It's Easier To Blog When You're Winning
It's Memorial Monday, hats off to anyone who reads this who also served in the military. I have mad respect for anyone willing to put their ass on the line for this country.
I am winding down my weekend of poker debauchery, and it's been a good one. I started off Saturday with the team tournament at Dave's. I managed to talk Special K into playing (though lately she hates tournaments). I had asked Ryan Rufe to be the third on our team, and he initially declined but changed his mind after the other person we asked cancelled on us. There were 48 people in the tournament (16 teams). It was a zoo. As with anything Meat handles, it went painfully slow.
The beginning stages were not good for me. I started with 15k in chips and quickly dusted off 6k. I flopped a set of 8's and lost to a guy with QQ who drew a gutter on me (-$4k). I also lost 2k to Con when I flopped a pair of K's and tried to check-raise him. He had raised preflop and I expected a c-bet but he checked behind and hit his two out set on the turn. Con, I discovered, has a horrible tell and after that hand I had zeroed in on his preflop hands. I could tell when he had a large Ace or K, a mid pair or medium cards, or nothing. After that I got into one scrap with him where (from his tell) I was certain he had a small/medium pair and I had AKs. Flop was 345 two spades. I check raised him and he shoved. I had to conclude he was either over the board or had a set and I folded since I have not been winning many races. He showed a set of 5's (thanks for confirming your tell again BTW). After a few rounds I picked up some steam. I busted a short stack who shoved with AQ and only 2500 in chips with my Q8 (8 on the flop).
I played a monstrous hand where Con raised preflop (and his tell indicated he had a large Ace). The guy between us (can't remember who it was) shoved for $11k. I flat called with 55. Con tanked and folded. The other guy had QQ (oops!). A five on the flop sealed it for me. I busted Randy a few orbits later. I limped with 97 offsuit. Con limps, Randy checks in. Flop 9-8-2 two hearts. Randy open/shoves his whole stack. I flat call. As Con is thinking Randy excitedly flips over 10-7h for the open ended straight flush draw. Con tanks now, seeing the cards. He uses a consult with Malcolm and finally folds. I roll over my pair of 9's and Randy catches two bricks. Con would've also bricked.
In between I also made a bad read on Krazy Mike that worked out for me. He raised preflop with 99. Monsignor calls and I call with 44. Flop comes J-8-7. Checks around. Turn is another J. Monsignor checks, Mike bets. I decide Mike has AK or AQ and figures we don't have jacks. I flat call. River is a 4. Mike checks, I bet about half the pot. He calls and I show the boat and he gets upset. I made the correct play for my read, just got lucky. I smoked Tuttle in a hand where I flopped two pair from the button with 10-8, turned a boat and he paid off a river bet. He didn't say what he had but I think he made a flush. I made a good read on Monsignor and picked off a semi-bluff. He fired two barrels with nut flush, wheel, and over card draws. I called him down with a low pair (6's?). He was not happy. After the break I got into the hand that made my entire tournament. I had AA on the button. Con opened for a raise to 1500 or so. Hiphop raises to 11k. I shove. Con folds and Hip tanks. He consults Colin who tells him to push. He calls off his last 10.5k with AK and I win a monstrous pot almost 50k. I gave some back after Eskimo (who had a horseshoe up his ass) flopped trip J's on me, plus I took a shot at busting both Krazy Mike and Con and whiffed both. I worked my way back up to 88k for the final table. By then the structure made it mostly push-n-pray so it was pretty straightforward. I folded AQ preflop to a Data shove (he had me covered, said he had 88). I snapped off Con by limping with KK, he shoved and I overshoved. His A-10 didn't get there. I was up to 170k and guaranteed 4th place cash when I finally got horsefucked.
I was SB with 55. Nick open shoves his stack $160k. I call. Eskimo and Jen fold. He has A5. Bink, A in the door. If he doesn't his his three outer I stack him and would have enough chips to win, but sadly it wasn't so. Fourth paid $210, still not bad. K mashed the cash game for several hundred dollars before cashing out.
