MySpace

Matt's Travel and Poker Blog

MySpace.com | rss | sign in
Mateo



Last Updated: 11/18/2009

Send Message
Instant Message
Email to a Friend
Subscribe

Gender: Male
Status: Married
Age: 33
Sign: Libra

Country: US
Signup Date: 7/20/2005

My Subscriptions
Jesse

Blog Archive
[Older      Newer]
 /  / 
Friday, January 05, 2007 
Hi there!  Did you have happy holidays?  Merry Christmases?  Killer Kawanzusis?  Fabulous.  I promised a follow up to my last blog about some of the many things I do poorly.  Really I feel like I could do another whole article on my downfalls.  Yesterday I jumped up to the big game and lost 13 big bets, which equated to about 4k.  Ug.  But anyway I haven't blogged because I have been a busy bee.  I spent some time with my family, driving to Southern Cal to see my nephew and whoever else was down there, I forget.  (j/k sis!) I played alot of poker while I was down there, I won some online and then I drove down to the Commerce Casino in LA.  Being an econ major(dork), I am already intrigued by anything having to do with Commerce.

If you don't know about the Commerce Casino, it has the worlds largest poker room.  And even being half Japanese I still had less Asian blood in me than the average person in there, by far.  It's huge, but I didn't even go into the main room this time, I was in the high stakes area.  Even that is vast, they had like 6 40-80 tables going and they went as high up in stakes as 1000-2000.  When I left at 4 in the morning there was still tons of games going, and Phil Laak, Hasan Habib, and Robert-Jean were still going at it too.  It was not the first time I had been to the Commerce, I went a few years ago, so I really shouldn't have been that nervous.  But that didn't stop me from peeing myself at the first opportunity.  It wasn't a full on pant wetting, but more like one those times when you're standing at the urinal and you're not really paying attention and you think you're done... but ... anyway I'll spare you the details.  My pants were quick drying anyway, so, um, no biggie right?  Still Friends?  Cool.

The first time I was at the Commerce I spent forever trying to find a 10 20 Limit Hold'em game.  They don't have it.  Crazy.  After going to like 14 dry erase boards to sign up I asked, and they directed me to the 9-18, where they had 12 tables going.  9-18.  Go figure.  They say its more popular then 10-20.  The real reason is that people at the Commerce like to hold a lot of chips when they bet, in increments of 3 or 4 chips.  So for the 9-18 game they use $3 chips.  In order to play 10-20 they would have to make $2.50 chips, and that would be weird.  For 40-80 we used 10 dollar chips and for 60-120 we used 20 dollar ones.  It's bizarre, but I guess it makes sense.  I actually like it for the 40-80 game because then you can accumulate a huge stack of chips, and it reminds me of growing up and playing 4-8.  At one point I had like $6500 in front of me, and that's 650 chips with which you can build a castle and moat, or whatever else you want while you're bored.

Another good thing to do if boredom strikes you is get a massage.  I got a killer one from George (he came highly recommended).  It's so relaxing it's really hard to get mad at the cards when you are getting massaged.  And they're friggin' cheap too!  Well in relation to the game I'm playing.  YOu could get an hour long massage for one round of the blinds in the 40-80 game, or get a 40 minute massage and tip 20 bucks.  And sitting for 15 hours does take it's toll.

It was interesting to see the changes in my life and my game since the last time I came here.  Last time I was here I had a whole bankroll of 1600 bucks.  I played 6-12 and 15-30 until I was down 1300, got even at 3 in the morning and took off.  I almost lost my whole roll!  This time I brought enough cash to play in the 100-200 game, and more; I brought 8 or 9K to play with.  But instead I started off grinding the 40-80.  I was definitely the tightest player at the table.  The guys around me were joking about throwing away their cards if I ever decided to play a hand.  Finally I got KK and the maniac got AA, so that was nice.  I wanted to dump it on the turn, I knew she had Aces.  Throwing away an overpair is something that I am able to do live, but I decided to call this one down.  So after 3 hours I was down about 1500 or so.  Really didn't get anything to play with, and when I did I got beat.  But my patience in live games is becoming legendary, which is quite different from my online game, where I am often the loosest player at the table.  I came back and was up quite a bit thanks to some real fish.  Then took a couple of beats and the table wasn't that good anymore.  

