Note: all the Google maps are interactive, feel free to click on them, zoom in/out etc.
1972- Sept 1990, Jan 1992-Sept 1992, Jan 2002-Sept 2002
Home sweet home, Millbury, Massachusetts. Sadly, the house up for sale this month.
(2002 note: yeah yeah I lived in the down stairs apartment of my folks house for a year when I was 29 after moving out of Boston, read on to get the full story.)
Millbury High School had less than 500 students (8 thru 12). Coolidge tower greater than 700 students and it is one of five, 21 story towers in Southwest Dorms that are surrounded by 14, four-story buildings. Yeah, this will work…
I lived on campus even though it was close to home. I had this roommate that was a transfer from MIT. I would stumble into our room shit-faced at 3AM and he would be awake, in the dark, typing his computer. Mind you, at this time, I had email and that was extent of the internet from me.
After about 2 weeks of this, one night, I was really stoned and came into the room to ask him, “WTF ARE YOU DOING?”
And he just says,”talking to people.”
“No seriously, WTF are you doing?”
“still talking to people.”
“Where are they?”
“ummm, one is in Boston, one is in Australia, one is England.”
Within a month, I was putting more time in on the game then he was. I was late for basketball practice as I was building my characters up and dominating the game. I was hooked.
I recently found my old roommate on LinedIn. He’s a game tester, believe it.
Worcester State had a transfer program to UMassD for engineering. Off I went having never seen the campus or knowing a soul. I moved straight into the upper classmen housing, it was perfect. I met great friends, and it was perfect for me.
UMassD was only 45 mins from Providence, and Providence rocks. Within a year there, I saw, The Toadies, Bush, Belly, Cake, Matchbox 20, Candlebox, Guster, The Verve, Thrid Eye Blind, Built to Spill, Ben Folds Five, Pavement, Weezer, Eels, The Wallflowers, Wilco and likely more that I am forgetting. All of these bands were less than $12, as they’d stop in Providence to do a mid-week show on the way up to Boston from New York. I had such a great time there.
Move out on the girl, and into this apartment with a friend I grew up with, we had a blast. This is time I picked up my Red Sox season tickets which I still have to this day.
Sept 2000-Sept 2001
Kennedy Terrace, Centerville, MA
Moved out of Boston as I was laid off from work. Became a house-sitter for my Uncle. Live alone and enjoyed it very much. I used to drive down to Craigville beach at night and sit alone in a life guard stand and play guitar. Was a soul searching time for me, it was perfect.
I was ready to get back into the action and my friend has this absolutely beautiful brown stone apartment, all hardwood interior, pool table in one of the octagon rooms. 11 days after I moved in, the guy who lived in my room died in the World Trade Center towers. I did not live there long after and moved back home for a bit to gather myself mentally and financially. Rest in peace, Steve.
The Abbott was awesome. Classrooms were turned into apartments, 20 foot ceilings and they left the green chalkboards in some of them. 30 foot long chalk board running down the hallway in our apartment. I spent a little too much time in the Big Woo but I did manage to GTFOOW.
After I got married we moved to a large gated community in Irvine, CA. This is where the crazy train ends and my new life with my family has begun. We have since moved across town into a house for the last few years but still in the lala land of Irvine!
Scott got it in pretty quickly after I folded, he admitted that it was a relief that I folded since he would have folded to my all-in. The board ran off blanks, and Scott doubled up at a critical time.
Obviously that’s a tough result but it just happens to be the perfect two hands I wish my opponents to have.
Scott took that double up all the way to 18th place. (Click here) Nice finish Scott, congrats, could not happen to a nicer guy, honestly.
I found myself half way through day 2 with a OK stack. I went into Day 2 with 25,000 chips at 200/400 ante: 50. The only way to describe the hand I am about post is to describe my table and opponents in detail.
I am in the 5 seat, directly across from the dealer, and I have the best seat on the table. To my right are the biggest stacks, they also happen to be the oldest players at the table. I am usually the oldest player! (like I was on day one, at 37, I’m old in poker.) To my left: an internet pro, live tournament pro/former Brazillian soccer player Paulo Rink, FTP pro: Scott Clements and FTP pro: Paul Sexton.
I have the overall Day 1 chip leader two seats to my right, James Dainelsson. I googled him the night before, I could not find anything about him at all. If someone asked me, “what would you want to the day 1 chip leader to be like?” I would have said, make him like:
James Danielsson
The first hand of Day 2, James was UTG with is 208,000 chips (Day 2 average was about 48,000). Blinds: 200/400 ante: 50 and James raises to 3000.
BOOM 3k, no problem. What is even more amazing is that he got re-raised out of the SB to 13,500 by a 87,000 stack and he called.