The next day when we got up, K and I kicked around the idea of going to Rivers casino in Pittsburgh. We were both up and had been playing well, so we decided to do it. I went in and decided to play some of the Hold'em table game. I sat down in the poker room at $4/8 and went on a heater. Made straights and flushes, got paid. Pairs held up. People folded to my raises. It was magical. For one day, I knew what it was like to be Hiphop and hit everything. I raised with large aces preflop and flopped pairs. It was awesome. I finished up $267 which is a huge profit for $4/8 limit. I gave some of it back playing video poker but still left with a profit, which is just fine with me. I made it back to Cleveland with enough money to begin repleneshing my bankroll. The next few weeks at work will be nuts, it's been three straight days of 80ยบ+ outside and the A/C calls will be non-stop. I hope I get some time to grind some $3/6 at Nautica this week.
Monday, May 30, 2011
Monday, May 23, 2011
Adventures In Staking A POY Contender
(WARNING: This is another long one.)
"...a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest. Honestly. It's the honest ones you want to watch out for, because you can never predict when they're going to do something incredibly... stupid." - Captain Jack Sparrow
So, at the beginning of this last POY season I had to make a decision. I had played in the previous three seasons and their Main Events, and I never got very far. I wanted to scale back my tournament play and knew I couldn't dedicate every Saturday to the season. I decided instead that I wanted to buy a horse - a runner who could play every week, play well, and make a serious shot at the title. I made a short list and started making phone calls.
My first choice (who I won't name) hasn't played regularly in a few years. I wanted to get him back into grinding and help him re-establish a bankroll (as well as peeling off a profit for myself). After some discussion he declined, citing a few factors including his tournament rust plus his feeling that he wouldn't be able to dedicate enough time. The next name on my list was someone whom I'd been playing with since well before my CPMG days. I knew his play inside and out, knew he had all the free time in the universe, and knew he couldn't pass up my offer. So, I called Meat and asked if he wanted to be staked for POY IV.
The deal was simple: I would front Meat 100% of his buyins (minus the two tournaments that had already run while I was trying to make this arrangement). When he cashed, I would get 60% of his winnings. When he didn't cash, I would eat the loss. Once I added up the remaining buyins and percentages, it meant that Meat would have to earn 1800 points (that is, cash $1800) for me to break even on the season's worth of buyins (60% of $1800 or $1080). The other benefit would be that if he did crack $1800 anything over that would be profit, plus I would essentially be freerolling for 60% of whatever he cashed in the Main Event. (We agreed that if he won I got to take a picture with the bracelet but that he would keep it).
I felt that this deal was plenty fair for us both. Yes, he was giving up a decent chunk of profit but he was playing with literally no risk to himself. If he busted, then he didn't have to worry about where the next entry was going to come from. There was concern that he might play extra stupid since it wasn't his money, but I felt he was serious enough about being the champion that he would put his best effort into it. I was also taking the risk that he'd have a shitty season (especially since this was the first year he was TD for the games). I put a few ground rules out there for him. When you deal with him on a regular basis you get used to the fact that you MUST spell out SPECIFICALLY what you expect or he makes assumptions on his own. I expected him to play his best game. I expected him to try and squeeze the most profit possible out of the game. I also expected him to go the whole season. I offered him the chance to "opt out" after 10 tournaments if he was unhappy with the deal. He also had the option at the winter break to opt out. He re-signed both times. I also promised that I would not attempt to influence his play or try to make him change his style. He was also free to chop without my approval if it was in his best interest to do so.