So I took 2000 profit and went to the 60-120 game.  This was a feeder game and it was soon short-handed.  I took a horrible beat (I had AQ pair of Aces with the nut flush draw also, against Q8 pair of eights.  River was an 8 and I'm out 1500 bucks) and I was beginning to question the wisdom of my move.  Then we got down to 4 handed for a while, and knew I could take them.  I was playing with 2 Asian ladies (very scary prospect), one of whom was very good and a very high limit player (the other was bad, but aggressive) and an older guy who was not an experienced short handed player at all.  I switched gears and really took it to them.  It is much easier for me to sit back and wait for good cards in a live setting, than it is to be super-aggressive and fight over the blinds and constantly attack.  Online is the opposite.  But even though I had been playing a different style all day I was able to adjust and was up a bit when I got transferred to the main game.  I won with KK at that table and decided to call it a night, up a grand there and 3k total.  The trip to Commerce was a little over 16 hours, including driving.

Overall I'm happy with how things went.  I made good game selection decisions and made good decisions at the table too, very, very few mistakes.  I didn't want to book a loss, that was for certain as I was on vacation and I wasn't going to get to go back again for awhile.  If I didn't take 2 really ugly bad beats I would have left with 6k, but that's part of the territory.  I think I can make alot of plays live that no one else at the table is capable of.  I like playing well in front of other people and getting respect.  

I'm sorry the about all the poker terms lately, I know some people don't understand all the phrases.  But it is so natural now I don't know how to talk like a normal person anymore.  Well I had intended to do a blog about my good traits, but I'm still working that out in my mind so I thought I'd do this blurb about my trip.  I have been crazy busy lately it seems, throwing my self at work.  I have played a ton of hands lately, and I am also reading and studying poker books everyday.  The last 2 winters I have taken up World of Warcraft (videogame).  I started in November of '04 and quit in March.  Then I took it up again in December of '05 and quit in April '06.  But not this year; I am really buckling down and working hard.  In total I have probably played about 50 days of World of Warcraft, or the equivalent of 150 8-hour days.  Yikes!  But now I am reading more (6 hours yesterday) and playing poker more.  And speaking of reading I was supposed to be at Jesse's hours ago, so I'm right on time.  Jesse, I'm coming over just as soon as I change (dry) my pants...

12:38 AM 
0 Comments
(Add Comment) |
Translate
Tuesday, December 19, 2006 
Well it's been another week of crazy poker madness (of insanity (and chaoticness)).  I think you get the picture.  I have driven my lazy bum down to Spirit Mt. Casino for the last 2 Monday's to play in the 30-60.  It's been pretty good, I haven't been there for the start of the game either week, but I won 500 last week and 1700 this week (although I dropped 700 in a no limit game while I was waiting for the 30-60.  I have taken no days off, played 4800 online hands, and had a few long sessions where I would play 6 hours straight without so much as a bathroom break.  I am exhausted for some reason, this job was supposed to be easy!  I was at the casino for 10 hours yesterday with 3 hours of driving to do it.  

I don't mean to complain, but the last couple of days have been grueling.  I have this streak of over a month without a losing day.  The streak and my pride have combined to keep me playing some long days lately.  On sunday at 6 I sat down to play a little poker before we went out for the evening.  Well when I got down 3500 I figured my streak was finished, along with our plans of having a beer and the Moon and Sixpence with friends.  BY midnight I had played 1800 hands, punched a wall (not too hard), realized I am not a good poker player, was distraught that I was still down 1300, and so on.  I quit.  Enough.  I went for a walk in the freezing cold and had a little dinner.  I didn't play any more poker until about 3 AM.  There was only one table going, which is all I wanted to play anyway because I was in no mood for playing 4 tables.  I just played 1 table and I played my absolute best.  At 3:45 I got up a little and quit, very content.  Actually with rakeback and bonuses I ended the day up 700 or so, not bad for a day I was sure was going to end in disaster.

Some things I learned (or reaffirmed) about myself during the past week, especially playing live and playing that tough late night session.  Honestly this is mostly for me and my growth, so if you are bored I apologize.  It's just good for me to get some ideas down about my game.  First some bad things.

-I am not a truly great player.  This one is kind of tough, because I can play really good in a variety of different situations.  The game of poker is not static.  Over the past week I have played against all different kinds of opponents, I have played lots of heads up, lot of 10-handed and everything in between, live/online, limit/no-limit blah blah blah.  I am good player in all of those settings and that makes me happy and I win some money and that's nice too.  But sometimes a great player, an excellent player sits down and I can tell he's a better player and I want to be as good as him, but I can't.  And that sucks.

