not both and just bloating pots with a hand that plays poorly on a lot of flops out of position. So again, I exercised caution.</div>
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Song did call. Flop came out King high on a fairly benign board for my hand. I checked with intention to call at least one street. Song checked behind and Dustin bet fairly large. I tanked for a while and then folded. Song did as well. Dustin let out a big sigh smiling as though he got one through. I suspect he didn't have a king but he had something. 10s or Queens or 9s? </div>
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Retrospectively, I should have, as always erred with aggression. I don't like the way that hand played out. I think it speaks to me playing poorly as the night went on.</div>
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All of sudden we went from being at 14 players forever to breaking for the final table. One fell. Then two went down quickly and then on the same hand we lost two more to get to 9. Everything changed the tough final table I envisioned had a completely different complexion. Song busted to Dustin (who now had all the chips) I think AA v. AK(?). On the other table Foster had busted.</div>
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When we get to the final table, Steve Bierman and I savored the moment as we had made our first significant final table together. A scenario he had brought up a bunch recently. Pretty cool that the dude I have previously coached as he started to take poker seriously (and has gone on to a lot of success) was sitting near me 9 handed with 185k for first place up top. It felt like the Harrahs weekly all over again but obviously not. </div>
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Steve had a fair amount of chips but then busted early to John Cressend. I was disappointed for him but at the same time another very good player had hit the rail. The whole idea I needed to be active with two tables left (a poorly executed one) now seemed a misjudgment. Had I a middle of the road stack I liked my chances getting toward the end at this table. </div>
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I then discovered my run good was now way back in the rear view mirror. As we limped to the close of the night, I got tired all over again and a steady diet of 82 o/s wasn't helping anything. Plus nobody busted. I put my meager stack into a bag and headed home.</div>
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Again adrenaline flowed too strongly and I could not get shut eye. I watched the Game of Thrones finale and even as bad as that was it didn't put me to sleep.</div>
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DAY 3:<br />
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"Sick strategy get there late to ladder up." Sley Sanchez</div>
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I had every intention of getting there early but had to take care of my youngest son as it was a Monday. I had a small window I could drop him off at my inlaws and did so. On the way to town traffic on I10 got bad. It got its very worse after I passed an exit for alternative route to Harrahs. Grrr… Somehow I was behind a caravan of trucks maybe 30 deep all getting off at convention center like me. I thought I had like 30 minutes to spare and by the time I got off the exit I was going to be late. I talked with my buddy on the phone and quipped well at least somebody will be busted before I get there. </div>
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I ran in three hands late to a Bronx cheer of sorts from my friends in the 11 am tournament. Sure enough I had ascended a payjump as there was an early elimination. Okay... good result. When I sat down not much had changed from the night before again more 82 o/s for orbits and my short stack got shorter. One of the other short stacks either busted the first shorty or had found some spots to chip up. Well, ICM wise when you are the short stack you don't lose much by being aggressive--time to get it in.</div>
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Before I had the chance, like literally on the next hand, a player shoved AQ into Dustin's Aces and I had laddered up again. Wow.</div>
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Just needed to catch a hand. I didn't have to be too particular.</div>
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Dustin opened my big blind and I spied pocket 4s. I hate small pairs in this spot. I have a modicum of fold equity when I open a hand but here I'm basically never getting a fold over the chipleaders open and best case scenario I'm 50/50. Of course I need a double badly so I didn't think folding was an option. I also had the the thought from a meta perspective you could argue Dustin should fold to my shove. That sounds crazy but here's why...</div>
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As the giant chipleader he could freely attack the medium stacks who should be on standby waiting for me to bust. As long as I'm there it handcuffs them. It's literally the perfect spot to mortally wound three of his other opponents as long as I'm still alive and short. </div>
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To be fair, at the same time eliminating me is a nice jump in money that's literally going into everybody's pocket. Doubling me isn't the worst thing in the world as now there would be two stacks at 20ish bigs and the other three should want to wait us both out. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
Not to be... he called with ~K7 or so and might have made two pair. For the first time in three days, I didn't feel like my hand would hold when the hands were exposed. I knew I was getting busted in 6th place.</div>
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<br /></div>
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The eventual winner Chris Lane I thought played very solid albeit unconventional. I've heard a lot of mixed opinions on his play but I've always thought he is very skilled. There are some things I think he does maybe not great (and who am I to criticize... he won the event and has done well in many others but this is just a segue to compliment) but he compensates for it with other skills. There are several players like this that I know of in our region who take odd lines or maybe do some things that are not fundamentally sound (myself included) but are able to amass chips other ways. I personally think he's underrated and dangerous. Congrats to him.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I thought Dustin played really well over the course of two days, and also thought John Cressend played very solid. The other members of the final table John Templeton, Jon Guidry and Youseff Salah were super nice guys and I would have been happy for any of them to win.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Anyway, got a nice score, and got overwhelmed by all the support from all my friends and peers in the poker community. Thanks for being so supportive and gracious everybody.</div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">www.gulfcoastpoker.net</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8672845807515460545.post-60250896376116373062019-04-28T07:13:00.000-05:002019-04-28T07:17:01.752-05:00Non Poker Non Spoiler Avengers EndGame Review and Game of Thrones thoughts...Wow. When's the last time you walked out of a movie and thought simply... Wow. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBYN_9TyWcq-mAyLnU_E6CcQg0YGOkWIj9P3z2YqGpgH5AwRMLGxAUbTG9Bpi3B0nlcvSpuYphlUZIIaqBd1PKviSh6EzgWpwjYh4y5fCi8-FNxgStQ7nWYg-dCklSzgwKteUJ6_OtBa1H/s1600/game+of+thronesavengers2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="800" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBYN_9TyWcq-mAyLnU_E6CcQg0YGOkWIj9P3z2YqGpgH5AwRMLGxAUbTG9Bpi3B0nlcvSpuYphlUZIIaqBd1PKviSh6EzgWpwjYh4y5fCi8-FNxgStQ7nWYg-dCklSzgwKteUJ6_OtBa1H/s320/game+of+thronesavengers2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Did you also feel completely satisfied? You laughed, you might have stifled a cry or two, and also felt blown away. Avengers End Game did that for me. 2019 was always going to be a big year as Endgame and Game of Thrones were going to wrap up two, first of their kind, long form visual sagas, and Avengers ended first and wow.<br />
<br />
So... if you watch Game of Thrones (but not the Marvel movies) and have for the duration you'll feel the last two episodes packed in a ton of beats for the true fans. Beats (moments of impact) where your commitment to that epic show got a pay off. Not much happened but at the same time a ton of interactions that needed to happen in gathering the All-Stars team to Winterfell played out. BUT... if you are somehow new to show... it did little for you. Long term fans can criticize the writing as some have, fine, but before we go down the roller coaster we have to go up it. We are at the peak and I anticipate the ride will take off tonight. That said after two years off and on the heels of seven seasons we needed to do that. Besides executing the assembling of the giant cast was always going to be difficult almost impossible right?<br />
<br />
Well, now that I've seen the Avengers Endgame and that somehow in three hours they wrapped up 11 years and 20+ (?) movies at once with three acts that were essentially three movies in one--nothing is impossible. It had everything the first two episodes of Game of Thrones tried to pack in as well as multiple incredible plots, call backs, and whoa... cool moments in three short hours. If I am as close to this satisfied when Game of Thrones is completed there never will be a greater year for long form visual sagas ever... it can't be done. In fact, the Avengers is so satisfying I'm afraid however Game of Thrones ends it'll be judged as lacking by comparison and even if Game of Thrones butchers the ending the Avengers is so good 2019 will resonate for a long time for me.<br />
<br />
That said, if you haven't been invested in this saga (as now they are calling it and well they should) but watch the movie multiple times you'll be sitting there thinking the thoughts of one facebook commenter, "I at times had no idea what was going on." I'm not saying go watch 20+ movies because it'll make this one of the most satisfying movies ever (and it is) but if you have done that... this is the payoff of all payoffs.<br />
<br />
It exceeded my high expectations by some measure. The volume of the casting alone, even a cameo from a corner of a universe long thought ignored, incredible. The payoffs, the sacrifices, the capping of the arcs, the callbacks, the geek moments, unbelievable. If you thought I was gushing before...<br />
<br />
The whole point of this post is to write something I haven't seen mentioned yet but should be said.<br />
<br />
This film is Oscar worthy. Some of the performances, Chris Evans in particular, are Oscar worthy. What the Russos managed to do has never been done before, and will never be done again, and they did it seamlessly. The scale of it is mind-blowing. This is one of the better movies of any genre I've ever seen. I don't know how any movie that will come out this year can surpass their achievement... it just can't be done.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj67tfKhGEcnk82t59K6LFX32wCLS_JNxCsN45qZ2CgDnhTpp6ub_ZjlNXRKwm2Z5U0e5az39HUWWbVF4y4r4byBeKVAjN1wHG8XB5r3U9sE2Th9ulV0TZcban7ojwLWTQHS2dkblNEEcq8/s1600/game+of+thronesavengers1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; color: #0066cc; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-decoration: underline; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><img border="0" data-original-height="593" data-original-width="593" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj67tfKhGEcnk82t59K6LFX32wCLS_JNxCsN45qZ2CgDnhTpp6ub_ZjlNXRKwm2Z5U0e5az39HUWWbVF4y4r4byBeKVAjN1wHG8XB5r3U9sE2Th9ulV0TZcban7ojwLWTQHS2dkblNEEcq8/s320/game+of+thronesavengers1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
That said it probably won't win an Oscar and maybe won't even get nominated because to appreciate this movie you have to have the built in history of the previous movies. To understand what they did you have to watch a Superhero movie (or 20) and the Academy isn't doing that. Just as if you jumped in to Game of Thrones this year you'd be like, "... meh" after two episodes. The Academy would also have to acknowledge there is genuine craft even in a superhero movie. Even the ones that will give it a chance will feel like they are reading the last three chapters of a book and not get any of the nuance of the performances, the script, and the movie. Oddly, even if you didn't like the other movies I think just having watched them you'd like this one. On top of that it was a bit of awesome fan service at every turn. What a balancing act they pulled off...<br />
<br />
The Avengers challenge in my opinion was harder than Game of Thrones. For the producers and the writers of Thrones were able to make fantasy palatable en masse by front loading it with violence, adult themes, sex, and grittiness... and then covertly got regular non geek people to care about Dragons, zombies, fiery swords etc. Somehow the Avengers stayed true to core comic book themes and characters without enticement to the broader audience by dialing up the adult and then just crushed it with this film. Every record this movie sets it deserves. Pulling off the Captain America character arc as the ultimate boy scout and not being incredibly corny on it's own is an achievement.* Doing similar with an entire universe of kids characters is monumental.<br />
<br />
Seriously... somehow they pulled off making one of the best movies of all time under the weight of all that continuity. Not only did they embrace that continuity (from the films AND the comic books) they somehow enhanced it. Imagine if the latest Friday the 13th was the greatest (and maybe the first or second genuinely good film in the series) but also somehow made all the other movies better. Imagine if George Lucas came back to Star Wars and tied everything in a bow AND made the best Star Wars film yet AND made the worst movie in the franchise (Episode one/Thor Dark World) somehow more interesting? Imagine doing so AND appeasing all but the worst geeks and super fans in the process.<br />
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The bar has now been set impossibly high, and the cinematic achievement of this movie we'll never see again. I mean that's a wrap. In 20 or 30 years when they recast the Avengers and try to print money again... good luck. At this point it'll be like remaking Gone with the Wind or the original Wizard of Oz. In a way, Marvel is it's own worst enemy. The reboots and the recastings will pale and fail in comparison. This is a mic drop movie.<br />
<br />
...but man am I being greedy in hoping Game of Thrones can execute half as good as this movie to close out the season?<br />
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*Part of the reason Evans is deserving of recognition. See any other iteration of Captain America on screen and you'll begin to understand what he pulled off.<div class="blogger-post-footer">www.gulfcoastpoker.net</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8672845807515460545.post-90808079835609078132018-11-20T09:28:00.001-06:002018-11-20T09:28:37.478-06:00POKER GRAS AND MOREJust wanted to say Thank You! to everybody that attended our first ever poker tournament: <a href="http://www.pokergras.com/" target="_blank"> Poker Gras</a>. Think it was a big success. Definitely looking to continue the positives everybody raved about as well as expand the options a little bit in the future. <br />
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Big thank you to Chase Haydel and Harrahs New Orleans for giving us this opportunity and I think they'll agree everybody won after our first time out. More to come. By the way, check out this <a href="https://www.twoplustwo.com/magazine/issue167/saxton-poker-faces-chase-haydel.php" target="_blank">article </a>on Chase by Ben Saxton<br />
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Also, feel it's important to highlight the tireless efforts by Chase, Robbie Gertsner, Joella McIntosh, Mel Emnon and Timmy Louie. As TDs they busted their butts to put together an in house tournament and had everything moving fairly seamlessly. Not to mention just about every one of them asked me to put the spotlight on the hard work of somebody else. Humble, smart, hard-working, what more could you ask for?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR7hDnnOsLGgb4RcuhoCRh6DlevRyvigKS6S1NgI86RUmKDUjipCfS9UhmC2QYGL-B8E9IggeYn4-li_nsGxVc-bbEXI5a4EXXDXaaKbCJsDM2B0yCc2F0bVHePNdHjUU0behNNH3a4aX0/s1600/Mihail+and+Katie+King+and+Queen+PG18.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="560" data-original-width="419" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR7hDnnOsLGgb4RcuhoCRh6DlevRyvigKS6S1NgI86RUmKDUjipCfS9UhmC2QYGL-B8E9IggeYn4-li_nsGxVc-bbEXI5a4EXXDXaaKbCJsDM2B0yCc2F0bVHePNdHjUU0behNNH3a4aX0/s320/Mihail+and+Katie+King+and+Queen+PG18.jpg" width="239" /></a></div>
Our first ever winner of Poker Gras, Mihail Karasoulis, is a guy I've battled with in sit 'n goes, MTTs, satellites, and cash games for almost 10 years. He's a shrewd player and deserving of the title of King of Poker Gras. He battled David Nicholson until they got to heads up chop. Mihail appropriately drew a King when they high carded it for the title of King of Poker Gras.<br />
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Our Queen Katie Pansano also is deserving of the crown. In fact, there might not have been a Queen of Poker Gras if not for her. In one of our early social media ads she pointed out that we (embarrassingly) omitted the possibility of there being a Queen of Poker Gras. So we decided at that point instead of there being a King or Queen we'd award a crown to the last man standing and last woman standing. Katie finished in the money and earned that title.<br />
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We've got a lot of exciting things on the docket for our near and long term future.<br />
<br />
Also, wanted to address our Gear or Merch. We brought some to Poker Gras to solicit opinions and see what people were interested in and decided we'd custom order any thing for folks. I think there was some confusion about the point of the Merch which I'd like to clear up. As a site, Gulf Coast Poker.NET has been a hobby/a small side business and in most ways it's been a service to the Poker Community in the South. We wanted to provide a community and a spotlight for players that enjoy the game we love and we've tried to promote and expand this game as best we could. <br />
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Previously, we've given out Merch to promote the site. Some times people asked for the free gear (which was quite costly to us) and we literally never saw them rep it ever. Grrr…. Others, have been awesome about wearing our hats, hoodies or T-Shirts. And lately, patches (also much more expensive than you'd think). Awesome, we are super appreciative of all of you. <br />
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That said, with our limited merch runs because of all the people who just took a hat or hoodie and never showed up to a poker tournament in our gear we decided to make it at cost if somebody wanted it. Recently, people have told us they wanted to support the site, usually folks who know our revenue streams are limited. While I have donated to websites that obviously have reflected a lot of work by the operators with a Paypal donation, Gene and I never put one on GCP as it felt almost like begging. A year or two ago, somebody suggested we make some Merch and follow the PBS model of fundraising. Mark it up but give something for the people supporting us. Good idea but we never really acted on it until we brought some gear to Poker Gras to privately gauge the interest in that.<br />
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I think there was some confusion as people took the prices and the merch as an attempt by us to get into the T-Shirt or clothing business. We don't expect to sell a ton of shirts or hoodies and we are not going to price things to be competitive. If you want just a T-Shirt or a hoodie there are far cheaper versions out there. If you'd like to support GCP we'll sell you some gear. If you appreciate what we've done for the community that's a nice gesture of support and we are extremely grateful anybody would rep something with our name or logo on it.<br />
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That said, more than anything just showing up for our future events is the best way you can support us. We hope to provide player friendly structures and tournaments that keep the fun in the game and offer value for your dollar. We will have a store window up in the near future I suspect.<br />
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<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">www.gulfcoastpoker.net</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8672845807515460545.post-3205348855191960972018-08-24T11:50:00.003-05:002018-08-24T12:05:22.608-05:00HARRAHDISE<br />
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Once again guest writer Ben Saxton...</span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Planning
for the Future at Harrah’s New Orleans Poker Room</span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">For almost twenty years, Harrah’s New Orleans has offered
one of the biggest and most entertaining poker rooms on the Gulf Coast. I
recently chatted with manager Chase Haydel about an addition to the weekly
tournament schedule, the return of popular promotions, and his plans for the
future. </span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Before he joined the room in July 2017, Chase didn’t have
much experience with poker. The New Orleans native comes from a long line of
restaurateurs—including Chase’s grandma, Leah, who runs the famous Dooky
Chase’s Restaurant. Chase was a dealer at Boomtown Casino in 1994 before moving
with his wife to Atlanta. When he returned in 2013, he joined Harrah’s New
Orleans as a table games supervisor. Now, as poker room manager, he’s focused
on outpacing the competition. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">“The poker world is becoming saturated,” Chase told me.
