Back to Copenhagen

Just finished an unprofitable Sunday, but as I tweeted from my handle @icekevin, it was one of my most emotionally mature days of poker I've ever played. Didn't play A+ game, but I do feel a consistent rise in the level of my average play over the past few Sundays. The first couple of Sundays back to the online grind, I truly was unstable emotionally and it had to be affecting my play. I don't know whether it was the huge layoff that turned me into a monster or what, but I'm glad that the last three Sundays have been calm emotionally. You have to have a positive attitude in this game or at the very least just understand how fortunate you must be to win something and how the majority of times in tournaments, you'll likely lose.

I'm super excited for Copenhagen tomorrow as I had some success here last year. I like how it's a smaller than average EPT field, tough competition, and standard EPT good structure. I haven't played a live tournament since Prague in December and it's pretty great to hop on a plane and be in Copenhagen in just two hours. I've truly enjoyed adjusting to my new life here in London and getting back to the game I love playing.

2011

January: Began in Chicago with my quietest New Year’s in recent memory after nursing my body back to health from a brutal bachelor party. Take heed of my words and don’t go to Vegas for more than 3 days for a bachelor party. Two is probably ideal. Shortly after that I went to Bahamas for an unsuccessful poker trip, but discovered the drink known as the zombie, a combination of about every type of rum you could find. After winning a main event package for $350ish dollars, I could hardly complain to be in the sun and heading down water slides through shark tanks. Chicago winter was brutal upon my return and snowmageddon shortly followed. Before heading to Cleveland to celebrate my niece’s 1^st and 3^rd birthdays., I made a two day bachelor party stop in Las Vegas highlighted by two enjoyable craps rolls with the entire bachelor party. The first saw every person up handily while completely loading the board through the come line and with almost everyone at max odds and total points through the hot roll of the man known as Steele, the dice were passed from the floor man to Steele when an unnamed member of the bachelor party grabbed the dice out of turn. Immediate 7. I had a nice online poker month and everything seemed to be in line for a great start to the year.

February: Online poker turned completely the other way erasing almost all the profits from January. A package to Copenhagen for my first EPT event and visit to Denmark made the intolerable winter easier to bear. I only played one event in Copenhagen, but finished fourth place for 1,000,000 Danish Kroner. It was my biggest cash to date and one of the most exciting moments of my life. Competing on that stage was fun, challenging, stressful, and nothing I could have imagined without being in that situation. My own mistake unraveled my EPT title shot, but Copenhagen was beautiful and I look forward to revisiting. When I flew back to Chicago, I thought about how far I’d actually come from playing $5 buy in cash games with my friends in my buddy Dave’s house in high school. We loved to play and bluff and force another guy to go into his pocket to pull out another $5. I loved the challenge of figuring out people, finding a way to beat them, and of course, the rush in your blood every step of the way. Nothing has changed.

March: Online poker was up and down this month, but I had a great St Patrick’s day weekend in Chicago.

April: This is the month where I finally lost all hope with the US government. On tax day after sending in my tax estimate and starting my usual Friday routine of watching the markets and playing a few early Friday online poker tournaments, both major online sites that I played on had their domain names seized by the FBI. Online poker would never be the same. The debacle that ensued has seen one site, Pokerstars, returning all our money. On the other hand, Full Tilt Poker basically proved it was running as effective of a business as a kid selling .01 lemonade cups full of piss. I turned a lot of time into studying the financial markets and businesses, but was left with a huge void in my life. Being so close to family for the first time in a few years, I headed home to join family for Easter and had a great time in Ohio.

May: What wasn’t to love about May. The month before the World Series, I plotted what I would do to move out to Vegas for the summer while enjoying spring in Chicago, a Chicago area wedding, and watching Chicago come alive. Near the end of the month, I was part of a wonderful rapture weekend wedding in Columbus, Ohio celebrating a Miami Merger between the Brodas. We all had a great time yucking it up at world class facilities despite pending world apocalypse. The night before I drove out to Vegas, I attended a rooftop party in Chicago. I remember having a meditative moment looking out over the sky and imagining winning a World Series of Poker bracelet, but either way, I knew I loved my new city and was content even in the face of losing online poker. I left for Denver the next day and stopped to meet up with some bros. Denver cemented its place as somewhere I would love to live, but the two days there with the crew I was with was not what I needed before driving another day to Vegas. Luckily, I made it to my destination safely after a reflective drive.