-I am still susceptible to tilting.  I hesitate to use the word tilt because everyone has a different idea of tilt.  Usually it means playing crazy because you're pissed, or being more aggressive.  Mine is different.  I think a more accurate term for me is "playing frustrated" or "playing stubborn."  It isn't a departure from rationality as much as staying in a hand too long and rationalizing it incorrectly.  Lisa can tell when I'm playing frustrated, but if she were to ask me why I am doing something, I will still have an answer.  But deep down, I know i'm just doing it because I'm mad, or possibly weary.

-I often don't have the courage to fold.  This has always been a problem and always will.  It really is surprising that I am such a winning player, because I hate to fold.  Hate it.   

-My desire to not have losing day pushes me to bigger limits and sometimes makes me play looser and more aggressive.  I have always been drawn to big limits.  The biggest game I have played online: 300/600 heads up.  Biggest online craps win: $12,000 (and that was the last time I will ever play online craps).  Worst poker loss in a day: around $26,000 (lost over 20k a bunch of times).  I am much better than I used to be about bumping up, but I still sometimes get that desire and I still sometimes act on that desire, without the proper bankroll.  It really is a good quality to have that desire, (much better than fearing the big games) but you need to have the discipline to temper that desire.

OK I am tired of writing things about what a bad poker player I am.  Part two will be about some things that I do well.
8:46 AM 
0 Comments
(Add Comment) |
Translate
Saturday, December 09, 2006 
"A fool and his money are soon parted.  I would pay anyone a lot of money to explain that to me." -Homer Simpson

Sorry I have been really lame lately.  I don't know why I don't write as much as I used too.  My mom even told me to update my blog.  For all those that are still interested, Things have been going really well.  I believe I only had 1 losing day in the past month and a half.  Of course on that day I lost almost 14k.  Ug.

Since then I have just been sticking to the middle limits.  In November I played more hands of poker than I have played in any month since May.  I have been working hard and the results have been good.  This means I can once again think about the "Travel" portion of this blog again.  At least until another big loss crushes my dreams.  Could happen at any time.

Actually it really won't happen again anytime soon.  I really have sworn off the big game.  I looked at my statistics over the last year and I've lost over $60,000 in the 40-80 and 75-150 limit games.  Ouch.  Talk about a fish.  So I am sheepishly sticking to the 15-30 and 25-50 (betting limits) games until I get my bankroll up to 50k.  When I made that commitment I had less that $3000 in my poker account, but now I am actually getting close to that goal.  I still don't know if I will play 75-150 though, the lower limit games are just soooooo juicy right now, it's not worth the risk.

Being such a risk lover for so many years I didn't think I'd hear my self say that.  But losing 5 digits can have an effect on a person I guess.  It's kinda weird because I've lost 5 digits so many times it has conflicting effects on me.  It has happened so much it doesn't even like ruin my day or put me in a bad mood anymore, I didn't mope around or take a week off of poker or anything that I usually do.  I went right back to work the next day and played my heart out for the rest of the month.  But in many ways it did hurt me.  You have to question how good you really are, if you can compete at that level.  It meant I had to once again put off going to Mexico and seeing my "fam."

I'm sorry I'm writing about money, it's not probably what you care to read about, especially coming from me.  It comes and it goes, quicker with me than most.  I used to say that I didn't really do this job for the money, (I really do this job because no one will hire me) but because it allows me to do what I want with most of my time.  I get to travel, spend time with friends and roommates.  The truth is having a little money or having alot doesn't change my life that much.  I was as poor as I have been in 3 years this past August.  I was one bad day away from being broke.  I also kinda accepted a J-O-B (didn't end up getting it, whew).  But it really didn't change too much of my life.  But winning money is important, even if having alot of it isn't.  It's my barometer.  It's really the only long term way to tell if I am any good at this job.  If I am not winning at a game of making correct, analytical decisions, then I start to question my intelligence.  Yes, I do love winning.

I feel weird talking about money with people who aren't professional gamblers.  My view has gotten very distorted over the last 2 and a half years.  I always feel like a jerk, or that people will think I don't value money.  And most good poker players don't.  I really enjoy reading Barry Greenstein's book "Ace on the river."  Barry is an amazingly generous guy who gives 100% of his tournament poker winnings to charity.  (mostly Children's Inc)  He has always given to charity, even when he was in debt.  There was one time years ago where he was meeting with Children's Inc to give his monthly $5000, and the lady he was talking to said he must be doing really well to be so giving all the time.  He said he was actually a NEGATIVE millionaire.  He owed people and casinos a million dollars.  He still gave because 5000 dollars would have no noticeable effect on his financial state.