“There’s a lot more rooms than there used to be, a lot more tours. And Texas,
man.” He shook his head. “The clubs are huge.” </span><br />
<br />
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Gambling has long been illegal in Texas. Recently, though,
poker clubs have been sprouting up across the state. Many of them operate
similarly to a country club, charging a monthly or daily fee as well as an
hourly “seat fee,” and they’ve gained momentum. As a result, Texas poker is
challenging an already-crowded market in Louisiana and Mississippi.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<div style="border-image: none; border: medium; margin: 0px;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">“For years, we were coasting on the idea, ‘Hey, we’re the
biggest room,’” Chase said. “But I have to be aggressive now, because the
competition is growing.” </span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">In the spring, Chase gave away $75,000 in WSOP Circuit Event
seats through daily drawings, social media promotions, and a popular “bubble
tournament”—a kind of consolation prize for players eliminated on the bubble of
one of Harrah’s weekly tournaments. He installed USB chargers in most of the
tables. He also collaborates with supervisor Robby Gerstner to come up with
inventive tournaments and promotions. “Robby has a plethora of knowledge,”
Chase said. “He had a passion for the poker world when I didn’t. I got that
passion from him.” </span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Like Chase, Robby is a New Orleans native who started his
career at Boomtown (in security). He graduated from the Crescent City School of
Gaming in March 2007 and joined Harrah’s poker room two months later. For the
next ten years, he worked in Caesar’s properties across the country—in Shreveport,
Atlantic City, and Las Vegas—before rejoining Harrah’s New Orleans about a year
ago. </span><br />
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">“I can tell you that a bounty tournament is definitely
coming, because I’m the one creating it,” Robby said. While details are still
being sorted out, it’s likely that the tournament will run on Thursday or
Sunday evenings, with a $100 buy-in and $20 bounties. Like the bubble
tournament—which will return every four or five months—a bounty tournament
offers a new spin on a familiar format.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span><br />
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">What are the best promotions? The answer depends, of course.
If you’re a limit hold ‘em player, then you probably like Aces Cracked, which
offers the chance to receive a $100 reward for a tiny risk. No-limit hold ‘em
players, on the other hand, tend to like action-inducing promos like splash
pots or the popular “Power Hand,” which has returned to Harrah’s on Wednesdays
from noon to midnight.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Another returning promotion stems from Chase’s and Robby’s
goal of enticing tournament players into the cash game area, and vice versa.
Starting in July, Harrah’s will be drawing seats for its daily $130 tournaments
that run on Mondays (at 6 p.m.) and Wednesdays and Saturdays (at 11 a.m.).
These drawings will take place in the cash game area and over social media.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span><br />
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">When I spoke with a few dozen Harrah’s regulars—on both the
tournament and the cash game side of the room—I received a wide range of
feedback. Most of all, players want a once-a-month tournament with a higher
buy-in and deeper stacks. Unlike the $130 weeklies, which tends to attract a
local crowd, a larger tourney might draw players from across the Gulf Coast. </span><br />
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Other
requests included: </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;">●<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt "Times New Roman"; margin: 0px;"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">More high hand promotions</span></div>
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;">●<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt "Times New Roman"; margin: 0px;"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Comps for tournament players (“We
pay rake too”)</span><br />
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;">●<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt "Times New Roman"; margin: 0px;"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">A satellite to the WSOP Main Event</span><br />
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;">●<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt "Times New Roman"; margin: 0px;"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">A second tournament series in
addition to May’s WSOP Circuit Event</span><br />
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;">●<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt "Times New Roman"; margin: 0px;"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Omaha tournaments</span><br />
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;">●<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt "Times New Roman"; margin: 0px;"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">A poker room rate for hotel stays</span><br />
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;">●<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt "Times New Roman"; margin: 0px;"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Snacks</span><br />
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;">●<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt "Times New Roman"; margin: 0px;"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">A puppy petting zoo</span><br />
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Players
were also quick to express their appreciation for Chase, Robby, and the
well-liked Harrah’s dealers and staff. For anyone with ideas or feedback, the
best thing to do is to speak with Chase, who remains committed to improving the
room. “He’s very receptive,” Robby said. “If he likes an idea, he’ll do it.”</span></div>
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<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><div class="blogger-post-footer">www.gulfcoastpoker.net</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8672845807515460545.post-51285338660003251932018-06-19T11:57:00.004-05:002018-06-19T12:33:33.107-05:00Ben Saxton's profiles GCP's/Harrahs NOLA free seat Winners<br />
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Gulf
Coast Poker Winners Week at WSOP Nola</span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">As
many of you probably know, Harrah’s New Orleans partnered with www.gulfcoastpoker.net to get local poker enthusiasts into WSOP Circuit Event
tournaments for free. Poker room manager Chase Haydel gave away over two
hundred seats, and seven of them were part of GCP’s social media giveaway.
After catching up with most of these recipients, I’m pleased to share a few of
their stories. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhvI3jGk6VKpYaOAVf3latv_KH2reV9gmra4f0r3RHtNJHCoyq4uax9lGZ2E3bx7BQ3q-IUEWmmPy0_nhqPH7yVz0oPYjBl4FQ9wTOusfo8GT0eR2fm0cRoliSyTVRIlZr3-VTnsH6JbaJ/s1600/Todd+Cowan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="714" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhvI3jGk6VKpYaOAVf3latv_KH2reV9gmra4f0r3RHtNJHCoyq4uax9lGZ2E3bx7BQ3q-IUEWmmPy0_nhqPH7yVz0oPYjBl4FQ9wTOusfo8GT0eR2fm0cRoliSyTVRIlZr3-VTnsH6JbaJ/s200/Todd+Cowan.jpg" width="148" /></a><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Originally
from Spokane, Washington, Todd Cowan moved to the Gulf South in 1997 on
assignment as a locomotive engineer. In those early years, he often played
10/20 limit hold ‘em at the Isle of Capri in Lake Charles (not to be confused
with the Pile of Debris on Lake Marl). After Chris Moneymaker lit the no-limit
hold ‘em world on fire, Todd traveled to Las Vegas in 2005 and enjoyed the
highlight of his poker career: a victory in the $1,000 Bellagio Weekly NLH
Tournament for $45,396. This year, thanks to his free seat, Todd entered Event
#1: $365 No-limit Hold ‘em Reentry and finished 57th for $1,342. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Todd
plans to continue playing tournament poker when he can—especially in Biloxi,
Metairie, and New Orleans—but most of his time is spent with his wife and son
in Covington, where they recently bought a new house. “I just mowed the lawn
for the first time,” Todd told me on Memorial Day. He also plans to take his
family to Orange Beach for summer vacation. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Simi
Mittal was born and raised in Mississippi and came to New Orleans in 2009 to
attend Tulane University. While there, she met her husband Piyush—also a
regular at the Harrah’s Weekly tournaments—and the couple moved back to
Mississippi so that she could attend graduate school. When she first played
poker at Ameristar in Vicksburg, she knew nothing about the game: “I was that
girl who folded when it was free to check!” Nevertheless, poker offered Simi,
Piyush, and Simi’s dad a fun bonding activity—and also some memorable
encounters.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">“Very
early on in my poker career, we were vacationing in St. Maarten and entered a
nightly tournament,” Simi said. “Back then, I didn’t appreciate the value of
3-betting, check-raising, etc. To add to this, all of the players were speaking
French! While I don’t think engaging in conversation is necessary for success
on the felt, when everyone around you is speaking a foreign language, it certainly
adds another element of uncertainty. I cracked someone’s aces with jacks and am
fairly certain I had a few French expletives thrown my way! Somehow, I managed
to finish in 4th place for a decent cash—all thanks to Lady Luck!” </span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Simi
used her free seat for Event #11: $365 No-Limit Hold’em Single Re-Entry, where
she finished 27th for $625. As she continues to work on her game, she looks to
Samantha Abernathy, Maria Ho, and Natasha Barbour as inspirations. “It’s always
very motivating to see women having success in something that is
male-dominated,” she said.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Outside
poker, Simi works full-time at University Medical Center, teaches ESL to adult
immigrants, and writes restaurant reviews on Yelp. Finally, in a recent bit of
good news, she was accepted to the MD and MPH program at LSU’s School of
Medicine. Congrats!</span><br />
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Jacque
Gremillion has lived in the Gulf South his whole life. Originally from Harahan,
he currently lives in Gonzales with his wife, Rebecca, who teaches in Ascension
Parish. “I am definitely a family man who enjoys spending time with my wife and
two sons,” Jacque told me. “Most of the time I am thinking of them when I am
playing in a tournament. I always make it a point to share winnings with them
because they know how much I love the game and are also pulling for me to
succeed.”</span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Like
many of us, Jacque started playing online poker around 2003, after Chris
Moneymaker’s epic run inspired him to think: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">if this guy can do it, then so can I. </i>His favorite poker
accomplishment was in a 2014 WSOP Circuit Event at Harrah’s New Orleans, where
he finished second for $11,217. During the first weekend of this year’s Circuit
Event, after a late night at a concert in Biloxi, Jacque late-registered for
Event #1. Eager to make up for lost time, he slowplayed a pair of aces and
doubled up. Then he went card dead. With only ten big blinds, he pushed all-in
with 4-4 and lost to king-jack offsuit. “I really do appreciate the free seat
and enjoyed playing even though I didn’t cash in the event,” he said.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">In
the future, Jacque hopes to play about ten tournaments a year and to learn from
local regulars like Ben Thomas, Walter Chambers, Robbie Matthews, Mike Flowers,
Jason Bullock, and Captain Ron Hope. “These guys are excellent players and I
learn a lot when I get the chance to play against them,” he said. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVoXOMjTPPZJznaBp0RwygoqqBBX8xBbOHLA0ypvr7EvMI5IrA-4c9apsuBdZqOW9u64bMU7qpKUTX3aNhhkyr36DmmlULxxvTDA7kpwzs5wdstA6xPyAicMzruMXi_fVstzGeOoxYuZmg/s1600/Charlie+Gelvin+and+Todd+Skinner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="720" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVoXOMjTPPZJznaBp0RwygoqqBBX8xBbOHLA0ypvr7EvMI5IrA-4c9apsuBdZqOW9u64bMU7qpKUTX3aNhhkyr36DmmlULxxvTDA7kpwzs5wdstA6xPyAicMzruMXi_fVstzGeOoxYuZmg/s320/Charlie+Gelvin+and+Todd+Skinner.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Charlie Gelvin and Todd Skinner</td></tr>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Charlie
Gelvin has been playing poker for most of his life. On July 29th,
1976—Charlie’s fifteenth birthday—his dad Russell gave him fifty bucks as a
present. That evening, father and son went to Eads Tavern, a New Orleans bar
where Russell liked to play five-card poker. Short on cash, he borrowed fifty
from his son and lost it all. “I hope you learned a valuable lesson tonight,”
Russell said. “Never gamble.”</span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Charlie,
a retired car salesman and a father of four, has been gambling ever since. The
Louisiana native lives in Meraux with his German Shepherd, Frieda, and enjoys
tournament poker. Drawing on his experience as a body and fender man, Charlie
also restores pedal cars, which I was fortunate enough to see for myself when I
visited him in Meraux.<a href="file:///C:/Users/ezedc/AppData/Local/Packages/Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe/TempState/Downloads/WSOP%20Circuit%20Winners_GCP%20(5).docx" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><sup><span style="margin: 0px;"><sup><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">[1]</span></sup></span></sup></a></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Although he didn’t cash in Event<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>#12: $365 Double Stack, I think it’s a safe
bet that we’ll be seeing Charlie deep in another local tournament soon. At the
moment he’s recovering from a nasty sinus infection, so please keep Charlie in
your thoughts as he recovers this summer.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7KxM2Gdp0vXV0011_2mCNlX1PfzRz7YI16yYiUiOqnBRFX55Si4Zo32AcjRmH7HvT6biGzKUziN3nkjUPcMapmYAGGaHbeVNKA2elJmGjq5wgY7-otAp6ObTKD71EbUKw_Bb6BTjQmeXi/s1600/Jamar+butler+seat+winner+18.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; clear: right; color: #0066cc; float: right; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-decoration: underline; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><img border="0" data-original-height="615" data-original-width="523" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7KxM2Gdp0vXV0011_2mCNlX1PfzRz7YI16yYiUiOqnBRFX55Si4Zo32AcjRmH7HvT6biGzKUziN3nkjUPcMapmYAGGaHbeVNKA2elJmGjq5wgY7-otAp6ObTKD71EbUKw_Bb6BTjQmeXi/s200/Jamar+butler+seat+winner+18.jpg" width="170" /></a><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Rounding
out the other GCP winners were Jamal Butler (pictured), George Bizub, and Todd Skinner,
who all showed up to play with smiles and GCP patches.<a href="file:///C:/Users/ezedc/AppData/Local/Packages/Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe/TempState/Downloads/WSOP%20Circuit%20Winners_GCP%20(5).docx" name="_ftnref2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><sup><span style="margin: 0px;"><sup><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">[2]</span></sup></span></sup></a> Finally, one of the Circuit
Event’s most interesting stories involved John Skinner, a regular at Boomtown’s
4/8 limit hold ‘em tables. As a limit hold ‘em player myself, I was naturally
quite pleased to see a fellow 4/8 grinder make the most of his free seat. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">After
he won a $135 Nightly tournament—which came with a $1675 Main Event s<br />eat that
Chase Haydel added to the prize pool—Skinner promptly final-tabled the Main.
According to the live reporting on wsop.com, the beginning of the final table
was all about Skinner. He showed a propensity to repeatedly move all-in and
test his opponents for their entire stack, regardless of how big the pot was.
During five-handed play, he ran a queen-high straight into Darren Martin’s
king-high straight for a huge pot. Martin finished second to Jerry Monroe, who
won his third WSOP Circuit ring and $208,184.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>John Skinner finished in fourth place for $70,262—plenty of buy-ins when
he returns to 4/8 Limitland.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span></div>
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<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><div class="blogger-post-footer">www.gulfcoastpoker.net</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8672845807515460545.post-56767633097716219822018-06-08T12:20:00.002-05:002018-06-08T12:22:24.175-05:00MINIONS, WSOP, AND MOREFirst off: Hello world, it's been some time:<br />
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<b>Some quick GCP thoughts</b>:
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-After much delay decided to add a Group to our Facebook page. Originally wanted the GCP Facebook page to essentially become what Facebook's group are primarily and that's a forum/community. However, when people post on our main page it's generally not obvious to the reader. Tends to get buried. So hopefully on the new groups page it will allow for the exchange of ideas, selling of packages, sharing of news, hand analysis, and generally be a positive community. Please asked to be added and please don't indiscriminately "add" people... more than a few of us feel quite spammed when other groups do that, so I'd rather that ill will not be directed to the site. Moderating is generally not my thing but if everybody keeps things civil and we'll be all good. Who knows maybe there are too many other places already for this to take off but it's an option we feel is overdue to our long term readers. Make of it what you will.
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-We were able to give out some seats in conjunction with Harrahs NOLA in promoting their circuit event this year. Very cool to do. Got some folks into events (and failed to get others in who couldn't get there in time for our last minute giveaway at the end of the series). Hopefully, when we partner up with other casinos and events we can do more like this. Think it builds a buzz and generates some goodwill for the venue. Ben Saxton who writes for 2+2 (and us occasionally) did a nice write up of our winners which I will post to the site soon.<br />
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-By the way, patches should be made soon. We will sell and giveaway. Also, going to do another batch of gear as well. Both our vendors have not returned our calls and possibly have stopped doing it so we may need some help on that front in the very near future.<br />
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-Vast redesign on the horizon... It's been years since we've overhauled the site but we are considering some options to upgrade things. Finding the time to do it is the biggest hurdle. Finding the budget another one, but we are going to change things up a bit. A lot of our bloggers have stopped writing as much (not a surprise with other faster ways to express yourself to the world increasingly available) so maybe we'll just bundle all the new content into posts. We'll have to see. Probably won't happen until after the WSOP (until then we welcome suggestions for software, formatting, what have you... make us an offer if you can do those things for us... inexpensively).<br />
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-We will definitely upgrade the Who's Who (and soon). Let us know who should be on it.<br />
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<b>WSOP 2018:</b><br />
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-The Minions are back! This will be my first Main Event not representing the group which I've always loved and appreciated for the opportunities they've granted me previously. Will Souther, though much criticized in the past by others, to me should have quieted many of his critics. He's tirelessly made this group happen and to his credit it's truly unique in that this Minions deal is one of the only altruistic give back to the poker community things out there. Seriously, besides being an investor Will gets nothing out of this and a ton of people have played AND cashed the Main Event because of him. It's a ton of work to select, pick, collect, and put in the Minions to the Main Event. What an effort and endeavor by him. I know all the alumni are truly grateful to him and the investors for making it happen. It's pretty fricking awesome.
