Goal Update for 2008

Here are the goals from 2008 with the explanations of what I accomplished.

1. Win 15 multi table tournaments online.

Actual Result: 8 wins. The biggest was the Ultimate Bet Sunday Major for 45,000 followed by the Absolute Poker Saturday Major for 37,500. What is nice here is that my wins were all over 10k except for 1 tourney.

2. Win a 100 Rebuy on Pokerstars.

Actual Result: I didn't make a 100 rebuy final table on Pokerstars and largely quit playing the 100 rebuy throughout the year. I did win the 100 rebuy on Full Tilt which is a little bit easier field because it is a 6 handed tournament, but it pays more than a typical 100 rebuy on Pokerstars. So I'll call this one a wash.

3. 100 Final tables in multi table tournaments.

Actual Result: I'll count everything that I did throughout the year. 54 final tables is what it came down to online. I made 2 live final tables throughout the year not including satellites. 56 total for the year.

4. Live tournament win.
5. WPT prelim event win

Actual Result: Best finish was for 6th at the WPT Bellagio prelim 2k event for both above goals.

6. WSOP event final table

Actual Result: Best finish was for 53rd in the $2500 no limit.

7. 10 Live final tables.

Actual Result: 2 for 6th and 9th and not nearly enough money.

8. Final table Sunday Million on Pokerstars.

Best Finish: 274th

9. Win the Sunday Night HORSE tournament on Full Tilt.

CHAMPION!!!!! Take that Diego!!!


All in all, I had a solid year monetarily and in the goal department. I think my goals were quite lofty, and I'm going to get making them lofty. I think that I could attain all the goals above in a year with a little more hard work. On the live tournament side, I didn't really make these that realistic in the sense that I didn't know how much I would be playing live tournaments. I played maybe around 40-45 tournaments all year and to final table 10 of these would be an astonishing rate. I think a more realistic goal would be maybe 4 or 5. Even then, the talent of live fields has drastically increased in the smaller buy in events and even the WSOP. As always though, I'll look to get better and find a niche in the live tournaments I enter. Part of the problem that I've always said with someone not being staked in live tournaments is maintaining a proper bankroll. Since a lot of the buy ins are drastically bigger and putting in one tournament for 2,000 is equivalent to maybe 2-4 days of online buy ins, the variance is so much higher.

In the online arena, I had a blazing first half of the year from January to June followed by a little lull in the action until a big 2nd place finish in the Wednesday $300 on Stars. My only second half outright 1st place came as part of the HORSE tournament for a little over $10k although that wasn't my biggest cash of the second half.

In retrospect, I think my best results came at the times of the year when I was focused and locked in to poker without any external distractions. Distractions started to include a number of things that I wouldn't want to be distractions. Playing when I was visiting back in Cleveland didn't turn out as well as I would want. The focus wasn't there. I think I changed that by really only playing a small amount and sit n gos when I was home this time so I wouldn't be committed to playing. I think on a larger scale I can accurately comprehend where I need to improve in my game for next year as well as the scale of variance that a professional player has to go through. Some months or stretches of the year, it's going to be great. One win for $30k plus can really carry the focus and momentum. Other times, it feels like nothing will ever go right.

Stay tuned for goals for 2009.

I know everyone is sad that.....

The Cleveland Browns are finished this season. I am too. At least we get to watch the Buckeyes one more time. I wanted to chime in with some Browns talk. Let me first say that I think the fault of this team is in Randy Lerner. The owner has no clue how to run a football organization and is nothing like any other good organization. How many times have you seen the guy? Could you pick him out in a crowd? I could certainly pick out Jerry Jones, Dan Rooney, or Robert Kraft even though. Lerner has no rules named after him. Do you wonder if Jerry Jones connects with the guy in order to rob him of draft trades every year? That being said, it's easy to fire guys like Savage and Crennel when things go wrong.
Savage probably had too much on his plate out of his niche ability of picking talent. There are really three moves that sealed this guy's fate in my opinion.

1. The Derek Anderson saga
I think this selection ruined this team this year after it was apparent that he failed to win the big games last year. The move came too late in the season even after Anderson failed to lead the team in any matter early in the year. It also makes me wonder who made this choice. Savage's hubris led him to always place blame on others. An NFL team is exactly that, a team, not something we throw blame on a coach, or even a few players.

2. Donte Stallworth
He really helped this year. I don't want to look up his 6 year 45? million contract because it will make me puke when I see it. Here are the key stats for Stallworth. 10.0 Yards per catch!! WOW!! Except he had 17 catches for 170 yards and 1 TD. Of course, Stallworth can't be blamed for everything on offense because when Mr. "I'm from MeatChicken" Edwards drops every pass no one needs to double cover him. Ask Leroy Hoard from Michigan how much the fans truly cared about him being from Michigan when he consistently ran people over throughout his career.

3. F U Text
Just search Phil Savage and F U Text if you need more details. This is just unprofessional.

As for Crennel, he's not head coach material. I like the guy and think that he'll be another Super Bowl contender defensive coordinator if given the chance because that's what he does. Some people just don't have head coach in their genes. I wish him the best and if in some dream scenario, we could keep him as a defensive coordinator to give us some continuity, I would be happy.