Flop was
SB bet out 15k, and James Called.
Turn: and both players checked.
River: and the SB fired off 20k in this huge pot.
Final board: (may not be 100% correct but for all intensive purposes it is.)
James called w/ and won. The SB showed a busted gut shot flush draw.
Now the big stack was even bigger and everyone looked at each other like, “WOW BUCKLE UP!”
On to my hand.
I chip up after a level and half and start this hand with 35,000 in chips. I have yet to tangle with the big stack. It is obvious that everyone is jumping into pots with him as he never folds to re-raises and will get it in on the flop fairly easily. Well after being at 250,000, he is now “down” to 180,000 to start this hand.
Blinds 250/500 Ante: 50 (pot 1200).
James the big stack raises to 1200 after one fold and I look down at:
FINALLY! BUCKLE UP ITS DOUBLE UP TIME!
I make it 4400 to total. I guess this could be debated and I was told by one player I respect that I should consider just calling to give one of the tight agressive players a shot to squeeze lightly with the big stack likely just calling.
I kind of agree but, for that moment, raising was my line. James does not have a big pair, he was over-sizing his preflop raises with pocket pairs when he open raised. His normal-size raise from early position is likely some ‘playable’ hand. Meaning a range of any two broadway cards, or any suited 2 or 3 gapped broadway card or suited Ace, (T9s+, QTo, ATo, A9s, etc.)
I was hoping to just get it in on the flop against the big stack as he never folded to a re-raise (thus my bigger raise size) and would get it in light vs shorter stacks.
Back to the action: two quick folds and Scott Clements (26,000) calls in stride. What I mean is he called quickly, no thought about it at all, and I sort of quivered in my seat knowing I had him beat but knew he could complicate this hand.
Scott knows me from some mix games tournaments a few years back, surely noticed how tight I was playing as well. His range is TT-KK, AKs, that tight, in fact he has QQ and JJ most of the time. I am pretty sure he folds 99 and AKo, all AQ combos surely hit the muck.
Back to the big stack and he calls.
3 players to the flop. (14,400):
And I think, “whatever you do dealer to put a Quee…”
F@&K ME
Thats the worst flop I could imagine. I would rather have a QJT flop as it would be easier to get away from, granted a dry Q-high flop would suck but this has all of it. All of Scotts range and a good chuck of James range as well. Before I even really see it, the big stack looks at me and says, “how much do you have?” I quickly answer 30,000, and he bets out 20,000.
Well he’s got a piece. He might have two pair, he might have , he has all sorts of combos that have a pair plus a T as well. He likely does not have the nuts, as weak player just check the nuts, but he could have it as he would over bet the pot to “protect” and there is a flush draw out there.
I look left at Scott and ask, “how much you do have left?” and Scott says, “about 22,000″ and I tank a bit, and decide that Scott was seeing a flop cheap to dodge a Ace or K flop w/QQ or JJ, as he knows I made a big raise vs this short stack to get him heads up with a strong hand.
I folded.
I will post the results later this week, but I discussed my hand with MANY top NL and tournament players, and the hand made for quite a debate. In fact, I received emails talking about it this week, nearly 2 weeks after I played the hand. Most of the tournament players fold, and a lot of cash players fold but a portion of the cash game players ship it in.
Well, the WSOP is over. Finally starting to recover. The six weeks of the WSOP are very hectic. Here are some random stats from my busy month:
DeucesCracked Coaches that I finally got to meet in person for the 1st time: 6
DeucesCracked members I met: approximately 200.
(Could be more as every time I walked the Rio hallway I was stopped at least once, usually twice. (I am tall, imo.) Add in the 4 meet ups we had with about 40 members at each meet up on average, 200 sounds about correct.)
Poker
WSOP tournaments played: 5
Day twos played: 2
Day threes played: 1
Cashes: 0 (argh, f-tournaments, imo)
Cash game sessions: 5
Winning: 4
Losing: 1
I do not have my main event numbers (June 28th-July 17th) yet but
Phone, email, random stuff (May 28-June 27 (31 days)
Text Messaging Incoming: 1,283 (41/day)
Text Messaging Out: 1,455 (46/day)
Minutes on phone: 867 (30 mins/day)
Emails sent: 524 (16/day)
Emails received: unknown as it’s too much to count with all my folders, etc. But probably around 700 or so.
I made it through day 1, with under starting stack, 26,225 (start with 30k) which is a fine start as survival in this tournament is key, but 70% of the field survives day 1.
I played well on day 1, but I can play better. I had some tough spots, but I survived them!