Obviously I am not at that level.  But most professional poker players do have a (healthy or unhealthy depending on your point of view) disregard for the value of money.  I love reading articles from poker players about the value of money and money management.  I turn straight for the chapters in poker books.  Being an amateur economist this stuff fascinates me.  Barry Greenstein has turned one of gambler's least desirable traits into a good one (not valuing money).  He has donated Millions to charity himself, but he has also inspired many many other poker players to give to charity as well.  The only reason he goes public with his giving is he hopes other pros will do the same.  I definately plan on expanding my charitable giving.  I consider myself a steward of God, and want to do worthy things with my time and money.

OK now I have rambled on way too long.  Sorry about that.  Lisa and I are off to some wine tasting and other merriment in Westmoreland.


9:55 PM 
0 Comments
(Add Comment) |
Translate
Thursday, October 19, 2006 
Hi there!  I have had alot more people interested in reading about the poker side of my life lately, so I think I'll just do a review of my poker exploits.  I just finished a brutal session, and it's 7 am here on the left coast.  I usually don't play so late, but the past week I have been playing alot at any and all hours.

I have been playing poker for a long time.  I started playing limit holdem before poker was all over TV.  I used to play blackjack and craps alot, but since discovering poker 4 or 5 years ago I don't play many other casino games.  I have never taken the time to properly learn no limit holdem.  I have cashed in some no-limit events, my best was probably 20th out of 400+ shootout event in Pendleton, or making the final table at the Spirit Mt. main event ($500 buy-in).  I really am going to have to learn that game better.  I always say that, but it's true.  I am just so used to limit right now, it's hard to switch over.

I am Limit holdem specialist.  I think that I should be better at it, since it's all I do.  I played in one 2005 WSOP event, theJuly 3rd $3000 limit tourney and I got 34th out of 406 for $4480.  I don't really play alot of tournaments, though maybe I will trying to play more.  I like the cash games better, on the whole.  I was really looking forward to this years WSOP, and I was planning on playing some of the limit events, if not all.  Of course when July rolled around I was about broke.  I was as close to being broke as I have ever been, except the last time I was broke.  My bankroll was down to 2k, pretty dire straights for someone who lives off poker.  I was even going to take a job for a week.  Ug, glad that fell through. 

So what does an average week look like for me?  Well there really is no average, sometimes I play alot, and sometimes not at all.  This past week I have been forcing myself to play alot.  Thats not usually the case, but it depends whether I am winning or losing.  If I drop 10k in a day, I usually don't feel like playing for a week.
 
It has been really tough this month to win with big hands.  AA is my least common hand, and QQ is a net loser for me.  There is really nothing to do during these times except damage control.  Inspite of the horrible beats I'm taking I up pretty good this month.  I can only attribute this to some of my opponents horrible play, because I haven't even been playing particularly good.  Tonight I was getting killed in the big game (75-150 limit, 50-75 blinds).  It's not the biggest I have played online, but its the biggest game I play in regularly and in the near future.  I really don't have a big enough bankroll to play in it regularly. 

Anyhow I was down about 6k at one point and I clicked the sit out button, I was so frustrated, everyone was getting amazing hands against me.  Well I kept playing and 31 minutes later the fish went bust and the game broke and I was 800 in the green for the evening.  There was only 4 of us playing, and I consider the other 2 players better than me (at least tonight).  But the bad player was horrible, and he finally stopped getting lucky against me.  I actually won 2000 in the big game, but was getting creamed in the smaller games I was in, losing 1200 in those. 

Anyhow, this session was all too typical, in fact I did the same thing in the afternoon, but on a much smaller scale.  Very stressful are my poker sessions.  Anyhow, weekly recap, well week and a half recap:
I have played almost 5000 hands online, with a bb/100 of 1.19.  Not that great, but at least my worst game is also my lowest, 10/20.  I am in the green in 15/30, 25/50, and 75/150.  Without the 10/20 I'm averaging 3.66 big bets per 100 hands.  not bad.  Combining my pocket aces and pocket queens gives me a net loss (thanks to Queens being a negative 700 bucks).  I hope this is not a long term trend.  I only had one losing session since last thursday, and have only taken one day off since then too.

I also put in an 11 hour live session up in La Center on Monday, after winning 500 online.  It was great to see all my friends there, namely the dealers.  It's where I grew up (pokerwise) and it always helps to go back there to get my head straight.  I am going to try to do it more often, maybe once a week.  I won 60 bucks in 4/8 and 300 bucks once I got into the 10/20 game, pretty much what I was expecting.  I was up more at times, but my patience eventually wanned, thanks in part to the Mirror Pond Pale Ales no doubt.  Still I was able to make some good moves, even bluff a time or two, because I had more infomation about my opponent than I would have online.