As for the future, we need a game-changing defensive player at a linebacker position. You know what I'm thinking of too if you ever heard me describe any linebacker I liked in my life. A Ray Lewis or Brian Urlacher vicious type that loves chewing on little babies arms. I truly think our offense can get to the right point with both better coaching and leadership from a player like Brady Quinn. I want someone to give the guy a chance to throw the ball down the field and give our playmakers a chance. I know that Derek Anderson has a cannon, but he doesn't have the leadership of an NFL QB. That's what I'm looking for in this team. Leadership on both defense and offense. I think we saw some from the defense before it's backs were broken late in the season by both injuries and the offenses inability to stay on the field for more than three plays. Rodgers was really a great trade in retrospect as he made several huge plays throughout the year.

I'm done with the Browns until the draft comes closer or until other big offseason moves come and go.


I love watching the best team in Cleveland basketball history every night they play. If this team doesn't win a championship, then I can honestly say to myself that we will never win a championship in the city of Cleveland in any sport other than at St. Ignatius.




As for poker, I'm not going to the Pokerstars Caribbean Adventure. I tried to qualify, but that didn't pan out, so I'll be back in Vegas early January and ready for the UBOC. That's a big online series on the new Cereus Network of sites. Both of these sites have lots of issues in their past and also with current software updates. I just sent a nasty email because you can't play one table tournaments without having your one table pop up to the front of the entire screen every half second. You can't even type in your bet amount. It's absolutely absurd how poorly that site is run. If and probably when US sites come into the market, that site is going to get blown out of the water.

I'll do a goal update at the end of the year as I still have a couple more days left. Then it's on to new goals for the New Year. Happy New Year!

Vacation

Cold weather is much more brutal than I remembered, but the family and friends have been worth it. I'm enjoying being out of Vegas and not being entirely focused on poker for a while. I know it's going to pay dividends in the long run. I'm planning on doing a goal wrap up for 2008 after the year is over as there will likely be a poker club or two before the year is over. (Poker club is friend lingo for when a bunch of my friends meet up and play online together while usually watching sports and laughing at each other's outlandish reactions to bad beats, especially when Jay cries, Keith or I slam a computer or Mike does a duck and cover scream similar to when some misaligned, psycho 1st grader was pummeling him and the recess aide in 2nd grade). Other than that, Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukkah and Happy New Year!

New Games

Every time my mind gets caught up in one thing, it gets a little tedious and boring. Lately, I've been still playing a few NL hold em tournaments, but I've also mixed in some Omaha Hi/Lo cash games and tournaments. I had a positive Sunday after a 2nd place finish in the Pot Limit Omaha tournament on Pokerstars for about 4k. Other than that, I've had a bunch of small cashes in tourneys here and there.

I have been studying up in Omaha Hi/Lo and really trying to perfect my cash game skills. It's not quite as exciting as winning a huge tournament, but I'm hoping to make it a profitable avenue to turn to when things get too boring. I think anyone who plays should always consider learning new games or new forms of the game. If you play heads up all day, go play something else. I would recommend that cash games players bored with the game to turn to tournaments.

Other than that, I've been reading a lot and laying low enjoying the Cavs. What a start to this season so far. I hope we can keep it up.


A couple of shoutouts:

I got 2nd in the 55 rebuy Pot Limit Omaha event which I now title the Ben Smola Championship since he won this event a few weeks ago.

Congrats also to the Mossman on his upcoming retirement!

I'm surprised the computer survived this one......

$75 Knockout on Full Tilt, 14 left. I'm in 1st place. Winner gets about $6,000.


I haven't played a single pot bigger than probably 8 big blinds. I'm picking up tons of chips all over the place.


Full Tilt Poker Game #9330847872: $23,000 KO Guarantee (70401032), Table 37 - 2500/5000 Ante 600 - No Limit Hold'em - 4:55:34 ET - 2008/12/05
Seat 1: becomelegendary (88,220)
Seat 3: flounderfish_jr (45,603)
Seat 4: serbie (49,788)
Seat 6: MUPokerPlayer (99,273)
Seat 7: ShunChef (53,992)
Seat 8: kice32 (185,971)
Seat 9: barni-hsv (97,632)
becomelegendary antes 600
flounderfish_jr antes 600
serbie antes 600
MUPokerPlayer antes 600
ShunChef antes 600
kice32 antes 600
barni-hsv antes 600
kice32 posts the small blind of 2,500
barni-hsv posts the big blind of 5,000
The button is in seat #7
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to kice32 [Ts Tc]
becomelegendary folds
flounderfish_jr folds
serbie folds
MUPokerPlayer folds
ShunChef folds
kice32 raises to 14,000
barni-hsv has 15 seconds left to act
barni-hsv raises to 97,032, and is all in
kice32 calls 83,032
barni-hsv shows [Td As]
kice32 shows [Ts Tc]
*** FLOP *** [5c 5d Qs]
*** TURN *** [5c 5d Qs] [Ks]
*** RIVER *** [5c 5d Qs Ks] [Jh]
barni-hsv shows a straight, Ace high
kice32 shows two pair, Tens and Fives
barni-hsv wins the pot (198,264) with a straight, Ace high
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 198,264 | Rake 0
Board: [5c 5d Qs Ks Jh]
Seat 1: becomelegendary folded before the Flop
Seat 3: flounderfish_jr folded before the Flop
Seat 4: serbie folded before the Flop
Seat 6: MUPokerPlayer folded before the Flop
Seat 7: ShunChef (button) folded before the Flop
Seat 8: kice32 (small blind) showed [Ts Tc] and lost with two pair, Tens and Fives
Seat 9: barni-hsv (big blind) showed [Td As] and won (198,264) with a straight, Ace high