June & July: THE WORLD SERIES OF POKER. Best finish 11^th. Second best finish 17^th. 5 cashes, and basically a wash in terms of profit. There is nothing not to love about the World Series of Poker except for the walk out of the Rio after busting a tournament, especially the main event. In between some of the events, it was fun to celebrate the marriage of one of my best and longest friends in my hometown Mentor, OH. Three days of the main event and not cashing again was frustrating. I think I’ve played close to 13 days without cashing in the main event. I’ve bagged chips every day 1 and 3 times on day 2, yet have never cashed. It remains a goal of mine. I know I’ll get there. After the main event, I decided to be a hero and drive 24 hours straight to Lake Geneva, WI to meet up with some Chicago friends and my love. Chicago summer was waiting for me. We golfed, tubed, drank, and caught up. It was also around this time that I officially knew I’d be moving to London. One more Cincinnati area wedding at the end of July allowed me to see my college town of Oxford, Ohio and Skippers, walk through a lobby in Kentucky with a life sized championship belt over my shoulder, and celebrate with some great people.

August: LOLLAPALOOZA!! Foster the People, Eminem, Foo Fighters, Skrillex, Afrojack, Girl Talk, Kid Cudi, Deadmau, Nas and Ziggy Marley, Explosions in the Sky, and others I’m sure I’m missing made for a great time. The highlight being a torrential downpour just before the main Foo Fighters act creating a mess of a savagery and mud only true maniacs can enjoy. I spent the end of the month packing up and readying my move out of Chicago.

September: Spent time in Mentor, Ohio before heading over for a London/Cannes poker trip and flat hunting. After living in Vegas and Chicago and not spending day in and day out with family, it was great to spend some quality time with Mom and Dad and see my nieces, brothers, in-laws, and friends. Flying over to London and searching for a place was slightly stressful, but being away from poker made me extremely hungry and focused. With tons of luck on my side for 5 days, I final tabled the EPT London Main Event and cashed in 6^th place of 691. It was my biggest score to date and back-to-back EPT final tables for me in Europe. Getting so close to a win was again frustrating and satisfying. I know I’ll be back again and win the next time.

October: Cannes was a beautiful venue for WSOP Europe. My poker results allowed me to explore the beach more frequently than I would have preferred. I failed to cash in five events. I flew back to Cleveland and Toledo to see a friend who I first met at age 3 get married. When his wife walked down the isle, I thought about how rare it is to have friends for that long and how appreciative I am of our friendship and others I’ve hung on to for a long time.

November: Moving and all the annoyances you could imagine moving to a new continent. Tourist stops included the Tower of London, London Bridge,

December: I began the month with a trip to Prague where I played the WPT, EPT and GSOP main events in addition to one side event. 68^th with 63 paying in the WPT wasn’t very pleasant. My EPT streak ended at 2 final tables as I busted day 1 of EPT. It was a tough first table and a pitiful performance by me in many regards. I didn’t adapt quick enough to the optimal strategy of tightening up. I made a deep run in the GSOP, but fell short with a min cash. Prague is a fantastic city and a must see for all European trips. When I arrived home, my grandmother was in poor health and dying. My whole family, a family she loved and was so much her responsibility surrounded her and said their goodbyes. It was a tough time for my entire family, but when thinking about her, I can’t help think about her love and care and what it meant to me in life. I have nothing but appreciation and gratitude for everything. She will forever live on through me. Some of my youngest memories with her was of her sitting me on her lap and letting me bet her chips when the family played poker. I couldn’t help but give a wry smile when one of her best friends told me at her funeral, “Shirley was always trying to get us to play cards!” RIP Grandma.

Cheers to 2012. Let’s make it a big one.

First Eurotrip a Success

I arrived in my temporary new home in London with a bang finishing a strong 6th place in the EPT London main event. It was a great run and I spent 4 days getting my chips in good and holding and winning crucial 50/50 races. Almost every big race was JJ vs AQ coincidentally. The tough decisions came mostly on the second to last day as I was attempting to accumulate chips for the final table but was stuck in the card dead, flop dead portion and forcing things a little too much. After spending a lot of time folding, I won a miracle KK vs AA with a beautiful King of clubs on the river. It seemed like I was finally due for a title. The final table hardly went my way. 22 and A6 top out the high end of my range of hands and I whimpered out in 6th place after reraising A6 all from the small blind and having the big blind wake up with AQ. It was cool getting deep. I felt like I belonged there and I know I'll be back at some other stage. I remember calling somewhere that I was going to go 2/2 at EPT final tables when I came back. My main goal in poker is to win a big live tournament at this point.