So awesome, that I told him if he didn't want to do it this year, I'd be happy to pick up the slack and make it happen. Not to worry, Will's looking to put a new batch of minions in the Main Event and we'll be there to cover them all. Our offer to help out stands though.<br />
<br />
-I will be playing the Main though. I won a local satellite and am amped to be heading back out there. Hope I still score an invite to the Minions dinner :). I also am basically sold out of a small package of events before and after the Main. Also new for me this year, I will be playing the Tag Team event with Steve "No Fear" Bierman... and my wife. My wife? Yes, she's less than a poker novice, but she will play at least two hands in the event (as required by rules). Should we do the improbable and win a bracelet she'll get one too. Should we cash, ah well she gets none of that--it's split between Steve and me. What am I saying? If I get 50% I guess she gets what... all of that? So she and Steve will split our winnings. :)
Also, we will do some Vegas tourist stuff while she's there including Gwen Stefani's opening night act in her residency. To say my wife is a big Gwen Stefani fan is a big like saying Sean Hannity is a big Donald Trump fan. So she's excited to go out there.<br />
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<br />
-Got lots of tiny pieces of Gulf Coast players, just to have a ton of micro-sweats. Also, bought a tiny piece of one of my favorite poker players to watch when I got started and Jeopardy tournament of champions champion Alex Jacob. He's capable of big things and will go for the W (as shown in the clip). One of my favorite televised poker tournaments was his deep run in the U.S.Poker Championships years ago. Also, have a, a teeny, tiny piece of a fellow Richmond Spider Andrew Kelsall who is playing the 50k Players Championship this year. His results last year in the mix events make me very optimistic with his chances. Should be a fun little summer.
<div class="blogger-post-footer">www.gulfcoastpoker.net</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8672845807515460545.post-77939444158081270742018-02-02T09:24:00.003-06:002018-02-02T09:40:56.061-06:00Bets Earned, Bets Paid, cryptocurrency, Rule Nits Wrong, and a Multiverse...Last time I left you with some threads dangling...<br />
<br />
So... I had to get to 202 lbs. I barely made it. Two days before weigh-in I was under. A day before I was over. Morning of... did it. 32 lbs down and bets won.<br />
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Also, the man, the myth, the mega-master Kenny Milam went without his mustachio nor the remainder of his hair and honored his bet. Here's the new Chrome Dome himself.<br />
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Crypto... it's crashing (as I type this). I think it'll be a great time to buy, soon (or already is). Not sure if bitcoin will fall to 5k but it might--if it does jump in with both feet. <br />
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Why? The app Robinhood going to offer the two big crypto coins "fee-less" which will result in a nice short term uptick in both bitcoin and ethereum. Robinhood will not be alone in expanding the potential market for investors. I also think the money moving out and continuing to move out will force the popular Coinbase to add new alt coins sooner rather than later. I like Ripple and a few of the other big ones to get a slot. That should also result in an uptick in those if you pick right. The big problem is if the panic is real and people just desert the concept of alt coins entirely after losing a bit. I don't know how to predict that, this is starting to feel a bit like a bank run, but I still like the coins long term and will hang on to some even if the crash keeps going.<br />
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Okay... on to some new stuff.<br />
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*Keep seeing people posting and complaining about amateurs getting penalties. Allen Kessler recently tweeted just that. There is this groupthink that enforcing penalties on amateurs somehow damages the game. Those that think it are well intentioned but wrong. Two penalties I frequently see mentioned are acting out of turn (or exposing their cards before action is complete) and not betting the nuts on the river.<br />
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You can argue what the severity of the penalty is but the argument that amateurs should be protected from being penalized for making neophyte mistakes is just wrong. One of the planks of this argument is you don't want to embarrass the new guy or chase him away. In fact, that seems to be the overriding rationale for this reasoning. There are better, more self-serving rationales for this argument which I'll get to, but nobody seems to be citing them.<br />
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First, if you want to really protect the amateur you give him the penalty. You press it into his head the importance of his relative hand strength and being able to read the board correctly. This will be the best thing for him as he'll learn from it and maybe not repeat the mistake.<br />
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Second, let's just dismiss the idea completely of scaring the amateur away. It's so patently false, that a guy who makes the commitment to play even his first tournament is simply going to give up, because of the embarrassment of getting a penalty. You chase away exactly zero people. And if I'm wrong and you chase away even 1 person they are so fragile any way something else in that same tournament might have set them off.<br />
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Or worse, in my opinion most times the embarrassment that inevitably would follow when after checking the nuts and NOT getting penalized will be worse for them. There is a minimum 1 in 8 shot there is a smart mouth at the table who will something like "you can never be too careful," and cause everybody else to laugh at him. Eventually he'd figure out why. Fragile ego still quits poker then... and that's far more likely to happen then a guy giving up because he got a penalty.<br />
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Thirdly, I've seen amateurs check the nuts to pretty girls, a guy they've had good conservation with, or a person across the table who has attacked the dude in the Trump Sucks Hat. Then they are surprised they have violated poker rules by colluding or soft-playing. They are unaware that's a thing. Enforcing that rule quickly establishes that is indeed a thing and bad for the rest of the table.<br />
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Now... if all these pros worried about this fragile little amateurs were actually saying the shouldn't be penalized for selfish reasons... i.e. I hope that guy makes that same mistake again... later to me. Fine. If you don't want to educate the amateurs and you get lucky enough that there isn't a smart mouth at the table to embarrass him and the dude wasn't naively trying to collude... okay, I at least understand the logic behind that argument. But don't sell it as looking out for the amateur's interests when it's not.<br />
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I think I've written about this before but another factor for enforcing it is to protect the game is a little more complex, but tie into an issue that I got into it with a high stakes pro at the main event one year. This was about having to show your cards at showdown to win the pot if your opponent mucked. He sanctimoniously lectured me about how information was more valuable then preventing the cheating that doesn't happen. Wow, you don't say Dan... in a game of partial information... information is valuable? Well, to be even more condescending he clarified it was valuable to him and players at his level. The rest of us idiots I guess were just mashing buttons and looking at our hole cards. He's mistaken though.<br />
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Currently, a bunch of Germans at one point almost all backed by the same guy, possibly even on the same bankroll, are dominating the high rollers. Nobody has said they are cheating (and I'm certainly not making that claim), but should they play these small field high stakes events without hole cams and can muck rivers with a hand being shown... how will you protect yourself if they are cheating? You'll never know. Chip dumping is now easy all to protect the partial information exposed of showing your hand.<br />
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Much the same, low stakes games could also attract teams or soft playing friends that now have a loophole to chip dump. Maybe in 7k Main Event fields, okay, this guy has a point, the chance is tiny anybody would exploit the new rule. That said Tim Burt and I have shared Main Event tables two or three times. I like Tim, if we were cheaters or opportunists, and wanted to chip dump or soft play we could have even in one of the most massive fields of the year the opportunity was there... multiple times. <br />
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Rules to protect the game are in place for very good reasons and should be upheld and enforced. You want a guy to have the opportunity to check the nuts or call to the river and muck with no penalty you are only setting yourself up to be cheated. Google poker cheats, or tournament poker cheats, chip dumping, colluding or what have you and there is ample enough reason that amateurs should be penalized and rules strictly enforced even if it means chasing away one or two fragile egos.<br />
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*MULTIVERSE: There is growing evidence our universe is not alone. There is also growing shared opinion that there may not be a finite amount of universes but an infinite number of universes. See if this blows your mind a bit. If there are an infinite amount of universes... everything has or will happen. That means there is some guy who has gotten Aces as his starting hand in hold'em every single hand he's played and he's won with them every single time. What a weird universe that would be. Think Phil Helmuth is annoying imagine Mr. Aces. <br />
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There is also a guy that's won every sportsbet he's made, every trifecta he's picked, and every game of rock paper scissors he's ever shot. There's also a guy who's won every one but one. That had to be an odd feeling right, win 'em all but one?<br />
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Now, to really mess with you. Not only is there "a guy" to do that, that guy is you! Some perfect match of your dna, with your same parents, family, house, who literally can't lose a hand of poker. A version of you who can't lose.<br />
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Even worse not only is there one of you, there are an infinite amount of versions of you who can't lose, because there an infinite amount of universes and an infinite amount of yous.<br />
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Meanwhile, you live in this universe where it seems like the impossible rarely happens (reality stars becoming President aside). Is this a boring place or a great place? What's the record for lightening striking a guy 7? 10? Man, imagine if you were the you that's been hit by lightening and somehow still survived 200 times. 1000 times? That would suck.<br />
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Also, there is a version of you who despite may be being the least athletic guy on the planet has never missed a basketball shot. He's revered as the greatest athlete to ever breathe on that planet yet... only has gotten incredibly lucky every single time he's gotten the ball.<br />
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Conversely, as bad as you run in this universe there is some guy (you) who has only known the pain of getting one outed every single hand of poker he's played. But wait it get's worse... there's another version of you who has never won a bad beat jackpot despite being eligible for it, every single hand you've played. Only to have it overruled by dealer error or some technicality every single time. Oh, yeah not just one of you, an infinite number of you experience this pain.<br />
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In the context of our universe these permutations seem so unrealistic it's hard not to doubt the possibility of an infinite multiverse. But sometimes I guess you just have to accept science with blind faith.<div class="blogger-post-footer">www.gulfcoastpoker.net</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8672845807515460545.post-64979626040061951882018-01-04T11:40:00.001-06:002018-01-05T08:45:04.761-06:00Million Dollar Heater, CryptoCurrency, Weight Loss BetsI'm looking forward to the Beau Rivage's Million Dollar Heater which begins... tomorrow.<br />
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Somewhat fairly well known on the Gulf Coast is Kenny Milam and Charlie Gelvin's annual prop bet decided by the Arkansas-LSU football game. Last year Kenny had to play day one of the re-entry event in a dress. Good sport that he was, he did so. This year the loser (again, Kenny the Arkansas fan) has to shave his entire head. That includes that cigarette and coffee imbued flavor savor of a mustache for Kenny (look at that in all it's glory in the pic) which makes sense as Charlie has, shall we say, a "fuller" head of hair. What will they think of next year? Also, guys, why not throw in the LSU-Arkansas basketball battles for another prop bet?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAL7u06ApvprIYX2obJaE9gWb7FgbQMYHa82I5dPu47KXWHvzhv5SSNs89GOquwulmcsuCFt-QDcou67zbF101pZC5ueeGhxLUkUJkrHbzoc7IWt7fc0U8LLZCgrPEXCPXEy__MIPmCVs0/s1600/KennyMilam.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="514" data-original-width="640" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAL7u06ApvprIYX2obJaE9gWb7FgbQMYHa82I5dPu47KXWHvzhv5SSNs89GOquwulmcsuCFt-QDcou67zbF101pZC5ueeGhxLUkUJkrHbzoc7IWt7fc0U8LLZCgrPEXCPXEy__MIPmCVs0/s320/KennyMilam.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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That's not the only prop bet that will be settled this weekend. Known perhaps only by the participants themselves is a weight loss bet for me. In late October I weighed (a gross!) 232 pounds. I challenged myself to drop 30 lbs by this Saturday. Several people graciously bet against me, to inspire motivation, to see me get healthier, and several also put up personal goals they had to achieve (their own weight loss or playing a set amount of hours of poker). If I don't achieve and they do, I have to pay double, and vice versa. If we all achieve... push. So, obviously I'm rooting for myself, but I'm also rooting for them to make their goals. Of those three in action, pretty sure one is there having played over 200 hours of live poker and another is logging marathon hours (probably as I type this) to get there. I'm unsure of the status of the third a poker/player writer who had to match my weight loss.<br />
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So, eating mostly carb free and suffering (with a sweet tooth) through Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, multiple weddings and birthday parties I'm almost to my goal and done with the suffering. Bringing a scale to the Beau for the weigh-in Saturday.<br />
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I've allowed folks to pay in cryptocurrency (should I win).<br />
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Speaking of Crypto: which like most of the poker community (glad there are so many smart earlier adopters here) I've become heavily involved in (at least mentally). Wish I had the kind of capital to be truly "heavily involved" or crypto rich as others have become. That said, even small investments in this have turned into big ones. It's like the Stock Market in the 1920s (except surging with an extra hit or two of crack cocaine) or the Dutch tulip craze. Consequently, everybody is an expert investor these days (and probably clogging up your social media with all this chatter). Hard not to be "an expert" when Bitcoin is stampeding to a bubble burst (unless it already burst and it's a slow pop from its near high of 20k). So too other cryptocurrencies marching upwards with a ton more new money to come. I've done well with a very modest investment or two. But that could change before I hit publish on this post, so I'm getting ready to pull out some and basically freeroll toward the long term.<br />
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If you want to get involved my facebook feed has some posts about dipping your toe in the water. I recommend Coinbase: <a href="https://www.coinbase.com/join/59146aff2798559a845d3bb3">https://www.coinbase.com/join/59146aff2798559a845d3bb3</a><br />
as a starter platform (Bitcoin, Ethereum (yum), Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash) and using binance <a data-ft="{"tn":"-U"}" data-lynx-mode="async" href="https://www.binance.com/?ref=15613859" rel="noopener nofollow" style="background-color: white; color: #365899; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;" target="_blank">https://www.binance.com/?ref=15613859</a> if you want to play around with alt currencies like Ripple, Iota and everything else. If you click that Coinbase link you'll get an extra $10 of bitcoin when you trade $100 on their site. The $10 I got from them is already worth $100. If you click the binance link I'll get some (micro) commissions on your trade.<br />
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If you already have a coinbase account and want Ripple or another alt currency now sign up to <a href="https://www.binance.com/?ref=15613859" target="_blank">https://www.binance.com/?ref=15613859 </a> and you can shortcut the verification process. Feel free to text or email me if you want some pointers.<br />
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Currently, I'm very happy with Ripple (3x so far since I got in) and had the fortunate and good timing to move some money to it right before Bitcoin and the big coins went on a December swoon. Ripple is doing so well, despite not quite being a true crypto coin, for two reasons. One, South Koreans love it and, two, the ever stronger rumor that Coinbase is soon going to add it to their platform have driven up the price. Not to get too deep into things but Ripple is a token and privately owned so has a different ethos then what's behind the decentralized currency movement of Bitcoin and closer clones of it. They all have unique flaws but there are some advantages of Ripple for an actual use.<br />
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Personally, I'm just trying to ride the pre-Coinbase release wave of excitement as everybody expects it to surge when available to the millions of users on there. It will look like a cheap way to buy a lot of coins. The upside, in my opinion, is limited on Ripple (and that's in comparison to Bitcoin for one reason there is a ton of Ripple tokens out there) but I suspect getting in now people will still be able to make a tidy profit on it.<br />
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<span style="color: red;">UPDATE:</span> <span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Coinbase yesterday released a statement they are not planning to add any new coins imminently. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">This effects Ripple and also Verge (where a rumor was circling twitter/the Internet that it was soon to be added). Personally, I put more stock into the CEO's video answer to the alt coin question late last year where he said they'd be adding more coins in 2018. Also, I think this is in response to people leaving Coinbase in droves to find cheap alt-coins elsewhere. If Coinbase says no new coins people aren't going to leave as much to preemptively buy them which is my strategy. (Not only that, many left after the insider trading scandal of Bitcoin cash where Coinbase employees pre-bought BCH in anticipation of it exploding once they offered it). If anything, I think Coinbase behind the scenes has to be working furiously to get more options/coins on their site. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">The recent Ripple run makes it unlikely with their market cap they won't be in the a future batch, and likely they are the next to be added. Will it be January? Will it be February? Will it be August? I don't know, but Coinbase is losing market share because of a lack of options. I see the statement yesterday as a stopgap and am going to stay with Ripple.</span><br />
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(By no means, am I an expert in this kind of stuff, and as mentioned earlier, in the right Bull conditions even the dumbest of us will make money. And please, only invest money you are able and willing to lose if you do click those links above. This is the definition of a high-risk investment with a lot of dangers that could completely wipe out your investment: government shuts it down, the platforms you trade on getting hacked, you get hacked or some other unknowns, or worse case a digital version of a bank run/panic and you are locked out from getting funds as they dwindle to nothing).<br />