I would have put myself in first with 270k vs second place who had 150k with 13 to go. I'm a virtual lock to get top 3 money in most circumstances.

This has been poker for me the last two months. I can't count the number of situations where with 2-3 tables left this stuff has happened to me. I have consistently played huge pots way ahead 70/30 here and lost. When you don't win or finish in the top 3 at least 3-4 times a month, you won't be a winning player. When I consistently get deep in these tourneys and come out with meaningless cashes, I won't be a winning player. Then all I have is stories to tell and no money. The game is such a joke sometimes. It can just keep bashing your face in despite everything. I don't really fault the guy for the way he played the hand either. I probably do the same thing knowing how I was playing against him.


Two months of frustration is a lot in this game. It's really funny when people ask me how I'm doing in poker. After these two months, that last thing I would want to say is good, but quite frankly, I've probably played better in these past two months than I have in a while. When I was winning last January, I could probably say I was playing like garbage.

Cliff Notes: I run like Derek Anderson late in poker tournaments.

Validation

I finished "The Fountainhead" and immediately tried to apply every aspect of the book to my own life like I always do. After reading through my comments though, I found that Jim is not quite the fan. In case you don't want to look, this is what Jim wrote:

According to Rand, the individual "must exist for his own sake, neither sacrificing himself to others nor sacrificing others to himself. The pursuit of his own rational self-interest and of his own happiness is the highest moral purpose of his life." Hmmmm, sounds a lot like the fiscal conservatives of the Republican party. Rand didn't believe in religion so I guess the social conservatives would find her offensive. Rand gives greedy people a rational for their repugnant behavior. It is especially helpful to those who have huge advantages at birth such as white males with rich parents.


Rand does believe what Jim said, but I don't think her point should be easily misconstrued as allowing greed and the pursuit of money, fame and fortune control a person. In fact, she makes this quite clear as one of her characters does just that an ultimately is one of the most defeated characters. Rand definitely doesn't give greedy people a rational for any immoral behavior. In most cases, the greedy people in the world have sold out more than anything to that culture. I give this quote in response from a speech in the book by the main character.


“Throughout the centuries there were men who took first steps down new roads armed with nothing but their own vision. Their goals differed, but they all had this in common: that the step was first, the road new, the vision unborrowed, and the response they received—hatred. The great creators—the thinkers, the artists, the scientists, the inventors—stood alone against the men of their time. Every great new thought was opposed. Every great new invention was denounced. The first motor was considered foolish. The airplane was considered impossible. The power loom was considered vicious. Anesthesia was considered sinful. But the men of unborrowed vision went ahead. They fought, they suffered and they paid. But they won.
“No creator was prompted by a desire to serve his brothers, for his brothers rejected the gift he offered and that gift destroyed the slothful routine of their lives. His truth was his only motive. His own truth, and his own work to achieve it in his own way. A symphony, a book, an engine, a philosophy, an airplane or a building—that was his goal and his life. Not those who heard, read, operated, believed, flew or inhabited the thing he had created. The creation, not its users. The creation, not the benefits others derived from it. The creation which gave form to his truth. He held his truth above all things and against all men.
“His vision, his strength, his courage came from his own spirit. A man's spirit, however, is his self. That entity which is his consciousness. To think, to feel, to judge, to act are functions of the ego"


Especially because I chose an unconventional path after college of focusing solely on poker and all the people that have said I couldn't do it, I like this part of the book. Even when reading and learning about real estate and seeking out opportunities, I've heard probably 50 doubters. I know that I seek validation with so many people for what I'm doing. When someone asks me what I do for a living, I usually cringe inside because I know the standard response. The collective mind of society has never progressed society. I probably won't either playing the game of poker or investing in real estate to rent to people; however, when the ideas that I am looking for to change the world come into my head, I hope I have enough courage to not listen to standard response of all the people I usually seek validation from.

I believe Lil Wayne interpreted Ayn Rand in a different manner.

"They say I couldn't play football I was too small, they say I couldn't play basketball I wasn't tall, they say I couldn't play baseball at all; now everyday of my life I ball!"


The whole speech I took that part from is at this link





On an end note, I don't know how many people watched the 60 minutes online poker special, but it certainly didn't help my attempts to validate myself to the people of the United States of America. While I'm sure I've been cheated in many different ways in online poker, it's part of the risk and until the US government stops treating online poker like alcohol in the 1930's, I'm sure more scandals like this will keep popping up.

You can watch the video here.