Well thats enough for now, It's 8:30 and I'm exhausted.  Oh, BTW, if The Decemeberists are coming to town near you you need to see them.  They played an excellent show on Tuesday, kicking off their national tour.  The Tuesday before that we saw The Be Good Tanyas.  True to their name, they were good.
God Bless
Matt
2:05 PM 
1 Comments
(Add Comment) |
Translate
Saturday, October 07, 2006 
OK I am a lazy good for nothing piece of blogging slacker.  So Without further ado let me give you the skinny on my life.  I will again use dashes because bullets kill.

-I am still a poker pro.  I remain "Matt the professional gambler" as many people, including my best friend Jesse, call me.  It has been tough but I am doing OK.  I think I only had one losing day in all of September.  Unfortunately I lost $10,600.  I should be used to the swings but this one still got me down. 

-Me and Lisa went to New Hampshire for our friends wedding.  The highlight was definately the groom and I singing a stirring rendition of "Don't Cry Outload" (baby cried the day the circus came to town...)

-I went to clarklewis and had quite possibly the best meal of my life.  It was so sick. 

-The beavers are going to win the national championship.  next year.

-Republicans Suck.  I have refrained from going political in the past but due to my bipartisan readership (I don'tknow whether either of those words need a dash, but I don't think so, besides I'm already over my dash-per-blog allotment.  Oops there goes two more) but now W and Congress will make my job and life increasingly difficult and maybe more awesomer.  More awesomer?  If they complicate my online poker then I may move over seas.  Which could be more awesomer than my life already is. 

-Some days it feels like I am the best poker player on the planet.  Some days it feels like I could play my way out of a paper bag.  I wish "it"  would make up it's mind so I could plan my life accordingly. 

-last night I went and saw the Peasants again.  Portland Honky-Tonk never sounded so good  "I'm Workin' On Tomorrow's Hangover Today, I'ma Workin' on a Hangover Today!"  classic stuff. 

-The wine cellar grows.  I am in two wine clubs now and I still buy a decent amount, but I rarely drink any.  This is a problem.  I only open a bottle if I have company.  So I need some visitors.  A few weeks ago we opened a bottle of 2000 Malbec from Abacela.  It was delish.  Speaking of wine, I need to shower and go wine tasting, ASAP.  So, no editing, speeling errers rain of terrier statrs hear!

Maybe i'll come back later and add links or pictures

12:44 AM 
4 Comments
(Add Comment) |
Translate
Tuesday, August 15, 2006 
Hey sorry It's been a while.  How has everyone's summer been?  Mine has been fabulous.  I've been sitting at my local doughnutery (or doughnuteria if your from... um... ethnic) eating Bacon Maple Bars.  I have mentioned them before but let me explain them again because I don't think you understand the gravity of the situation (actually gravity is much more cumbersome of a force after too many of these).  What they do at Voodoo Doughnuts is they make a maple bar and then put 2 strips of fatty bacon on it.  This, folks, is revolutionary.  "Excuse me my good sir, this pastry is too healthy!  Might you garnish it with some pork fat?"  Just when I think things can't get gooder, my doughnutery goes and puts bacon on my doughnuts.  I love America.  

In totally unrelated news, I am getting pretty big around the waist line, if you know what I mean.  This has nothing to do with diet, but rather genes that predispose me to...oh...beasity.  Yeah, I think that's what it's called.  Beasity.  So Mom, Dad, of all the genes you COULD have passed on (you know the good ones: not-suck car gene, play cool guitar gene, looks cool in jeans genes, or sexy foreign accent that causes girl-types to gasp and/or shudder gene) you gave me beasity.  Thank you so very much.  

Beasity.  Could we they think of anything more degrading to call those of us with parents who don't have a clue about how to pass genes?  I mean seriously folks.  "Don't mind that one, he's predisposed to Monstrosity.  Pretty sad really I thought he was going to be a human."  And we jokingly refer to those who might be (parents fault!) Obsessive-Compulsive as being anal!  That's horrible!  I DO NOT WANT TO BE KNOWN AS A BEAST RECTUM!  