Here is one tough spot that crippled me a bit. I have around 45,000 to start, blinds are 100/200.
BIG stack who is playing tough raises in early position to 600, some weak player calls, and I call in late position with A5.
Three to the flop (pot 2100): A K 8
Pretty damn good flop for me, but the preflop raiser has a big stack and is out of position vs two callers. He bets 1100, which is just over 1/2 the pot, the middle player folds and I elect to call. Since he did raise in early position, and bet into two of us, it’s quite a strong line. I figured it is best to see the turn cheap and then decide how to continue.
Turn brings (pot 4300): K , obviously a terrible card. Now the villain fires off 3200 in stride, I think for a bit. Against a lot of tight straight forward players I can consider folding this turn. There is reasonable suspicion that he could still be barreling on a bluff, he was too aggro with his big stack to give him full credit here, so I called.
River (pot 10700): 6
There it is, the nut flush for me and now my opponent checks. Here is where I make a mistake. It’s tough for a limit player to access value on the river. There is certainly value here, he may pay off with AQ, AJ and certainly KQ, KJ are in his range as well. The question is just how much to bet?
I fire off 8000, which is too much in retrospect. I was feeling confident and brass and I should have thought it out a bit more. I was going for big value which is a mistake this early in the tournament. A great tournament player suggest I bet 5800 or so and try to get bet paid early in tournaments is better than no value or worse….
I got check-raised All-in.
So there I was, holding the nut-flush on the river and my tournament life on the line.
I folded.
Well, day 2 starts at noon for me on Saturday, cannot wait to get back at it!
I have only played 2 events. It is just the way things have worked out. I like to have everything clear and full focus. I made it through 2/3 of the field each time, hopefully I can push that up another level!
I will be playing the $1500 HORSE event today. If it is any where near how soft the $1500 Stud8 field was, I will be more than happy!
I’ve been in Vegas for the last week for WSOP 2010. My WSOP play starts today, I playing the Stud Hi Championship event at 5PM PST. You can follow updates on my twitter page:
Back in February of this year, I traveled to London, UK on business. I was lucky enough to visit The Fat Duck, the #2 restaurant in the world (at the time, now #3) by chef Heston Blumenthal. The Fat Duck is a Molecular Gastronomy restaurant. The Fat Duck is located in Bray, England, which was about a 40 minute train ride outside London.
Strategic Foreclosure is becoming more mainstream. It is a movement in social economics. More and more are doing it, so many credit ratings will drop.
Will a credit rating of 600 in three or four years now be the new 700? If those who could afford their underwater mortgages start walking away, what holds for the future of those buying houses? I find it interesting that those who are paying loans that are much greater than their home value (underwater loan) are technically referred to as having Negative Equity.
Well, when we think we have negative equity in poker, what we do is fold.
I cannot blame them for folding, sure seems like the right thing to do.
I have always wondered about this, ever since we got our first microwave when I was a kid. (Back in ~1986 or so.) Our microwave, like many, was about head-height, and I would stand aside or even run away once I put something in it. Even as a teenager. I guess the physics classes in high school had me thinking of things. I remember my dad looking at me funny as I would make sure I was away from the microwave when it was on.
Well those same microwaves are connected to your cell phone right now, the same ones are used in WiFi (wireless internet) as well.
OK OK, they are no where near the frequency to pop a bad of popcorn, but they are the same microwaves. (Cell phones use about a use a frequency of 1.452 to 1.492 gigahertz (GHz) and microwaves usually at a frequency of 2.45 GHz – source: Wikipedia)
Studies are starting to show some adverse effects of heavy cell phone use. Well, I guess if you use anything heavily, you will hurt yourself. Say you ate 100lbs of raisins? That would have to hurt, right?
And I am glad I emphatically use a headset, always have. I am uncomfortable with the phone near my head. In contrast have had a cell phone since 1998, actually canceling my land-line somewhere around 1999, and never looking back. For those of you that know me, I live a ‘wired’ lifestyle to say the least.
Well, I think it’s time I start shutting the phone off a bit more.
I just hope I can convince my 2 year old when the time comes!
and James the big stack had 
and both players checked.
and the SB fired off 20k in this huge pot.
and won. The SB showed a busted gut shot flush draw. 
, he has all sorts of combos that have a pair plus a T as well. He likely does not have the nuts, as weak player just check the nuts, but he could have it as he would over bet the pot to “protect” and there is a flush draw out there.
5
K
, obviously a terrible card. Now the villain fires off 3200 in stride, I think for a bit. Against a lot of tight straight forward players I can consider folding this turn. There is reasonable suspicion that he could still be barreling on a bluff, he was too aggro with his big stack to give him full credit here, so I called.