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Long term I'm confident there will still be some (maybe even meteoric) growth in cryptocurrency. I think there is still 10x+ more money to come into this. The next coin I want to research a little more is Monero (spelling?) which seems to have more of the anonymity everyday users might crave.<br />
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Anyway, that's it for now.<br />
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<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">www.gulfcoastpoker.net</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8672845807515460545.post-29931566203990050412017-09-24T06:08:00.001-05:002017-09-25T10:04:49.078-05:00Who is Hurricane27<div class="MsoNormal">
Who is Hurricane27?” <o:p></o:p></div>
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Within the last year, I got asked that question a lot. Make sense I co-own a site devoted to poker on the Gulf Coast, I live outside of New Orleans and suddenly an online account of a player located in Metairie just starts crushing. Also, the community of “crushers” who press buttons is fairly small, somebody should know who this is, but nobody did.<o:p></o:p></div>
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In some ways, I was the right person to ask, but in some ways, I wasn’t. Pre-Black Friday (wow, we’ve been around for a while now) my co-owner Gene D did a much better job keeping up with online accolades than I did. He’d know what TK Miles did on Full Tilt, the Chemist did on Poker Room (?), and would always know if somebody did something on a random Sunday on Stars. But we don't live pre-Black Friday.<o:p></o:p></div>
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These days, I don’t play online so, I’m even less aware of what’s going on at America’s Card Room or Bovada or any other site. That said, all this chatter got me intrigued.<o:p></o:p></div>
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“He came out of nowhere." </div>
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"Nobody knows who he is, how can he be from Metairie and nobody at Harrah's knows who he is? Doesn't make sense." </div>
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"His graph is obscene." </div>
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"Who is Hurricane27?” </div>
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"You know who he is right?"<o:p></o:p></div>
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“….uh, no.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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Wish I could say unmasking Hurricane27 was the result of hard journalistic boot work. We don’t consider ourselves journalists (for good and also obvious reasons) but I guess we do dabble in reporting news and sometimes do present editorials or stories about people. That said, very little "investigative reporting" went into discovering who Hurricane27.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The first tidbit came when Sean Legendre of Metairie cashed at the WSOP this year. In one of the write-ups, it casually dropped his online moniker Hurricane27. Okay… it’s Sean Legendre. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Alright, we had our answer, "Hurricane27 is Sean Legendre."</div>
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That was easy.</div>
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Cue the "Who the **** is Sean Legendre?" questions.<o:p></o:p></div>
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A couple of weeks later I got a late night text after getting back from Vegas. Somehow Sean after spending a summer at the Rio struck up a conversation with a fairly well-known local player at the airport. He spent the summer at the Rio knowing basically nobody, even though down the hall or up a floor or a half a mile away, was a fairly welcoming local community of players on the same journey. He didn't meet the first one until his flight home.</div>
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From there he ended up talking to a couple of fellow minions Chris Canan and Kenny Milam, at the airport and getting a ride home from uber Uber driver himself Charlie Gelvin (a bigger supporter of locals in poker you'll likely never meet).</div>
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Chris and Kenny sent me his name and number and from there I had to talk to Sean. Both said, “Nice, kid.” <o:p></o:p></div>
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"Hurricane27, Sean Legendre is a nice kid."</div>
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Used to be I'd get asked about an online name and in general, they always turned out to be somebody we already knew, or knew of, or was on the cusp of making an impact on the live scene as well. These little mysteries would come and just as quickly go. This time with Sean it’s was a little bit different.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Kids don't just come into poker these days.</div>
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Obviously, the poker landscape is completely different than the heyday. Millenials and kids under 27 aren’t walking into the poker rooms, few of them even gamble at all, fewer of them are taking the necessary steps to get into action into the online games, and even fewer them get good enough to get the attention of the community.<o:p></o:p></div>
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For that reason, Sean is a complete anomaly. He’s a kid. He got started in today's diminished poker online. And he’s very good.<br />
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I set up a meeting with him to do this profile, and after some texts back and forth, his always coming after 3 pm. We met up to have some beers to talk. Well, I had some beers. 7 pm was a little early in Sean’s day for beer. <o:p></o:p></div>
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First off, super nice kid. Humble but confident, gracious and generous, the kind of guy you want to root for and to succeed. I told him how there was this grand mystery in the community about his identity. How people had sent me graphs of him coming out of nowhere. How there were theories popping around about who Hurricane27. Think he must have enjoyed that a community he was unaware of was fully aware of him.<o:p></o:p></div>
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So let’s get into some stats, because most of you, like me, probably don't follow online poker that much. This past summer at the Rio, Sean cashed 9 times in the WSOP. His best cash was in the 1k Online No Limit Hold’em Championship where he finished 7<sup>th</sup> winning just under 30k. Except for a short trip out last year this was basically his first WSOP. Not too shabby.<o:p></o:p></div>
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"Hurricane27’s" stats are even more impressive than Sean's live stats. Pocket Fives credit him with 431k of cashes most of it on America’s Card Room. His biggest score there 61k. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Multiple people have sent me this graph.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC3qljZUJyEJ364zxgBPducz7aEo1KqQ3RUzOnhfvXPw9aZXn_SKz9pj97umIRehVpqljDp3IYOaQb15dCH5pMwoJyo7ovm68vIgs4toXDQMz-rQNJcmB12o4iEfF3lhN2mtZ73IQC4jJK/s1600/Hurricane27+SharkScopeChart.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="415" data-original-width="600" height="221" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC3qljZUJyEJ364zxgBPducz7aEo1KqQ3RUzOnhfvXPw9aZXn_SKz9pj97umIRehVpqljDp3IYOaQb15dCH5pMwoJyo7ovm68vIgs4toXDQMz-rQNJcmB12o4iEfF3lhN2mtZ73IQC4jJK/s320/Hurricane27+SharkScopeChart.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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So… you see how he kind of came out of nowhere. His stats look like Bitcoin.</div>
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Obviously, he has the chops for poker.</div>
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Sean, the anomaly, is just like most of the younger members of our community (though separated by almost a decade). He's been careful to invest a good chunk of his winnings, although he admits sometimes he'll jump into a PLO game and take shots. He enjoys the allure of making his hours and not answering to anybody (sound familiar?). He gets up when he pleases, logs on when he pleases and lives the online lifestyle 2017 version. It’s not quite as easy to print money online but Sean, obviously, kind of does.<o:p></o:p></div>
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He likes to late reg, (why be bothered with all those early levels?), and knows how to navigate a short stack through the large fields. He applied this to live poker too, often getting to the WSOP just minutes before registration closed.</div>
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He says he watches twitch streams passively as a way to learn, but never got into training sites or books. He's mostly self-taught through trial and error. His graphs make it look like something just clicked one day, but he can't pinpoint a moment of understanding or enlightenment. He just got good enough to turn a corner. </div>
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Sean got into the game post black Friday transitioning from play money to real money. He and his friends played when younger but only he actually followed through on figuring out how to put money online and play. One day, he just did it. Despite his relative success none of his friends have followed. After time at LSU as a finance major, he’s seen his friends enter a 9 to 5 world, while he went into a world of 9pm to whenever. He’s played live locally, just a little bit, as he much prefers the online game. <o:p></o:p></div>
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When asked about his game, Sean didn’t mind sharing some of his philosophies. Kind of refreshing as some players are notoriously tight-lipped about what’s working for them. He’s also somewhat atypical in that he makes many of his decisions based on game flow, puts his tournament survival as his first priority and ignores the math a bit. Arguably, of the few players his age playing these days most have that reversed. Math first, survival second. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Some things people do, he won’t even consider. “In live poker, guys get short and just put it in.” Not him. He also mentioned that he doesn’t believe the key to beating an aggro is to just out aggro them. “These guys will get in a pissing contest with you, but you can’t outpiss them.” He certainly knows how to pick his spots and obviously like any skilled player that includes well-timed bluffs.<o:p></o:p></div>
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He plays anywhere from 5 to 10 to 15 hours a week. I asked him his poker goals. Pretty simple. He wants a bracelet. Could care less about the WSOP Circuit or their sky-high juice or their rings. If he was to travel to live events other than the WSOP it would be to somewhere like Barcelona where there are other things to do. <o:p></o:p></div>
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As a child, he was on a 13 and under National Championship basketball team, and like most successful poker players you can see the competitive spirit simmering a bit under his calm exterior. Poker has always been an avenue to channel that and it's probably fair to say that's part of the appeal to Sean.<o:p></o:p></div>
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This past WSOPC event Sean considered late regging at the IP and taking one shot at the Main Event. I texted him on Saturday and said time to get up and come win it. Actually, maybe I said come take second to me. He responded, "You'd be busted by the time I get there but I can't make it today." (Wish he had been able to make it because no way would I busted before he got there.)</div>
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When we talked I asked if he wanted me to include a picture with the write-up or if he preferred to be something of a mystery. He said he might send me one but so far hasn’t. Bad news for those of you reading this. That means you kind of know who Hurricane27 is,but you wont see him coming. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">www.gulfcoastpoker.net</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8672845807515460545.post-44127651393784303422017-08-25T17:32:00.002-05:002017-08-25T17:40:30.748-05:00Bullet Points and a Crazy Hand. What would you do?Lots of things happening right now...<br />
<br />
-Soon, I'll get that Hurricane27 article update. Spoilers: Super nice kid. Not a bot. Owns your soul online. How he found poker is an anomaly. More to come. Soon, I promise. I'll find the time to write it up and do it justice.<br />
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-Wouldn't it be cool to have a GCP.NET Championship? We think so. Hopefully, it can happen... somewhere, sometime, soon (?).<br />
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-About to go Back to the Beau. How can you not love the deeper stacks and better structures the Beau Rivage will offer when they go heads up with the WSOP Circuit event in early September. The pros will be in town chasing points but over at the IP. Methinks I'll be chasing all that money at the Beau. Plus, they got Henry Garrison, Derek Dillman, and Paul Dutsch coming in to help. Great crew there. Think we are pretty lucky as players on the coast with the staffs at the Beau and with what's being put together at Harrah's lately.<br />
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(Who says "Methinks"?)<br />
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-Super proud of a guy I've been coaching Chris Canan's (pictured) deep run in the Main Event. While he didn't call his shot like David Chocheles did (David guaranteed a cash on video and delivered), Chris went the deepest of all the Minions, got some TV time on PokerGo and played like a level headed champ all week! Great job kid! Also, shout out to Jerry Grior's deep Main Event run. He's been on a tear for the last year and a half. Really happy for him and Prissy.<br />
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-Super grateful also to Monkey and all the investors in the Monkey Minions for making the Main Event this year happen for me this year. I'm going to put together (soon) a short wrap up of my critical hands from those three days. <br />
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-Vegas was a lot of fun. Went hiking with Kenny Milam (who killed Kenny? We did, as we were trying to make it to a waterfall atop Mt. Charleston) and Steve Bierman. After Kenny dropped out, a prop bet was made for next year with Steve as he almost killed me too in his assault on the mountain. Crazy 100+ degrees in Vegas and a half hour away we hiked up to the point we could see SNOW. Wow.<br />
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-Pokerwise, it would have been a great summer if 20% got paid. Unfortunately, it's 15% or 10%. I survived 80% of the field in most of what I played and yet had little to show for it. In fact, my abbreviated trip was made even shorter with all the days off around each day of the Main Event. So I barely played half of my package.<br />
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-First time staying in a house. My roommates Jeff, Morgan, Ben, Steve, Chris, all made the short trip better. We had a pool. I didn't get in it. I am stupid. They did and they loved it. A lot better experience than being confined to<br />
the strip.<br />
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-Big Hand. First the background. Guy comes in sloshed, sits down in my cash game on a Wednesday. He's on my left, but I am looking to play any two cards against him. He is kind enough to fold out of turn when he misses the flop and just shove all in when he hits two pair or better. I like him. People are complaining about how slow he's playing. They haven't figured out he shoves we he has it and he's chipped up. I'm just waiting.<br />
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At one point he goes south. I.e. he puts his big chips in his pocket during play. I discreetly tell the dealer, she nods and discreetly gets him to pull the chips out of his pocket. "I didn't know he says."<br />
Five minutes later I take two big pots from him and take all the chips that were on the table and at one point in his pocket, he leaves.<br />
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Saturday he returns. This time he comes to my game "kind of "recognizes me and selects first the seat to my left, then perhaps feeling the deja vu opts instead for the one to my right. Yum? He proceeds to run up his stack (me too). Again, people don't catch on that he's strong when he's shoving. Every once in a while he does it on a bluff and shows and they pay him off every... single... time afterward. Did I mention he was blitzed again? Yeah, well he was.<br />
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We are the two big stacks at the table (can't believe I am still setting the stage) when a new guy sits down and buys in, his first hand is kings and I crack 'em. Angrily he matches my stack. Yes, I probably made a bad turn call but oh well. The very next hand that new guy opens for $10. Folds to the drunk in the small blind.<br />
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The action is halted as the dealer realizes the drunk has sold chips to another new player and taken the cash off the table. While they debate that, I notice his big chips are missing (again). He is coaxed to put the $300 cash on the table. He complies but is irritated about it. I haven't spoken up yet about the chips and before I can somebody reminds him the action is on him, he says "I'm all in." The dealer whips the all in button at him. He and I are at about $1200 effective.<br />
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He looks at the button and drunkenly says what and tosses it back. "I was just joking!" Then he picks up his cards for the first time pulling them to his face and I see plain as day 7-5 offsuit. He's pissed, and does not want to be all in. A debate commences and the dealer says they need to call the floor. At this point, I discreetly (have I really used the word discreetly four times in this one post?) say to the guy, "Where are your big chips?" Probably another $400 to add to the effective stacks---maybe more. He says, "In my pocket. That's not illegal. You can totally do that." I nod. I have yet to look at my hand and think about how I'm going to tell the dealer he's gone south without this guy blowing a gasket. He's already pissed. I decided to look at my cards as we waited for the floor. 8-5. I have him crushed.<br />
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What would you do?<br />
Don't forget the guy that opened that is angry at me has a giant stack too.<br />
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Alright, that my friends is a cliff hanger. Next time I'll tell you (believe me it's anti-climatic) what the end result was.<div class="blogger-post-footer">www.gulfcoastpoker.net</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8672845807515460545.post-19520259685546669482017-06-05T14:10:00.000-05:002017-06-05T14:20:20.625-05:00November None<br />
The November Nine, a great (okay, make that "a pretty good") idea that never lived up to expectations has been killed. Put out of its misery for a lack of interest. Everybody, it seems sighs and says that's just poker's plight these days. A fad, that's come, gone, and now is back to being a niche game. Black Friday! Poker scandals! Blah, blah, blah! Oversaturation! I disagree.<br />
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The truth is the November Nine died, not because of any of those things, but because we let it wither on the vine. And by "we" I mean us poker players who entrusted the WSOP and its broadcasting partners to do what was best for our game and our signature event. Sadly, as usual, when it comes to poker, we put our faith in the wrong people.<br />
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In a better world with ESPN as a broadcasting partner, the following would have happened with a November Nine.<br />
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In the summer nine diverse players, hopefully including a talkative villain/hero (depending on your perspective), a couple of established but little-known pros, occasionally a big name pro playing foil to folksy amateurs would make the November Nine. Eventually (this year please), a woman would make the final table and maybe even the same year she'll win it.<br />