Well I am totally incensed by all the fat OCD bashers out there.  We are people too.  I decided to start a club for people who are predisposed to beasity or OCDeasity, or better yet both.  Because there need to be a organization that we can be proud of, something that sticks up for our rights, when everyone is trying to put us down.  I'm going to made iron-on patches for my clothes and bumper stickers for my car.  Finally some pride, some dignity.  The perfect name hit me as I was eating a pepperoni stick wrapped in bacon while lining up my commemorative wine glasses so all the labels face the same direction.  My group will be: Providing Hope Against Thinness And Helping Obsessive-compulsives Live Equally.  Yeah.  That's beautiful.  Of course it's too big for the bumper sticker, so i'll just put PHAT A HOLE.  Now who's with me?

8:50 PM 
3 Comments
(Add Comment) |
Translate
Monday, July 17, 2006 
WOW, for a guy who does absolutely nothing, I've been really busy.  I've been meaning to blog about the goings ons so now i'm going to bust it out.  These are some of the cool places and things i've done in the last week and a half, in bullets for your viewing pleasure.  wait, no bullets, dashes because im non-violent.  And out of ammo.

-To kick off the southern style weekend we went to Bernie's Southern Bistro.  Hmmmmmmm fried green tomatoes!  We also had buttermilk fried chicken, meatloaf, hush puppies, fried oysters, crawfish cakes, mash potatoes, green beans, collared greens, and maybe fried okra too.  I don't remember. We had alot of fried stuff.  Alot.  29th and Alberta.  Go There.  Afterward we snuck over to the Donuts and Ice Cream place across the street.  Best donuts sold by coolest Mexican fam.  

-The following night Lisa, Simon, and I went to see this band called The Peasants at Alberta Street Public House.  Apparently Alberta is a really cool neighborhood now.  It has changed so much since I first went to Bernie's 8 years ago.  Anyhow the Peasants rocked hard.  I knew when I saw the bass player I was in for a special treat.  He had a Mull (thats like a mullet but with no follow through, he needed to grow out the back more) and a plaid shirt with the sleeves ripped off.  I was in love.  The ho down was on and the honky tonk was flowing... I felt like I was in some small southern tavern, except I could still drink good beer.  My favorite Peasant lyrics?  Easy:  
"Stop sniffin' Sissy's Panties!
Put em' back where from ya got em'!
Even though all your friends
Love your mama's big bottuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu-uuuuuuuuuuuuuuum!

-Sunday night (as in, a week ago) we went to Lake Oswego (might be on a different planet than NE Alberta) and listened to Misty River.  They play folky, bluegrass, acoustica, americana.  I don't know if those are real words or not, but Misty River is great.  And hanging out with rich old people from L.O. is it's own reward (or punishment).  I saw a toy poodle that's owner shaved it except around the ankles.  I guess that's the excepted thing to do with those dogs, I still think it's pretty ridiculous.

-Monday night was BBQ at the PAD (Preston, Amy, Danny).  Which can mean only one thing, BAGGO!  Baggo is a fabulous game, this monday we might have a Baggo tournament, now that I also have a Baggo set.  I may explain Baggo later, suffice to say it consists of throwing bean bags in your yard.  Does it get awesomer?  No.  That's the awesomest.

-Tuesday we went to a "Full Moon Feast" cooked by an author Jessica Prentice.  This was held at my fabulous neighborhood place The Busy Corner.  Dinner and Wine was amazing, all grown and harvested according to uhhh... moon cycles.  Yeah...  I don't know much about that stuff, but I will tell you the desert had the most amazing black raspberries, pink currents, and purple something or others.  So it was very delish.  Who knew watermelon and arugula made such an awesome salad?

-Thursday I did something pretty cool.  But I can't remember it.  But it was fun.

-Friday I went to the International Beer Festival in the north park blocks in the Pearl District.  Seriously sick beer.  My favorite was of course the Full Sail Black Gold, 10.5BV and 65 IBUs.  It's an amazing imperial stout ages in used bourbon barrels.  I kid you not.  Amazing.  Also on the list was Mirror Mirror from Deschutes with 9.9nd 52 IBUs.  This is a barley wine aged in wine barrels and takes at least 10 months to make.  Good stuff.

-Saturday and Sunday was alot of Baggo, alot of hanging out at the busy corner, and so forth.  I went to Amnesia Brewery with Simon and enjoy some Desolation IPA, then met Jesse and the Sunday night crew at Moon and Sixpence, where the Foghorn String Band was wreckin' banjos, fiddles, and the like.