There were a few things about the arrangement that irked me. For one, I had initially forbade him to speak of it to anyone else. I was concerned that people might take a more aggressive approach to him if they knew he wasn't playing on his own dime. I also wanted to avoid having other players hitting me up for money. Nontheless, by the end of the first month word was out. I sometimes think that keeping things a secret causes him physical pain. Toward the end of the season, as he approached 1800 points, he started whinging a bit about the split because he knew that over that amount he was giving away equity. He also rankled me when he told me outright that he made a questionable call for his stack (and lost) because "I knew I could make more in the 8 game than if I won the tournament". This pissed me off because (whether he was right or not) he had made a commitment to trying to earn us both money. I also had to repeatedly chase him down for details. He rarely texted me updates on anything. I felt it was common courtesy to text your backer even if you lost and at least let him know what happened. I sometimes had to read it the next day on the board because he would ignore my texts. He also peeled some money out of our cashouts to donate for this or that without checking with me first (not that I object to him putting money in the jar for Elizabeth or kicking Dave $ for supplies). Again it was a matter of courtesy.
Luckily, as the season drew down it became clear that I would get exactly what I was trying for - a free shot at 60% of his Main Event cash. I avoided hounding him about the big game, as I felt he knew what he had to do to get himself to the money. I also stopped in to help with the tournament so he could devote as much time as possible to the actual play. For the two day game I felt he played really well. I think Grayday offering a $500 bounty to anyone who busted Meat on the bubble really fucked us both over. It was definitely on the other players' minds and it made Meat snug it up a lot more when he should have been stealing. It was a shitty thing to do and I am sure it won't be allowed next year. It's one thing to offer a small bounty just to razz someone, it another to try and fuck them over in the biggest game of the year. People like to give Meat shit (me included) but he knows the field better than anyone and he brought his A game. Unfortunately he only made it to 5th. Still, I ended up with a profit on the season (which I am sure wouldn't have been the case if I had been staking myself).
Now that it's over, I don't think that I will end up doing this again next year. For one, chasing after Meat is exhausting. You have constantly be on him about details. He's constantly looking for an edge or advantage in everything and will chisel you on every little dime he can. I think he likes to make things more difficult in the hopes that you'll say "Fuck it" and give in to what he wants. Secondly, although he made it to the break even point this year for me I doubt he can do it two years in a row. Third, I am contemplating a return and making a serious run at the POY title next year since it will be the last year at Dave's (and possibly the last ever). I cannot afford to stake two people for a full season.
So, what's with the Pirates quote at the beginning? Several people asked me why I would stake Meat, and why I put up with his constant haggling. The quote reminds me of him, not that he's dishonest, but that I can count on him to act consistently. He's always going to be this way, but in the end I know he's going to do his best to win. He's not the smoothest motherfucker around, but when it counts he's always showed up.
That's why I consider him a friend.
(WARNING: This is another long one.)
"...a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest. Honestly. It's the honest ones you want to watch out for, because you can never predict when they're going to do something incredibly... stupid." - Captain Jack Sparrow
So, at the beginning of this last POY season I had to make a decision. I had played in the previous three seasons and their Main Events, and I never got very far. I wanted to scale back my tournament play and knew I couldn't dedicate every Saturday to the season. I decided instead that I wanted to buy a horse - a runner who could play every week, play well, and make a serious shot at the title. I made a short list and started making phone calls.
My first choice (who I won't name) hasn't played regularly in a few years. I wanted to get him back into grinding and help him re-establish a bankroll (as well as peeling off a profit for myself). After some discussion he declined, citing a few factors including his tournament rust plus his feeling that he wouldn't be able to dedicate enough time. The next name on my list was someone whom I'd been playing with since well before my CPMG days. I knew his play inside and out, knew he had all the free time in the universe, and knew he couldn't pass up my offer. So, I called Meat and asked if he wanted to be staked for POY IV.
The deal was simple: I would front Meat 100% of his buyins (minus the two tournaments that had already run while I was trying to make this arrangement). When he cashed, I would get 60% of his winnings. When he didn't cash, I would eat the loss. Once I added up the remaining buyins and percentages, it meant that Meat would have to earn 1800 points (that is, cash $1800) for me to break even on the season's worth of buyins (60% of $1800 or $1080). The other benefit would be that if he did crack $1800 anything over that would be profit, plus I would essentially be freerolling for 60% of whatever he cashed in the Main Event. (We agreed that if he won I got to take a picture with the bracelet but that he would keep it).