I tried to carry that momentum to the WSOP Europe in Cannes. Cannes is gorgeous by the way and the weather hasn't failed to disappoint. I just busted my last of 5 tournaments here. Lost a giant pot 4h 7h vs 5d 3d on a 9h 6h 4s flop in the first tournament. In the second tournament, the 1k, I fought for a while from my 3k chip stack and then could not find a spot to get my chips in the middle after almost 5 levels (hours) of play. The third tournament was basically my main event, a 5k Pot Limit Omaha tournament. After doubling up early, things did not go my way and I was put to the test on a Th 9s 6s 9h board by a check raise all in. I eventually made the call with only a 78A5 no suits that mattered and was up against a KQJ5ss. The J sealed my fate, but I liked my decision at the point. I made it down to the final 3 in the shootout, but was short the entire tournament it seemed. I made one of my worst calls of the five days in that tournament early but fought back. The key hand for me was when my JJ finally had a chance to double against AQ, but the 98675 board saw a split pot and ultimately, an AT vs 77 race later, I was gone. The final PLO event was no different. I had a tough time getting anything going and made a bad pay off to a player who made quads, but could never seem to win an all in or racing situation when it would have got me going. 0 for 5 in Cannes, but I'm fairly pleased with how I played. I feel more and more comfortable live and especially playing in Europe.

As for my schedule from here on out, get back online soon from London and I'm certainly going to Prague in December for two events, one being the final EPT event of the calendar year. I'm looking to close out my best year as a professional with a BELT.

The Law of Unintended Consequences as it Applies to the Full Tilt Poker Situation

As many people now know, Full Tilt was crediting player deposits without actually receiving funds. Many poker players knew this fact as every single person in online poker had at least one friend wondering why money wasn't drawn from their bank account by Full Tilt Poker yet they were still allowed to play. The new action today is summarized by The Feld on ESPN. What I want outsiders to understand before they just see the words Ponzi scheme and immediately move on is that this is just an unintended consequence of our corrupt/broken political system and one of it's laws, the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA).

The UIGEA was passed in 2006 and was NOT DEBATED IN CONGRESS FOR ONE SECOND. It sent banks into a defensive mode where they would no longer consider transactions for online poker. Online poker wasn't specifically identified as illegal, but lumped into gambling, a category banks feared to process. This consequence removed liquidity in the online poker world. Poker players need access to their bankrolls to be made available online to play through the swings and now players were forced to get find another way. Some traded cash for online money in unfavorable circumstances or went through some other 3rd party processor that was or wasn't legit(how could you know) in order to keep playing. How to deposit online became a much bigger issue. Several sites left the US and few remained. Given fewer options of sites to play on for US players a few things happened. Serious players had an increased need to have more money sitting in an online account because of the inability to deposit. Poker has swings and you need money to earn in case you have none. Fewer sites and now an increased need for money to be kept into these accounts likely created a windfall amount of cash to be kept on sites like Full Tilt Poker and Pokerstars.

We may never know is how many excess dollars were held in the Full Tilt Poker system by players that feared the illiquidity, but it did happen because of the UIGEA. Did these excess funds in the system contribute to the wild bonuses/dividends/ownership payouts that we are now hearing about or an inflated value of the company? We may never know, but I like to think I kept 500% more money in my account than I would have ever kept if this law didn't remove the ability to deposit what I needed to play for that day. Why would anyone ever take 0% interest in an online poker account instead of using a pay as you go system? We all took our own individual risk in this scenario to earn money or play for fun or whatever your motive, but it would not have been there with proper regulation or even in absence of the UIGEA.

So now a law attached to a Port Security bill probably meant to get some corrupt politician re-elected has in some way contributed to this Ponzi scheme. I can call for more regulation of online poker in the United States, but it's far too late. Instead of doing their job, Washington was more concerned with getting elected and passing bad policy to do so. 5 years of tax revenue and regulation would have gone a long way to preventing the pain many poker players are now feeling.