-STAY WITH ME FOR ONE MORE!  I remembered what I did on Thursday.  And it was the highlight of my week.  It was awesome.  I went to see the great Joe Thiessen perform the male lead 42nd St., a musical.  There is no way I can really do justice to his performance.  His closing song moistened my eyes, and it's not even a sad song.  He just sung it so great.  He really is amazing.  On his second to last note he held it so long and it was so powerful the audience gasped when he finally came up for air, and I heard "wow"s and "whoa"s.  They got a standing O, They were awesome, but Joe really brought it home.  I've known Joe since middle school choir, and he was the lead in the first play I was ever in in high school.  Now he's like a frickin' star or something.  Read some reviews if you think I'm just biased.  Some of my favorites:

"Joe Thiessen's vocals were worth the price of admission, and left me wishing Julian (his character) had more to sing."  "WOWSA is right! Joe Thiessen's finale is unforgettable - I see a lot of shows, and I had no idea there was a set of pipes like that in town. I don't know where he came from, but I hope he sticks around!"  "The singing and dancing was strong and entertaining! I loved Joe Thiessen's end song. Can that guy sing!"  

Many people were surprised that Joe burst on to the scene with a lead and performed so amazing.  The last shows were sold out way in advance (yes 600 people packed that Tigard auditorium on a Thursday and I knew of more who wanted tickets).  But he has been around and will be around for a long time.  I don't know what you were doing as an accountant for so long Joe, you belong on stage.  Such a natural.  OK i'll stop gushing.  He will be in some other shows this summer, including being the Genie for Aladdin, so I'll keep you posted.

Sorry that was so long.  I have broken one of my cardinal rules of blogging. Don't go on so long that your readers are in a coma.  Yeah im bad but now that I got all the stuff I need to blog out of the way I can write about nothing.  Lucky you.  Until next time.
11:40 AM 
2 Comments
(Add Comment) |
Translate
Tuesday, July 11, 2006 
Hello my pretties...How are ya'll?  I'm sorry I have been lacking/slacking in my blogegingin'.  It's not that I don't love my readers (all 5 of you, and don't think I don't know who you are), it's just that losing in poker can really demoralize.  Or as one friend says "poker will steal your soul."  I don't really think its that bad.  It doesn't steal your soul, it just takes it for a while.  And crushes it under the weight of unbearable heartache.  And destroys any and all hope you might have. And then squeezes out the will to live.  And then poker returns your soul.  Yup, it's a great game.

Actually poker is a game of sadistics and probabilities.  It's very funny.  Half of it is people's desire to inflict pain on each other (or at least on me) and half of it is relying on probabilities and trusting math.  Since I learned to disbelieve math long ago, poker is now mostly watching others inflict pain upon me.  Then perhaps poker is a game of sadistics and masochistics.  Other people happily inflicting pain on me, and me joyfully letting them.

Despite my complaining, I have managed a good comeback, even finding 2000 bucks in my bank account I thought was missing.  Since my 3 bad sessions I have made $11,000 bucks grinding it out at the mid limits (bear in mind I lost 27K in 3 sessions before this).  My friend Steve says I'll never go broke, I'll just drop down to lower limits and win, build it up and lose it again.  While I can't argue with his analysis based on things like, say, history or reality, I will say that I was surprised to hear it.  I had always assumed I would go broke sometime.  

I've been a poker pro long enough to know that going broke is necessarily a horrible.  It is actually pretty common among lots of big name pros.  And once you network enough, good players can always get money to play with.  Going broke isn't the end of world.  If it helps you work on your game, then it could be a good thing.  It seems weird to me to think about going broke and not freaking out, because in the past that is what I'd do.  But now it's not that big of a deal.  I don't plan on it, I'm playing pretty good and I'd be surprised if I did, but poker and money don't really rule my life right now.  I used to be horrified if I had to get a "real" job.  But now there are lots of appealing this about it.

Maybe it was that talk I had with my online poker friend, Matt.  I don't generally like to have online friends but I made an exception with this doctor from Georgia.  We finally got to meet and hang out when he came to Vegas last month and I flew out to meet him and his wife.  We were chatting today and he thinks I'm wasting my talent.  Not in poker, but WITH poker.  He thinks I should finish my degree and do something better with my life, help people.  He says I would be good with kids.  Stupid effing internet poker friends who I have met once and think they know me!!!!!!  Well he's prolly right.  Jerk.

Anyway I was going to write about all my fun goings ons (Yeah, I think I went to a ho-down in gang territory on Saturday) but I'll have to save it for later this week.  Lots of loves,
Matt

9:31 AM 
0 Comments
(Add Comment) |
Translate
Thursday, June 22, 2006 
The thing about poker players who disappear for a while, say ten days, is that their poker compatriots will think they have either gone broke or died.  And really that is usually the only reason I would take a ten day hiatus from being online.  So I had people calling me and emailing me wondering if I was still alive.  I actually heard one of my phone conversations end with: "Well Matt, I'm really glad you're still alive." 