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This cast would then be put through a gauntlet of interviews with ESPN, ABC, and other not so family-centric Disney owned properties or channels. They'd start every year on the Jimmy Kimmel show. All nine of them. Kimmel, of course, would have kept sending his cousin Sal to the Main Event and would be encouraged to up his presence at the tournament. Players would perhaps tire of his hijinx in the Rio hallways or on the felt but accept it as a necessary evil.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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Every year the Jimmy Kimmel show would serve as the unveiling of nine newly minted millionaires. Yet, one of them in a couple of months would win nearly 10x more. Fresh wounds would be scratched. A brash player and social justice warrior could be pitted against each other. The down on his luck gambler suddenly flush would be celebrated. The big name would talk about finally achieving his moment. Writes itself kind of stuff.<br />
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Other networks would see the entertainment of the individuals, and the collective, night one. After a run through Bristol, with guys like Scott Van Pelt tweaking his bad beat segment to include some fresh WSOP content other venues and media would come calling.<br />
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That's a fantasy world you say. No way this would happen! Poker just doesn't have the market for that? Have you been paying attention to ABC/ESPN the last few years and how many properties send their players/athletes/personalities/advocates to do the publicity tour these days? Why not poker. At one point it outdrew major sports on ESPN and was everywhere. People point to the overkill as part of the problem and the lack of consistent stars and figures, but the November Nine solved those problems.<br />
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You have a couple of months to meet the cast of the best reality show on TV. (Btw, there's a short list of great reality shows in TV history, number one is Chris Moneymaker winning the Main Event, a couple of seasons of Survivor and maybe this current season of Celebrity Apprentice playing out on all the cable news networks). And you'd be pulled back into caring in November. Maybe a big follow-up event would pop up just after the Super Bowl with many of the same players and then start the cycle again every summer.<br />
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People would be talking about poker and the value of a delayed final table would start to be realized.<br />
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The week before the climatic final table, long after interest has waned, Jimmy Kimmel would have some or all the players back. ESPN's coverage would reignite full steam and there would be a countdown to an actual event.<br />
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Let's be honest we aren't talking wall to wall coverage, we are talking minutes, short segments, and promotional opportunities and fillers marketing the property. Almost meaningless to Disney itself but immeasurably valuable to the WSOP and therefore Disney. Those casual fans who turned ofTVs might start watching it and treating it like the event it was meant to be.<br />
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Rather than deflate the Main Event (which some might argue it has) this kind of partnership could have grown the game. Kimmel is obviously forced to do much more for shows like the Bachelor or the Bachelorette or Dancing With the Stars... here he'd get something out of it. His Vegas background makes him a perfect fit to steward the game into the mainstream.<br />
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In that better world, this year, years removed from the first November Nine we should be debating whether or not this media blitz cheapens the event or ask if it's fair to the players to have to do days of promotions or go to Bristol days before playing for millions. Those are the questions we should be asking, yet as it is we are looking at the November Nine folding quietly and thinking of reasons why that could somehow be good for the game.<br />
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It's not.<br />
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Unfortunately, the idea had its merit but was poorly executed. It's almost like they thought these things could happen but nobody went out there and made them happen. Nobody sold Kimmel, ESPN, ABC on any of the ideas, How hard would it be to get a good segment out of putting nine new millionaires on a talk show and playing them off one another. Poking a little fun at them but stoking interest at the same time.<br />
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Even worse, for personal reasons, the lack of a November Nine is a bit of a dream killer to many. Anybody who has played the game aspires to have that seven-day run-good and then have a couple of months to plan an elaborate live viewing party in Vegas for family and friends. That opportunity won't happen anymore. There won't be thirty people in the same shirt partying behind their friend playing for millions. This year, those with friends at home will likely have them watch from TV as real world responsibilities aren't so easily shaken with two days notice. That experience is gone.<br />
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The death of the November Nine should be treated as BAD for poker. The live streaming starting again this year, while great isn't an either or situation. Nobody said you can keep the November Nine or we'll live stream the Main Event--pick one.<br />
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The idea behind the November Nine still has merit, but the vision of the people managing the concept doesn't.<br />
.<div class="blogger-post-footer">www.gulfcoastpoker.net</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8672845807515460545.post-85629524214265647812017-03-28T14:59:00.003-05:002017-03-28T14:59:47.075-05:00Videos...Three videos I enjoyed recently.<br />
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First the pain of fandom. Funny if you aren't a Kentucky fan, but heartbreaking if you are:<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0t9GjtO4rCk" width="560"></iframe>
Second, this kid is just the truth. Not sure if you don't play or follow soccer if you can see how good he is in these clips or if it's just patently obvious. To me, it's incredible to see how soft his touch is on the ball, the perfect weight on his passes, the vision of a point guard at times coupled with the accuracy of a QB threading a needle. There are glimpses of Messi like greatness. And he's 18. And he's American playing against full grown men, but already the best player on the field for his national team. He makes a handful of mistakes in this video as all pros do, but when he's on it's a thing beauty. I never "got" baseball, so I'm sure a compilation video of Greg Maddux painting the corners of the plate would be somewhat lost on me, but then again sometimes when people are really good at what they do, you don't need to understand to see it. Curious, if that's true yet for this kid for anybody that doesn't like soccer or doesn't get it?<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/I7jH2hDSxFE" width="560"></iframe> <br />
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Third, I'm a big fan of this lady. Her son starred for Richmond this year, amassed two triple doubles, earned honorable mention All-American, and is about as quality a kid as you can find. Humble, hard working, earnest, friendly, thoughtful, he's the total package. His mom is maybe the GOAT in women's basketball. Now she's pursuing coaching in men's basketball and this a good profile on her. She came on during a Richmond game and gave some analysis, the level of it and the nuance with which she spoke made the normal analyst sound sophomoric. I'm all about breaking barriers and I think one day she'll succeed as a head coach in the NBA. By the way, she played in a men's pro league when she was young, she also was a globetrotter (TJ's father a Washington General), and she'd be a much bigger name if they had the WNBA when she was young:<br />
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Have to follow a link for this one:<br />
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https://www.popsugar.com/celebrity/Nancy-Lieberman-One-First-Female-NBA-Coaches-41944032<br />
<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">www.gulfcoastpoker.net</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8672845807515460545.post-88274698667184160272017-03-07T10:56:00.000-06:002017-03-07T10:56:06.505-06:00 Disney WorldIt's been a hectic year. Somehow worked in a family vacation to Disney World. <br />
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Some thoughts that might piss off Disneyphiles. My apologies for besmirching the mouse but...<br />
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1.<span style="background-color: #f5f6f5;"> In most ways, Disney World is still just awesome. My youngest is a die hard Indiana Jones fan. He's three but like all my kids spends a ton of time with his Pappy who has introduced them to King Kong, Fred Astaire, Star Wars, and Indiana Jones. So he sports an Indiana Jones hat around the house and would wear, every day if he could, the costume that hat goes with it that my eldest son wore one Halloween. He doesn't speak too much but will randomly quote obscure quotes from the movie. Usually, it takes a while to figure out what things like "Nice try, Lao Chiang!" are in reference too. So... obviously, we went to the Indiana Jones show at Hollywood studios. Yeah, that's a moment that will resonate a long time, him on the edge of seat spellbound. After the show, he starts screaming across that giant outdoor theater "Innnnana Jones, Innnnana Jones, Innnana Jones!" How could we not walk down and try and talk to the actor? </span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioW7Y0RrclXOqwZxweunbA6ryUBwBKHogRLjRR7mRoKcPv3B4bzRJfCXH4XiHyLPWUPQ7PZb2tCXQ8qxob92UEgU_FOTtS7JqQk1ycC2c75ZwLOPvP2g-RpLRfx7iwS0rOJZ77Xds5n-mm/s1600/Indiana+Jones.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioW7Y0RrclXOqwZxweunbA6ryUBwBKHogRLjRR7mRoKcPv3B4bzRJfCXH4XiHyLPWUPQ7PZb2tCXQ8qxob92UEgU_FOTtS7JqQk1ycC2c75ZwLOPvP2g-RpLRfx7iwS0rOJZ77Xds5n-mm/s320/Indiana+Jones.jpg" width="240" /></a><span style="background-color: #f5f6f5;"></span><br />
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In his magical moment, he got to meet "him." Very cool. 3-year-olds have very weird reactions. Most of the time he just looked around like with his mouth open. You wonder are they having fun, are they scared, what's going through their head. Then you ask him, and he says wide-eyed "Yes!" When you think about tt's just one big mind-blowing experience after another compared to their everyday world. Furry costumed cartoon characters dancing with you, rides going backward, things popping out at you, just one surreal thing after another. I'd never do acid, but I imagine to a three-year-old a trip to Disney is like a strange trip. <br />
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My other kids had their awesome moments too. My daughter hugging Minne Mouse, dressing as Snow White and getting called Princess everywhere, and riding frozen. My eldest discovering he loves thrill rides like Expedition Everest. Riding splash<br />
mountain with glee and laughing at the first timers near us like a seasoned vet (on ride #2 of his life).<br />
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2. In a non-cute observation. It's amazing how often people fart. Disney is crowded and it's close quarters but it seemed we were never more than 10 minutes away from getting fertilized. Gross. I know. Think how the little people feel. As we were trekking around Epcot I pitied my kids. You'd think Disney would figure out a way to kill all those international farts with some sort of secret Febreeze. Then again farts may be silent but healthy: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2687696/Could-smelling-farts-GOOD-Potent-gas-flatulence-help-prevent-cancer-strokes-heart-attacks-claims-scientists.html<br />
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3. Yeah, there's a study for everything. Guess with all that fart sniffing I should be in tip-top shape, but we can't seem to visit Disney world without picking up some sort of ruthless virus either. All my kids went midway through their dosing of antibiotics for Strep (not contagious) out and somehow I still have one sick with something else (yes... I know antibiotics do nothing for viruses).<br />
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4. In some ways, Disney is bad and getting worse. Lots of people there just giving out wrong information. Used to be it'd be their mission to get it right. Now, it's whatever. Disney transportation employees told us no fewer than four times the absolute wrong thing about how to get around, that cost us on average an hour of park time a day. Always said with absolute confidence and assuredness. With three little ones, constant movement is important, so unplanned hiccups can turn a day south quickly. <br />
"Yes, take this bus to get back to your resort." BUT... That bus kind of doesn't exist anymore (or maybe doesn't run midweek?) and at least two or three employees walked by us waiting for a bus that would never come. Only after we finally asked someone else and they looked at us like we were crazy for being there did we get directed to the right place. Once we were told, "Come in go through security and ride the monorail it's the fastest way!" We do all that and meanwhile, the monorail has been down all day. So, instead of spending all that time in line checking bags, tickets we could have walked directly to a bus. "A bus will pick you up here," Nope, there's only a ferry running. Other buses will come but never ours! One time, a driver went out of the way to tell us the bus number we needed to take for the ride back. How helpful. Hours later we did as instructed and rode it. At the only stop (not ours) everybody got off. The bus driver looked at us still there. We're headed to X. "Oh yeah, I'm not." We explained what happened... and here is an example of a Disney employee doing what they all used to do... she drove us 10 minutes out of her way to where we needed to go. <br />
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5. That bus driver, unfortunately was more the exception. The sole of Disney is gone. Guess, we all knew it passed with Walt--which is old news. Yes, everything used to be about the experience but now it's totally corporate. However, a recent development is that the veneer of it being about the experience which they still peddle to the masses is sometimes not even faked anymore. It's all about the churn now and they are more overt about grinding those extra dollars. <br />
Numerous examples, at every turn almost but I don't want to be just complaining about the trip. Because on the whole it's still awesome and there are still more employees that are in it for the kid's smiles and making that experience the best it can be even if restrained by the pressures of the corporation above.<br />
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6. Suggestion, if a three-year-old can't ride anything if he's under 40 inches, don't base the tickets on age but base them on height. Seems fair. <br />
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7. The first thing we did on our drive home, was list all the "cheat" codes we figured out for navigating the park with fast passes lines and rides. Which might be wasted effort as they'll change everything again. By the end of the week, we had a system down, too bad for all the waiting we had to do in the learning process. Anybody going soon email me for tips and I'll hook you up from the start.<br />
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<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">www.gulfcoastpoker.net</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8672845807515460545.post-69980943550275924082017-02-10T10:55:00.001-06:002017-02-10T11:28:25.775-06:00Run Good, Run Bad!Just want to say a big congrats to all the locals who kicked butt at the Beau Rivage Million Dollar Heater and the just recently completed Boomtown HPT event. Nice to see some of the good guys run good.<br />
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First and foremost, my partner Gene D went deep at Boomtown despite being deathly ill the morning of day two. Great result for a class act. He earned that one, and faded the bubble breaking with an all in at the same moment as the eventual bubble boy Maurice Hawkins go it in.<br />
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Jeff Sager went deep at the HPT, somehow holding late on Day two when he got it in with Pocket Kings and was called by I think Queen Jack? Good for him. Big Phil is a regular at the Harrahs weeklies and bar tournaments and he confesses to being on fire right now. Great for him. He's playing well too. Saw it first hand at Boomtown where he kept applying the pressure. I know he bluffed me off at least one hand.<br />
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Chris Canan pounded the satellites at Boomtown time and time again. He was really keyed into those events. Steve Bierman took down a Seniors event before letting somebody else win something as he went skiing in Utah. Hiep Doan continues to climb the ranks of Louisiana's all time money list and has proven definitely he deserves his results because he keeps producing.<br />
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Jerry Giroir couldn't stop cashing at the Beau Rivage. Another trend that doesn't seem to be abating. Well done Jerry and to Prissy too who was having success. Seems only a matter of time before he runs good enough to get another outright win. Also, shout out to Ronnie Hope who's crushing too and coming back with chips in the bag at the Scarlet Pearl.<br />
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Unfortunately, I did not have any results to join them in tournaments. If every tournament offered a free seat to their next event for the bubble boy like the WSOP Main Event does, then I would be stock piling buy-ins. I've grossly been the bubble boy or one off it at least 10 times the last couple of months.<br />
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It's gotten to the point, where if I get it in good with a dominating hand and my opponent holds a queen I expect the worst. Here's a recent couple of hands for me to bitch about (which are representative of ton of unbelievable hands in criticals spots) as the bubble neared on one tournament. Short stack shoves preflop, I raise with JJ to isolate. I get a caller from the blinds. Flop comes 9 high. He checks I push. He calls off with QJ (queen high) saying it's best hand he's seen all day and he can't fold now (?). Short stack reveals Queen Three. Normally, I'd like my chances. After a queen fell to lose me the pot (and triple up the short stack who also hit his three), a couple of hands later I get it in with AQ (me) v. KQ to bust on the bubble.<br />
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Everybody has bad runs or bad beats, just need to weather the storm, but it's so weird how these things happen in repeating patterns even though I know it's all random. Makes it even more frustrating. I hold QQ them QJ. I push them chips. I'm looking forward to take a break after this weekend until probably after my family trip to Disney. I feel like the bad beats and bubbles have compounded to me contemplate playing poorly and impatiently too. Or at least the urge to play poorly and impatiently is now there. That's not a good thing. Also, I hear myself complaining about the bad run and bad beats. Nobody likes complainers ergo I don't like me (as I'm devoting part of my blog to this double the self-hate :) ). I also hate that the loudest groans in the tournament area of late are usually just after I play a hand and they get there in harsh fashion.<br />
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Before I take a few weeks off, I will check out the Scarlet Pearl's latest quarterly event.<br />
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I hope you are run better than me.<div class="blogger-post-footer">www.gulfcoastpoker.net</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8672845807515460545.post-26702355608941433352017-01-01T15:21:00.000-06:002017-01-02T09:57:25.271-06:00Boomtown! Fan Fire! Heater! Spoilers!<a href="http://www.halloweenneworleans.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Boomtown_NO_Logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="181" src="https://www.halloweenneworleans.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Boomtown_NO_Logo.jpg" width="320" /></a>As always since this is first a poker blog let's start with poker. first.<br />
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Boom!<br />
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Finally, there is another option for tournament poker players in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. Have heard great things about the Heartland Poker Tour. Will get to see it firsthand at the end of the month. 100k guarantee on the reentry event, an 1100 Main Event with multiple flights, and lots of ways to get into all the tournaments cheaply through single and multi-table events. Big update on the front page of www.gulfcoastpoker.net.<br />