Post World Series & Some Words About Trading/Poker

Four Horseshoe Hammond poker sessions since my return to Chicago and my 1 winner out of 4 was for less than you can pay in tolls to get there. I got beat up in HORSE, PLO and Hold 'em on separate occasions. Live poker is slower and more boring and losing certainly doesn't change as quickly as it can online into winning over the short and long term. Truly, I miss playing tournaments and having the shot to throw up the belt every day whether it's something small online for a few thousand or a Sunday major or a WSOP 6 max tournament. Competition fills my blood, so I've been channeling that energy into trading lately, which is more rigged than any human should care to think about, but I have managed turbulent times in markets fairly well lately and can't complain.

Similarities in the lessons around the games of trading/investing are much more than just risking money. Bet sizing, bankroll management, mental flexibility, discipline and patience are all required to be successful in the brutal games being played in your respective financial markets. Knowing when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em as Kenny Rogers would sing applies to trading as much as it does to a single hand. Decisions are constantly changing by many inputs and outputs. Buy here and sell here. What price do you want to get? How can you maximize value in any one situation by using both volatility and price? It's tough to explain, but I feel more and more comfortable finding situations and understanding what's going on. The true test though will always be protecting money and growing it in the lowest risk way for the maximum return. It doesn't mean you can't push a lot of your chips in the middle with a strong hand, but it does mean that you are prudent in times of market correction and when your trades just simply aren't working.

I may be adding more business and investing/trading things into this blog mainly because it's been keeping my mind sharp during the lull in poker. There is a ton to learn on the subject and if I could say the most important things I've learned so far about it they would be:

1. No one cares about your money more than you. No advisor, tweeter, blogger, person on CNBC, or even your parents can you tell you what you want to get out of investing/trading and what your actions are going to be when you lose money or win money. Winning money in poker or trading can easily go to your head. The money needs to be bound by a purpose, goal, and risk management.

2. Pigs get slaughtered. It only takes a few bloodbaths to learn this. Gains aren't gains until they are booked. Getting too greedy is one of the worst things you can do.

3. Much like in poker. When you bet, ALWAYS HAVE A PLAN. You must have a method because actions of the game will change and not always go according to your plan.

4. Nothing comes easy. Everything takes work. Poker/Investing/Trading/ LIFE!!!

5. Don't listen to anything I say. Mistakes are how I've learned my most important lessons in both poker and trading, but I'm not advising you. In fact, not once unless you are my close friend have you even talked or heard my theory behind investing/trading.

There are tons of resources on the internet and the two things I use most are Stocktwits and Finviz.com. Stocktwits is a great idea generation site as their founder always says, but don't get caught up in the panic or try to trade based on some random tweeter's ideas. Finviz has tons of good research tools/charts/etc.

On Saturday, The Horseshoe Hammond is holding a $1500 tournament and it will be a nice going away present when I win it. The next few months will be hectic as I'll be traveling for poker/moving/getting back online (fingers crossed). London is my next destination for EPT London, and I will be in Europe (hint,hint) a lot in the next few years. I'm excited to get back to Europe. I am 1/1 at making final tables in that continent.

The 27th day.

I warn readers that I've played 26 days of poker straight, and I'll be playing my 21st event today. My mind is in a weird place, but relentless positivity and thoughts of being a champion still pervade. I have been battling a cough for the last three days or so, but if Dirk Nowitzki can play like a sick champion while spanking Lebron James in the NBA Finals, then a little bug isn't going to affect me. It's pretty easy to catch something in that giant Rio petri dish passing around chips that each person has coughed all over.

I arrived about an hour late to the $1k NL Hold 'em today. After losing a key pot early QQ vs AK and KJ, I rallied from just 1400 chips (starting 3k) all the way up to 11k. The key hand of the day came as I held AQ out of the small blind with blinds at 100/200 25 ante. An aggressive player raises the cutoff position and I call out of the small blind. Flop comes A95 two of the same suit. I decide to check raise his 800 bet to 1900. He calls. Turn card is a 4 second suit of spades. Two flush draws are now out. He was the type of player that was literally raising any two cards at this point. I decided to ship in 9075 into the 5200 pot b/c I sort of put him on a draw or a weaker ace and really thought he might call me off. I wanted to push this for value and protect my hand. I thought he'd be more likely to call a shove then two bets in a row. I was pretty confident I had the best hand. If I bet into a better hand then fine, but I just didn't care about controlling the pot. When I pushed my 9075 in I still had a 25 chip on my cards. The dealer incorrectly announced that I was all in and I pointed to my chip a few times but didn't want to say much as the player hadn't acted yet. The player thinks for a while and calls immediately flipping his A4 over for two pair. The dealer says "ok we are all in flip them over." Then they call the floor because I point out that I'm not all in. First floor guy somehow rules it's an assumed all in and I say there is no way I'm going to put that chip in the pot when there is one card to come and I know his hand. Now typically they penalize someone for exposing a hand before the action is over, but I'm glad to see the 2nd floor man decided not to penalize my opponent and ruled I didn't have to bet that chip. The bad news is the river was a 6 and I check folded my cards face down. I'm really fine with the play. My 25 chips and my 28 of diamonds failed to beat AK on the next hand.