The truth is not that exciting.  I moved and it took them a week to hook up my internet.  It was disgusting, I couldn't watch TV or play on my computer for a week.  I read books and took walks and stuff (insert involuntary shudder here).  Well thank God thats over, now its back to my regular routine.

Which means losing profusely.  Did I mention I have been getting kicked lately?  It has been so brutal.  Everyone who reads this and has a real job needs to be glad.  It has been a long time since I have envied regular-job-type people.  Well this is your day.  The last time I played poker at my old house I lost 13 thousand dollars.  As if moving didn't suck enough.  Then we didn't get internet until Tuesday.  I lost 6 thousand.

Tonight (Wednesday) I was grinding the middle limits and was up over a thousand when I saw two of the best and most successful players around playing in the big game.  So of course I sat.  One guy has worked for the site for awhile, and won two bracelets (tourneys) at the World Series of Poker last year.  In a Week.  The other guy is the number one player in poker this year, with winnings over 2.5 mil this year and he's in the lead for Player of the Year honors for Cardplayer Magazine.  Naturally, I should have killed them. 

Actually it's a little wierd, I have seen both of them on TV playing poker, and my cable's only been hooked upfor 2 days.  Well someone is conspiring against me because I lost 8 grand.  They were playing horribly.  As in, some of the worst playing I've seen.  Some people asked him why he was playing so bad and he told them the truth, because the stake were so small it didn't really matter.  I lost a bunch of 90%ers to him and then he beat me when I had a 98.08% chance of winning.  That was one of the smaller pots, 2800 dollars.  The two other pots I lost at the river were 6600 dollars.  This was within 6 minutes. 

All and all I think I've had a rough time lately.  There was the 18 grand I lost while I was in Vegas.  That was like June 4th.  Then the Saturday we moved I lost 13k and today and yesterday make about 14k.  So I think the lesson that we learned here is that poker sucks and I might need someone to give me money for ramen in two weeks if this continues.  The whole website came down for system maintenance just when I was at my low, still don't know if it was a blessing or a curse.

This was just going to be a short blurb, but it has turned into a full blog rant.  Anyway good luck and God Bless, I need some rest.





10:29 AM 
4 Comments
(Add Comment) |
Translate
Saturday, June 10, 2006 
Some folks want to know how the rest of my Vegas trip went.  Well of course since I was doing so well, and I posted about it... I got wrecked.   It always happens like that.  Just hours after my last post I started an 18k losing session.  It took only 10 hours.  So that pretty much depressed me.  I didn't play anymore poker while I was down there, and didn't leave my room until 10pm the next day.  But I still had 2 thousand in cash that my friend brought me, and so I figured I might as well put it in play, since I was here.  So I shot some craps and won 2k the night before I left.  Then in the morning I played craps again and won 3k.  Then I played again and won 1k.  And then I played some blackjack and won 500.  Overall I won over 6500 in the pit games, so that was nice.

I think I am kind of jaded when it comes to winning in Vegas.  I mean I like it, and I really like having lots of cash around, but it doesn't excite me that much.  The other people around me were up a few hundred dollars and they were screaming and having the time of their lives.  I'm up thousands and I'm not having nearly as much fun.  But I guess it was a good trip, I would have lost the same amount in online poker as I would here, but I wouldn't have had the craps wins.  And I have been winning in online poker since I got back, so that's cool.

Did I mention something about leaving?  Yes well I am leaving Sellwood, in southeast Portland.  It is the end of an era for me, and I am sad.  But I guess we aren't moving too far away so it won't be so bad.  All 4 of our happy roomies are going to the new house in Woodstock, a neighborhood that is also in southeast.  If I say woodstock and you envision dirty white hippies abusing illegal substances, you really wouldn't be far off the mark.  No this is no rock show, it's my new hood' and we'll see how it turns out.

That's it for now, I need to pack up my other shirt and be productive before we go wine tasting tonight. 

P.S.  It's not everyday I get to see one of my myspace bands, but last night I saw two in the same night.  First Glen Phillips rocked the Aladdin and then we busted over to The Doug Fir and saw Jonah, also nice.  They are in my Top 8 for a limited time only, check em' out.
12:19 AM 
1 Comments
(Add Comment) |
Translate