I felt that this deal was plenty fair for us both. Yes, he was giving up a decent chunk of profit but he was playing with literally no risk to himself. If he busted, then he didn't have to worry about where the next entry was going to come from. There was concern that he might play extra stupid since it wasn't his money, but I felt he was serious enough about being the champion that he would put his best effort into it. I was also taking the risk that he'd have a shitty season (especially since this was the first year he was TD for the games). I put a few ground rules out there for him. When you deal with him on a regular basis you get used to the fact that you MUST spell out SPECIFICALLY what you expect or he makes assumptions on his own. I expected him to play his best game. I expected him to try and squeeze the most profit possible out of the game. I also expected him to go the whole season. I offered him the chance to "opt out" after 10 tournaments if he was unhappy with the deal. He also had the option at the winter break to opt out. He re-signed both times. I also promised that I would not attempt to influence his play or try to make him change his style. He was also free to chop without my approval if it was in his best interest to do so.
There were a few things about the arrangement that irked me. For one, I had initially forbade him to speak of it to anyone else. I was concerned that people might take a more aggressive approach to him if they knew he wasn't playing on his own dime. I also wanted to avoid having other players hitting me up for money. Nontheless, by the end of the first month word was out. I sometimes think that keeping things a secret causes him physical pain. Toward the end of the season, as he approached 1800 points, he started whinging a bit about the split because he knew that over that amount he was giving away equity. He also rankled me when he told me outright that he made a questionable call for his stack (and lost) because "I knew I could make more in the 8 game than if I won the tournament". This pissed me off because (whether he was right or not) he had made a commitment to trying to earn us both money. I also had to repeatedly chase him down for details. He rarely texted me updates on anything. I felt it was common courtesy to text your backer even if you lost and at least let him know what happened. I sometimes had to read it the next day on the board because he would ignore my texts. He also peeled some money out of our cashouts to donate for this or that without checking with me first (not that I object to him putting money in the jar for Elizabeth or kicking Dave $ for supplies). Again it was a matter of courtesy.
Luckily, as the season drew down it became clear that I would get exactly what I was trying for - a free shot at 60% of his Main Event cash. I avoided hounding him about the big game, as I felt he knew what he had to do to get himself to the money. I also stopped in to help with the tournament so he could devote as much time as possible to the actual play. For the two day game I felt he played really well. I think Grayday offering a $500 bounty to anyone who busted Meat on the bubble really fucked us both over. It was definitely on the other players' minds and it made Meat snug it up a lot more when he should have been stealing. It was a shitty thing to do and I am sure it won't be allowed next year. It's one thing to offer a small bounty just to razz someone, it another to try and fuck them over in the biggest game of the year. People like to give Meat shit (me included) but he knows the field better than anyone and he brought his A game. Unfortunately he only made it to 5th. Still, I ended up with a profit on the season (which I am sure wouldn't have been the case if I had been staking myself).
Now that it's over, I don't think that I will end up doing this again next year. For one, chasing after Meat is exhausting. You have constantly be on him about details. He's constantly looking for an edge or advantage in everything and will chisel you on every little dime he can. I think he likes to make things more difficult in the hopes that you'll say "Fuck it" and give in to what he wants. Secondly, although he made it to the break even point this year for me I doubt he can do it two years in a row. Third, I am contemplating a return and making a serious run at the POY title next year since it will be the last year at Dave's (and possibly the last ever). I cannot afford to stake two people for a full season.
So, what's with the Pirates quote at the beginning? Several people asked me why I would stake Meat, and why I put up with his constant haggling. The quote reminds me of him, not that he's dishonest, but that I can count on him to act consistently. He's always going to be this way, but in the end I know he's going to do his best to win. He's not the smoothest motherfucker around, but when it counts he's always showed up.
That's why I consider him a friend.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)