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Heater!<br />
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Going to the Beau. I still have yet to put together my package. A lot of folks are rolled over into it. And a number of ya'll have asked me for details. I think I should get it done by Monday Night.<br />
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My buddy Kenny will be wearing a dress for Flight A because he lost a bet.<br />
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You better believe I will be there for that. Especially, because things seem a little tense between him and his good buddy Charlie who he made the bet with.<br />
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FAN FIRE!<br />
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So I finally tried out this App which allows you to win tokens and use those tokens for prizes. Pretty cool format. I played it for two NFL Games, Cowboys-Eagles and Saints-Falcons. <br />
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<a href="https://us-mg6.mail.yahoo.com/ya/download?mid=2%5f0%5f0%5f1%5f1%5fAGAaDUwAOFXIWGls9gOpgHT3WVU&m=YaDownload&pid=2&fid=Inbox&inline=1&appid=YahooMailNeo&uploadId=U2NyZWVuc2hvdF8yMDE3MDEwMS0xMjA5MDEucG5n" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://us-mg6.mail.yahoo.com/ya/download?mid=2%5f0%5f0%5f1%5f1%5fAGAaDUwAOFXIWGls9gOpgHT3WVU&m=YaDownload&pid=2&fid=Inbox&inline=1&appid=YahooMailNeo&uploadId=U2NyZWVuc2hvdF8yMDE3MDEwMS0xMjA5MDEucG5n" width="225" /></a>Positives: it complemented the game I was watching without getting in the way. Before the game you answer about 10 questions regarding the outcome. Quick to do. Then every change of possession it gives you about four choices on possible outcomes for the resulting drive. Had fun predicting the plays. Very easy to click through. Set it up with a couple of friends and maybe we did a little something to make it more interesting on the side. Definitely will play again. Think it enhances games you are watching but maybe are not that into. Also don't think it takes away from games you are really invested in emotionally.<br />
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Negatives: You can't edit your picks. No misclicks. Also, some of the questions are almost misleading. I answered that I thought the Dallas running backs would get x amount of yards for the game. I assumed it was rushing yards, but the category was receiving. <br />
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Also, it's important (if you are making it interesting with friends) to actually watch the games. Sometimes if there is a quick change of possession, the app alerts you to four new questions, and you don't know where a team is on the field making some questions hard to answer. In the Saints game, after a recovered onsides kick the questions steered for the Falcons drive applied to the Saints (silly because totally different intentions). <br />
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I found this at the end of the football season. Wish I had more time to play with it. That said, I'm sure it'll be up during the playoff games. Maybe I'll play while at the Heater. Still don't quite understand how the tokens and prizes work. If you'd like to join me in a league please use this code to sign up https://www.firefan.com/?code=Wildbillgcp<br />
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Spoilers!<br />
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So, went to the cinema with my son. The ticket taker, despite our best efforts to not know what happened in the Star Wars movie, promptly, politely and cheerfully asked if we knew the ending was going to be...xxxxxxxxx..... Then she mentioned another piece of information to spoil it even more.<br />
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Delicious! A bit like turning on a game and in the pregame Bob Costas tell you which team won't catch a hail mary at the end to lose.<br />
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Why watch the movie when I can have a 18 year old's two sentence synopsis. I looked at her like she was crazy completely dumbfounded she would say that. <br />
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Sure enough everything she said would happen... happened. <br />
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Think that should be a fireable offense or at least an instant refund on the ticket.<br />
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Anybody from AMC theaters read this blog? Shoot me some free tickets.<br />
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Holidays!<br />
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I hope everybody had a great end of the year. Had a lot of fun milking the last of the magic out of Christmas. Don't know how many years left I still have with all my children believing in the elves from the North. Have enough older friends telling me to soak up every moment because it's so fleeting, so trying to, still time moves faster for all us.<br />
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Exclamation Points!<br />
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I have a daily limit of one. I'm a little over that. When somebody gave me good news recently, I noticed I got a little out of hand with them. What am I, a sophomore who just got her learner's permit? Will try to not use any for January! I meant January.<br />
<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">www.gulfcoastpoker.net</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8672845807515460545.post-1199487847574942382016-10-06T12:03:00.003-05:002016-10-06T12:16:05.706-05:00Students crushing it.I should probably piece together the emails I sent to my investors for the WSOP and my summer. Some good nuggets in there that are not here. Wow, I'm really behind in updating.<br />
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Fast forward to this past month where I played the Beau and the IP. I want to give a quick shout-out to both staffs, for carefully planning two series at once that I think helped each other out rather than competed to the detriment of the other. Genius of Henry Garrison, Paul Dutsch and the decision-makers at the Beau to stagger their re-entry event and Main Event with the IP's. Personally, I think having these tournaments at the same time can draw better than having them back to back. I know this year scheduling kind of forced both casinos in the same slot. However, if possible with a little coordination and co-operation (which I realize could be more difficult then it was this year going forward) they could both really benefit. It's not unrealistic to think two big events at once could make Biloxi the center of the national poker scene for a week and half. <br />
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Personally, I had a pretty disappointing week going deep in a lot of events, bubbling way too many (Grrrrrrrr) and min-cashing other events. I chopped a nightly, won a mega but it felt like I was step or hand away from a lot more. The min-cash in the Beau Rivage Main event smarted for a couple of reasons. For one, a guy I'm helping out entered the final day of the IP Main Event. I wanted to earn more than him ( :) but didn't come close) and more importantly I wanted to sweat him as he chased glory And, for two, a min-cash always sucks especially with the big payouts are only a table away. <br />
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Speaking of others... What a week it was for the guys I'm coaching/helping out with their games.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWSzyV-wbds4NHZFEKWz1OzubtBXRJrinasuSJMbJGvmZWPrvmmbRPxzxKempyVoPI6kO3nuMEOyZv_Qalnz8ofv8UJBwp_b8XnR-z4E9LluTSB2Hz1WQeI2idR1q72eLYD0ZvV_AmD82G/s1600/Steve+Bierman+Wild+Bill+Jeff+S+MDH16.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWSzyV-wbds4NHZFEKWz1OzubtBXRJrinasuSJMbJGvmZWPrvmmbRPxzxKempyVoPI6kO3nuMEOyZv_Qalnz8ofv8UJBwp_b8XnR-z4E9LluTSB2Hz1WQeI2idR1q72eLYD0ZvV_AmD82G/s320/Steve+Bierman+Wild+Bill+Jeff+S+MDH16.jpg" width="320" /></a>First off, Steve Bierman, a voracious learner, who only cares about getting better and better and better. I can't be more proud of the dude as he navigated a really tough final day at the IP Main Event to get the biggest score of his life over 70k! Not only that he came in with a final table strategy and executed it perfectly to have a shot at the ring and all the glory. Great job, Steve!<br />
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Here we are celebrating Steve's previous biggest score in January of this year at the Beau with Jeff Sager. Guy's won what over 100k this year? Still two months to go.<br />
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This time, Ben Saxton and Joe Hebert joined us for the drinks to salute Steve's win. Bricks of cash might have been gratuitously on show at one point. At least Steve didn't leave them in the bar as he did with his check in January (shout out to Mack Trelles for running him down that time).<br />
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Steve won a lot of money, but the other guy I'm helping out with Chris Canan, pictured below, won his first two tournaments to start the week and finished 5th in a turbo at the end of the week. Chris, is also a really hard worker, and is constantly looking for improvement.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiShUGk9qS35urp4r5oDV3SjJqse4YXfifpGb53JRcL802VDwJ1ocyUM6YiHujcaBT-RMukzG0EzELqbb-K1pn4gUhj_aybWk-R27zRChfv18XR8JBNYb1v-Ix22phXJ30ecEiX0RURuj-9/s1600/Chris+Canan+GCP16.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiShUGk9qS35urp4r5oDV3SjJqse4YXfifpGb53JRcL802VDwJ1ocyUM6YiHujcaBT-RMukzG0EzELqbb-K1pn4gUhj_aybWk-R27zRChfv18XR8JBNYb1v-Ix22phXJ30ecEiX0RURuj-9/s320/Chris+Canan+GCP16.jpg" width="240" /></a>As much as I'd like to take some credit for either one of these guys improvement, truth is both these guys are responsible for their own success. They work hard, constantly think about the game, constantly tweak their games, and want to improve every aspect of the way they approach poker. They have questions and we collaborate to get the answers. Inspiring the way their hard work and improvements have turned into results. Been fun, seeing all the milestones they've hit. Chris got his first WSOP cash this year too. And Steve is becoming a bit of a WSOP-C beast.<br />
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This week Steve told me he has his eyes set on passing me in the Hendon Mob results and that he'll do it sooner rather than later. I used to not care all that much about those rankings, but since learning that Steve and friend Kenny Milam are aware of the comings and goings of these metrics I also now pay a lot more attention to them. I kind of I hope he and Chris do pass me. The sooner the better as long as they preferably finish behind me in the tournaments we play together. By all means win everything I'm not in.<br />
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Alright enough bragging about other people. Going forward, there is a Pearl River event at the end of the month. I love that their main event only has a $50 juice out of the $800 buy-in and that the casino and the staff are really trying to make everything as player friendly as possible. Gene D, and I will be back there. Got to cash higher than Steve and Chris in those events after all.<br />
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Oh, and this week I plan on making it through the Scarlett Pearls Big Slick Open on one bullet and winning it. Don't know if that'll make Hendon Mob, but if I do it, Steve can rest assured I'll send those guys an email about it. <br />
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Also, big shout out to all the people who did well in Biloxi too many friends to mention here (see www.gulfcoastpoker.net). And for those that did't do well but I had the pleasure of seeing again. Never let it be said, there aren't good people in poker. Most of the people I know are great folks.<br />
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Speaking of which, one of my investors, who is super nice (even puts up with my other side of the political spectrum views) is going through a rough patch after a loved one suffered a terrible auto accident. My prayers and thoughts are with her. If you do pray, take a moment and include L.K. and her family in yours when you get a chance. <div class="blogger-post-footer">www.gulfcoastpoker.net</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8672845807515460545.post-48394707320380140072016-07-12T15:29:00.000-05:002016-07-12T15:29:36.955-05:00Red Rock Day Off Trip Photo EssaySo, feeling like this after I busted the Main Event:<br />
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I decided to go touch the mountains, that for the last few years I've only looked at from the windows of the Rio, way off in the distance under a haze.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHx2_OUlPW7YV0XCRDj4aSTGQYNWgem9I5i0lMmCiY3U7vHxA-PyRcxmIldx6F2dc4PdEFhzE1jfLz3L6CJ8VnNuzouKR0Atjz-g2GBR5VEo3qpm1YJixVoBFKsc_rJ7l4ns6-0zoPnN46/s1600/Rio+Mountains.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHx2_OUlPW7YV0XCRDj4aSTGQYNWgem9I5i0lMmCiY3U7vHxA-PyRcxmIldx6F2dc4PdEFhzE1jfLz3L6CJ8VnNuzouKR0Atjz-g2GBR5VEo3qpm1YJixVoBFKsc_rJ7l4ns6-0zoPnN46/s640/Rio+Mountains.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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We headed to the Red Rock Mountains. So named because the iron in the rocks have oxidized red.<br />
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Red.<br />
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Went Hiking.<br />
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In and around the mountains.<br />
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Saw some big vistas.<br />
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And little critters:<br />
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Little Hands:<br />
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Plant life:<br />
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Hidden streams:<br />
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Natural Monoliths:<br />
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Trees:<br />
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Trees:<br />
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Trees:<br />
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Big Critters:<br />
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Teeny, tiny, hidden chip 'n dale critters (look by the tree):<br />
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Sunbathers:<br />
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Mine shafts:<br />
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People:<br />
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Lichen:<br />
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Old West balconies:<br />
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Melting Mountains:<br />
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Mining Towns:<br />
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Old Wagons:<br />
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More ranges:<br />
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Soaring Opera:<br />
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Quick Nevada Wedding Chapels:<br />
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Quick Nevada Burials:<br />
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<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">www.gulfcoastpoker.net</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8672845807515460545.post-33287311659851662122016-07-11T14:47:00.001-05:002016-07-12T13:39:43.095-05:00Main Event Blood BathAt the Cabana at Mandalay the day before Monkey and I were talking about how bad you'd have to run to bust the Main Event early. I said I'd need a lot of coolers/bad beats. Maybe three or four massive ones. Don't tempt the poker gods with hubris. They showed me exactly how many I'd need to run through a 50k starting stack.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.reviewjournal.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/media/1003991524%2520WSOP_FINAL_111015cs_034_0.JPG?itok=7vKHHbmH" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="215" src="https://www.reviewjournal.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/media/1003991524%2520WSOP_FINAL_111015cs_034_0.JPG?itok=7vKHHbmH" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This will not be me this year.</td></tr>
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( Another bit of hubris, I've had friends post hand histories usually turning monster stacks into crumbs late in a tournament, and I admit I suspected they were somewhat made up or at least exaggerated. Part of me just didn't believe they could run so bad. Well, now I'll believe anything. This run bad may sound unbelievable but I did live it. Just gross).<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I had to Curb My Enthusiasm</td></tr>
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<br />
What a day. Crushing spiritually. Kept saying this will turn-- it has to turn. And part of me loves running bad early, because if I survive, and I keep surviving the potential is there to run great late. And this story will only be more epic. Been short plenty of times and turn crumbs into cash so I stayed positive, but it didn't matter. Rationally, I only don't like a couple of spots and lines in the following hhs. Feel free to be critical. If I made mistakes you'll see them..<br />
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I just want to say thank you to all the support and belief by the investors the last couple of years. Many of you have said things privately or in DMs that have made me treasure the experience. So as a thank you, if you don't like being cornered in the Rio by a guy telling bad beat stories, turn away now!<br />
<br />
Anyway if you enjoy torture, my hand histories in Main Event from Hell are all here for your displeasure:<br />
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1. Second hand two red aces. (SECOND HAND!) Old man utg +1 raises. He seems confident. YUM! Folds to me on button. I raise. He 4 bets. I tank. He looks like he's never folding.<br />
In my head, I can see he's prepared to make the trip home and say I lost with two kings on day 1. YUM.<br />
<br />
I want to give him that story. However, I think prudent play is to let the board run out (he's never folding). And blast away the river if it looks clean. I will not pay him off if he makes a set and will be a little cautious if a Queen hits though I'm fairly sure he has only KK or somewhat less likely the other two Aces<br />
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Flop Jack high. He checks. Okay check behind for now (HE'S NEVER FOLDING I'M NOT LOSING VALUE). Turn a third spade. He bets. Okay. (No spade, no spade, no spade about to bet at least half my 50k stack... on river) then a spade.<br />
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He checks. Ugh. I... check. He says those four spades killed his action. HE WAS NEVER FOLDING... what an optimal scenario had he not had... two black kings. Seccond nuts and he checks. Well, I know I like this table.<br />
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2. Run QQ into AA. Fun. Board saves me this time.<br />
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3. KK into 1010. Old guy opens. I three bet he calls. Flop is Jack high. He checks. I bet. He raises. Arguably I could have found fold here. Turn brick. He lessens his bet. Odd. Call. River another small bet. Call. Set of tens.<br />
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4. Ak. Bet two callers. Flop King. Bet. One caller. Turn 5. Bet called. River brick. Bet called. He shows set of 5s.<br />
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Did I mention I loved my table ... literally as you can see they want to keep me around and not get any value for their hands. Just needed an uptick in luck.<br />
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5. K10 suited on button with a limper. I bet, limper calls. King high flop. I bet he calls. Turn is brick. I bet big he calls. River is an Ace. He checks (again). This time I check. He shows A6.<br />
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6. I have AK raise a limper. He and a blind calls. Flop is King high. Limper donk bets, I raise, blind folds and limper calls my bet. Turn puts three diamonds on board. He check calls my bet. River four flushes. I don't have diamond. He checks. I turn AK into in a bluff. He snaps calls with pocket 6s and the six of diamonds. Ugh... what?<br />
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7. I have Ad9d on button. One limper. I raise. SB calls. Limper calls. Flop is Ace high. Check, check. I bet. SB calls. Limper folds. Turn puts two diamonds out there. SB checks. I bet... really want to hit flush. He calls. Brick flush. River air ball. He checks. I... check. He flips AK. Unbelievable.<br />