The 5k NL Hold 'em event concluded for me on Saturday with a teasing day 3 11th place finish. It was the 3rd biggest event so far this series in terms of prize pool out of the first 40 events. My day 3 began with me pushing A8 of diamonds at 5k/10k blinds 1k ante into the short stack big blind and losing 85k from my 866k. I then immediately raised KK and everyone folded and that about sums up the day. I made a bluff that eventual champion Matt Jarvis made a nice call with J9 on a K Jd Td 9d 2s board. I missed my straight flush draw with A7d and almost moved all in there. Who knows if he calls? The deck put me in a few less than lukewarm situations as well. My AA had the board run out Kh4h4sThJh. I bet on the flop and the turn because I felt like he could still be drawing with a KQ, KJ hand or even have something like nines with a heart. I folded to his river bet. I believe I was right on both decisions, but I'll never know for sure. After the bluff, I won a KQ vs AT all in by hitting a K on the last card. Shortly after, I 3 bet Jarvis again with TT only to see him call in position and flop come out AJ4. After my bet on the flop, the K on the turn made me just give up with my 19 bb stack. He could have been bluffing, I think he probably had me beat at that point. If he didn't, then he just owned my soul. I then moved all in over a raise 5 handed with AQ and the small blind called with 99. The 9 on the flop sealed my fate. It didn't occur to me until later that I shook everyone's hand because I was kind of in a daze at the time. 3 days of poker and all the excitement of achieving my one goal this summer was on hold. Props to my opponents as they deserved to be there getting through that tough field.

Overall, I'm happy with that tournament, I'll learn from it and move on. I made a couple bad plays in the event, but also made some good ones and rallying from just 16,000 chips with blinds at 800/1600 all the way to 11th makes it hard to complain about luck. It was probably the best competition in a tournament I've played to date. Some extremely talented tables played throughout that tournament. At the same time, it's extremely painful to be so close to a huge score and a bracelet again and come up short. The swings in emotions are just mind boggling. I slept extremely well the night before day 3 despite it being the biggest tournament I would ever win if I beat the 20 remaining players. I feel much more mature as a poker player in terms of how I manage my emotions. At the end of the day, it's just a game and you have to have confidence in your ability and reads and play great poker.

I've been having a lot of fun this summer and wouldn't want to be any place in the world but in the biggest poker tournaments in the world. I do miss my girlfriend and family/friends. 27 straight days of poker probably isn't helping my relations to any other human, but I get to take a break and head to Cleveland for July 1-5 where I'll see a lot of great people in my life. I'm super excited for that. Then I'll return for maybe one more event and the Main Event. I'm feeling ready for that after immersing myself in poker this month.

It's 2:21am and somehow I haven't gone to bed yet, but I'll decide how I feel tomorrow and play either the 10k six max NL Hold 'em tournament or the 2500 Omaha Hi/Lo and Stud Hi/Lo 8 or better Limit tournament.

Five Simple Reasons to Regulate Online Poker

#1 To protect players. The government in collaboration w/ players needs to make sure people's money/financial info is safe.

#2 To create business in the United States. New businesses are good. Competition helps players. Jobs are created.

#3 Tax Revenue in US. Needs to be fair to players and cover costs of an efficient regulatory body.

#4 Poker is different from gambling. Gambling is a part of the game as is sometimes the case in strategy games. Poker is a game of skill and needs to be treated different in public policy.

#5 Poker is played by millions... MILLIONS of Americans...Prohibition and resources wasted towards stopping this activity are counterproductive to business and government.

I probably have 10 more good reasons.