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Did I mention I love my table. What's not to love about these guys?<br />
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8. I have AsQs in sb. Limps to me. I raise. BB calls. Limper calls. Flop is two spades but also two sevens. Bet call call. Queen ball turn. I bet fairly large. Blind folds. Limper calls. River is a 4 of spades. I bet with Ace high flush. Limper raises small. I just laugh and just call. He has pocket fours of course he does. WTF!<br />
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9. 5d6d in bb just a limper. Check my option. Flop 7d4xKd. I bet. He calls. Turn brick I bet he calls. River a brick (of course). I feel he has a weak king at best but most likely a smaller pair. I bet stiffly. He snap calls. *He had also shown an ability to call two streets and then fold river. Otherwise I don't try.<br />
<br />
Btw, I wrote these hands in different places on social media and texts so some may be out of order.<br />
<br />
10. AQ in SB. Two limpers. Raise. Call. Call. 9 high flop. I cbet both call. Turn a six. I'm done. Check. Bet. Bet. (i fold). River brick. Bet call. They both turn over 96 o/s to chop with two pair.<br />
<br />
Really, really? Can this be happening. How can I have the greatest table ever and run like this. Limp, calling with 96 off suit. Share outs and hit both their cards. Huh?<br />
<br />
11. Short stacked. I'm at 10 bigs. (blinds 150 to 300). Guy makes it 750. I shove for 3200. He... folds. What? What?<br />
<br />
I have? Two red aces again. I show table. They are laughing at how bad I'm running. Of course you have Aces when a guy makes a terrible fold with 60k in front of him. Even the guy that I kind of made a rival (by stealing from him the few pots I actually won) is sympathetic. They discuss how bad it is to run so bad in the Main Event.<br />
<br />
12. Bust out hand. Suited A9 on button. Shove. SB calls with 88. Okay, not bad. Flop is KQ10. Not terrible, any Jack, any 9, any Ace. Turns is a king. Wow. Facecard, facecard, facecard... River is a... the final tease. A face card. But one of the two that don't work. King ball. Good game me.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://scontent.flas1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/t31.0-8/13580598_10210340870623871_9115765616159718806_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://scontent.flas1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/t31.0-8/13580598_10210340870623871_9115765616159718806_o.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Let's go team!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
I'm playing a couple of bullets in the one drop. And will be supporting/railing my friends and fellow minions still in the Main. Congrats to Laura Crafton, Gene D, and Robert Harwell for making it through. Also, a huge thanks to all the investors, and Monkey for putting me in and believing in me again. Pretty crushed for you guys that I'm out so early. I'm so grateful for the opportunity as well as all the wonderful people I've met or become social media friends with through this. I think those still repping us are all class acts and easy to root for, Let's go Minions!<br />
<br />
<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">www.gulfcoastpoker.net</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8672845807515460545.post-20455012073958878342016-07-11T14:47:00.000-05:002016-07-11T15:01:46.758-05:00Main Event Blood BathAt the Cabana at Mandalay the day before Monkey and I were talking about how bad you'd have to run to bust the Main Event early. I said I'd need a lot of coolers/bad beats. Maybe three or four massive ones. Don't tempt the poker gods with hubris. They showed me exactly how many I'd need to run through a 50k starting stack.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This will not be me this year.</td></tr>
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<br />
( Another bit of hubris, I've had friends post hand histories usually turning monster stacks into crumbs late in a tournament, and I admit I suspected they were somewhat made up or at least exaggerated. Part of me just didn't believe they could run so bad. Well, now I'll believe anything. This run bad may sound unbelievable but I did live it. Just gross).<br />
<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I had to Curb My Enthusiasm</td></tr>
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<br />
<br />
What a day. Crushing spiritually. Kept saying this will turn-- it has to turn. And part of me loves running bad early, because if I survive, and I keep surviving the potential is there to run great late. And this story will only be more epic. Been short plenty of times and turn crumbs into cash so I stayed positive, but it didn't matter. Rationally, I only don't like a couple of spots and lines in the following hhs. Feel free to be critical. If I made mistakes you'll see them..<br />
<br />
I just want to say thank you to all the support and belief by the investors the last couple of years. Many of you have said things privately or in DMs that have made me treasure the experience. So as a thank you, if you don't like being cornered in the Rio by a guy telling bad beat stories, turn away now!<br />
<br />
Anyway if you enjoy torture, my hand histories in Main Event from Hell are all here for your displeasure:<br />
<br />
1. Second hand two red aces. (SECOND HAND!) Old man utg +1 raises. He seems confident. YUM! Folds to me on button. I raise. He 4 bets. I tank. He looks like he's never folding.<br />
In my head, I can see he's prepared to make the trip home and say I lost with two kings on day 1. YUM.<br />
<br />
I want to give him that story. However, I think prudent play is to let the board run out (he's never folding). And blast away the river if it looks clean. I will not pay him off if he makes a set and will be a little cautious if a Queen hits though I'm fairly sure he has only KK or somewhat less likely the other two Aces<br />
<br />
Flop Jack high. He checks. Okay check behind for now (HE'S NEVER FOLDING I'M NOT LOSING VALUE). Turn a third spade. He bets. Okay. (No spade, no spade, no spade about to bet at least half my 50k stack... on river) then a spade.<br />
<br />
He checks. Ugh. I... check. He says those four spades killed his action. HE WAS NEVER FOLDING... what an optimal scenario had he not had... two black kings. Seccond nuts and he checks. Well, I know I like this table.<br />
<br />
2. Run QQ into AA. Fun. Board saves me this time.<br />
<br />
3. KK into 1010. Old guy opens. I three bet he calls. Flop is Jack high. He checks. I bet. He raises. Arguably I could have found fold here. Turn brick. He lessens his bet. Odd. Call. River another small bet. Call. Set of tens.<br />
<br />
4. Ak. Bet two callers. Flop King. Bet. One caller. Turn 5. Bet called. River brick. Bet called. He shows set of 5s.<br />
<br />
Did I mention I loved my table ... literally as you can see they want to keep me around and not get any value for their hands. Just needed an uptick in luck.<br />
<br />
5. K10 suited on button with a limper. I bet, limper calls. King high flop. I bet he calls. Turn is brick. I bet big he calls. River is an Ace. He checks (again). This time I check. He shows A6.<br />
<br />
6. I have AK raise a limper. He and a blind calls. Flop is King high. Limper donk bets, I raise, blind folds and limper calls my bet. Turn puts three diamonds on board. He check calls my bet. River four flushes. I don't have diamond. He checks. I turn AK into in a bluff. He snaps calls with pocket 6s and the six of diamonds. Ugh... what?<br />
<br />
7. I have Ad9d on button. One limper. I raise. SB calls. Limper calls. Flop is Ace high. Check, check. I bet. SB calls. Limper folds. Turn puts two diamonds out there. SB checks. I bet... really want to hit flush. He calls. Brick flush. River air ball. He checks. I... check. He flips AK. Unbelievable.<br />
<br />
Did I mention I love my table. What's not to love about these guys?<br />
<br />
8. I have AsQs in sb. Limps to me. I raise. BB calls. Limper calls. Flop is two spades but also two sevens. Bet call call. Queen ball turn. I bet fairly large. Blind folds. Limper calls. River is a 4 of spades. I bet with Ace high flush. Limper raises small. I just laugh and just call. He has pocket fours of course he does. WTF!<br />
<br />
9. 5d6d in bb just a limper. Check my option. Flop 7d4xKd. I bet. He calls. Turn brick I bet he calls. River a brick (of course). I feel he has a weak king at best but most likely a smaller pair. I bet stiffly. He snap calls. *He had also shown an ability to call two streets and then fold river. Otherwise I don't try.<br />
<br />
Btw, I wrote these hands in different places on social media and texts so some may be out of order.<br />
<br />
10. AQ in SB. Two limpers. Raise. Call. Call. 9 high flop. I cbet both call. Turn a six. I'm done. Check. Bet. Bet. (i fold). River brick. Bet call. They both turn over 96 o/s to chop with two pair.<br />
<br />
Really, really? Can this be happening. How can I have the greatest table ever and run like this. Limp, calling with 96 off suit. Share outs and hit both their cards. Huh?<br />
<br />
11. Short stacked. I'm at 10 bigs. (blinds 150 to 300). Guy makes it 750. I shove for 3200. He... folds. What? What?<br />
<br />
I have? Two red aces again. I show table. They are laughing at how bad I'm running. Of course you have Aces when a guy makes a terrible fold with 60k in front of him. Even the guy that I kind of made a rival (by stealing from him the few pots I actually won) is sympathetic. They discuss how bad it is to run so bad in the Main Event.<br />
<br />
12. Bust out hand. Suited A9 on button. Shove. SB calls with 88. Okay, not bad. Flop is KQ10. Not terrible, any Jack, any 9, any Ace. Turns is a king. Wow. Facecard, facecard, facecard... River is a... the final tease. A face card. But one of the two that don't work. King ball. Good game me.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://scontent.flas1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/t31.0-8/13580598_10210340870623871_9115765616159718806_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://scontent.flas1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/t31.0-8/13580598_10210340870623871_9115765616159718806_o.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Let's go team!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
I'm playing a couple of bullets in the one drop. And will be supporting/railing my friends and fellow minions still in the Main. Congrats to Laura Crafton, Gene D, and Robert Harwell for making it through. Also, a huge thanks to all the investors, and Monkey for putting me in and believing in me again. Pretty crushed for you guys that I'm out so early. I'm so grateful for the opportunity as well as all the wonderful people I've met or become social media friends with through this. I think those still repping us are all class acts and easy to root for, Let's go Minions!<br />
<br />
<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">www.gulfcoastpoker.net</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8672845807515460545.post-69663347044694617782016-07-02T11:44:00.002-05:002016-07-02T11:44:52.258-05:00888 2016 Wrap-UPBullet number one of the 888, the first big tournament in my package started out rather nondescript. You get 5k in chips and 30 minute levels. Essentially, the Harrahs weekly I grind all the time with just a little bit better structure. Should be in my sweet spot.<br />
<br />
We started five handed, max in this tournament is 8 handed, and a guy I recognized on my left seemed to be the best player of the other four. I hit some big early hands, turned a straight and flopped a flush, both times my opponents showed and had nothing. Hate getting monsters too early.<br />
<br />
An older gentleman at the table I decided to target kept hitting hands so maybe a bad choice. I tried to bluff him once after he bet pre, he c-bet the 9 high flop and then he checked turn and river. I had A10 and some back door possibilities. I thought I had some showdown value but there were also some small pairs and better Aces, I might be able to fold out so I bet. He called with JJ. Based on what he had I was happy with my sizing but in reflection that's results oriented I should have bet more or just checked as my stack was so shallow. Many of the hands I wanted to fold might have called for the price I set.<br />
<br />
Earlier he checked down and got zero value with Aces after 3betting pre, so maybe I should have checked.<br />
<br />
Then Praytush Buddigga sat down with his 4 million plus in live tournament poker winnings. I recognized him but couldn't place him. Probably means he's good. Thanks to Ross Leitz for some first name suggestions and a google search, I discovered...<br />
<br />
Guy is a bit of beast. A Duke graduate (didn't know at time), he probably didn't like the Tar Heel on my hat. He won the Scripps Spelling Bee as a 13 year old in the early 2000s. His winning word was prospicience (a word that my spell check doesn't recognize). Credit to him, he must have had to foresight to look ahead and study that word.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/indiawest.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/1/57/157c8eb2-0a23-11e5-9dcc-5bc765973771/556f4f4683363.image.jpg?resize=1200%2C1478" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/indiawest.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/1/57/157c8eb2-0a23-11e5-9dcc-5bc765973771/556f4f4683363.image.jpg?resize=1200,1478" width="259" /></a>Six handed, then seven handed the blinds still came fast and furious. You can not afford to lose too many hands. I played with my target when I defended my big blind with Ah4h. I flopped a four on a pretty dry board and called his cbet. Turn gave me a flush draw and he bet big-ish. Before his bet I was pretty sure any 4, Ace or heart would give me the winner. Now, I wasn't so sure my ace was live. Still I called as I was pretty sure I could get a full double if I hit. The river tricked me as I just saw a red flash while studying him. <br />
<br />
After a moment, he shoved, I looked to the board and saw the bad news that it was a diamond. His play prevented me from even having the option to bluff. I doubt I would have. And I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have worked anyway. Considering the way he played over pairs he was likely very strong.<br />
<br />
That hand hurt and the blinds felt like they were circling even faster, with a ton of quick hands and numerous preflop folds. Didn't help that I couldn't catch a hand. Also Praytush fairly quickly went to work putting his full stack in the middle in a couple of hands and the others seemed to copy him.<br />
<br />
Ultimately, I looked at AQ with ~ten bigs. I put most of my stack in and then Buddiga stewed. He looked to see my crumbs behind. Then he just flatted. Ugh. My spider sense told me he had a big hand, but he had the prospicience to just call and try and induce somebody else to join the hand.<br />
<br />
Flop came 9 high. I had too few chips to fold and pretty sure he wasn't going to let me check it down to river. So I shoved and he called. Showing KK. Ugh. No Ace or running cards came to save my first buy-in. <br />
<br />
Then he looks at me and says in angry tone, "Can you spell... Bust out?"<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
*Okay, he totally didn't say that. But some variation of that should be his catch phrase when he busts people (with a sense of humor), as it sounds like it's common for his opponents to ask him to spell things while at the table.<br />
<br />
Here's more on him:<br />
<br />
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/local/wp/2015/05/25/from-spelling-bee-champ-to-professional-poker-player/<br />
<div>
<br />
So, flight be had to go better right? It did. Early on I had more chips than I ever did in Flight A. Problem is I caught a lot of huge hands early where people, again, were less inclined to play big pots.<br />
One big one, I had AK. An older tighter player opened and I three bet from the button. He called. Flop came 2AA. Ugh... Not getting paid by a lot here. Maybe should have bet really small but didn't. Checked.<br />
<br />
Turn was an A. So yes, I had quad Aces. I was happier because now all those pocket pairs he called with have a boat. He checked, I checked with the plan to bomb the river and hoping he can catch something if he didn't have a pocket pair. An eight hit, he checked and I bet large and he snap folded. Guessing he called me with KQ? How he didn't have a full house there so frustrating.<br />
<br />
Next hand I defend my big blind with KJ against another tight player and flop comes KKx. I bet small and he insta mucks. Ugh. I run a couple of semi-bluffs, some 3bets with air against an active player and chip up. Then they bring this guy to my table:<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmgDbMt-3xFtSDTzk8zS6ChnzCbT0dA0895fvndee2hUZqkcae60Poz1eN2H3qdF4_Uleba-fH_KuystN3uVXobafoLZvSvU0XEobPh01DXCKrT1R9_jv7la9lhDgLq4v9Vk_ohrtjGadd/s1600/Steve+Bierman+888+WSOP16.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmgDbMt-3xFtSDTzk8zS6ChnzCbT0dA0895fvndee2hUZqkcae60Poz1eN2H3qdF4_Uleba-fH_KuystN3uVXobafoLZvSvU0XEobPh01DXCKrT1R9_jv7la9lhDgLq4v9Vk_ohrtjGadd/s320/Steve+Bierman+888+WSOP16.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
You never want a friend at the table especially when you've been sharing a ton about each others game. Steve Bierman also has been crushing this year and is an active player so I expect my rather docile table dynamics to change quick. I'd been picking on the short stacks, but loquacious Steve did change things. He fussed at the kids to respect their elders and to stop opening every hand. I prepared to enjoyed the show, but it was short lived. Steve 3bet shoved on a guy with pocket Jacks and didn't hit his outs. He definitely had one shot to raise my big blind and took it. Seems like he knows I don't like to play out of position against good players. Yes, I'm keeping count of my big blind raises Steve.<br />
<br />
Around us, people bust fast and furious. I see several top pros at surrounding tables and oddly, I take pleasure when turning around and then seeing their seat vacant. This may be the fastest WSOP tournament because it's the same structure as the Colossus BUT with a critical difference. You play less hands because the max you'll have at a table is 8 and often you are six handed. Blinds eat up everybody's stack and bustouts happen faster then they can balance the tables. The few times we have a full table there is slightly more play.<br />
<br />
We get some new additions to the table with large chip stacks. I play a significant pot with a euro when I opened KJ suited. He flatted from a blind. Flop came Ace high. He donk bet into me. I called, thought about raising, thought about folding, but ultimately felt he was weak and would reevaluate on turn. Turn was another Ace. He checked, I checked (thinking my read was right) and planned on betting most rivers.<br />
<br />
River brought a third heart and I figured I could be good with king high as played, but there were a bevy of hands I could fold out that were better than mine if I bet. When he checked, I opted for pot size bet which was half my stack to indicate I was committed.<br />
<br />
He promptly shoved. Yuck.<br />
<br />
Pot was so big I contemplated calling with King high. Such an odd (impossible?) spot for him to bluff though. I know I need to fold. I try telling a couple of light remarks he shows nothing. Then I say, "I have an idea... how about we do over this card and instead of me betting I just check. You want to pretend that bet never happened." He finally cracked. A big authentic, eye crinkling smile, and I know there is zero chance for me to hero call and win. I fold. <br />
<br />
Now I have crumbs with the bubble coming. Double yuck.<br />
<br />
Fully four people at the table expressed some surprise I could fold on the river with so much of my stack in and so little behind. (I kept track in my mind).<br />
<br />
A couple of hands later there is an open and a call. I look at AJ in the big blind and get it in. Call, call. Flop is QQ5. Bet call. Uh-oh. Turn is a 9. Check-Check. Come on Ace or Jack, I'm thinking. River is a 9. Wait, that's actually not a bad card for me.<br />
<br />
Asian kid bets big into side pot. Euro folds, and I say, "tell me you have pocket 8s." He demands the side pot before showing his... 44.<br />
<br />
My QQ99 with an Ace beat his hand as he had to play the board. Nice. That triple up, enables me to make it to the stone bubble. All the guys that shook their head at my prior play? Yeah, all busted. Told you I was keeping track. <br />
<br />
Going hand for hand, with the next person to bust not making the money, I look at AJ, UTG +1 with 8 bigs. Normally, this might be a shove for me. I muck, there is a bet, a raise and a call. I would have lost to both hands as one player had AK the other a pocket pair. The very next hand I had 1010. I had already shoved that hand three times to survive (no calls). This time I fold it. There is a bet and a shove (!). Kid that shoved, had been playing rather tight and said afterward he had Aces when the initial bettor folded. He said he busted the day before with QQ on the stone bubble and laughing said his range in that spot is now exactly AA or KK. <br />
<br />
Boom! Money bubble bursts. We have a cash in our second event of the series. Now time to run it up.<br />
<br />
I double and win a couple of pots. Finally, they break our table, with me and the kid to my left having survived all day side by side. It's always a tournament goal of mine to outlast everybody on my starting table. Somehow, I don't think we played one significant pot over the course of the day. I hope there was some mutual admiration as I pretty early on I rated him the other best player at the table and we chewed up the newcomers for long period.<br />
<br />
I get moved to a new table and run card dead. All big stacks. I'm going to shove and get called somewhere so need to find a hand. I get one through and they move a shortish stack to my table. I recognize him (Michael Andrews?) from New Orleans. Think he just cashed the high roller there.<br />
<br />
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<br />
Finally, a stack I could hurt. He's also sensible so I know he's not just going to call off with any two. As soon as it's his big blind I shove with out looking at my hand. Folds quickly to guy one from the button. He stews and finally calls. Michael has air and folds.<br />
<br />
I turn over the cards to reveal 10 7. Guy on the button with not that many chips had A3 (I don't love his call... it is a turbo but he seemed a little shallow to call with any ace with three players to act). I'm not that big an underdog.<br />
<br />
But... his Ace high holds and I go to the payout cage.<br />
<br />
Well, back at it at 10 am today. </div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">www.gulfcoastpoker.net</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8672845807515460545.post-39214258371519931502016-05-05T15:05:00.000-05:002016-05-05T15:19:05.305-05:00Suggestions for Fellow MinionsHere are my unsolicited suggestions for Monkey's Minions candidates that I'll pass on to the Monkey himself:<br />
<br />
So, in no particular order here are my endorsements of players that I know who have submitted or probably will submit.<br />
<br />
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<a href="http://gulfcoastpoker.net/GeneDCoushatta.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://gulfcoastpoker.net/GeneDCoushatta.jpg" height="191" width="320" /></a></div>
<b>Gene D</b>, alright, I lied, this first one is in order. My man's always going to be my first recommendation. This is the guy that got me into poker and steered me in the right direction when I thought "Big Slick" was the nuts no matter the board. Any of my future, my current and my past successes in the game wouldn't have come without him listening to me in the early years and steering my learning process.<br />
<br />
Gene, my partner at GCP (and there would be no GCP without a fateful conversation years ago), is a family man, poker advocate, all around great guy, and a player with the style and patience to succeed in the WSOP main event. Coolers, bad beats, and bad luck aside, he's got to be a favorite to cash. He's not going to bluff off 200 big blinds. We know that. He's also able to pick off a bluff and to play against his image, to pick up chips in those long periods of being card dead in a 10 hour day and survive and advance. We know that too. Lately, he's played less. He's a family man first. Having to forsake the long hours of tournament poker, the travel and the weeks away from home that go into is an easy trade when you put your wife, son and job first.<br />
<br />
That doesn't mean that his love for the game has diminished any less. I'm sure this chance to play in the Main Event, possibly cash in the Main event, and represent Team Monkey might mean as much or more to him than any other applicant. He's literally been a lover of poker since BEFORE Chris Moneymaker, growing up with the game, grinding in the student union in college, early games in back room of pool halls and bars, all the way to him winning a Casino Championship in the WSOP-C series and qualifying for the National Championship. I'm pretty confident he'd have many people willing to buy into the cause. Reading Will's requirements this year it almost sounds like he's describing Gene.<br />
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<b>Kenny Milam</b>, is another mentor of mine. Kenny shared some of my biggest successes with me and used to be a backer/partial backer of many on the coast. As such he's always been willing to put players in action in the past. Kind of cool that the Minions might be able to put him into the biggest tournament in the world this year if he applies. Kenny's also a good friend, and another all around great guy. He too lives poker and probably plays online, in a bar, or at a casino every single day of the week. He has results at this level too. The last two main events he's lasted just a little bit longer than me (argh! silly bragging rights). His bust out hand last year when he also finished in the low 200s... King King. That's fitting of minion I think.<br />
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<b>Steve Bierman</b>, is relatively new player that I've been helping fine tune his game. His progress from one year ago to now is incredible. He's already in the top 100 of earners in Louisiana and he's only been playing for a little over one year. Like the players above I can't say enough about this guy either. He studies poker digesting almost a book a week, grinds cash and tournaments and is laser focused on getting better. He's also got a pretty good coach (ahem). His intangibles are a gift for gab at the table and an ability to get under somebody's skin when necessary or to charm somebody into a fold when it calls for it. Even when he was a neophyte, his fearlessness and his presence earned him results maybe you'd think somebody with his lack of fundalmentals shouldn't earn. Since then he's fine tuned his game, plugged some leaks, and probably is one of the best tournament players in Harrahs New Orleans. What growth. The pic above is after he crushed the January Million Dollar Heater at the Beau (Steve's in the middle Jeff Sager on the right, the fat guy on the left? I don't know).<br />
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<b>David Chocheles</b>, kid has been on a bit of heater this year. David has joined Steve, I and others (hello cash gamers Lee McAllister, Ben Saxton etc) in regular little group study sessions of poker. Yes, we are poker geeks who meet to talk poker. Always room to get better replaying hands, strategizing, discussing poker books and training sites. David's in my opinion has really grown as a player. He's fearless and puts people to tests and grinds out results. I'm a big fan of his game, and consider him one of my toughest rivals in the local tournaments. Like I've done with Steve and others on this list, I've also bought small pieces of David in the past and will continue to. Think he's a good investment. I believe David played in the Main a couple of years ago, and won't be overwhelmed by the moment. A worthy selection.<br />
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<b>Joe Hebert</b>, another local player, I believe in. Joe's had some deep cashes and is a devoted player. Not many hands that end up with a fold on the turn stick in your head over a poker career. But the fact, I remember one with him over a small pot, that I thought he played super creative, based on stack sizes, probably is a testament to his ability. It may be the only such hand that's affixed itself to my long term memory. I think Joe, who will play a pretty impressive schedule in Vegas this year, would also be a worthy minion. I know that he, like Monkey, came out to play a small charity event in Metairie last year, with the goal of helping out the cause not to exploit a soft game. Speaks to what kind of person he is (Monkey too).<br />
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<b>Chris Cana</b>n, who I don't think has applied, yet, reminds me of Steve. He's the Saints super fan that looks like Coach Payton above. He's been devoting himself to the game and focused on improving. He's playing a lot at the world series this year and is strictly about tournament poker. He's shown a similar trajectory to Steve and is willing to put in the time. I think he'd be a great selection too. <br />
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Regardless, there are a ton of great players and friends that I haven't mentioned here. Plus, I think all the past Minions are still deserving. Several keep binking big cashes too. My apologies if I missed anyone. Happy to add on to my blog post later, I'm sure there are some obvious choices I'm missing. Regardless, I don't envy Monkey there's going to be hard choices.<div class="blogger-post-footer">www.gulfcoastpoker.net</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8672845807515460545.post-2389972394618481752016-04-22T11:05:00.001-05:002016-04-22T11:11:18.487-05:00Monkey's Minions, WSOP Thoughts...<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi32dOBrm1sNgqildU5ogziMU0WPW3bZYHm2M-Osv379yMsigFnvfnTKTjB88sIv_UL2u3iPZ3QTNhB74ZJbRZU0Mk1hqZjuwzOhTjf4-DkGNsF7CLfX1cNF98n9fQ9vxhnkI3RT9YUwD7u/s1600/20150710_215821.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi32dOBrm1sNgqildU5ogziMU0WPW3bZYHm2M-Osv379yMsigFnvfnTKTjB88sIv_UL2u3iPZ3QTNhB74ZJbRZU0Mk1hqZjuwzOhTjf4-DkGNsF7CLfX1cNF98n9fQ9vxhnkI3RT9YUwD7u/s320/20150710_215821.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">hat they gave everybody that cashed the main event</td></tr>
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Wow. I'm honored and humbled. For the third year in a row, I've been selected to be a minion. Huge thanks to Will Souther who runs this little investment group and to all the people that buy shares of the players. It's the high point of any poker player's year to play in the WSOP Main Event and to have a seat locked up in April is thrilling, awesome, and comforting. Thank you so much everybody!<br />
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My first two years I lasted the longest of the Minions (that's why I got asked back) and last year did the same cashing as I made making a run to almost the top 200 players. (Btw, had they paid the top 15% the first year, as they do now, I would have cashed then too). In the aftermaths, I don't think I realized how well I ran to go pretty deep both years.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://gulfcoastpoker.net/Kelly%20Minkin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://gulfcoastpoker.net/Kelly%20Minkin.jpg" height="225" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Last woman standing Kelly Minkin, me, and tournament chip leader at the time on my left. This table also featured 2015 November Niner Thomas Cannuli who stood out as an awesome player and several other studs. HARD. Maybe, I was lucky to be so card dead then.</td></tr>
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The first year I was all in once (that tells you all you need to know in how that went KK no good v. jj). <jj a="" and="" apparently="" as="" barely="" been="" better="" billboard="" bluff.="" bluff="" but="" call="" calls="" chips.="" count="" courage="" covered="" decide="" deep="" didn="" doesn="" down="" dug="" etter="" ever="" felt="" find="" for="" forehead="" forever="" got="" guy="" had="" have="" having="" he="" hen="" him="" his="" hough="" i="" it="" made="" make.="" make="" my="" n="" nbsp="" nervous="" no="" not="" on="" or="" p="" saying="" sensed="" shoves="" something="" suspect="" t="" tanked="" than="" that="" the="" thought="" through="" to="" ve="" was="" when="" with="">Last year, I was all in only three times. On day two, I could only beat a bluff and called off after maybe the longest tank of my life. I was good. Then I had AA, I saw a 3bet and then a 4bet before me including November Niner Matt Jarvis. </jj><br />
<jj a="" and="" apparently="" as="" barely="" been="" better="" billboard="" bluff.="" bluff="" but="" call="" calls="" chips.="" count="" courage="" covered="" decide="" deep="" didn="" doesn="" down="" dug="" etter="" ever="" felt="" find="" for="" forehead="" forever="" got="" guy="" had="" have="" having="" he="" hen="" him="" his="" hough="" i="" it="" made="" make.="" make="" my="" n="" nbsp="" nervous="" no="" not="" on="" or="" p="" saying="" sensed="" shoves="" something="" suspect="" t="" tanked="" than="" that="" the="" thought="" through="" to="" ve="" was="" when="" with=""><br /></jj>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.jta.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Neil-Blumenfeld.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.jta.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Neil-Blumenfeld.jpg" height="210" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Neil Blumefeld at final table</td></tr>
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<jj a="" and="" apparently="" as="" barely="" been="" better="" billboard="" bluff.="" bluff="" but="" call="" calls="" chips.="" count="" courage="" covered="" decide="" deep="" didn="" doesn="" down="" dug="" etter="" ever="" felt="" find="" for="" forehead="" forever="" got="" guy="" had="" have="" having="" he="" hen="" him="" his="" hough="" i="" it="" made="" make.="" make="" my="" n="" nbsp="" nervous="" no="" not="" on="" or="" p="" saying="" sensed="" shoves="" something="" suspect="" t="" tanked="" than="" that="" the="" thought="" through="" to="" ve="" was="" when="" with="">I knew I didn't have enough chips to make them fold and knew they knew it too, so while I had a chance for a triple up I had two fade two players instead of one. They both called. I beat AK and 1010 to right the ship on a day when eventual 2015 November Niner Neil Blumenfeld made a terrible play against me to cripple my chips earlier.<br />
<br />
I say terrible because I asked Neil about the hand afterward and his rationale for calling me was garbage. I wish he had said "I had a read," but instead he gave a rather silly reason for calling four streets of bets by me. He literally could only beat a bluff or the exact hand I held (which he didn't even consider a monster draw that didn't get there). Truly a nice guy, but it was hard to pull for him in November because that hand stood out so much for me. So many other players have a fold button in that spot. But he was running insanely good so a lot easier for him to call.<br />
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My third all in hand last year... again my downfall was all-in with Kings this time v. Ace Queen. Weirdly when the kid called I felt I was doomed. Sometimes you just know when you are going to hold, sometimes you just know when you are going to suck out, and sometimes you just know when it's over. I readied myself to leave the WSOP. This time the flop and turn were clean. As the dealer peeled the river, I allowed myself to think just for a second maybe my gut was wrong, maybe there is no such thing as a sixth sense. In my head, I allowed myself to consider with that double I was going to have some chips to battle and they were about to move us to the TV table. <br />
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I liked my chances against the other players-it actually might have been my softest table of the Main Event crazy as that sounds considering how deep we were. Since Norman Chad scouted us in the early morning and decided we'd make good TV, I planned on ratcheting up the aggression if I had any chips. Pretty sure most of the players didn't want to risk busting not only because of the money but for the chance to show their family they made the telecast by sticking around that table for as long as they could. Felt like a bubble situation +100. Who knows if that plan would have worked but my focus wasn't about the TV it was about leveraging the table to accumulate more chips. <br />
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Then the dealer turned over Barry Greenstein, an Ace on the River, and my Main Event was over. I was gutted. Just like Monkey who went out v. Elisabeth Hille Kings were my downfall again.<br />
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Anyway, I now know that I got extremely fortunate in one perspective, that I battled for days with very little chance of elimination. I felt I played really well too. For example, I didn't go broke and almost folded (yes) top set correctly (again Kings (that hand) that improved) vs. a flush in a blind v. blind battle (only three hearts on board). Yeah, that one will stay with me forever. I also hero called multiple times against some aggros including v. pro Dan O'Brien to keep accumulating chips. That said, it's a marathon and it's as much avoiding land mines and potential disasters as it is making good decisions. Some things you can control and some things you can't. My strategy to pot control and limit the variance worked both years.<br />
</jj><br />
<jj a="" and="" apparently="" as="" barely="" been="" better="" billboard="" bluff.="" bluff="" but="" call="" calls="" chips.="" count="" courage="" covered="" decide="" deep="" didn="" doesn="" down="" dug="" etter="" ever="" felt="" find="" for="" forehead="" forever="" got="" guy="" had="" have="" having="" he="" hen="" him="" his="" hough="" i="" it="" made="" make.="" make="" my="" n="" nbsp="" nervous="" no="" not="" on="" or="" p="" saying="" sensed="" shoves="" something="" suspect="" t="" tanked="" than="" that="" the="" thought="" through="" to="" ve="" was="" when="" with="">
I hope I run as well as I did the last two years, and I'm putting in the work (studying) to play as tough as I did last year. Thanks again everybody for the opportunity.</jj><br />
<jj a="" and="" apparently="" as="" barely="" been="" better="" billboard="" bluff.="" bluff="" but="" call="" calls="" chips.="" count="" courage="" covered="" decide="" deep="" didn="" doesn="" down="" dug="" etter="" ever="" felt="" find="" for="" forehead="" forever="" got="" guy="" had="" have="" having="" he="" hen="" him="" his="" hough="" i="" it="" made="" make.="" make="" my="" n="" nbsp="" nervous="" no="" not="" on="" or="" p="" saying="" sensed="" shoves="" something="" suspect="" t="" tanked="" than="" that="" the="" thought="" through="" to="" ve="" was="" when="" with="">
</jj>
<jj a="" and="" apparently="" as="" barely="" been="" better="" billboard="" bluff.="" bluff="" but="" call="" calls="" chips.="" count="" courage="" covered="" decide="" deep="" didn="" doesn="" down="" dug="" etter="" ever="" felt="" find="" for="" forehead="" forever="" got="" guy="" had="" have="" having="" he="" hen="" him="" his="" hough="" i="" it="" made="" make.="" make="" my="" n="" nbsp="" nervous="" no="" not="" on="" or="" p="" saying="" sensed="" shoves="" something="" suspect="" t="" tanked="" than="" that="" the="" thought="" through="" to="" ve="" was="" when="" with="">
Also, I will be playing some prelim events and probably get to Las Vegas a week or so before the Main Event. I will be selling a package for those events and can facilitate anybody that wants to purchase shares of the Minions. Email me at ezedcota (for spambots sake separating this address... now you obviously plug in the old @ sign) then end it with yahoo.com if you want information about what I'll be playing. Though it's probably easier if you contact Will directly (details on the Poker Monkey blog) if you just want a piece of the minions. Shares are $200 a pop for that. I'll be buying as I always do to support the other minions.</jj><div class="blogger-post-footer">www.gulfcoastpoker.net</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8672845807515460545.post-44229229074846991242016-04-08T17:05:00.002-05:002016-04-08T17:05:31.148-05:00Spring Poker ClassicI'm here at the Golden Moon one of the two casinos that make up Pearl River's Resort in Choctaw, Mississippi. The room is modern and new. Plenty of amenities to make the three hour drive from New Orleans worthwhile. None moreso than the possible overlay in the Main Event tomorrow.<br />
<br />Gene D and I are finally at the same poker tournament at the same time. Ruling out the rumor that we have merged into one GCP mega person. Course we've yet to play the same tournament at the same time so perhaps that strange theorem still has legs. <br />
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Downstairs Gene has already won a mega for the this Main Event and will likely play tomorrow if he can get his ticket changed from his six pm start time tonight. I'll play a mega later and join him tomorrow. No idea if we'll have any company because the first flight only had 30 or so players in it. While I'd prefer an overlay and fewer people to battle it out with... we told Paul and Eric, two of the guys running the tournament, that we'd promote things for them. So... the cat's out of the bag people. 150k of prize money and probably too few people to fight for it.<br />
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Rooms are cheap.<div class="blogger-post-footer">www.gulfcoastpoker.net</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0